by Larissa Ione
Well, maybe the spanking bench could stay.
Summoning all his control, he unbuttoned his shirt. Slowly. Taking his time while Lilliana hung from the St. Andrew’s Cross, her breasts rising and falling faster and faster every time a button popped.
“Do you want to know why I have all of this stuff?” he asked.
Licking her lips, she nodded.
He inhaled deeply, hating that his breath was shaky. He didn’t want to admit this, but she needed to hear it, and he wanted to make sure she never doubted him again.
“Heaven sent me seventy-two females a year.”
“Yes,” she ground out. “I know that. All of Heaven knows that.”
He probably shouldn’t like the note of jealousy in her voice, but hey, he was evil.
Turning away, he stared at the Monet on the wall. “Seventy-two females who didn’t want to be here. Much like you.” Silence churned between them as the truth of what he’d said thickened the air like a rancid stew. “Well, that’s not entirely accurate. Usually two or three of the bunch were eager to experience me. The rest...” Pivoting back to her, he waved his hand dismissively. “The rest closed their eyes and prayed. Literally prayed. Do you have any idea how unpleasant that is?”
“I can’t imagine,” she said softly. “But what does that have to do with all of this...stuff?”
“I told you that I couldn’t feel any emotions of my own, but I discovered that the more they felt, the more I felt. Remember when I told you I took Thanatos’s tattoos just so I could feel something?” At her nod, he continued. “The only other time I could ever feel anything was when I was inside an angel. The more she was worked up, the better for both of us.” He trailed a finger over the wood near where Lilliana’s wrist was circled by the leather cuff. “All of this allowed me to play until even the most timid female begged for my cock.”
She growled. “I did not need to hear that.”
Oh, yeah, he fucking loved that little twinge of jealousy. “And I didn’t need to see Hutfuckriel touching you.” That wasn’t fair and he knew it, but the fact that he was actually experiencing jealousy was awesome. Right now, every emotion was awesome, simply because he could feel them at all. “But that’s over. All of it is over, isn’t it?”
“Yes,” she whispered.
“Good. Now, let’s try something more deserving of your behavior.” He released the restraints.
“B-behavior?”
Smiling, he took her by the shoulders and swung her around to the spanking bench. He bent her over, locking her wrists into the cuffs. His cock strained behind the fly of his pants, and he unzipped, springing it from its fabric prison.
“Are you ready?” he asked as he took his erection in his hand and gave it a few strokes.
He was dying for this, but he wanted her to be dying for it, too, the way she’d been on the beach and in the shower. But instinctively, he knew this was a cleansing of sorts, a way for them to banish their pasts. He wanted intimacy. He wanted the sex to mean something.
This could be a new start for them both.
He stroked himself as he gave her a swat on her perky ass. She hissed, but as he rubbed the pink handprint on her ivory skin, she pushed into his palm.
“Yes,” she moaned. “Please.”
“Another then,” he murmured, swatting her harder.
This time she whispered a soft, “Oh, yeah. More. We are so keeping this bench.”
He gave her three more slaps in rapid succession, and his cock thickened to the point of exquisite pain as her ass reddened and grew hotter with every blow. Her arousal was like an airborne aphrodisiac, entering his lungs and spreading through his body like wildfire.
“Azagoth,” she pleaded, her breathless voice pushing him to the edge of his control. “I need to come.”
“You got it.” He positioned himself behind her and nearly moaned at the way she lifted her hips in anticipation. Her juices glistened between her swollen folds, and when he cupped her mound, her honey coated his fingers.
Still stroking himself, he slid his fingers into her slit and rubbed back and forth. She whimpered, pushing into his hand as far as the restraints would allow.
“Don’t worry,” he whispered. “I’ll release you. We’ll start this way, but I want to end with you on your back. I want to look into your eyes when I come.”
She cried out, so close to orgasm he could feel the tremors building between her legs. Gently, he eased his thumb into her silken opening.
“When you first came here, did you think we’d end up like this?”
