by Jill Myles
As I stared at the unnaturally bright eyes of all the Serim, I realized that the full moon would affect all of them in the same way as Noah. Within one day, all of the Serim were going to be very, very horny. I was suddenly nervous. If they thought that having a captive succubus meant an angelic gangbang, they were in for a rude awakening.
Noah squeezed my shoulder, as if sensing my unease.
A small, dark priest entered the room with a Bible in hand, and Ariel nodded at him. “Bring the holy water. Let us begin the summoning.” The two Serim flanking the far ends of the table stood from their seats and lifted heavy jars, screwing off the lids and placing each jar on the table. Then they walked to opposite corners of the room. To my surprise, they began to spill the water in the jars along the edges of the walls, murmuring under their breaths as they did so. The priest stepped forward, speaking a prayer in Latin and moving his hand in the sign of the cross as he blessed the room.
Oh no. I squeezed my eyes shut, positive I knew what was coming next. The room was being sanctified, and someone was being summoned. That could only mean one thing. I pressed my hands to my face, not sure I wanted to see who was going to show up.
Please let it not be Uriel. Please let it not be Uriel.
I’d had a run-in with him when I’d first been turned and hadn’t known that angels liked to manipulate people with bent promises, and that Uriel was the worst of his lot.
The priest stopped speaking, and nothing happened. I squeezed one eye open slowly, just in time to see the priest exit the room again, and the Serim sat back in their chairs.
A brilliant flash of light formed in the center of the room, directly in front of me, and an angel appeared.
Not Uriel. Thank goodness.
He was, however, utterly stunning. The other Serim were specimens of all that was beautiful and fine about the human body and face, a little bit of Heaven that had sullied itself with life on the ground.
This was Heaven in its purest form. The angel was magnificent, so dazzling and perfect that my mouth went dry at the sight of him, and my heart pounded in my chest. The pleasant smell of sunlight and vanilla wafted through the room—angels were always accompanied by pleasant smells—and his bronzed skin glowed with an inner light. A cap of dark curls ringed his beautiful face, and a sweep of heavy white wings flowed over his shoulders and dripped to the ground.
I expected the Serim to drop to their knees, or bow, something to convey the awe I felt at this divine being’s presence. But they did nothing. Noah’s hand on my shoulder became tight, and I noticed that several of the Serim at the long table stiffened.
They might have summoned the angel, but they weren’t happy to see him.
Ariel rose from his seat again. “Archangel Gabriel,” he said, his voice smooth and even. “We ask that you mediate over the trial of these fallen ones.”
Sky blue eyes turned to me, scrutinizing me as one would a bug or a stray cat hair on a sweater. “And in return?”
“A favor, of course,” Ariel replied.
“It is done.” Gabriel flexed his wings giving a slight flutter as he stood proudly.
Ariel’s eyes focused—for perhaps a moment too long—on Gabriel’s wings. “Thank you. We’ll start with the female.” His gaze drifted over to me. “You, Succubus, have been accused of dangerous, immoral behavior concerning the lives of others, crimes against your fellow immortals, and existence without authorization. This Serim council has been requested to determine the nature of your crimes and the appropriate punishment.”
My jaw dropped. Were they serious? “Immoral behavior? Existence without authorization?”
“Those are the charges.” Ariel seemed to be taking a little too much pleasure in this.
I felt Noah’s hand tighten on my shoulder like a vise, likely telling me to be quiet. But I wasn’t about to. “Don’t you think that I’m the one that’s been wronged here?”
Heck, I’d been turned without consent or prior knowledge. All it had taken was one well-timed bite from Zane and sex with Noah, and I’d been changed from my normal, dull life as a docent at the New City Art Museum to the overly breasted, lust-addicted succubus I was today. If anyone should be frustrated with how things had turned out, it should be me.
“Your accuser does not seem to agree with your assessment,” Ariel said thinly.
“Who’s accusing me?”
