13. Luke
Chapter 13
Luke
Loath as he was to leave, Luke had to patrol. He was on the roster to handle sector forty-two tonight, and if he didn’t turn in a report in the morning, there would be questions. If they were going to do this, his routine had to be squeaky clean. They couldn’t afford for anyone to get suspicious.
“So you’re just going to leave me here?” Malachi despaired dramatically from the bed. He was as artful as a marble statue, posed with his hands above his head and the sheet pooled around his hips. “What if I get lonely?” He trailed a hand down his muscular abdomen, toying with the sheet as though he might slip those clever fingers under and take himself in hand.
Luke’s mouth watered. “Mal…”
“I’m tempting you with my wily demonic ways,” Malachi said, his handsome face pouting. “Are you tempted?”
“Very much so,” Luke rasped. “But I have to patrol. If I don’t turn in a report in the morning, Sloan will want to know why. The last thing I want is for him to start asking more questions. ”
Malachi groaned, dropping the act. He sat up, bracing his hands on the mattress behind him. “Fine. I’ll come with you, then.”
Luke hesitated. He’d like nothing more than to have Malachi by his side while he faced down monsters, but… “No. It’s too risky.”
“What?” Malachi said indignantly. “What are you worried about? Demons can’t hurt me, treasure. Hell, I might scare a few of them away.”
“No, not them. Paladins. Sometimes I come across them. They don’t send one patrol out at a time. There are squads all over the city every single night. It’s not unusual for us to cross paths if our sectors are near each other. We can’t be seen together.”
“Oh, come on.” Malachi swept the sheet back and stood, completely naked and utterly casual about it, like he didn’t even notice the way Luke’s hungry gaze trailed down the pale length of him. He draped his arms around Luke’s neck. “You don’t really want to go alone, do you? You know it’d be more palatable with my company.”
Luke groaned, sliding his hands up Malachi’s smooth sides. “You’re a vile tempter.”
He chuckled warmly. “I am.”
He was tempted. He really was. Malachi was a warm and reassuring presence. Having him by his side during a patrol would probably do wonders for his usual anxiety. He curled closer, pressing his lips to Malachi’s neck and kissing a trail down his shoulder. There, he sank his teeth in, and Malachi’s breath hitched in his ear. His head fell back and his body bowed, surrendering to the pain Luke inflicted. He’d never seen anyone respond to pain so beautifully, and he couldn’t resist reaching down, palming Malachi’s hard cock .
“Stay here,” he said, ignoring Malachi’s disapproving growl, “and when I get back, I’ll make it worth your while.”
“Ugh, I hate this,” Malachi grumbled.
Luke raised his head and smiled patiently. “If it’s a paladin you want, this is one of the drawbacks.”
“It’s not the paladin part I’m interested in, treasure, just the you part.”
A bashful smile tugged at Luke’s mouth. “I’ll be back before you know it.”
Malachi scowled. “Be safe. No more scars on my precious human, understand?” He thumped a finger on Luke’s chest.
“I’ll do my best.” He captured that finger and brought it to his lips, giving the knuckle a kiss.
Dragging himself away from Malachi took far more effort than he wanted to admit, but eventually he made his way downstairs and out to his car. Across the parking lot, the sight of Malachi’s cherry red, vintage Mustang filled him with warmth. He liked seeing it there, liked knowing that the halfling himself was right upstairs.
He wanted to rush through his patrol and hurry back home, but that was too dangerous. Sector forty-two wasn’t a cakewalk. He forced himself to drive slowly, coaching himself to focus on the job ahead and not on what awaited him back home.
Sector forty-two was half suburb and half forgotten business area. There was an old mall and several restaurants that went out of business when the nearby highway was put in, and because no business seemed able to bring life back into the area, the buildings sat empty and condemned. Eventually, the city would raze them to the ground to make way for something new, but until then, they were good hiding places for the dark and dangerous .
Luke parked his car just inside the perimeter, in the lot of an abandoned restaurant. For a place as crowded as LA, this sector was always unnaturally devoid of nightlife. Old graffiti decorated the boarded windows of the restaurant, but whoever tagged it was long gone. The paint was faded, and weeds grew up through the cracks in the pavement. It was as though even the innocent civilians subconsciously understood that this place was to be avoided.