“Never.” The honesty in her voice was tinged with an odd note of remorse. Did she feel bad about not wanting to come here?
Didn’t matter. What mattered was that she was here now, and he had all eternity to show her that she’d made the right decision to join him in Sheoul-gra.
His cock throbbed as he pressed it against her slit. Very slowly, he nudged the head inside her, her slippery desire easing the passage into her tight channel. Suddenly, her emotions slammed into him, a mixture of yearning and guilt. He shook his head, wanting them gone. He could feel now; he didn’t have to borrow her emotions.
But they wouldn’t subside. What the hell? He gripped her hips, holding both of them steady as he struggled to clear his head.
A glint of silver caught his eye, and suddenly, it all made sense.
The key pendant. Designed to transmit strong emotion, it was doing exactly that.
Another blast of her guilt hit him hard enough to make him groan. He needed to remove the necklace and use the rest of the night to assuage whatever regrets she had. He never wanted her to have a negative emotion again.
He’d get her a new pendant. One that wasn’t enchanted.
You only have thirty days to get out with the chronoglass before we close the door on Sheoul-gra, and you’re stuck with Azagoth forever.
He froze as Lilliana’s thoughts, her very memories, slammed into him like a lava troll’s meaty fist. Stunned, he could only stare blankly as the unbelievable truth pinged around inside his head and clawed at his heart. She’d betrayed him. She’d lied from the very beginning.
The warmth that had been nudging at his flesh, that had been starting to thaw his body, iced over.
“Damn you,” he rasped, his voice as raw as the wound she’d just inflicted. “You came here to steal the chronoglass.”
“Azagoth...no...wait—”
“Damn you!” Snarling, he gripped the necklace and yanked hard. The delicate chain snapped, and tiny links flew everywhere. Before she could say another word, he flipped the switch on the cuffs and released her.
“Get out.” Bypassing the ripped garment on the floor, he threw open her wardrobe, ripped a sunny yellow sundress from a hanger, and hurled it at her. And wasn’t he a gentleman for making sure he kicked her to the curb with undamaged clothing.
Idiot.
Lilliana caught the garment with shaking hands. “Please, just listen—”
“Listen?” he shouted. “Listen? To what? More lies? You’ve deceived me from the moment you crossed the threshold into my realm. You destroyed the only connection I had with my children, and now I find out you’ve lied about why you came here.”
Pain, sharper than any he’d ever experienced, cleaved through his heart and he nearly doubled over. How could she do this to him? How could she betray him like this? She’d used him, exploited his desperation, just like Lilith had all those years ago.
“Get the fuck out of my realm,” he gritted through clenched teeth. “and tell the archangels that if they dare to send another angel to me, for any reason, I’ll send that angel back in pieces.” He bared his teeth and advanced on her, forcing her to scramble backward toward the door. For the first time since she’d stepped foot in his realm, he got off on her fear. Craved it. Reveled in it. “Go. Before those pieces are yours.”
* * * *
Lilliana tried to not cry as she fled down the hall toward the building’s exit, tripp
ing and careening off walls as she attempted to put on the dress while running at full speed. She’d screwed up badly. She’d hated Azagoth in the beginning, but he’d been nothing but good to her. And once she’d understood his lack of emotions, his coldness had not only made sense, but had been understandable.
She should have told him the truth the very moment she realized she was having second thoughts about why she’d come here. Instead, she’d swept her deception under the rug and hoped he’d never find out.
Fool. Of course he found out. This is his realm. He knows all. Sees all.
Wait...how had he found out?
Not that it mattered. What was done was done, and as the tears rolled down her cheeks in hot streaks, she cursed Raphael. Hutriel. Herself.
“Lilliana!”
Cat’s voice rang out as Lilliana shoved open the door to outside. Only the knowledge that Cat might very well be screwed out of a job halted Lilliana in her tracks.
Cat jogged over. “What’s wrong? Where are you going?”
