Where Demons Fear to Tread

by Stephanie Chong

  Her panties were the last to go, his fingers hooking into the thin elastic string at her hip, pulling them down over her hips to discard them in a second. Then she was naked, under him on the bed as he leaned over her, touched his lips to hers. He smoothed a hand down her stomach, caressing her all the way down to the blond curls between her legs that covered her most secret place. She closed her legs, trapping his hand there. He stilled, looking down at her, the question unspoken but clear in his eyes: Will you let me?

  If they stopped now, nothing would change. She would still have her status as an angel. She sat up, put her hand on his wrist. He stopped, but did not withdraw his hand.

  “I think we should stop,” she said in a gasp.

  “Spread your legs for me,” he said, low and smooth.

  “I can’t. It will be the end of me.” She watched his face, knowing that if he pressed her, she would probably succumb.

  But he said with infinite patience, “Serena, I’ve kissed you, touched you before. Do you think just because I touch you here that something will change?”

  “You make it sound like it’s nothing,” she said, still holding on to his wrist. She dared a glance into the sea of his gaze, saw the storm gathering there. “You know where this is going.”

  “Do you really think that you could be damned just because I put my hands on your body? What kind of divine justice would allow that?”

  She hesitated. He had a point. Arielle had been so deliberately vague that Serena wasn’t sure what the consequences of sleeping with Julian might be. She tried to remember again what Arielle had said. Keep love in your heart. She had no idea what that meant. Did it mean that if she was in love with Julian, then anything was permissible? It was safe to say that she was not in love with him, so where did that leave her? Whatever Arielle had really meant, in the intensity of this moment, it was impossible to figure it out. She had to stop. She needed time to think.

  Julian sighed, closed his eyes for a second. She watched him swallow, fighting with himself. They both knew that he could flip her on her back in a second and take what he wanted, without so much as exerting an ounce of force. Her defenses were down; she was vulnerable to his charm. She hoped he wouldn’t use it.

  “If that’s what has you worried, I promise you that we will not have intercourse,” he said finally. “I don’t want to take anything that you’re not ready to give.”

  “How can I trust you?”

  “Trust me? Temptation is my weapon of choice. Coercion, if necessary. But never force. You and I both know that there are rules in the game between angels and demons. Rules that must not be broken. I would be punished severely if I broke my promise. It’s yourself you’re not sure you can trust.”

  “But you’re the demon,” she protested, not wanting to listen.

  “I may be, but I have a human body and human desires. And so do you. Serena, I hunger for you. Let me pleasure you. I swear, I won’t go any further than you want me to.”

  He was right. She did have human desires. She’d been made sexless by her divine role, despite being embodied in flesh and blood.

  “Forget I’m a demon. Forget you’re an angel. Let’s be together as man and woman. There are no rules against that.”

  For a moment, she relented, let go of her grip on his wrist and relaxed her thighs. His hand moved forward in the subtlest of gestures, the tip of his index finger stroking the opening of her most sacred place. The contact of his touch was so intimate and so pleasurable. And so utterly wrong.

  She pushed against him then, levering her legs over the side of the bed. She bolted for the door, not stopping to pick up her discarded clothes. She dared to look back at him, fearing that he might come after her. Some tiny, hidden part of her hoped that he might.

  But he made no move from where he reclined on an elbow, watching her with an urbane smile. “Run along, then, angel. It’s only a matter of time before you succumb. And when you do, it will be all the sweeter for having waited.”

  She ran back to her own room, slammed the door, locked it behind her. There was no real way of keeping him out, she knew. If he wanted to enter her room, he would find a way. But if only there were some way to lock herself in.

  He was right. It wasn’t him she couldn’t trust. It was herself. She now realized that he wasn’t her greatest tormentor. It was her own desire. He was waging a constant siege on her virtue. But that siege was only effective because she found him so difficult to resist. Without that, she was in no danger whatsoever.

  Andrew…Nick…myself. There’s too much at stake, she realized. I must resist.

  She stopped pacing and leaned her forehead against the windowpane, looking out at the flashing lights of the Strip. The illuminated fountains across the street shot plumes of water into the air; crowds of people gathered in front to watch. She remembered what it was like to be one of them, normal and human. And completely oblivious to the workings of the preternatural world.

  Above the city, the sky was a starless black velvet, even though there hadn’t been a cloud in sight for days. The glare of the city lights obliterated the celestial light from above. She wondered how people here in Vegas made their wishes. Then she realized that here, they wished on the beeping lights of slot machines, on the flicker of neon signs and nightclub disco balls.

  Maybe it wasn’t luck she needed. Perhaps she needed to appeal to a higher power for help. She closed her eyes. I pray that I’m doing the right thing. I’m not sure what I’m supposed to do or how far I’m supposed to go.

  When no answer came, she opened her eyes and gazed up at the night sky again. Then she realized it. The stars are still up there, she thought, it’s just that you can’t see them. She wished she could hide, just like the stars above Vegas. Wondered if she would appear invisible to Julian if another woman suddenly appeared, blinding him with a brighter light than her own.

