Touched by Death: (Sins of The Fallen book 3)

“Where do you think you’re going?” she asks as I head for the door.

It slams shut in front of me with such force, a breeze tickles my feathers and threatens to snuff out the sconces on the walls. They soon burn brighter in response to my growing annoyance. Swiveling on my heels, I narrow my eyes on her. She stands beside the bed with her hand outstretched.

“That’s a neat little party trick,” I muse, walking closer. “Manipulating matter. How did you get out of the handcuff?”

“What can I say? My time in exile has been spent well.”

I hum under my breath, stopping just a few feet away and watching her comb her fingers through her dark tresses. “Any other tricks I should know about?”

Her smile takes on a filthy edge, and she saunters up to me with swaying hips and flames that flicker in the depths of her darkening eyes. “You have no idea, Lucifer.”

I clear my throat, debating my next move, when my eyes snag on the vial on the bedside table. Swiping my tongue over my bottom lip, I focus my attention back on her face, noting the perfection of her flawless skin. “I have a question.”

“The mighty Lucifer, the ruler of Hell, admits he’s not ahead of the game for once.” Her taunting smile begs to be punished.

Sidestepping her, I walk up to the bedside table, and with my back to her, finger the small vial. Her gaze burns my neck. “You and Aurelia are inseparable, is that correct? Light and dark. Yin and Yang.”

“Born of the same flame, yes.”

I leave the vial. “That’s interesting.”

A frown mars her forehead when I slowly turn and make my way over to her with slow, measured steps, ensuring her eyes track every ripple of muscle. I know she can sense the shift in the air. Tingles between my shoulder blades spread out in anticipation of what I’m about to do.

My eyes lock with hers. “You’re here to kill me.” It’s not a question. “To seek revenge for what I did to you.”

Genesis is a smart girl, sensing that I’m preying on her. Her lips stay firmly shut, eyes watching. Assessing.

The best part of the hunt is always the stalking.

To toy with the prey while their mind tries frantically to analyze the situation.

“I should give you credit where credit is due. Few angels would have the patience you have. It must have been torture to hide in the shadows all that time, trying to blend in and not let the darkness bleed inside the gates. Watching and waiting for the perfect opportunity to leave Eden.”

A muscle clenches in her jaw. “The Light let me out. It seeks revenge. Everything in the universe has a balance. Your betrayal shifted the scales.”

Leaning in, I whisper in her ear. “On the contrary, we created balance when we left.” I place a kiss on the slender column of her neck. She smells divine, like the night draped in stars. Gripping her left hip, I let my other hand get lost in her hair. “How do you plan on killing me, Genesis?”

“Now that would be telling,” she breathes out, and I don’t miss the slight shake to her voice. While she’s born from the ashes of pure evil, she also inhabits Aurelia’s body—a prone angel from Eden. Innocent and fragile, like a petal, and bound by desires that should have no place in the wicked games of deception that we play. It’s her greatest weakness and my weapon of choice. “Beasts roam the dark woods that line Eden. You should be careful lest you get lost and devoured.” My lips find hers in an explosive kiss. The kind of kiss that threatens to bring a man to his knees. She tastes and feels like heaven—my own elixir.

Like deceit and corruption. A product of my own making. It makes me fucking heady.

Guiding her back, closer to the bed, I inhale her breaths, stealing them from her starving lungs. My fingers tangle in her long, silky locks. I pull sharply, drawing a sharp gasp from her kiss-swollen mouth while fucking it senseless with my tongue. As the backs of her legs connect with the bed, I expose her neck and pepper kisses down the smooth column in a race to the dip at her collarbone, where her pulse flutters wildly. Pausing briefly as my fingers skate around her hip bone to dip between her thighs, I look over her shoulder at the vial on the nightstand.

Anticipation drugs me as I guide her back onto the mattress, lips traveling further south, past her collarbones and down her chest. I kiss the swell of each breast before dragging my tongue from her right to her left and nipping it. The urge to sink my teeth deep into her flesh has my wings stretching out behind me. When my fingers trace her slit through her soaked silk panties, my throbbing, sharp fangs graze my bottom lip.

“Exquisite,” I whisper, looking up at her from beneath my dark lashes while her supple chest rises and falls beneath my smirking mouth.

I never claimed to be good. Never claimed to care much for self-control. So while I have her like this—laid out like a feast—I take advantage and slide her left strap off her shoulder. Hooking my fingers in the low-cut cup of her leather bra, I pull it down and free her tits.

My son will kill me for this, for seeing her this way. But I no longer care. She watches me with that heady, pleading look in her eyes—a look that tells me her century-old grudge and the need for revenge have been momentarily shelved. The threat of Daemon’s fury is as alluring as the scent of Genesis’s arousal.

Her back arches off the mattress when I close my mouth around a nipple and tweak the other with my thumb and finger. I pinch and pull, swirling my tongue. How easy it is to topple her queen. How easily she falls under my spell. Disgust washes over me like a frothing wave at the beach.

