“You want me, demon? You got me,” Sapphira swore as she kissed Duncan with new, unrestrained passion. Duncan was unprepared for her rage, and he nearly came as she unleashed her ferocity.
Kissing and nipping, she took his mouth like a conquering war demon, giving nothing but pure, carnal pleasure as she seemed to relish his easy capitulation. Devil’s tongue, but how could he deny an angel in the throes of Descent?
He’d felt it in the Shepherds’ condo. Had sensed something off with the beauty from the get-go, but never could he have guessed what passion she held deep within her. Their play in the alley was not even close to a fitting prelude for the desire now swamping him.
He growled as she bit him hard, her teeth impressing upon the thick tendon in his neck. But his growl quickly turned to a groan as her clever hands found his cock and pumped him hard. He needed to feel her slick heat, to touch and taste the honeyed pussy creaming for him as they kissed. But she refused to let him go, and hell take him, but he would give his angel whatever she wanted so long as she didn’t stop loving him.
No, no, he panicked. Not love. Not for an angel. Yet Duncan had been telling the truth earlier. And you’ll find you’ll do anything to satiate it. You’ll forget your duties, your purpose, even let the enemy decide what to do with your sways. He’d been talking about himself, about his father’s description of what life had been like with Bethany Sinclair, his mother. But Duncan wasn’t ready for love, for the promise of angelic retribution, for an end to carousing. He didn’t want a growing, ever-present need for someone special in his life.
Just because sex with Sapphira was hotter than hell’s core, that didn’t mean he loved the woman. Though he would never have sought an angel to partner, he had to admit they fit perfectly. So when her spirit beckoned him to take an honest look, something he’d been avoiding, hoping to deny their intense connection, he finally relented. I mean, how much closer can we get? She squeezed him again and sucked his tongue into her mouth, and he couldn’t help looking with that basic part of him, eyeing her very soul.
Oh Lucifer, her colors were beautiful.
Dark blue flickered with a black purity that slowly eased over Sapphira’s essence. She could never have been tainted with such a brief demonic influence by Duncan. No, her identity had been imprinted at birth. Imprinted and deliberately suppressed to satisfy some angelic asshole in the upper realm.
He used his anger to fuel their kiss, and his rage made her moan. She reveled in his passion as she spread her thighs wider and took his shaft along her cleft. The witch wouldn’t allow him penetration, but rubbed him against her clit, making him crazed with lust.
“You feel so perfect, Duncan.” She looked down at him, and his heart cramped.
Shit. She was turning his mind to mush. Her flushed skin tantalized. Her amber eyes slanted with desire, her irises dilated and drugged with need. And her pussy creamed, coating him with sex and lust and affection, so hot he could burn and never ask for surcease so long as she kept touching him.
“So do you,” he said hoarsely, and yanked her mouth back down to his. Not wanting to wait anymore, he took charge of the kiss and her hips. Forcing her to sit up, he raised her over him. “Put me inside you.”
She bit her lip.
“Now.”
Moving his cock toward the mouth of her sex, she did as ordered. He noted her breasts swelling, her nipples beading with excitement as she obeyed.
A firm hand, Duncan recalled saying. “Sit on me, angel.”
She didn’t move quickly enough to suit him so he roughly pulled her down, impaling her on him. And the touch, damn her, felt like what he’d imagined the inner sanctum of heaven to be. A painful pleasure that made him want to relive the experience over and over. Her slave, her lover, he’d be whatever she wanted as long as she gave him this.
“Now ride me,” he managed, fondling her breasts as she swayed over him.
She stared down at him, her face intense as she concentrated on him. The knowledge that he was her world right now nearly set him off. His cock drove so deeply into her, he felt as if he touched her womb with each descent of her body. He wanted badly to fill her with seed, felt the need to fuck her until their joining took and she swelled with young.
“Fuck.” He didn’t like the turn of his thoughts, the care outweighing the lust, and he let go of one of her breasts to push her further. He found her clitoris and played, feeling the taut bud grow even firmer.
