Raise the Dead

by Briana Michaels

  He pulled out nice and slow then slammed into her with enough aggression, they both grunted from the force.

  “Harder.”

  He complied.

  “Deeper.”

  No problem.

  “Don’t you release yet,” she growled ferally. “Don’t you fucking let go, Lucifer.”

  Eve’s entire body set on fire. Her eyes blazed. Her nails clawed his arms and back. She was so tense, it might only take a few more thrusts for her to shatter.

  And Lucifer was even more riled up than her.

  The pressure of his long-awaited orgasm built up to an excruciating intensity.

  This was a test of wills. A punishment. A torture. An atonement. And retribution.

  He fucked her for everything he’d lost. He fucked her for the lies she made him believe. Fucked her for the death he was forced to mourn all these centuries. Fucked her so hard he had them both close to tears.

  Then he fucked her even harder because he couldn’t stop now.

  His anger, his sorrow, his goddamn broken heart – they all blurred together with one thrust after another.

  Lucifer fucked her until the pain ebbed and peace bloomed. Closure, acceptance, forgiveness – those were the next to slam into their joined space. He pressed his forehead to hers and slowed his movements. Swirling his hips and pulling almost all the way out, he held his breath and pushed into her again.

  Oh sweet torture, he’d never felt so alive in his life.

  Eve’s nails dug into his skin. She bit her lip, trying so hard to keep the control. He tensed, his cock twitching when he felt her body clamp down on him.

  “Come!” she screamed. “Now!”

  Lucifer’s body set alight and he let himself go in one glorious roar.

  Balls contracting, cock jerking, his come pulsed into her body and she howled with the heat of his desire filling her to the brim.

  White light flashed before his eyes. For a second, the Devil felt like he had his wings back and they were fanned out and glorious. The air swirled and crackled. Eve’s scent coated his lungs and made his brain buzz and blood fizz.

  Bodies still joined, they stared at each other until the water grew ice cold. Finally, Lucifer turned off the shower and wiped the water from his face. His chest heaved. His heart hammered. That was fucking glorious.

  He felt like a new Angel.

  Reborn, revived…

  Annnnnd then the world came crashing back into him with a heavy dose of reality. They were no longer in Paradise. They were in Hell. Hell was threatened. The world was in danger. Michael was out. Lucifer was just as much part of the problem as he was the solution. Desperate to cling to a bit of hope, he scanned Eve’s face and body wishing he could find something good to hold onto.

  “What have we done?” he couldn’t pull his gaze away from the arrow on her ribs. “What… have I done?”

  “What you needed to do,” Eve grabbed the nape of his neck and squeezed. “We’re in this together to the bitter end.”

  “I don’t want all of you to die.”

  “Without you, we’re dead even if we live.”

  Lucifer closed his eyes and tried to silence the thousands of thoughts fighting for attention in his head again. The red haze started creeping back into his vision.

  “Hey,” Eve shook him to get his attention. “We’re going to see this through. Together. Whether we live or die, we’ll be together. No regrets. No mercy. No hesitating.”

  He swallowed the boulder-sized lump in his throat. “I’m… fucked. My unbalance needs to be righted.” And this bonding wasn’t enough. It had only been a temporary reprieve.

  Shit.

  He looked down at his arms. Even though some of his body was cleared of the evil contamination, the older stains were still there. “I did this to myself. I did this… to everyone.”

  “How did you do it?” She went into business mode. “We’ll undo it together.”

  “I destroyed malanum. Completely annihilated them.” And there was only one way to rectify that: He needed to kill just as many, if not more, innocents to balance the scales.

  “Damn,” she bit her bottom lip.

  He watched her thoughts flitter around her face and winced at how cold Eve sounded when she said, “I’ll handle it. I don’t know how, but I’ll fucking handle it. I’ll get you through it okay? Just… give me a little time to figure out the best way to do it.”

  He jerked away from her touch, “You’d sacrifice innocents so heartlessly?”

  “I’d do anything for you, Lucy. And no one’s entirely innocent.”

