Chapter 9 – Sariel
“W hy are you brooding alone in the dark?”
I smile at the Nephilim’s teasing question. We’ve been camping along the length of The Lethe for weeks now, searching the canyons and caves for signs of the rift, warding off nearly nightly attacks from lesser demons. I rather miss having the firecracker in my arms in the air all day long, or watching the angel’s discomfort when it was his turn to fly with her.
I’m sitting on a jutting rock overlooking the river’s rapids, one foot dangling off the edge. The perfect position for brooding. I snicker to myself. The girl’s humor has been a bright side of this mission. Pissing Ithuriel off has lost its luster somewhat, and I didn’t expect this to take so long. As a result, I’ve been cranky and, yes, brooding.
Jessica sits down and scootches over to the ledge. “Wow,” she breathes. The beauty of Lethe hasn’t worn off on her. It is a majestic place, as far as Hell goes, and even has a facsimile of a sun and moon, of the daily light cycle. A hazy ball of light in the sky that’s yellow during the day and pitch black at night. “So, why are you here alone? You’re usually trying to get under someone’s skin at this time of the day.”
I huff and roll my eyes. “Even chaotic servants of Hell like a bit of peace and quiet here and there, poppet.”
“Mhm,” she hums. “It wasn’t Ithuriel taking his armor off to fix the tear in his doublet?”
I eye the flush on her rosy cheeks. Someone else liked the angel showing some ab muscle. “Do I look like someone who would leave when a bit of skin is shown?”
Jess shakes her head, some of the rosy-blonde curls dancing around her face. “I think it’s more of whose skin it is that bothers you. Why are you so afraid of Itha?”
My brows lift and I scoff. “Me, afraid of him?”
“You are. Something about him scares you.”
“Honey, I didn’t even know there were things to be scared of until Armaros died.” The mortal’s mouth closes with an audible click.
“I’m sorry about that,” she whispers.
“Yeah. I am too.”
I pick up a loose rock and throw it into the water. It sails through the air until the dark and mist swallow it far below us. She’s gearing up to say something else on a topic I don’t want to discuss so I beat her to it.
“So, did you expect the eight-pack?” I wiggle my eyebrows as a gust of air leaves between her now-parted lips.
She fights with herself for a moment before giving in. “Fuuck.” She shakes her head. “I didn’t know what to expect from all that armor. The hardest part was not wolf-whistling.” She giggles quietly. I look over my shoulder at the tense-looking angel and my lips stretch into a grin.
“Don’t you wish you could run your hand down those juicy slabs of muscle? Tickle that adorable silver fuzz?” I have to suppress laughter at the way the little human stuffs her fist into her mouth.
“He smells so good, too,” she speaks into her hand. “How in Hell can you still smell that good after weeks of field-washing?”
“I wonder…” I purposefully trail off.
She bites. “What?”
“Oh, nothing. Just wondering if he took his armor off in front of us today because he wanted us to watch. The other times, he’s been hiding away like a nun.” I pitch my voice conspiratorially low, fully aware the angel is listening in and hearing everything. “Maybe he wanted us to see him?”
Jessica bites her plump lower lip and groans. “Stop it, you evil creature, I haven’t gotten off in weeks.”
I’m taken aback by her candor, delighted by it. “Lies,” I whisper in her ear. “You come in your sleep.” Back at the camp, Ithuriel drops something, loud enough for me to hear it, but not the now-very-red mortal.
“Does he know?” she whispers.
He does now. “Nope. Our little secret.” I wink at her. She looks embarrassed enough to be on the verge of tears. I love it.
Jutting her chin out, she tries to act unaffected. “Well, what about you?”
I eye her with narrowed eyes. “What about me?”
“When’s the last time you got off?”
Oh-ho-ho! This little mouse has balls on her!
I lean in closer. “Maybe that’s why I moved over here,” I whisper next to her ear. “For some alone time.” She’s chewing on her lip again and I reach out to free the captured flesh. “You’ll hurt yourself,” I murmur.
She clears her throat and wipes her hands against her leathers. “I better leave you be then.”
As she goes to stand up, I place a hand on top of her leg. “Or you can stay.”
“Stay?”
“Stay,” I breathe and lift my other hand, waving my fingers in front of her face. “We could take care of ourselves… together?”
Her eyes widen to a comical degree and she quickly looks behind her to see if Ithuriel is still at a safe distance – to her notions – in the camp. “I don’t think that’s a good idea, Sariel.”
