Tally turned her back on the predator to allow him to enter behind her. She sat down in one of the chairs in the living room and motioned for him to do the same.
She reclined in the chair as if she hadn’t a care in the world and the fear ebbed like low tide. Tally found she was hungry and the burn wasn’t only in her stomach, but throbbed down through her mound. The lamia found this beast attractive, and wanted to devour him whole.
Perhaps she’d let her. The idea of surrendering control to the thing inside her gave her a languorous rush. It would be so easy and it would feel so good.
The beast sniffed the air around her warily and his eyes narrowed. “Clever girl, using the fear to draw me in. You fairly reek of it, but there’s something else, too.”
Tally crossed her legs, giving him a view of her upper thigh. “What would that be?”
His eyes were instantly drawn to her skin and he licked his lips. He could be controlled by his cock, the lamia whispered to her. Tally knew very well what kind of weapon she had at her disposal by using her body, but she didn’t want to use sex as a weapon. The only hands she wanted on her flesh were Falcon’s. The only man she wanted inside her never would be again.
“Such ample charms you have. All the better to eat me with, I’d think,” the animal growled.
“You’ve taken this wolf thing to heart. You keep quoting an overused fairy tale.” Tally cocked her head to the side as she studied him. “Is that supposed to be scary?”
“No more so than you flashing your body when I know what you carry can consume me.”
She raised her leg on the side of the chair, exposing herself farther. “Maybe I’ve just got a thing for dark and brutal.”
Tally couldn’t believe the words coming out of her mouth; they weren’t hers. This wasn’t what she wanted, but it was what the lamia wanted. It whispered to her in soft, dulcet tones. It told her to trust, to believe. That this was the path to redemption and victory.
“You can’t control me with sex. None of my previous lovers could,” the beast growled.
“This isn’t what you came for? To see if you could control me with sex? To make me so grateful any man would want me that I’d do anything for you?” Tally replied in a sultry tone. “Perhaps you’re afraid,” she said as she got up from the chair and advanced on him, splaying her hand on his chest. “Tell me true, are you afraid?”
His claws grew into talons and the lamia was aroused by the pain of them piercing her flesh. She laughed, daring him to do more. The last of Emilian melted away, and it was the beast who would devour the world that stood before her now.
“I am afraid of nothing, whore.”
Whore. The insult ripped into the human part of her, tore at her defenses. Once, she would have felt hot, salty tears threaten, but the creature inside her forbade them. It whispered she could cry later when they were alone, when this bastard was nothing. She felt like a whore; that’s why it hurt. She had no doubt this body would do what it must to this beast. She would destroy him and then feast on his bones. The Tally part of her didn’t want to do it. She wanted her flesh to be sacred, for Falcon. For all the good it would do him if he were dead, the lamia sneered at her thoughts.
“So many before me were unworthy, weren’t they? Not me. I am a punisher of men, a destroyer of the unworthy.”
I’ll do it. It won’t be you. You can tell your mate it wasn’t you. Let go. Let me out, the lamia entreated.
She could float in the silent peace of oblivion while the lamia used her body and saved the world. Tally herself could still be sacred, could still be pure for Falcon.
But that wasn’t the nature of sacrifice or redemption.
Tally felt a clarity she’d never known and a strength that was solely hers. She smiled up into the face of evil. “Be with me. We’ll end this world together.”
Its talons closed around her throat.
“I can’t die,” Tally said and smiled as her airway closed.
The human part of her was so far away now. It struggled, and it felt fear as her lungs fought for oxygen, but the lamia was calm; it forced her to be calm and to endure. The beast braced her against the table and just as he was going to enter her, he snapped a titanium cuff around her wrist.
“Call it protection from sexually transmitted death.”
The air around the cuff sizzled with power and the lamia inside her howled. It had been chained by magick, caged.