  His growl was big enough to show his disapproval.

  “Trust me,” her voice softened. “That’s all I’m asking, okay? Just… trust me to see you through this.”

  The atmosphere completely changed between them. Lucifer wasn’t sure if her determination was because she was that cold and hard-headed, or if she was driven to fix him because she was devoted to him on a dangerous level.

  No matter how he tried to slice it, the truth would be a hard one to swallow.

  “Come on,” Eve stepped out of the shower. “Let’s go talk with Lazarus again. Maybe that Glittery Fuckhead will say something useful for once. If not, I might have some ideas on how to regain your balance with innocents.”

  Lucifer watched Eve grab a towel and dry off like she was getting ready for a day at the office. The claw marks on her back were merely pink lines now. She glided soundlessly through the bathroom, her eyes hard, jaw set, and focus locked on her reflection as she finger-combed her hair perfectly into place.

  “So eager to feed the wolf a field of lambs?” he tested.

  Arching her brow, Eve looked at him in the mirror and rolled her shoulders back. She didn’t say a word.

  That she would be so heartless to give him a room full of innocent souls to destroy was terrifying. Eve walked away from him with her head high and spine made of steel. Everything about Eve suggested agility, stealth, and the calm that only came from being cold blooded.

  Gone was the heat, the passion, and emotions of a lover who would go to the ends of the earth to find what she wanted.

  Eve, in the time it took to dry off with an oversized bath towel, had turned into a cold, hard, vengeful Angel.

  His heart grew heavy watching her move with the grace of a well-trained assassin.

  Holy fuck, what has Eve become?

  Chapter 34

  Gabriel sat on the bed and waited for Lucifer and Eve to come out. Uriel was in the prisons checking on malanum counts, and Constantine had taken Eve’s wings out of the bedroom to put them fuck knows where. They’d stripped the bed too.

  The energy in Hell was all over the place. His thoughts were all over the goddamn place too.

  The door opened and Gabe’s breath caught when Eve stepped into the bedroom naked, clean, and her wet hair framing her face. She reminded Gabriel of a panther. Lucifer was close behind her, his jaw set and brow furrowed. The two of them moved with predatory grace.

  Gabe closed in on Eve and tipped her chin so he could take a good look at her. His gaze sailed over her features, then he checked out the rest of her body. She was completely healed, all signs of fuckery and devastation of her body had been washed away. “How do you feel?”

  “I’m fine.” Her tone suggested otherwise.

  “I need to check on the others,” Lucifer announced. Snagging a fresh pair of pants from the closet, he got dressed in the dreadfully silent bedroom.

  “I need to go home,” Eve said. “Anam probably shouldn’t be in Hell for very long - not until we know what’s going on. He’s never been able to breach the barriers before either.”

  Eve and Lucifer stared at each other for a long moment. Lucifer’s jaw clenched, “Yeah, okay. Do what you must. I’ll come to you when I can so we can speak with Lazarus.” The Devil tossed her a shirt, “Do not walk around naked down here. I’ll gouge the eyes out of anyone who sees you like that.” Lucifer went to the door, his hand fro
ze on the doorknob, then he doubled back and nearly ran Eve down with the attack kiss he gave her.

  Gabriel watched the whole thing from the sidelines. Something had definitely happened in that shower. Something significant. Lucifer was torn in half over it too, Gabe could feel the divide through their bond. He was part elated; part devastated.

  Lucifer whispered something in Eve’s ear and her eyes warmed along with her smile. “Same for me,” she said quietly. “Always.”

  The Devil kissed the tip of her nose and walked out of the room without looking at Gabriel.

  “The fuck is going on?” he asked Eve once the door shut again.

  She didn’t answer, but her body language spoke loud and clear. She was upset.

  “Eve,” Gabriel wanted to comfort her, but she brushed past him and busied herself by checking her hair in the mirror. “Eve,” he said with more authority.

  “I’m trying to figure out the best way to help him rebalance.”

  “You mean you’re trying to figure out how to casually compromise your morals to save the Devil.”

