In spite of all this, he pulled out the least offensive, least
threatening thing he could find: silk scarves.
Hadrian raised them in the air. “Do you trust me?”
A shy smile and a nod.
He tried not to look too eager as he tied her down to the posts around
the bed. When she was trussed up as he wanted her, Hadrian circled to
observe her from all possible angles. Her breathing deepened, and he
watched her chest rise and fall, the anticipation dancing in her
eyes.
“Why do you like this?” he asked.
“I-It makes me feel safe.”
He chuckled at that. Oh yes, Angeline was the girl for him. That answer
would make sense perhaps to one out of a hundred people, if that
many. But it made sense to him.
He joined her on the bed, still fully dressed, and ran his hand from her
breastbone, down over her belly, to stop at her most intimate place.
“If being confined makes you feel safe, why do you object to the claim?”
Don’t ruin the moment, you idiot.
“It’s not about me. What if you did it and regretted it? I couldn’t stand
to live with your contempt. What if you blamed me later? What if you
said I tricked you into claiming me to tie us together? What if…?”
Hadrian placed a finger against her lips. “What if we were deliriously
happy together? What if you were right? What if we
are
the
same? What if we were always meant to be together?”
He unbuttoned his shirt and slid it off his shoulders while he let her
think about that. “I won’t change my mind about claiming you,
Angeline. You and I? It’s supposed to be. And why are you so
worried about my forgiveness? What about yours?”
“What do you mean?”
Bless her for being so sweet. “I
killed
you. Did you conveniently
forget about that? If our relationship started out abusive, it was
both of us, not just you. Why should I hold a grudge against you when
you’ve obviously never even considering holding one against me?”
“I didn’t want to be a vampire. It made me feel
wrong
inside.”
She flinched as she said it, and they both knew why. She’d hated
being a vampire, and yet she’d turned him into one—not the best
way to start out what was intended to be a very long romance.
Hadrian suspected her problem with being a vampire might be more to do with
her sire, the shithead who brought her into the darkness with him,
rather than the nature she’d been given, but they could have a long
discussion or they could do other, more pleasurable things. They had
eternity to talk. Either way, she’d never be a vampire again.
“So, about that claim…”
There was a long pause before she spoke. “I won’t say yes, but I won’t
stop you.”
“Okay, then. I’ll take it.”
She laughed. It was the best sound in the world.
Hadrian moved back to the box of clothes and toys and took a blindfold from
the pile. “Close your eyes.”
She closed her eyes and he secured the black cloth around them. He
pressed light kisses over her face, down her throat, over her
breasts. She sucked in a breath when his mouth settled over her
mound.
“Be a good girl,” he said against her skin. He stroked the side of her
hip as she arched toward his mouth, straining to spread her legs
wider.
He took her swollen bud in his mouth and licked and sucked on her flesh.
As her breathing deepened, his fingers slid inside her.
“Let. Go.” He stroked her center as he said the words. Her release flowed
out of her in whimpers and mewls and a silvery light and current of
power that passed through him and almost knocked him over.
Hadrian took off the rest of his clothes and slid inside her welcoming body.
Her moist heat almost undid him. So incredibly tight. She hadn’t
been kidding or lying about the six decades of celibacy.
He ripped the blindfold off to find her face wet with tears. He brushed
them away with his thumb.
“Are you okay?”
“I’m
very
okay.”
Her gaze held his as he moved inside her. His fingers laced with hers.
She could no doubt free herself of the feeble scarves if she wanted,
but she didn’t. It was only one of the many things so very right
about his little angel. He was already planning their future
couplings, when he would use restraints she couldn’t so easily free
herself from.
When he was on the edge of release, his fangs emerged, and he moved closer
to her throat.
Hadrian was so lost in her, he didn’t hear the tent flap.
“Get dressed. We have to go now!” Cain shouted, tossing Hadrian and
Angeline’s clothes at them.
Hadrian caught the shirt midair and growled. “Get out!”
