by Multiple
His hands pressed her little button as she rocked, feeling the full shaft of him, pushing her down on his groin. With each stroke they were deeper and more lost in each other.
His fingers moved up to her neck as one hand went around to the back of her head. He grabbed her hair and pulled her head back. He kissed the side of her face and neck as she pulsed out of control, the back of her head resting on his shoulder, her eyes closed.
“Hmm. Now you are mine.” His voice was soft and gentle. “Open your eyes. Look in the mirror.”
Her eyes flew open to see them reflected in the mirror, her body in an arc with breasts out, her hair falling from his shoulder down his back. His large hands encircled her delicate neck, one hand raising the back of her head so she could see how they looked together in the mirror as he pushed deeply inside her. He held her still as he filled her to the core, one hand on her throat, the other tangled in the hair at the back of her head.
She shuddered.
“Yes my dear. Now we are one.” His face was next to hers as she saw them in the large mirror mounted on the wall over the dresser.
Her eyes were black.
Claire was impatiently sitting at the bookstore, by the big window where she always found Angie reading. But Angie was a full twenty minutes late. This was not like her. Doris would be upset with Angie’s tardiness as well.
Angie brushed in then. “So sorry,” she whispered. She wore oversized sunglasses and had her duffel with her, a note pinned to the strap like she didn’t want to forget something. Dropping the bag behind her on the ground, she sank into the easy chair, delicately resting her hands and forearms on the deep armrests. Claire thought she picked up some musky smell, something earthy and dark, unlike Angie’s usual warm and sunny scent.
“Sunglasses inside. Are you injured?” Claire asked.
“No.” Angela smiled. It wasn’t the full toothy smile. “My eyes are a little sensitive to the light today.”
Claire shrugged. Something in the air didn’t seem right. Something about the sight of Angie made Claire feel cold.
“So, I guess you’re going back. To Heaven.”
“I decided to stay awhile.” Angie sounded casual.
“You got permission?”
“Well, sort of.”
Sort of? Claire sat back, clutching her hot chocolate, but it didn’t help. She was still shivering with a coldness that went all the way up her spine. Looking over at Angela, she noticed the angel didn’t bring her usual warm, steaming mug. Instead, her hands were folded and she sat in repose, legs crossed. She wore a long pair of toeless leggings. Black.
“You had your toes done, Angie.”
Angela raised her foot encased in black stiletto open-toed heels, slightly pointed at the end. Her well-developed calf muscles flexed as she pointed her toes, the nails painted a vivid red. Then she lowered her leg, crossing one over her other. “Never had it done before, so thought I would give it a shot.”
“It’s a strong look.” Something told Claire to be cautious. “Something’s changed. What is it?”
Angela looked outside the large window at the wet street. Claire thought she was searching for something to say.
Or how to say it.
Angela’s reluctance to answer made her nervous. “I don’t mean to pry, Angie, but you can tell me . . . anything.” Claire hoped the encouragement would open her up. The other angel continued looking outside the window, nodding a regular rhythm, like she was tapping time to music somewhere. Her big toe did most the movement.
Claire’s fear rose up, fanning her words as she spoke. “Angela, take off your glasses. I want to see your eyes.”
The ends of Angela’s lips curled up in a smirk. She took a deep breath, ran her fingers through her hair, and, as she exhaled, said, “Okay.” She removed her glasses and stared at Claire with obsidian eyes.
Claire’s palms sweated. She dug her fingernails into her skin. It would have drawn blood if she were human. She held back the urge to run as she looked at the blackness of Angela’s soul, now lost to her forever. She had not seen a dark angel, other than Josh, in the flesh. It was the first time she had seen someone she knew, and liked, turned into this state.
“Claire,” Angela leaned forward, seeking to clasp her friend’s hands.
“Don’t touch me.” Claire pulled back, twisting her torso to the side, protecting her heart with arms crossed over her chest.
Angela sat back. The smile had not left her face. It seemed to intensify, had more of a seductive cast to it. “It isn’t so bad, Claire. Honest. I wanted to tell you because I . . . care for you.” She inclined her head slightly, as if wincing. “Didn’t want you to hear it from someone else.”
“So what do we put on your marker?” Claire’s fear was turning to anger. “Shall we put a book? A cup of steaming chocolate? No, I see you’ve lost the need for chocolate. You’ve no doubt replaced it with something else entirely.” Bitterness and pain held hands in her chest. Claire couldn’t afford to consider how precarious her own situation was now. But then the fear came up again.
Angie. Gone. Turned. I have no one. No one but Daniel.
She mustered up the courage to ask what she’d been dying to know. “Who did it?”
“My James.”
Emphasis on MY. They don’t turn, they claim each other. Always so possessive, these dark ones.
“Well, at least it wasn’t Josh.”
What am I saying? What difference does it make? She’s gone. Angie’s gone forever!
“No, James couldn’t let that happen.”
“Like he had some kind of a choice, you mean?”
Angela shook her head from side to side. “You don’t know how it works, Claire.”
“No, Angie. Only way to explain it is that James cut a deal. He cut a deal with Josh. Probably the only way he could get him to go dark. He protected you—protected you from having to sleep with that putrid sack of flesh and paid for it with his soul.”
