“Few do,” Gadreel said with a shrug. “They don’t belong in our...reality, I guess you’d say. Their lives and deaths happen on another plane of existence. But because they are neutral forces, they can wield the Enoch gems as well as, or better than, any human.”
Jedda stepped forward. “Mr., ah, Gadreel, can I ask why the gems don’t have exclusively ‘good’ vibes surrounding them? They’re not even neutral. They’re hard to pin down, really.”
He inclined his head. “That’s because each contains a small amount of demon blood.”
Well, Razr hadn’t seen that coming. “Why? Angel blood is far more powerful.”
“Because the gems are used to fight demons. How would their energy know the difference between humans and demons without a baseline?” Gadreel’s massive wings folded behind his back, the tips just barely kissing the floor. “Probably something we should have told you.”
“Yeah. Probably.” Razr couldn’t keep the sarcasm out of his voice, and Gadreel shot him a glare. But hey, it could have been worse. A lot worse.
“Come on.” Gadreel waved his hand, erasing the demon and fallen angel remains and sending their souls to Azagoth. The griminions would be disappointed to have their job stolen from them. “I’ll zap the elf back to her realm and take you home.”
Oh, fuck that. Razr took Jedda’s hand and tugged her close, ignoring her little squeak of surprise. “I’m staying.”
Gadreel wheeled around, his coat flapping at his calves. “What do you mean, you’re staying?”
Razr took a deep breath and blurted, “I mean that I’m refusing reinstatement as an angel.”
“What?” Jedda tugged on his hand. “Are you serious?”
“Yeah,” he said, grinning. “I am.”
The archangel stared. “No one refuses angelic reinstatement.”
“Uh, dude.” Razr couldn’t believe Gadreel had said that. He knew of two angels who had refused in the last few years. “It’s happened a lot recently. You guys are breaking rules left and right.”
Gadreel flared his wings again, either out of boredom or irritation. Probably irritation. “Armageddon is nigh.”
Okay, sure, as an angel battling demons, Razr had known that Armageddon would eventually come, and every fight had been considered preparation. Thanks to the Four Horsemen, it had almost happened. But, also thanks to the Horsemen––as well as a few angels and demons––it had been pre-empted. World saved. Humanity rescued. Whether that was a good thing or a bad one had yet to be seen.
“I hate to tell you this,” Razr said as he bent to retrieve Azagoth’s crystal horn, “but we just stopped Armageddon. We’re cool now.”
Gadreel’s eyes glowed so bright that Razr and Jedda stepped back. “I’m talking about Satan. He’s contained, but he’ll be loose soon. We must prepare.”
Jedda’s breath caught, and she let out a strangled squeak. “How soon?”
“Nine hundred and ninety-ish years,” Razr replied as he kicked aside the halberd that had nearly split him in half. “Give or take a couple of years.”
She gave him a you’ve-got-to-be-kidding me look. “You’re alarmed now by something that won’t happen for almost a thousand years?”
“A thousand years is the blink of an eye for angels.” Gadreel turned to Razr. “Now stop being a fool and come with me. The Archangel Council will want to see you.”
Razr tucked the crystal horn in his pocket and stood his ground. “I’m staying here.”
“Razr, no.” Jedda drew him aside, keeping her voice low. “I can’t watch you be tortured over and over. Not for me.”
“Oh, for crying out loud,” Gadreel snapped. “We can reinstate you as an angel and you won’t have to live in Heaven.” He cocked his head and drilled Razr with a look he could only describe as cruel. “But there’s a catch. Naturally.”
“Naturally,” Razr muttered.
“Azagoth likes your work with the Memitim. You will live in Sheoul-gra and continue in his service except when you and Jedda are needed for battles with the Enoch gem. And you’ll continue your search for the remaining gem and jewelry.”
Razr’s heart pounded against his ribs as both excitement and worry squeezed his chest. He didn’t want to lie about Jedda’s sister, but he’d promised to protect her, as well. “What happens when I find them?”
“Since we have the amethyst set, we’ll assign it, and you’ll form another Triad.”
Jedda grinned. “We’ll be like the Avengers.”
Gadreel scowled. “The what?”
“Nothing,” Razr said. “I agree. To everything.”
“Wait.” Jedda pulled Razr aside once again. “What if I don’t agree?”
