I felt a climax fracturing through me. I tightened around him, drenched in pleasure that robbed me of all coherent thought. Samael’s muscles had gone rigid, and he moaned my name like a plea as he came, driving all the way in.
My hips rocked against him, and I shuddered with an intense release that shattered my mind into a million little pieces. “Samael,” I whispered, arms tight around his neck.
Curling me into his arms, Samael nuzzled my neck. My body had gone limp, beautifully satiated.
We caught our breath, arms wrapped around each other, hearts beating against each other.
“You lit up the room to look like my home,” he murmured into my neck.
I smiled. “The heavens. Maybe you need a new home.”
“Maybe I have one.” He collapsed over me for a long moment, body damp with sweat.
In the next minute, he turned from me, reaching for something in his discarded trousers. When he returned, he handed me a gold ring, lit up in a ray of moonlight. “I plucked it from the cobblestones after you so unceremoniously threw it away.”
I slid it onto my finger and smiled, my body entwined with his.
I am yours and you are mine, the ring said.
Only now, at last, did I know I’d be able to sleep.
Lila
I was standing in a sycamore grove with the most beautiful music playing through the air, and birdsong. Around me, the trees were coming to life, blooming with berries and leaves. But as I watched the forest bloom, a scream ripped through the quiet, destroying the peace.
“Samael is right.” The voice echoed off the tree trunks around me. “He will kill you again, just like he did before.”
Silence fell. A silence too deep, one that smothered the birdsong. Then, the wood thinned, disappearing, and I was under murky water at night. The cold would kill me.
My chest gaped open, empty. Samael had ripped my heart out and thrown me out the window like the waste water that commoners tossed outside. In the frigid moat, I could feel my body rotting.
“This will all happen again,” the voice shrieked. “Samael will deliver your fate again. Death at his hands, you fool.”
My eyes snapped open, and I shot up straight in bed. Morning light filtered in through the stained-glass windows, casting bright colors over the stone floor.
A breeze was blowing through the trees outside, making the branches sway and groan, and shadows danced along the floor with dappled light. Everything looked peaceful here.
Too bad about the nightmare.
I rubbed my arms and shoulders, relieved to be out of that terrible dream.
But Samael had been right—after a full night’s sleep, my muscles felt stronger, a million times healthier than yesterday. Samael was gripping the pillow just to my right, sleeping soundly, his dark eyelashes resting against his cheeks. He looked peaceful.
I wondered if the nightmare was Lilith’s doing, her memories stirring under the surface of my brain? Maybe she hadn’t quite forgiven him yet.
When I slid out of bed, and away from Samael’s body, the cold hit me. Absolutely freezing in here. The fire had died completely, and snow and ice gleamed outside.
As I crossed to the door, the hair rose on the back of my arms. Why did I feel so unsettled? Goosebumps ran over my skin.
Something felt wrong here. I turned back to look at Samael, finding that he looked a little less peaceful now, clutching the blankets. I hurried back to the bed and pulled on my boots, then my cloak.
I had the strange sense that we were being watched in here. And if we were, I wanted to know exactly who was watching us. I rushed back to the door.
When I pulled it open, a powerful sense of dread slammed into me like a fist to the throat. I just wasn’t sure why. Everything looked normal out here. The morning sunlight streamed through gnarled. The wind blew the snow off them, and the flakes sparkled like diamonds. A crow launched off an icy branch, squawking over the frozen river.
It should be beautiful here, in a frozen sort of way, so what was the problem? The forest seemed menacing, like the trees would reach down and wrap their bony fingers around my throat. A flicker of movement caught my eye, and I turned my head, lightning fast. Darkness started rising in me.
I wasn’t just Lila anymore. I was Lilith, too. I wondered if I had enough magic in me to bring this forest to life again, to use the plants to kill—or if the poison had destroyed that for now.
I sniffed the air. Something smelled different here … In this forest of ice, I shouldn’t be able to smell a thing. An earthy scent floated on the wind, and the acrid tinge of sulfur.