Luke strapped his knives to his belt and his sword to his back, then locked his car and set off down the craggy sidewalk. Low, heavy clouds drifted through the sky overhead, illuminated by the light of the city beyond his little pocket of darkness. The streetlights were few and far between here. Whether that was the work of something supernatural or simple neglect from a city that had forgotten them was anyone’s guess. He didn’t turn on his hands-free flashlight yet, but he would need it when he went inside the ancient mall. Things festered in there, and he didn’t know if the other squads ever went inside and cleaned it out.
As he passed an old storefront, the rattling of a metal garbage can caught his attention. He paused, one hand drifting to a knife but not yet drawing it. It was just as likely to be a dog or a homeless person, so he crept forward cautiously. The sound was coming from behind the rusted air conditioning unit. He reached up and clicked his flashlight on, and the beam of light passed over the brick wall.
The noise abruptly stopped. Had his flashlight alerted whatever it was to his presence?
He’d almost made it around the corner of the unit when a dark figure leaped over it with an ear-splitting shriek. He ducked—nearly braining himself on the edge of the unit— and the demonic figure sailed past him, hitting the ground and rushing away.
Luke drew his sword and raced after it. He caught a glimpse of a shadowed form moving quickly across the large parking lot of the mall across the street. It barreled right through one of the big glass windows on the front of the building, and the sound of the shattering glass seemed deafening in the otherwise silent night. Luke cursed under his breath, jogging after it.
If there hadn’t been a monster in the mall before, there was now.
He used the door rather than the broken window. He’d picked the lock ages ago, and he didn’t want to risk getting cut on any of the broken glass still falling from the frame. The darkness inside the old mall was nearly oppressive. There were intermittent skylights in the ceiling, but the clouds outside prevented any moonlight from spilling in. His flashlight felt small and inconsequential to the looming shadows, and dust twinkled in the light’s feeble beam.
Heart pounding, he crept down the wide central hall, the soft soles of his boots quiet on the dusty tile floor. Many of the storefronts were closed up with rolling metal gates, so he disregarded those and trekked forward. He passed empty benches, forgotten silk plant decorations, and faded graffiti on some of the walls.
Near the food court, the ceiling opened up to reveal a second-floor balcony and an enormous skylight overhead. Empty concessions and hollow kitchens lined the circular room. A grand, dry fountain stood proudly in the middle of the room.
Luke’s heart pounded, and a drop of sweat trickled down his back to soak into his shirt. The creature could be hiding anywhere here. His flashlight was barely bright enough to hit the far wall, and the dark space around him felt huge, like floating in the ocean’s depths. There could be monstrous creatures lurking out there in the dark, waiting for him to drift close enough to snap up in their hungry maw.
Tick, tick, tick came a sound from behind him, like claws on tile.
He whirled, but there was nothing there.
His eyes narrowed. He recognized these scare tactics, and he was too smart to fall for it. Spinning hard and fast, he plunged his sword through the air behind him. His arm juddered as it sank into an inky black figure, and sharp teeth opened just shy of his face for a dying bellow as the strength leached from its body. He doubled over as it collapsed, wrenching his sword free and wiping the sweat from his brow.
“Well, I guess that rules out surprising you from behind,” a familiar voice said through the darkness, and Luke’s heart jumped in shock as he turned. His flashlight beamed across Malachi’s smiling face.
“What—are you doing here? How did you get here? Did you follow me?” Luke asked, torn between relief and irritation. He told Malachi it wasn’t safe . How dare his body betray him by being happy to see him?
“I did,” Malachi admitted shamelessly. “I wasn’t going to get in the way. You weren’t even going to know I was here.”
“Then why are you showing yourself now?” Luke asked, glancing around at the darkness warily before sheathing his blade. Surely he or Malachi would notice something trying to sneak up on them, and he didn’t fancy holding it while talking to Malachi. The sword was designed to kill things like him. It made everything Luke said seem like a threat, and that was the last thing he wanted Malachi to feel with him.
Malachi’s face brightened, as though pleased to see him put the weapon away. He stepped closer, his black sneakers near silent on the dusty tile floor.
