by Larissa Ione
“I’m sorry.” He kissed her tears away. “You just feel… so… good.”
Her fingers stroked his neck, right over his jugular, and he had a crazy desire to ask her to bite him there. “It’s okay. I knew it would hurt.” She winced. “But maybe not as much as it does.”
“I want to make it better, lirsha.”
“Lirsha?”
Shit. Well, he couldn’t very well explain that it loosely translated to “lover” in Seminus-speak, and to hell with it, he didn’t want to explain at all.
“Shh.” He lifted her off him, the silky friction as his cock dragged through her wet channel nearly making him come. “Trust me.”
She bit her lip, her expression softening, and she nodded. Wriggling down her body, he urged her up at the same time, until his mouth met her core. The bed was short and his legs were crammed up against the wall, but he was exactly where he wanted to be.
Serena moaned as he kissed her deeply, rolling her swollen bud between his lips. Hungrily, he ran his tongue up her center in a gentle, wet stroke. When he pushed inside her with a healing swipe of his tongue, she cried out in a sharp release, coming so hard he had to steady her with a firm grip on her thighs.
When it was over, she went limp, and he easily tucked her beneath him. “Are you okay?”
“Oh, yes,” she murmured, her voice a husky trill. “Wow.”
“It’s only going to get better.”
Excitement sparked in her eyes. “Really?”
“Yeah. Really.”
He shifted so her hips were cradling his and his cock was poised at her entrance. Bracing himself on his elbows, he kissed her until they were both breathless and rocking wildly against each other. Her undulating, grinding motion had him sucking air, and when she lifted her legs around his waist, he couldn’t wait any longer. He tried to be gentle, but he was so worked up, and she was so wet…
He entered her in one smooth stroke.
“You okay?” he asked, though it would be a wonder if she understood him, the way the words had come out on a groan of ecstasy.
“Stop asking me that.” She tightened her thighs around him and arched up. “Keep going. Please.” She pumped her hips and locked her arms around his neck for leverage, and damn, he was just going to have to hang on for the ride.
He couldn’t believe he was doing this… with a human, with a virgin, with someone he cared about. But he didn’t want to think about all of that. He wanted to give her a first time she’d remember forever.
Except, she didn’t have forever anymore.
A nasty snarl came out of his mouth. He didn’t care that her disease had no cure. There had to be another way. He would save her. He would. And then, she would be his. “Mine.”
“Yours,” she agreed, tugging his head down to her throat. “Kiss me there. Like in the dream.”
The vampire dream. The idea of biting her made him so hot he surged inside her as his fangs shot out of his gums. Willing his fangs to retreat, he latched onto her neck with his lips and sucked, knowing he was going to leave a mark and not caring. He wanted to mark her in every way he could.
He also wanted to be gentle, but she drove him to amazing heights that destroyed his self-control, and suddenly he was sweating and pumping and growling, his release building like trapped steam.
She scored his shoulders with her nails and cried out, but he recognized the sound—pleasure, not pain. Her tight sheath clenched around him, dragging him deeper, her hips thrusting upward to create a wild, violent tempo that must have rocked the train.
Ripples of pleasure hummed through his balls, up his shaft, as his come heated and gathered until he couldn’t take it anymore. He came in a blinding, white-hot tide that crashed over him once, twice, oh, fuck… his third orgasm roared through him.
Satin walls milked him as Serena matched him climax for climax. He was used to multiple orgasms—it rocked to be an incubus—but he knew they were a rarity for the females of most species. The guaranteed ability to climax over and over with a Seminus demon was the draw for many females, and as he came down from his fifth, he settled in to watch Serena have a couple more.
Panting, he eased to the side to keep from squishing her, but he held her close, turning her into him so he was still inside her, could still feel the clench of her inner walls as she came again. Her head fell back, her eyes closed, and she let out little gasps of pleasure.
“Josh, oh… ah… yes.” She convulsed, and he dropped his hands to her butt to press her closer.
