by Emma Castle
“Yes,” she whimpered, trying to lift her hips, hoping to entice him to enter her.
Lucien’s grin widened, and he gripped his shaft, pushing the tip inside her. She held very still, trying to be good and patient. It seemed to amuse and please him. He rewarded her with a sharp, hard thrust. He filled her completely, stripping away everything but her need and his. Lucien bent over her, gripping the headboard, and fucked her. The tendons on his neck stood out in sharp relief, and he breathed hard and erratic as he plunged into her over and over.
In that moment Diana was truly wrecked. In the last few weeks, she’d become a prisoner of his desires and hers. There was no going back to normal life, not after this, or him. She locked her legs around his waist, making him as much a captive as she was to their mutual desire. The pupils of his eyes were still red with an inner fire. She stared deep into them, searching for the angel, not the devil.
All the while, he stretched her, his shaft relentlessly thrusting into her, bringing them together in an ancient dance of flesh and sounds of ecstasy. The delicious friction and the heat of their bodies finally overwhelmed her. She climaxed, making a soft moan of half pleasure, half pain. He came seconds later, a feral brutish cry leaving his lips as the madness between them dissolved into a lethargic mutual exhale. He collapsed on top of her, his face resting on the mounds of her breasts as he panted. Sweat fused their bodies together, and Diana didn’t want to move ever again.
“Diana,” Lucian murmured her name, that unexpected tenderness coiling tightly around her heart.
“Yes?” She barely had the strength to talk, yet she had never felt so wonderful in her entire life.
He lifted his head so their eyes met. “You aren’t like any human I’ve ever known.” There was a bewilderment on his face that made her heart flip.
“Is that bad?” she asked.
He shook his head slowly. “You’re the only true good thing I’ve ever had since the fall.”
His eyes were that soft, warm shade of brown she loved so much, and she couldn’t help but wonder if what he’d said was as close as she would get to a declaration of affection.
I will take it and him any way that I can.
He freed her, kissing her bruised wrists before he cuddled her against him on her bed. His pants were still down, her shirt up, and she would’ve laughed at the ridiculousness of it, but she couldn’t find the strength to care.
“Will you stay?” she asked, rubbing her cheek on his chest. His white dress shirt smelled like him, dark, exotic, with a hint of pine.
“I’ll stay.” There was a softness in those words, as though he meant far more than just tonight, but she was too afraid to hope that was true. She couldn’t have a life with him, not the one she’d dreamt of having. But she could have this, and perhaps a few more midnights and mornings like it before it ended.
She closed her eyes, surrendering to sleep, Lucien’s body providing all the warmth she needed. Everything was simply perfect. She wouldn’t think about the future or the contract. She would only think of this moment. That was all that mattered.
17
For so I formed them free, and free they must remain. - John Milton, Paradise Lost
The seventh midnight
* * *
Diana admired herself in the full-length mirror, loving the knee-length midnight-blue dress that Lucien had sent her in her box tonight. It was like something Grace Kelly would have worn, with a full skirt and an understated elegance.
It’s something I would wear if I had a choice, and he knows it.
So much had changed since that night they’d made love in her bed. Things were full of light in a way she couldn’t explain. Each kiss they shared, each touch, seemed to ignite her soul with a blinding cosmic light that sent her rushing headlong into his arms, searching for that taste of heaven again and again. Even though there were moments of darkness in his eyes, the brown hue was stronger now, the black receding. She’d learned since then that the brown was his more angelic side. That was the man she loved, not the black-eyed creature who’d bought her soul all those weeks ago.
Her phone buzzed in her pocket, and she pulled it out.
Asshat: Looking forward to tonight. Be ready for me, sweetheart.
She couldn’t help but grin as she paused before responding.
Diana: I’m always ready for you.
With a giggle she added a pineapple emoji. Her phone buzzed a second later.
Asshat: You’re killing me. I’m sending the car early. I don’t want to wait, and we have a special reservation tonight. Opera tickets to see Don Giovani at the Met.
