Blood Dawn (Queen of Abaddon Book 3)

by Rae Foxx

  Vincent said he didn't. He seemed very regretful about that, as well.

  I pulled him out of me, and I'd been right. It was relatively easy to overpower him and expel his aura from mine.

  Once he was a soul again, I blasted him with a bit of power and sent him floating into the sea of souls. "We can't take him. All we can do is leave him, then fix this mess..." I gestured vaguely to the souls piled up in the River that couldn't come through. "Once we have Lucifer's powers and Ariel back."

  "Agreed," Michael said. Lucifer and Gabriel nodded.

  "Come on. Let's stop by and check out Abaddon. See if there's anyone left in it." We walked out of the gates, which let us leave easily, but none of the souls could. Not unless we made it happen with magic. That was normally the job of the Fallen, but they were currently trying to make all demons invisible again on Earth.

  The walk across the soft grass was eerie. Normally, this area bustled with activity. Upper Demons and Fallen going back and forth, souls in states of entry and exit.

  Now there was nothing. No more demons ran out of the gates.

  We entered to find vast emptiness in Abaddon. Our palace stood silent, empty. It was built so that some of it was on the outside of the gates, and that part was where Michael and Gabriel and I shared a home. They couldn't come into Abaddon with the gates closed.

  It was all fair game now, though. The place felt dead. Like the magic had been stripped from the realm completely. No life, no death.

  Just nothingness.

  I whispered, "We have to figure out how to get our daughter back."

  14

  Our breakfast with Cecilio and Mary seemed so long ago. "I'm starving," I said as we contemplated walking around the castle.

  "Well, I've never been inside the gates like this, and I don't like it. I'm ready." Gabriel looked just as freaked out as he had in the River. "We aren't meant to be here." He shivered.

  Michael was more stoic about it, but I could tell he agreed. "Okay," I relented. "Let's go."

  We walked out of the gates and looked up at the giant stone wall. It was imbibed with magic to create a permanent ward. That was the only reason we had to open and close the gates with Lucifer's magic. They were far too large for any force to move them physically. The wards were too tied to the stones. And I wasn't sure if there was enough magic available to anyone, anywhere to recreate the wards with new ones. They'd been forged with the power of the Fall. That was a level of power I hadn't seen since.

  "I never imagined I'd miss this place," Lucifer said. "I resented it for so long."

  Well, that was news to me. I looked at him in shock. "What?"

  He shrugged. "What did you expect? I went from the most powerful Archangel to the guy that punishes the sickos. It took a while to come to terms with my new lot in life."

  "We reacted to the fall differently." His hand was warm and dry when he enveloped mine so we could travel back to the house. "I was eager to start our new lives as free angels. We had the whole world at our fingertips, finally."

  I moved us to the house and immediately went to the kitchen.

  It was nearly bare. Of course. We'd been in and out, back and forth for a while, randomly grabbing food out of the refrigerator and cabinets. We'd cleaned it out.

  "I've still got some cash of Lucian's," Luc said as Gabriel peered over my shoulder into the empty refrigerator and moaned.

  Gabe brightened up. "Pizza?"

  Lucifer chuckled at his friend's eager expression and grabbed the house phone. "Sure."

  He dialed the number still tacked to the wall beside the phone and ordered a few pizzas. I left the guys to it and went into the living room where I collapsed on the couch, then curled up into a ball after tucking the plump couch pillow under my head.

  "Hey," Michael said softly. "You okay?"

  "No." I rubbed my face on the smooth fake-suede of the pillow. "We are out of ideas."

  My mind felt like it had been electrocuted. There was a bit of a buzz and a lot of sleepiness. Hope was a far-flung emotion.

  "Okay," Lucifer said. He sat on the coffee table and looked down at me with a blank expression. "What do we know?"

  "She's not human," I mumbled.

  "Right, but you were right that we couldn't have taken her to Abaddon," Luc said. "What else?"

  "She's the most powerful being Raphael knows of ever to have existed," Michael said. "And she's either on Earth somewhere or in his realm."

