Fallen

by Michele Hauf

  “Let’s not talk about this here,” Cooper said. “Sophia will be back. Or certainly she’s called the police.”

  “Right. Poor woman. She’s going to be freaked.”

  “Don’t remind me. I may have damaged her for life. Damn it, I hate that I could not control myself. I never chose to Fall for the muse. You know that, right?”

  She nodded. “You fell in lo—er, like with humanity. Stupid angel.” She thunked him on the forehead with a snap of her finger.

  Cooper took her fingers and kissed them. “Maybe so. So why am I like my other Fallen brethren? Why couldn’t I stop myself from attacking the muse? Part of me knew it was wrong.”

  “Just like my need to slay you. I know it is what is expected of me.”

  “You need to prove yourself.”

  “Do I? There’s a part of me that screams how wrong it is.”

  “But you have always loved humanity, Pyx.”

  “No, I haven’t.”

  Cooper sighed. Yes, she had. Dare he tell her? How would that upset the balance that must exist—Sinistari stalking Fallen?

  He looked aside. He didn’t want Pyx to see his eyes, because she might see the truth he wanted to keep to himself.

  He scooped her up and set her on the bed. Hastening to Sophia’s closet he sorted through the clothes on hangers, his finger playing over velvet, silk and soft sweaters, and pulled out a black knit dress. He tossed it to Pyx. “Will that do?”

  “Yep.” She pulled it over her head and down her thighs. It was obviously too small, for it fit snugly. Everywhere. “Let’s get out of here before we’re arrested. Hell, you could be arrested for the way you’re looking at me right now.”

  “I’d gladly serve the time. We’ve only begun, Pyx. I’m not letting you out of my arms until we’ve made love.”

  “Can we not use that word?”

  “Oh? Right. We can make, er…like?”

  “That sounds stupid.” He shrugged.

  “Let’s go have sex.”

  “I’m on board with that.”

  The muse hit the street in tears. She staggered along the side of the glass-tiled building, one hand sliding along the wall. Bruce, who had been standing across the street, eyes on the window of the muse’s apartment, dropped the cell phone he’d been dialing to Antonio in the front seat and crossed the street, keeping far enough behind the muse.

  Her frantic state kept her from noticing him. Had the angel screwed her? Nah, couldn’t have. She was wearing the same clothes she’d worn when she’d invited the angel up, and it had only been about fifteen minutes.

  That damned Sinistari must have stopped the Fallen. Bruce had seen her run inside the building, but hadn’t wanted to race after her, knowing he’d have to face both a Fallen and a demon, and that wouldn’t end well for him.

  Why hadn’t Antonio formed a full-assault tactical team? They needed one if they were to deal with both angels and demons. There had to be an easier way to get this job done. All tribe Anakim ultimately needed was the muse, pregnant.

  So had the demon killed the angel?

  “Hope not.”

  But it was likely. Why wouldn’t the demon slay her prey?

  This was Antonio’s fault for not putting more men on the job, but it would also look bad for Bruce, who should have had the whole thing under control. So there was only one other option to save face with the boss man.

  Picking up his pace, Bruce snuck closer to the sniffling muse. She stopped behind the apartment building, clinging to the wall. She had to be freaked if she’d witnessed either beast shift shapes.

  He approached cautiously, knowing as well, she probably didn’t need a stranger sneaking up on her right now.

  Picking up pace to a normal walk, Bruce made as if he was walking down the street. He passed her by, hands in his pockets, ready to cross the street, when he paused and look back at her.

  He put on his most compassionate expression, and added his charming smile just for good measure. “Mademoiselle? Are…you all right? Can I get someone for you?”

  She turned away from him, crying, her cheek pressed to the tiles.

  “Oh, hey there. You need the police?” He stepped closer but didn’t touch her. She shook her head in a manner he couldn’t tell was yes or no. “Some asshole say something mean to you? I don’t want to frighten you, but I can’t let you stand here all sad like that. Is it okay if I stand with you a bit?”

  She nodded it was okay. He was in.

