21. Thoroughly Debauched
Deyva
K imaris grinned at me, mouth full of long fangs at jagged angles. I gasped, fear forming a brick in my chest as he leaned in close to me. His breath was hot, rancid garbage and I couldn’t get away.
“Deyva, Deyva,” he taunted, repeating my name in a sing-song way. “My minions tell me you’re feasting on priests, protecting their precious human settlement.” He dragged a long claw down my cheek and my skin burned from the unwanted touch. “I’m so disappointed.”
“Leave me alone,” I hissed, trying to gather courage in my voice. “You pushed me out.”
“You ignite such passion in me, succubus,” he purred. “I did it to teach you a lesson, but playtime is over. King Belial wants his favorite toy back.”
I shuddered, bile rising in my throat. My back was pressed to a rough surface, shredded stone or metal scratching at my back as I tried to scramble away.
“Look at you, your feast of sweetness has left you weak,” Kimaris hissed, lowering himself closer to me, the heat of his flesh abrading every inch of me, my eyes dry and stinging. “How do they taste, little succubus? I think I should like to find out.”
“No!” I cried, strength finally returning to me. I thrust my hand forward, ready to tear into Kimaris, to protect my men at any cost, to rend him down to bones and then grind that to dust and toss it in the deepest well of fire Hell had to offer.
I sat up with a gasp, my hand grasping at air, a strangled scream in my throat. My free hand rose to clutch at my chest where my heart was hammering so hard it burned.
“Deyva?”
I flinched at the sleepy murmur, my shoulder striking the wall, before the vision of Hell’s wildly shifting dark depths and Kimaris' face, huge and vivid in front of me, finally faded in my mind.
“Deyva,” Zach soothed, his hand reaching up to pull mine down from the air.
We were in Stavros' room, the gap in the bed between us still mussed from when Stav must’ve gotten up to patrol. Zach squeezed my hand in his, resting it on Stavros' pillow, his eyes squinting and blinking in the dim dawn light filtering through the window.
I meant to reassure him that I was fine. I only needed a shower to wash away the itch on my skin and the char taste in my mouth.
What came out of my parted lips was a tiny whimper. I pressed my mouth shut and tried to turn away from Zach, but he was too quick.
“Hey, hey, come here,” he breathed, scooting across rumpled sheets, sitting up just enough to catch my shoulders and then drawing me gently down to the bed.
I remained stiff but Zach was patient, wrapping me up in his arms inch by inch, slowly pressing closer until he replaced the stinging aching sensation on my back from the dream with his own warm chest. I blinked, but it was Kimaris behind my eyelids and I shivered, pressing back into the rise and fall of Zach’s chest.
“Better?” he asked.
“I’m okay.”
“You know what I’ve been thinking about for.
..years, basically?” Zach asked, nuzzling into my hair.
I shook my head and he continued. “Well, nightmares are kinda run of the mill around here. And even when I was...you know, taking celibacy really seriously, I kept thinking about how nice it would be to just come in here and curl up with Stavros after one of those nightmares. Just have somebody hold me. So if you want me to let go, I will, but for now I’m gonna hold you. ”
The bite of my tightly wound muscles eased and I slid one hand back and forth over Zach’s strong arm wrapped around my waist. “You should’ve done it.”
“I would’ve popped a boner.”
I snorted. “You definitely should’ve done it.”
Zach huffed and then grunted as I twisted in his arms, loosening his hold just long enough to let me cuddle directly into his chest, his cheek rubbing at the top of my horn. “It’s better with you, I think,” Zach whispered. “I’m less afraid of what I want. You make everything better, Deyva.”
My eyes widened, Zach’s Adam’s apple bobbing just in front of me, and I leaned in, taking a deep, clean breath of him, and then giving into the urge to kiss his throat.
Zach was cuddly and sweet and protective, but he was also mostly still exploring his interest and feelings for Stavros.
I didn’t mind, it was incredible to be a part of them together, to soak up all the emotions and sensations they shared with one another.
I hadn’t realized until right now just how much Zach included me in that vibrant, wild affection of his.
Kimaris will only make this so much worse if you keep falling for all of them, I thought, but instead of letting Zach go, I reached out to clutch him closer, our hips sliding together.
