Kassie raced toward Lyght and the beast returned like a torpedo loosed from hell.
Kassie spun to meet it, both palms up. A wall of clear thick diamond exploded out of the ground at her feet and the beast crashed into it. The creature shrieked and slumped, momentarily dazed before throwing its head back for a pissed off roar.
The thing scurried up the shiny surface and Kassie shook her head, looking terrified. It reached the top and poised to spring over, but the wall grew taller. The thing roared and hurried in hot pursuit of the barrier's edge.
The monster changed course and raced sideways along the barricade like a grotesque demon crab. It reached the edge only for the wall to lengthen.
It barked several roars then jumped to the ground and gave another ear splitting screech. Black smoke began to swirl around its lumpy head until a cyclone of darkness sat on its shoulders.
With a mournful wail, it slammed its strange head into the diamond. Every blow sounded like a giant saw blade on rock, the zzzzzzzzzzaaawwww rattling Sam's bones.
The fourth strike cracked the barrier and shot a brilliant web of cracks along the diamond surface. Another blow and part of the barricade exploded, huge shards shooting into the cavernous hole of the thing's head.
Good God.
On the sixth attack, the wall fell.
No, it didn't fall. The massive chunks swirled in the air as if they were caught in a white cyclone. Sam's jaw dropped as the diamond re-formed. Holy shit. A giant diamond scorpion the size of a building slammed its massive tail at the beast.
"That's Robert!"
Sam spun at the voice. "Tyler?"
He pointed, excited, like he'd been there watching. "He's Lyght's spirit being!"
"How are you…"
Without taking his eyes from the fight he shook his head. "I'm not in my body."
What? But how? Her and Lyght’s bodies were at the compound as far as she knew. Only Kassie was physically present. The odd note in Tyler's voice sent dread through Sam. Something was wrong with him. She wanted to ask how he was there but the earth shook under her feet and distracted her. The scorpion slammed its giant tail again and severed one of the creature's limbs. It grew back bigger!
Oh shit.
The diamond scorpion battled, leaving Sam in awe of its beauty, speed, and strength. It drove the nasty beast further away.
Kassie used the scorpion's distraction and knelt by the crater where Lyght remained and peered in, immediately covering her mouth with both hands as if attempting to contain terrible screams.
A shriek tore through the air and Sam wheeled toward the sound. The diamond Scorpion writhed and arched in the beast's clutches. "Oh no." Sam barely breathed the words.
"Lyght's dying!"
Sam whirled to Tyler. She must have heard wrong.
"Robert's getting weak!" He turned to her, horrified. "He's part of Lyght! Lyght's dying!" Tyler seemed to fade in and out like bad reception. "Tell her she gained all his powers." Tyler shook his head as though interpreting some invisible signals. He turned to her, desperate. "He's dying! Hurry! Tell her she gained everything in their binding. She is the one who put him in the coma. She just has to want things and it happens because Lyght loves her." He looked at the crater in the earth, his breaths shallow, then turned back to her with wide eyes. "He loves her so much that anything she wants, his power gives it. She doesn't realize how powerful she is." His words rushed out in a panic. "You have to tell her to stop being guilty for loving him. Tell her now! Tell her she created this monster! She has to kill it! She has all the power!"
The boy's words echoed through the entire universe. Kassie heard. Kassie heard every word.
Tears streamed down his face and he let out a wail. "It's too late! She's too late! He's gone, I can't feel him." His voice trailed to a whisper. "He's gone!"
Kassie's eyes grew wide and she screamed as the beast snatched her up.
A cry of horror burst from Sam as the thing shoved her mother into its mouth. "It ate her!" she sobbed. "Oh my God, it fucking ate her!
The thing threw its head back and let out a screech, holding four arms at its sides, fists balled tight. Then it jerked its head down and peered at her and Tyler like they were next on the fucking menu.
Tyler collapsed to his knees. "Miss Kassie!"
Sam drew breath and screamed, screamed like an abandoned broken child. "Mom! Mom!"
The beast's shoulder jerked back as if something had struck it hard. It let out a loud screech and dropped to a knee.