“I told you, treasure,” he said matter-of-factly. “I’ll always be close by if you need me.” His crimson gaze trailed heat down Luke’s body. “You didn’t really think I’d be content to sit alone in your apartment while you were out here risking your life, did you?”
Luke scuffed his boot on the floor. “I guess not.”
“Besides, I couldn’t resist the opportunity to follow you in here.” His eyes wandered the room. “Humans are strange. You build these hubs of activity, and after a while, you just abandon them. Forget about them and let them fall into disrepair.”
“You were human once,” Luke reminded him.
“Mm.” Malachi reached out, snagging Luke’s belt and drawing him in. “I’d never be so wasteful. Certainly not with things I care about.”
“I don’t think anybody actually cares about a mall—not in the way you’re implying, at least,” he replied with a smile.
“Maybe,” Malachi said loftily.
Luke lowered his voice now that they were face to face, almost close enough to kiss. “Did you follow me in here to be judgmental about malls?”
Malachi grinned, his smile wicked in the dim light of the flashlight, which was now pressed between their chests. “No. I followed you in here to blow you.”
Luke sputtered, his eyes darting around the room. “What— here ?”
“Mm-hm. Come here.” Malachi tugged him over to the fountain and backed him up against the stone edge as he sealed their mouths together. It was wide enough for Luke to sit comfortably on—once he angled the bottom of his sword up to get it out of the way—and then Malachi’s hands were under his shirt, pushing the fabric as far up as the leather strap of the sheath would allow. His mouth trailed down Luke’s neck, licking the sweat from his skin.
“This—can’t be safe,” Luke protested halfheartedly, but his body was already responding despite his brain’s attempts at logic. His legs spread to accommodate Malachi, his hands tugged him desperately closer, his breaths panted from his open mouth. How did Malachi always drive the reason from his head?
“Of course it’s safe,” Malachi admonished, stubbornly slipping a hand under the sheath strap to tease his nipple. Luke arched into it, slipping his hands up the back of Malachi’s shirt. “I wouldn’t do anything to put you in danger. There are no more demons nearby. I’d sense them.”
“You would? You can do that?”
“I can,” he promised. “We’re all alone. No demons, no paladins, just you and me.” One hand dropped to Luke’s cargos, massaging the growing bulge beneath the zipper.
“I… haven’t finished my patrol yet,” Luke said breathlessly, fumbling for his belt. It was a tactical one that looped through the front and then velcroed in place. Ripping it loose seemed loud in the silent room, echoing off the walls around them, and Malachi wasted no time once it was loose, swiftly taking care of the button and zipper and plunging a hand inside. Luke clung to him, burying his moan in Malachi’s collar. He liked being like this, reclining so that Malachi was taller than him, towering over him.
Malachi spat unceremoniously in his hand and then gripped Luke tight, spreading the fluid down his length. The ridges of his fingers around the head were tight and perfect, and Luke panted against his chest, bracing one hand on the stone’s edge beside him and rocking into it.
“Fuck, you’re so pretty when you do that,” Malachi breathed. “Want you to do that into my mouth. Here.” He dropped to his knees, prying Luke’s trousers open wider to bare him to the cool air.
Luke forced himself to still as Malachi licked the flat of his tongue across the head of his cock, taking the bead of precum into his mouth. He suckled teasingly at the tip for a few moments, barely moving his lips past the rim, until Luke realized Malachi was waiting for him to thrust. A shiver of anticipation went through him, already imagining the tight grip of his throat.
“You sure?” he asked, combing his fingers through Malachi’s dark hair.
Malachi moaned eagerly, and Luke’s stomach tightened in response. He wasn’t going to last. His adrenaline was still high. He flexed his hips, rolling his cock down Malachi’s throat. He’d never met anyone who could take him all the way down without gagging, but Malachi had no trouble, taking him to the root and swallowing around him. Luke grunted, throwing his head back in abandon as he found a near-frantic rhythm, his fingers tight on the back of Malachi’s head. He didn’t worry about choking him; Malachi was strong enough to stop him if he wanted. In fact, he was moaning around Luke’s length, fumbling to free himself from his black jeans and take himself in hand. When he did, he rucked his shirt up under his arms, and Luke stared down at him in awe.
