The Angel of the Lighthouse

by Lydia Fane

  The air was warm on her skin, and feathers brushed her as Aries knelt above her. His wings flared above her and she couldn’t resist raising her hands to touch them. He shivered as she brushed against them, and gasped as she reached around to where they joined his skin. The transition area was seamless, skin and wings merged, but by the way he moved, they were erotically sensitive. His eyes were opened wide and Skye smiled at the sight of the immortal angel, her angel, starting to slowly come undone at her touch.

  She trailed her hands up and down his ribcage and around his back, and he moved to allow her better access. With him lying beside her, she could run her fingers along the length of his wings, letting the soft feathers tickle her nerve endings.

  “Enough,” he finally whispered. “Enough, my soul, before you drive me to complete distraction. This should be your time.”

  Carefully he raised her up, and pulled off her top. Her bra followed and then she was being lowered to the floor again. The flames leapt up to meet her, and she noticed that her skin now held the faintest sheen of gold. With her body fully exposed to Aries now, she felt shyness starting to creep in. She knew that she wasn’t conventionally pretty, and Lewis had harped on about her weight and her looks often enough. But Aries was simply looking at her with awe in his eyes.

  “My soul,” he muttered again. His hand descended to curve around her cheekbones and trail downward, down her neck, over her breasts and around her curves. She felt worshipped as her skin warmed and glowed under his touch. Arousal pooled low in her belly, a warm heat that threatened to build into a bonfire. He was gentle, almost overly so as he traced the contours of her body. He seemed fascinated by every curve and she couldn’t help but lean into his hands with pleasure. The more she moved, the more he touched.

  Somewhere along the line, he had lost his clothes, and when he lay down beside her again, his bare skin touched hers. She could feel him pressed against her from her shoulders to her feet. The proof of his arousal was resting against her, and the slow burn within abruptly turned into a heated ache.

  She rolled to face him, and slid her hands between them, down to cup his hard length. He was silky soft to her touch, and the heated ache between her legs intensified. She wanted him as she had never wanted anyone before. Carefully, she guided him to her entrance.

  “I want to feel you inside me,” she whispered. “May I?”

  The kiss he gave her was sweet and gentle, a blessing, benediction and encouragement, all in one.

  Her body was ready, willing and eager to accept his cock. It felt right, the two of them joined like this, and Skye felt a surge of contentment that came from both within and without. Just the feel of him sliding deeper within her was sending flares of pleasure throughout her body. The look in Aries’ eyes thrilled her to the core. His eyes were glowing golden, his wings folded out of the way. The flames of their bed leaped and danced over him. Slowly, he flexed his hips a small amount, and Skye was ignited. Everything turned into a fire-filled blur.

  Skin rubbed against skin, hands caressed, teeth nibbled. It was glorious. They moved together out of tempo at first, but they soon found their harmony. She had never felt like this before, never felt this good with anyone else. Aries completed her, made her utterly whole. As the heat built over her body, she couldn’t tell where she ended and Aries began. She could feel his orgasm building, in counterpoint to her own.

  They reached their climax together, intertwined with waves of fiery delight bouncing back and forward between them, amplifying to almost pain. Skye clung tightly to Aries and shuddered, muffling her cries with his lips. As rippling aftershocks vibrated through her, gradually easing in intensity, Skye found herself relaxing down, slipping into a half doze even as she still cuddled in tight.

  In this half dreaming state, she found herself accepting the truth. Everything that had happened to her since arrive at the lighthouse was unbelievable, difficult for her logical and rational mind to accept. Demons and angels had never been part of her serious and sensible life. But lying in the arms of her angel lover, satiated and content, she knew that it was real. This was her life, Aries was her life, and she did not regret leaving her old one behind.

  “What are you thinking, my soul?” Aries whispered in her ear. He sounded curious. She rolled around to face him, pulling him in close and resting her head against his neck.

  “That we’re perfect,” she said. “I believe in it.”

  “Believe in what?”

  “Everything.”