Sam looked around for Toren. Dorn. Kassern. They'd come? Finally?
The thing fell to both knees, its scream of anguish shaking the air. Sam and Tyler covered their ears as the power tore at the very molecules around them. The beast thrashed its head through the horrific noise, then imploded with blinding brilliance. The appalling scream it had unleashed raced in reverse like volume being sucked into a noise vacuum until all that echoed around them was a soft sad whisper…
"Lyght."
Sam shielded her eyes and stared. Her mother knelt on the ground where the monster had been, her head hung. Weeping. The light inside her radiated with an intensity too powerful to look directly at and poured out around her like she were an overflowing fountain of it.
"Lyght!" The howled word blasted power into the air around her until the wind whipped debris from the ground and turned them into lethal projectiles.
Sam sprinted for cover when it all suddenly stopped. Dead still. No wind, no flying debris.
Nothing but the sadness. Sadness so crippling, Sam and Tyler sobbed and fell to their knees, grabbing hold of each other. Sam's embrace passed right through Tyler, reminding her of his strange physical state. She and Lyght were stuck in that spiritual limbo, but what about him? He'd said he wasn't in his body, but how and why was he there?
Kassie's head fell back and she screamed his name. "LYGHT!" A white tidal wave of power blasted Sam, and Tyler, into the nearest wall.
Kassie took a deep breath and screamed his name again, longer than before. "LYGHT!" She held her hand toward the hole in the ground where he lay. "I'm sorry!" She shook her head. "I'm so sorry! I love you!"
Her wails threatened to literally tear Sam to pieces. She'd never felt such devastating heartbreak and she wanted to go to her friend and mother and comfort her. How could this happen? How could an angel die?
Sam couldn't resist the pull of Kassie's grief. Less than ten steps into Sam's frantic sprint for her mother, an incredible force flung her backward. Hard-won reflex tucked her into a fetal curl.
But she never hit the ground.
Sam opened her eyes carefully. Shit! She floated on a tendril of that white air, back where she'd started. A dumbfounded Tyler stared at her as she cautiously uncurled herself and got her feet back on the ground.
Tyler grabbed at her hand when she started forward again. "No! She still doesn't know how powerful she is. She could hurt you accidentally."
Sam stared, helpless, then dropped to her knees and let her tears flow unchecked. Kassie was too good, too kind for this kind of injustice. This was wrong. So wrong.
"Pray for her," Tyler whispered, his voice hoarse.
Kassie wept with great keening wails, her vocal chords sounding shredded under the strain. She screamed until her voice came out in strangled croaks, she screamed his name until they both covered their ears, until blood oozed from the deep gouges on her body where she'd clawed her own flesh.
Sam followed Tyler's suggestion and threw her entire being into the only thing she could do. Pray. She dragged Tyler into the effort and soon their supplications lost any resemblance to spoken language and became a series of soft ululations interwoven with tones that seemed beyond the capability of the human voice.
Tyler squeezed her hand. "Look!"
Tiny particles of light swirled through the air before Kassie and began to coalesce into larger and larger bits until a glowing masculine form stood before her, his hand on her head.
****
Kassie wanted nothing more than to die, to join Lyght. She was so close to it, she could feel his touch, his hand resting on her head. She could see him standing there in front of her.
"You did it, love." He was…too real. Surely with the thin veil of even a few heartbeats separating them, he wouldn't sound so real?
Kassie stared at the figure before her, covering a hand over her mouth. "Oh my God, I killed you!"
The pressure of his hands as he pulled her to her feet and embraced her was impossibly solid. "Yes, sweetheart." He stroked her hair. "It's okay."
"It's not okay! Oh God, it's not okay! I can't live without you!"
"I know baby, shhhhh. I'm here. We're together"
She drew back a little. "Lyght, I can't live without you."
He chuckled. "Kassie, love. You don't have to."
"I don't understand." She shook her head. "I killed you."
"Sweetheart. Yes, you killed me. And then your love, carried on your daughter's prayer, raised me. That's what I'm doing here in front of you. Being alive. Very alive. And you're ruining it." The last words were tender as he stroked her cheek.