The door hadn’t been locked, so it wasn’t much of an entrance, but an avenging angel filled the doorway, his armored wings spread and their true glory illuminated by the sun reflected off each crystalline plate.
His guns were still strapped to his hips and thighs, but he held a sword and it burst into flame. Falcon’s body moved with deadly grace as he brandished the sword, his muscle and bone following a single sharp line. He was beautiful in the magnificence of his fury.
She wondered how much he’d heard and if he’d ever forgive her. The pain on his face, the hard lines around the grim slash of his mouth, the stony vengeance in his eyes—no, he’d never forgive her.
The lamia whispered that his emotion would make him careless, sloppy. He’d fight and he’d lose. Better to cut him with her words than to let them fight. The pain was in her veins now instead of her blood. Her intent to wound him cut her before she even spoke.
“A little late to the party, lover?” She licked her lips.
“A hot little piece of destruction you’ve got here,” the beast said.
Tally saw pieces of Falcon shatter. She wanted to cry out, to tell him she loved him, no matter what this looked like. Her heart swelled and cracked; despair threatened to drown her.
“Tally, what are you doing?” he asked.
As if she could give him another answer, as if she could explain away the words of invitation she’d issued to the beast.
“I’m hungry.” She prayed he’d understand everything with those words, prayed he’d walk away. Tally needed him to hate her just then. But later, she hoped he’d realize what she’d done and forgive her.
“I thought we agreed the dog wasn’t allowed in the house.” Under any other circumstances, his wit would have been funny. Now, it broke her heart.
“Instead, Cupid has to stay outside and play with his love guns all by himself.” The beast bared its teeth and threw a bag of powder at the door. It exploded and the blast sent Falcon flying from the entrance.
The places on his skin where the powder touched him sizzled and burned. His blood turned to ash when it dripped near the ward Ethelred had wrought. Falcon would burn should he try to cross the threshold.
“The dust of a woman’s bones who was killed by someone she loved. It’s easier to find than you’d think.” The beast wore Emilian’s face again and winked at Tally.
Tally had to bite the inside of her cheek to keep from crying out. “I’m already bored,” she said and turned her head away so she wouldn’t have to see Falcon’s suffering.
Falcon seethed, his chest rising and falling with simple rage. He pulled his wings around his body and tried to push through the barrier. His beautiful wings caught fire as soon as they touched the boundary of the warding.
“Come to me, Tally,” he said, as the tips of his wings burned.
Oh, sweet Merlin, he was still trying to save her. He would die to do it, just as Merlin had said he would. She had to get Emilian out of there.
“So, what’s the deal, Princeling?” She adopted Ethelred’s pet name for him with a sneer.
Falcon stepped back from the door as she spoke, a low sound like a growl issuing from deep in his chest. Tally could see he was debating how long it would take to push through the barrier and how much of his flesh would burn.
“Your love is going to burn,” the beast said with a curious excitement.
“I don’t care what he does,” she said and leaned back on the table.
Please, she prayed. Please let me save him.
“You really don’t care, do y
ou? Perhaps we’ll play some more.” The beast grabbed her by the throat again.
She submitted to his grasp and looked at Falcon one last time. Tally prayed he could see the truth in her eyes, could see she didn’t mean any of what she said. It was a double-edged sword. She wanted Falcon to know it was a lie, but she had to be pretty damn convincing if she wanted Emilian to believe her. She was damned if she did and damned if she didn’t.
“First,” Emilian began, “I have to see a demon about a contract.”
Betrayal knifed through her.
Emilian started to chant and she felt the corporeal world around her fade into nothing. She could still see Falcon, but Tally was sure he could no longer see them and she mouthed I love you. She was sure it was her last chance to say it and though he’d never know she’d spoken the words, she’d know. It would have to be enough.
They materialized in a familiar tea shop, where an equally familiar demon sat eating a scone and drinking a steaming cup of tea. Tally gritted her teeth so hard she was surprised they didn’t all snap off in her mouth. She tasted blood and knew the lamia had caused fangs to descend from her gums. She’d known Ethelred was evil, but how could he do this?