It was Zach’s turn to shiver now, his morning wood rubbing against me. My legs were bare, the t-shirt I’d stolen from Stavros riding up to my waist, and he was only wearing a pair of boxers, his body leaning in to nestle against me.
“Wow, that feels—you feel really good,” Zach breathed, voice going rough and husky.
I grinned, sliding one knee over his hip, and then nipped at his throat, nuzzling into his groan.
“I can pull back if it’s too much, or if you’re not sure about…” I trailed off, sighing happily as Zach shuffled closer until I was on my back, his body cuddling provocatively on top of mine until he was fitted between my thighs.
“Sure about what? About you ?” Zach asked, slowly letting his weight rest on top of me as I stroked his back. He shifted down a little and both our breaths hitched as the rigid outline of his erection settled against my panties.
His face hovered over mine and I blinked, startled by his beauty, absently wondering which of his eyes were my favorite. The gold one maybe, almost the same shade as mine.
“Just cause, you know, the whole succubus who spent millenia in Hell thing,” I said, shrugging and then wiggling for his benefit as he started to frown.
“You think, I still—Deyva, shit. I don’t...I mean, I care about what happened to you, but you’ve more than proved me wrong about pretty much everything I thought of you,” Zach said. “I’m so sorry I haven’t said as much.”
He started to lift off of me and there was no way I was going to give up the feeling of Zach’s body on top of mine now that I was finally getting to enjoy it for real.
My hands snapped to his ass, yanking him back down against me.
Zach groaned, eyes fluttering shut, body automatically working over mine, grinding his arousal against me before stuttering to a stop.
“Shit, sorry, I didn’t want to, I mean I do want to, but—Um.” Zach’s cheeks flushed pink, his hair flopping down and catching the first rays of sunlight. “Can I kiss you?”
I’d always been of the personal opinion that when two adults were already starting to hump each other in their underwear, it really wasn’t the time to start being polite about who was kissing who. But with Zach there was an undeniable sweetness to the question that left my insides all melty.
“Yes, please,” I said, arching up from the pillow, raising my lips in offering.
Zach bumped his forehead against mine, a little nervous laugh slipping out just as he pressed his mouth to mine, all pillow soft and dragging gently as he nudged closer into the perfect fit.
I licked at his bottom lip, sliding my hands up his back to grasp his shoulder blades and pull him against me.
My legs wrapped around Zach’s hips, my body arching into his, and every surge of the kiss rocked us together.
“I’ve—I’ve never kissed a woman before,” Zach breathed, pulling away just enough for me to feel his grin, his body keeping the shallow, shifting pace on top of mine.
I sucked on his bottom lip, squeezing his hips with my thighs. “Is it much different?”
“Um...this is,” Zach whispered, reaching down and grabbing my ass, rolling his hips against me and moaning. “Softer. More like sinking in.”
I bit my lip briefly, kissing my way to the corner of his jaw. I definitely was hoping Zach would be up for sinking in . He certainly felt like he was, his cock stiff between us, pressing perfectly to where he would fit if we just stripped and—
“This is different too,” Zach said, stroking his hands up to cup my waist and then slide beneath Stav’s t-shirt, fingertips walking up my rips to tease at the undersides of my breasts.
I squirmed under Zach, trying to wiggle my way into his grip, to feel his touch everywhere at once.
“Can I?”
I laughed and held Zach before he could pull away, nipping at his ear, his throat. “Zach, you could honestly do anything you want to me right now and I would bite the hand off anyone who tried to stop you.”
Zach brightened, sitting up so I could see his goofy grin. “Yeah? I didn’t know if I’d be any good.”
Honey, we haven’t even started yet , I thought, but instead I settled one of my hands over his, encouraging it higher until he was rolling my breast against his palm and starting to squeeze.
“That’s good, Zach. Your touch is perfect,” I murmured, frowning as he scooted away from me.
He tugged my shirt up over my breasts and my frown vanished as he eyed my breasts, his hands taking one each and working them experimentally in his grip. His eyes widened and he lifted one hand away, grinning as he revealed a sharply pointed nipple. What an adorable dork.
“What does Stavros do?” he asked.
“Who cares? What do you want to do?” I answered.
Zach grinned, and for a moment I could almost picture him with a pair of horns of his own, an angel who’d acclimated to Hell. It made my heart sting with worry, a reminder of my dream and Kimaris' threat.