Normally, he immediately pulled out and away, left the female to writhe in pleasure while he made his escape. But this was Serena. They’d talked about the rush, the burn of the hunts they enjoyed, but he’d never felt those things with any female… any female but Serena. Sex with her was the ultimate rush, the ultimate burn, and he was going to be here to enjoy every single moan, gasp, and shudder.
“Wraith.” His voice was a guttural whisper against her ear. “Call me Wraith when you come.”
“Now,” she moaned. “I’m coming now… Wraith.”
He fucking came again when he heard her call out his name in her release. Afterward, they collapsed together, their skin slick with perspiration, their lungs sucking oxygen like there wasn’t enough on the train.
“Thank you,” she said, taking a ragged breath. “God, thank you.”
She was thanking him? She’d given him a miracle, had sacrificed her own life to give him something he didn’t deserve.
So no, he didn’t deserve thanks, and he wasn’t sure he should thank her, either.
Because Serena had saved his life, but in a way, she’d killed him a little, too.
Chapter 22
Eidolon experienced a strange mix of relief and anxiety as he hung up the phone after speaking with Wraith. Shade sat across from him in E’s office, jaw working overtime on a piece of gum, waiting for the news.
Wraith had retrieved the charm, which explained why Eidolon suddenly felt like running a marathon, but it sounded like his brother had fallen for the human, and that was only going to end in disaster. Especially because he’d all but ordered E to find a way to save her at all costs, and nothing Eidolon said could convince Wraith otherwise.
“Shade, he got the charm, but it’s not all good news—”
Reaver walked—or, more accurately, stumbled— through the door. The angel’s hair, normally blindingly shiny and perfect, was tangled and dull, falling around sunken, bloodshot eyes. His hands were black with dried blood, his skin so white his veins beneath it read like a road map of misery.
“What the fuck?” Shade asked, coming to his feet as if to catch Reaver.
“Forget me,” Reaver croaked. “Serena. Need to protect her.”
“Oh, now you’re ready to help?” E asked, and Reaver bowed his head in a nod. “Good. What’s special about the necklace?”
“There are things I can’t say.” Reaver met E’s gaze, his cracked lips set in a stubborn line.
“Dammit, Reaver, it’s been stolen, and it sounds like it’s a pretty damned big deal.”
The very last drop of color drained from Reaver’s face. He began to sway, and Eidolon shot to his feet to catch the angel before he keeled over. Fortunately, Reaver caught himself on the wall.
Good. Eidolon hated to admit it, even to himself, but the idea of touching someone of divine origins gave him the willies.
“It can’t be,” Reaver said. “What you’re saying is impossible.”
“I’m telling you, it’s not. I need to know about the necklace. Right now.”
Reaver’s pale blue eyes were diamond sharp but haunted when he locked them with Eidolon’s. “The pendant,” he said, in a clipped voice that made every syllable vibrate, “is Armageddon on a chain.”
Shade stopped chewing his gum. “Come again?”
“The amulet. It’s a piece of Heaven.”
“Ah… Heaven? Literally?”
“Yes.”
E exchanged looks with Sha
de, because this was big. Beyond big. “Reaver, we need to know more.”
Reaver raked his fingers through his hair. Eidolon gave the angel a minute to compose himself, because he still looked like he was on the verge of coming out of his skin. Finally, Reaver stopped messing with his mane but started pacing—slowly and with a limp, but pacing.
“In the Daemonica, there is mention of a celestial lock and key.”
E nodded, because he knew the passage in the demon bible, but it was vague. Demon scholars had been trying to decipher it for centuries. “Go on.”
“It is said,” Reaver continued, “that when Satan was booted from Heaven, he took a piece of it with him in hopes that it would allow him to return someday. He kept it hidden, and then, during a skirmish battle between good and evil, the angel Hizkiel took it back. But thousands of years of corruption had altered it. It could not be allowed back in Heaven for fear of taint. But neither could it be left on earth for demons to use as a way to open the celestial gate between Heaven and Hell. So it was decided that it should be put into the keeping of humans, since ultimately, the power struggle between good and evil has always been about mankind. Should they fail to safeguard it, their downfall will be their own doing.”
