Touch of the Demon (4 page)

Tomorrow, the
chances were high he would attempt to destroy her for thwarting his
plans. But tonight passion ruled, lust reigned supreme, and she had
no intention of letting either slip through her fingers.

For a
nanosecond his black eyes glowed with an unearthly orange flame, as
if he had his own intentions for her tomorrow which he didn’t plan
on sharing. But then his hands cradled her face, before sliding
down her throat, over her shoulders and along the outline of her
body. He knelt before her, hands caressing her hips, his hot breath
caressing the entrance to her throbbing channel.

She buried her
fingers in his luxuriant black hair. So soft. So silken. So
deceptively perfect. Tonight she would take all she could from him,
give him all that she was and ever would be, and perhaps tomorrow’s
brutal reckoning might never come.

Rafe dipped his
tongue in Celeste’s damp heat, and her unique, wondrous scent
flooded his senses. Not of this world. Not of any world he could
imagine. She tasted of the sun, of the cosmic light; of the dawn
after an endless, empty void.

He cupped her
rounded buttocks, delighting in their smooth fullness and the way
they filled his hands. As she dug her fingers into his scalp, he
dug his into her full flesh, relishing her gasp and the way she
jerked toward him.

He pulled back
so he could admire her mound. Luminous silver curls shielded her
entrance, her plump pink lips glistening with her delicious juices.
She was a feast for the gods and, although he was an angel, he was
ravenous and intended to devour every last, delectable morsel she
offered.

With a
primordial growl, he tightened his grip on her butt to keep her
still and prevent any notion of escape she might harbor. Again he
dipped into her wet depths, lapping at her sweet ambrosia, and his
shaft pulsed with a need so intense he feared for his sanity.

But cocooned
within the heat that was Celeste, maybe madness wouldn’t be such a
terrible thing after all.

Her fingers
massaged his head, sending strange bolts of pleasure catapulting
through his brain. He eased a finger between her crevice,
searching, probing, and gently caressing her rosette as his tongue
caressed the swollen bud of her clit.

She convulsed
around his tongue, her hands clamped to his head, holding him
captive as he licked and sucked and drank her heavenly nectar. Her
hips bucked against him and he held her firm with his hands as her
wild gasps filled the candlelit room and highlighted the delirious
abandon of her orgasm.

He stroked her
quivering clit with his tongue then rose to his feet. His control
strained at the edges of his consciousness, and if he didn’t have
her now his soul would shatter.

He lifted her
and spread her on the cloak covered bed. Her eyes were more golden
than green now, and her silvery hair glowed like an immortal
halo.

Heart
thundering, he kneed her thighs apart then manacled her wrists with
one hand and raised her arms above her head.

“Barbarian.”
Her voice was slurred. She tugged against his hand as if testing
the strength of her captor. “Release me.”

He lowered his
muscled bulk until his chest crushed her erect nipples.
“Never.”

As the head of
his engorged erection teased her wet slit, she panted into his
face. “I might hold you to that.”

With his free
hand, he brushed errant curls from her flushed face. “I don’t
intend to let you go, Celeste. Willing or not, when I leave this
hell hole you’re coming with me.”

For a
millisecond her eyes glittered pure emerald. “You may not still
want me in the morning.”

He gave a
ragged laugh of disbelief and plunged into her tight channel to
show her just how much he wanted her. To reassure her how much he
would always want her.

Her lifespan
was short, as for all mortals
. But he wouldn’t think of that
now, not when her sweet sheath engulfed him in a tender trap of
silk and fire. Not when her legs gripped him so fiercely or her
hips bucked so enticingly, sending him ever closer to the rim of
madness.

“Fuck me,
Celeste.” He roared out her name, and it felt so right on his
tongue, as if he’d been waiting a thousand lifetimes to find her
and brand her as his.

Harder he
thrust into her, as if he could somehow share his immortality with
her, prolong her existence and grant her access to the dark world
he inhabited.

“Rafe.” Her
whisper tore through his being with the force of a volcano,
igniting his blood in a fiery torrent and his balls hardened with
unimaginable tension. “I’ll fuck you forever, if you’ll have
me.”

