As he had been fooled, but no longer, Damien realized. From the vision of that Christmas Past in Cuba to the one of a very painful Christmas Present, he had come to appreciate the difference. Which was why he would not waste the opportunity to let her know his heart this Christmas Eve.
“I love you, Angelina. Whatever happens tomorrow, please remember that,” he said. He knew that no matter what he did, she would leave him again. Because of that, he wanted this to be as special as possible between them.
She must have seen his distress. She stroked her hand over his hair and said, “If I could stay with you forever, I would.”
“I know, my love.” He dropped a kiss directly over her heart. Then he laid a line of kisses down her center until he was poised at the first hint of lush ebony curls.
He eased his hands to the juncture of thigh and hip, stroking the smooth skin there. About to shift and urge her legs open, she made that movement on her own, parting her thighs wide.
Her nether lips were flush with the rush of passion and he stroked the back of one hand along that sensitive cleft. She raised herself against him and murmured a plea.
“Make love to me, Damien.”
He smiled. “In time, Angelina. I would not rush this for all the world.”
Tenderly, he caressed her again, teasing his fingers around where she most wanted him to touch. He moved his other hand down so that he could part her curls and expose the swollen and responsive nub at her center. He bent then, placing his lips there in a provocative kiss.
She moaned and lifted her hips. Dragged her fingers into the thick locks of his hair to urge him on.
He licked and sucked at the nub until she was almost writhing on the bed, her body shaking. The aroma of her desire sharp in his nose. The taste of her passion alive on his lips as he moved downward, continuing to caress that sensitive tip with his fingers while he sought to bring her yet more pleasure.
He kissed and laved her lips until he could slip his tongue into her center, mimicking the way he would shortly love her.
A climax slammed through her then and he nearly came himself as her body quaked beneath his mouth.
She uttered his name in a long, heartfelt cry and he could wait no longer.
He rose to his feet and ran his hands along her thighs, holding her steady as he positioned himself at her entrance. She watched him, her dark emerald eyes nearly black with her passion. A very visible aura of blue light, like a halo, limning her body as she rested on his silken comforter.
As the tip of him probed and then slipped in just a bit, her gaze dropped down to their joining. Then she rose on one elbow, reached for him, her thumb riding along the top of his erection. It made him quiver and his heart ached with that tender caress.
Slowly, he pressed forward, ever so conscious of his size and her body. Of the warmth of her encircling him as she welcomed each inch of him. Of the wetness of her, so slick.
Once he was home, buried deep within her, Angelina lay back down and wrapped her legs around his hips. “Please don’t move. I love the feel of you inside me.”
If he died again right then, held in her embrace, nothing could be better. Except moving in her. Feeling her heat and wetness caressing him.
But he held back, her pleasure being foremost. Her happiness meaning the world to the man he had become.
He was shaking, his body damp with sweat as he battled for control, when she offered yet another temptation. As he watched, she raised her hands and cupped her breasts, running her fingers along their tips, which caused a jump of her muscles all along his length.
He groaned and closed his eyes, afraid of losing control, but her voice came in soft command.
“Open your eyes, love. Watch me.”
He couldn’t disobey.
CHAPTER NINE
ENTRANCED, HE FOLLOWED the graceful movement of her hands at her breasts. The way she grasped the turgid peaks of her nipples, flushed with desire. Rotated them, each twist generating a pulse that echoed through her body and his until he was almost panting with need.
She seemed to sense he was on the edge. She relented, asking, “Will you kiss me?”
Damien needed no further invitation, but surprised her, dipping his head to kiss the sensitive tip of each nipple. His actions tripped another climax, sending a wave throughout her body. She arched up and deepened his penetration, her muscles milking his erection with one swell after another as her satisfaction peaked and ebbed.
She tightened her legs around his waist, reaching up and encircling his back. Then she pulled away, nearly letting him slip out of her before she once again drew him in, moaning her pleasure.
That low, almost animal sound was his undoing.
With his own hoarse shout, he joined her in the release, spilling his seed within her. Savoring the final undulations of her climax before he dropped down on her, covering her body with his.
Angelina pulled him close and took a long breath to steady herself. How she wished the night would never end, but there was no escaping tomorrow.
And no avoiding the fact that no matter what happened, this might be their last time together.
Damien must have sensed her sadness. He braced one hand beside her and raised himself up.
“Why the tears?” he asked and bent to kiss away the drops on her cheeks.
“Tomorrow…” she began, but couldn’t finish. Yet he knew.
“Tomorrow is promised to no one. Isn’t that the saying?” He dipped his head to brush his lips across hers.
“I wish there was some promise I could make, but I don’t know what the future holds in store,” she acknowledged.
He lifted himself from her, his silver-gray eyes turbulent like the ocean outside. The tone of his voice was somber as he said, “Promise me you’ll love me no matter what.”
She knew what he wanted: unconditional love. In a way, she had given him that for over a century, although he had not known it. If it hadn’t been for Ramirez catching her off guard, Damien might be clueless about her role in his life. About the love she had shown him each time the question of saving his soul arose before the Angels.