  Aries laughed quietly, and his expression relaxed. He shifted again, and once more his wings unfurled, steel grey feathers expanding in a rush of air. His skin shimmered golden as if his fire was lining his skin. Skye reached out and traced the almost flickering pattern over his skin.

  “My angel,” she said, and took a chance. “Now, and forever.”

  More than human eyes widened with surprise, and then filled with sheer delight.

  “My soul,” he said possessively. “Now, and forever.”

  Heady with relief, Skye poked him gently in the chest. “You can explain to my parents.”

  “Gladly, my soul. Will they be sorry to learn that you left Lewis?”

  “Hardly,” Skye said “Dad will probably dance with glee. Then interrogate you to make sure you’re good enough for me.”

  “As he should,” Aries said gravely, but amusement danced in his eyes.

  “Then I’ll have to help you find your family,” Skye said.

  A bright and beaming smile spread across Aries’ face at the thought of it. “To see them again…” he said, in a wondering tone. “In your dream, did you see my brother?”

  Skye shook her head. “I didn’t, but I knew it was him.”

  “Have you had such dreams before?”

  Skye thought back. “I’m not sure,” she said doubtfully. “I’ve dreamt strange things, parts of other people’s lives. I’ve dreamt moments in my life before they happen. But it’s hard to tell what’s just a dream and what might be something… more.”

  Before her meeting with an angel, Skye would never have considered the thought that her dreams might be something more than just the idle wandering of her subconscious. But now, she was starting to wonder… was she actually seeing flashes of the future?

  Any further discussion was halted as a rapping at the trapdoor broke into their conversation. Out of reflex, Skye tried to cover herself with her hands, but found that the fire had beaten her to it.

  “What?” called Aries.

  “If you two have finished, I need to talk to you downstairs. Meet me when you’re decent,” Jack called through the door.

  “Sure,” Aries called back, sounding totally unruffled.

  Skye chuckled as the mood was effectively dispelled, and she sat up slowly, the cool flames clinging to her skin. She poked one on her shoulder curiously, and it transferred onto her finger. Aries sat up beside her.

  “Made a friend?” he asked as he began to gather up their clothes.

  “Seems like it,” Skye said as she accepted her clothes and began to pull them on as best she could one-handed. She kept the little flame flickering on her finger, transferring it from thumb to index, from right hand to left hand.

  Aries rose to his feet, and Skye paused for a moment to admire his striking, sensual figure. Her body still hummed with the aftershocks of her orgasm, and a pleasant achy warmth still filled her.

  Aries shrugged on his shirt and pulled on his jeans, offering her a hand up. She accepted and they finished getting presentable. The flames that had contained their little bower were dying back now and fading away, revealing the stone walls and floor again. They made their way down the lighthouse stairs, and Aries opened the door for her.

  Skye stepped out into the sunlight, and the world around her seemed somehow brighter again. The little flame tickled her hand, despite Aries snuffing of its larger counterparts. Carefully, she closed her fingers around it, keeping it safe from the breeze coming off the ocean. Aries steppe
d out of the lighthouse, the door thudding closed behind him.

  “Wonder what Jack’s up to,” he said, looking around for the other man.

  “Can’t be anything too serious, can it?” Skye asked.

  “Not likely. He’d have sounded more panicked.”

  Skye turned on her heel and looked around the area. Jack was just stepping around the back corner of the lighthouse, striding towards them, and Skye raised a hand in greeting. Aries half turned, his own smile forming on his lips, only to die quickly. He opened his mouth as if to say something, but no words emerged, only a cry of pain, as with an overhand swing, Jack drove a knife into Aries’ side.

  Skye was frozen, her vocal cords paralysed at the sight of the red blood staining the ground. Black faced, Jack twisted the knife even deeper and Aries fell to his knees. His face was locked in a rictus of pain, and blood bubbled over his pale lips. Skye watched as Jack withdrew the blade in another rush of blood. The knife gleamed unnaturally, blood on the blade vanishing, leaving only gleaming glyphs behind. Uncaring, Jack turned his blank eyes towards her and stepped forwards as Aries slumped facedown to the ground and did not move again.

