Cast From Heaven: A Paranormal Fantasy Romance (Lili Kazana Book 1)

by Leigh Kelsey

  But all fears flew out of her head as Lucifer knelt before her, affixing a crisscross of leather straps to her waist and thigh. The brush of his fingers, however chaste and purposeful, sent heat zinging through her, right to between her legs. He tightened the straps, wrenching a gasp from Lili and not because they were too tight, but because his fingers curled around the backs of her legs, right beneath her backside.

  “Luc,” Lili complained.

  His laugh was deep and rolling, a sinful chuckle that had her instantly wet. “Yes, Liliana?”

  “You’re teasing me.” She pouted.

  He bent and laid a kiss against her hip bone, Lili’s breath catching even though layers of fabric barred him. “I don’t know what you mean, sweetheart. I’m simply making sure you’ll be suitably armed.”

  Lili made a sulky sound, attempting to move away, but his hands tightened on the backs of her thighs to keep her captive. She opened her mouth to complain—or to plead with him to ease the ache with his mouth like he’d teased her out in the garden. A single glance down at him kneeling before her, his eyes rapt on her face, almost wrecked her.

  “I wish we had more time,” he said sadly, laying another kiss on her body, this time over her pelvic bone. “But the situation is urgent.”

  The reminder of the rogue demons cleared Lili’s mind slightly—not completely, since his mouth was still too close to her for comfort and his hands had yet to release her. “I know,” she breathed. “We need to leave now.”

  He nodded, still looking at her with those lust-smoky eyes as he rose to his feet, his arm sliding across her back to hold her to him. Lili’s breathing went shallow at the almost-captive feeling, her heart slamming against her ribcage as dark promise spread through his eyes like ink through water.

  “We do,” Lucifer agreed in a low, silken voice. “But it was unfair of me to arouse you.” He bent his head, brushing a feather-soft kiss over her lips; Lili chased his mouth when he pulled away, desperate for more. “Do you want me to help with this?” His right hand slid down her body and cupped her sex, Lili’s mouth opening on a choked sound. “If you do, it’ll have to be fast.”

  Lili nodded emphatically, desire a haze over her mind. She clung to Luc’s forearm, his waist, swaying towards his mouth again. He kissed her fiercely, pushing aside the lightweight material of her dress so his fingers could slip under her leggings and underwear. She whimpered into the kiss as his fingertips rolled over her most sensitive spot, the ache simultaneously relieved and worse.

  “Please,” she murmured, her eyes sliding shut as he circled with his fingers.

  “Remember what I said, Liliana?” His voice slid over her like a shudder. “We don’t have time; I can’t work you up slowly. This will be fast.”

  Lili nodded; she didn’t care as long as his fingers kept paying close attention to her bundle of nerves.

  An achingly soft kiss feathered over her cheek. “Ready, sweetheart?”

  Lili nodded, not sure if she was, barely processing his words.

  In a heartbeat, the slow circles on her clit sped. She cried out at the stimulation, her toes curling in her boots, her fingers digging into Luc’s corded forearm as it moved fast and fierce, muscles flexing beneath his skin as he pleasured her.

  Heat built quickly in Lili’s lower belly, her breath caught, her body tensing. All her muscles coiled tighter and tighter, and then—she froze, her mouth falling open as pleasure hit her with all the force of a storm. Clinging to Lucifer, she gasped as orgasm roared through her, her fingernails carving into his arm as he kept up the pace, dragging every last bit of rapture from Lili until she sagged against him.

  “Better, sweetheart?”

  Lili nodded in a daze. From her peripheral vision, she watched a handkerchief appear from a wisp of shadowy magic, Luc cleaning his fingers. Her eyes slid shut and she sighed, melting against his body.

  “One minute, Liliana, and then we need to go.” Another kiss brushed against her temple, and Lili could get used to this; being taken care of, being so casually kissed and held.

  “Mmkay,” she agreed, blinking and trying to rouse herself from the daze of pleasure. Luc set her on the rolled leather arm of a couch, sheathing a dagger against her thigh in the crisscross of straps he’d pinned there. “Luc,” she murmured, peering at him as he stood, strapping swords across his back and securing a small crossbow at his hip.

