Adam had barely adjusted to the idea of having testicles, so to have them so viciously assaulted left him with a minor grievance. He went to Jev and demanded a replacement for Lilith, who was (in Adam’s words) obviously not created in Jev’s image. Lilith was shunned from the Garden (did I mention this all took place in a garden?), and replaced with sweet, docile, accommodating, and sadly empty-headed Eve.
I was partial to Lilith, myself, and I suppose that’s where the trouble began. The rest of the story is fairly well known, though a few crucial details have been omitted from popular renditions. The whole “snake” thing was a combination of both mine and Jev’s brainstorming. I told him humans wouldn’t serve him blindly, as he seemed to think he was due. The angels—which we so-called lesser beings decided to name ourselves—thought Jev was neat, sure, but didn’t take kindly calling anyone “Master”. At the very least, he had proven he was cleverer than the average bear. Creation shut up the naysayers…well, the majority of the naysayers. As they say, every party needs a pooper, and I suppose that was why Jev invited me.
As a snake, I talked with Adam—not Eve—for he struck me as the more readily gullible. Once the banishment took place, the world began progressing, building itself, and populating, populating, populating. Humans, as it turned out, had a penchant for S-E-X. Truth of the matter is, they’re pretty much hardwired to fuck all the time. Sadly, since the dawn of what we’ll call time (no matter how inaccurate the term), humans have likewise cultivated a load of bogus rules concerning what sort of sex is appropriate, what must be done to have it, who can have it, and when it can be had. If something feels good, that apparently makes it “evil” by default. It’s a pity; as most of the good humans learn post-mortem, these rules regarding sex bear no place in reality.
In the beginning of the human world, however, sex itself was almost as novel an idea as making the damn universe in the first place, and I was eager to give it the old college try.
Following the excitement that came with Creation, poor Lilith was left to her own devices. One day, not long after Adam and Eve’s eviction, I found myself walking the terrain where the Garden once stood, and discovered the true First Woman crawling toward a patch of berries I knew to be toxic. The only food that grew in the Garden following the expulsion would immediately kill any human that so much as licked it. Looking back, I’m not sure why I was concerned with her mortality. Jev had already established those souls who perished here would have an eternal home with the rest of us, and since this was before I was given Hell as an alternative for the truly nasty bastards, Lilith’s existence would get demonstrably better if she perished. I can’t call it my youthful naiveté, because quite frankly, none of us have ever been young. Perhaps it was an early showing of my discomfort in the suffering of others, though I can’t be sure. All I knew at the moment was I wouldn’t let Lilith suffer, nor would I stand by while she poisoned her earthly body.
“I wouldn’t do that if I were you,” I cautioned, stepping toward her. This wasn’t in English, of course. I can’t remember the language.
In the years since, I have seen many things worse than a dying, abandoned shell of a human being, but what starvation had done to Lilith was the first horror I ever witnessed. The soft copper skin with which she was born clung to her like worn leather, ripped and ragged. Her once-full eyes sagged with desperation I didn’t understand. Her wild ebony hair, which had once been groomed to perfection, now hung loose, tangled, torn, and betraying patches of scalp.
No one understood the survival instinct in the early days. We had never had to survive anything. Death was something the human world gave us. Thus when Lilith’s eyes hardened, full of fear and determination, I had no idea how to respond. She didn’t look capable of doing much more than slither along the earth, but she drew strength I didn’t credit her with having and pounced on me like an animal.
My first contact with human flesh, even flesh as neglected as hers, was something I’ll never forget. Faulty historians credit Benjamin Franklin with discovering electricity, but it was I all along, for nothing else could explain the sharp bolts shooting through my body at contact. I believe touch is what drove me down and grounded me completely. I’ve witnessed it occur time and time again to those I knew B.H (Before Humans). When we first touch a human—when the Eternal part of us connects with the Mortal part of them—something changes in us that cannot be unchanged. It is a gift rarely mentioned in my world, and a side effect Jev did not anticipate. Humans are our superiors in many ways. Love, hope, frustration, compassion, desperation, need, sorrow, pain, fortitude, perseverance, desire…these and a million other things would not have existed without the invention of people. I felt I was born then just as much as anyone else is born. She filled me with a touch, and I knew myself at last.