“I’m leaving,” Lilliana said. Well, she tried to say it, but the sobs muffled her words. “I’m sorry, Cat. I’m so sorry. Your job—”
The fallen angel threw her arms around Lilliana and hugged her tight, which only made her cry harder. “Screw the job. I don’t want you to go.”
Get your head on straight. Pull yourself together for her sake. You can fall apart later.
Easing back from Cat, Lilliana dabbed at her wet face with the hem of her dress. “Listen to me. Stay out of Azagoth’s way for a while. If he fires you...” Lilliana couldn’t believe she was about to say this, given the fact that she was an angel and this went against everything angels believed, but things had changed since she got here. She had changed. “There’s a demon hospital called Underworld General. Go there. Try to get a job. You’ll be safe from the fallen angels trying to drag you into Sheoul.”
Cat nodded, her eyes filling with tears. “Don’t go.”
A tormented roar, barely muffled by the building, rang out, stirring up a malevolent wind that reeked of rot and danger. “I have to.” She squeezed the female’s hand. “Promise me you’ll do as I said.”
Cat’s bottom lip trembled. “I promise.”
Breathing a sigh of relief, Lilliana released Cat. “Be safe. And thank you for everything.”
Hastily, before Azagoth made good on his word to send her to Heaven in pieces, Lilliana flew down the stairs and hit the ground running. As she stepped into the portal that would transport her out of here, she looked out over Azagoth’s kingdom.
All the new life, all the vibrant color and fresh air, was dying. Her last thought before the portal whisked her away was about Azagoth.
If his realm was dying, what was happening to him?
Chapter Nineteen
Azagoth stood in the library amongst shattered glass, his body trembling, his heart aching, his soul screaming. Pain surged through him in great waves that threatened to make him black out, but fate was a cruel bitch, and he remained as alert and sensitive to agony as ever.
His Lilli had betrayed him. Had plotted to steal his chronoglass and leave him. He looked down at the shards on the floor. Now she’d never get it. In a great fit of irrational fury, he’d destroyed it the way she’d destroyed him.
He could still feel her, and crazily, stupidly, he hoped she’d go to their bedroom and wait for him. Maybe try to convince him that he was wrong about her. That she loved him and couldn’t leave.
He wasn’t sure how he’d react to that, but a big part of him would be relieved.
Suddenly, something inside him extinguished, as if a flame had gone out. Or as if his breath had been forcefully expelled from his lungs.
Lilliana was gone.
Agony overwhelmed him. His breath scorched his throat with every desperate inhale. She’d left him, and his world was crumbling around him. Literally. The building was shaking, books falling from their shelves, cracks popping in the walls.
With a great roar, he fell to his knees. He screamed in utter misery, and only later realized he was screaming her name.
* * * *
Lilliana spent a full day in Heaven. Now she was down to twenty-two hours before Raphael’s ticking time bomb was set to go off and she’d have to submit to the time-travelectomy procedure.
Or she’d be shut inside Sheoul-gra forever.
With a person who wanted to tear her to pieces.
So far, she’d been able to get around without anyone knowing she was back behind the pearly gates, and hopefully no one had gone into the Time Travel Department’s artifact room yet.
Twenty-two hours.
She took one last look at the cottage she’d called home, at the eclectic decor from time periods all over the human world. She’d either never see this place again, or she’d return with no energy or passion for life.
But then, she didn’t need to have her time travel ability ripped away for the latter to happen.
Twenty-two freaking hours.
Taking a deep, bracing breath, she flashed herself out of Heaven and to as close as she could get to Underworld General Hospital, which turned out to be its underground parking lot.
There weren’t many cars, but there was a blond male in a black paramedic uniform scrubbing out the inside of one of two black ambulances near the entrance. Lilliana had no idea what had happened inside the vehicle, but it looked more like a mobile slaughterhouse than a rolling medical unit.
“Excuse me.”
“What?” came the gruff response.
“I’m looking for someone named Idess.”
“Inside.”