Abandoning her peaky nipples, I crawl up her body and grab her slender throat. I bring those supple, kiss-swollen lips that my son has fucked to mine, and whisper, “Do you know what separates you from Aurelia? What makes her different?”

Shaky breaths dance across my lips when she looks up at me through her drunken lust. “I dance with the darkness while she drowns in it.”

My lips peel back in a snarl as I reach for the vial at the table. She’s too lost in the ocean of seduction to notice. Too drunk on the promise of a hard fuck with the Devil himself. “You’re desperate.” In a swift move, I flick the lid off and bring the vial to her plump lips, watching the blue liquid drip onto her tongue. “Aurelia would never give in to me this easily. Maybe you dance with the shadows, but in doing so, you’ve become immune to the dangers that lurk within.”

Her entire body stiffens as the drug takes effect. I secure her wrists and pin her down with my weight to keep her from thrashing. “Meanwhile, the angel, with her fine-tuned instincts, can sense danger a mile away.” A smile of pure evil curves my lips. “Predators like me thrive on the hunt. We like to chase the little rabbit through the dark forest. Nothing entices us more than the sound of their pounding heartbeat and frightened whimpers. The way they throw wild glances behind them to gauge how long they have left until they’re captured and devoured. And with a girl like Aurelia, an inherently innocent angel, there’s always an element of excitement which fragrances the air in the most tantalizing way. It’s a fine line between predator and prey in that moment.”

“What did you give me?” she chokes out through gritted teeth as she convulses beneath me.

Ignoring her question, I let her see the nefarious intent in my eyes. “To catch a hunter like me, the biggest predator in these woods, you’ll need to change your tactics. I’m disappointed, Genesis. I expected more from a conniving whore like you.”

“What. Did. You. Give. Me?”

“Oh, that?” I pick up the empty vial and wiggle it in the air. “It’s a little potion, brewed by a very special angel with some very interesting powers.”

A final few jerks stiffen every muscle in her body before she goes slack, her terrified eyes welling with salty tears. Like a calm ocean, her chest rises and falls with every soft wave that laps against my lips with each trembly exhale. I take a moment to study her now that her powers are dormant, and she poses as much threat as a pathetic human.

I’ve always liked this part the best, knowing I have them under my complete control.

Climbing off the mattress and rising to my feet, I walk over to the wall and grab a length of rope. Genesis’s eyes widen when I reach for a set of gleaming, sharp scissors. I tie her up, shift her over onto her front, and flip her skirt up to expose her smooth ass. Groaning out loud, I squeeze her flesh, torturing myself with the forbidden fruit. “Did my son slap these?”

“What happened to my powers, Lucifer?” The frantic, panicked tone in her voice does wicked things to my body.

I smack her ass before prying her big wings open, pleased that she’s too drugged to fight me. They slump on either side of her, grazing the marble flooring. Running my fingers through her feathers, I contemplate fucking her. My cock wants to bury itself so deep inside her, I see stars for years to come.

For the first time since I can remember, I’m not bored. I’m very fucking entertained for once. The only thing that would make this better would be if it were Aurelia craning her neck to look at me over her shoulder.

But it’s not.

Even so, the fantasy whispers filth in my ear.

“Your powers are gone. For now.”

She whimpers, causing me to frown at the pathetic sound. Something tells me the light to her dark isn’t so fucking pliant. My son would never be so hung up on this female if she showed her fear so easily.

I crave her fight as much as her cunt. The desire to fuck her raw while she fights sings to me across stormy waters. Leaning over her, I tangle my fingers in her hair and pull, whispering, “You’re lucky there’s a fire-bond, or I’d fuck you until you didn’t know your own name anymore. And then, when you’re milking my dick for the hundredth fucking time, I’d slice your throat and watch you bleed out on my sheets.” I nuzzle her neck. “I think I’d like that—to paint my bed red with your blood.”

“What are you gonna do with me?”

Sliding my hand through her hair, down between her shoulder blades, and across her feathers, I reply, “I’m gonna cut your wings.”

“Cut my…?” A shrill cry rips from her lips when I reach for the scissors beside us on the mattress.

Clamping my hand over her mouth, I muffle the sound. My dick jerks inside my suit pants. The fear is my favorite part. That, and the raw panic and the frantic drugged thrashing. “Shh, quiet now.” Sliding the scissors through the feathers, I relish in her feral, muffled screams and attempts to wriggle out from beneath me. Her movements are sluggish, uncoordinated, and weak. “I’m gonna cut your wings and then, when you can’t fly, I’ll fuck you raw before cutting out your tongue. My son never needs to find out it was me who hurt his precious little angel. It’ll be a secret between you and me.”

Her salty tears wet my hand as I line up the scissors. Anticipation quickens my blood. My heart pounds against my ribcage, desperate to break free.

“It won’t hurt. Much.”

Before I have a chance to make the first cut, the door flies open, and Dariana, Ronan, Alaric, and Dmitriy tumble through. They come to a halt when they spot us on the bed. Dariana looks from me to the scissors in my hands and back.

Barging forward, Ronan and Alaric tear me off Genesis and toss me to the floor while Dariana approaches the sobbing angel on the bed. Throwing an uncertain look behind her at Dmitriy, she swallows thickly and flips Genesis’s skirt back down.