  Who could she find to distract him? Women seemed to flock to him, as Tiffany had been drawn to him this morning. A hundred other women had slid covert glances over his tall, athletic body as they’d strolled along on the Strip in the afternoon. But the women of Vegas did not deserve the likes of Julian set loose on them. Serena wouldn’t wish a demon on any human being. Not even Tiffany.

  The only remaining possibility was Luciana. Something latent and dangerous existed between them, something that might ignite again with a little help. But they were both more powerful than she was. Together, they could destroy her before she had a chance to escape.

  Her mind spun, churning through possibilities and options. But in the end, she could not imagine a viable way out. The only realistic solution lay within herself, with her own self-control. She must resist this desire within herself that was threatening to destroy her.

  One day finished, and six more to go.

  If she survived this week intact, she would consider it a miracle.

  Please, help me find some way to bear this.

  She closed her eyes, and let her wish rise up to a star she could not see.

  Julian was losing his grip on his demon’s nature.

  Once again, he watched her go. He heard her door shut, and the sound of the lock clicking echoed in the marble-floored suite. It was the sound of finality, and in this moment it felt as though she was barred from him forever.

  Drawing a shaky hand through his hair, he collapsed back on the bed, breathing in shallow pants until the intense feeling of loss passed. How he had managed to remain so casual at the end was a mystery to him, when he’d wanted to dive between her spread legs and taste her, to tease her for an hour or so until she finally came. He’d wanted to take her by the hips, to drive into her until the words demon and angel had disappeared from her vocabulary and she was reduced to a quivering mass of boneless contentment.

  Screw waiting. He’d flung those words out carelessly, because there was nothing else he could say. He stared at the ceiling, still fully erect and frustrated on more than just a physical level. He wanted her, no, he need
ed her in more than just body. He needed her in soul. That is, if he even had a soul anymore.

  Briefly it crossed his mind that he had a key to her door, and that he was fully capable of using it. In the past, he would have done so without remorse. He would have gained access to her room, and easily overcome her faltering willpower.

  But now? What was stopping him?

  Absolutely nothing. Rising from the bed, he opened the door and paced out into the living room. Went to stand by her door, listened for noise from within. Heard only silence. His hand, holding the plastic card key, hovered over the doorknob for a very long moment.

  A single swipe of the key would open the lock. One small push of the door would open it.

  The only thing that prevented him from going in was a promise.

  He marched back into his own bedroom, bolted his own door shut, turned off the lights and cursed the thoughts that rushed into his mind.

  Somewhere along the line, although he didn’t know where or when, this had stopped being a game of seeing whether he could seduce an angel. She was no longer just another passing conquest, or a challenge to alleviate his boredom.

  He was dangerously close to falling in love.

  Who ever heard of a demon in love?

  Lust, he could handle. Lust could be easily slaked by any number of women who would be more than willing to satisfy his needs. No, lust was not the problem. By far the more disturbing emotion was a vague feeling throbbing in the center of his chest, infecting him like a virus integrating itself into his body. Perhaps it was too early to call it love, but if left unchecked, Julian was certain that this emotion would develop in that direction. Love was a sentiment for weak-minded fools. He’d been a fool for love during his human life, with Luciana, and it had not ended well. Certainly, he’d succeeded without love for the past two centuries. In fact, he’d dedicated himself to destroying love wherever he found it.

  The most obvious solution was simply to release the girl—let her go home untouched and innocent, with her faith in the goodness of the world intact. But at the idea of it, every muscle in his body clenched, and his mind screamed against it.

  No. He would keep her for the week she had pledged to him. But if he resolved not to seduce her, he would spend the next six days battling his desires, with the likelihood that the frustration he’d felt last night would mount to a fever pitch. And where was the fun in that? He was not particularly fond of masochism; he did not wish to submit himself to that particular kind of torture.

  He must pour all of his energy into accomplishing her seduction. To destroy the innocence about her that was driving him to such distraction. Once rid of that innocence, her appeal would be gone and he would no longer be at risk of falling prey to the affliction of love. Mastering her sexually would mean recovering his power not only as a man, but as a demon.

  Because he needed to get back to business. Tonight, Luciana had tried to poison him. He had put himself at considerable risk in order to save Nick. Exposing his potential weaknesses to the other demons was not acceptable. He needed all of his energy, with no distractions and no vulnerabilities.

  Yes, bedding Serena would be worth the risk.

  But he realized now that she had a high level of immunity to physical pleasure. His little angel had a will of iron. Tonight, he had worked her supple body into a passion that he was sure matched his own. Her self-discipline was admirable, but her defenses were not impossible to overcome. However, he would have to approach her seduction from a different angle.

  Coercion had only gotten him so far. If he continued to threaten her, she would eventually surrender her body, but he wanted more. Appealing to her body had gotten him past certain barriers, but he sensed that if he wished to go further, he would have to appeal to her mind. He would have to dig deep into his most powerful tactics.

  He would have to convince her that she was saving him. That was the only answer, the only possible way she would allow herself to be seduced. All angels believed in the healing power of love. If she thought that making love to him might lead to some kind of redemption, she would surrender herself to him.