How helpful. “I can’t go inside.” No angel could enter the demon hospital, thanks to some sort of anti-angel ward. Apparently, no one could commit violence inside, either, thanks to another spell. Those wily demons had thought of everything.
“Guess you’re out of luck.”
Okay, now she was getting irritated. Stepping to the side of the rig, she slammed her fist into the center of the Underworld General symbol, leaving one hell of a dent.
“Luck is irrelevant,” she said. “I can’t enter the hospital, and I need help. Is it not your job to render assistance?”
Very slowly, he turned around, his fangs and silver eyes flashing. Surprise flickered at the sudden realization that he was a dhampire, a rare vampire-werewolf cross. She’d studied them in their Scottish homeland during one of her time travel assignments. She’d be fascinated to meet one in person if she wasn’t so annoyed. And in a serious time crunch.
“Medical assistance,” he said. “Are you bleeding to death, having a cardiac incident, or suffering from a splinter in your little finger? No? Then fuck off.”
Steam built in her veins. Tales of Underworld General staff arrogance reached the farthest corners of Heaven, but she’d always thought they were exaggerated. Turned out, not so much.
She slapped her palm against the side of the rig again, using a bit of angel power to make the sound crash through the enclosed parking lot like a sonic boom. Dhampire boy jumped high enough that he nearly brained himself on the roof.
“I’m approximately one insult away from rendering you down to a greasy stain of dhampire fat on the asphalt, so hear me, and hear me well,” she said, using the same power to make her voice resonate all the way to the paramedic’s marrow. “This is about Idess’s father. If you’re at all aware of who he is, if you’ve only heard whispers regarding his identity, you will drop that bottle of cleaner and fetch her. Now.”
The male, whose name tag read Conall, studied her for a moment. “You could have lead the conversation with the threat and saved us both a lot of time, not to mention damage to the rig.” He leaped out of the truck, and as he strode away, boots clapping on the pavement in heavy thuds, she swore she heard him mutter, “Fucking angels.”
She waited impatiently, watching a few vehicles come and go through the hidden portal in the lot’s concrete wall. Finally, just as she was contemplating cli
mbing into the ambulance and turning on the siren, Conall returned with a stunning female whose caramel hair had been piled on top of her head in a messy knot.
“I’m Idess,” she said. “You’re here about Azagoth?”
Lilliana glanced over at the paramedic, who stood protectively by Idess. “Can we have some privacy, please?”
Idess nodded at the dhampire, and after shooting Lilliana a look that promised pain if she caused trouble, he hopped inside the ambulance and went back to his gruesome work.
“Your father needs you,” Lilli began. Might as well get to the point. “One of your brothers, Methicore, arranged to have Sheoul-gra cut off to all Memitim. His viewing stone is broken, and he has no way to contact his children, let alone see them. I think you’re the only one who can access his realm now.”
“Methicore,” she hissed. “That son of a bitch has been causing trouble for centuries.” She eyed Lilliana. “How do you know all of this? Who are you?”
“I was supposed to mate him.”
Idess’s eyes flared. “Supposed to? Wait...mate him? What about the seventy-two angels? What the hell is going on?”
“I’ll explain it all later. Right now your father is in trouble, and I don’t have much time. I need your help. He needs your help.”
For a long moment, Idess stood there, staring at Lilliana. Finally, she said, “Why is this important to you?”
No matter what she said, she was going to sound stupid, so she might as well put it all out there. “Because he deserves a chance to be happy. And...I love him.”
Conall’s head whipped around and he stared at her like she was insane, but Idess merely looked curious.
“Are you trying to win him back?” she asked.
Lilliana shook her head. “I would love a second chance, but even if that doesn’t happen, I want to fix what I broke, and you’re the only person who can help me do that. Please. Not for me, for him.”
Idess glanced at her watch. “My lunch break is in ten. Let’s grab a bite somewhere and figure this out.” She gave Lilliana a wary glance. “How do I know this isn’t a trick? No offense, but a lot of angels have turned out to be...”