  He glanced over at her. “Yes, Little Lilith?”

  “Thank you.”

  His grin was wicked. “Anytime you need release, Liliana, I’m happy to give it to you.”

  Lili’s face stung with heat. She was somehow more embarrassed at the blatant mention of sexual acts than she’d been when his fingers had touched her pussy. Feeling awkward how her need had faded, she got to her feet, fingering the hilt of the knife.

  She was relieved when Lucifer ushered them out the door. Blushing to her roots, she followed him down the hall towards the small congregation of demons waiting for them.

  Only three other demons were coming with them to Aarvul: a man called Hal who was as big as Bernard but more of a friendly giant, with a beaming smile, a ruddy face, and a booming laugh; Renna, a stick-thin, severe looking woman with short dark hair, lilac skin, and an armoury of knives on her person; and Tali, a female demon who resembled a giant red panda with curling black horns on her head, claws big enough to kill, and crimson smoke pouring off her orange-red back. She was beautiful but scary; both the women were, even if Hal put Lili at ease.

  She kept her distance, staying close to Lucifer as he led the way around the palace exterior toward a wide, low building Lili hadn’t noticed before, its sprawling structure hugging the silver river. She quickly realised, by the sounds and smells coming from the building, that it was a stable, and her heart leapt. Lili loved all animals, but especially dogs, cats, and horses.

  With a grin, she asked Lucifer, “We’re riding to Aarvul?”

  “Don’t get excited yet,” Lucifer warned wryly. “You haven’t seen the beasts.”

  “Hellstallions,” Hal said in his cheerful, loud voice. “You’ll either run off screaming or you’ll fall in love with their speed.”

  Lili’s eyes were wide. “How fast can they go?”

  A smirk curled Luc’s mouth, his hand snagging her elbow as he led the way through the open stable doors. “Faster than an Earth car.”

  Lili’s mouth popped open. That was … faster than fast. Four times as fast as flying. Her stomach flipped, just in anticipation of their journey.

  The building had that pleasant horsey smell that was apparently universal. Even in Hell, horses smelled the same. A roan mare poked her nose over the top of a door, greeting Lili with a whuff.

  “Hello, beauty,” Lili cooed, lifting a hand for the horse to sniff. A warm nose pushed into her palm and Lili beamed, feeling like she’d won a great gift as she stroked the mare’s nose with her blessing.

  “Down here,” Renna barked, her voice whip-harsh as she strode down the aisle towards much larger stalls at the far end of the building. Over the purple woman’s shoulder, Lili glimpsed enormous beasts, like shire horses but with red smoke curling around them, similar to the smoke coming off Tali’s red panda back.

  Luc leaned over Lili’s shoulder, his palm flat to her back beneath her jacket. “Don’t take it personally, Renna’s always like this.”

  Lili turned, peering into his crimson eyes. “Scary?”

  His mouth quirked. “I would say brisk and purposeful.” He dipped, laying a kiss to her cheek. “There’s no one I’d rather have at my back in a fight. Not even Cerberus,” he said, impressing the point on her.

  “Then I’m glad she’s here,” Lili murmured, glancing towards the back of the building. “Those horses look enormous,” she breathed, excitement and curiosity twining through her belly like butterflies. She reminded herself they were racing off to a hostile city where rebels ran wild, but she couldn’t help her eagerness to ride.

  “They are,”
Lucifer agreed, steering her away from the roan mare.

  “I’ll come see you tomorrow,” Lili promised the sweet girl, wishing she’d brought some oats or an apple as a parting gift as they moved deeper into the stables.

  “Here,” Lucifer said as they reached the end of the row of stalls, red smoke filling the air back here, a cloying sweet smoke that wasn’t entirely unpleasant. Lili tipped her head back, and back, and back, gazing up at the biggest horse she’d seen in her life. The one before her was black, with a greyish sheen to its coat, and the sleekest mane she’d seen on any horse; it looked like an oil slick instead of hair. Its eyes too were flat black, fringed with eyelashes Lili would kill for, and they blinked as those eyes fixed upon her, weighing her. Lili stood taller, squaring her shoulders and darting shy, friendly glances at the enormous beast.

