by Emma Castle
Diana,
Each dawn after I leave you, you are welcome to stay as long as you wish. My driver is downstairs, ready to take you home whenever you like. Until next week, pet, I will taste you on my lips and ache for you. Next time I will not be kind or gentle. I won’t stop at using only my fingers and tongue. Be prepared, pet.
Lucien
She shivered with a forbidden pulsing desire. She shouldn’t want him, not like that, but her body was quick to betray her. She set the note back down on the bathroom counter and combed her fingers through her hair, trying to tame the wild mess. Then she retrieved her bag from the floor by the bed. She paused for just a moment and glanced back at the single white feather in the square glass case. The morning sunlight made it sparkle enticingly. She couldn’t believe it had once belonged to an angel, and not just any angel, but Lucifer himself. Maybe that’s what captivated her, the fact that he’d once been one of God’s favorite angels. With a slow exhale, she turned back to the elevator.
The elevator door opened, and she pressed the button and rode back down to the ground floor. She met the driver as the doors opened, and he led her out into the empty nightclub. She didn’t say anything as the driver opened her door for her and she climbed into the black Mercedes. He drove her home and even carried her bag to the door. She smiled at him and thanked him. The man paused, and his solemn face suddenly brightened a little as his lips twitched. Then he left her alone.
She unlocked the door and dropped her bag just inside. Seth trotted out of her room, letting out a trailing meow of greeting. She bent and caught him, cuddling him to her chest and breathing in his scent. He purred and rubbed his furry cheek against hers.
“Oh, Seth…” She was relieved to have something to hold on to, to bury her worries even for just a few seconds.
She put Seth down and headed for the bathroom, stripping out of her clothes. She turned on the shower and stepped into the tub and pulled the curtain closed. Hot water burned her skin, and she rubbed every inch of her body, trying to wipe away the feel of him. It was as though he’d imprinted himself on her after what he had done to her. She felt…dirty and owned by him. She hated that she liked that feeling even more.
“I need help.” She wasn’t sure who she spoke to, but she just needed to say it. She eased down in the tub, letting the shower water rain down while she covered her face in her hands. Tears came hard and fast, and she let them. Full-body sobs racked her frame. She felt truly alone.
When her eyes were finally dry and she had no energy left to cry anymore, she stood and finished washing. Then she dressed and made herself some breakfast. She finally felt calm enough to retrieve her schoolbooks and settled down to work. If there was one thing she could do to get the devil out of her mind it was studying. Seth leapt on the table and kept her company.
Don’t think about him. Don’t think about what you did with him. Don’t…
7
Ye shall be as Gods, knowing both good and evil, as they know. - John Milton, Paradise Lost
When Monday morning came, Diana practically bounced in her seat as class started. Professor Belkin, a man in his sixties, had a great sense of humor and made her economics class fun and fascinating. The class was small, only fifteen students, but she liked it that way. She focused on taking summer classes whenever possible so she could finish her degree sooner, and she had access to each teacher on a more intimate level with smaller classes. She smiled as one of her friends, a fellow classmate named Jim, took a seat next to her.
“Today we’re going to discuss the principal of trade-offs. In basic language, a trade-off is when you give up one thing in order to get another.” Belkin took a dry-erase marker and started writing on the whiteboard behind him. Diana opened a Word document on her laptop and started typing some additional notes. She copied the professor’s notes. Trade-off between efficiency and equity.
“Definition of efficiency.” Professor Belkin faced the class and tapped the marker against his chest. “It is the property of society getting the maximum benefits from its scarce resources. The definition of equity is the property of distributing economic prosperity fairly among the members of society.”
Diana typed the definition while the professor waited, giving the class time to catch up.
“Let’s think of some examples. Group yourselves up and discuss.” Belkin waved at them.
The classmates she worked with were fun and engaging, and by the end of the exercise she was relaxed and enjoying herself. She almost managed to forget the devil’s bargain she’d made…almost.
When the class was over, she packed up her bag.
“Hey,” someone said, and she glanced up. Jim grinned at her.
“Hi.” She couldn’t resist smiling back. He was cute in that boy-next-door sort of way, with blond hair and hazel eyes. There was just something sweet about him that made her want to grin.
“I’d love to take you out for coffee and talk about the trade-off chapter homework.” His easy smile was so different from Lucien. She felt guilty at the comparison, but it was true.
“Um…okay. Let me finish packing up, and I’ll meet you outside.”
Jim slung his laptop bag over his shoulder and left the classroom.
“Coffee…with a regular guy.” She bit her lip to hide a grin. It sounded really nice. Yet she couldn’t help but wonder if Lucien might ever be the guy who could do regular coffee. Probably not. For some reason, that left her feeling disappointed. Which she knew was terrible. She should be celebrating her freedom during the week, but it didn’t change the fact that she couldn’t get the devil out of her mind.
“I think you have a problem.”
Lucien looked up when Andras walked into his office, interrupting his assessment of the club finances, a task he completed every month though he knew there would not be any monetary worries. He wasn’t about to let a bunch of humans stiff him on the cost of doing business.
“What problem?”