For her part, Lilith’s demeanor changed the instant we were skin to skin. She nuzzled the crook of my throat, her legs wrapping around my waist. Her hands wandered, exploring my every crevice, and I found myself sporting my first erection. To this day, I cannot recall whether or not I possessed a male anatomy before the creation of man. It certainly seemed unnecessary in a universe of nothing, and since we didn’t procreate by means of intercourse, genitalia was entirely superfluous.
It definitely did not seem superfluous with her, though, or any day since. For a being of questionable origin and even more questionable purpose, I suddenly needed unlike anything I’d felt before.
“You smell fantastic,” she purred, thrusting her pelvis against mine. I was naked; clothing had not yet become a necessity. We were on the ground, Lilith in my lap, her fingers searching, seeking, feeling me all over. Then her teeth pierced the skin at my neck, biting down hard enough for me to experience my very first shard of pain. Blood I hadn’t known I owned poured freely from the wound, and she drank it like the elixir of life itself.
Granted, it was that for her. When human blood mingled with whatever the hell I was, it changed the human into something else entirely. The transformation was damn near instantaneous. Gone was the desperate abandon in her eyes and the war-torn state of her flesh. Her hair spun wildly out of her head, ribbons of black waterfalling over her shoulders and down her back. The skin clinging to bone grew soft and fat, plumping her out nicely. My hands cradled her breasts the second I remembered how to work them, and her red, healthy mouth crashed upon mine in a hungry first kiss.
Losing one’s virginity at the ripe old age of I don’t know is a bizarre experience. Unlike now, when teenage boys can’t wait to drop their trousers, I had not known pleasure was something to seek and crave. When she wrapped her fingers around my cock I felt I had last touched true paradise, but nothing could prepare me for the wet haven of her body. She straddled me and impaled herself upon my flesh, and I knew nothing except the need for more.
She rode me like a fucking bronco. I ended up on my back with her above me, my eyes glued to her face at first before realizing her breasts bounced with every move she made. I captured her hips and thrust her onto me. Over and over, it wasn’t enough. Numbness evaporated, and I would never feel nothing again. Instead, a burning sense of awing self-awareness washed over my very alive body. I drove my cock into her again and again, addicted to the sight of my steely flesh disappearing into her soft body. Men, as I’ve learned, are very visual creatures, and during that encounter I was no different. It was suddenly as though my eyes weren’t big enough, couldn’t absorb enough, were ill-equipped to capture the beads of sweat on her skin or the way her lips trembled with every parry.
“Touch me,” she whimpered, squeezing my drenched cock.
I nodded, eager to please. “Where?”
“Here.” Lilith seized my hand and placed it at her center, guiding one of my fingers to her clitoris. At first stroke she dissolved in my arms, crying out, tears falling down her cheeks. The reaction was so violent I initially thought I had hurt her and jerked my hand away, but she shook her head and whispered a soft, “More. Please more.”
My thumb settled over that sweet bundle of nerves and massaged her softly until she fell apart. I followed soon after, too stimulated, too high, too drunk on her. White hard shards of ecstasy shook my body. It lasted forever but not long enough, and I fell awash in an oasis of calm.
I don’t know how much time passed. Lilith lay draped across my chest, panting, our bodies still intimately connected. Whatever had transpired lay beyond my understanding. All I knew was something had changed for me—something monumental. The thing I had been before was not what I was now. I’m not sure how much of it was sex and how much was the bond I felt to a creature who was so completely separate from me. I wanted to love her before I knew what love was. I wanted to, but things don’t always work out as we plan.
“You saved me,” she whispered finally, her sweat-soaked cheeked still pressed to my chest.
“Don’t mention it,” I responded, slightly choked. “The pleasure was all mine.”
“What do I call you?”
“Lucifer.”
“The Morning Star?”
I cocked an eyebrow, drawing nonsensical patterns across her back with my right hand. “The Morning Star? Where did you hear that?”