  "If she was on Earth, we could get together a spell and find her," I said. "But she's not. He's not stupid enough to keep her here."

  Michael lifted my legs and sat in the middle of the couch. Gabe sat on the end. I peeked at them both without moving my head.

  "We need to get rid of his realm." Lucifer stood and paced. He did that a lot when he was worried. "How could we possibly get enough power to do it?"

  I turned my face into the pillow. "We can't," I said. Not that they understood me.

  Michael squeezed my leg. "Eh?"

  "We can't. We've been over this. That much power doesn't exist right now." I sighed and twisted my body around to lay on my back and stretched my legs across Michael and Gabriel.

  "What about Ariel?" Luc asked. "I have a body that can hold all the power she can send at me. She has all the power in the world but doesn't need it right now."

  He was right. If we could get Ariel's power and put it in Luc, combined with our own it might've been enough to at least lock them out of the realm Raphael created. And once they were forced to stick to the realms we could also access, all bets were off. We could find them and get Ariel back.

  Plus, once she didn't have power, he might not have any other use for her and give her up. That would've been great, too.

  "We could try," I said. "Mary said there's already a spell for it. It wouldn't be like in Mexico, where we'd be trying a new spell someone invented."

  "I'd say what harm could it do? But we've proven so far it could be a great deal of harm. What if taking Ariel's powers backfires on her somehow?" Michael asked.

  My heart sank. That would be putting her in potential danger. "Let's consult with Mary."

  We were an hour behind Mary, and it was already full dark. We couldn't go to her yet, so we decided a good night's sleep after filling our bellies would be a good thing.

  "Come on," Gabe said. He stood from the end of the couch and held his hand out. "You and Lucifer are still not at your full potential from the change. Plus, Luc's ordeal in Mexico. You two go get in bed and rest. We'll go to Mary first thing in the morning."

  I turned to Lucifer, and his face fell. "I was excited to get started."

  With a giggle I had to force, I held out my hand. "I was too, but they're right. We need to recuperate before we do any more spells."

  We pulled out some of Lucian and Connie's pajamas and got really comfortable before sliding into the bed. I clicked off the bedside lamp.

  "It feels strange to lay here and know that they're in the guest room and we're not Lucian and Connie anymore," Luc said into the darkened room.

  "It does."

  I laid on my back with the blankets pulled up to my chest until Luc nudged my foot with his under the covers. "I'm sorry I was so hard on you about Ariel," he whispered. "I've been trying to imagine how I would've reacted. I don't think I would've done what you did, but I understand you were under a great deal of strain."

  His words meant a lot, especially compounded with the fact that he wasn't a man that apologized easily. I reached over and shifted my body, so I faced him. "Luc, we're partners. Even when one of us doesn't know what's going on. We look out for each other, always. I knew you weren't being that harsh intentionally. You were grieving, too."

  His warm hand against my cheek felt great. Love radiated from him, something that he'd shown me very infrequently over the last few centuries. "I didn't mean to grow so distant," he whispered. When he leaned forward to capture my lips, I was more than ready for him. I opened to let him slip his tong
ue inside. He'd been with me the whole evening, yet somehow, he tasted like toothpaste.

  Suddenly conscious of my mouth, I slipped a little magic in to clean my body and teeth.

  Much better.

  His hands roamed my clothes, and I realized they were in the way, too. With another thought, I removed both of our pajamas and snuggled close to his naked body.

  His hard, smooth, naked body. With one part poking me pretty hard in the lower stomach.

  Reaching between us, I wrapped my hand around his length and smiled around his lips when he hissed into my mouth at my touch.

  I loved getting a visceral reaction from him. His smooth skin glided under my hand as I stroked his length and clenched my core muscles in anticipation. I wanted to feel him inside me

  Lucifer put his hands between us, too, so I adjusted and lifted my leg over his, still on our sides. He slipped one finger between my lips and moaned into my mouth as his tongue danced with mine. Suddenly, I was desperate for his kisses and his touch. I wanted more and more.

