by Joy Nash
Dark sparks flew down her arm. The gold ignited in her hand. Blue flames burst from her skin, and she thrust the amulet between their bodies. Heat erupted. Light flashed.
Ezreth jerked back with a cry. “What—?”
The force of the explosion whipped Lilith’s head backward. Her skull struck stone. Red lights danced in her vision and her recent meal surged up her gullet.
She struggled to rise. Grasping the stone wall encircling the well, she dragged herself to her feet. She had to get away before Ezreth realized she was hurt—
One desperate glance toward her brother stilled her flight. Ezreth would not pursue her, not ever again. He was dead.
Thinking was an effort. It was as if someone had thrown a dirty blanket over his brain.
Cade cracked an eye. He lay on the bed, on his stomach. The space beside him was empty. Cold. Sounds of movement drifted from the outer room, and his nostrils twitched at the aroma of coffee overlaid with the savory scent of freshly roasted meat. The last alarmed him.
He heaved himself to his feet. Every muscle protested. He stumbled to the door and found the kitchen littered with the remnants of a blood meal. A slab of charred flesh lay on the table, red juices flowing from a deep cut. The meat had been freshly slaughtered; the fragrance of life hadn’t completely left it.
Maddie was in the room, though not at the table. She’d put off her Nephilim form and resumed a human guise. She stood by the counter, half turned away, sipping espresso from a white demitasse. She was nude from the waist up. A simple skirt in a delicately flowered pattern flowed over her long legs to mid-calf. She must have found the garment in a drawer.
She held the saucer in her right hand; her left rested against her thigh. The slope of her bare breast and the enticing peak of her nipple drew Cade’s eye. It was a heartbreakingly beautiful pose.
And deceiving. No stain marred her skin, but the bloody mess on the table spoke for itself. Maddie had wasted no time in feeding her Nephilim cravings. In killing for blood.
He’d slept through the rampage. How could he have done such a thing? It was inexcusable. He should have been at her side, teaching her how to quell her blood craving. Cade thought of the cattle he’d seen dotting the fields on the slope behind the cottage and hoped like hell Maddie hadn’t gone hunting for human prey. He dragged a hand through his hair and tried to remember the last moments before he’d lost consciousness. Unease snaked through his gut. Something didn’t feel right. What the hell had happened?
The strong black scent of Maddie’s espresso curled from her cup to his nostrils. The odor jarred him into action and he started across the room. Two steps later he halted, suddenly aware he was naked.
Maddie placed the cup and saucer on the counter and turned to him, unsmiling. Her eyes glowed softly red. A second flash of crimson light, lower down, caught his eye. Maddie wore Lilith’s amulet strung on a leather cord between her breasts.
Cade’s eyes shot to the corner where he’d left the thing. His snake lay motionless, its tattoo body no more than lines of ink staining the tiled floor. His stomach turned. Cade strode toward her, cursing.
“Blast it, Maddie. What have you—?”
She held up a hand. “No, Cade. Stay where you are.”
He jerked to a stop even before his conscious mind recognized her tone of absolute command. Once halted, his feet felt like stone blocks. He couldn’t lift either heel or toe off the floor. Understanding rushed him like a suffocating storm.
Maddie’s gaze raked over his nakedness. He wanted to retreat, to cover himself but wasn’t able. He had no choice in his actions, he realized with dawning horror. He was compelled to perform whatever act Maddie commanded. He was the slave. She was his master.
“Put on some pants.”
His body pivoted toward the bedroom. He grunted and threw all his strength into resistance. His effort was futile, as he knew it would be. His mind was not his own: she was there, present in every cell and synapse. Each command he attempted to give his body slipped like water between spread fingers. His will was no longer his own. He existed only to serve her.
His sense of betrayal was sharp. She’d done to him what he’d intended to do to her, because he’d pulled back at the last moment and offered her freedom. He’d given her that choice, and she had taken it. In his arrogance, he’d thought she wanted the same thing he did—love, as equals. Now he’d learned how wrong he’d been. His trust in her had been entirely misplaced.