And then Zach descended, kissing my breast with teeth and tongue, latching on to my nipple with a force that made me bow on the bed, moaning up at the ceiling.
My hand over his showed him how to pinch and play with the other, and my legs around his waist held him in place as I writhed against him from below.
“Oh God, Zach!”
He pulled away and nipped at my flesh. “Don’t take the—nevermind, actually.”
I giggled and left him to his feast of flesh, pulling my shirt carefully off, trying not to jostle him as he devoured my breasts with deep kisses and long licks and the kind of suction that made my toes curl into his ass.
He had less finesse than Stavros maybe, and more curiosity, but that just meant he found unexpected places to press and bite, leaving me panting and whining as his patience seemed to go on and on.
Wasn’t this kid hard? Why was I getting all the torturous pleasure?
I slipped my toes under the waistband of his boxers, trying to sneakily shimmy them down his hips. I reached down between us, pressing my breast up into his mouth as I reached for his cock, a wet moan vibrating against my skin as I wrapped my fingers around him.
“Ohhhhh, fuuuuck. Fuck, I—Deyva, uhhh.” Zach’s groans were musical, his body going tense and wired as I gripped him, and it took me a moment to realize that some of that tension wasn’t just pleasure.
I softened my touch around him, pulling away slowly to be sure, watching his eyes flutter open and his body lean away.
“Sorry, too much?” I asked, studying him.
“I… Fuck, I don’t even know,” Zach gasped, falling back. I bit my lip and then eased as he gathered me up and pulled me to his chest for another snuggle. “Sorr—”
“Don’t you dare apologize,” I said, grabbing one of his nipples and twisting.
Zach’s shout was garbled with a laugh, a cute little snort escaping in the middle. “No, it’s just... I want to. Like, a lot. And I know it’s dumb and I’m already thoroughly...debauched—”
“Oh, dear,” I choked out through a laugh.
“But, there’s uh...it seems like a bigger deal somehow to be inside someone,” Zach said, eyebrows raising.
“Because it’s the societally constructed marker for losing your virginity,” I said with a shrug.
Zach blinked at me and then nodded slowly. “Yeah, I guess so.”
“You will always be in control of the pace, Zach. You don’t have to apologize or justify why or when you want to stop.” I kissed his chest and then stretched up to kiss his mouth again for good measure.
Zach beamed at me, all golden from the morning sun and flushed from making out. “You’re so good , Deyva. How’d you survive in Hell so long when you’re just…”
Zach trailed off as some of the warm, cozy feeling he’d been giving off withered in my chest. I didn’t want Zach to know how I’d survived.
Kais was right, he was still so set on good and evil.
I’d moved from one category into the other in his mind, and what Zach failed to realize was that I was capable of both, and I’d been heavily sided with evil for a long time.
If I was good now, it had more to do with him and Stavros than my own inclinations, probably.
“Deyva,” Zach said softly.
I offered him a bright smile for reassurance, even if it felt brittle. “Oh, you’ve seen me fight. I’m scrappy.”
Zach just frowned. I kissed his chin and then his lips, before sitting up and patting at his arms as they tightened around my waist, echoing the pinch in my chest.
“I didn’t mean anything,” he started.
“Hey, I’m okay. I’m just going to go grab a shower before Az wakes up and uses all the hot water in the tank,” I said.
Zach’s eyes flicked back and forth over my face, his smile feeble. Cool, now I felt guilty for crashing his good mood too. “Wanna help me make holy water today?”
I frowned, thinking of the way the hellions had been armored in the fight against the holy water. I wasn’t sure I wanted to risk the chance of the holy water not being strong enough because I’d helped make it.
“I’m not sure I’m the girl for that job, but I’ll definitely join you,” I said, grabbing another quick kiss before jumping out of the bed.
“I’ll make us coffee then,” Zach said softly as I hurried from the room.
He was right to stop us. I was getting too tangled up in these men, pretending that the inevitable wasn’t coming.
That Kimaris wouldn’t find a way to get his claws in me again.
And when he did, it was going to hurt so much more to lose my priests.
I needed to be thinking less about how to get in Zach’s pants, and more about how to keep him out of Kimaris’ clutches when the time came.