Those shimmering pale green eyes looked at him.
Her hair was the same color as the dawning sunrise, brilliant. Beautiful.
Ash lowered his mouth to hers.
On a long sigh, Miri opened to him as his mouth took hers.
Passion didn’t just flare between them, it exploded.
Ash stopped thinking and simply took.
In one motion, he grasped the hem of the tattered remains of her dress and stripped it over her head, before yanking her back to him. He had a brief moment to admire how the dawning sunlight glowed on her skin but then his mouth was on hers again, hers hot and avid beneath his, as hungry for him as he was for her. He could feel her hands on his back, tightening, trying desperately to pull him closer.
He couldn’t get enough of the feel of her skin beneath his hands, like rose petals as he ran them up her sides, over her back, to find the hooks to her bra and unfasten them.
Pushing her back onto the hood of the car, Ash tossed her bra away. He filled his hands first with her glorious full breasts before sliding his hands over the silken skin of her ribs, her waist. He pressed his thumbs lightly into the softness of her belly for just a moment to feel it, to know it. Then he slid his hands over the swell of her hips beneath the lace of her panties, peeled them from her as he slid his hands down the long, lovely length of her legs until the lace fell away. And back up again, to spread her thighs, open them to him, to admire the glistening folds as he stepped between them, as he nestled his throbbing cock between them. The fabric of his slacks was tented, barely restraining him.
She was beautiful in the pale morning light, her brilliant hair spread across the hood of the car like a spray of fire, the lids of her green eyes heavy, her mouth soft. Her breasts glowed ripe and golden in that soft pale light as he massaged her thighs and continued the massage upward, retracing his downward path.
He would worship her in the early morning light. Tease her.
He kneaded her flesh, made his way up her thighs, the steady rhythm a sensual torment as the motion of his hands brought his thumbs tantalizingly close to her now damp sex and then up to her hips, the motion drawing her skin against her clit, tightening, releasing, tightening, releasing.
Deliberately, Ash lowered his head, wanting her to watch what he did, knowing she could feel his cock, restrained only by the thin cotton of his slacks, pressed against her pussy. Knowing it because he could feel her cleft hot against him, the dampness of it soaking into the thin material, tormenting him.
He brought his mouth to within an inch of her breast, wanting her to anticipate, wanting her to watch, to see everything he was going to do to her in the cool autumn air.
With a smile, he watched as her breasts swelled, tightened.
Miri’s breath caught as she looked up at the rampant magnificence of him, the first golden wash of the early sunrise competing with the wash of gold beneath his scarlet skin. His glowing eyes seemed brighter than the rising sun, the sparks flying in them, brilliant, beautiful. Sunlight shone stark on the strong lines of his face.
Anticipation swelled within her.
Her breath catching, Miri felt Ash’s breath whisper over her heated skin and then his forked tongue flicked out, to dance over the very tip of her breast, over the tightening nipple, and she offered herself to him.
His hot mouth closed over her nipple, sucked, drew that sensitive peak into his mouth as she moaned, clutching at his hands where they closed around her ribs. She needed to writhe but he held her still as he suckled, hard, in steady pulls on one breast then the other. She whimpered as he drew on her and her hips bucked against the hardness of his rigid cock pressed against her mound.
Miri could feel the length of it, the thickness of it, against her pussy, against her clit with each motion of her hips against him, his mouth on her breast driving her. Each hard pull sent a spear of molten heat straight to her core. Her pussy clenched and tightened, desperately needing something to fill it, needing his cock inside her.
Every part of her body ached for him, ached to be filled, to be taken.
Switching to the other breast, Ash battened on it, sucked and suckled hard as her hips pumped to stroke his cock through the soft, drenched material of his pants. So close, he was so close to having it buried inside her. It felt wonderful as he devoured her breast, closed one hand around the other to make it swell, to feel the firmness of it. Scraping his teeth over her nipple he nipped it to hear her cry out, each soft cry and moan a triumph.
