Analise also feared what reclaiming memories would do to her. Despite the promise of open wounds being healed, she knew there were reasons for the psychic fracture, and the voice that wouldn’t go away.
Lucifer’s intrusion was a relief. He was tangible, someone she could fight. “I’m going to leave now.”
Analise Saria, the knowledge you possess will save or destroy all living creatures, human and non-human. You are the only one who can change what my brother has set in motion.
Her mind balked at the responsibility Lucifer wanted her to carry. Analise rose from the chair and stormed to where he sat on the sofa. Her finger stabbed his chest until the pain made her stop.
“You will not do this to me, whoever you are. I am not responsible for humanity or angels. I refuse,” she said through clenched teeth. “I don’t know what games you’re playing, and I want no part of them, especially if you are Lucifer and Peter is your rebellious twin Satan.”
Analise opened her mouth, closed it, then snatched at the only logic she could think of at the moment. “Why would a Black woman be stupid enough to involve herself in a white family’s civil war, and an angelic one at that?”
“Because angelic prophecy says you are the reason for its existence,” Lucifer stated. “You are its cause and its solution. Also, my family is not white. We are Seraphim.”
“Semantics on the race thing.” She took a deep breath, her chest rising and falling with the effort. “I’m not purchasing the ‘Analise Saria you are responsible for an angelic war’ argument. If what you say is true, I’d be older than dirt.”
She shoved her emotions back behind their wall. Her voice was flat when she spoke. “All the times you came to me in my dreams, I believed you were different. I was wrong. I guess what differences exist between you and Nathanson is minute. He wants my company for its research and considers a sexual relationship a bonus. You. . .besides sex, I have no idea what you want.”
“I want my Consort,” Lucifer whispered. “I want you.”
“Well, you can’t have me,” she shouted and turned to leave. Her body refused to obey. “What the hell are you doing?”
“I am not doing anything, Consort.”
Analise glared at him. “Release me.”
“I am not the one keeping you here, Analise Saria. It is your will.”
She struggled to move and battled an inexorable force determined to keep her in the room. When it was clear she wouldn’t prevail, she accepted defeat. Her muscles loosened and, guided by a will hers and not hers, she moved toward Lucifer. Angry tears sparkled on her dark eyelashes.
“Please let me go, I don’t want any part of this.”
I am in command of your body, Analise Saria Willoughby, daughter of Kella, descendant of Saria, who was also the archangel Lilith. We did not bring the Tamahaq into humankind for you to play a coward.
It was her, and invoking family privileges with the full name. I am.
Analise also realized that things weren’t about to go her way but she’d try to salvage something. This isn’t about cowardice. It’s about me having free will. I want no part of an angelic war.
You haven’t exercised free will in a very long time. If you had, we would not be having this conversation. Lucifer is our Consort.
Analise’s body swayed and Lucifer flung himself from the couch to catch her before she hit the stone floor. He held her against him.
“There’s the only way you can win this battle,” Analise taunted the voice inside her, despite the fear clotting in her veins.
“As you wish, Tamahaq. I don’t have time for your emotional messiness.”
Analise squealed at hearing her voice aloud. “You’ve always talked to my mind. Why now?”
She never heard her answer as Lucifer’s mouth came down hard on hers. Strong fingers cupped the back of her head, holding her immobile while his mouth tasted hers. The kiss dared her to prolong the fight, to deny who she was and what she was to him.
As abruptly as it began, the kiss ended. Lucifer’s blue eyes stared down at her. He seemed puzzled. Analise was about to ask what was wrong when a fiery explosion vaporized every protective shield she had in place. Her mouth met his and she sucked his tongue inside. If his kiss was a claiming, hers was a branding, sealing forever the physical and telepathic bond between them. Her mouth declared the same possessive right to claim him as he claimed her. To know his mind in the same way he knew hers. She knew Lucifer in her soul, and knew there would never be another man in her bed.
As she lifted her mouth from Lucifer’s, Analise whispered, “You are my life as I am yours.”
We are reunited, Tamahaq.
