by Maya Nicole
I took several long drinks from his neck as he collapsed on top of me. I ran my hand up and down his back as my cock leaked even more fluid onto our stomachs.
My tongue flicked out to close the two punctures and warmth spread through my body. For the moment, our problems seemed to have disappeared.
It was well past dinner, when we started to worry about Sammy and Raphael. It had been hours since he left with her.
We sat in the living room in companionable silence. It was odd to me to feel comfortable with them as I read a book and they played a card game. Amari had won every single hand of whatever they were playing and did it in the most obnoxious way possible.
The first hand of the game, he had jumped from his seat and told Kage and Nico to "suck it." Nico had thrown the deck of cards at him while Kage laughed the entire time. I had never seen the brownie laugh so hard.
I was engrossed in my novel, when I felt a presence next to me on the sofa and looked up. Kage had his head cocked to the side and was looking at the book in my hands.
"Can I help you?" I placed the ribbon inside and shut it.
Kage reached forward to take the book and I yanked it away. He frowned and looked over at Amari and Nico who were still playing cards.
"You d-don't like m-me. Why?" He folded his hands in his lap.
I put the book on the side table and turned toward him. "You have invisibility."
He furrowed his brows, confusion etched on his face. "You have f-f-fangs."
A laugh escaped me, and Amari's head darted in my direction, assessed the situation, and then went back to focusing on his cards. I was surprised he was playing nice with the squirrel.
"Just how much have you overheard and seen? How long were you hanging around the castle?" Vampires were naturally untrusting of others. Put invisibility into the equation and it was a whole other level of distrust.
Not that we were trustworthy ourselves, but we didn't try to hide the fact we were there.
My own family had run all the brownies from our village long ago. I was certain the other vampire clans had as well. We didn't need anyone knowing our secrets.
"I don't r-reveal what I overhear and s-s-see unless it helps who I am b-bound to." He shook his head. "I h-had heard that all of m-my kind had l-l-left the castle. A b-big place like that? I t-took the opportunity."
I leaned back against the cushions. "So you haven't been spying on her all these years?"
His eyes widened. "No." He rubbed his hands on his thighs. "My k-kind do not spy. It is our way to be as we are. Just as it is your way to drink from the vein." His voice had started to become stronger and clearer the longer he spoke to me. "I prepared her room when it was clear she was there to stay."
I rubbed my jaw and then picked the book back up. "This is a book from Earth. Since the cat is out of the bag, I figured I could start reading them in plain sight now."
I handed it to him and he flipped it open. He ran his fingers across the pages and then brought it to his nose and sniffed. Books did have a certain aroma about them that was hard to resist.
"What's it about?" He opened to where I had my bookmark and I watched his eyes read the words on the page.
"It's a story that have what humans call supernaturals, which bear a striking resemblance to the demons here in Inferna. There's vampires and shapeshifters. Then there's fae folk, which I believe is the category you fall in. It's fascinating." He handed the book back to me. "One of my family members comes back here frequently."
"How?" He raised his eyebrows, but out of curiosity not accusation.
From the corner of my eye I saw both Nico and Amari had set their cards down and turned toward us. I gulped. It was a big secret to tell.
"There's an archangel giving my family and other families blood." I said it so quietly, that I was surprised when both Nico and Amari stood. "I don't know who. It's been going on for a while. They've been going long before the blood we stole from Lucifer all those years ago by sticking a blade in his pen."
"Why would an archangel give our kind their blood?" Nico crossed over to the seating area and sat down in a chair. "Don't they try to stop us from getting to their precious Earth?"
I shook my head. I really had no clue why or how my grandfather had even come into contact with an archangel, but he had, and now we had an unlimited supply of angel blood.
Not that I'd ever used it to go to Earth. It had certainly been tempting, especially after Sammy disappeared.
I could never leave Amari though, and I wasn't certain a life on Earth would work for him and his panther, or with his curse. Now that I knew the readings about gargoyles to be true about the sun, his curse would not fare well there.
"Whatever the reason, I don't like it." Nico crossed one of his ankles onto his knee and looked amongst us. "So we're going to do this. All four of us?"
"Five. Raphael." Kage was playing with his hands and I wanted to reach over and make him stop.
Nico cocked his head to the side. "Okay then. Five. How are we going to make this work? When Sammy sets her mind to something she doesn't just give up. She said she would choose me if I forced her to pick, but I can't do that to her. Even though I question her judgement sometimes." He looked right at me.
I met his stare. "If you have something you want to say to me, Nicolas, by all means, get it off your chest."
"You didn't look for her."
"I did look for her. What was I supposed to do, look for her for centuries?" I stood and started pacing. "How is that fair to me? She didn't even send word!"
Nico grunted. "If you loved her, you would have looked until you found her."
I stopped in my tracks and stared at the wall directly in front of me. My fangs itched to come out and rip him apart. The only thing that stopped me was Sammy.
"He has a point." Kage cocked his head to the side. "Val does. She disappeared."
I let go of my anger and eyed Kage with curiosity. He was surprising at times.