  My hand moved faster, my grip more insistent as his finger buried itself in my folds and found my lightning bolt. It was my turn to hiss and moan into his mouth as he moved his finger over my clit, pressing hard and stroking so that the desire in me turned into a raging torrent of passion.

  Moving his hand just as I was about to crest over my first orgasm, he slipped two fingers inside me but soon pressed his palm against my mound so that when he moved his hand and fingers, it stimulated my little nub at the same time, though in a more muted way.

  I lost all sense of how hard or fast my hand moved over his dick. I was pretty sure I kept rhythm with his finger movements, but all I could think about was the way his fingers teased me inside. He knew the way to the perfect spot. He found it fast and brought the orgasm that had slipped away back to the surface, but this time it was deeper, more violent. My body jerked as my core convulsed and the orgasm broke over me.

  I couldn't stop myself from falling against him and burying my face in his neck. Luc growled low in his throat when my teeth sank into the skin there. My entire body was one clenched muscle as the orgasm pounded through my body like a violent wave from an ocean storm.

  I screamed into his neck, which broke his reserve. He pulled away and moved me quickly, flipping me onto my stomach, flat on the bed. I arched my back to stick my ass into the air and looked over my shoulder. Lucifer used the juices on his hand from my core to spread slickness over his dick, then guided it toward me.

  He slipped inside me and my vaginal walls clenched around him as if they had a mind of their own and were so relieved to finally have him there.

  But then he laid his body on mine, keeping most of his weight off with his knees and elbows, and he began to move.

  He set a relentless pace off the bat, slamming his front into my back. Every time he filled me fully, his groin slapped against my ass with an audible smack that filled the air and made my senses tremble.

  Another orgasm built, and Lucifer began heaving and gasping. He was close as well. I arched my back further to give him deeper access and was rewarded with the angle changing enough so that the head of his penis hit my g-spot every time he pushed forward.

  To keep from screaming out into the bedroom and alerting the rest of the house, I grabbed a pillow and yelled into it, my voice rising in a staccato form with each thrust of Lucifer's hips.

  This orgasm wasn't quite so violent, but it was enough to make me clench the pillow as the emotions, feelings, and power of the moment exploded through my body.

  Lucifer finished buried deep inside me with his hands on my hips. He collapsed beside me while I magicked away the mess and snuggled close to him. His labored breathing told me how much he'd enjoyed himself because he was in pristine physical shape. No physical exertion like this would make him pant. I smiled as I turned the lights off with my mind and cooled his body with a moment's thought.

  "Thanks," he whispered. Sleep sounded heavy on his words. "I love you."

  I fell asleep easily, my mind full of this Lucifer. It wasn't worth losing Ariel, but at least something good had come of this fiasco of an Earth cycle. Lucifer had retained some of Lucian's qualities. I wasn't going to be upset about that one bit.

  15

  "Let's get going!" Gabriel's cheery voice dragged me from the best dream. I'd been in Abaddon, in my palace, surrounded by Gabriel, Michael, and Lucifer—and baby Ariel. We'd been passing her around and generally spoiling her rotten. Each of us had told her how much we loved her.

  When my eyes opened, I realized tears had been pouring out of them. I sat up to find Lucifer had already left the bed.

  "Hey," Gabe said. "What is this?" He sat down and wrapped his arms around me.

  "Ariel," I said. "I dreamed about her."

  "I'm sorry," he whispered. "There's nothing else I can say."

  I nodded. I knew what he meant. He couldn't fix things. He daren't say things would get better. We weren't sure they would. We weren't sure we'd ever fix any of our current problems. We might have to come to some sort of terms with them eventually.

  I stiffened. Not yet. I wasn't ready to give up, not by a long shot. And when it came to my baby girl, I wouldn't be giving up at all. Ever.

  They'd have to kill me to get me to stop.

  Gabe pulled back when he felt my body language shift. "Better?"

  No. I shook my head. "Not better. But I'm determined to fix this, so crying in bed does nobody any good."