With his hands first around her ribs, then her waist, and finally her hips, he nibbled and nipped his way down the center of her body. He held her still despite her attempts to writhe and pushed her inch by inch further up the hood of the car until she was sprawled across it, her legs spread. The early morning sunlight made the beads of moisture between her thighs glimmer.
The scent of her arousal filled him, the sight of her flushed face, her swollen breasts and nearly dripping sex turned his cock to iron.
Sliding his hands beneath her hips, cradling the globes of her ass, he draped her shapely legs over his arms so she was open to him. Ash lowered his mouth to her slit, let his tongue flick over her, over her pussy and clit.
He looked up.
Her passion-hazed eyes met his.
Incredulous, knowing what he wanted, what he would do, Miri watched as he slowly slid his tongue up her folds in a long deep swipe that ended in one hard lick at her clit and her body curved as pleasure shot through her.
Again, his tongue slid over her, pressed deep at the entrance to her pussy as it went past to slide across her clit.
With her bottom cradled in his hands, tilting her hips, he drove his tongue deeper into her pussy, fucked her with it.
She moaned, her hands clenched, scrabbled, but there was nothing to hold on to, all she could do was feel.
It was maddening.
Desperately, she cried out his name again and again.
His mouth closed on her clit, and she screamed as he suckled hard on that tender bud, as his tongue stroked it.
Heated pleasure poured, pooled, gathered. Her belly tightened, every muscle jumped as she drowned in the sensation of his mouth on her, his tongue inside her. She came, hard and fast. Pleasure rocketed through her as he held her hips locked in place while she wailed. Her body arched as his mouth moved down, his tongue driving deep into her pussy to lap and suck, drawing out every last drop of her cream and she cried out yet again.
Ash stepped back and she watched as he reached for the drawstring of his slacks. She licked her lips as he tugged on it and they fell away.
Sunlight gilded him, limned each glorious, impressive muscle in light. He glowed, his skin brilliantly scarlet. The wash of gold beneath it spread and whirled. He was rampant, incredible. His cock seemed huge, throbbing and twitching.
With his harsh, sharp features so clearly delineated by the brilliant early morning light, he was magnificent.
Almost involuntarily, she spread for him, an offering to him as he fisted his cock harder.
Not that Ash needed to stroke himself, he just wanted her to see it, to know how hard he was and what he was about to do to her. His cock couldn’t have been harder.
To his intense pleasure he watched as Miri quivered in anticipation and opened for him.
Grabbing her hips, he yanked her to the edge of the hood of the car, his cock pressed at the entrance to her pussy, her moist heat tormenting him. Her lower lips almost seemed to suck at him, as she pulsed.
He looked into her eyes, to see them, to watch, willed her to look at him.
Their eyes met and hers went wide as he drove his cock up into her tight, wet heat to sheathe himself inside her . He ground his hips against hers as he drew her hips up, draped her legs over his arms once again so he could go deeper still.
She writhed, undulated beneath him to rub the head of his cock against the top of her vagina with the motion of her body while her eyelids fluttered with pleasure.
As d
id his.
“So good,” he growled, “you feel so fucking good, so tight. God, Miri, I can’t get enough of you.”
He slid almost out, slammed back into that tight wet heat.
“Fuck. Miri,” he ground out, pleasure surrounding his throbbing cock.
“Ash,” she cried, as her pussy gloved him, stroked him.
He hammered into her again. She twisted and quivered as her body begged for more. He gave it to her, released her legs to grasp her shoulders and slam into her, driving his cock deep as her hips bucked to take him.
“Come,” she cried, “come for me, Ash. I want to feel you come inside me.”
It was a goad, the final straw, his body went tight as she closed around him, her internal muscles stroked him.
Ash struck, needing her taste. His teeth sank into her throat, into the vein. Venom jetted into her even as her hot blood filled his mouth. She tasted so good, so very good.
She cried out, angled her throat for him, pressed it upward. Her hips pumped frantically, her pussy clenched around him, worked his cock in time to the motion of his mouth on her. Pleasure nearly blinded him.