"You're supposed to be on my side, Kage." Nico went back to the table, grabbed the deck of cards, and started shuffling them.
"Not when your side is wrong." Kage's face turned red as Nico put down the deck of cards and raised an eyebrow at him. Kage sat up a little straighter. "She broke his heart."
His words hit me right in the chest. "Meanwhile, while discussing her leaving and me not looking for her, none of us are out looking for her and Raphael." I sat back down and patted the couch as Amari walked toward me.
"I trust Raphael. We need to stop acting like assholes to each other." Amari plopped next to me and one of his hands went to the back of my neck where he ran his fingers through my hair. "And we get used to seeing each other's dicks."
Nico snorted and ran a hand through his hair, which was loose. It made him seem more vulnerable with it down, framing his face. When he wore it in a bun, he looked like he was about to go around breaking arms.
And now we knew he could easily rip out throats.
"If any of you assholes hurt her..." Nico looked right at me.
He didn't need to finish. If we fucked up, we would be eviscerated by his squirrel.
Chapter 7
Samara
I ran along the path, my lungs burning as I gulped in air. The darkness was coming for me and I wasn't sure I could run fast enough to stop it from engulfing me.
I stumbled and nearly fell, but by some miracle, managed to keep my feet under me and continued. In the distance were the flashes of light as a storm swirled. It was so far. I needed Buttercup to get me to it before it was too late.
The swirling blackness behind me nipped at my heels and I screamed as my chest constricted. It was going to take me.
My legs gave out and I surged forward as I fell.
Flashes of light, brighter than any I'd ever seen, woke me. My eyelids felt heavy, like they had been sealed shut by glue. My arms wouldn't move, so rubbing them wasn't an option.
Air hit my eyes and made them water. It took a moment to
realize I was in someone's warm arms and we were flying.
Panic rose in my chest as we flew closer to the swirling clouds of the storm. They were violent and lit up the sky as the lightning pulsed and cracked like a whip.
I tried to protest what he was doing but the words were lodged in my throat. His arms tightened around me and he dodged a bolt of lightning and then another.
What in the name of baby hell serpents was he doing?
He continued dodging the lightning that seemed to be lashing out at an alarming rate. I had never seen a storm so violent and aggressive before. Usually it was a strike or two and done. But this storm was different.
He was flying toward the eye of it, where a bright white light was producing the lightning bolts.
Did this fucking angel have a death wish?
He might have been the archangel of healing, but flying into a swirling ball of light was not going to end well for either of us.
We dropped abruptly, and for a moment I thought he was headed toward the ground to land, but then, in a sudden maneuver that made my stomach clench, he made an arc and flew straight up into the light.
"Sammy! Get your ass in here!" Nico's voice boomed from inside our tent.
My hands stilled on the rabbit I was cleaning, and I looked at the other displaced and misplaced demons I was preparing dinner with. A few of them laughed and shook their heads.
"What'd you do now?" We all laughed. While I kept to myself most of the time, on occasion, I was the topic of gossip.
"Who knows? Probably left my underwear lying around or soap shavings all over the place." I continued to skin our dinner.
"Sammy!" His voice boomed. "I know you're out there!"
I frowned at the urgency in his voice and quickly cleaned my hands before rushing to the tent. I pulled back the flap and what greeted me made me cover my mouth with my hands.
"What in the world?" My eyes were wide as I took in the mess. "What happened?"
Nico was on his hands and knees, gathering his spilled nuts. "I came back from foraging and this is what I found."
"You think I did it?" I put my hands on my hips and then relaxed when he shook his head.
"No. Your boyfriend did," he said through clenched teeth.
I snorted back a laugh and stooped down to help him. "You think Basher did this?"
"Yes. It smells like wolf in here. He's been growling at me for weeks when you haven't been around."
I finished helping Nico pick up his nuts and sat down on my bed. "I'll talk to him."
"You need to break up with him," he muttered under his breath.
"Jealous?" I smirked and crossed my arms. "You turned me down, remember?"
"Yes, Sammy, I remember. Doesn't mean I have to like who you chose to fuck. You could do better than him." He put his bag on his bed and sat down, letting out a huff of angry air. "He doesn't like that you sleep in the same tent as me."
"Well, he can get over it. He knows he and I are just having fun." I wiggled my eyebrows. "What's wrong with having a little fun?"
"Does he know it's just for fun? He's so deranged, he probably thinks you're his mate." He raised an eyebrow and his eyes twinkled teasingly. "You deserve better than an asshole that messes with another man's nuts."
"He makes me feel special, shouldn't that be all that matters?"
Nico would probably have issues with anyone I chose to spend my time with.
I woke to the feeling of fingers running through my hair. I kept my eyes shut and snuggled closer to the warm body that was wrapped around me. I was scared to open my eyes. The last thing I remembered was flying into the light.
Obviously, we hadn’t died. At least, I didn’t think we had.
I traced a finger over Raphael’s abs. He was stronger and more muscular than the others, but in a different kind of way. He had a smaller frame, but his muscles, especially his core muscles, were more defined. Probably from having heavy wings on his back.