  “Fight with the boyfriend?”

  She swiped the back of her hand under one eye, effectively wiping the smear of mascara away, but a black trail slid down the other cheek.

  Bruce made to wipe it away, but paused, waiting for her approval. She nodded, and he gently touched her cheek. Man, she smelled great. Fear lingered in her blood, giving it a salty yet savory aroma. He loved fear-laced blood.

  But a smart vampire would keep his fangs up. Even if the Fallen had been wasted by the demon, this muse was still prime. She could lure any number of Fallen to her; all Antonio had to do was conjure another one.

  “Merci,” she said in a tiny voice. “I just… It was so terrible. I couldn’t believe it.”

  “Tell me. I’ll call for help if you need me to.”

  “Yes. The police. They might still be in my apartment.”

  “I have a cell phone in my car. It’s across the street. Come on.”

  Like a good little girl, she allowed him to lead her across the street. She even sat in the passenger seat when he offered, tucking her legs in before her and smoothing her torn skirt.

  Bruce closed the door behind her, and marveled how easy that had been.

  “One muse, coming right up.”

  Chapter 17

  Pyx held Cooper’s hand as they flashed to the door outside her third-floor apartment. Someone’s apartment. It was hers for now.

  Seeing him again in all his angelic glory had once again impressed the heck out of her. Whatever heck was.

  A demon should not be impressed by an angel. But she was.

  So there it was, all out there and ugly and, well—sue her. Good luck getting the money. This demon was walking her own walk, and if that meant walking hand in hand with a Fallen one, then so be it.

  But he was wrong about loving humanity. That L-word didn’t exist for her. She could endure humanity. She could subsist within humanity. But she’d never lo—

  “Can I come inside?” Cooper whispered against her ear.

  His hands roamed the curve of her hips. The heat of his breath stirred up her sigh. Pyx tossed aside all extraneous thoughts about how things were not as they should be, and she didn’t really care what heck meant.

  She walked inside and aimed straight for the bedroom. She was going to have sex with an angel tonight. She was going to have sex for the first time.

  There would be no love involved, only want, desire, need and passion. It was about time this demon mastered the sin of lust.

  There was one small problem.

  Pyx turned abruptly, stopping Cooper with her body.

  “I haven’t done this before,” she said. The confession felt blatant, but at the same time she trusted he would not laugh or think less of her.

  Strong arms wrapped about her and he kissed her once. Perfect collision of want. Two opposites snapping together with a magnetic click. Another kiss melted them like summer reeds under the hot sun. The urgency of their mouths connecting was too sweet. But she enjoyed it. Wanted more.

  Instinct demanded a surrender to something that felt so wrong.

  You can make a choice.

  It was all about choice. Her choice.

  “You’re sure you want your first time to be with me? After…” He bowed his head, pressing his forehead to hers. She could feel his tension radiate in the air between them.

  After.

  After what she’d seen tonight: Cooper going after his muse and nearly attempting her. After all she knew about him: he could not control his comp
ulsion to mate when around the muse. And also knowing they could never be anything but enemies: the universe had decreed it so.

  Sure? Never.

  But hopeful and desirous? “Yes, I want to do this, Cooper. With you. You’re the only one who understands me.”

  “Then I need to let you in on something. Since I’ve arrived on earth?”

  She nodded, expectant.

  “I haven’t been able to get past kissing women. The sensory experience wraps me up and carries me away. I haven’t gone further than second base.”

  “So you mean…?”

  “Well.” He shrugged his shoulders, straightening. “I’m not a virgin. I’ve had my share of women back in the day.”

  “Biblical times?”

  He winked. “About then.”

  “So what you’re trying to say is, it’s been a long time for you.”

  “It has. And I couldn’t imagine a better first-time partner than you, Pyx. You are a unique and incredible female. And as you said, we understand one another.”

  “But not the same understanding we had before, right? About us using each other.”

  “Never.”

  Whew.