"You're alive?" She touched him all over. "You're…you're real?"
"God yes, very real. And you're…making it very hard on me sweetheart, no pun intended."
She gave a little shriek of laughter and jumped on him, hugging him tight. "You're alive! Oh God, thank you. Thank you!" She would never waste another precious second of her time with him. Never. Never doubt the purity of their love. Not ever.
"I'm alive." His whisper caressed her lips with his warm breath. He held her cheek-to-cheek as he spun her around.
Chapter Thirty-Six
"Are you almost done now?" Lyght couldn't stand the suspense any longer. She'd insisted on wearing a special dress for him. Worse, she refused to let him make it for her.
"I am. Five minutes."
"You said that a thousand years ago, love."
She giggled and he smiled at the wonderful sound. But he was seriously going to die, again, if she didn't bloody hurry up. They were re-consummating their marriage. Her words, not his. She wanted to do it right. For him. No, for them.
As if he'd argue with such a thing. She could re-do their consummation as often as she felt the need. And he hoped it was bloody often because he could not seem to get enough of her. He seemed to have inherited a volatile amount of human passion. Thankfully, his angelic counterparts made her strong enough to supply the demand. Mmmm.
"Close your eyes."
Lyght's smiled. "Closed."
He heard the distinct rustling of soft fabric and smelled her. "Dammit Kassie."
"What?"
"You smell too bloody good. Hurry up."
She giggled, making him hungrier for her. "Okay, open."
He looked. His smile vanished as he stared at her. His princess. His very own princess. She wore a brilliant white dress, much like the ones he'd seen in the Victorian magazines of old. He went to her, staring at the magnificent gown and its endless billowing layers of shimmer. "How did you…"
"Seems I learned a trick when it comes to all things diamond. "Look." She passed her hands over the dress and it glistened more. He paused, enthralled. She lifted her hands and blew across her palms, sending up a spray of glittery air with another child-like laugh.
"I don't…" He shook his head.
"You don't like it?" Worry edged the delicate words.
He laughed, trying to figure how to navigate the material to get to her. "Kassie, you always assume the worst. I don't know the human words to express what I think is what I was going to say. There aren't any that are amazing enough, I'm afraid."
She gave an excited squeal and bounced up and down a little. "Feel free to use another language to express yourself."
Without thinking, the language of angels flowed from his mouth, describing exactly what he was feeling.
She gasped. "Oh my God I understood you!" She covered her mouth and laughed, seeming overjoyed.
It made him all the more ravenous for her. "Walk for me love. I want to see you for a few seconds more in it."
"Seconds?" She obliged him with those cute giggles. Her face lit up with so much joy and love. For him. With him. His heart ached.
"That's enough."
She stopped and looked over her shoulder.
"What do you have beneath that?"
She gave him a small smile and lowered her lashes.
"You are so fucking beautiful. I'm dying here."
"Fine. Undress me now."
Lyght's instincts took over and before he could think, it was too late. The threads of her dress disintegrated into shimmering mist, leaving her in a cloud of spun diamond air. Lyght swept his arm right, creating a blast of wind that gave him just what he wanted. Her and only her. Naked. Skin shimmering with the residue of her gown, breasts heaving with excitement. Posed like a queen, regal in all the Universes.
His queen.
His bride.
His wife.
Lyght's own wedding robe, designed of pure spun diamond, became like air. And he walked through the haze of it, toward her. Her eyes lowered slowly over his body. Yes. He liked that look on her face. Desire. Need. Passion.
No shame.
Only love.
When he stood exactly before her, staring down into her face, she whispered, breathless, "Dance with me."
Dance?
She slid her palms over his stomach and up his chest, then circled his shoulders, never breaking eye contact with him. He could feel the power in her, ready and willing. And more than able to sustain his passion.
"I don't know how to dance." He stroked his fingers over her erect breasts.
Her eyes rolled shut. "Like that. Yes."
Like that?