The door opened behind me again, and everyone focused on the man who slunk into the room. He was tall and lean, his brown hair long and his face leonine. For a man, he was alarmingly pretty. His eyes glittered at the sight of me, pure and deep hatred burning in them.
The last time I’d seen that man, he’d been wrapped in the arms of a very possessive demon. Which I’d called.
“Luc,” I said in disgust. “It figures that you’d turn up here.”
His unearthly silver eyes focused on me, and the incubus gave me an arch smile. “I’m here to see you brought to justice, Jackie. You should be destroyed for what you did to me, and I aim to see it done.”
My throat went dry for a second time as he sat in the chair next to me, lounging at ease. He was completely comfortable in front of a frowning council of Serim, while I twitched like a nervous grasshopper.
“Let us begin.” The Archangel Gabriel’s eyes were cold as they rested on me.
Not a good sign.
The makeshift courtroom was quiet, all eyes on Luc.
“Please state how you know the succubus,” Ariel ordered, sounding pleased at my reaction to Luc’s presence.
“I met her in Colorado,” Luc said.
“You mean you began stalking me in Colorado,” I corrected. “After you cursed me.”
“I did not curse you,” Luc said in a calm voice, glancing over at me with brilliantly beautiful silver eyes. Even though he was an evil son of a bitch, he was the prettiest man I’d ever seen. His skin was a deep bronze, his hair a warm brown, his eyes a striking silver. He was also an incubus and a sorcerer, and underneath that delicious exterior, the man had a rotten heart. “I cursed a vampire named Zane.”
Who had unwittingly passed the curse on to me. I opened my mouth to protest, only to freeze under the disapproving glare of the Archangel Gabriel. “Interruptions will not be tolerated, Succubus. You are not helping your cause.”
Noah’s hand squeezed painfully on my shoulder. Got it.
“I met Jackie in Colorado. She approached me, needing help. And so I helped her. And when she needed sex, I obliged her.”
Yeah, with a bit of dry humping in a car on the side of the road. My face tinged red at the clinical way he was describing it. Noah’s hand tightened even more on my shoulder. He didn’t like hearing about my small “problem” with Luc, even though I’d already confessed the details long ago.
“She was crying out in my lap—”
Noah rushed across the room, grabbing Luc by the front of his shirt and hauling him into the air. “You will shut your filthy mouth–”
“Noah!” I yelped, jumping to my feet.
A hand clamped on my shoulder. One of the Enforcers pushed on my shoulder, and I sat back down, watching with horror as the Serim piled on top of my lover, separating him physically from Luc.
When had Noah gotten such a hair-trigger temper?
The two men were separated, and Ariel gave Noah a sneering look of disdain. “Try to control yourself, Noah, or we will remove you from the proceedings.”
My master’s jaw clenched. He glared at Luc for a moment, then reluctantly moved back to stand over my shoulder, his hand tense as it rested on me.
“I pleasured her and made sure that she sated her needs,” Luc said, looking coldly at me. “When it was my turn to take my own pleasure, she denied me and ran away. She left me aching and hurting on the roadside.”
Oh please. Like he was the first man to be cock-blocked. I glanced at the row of Serim, and several of them were looking at me with disapproval and disgust. I guess it was a big crime in their eyes.
“He makes it sound like he’s a prince, but that’s not the case. He was going to kidnap me—”
“I did not ask for the details, Succubus,” Gabriel said coldly. “I asked if it was true that you had taken your pleasure and not given him his.”
“True,” I gritted, my heart sinking. I could already see how this chauvinistic little trial was going to go. I was going to be skewered for my “crimes” and then judged guilty. They weren’t even going to allow me a chance to defend myself.
Gabriel turned his serene gaze back to Luc. “Continue your tale.”
“My master had commanded that I kidnap the succubus and bring her to a secluded cabin. I did so, but when we arrived at the cabin, she broke free from her chains and called a demon, trading her freedom for my own.”
A low, disapproving murmur swept through the council.