Eidolon had a bad feeling about this, especially with Wraith landing smack in the middle of a conflict between good and evil. “So it’s been left in the keeping of a human who has been charmed?”
“Yes. Many humans. Serena was the most recent. Theoretically, it should always be safe.” Reaver shook his head. “I don’t think even another Marked Sentinel could bypass the charm. Sentinels have come up against each other in battle, and their charms made them both untouchable even to each other.”
“It wasn’t another charmed human who took it,” Eidolon said. “It was a fallen angel. Name of Byzamoth.”
“Byzamoth?” A concussion wave shattered the windows in the office area, and the hospital shook with such force that Eidolon wondered if humans would register the rumbling on their Richter scale.
Shade moved toward the angel. “Hey, man, check up. We kinda like having a roof over our heads. One that isn’t crumbling.”
“It’s a little late for that,” Eidolon muttered, but now that Wraith was no longer dying, the hospital should get back to normal. Too bad the lack of staff couldn’t be so easily fixed.
“Byzamoth.” Reaver’s eyes flashed blue fire. “Is Wraith sure?”
“That’s what he said. Why? Who is this guy?”
Reaver shoved a chair aside so hard it flew into the wall and impaled itself in the plaster. Eidolon had never seen him so riled. Hell, he’d rarely seen him even mildly annoyed. “He was an angel of Destruction. Now a demon of Destruction. He fell during the first war in Heaven. If he has the necklace and the charm—”
“He doesn’t. Wraith has the charm.”
Reaver barked out a bitter laugh. “It’s a sad day when I’m relieved that Wraith is the one who took the charm.”
Shade scrubbed his hand over his face. “Okay, so what does Byzamoth want with this stuff? If he’s a fallen angel, he doesn’t need an invincibility charm.”
“No, but he needs the blood of a charmed one to work the amulet and open the gate between Heaven and Hell. If he had possession of the necklace and the charm, he could use his own blood at his convenience. Since he’s not charmed, he needs the blood of the Sentinel who guarded the amulet.”
“But Serena is no longer charmed.”
“Exactly. So once he knows that, he’ll need the blood of the one she passed it to.” Reaver finally stopped pacing. “The good news is that if anyone can take care of himself, it’s Wraith.”
“And obviously, the charm won’t work against Byzamoth.”
Reaver nodded. “I don’t think anyone anticipated the loophole.”
“That loophole being that an angel could bypass the charm… even a fallen one.”
“Obviously.”
“So what, exactly, will Byzamoth do with the amulet?”
“He’ll open Heaven to the forces of evil. Demons will swarm inside.” Reaver wobbled as he sank down on an office chair. “Humans have always been focused on the Apocalypse. They see it as the end of days, but for believers, it’s not such a bad thing. They know that after the battle of good and evil, the righteous will go to Heaven.” Reaver’s voice went as thin as the air in the darkest reaches of Sheoul. “Humans think the Apocalypse will be the battle of battles. Hell on earth. But with that pendant, Byzamoth will open the gate between Heaven and Sheoul, and the resulting battle will take place on many realms, on an unimaginable scale. Heaven could… cease to exist, souls will default to Satan, and humans would be trapped in a hell so terrible it can’t be conceived of.”
Reaver’s eyes grew haunted. “Boys, this is much bigger than an apocalypse. This is the end of existence for all but the victor.”
Shade, Eidolon, and Reaver spent the next hour arguing about what to do, but it always came back to Wraith
“He needs to get that necklace,” Shade said, as he popped the top of the Fresca he’d fetched from the break room. He’d also called Runa to let her know he was running late. She’d sounded as exhausted as he was, but with four babies at home, it was no wonder.
“No!” Reaver slammed his fist on Eidolon’s desk. “If Wraith defeats Byzamoth and gets the talisman, that leaves Wraith in possession of the most powerful artifact in the universe. I don’t think any of us wants that. The Aegis must retrieve it.”