  The sun wasn't quite up yet, but since we were an hour behind Mary, it would be dawn at her place. Still, it was a rude time to surprise someone, but we didn't have any time to waste. Every moment Ariel spent in that realm was a much longer period of time and she grew older. And probably more scared of us.

  I was still naked from the night before, but it wasn't anything Gabe hadn't seen. I waved my hand and clothes formed on my body. "Let's go."

  He saluted me and led the way down the stairs where Michael and Lucifer lounged in the kitchen eating something that smelled amazing.

  Michael held out a coffee in a to-go cup and a breakfast sandwich. "Eat on the run?"

  I eagerly gulped down the sweet, hot drink and took a big bite of the sandwich. "Fanks." I held out my elbow and Luc rolled his eyes before grabbing it.

  Gabe and Michael disappeared before we did, but when we appeared on Mary's doorstep, they were already knocking. Nice.

  I continued stuffing my face and gulping down coffee while we waited on the sweet, old witchy lady to open her door.

  She did several minutes later in a dressing gown and with a sour expression on her face. "How did I know?"

  She shook her head and sighed, but still stepped back so we could walk in. "What now?"

  I swallowed the swig of coffee in my mouth. "Didn't you say you know a spell to steal someone's powers?" I asked.

  "I do," she said. "It's forbidden amongst those of us with power to use it unless three or more come together and agree. We generally only use it if someone abuses their power to the point of no return."

  "You earthly witches are more organized than I thought," I muttered.

  "We had an idea," Lucifer said. "We went to Purgatory. We found the angel."

  Mary nodded and walked into her bathroom. "Keep talking."

  Michael continued for Luc but raised his voice. In a few moments, we heard the unmistakable sounds of Mary having a morning tinkle. I stifled a giggle. She probably wasn't thinking about the fact that our hearing was extra sensitive when she'd left the door open so she could hear us speaking.

  Michael talked over the sounds of her bathroom time and managed to keep the amusement out of his voice. "He got some info from Raphael. Ariel is insanely powerful. More than any of us."

  The sounds of running water started as she washed her hands. Well, at least she was clean. I smiled at Gabe, who looked like he was about to lose it. Lucifer shot us both a sharp look and we schooled our features as Mary shuffled back through the hall. "I
'm going to let Jellybean out. Open that door, he's gotta pee."

  I stepped back and opened the front door, and sure enough, in a few seconds, my big goofy Jellybelly came bounding through the house. He stopped and waggled his whole body to greet all of us, then after snuffling his wet nose all over my arms and hands he shot out the door.

  "Hang on," Mary said. "He'll be right back."

  "You act like you're used to him," I said. "You've only had him what, less than a day?"

  She chuckled. "Honey, I have an affinity for animals, didn't you know? I keep a tight lock on it because otherwise, I'd feel the emotions and pains and joys of every bird in the sky or worm in the ground. But I let him in."

  "And?" I asked. I was intensely curious why he hadn't gone nuts like the other demons.

  "And that dog is loyal to you, Miss Queenie, like no animal I've ever seen. Once I explained he was just visiting me, he was happy as a clam. As long as he knew you were coming back for him."

  "He's that aware?" I asked, aghast. What had he overheard?

  What had he seen? Ew.

  "He is. But it's okay, most animals are. They just can't communicate it to humans."

  Jellybean came running back into Mary's apartment and sat beside me, looking up at me with soulful eyes.

  I leaned over and hugged him. It wasn't hard, given how enormous he was. "Thank you for being loyal to me, Jellybean. I love you."

  He whined and wiggled against me. "He loves you, too," she said. Then she clapped her hands. "Now, why do we need to steal power? You going after Raphael's power?"

  I stared at her in shock.

  Why in the fuck hadn't we thought of that? Take Raphael's and hold it hostage. It was the perfect plan.

  "Yes," I said quickly. "That's what we'd like to do."

  The guys looked at me, but all of them were smart enough not to show any surprise on their faces. I knew they'd get with the program. "We thought about trying to take Ariel's, since she's the strongest creature alive, supposedly, but first we want to try Raphael's. If it works out, we might put Ariel's power in Lucifer and give it back when this is fixed."