“I see you’ve captured my errant parolee,” Ethelred said with no evident emotion.
“The bone dust you gave me worked,” Emilian said, his features completely humanoid again, all but his eyes.
“Everything I give you works. This time you thought to specify how you wanted it to work.” Ethelred still didn’t look at Tally. She wanted him to; she wanted him to see the darkness in her eyes and the reckoning she’d bring to his door.
She blinked as her vision blurred and she began to see all of the occupants in the room in terms of their heat signatures, where the meat was. Tally was watching them like prey. They weren’t men, or angels, or demons: They were prey to be devoured. They were enemies to be destroyed.
“Would you look at that?” Emilian grinned. “Something pissed her off.”
“She’s hungry,” Ethelred said. “You should find something to feed her. Lamia are easier to control when they’re full.”
“I thought you used food to reward them.”
“Yes, you do. But a nearly sated lamia has logic. If she’s too hungry, you’ll have to use aversion training with pain.”
“We like pain, don’t we, dove?” Emilian asked her solicitously. “Such pretty eyes. What magick can be wrought with lamia eyes?”
“Much, but she’s more valuable to you alive.”
Tally would have exploded with her rage; the lamia would have filled her skin and killed them all if not for that titanium cuff on her wrist. As soon as he took it off and he would take it off if he wanted to use the lamia’s power, she’d kill him.
“Do you still want demonhood, Emilian?” Ethelred asked.
“No, I’m happy with what I am.”
“Then why are you here?” The demon asked the question as if the answer didn’t matter, flipping casually though a gardening magazine.
“To make sure the Powers That Be don’t vote to end me. Something they can’t do if they’re all dead.” He clasped Tally tightly and pressed her against him. “I’ll enjoy watching her kill them. I’ve never seen a lamia in action.”
“There aren’t many who have. For so large a creature, she’s very stealthy. The Angel of Death never saw her coming, did he, Tally?” Ethelred replied.
“No, he didn’t.” She left the rest unsaid. He wouldn’t see her coming, either. The lamia rallied at the thought and Tally ran her tongue over her fangs.
There was something in Ethelred’s voice, something about the set of his mouth, that told Tally maybe things weren’t as they seemed.
In all the darkness, Tally saw a tiny candle flame of hope.
“So again, why are you here, Emilian, if you don’t want what I’ve offered? I don’t see how I can help you with the vote.” He continued to thumb through the magazine as if he didn’t care one way or another about the things going on around him.
“My sister. Where is she?”
Ethelred narrowed his eyes momentarily, then sighed. “I wouldn’t know. I’m not her keeper.”
“Oh, but I think you are. I could make you tell me.”
This time Ethelred put the magazine down and looked up to give Emilian his full attention—his eyes blazing with hellfire. “Listen to me well, you whelp of a whore. I’ve been a demon since mankind was nothing but squirming things in the dirt. When this world ends, I will still be. Perhaps you will swallow the sun, but my origins are older, deeper than you mewling things that struggle to keep your faces in the light.”
“Such posturing.” Emilian laughed. “If you could end me, why haven’t you? Why don’t you save the world?”
“Because I don’t wish to.” He accentuated each word and Tally believed him. His gaze slid to Tally and it seemed to say: That’s your job.
Tally remembered her lessons with Ethelred on the nature of Hell—adversity. It wasn’t to hurt humans for the sake of hurting them; it was to make them grow, to make them reach their potential for goodness, sacrifice, love.
“That doesn’t change the fact I want my sister, demon.”
“Why?” He went back to thumbing through the magazine.
“She’s the other half of my soul and I need it to finish what’s begun.”
“I’ll be sure to pass on the message.” Ethelred looked him up and down for a moment and, obviously deciding he was lacking, went back again to his gardening magazine.