Analise felt her retreat from her awareness, residual joy trailing in her wake. Not sure how to feel or what to say, Analise opened her eyes and gazed at Lucifer. His hold loosened and, although he put distance between them, he didn’t release her. His eyes were worried.
“Do you know who I am?”
Analise’s fingers stroked the thin scar on his chin before she replied, “my life mate,” and fainted.
Lucifer glanced at Analise. In a few minutes she would awaken. He stretched, enjoying a physical freedom he hadn’t possessed for nearly a millennium. Retrieving the human clothes draped over the back of a nearby chair, he pulled on the shirt and then reached for the trousers, which didn’t appear very comfortable. Michael informed him they were called jeans. Apparently, his Consort admired them on a male’s body. The thought immediately annoyed him as he zipped up the jean. Once the bonding ceremony occurred, he would insist that Analise Saria refrain from looking at another male’s body.
A faint movement had him rushing to Analise’s side. He sat on the bed and tenderly stroked her cheek. Consort.
Her long eyelashes lifted. Dream Candy?
Lucifer lifted the braid from her left temple and tucked it behind her ear. “Who else would infuriate you enough to render you unconscious?”
Her laughter caressed his nerve endings, embedding its rich, honeyed sound in his senses. He trembled when her fingers brushed his silk-covered chest before her joy faded and confusion and fear clouded her hazel eyes. Analise’s teeth caught the edge of her top lip. Lucifer watched her nibbled the flesh, the gesture stirring something deep in him. The urge died when Analise’s lashes fluttered shut.
You are awake, Lucifer.
Despite her death, Lilith’s memories, and the memories of all her female descendants, had been passed down with a single DNA code. Each Tamahaq a repository of history.
I believe Analise Saria is the one in prophecy. The last of your Tamahaq line.
She is the one. Fate walks the Earth.
Lucifer’s hand caressed Analise’s cheek. Then you must help her accept her destiny, Lilith. She is ignorant of prophecy and the gifts she possesses. If she doesn’t accept her role, Analise Saria will never be strong enough to endure my brother’s treachery.
I will open the door for her, Seraphim. Do you release me?
Lucifer closed his eyes. Forgive me.
There is nothing to forgive. You could not have foreseen what was to be any more than your brother or I. We were threads in the tapestry she designed when she brought life into existence. I loved your brother with all my heart, but our bond was necessary to save him. Do you release me?
I release you.
Compassion and warmth surrounded his heart. Analise Saria is your true Consort and life mate, Lucifer. Once she embraces her true self, your brother will come for her. Guard her well, Seraphim.
Analise’s body shook violently before it locked in a catatonic state. Lucifer stared at her chest and breathed a sigh of relief when he saw its rhythmic rise and fall. Her eyes moved rapidly beneath her lids. Heartbreak pinched her expression before the sorrow disappeared.
Chapter 10
Analise knew she shouldn’t fear what the dark corner of her mind concealed. Knowing and being are two different mindsets, and she was afraid, terrified in fact. The hidden trove needed to remain unearthed. Her
emotions best left untouched, locked away forever. After the Drakes died, a school counselor once said. “You need to push through the grief, Analise. Not lock it away and pretend it doesn’t exist.” She ignored the counselor and did the opposite, created a “safe room” and shoved the hurt, the memories, and the love inside and bolted the door.
For years she fought to ignore everything that slashed at her soul, stole her breath from her lungs in the middle of the night, and left her terrified of living. With each death that touched her, she reinforced the walls and sealed every crack so nothing could escape. No exit unless she created it. No release unless she opened the door. It almost worked.
She stared at the darkness, and it seemed to stare back. Keeping pace as she walked, moving at the same speed and with the same noisy silence. A single shiver made its way down her spine. She felt it touch every nerve, taking a nip until fear was woven in her cells. Once the shiver left, it did so without a trace of its presence. The air in her lungs was unchanged, her heartbeat rhythmic and steady, and her body untouched by the sweat of fear.
Because there were no physical manifestations, she feared all the more.