I turned back to the abandoned church, and opened the door. I found Samael getting dressed, pulling on his sweater. When his head popped through the top, he shot me a look that told me he was as unnerved as I was.
“Stay away from the windows,” he said.
“Do you know what’s happening?”
He grabbed his sword, slinging it around his waist. “I can smell the drude.”
I stared at him, blinking. “What’s a drude?”
He pulled on his cloak. “They’re demons who inspire nightmarish visions. They’re difficult to fight, since they warp your mind. If we fight them, you won’t know what’s real and what isn’t. I thought they were extinct. Really, I haven’t encountered one in centuries. How did they find us?”
Bollocks. “The Free Men can raise extinct demons.”
“Right. Shit. I will—”
His words were cut off by the shattering of a stained-glass window, and tiny shards of glass rained down around us, sparking with bright colors in the sunlight. I blocked my face with my hands.
And when I lowered them again, I saw the drude standing among the brightly colored shards.
He wore a charcoal-gray tunic over red trousers, and his skin was the color of bones. His lips were a bright red, teeth bared in either a snarl or a smile. I couldn’t tell which, but it looked unnatural. His eyes were pools of obsidian. With his clothes and chin-length hair, he looked like a monster from another era.
But just one little drude? We could take him. Easy peasy.
Except as Samael lunged for him—sword drawn—glass shattered from the opposite direction. Okay, so we had more than one.
I shielded my face again, then spun, staring at the second drude. Red-lipped, grinning, his fingers long and bony like the tree branches outside. The air reeked of sulfur.
I knew why they were here. Their mission was to take out Samael, and get me to the Free Men.
No way in hell would I let that happen.
I watched as Samael pivoted, and swung his sword in a graceful arc. Even though it was two against one, Samael was truly stunning to behold. His horns gleamed as he whirled, keeping them both at bay. All their attention was on him for now, but that wouldn’t last.
The hair on my arms rose again as I sensed more of them out there.
So I didn’t have a sword, but I had Lilith’s power. And Lilith's magic came from the earth, so I needed to ground myself to the stones beneath my feet.
I knelt down, touching the stone, and I felt her magic rushing into my feet, into my calves, and up my thighs until it filled my body.
When I looked up, two more drudes leapt in through the shattered windows. They landed before me, flashing me red-lipped snarls.
Seriously, did they not realize the door was unlocked? This was ridiculous.
“Come with us,” one of them hissed.
“You miscalculated.”
Power surged in my body. Lilith’s magic raced up my legs from the floor, and ropes of vines shot out from the flagstone beneath us, ripping through the floor. Their thorny tendrils shot through the demons’ chests, impaling them through their hearts.
The two drudes’ heads lolled, and I scanned the room for the next attacker.
Samael had already killed the other two demons, and he stood over them, his sword gleaming with blood. He’d cut their hearts out already.
Dizzy, I wa
vered on my feet. I had the strange sensation that time was speeding up. “Is that it?” I asked.
Samael didn’t answer. His face was completely expressionless, eyes black.
I blinked, rubbing my eyes, until Samael called my name. When I opened my eyes, he was standing right in front of me, like he’d moved in a heartbeat.
Dark shadows slid through his eyes. In the next moment, his sword was at my chest.
Blood dripped off his blade. “How did they know we were here?” His voice was cold as ice. “Lilith called them here, didn’t she? She wants me out of the way so you can find the Free Men on your own.”
My thoughts were slow, muddled. “What are you talking about? There was some way they knew we were here.”
“You want me dead.” His expression was distant, feral.
I shook my head, trying to think through the haze. Hadn’t we been on good terms before now? I could no longer remember. Something had happened in the bed, I thought, something perfect. But he was my enemy, wasn’t he? He’d said that much to me. “What’s happening?”
He cocked his head, his face an emotionless mask that sent a shiver of dread through my gut.