His heart stopped pounding. Just seized up like an engine. “What are you saying? That you don’t want to be with me?”
“Of course I want to be with you.” She licked her lips and cast a worried look at Gadreel. “But I need to know you want that too. I know you just said you did, but earlier, before the battle... It was good-bye, and you know it.”
He pulled her into a tight embrace, sorry he’d put her through that. “I had to, Jedda. I was afraid for your life. I didn’t want to lead anyone to you.”
“So you really want me?”
“I’ve never wanted anything more.”
Gadreel huffed. “I give up. Come to the Archangel Council on your own. You have forty-eight hours.” He waved his hand, and ecstasy tore through Razr as his body filled with light.
His wings, once strangled by rope, burst from his back in a twenty-foot span of iridescent pearl, and power surged through his veins in a cascade of glorious heat. A zipper-like sensation skittered over his skin as the tattoos meant to add an extra layer of restraint on his angelic powers dematerialized.
He was free.
“Razr,” Jedda whispered in awe as she fingered one silky feather and sent shivers of pleasure through his every nerve ending. “Your wings… They’re beautiful.”
“Razriel,” Gadreel corrected her. Then he disappeared in a flash of light, leaving them alone in the wrecked castle.
“Call me whatever you want,” Razr said as he pulled her against him. “I’ll always answer.”
He felt her smile against his chest, and it warmed him like nothing else ever had. “You have no choice now that we’re bonded.”
Gently, he pressed a kiss into her hair. “I had a choice,” he reminded her. “I chose you.”
Chapter Sixteen
“Well, what do you think of our new home?”
So excited she could hardly contain the happy gemstone tears, Jedda looked around the manor Azagoth had chosen for them on the outskirts of his little city. The decor was exquisite in jewel tones and a mix of ancient Greece and modern London, complete with a MIND THE GAP sign hanging in the kitchen.
But it was the bedroom that had Jedda finally shedding a couple of tiny diamonds.
All of Razr’s hideous burlap robes were gone, replaced by a closet full of new clothes. Even now, he looked absolutely edible in a pair of jeans, an untucked sapphire shirt...and flip-flops. Well, she couldn’t fix everything.
Even better, a bed made to sleep four people comfortably took up half of the room, there was a hot tub in the corner––a gift from Zhubaal and his mate, Vex, both of whom seemed to have an affinity for them––and in another corner was a reading nook full of fiction and nonfiction books about elves and gemstones.
The most fascinating thing, though, was the item lying in the middle of the bed. The note attached to it said simply, Enjoy ~ Azagoth.
Razr scowled and picked it up. “Why would he give us a crystal dildo? You’re like, allergic to quartz or something, right?”
Her cheeks burned so hot she thought she might catch on fire. “Not...exactly.”
“You said you can’t touch it.”
“I said I can’t touch it in public.” She gave him a sheepish grin. “Or if I plan to get anything done.”
He narrowed his eyes at her. “Wh
at are you not telling me?”
Emboldened by his curiosity, she slowly peeled out of her clothes, making him watch as he held the sex toy in a white-knuckled death grip. When she was completely naked, she gestured to him. “Your turn.”
Cursing, he tossed the dildo on the bed and stripped out of his clothes so fast he might have set a record. He stood before her, his massive erection curving upward into his flat belly. Lust rolled off him in a wave of heat, and a rush of liquid desire dampened her core.
Not yet. First, she had to taste him.
She sauntered over, loving how his breath hitched as she went to her knees in front of him. When she looked up at him, her own breath caught at the worship in his expression. He wanted her as badly as she wanted him, and nothing had ever been such a turn-on.
Licking her lips, she gripped his shaft with one hand and cradled his sac with the other. He moaned when she closed her mouth over him and took him deep.
“Jedda...”
Desire curled in her gut at the sound of her name, spoken in a breathy, needy rasp. Sucking at the tip of his cock, she pumped her fist, drawing a pleasured hiss from him and a sigh of anticipation from her. His balls swelled as she rolled them between her fingers, and with each flick of her tongue on the underside of his shaft, he jerked and let out whispered curses.
She loved the power she had over him in this moment. She could do anything she wanted to him, and he’d beg her for it.
She eyed the dildo on the bed and…nah. Not now. But soon. They’d play with it, and he’d let her put it anywhere she wanted to.