“I can’t do this,” she whimpered.
Warmth invaded her body and a dark brown hand materialized to stroke her braid.
“Of course you can, Tamahaq. We are here.”
Analise’s head snapped to the left. Her mother stood at her side, her wide smile full of love.
“Of course you can, Lise. We are here.”
Analise’s head lifted at the sound of her father’s husky voice. Her eyes followed his large light brown hand as it claimed her darker brown one. Tears nearly blinded her. Analise blinked rapidly to stem their flow. “Why did you leave me?”
She didn’t intend to ask, but the terrified four-year-old who sat hidden for three days in the safe room would not be silenced. The weight of her parents’ arms encircled her.
“To protect you, Analise Saria. We could not allow you to be taken. Who you are is greater than our own lives. Come, you must open the door. We will talk as we enter.”
The sadness in her mother’s lilting voice was Analise’s undoing. Her tears cascaded down her cheeks and her parents held her as they entered the room of memories. Analise trembled and hesitated. Her father’s fingers squeezed hers.
“There is nothing to fear, Lise. These are your memories. We and others have been guardians, protecting your existence until Lucifer awakened.” Richard Willoughby kissed the top of her head. “Thank you for being my daughter, Analise Saria.”
She watched him fade into the darkness before she looked at her mother. Kella Willoughby hugged then released her. Her fingers caressed a wet cheek before she touched Analise’s braid.
“I can go no further, Tamahaq,” Kella said. “I am proud to have brought you into the world. Lucifer is your Consort and life mate, but not your master. It won’t be easy loving a Seraphim. They are a rather arrogant breed, accustomed to obedience, and antiquated in their thinking, much like your father.”
Analise giggled when a disembodied snort sounded.
“Lucifer was born for you,” her mother said. “The Seraphim will do anything to protect his Consort, even if the cost is his life. You must protect his heart while you teach him to respect you as Tamahaq, Consort, and his life mate.”
The weight of her mother’s fingers eased and Analise peered into the suddenly dark empty space. Light shimmered. She stared open-mouthed at the angel who emerged from the brightness. The angel also wore the Tamahaq braid. “Lilith?”
Lilith smiled and took Analise’s trembling fingers. “You are more beautiful than I imagined, Saria.”
“I am Analise Saria.”
Lilith’s musical laughter was a sweet song to Analise’s ears, which made it easy to return the archangel’s smile. “Analise Saria. A beautiful name.”
The archangel took Analise’s hand. “Come, we must talk, and you must tell me everything about your first meeting with the Seraphim.”
Analise balked at the idea but allowed Lilith to draw her further into her safe room.
***
Lucifer stared at Analise’s face when her full lips creased in a smile. Her eyelashes flickered several times before she raised them. A pair of hazel eyes stared back at him.
He flinched when her hand slapped his chest. “Why does my Consort inflict pain on me?”
“Because I’m furious with you,” she said, struggling to a sitting position on the bed. “For two years, you’ve deliberately invaded my dreams. Why didn’t you tell me?”
You would not have believed me.
“Rule number one still stands,” she declared. “Rule number two, I’m Analise, not Lilith.”
“As I am aware. Lilith was not prone to strike me,” he said, rubbing his chest. “It appears you accept your role as my Consort?”
Her teeth gripped her lower lip. She wasn’t certain how to reply. The safe room no longer existed, its door flung wide open. Analise had hoped her inner voice would reveal herself. She always spoke as if, once the floodgates were opened, Analise would discover who she was. There was still a barrier and Analise had no idea why.
“What troubles you, Analise Saria?”
Analise gazed at Lucifer. Lilith had been his Consort. “Am I a way for you to hold onto the memory of a woman you loved? If it is, you’ve chosen the wrong woman, Lucifer.”
He gripped her hand. “Forgive me, Analise Saria. For you to understand, I must speak to your mind.”
His fingers tightened around hers. Lilith became mortal to stop my brother. She gave birth to twins, a male and a female, and ensured they were protected from Satan. You are a descendant of the female child. You carry Lilith’s DNA, which is why you have a role in angelic prophecy. Once you accept your destiny, Fate will walk the earth.