  A rush of primal terror from her hindbrain broke her from her frozen stance and Skye broke into a run, fleeing from the blank eyed, blood-splattered figure. She couldn’t see where she was going through the tears that fell, but she simply ran. Find help; find help, her mind chanted. In her panic, she couldn’t place where she was, or where the cottages were. Her foot slipped on a patch of mud and she pitched full length to the ground, jarring her body as her ankle twisted in pain.

  She tried to push herself back to her feet, her arms quivering with tension, but a black boot kicked at her wrist, collapsing her to the ground. She looked up, straight into the smugly smiling face of Lewis.

  His skin was darker, lined with shadows that seemed to write beneath the skin. His eyes were black, glowing eerily. He looked like the caricature of humanity that he was, the demon close beneath the skin.

  “How nice of you to join us,” he drawled, before he looked at someone behind her. “Pick her up.”

  Hands grabbed hold of her shoulders with bruising force, dragging her up off the ground. She turned her head and saw Jack looking back at her. This close, she could see his eyes were pure obsidian, and devoid of anything but her own reflection. Dark lines fanned out from his eyes like crow’s feet, and her stomach churned. Whatever this thing was, though it wore his face, it wasn’t Jack.

  Lewis stepped in close to her and cupped her cheek, forcibly turning her head back towards him. His touch was slimy cold, and when she tried to jerk her head away, his nails bit into her flesh.

  “Don’t be like that,” he said in an overly sweet voice. “We had something special, you and I. Such a shame to let that self-righteous angel come between us.”

  Skye bit her tongue hard in order to stay quiet. Lewis patted her cheek.

  “I was all ready to stand at your grave and weep, even had a eulogy prepared, but you couldn’t die when I wanted you to. And when I tried to do it myself, you had help. Unexpected help. Well, not this time.”

  His smile was slow and wicked, stretching beyond the limits of the human mouth. “Tell me, sweet Skye, how much did it hurt when my meat puppet here stabbed your saviour? When you saw all that blood gushing from his perfect skin?”

  Skye tasted blood in her mouth as she bit down on the rising scream of rage or pain, she wasn’t sure which. Something must have shone in her eyes, as Lewis chuckled lightly.

  “It almost seems a sin to snuff out such passion,” he mused. “But then, what’s one more sin on my conscience, when they feel so good to commit?” He paused, seeming to think for a moment. “I know... Jack, go and fetch the corpse of the angel. Skye here needs to say a proper goodbye.”

  By the look on the face of the demon, Skye dreaded to think what he was planning. A fire kindled within her brain and sank into her heart. Aries deserved better than this. Beneath the fear and terror, her skin felt warm and tight as if she was flushed with a fever. With her hands free now, she sank her hands into her pockets, clenching her fists in the fabric. Pleasant warmth sparked through her fingers, reminding her of the hanging on flame that had refused to die. The heat within grew stronger at the thought of the fire.

  “Here’s the guest of honour now!” Lewis declared gleefully, spinning Skye around forcibly to see. Leaving a long and bloody trail through the grass, Jack dragged the body of her lover towards her and the fever within her chest spiked sharply. Her vision swam as if heat distortion was surrounding her. She felt something licking her fingers, and looked down to see pale gold flames rising from her pocket.

  Jack dropped Aries unceremoniously beside her, face up. His golden skin was corpse pale now, and his eyes were closed. His chest didn’t move, and blood frothed on his pale lips, darkening as it congealed. The wound in his side was large and ragged, covered in dirt and grass from his transport.

  Lewis shoved her to her knees, and Skye rested her free hands on Aries’ chest. The fire on her hand heated up as rage and grief ignited within her. Aries was dead, and Lewis was going to kill her. Time to go down fighting.