The demon leader grabbed the vampire and tossed him to the other end of
the tent. “I said get dressed.” Cain looked down at Angeline and
smirked. “I would have thought this dynamic would have been
reversed, given our earlier altercation.” The demon turned back to
Hadrian. “I’ll wait outside. If you’re not out there in three
minutes, you’ll be going naked. I can assure you, I don’t care
about your state of dress.”
“Going where?” Angeline asked. She pulled herself free of the scarves and
covered up with the bed sheet.
“Just get dressed. The longer we chat, the longer this takes. I’ll
explain to everyone at the same time.”
Hadrian growled again when they were alone. He couldn’t get out of the
demon’s dimension and back to his church fast enough—his own
space where no one would try to dictate anything to him. He furiously
jerked his clothing on. Angeline still sat wrapped in sheets, looking
forlorn.
“You heard the idiot. We have to get dressed and see what the drama queen
demon wants.”
“But I don’t have a corset to wear.”
Hadrian dug through the bags of clothing he’d bought for her in Las Vegas
and tossed some panties, a pair of dark jeans, and another slinky top
like the red one, this one dark green.
“I know you don’t like it, but just put these on. Just do it for me
this once.” He stroked the side of her cheek and placed a tender
kiss on her lips.
Chapter Fifteen
Angeline stood under the stars in the demon dimension with Hadrian and the
others. They were in the desert, far removed from the tents and
lights of the marketplace in town.
She felt as if she were coming out of her skin without her corset. She
knew she was far too attached to them, and that the attachment wasn’t
particularly healthy, but she felt naked with her breasts free under
the slinky top.
Cain and a few others had raised eyebrows at her nipples poking through
the fabric. In an earlier time she might have found the whole thing
amusing, but this wasn’t an earlier time.
She recognized many of the others who had gathered. Anthony, Cole, Jane,
Tam, Anna, Dayne, and Greta. Charlee wasn’t with them, and Luc was
with the gypsies. Then there was a veritable sea of those she didn’t
know. An entire pack of werewolves, several covens of magic users,
guardians, vampires, and a lot of Cain’s demons.
Hadrian slipped his hand in Angeline’s, and something tight inside her
unfurled. She wanted to believe he cared for her. All signs pointed
to yes. And yet, it was still so hard to see anything real. Heaven
had been nothing but artifice. Linus had worn his own masks as well.
What if this thing with Hadrian was just more of the same? She
wouldn’t be able to take losing him again.
Hadrian leaned in next to her ear and whispered, “I’ll finish what we
started. You can count on it.” He nipped at her throat with flat
teeth, and in spite of herself, she smiled.
The demon leader let out an ear-splitting whistle, and the murmuring
crowd settled.
“The angels know of our plans to do the ritual to sever the link on the
full Moon. Just saying it at Anthony’s penthouse once was enough.”
“I’m sorry,” Tam said.
“I’m not angry,” Cain said. “I’m just explaining the situation to
everyone. Besides, getting Luc back sooner rather than later is my
preference, anyway.” Cain turned back to the assembled group. “As
many of you know, nobody does surveillance like angels do
surveillance. We assumed, perhaps foolishly, that we could meet in
the human world and slide under the radar. We should have met here.
And that’s my fault.”
Tam
jumped in then. “Myself and my coven will be performing the chant.
We have all the ingredients as well as those of you who are directly
participating. Each ritual participant will need a human. We’ll
take people when we go in.”
Some members of the group had obvious discomfort with the plan,
particularly magic users and therians. The guardians seemed
indifferent, and the demons and vampires for the most part seemed
excited by the whole thing.
Angeline glanced at Hadrian to gauge his response, but his face was blank of
emotion. If he had an opinion about it, he didn’t let it out. The
anger that seemed a constant companion to him had dissipated,
replaced with a mixture of contentment and nervous energy. He smiled
at her then, and all of her doubts about them and what he wanted or
might want tomorrow, disappeared, swallowed up by the new energy.
Tam continued. “In case you haven’t guessed by now, we are doing the
ritual tonight. It’s about ten o’clock at the ritual location, we
need to be in place to start by midnight. The angels are expecting us
in two days. Going tonight will introduce the element of surprise.