He was so perfect, his hair tangled in Luke’s fingers, his wet mouth sealed around his cock. The long, muscled length of his abdomen and his corded, flexing forearm as he stripped his cock in time with Luke’s thrusts. It was all too much. Luke’s loud moans echoed around them as he came, his body seizing as he spilled into the tight squeeze of Malachi’s throat.
“God, Mal, God ,” he groaned.
Malachi’s tongue continued to work against the underside of his softening cock as he brought himself closer to the edge.
“Hey, hey, wait, come up here. Let me,” Luke said. He could think of no better end than the taste of Malachi’s seed on his tongue.
Malachi came off him with a pop that made Luke jerk, chuckling at how oversensitive he was. When Malachi was standing before him, he dragged him in, trailing kisses down his stomach and wasting no time on his cock, which was leaking and as hard as steel under silk. He was already close, and his fingers clenched carefully on Luke’s shoulders. He didn’t press for more the way he’d invited Luke to, knowing Luke couldn’t take him as deep or as hard. It was exactly that kind of attention to Luke’s needs that made him want to make this just as good for Malachi.
He used his hand for what he couldn’t fit in his mouth, with fast and hard strokes like Malachi had been doing to himself, and soon Malachi was hissing in a breath through his teeth, which was all the warning Luke needed. He pulled back, until only the head was in his mouth, and let his cum spill across his tongue, salty and so very Malachi .
Fingers curled through his hair, guiding his head back so Malachi could kiss him. “Damn, you’re good at that. ”
“Not as good as you,” Luke said with a smile, reflected back at him on Malachi’s face.
“I don’t know about that, but I’ve got a couple of supernatural advantages and a few hundred extra years of experience.”
Luke scowled. He knew Malachi was very old and had, of course, had many lovers in the past, but that didn’t mean he liked hearing about them.
“ Oh , baby, I love that jealous look,” Malachi crooned, kissing him again.
“‘M not jealous,” Luke said, probably pointlessly. “You’re mine now.”
Glee crossed Malachi’s face. “You’re damn right I am. And I’ll show you just how much I’m yours when we get back to your apartment later.”
“Again? This wasn’t enough?” But he knew it wasn’t. It wasn’t enough for him, either. He could never get enough of Malachi, and with any luck, that feeling was mutual.
As though he could read Luke’s mind, Malachi wrapped his arms around Luke’s neck and said, “Was it enough for you , treasure?”
“No,” Luke said seriously, sliding his arms around Malachi and drawing him between his legs. “Never.”
He finished his patrol with a pep in his step. Malachi kissed him goodbye before they left the mall—separately—and though Luke didn’t see him again, the knowledge that he was out there somewhere, watching over him, reassured him.
When he got home, there was a familiar red Mustang in the parking lot, and he smiled to himself, parking next to it. He lovingly patted the hood as he passed and darted across the street to the side door.
The apartment was dark save for a dim light in his bedroom that he recognized as his bedside lamp before he’d even rounded the doorway. Malachi was already in bed, shirtless and propped up against the wall—Luke didn’t have a headboard. Luke did a double-take when he realized the halfling was reading Luke’s battered copy of the Holy Bible.
“Why… are you reading that?” Luke asked, shedding his shirt.
“Just wondering what the big deal is,” Malachi replied.
“And?” Luke asked, sitting on the bed to untie his boots.
Malachi set the book on the table with a dismissive air. “It’s very dry. Watching you undress is infinitely more interesting.” He crawled across the bed and curled around Luke’s back. “Although your little comments in the margins were a nice touch.”
Luke heated. He’d had that Bible since he was a teenager. He didn’t even remember what he’d written. “Oh?” he asked carefully.
“You asked some pretty big philosophical questions in those pages, treasure. Why God made the first demons. Why a Hell even exists. Why demons are allowed to walk the Earth, but there’s never been any sighting of angels.”
Boots loosened, Luke toed them off as he gripped Malachi’s wrists and leaned back into the warmth of his naked body. He remembered thinking about some of those things growing up, but he didn’t recall actually writing them down anywhere. They were the questions he’d never been brave enough to ask any of his teachers.