Claire was secretly happy Josh hadn’t gotten Angie as a conquest, but had to go through James. But then, Angie was a blonde, not a redhead.
“Are you even sure it was James you slept with? They can shift, look like someone else. Maybe you slept with Josh after all.”
“I think I would know. I am in love with him.”Angela’s eyes scanned her guardian friend. “Claire, it really isn’t a bad thing. In fact, I am rather enjoying it. I wish I had done it before.”
She did look beautiful, Claire had to admit. Her skin was whiter, more translucent. Her lips were redder and fuller. Her scent had changed to a rich vanilla and spice fragrance, rather than the flowery one her dust used to have. She could even be called sultry. Gone were her black angel slippers with the pearl button strap. Gone was her white gown with the eyelet lace. She wore her hair down now, not in the ponytail with the white scrunchie like before. She drew Claire in with her smile, the dancing flashes of red light in her dark eyes pulling her forward.
Angie is dangerous.
“I’m shocked. Disappointed.” Oh, this is not the half of it.
“Remember when I told you about how it felt when James was my charge? Remember I told you I was the happiest angel in the universe? That was a lie, compared to how I feel now. And we have forever together, forever!”
It was a good argument.
Angela said, “Claire, take my duffel. Everything is in there: my gown, some things I brought from my room. Take it back for me, okay?”
Claire had her arms crossed in front of her, shaking her head.
“Please, Claire. I am the same person I was before. If you ever loved me before, please take this back for me. I want these things to go home with you. Please.”
When Claire looked up at Angie, there were tears in her eyes.
“I’m happy, really happy, Claire. I chose this all my myself. Don’t worry about me. Tell Doris, okay? Look, I’ve written a note to you here.” Standing now, Angie dumped
the bag at Claire’s feet, the note attached to the strap curling up at the sides, attached with a safety pin.
“This was the only option for me. Just think about it Claire.”
Chapter 33
Claire sat at the open-air café, collecting her thoughts. The meeting with Angie had been disturbing, but Angie had warned her about how vulnerable she’d been to James’s advances. Now Claire wished she had mentioned how Angie’s memory hadn’t been affected by the Wash to Father when they’d met. Perhaps he could have done something. Not every human could be saved.
Apparently not every angel either. She shivered at the thought of Angie’s white stone.
Her hot chocolate was cooling in front of her. Storm clouds of worry lurked in the outer regions of her mind. Claire felt ill prepared for these circumstances. She wanted a life with Daniel even though her mind failed to find a precedent allowing an angel to stay in the human world forever. Glad she’d been able to rebuff Angie’s attempt to seduce her to the dark side, her nerves were eased just a bit.
Angie and James had never been physical before when he was human and she was an angel. Perhaps if they had—if they had experienced the flesh on flesh relationship she and Daniel had, there wouldn’t have been the tension that ensnared Angie. Claire believed that Angie had been so overcome to love James physically that the passion had clouded her friend’s judgment.
Claire had delivered Angie’s bad news to Doris earlier in the day, after reading the note. She knew it would break Mother’s heart, but suspected Father already knew.
A chill ran down her spine. She looked up to see Josh walk in front of her table on the outside of the café, bowing to her as he passed. Once inside the restaurant, he made a direct path to Claire’s table.
“Ah, love, nice to see you again. You look good enough to eat.”
“I’m not feeling it, Josh. Leave me alone. There is nothing here for you.”
“Oh, but you’re wrong. I am here to make you a proposition.”
“I know all about your deals. I’m not interested.”
“Claire, love, how long do you expect to be able to stay? Father’s not going to turn a blind eye forever and you know it. How long are you going to indulge in the fantasy? It could be dangerous, you know.”
Claire shrugged. She really didn’t have an answer to that.
“I can give it all to you, Claire. I can give you Daniel. A love that lasts forever.” Josh was watching her eyes. “And physical love, like you have now.” As Claire bored her gaze into him he added, “Oh yes, I know everything.” He grinned.
Her imagination focused on a life that she wanted, that felt so real in her mind. She and Daniel were sitting on a small loveseat, holding hands, watching their children open Christmas packages. She saw their daughter smile at him. The child was dark like Daniel, with red lips and strikingly white teeth. Claire was holding a baby. They all dropped to wrestle on the floor. A toddler tackled her from behind. The five of them nuzzled there in their living room. On Christmas.
But this dream could never be. The world Josh was offering did not contain children. In his version she saw a much older Daniel, sitting on the loveseat with a young blond girl, just as Claire looked now. The room was empty and there was no laughter. She would trace the lines around his eyes. They would be filled with sadness and regret for a life not lived fully. She would finger his lips, still red and luscious, but their passion would not bring forth a seed growing in her womb. No amount of lovemaking would bring to him the laughter of children or silence the deafening sounds of nothing but their own voices.
His smiles would be from remembering days when he was young, getting sunburned, lying in the fields between the vines eating cheese and drinking red wine from the bottle. The sky was so big on those days. Everything was possible and the future lay before them with brightness. But there would be no children. She would be his eternally young companion, a constant reminder of the passage of time and what they could not share. He would not have the life he really wanted. Neither would she.