Diana bit her lip, still smiling.
Diana: You know I love that opera.
Asshat: Of course I know. I’ve made it my mission to know everything about you.
Diana: You know, you’re really not all that villainous…for the devil.
Lucien replied with an emoji of a devil smiley face with horns.
Diana rolled her eyes with a laugh, lifted Seth up from the edge of her bed, and rubbed her cheek against his fur.
“Don’t wait up for me.”
Seth’s purr was like a small car’s motor, rumbling away as he moved his head so he could rub his cheeks against her chin, and then she set him back down. He flopped onto his side and twitched his tail back and forth as he watched her smooth her skirt down, and then she snatched her purse and waved at him.
When she got down to the car waiting for her, her mind was miles away. Tonight felt…special. She couldn’t explain why, but she had that sense in the air that something was going to happen, something good. It made the fine hairs stand up on her neck, like the way the air seemed tense with energy before a thunderstorm, and she liked the feeling. She looked out the window as they drove their usual route. When the rain started, she smiled and traced the droplets on the window with her fingertip, watching their paths blend and blur over and over as the storm grew.
“Sure hope you guys are staying inside tonight,” Douglas said as he cranked the windshield wipers higher to see through the storm.
“We’re going to the opera, but I don’t mind the rain.” She winked at the driver through the reflection of the rearview mirror.
Diana sat back in the car and closed her eyes, trying to picture her and Lucien sitting at the opera. He would look so sexy in his black suit.
“Shit!” Douglas’s curse was the last thing she remembered before the world spun out of control. She tumbled like a tiny fragment of colored glass in a giant kaleidoscope. The shriek of metal and the hiss of shattered glass surrounded her, and pain exploded through her as the car came to a rocking halt. She couldn’t breathe, the air simply wouldn’t fill her lungs.
“Lucien!” She screamed his name inside her head.
“Diana!” His voice was there, echoing in her head, or was it outside? She reached through the broken window, unable to move, and every bone in her body felt shattered.
“Diana!” This time she was certain Lucien was there. Somehow he’d found her, had come, but it was too late. She could feel the living part of her…dying. It was the most curious sensation. Her heart was so full of sorrow. She didn’t want to leave him, didn’t want to lose those sacred, secret hours between midnight and dawn with him.
I love you…I love you with everything that I am, with my last breath. She willed her thoughts out into the universe, praying he would somehow hear her. The pain that had seconds ago felt so crippling was drifting away, like a wisp of smoke from an extinguished candle.
Where goes the smoke, so shall I…to lands far and away from here. She wanted to stay with Lucien, but she knew it wouldn’t be possible.
White clouds slowly built around her, cushioning her with warmth, and then she saw it, the gleaming towers and endless rays of light. Heaven was everything she’d always dreamed it would be, but Lucien wasn’t there with her.
I would give anything to go back to him. Anything.
There would be no deal with the devil to b
ring her back. It was far too late.
Ten minutes earlier
“You’re doing it again,” Andras grumbled.
“Doing what?” Lucien studied his clothes in the full-length mirror. He’d chosen a dark-blue tie tonight, abandoning his red one for the first time since…well, ever.
“Humming like some lovestruck fool.” Andras leaned back against the desk in Lucien’s office in the penthouse apartment and crossed his arms over his chest, scowling.
“Lovestruck fool?” Lucien raised a brow, challenging Andras. “Don’t make me assign you to the housewives’ circle of hell.”
At the stark terror on his friend’s face, Lucien chuckled. It was about time the other fallen angel gave him the respect he was due.
“I’m not lovestruck. You know that isn’t even possible. I’m just pleased, very pleased with how Diana is coming along. She lets me do the most… Well, let me put it this way, Andras—you’d be humming too if you had a woman like her in bed.” He wasn’t lying, and Andras knew it. Lucien had spent the last few weeks with Diana, spending more than simply Friday nights together. They’d spent entire days together, dinner, dancing, movies, picnics, things he would have scorned before he met her. Now they were the things that kept him smiling, kept him feeling lighthearted even when he had to return to the dark pits of hell to do his job.