“There’s an angel sniffing around your woman.” Andras took a cigarette lighter out of his pocket and flicked the silver lid open, letting a flame spark to life.
“Diana? She’s not my…wait, you said an angel? What angel?” Lucien didn’t have women who belonged to him, except where Diana was concerned. She was his, and no angel had any right to go and take what was his.
“Where is she?” Lucien demanded.
“Leaving her class. They’re grabbing coffee.” Andras smirked.
“Coffee?” Lucien growled. “I’ll tear his wings off myself.”
He closed his eyes, and when he opened them he was standing in the hall outside her classroom at the local university. His skin prickled as he sensed an angel’s close proximity.
“Show yourself,” he ordered.
Suddenly a young blond-haired man in slacks and a white dress shirt appeared. The shadows of his invisible wings fanned out on the wall behind him.
“Jimiel?” Lucien recognized the angel as one of his brothers from before the fall.
“Lucifer.” Jimiel’s eyes narrowed, and he tossed his bag to the floor, then assumed a battle stance.
“You’re the one sniffing around my woman?” Lucien opened his palms, balls of fire manifesting.
“She’s not your woman,” Jimiel said, his gaze cool and aloof. “Diana Kingston is mine. The moment she was born, I was assigned as her earthly guardian.”
“Father is up to his old tricks? I thought he gave up the whole ‘guardian angel’ thing centuries ago.” His hands still sparked with flames, and he was hungry to burn the winged idiot to ash. He may have been demoted from angel status, but being elevated to king of hell had some real perks, including smiting angelic assholes like Jimiel.
“For certain mortals, he still assigns angels. Diana is one of those. She is destined to change the world for the better. Her life must be guarded at all times.”
Lucien scowled, letting the balls of fire in his hands die. “Where were you when she signed her soul away to me
? Father’s really let heaven go to the dogs.”
Jimiel scowled. “Hold your tongue, Lucifer.”
Itching for a fight, Lucien stepped closer to the angel. “I have a contract with her. She belongs to me, and only to me, for the next three months.”
Jimiel’s arrogant smile made Lucifer want to rip his wings off and kick him into a never-ending abyss.
“I know the terms. You have her only on Friday night until dawn the next day. Every day between belongs to the light, to us, and I can remind her every day why she should choose our side, not the dark.” Jimiel was still grinning, until Lucien smirked.
“You can be there all you like during the week, but she is still mine.” Lucien knew that Jimiel couldn’t reveal his true nature to Diana. It was part of the uptight rules that belonged to the good guys. Rules that Lucien didn’t have to abide by. The classroom door opened, and Diana stepped out and froze when she saw Lucien and Jimiel.
Her face paled, and her gaze darted between the two men. Jimiel retrieved his bag and smiled at her.
“Ready for coffee?” he asked.
“I…” Her gaze darted between them again.
“You can go to coffee with him, or you and I can catch dinner in Paris.”
“Um…” She struggled for words. “It’s only noon, and I really should go with Jim. We have homework and…” Her voice grew firmer as she got braver. “I’ll see you on Friday. Let’s go, Jim.”
“But—” Lucien sputtered, shocked. “You can’t just…” But Diana was already walking away with that damned guardian angel.
“That didn’t go well,” Andras said.
Lucien sighed, frowning. “No,” he ground out. “It certainly didn’t.”
“I’d be happy to smite him. I haven’t fought an angel in more than two centuries. Please?” Andras asked. “Let me turn him into a pile of ash.”
As much as Lucien was tempted to say yes, he knew he couldn’t. Jimiel might be a little prick with wings, but he was keeping Diana safe, and Lucien didn’t want anything to happen to her when he wasn’t around. He felt protective of her.
Because she’s mine, mine for pleasure, and I don’t want my new pet destroyed. Or even damaged. It would take all the fun out of the arrangement.
“I think it’s better to wait,” Lucien said.
Andras let out a long-suffering sigh.
“I’ve been away from hell too long. Leave her to her silly angel.” He opened the door that had seconds ago opened to Diana’s classroom. But rather than open up to the classroom, it led to a darkened staircase. Lucien stepped through, Andras behind him as they descended into hell.
“Who was that?” Jim asked Diana as they sat down at the coffee bar just one building away from their classroom.
“He’s…kind of a boyfriend?” How could she explain her situation with Lucifer to a nice, normal guy like Jim?
“How do you become a kind of boyfriend?” he asked, chuckling a little. The sound was sweet, nice, safe. She felt safe with Jim.
“I only see him on the weekends. It’s a bit complicated.” She sipped her mocha latte and looked away from him.
“Complicated, huh? Is he married? Sounds like what a married man wants.”
Diana laughed. Lucien married? Yeah, no way. The devil didn’t marry. Could he even get married? “No, he’s not married.” She took another sip of her coffee.
“So how do you like the class?” Jim thankfully changed the subject.
“I love it. Belkin is a great professor.” She dug her notebook out to look at the homework assignment.
“So chapters four and five, then a series of questions…” She retrieved her textbook, and Jim did the same. For the next two hours, she and Jim worked on the questions.
“See you on Wednesday?” Jim asked as he took her empty coffee cup with him and threw it into the trash with his.