Lyght couldn't stand the hunger any longer. He slid his hands over her sides then gripped her waist hard and lifted her body so her breasts met his mouth. He sucked her plump flesh, sounding like a disgraceful pig. First the one, then the other, then back to the one, then the other. He couldn't stop, she felt like heaven in his mouth and he'd waited for eternity to get there and didn't want to ever bloody leave it. Ever. He lifted her higher, her weight nothing for him, sucking her bellybutton. She held on to his hair, gasping and making all of those delicate sounds that drove him bloody out of his mind.
She soon began to grunt and moan in effort to kneel on his shoulders. She finally managed, putting her secrets in reach of his hunger.
He created a chair with his hands for her gorgeous ass to sit on while she moved all over his mouth.
"Yes, that dance, yes."
Oh that dance! Lyght growled with hunger, sucking her carefully one second then recklessly the next, loving the cries she gave, loving the control he had over her pleasure. And loving the bloody hell out of how she bucked in his hands, her muscles contracting with every thrust of her hips.
"I need you in me. Now!"
Lyght allowed her to slide down his body, right onto his waiting cock. She arched her back, jutting her breasts toward him as she cried out in delicious shock. Lyght devoured them, holding her lower body tight to his while fighting to not end the dance in that second. Their ragged breaths mingled, rough and lusty, so fucking perfect.
"Do me. Do me Lyght. Make me scream." She raked her nails along his shoulder and kissed him, her tongue insisting he obey, stroking over his with an aggression that made him light-headed. He bucked his hips hard, growling at the shriek she gave and the yes, like that.
He found a wall and put her against it, their lips locked, their tongues dueling for more taste.
"Give it to me," she whispered. "Fuck me."
Dear God. Lyght bit her lower lip with a growl and grabbed her shoulders. Then he fucked her hard. Until she screamed his name. Yes. Just like she begged him to. Until she screamed, Lyght, Lyght, Lyght. Until he exploded inside her, and she came apart around him, and they both drowned in a waterfall of ecstasy.
For glorious
seconds, they were lost in that space only divine lovers were allowed. Home. That's where they were. In their eternal home.
A sob filled his ears and when Kassie gasped, he realized it was his own. He clutched her tightly and buried his face in her neck as he fought the avalanche of emotion. "Shhh, let it come," she whispered. "Don't fight it."
Her words cut the sliver of control he had and he released the insanely strange feelings pent up inside him, crying, no sobbing, like a child who'd been lost for years and finally returned home. "Bloody hell." He growled. "Fountain of heaven sprung a leak."
She only cooed and stroked his hair but Lyght already felt a strange weight off of him. "Oh God, I feel better." Astonishing. He was relieved the embarrassing anomaly passed, hopefully never to return.
"Oh sweetie, that's so good." She rolled on top of him, her knees on either side, her lips kissing his softly.
"Yes…" he stroked his hands over her perfect ass. "…so good."
She sat up with a moan and maneuvered herself onto his instant hard on. "Let me make love to you now."
All his wind left him with her descent onto his shaft. "Oh God, yes." He took in the view of her on him that way. The need in her eyes to love him clamped his chest like a vice. Tears filled his eyes like a freak storm. Fuck, not again.
"I love you Lyght. So much." She closed her eyes and sighed, moving on him faster until the heat of desire evaporated the water works in his tear ducts. He held her waist gently, only wanting to feel the music that clearly moved her, music she put angelic moans to. Lyght flicked his hips, hammering that spot she loved, her sharp cry like the first note leading to the crescendo in their secret love song.
She touched her nipple with one hand and began rubbing her beautiful clit with the other and Lyght harmonized with a harsh groan. "Sweetheart, yes. Fuck me. Like this. So perfect."
"Oh God, Lyght, yes." She brought her liquid blue gaze to his, her mouth open in preparation.
Lyght took over and grabbed her hips. He slammed her mercilessly onto his cock watching her beautiful breasts move to the devastating rhythm. Her head fell back and she let out a high pitched cry—the official song of his soul—one hand digging nails into his abs while she broke. The sight of her coming apart on top of him brought his own roaring climax. Lyght thrust as hard and deep as he could, wanting to bury himself inside her so far, he might get lost and never return.
Summon Lyght (Archangels Creed) Page 29