Fallen Gods: Tainted Purity

by Lorie O'Clare

  “Naomi.” She whispered her friend’s name, needing to find her and then get the fuck out of there. “Come to me.”

  It was too easy. Reaching through the hells, through the evil, the disparagement. Her friend lay unharmed, asleep, left alone, cast to the side. Finding her was too simple. Why hadn’t she seen how to do it before?

  Everything made sense now. She swore it was as if a door opened in her brain that had been jammed shut up until now, and the clarity of life washed through her.

  Bridget realized confronting her attacker, the being who had stolen her memory, had removed the spell. His actions had been devious, backstabbing. But he hadn’t robbed her of centuries of her life with a spell strong enough to prevent her from confronting him.

  Talking to him, experiencing his wrath toward her had brought back memories of their last confrontation. The demon leader approaching her, propositioning her, suggesting a union of their powers. She had laughed at him, mocked him, cast him away without a thought. But she remembered now.

  “You nasty little scum,” she whispered under her breath when she materialized in the dark dismal area where he’d put Naomi.

  Lifting her friend into her arms, while casting a silent spell to make her friend a lot lighter than she really was, her thoughts plagued her. So many memories flooded through her at once. It was overwhelming. After making the demon leader leave her, hell, she didn’t even know where she sent him, just away—away from her—out of her life, thoughts seemed to plummet through her like a hard, fast waterfall. The despicable leader of the demons had threatened her—well, he’d threatened Braze.

  “Join me, unite with me, or I will cast your lover into a turmoil of mortality,” he’d hissed at her.

  His words, spoken so long ago on that stormy night, came back to her with a vengeance. She had feared for Braze, hesitated over the demon’s threat, and it had cost her her own loss of memory. The demon had tricked her, threatening to do to Braze, what he instead did to her.

  Bridget held Naomi tightly, the two of them flying through the hells, leaving the horrendous place behind.

  “Let’s go home, girlfriend,” she whispered into her friend’s hair.

  The hard surface of Naomi’s bedroom floor pressed against her feet. Cool air tingled her cheeks, her friend’s apartment chilly, the heat needing to be turned up. Nonetheless, it felt damned good to be home.

  “Sleep,” she told Naomi as she placed her on her bed and slid her hands out from underneath her. “All of this will be no more than a fading dream when you wake up.”

  She glanced around, making sure nothing was out of place in her friend’s home then raised her hands in the air. Closing her eyes, she searched for evil, for any demons who might linger in the area. Her breathing slowed while she forced herself to relax, to allow the basic elements to feed her.

  “No one shall harm you, and it shall be so.” She turned, repeating herself three times.

  Demons were thick in the area, thicker than she had ever felt them before. Extending herself, allowing her soul to reach further than her body could possibly reach, she pressed her spell to the outer limits of her apartment complex.

  “Nothing evil shall enter this building.” Again she chanted the spell three times, allowing the air to carry her message, using the dampness, the moisture from the day to seal her words, burning her command like fire into the structure that surrounded them.

  But as she reached, searched the area with her inner sight, more than evil presented itself. A force, powerful and strong, dominating and aggressive, and very much not pleased, headed toward her. Bridget’s stomach twisted into knots, her breath suddenly coming in pants as she hurried to finish her spell, and pull herself back into her body.

  She disappeared from Naomi’s apartment, content with the knowledge that her friend would sleep undisturbed, and hurried to her own place. The familiar scent of her candle filled her senses as she materialized, the softness of her carpet under her feet offering her the comfort of home.

  Long, strong fingers twisted through her hair before she had a chance to look around. Although she didn’t need to see with her eyes what she already knew was there.

  “Don’t you ever run from me again,” Braze growled into her ear.

  His temper hadn’t changed a bit over the centuries. If she faded away, made herself vanish and disappear from under his grasp, it would only infuriate him more. And it didn’t take her powers to realize that he was beyond upset.

  She swallowed the lump that clamped her throat shut, working to keep herself calm so she could reason with the man. Her heart pounded so hard, though, she ached to be out of her body, to get away from the physical reactions he caused so she could think clearly.

  “Forgive me for wanting out of there,” she breathed, struggling to swallow while her breath came in gasps.

  “And away from me? How many times will you run from me, Bridget?” He pulled harder on her hair, forcing her head up so that it rested against his chest.

  Looking over her shoulder at him while he stood behind her, the rage burning in his eyes, swarming around intense lust, was a dangerous mix. She needed to watch what she said. Braze could be very dangerous. And she knew she’d pushed him to the edge when she accused him of muddling her initiation ceremony.

  “I wasn’t running from anyone.” And that was the truth. “I simply came home.”

  If she wanted to run from him she wouldn’t have come here. But she didn’t need to insult his intelligence by saying that. She wouldn’t tell him that if she had wanted to hide from him, she damned well could do it.

  No. She wasn’t in the best position to evoke his wrath.

  Braze pressed his mouth into her hair, his free hand stroking her neck. “I was there to take you home. You had no reason to leave my side.”