Analise frowned and snatched her hand from his. “You really don’t listen well, do you? Stay out of my head.”
“Telepathy is more efficient.”
“I don’t care. Tell me about your twin. What has he been doing while you’ve slumbered, Sleeping Beauty?”
“Controlling human history. Satan, or Peter Nathanson as you know him, has not forsworn his hatred of the Hierarchy or his determination to end my life.”
Analise heard the anguish behind the words. It was not an easy position to be in, the one Lucifer occupied. His sense of duty and belief in his prophecy meant the loss of a brother. It was a horrendous price to pay.
She slid her fingers across the back of his hand. “As Consort, do I organize charity balls and show up at dedications? What exactly are my duties?”
An erotic image filled her mind and her clit reacted with a quick twitch. She dragged her tongue across her bottom lip and briefly closed her eyelids. Opening them, she glared at him. “That service is negotiable.”
Her life disrupted for over two years, Analise decided to heed her mother’s advice and reclaim it starting that very moment. She rose from the bed and walked to the center of the chamber.
“For the sake of argument, let’s assume I agree to take the job. There are conditions to be met. First, you will heed rule number one.”
“You can stop me any time, Consort. If you do not wish me in your thoughts, I will not be there.”
Testing his words, she calmed her mind and pictured the undulating waters of the San Francisco Bay. She felt a faint brush against the image and added the Golden Gate Bridge.
“You have succeeded, Analise Saria. There is a simpler way for angels. You will recall it once you are at ease.”
“The second condition is there will be no sex.”
Unless you initiate it.
She ignored the intrusion. “Third, you will not interfere with my company. Fourth—”
“No, I do not agree. What you propose is far too dangerous. I will not allow it.”
The distance between her and Lucifer shrank. He towered over her, but she refused to be intimidated. “What do you mean, you will not allow i
t? Who do you think you are to tell me what I can and cannot do?”
She poked his chest. “I haven’t fully bought into your apocalyptic soap opera. I’m not about to cede you authority over me.”
“The man you know as Peter is my twin, Analise Saria, and he is ruthless. He has spent centuries building a force capable of destroying the Enclave. Under his command are the expelled, demons, and undead. Without you, humans and angels do not stand a chance. You are Fate’s promise for our survival,” Lucifer declared.
He took her hands in his. “Once my brother discovers you are the last Tamahaq, he will stop at nothing to claim you. I cannot allow Satan to control the power you represent.”
“And how are you different?” She backed toward the doorway. “You invade my dreams every night. You’ve been at it longer, controlling me for two years.”
“That is not true, Analise Saria.”
Analise sucked in air. Releasing it slowly, she searched his face. “You intend to use me to destroy him, he wants to use me to destroy you, and I’m supposed to be okay with this testosterone-fused, sibling rivalry? That is not who I am. After two years, you, of all people, should know better.”
She shielded her mind from him and left the chamber. Despite the dimly lit cavern, her memories, actually Lilith’s memories, made it easy to retrace her steps until she stood outside. The sun was bright over the canyon. It was time to go home.
Analise walked over to Mark, who stood talking to Aaron Hayoi. She stared at her executive assistant and best friend. She was puzzled by Mark’s connection to Lucifer but decided now wasn’t the time to ask. Ignoring the other men, especially Angelis, she looked at Mark. “Sleeping Beauty is awake. Take me home.”
It was a short walk to the UH-72A Lakota; the same type of aircraft that returned her to San Francisco the day Martine’s body was found. Her shoulders tight, Analise hurried to the helicopter. Roger waited, his hand on the handle. He opened the door and she climbed inside. Mark squeezed in beside her while Gabriel and Roger settled themselves in the pilot and co-pilot seats.
The incessant noise of the helicopter’s blades stifled conversation, for which she was grateful. When they landed in Santa Fe, she turned to Mark. “You didn’t say anything about a detour.”
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