She moaned and shook, slamming harder on top of him.
“That’s it, sweetheart, ride me. Fuck me until I come inside you. Squeeze my cock hard, right up in that tight, wet pussy.”
“Duncan,” she moaned and ground against him. “I can’t—”
“You can.” He twisted her nipple. She gasped, and he felt a flood of wetness wash over his sensitive shaft. “You will.” He eased up, then pinched her flesh again, and she came all over him.
Her walls pulsed against him, struggling to pull his cock into overwhelming ecstasy.
She cried out as she arched over him, her tits thrust out, her face looking toward heaven while her spirit pushed her closer to hell. And in their sinful delight, with the sight of Sapphira in thrall to his touch, he climaxed so hard and for so long that he wondered if he’d died and gone to heaven.
When Sapphira caught her breath, it was to see Duncan staring up at her with eyes full of some emotion she didn’t want to see. She wondered if she might have uttered what she’d thought out loud.
Did she really? Did she love a demon she’d only just met? One who’d given her that final push off the heavenly cliff toward hell? She wanted to protest. To lie and say she hadn’t meant what she’d thought. That it had been her body talking, not her heart. Yet for all the ease she’d had in lying to herself before, she couldn’t do it now.
“Come here,” Duncan rasped, shattering her confusion. He pulled her down, still inside her, and kissed her. His tongue took possession of her mouth, and it was several seconds before he ended the kiss. “You taste like brimstone, but lighter.”
She laughed, unable to help it. “Brimstone Light. For those demons on a diet.”
He chuckled and withdrew, and the emptiness inside Sapphira felt more than physical. “We need some sleep.”
“We?” Actually she did. But she didn’t want Duncan to think he could make her decisions for her.
“Okay, me. I’m tired.” He yawned. “And you’ve had a helluva day, literally.” He stared into her eyes and gave her understanding and none of the smugness or male satisfaction she might have expected after surrendering to a demon. “The first time is always the hardest, sweet. Don’t worry, Sapphira. It’ll get easier the more you do it. I’ll help you.”
Then he rolled to his side with her in his arms and fell asleep, his breath hot on her neck.
Sapphira wished she could fall asleep as easily. Like humans, the Ethereal needed rest, some more than others. Demons slept more than angels. She’d always been told that it was because the lower realm reveled in sloth. To them, laziness was a virtue. Yet Duncan hadn’t been the least bit sluggish today. He’d helped her sway her first soul, when he could have taken the bastard to hell himself.
She sighed and snuggled next to his muscular forearm, an uncomfortable yet soothing pillow. Sapphira had ultimately made the decision to send Nathan to hell today. And she still didn’t feel bad about it. What did that make her? Was Duncan right? Was she an angel on the verge of Descending?
If only she had someone to ask. But she’d never been close to her mother that way. Sure, lessons and etiquette, her schooling, all had been done under her mother’s watchful eye. Though Sapphira knew that deep down her mother loved her, there always seemed to be a condition attached. Sapphira had to be the smartest, the strongest, the best. For years she’d struggled to earn Charmeine’s attention, as the Virtue was constantly busy keeping the spheres in touch. Yes, her mother could provide harmony to the first sphere whenever they asked, but she couldn’t provide the comfort an uneasy, doubting daughter often needed.
For that, Sapphira had the third sphere, her fellow angels. A group who summarily dismissed her as a misfit and troublemaker. Uriel was less than useless, in her opinion. And Sarah a pain in the ass. Sapphira had often wondered why sex with demons and humans was considered so sinful when the angels went at it with each other like bunnies in heat. But heaven forbid Sapphira indulge. The few times she had, she’d been found out by her mother. And wow, Charmeine had thrown a fit of biblical proportions. How much worse would it be if Charmeine knew a demon was involved?
Sapphira sighed. She’d been around angelic love her entire life, but never had she sensed the sheer power of the emotion. Then again, what if she wasn’t feeling love for Duncan? Perhaps it was the newness of it all. Being able to be herself was heady indeed. With Duncan she didn’t have to pretend. And he despised Uriel as much as she did, heck, even more. Sex with him was perfect. Incredible.