He closed his
eyes against her unearthly beauty, and starlight exploded in silver
ribbons against the blood red canopy of his mind. He withdrew, then
thrust, withdrew, thrust again, so deep inside her tight, wet
channel. It felt so right, and his control splintered as he came
with bone shattering intensity within her welcoming womb.

As his heart
thundered, and his lungs convulsed, her words echoed in his mind.
Forever
. For the first time, he wanted forever. How ironic
that the only woman to capture his soul was
this
one.

Chapter
Three

Celeste clung
to his hard body as he collapsed on top of her, his breathing harsh
and his heart pounding against her breast. She welcomed his weight
and the way his body molded against hers because tonight was the
only night they would ever have.

It shouldn’t
matter. And yet it did. What strange spell had Rafe spun around her
to distort her senses? He was her enemy. The deadly enemy of the
one she loved above all other in this world.

And yet, if it
was possible, she would leave with him before the sun rose on
another day. Would leave behind everything on this Earth, partly to
save the one she was sworn to protect, but also because the thought
of never seeing Rafe again twisted her heart into knots.

This illicit
love, which had bloomed in the heat of passion, should never have
occurred—could never bring her anything but heartache. Yet how
could she control the complexities of a fragile heart?

“Am I too heavy
for you, starlight?” His voice was drowsy. Contented. Celeste
wondered how many moments remained before he recalled why he was
there. What he was supposed to do.

“No.” She held
him tighter to reinforce her word, to keep his mind from wandering.
For reply, he gathered her into his arms and rolled her on top of
him, settling himself back onto her cloak.

A slash of
agony distorted his features and Celeste tenderly trailed her
fingers across his brow.

“What the
fuck?” he growled, shifting them both to one side of the bed as his
hand groped the cloak.

Celeste
stilled, suddenly aware of what was happening. It was too late for
her to hide the evidence, and she couldn’t escape his rage as he
still held her in a bone crushing embrace. All she could do was
cling to him as he leapt from the bed, picked up her cloak, and
shook it in sudden frenzy.

The stiletto
slipped from its hidden pocket and clattered to the floor. She saw
Rafe stare at it as if he couldn’t believe the evidence of his own
eyes. Without relinquishing his grip, he turned toward her. His
eyes burned with flames of ebony.

“Who are you?”
His voice was oddly hushed, at odds with the fury leaping in his
eyes.

She offered him
a sad smile. “You know who I am.”

He held her by
the shoulders, his fingers biting into her soft flesh.

“I know the
blade of the Earth Goddess when I see it.” He shook her, yet not
with the full force of the anger she knew must be coursing through
his body. “And I know that the touch of the stiletto is as deadly
to human blood as it is to mine.”

“But I’m not
human.”

A strange
expression flickered over his face. Had it been anyone other than
Rafe, Celeste might have believed the emotion bordered on fear.
“Your father was human.”

A chill
slithered along Celeste’s spine as she finally realized who Rafe
had always thought she was.

“No.” The
whisper was barely audible. She spread her fingers across his
chest, feeling the heat from his body, the furnace of his enraged
ego. “My daughter’s father was human, Rafe. My daughter is the one
you were sent here to destroy.”

Celeste’s words
speared through Rafe, sending him reeling. Yet still he remained
immobile, holding her, as if he could never let her go.

“Your
daughter.” The words rasped against his throat. Ice crawled over
his skin as he realized the full extent of his failure.
The
first time he’d ever failed a mission.
Manipulating time was
fraught with peril. Once the target was located, the altered
threads assessed, and the precise moment for elimination detected
there was no emergency recourse. The tainted DNA was now in the
human bloodstream and, in his own time, Legion was being
blackmailed into siding with the narcissistic gods.

All because
he’d been ensnared by this woman’s ethereal beauty.

Celeste’s
angelic face was inches from his own, unflinching, although she
must know he could easily destroy her for pure vengeance.

His hands
traced upwards, cupping her face. When Mammon realized Rafe had
missed his mark, he’d hunt him down and carve out his soul. He
might even banish him to this infernal time indefinitely.