He should have known a descendant of Azazel’s line would spurn such a gift. Hadn’t he sensed that Maddie’s basic nature was that of a warrior? He should have anticipated this brutal turning of the tables. Instead, blinded by human emotion, blinded by love, he’d ignored the warning signs. From trust and love, he’d set her free. She, in turn, had seized the opportunity he’d handed her and used his faith to enslave him. His weakness had doomed his clan.
He snatched his jeans from the floor and jerked them on. There was only one thing he couldn’t understand. How had Maddie managed to steal his spell? It shouldn’t have been possible. Her magic was new and raw. It was incredible she’d even realized what he was doing. How could she have twisted his magic against him so quickly and easily? Cade hadn’t even been aware that she’d done it. The answer had to lie with the cursed Watcher relic. The disc must have guided Maddie in claiming her power over him.
Cade’s own arrogance was partly to blame for this predicament. He’d known the artifact was dangerous. Lethal. The archangels had wanted it destroyed. He’d seen the results of Maddie’s disturbing link with the thing, and he’d known what she was: Azazel’s own spawn. He hadn’t wanted to believe she would betray him, so he’d given himself over to protecting her, loving her, and even, at the end, releasing her from the slavery Artur had ordained. A fool’s mistake. His first loyalty should have been to his clan. He was a bloody idiot.
Maddie tilted her head. She looked into the space beyond him, a vertical line appearing between her eyebrows. It looked for all the world as if she were listening to something. But, to what? The disc strung around her neck? He watched her intently, trying to understand.
Her eyes refocused on his face. “Come.”
“Where are we going?”
She strode toward the door. He followed—he had no choice. He thought she might not answer his question, but as she reached the door she spoke without turning. “To the beach.”
“Why?”
“Enough questions.”
Teeth gritted, Cade trailed her out into a very dark night. The protections he’d set around the cottage before her crisis were gone. Stars hung low and brilliant in the sky. Man-made lights were scattered like glowing pearls along the rocky curve of the shoreline. But the air was fetid. The odors of blood and death slapped him like an open palm across the face.
He spied the remnants of a mutilated calf carcass a few yards to his left. Intense relief caused his shoulders to sag. The kill was not human: Maddie hadn’t yet crossed the line to total depravity. Though he wasn’t sure what he could do now to prevent it. Was there a way to turn her from the path she’d chosen? He didn’t know.
She halted mere steps from the edge of the cliff. Her eyes flashed red. Spreading her arms, she flung her head back. Her human body melted into her Nephilim form.
An unspoken command burned in his brain; she wanted him to do the same. Cade threw every ounce of his strength into resisting the compulsion to change. The effort left him sweating, breathless, and sapped of energy. And, in the end, defeated.
He changed. His human skin thickened into sparkling color. His hide felt as though it wrapped his bones and muscles too tightly. Everywhere he tingled.
He locked gazes with her. “Maddie. Don’t do this.”
Her chin lifted and she laughed. It was not a pleasant sound. “Don’t do what? Don’t force you, Cade? You hypocrite! This is just what you planned to do to me.”
He swallowed thickly. “I planned to possess you, yes. I admit that. But
not like this. Not in anger. Not in hatred.”
“In love?” On her lips, the word sounded like the worst profanity.
“Yes,” he said. “In love.”
Silence followed. Then, “You make me sick.”
Cade found himself facedown on the ground, lungs devoid of air, mouth full of dirt. The impact that had sent him sprawling reverberated through his bones. He heaved up onto his hands and knees, spitting dust and blood. Pain knifed his chest as he struggled to draw breath.
“Get up,” she commanded.
He lurched to his feet. “Maddie! Please. Don’t. This isn’t you. It’s that thing around your neck. Your ancestors created that disc with blood magic. Don’t let yourself be snared by its evil. Resist it.”
The briefest uncertainty flickered in her eyes. Recognizing it, he pressed the slim advantage.