Oh, come on. This was ridiculous! He was twisting what had truly happened. Luc had stalked me, cursed me to the point where I was dying, and then kidnapped me. The only way I could free myself was to call Mae, and I’d had no choice but to ask for her help. Now I owed the demoness a future favor in exchange for her helping me get my freedom.
It was a bum deal, but it was the only chance I’d had at the time. It was either that or let Luc rape me and sacrifice me on an altar to cast a spell and secure his own freedom from his master. But I guess he was going to omit those little details from the court.
Gabriel’s cold-glass gaze turned back to me. “And is this true? Did you trade him to a demon, Succubus?”
“I traded him,” I agreed. “But only because I was dying. It was the only way I could get free from him.”
He turned to Luc. “And your actions were at the request of your master?”
“Yes.”
The angel raised his hand, moving to his feet. “She is guilty,” he declared. “I do not need to hear more.”
“Wait,” I yelped, coming to my feet. “You didn’t hear my side of the story yet.”
“Jackie,” Noah said, moving in front of me to shield me. But I pushed past him.
“Don’t I get to tell my side of the story? I was cursed,” I ground out. “I was dying. He was going to kill me.”
“There are certain rules against immortals that are sacrosanct, Succubus. You do not use another’s curse against them, which you did when you took your pleasure and did not give him his.” Gabriel’s gaze was ice-cold. “That is not well done of you, but can be forgiven because of your youth. However, handing an immortal over to a demon for her own usage is a grave crime indeed. And if you have no moral compunctions when it comes to the lives of other immortals, you cannot remain on this plane, as you are a threat to other immortals.”
Stunned, I flinched and hid behind Noah. Did that mean that they were going to destroy me? For self-preservation from a lying sack of shit like Luc?
“I ask for clemency,” Noah said hoarsely. “Jackie is a new-fledged succubus. She does not know the rules of immortality.”
“Youth is no excuse for carelessness,” Gabriel continued.
To my surprise, Luc spoke up, his gaze sliding over to Ariel. “I ask for clemency on her behalf as well,” he said with an easy smile. “I wished to bring her crimes up to the council so she may learn from them and pay a penance. In fact, I offer to take her on and teach her, if you like.”
A cold chill skittered over my body. So that was his game: he wanted to get his grubby hands on me. If it was that or death, I was totally hosed. I clung to the back of Noah’s shirt, frightened.
But Gabriel’s cold gaze swept over Luc, emotionless. “It is not for you to decide the punishment. And this we have decided—she will be punished.” His gaze swept over the occupants of the room. “I will return in two days. Bring your punishment suggestions at that time, and I will choose the most appropriate one.”
Noah stepped forward. “I ask that I be given her punishment. She is my creation. I am responsible for her. Let me take on her fate.”
No. Oh, Noah. Tears pricked my eyes. You stupid, big, adoring lunk.
But the angel’s cold gaze swept back to him, as if seeing him for the first time. “Noahiel.”
I could have sworn I saw the faintest lip curl. That wasn’t a good sign.
“It is I,” Noah agreed. “Jackie is under my protection. I ask that I be given her punishment.”
“I am afraid that will not do,” said Ariel, rising smoothly from his chair, his red hair spilling over his shoulder. “You are on trial as well, Noah Gideon. And your crime is unlawful creation: a far graver one with a rather large penance.”
Ariel’s mouth curved into a cold smile, and his gaze flicked over to me. “Take the succubus to her cell to await sentencing.”
“I want to stay,” I said, wrapping my fists in Noah’s shirt like a child. Hands landed on my shoulders and waist, prying me off of my fallen angel. “Noah! Wait! Wait!”
But I was helpless as Ethan and another Enforcer dragged me out of the room and down the hall, back into the darkness.
Guilty and sentenced, and I hadn’t even had the chance to defend myself.
Angels were total dicks.
CHAPTER FOUR
I was taken back to my cell and dumped there again. Ethan and the other guard had left, and I was alone. Nothing to do but sit here and … wait. Wait for my Itch to rise, and my blood to pound in my veins. Wait for my skin to become so sensitized that being naked was the only solution.