“You know, Josh, what you’re offering, it isn’t as attractive as you would think.”
Josh frowned, tilted his head. “How so, my sweet?”
“Can’t you see this old man walking down the street with the young girl? Can you see the looks he would get?”
“So, you turn him too. Then you both stay young forever. Not a problem!”
“Childless. Young and childless.”
“Ah, love, you ask too much. You could turn a whole family and adopt them.”
“No.”
“To get what you want sometimes you have to pay a price, a stiff price. But you will have him forever.”
“I have forever now in Heaven.”
“And it must be a fabulous place.” He covered his lips with an index finger, before adding, “Curious, my pet, how there just aren’t nearly as many people trying to fall into Heaven. Ever thought about that, love?” His black eyes twinkled, searching her face. He looked excited. “They all seem to be coming mostly the other way.”
“It takes a certain person to want the forever Heaven offers. It clearly isn’t for everyone. Certainly you would be miserable there.” She looked at Josh. “I know I’m not telling you something you haven’t heard before.”
“Oh, but you do it so much better.” He leaned on his fingers, elbows on the table, like that first day they met. He reached over and stroked the tender white flesh of her arm with his forefinger. “Ever thought about us . . . together?”
Claire withdrew her arms from the table, revolted. “Never. Not for an instant.”
“You say such nasty things so nicely. Does Daniel ask you to say dirty things too? I’d say you have a special talent for it. I would let you say all the nasty things you wanted.”
“Go to Hell.”
Josh sat up straight and laughed. “Fabulous!”
“You aren’t attractive to me.” Claire said.
“And I generally go for redheads. I’m hoping we could get used to each other, in time. We would broaden our horizons, so to speak.”
“Your offer holds no attraction, not an ounce of it. It is the last thing I would do. I would never do it. I understand rape is only a human thing.”
“Sadly, yes.” Josh turned down his lower lip. “Tell you what I will do. I will get Daniel turned. If I could do it without a lot of pain, blood and the kind of scene he was trying last time, would that interest you?”
“No. Besides, he won’t do it. You know this.”
“Wouldn’t he do it for you? If you asked him?”
She shuddered, not wanting to think about it further. She saw Daniel sitting in the forest painting, in a garden of flowers among the bees and creatures that zipped through the air. She heard the sharp inhale of his breath when she touched him, when she asked for his warm mouth on hers. His life force full of passion and joy was strong. He was connected to the universe. He not only described it in his paintings, he felt it. He would never give up the universe for one little angel. Even if that angel were her.
“He’s stronger than I am now, Josh. And if you took me, he would make it his mission to defeat you. That would earn him a spot in Heaven. He could become a Guardian, picking up the pieces of flesh you so easily underestimate and discard.”
They both looked at their hands. Claire picked up the mug of cooled chocolate. The whipped cream had melted into it, leaving a layer of white glaze on top. She raised it to her lips, and with her eyes closed, took a sip. Josh didn’t say a word, merely watched.
“I could help you with that experience.”
Claire opened her eyes and smiled. “I can eat. I just prefer to taste. It was perfect without you. It was made perfect. But, I thank you for not interfering. Are you beginning to develop manners, a conscience?”
“Hardly,” he scoffed a little too loudly. Claire saw she hit a nerve.
“Joshua, have you ever thought about how boring it is to cause
pain all day long?”
“I like to think I bring joy now and then. I know I bring ecstasy quite often, or so the ladies tell me.” He leaned over the table to get as close to Claire’s face as possible. “You and I would be beautiful together.”
“Beautiful? You? You want something beautiful?” She laughed. She could see it stung his ego. His eyes flashed red in return.
“I am the greatest lover in the universe. I make women want to eat themselves to get a piece of me.”
“Has anyone given up life itself just to be with you?”
Josh’s face was unreadable.
“Ever had someone run to you for protection from evil, when you did not take their soul? Ever love someone so much you couldn’t hurt her? Have you ever been willing to give up forever for just a few decades as a human for her?” She looked at his red eyes. “Have you ever had that kind of a love, Joshua?”
“I’m not so sure that’s very smart. I don’t think that’s love, do you?”
Claire smiled. “How on earth would you understand that kind of sacrifice? You don’t know one whit about love. Now I see why. You can’t love anyone but yourself.”
Chapter 34
Claire was reading Marked by Passion as she lay on Daniel’s bed. She glanced at the bedside clock. Sunlight no longer came through the bedroom window—it was late. She needed to tell Daniel about Angela’s turning, but he hadn’t yet arrived home. It was not like him to come home so much later than he’d promised. Claire hoped it meant his meeting with the new gallery owner in Sausalito today went well.
Claire slipped off her white eyelet gown and entered the shower. The feeling of warm water on her skin was heightened due to her human form, which she took almost all the time now. It felt natural to her, and she loved living as if she was human.
Daniel’s strong hand suddenly pulled back the shower curtain, which startled her at first. Lust flared in his eyes, and her nerves settled. She smiled. He didn’t say anything, just stared at her body, like he’d never seen it before, his boldness making her blush.