  It was a process that would break her. Once he was finished with her, she would be fallen, like him, relegated to the demonic world. If he tired of her, he would simply abandon her. But as they said, misery loved company. If there were still some inkling of interest after he’d stripped her of her angelic shine, she might make a fine companion in eternal damnation.

  Three floors up, Luciana and Corbin lay in his magnificent bed. Luciana stretched luxuriantly, arching her back to show off her lush breasts, slick with sweat from their lovemaking. “Così bene, caro,” she said with a little sigh of pleasure. She was so convincing he almost believed it.

  “You should have told me, darling,” Corbin said in a conversational tone, tracing a fingertip idly between those luscious orbs. “It would have been useful to know that you and Julian had been lovers.”

  She looked up at him with a doe-eyed innocence that she might have counterfeited from Julian’s little angel. “You’re not jealous, are you, amore mio? That was ages ago. Julian completely slipped my mind. He’s nothing to me. Especially not now that I have you.” She reached up to kiss him, her tongue snaking its way into his mouth.

  “Apparently you think he’s disposable,” he said when they finished the kiss. “But you should have asked for my permission before you tried to poison him.”

  Tonight, for the first time in the many months since he’d met Luciana, he saw her clearly. She was a whore and a liar, willing to do almost anything to get what she wanted. She was trying to use him. That much was obvious. He should have known the moment she’d appeared three months ago, just after the press release had announced the plans for Julian’s nightclub. His mind worked back, searching for other signs he’d missed, blinded by the pleasures of the flesh she offered, and by her exorbitant praise. That oh-so-pleasurable flesh writhed beneath his fingers now, the cadence of her honeyed Italian whispers dripping into his ear.

  She would have to learn that Corbin Ranulfson was no fool. But first, he would destroy Julian.

  What a shame. Once, it had seemed that Julian might be a true ally, someone with whom he could collaborate. A man whose tastes and opinions were not unlike Corbin’s own. But lately, Julian had been getting too big for his britches. Oh, there was no end to the ambitious young demons who aspired to challenge Corbin’s leadership. But Julian was different. Julian made him nervous. Julian was strong. In Corbin’s many centuries of demonry, he had rarely seen another demon so powerful.

  It was time to cut Julian down to size.

  “I’m going to help you destroy Julian,” the Archdemon said. “He’s a fool for trying to protect Nick, but we can use that against him.”

  “What about that little bitch who ruined our fun tonight?” Luciana pouted. “Tesoro, I want you to get rid of her.”

  “Don’t worry, darling. I’ll take care of her.”

  Oh, yes, he would take care of her, although perhaps not quite in the way that Luciana meant. So young, so vulnerable, the little blond angel Julian had picked up as a pet. What fun it would be. And perhaps he would keep Serena afterward…after he’d tired of Luciana and thrown her to the Gatekeepers.

  Nobody crossed Corbin and got away with it.

  He was rising again, aroused by the thought of the two women at his mercy, begging for their lives. He reached for Luciana, kissed her deeply, imagined he was kissing Serena. The night was still young, and there were infinite possibilities to explore.

  Chapter Nine

  Dawn. The rising sun stole over the city and blossomed, for a brief instant more glorious than the bright lights of the city. Julian stood at his bedroom window, glowering into the brilliance of daybreak. Sleep had proven elusive last night. Serena had left him aching and tormented by the feeling of her supple body arching beneath him.

  The night had been torturous, but he had survived it.

  Several times during the
night, he’d stood at her door on the verge of unlocking it. But each time, he concluded that it would only serve to break the tenuous thread of trust hanging between them. And with Serena, he was finally beginning to realize that trust was the real key.

  He opened his bedroom door and went into the living room, surprised to see her there, practicing yoga on the bare marble floor. Leaning against the doorway, he watched her drop backward from a standing position, her supple body arching as she reached back to land on her hands. Her skin gleamed with the dew of perspiration in the morning sunlight. He wondered how long she had been out here. Wondered if she, too, had been unable to sleep.

  She caught him watching and straightened out of the pose immediately, pulling herself up to standing. A pretty blush washed over her cheeks. “I wouldn’t have come out here if I’d known you were up,” she insisted, her cheeks staining a deeper shade of scarlet. She patted her face delicately with a towel. “But since you’re here, we should talk about last night.”

  “Haven’t you heard the saying? Whatever happens in Vegas stays in Vegas,” he said, mustering a nonchalance he didn’t feel.

  “Somehow I don’t think that rule applies to angels,” she grumbled.

  “I swear, it will never happen again if you don’t want it to,” he said. Oh, but you will want it to, he thought. He had reawakened her body to pleasure last night. She might protest that she was immune to his advances, but her body told a different story.

  There was more truth in the way she’d trembled in his hands last night than the words that came out of her mouth this morning. The memory of her curves undulating beneath his palms made his cock twitch.

  It was imperative that they get out of the suite immediately. If they stayed here, he would be sorely tempted to drag her into his bedroom and bury himself in her. With a little coaxing, she might be willing. But his instincts told him to wait. With enough patience, she would come begging for it.

  “Get ready in fifteen minutes,” he said, aware of the gruffness in his voice. He made an attempt to gentle it. “I have some work to do at the club, and you’re coming along.”