Shade snorted. “Those bunch of ignorant—”
Eidolon beaned him in the shoulder with a stapler. “You’re talking about my mate, you know.”
“And like it or not, they are the human Guardians of the earthly realm,” Reaver said.
Eidolon looked up from his computer, where he’d been researching Biblical and demonic prophecies. “Whatever happens, it needs to happen fast. Tayla said that within the last twelve hours, demons have come aboveground and taken over three holy sites in Israel. The local Aegi have their hands full. Coincides with Byzamoth taking the necklace.”
“Hell’s fires,” Shade muttered. “Leave it to Wraith to start Armageddon.” Shade thought about his sons, so small and helpless, and about Runa, who he loved so much it hurt. He couldn’t bear the thought that they could be caught up in this war.
“This is far worse than Armageddon,” Reaver added, as if Shade needed the reminder.
“Why now?” Eidolon asked. “This Byzamoth asshole is obviously old, so why didn’t he grab the necklace and charm centuries ago?”
“Fallen angels can’t sense Marked Sentinels.” Reaver shook his head. “I don’t know how he could have found her.”
Eidolon tapped his fingers on his desk, and just as Shade was about to break his fingers, E froze, mid-tap. “Wraith said Byzamoth only has one wing. Has that always been the case?”
“Not that I know of.”
Shade frowned. “What are you getting at?”
“Roag’s dungeon. Runa ripped off the wing of a fallen angel. I wondered why Roag would have a fallen angel working for him.”
Reaver snorted. “He wouldn’t. No angel would serve a demon.”
“Exactly. But what if he was there to get something from Roag?”
“Eth’s Eye,” Shade said on a long, drawn out breath.
Reaver stilled. “What about it?”
“Roag stole it from my collection when he took the mordlair necrotoxin,” Eidolon said, going back to the tapping.
“You were in possession of Eth’s Eye?”
“Yes,” E said, “but it was impossible for us to use.”
“That’s because only angels can use it for the purposes of scrying. If Byzamoth had it, he could have used it to locate the amulet.” Reaver cursed. “Which explains why I felt her cloak shatter—a side effect of being discovered.”
“We need to involve The Aegis,” Reaver repeated, like a damned broken record.
“I agree.” Eidolon stood and walked around his desk
. “Tayla and Kynan are going to have to tell the Sigil what’s going on. All of it. This is too big for us alone. And they’re trained to hunt down beings like fallen angels.” He turned to Reaver. “When will he try to open the gate?”
“The second dawn after the Sentinel’s blood is shed. If he doesn’t use the blood then, he’ll have missed his opportunity. If he’d gotten Serena’s charm himself he’d have more control of the timing. Now he’s at the mercy of finding Wraith, and bleeding him.”
“Where will Byzamoth take the amulet and the blood?” Eidolon asked.
“Jerusalem. The Temple Mount. But he’ll need to get the blood first. Where is Wraith?”
“Egypt.”
“Get him home,” Reaver said. “We can protect him in the hospital.”
“That’ll work.” Eidolon didn’t sound too confident, though, probably because getting Wraith to sit still and do nothing would be like trying to chain a phantom. “In the meantime, Tayla can contact the Sigil and Aegis cells within striking distance of Jerusalem. Kynan can deal with R-XR. Let them know what’s up and get them ready for a battle.”
Shade cursed. Demon and human prophets had been saying for centuries that the end was near, and finally, it seemed as though they were right.
Chapter 23
Serena dreaded this call, but now that she had a signal she had to make it.
“Serena?” Val sounded as worried as she’d ever heard him, and she answered quickly.
“It’s me, Val. Everything’s fine.” If fine included losing her necklace, her virginity, and her charm in a matter of hours.
“Thank God.” She heard the squeak of leather, knew he’d just sank into a chair. “Where are you?”
“The train will be pulling into Alexandria in fifteen minutes.”
“And you’ll be heading home immediately?”
Her heart started pounding. “Not exactly. There’s a problem.”