And, as she had done each time, she reaffirmed what was in her heart. What couldn’t be denied.
“I love you, Damien. No matter what Fate decides for us, I will love you forever.”
Overwhelmed it seemed, all he could do was grunt his acceptance and take her into his arms. They held each other tightly for long moments until he shifted them beneath the covers and into the center of the bed. Tucking her close and wrapping his arms around her, he said in a husky voice, “Rest. We’ll talk more in the morning.”
But rest was impossible for either of them.
Angelina’s thoughts were filled with fear at what would once again happen with Ramirez. Whether this time Damien would make the right choices. But even if he did, there was still the issue of her wings. Each time that fatigue dragged her eyes closed, images of violence and death jerked her awake as she imagined how Damien would have to secure their return.
Damien could not sleep, either, his mind reliving each and every encounter with Ramirez. Contemplating what it would take to defeat the deadly vampire who was not only physically powerful despite his rotund and small stature, but also a seasoned warrior. Over and over Damien imagined the captain’s moves. How a feint to the left or right could have changed the outcome of their two prior encounters.
During one such imaginary fight he jumped, so powerfully that Angelina turned in his arms to see what was the matter.
“Are you all right?” she asked and laid her hand along his cheek.
Damien forced a smile and covered her hand with his. “Just trying to prepare myself for Ramirez.”
“You plan to fight him again?” she asked, the tone of her voice flat.
Because he did not want to worry her more, he said, “I will do what I must.”
She nodded and then tracked her thumb across his lips. “How can I help?”
S
tay away, he thought, but knew she would not leave him to face Ramirez on his own. There was one thing she could do, however loath as he was to ask it.
As her gaze met his, though, she seemed to understand.
“Are you strong enough or do you need to feed?”
“I have not fed from anything living in some time,” he admitted and raised his hand to stroke it gently along the delicate slope of her shoulder.
“Will it hurt?” she asked, sounding so innocent his heart ached, but if he was to save her from eternal damnation, he needed to be fortified.
“Not so much,” he admitted, then quickly added, “I can make it pleasurable, as well.”
The first hint of a smile relieved the seriousness of her features. “Like you did before?”
He chuckled and ran his thumb along the straight line of her collarbone. With each pass he inched his thumb lower until he was caressing the swell of her breasts. They tightened in anticipation, and he lifted his gaze back up to hers.
“Better than before,” he promised, moving the final short distance to caress the tight tip of her breast. Dipping his head, he nipped and sucked at the other breast until she threaded her hands through his hair and held him to her.
Inside him came the rush of desire and, as it usually did, the clamor of the vampire to be released. He had restrained the beast when he was with her, but this time he set it free.
The animal within him shook with the joy of liberation, but he reined it in, wanting to make sure he gave Angelina the pleasure that might bring forgetfulness of the beast’s bite.
With the sharp edge of his fangs, he traced the puckered tip of her breasts, earning a surprised gasp from her. More gently, he took the tip into his mouth, suckling her until she was digging her fingers into his shoulders.
The sensation was familiar and yet foreign, Angelina thought. With each gentle pull, she experienced the scrape of his fangs along sensitized skin. At one particularly rough tug that created both pleasure and pain, she cried out and arched her back, bringing herself flush along his body.
He raised his head. His silver-gray gaze had bled out to the neon-blue of the vampire and long canines extended beyond the fullness of his lips. He hesitated a moment, then trailed a line of kisses down her center to the apex of her legs, where he parted her and sucked at her core.
She opened her legs wide, offering herself to him. He continued his sensual kiss at her center while easing one finger and then another into her, preparing her for his possession once more.
Angelina closed her eyes against the pleasure he was bringing her. Surely this was Heaven and anywhere without him—Hell. She threaded her fingers through the silk of his hair and held him close, savoring the sensations he was creating. As one sharp tug at her nether lips had her shaking, she lifted her hips up, asking him for more.
He chuckled and the sound reverberated against her center, dragging a moan from her. “Do not tease me so, Damien,” she pleaded, feeling empty inside without him.
He slowly shifted upward until his body covered hers. It was warm with the heat of the vampire. His eyes blazing with light and those long, wickedly lethal fangs bright in the dim light of early morning.
“It seems only fair since you tempt me beyond reason, Angelina,” he said, guiding himself to her center where, with a slight move, he slipped the tip of his erection into her.
She moaned and arched her hips, taking him in a little deeper, but he held back.
“Why do you hesitate?” she asked, puzzled by his restraint.
A bittersweet smile tempered the harsh look of his lips with their deadly fangs.
“I do not wish for this to end too quickly. For Heaven to slip through my fingers,” he readily admitted.
She could not argue with him. Today brought no promise for their future and because of that, she did not rush him, but instead took the moment to run her hands up and down the hard muscles of his arms. She inched her hands inward to cup and explore his chest and the ridges of his midsection.
He sucked in a rough breath then, his body beginning to quiver.
“Take me,” she pleaded, her own body waiting for his full possession. Waiting for the bite that would feed his demon body the way their loving was nourishing their souls.