  “What’s taking so long?” Renna barked, already mounted on a grey-blue hellstallion two stalls down, a stubby gold stick strapped to her back and her fists wrapped in the reins.

  “Oh, don’t be so glum,” Hal chided. “It’s the first time the lady’s seen a hellstallion, let her have a good long look.”

  Lili grinned at Hal before facing the horse again, red smoke engulfing her as it snorted.

  “She’s gonna be seated on the damn thing for three hours,” Renna muttered. “She can look at it then.”

  Tali made a beastly snorting sound, waiting patiently in the middle of the aisle and watching them all with big, brown eyes.

  “Anytime you’re ready, Your Highness,” Renna drawled. “We’ve only got a rebellion to crush.”

  Lili gave the woman an apologetic wince and pushed the stall door open, moving slowly around the hellstallion. “What’s its name?” she asked as Lucifer followed her, running his hand along the horse’s side.

  “Cherish,” he answered.

  “Pretty name,” Lili murmured, daring to brush the hellstallion’s flank.

  Two stalls over, Renna snorted loudly. “It’s short for Lady Who Cherishes Devouring Her Enemies.”

  “Well.” Lili blinked, swallowing as the horse turned her head to scrutinise her riders. “It’s still a very pretty name.”

  Cherish whuffed, a sound that seemed to be in agreement.

  “Luc?” Lili whispered, facing him. “How do I…” She flapped a hand at the horse three times her height.

  Lucifer grinned a smile full of teeth, his eyes glittering with amusement. “Swing your leg over when you’re high enough. Ready?”

  “Um,” Lili began, but Lucifer’s hands settled on her waist and she was suddenly soaring through the air. Her heart lurched into a panicked sprint but she got the idea and threw her leg over Cherish when she was high enough. She blinked in surprise when Luc grabbed the reins and easily swung himself up behind her.

  “You’re good at this,” she accused.

  “I should be.” He caressed Cherish’s neck and she flung her hair in a proud gesture. “I ride her everyday. I have for … a long time.”

  “Wow,” Lili said, calculating how long he’d been alive. “Cherish must be your very best friend.”

  Renna snorted loudly, and Hal’s booming laugh filled the stables. Lili blushed. “I just meant—you’ve known each other so long and—” She groaned as the others kept laughing, even Tali whuffing a snort through her nose.

  Luc squeezed her waist, settling his chin on her shoulder from behind. “I know, Little Lilith.”

  “Boss’s best friend a hellstallion,” Hal wheezed. “Best thing I’ve ever heard.” He wiped a pretend tear from his eye, or at least Lili hoped it was pretend.

  “I didn’t mean to embarrass you,” she whispered to Lucifer, “or undermine you or—”

  “You didn’t. These two bastards will just take any opportunity to laugh at me.”

  “You love us,” Hal teased.

  “Highly debatable,” Luc replied coolly but Lili could hear the fondness in his voice. She relaxed against him, glad she hadn’t messed up irreparably. And it was nice to see this side of him. He and the Cerberus brothers were friends—she’d go so far as to say they were family—but Lucifer was never this relaxed around them. He must have known these three for a very long time.

  “Are we leaving now or what?” Renna sniped.

  “Yes.” Lucifer waved a hand and the door of the stall popped open, swinging wide so Cherish could make her way into the aisle and out of the stables.

  “Thank you for letting us ride you, Cherish,” Lili said quietly, patting the horse on the neck as they made their way into fresh air.

  “You’re just determined to make friends today, aren’t you?” Luc murmured, an arm across her middle and his free hand gripping the reins.

  “I’m just being polite,” Lili protested, glancing up as they followed the meandering lilac path around the palace to another area she’d never seen before: a paddock for the horses beside a grassy meadow with a low, wide pool in the middle. A glance at the water showed … things moving beneath the surface. Lili quickly looked away. She didn’t think those were fish.

  And this was the palace, Lucifer’s home. If there were things like that here, where it was meant to be civilised and safe, what would there be in a whole city full of wild demons and spirits?

  If Lucifer could have left Liliana behind where she’d be safe, he would have. But he didn’t trust Gabriel not to swoop in with him gone and steal her away. Luc tightened his arm around her, something in his chest softening as she relaxed into his hold, her eyes wide as the countryside flew past Cherish at a frightening speed.