He murmured under his breath and hugged her tighter. A firm ridge prodded her backside, sliding between her cheeks, and she stifled the urge to chuckle. Even in sleep he wanted her—an angel on the verge of turning demon, who’d made her very first sway today.
She should have felt prouder. But sending a soul to hell, no matter how deserving, felt like a betrayal. She’d let one slip to the lower realm. And yet, what should she have done? Interfered in the soul’s natural progression, even knowing his end rightfully deserved hell? Why should she send an undeserving soul to heaven? To salve Uriel’s pride? To give the angels home-field advantage when the angels and demons next faced off? She couldn’t see her mother signing off on that. Sapphira was young, yes, but she had more sense than that.
So the question begged, now what? Did she meekly accept her demise as an angel and succumb to the darkness even now pulling at her spirit? Should she continue to follow her heart and go against Uriel’s wishes, despite the torturous result surely awaiting her fate? Sapphira sighed. Did she even want to return to the upper realm and face all those snotty angels looking down on the Ordinary and the lower realm?
But not all of them were snotty, her conscience begged her to remember. The whole of your life isn’t terrible. There’s Raphael and Seir. They cared about the real Sapphira. But they had moved to the first choir, the top of the heap. Now her friends were Principalities channeling positive energy and protecting…human cities. Curious that she hadn’t thought to seek them out before. Perhaps a Calling in the morning would tell her where to find her friends. Though she felt embarrassed broaching the subject of Descension, they might at least be able to shed some much-needed light on the topic. If not, at least she’d know she’d tried.
Feeling easier now that she had a rough course of action, Sapphira promised herself to try harder with the next sway. Perhaps by offering the next candidate at least a shot at redemption, she’d enable the indecisive one to seek the path of light.
Duncan pulled her tighter and sighed into her hair, and Sapphira let go of her many worries to snuggle tighter in the arms of her demon. Her demon. She groaned, wishing she didn’t like the sound of that so much.
Three days later
“We’ve got problems.”
Asael looked up from his desk and frowned at the higher demon waiting for him. “Zelec? I’m busy.”
“I know, sire. This is important. I wouldn’t have disturbed you otherwise.”
Asael sighed and watched as his underling carefully skirted the aura of light clinging tightly to him. It probably said much about Asael’s state of being that he liked the fact his demons feared him. The light surrounding him would never fade, a testament to his status as a fallen angel, and one he wore proudly like a badge of honor. Unlike heaven, the Abyss looked favorably upon those who switched sides, and Asael had more clout down here than he’d ever had above.
“Well, Zelec?”
Zelec met Asael’s stare, one of the few demons this side of Baphomet Falls who could do so. “I’m sorry to be the one to tell you, Asael. But there have been rumored sightings of Duncan in the presence of an angel.”
“I know. My son is serving out his sentence for the upper realm while gathering information for us.”
Zelec cleared his throat, his red eyes flat, showing not the slightest hint of fear, though he had to be feeling some. “Yes, I’m aware of that. What you don’t know is that Uriel is laying claim to Duncan’s forthcoming Ascension.”
Silence met Zelec’s heresy, and Asael took a moment to compose himself. “You’re telling me my son’s in danger of joining the upper realm, as in, permanently?”
Zelec had to know he stood on the brink of forever-death, yet he nodded all the same. In Asael’s world, “don’t kill the messenger” had no meaning. Fury, the likes of which he’d felt only twice before in his lifetime—once when he’d first fallen from grace and the other when he’d lost Bethany—filled him. It was only Zelec’s quick reflexes that saved him from utter immolation. Instead, Asael’s desk caught unholy flame and continued to burn.
Asael stood and walked through his fire, deep in thought. “Do we know this for a fact?”
“I was getting to that, my lord. No, we do not. We have only our spies in the upper realm reporting what they’ve heard. In the Ordinary, your progeny continues to collect souls for hell.”