Was this what he was like when he turned into a demon? Vaguely, I was aware that he’d warned me.
He pressed the sword a little closer into my chest. “Lilith wants me dead.”
Icy rage coursed through my body, sharpening my senses. I didn’t have to take this from him.
The end of his blade pointed at my heart, piercing my dress. “Once I thought that Lilith had no soul, that she couldn’t feel a thing. With your seductive magic, you persuaded me otherwise, but I see now that I was mistaken. Lilith is now as she always was, soulless, heartless, and cruel. I killed her once and I will do it again. Because now, I’m as soulless as she is.”
Fury ignited. The tip of his sword was now piercing through my cloak, through the dress.
“We were on the same side, weren’t we? But one demon attack, and your faith just blew away like dandelion seeds.”
“Oh, I have faith.” His voice was deep, hollow. Completely devoid of emotion. “I have faith in my own destiny, that I will become King of the Fallen. Your distractions caused me to forget it. Lilith ripped me from my fate. Am I heartless and cruel? As a demon, yes. I warned you, didn’t I?”
“You’re still marrying Harlow?” Glacial wrath snapped through my body. I didn't like this at all, and neither did Lilith.
I stepped back away from him, pressing my back to the stone wall, and I channeled Lilith's magic. More vines shot through the floor, rupturing the flagstones.
The vines started to wrap around Samael, around his sword. Grief splintered me. Lilith could tear him to pieces …
All of this was a nightmare. The demonic version of Samael. The monstrous side of me. I was a nightmare.
No, this was an actual nightmare, wasn’t it? The drude were causing this.
I clamped my eyes shut, pressed my hands over my ears, and screamed, “Stop it! Stop it! This isn’t real!”
When I opened my eyes again, I saw that some of the nightmarish vision was still there—my vines wrapped around Samael. Bronze horns gleamed from his head, coppery swirls over his cheekbones. His eyes were black as night, the expression distant.
Except his sword wasn’t anywhere to be seen.
“What are you doing?” he asked, his voice ice-cold, laced with a quiet anger.
“It was the drude! It was a nightmarish vision. I thought you were going to kill me.”
“But they’re dead.” A sharp blade undercut his voice. “And you seemed a lot like Lilith just then.”
“They can’t all be dead.” I surveyed the room—just the four dead bodies: two impaled, and two with their hearts cut out. So, where did the nightmare come from?
He sighed. “Pull the vines off me, please.”
“Right. Of course.” I flicked my wrist, and the vines receded from him.
I shook my head. “But they’re not all gone. There must be some outside.”
He brushed himself off. “I would typically say at this point that you should stay in here, and I will go out to kill any remaining demons. But having just seen what you are capable of, I’m not worried about you holding your own. You’re probably the most terrifying thing for miles.”
Samael unsheathed his sword, walking between the slaughtered demons. But before we reached the door, a volley of arrows rained in through the shattered windows.
Lila
I grimaced as one of them clipped me in the arm, but Samael was the one they were really after.
From above, the arrows slammed into his chest and back, and he fell to his knees. Were these arrows poisoned, too?
I ran to him, desperate to drag him to safety. But as I started to pull him, the world went dark. The church floor, the broken windows, the dead bodies of the demons—all of it disappeared.
Slowly, more familiar walls started to appear around me. Now, I was back in our old slum house, pulling out the washbasin to take a bath.
Where had I just been?
A desperate worry snagged at the back of my brain, but I couldn’t remember what it was.
When I dipped my fingers in the water, I found it far too cold. Always so cold …
Alice sat on the bed, pulling up her stockings. “Stop fretting, Lila. What are you fretting about now?”
I stared at the water. “I don’t remember. I thought I was someplace cold.”
She let out a dramatic sigh. “What are you on about? Listen, Lila. You’re not wearing that dress again today, are you? You’re too pretty to wear that old thing. You’ll never find a fella if you dress like that.”