“She’s probably back at the house. You know it would be just like this demon to hide her from you in plain sight,” Tally whispered in his ear. “And you don’t need him to help with the vote. Like you said, you’ve got me. Let’s go.”
Emilian looked at her, the beast staring out from behind his eyes, and wrapped his arms around her to teleport back to the beach house.
When the beach house became solid around them, Tally realized it had become her anchor somehow. The realization was all the more stark because she knew after what was coming, she’d never be able to return.
“Your angel is long gone,” he sneered.
“I already told you I don’t care.”
“I can see the lie on you. Smell your pheromones. The way your heartbeat accelerates in your chest.”
“Because I’m hungry.”
“Soon, pet. I need to find my sister before we end the Powers That Be.”
He was still mortal! He’d be mortal until his sister was infected, too. Only then would they become the invincible beast the Powers feared. Why hadn’t she seen it before?
She had to get that cuff off.
Tally felt her consciousness slipping away, the now familiar touch of the lamia’s presence filling her.
Sleep, Tally. Sleep and let me bear this burden.
No, together. We’ll do it together, Tally thought.
“If I uncuff you, I want you to swear on your magick you’ll do as you’ve promised.”
She smiled. “I swear on my magick, I’ll do everything as promised.” If she didn’t follow through, she’d lose her magick, but she didn’t specify which things she’d promised. The binding settled over her, but it was an easy weight to bear.
The cuff disintegrated into granules of sand, sliding from her wrist. The skin was red and raw underneath, burned from just those few minutes of contact.
He still had his arms around her from teleporting and Tally returned the embrace, locking her claws into his shoulders. With that, the lamia burst into the front of her awareness and began to feed.
But it wasn’t like it had been before—it was more metaphysical. It took something from him, something vital and hot. It filled her veins like a molten river of gold. It was bliss unlike anything she’d ever experienced.
He fought her, struggled in her grip, but he’d already lost too much of himself by the time he realized what was happening. The beast shifted as he invaded her, all of that fury and hunger. She knew those s
ensations, but they were nothing like the power of the lamia.
The punisher inside her consumed the beast easily, greedily, swallowing everything that made him powerful and deadly like some succulent meal.
She tried to stop when she sensed the pure things—Emilian’s willingness to sacrifice himself, his love for his sister, even his forgiveness of Tally herself for what she was doing.
But the lamia wouldn’t stop. She thirsted—said they had to be sure. Emilian had to die to break his curse. Tally flailed for control, but part of her didn’t want to stop. His essence tasted too good, sated her in ways she’d never known, filled pieces of her that she thought would always be empty.
The body of the gypsy prince crumpled in her arms and then, only then, did she release him.
Tally sagged to the floor with him, hot tears burning down her cheeks.
CHAPTER TWENTY
A Falling Star
Dread choked Falcon as he paced back and forth in front of the beach house. Tally’s fear was as strong as if it had been his own. All he knew was that he had to get to her.
His heart had torn itself from his chest when he’d seen Tally with Emilian. The things she’d said—if he hadn’t known better, her words would have broken him. He’d never get the sight of her like that out of his head; it would be there until his next turn on the Wheel scrubbed it from his brain like baked-on barbeque. He’d see it every time he closed his eyes, but he couldn’t hold it against her.
Falcon was the Angel of Love. Now that he’d finally accepted love, he could see Tally’s true feelings for him in a bright starburst in her aura; he could also see what she’d done to herself. There was a darkness hovering over her. It was something strange and new that had merged with her aura—it could only be the lamia.
He was afraid for her now, but he was also so proud of her for doing what she thought was right even though she was terrified. Falcon wished he could have spared her that, the fear. The lamia could, though; it would make her stronger, help her survive, and because of that, he couldn’t fault her or the creature inside her.
But Falcon knew he had failed her. If he’d been strong enough, she never would have had to go through this.
How to Seduce an Angel in 10 Days Page 17