“Samara, open your eyes.” He spoke in a whisper, but it wasn’t a whisper from fear of being heard; it held a different emotion.
I cracked my eyelids open, meeting his eyes. We were glowing; him white light and me a faint purple. They swirled together over us like we were in some kind of magical bubble.
He took my hand in his and threaded our fingers together, causing the light to glow brighter and more distinctive. I could have lay there with him forever and not got tired of watching the two colors swirl together in harmony.
“What is it?” My voice sounded lighter than I'd ever heard it. Not that it was harsh in the first place. It was as if all the years had been stripped away from it.
He didn’t answer me and put my hand back on his chest. His hand moved up my arm to my neck and pulled me closer to him. His other hand threaded in my hair, and I whimpered.
There was something about him that made me yearn for his touch. Whatever had been going on lately with me had turned me into such a hornball.
I glanced around, realizing we were up high somewhere; maybe on the top of a hill or mountain. There was not a storm cloud to be seen and the moon shone brightly overhead.
He rolled until he was on top of me, his forearms on the sides of my head. His eyes were sparkling and a shade lighter than they usually were. He glanced down at my lips.
I opened my mouth to ask him what he was doing since I thought he wasn’t for the harem thing I had going on, but then he brushed his lips over mine.
My body exploded with feeling and warmth. I wrapped my arms around him and ran my hands up his shirtless back to his shoulder blades. He moaned against my lips and deepened the kiss, our mouths melting together.
I moved my hands down to his hips and rolled my hips against him. He kissed along my jaw to my ear and flicked his tongue against the lobe. It felt like all my synapses were firing at once.
Being touched had never felt so energizing. Maybe I really was turning into a succubus. If that was what being a succubus felt like, I was all for it.
He suckled on the skin beneath my ear and then moved his hands up to bring the hem of my shirt over my breasts. He kissed me through my bra, and then pulled off my shirt.
Our lights were still swirling together and started to shine brighter as he lowered his lips to my breast and pulled the nipple into his mouth. I threaded my fingers through his hair and moved against his erection.
He groaned and cupped my other breast, pinching the nipple between his fingers. I gasped and moved my hands down to his pants and began working the button. I finally popped it free and pushed down his pants so I could get to his cock.
He switched to my other nipple as I brushed my thumb along his slit and spread the bead of pre-cum down his shaft. I began stroking him, his breaths getting shorter and faster.
Neither of us spoke as he sat back and stared down at me. The second our skin lost contact, the light decreased, but it seemed to reach for each other.
I raised one of my eyebrows in question, and he shrugged. Whatever the two lights were doing didn’t seem to be harming us; in fact, it seemed to want us to be together.
We were going to be together all right.
He pulled off my pants and then pulled his off too. He lowered onto his side and pulled me toward him, my back to him. I hooked my leg behind his knee and reached behind me to guide his cock inside.
I wanted him inside me. As if he could hear my thoughts, he thrust in. I cried out as he filled me and I dug my nails into his forearms, which were wrapped around my chest.
“Did I hurt you?”
I shook my head as he moved in shallow thrusts.
He hadn’t hurt me. It had just felt so good I couldn’t stop myself from crying out.
He grabbed the side of my face and turned my head toward him, slamming his lips against mine in a kiss that made me feel like I was floating.
The light coming off us grew brighter as I got closer and closer to my orgasm. We were about to light up the sky at the rate we were going.
&nbs
p; Raphael’s fingers found my clit, and in three strokes of his fingers, he sent me spiraling into an orgasm. My walls clenched around him, and with one final thrust, he spilled inside me, filling me with warmth. My whole body felt sensations I’d never felt before. My skin prickled all over and my ears felt numb. He buried his face in my neck, audibly taking a deep breath in.
When he finally pulled out of me, I felt like I had lost a piece of myself. I rolled my eyes at how corny I sounded in my head just as he rolled me onto my back.
“What was that for?” One side of his mouth turned up in a smile.
“I was rolling my eyes at myself.” I brought my hand up to his cheek, stroking it gently. “We're still glowing. This is going to be a problem.”
“I’m shielding us right now. But…” He propped himself up on his arm. “There's no shielding this.” He ran his hand over the ground.
At first I didn’t know what I was seeing. Then I sat up and looked around us. “What the fuck is this?”
I ran my hands over the green little plants that were growing. Inferna grew something similar, but it was black. I’d never seen anything like it. It didn’t extend very far from us.
Raphael sat up. “I think all that light we were giving off made it grow.”
I lowered my face to it and inhaled. It tickled my nose, but it smelled… alive. “It grows like this on Earth?” I hadn't been paying enough attention when we were there given all the things there were to see.
“All it needs is water and sun.” He cocked his head to the side and looked at me. “How do plants grow here?”
I raised a shoulder. “We water them and it rains. There is the moonlight.”
He took my hand in his. “I think we need to consider that everything that’s been happening is part of something bigger. I’m just not sure what yet.”