“You have a reputation. It is said you are what caused the Garden’s destruction.”
I shrugged but didn’t respond. That much was true.
Her jaw hardened. So did her eyes. “Good,” she said. “That man had the audacity to replace me.”
“I know.”
“Does his new woman suck his cock?” Lilith didn’t wait for a response, snickering and sitting up full right. Her vaginal muscles squeezed my swelling prick. Indeed, I was hungry for her again. I would take her as often as she permitted it—these sensations were too rich to deny the self, and I would not be denied.
I supposed this much was obvious for the way she smiled at me.
“If it feels anything like this,” I said, my hands finding her hips and guiding her strokes. “I can certainly understand why he would request it.”
“He didn’t request,” Lilith replied. “He ordered. My ‘womanly duty’, he called it.”
“He was a fool.”
She snickered again, reaching behind her and fondling my testicles. “You don’t say.”
Whether or not it was Jev’s intention to create men as the superior gender, I don’t know. However, from the second Lilith’s lips twitched with the hint of a self-satisfied smirk, there was no doubt in my mind power between the sexes was evenly split. For as much as the halfwit Adam hadn’t enjoyed backtalk, he had unwittingly created the first woman scorned. A dangerous beast in her own right…and I had fed her my blood.
“You made me into something else.” Lilith dragged her teeth over her lower lip, bouncing on my cock with more enthusiasm. “I feel…different.”
She was different. Whether or not I’d healed her or damaged her remained yet to be seen, but I couldn’t believe she was worse off than she had been when I found her.
“How do I look?” she asked, grasping my wrists and guiding my hands to her breasts. I toyed idly with her nipples before deciding I’d like to know how they tasted. Another thing I learned: men have a fascination with breasts that cannot be explained. Well, there is a lot of credence to the fact men are programmed to be attracted to breasts as biological indicator of strong mates in breeding, but for creatures like me—who cannot procreate biologically and only have inclination for pleasure—it remains somewhat ambiguous. All I knew was I liked breasts, and I particularly liked Lilith’s. I liked hers in my hands and mouth. I loved teasing her nipples with my tongue. I loved making her gasp.
“You’re beautiful,” I said honestly, releasing a mouthful of flesh. She was. She was fucking royalty. “You are a queen.”
“A queen?”
“My queen.”
I was as certain of this as I was of anything, and I made it permanent…or at least, I tried to make it permanent. Love at first sight it wasn’t, but Lilith and I formed a bond rivaling anything I’ve experienced since, and wager I ever will. I refused to discard her the way Adam had. She deserved better, and I gave her better.
I gave her everything I was, not knowing it wouldn’t be enough. She’d crave more, demanded more, and that was our ultimate undoing.
When Jev decided to open Hell and list me as a deity of his caliber, Lilith was at my side. She was proof of what I had accomplished by mixing my blood with hers—transforming her weak human body into a strong, immortal vessel. But unlike me, she required food, and I had given her a taste for something she found she couldn’t live without.
Perhaps it was fitting she claimed Adam first, and what she did with his remains I will not repeat. Eve was next, though Lilith showed the second woman mercy, biting and consuming rather than slaughtering. When Eve weakened as the blood loss became too much, Lilith offered her a wrist, and thus was created the first vampire.
Lilith didn’t stop there. She created vampires, then drank their blood. Whenever she mixed her essence with another’s, a subspecies of demon emerged. Little by little, bite after bite, she took what she could and cast away the rest. She was a beautiful monster, my addiction, and my ultimate weakness. Her thirst grew with each taste of power, and she wouldn’t take no for an answer.
Lilith was Jev’s pet first. Whether or not he allowed her survival for my sake or his own amusement, only he can say. If he did know what I created, he had the decency not to tell me. He let me reach the conclusion on my own, as all friends should.
In Lilith, I created a demigod.
And I found out too late I didn’t know how to contain her.
About the Authors
Raven Corinn Carluk, the mistress of stories with bite, has long been captivated by the darkness and the beings within. Raised in Sin City, this storyteller learned that nothing was taboo, and finds nothing to be shocking or off-limits. Now she uses her words to craft tapestries of debauchery, undead passions, murderous immortals, and ever-hungry dragons. Even if you merely nibble her offerings, you will not forget her tales.