  “I promise this is not a ruse to get you on my side, Pyx. Whatever you ultimately decide to do—if things should come to, well, you know—is your choice, and I won’t influence that choice one way or another.”

  “What if it is just a need because you couldn’t get it on with the muse? Am I your rebound girl?”

  Cooper laughed. “Be quiet, Pyx, or you’ll talk yourself out of my arms.”

  He let down the strap of the dress she had borrowed from the muse. Cooper trailed his fingers along the neckline, lowering the fabric inch by inch to expose her breasts. Anticipation of where he’d place his touch made her bite her lower lip.

  The skim of his thumbs across her flesh tickled up goose bumps, and Pyx smiled and then laughed because the reaction was so…mortal.

  “That tickle?” he asked, his eyes holding hers. “I can be more gentle.”

  “No, I like it.” She moved his hand lower. His palm cupped her breast. “It feels great. But promise you won’t get lost in this sensory experience and not move on to the rest?”

  “Promise.”

  With a deft move from Cooper’s hands, the dress slipped over Pyx’s hips and landed at her feet with a cush. The angel purred in a deep lion’s tone that said he was pleased with what she revealed to him.

  Vanity infused Pyx’s being and she stretched back her shoulders. The move lifted her breasts, and Cooper was right there with his tongue to greet them. This was better than any kind of food. This was lust at its finest.

  Greed took over for vanity, and Pyx caressed Cooper’s head, running her fingers through his hair, keeping him at her breasts where his ministrations sent erotic vibrations humming up and down her limbs and focused at her groin.

  “This is going to be good,” she whispered. “I can feel it.”

  He chuckled and she tripped her fingers over his hard, muscular shoulders. They felt like the steel that designed her bones. So strong and powerful. The woman she had become sighed and squeezed his muscles when he playfully nipped at her.

  “Sit down,” he murmured in a breathy voice. “I want to give you all the good you desire.”

  He bent before her and she sat on the bed. He kissed her bare knee. She made a little noise of satisfaction. A flick of his tongue tickled the soft flesh behind her knee. It was so sensitive there, Pyx felt her belly twist in the best way.

  Cooper glided his thumb up higher, along the satiny skin inside her thigh. The journey was slow, traced with his tongue and patient kisses.

  “Yes, there.” She guided his hand higher and put her foot up on his shoulder. Anticipation gasped from her throat. “Please.”

  He tickled his fingertips within her nest of curls, planting kisses in his wake. She slid her leg over his shoulder, inviting him to do as he pleased. One hand she threaded through his hair, loosely, no direction, just making contact.

  He thumbed the apex of her folds, using her wetness to slicken his moves. Just the perfect rhythm and pressure, right—there.

  Pyx whimpered. She clung to his hair and clutched his neck. The scent of his desire undid her in ways she could not comprehend, but accepted with open arms. Cedar and musk, perfectly man.

  He kissed her inner thigh without stopping. Steady pace, focused only on her pleasure. Drawing his tongue up and pushing her skirt high, he replaced his finger with his firm tongue. Two strokes across her sensitive peak and she released, crying out softly, her body melting into the bedsheets.

  “That was amazing,” she announced.

  “You’re telling me.”

  “I can’t believe I’m going to say this, but…I have to.”

  “What?” He looked up from between her legs, his chin nuzzling lightly upon her thigh.

  “I’m so glad I’m a girl. Because if I wasn’t then you wouldn’t have been able to do that to me right now.”

  “Hallelujah. She’s a girl! But we’re just getting started, sweetie.”

  “Mmm…” She turned on the bed, pressing her cheek against the pillow. With her foot, she coaxed Cooper onto the bed beside her. Using his masterful tongue, he traced along her thigh and around behind her back, directing her to lie on her stomach.

  He dashed heart-fluttering kisses down her spine. “Let me take a close look at your tat,” he said. “Hmm… A skeletal angel. On fire. I should be offended.”

  “But you don’t look like that angel,” she said.

  “I can be thankful for that.”