Wait for my fate and wait to hear what Noah’s was, and if we were both doomed.
The hours passed slowly. I couldn’t sleep—succubi didn’t sleep—so I started braiding strands of my hair to count. Fifty strands at a time, micro-braids that took minutes to complete. When I had one hundred of them and no one had come, I started to worry that something dreadful was going wrong. When I had three hundred braids in my hair (and probably resembled a porcupine), my concern grew even more. Was anyone coming back at all? My stomach had been rumbling for hours. Were they going to starve me? I needed sex every two days to survive, but I didn’t need food to live.
I stared out the window at the dark hallway, then returned to my bed, my hands sliding between my thighs and caressing the slick flesh there. My pulse was moving in a slow, languid beat that told me I was in serious need of some hot sex. Once a suck passed the line of need, we became frantic with the Itch. Any man would do, any dick would serve, and it was … disturbing. I didn’t have that problem much, thanks to Noah (and Zane, though he was long gone), but if Noah wasn’t coming back, what was going to happen to me?
Lost in thought, I almost missed the soft knock at the door.
Once it registered in my mind, I leapt up from the bed.
Ariel entered.
I frowned at him. Did I greet him? Demand to be let go? Demand to know where Noah was?
He saved me the trouble, nodding at me. His long, red hair was tied into a sleek tail down his back, and I noticed the blueness of his eyes as he stepped into my cell, then locked the door behind him.
Oh dear. This was not good. The Serim all worked off of the same clock. Right before the full moon, they had to have sex. Lots and lots of sex. A need that had been building for days, released in one amazing hours-long sexual marathon. Just thinking about it made my female parts tingle with need and my nipples tighten.
Down, girl. Down.
I moved to the far end of my cell. I didn’t want to marathon with Ariel, but if he didn’t leave my cell, my Itch wasn’t going to leave me much of a choice.
“Hello, Jackie,” Ariel said, clasping his hands behind his back and approaching me. “I see you’ve been keeping busy.” He cast a disapproving look at my wildly braided hair.
I shrugged, trying to seem casual. “Had to do something. Where’s Noah?”
Ariel gave me a thin-lipped smile. Even the best bone structure couldn’t h
ide the fact that he looked like he was sucking on a lemon. “Noah has been found guilty of creating a succubus and breaking the rules of the Serim. Rules that he has explicitly promised to uphold.”
I shook my head. “I don’t understand. He said he paid the fine and it was going to be okay.” Noah had hinted that something was wrong in the past, but he’d told me that he’d fixed it, paid a penalty, and it had been taken care of.
“Ah, but that was before you broke the laws and attacked Luc Stone.” Ariel moved forward, his long flowing white robe making his movements seem fluid. “And since you are an illegal creation, your crimes reflect on him as well.”
“That’s not fair,” I said nervously.
“It is the law,” Ariel said, still approaching me. “A hundred tasks of servitude—a harsh sentence.”
I sucked in a breath. A hundred tasks? If they were anything like the last one I did for the Angel Uriel, he wouldn’t be free of the punishment for years. Decades. “He has to serve the Serim council for a hundred tasks? What about me?”
“Your sentence is equally harsh. It is death.”
I choked. “I’m sorry, did you say death? Just because someone transformed me without my knowledge and I fed a scumbag to a demon?”
He gave a shrug. “It is a harsh punishment, but that is what the council has decided for you.”
I shook my head. “The Archangel Gabriel said he was going to decide it. Based on all the options. Weren’t there supposed to be, you know, other options?”
Ariel gave me another thin smile and reached out to brush my cheek. My flesh throbbed at the touch, and I resisted the urge to lean into it. This guy was my creepy enemy.
“There is one other option that Gabriel has shown interest in. If you destroy the succubus Remy and bring the halo of power back to the Serim council, we will consider that due penance for your crimes.”
“I’m not going to kill my best friend just to please you guys. Forget that.” I slapped his hand away as he tried to touch me again. “It’s not Remy’s fault that she was possessed.”