It was too much. As she jolted and her pleasure filled his mouth, Ash erupted inside her, his hot cum filled her, bathed her pussy with his seed. It only seemed to push her higher as she cried out his name once again. Pierced by him, she shuddered. He gushed into her as the rich taste of her filled him. He drank her pleasure as his own burst through him, his mouth locked on her.
Ecstasy, his and hers, raced through him.
Arms shaking, he leaned over her, braced himself on one to slide the other beneath her shoulders.
For the longest time it seemed, they savored that kiss and then, reluctantly, Ash lifted his mouth away from hers, brushed her hair back from her face.
“Time to go home.”
With a contented sigh, Miri nodded.
Chapter Nineteen
It felt almost like home to sit in Gabriel’s homey kitchen once again. Miri had a mug of mead in one hand, her other covered Ash’s hand around her waist. Ash’s long hard body was at her back while his tail wound around her waist.
Daemonae crowded around them.
“So,” Asmodeus said, “the Book is finally gone.”
Turning her head to look quickly up at Ash to see the understanding and support there, Miri turned her eyes back to Asmodeus and the others.
“Well,” she said, softly, and winced a little as she looked around the room and her tone turned wry. “Not exactly.”
It was Gabriel who said, carefully, “What do you mean, not exactly?”
Miri took a breath, swallowed hard and looked at them with wry resignation as Ash tightened his arms around her. His gaze met hers, faintly amused. She’d explained it to him on the drive back.
“Among Wiccans they have a saying, As Above, So Below. In some forms of magic that means that if you have a small portion of something, it stands as representation of something larger. For instance in a love potion you take something that represents love, such as the symbol of a heart or a rose candle. To get a stronger effect, you have to have something more substantial, something that ties directly to the individual, like a lock of hair. Some old magic workers wouldn’t even leave fingernail clippings around so they couldn’t be used against them in a curse, For larger spells, or to affect more people, you need a bigger sample.”
The room went more and more still with each word.
“When the priests created the Book of Demons, they knew this,” Miri said, and took another breath. “They needed to test the efficacy of their spells but if they wanted them to hold against the most powerful Daemonae, they needed something more to bind them.”
For a moment, she went still, gathering her courage.
“It didn’t take long after they summoned him – the first test of their spells – before he realized what it was they intended to do to and with him,” she said, softly, delicately.
It was a story as old as humanity and practiced far more recently than many would want to imagine. As barbaric as it was.
Her hands remembered the feel of the cover and binding of the Book, how soft and smooth it was. Zaebos. His name whispered in her mind.
Asmodeus closed his eyes and then he enclosed Gabriel in his arms as a glimmer of understanding dawned.
Looking into Gabriel’s eyes, Miri saw that she knew. She remembered then that Gabriel had touched the Book, too, had felt it in her hands.
It was in Asmodeus’s eyes, too, that knowledge.
“Zaebos. He was the first they summoned,” Asmodeus said. “Zefir got it away.”
His voice was rough.
Nodding, Miri said, “Yes.” She cleared her throat. “Knowing, Zaebos prepared himself. His one consolation and his one grief was that he’d just met his true mate.”
Her eyes went to Zaebos’ son, whose mother had named him in honor of his father.
“Some part of him remains bound in the Book,” she continued, gently. “Not truly aware but there. That part helped Zefir escape with it and it’s stayed dormant all these years. Waiting.”
“Waiting?” Asmodeus said, frowning a little. “For what?”
“The Daemonae were retreating into exile, to another plane?” She looked at Asmodeus. He nodded.
“Your father spoke then of a return when it was safer,” she said, remembering what she’d Seen when she’d touched the Book. “When hopefully the world was a little wiser, the Church and its priests less powerful?”
Asmodeus nodded.
“Like now,” Gabriel said, “when there are laws and proofs are required before you can torture someone.”
Miri nodded. “It waited for a time when the Daemonae could return home, finally, at long last.”
She looked at Asmodeus and Gabriel.