“You only have a little more time with her. It’s better if you start weaning yourself off now.”
“She’s not an addiction,” Lucien snapped as he whirled to face his friend. “She’s just a bit of fun.” The lie rang in the air between them, like the ringing of a bell.
“All I’m saying is that you need to focus. You still haven’t recovered from the rabishu attacks. I’m worried about you, that’s all. You can barely even jump between places these days.”
“You better make yourself scarce. She’ll be here soon.” Lucien checked his watch. It was close to eight o’clock. He couldn’t wait to show Diana what he had planned tonight. Dinner after the opera and then bed in Iceland in a special clear bubbled room that would let them make love beneath the stars for hours. He wanted to remember every single night with her, burn her into his memory so deeply that she would never leave him, even after centuries had passed.
I have to keep a part of her, always.
Lucien glanced back in the mirror and saw it, the vulnerability in his eyes. Andras was right. He had formed an attachment to Diana, one that ran far too deep to be wise, but he couldn’t seem to deny himself what he wanted, which was her. Yet when the contract ended in a month, he would have to. If he didn’t make a clean break, he would want to keep her, and then he would have to watch her age and die. He couldn’t stand the thought. He checked his watch again and smiled. Soon she would be here, soon—
Pain knifed through him, and he fell to one knee, clutching his chest.
“Ah!” he cried out as visions dashed across his closed eyes.
Rain, heavy on the roads, the car, the slick roads. Steel groaning, tires screeching, glass shattering. Blood on the windshield.
“Diana!” Lucien knew she was in danger, and his powers were nearly gone. He rushed to the glass case that held his last feather. He smashed the glass and gripped the feather, feeling the bright flood of power, the last bit of his grace. He tucked it into his coat before he summoned the last of his powers and flashed in an instant to where Diana was.
Rain fell hard and cold on his skin as he stumbled down to the ditch where the black sedan was resting. Smoke curled up from the engine, and glass littered the slick grass.
“Diana!” He called her name again as he knelt by the overturned car. The driver was coughing and winced as he fought to get free of his seat and crawl from the vehicle.
“Mr. Star…I’m so sorry…” The man collapsed onto his back and blacked out.
But Lucien wasn’t focused on him. He stared at Diana. She was lying limp on her side, blood oozing from her temple, one hand extended out the window.
Numb, Lucien reached out to touch her hand. Her fingers curled around his, like a child’s, weak and tentative. He could feel her lifeblood slipping away. He summoned everything inside him to heal her, but…nothing came. He withdrew his feather, putting it into her hands, hoping that if she came into contact with his grace now, it would jolt her back to life. The feather glinted and shimmered beneath the rain, but Diana remained motionless.
“You can’t save her, brother.” The familiar voice came from behind him. He didn’t need to turn to see who it was. Michael, the archangel. He hadn’t faced Michael in more than a thousand years. They’d once been brothers, but since the fall, they’d been bitter enemies. Seeing Michael here, now, when the world felt like it was ending around him seemed like a private joke between them. But Michael wasn’t laughing.
“Why can’t I save her?” Lucien asked, his voice low and rough. His throat was tight, and he felt like he couldn’t breathe. The last time he’d felt this way was when his wings had been ripped from his back, by none other than the angel standing beside him.
“Her life has had a particular purpose. Her destiny was never to be controlled by you.”
“Her destiny?” The words tasted cold and alien upon Lucien’s tongue as sorrow, an emotion he’d long forgotten how to feel, now wrapped around him like a death shroud.
“She has had a far greater purpose than you know. It’s why Jimiel had orders to protect her.”
Lucien curled his hand more tightly around Diana’s fingers as a torment he’d never known he could feel began to rip him apart.