“Don’t...stop...” His guttural voice told her he was on the edge, was right there, and sure enough, he came with a roar, his hips bucking so hard she had to grip them to steady herself. He tasted like honey and sunshine, which was a seriously pleasant surprise after dating only human men.
Angels were pretty awesome, she decided.
She gave him a final lick, from the base of his shaft to the top, and then she climbed onto the bed, the dildo within reach. “So,” she said saucily, “wanna see what happens when I touch quartz crystal?”
“Oh, yeah.” Razr’s half-lidded eyes took her in as she palmed the penis-sized dildo.
Instant ecstasy washed over her, and she moaned as the vibrations inherent to quartz filled her body. This was why gem elves avoided it...except in private. Contact in public could end in humiliation and sometimes, she’d heard, arrest.
Razr joined her on the mattress, and when he touched her, he too was swept up in the seismic eroticism.
“Ah...damn,” he choked out. “This is like... It’s like...”
“Like being held at the verge of orgasm,” she finished hoarsely. “Just wait...until I show you...all the things...we can...do with...it.” She tossed the dildo aside, needing to catch her breath, but more importantly, needing to be with him. There was time for toys and exploration later.
Panting, she pulled him to her and kissed him as he settled his heavy body on top of her.
“Be with me,” she whispered.
“Always.” He spread her legs and kissed his way down her neck, her breasts, her belly, nipping and licking, teasing her so brutally that she was trembling by the time he dipped his head and kissed her center.
“Yes,” she moaned, but he denied her.
He nipped her inner thigh and then nuzzled her sex, his fingers feathering light strokes in the crease of her thigh. Desperate for more, she jammed her fingers through his hair and guided him where she needed him to be.
He chuckled softly, but he didn’t spend any more time torturing her. Easing his fingers inward, he penetrated her with one as he flicked the tip of his tongue across her clit. She whimpered with need, bucking when he did it again.
Fiery lashes of pleasure whipped through her as he tongued her and pumped his fingers in her slick core, and with every second that passed, the fever inside her built.
“You taste like cinnamon.” His voice was rough. So male. She loved it. “I’m going to have you for dessert every night.”
On that promise, he replaced his fingers with his tongue, lapping at her hungrily, his masculine purr of need vibrating her from her core to her breasts, setting her off like an erotic bomb.
She panted through the detonation, the orgasm shattering her, emotionally and physically. She didn’t even have a chance to recover before he mounted her, impaling her with his hard shaft and setting her off again.
He rocked against her, every stroke of his cock hitting a spot deep inside that kept her riding the wave of ecstasy that went on and on. How was this even possible? Her thoughts were a blur as he kissed her deeply and surged into her like they were riding waves in a stormy sea.
His wings erupted from his back and came down around them both, sealing them in a cocoon of safety and sensation. And as he shouted in his own climax, she joined him. Loudly. Breathlessly.
This was power. Not the kind that came from gemstones or spells or Heaven.
This power came from love, and it was the strongest of them all.
* * * *
Also from 1001 Dark Nights and Larissa Ione, discover Azagoth, Hades, and Z.
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Even in the fathomless depths of the underworld and the bleak chambers of a damaged heart, the bonds of love can heal…or destroy.
He holds the ability to annihilate souls in the palm of his hand. He commands the respect of the most dangerous of demons and the most powerful of angels. He can seduce and dominate any female he wants with a mere look. But for all Azagoth’s power, he’s bound by shackles of his own making, and only an angel with a secret holds the key to his release.
She’s an angel with the extraordinary ability to travel through time and space. An angel with a tormented past she can’t escape. And when Lilliana is sent to Azagoth’s underworld realm, she finds that her past isn’t all she can’t escape. For the irresistibly sexy fallen angel known as Azagoth is also known as the Grim Reaper, and when he claims a soul, it’s forever…
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Hades: A Demonica Underworld Novella by Larissa Ione, Now Available
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A fallen angel with a mean streak and a Mohawk, Hades has spent thousands of years serving as Jailor of the Underworld. The souls he guards are as evil as they come, but few dare to cross him. All of that changes when a sexy fallen angel infiltrates his prison and unintentionally starts a riot. It’s easy enough to quell an uprising, but for the first time, Hades is torn between delivering justice — or bestowing mercy — on the beautiful female who could be his salvation…or his undoing.