Crave (Tainted Angels Book 1)

by D H Sidebottom

  “Lincoln?” My voice was cloaked in agony, my hand pressing to my chest in attempt to ease the pain. “You’re hurting me. Stop it!”

  “You could have saved me, Willa. You should have saved me, but instead you chose to give your allegiance to … to him!”

  “To who?” My question was barely audible under the deep rasp of pain. “To who!” I shouted when he turned back to stare at the ocean.

  “Willa …”

  I looked around for Rax when I heard his voice but I was still alone with Lincoln. The torture was taking my breath, tightening my throat with its potency. “Lincoln, please …”

  A deep bitter laugh tore from him as he turned back to me, his eyes piercing. “Would you save me, Willa? Would you?”

  “You know I would, Lincoln. I would give you my last breath!”

  “Then prove it.”

  “Willa …”

  I shook my head, crying out at the agony that made my head swim. “How? HOW?”

  He held out his hand to me again. “Follow me. Stay with me, impudent child.”

  “Willa … don’t!”

  “Lincoln!” The ache on his face pierced my heart with a thousand blades, his grief at my neglect giving my own grief substance. “I’ll … I’m sorry. I won’t ever leave you, brother.”

  I fell backwards into the sand, my mouth falling open in disbelief when Rax suddenly materialised beside Lincoln, the shimmer from his hatch still warping the air around him. But it wasn’t Rax. Yet it was.

  I gawped at the large demon that possessed Rax’s eyes but exhibited the most magnificent body. The towering wraith stood almost three times as high as Lincoln, its solid body showcasing muscles and sinew I never knew existed. It bared its razor sharp teeth at Lincoln, its lips curled into a sinister malevolent grin. Its fingers curled into talons as it shook its grotesquely mutated body and tipped its head back, its long black hair falling the length of its spindly back. My skin shrank back in terror when it released a devastating roar, spit flying from its mouth as its arm flew for Lincoln and it encased his throat in its long claws.

  “No!” I cried out as I scrambled over the sand to get to Lincoln.

  “Show yourself!” the demon demanded.

  “NO!” I cried out.

  The demon lifted its free hand and delicately but steadfastly, I was immobilised, my body not belonging to myself as the demon held me in some sort of spell. It wasn’t painful, far from it. A warmth tickled my skin and a tender touch caressed me within the stronghold. Where was bloody Delilah when you needed her? Oh, yeah, stupidly I’d left her with Diablo in Gehenna.

  “Show yourself!” it demanded again.

  “Fuck you!” Lincoln spat.

  The demon roared again but this time it was accompanied with something a lot fouler, a wave of scorching heat bursting from it. Lincoln screamed then something unbelievable happened. His skin peeled away from his body.

  My eyes widened in fright when another vile creature emerged from Lincoln. Like Rax, it was huge and terrifyingly tall. It wasn’t as muscular as its opponent but more wraithlike, its body seemingly made from a deep green vapour.

  Lincoln struck out, hitting Rax square in the face, the splinter of bone loud to my ears.

  “No!” I screamed when Lincoln jumped at a stunned Rax, knocking him to the ground before curving its long fingers around the base of Rax’s throat. As he went down the shield he had secured me in disappeared and I fell back to the sand.

  Rax roared, the sound hitting me in the gut with the strength of the agony it bore. But, unperturbed, Rax gained strength and Lincoln sailed through the air as if an invisible force had struck him.

  Rax was upon him in mere milliseconds his claws tearing into Lincoln’s throat. Blood spurted like a generous fountain onto the paleness of the moonlit sand, the deep crimson painting the beach like a modern art canvas.

  But Lincoln fought back, the deep gash in his throat not hindering his own strength.

  I couldn’t move, my body in shock lockdown as I watched the two creatures tear chunks out of each other. They were unrelenting, blood from both of them splattering not only the sand but me, their ruthless engage causing my blood to freeze with their determination to rip each other to pieces.

  “It seems almost sad for you to lose your life for the whore!” Lincoln hissed.

  As if the name he called me physically pained Rax, he released a thunderous snarl and struck Lincoln with a formed fist.