“You were the first. When Templeton recovered it,” Miri said, “when he summoned Asmodeus with it, it awakened.”
Once more, she took a breath.
“Templeton is a wrong. He’s Dark, evil, and he brought a greater darkness with him when he created the circle. When Gabriel arrived, Asmodeus’s true mate, that growing awareness within the Book noted what happened between her and Asmodeus, and what they were able to accomplish. More, the consciousness within the Book recognized the danger that Templeton posed and knew it was time for the Daemonae to return to this world. It would need them.”
The room went still at the ominous tone of her voice.
“Why?” Gabriel asked, with a glance to her mate.
Taking a breath, looking around the room, Miri slid her hand into Ash’s and clung tightly.
Ash looked at her. Her gaze lifted to meet his.
Reassured, she let the breath out.
“I believe Templeton made a deal with the devil, of a sort,” she said, softly. “Or at least a version of the devil. Darkness at any rate.”
She looked at Asmodeus, at Ash, at all of them.
“He walked away too easily, too quickly,” Ash said quietly. “It’s not over.”
“No, it’s not over. Templeton needed to open a path to the other planes. He couldn’t do that alone. So he had to have help. The Stranger and the Stranger’s master. Templeton has a pact with that master.”
“But why didn’t he attack us then, why didn’t he finish us off?” Mal asked.
Ash glanced at Miri. She nodded.
“He’s not ready to face us yet, or at least to face an alerted and aware race with magic. If one of us got a warning to Asmodeus? He couldn’t take us all on and couldn’t risk being beaten.”
“Knowing what he was, I would’ve summoned all of you and we would’ve attacked,” Asmodeus agreed, “while there was still the chance to beat him before he could escape.”
“He needs time,” Ash said.
All eyes turned back to Miri.
She took a deep breath. “Time to consolidate, to merge with Templeton, for the Master to become one with him so they work in concert.”
Asmodeu
s took a deep breath, looked at her. “To do what?”
Helplessly, Miri looked at him. “I don’t know. The future is still in flux, the point of change hasn’t been reached yet.”
“What I don’t understand,” Mal asked, “is why the Stranger didn’t get the Book himself?”
Miri took a breath. “Whatever the Stranger was, he wasn’t human. Not any longer. So he had no connection to it anymore. Without that connection it was like looking for that needle in a haystack. Although they couldn’t know it, my connection with Ash loaded the deck in my favor even more, since Ash is Daemonae and so is the Book.”
“So, the Book is gone?” Gabriel asked, curiously.
Miri looked at them all, took a long breath. “Um…no, not exactly.”
“What do you mean, not exactly?” Asmodeus asked warily.
Shrugging a little, not meeting anyone’s eyes, Miri said, “Well, the universe is still out of balance with Templeton loose in it and the Book still felt a need to…atone…for all the years it was used wrongly.”
“Atone?” Zaebos said.
“Its time in the temporal planes had given it something else, a greater awareness of itself, a kind of sentience once again.”
Miri glanced up over her shoulder into Ash’s strong handsome face.
He brushed a kiss over her forehead.
“As I said, Templeton isn’t done. It knew that.” she said. “When it sensed his summoning of the Stranger, it knew something had been set loose on the world that shouldn’t be. A Darkness and more. And it wanted to…undo…some of what had been done in its name. It noted the coming together of Asmodeus and Gabriel, of Ash and I. It wanted to give the Daemonae what it, as Zaebos, had only had a brief time to experience, his true mate. It also wanted to be a force for good in the world. Daemonae with their magic and their mates are that. There is no force more powerful in the universe than love. It’s the antithesis to what Templeton summoned.”
She took a breath.
“To do that, it needed to be set free. When the Stranger, a thing of the ethereal planes, touched it, and something of the corporeal plane, ours, touched it also – me – it was like joining matter and antimatter, or like splitting an atom. An enormous jolt of power. It set off a reaction, a reaction so powerful that it effectively broke the Book free of the boundaries of time and space.”
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