  He straightened, his long fingers burning into her skin, stretching her so that she almost looked at him upside-down. And his power, the fierceness of how he looked at her, devouring her, made it impossible to look away.

  She sucked in a breath, his fingers caressing her neck. Fire rushed through her, turning her insides to molten lava.

  “Thank you. But I didn’t need the escort.”

  His fingers tightened around her neck, a pressure building deep within her womb from his aggressiveness. Damn her body for reacting to him like this. She must have gone centuries without sex.

  He pulled her closer, further twisting his fingers through her hair, while stretching his fingers around her neck. The urge to collapse against him, let him do what he would, rushed through her like an angry tidal wave.

  She jumped away from him before she could think. Her rational thought quickly turning to a puddle at his feet.

  Allowing her body to fade into thin air, freeing herself from the heat of his touch, gave her only a moment to clear her head.

  Braze pounced on her, leaving his own body so quickly that she didn’t react in time. Her soul hit a brick wall, slamming back into her body so fast she couldn’t catch her breath. She reappeared, doubling over while she struggled to breathe.

  “What did I say about running from me?” He was on top of her, hovering over her like a shroud.

  “I wasn’t running.” It was all she could do to speak.

  He lifted her off of the ground, her body floating over the floor. For some reason, she couldn’t escape the shell of her flesh this time. Braze had grown too powerful to mess with over the centuries.

  “I just need some space,” she added, daring to speak her mind when she had no idea what he might do.

  In the next instant she flew to the couch, unable to control how she landed, and hit the cushions on her hands and knees. Braze flew over the coffee table as she tried to crawl to the other end.

  Her mind raced, knowing only that he’d gone mad, completely out of his senses. He was on her like a wild man. Her long hair fell around her face, blocking her view. Without seeing exactly where he was, and her thoughts fumbling over one another, there
was no way she could react in time to keep him from grabbing her.

  Braze grabbed her hair, twisting it in his fist. At least he pulled it away from her face. Her heart beat in her chest, his hands on her fueling the fire already simmering to a boil inside her. More than anything she wanted to fuck him. He’d come to her before she remembered who she was, but now she wanted him with all of her memories intact. She wanted him more than she wanted to fight with him. And that terrified her.

  Because not even Braze would run her life.

  “You need some space?” He reached around, gripping her chin, turning her head so she could see the outrage swimming with a raw, carnal desire in his eyes. “And you question the initiation ceremony? Maybe you are questioning whether you want to be with me, or not?”

  He had hold of her face, his fingers pressing along her jawbone. She stared into those green eyes, his expression hard and serious. A small muscle twitched next to his temple, her only clue that he restrained from getting more physical with her.

  Caught in his gaze, she couldn’t do anything but tell him the truth. “After I cast the demon leader away from me it was like a dam broke. So many memories flooded through me that all I could do was stay there for a minute, absorbing my life. What hurt worse than what that lowlife did to me, was that no one stopped these demons from consuming Earth.”

  “And to think that I thought you simply enjoyed being tied up like that.” The corner of his mouth curved up, the smallest indication of a smile.

  He moved closer, his knee pressing on the couch between her legs while his arms wrapped around her. Strong and powerful, muscles bulged against her everywhere as he held her close. And when he kissed her, sparks ignited, like a surge of electricity shocking her senses.

  “Braze.” Her mind fogged over with desire and she realized her need to understand why she had been abandoned wasn’t as imperative to him as it was to her.

  “Brigit.” He said her name the old way, breathing into her mouth right before he kissed her. “Admit you are mine.”

  Of all the memories she had of him kissing her, nothing compared to the passion that poured from his touch. She turned in his arms, deepening the kiss, kneeling into him on her couch.

  The way he held her, with her breasts smashed against his rock-hard chest, his legs pressing against her pussy, feeding the fire that already burned there, all she could do was submit.

  She was a lost cause when it came to this man. Later she would demand explanations; right now all she wanted was for him to fuck her.

  She broke the kiss, tracing her lips over his chin and down his neck while she fought to catch her breath. “I think it is clear that you are mine.”

  If anyone else had touched him while her memory was gone, she wasn’t sure what she would do. Just the thought of it made her blood boil. And as much as she wanted to ask him, she feared the answer. Braze was an incredibly sexual man. It would be asking a lot to assume he’d remained loyal for so long.

  Braze straightened, pulling away from her while he grabbed her dress. Fire burned in his intense green orbs. “Well then let me make a few more things clear. You are also mine. And I’m sure that I’ve remained more loyal to you than you have to me, my dear. I never forgot about you for a day.”

  Bridget opened her mouth to speak, but he twisted the material of her dress, tearing it. The sound of material ripping made her jump, not to mention the fact that he’d just spoken her thoughts. Maybe the spell she’d worked over on herself only lasted for so long. She struggled to think of a new spell, something to say to herself to keep her thoughts private. It wasn’t right for him to hear all of her worries, her insecurities.

  But she couldn’t speak, let alone think. Braze tore her dress in two and then allowed the fabric to glide down her body, exposing her breasts.

  She gulped in a breath, glancing down at her hardened nipples and then quickly back up at Braze. His gaze was hooded, his lips barely parted while he looked down at her body.