  Lincoln soared through the air – straight into me. Both our bodies entwined as we met the earth with an almighty thud. My lungs squealed with the air that left me in a sudden rush, a pain piercing through my breastbone as I rolled with Lincoln.

  But before I could react, Lincoln was up on his feet with me in his agonising grip, his long talons pressing against my jugular. “Come get her, you filthy cunt!”

  I hated that word. Have I told you that once? Well I did. It was vulgar, and somewhat degrading.

  “Hey,” I hissed through the restriction he forced on my throat. “That’s a female body part you’re fucking slating.” As if shocked by my outburst, Lincoln/foulmouthed demon gawped down at me. “And it’s not filthy when your dick is in said cunt and its pleasuring you, you fucking green prick!”

  Amazed by my outburst both Rax and Lincoln/foulmouthed demon froze. I didn’t feel right, my skin burned all over. A fierce pain sliced through my back and a violent scream erupted from me, scorching my throat on its fight for freedom.

  I stared at Rax as he stared at me, his eyes widening on something behind me.

  Looking over my shoulder when Lincoln’s hold disappeared, my breath froze and my eyes rolled into the back of my head when the most magnificent, majestic scarlet red wings spanned out behind me.

  Air filled my lungs too rapidly and I gasped, choking on my own need to breathe.

  “Relax,” Rax soothed. “Small slow breaths, Seraph.”

  Opening my eyes and focussing on the depths of his velvety chocolate eyes, I did as he encouraged and gradually brought my panting to slow, steady breaths.

  “Okay?”

  I nodded, blowing out securely. My eyes scanned the room and I frowned at the familiarity of my own room. “It was a dream?”

  Rax remained silent but the caution in his eyes had me hesitantly looking over my shoulder. Both disappointed and relieved to find my skin still intact, my nightgown untorn and whole, and sans wings, I sagged onto the headboard only to shoot back up. “Lincoln!”

  “He’s okay, Willa.”

  My heart started to beat again and I nodded when I felt the regular pulse of Lincoln’s own heartbeat in the next room to mine. Then something occurred to me and I frowned at him. “How do you know?”

  “Know?”

  “Why I’m worried about Linc. If it was a dream, my dream, you wouldn’t know why I was worried about him.”

  He squirmed and looked away. Something wasn’t right and I grabbed his arm. “Rax?”

  “It was a dream,” he said quietly. “But it wasn’t your dream.”

  “What?”

  “You were summoned into someone else’s dream.”

  “You’re not making sense. How can I be pulled into someone’s dream?”

  He turned to look at me, a soft smile covering his handsome face. Lifting his hand, he tenderly drew his fingers across my cheek and I winced when his touch left a sharp pain. A memory of my cheek scraping across a rock when I’d tumbled with the green demon had me slowly making my way over to the mirror above my dressing table.

  “Oh my God.” A graze the length of my cheekbone glared back at me as if mocking my sanity. A deep gouge in my neck played the memory of the green demon’s talon digging into my jugular. They were healing quickly, my healer’s blood doing what it was supposed to, but I could still make out the muted scars. “How can this be? It was just a dream.”

  It was only when my eyes moved to Rax’s in the mirror that I caught the state he himself was in.

  “S
hit, you’re hurt.”

  I scurried over to him, softly moving his head to the side to study his wounds. Whole chunks of his flesh were missing; some of the gashes still oozing thick blood. Bruises covered the entirety of his body, and due to my own selfishness, it was only then I noticed his laboured breathing. “Oh my God, Rax!”

  “I’m okay,” he lied. It was obvious he was far from okay. “Just a few broken ribs.”

  “But why aren’t you healing?”

  Looking like he was going to faint, he slowly lowered himself down on my bed, trying to disguise a grunt of pain with a small cough when he physically winced with the pain he was in. “I’m a warrior, not a healer, Willa.”

  “But you have my blood.” My cheeks flushed with heat as I remembered the night he took nearly all of my damn blood. Surely with the amount he’d taken, he should heal easily - at least quicker than he was anyway.

  “It obviously doesn’t work like that. I’m fine.” As if his body wanted to prove him a liar, he coughed and a spray of blood splattered across my face. Rax’s eyes widened and he reached out quickly, his fingers attempting to wipe me clean.