At her plea, he complied, easing in the final inches to fill her. Drawing a long, satisfied breath from her as the powerful length and width of him drove away the emptiness in both her body and her soul.
He lowered himself onto her and bent his head, alternating a series of kisses and love bites along the line of her collarbone until he was at the crook of her neck. He nuzzled that area, the sensation almost ticklish until the sharp, undeniable teeth of the demon scraped her skin.
She shuddered, fear and need battling one another.
Softly, he whispered, “Forgive me, my love.”
Pain burst from the spot on her neck as he bit down and she experienced the pull of his mouth, drawing in sustenance. Soon, however, desire snaked through her body and pleasure obliterated all other sensation.
Damien fed from her. Nothing he had tasted had ever been as glorious or as potent.
Angel’s blood. So clean and vital. So beautiful, he thought, as he sucked hard, feeding from her. Feeling himself growing stronger with each pull of his mouth. Feeling her respond to the desire the vampire’s bite created as she lifted herself against him and mewled with pleasure.
He wanted her to be satisfied. He needed this time, if it was meant to be their last, to be perfect.
He reached between their bodies and cradled her breast. Found the turgid tip and caressed it, her soft cry of contentment urging him on.
Slowly, he moved, shifting his hips to pull himself in and out of her, the long, slow movements creating delicious friction. So much so that he cried out against her neck and broke from his feeding.
Shaking his head, he drove away the vampire who wanted yet more blood from her. He was not that demon, he told himself, mustering the control to morph back to his human form and savor these moments with her.
Moments which might be their last together.
He braced his arms on either side of her as he rocked his hips, urging her to climax.
She gazed up at him, her dark eyes locked on his as he loved her. He rolled onto his back and let her straddle him, deepening his penetration.
She gasped at that sudden move and the joining that it wrought, but the surprise was short-lived as she began to ride him. Drawing out her own pleasure with the roll of her hips.
He cupped her breasts, squeezing and playing with her nipples. Earning her soft cries of pleasure as she closed her eyes and tossed her head back. She arched into him until her body exploded with her climax, the waves of it washing across him. Squeezing and caressing his erection deep within her until he, too, came with a rough shout.
But even then he did not leave her, using his immense strength to sit up and encircle her hips with his arms, keeping her joined to him.
“I wish I could keep you here for always,” he said, kissing the side of her face and then lower, over the site of his bite that was already healed, but still sensitive.
Angelina shivered at that and wrapped her arms around his shoulders, likewise loath to leave him. Although she knew she would. That was the only thing of which she was certain.
Tomorrow they would be apart.
He must have sensed the finality of the moment, also. It was as if God himself understood it, as well, for suddenly there came a rough pounding on Damien’s front door.
Ramirez clearly was too impatient to wait for them to come to him.
CHAPTER TEN
WITH THE KIND OF SPEED only a vampire could manage, Damien dressed and armed himself with a knife and a revolver.
Angelina’s heart sank as she sat on the edge of the bed, watching him prepare for battle. She gazed up at him as he paused by her side and tenderly cupped her chin.
“Do not worry. I will get your wings back. Stay here,” he command
ed and before she could offer her goodbyes, he was gone.
Sadness twisted her gut at the thought of being without him, but that had always been the only certain outcome. Her role here in this mortal realm was to guide him to the right path. It was not to walk beside him on that journey.
Hurrying from the bed, she grabbed a shirt from Damien’s closet and slipped it on. Because of his size, the shirt hung down to midthigh, covering most of her body. Barefoot, she raced down the stairs, the soft pad of her feet imperceptible against the noise of the men clomping in from outside and the scrape of something heavy being dragged along the wooden floor.
The storm still raged beyond the walls of the building, darkening the morning sky. That false night had made it possible for Ramirez and his men to invade their peace. The wind howled and blew snow into the hallway before one of Ramirez’s vampire crewmen shouldered the door shut and strode into a nearby room at the front of the house.
She hurried to the room’s entrance and peered inside. Fear gripped her heart as she realized that Damien was at an immense disadvantage. Not only was Ramirez there, but also two other large and powerfully built vampires who were minding the large wood-and-leather trunk at their feet.
Damien shot her a glowering look when he realized she had disobeyed him. “I told you to stay upstairs.”
“Why should she miss all the fun, amigo?” Ramirez said with a sly smile and a gentlemanly bow made ungainly by his large belly.
Damien gritted his teeth, controlling his anger. The hot-tempered youth he had once been had already cost him too much. As much as the demon within wanted a taste of blood for the harm done to Angelina, Damien would not release the beast. Being with Angelina, tasting her goodness of spirit and body, had imbued him with the renewed sense of the humanity she claimed had always been in his heart.
He could not squander that precious gift, especially not on a day like today. This Christmas Eve would be different, even if at the end of this confrontation Angelina would be forced to leave him. He loved her enough to let her successfully complete her mission here on Earth and return to Heaven. Maybe in time, some God somewhere might allow them to meet again in another existence.
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