  “I had no memories of my own past, let alone of you.” She slipped her arms from the sleeves of her torn dress, working to free herself from the material that hung on her.

  “And now you remember everything?” he asked.

  “Everything down to the night when the demon leader threatened to cast this spell on you,” she told him.

  His expression turned dark, fury suddenly warring in his eyes when he looked into her face, searched her thoughts. She felt his probe, his inner being merging with hers.

  “And by trying to protect me, you lost your own memory?” His voice was no more than a whisper, dangerous sounding as the protector in him made his muscles bulge even more.

  If she didn’t know him as well as she did, she would have been terrified. Even now, kneeling on the couch half naked, feeling the heat from his anger swarm through her, her heart raced while she thought of what to say to calm him down.

  Something about his anger excited her though. His possessive predatory nature made her come without thinking. She must be out of her head to entertain the thought of provoking him further.

  “There was no try to it. I did protect you.” Frustrated with her torn dress she looked down, gliding it back up her body and putting it into one piece again.

  Braze reached for her, and there was no way she could move fast enough shy of disappearing. Something told her that wasn’t in her best interests. His hand pressed against her chest, right between her breasts. The heat from his touch took her breath away.

  “Never doubt my abilities,” he growled, sucking her dress off of her with his hand, as if it were suddenly a silent vacuum cleaner. In a second, the dress no longer existed. “You didn’t tell me that the demon leader came to you, or none of this would have happened.”

  “Why, you pompous ass.” She flew backwards, away from him, landing naked in the middle of her living room. Putting her hands on her hips, she glared at him. “You think you can move over everyone to get what you want. My powers equal yours in all ways, and he stole my memories. He would have done the same to you.”

  “No.” Braze leapt off the couch, grabbing her, lifting her and pinning her back against his rock-hard chest. Flying through the air, he pinned her to the wall. “You took him on by yourself, failing to see how much stronger we are together. That will never happen again.”

  The wall was cold against her feverish body, his cock creating a hard indention into the softness of her ass. Try as she would she couldn’t think of a ready comeback for him. Her body ached to have him buried deep inside her, soothing the ache that grew with every moment to the point where she was sure she would die if he didn’t fuck her soon.

  His hands moved up her side, caressing lightly. She closed her eyes, letting her head fall back into him. There was no way she could think straight when he had her like this. He wrapped his long fingers around her waist, thrusting his rock-hard cock against the oversensitive flesh of her ass.

  “Damn it.” She couldn’t organize her thoughts.

  It was not fair that he could control the situation so easily simply by creating a need in her so strong that she would do or say anything just to get him inside her. There must be something seriously wrong with her.

  His hands brushed over her up her rib cage, under her arms, and then further, lifting her arms so that they stretched above her head. She rested her palms against the smooth coolness of the wall. Pulling her back against him, her arms reached behind her, pulling his head down alongside hers.

  “I wouldn’t have been able to bear it if you’d lost all knowledge of who you were, what you were.” She turned her head enough so that she could see him looking down at her.

  His hands moved to her breasts, rolling her nipples between his fingers. The roughness of his touch sent her over the edge, her body quivering while her legs threatened to turn to mush.

  “So you put that burden on me. Making me wonder for centuries if the rumors that you had indeed died were true.” His tone was no longer harsh, but instead an inte
nse, captivating whisper implying he had every intention of making her pay for her decision.

  “Immortals will always be reborn.” Her thoughts were a mix with the urge to battle with him, make him see she had done what she thought right at the time, and simply to submit to him, let him ravish her body, give her what she so desperately craved.

  He chuckled, the sound flushing through her, sending her heart aflutter. Everything about him was a weapon—his body, his actions, his words. And her strength was leaving her.

  “You disappeared. No one could find you. And believe me, I looked.” Apparently his ability to seduce her, and win an argument at the same time was stronger than hers. “When the demons had almost taken over this town, it caught my attention.”

  She took a deep breath; his hands squeezed her breasts while he continued to twirl her nipples between his fingers. The length of his shaft throbbed against her ass. At least she could even the odds a bit. Blinking, she willed his clothes away. Moisture at the tip of his cock immediately traced a blurred line across her skin. Again he chuckled, obviously not minding a bit that he was now naked, too.

  Her tight hole flared with desire, memories of him taking her there, plunging through her with a vengeance.

  “I’ll cast them out,” she managed to say, demons being the last thing she wanted to think about right now.

  “We’ll cast them out.” His hands left her breasts, moving down her quickly until he grabbed her hips. He pulled her away from the wall with a quick step, his cock adjusting so that it pressed against the soaked walls of her pussy. “That is what you will get into your head. This isn’t your burden. Nor has it ever been. Together we are stronger. Alone you will falter.”

  Her hands slid down his chest while she struggled to maintain her footing. A force came down on her, forcing her to bend over. He had her right where he wanted her, pinned with invisible means so that her ass and pussy were exposed to him. Her hair drifted around her, blinding her. Silently she willed her coffee table closer so that she could press her hands against it, something to hold her up so she could maintain balance. Blood rushed to her head.