“You said once that you trusted me. I know I didn’t deserve it—not then. I intended to enslave you. But remember that when the moment came, I couldn’t do it. I didn’t want you like that, because I love you. I gave you your freedom because of that love. Please. Trust me enough now, love me enough, to do the same for me. Free me, and we’ll destroy the disc together.”
He thought he might have gotten through. For a long moment she remained silent. Then her head tilted and her eyes lost focus, as if she were hearing something else.
“Don’t listen to it,” he pleaded. “Don’t.”
Her gaze flicked back to him and her expression hardened. “You arrogant pig. You want my trust—my love—after all you’ve done? All you meant to do? Sorry, Cade. That’s just not going to happen.”
She showed him her back and unfurled her wings.
“Down the cliffs to the beach,” she said. “Now.”
Chapter Twenty
Maddie remembered so much now. She remembered all of it: centuries—no, millennia—of magical heritage. And the oldest memory held the most power. Ezreth’s body, lying beside the Watcher well, his neck bent at the exact same angle Dr. Ben-Meir’s had been. The Seed of Life—Lilith’s creation, the repository of life-and-death powers—had killed both men. Maddie wasn’t sorry.
She leaped over the edge of the cliff into nothingness, an act that just yesterday would have been unthinkable. Now, buoyed by her newborn magic, guided by the exultant, whispering voice in her head, she knew she could do anything. Even fly.
Human existence—how flat and gray it had been! Unbearable to contemplate. While trapped in her human form, Maddie had never suspected the glory that was her birthright. Now she knew.
A heady rush of power met the spread of her new wings. Her body was flush with the energy of the living blood she’d consumed during the first ravenous hours she’d spent in her Nephilim form. True, it had only been the blood of an animal, but it had been potent enough. At least for now. For now she knew wonder, power, glory. Exhilaration, strength, and freedom. Bliss.
Yes. Now you know. Now you are complete.
How could she have believed her small human existence was anything worth clinging to? How could she have not known that she was meant for so much more? For perfection!
The earth fell away. Each sweep of her dark feathered wings lifted her higher and higher. The stars hung above her like twinkling diamonds, so close she almost believed she could pluck a handful to encircle her throat, adorn her wrist and fingers.
The earth, the sea, the sky—they offered a vividness her human self had never even guessed at. She’d caught glimpses with her Watcher sight in the past weeks: the auras, the blinding flash of clarity she’d experienced when digging with the American teens. She’d thought it was the tumor. She laughed now at the sheer absurdity of that fear.
She didn’t glance back to see if Cade had followed; she knew he had. He had no choice. She’d locked him in the prison he’d meant for her. The hurt of that betrayal was a lump of acid stuck in her throat. He’d begged her to trust him. And—almost—she had. She’d even fallen a bit in love with him. Only to discover how he meant to use her faith and emotions against her.
But what had she expected? Love was human stupidity. Cade was an archdemon. Nephilim. As was she.
To a Nephilim, power was all. Power to wield over humans. Power to master Nephilim of rival blood. So simple. Maddie was a daughter of Azazel. More than a daughter—much more. Cade was a son of Samyaza. Her enemy.
Testing her wings, she flew out over the waves in a wide arc. The charcoal waters birthed white breakers, then, just as quickly, killed their foamy offspring. Maddie’s demonic sight sliced easily through the night, searching out the peaks and valleys of the seascape below.
He is coming. Soon. Very soon.
Maddie didn’t have to wonder at the meaning of the whispered words. She knew. Another fragment of Lilith’s memory had fallen into place.
“Ezreth is dead,” Lilith told her father. The back of her skull throbbed where it had struck the ground. “I killed him.”
Flies were already gathering on the corpse, though the sun had hardly moved in the sky since his neck was broken. His aura was dark, but Lilith’s mind had scarcely registered the fact her brother was truly dead until she’d looked up from his body to see her father striding toward her.
“I killed him,” she said again. “I accept your punishment.” She bowed her head and waited for Azazel’s blow.
“I see,” was all her father said. Then, “How did this come to pass?”
She didn’t dare look up, though she wondered desperately what she would see in his eyes if she did. “I was here at the forge. I succeeded in transmuting the prime substance into gold. I formed the metal into the pattern you showed me, the Seed of Life. In the center I set the bloodstone we made.”
