I climbed back over him, drawing in a hissing breath when his cock slid against my wet core.
The Nephilim darkness flickered in his eyes, taking over the deep blue.
“Yes, just let it happen,” I whispered, pressing my nails into his chest, gently at first, and then harder.
He gripped my hips, forcing me up on my knees. I felt the thick head of his cock push against me, then he pulled down, plunging into me as deep as he would go.
A tiny hint of pain was overwhelmed by the flood of desire for him. I unleashed all my pent-up need for him, riding him hard as the darkness washed over his eyes.
Tascius sat up, cradling me in his lap to kiss me, then rolled over, arching over my body. I wrapped my legs around his waist as he pounded into me, his lips devouring my mouth and moving down over my neck, biting and sucking the whole way.
His growl reverberated in my chest. I gripped a handful of his hair, and his cock hardened, his growl becoming a groan.
I tightened my legs, forcing him deeper inside me, and the pounding of his hard lower stomach against my clit sent waves of tension through my limbs.
Tascius’s hips smoothed into long, even strokes, grinding against me with every thrust until I was shaking. I sank my teeth into his shoulder when the orgasm ripped through me, squeezing my eyes shut so tight I saw stars.
He felt me clamp around him and shuddered, pushing into my pussy with several more hard strokes until he came. His muscles relaxed, his breath heavy as he leaned into me and kissed my mouth hard.
“I fucking missed you,” he said, his voice ragged.
I tangled my fingers in his hair, keeping my legs wrapped around him so he couldn’t pull away. “I fucking missed you more.”
He laughed, but it was a breathless sound. He’d gotten the shit kicked out of him, his bones broken and healed, dropped off the side of Blackchapel, and had his brains fucked out all in one day.
It was no surprise that his eyelids were closing already.
I finally let him go, curling up against his side. “Go to sleep. You’ll still be here, free with me, when you wake up.”
Tascius gave me a sleepy half-smile. “I meant for all of that to last longer.”
“We’ve got forever now.” I watched his eyes flutter closed, his lashes dark against his cheeks, and soon enough his breathing evened and slowed.
I stayed awake for a long time, a strange prickling sensation running over me. There was no reason for it; I had almost everything I wanted here. All that was left was Belial.
Still, I felt like something weighed on me.
I slid out of bed and pulled on a silk dressing gown Vyra had embroidered with life-like poisonous flowers, and stepped to the window. The glimpses of the Nightside sky had darkened a little with what passed for true night here.
The garden was empty, but I still felt that awful sensation of being watched.
I glanced at Tascius, who was still fast asleep in my bed, right where he belonged, and climbed out the window, spreading my wings to drift down to the garden below.
Several fireflies drifted past languidly, and crickets that had quieted when I landed began singing again. The grass was cool and springy under my feet.
I reached out and touched a stand of luminescent lilies as I walked, their glow brightening when I touched them and dimming again when I passed. The further I walked, the stronger the sensation became.
I took a deep breath of jasmine so heady and sweet I could almost taste it, but there was something rotten under it. Something spoiled.
Pushing aside a stand of ferns, I saw what had intruded on my peace.
Several pitch-black, thorny stems pushed out of the loam in a dark corner, their stems catching the light like wet ink. Two of the roses were just buds, but one was in full bloom, its dark petals as black as deepest night. The shining carapaces of carrion beetles scuttled between them.
I knelt next to the unwelcome roses and summoned my magic, relishing the taste of ash and petals.
“I hope you enjoy tormenting me,” I said quietly, watching one of the beetles fall off and plop in the dirt. “I hope you think about this day and night, your little games, fucking with Lucifer. I hope you wring what satisfaction you can out of it.”
Dark flames kindled in my palm, the inverse of light. Shadows that moved oddly danced across the garden wall.
“Because every time you do, I feel a little more determined. I’m going to make you suffer for what you’ve done. To Vyra, to Azazel, to Lucifer. I’m going to pay you back tenfold for all the torment you’ve heaped on them.”
I cupped the rose and the tightly-furled buds, watched the beetles crawl between my fingers.
“You think you’re the king of all evil. You have no fucking idea what I’m going to do to you.”
My shadowy fire ate them to ash, all the way down to the roots.
14
Melisande
Even after burning Satan’s unwelcome gift to ash, I couldn’t sleep. I wandered the garden until the small visible sliver of moon faded, the sky washing from indigo to the violet of day, and sat on a bench in the shade of the willow tree, glaring broodily at the blackened patch of soil every once in a while.
Footsteps pulled me from my darker thoughts. I looked up and saw Tascius striding through the grass, his pants slung low over his hips, hair falling like silver water down his back.
He settled on the bench next to me and linked his hand in mine. “Have you been happier here?”
I draped my legs