Relief filled Asael. As much as he loathed the upper realm and their cloying sentiments of love, his time spent in the above as well as his tie to a human had dulled his demonic reflexes. As such, he still felt tremendous love for all of his children. And Duncan, capable, strong-willed Duncan, had never failed to make him proud. Even his prank with James, blaming the angels for a dragon theft, had done much to amuse Asael. But to have his son turn… It didn’t bear thinking about.
“What else, Zelec? Surely you wouldn’t come telling tales unless you had more to go on than Uriel’s bragging in the upper realm.”
“True. I’m worried there’s more at stake than Duncan’s soul. The lad’s been seen in the company of a most desirable angel, my lord. And they appear to be quite close.”
“Well, who is she?” Curiosity struck. Duncan had done well for himself. A fine piece of ass and information he was no doubt gathering to bring the angels to their knees. Fat lot of good it would do the angels to continue stealing the souls of the blood elves, not when Asael got his hands on the angelic traitors in the Abyss.
“She is Sapphira…daughter of Charmeine.”
Asael swore. “I warned Duncan to steer clear of that one. The mother must be out for blood. Can we get word to my son?”
“I’m afraid not. He and the angel are fairly joined at the hip,” Zelec huffed. “I’ve tried several times, but he won’t hear me around her. It’s as if she’s blocking any communications I’ve tried.”
Asael frowned. Very few demons in the Ethereal had telepathic abilities. Zelec was a rare power, and one Asael actually trusted. If Zelec couldn’t get through to Duncan, there was a problem indeed.
“Very well, Zelec. Bring me Eve.”
Zelec smiled, an honest grin out of the demon most citizens of hell fought to steer clear of. “As you wish.” Asael knew how fond Zelec was of his daughter, and of the damned dragon she’d mated just a few days ago. He watched Zelec disappear and wished he weren’t so busy. He’d find his son himself if he could, but even Asael reported to another. And displeasing Morax wasn’t even a question.
When Eve and Ranton, her dragon mate, appeared moments later, Asael calmly told her what needed to be done. Worried for Duncan, she quickly agreed to bring him back. And with Ranton at her side, the angelic terms of Duncan’s penance could easily be broken. They left and Asael smiled, pleased again to have a dragon for a son-in-law. Unable to control the dragons, the Ethereals left them alone. But Ranton loved Eve, would do anything for her, in fact, as would the new dragon king. And Asael was clever enough to keep that in mind should Eve fail to bring Duncan back.
He returned to his work a contented demon. “Oh, and Zelec.”
“Yes, my lord?” Zelec turned from the doorway through which he was about to exit.
“Have our contacts keep an eye on Charmeine. She gives me pause.”
“Aye. She worries me as well.” Zelec nodded as he saw his way out. “And that’s why you never dally with the upper realm,” he muttered, loud enough to be heard. “Especially not with a Virtue.”
Asael guffawed at his affront and continued to gather the names Morax had ordered. Keeping Duncan out of trouble posed a greater task than it had been to keep Eve safe. But at least James was proving more cooperative. Asael frowned, realizing he hadn’t heard from James in days.
“Zelec,” he bellowed.
Zelec quickly returned to the stone doorway. “My lord?”
“Check on—”
“James while I’m at it. Done.” Zelec disappeared and Asael sighed, pleased he hadn’t fried his trusted servant. “So hard to get good help these days.”
The hands stroking Sapphira’s thighs grew bolder as she moaned her pleasure into her pillow. He pushed her legs apart, and then she felt an intrusion, something thick filling her channel as pressure prodded her clit with sparks of pleasure. On her belly, Sapphira lifted her head and blinked into the hazy light of morning, her desire growing as Duncan covered her with his large body, his shaft taking her with a subtle tension of ownership that should have worried her but didn’t.
His thrusts deepened, his jolting presence within her quickening her womb as she spiraled higher toward her own climax. But Duncan shuddered and came before she could join him, much to her disappointment.