  Lili had shrieked at first, clutching hard to Luc’s arm, but the wonder of their surroundings had overtaken her fear. Now, she absorbed every new sight, every orchard, plain, and village they passed, every church spire—ironic in Hell, he agreed—and every cluster of people working the fields they rode past. The sight of awe on her face at his domain, his home, had pride warming his chest.

  “Almost there,” he told her, tightening his hold on her at movement to their left. But it was only Hal and Renna, nudging ahead as they raced to be the first to reach Aarvul. As contrary as Renna had been at the start of this trip, she hadn’t hesitated to take Hal up on his offer to bet a considerable amount of money. Tali matched Cherish’s pace, her tongue lolling out and her eyes glazed with happiness as she ran, her paws eating up the earth as easily as the hellstallion’s hooves. Had she been inclined, Tali could have beaten them all to the city’s fortress walls.

  “What’s it like?” Lili asked, turning to look at Luc. And those eyes. Clear, guileless brown, and so beautiful. So full of vulnerability that protective instincts grabbed him by the throat.

  “Aarvul?” Luc asked. “It’s different than Iarlon.” He debated how to explain it. “Do you know much about Earth?” Her quick, enthusiastic nod came easily and his heart screwed up tight at how damn cute she was. He wanted to bind her up against him and never let her go, and he knew Russ, Bernard, and Cerny felt the same. She had a way of bringing out those protective instincts in them. “Imagine Iarlon being Rome or Paris. Aarvul is more like London or New York.”

  Lili nodded. “So it’s louder? Busier?”

  “Exactly.” And a thousand times more dangerous, but he wouldn’t say that and scare her any more than she needed to be. Besides, he was there to protect her and so were three of his best fighters. “There,” he murmured, lifting his hand to point out the stone metropolis in the distance, nestled between two jagged brown mountains.

  The terrain had been getting rockier for the past few miles as they rode, and now mountains hemmed them in on three sides. Aarvul was the last bastion of civilisation this far east. Beyond were only mountains and the few spirits who’d managed to escape into them. There were so few escaped spirits, and it was so difficult to travel through the mountains, that Lucifer and his elite just let the stragglers be.

  He’d entertained the idea of those wayward spirits being the ones to open the breaches but it didn’t make sense. That seemed more the work o
f troublemakers, not fugitives who wanted to be left alone and stay under the radar. No, this was more the hallmark of the loud, bullish alpha demons. Loathe as Luc was to admit it, there were more than a few demons who thought they could disregard his laws, and a generous handful lived in Aarvul. Hence their trip.

  “Oh,” Lili breathed as the city walls came into view. “It’s stunning.”

  “Wait until you get inside. The people might be rough but the architecture’s worth the trip.”

  Lili’s eager grin made Luc’s heart miss a beat. She was so innocent and untouched. Yet he was bringing her into a compound of sin, violence, and dirt, overrun with the dregs of demon society.

  What the hell was he thinking?

  “Um,” Lili said as they rode through the big stone checkpoint and into the city. “It’s … lovely.”

  And, to be fair, it was. Vast walls made of large stone blocks, etched with holy stories and images, the white brick painted in royal shades of blue and purple. Even the poorer buildings had their charm, with rooftop gardens and scrolling iron gates in the place of doors, paint splashed messily over their walls as opposed to the master’s works of art on the more affluent areas. But the smell, and the noise, and the bilge water sloshing down the roads…

  Lovely was a stretch.

  Renna snorted. “Too fragrant for your tastes, Your Highness?”

  “Um. Just a touch,” Lili admitted, smiling ruefully.

  Renna’s grey-blue hellstallion kept pace with Cherish, and the purple-skinned woman scanned the roads around them, vigilant. The niceness of the architecture slid away as Lili remembered they were here to hunt down rogue demons. To stop them even if that meant killing them.

  Lili held tight to Lucifer’s arm, suddenly glad for the dagger at her thigh.

  “Tali,” Luc said, his voice stripped of the humour and warmth that had coloured it only minutes ago. This was the voice of a commander, of the devil and ruler of Hell. “Scout ahead. I want to know what we’re riding into.”