He turned his head to one side, peering at red eyes over his shoulder. “I don’t suppose you could answer any of those?”
Malachi tsked regretfully. “I’m afraid I’m not high enough up the chain for that kind of knowledge. I appreciate the kind of curious mind that thinks to ask them, though.” His fingers threaded up through the back of Luke’s short hair, as though petting the mind in question.
“I guess I had nowhere else to ask them, so I wrote them in there.”
“Your priest or your teachers wouldn’t have tried to answer them?”
“I don’t know. They might’ve tried. It would just be speculation on their part. Maybe I didn’t want to hear that. Or maybe…” Maybe he’d been afraid they wouldn’t answer. Maybe he’d expected them to tell him to stop wondering about such things and go back to his training. Sometimes adults didn’t like being asked questions they didn’t know the answers to.
“Maybe you thought they wouldn’t?” Malachi guessed softly.
Luke swallowed hard, his throat suddenly dry. “Yeah,” he croaked. “Maybe they wouldn’t have liked those questions. Maybe I didn’t want to stand out by asking them.”
He thought back to that moment in the commander’s office, Sloan’s icy voice saying, ‘ don’t disobey me again. I won’t be so lenient next time, no matter how many lives you save. ’ Standing out wasn’t always a good thing.
Malachi kissed his shoulder, hugging him a little tighter.
Luke sighed. “I should shower.”
“It’s almost dawn. You should come to bed and let me get you dirtier.”
Luke chuckled. “You severely overestimate my stamina. We had sex this afternoon, and you blew me during the patrol, and I’ve stayed up all night hunting demons. I need a nap and a meal. And then maybe more sex.”
“Wow,” Malachi deadpanned, “you humans really are fragile.”
He snorted out a laugh. “Stay here and keep the bed warm. I’ll take a quick shower.”
“You don’t want me to join you? I’m something of an expert at washing your back. Very thorough.”
Luke reluctantly stood, abandoning the warmth of Malachi’s embrace for the cold practicality of real life. “Yes, but that wouldn’t make it a quick shower. I’d rather lay in the bed with you, which I can get to faster if you let me rush through the shower.”
“Fine,” Malachi said with a pout and flopped back on the bed. “You’re a real slave-driver, y’know?”
“I know,” Luke drawled. “What a hardship, asking you to wait naked in my bed.”
In the bathroom, he left the door open a crack and undressed hastily while the water warmed up. He checked repeatedly over his shoulder before he slipped behind the shower curtain, certain Malachi would appear in the bathroom despite his acquiescence to wait in the bedroom. He’d come to expect Malachi everywhere he went, like a sinfully hot shadow, but apparently he could be convinced to listen, because Luke soaped up and washed his hair without interruption.
When he emerged in a cloud of steam, scrubbing the towel over his head, Malachi was in the bed, as promised, propped up on a pillow and watching a video on his phone with the volume low.
“You should get a TV in here,” Malachi said conversationally. He didn’t look up but stretched an arm across the bed, inviting Luke closer with a wiggle of his fingers.
The simple domesticity of it had warmth blooming in Luke’s chest. He’d been alone for so long, and a part of him had been resigned to being alone forever. He’d never thought he would know what it was like to share a space like this with another person. Seeing someone waiting for him in the bed, commenting on things they thought the living space needed.
Guilt and a quiet sort of horror filled him at the thought of how closely he’d come to leaving all this behind.
When he didn’t move, Malachi turned his screen off and looked over at him. “Luke? What’s wrong?”
Luke lurched into motion, dropping the towel and sliding under the blankets. He didn’t stop until he was right on top of Malachi, a knee on either side of him and his face in Malachi’s neck.
“Treasure?” The phone clattered to the bedside table, and then Malachi’s arms were around him, tight and possessive and perfect. “What’s wrong? Talk to me.”
“I’m really glad you came over today. I’m glad you didn’t let me push you away. It was stupid.”
“Oh.” It was breathless. Maybe a little disbelieving, and then Malachi’s arms tightened, his body relaxing under Luke’s. “I’m glad, too.”