  She turned and leaned against the dresser with her arms crossed over her chest. Her tits lifted and jiggled. “He needs to pay that price. I intend to help.”

  “By feeding him innocents?”

  “By doing whatever it takes to make our mate right.”

  Our mate. “And…. How is your balance?” He couldn’t think of Lucifer’s issues right now. The Devil was a strong motherfucker. And now that they were bonded mates, Gabriel assumed Lucifer would absolutely pull from each of them if he needed to. Sacrificing innocents wasn’t a topic they’d discussed yet, even though they all knew it was coming.

  Eve shimmied into Lucifer’s t-shirt and the hem barely covered her ass. “Where’s Con?”

  “I don’t know.”

  “Where’s Uri?”

  “In the prisons.”

  “I need to go,” she said coldly. “I need to get back—”

  “I’m coming with you.” Gabriel wasn’t taking no for an answer. He knew her too well. She was scared right now. Whatever she was planning to help Lucifer re-balance, it wasn’t going to be pretty. “Hey,” he snagged her arm when she walked away from him.

  Eve exhaled an exasperated breath, “What?”

  “Wait, okay? Whatever you’re going to try to do…. Just hold off until there’s no other choice.” He knew whatever Eve was planning to do would cost her dearly. Nothing of this magnitude was without serious consequences. “And when you’re ready, come get me. We’ll do it together.” He’d proudly pay the price with her any day of the week.

  “You’d damn yourself for the sake of saving Satan?”

  Gabriel glowered, “I’m not doing it for the sake of saving Satan. I’m doing it to save us.”

  She marched down the hall with Gabriel at her side. He flared his wings out to protect her modesty, although he doubted she cared if anyone caught a glimpse of her bare ass. The halls were empty, thank fuck. Lucifer meant what he’d said – he would absolutely pluck the eyes out of anyone who saw their woman without pants on. Although Gabriel would most likely beat him to it.

  “Anam! Come!” she called out over her shoulder. The Wolf trotted down the hallway with a lot of pep in his step. Eve stopped in front of the door she’d have to walk through to reach the human side.

  Gabriel didn’t know if she was scared that once she left Hell, she might not be able to get back in again… or if she was scared she’d never get back out of Hell again and be trapped in here for good.

  Only one way to find out.

  “Come on,” Gabriel pressed against her wingless back and laced his hand in hers. “Together, okay?” He nudged her forward and placed his other hand on her ribcage, right over the arrow that marked her as his.

  Eve held her breath, turned the knob, swung open the door, and they stepped through the barrier and dumped out into the empty bedroom. “I really should order furniture for this place,” he tried to joke.

  “It’s fine as it is.”

  “Not very comfortable.”

  “I never needed comfort. Only shelter. This works fine as is.”

  He yanked her arm and forced her to slam into his chest, “Don’t. Do. This.”

  “I’m not doing anything!” The quiver in her voice gave her away.

  “You forget who you’re talking to,” Gabriel swept a stray hair from her face. “Stop punishing yourself for things that couldn’t be helped, Eve.” He knew all too well what it was like to live with nothing because he felt like nothing and deserved nothing. “You’re pulling away already. I fucking feel it.” It was just like the day she kicked him out of her life and he gave her the red feathers to remember them by. “You have us all now, don’t put up walls for us to climb over.”

  Shrugging out of his hold, Eve grabbed a pair of pants from her duffel bag and shoved her long legs into them. “You don’t know what you’re talking about, Gabriel.”

  “The fuck I don’t.” She tried to storm out of the bedroom but he blocked her. “Talk to me. Stop freezing me out.” Their bond was strong enough for Gabriel to feel her angst.

  With Lucifer, Eve asserted a dominant roll. It was necessary because he was an absolute Alpha and Eve needed to be his equal. But with Gabriel? She was his equal on a different level. All the laws of the animal kingdom didn’t apply for the two of them with each other. Gabriel had another set of rules they followed. Eve was breaking them right now.

  “Tell me.”

  “I…” she bit her lip and refused to meet his gaze. “Fuck! What do you want from me?”