“Thought you were going to call me Sar?” I use my thumb to rub soothing circles on her thigh.
“He could hear us…”
I scoff. “Look how far away he is.” Nowhere near far enough. “He’s not going to hear a thing.” He’s going to hear everything.
Her eyes drop to my crotch, where my cock’s trying to burst through armor-thick leather pants. At the sight of the sizeable bulge there, her throat bobs on a swallow. “Fuck. Okay,” she acquiesces nearly soundlessly.
Yes! I start tugging on the laces bravely holding my pants closed against the onslaught of my erection.
Thud.
Ithuriel’s greatsword skewers into the ground not a few feet from the mortal who jumps up with a shriek. I’m gonna kill him.
“Apologies!” he shouts, jogging toward his weapon. “I believed I saw a demon stalking to where you were sitting.”
“And decided to throw your melee weapon at it?” I’m fastening my leathers back up, not hiding what I’m doing, much to the mortal’s dismay. The look on her face makes the interruption almost worth it. Almost.
The angel defends his actions: “I wasn’t sure if I would arrive in time to prevent Jessica from getting hurt.”
“Right,” I drawl. “And I’d let her get hurt?”
He gives me a scathing look. “There are many ways for her to get hurt with you.”
Yeah. Like she could come so hard it hurts. For fuck’s sake.
“Excuse me, boys,” Jess mutters, speed-walking to her bedroll in the distance.
Once she’s out of earshot, I glare at the intruder. “You could’ve waited ten minutes.”
“I cannot believe your audacity, Sariel!”
I roll my eyes at the sanctimonious fool. “I wasn’t even going to fuck her, Itha. A little mutual masturbation never hurt anybody.”
It’s the angel’s turn to blush and I could swear I see steam coming out of his ears. “You are profane!” he hisses.
“You can offer your ass up if you’re so worried about the mortal’s virtue.”
I realize I’ve stepped too far even before he raises his fist to unleash a punch that would shatter a human’s skull into a million pieces. I manage to turn my head enough that the blow is glancing, but it still hurts like a motherfucker.
“Fuck!” I roar, jumping back.
“For weeks I’ve been listening to the dreck coming out of your vile mouth,” he seethes. “It ends now.”
He advances as I step back, throwing himself at me to cover the distance. We land with a thud and roll across the grass. Ithuriel’s furious punches land against any part of me he can reach as I push at his face. “Get off me!” I growl.
“You’re an abomination!”
“Maybe if you bothered to talk to me after I left Heaven I wouldn’t be!”
He rears back with incredulity. “You’re blaming me for what you’ve become?”
I bare my teeth at him. “I blame you for everything !” I roar. “If it wasn’t for you, I’d still be in Heaven!”
The angel shakes his head and I wrap my legs around his hips to roll us over. Once I’m on top I push his shoulders down into the ground. “If you hate me so much, why not just kill me, Fallen?” he asks.
I lean down until less than an inch separates our faces. “Because you can only feel pain while you’re alive,” I hiss against his lips.
His eyes widen with shock and sorrow. My anger dissipates at the wounded look in them. The beautiful gray orbs I dreamed about for centuries. My panting breaths turn harsher as a terrible pain threatens to split my heart into two.
“Sar…” he whispers, his breath warm against my lips and I moan at the sensation. It’s then I notice he’s still not wearing his plate armor and my pelvis is nestled against the welcoming softness of his body, not cold steel. My erection returns with a vengeance.
Shuddering, I start grinding against him. “Itha,” I moan his name. His eyes dart as I rub our groins together, the friction sending plumes of flame down my back and into my balls. I’m rubbing my dick against my beautiful angel.
“Shit!” I hiss as my back arches, cum exploding out of my cockhead and into my leathers. “Shit, shit, shit,” I whisper at every consecutive pulse, shaking atop my oldest friend.
When I open my eyes, I see pity on his pale face and my stomach turns. I shove up to my feet. What the fuck did I just do? What did he make me do? This is not how it’s supposed to go, I’m not the one meant to lose control. It’s all his fucking fault.
“Fuck you, Ithuriel,” I push through gritted teeth.
Running my hand over my hair, I turn to our camp. Jessica is standing a few paces away, her mouth slack in shock. She clearly had a front-row seat to everything.
Great. Just great.