“What the fuck are you doing?” Alaric growls, glaring down at me with enough anger to set fire to the place. I can’t help but fucking laugh. They know better than to challenge me; I’m the ruler of Hell, after all.

Watching me climb to my feet, they stay silent. I walk over to the minibar and proceed to pour myself a stiff drink. I need it now that they’ve interrupted the hunt. Every nerve ending in my body buzzes. I’m still high on the adrenaline.

“What were you doing with the scissors?” Dariana asks, making me roll my eyes at her naivety.

Clenching his jaw, Dmitriy answers for me. “He was about to cut her wings.”

“Cut her wings?” Blood draining from her face, Dariana looks from Dmitriy to me before her eyes skate over to the white wings mounted to the wall behind the bed. “You’re a psychopath, Lucifer.”

Unbothered, I shrug as I take another sip. “Normal angels don’t defy God.”

With a look of disgust, she slides her gaze in my direction, but Genesis’s labored breathing steals her attention, and she turns away from me to untie her wings.

“That’s a bad idea,” I mutter, throwing back my whiskey. Not that she listens. Untying the ropes, she peers at Dmitriy beside her. “Do you think it’s Genesis?”

“My father said it is. Aurelia is lost in the shadows.”

“How do we know?” She looks around at the people gathered in the room. “There’s no way of knowing.”

“Of course there is.” I refill my drink and take a long sip before placing the tumbler on a side table as I walk over. Now that my nerves are settling down, I can think straight again. “What makes Aurelia unique? Genesis is the ashes of the shadows that were left behind after I stole her light. She’s different from Aurelia.”

“You talk like you know her,” Alaric sneers, and Ronan claps him on the shoulder to calm him down.

“I don’t know her,” I admit. “Not like you. But I do know my son, and he wouldn’t develop an obsession with someone who lets herself be so easily seduced by me.”

“What’s your point?” Ronan asks, watching me closely. Out of the three of them, he’s the calmest. He observes and calculates.

“Never-fucking-mind that,” Alaric growls, walking up to me and pushing me back a step. “How fucking dare you touch her? You were gonna cut her fucking wings… Then what? Fuck her? Is that why you’d pulled her skirt up over her ass?”

Releasing a blast of fire from my hand, I send him flying across the room, fed up with his fucking attitude. “Do I need to remind you of who I am?” I growl as I stride up to him where he lies crumpled and groaning on the floor beside the desk. “I’m the fucking Devil. Do not fuck with me, or you won’t live to see another day.”

Rushing up to him, Dariana crouches down between his spread legs and holds her hand out placatingly. “He knows. Don’t hurt him.”

Dmitriy and Ronan walk closer, watching the scene unfold with tense muscles and clenched jaws.

With a roll of my shoulders, I let the fire on my palm die out. “What my son seems to forget is that this is my kingdom.” I poke my chest. “I rule Hell. Me. If I want to cut an angel’s wings, I will. It doesn’t matter who she is, or who the fuck has fucked her cunt before I got my hands on her. Not even where my son is concerned. Aurelia lives in my kingdom. Therefore, she’s mine.”

Alaric goes to snarl, but Dariana silences him with a hard stare before turning in my direction again. She’s unable to look me in the eye now that my dominating nature oozes from my pores like heat waves. It makes lesser angels cower. I’m the ultimate alpha and the most powerful fallen angel here in Hell. No one challenges me unless they have a death wish. She knows it, just like every man in the room knows it. They’re blinded by their desire for the angel on my bed.

As I turn to look at Genesis, I do a double take. Silence settles over the room while we stare blankly at the empty sheets. I snap my eyes to the window. It’s open.

It’s fucking open.

Black curtains billow in the breeze, swaying seductively as I stride over and look outside. She’s gone. The clouds part, lighting up the empty lawn and the thick clusters of trees lining the property. “Fuck,” I growl out, slamming my hands down on the windowsill. “FUCK!”

“I don’t understand…” Dari whispers uneasily. “She was tied up.”

“That didn’t stop her back at Daemon’s house,” Ronan points out.

At the mention of my son, I swivel around and cock my head to the side while scanning their cozy little group. “Where is Daemon?”

When they exchange glances, I retrieve the decanter filled with whiskey and throw them a quick look over my shoulder. “If he’s dead, I’ll have you all thrown into a dungeon to rot.” Chuckling under my breath, I reach for a tumbler, pour the whiskey, then place the decanter down. I take a sip and let the burning sensation caress my throat as I take in the somber energy in the room. Genesis got away… It’s laughably tragic. She’s a liability if I ever fucking saw one.

“I don’t have a dungeon. Well…” I shrug. “I do, but that’d be boring. I think I’d much prefer something a little bit more entertaining, like waterboarding and prolonged torture before removing your wings.”

One look at their group, at the sheer horror on their faces, has me chuckling again. I take another sip. “Where’s Daemon?”

“Well,” Dmitriy starts, clearing his throat. “It’s a long story.”