“I’m never finding a fella to marry, so it really doesn’t matter what I wear.”
She balled up a shirt and threw it at me. “Don't be ridiculous, of course you’re getting married. Everyone gets married.”
The kettle was heating already, nearly boiling. That would warm me up. “Really. Who are you going to marry, then, Alice?”
She toyed with the ends of her curls. “I’m going to marry a king. I will be Queen of Albia, and I will live in Castle Hades. You may visit, of course.”
The kettle started to scream, and I pulled it off the iron stove. I poured it into the tub, the steam rising.
When I finished, I slid the kettle back onto the stove, and reached my hand into the water to mix the warm with the cold.
As I did, a sharp force pressed against the back of my neck, forcing my head down into the water. It was Alice—Alice’s hands around my neck, shoving me under the surface. Panic and confusion rocketed through me.
She was trying to drown me, but it just didn’t make sense. I flailed and kicked, trying to break free from her grasp, but she was impossibly strong. Violent.
My lungs were about to explode. What the fuck was she doing?
She pulled me up again by the back of my soaked hair, and I gasped for breath. I wanted to scream at her, but I needed the air in my lungs.
I felt her mouth next to my ear. “I’m going to be queen, Lila. And do you know what a queen must do? She has to keep her kingdom clean, doesn’t she? Don’t need the likes of your kind infesting our streets. Little vermin. We lived in squalor once, but you know what the Baron says? Do you know, Lila?”
This was a nightmare. This wasn’t real.
“Who is the Baron?” I gasped.
But her only response was to shove my head under the water again.
The nightmarish vision thinned before my eyes, and I found myself kneeling on the floor of the church, where blood streamed between shattered shards of glass. I gasped for breath.
I was alone now, and my heart slammed against my ribs. “Samael.”
Blood streaked across the stone floor, leading out into the snow.
Samael. I peered out the doorway, hiding myself. Let them think I was still delirious. Samael was staggering, trying to fight three drudes. But the arrows still protruded from him, slowing him down
. Blood poured from him, and his movements were no longer quite as graceful.
A fourth drude leaned against an oak tree, showing his gleaming white teeth in a ghastly imitation of a smile. He was laughing at Samael, which made me want to rip his head off. Maybe I’d do just that.
I knelt down, just two fingertips in the snow outside the door. My body hummed as I channeled Lilith’s magic, and the snow started melting beneath my fingertips. But the laughing drude seemed to feel a change in the air, and he started running for me.
I sprinted outside into the snow. As he lunged for me, I dodged left, slipping behind him to shove him to the ground. He jumped up with an inhuman speed, already throwing the first punch at me. I blocked one, two punches, then headbutted him hard in the nose. He staggered back and swung for me, but I ducked, and it went over my head. I grabbed his arm, forcing it down again, nearly snapping his bones.
Unfortunately the drude was as strong as I was, and he wrenched out of my grasp.
I couldn’t use my magic while we were fighting. I needed concentration for that. But fortunately, I didn’t think he could use his nightmare magic, either. He was staggering, confused. I grabbed him by the shoulders to force his head down just as my knee came up to meet it. He fell back to the snowy ground, incapacitated.
But already, another of the fast-moving bastards had slipped up behind me. And he had a blade to my throat, cutting into my skin.
He held my face with one hand, fingernails digging into my cheeks. “Oh but you must not miss the show. You must see this. Fuel your nightmares forevermore.”
See what?
Then, my gaze focused. Panic snapped through my body as I took in the scene before me.
Pierced by arrows, Samael lay on the snow, blood streaming from his body. Three demons had pinned him down, and a broken arrow jutted into the ground beneath him. He’d been impaled, poisoned, and the sight of him twisted my heart.
Another drude stood above him, brandishing a knife. He grinned at me, showing off his long teeth. “Nightmares make us strong. I always wanted to know what it’d be like to cut out the heart of an angel.”
Possessed (Hades Castle Trilogy Book 3) Page 10