  She felt the fire in her hand respond to her will, or as if it were a living being, an extension of her. She felt warmth pierce her skin and sink into her blood. She could trace the heat from the puncture point as it burned its way through her body, her own inner fire rousing to meet it. Her free hand, resting on Aries’ chest, burst into golden flames. She heard Lewis take a step back and rose to her feet, turning against the face the demon. He, while still looking slightly rattled by the sudden fire, smirked at her as if enjoying her last feeble attempts at defiance.

  The look only filled her with more rage – the rage that Lewis thought her so helpless.

  Skye drew her hand from her pocket and flung a gout of fire into Lewis’ face. His mouth opened in a silent scream of pain and the flames dived inside. He began to smoke as his skin began to melt like wax, distorting and peeling away. With the fire raging through her, Skye felt numb and remote watching the grisly spectacle.

  There seemed to be no end to the flames as they emerged from her fingertips, a sweetly caressing warmth that reminded her of Aries. But the angelic fire was utterly toxic to the demon and was charring him from the inside out.

  With his throat burned away, Lewis could make no noise as he burned, his skin tattering and flaking away. His eyes were wide with pain and terror, and he looked so human in that moment that Skye felt her heart clench. This murderer had killed her soulmate, her lover. He had tried to kill her twice before. He was a demon wrapped in human skin and he deserved the mercy that Aries had shown him before.

  None.

  Instinctively, Skye knew that if she didn’t finish this now, she would never be rid of Lewis – he would always find a way to come back and torment her further.

  The surge of fire immolated the pleading demon, leaving only a floating outline of ash, which in its turn was burned away to nothingness. White-hot light burned into Skye’s eyes, blinding her, but there was no pain. The world around her was filled with pure fire, and she couldn’t see anything buts its glow. It continued to pour out of her fingers in a steady steam that she could feel but not see. She could feel her own skin heating under the fire, but she felt no sensation of burning. She felt no fear. She felt nothing.

  She felt consumed, allowing the fire to roar around her – until at last, a sound penetrated the wall of flames. A sound that had been missing from her life and it took a moment for her fire-crazed brain to realise what it was.

  A heartbeat.

  With every growing pulse of life energy, the fire flickered and danced as if delighted. It poured from Skye in an unrestrained flood, a fiery tornado that consumed her world.

  “Oh, my soul,” a painfully familiar voice said, echoed with harmonics that coaxed the flames into ever more dizzying spirals.

  Blind, Skye turned, trying to see through the whiteness, even a
s exhaustion swept through her. She raised her hands, reaching out but unable to see what she desperately wanted to see. Another gout of fire stole the air from her lungs, and she found that she couldn’t draw in another breath.

  “Calmly now,” that voice said, achingly loving.

  She felt something brushing against her fingertips, and a sensation thrummed through her, cutting through the fire. She felt something inside her jolt back into place. The fleeting touch returned again, and stayed, heat curling around her fingers. Fingers pressed against her own and pulled her in close. She smacked into a solid and broad chest, and felt two strong arms wrap around her shoulders.

  It couldn’t be him, she knew that. His body lay on the ground, killed by Lewis, then reduced to ashes by the flames of her fury. And yet, it couldn’t be anyone else holding her tight.

  Her blood began to cool, and the fire within began to calm. She heaved in a great gasp of air. From blue hot flames to white hot, to red hot, wrapped safely in the arms of Aries, she calmed. Her vision finally began to clear, or she thought it did. The world seemed filled with a different kind of fire, different from the rage-fuelled blasts that had scorched the earth at her direction. This fire was golden and flickering, burnished yellow and soothing orange. It formed a barrier around her, shielding her and curtaining off the flames from her own soul.

  Skye looked up.

  An angel of fire with the face and voice of Aries looked down at her. He smiled at her.

  “Fire purifies the darkness,” he said. “Fire heals. I am still needed here.”

  She watched his lips move in a kind of stunned daze, barely hearing his words. As the fire left her, a dark lethargy took its place, pulling her slowly under. She tightened her grip on the fiery wraith before her, but even he couldn’t stop the dark rushing waters of unconsciousness.