To learn more about Raven, visit
Raven.YouAreAnnoying.us
Prior published works include:
All Hallows Blood, Cresent Moon Press
Saint Valentine’s Clash, Raven Corinn Carluk
Stories With Bite o,.,o, Raven Corinn Carluk
Deadlands, Raven Corinn Carluk
Barbara Elsborg lives in West Yorkshire in the north of England. She always wanted to be a spy, but having confessed to everyone without them even resorting to torture, she decided it was not for her. Vulcanology scorched her feet. A morbid fear of sharks put paid to marine biology. So instead, she spent several years successfully selling cyanide.
After dragging up two rotten, ungrateful children and frustrating her sexy, devoted, wonderful husband (who can now stop twisting her arm) she finally has time to conduct an affair with an electrifying plugged-in male, her laptop. Her books feature quirky heroines and bad boys, and she hopes they are as much fun to read as they are to write.
To learn more about Barbara, visit BarbaraElsborg.com
Prior published works include:
Perfect Timing, Ellora’s Cave
Something about Polly, Ellora’s Cave
Susie’s Choice, Ellora’s Cave
Lucy in the Sky, Ellora’s Cave
Digging Deeper, Ellora’s Cave
Doing the Right Thing, Ellora’s Cave
Finding the Right One, Ellora’s Cave
Snow Play, Ellora’s Cave
Strangers, Ellora’s Cave
Kiss a Falling Star, Ellora’s Cave
An Ordinary Girl, Ellora’s Cave
The Small Print, Ellora’s Cave
Power of Love, Ellora’s Cave
The Bad Widow, Ellora’s Cave
Saying Yes, Ellora’s Cave
Anna in the Middle, Ellora’s Cave
Chosen, Decadent Publishing
Rocked, Loose-Id
The Consolation Prize, L
oose-Id
Falling for You, Loose-Id
Lightning in a Bottle, Loose-Id
The Misfits, Loose-Id
Fight to Remember, Loose-Id
The Special Gift, Ravenous Romance
Elaine Lowe is a work-at-home mom in Silicon Valley California. Of her many part-time jobs, her favorite one by far is writing. She has a background in biotech, but she has branched out into the demanding world of home management, transcription, envelope stuffing, and of course, writing romantic and erotic fiction. A love of history, magic and romance combines to inspire a lot of her writing. That and her wonderful husband, who is a fantastic sounding board, support system, and research consultant. He really enjoys research. And so does she.
To learn more about Elaine, visit ElaineLoweNovels.com
Prior published works include:
Magic Eights, Ellora’s Cave
Scandalous Profession, Ellora’s Cave
Mask of Ice, Ellora’s Cave
Wanton Venture, Resplendence Publishing
Seeds of Garnet, Ellora’s Cave
Sea of Pearls, Ellora’s Cave
Veins of Turquoise, Ellora’s Cave
Nancy’s Sweet Spelling Bee, Ellora’s Cave
Enchant the Dawn, Ellora’s Cave
Command the Wind, Ellora’s Cave
Reveal the Heart, Ellora’s Cave
Foretell the Flame, Ellora’s Cave
Don’t Wait, Ellora’s Cave
New York Fairytale, Resplendence Publishing
Tears of Talent, Cobblestone Press
Lady Six Sky, Ellora’s Cave
Match Made by Moonlight, Ellora’s Cave
Kim Knox lives on an ancient boundary line once marked by a Neolithic burial tomb. The tomb’s now a standing stone circle—thank the Georgians for that one—and it stirs her mind with thoughts of history and ancient myths. She mixes the essence of the past into fantasy, along with the essential mix of magic and sex. She also writes science fiction romance, pushing out into the far future with effortlessly sexy men and the women who can’t resist them. Kim is published with Carina Press, Ellora’s Cave, Samhain Publishing, Loose Id and Liquid Silver Books. Come and chat at her blog: www.darknessandromance.com.
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