And without
doubt, Mammon would exact blistering retribution against Celeste
for thwarting his plan.

An odd pain
twisted through his heart, so unexpected, so intense the breath
stumbled in his lungs. Instinctively his fingers tensed, and her
delicate bone structure became imprinted upon his palms.

Celeste was
his. It was more than a thought, more than a fleeting whisper of
physical satisfaction experienced during the seconds following
synapse-exploding-sex.

It was a
certainty. A knowing. An inevitability he could feel surging
through his blood, pumping through his heart, and claiming every
last dark shadow of his immortal soul.

No other being
possessed the right to touch her. And if any dared harm her he
would defend her with all he was and ever had been.

But none of
that answered the one question burning through his brain. “Why
didn’t you banish me from this realm when you had the chance?”

Her golden eyes
shimmered with flecks of green and he gazed at her, fascinated
despite knowing she was the reason for his eternal damnation. “I
couldn’t,” she said simply. “And later—I knew I wouldn’t.”

“When the
moment to alter your daughter’s destiny had passed.” He couldn’t
help the edge of bitterness in his voice. “Don’t you know the brat
she conceived tonight is responsible for a millennia-long war in
the cosmos?”
Responsible for dragging Legion into the power
struggle between gods and humans?

Celeste stared
at him in obvious shock, as if she hadn’t the first idea what he
was talking about. But perhaps she didn’t. Children of the Earth
Goddess didn’t time travel, as a rule.

“Of course she
isn’t. Her descendants ensure peace, not war, Rafe. You’re the
warmonger. You and the other demons you work with.”

At last he
flung her aside and strode the length of the grim room. For some
reason hearing her call him a demon stung, although he shouldn’t be
surprised. Dark angels and the Earth Goddess had never enjoyed an
amicable relationship. Why wouldn’t she pass her prejudices onto
her Children?

“I don’t know
what that goddess bitch has been telling you,” he said, although he
certainly had a good idea. “But you do know that she’s as
self-serving and mercenary as any of the celestial gods?”

Celeste marched
after him, grabbed his tensed forearm and for an unaccountable
reason he allowed her to. “The Great Mother wants only the best for
her Children,” she said fiercely.

“But you aren’t
her true Child. You’re half of the Earth and half of the sky.” He
couldn’t resist the taunt. It was so clear to him--why had Celeste
herself never seen it?

For a moment he
saw the doubt hover in her heavenly eyes. He seized the moment.
“She’s used you for her own purposes, Celeste. You can feel that
now, can’t you?”

Before she had
the chance to answer, an eerie breeze swept across the room.
Candlelight flickered, and before his eyes the familiar outline of
a naked, voluptuous woman materialized.

“Mother,”
Celeste said, bowing her head.

Enraged by that
show of reverence, Rafe stepped toward the manipulative old hag.
“Fuck you, witch,” he said.

She smiled, and
her gaze dropped to his groin. “Thank you, but no,” she said.
“You’ve already served my purpose, Rafe, and most vigorously too, I
might add.”

Arrogant whore.
Rafe wrapped his arm around Celeste’s shoulders and pinned her to
his side.

“Whatever you
have in mind, you can forget it. I’m taking Celeste with me and
there’s nothing you can do to stop us.”

“I wouldn’t
dream of stopping you.” She stepped forward, reached out, and laid
her hand across Celeste’s belly. A smile of satisfaction touched
her lips. “But that’s beside the point. You can’t leave Earth yet.
Not for a few centuries, anyway.”

“The hell I
can’t. I’ll keep Celeste from your clutches and safe from Legion.”
For himself, he wouldn’t bother running or hiding from Mammon’s
fury. But for Celeste, he could do both. For eternity, if that’s
what it took.

Celeste
stirred, as if waking from a trance. “I’m with child, aren’t I?”
She sounded calm. Her words took a second to sink into his brain
before he rounded on her, shocked to his core.

It was his DNA
that had entered the human bloodstream. Not tonight, for Celeste
wasn’t human—but as the generations unfolded both his blood and
hers would taint the species.