Chapter Nine #2
Suz. You know better.”
“I know, I know.” Suzanne gave a cheery wave as she started
toward the door, probably anxious to avoid a lecture. “Sex with humans is bad.
But come on, give me some credit for necrocrotch.”
“Necrocrotch?” A blond male
munching on a bag of chips came out of the kitchen with another male whose long
hair, a couple of shades darker, swung loosely around his shoulders. Both were
dressed in leather, their chests, waists, and hips slung with weapons. “Sweet. I’m
totally borrowing that.”
Lilliana gestured to the two males. “The mouthy one is
Suzanne’s full brother and mentor, Hawkyn. The Fabio wannabe is Cipher. He’s Unfallen.”
“I call them the Unholy Alliance,” Suzanne chirped
affectionately.
Cipher frowned. “Who’s Fabio?”
“He’s a cover model from the––” Lilliana cut off as Cipher
puffed up like a rooster.
“Cover model? Fuck, yeah, I could do that.”
Hawkyn punched his buddy in the
shoulder, and they squabbled good-naturedly as they left, leaving Jedda to
marvel at the moment of normalcy in this incredibly
bizarre place. She would never have guessed that people who lived in an
underworld purgatory could be so...well, happy.
“I’m outta here, too,” Suzanne
said. “My Primori is waiting.”
“Just be careful,” Lilliana called out, but all she got for
her effort was a flip of the middle finger as Suzanne disappeared around the
corner.
“Suzanne seems like an odd name for an angel,” Jedda mused
as she stared after the Memitim.
“Memitim are raised by humans, so
they usually have common human names representative of the time
period and region in which they were raised. Suzanne is relatively
young.”
“Wow.” Jedda shook her head as she stirred honey into her
tea. “Are any of the Memitim your children?”
Even before the question was fully out of her mouth, she
kicked herself for asking it. Lilliana had explained that there were scores of Memitim baby-mamas, but it had only just occurred to Jedda
that Lilliana might be one of them. Or not. Either way, it could be a touchy
subject.
Fortunately, Lilliana didn’t appear to be bothered by the
question. “Azagoth and I don’t have any children
yet.” She dropped a cube of sugar in her tea. “This is
our time, and we’re enjoying it.”
Wow. Jedda hadn’t spent a lot of time around demons or in
the demon realm, but most of what she’d experienced when it came to demons was
pure chaos. These people were focused, smart, and genuine. Reaching for a
sandwich, she shook her head in amazement.
Lilliana’s mouth quirked. “What is it? You look surprised
about something.”
“It’s just that I expected the Grim Reaper’s realm to
be...well, not this.”
“You expected torture and misery and a whole lot of scary.”
Bingo. “I didn’t want to say it out loud, but yes.”
The other woman blew steam off the surface of her tea.
“That’s how it used to be. When I got here, in fact.” She took a sip, and then
she put the cup down with just the slightest tink
against the plate. “Everyone’s content here now, but make no mistake, this is
a hell realm. This is where demon souls and the souls of evil humans are
stored. And my mate can be as evil as anything you’ve seen.”
Jedda swallowed a bite of cucumber sandwich in a painful
gulp. “Can I ask you something? Something personal?”
Lilliana shrugged. “Go for it.”
“On our walk, you said you lived in Heaven and got to
time-travel for a living. You gave up so much to be with Azagoth.
Don’t you ever resent him? Even a little?”
“Never.” The fierceness in Lilliana’s voice made it very
clear that she meant it. “I mean, I get mad at him because he can be a major
asshat sometimes, but I knew what I was getting into. I make him happy, and he
makes me just as happy. I’d sacrifice anything to keep it that way.”
Scuffling noises from out in the hall drew Jedda’s
attention. Hades was striding toward them with a bloody body in his arms, and
it took her a second to realize who it was. When she did, her heart skidded to
a painful halt.
“Razr.” Terror welled in her chest as she jumped up and
darted out into the corridor. Her foot slipped in blood and she nearly went
down, but she caught herself on the wall just before she crashed spectacularly.
“What happened?”
Lilliana grabbed her arm from behind and pulled her around,
preventing her from chasing after. “His punishment. He must have gotten the
signal during his meeting with Azagoth.”
“I hate that,” Jedda yelled. Adrenaline coursed through her
body like a billion tiny, uncut diamonds that abraded every nerve and made her
tremble with rage and helplessness. She knew Razr’s condition wasn’t Lilliana’s
fault. It wasn’t the fault of anyone who lived here. But it was sick and
twisted, and what kind of whack job devised such cruelty anyway? “It’s
bullshit, and dammit, I want to help him. Right fucking now!”