Luke sighed, inhaling the leather and spice scent on Malachi’s skin. “Can I sleep like this?”
His flat palm swept up and down Luke’s spine in slow, soothing strokes. “Absolutely.”
“‘M not too heavy?” He wriggled a bit, testing, and realized Malachi’s hard length was almost directly pressing against his own. There was no urgent need to chase his pleasure right now, and Malachi didn’t seem bothered, but a little shiver of awareness went through him, anyway. It seemed like Malachi was always hard for him. He liked it.
Malachi chuckled, low and warm. “No, treasure, you’re not too heavy.”
“Good.”
“Fair warning, though,” Malachi added, “there’s a chance I’ll wake up incredibly hard if you’re on top of me like this.” His hands glided down Luke’s sides to grip his buttocks with both hands, just briefly enough to give Luke an idea of what waited in the morning.
“Good to know.” He kissed Malachi’s collar. “Good night, Mal.”
“Night, treasure.”
Luke woke sticky with heat, his naked body plastered against Malachi’s. Based on the way golden sunlight streaked across the floor, it was midmorning. His sleep had been deep and dreamless, and his body was filled with languid, rolling pleasure. His hard length was trapped between their bodies, and it appeared Malachi had been awake for some time, because a slick finger had slipped into Luke’s crease, massaging his hole in slow circles.
“Morning, treasure,” Malachi crooned as Luke stretched, arching his back. That finger pressed inside him, and he keened softly. He’d slept so heavily he felt sore from being in the same position all night, but he couldn’t remember the last time he’d felt so well rested.
“I slept on you all night?” Luke murmured.
“You did.” A second finger squeezed in with the first, and Luke panted, mouthing absently at Malachi’s neck. “Wish I’d thought to do this last night. I could’ve had you wet and ready for me this morning, pushed right in while you were sleeping.”
“God,” he moaned. He couldn’t think of anything better than waking up with Malachi inside him. This was the next best thing, pressed together as close as it was possible to be, taking their pleasure together with lazy strokes. “Do it, get inside me. Want you right now, just like this.”
“You’re still tight.”
“I don’t care.” He reached back, lifting his hips just enough to guide the plump head of Malachi’s hard cock to his hole.
“Okay, okay,” Malachi relented, tugging at him. “Get back down here. I’ll do it.”
Luke chuckled, laying back down and letting Malachi do the work. With his feet planted on the bed and his hands gripping Luke’s ass, he brought their bodies together. His cock tunneled inside and sent burning pleasure skittering up Luke’s spine. He moaned, gripping Malachi’s shoulders from underneath as he found a circling, sinuous rhythm, grinding up and pushing Luke’s hips down to meet his every thrust.
Luke’s thighs quivered with the urge to move, but he fought it, panting in the curve of Malachi’s neck and focusing on keeping his body pliant. His hard cock dragged between their bellies, and he couldn’t stop the way his body writhed in place, hungry for more, faster, harder.
“Mal,” he whimpered, lifting his head to crush their mouths together.
“Oh, fuck, treasure,” Malachi panted against his mouth, “you feel so goddamn good. So tight and hot. Like you were made for me, I swear. ”
“Mm-hm,” Luke agreed, absently nipping at Malachi’s stubbled jaw. Molten heat filled him up. His sac tightened as his orgasm approached. “Oh, I can’t hold on. I’m gonna come.”
“Do it, baby. I want to feel it.” Malachi’s hair was a mess, his red eyes bright in the morning sunlight, gazing up at Luke like he was everything he’d ever wanted, as eager for the sight and feel of Luke’s orgasm as he was for his own.
Luke came with a low, weak whine, his body tensing like a bowstring and then going pliant as wave after wave of pleasure swept through him. Malachi fucked up into him a few more times and stilled, his iron-like grip on Luke’s hips pinning him down while Malachi came inside him.
In the aftermath, neither of them moved. Luke tucked his head into the warm curve of Malachi’s neck. He could go back to sleep again after that.
As though reading his mind, Malachi’s fingers tickled softly up and down his spine as he said, “Sleep, treasure. I’ll be right here when you wake again.”
A sweeter promise, he’d never heard.