Azazel’s brows rose. “And where is this piece?”
“Here.” She held the disc in her hand, thrust it out at him. He took and examined the amulet, his expression inscrutable.
“You have held nothing back,” he said at last. His voice vibrated with emotion. “You have poured your entire essence into this gold, this gem. You have created with your innocence what I, in all my power, could not.” His fingers tightened on the Seed. “Life. Life itself.”
“It is a gift to you,” she said simply, “who gave me life.” She felt his eyes on her but couldn’t bring herself to lift her head. “But . . . just as I completed the spells, Ezreth came. He ordered me to lie with him.”
“Did you?”
“No!” She did look up then, imploring. “Never would I do such a thing! I . . . I remain pure, Father. As you commanded.”
A small smile curved his lips. “And so I did.” He gestured. “Continue, my daughter. Tell me all.”
Haltingly, Lilith recounted her brother’s approach and attack, and the explosion of magic that saved her. “My head struck the well. I . . . can’t remember exactly what happened while I lay on the ground. But when I rose, Ezreth was dead.”
Azazel’s thumb stroked the jewel in the amulet. “Life,” he murmured, almost to himself. “And death. Joined in metal and stone. Incredible.”
Lilith flushed. “I . . . I am not sure I understand.”
“Your creation is pure potentiality. And protection of that force. In short, immortality.” His free hand descended to Lilith’s shoulder. It felt heavy and warm. His eyes found hers. “Do you trust me, Lilith?”
“Of course, Father! With my life!”
“And you still wish to gift me with this work of your hands?”
“Yes, Father.”
His lips touched her forehead. “Then come, my love. It is time.”
She didn’t know what time he referred to, but she loved and trusted him completely. She went without hesitation, her hand in his.
He guided her to the entrance of his dwelling. In the anteroom, she bathed his feet and hers as she had done that first day. His dark eyes remained upon her all the while. Whenever she chanced to glance up, the fleeting contact of their gazes tightened her chest.
Inside the tent’s ma
in chamber, Azazel placed the Seed of Life on the low table before the couch. He drew Lilith to stand before him. Then, slowly, almost reverently, he touched her bare head, her temple.
His touch felt good. Wonderful. It did strange things to Lilith’s body. She felt alert and languid all at once. His fingers explored the tilt of her cheekbones, the line of her jaw. He spread the long fall of her hair about her shoulders. His thumbs stroked the sensitive skin below her ears. The pads of his fingers massaged the back of her skull.
His eyes did not move from her face. “You are a beautiful woman, Lilith.”
Her heart thumped wildly. “I . . . thank you, Father.”
“A beautiful woman indeed.”
He bent his head and gifted her with another kiss. This one he placed not on her forehead but full on her lips. She stiffened slightly as his mouth urged hers to open. This was not the kiss of a father to a daughter!
Lilith’s emotions, already raw, spun in confusion. For several long moments she knew nothing but shock. She felt as though she had drifted outside herself. Shame crept like a sickness into her chest. Azazel deepened the kiss. This was wrong! An abomination before Heaven. But somehow, even the knowledge of the perversion in which she was participating did not quite stop the liquid slide of pleasure that sluiced from her breasts to the hidden place between her legs.
She struggled to understand. This was Azazel. Her father. She loved him; she trusted him absolutely. He had laid her deepest emotions bare. He knew how much she loved him. And he loved her. He must! But not, it seemed, only as a daughter. He wanted her as a mate as well.
It was not in her heart to deny him anything. Even this. Tentatively, fearfully, her hands slid up his arms to grasp his shoulders; softly, they slipped around his neck. His kiss was gentle, coaxing, as if he knew just what she needed. Of course he did—he loved her! And he was wise. If he wanted this, it must be right.
His big hand wandered down her back. His palms molded her buttocks. He pulled her into his body, and his man’s desire was hard and long. It pressed against her belly. His voice was rough when he said, “Do you give me your body, Lilith? To do with as I will?”