Lilliana inclined her head as if she knew exactly what Jedda
was going through. It didn’t even make any sense. Jedda didn’t know Razr that
well. But she couldn’t fight the pull to him, the one that made her crave him
and want to care for him. To watch over him when he couldn’t do it himself.
She’d always been a bit of a nurturer, but she’d also been a loner, not needing
anyone but herself for survival or even company.
But Razr had challenged everything she’d ever known about
herself. Everything she’d ever been.
“Please,” Jedda said more calmly. “Take me to him.”
Lilliana didn’t argue. In a matter of minutes, Jedda was
inside Razr’s small flat in what Lilliana had called the “instructors’ dorm,”
patching him up the way she had at her own place. Other than a few hisses and
groans when she’d cleaned his wounds, he’d been silent...but awake. His eyes,
dulled by pain, had locked with hers now and then, and each time, she’d had to
blink back tears.
He finally passed out, and she climbed into bed beside him,
wondering where they went from here.
Jedda woke to the prod of a very impressive erection
against her hip. Smiling, she stretched, letting her body slide against Razr’s
as he spooned her from behind.
“You awake?” he whispered into her hair. She shivered at the
feel of his warm breath fanning the back of her neck like a slow caress.
In answer, she reached back and slid her hand between their
bodies to grasp his cock. He gasped, arching into her palm. He was so hot, so
hard, steel and satin and a drop of silken moisture. Gently, she slid her grip
from the broad head to the thick base and back up, letting her fingers memorize
every bump, every ridge, every smooth plane. Each stroke made him churn his
hips as he nuzzled her neck and dropped his arm around her to cup her breast.
Oh, yes. This was what she’d missed when they’d had sex the
other day. Not that she was complaining, but to be able to touch, to play...
The decadence of it made her entire body go liquid with desire.
He pinched her nipple and rolled it between his thumb and
finger, tweaking it until it was so sensitive it felt like it was directly
connected to her core. An orgasm hovered between her thighs and they’d barely
gotten started.
“Jedda...” His voice was so tortured, so…male, and she went
utterly wet.
Twisting, she looked over her shoulder at him, and in the
glow of the nightlight from the bathroom, he was incredible. Passion and raw
hunger lurked in his half-lidded eyes, his full lips parted on panting breaths,
and she suddenly wanted that mouth on her body. Tasting her. Licking her.
Kissing her. Didn’t matter.
As if he could read her mind, he reached over and caught her
chin in his hand to tilt her face toward his. As he
captured her mouth, he flipped her onto her knees so
they were upright, her back against his chest, his erection cradled in the seam
of her ass, and his other hand playing between her legs. He was rough with her,
like before in her bedroom, his tongue thrusting in her mouth, his finger
thrusting in her core.
Her body jerked wildly, chasing what only he could give her.
“I don’t know why I want you so badly,” he murmured as he
tore his mouth away from hers to kiss a blazing path down her neck. “You’re
just so...damned...beautiful. Every time I look at you, I want to be inside
you.”
Now she’d wonder what he was thinking whenever he looked her
way, and she loved it. Half-crazed by his words, she angled her pelvis to give
him better access and cried out as his other hand joined the first, one fucking
her with fingers, the other tweaking her clit.
“You’re so wet,” he murmured. “You’re going to drench me
when you come...”
Pleasure ripped through her, and she came in an explosive
blast that took her by surprise and threw her right out of her ever-loving
mind. She barely noticed how he bent her forward roughly, urgently, and entered
her in a powerful, dominating thrust that banged the headboard into the wall.
She came again before he was fully seated inside her, her
walls pulsating around him, grabbing him.
He ground his hips into her, cursing, shouting, his fingers
scoring her hips.
Bucking against him, she begged for more, demanded
more, and he gave it to her. Lifting her hips so her knees came off the
mattress and limited her control, he drove into her with powerful thrusts,
shoving her toward the headboard with every slap of his thighs against hers.
Pressure built as each wild stroke of molten friction reduced her to a mass of
quivering need.
She screamed into the pillow as the stinging heat of release
tore at her again. His primal shouts joined hers, and his hot jets filled her
even as her breath left her.
As she collapsed onto the mattress, him on top of her, all
she could think was that he was as perfect and rare and special as an expertly
cut, flawless diamond. A girl’s best friend, for sure.
How many girls had considered him a flawless diamond?
Not that it mattered, she supposed, but still, the thought
might as well have been a cold shower.