“No, not yet,” he rasped and withdrew, only to prod her slightly higher. He lifted her pelvis, putting her on her hands and knees, and knelt between her thighs. “Now that the urge isn’t so fierce, I can take what’s mine without hurting you…much.”
Anxiety flared, fear and more than a hint of arousal, which shocked her anew. “Duncan?”
He laughed, the deep chuckle both menacing and sexy. “The angels don’t want you to overly enjoy it, so they treat sex with that reverent bullshit. But not us demons.” He spread her ass cheeks and rubbed his still swollen cock along her seam, coating her body with both his and her cream. “No, we prefer to enjoy the carnal impulses of the Ordinary. We actually appreciate this one great thing humanity’s given us.”
“What’s that?” she breathed, tense when he pushed against the tight rosette of her anus.
“Orgasmic sex,” he answered and pushed further. “That’s it, sweet, take me deeper.”
Pain intruded, and Sapphira instinctively tried to move away, but Duncan wouldn’t let her. He gripped her hips hard enough to bruise and groaned. “Hell, when you move like that it’s all I can do not to rip right through you. Claiming you is driving me wild.”
“You’re not…claiming me,” she managed as he withdrew. She felt him shove his fingers inside her wet heat again before he pulled both his finger and shaft back out. “What are you doing?”
“Lubing myself with your come.” Duncan sighed. “You have no idea how sexy you are. How much I get off just looking at your dark skin, your firm, round ass begging me to take it. A woman should have curves like yours, Sapphira. Ripe and full.” He palmed her ass. “I still can’t believe no one’s ever taken you before.”
He pushed against her anus again, and this time she felt him sink further, the pain not as bad.
“If you push out with your muscles, you’ll actually make it easier for me.”
And why was she agreeing to this anyway? Anal sex with her own personal demon? Sapphira could literally feel her Descent creeping along her skin like the steady thrumming of static electricity. But the pleasure in Duncan’s voice, in his touch, made her want the same, no matter the cost.
The forbidden had always called to her, and Sapphira readily admitted she wanted to know more.
“That’s it,” Duncan hissed his pleasure as he sank deeper, while Sapphira did her best not to cry out her pain. “Let the hurt take you, Sapphira. Embrace it so that the pleasure is that much more intense.”
“Tell you what,” she huffed, trying to move so that he didn’t feel so big, but he slapped her flank and forced her to remain still while he plundered deeper. “You let me take your ass, then you see how easy it is to remain still. Damn it, that hurts.”
“Hurts so good,” he rasped, finally fully seated within her. “Hell’s core, Sapphira. You’re as hot as eternal flame, and so fucking tight.” He groaned and pulled out, slowly.
And every touch of his flesh against hers burned. “When does this start to feel good?”
A sudden warmth stole through her loins, and pleasure burst over her in waves of bliss.
“How’s that?”
She couldn’t answer, dimly aware when he shoved back inside her. Duncan had done something to her, something beyond the physical taking of her virgin flesh. His energy pulsed through her, and she cried out as ecstasy possessed her.
“That’s it.” He rocked, taking her harder. Duncan rode her with an urgency bordering on desperation. “Feel my flame, love. Take me, Sapphira. Let me wash you with seed. Everywhere, angel. All of it,” he groaned as he fucked her, his balls slapping her clit with each pummeling blow.
Through it all, Sapphira cried her pleasure, inundated with so much joy she could barely breathe. Her body spasmed as it took everything Duncan gave. His rod, so thick and long, finally filled her with seed. And the warmth of his desire pushed her into another state altogether.
There was nothing pleasant about this surrender to pleasure, nothing tame or loving. Instead, Duncan’s possession was everything fierce, raw and true. Honesty surged between them as Sapphira felt his carnal appetite settle over her, finally sating them both as the warmth filling her finally faded.
“Sapphira.” Duncan leaned over her, panting, still thick inside her. But as his magic eased back, the discomfort of their position increased. He hugged her tight before he slowly pulled out, and each departing centimeter added to her aches.