  “Bloody hell, Rax!”

  I swallowed back my anguish then pulled my hair to one side and extended my neck. Catching on to what I wanted, Rax shook his head like a lunatic. “No way!”

  “It’s either this or die!” I narrowed my eyes on him, daring him to argue.

  He scrambled backwards, his face growing paler by the second with his blood loss. “I’d rather die than put you through that again!”

  “And I’d rather die than watch you slip into the Ether.”

  His eyes snapped up to mine as recognition at my declaration sank in. “What are you saying?”

  “You heard me.” I pulled my shoulders back defiantly. “Yes, I’m stupid enough to fall in love with you too. So quit being a stubborn ass and sink those fucking nasties into my bloody vein!”

  He inched closer, trying to drag his ailing body across the space between us. Struggling but determined, his feather light touch on my face made my skin tingle as I pressed my cheek into his palm. “You mean it.” It wasn’t a question, more of a statement.

  Nodding, I moved my head to the side more, encouraging him. “Yes. You were right. We can be destined to be mated, but not fall in love. And I feel your love deep within my soul, and I know you feel it in yours too.” The deep vein within my neck throbbed excitedly as if it knew what was coming. Weirdly, it felt like it was plumping itself up, making itself juicy and appealing, seducing my man with its scent and its tasty cells.

  “Seraph,” he whispered as he moved in for the kill, unable to refuse what was offered.

  The moment his teeth popped my skin, a thunderbolt of pleasure fired throughout me, a gasp bursting free as Rax growled in gratification. The soft noise of him sucking made me shiver. My belly throbbed, my pussy slicked, and my nipples pressed against the cotton of my nightgown.

  Shit.

  “Try not to kill me this time, huh?” I rasped, trying to take my mind off the desire seeping into every one of my bones.

  I froze when Rax’s fingers slid down my face, slowly along the length of my throat and then, quite savagely he crushed his fingertips into my breast.

  Okay.

  “Uhh,” I mumbled, my eyes closing instinctively as wave after wave of lust rolled over me, my breast craftily pressing further into his touch. It had nothing to do with me – absolutely nothing! “So, who was Shrek?”

  Rax frowned, lifting his eyes to mine whilst his jaw carried on moving up and down like a baby suckling on its mother’s breast. “Shrek,” I repeated. “The Jolly Green Giant. The demon who … I dreamed about.”

  He rolled his eyes, yet I wasn’t sure if it was at my description or in pleasure. I smiled, noticing the deepest wound in his neck start to close up.

  “Oh shit, Rax.” My voice was shaky, the tone lifting high and low as my throat started to close in when his thumb stroked over my nipple. Hunger caused my mouth to water and I leaned into both his mouth and his touch, needing more and more.

  Rax moaned, sensing my arousal. His hand left my breast and gently cupped my face. His other hand skirted down my nightgown and he pressed the heel of his hand against my mound. Shamelessly, my legs slid open as though they had a life of their own.

  It all happened so quickly. One minute his mouth was at my neck, taking the medicine I offered to him and the next his face was between my thighs and his tongue was thrusting in and out of my pussy. His fingers dug into my hips, holding me down as he greedily sucked on me, his head shaking from side to side as he ate me like a fucking maniac.

  “Jesus fucking Christ!” I gasped as the back of my head hit the headboard and my hands grabbed at his hair. “Make me come, Rax. Quickly. Please, Jesus Christ, hurry!”

  His chuckle rebounded around my swollen clit, the tips of his fangs sending me wild as they grazed over the little nub of nerves.

  “Holy shit!” I yelled as my back arched and the most delicious orgasm swept through every inch of me. I couldn’t breathe with its intensity, my lungs constricting as every muscle followed their strict pull.

  Feeling him shift quickly, I snapped my eyes open and gawped in both shock and delight when his cock was an inch from my face, the swollen head glistening with a drop of fluid that taunted my hunger. His fist was wrapped around the thick girth as he jerked himself off like an expert, his smooth strokes growing faster and firmer with each slide of his hand.

  “Eyes on me, Seraph!”