  “What about your body art?” She playfully pushed him into the pillows and kissed her way across his abs to find his sigil. It was an interesting design that mirrored itself with long, sweeping curves. The color was reddish brown. “Does it glow when you’re around her?”

  “It does.” He tilted up Pyx’s chin. “More kisses,” he encouraged. “No talking about other women.”

  “I can dig it.” She unbuttoned his pants. “Now to the dangly bits.”

  “They’re not dangling now, sweetie.”

  “I need to take a look at what I didn’t get when I arrived.”

  “Thought you were happy to be a woman?”

  “Ecstatic.” She revealed his hard shaft and gripped it firmly. “This is a nice handful.”

  “Oh, sweetie…”

  “Do you like that? When I squeeze like this?”

  He hissed through his teeth and could only nod his head, so Pyx continued to stroke him slowly, bringing her cupped hand up over the thick head and then down to the base.

  “Mortals are supposed to get married before they do stuff like this,” Pyx whispered, fascinated at the small bobs and movements his penis made at her direction. “Marriage seems so foreign to me.”

  “Demons don’t marry…” He gasped and the muscles of his abdomen tightened.

  “Angels?” she finished for him. “You want me to stop?”

  “Oh, no. Faster,” he managed to say.

  It seemed his ability to talk slipped away as she quickened her movements, so Pyx decided to concentrate and watch his reactions. It was amazing how she could control him with one hand. One hand! Go, demon!

  “Go, me,” she whispered, and bent to kiss him at the base of his erection. “Oh, yeeeessss.” He came, flooding over her fist in a marvelous display. Cooper slapped his hands to the bed and cried out an exhilarating shout.

  Pyx slid up alongside him and watched as he rode the climax just as she had done moments earlier. His face was flushed and he gritted his teeth. And then he relaxed, sighed and sank into the pillow.

  “That was impossible,” he muttered, huffing breathlessly.

  “No it wasn’t. I just did it. Not so hard. Well, I mean, it was hard.” She glanced south. “But not so much anymore.”

  “I mean…” He chuckled, still breathless, and slipped a hand into hers to bring it to his mouth for a kiss. “What you just d
id to me? That isn’t supposed to happen unless I’m with my muse.”

  “Oh.” Right. The angel only received pleasure from his muse. “What in Beneath?”

  “I have no idea why that happened, but I’m not going to question it. Come here.” He pulled her in to hug against his warm and heaving chest. “We’ll think in the morning. Now is not for thinking, or discussion. We’re going to speak with sighs and fingers for the rest of the night, okay?”

  “Works for me.”

  Chapter 18

  The old man led him to what Stellan decided was a form of domicile beneath the city of Paris in the 16th arrondissement. He’d jumped down a manhole and followed his guide about two hundred yards through a snaking sewer tunnel. Limestone and crumbling cement formed the seeping walls. Dirt and the occasional slab of stone, beaten down from centuries of footsteps, formed a path. It stank down here like a rotting animal corpse covered in maggots. Stellan knew the smell distinctly.

  “Here it is.” The clank of a fingernail against metal lured Stellan from his deliciously morbid thoughts. “Just like I told you.”

  The vampire leaned in and inspected the object embedded in the rough-shod tunnel ceiling a foot above his head. The headlight helmet the old man wore beamed sharply upon the curve of what looked like dirty tin.

  “Indeed, it is as you told me,” Stellan said. “But it’s not glowing.”

  “Every so often it glows blue. No specific time or length. Just flashes. You want it or not?”

  Stellan reached into his jacket pocket and pulled out a few euro notes. “Will you take twenty-five euros for it?”

  “Well, now, that’s not a lot of money.”

  “Make it fifty then.” Stellen handed over half the money.

  The old man swiped the bills from his hand—all of them. “Hundred’s fine. But you’ll never get it loosened from the stone. It’s stuck in there tight. Even tried to chip it out with my lucky horseshoe.”

  “I can see that.”

  Stellan examined the chipped limestone hugging the two places where the halo fit halfway into the wall. Had to have been down here since the original Fall to fit in so tightly. But he’d found others in tighter situations.