“Go away and let me mourn,” he told Michael. “Have your fun another day. I will not let you destroy my last moments with her.” Hot tears coursed down his cheeks, and he did not wipe them away.
I am changed. She changed me. His angelic soul was wounded and crying for relief, but what could he do? His powers could not match his father’s.
“You cry for a human, Lucifer?” Michael asked, his righteous tone fading. Now he seemed only puzzled.
“She was…my everything.” She was supposed to be the pure soul to keep hell’s gates strong, but from that first night together she’d been something infinitely more precious.
She was my heaven…and I’ve lost paradise a second time.
“But she cannot be everything. Only our father is,” Michael insisted.
Lucien shook his head. “Love…that’s what makes her everything.” Love. He’d seen her love in a hundred different ways. The way she smiled just after waking, the way she laughed when he put pineapples in the grocery basket, the way she gave her soul away to save her father, the way she said she loved him with sweet kisses long after midnight had faded into dawn and she didn’t have to stay with him yet she did.
“You love her?” Michael stiffened.
It shouldn’t be possible, but somehow it was. He had fallen in love with a mortal, and now he was losing her. It was like he was falling all over again, the wind whipping his face, his back bleeding with the loss of his wings, and the awful aching inside his chest. Losing love was like losing his grace. He couldn’t survive that pain, not again. Grief weighed heavily upon him, and the scars on his back itched fiercely. If he still had his wings, he would’ve cloaked himself with them to hide his breaking heart.
“I do. I love her more than anything.” He couldn’t forget that moment in the hospital chapel when Diana had agreed to do anything to save her father. For love. He finally understood that truly human emotion in a way no angel ever could.
“Lucifer.” Jimiel suddenly appeared, breathless, his face ashen. He glanced at Michael and then knelt by Lucien on the ground.
“It’s not all lost. There’s still time,” Jimiel said.
“What?” Lucien grabbed Jimiel’s arm.
“You aren’t the only one who makes bargains. I’ve just come with the news…”
“Tell me,” Lucien growled, daring to cling to the tiny thread of hope the guardian angel provided.
“Your life for he
rs,” Jimiel said.
“My life?” He didn’t understand. He was an immortal. He could not give away his life—
“You give yourself up to Father, let him reclaim you for the heavens. Your life, your very essence, will be given to her.”
Comprehension dawned on Lucien. He would cease to exist. Returning to the light was an angel’s way of dying. He could make the sacrifice for her that she had been willing to make for her father. A life for a life. A soul for a soul.
“If you do that for her, she will live a long and happy life. It’s a promise from Father.” Jimiel placed a hand over Lucien’s.
“When did you find out Lucien was her purpose?” Michael suddenly demanded of Jimiel.
“When he felt her pain.” Jimiel stared at Lucien.
“What do you mean, I was her purpose?” Lucien demanded. He could feel the last of her life leaving, like a trickle of a river drying up. There was no time left.
“I knew Diana’s life was reserved for something special, but I wasn’t allowed to know until now.” Jimiel’s smile was sorrowful. “She was born to save you. It’s always been her fate. To find you and love you, even beyond death.”
“That was her destiny?” He could barely speak as he squeezed her hand tight.
“Only one woman in the entire world could be brave enough to love the devil, and she was.” Jimiel put a hand on Lucien’s shoulder, and he shuddered at the comforting contact.
Lucien breathed deeply, the movement hurting like knives cutting into his heart over and over.
“We don’t have much time,” Jimiel cautioned. “It’s your choice. You can save her. If you’re brave enough to let go of your hate and simply allow yourself to love.”
Love… He already loved her, and he simply hadn’t known then. Could he say goodbye to the dark and surrender to the light? Give up everything he had, all this power, to save one human’s life? He thought of every moment of his existence since the fall, the darkness, the pain, the agony of losing his joy, his grace, his home, his brothers, his father. It could all end. He could let it go and return to the light and save Diana.