They’ll show up because they’ll watch the screens like they
always do, but it will buy us precious extra minutes we wouldn’t
have if they were all standing around waiting for us.”
A hand raised from the group.
“Yes?”
A member of the werewolf pack said, “I’m sorry, I don’t know a
lot about magic, but doesn’t it need to be on the full Moon?”
“It would be ideal to do it on the full Moon. Magic is boosted by special
days and lunar cycles, yes, but the Moon will be waxing. Combined
with the ritual knife and the rest of it, it should be enough.”
Another hand raised. This time one of the magic users.
“Yes?”
“How do you know you can do magic this big? It seems unrealistic if you
ask me.”
“One of yours, Dayne?” Tam asked.
The sorcerer cleared his throat uncomfortably. “Yeah, sorry.”
Cain interrupted to take the question. “My mate has lived for more than
two thousand years in her current form. She wrote the chant for a ritual to create the
cyclers, if you remember the drama that ended just a few months ago. She conferred
immortality to herself and twelve others, so yes, this is well within her capabilities.”
The magic user looked suitably impressed.
Cain continued. “Everyone not in the ritual will fan out in a circle
around the perimeter to fight, chant, protect, whatever it is you do
for when the angels show up. We need to keep them out of the ritual
space so Tam can get this done. Anthony will be leading you. I’m in
the ritual with Tam.”
The vampire king growled, no doubt because Cain kept usurping him, and
Angeline knew how Anthony liked to run things. This must be killing
him.
Two large demons in demon form approached then with an angel in tow. It
was one of the warrior class.
“Kurt!” Angeline said, shocked to see him again.
“Angeline?”
A thick metal band was locked around his torso, preventing his wings or
protective magic from assisting him.
“It’s enchanted,” Tam whispered. Angeline hadn’t noticed the witch’s
approach.
Kurt looked at Angeline with shocked betrayal, but Angeline couldn’t
bring herself to care that much. He’d taken her to the black room.
He hadn’t had mercy on her. And all they were doing was sending the
angels to Heaven permanently.
“If you do this, the world will become truly hellish. You have no idea
how much the angels protect people from evil,” Kurt said, still
struggling against the demons and the metal band that had ensnared
him.
“We’ll take our chances,” Tam said. She took Angeline by the arm and
steered her away from the group. “I wanted to show you where I need
you to be,” Tam said when they were far enough away from the others
to prevent eavesdropping.
The witch pulled out a sheet of rolled up blueprint paper from her duffel
bag. She sat on the sand and invited Angeline to join her as she
rolled the paper out. Several places were marked off.
“This is all happening on a farm. There will be a faded red barn at the
north end of the pasture. That’s where the ritual will take place,
and I need you and Hadrian to be down here.” She pointed to a
marked spot on the map, part of the perimeter she’d drawn. The X
was as far from the barn as one could get while still being a part of
things. “I’m not sure how sensitive your hearing is, but Hadrian
should be able to hear where I am in the ritual. The portal will open
next to the barn right before the link severs. It will suck all the
angels through it. You should be safe, but if you get much closer
than this, there is a small risk. I spoke with Anthony, and he’ll
keep his guardians in this area as well.”
Tam rolled up the blueprint and they went back to join the rest of the
group.
***
Hadrian held Angeline’s hand on the way to the ritual site, still irritated
he’d agreed to be part of this. Would their presence make a
difference? They weren’t part of the ritual, and it seemed they had
plenty of people to guard their precious perimeter.
He wanted to announce they weren’t going and take Angeline back to
their temporary tent housing and claim her. Why had Cain bothered
interrupting them in the first place? With the crowd that had been
assembled for this fight and the fact that the angels might not even
show up before Tam finished the ritual, it all seemed like overkill
from his perspective.
But the anxiety on Angeline’s face was enough to change Hadrian’s
mind. She wouldn’t be content until she knew the link had been
severed and that Heaven couldn’t reach her. She’d be a basket
case waiting in Cain’s dimension for word. She needed to feel
useful. He understood that, but at what cost?