  “For you to talk to me!” he yelled. “Don’t pack ice around yourself with me. Rule number one, remember? No hiding.”

  “I just bonded with all of you, that’s not freezing you out, nor is it hiding.”

  “That’s not talking either.” He shook her shoulders, “Damnit, Eve! What aren’t you willing to say? What secret are you still keeping?” Because he knew if it wasn’t guilt, wasn’t fear, and wasn’t anger making her silent, it was something else. “Confess it. Now.” No hiding issues from each other. That was the biggest rule in Gabriel’s Survival Book.

  “It was easier,” she stared at the floor and pressed her hands against his chest, “so much easier when I could lie to myself.”

  All the air whooshed out of him. “I know,” he whispered. And he really did. Gabriel had lied to himself everyday – Eve was dead. He could force himself to not worry about her because Eve was dead. He could carry on with his miserable life without her because Eve was dead.

  Say it enough, you might just believe it.

  But she wasn’t dead. She was alive and bright and bold and lovely as ever.

  He wanted to hold her tight. Never let go. Make up for lost time and plan for the future.

  A future - he knew as well as Eve - that might never happen because according to Lazarus, there was no future, there was only devastation and destruction lining their paths to the final battle against Michael. The odds of winning this war, saving humans, souls, and themselves, was not in their favor.

  All or none. Gabriel understood exactly what Eve was saying about it being easier before. There would be no buffer of lies if one of them fell now. No thinking, “Well thank fuck Eve is already dead, so she was spared this pain.” No thinking, “Well, at least Lucifer is still strong enough to hold down Hell.” No relief in the lies of “At least Constantine and Uriel will still have each other.”

  If one of them fell, they’d all feel it like a bullet to the heart that would stay lodged and fester and eventually rot out their souls and leave them husks.

  This war would be easier to fight if it was only one of them against Michael. Lazarus said a Dark Angel was prophesized to take him down and yeah, Lucifer might have failed, but he wasn’t the only Dark Angel out there.

  Only one had to kill Michael. Only one had to smite that monster. Only one needed to fulfill the prophecy and save all others.

  All… or one.r />
  Gabriel would be that one.

  Chapter 35

  Constantine sat in the throne room at the head of the table with his head in his hands. His anxiety was the only thing that broke through his constant numbness – that chaotic, out of control, electric buzz that screamed Something’s wrong! Something’s wrong! Something’s WRONG!

  Gee, ya think?

  There were too many things wrong to pinpoint which issue his nerves were freaking out over. And for an Angel who felt nothing but hollow all the time, to have this level of intuition be the loudest voice in his head was frustrating as fuck.

  He hid Eve’s wings for the time being. Con couldn’t bring himself to set those beauties on fire. But he didn’t want to have them out in the open as a reminder of how far they’d let things get with their bonding ritual either.

  “Fuck me running,” Lucifer stormed into the room. “Riots have started in the prisons. They’re fighting each other like crazed animals.”

  “So long as they eat each other, the energy level will remain unchanged, correct?”

  “Yes. And six more innocents dropped in Purgatory.”

  “At least they’re safe in Hell.” Look at Con, being all positive and shit.

  Lucifer dropped into a chair and scrubbed his face. “Everything’s moving too fast. I can’t acclimate or adjust the way I need to topside. And down here, my powers are ripping me to shreds. I’ve never felt more in tune and less in control of my body in all my life.”

  Ahhh, that was the real issue here, Constantine half-grinned. Lucifer loved control. Had grown accustomed to it. And now he was sharing his space, his energy, his duties, and his woman. Everything had been divided and he was unraveling.

  “We’re to make this easier, not harder for you, Lucy.”

  “I’m a monster,” he ran a hand through his dark hair and shoved up from his chair. Pacing, he snarled, “I’m too out of control.”

  “You’re not.”

  “I am,” he snarled. “I… I fucking ripped her apart in my bed!”

  So guilt for harming the one he loved was plaguing him? Fine. Con could work with that. “You did as she asked.”