  Snapping my eyes up to his, I looked up at him, the blazing heat in his eyes making me feel like a goddess. His need for me was so potent that I was frozen under his love, his devotion as heavy as his eyelids.

  I blinked frantically when he released a severe grunt and his cum hit me slap in the eye – and on my cheek, and over the bridge of my nose, and in my hairline. “Fuck!” he cried out as he kept coming and coming.

  Unable to resist, needing to taste him, I lifted my fingers and wiped at his spunk, then slid them into my mouth, my eyes closing instinctively as his taste burst across my tongue.

  “You dirty little devil,” he growled as his fingers grasped my chin and his mouth crushed against mine, his ejaculation now shared between the two of us. He devoured me, his tongue swiping over and around mine as our joint arousal fed us both. It was only when he backed away that I noticed the smear of my blood around his lips.

  “So,” he said casually. “Red wings, huh?”

  I gasped, my eyes widening in horror as I stared at his mouth then tentatively between my legs, a slight smear of blood on the inside of my thigh making my stomach hurl. “Oh God, Rax! I’m so sorry!”

  He squinted at me, his brow creasing in confusion. “Why are you sorry?”

  “Well, ya’ know. I really didn’t think I was due on yet. If I’d known then …”

  His eyes snapped wide, then his mouth and then tears slipped from his eyes as he keeled over, howling in laughter. His head shook as he tried to come up for air.

  Heat shamed my cheeks and I recoiled into the bed. Why now? I growled up at the ceiling as if The Almighty had chosen this exact time for me to start my period.

  “Jesus bloody Christ!” Rax chuckled as he framed my face, tears still dripping across his cheeks. “I didn’t mean ‘those’ red wings. I meant the ones in the dream.” Swiping his finger over the smear of blood on my thigh, he smirked. “This is because I couldn’t wait to wipe my mouth after eating from your neck and then devouring your sweet pussy.”

  He was still laughing as I stared at him, mortified. “Oh,” I croaked. “Oh, okay.”

  “Bloody hell.” He laughed. “I fucking love you, Willa Eden.”

  My heart swelled at his easy declaration and I couldn’t help but grin at him, the beam on my face matching the happiness in my soul.

  Taking my hand, he pulled me off the bed. “Come on, we have to fetch Delilah. The brat was throwing a proper sulk cos’ you’d done a runne
r on her.”

  I cringed, imagining the telling off I knew was coming my way.

  “And the boss isn’t too happy you took off either.”

  Even better!

  Sgt Grant Miller stared at Valerie, the brightness of her white teeth seeming severe against the colour of her dark skin. He liked Valerie Henderson, the local coroner. Her no nonsense approach to all the rigmarole included in their world had Miller affording her the respect she saved for him. But right then he questioned her sanity.

  “No bullshit, Val. What are you trying to tell me?”

  She poked at the wound on the deceased girl’s neck, dragging the tip of her pen along the grooves of each tooth mark. “Look.” She prodded harder. “In plain English, Miller, the bottom indentations indicate human teeth, a full set. The top also replicate those of a human, however, see these deeper wounds?”

  Miller peered closer and then nodded.

  “These are made by canine teeth.”

  “Yeah, and …?”

  “Well, they ain’t like no canines I’ve ever seen before. For one they went deep.” She slipped in a prong that measured the depth in millimetres. “And the cut of the skin around shows that these specific teeth were sharp … very fuckin’ sharp, Captain.”

  Miller chuckled. “So what you saying, a motherfucking vampire tore out the poor girl’s throat?”

  When Valerie quirked a brow at him, a shiver trickled down his spine. But then without giving him chance to consider this, she rolled the girl onto her side, her dead arm flopping over the edge. “And this shit gets worse.”

  Miller peered over the body, looking down to a small scar on her back. A thin silver line on the skin from where the girl had been stabbed looked back at him. “She was stabbed,” he said, wondering why the shit sharp coroner hadn’t picked it up.

  She glared at him. “I know that! But what I’m saying is the blade was pushed through in such a specific way that it completely missed vital organs. It takes a specialist to be able to do that.”

  “So he didn’t intend to kill her?”