“Yeah, definitely.” She wasn’t sure why, but she suddenly had the urge to hug him. When she did, he wrapped his arms around her, and she sighed in contentment. He felt warm, not like Lucien had. He smelled nice too, like springtime. This was the kind of man a woman like her should want to be with.
“Sorry.” She blushed as she let go of him.
A soft smile tugged at his lips. “You can hug me anytime, Diana. Anytime.”
“Er…thanks.” She picked up her purse and laptop bag, still trying to ignore her red face. She really couldn’t just go around hugging random guys. They’d get the wrong impression. Still…Jim was somehow different. He felt safe. The very opposite of Lucien. At least she could ignore him the rest of the week. When he’d shown up outside her classroom she’d panicked, but he hadn’t been able to force her to do anything—at least he couldn’t until Friday.
I’m my own woman until then. She waved goodbye to Jim and headed home. When she got back to her apartment, she found another note. Shuddering, she picked up the letter off the floor and broke the red wax seal.
Diana,
I did not find this afternoon’s rebuff cute. You belong to me. Do not forget what is at stake. You are mine. Even when you are not with me during the week, the rule still applies. I do not share my toys. Ever. Stay clear of other men during our time together, or you will find an accident will befall those fools you give your favors to.
Lucien
“Give my favors to?” she growled. “It was just coffee and talking about homework!” She wasn’t sure why she shouted that in her apartment all alone, but she swore she heard a chuckle.
I’m going insane, really insane.
“The devil is a dick,” she muttered. Again, she heard an eerie bodiless chuckle all around her. Seth was perched on the coffee table, watching her talk to herself, his ears flattened, but he didn’t hiss. That was a relief. Seth had sort of a devil radar that she found comforting.
“It’s too bad I can’t take you with me on Friday. I bet Lucien isn’t a cat person. He is probably the kind of guy to own a snake.” She snickered. Making fun of the devil did make her feel a little better. Seth’s tail twitched, brushing the surface of the coffee table like a feather duster. When she flopped down on her couch, he leapt onto her and kneaded her stomach before settling down to purr.
“Save me, Seth, save me from the devil.” This time she and the devil laughed together. Hers was the laugh of someone in deep despair, and his was one of victory.
There was nothing that Seth could do to save her from the devil.
8
Taste this, and be henceforth among the Gods. - John Milton, Paradise Lost
The second Friday night
* * *
Diana eyed the black box with a red satin bow on the top as she sat in the black sedan. Lucien’s driver had opened the door for her when she’d come down to the car, and he’d handed her the box. The letter said not to open the box until she was instructed to. So she wore jeans, a navy-blue sweater, and Converse shoes, and she had no intention of changing unless Lucien ordered her to. She would likely be ordered to strip again. The driver stopped outside the club and helped her out. She carried her bag and the black box inside, riding the elevator up to Lucien’s suite on her own.
The doors opened to Lucien’s apartment. It was empty, no sign of her would-be seducer. She set down the bag of clothes and books and wandered over to the bed, touching the red velvet throw. It was the same one he’d covered her with the last time. She almost smiled at the memory of him showing a tiny bit of, well, humanity. She turned her attention to the feather in the glass case, unable to resist walking up to it again. The grandfather clock in the corner close by chimed away twelve times.
The feather still hung in the air, the white strands sparkling as though diamond dust had been cast over it. She wondered what Lucien would look like with hundreds of feathers like this one forming two snowy-white wings. She imagined him in the sun, wings spread wide, shimmering. He would be the most beautiful thing she’d ever seen. She was so lost in a daze that she jumped when a hand gripped her wrist, preventing her fr
om lifting the glass. She hadn’t even been aware that she was going to do that.
“I know it is tempting, but you must resist.” Lucien’s voice was quiet, soft.
She dropped her hand from the glass the moment he released her wrist.
“I’m sorry, it’s just so beautiful, I can’t…” She gave her head a little shake, trying to clear the strange fog.
“Come, we have midnight dinner reservations.” Lucien slid an arm around her waist and gently pulled her away from the feather in the glass case.
“Do I need to change or—”
“Not yet. Bring your box.” He let go of her to walk to the closet door and opened it. She was slowly getting used to the crazy idea that a closet door could open up to somewhere else, like a Malibu beach house. This time it was a villa in a tropical paradise.
“Where are we going?” She picked up her overnight bag and her black box and stared at the hand he held out to her. She tucked the box under her arm and placed her hand in his. He stepped through the doorway, and a humid ocean breeze lifted her hair.
Lucien grinned as he led her down the garden path illuminated by hanging colored lamps. Palm trees lined the walkway, and when they turned, a dark band of trees opened up to reveal a building. The massive villa had golden lights all around it with an infinity pool overlooking the ocean.
“Welcome to Belize.” Lucien took the box and escorted her to the villa’s main glass doors. All the lights were on inside, and she could see the expensive furniture, the gleaming walnut dining room table, the dark granite kitchen, and a massive whiskey-colored couch and huge TV. The second floor probably had bedrooms. It was stunning.
“Who owns this place?”
“Me.” Lucien opened one of the glass doors and allowed her to enter ahead of him.