“Too bad that fire didn’t last.” She groaned when he finally withdrew, sinking to the bed, a mess of sweat and come and pain. “Because that really hurt.”
“Good.”
She rolled to her side and glared at him, more annoyed with the male arrogance settling over his features.
“Pain is remembered. And I want you to remember this moment.”
“What?”
Duncan nodded and gathered her into his arms. He lay back and settled her on top of him, and they stared at each other, nose to nose. “Pain is the other side of pleasure. It’s real. As real as you and me, together.”
“Then why didn’t you get to be on the bottom?” she grumbled.
He chuckled. “Because I’m bigger. And I’m the one with the cock.”
“You got that right.” But her anger faded as he caressed her. He infused her flesh with his warmth, and the stinging gradually faded. “Hmm, that’s better.”
“Good. Honestly, I’m not into pain. It’s not my thing.”
“Could have fooled me.”
“But I’m well aware of how it makes an impression.” He frowned. “I can’t imagine being near Sarah or Abigail again without cringing.”
Jealousy reared its ugly head, and Sapphira paused, wondering at the fierceness of her thoughts.
“Sapphira? You look a bit green.” But the way he said it told her he read her correctly. The damned demon looked positively ecstatic.
“Green as in ill? As in I was just screwed in the ass, and rather painfully?”
He laughed and kissed her. “Sure, sweet. But don’t worry. Uriel’s minions—and I don’t mean you—leave me cold. Believe it or not, all that sugary-sweet love with sex made me green as well.”
“I know. That’s all they preach up there.” She sighed and linked her fingers over his chest, resting her chin on them. “I’m a very bad angel, Duncan. I think Uriel sent me with you to punish you.”
Instead of laughing, as she’d thought he would, Duncan frowned. “You’re fine, Sapphira. You’re just inexperienced.” His smile returned. “Well, maybe not so inexperienced now.” He cupped her ass again.
“Mmm.” She closed her eyes, soothed by his comforting touch. “You know, right now, at this very moment, I don’t care about Uriel, the angels, sways, or my mother.”
“Your mother?”
She heard laughter in his voice. “Yeah. My mother’s a Virtue, and nothing I do is ever good enough for her. Just wait until she finds out she’s been undermined by Uriel, a lesser angel. I was supposed to be helping her with her second sphere duties when a lowly angel from the third sphere commanded me to obey.” Sapphira chuckled. “Wish I could have been there to see Charmeine going up against Uriel. Two peas in a pod, those holy-rollers.”
Duncan suddenly stiffened under her.
“What’s wrong?” She blinked into his suddenly shuttered gaze. “Duncan?”
“Did you say Charmeine?”
“Yeah. So what?”
“My father’s Asael.”
“And?” At her confusion, he took a deep breath and slowly let it out.
“And according to my father, your mother has an axe to grind with him.”
“That’s nothing new,” she said dryly. “My mother has problems with everyone and everything not in the second sphere or higher.”
“What about your father? Does she have problems with him?”
She thought it an odd question to ask, but shrugged. “I don’t know. She never talks about him, and I assumed he’s one of the Ethereal floating around in the upper realm. I probably take after him.”
“What do you mean?”
“I mean I’m nothing like my mother. She’s as dark as mahogany, and I’m several shades lighter. She’s gorgeous, righteous, and the perfect Virtue. I’ve been on probation since birth, or at least it feels like it. And I just sent a soul to hell.” Sapphira sighed. She really didn’t want to think about Charmeine right now. Her time with Duncan was precious, and so peaceful. Who knew what the future held, especially if what he said were true, and Charmeine was pissed at his father? No doubt Sapphira would take the heat for that unhappy coincidence.
Deciding to focus on the now, Sapphira leaned over Duncan and kissed him, building their combustible desire into an all-out fire in seconds. “Now do you want to talk about heaven, or do you want to sin some more?”
His kiss was answer enough, and as Sapphira lost herself in his arms once more, she decided to let tomorrow handle itself.