The Road To Hell Part 19

"You're distracted."

"Am not."

"No? You're crying."

I was? s.h.i.t. Dabbing at my leaking eyes, I said, "Sorry. I'm okay now."

"Uh huh."

"I am. Really. Have at it." I threw my arms wide, pasted a grin on my face. "Naked female lies waiting for s.e.xual gratification."

Something unreadable flashed in his golden eyes. "You're a million miles away."

"I am not." I reached up to try and pull him down for a kiss, but he shrugged out of my grip. "Come on. I'm okay. Let me kiss you."

He laughed softly, but his eyes-unholy h.e.l.l, how could a demon have such expressive eyes? "Slow, babes. I keep forgetting you're a human, down to your cute little soul. Of course you're distracted. But I can fix that."

This was such bulls.h.i.t. Just come on and let me kiss you, fill me with your magic and make with the soul-sucking. "I'm telling you, I'm okay."

"Sure you are." His smile took on a wicked edge. "You used to enjoy fantasies with me, help me fine-tune the role play. Let's see how good a role player I really am."

Uh oh. "Daun..."

"Shhh." He reached over, grazed his nail against my forehead.

My eyes rolled back, and I felt myself falling.

I open my eyes with a gasp. Shivering, I sit up, wrapping the comforter around me. Memories bombard me in kamikaze dives-pictures flash in my mind, snapshots of Circe attempting suicide, of Daun dancing with me, of the golden bracelet on my wrist, of Alecto's plea for Meg's rescue. Of Paul, my man, my Cabin Boy and White Knight, telling me things I didn't want to hear.

Of Lillith stealing his soul.

For a moment, I'm convinced it all happened, that Paul is dead and Meg is being tortured somewhere in the bowels of the Earth. My heart shrivels to a dead lump in my chest, and I can't breathe.

But then I hear Paul's gentle snores, like drunken b.u.mblebees. I turn to look, and yes, there he is, fast asleep next to me. In the soft light of dawn peeking its way around the window shade, I can see Paul's face clearly-in sleep, his features are softened from their usual chiseled preciseness. His strong jaw is relaxed, his lips parted, begging for a kiss.

A huge grin breaks across my face. Of course Paul's next to me, sleeping-it's 6:30 in the morning, according to the clock on my nightstand. Where else would we be now, but in bed?

It was a dream. A stupid, freaking nightmare.

I let out a relieved breath, m.u.f.fle a giggle between my fingers. That's it. I'm never eating chocolate before bed again. Not unless the chocolate is dripping down Paul's- "Hon?" Paul's voice, thick with sleep. "What's wrong?"

Just hearing his voice sets my belly fluttering. "Nothing," I say, rolling on top of him to give him a full-body squeeze. The comforter drapes over my shoulders like a cape, and I realize that I'm naked (no real shock) and so is Paul.

That's different. Usually Paul sleeps in his tighty whities, even after a round of Extreme Copulation. He's also fully erect. Maybe he'd been dreaming about me. "I'm just glad to see you," I say, rubbing myself over him. "Feels like you're glad to see me too."

"Mmmm." He opens his eyes, blinks sleepily at me. His lips quirk in an adorable smile. "I'm always glad to see you."

"Flatterer." I reach down to stroke his cheek. The stubble is rough on my fingers, sc.r.a.pes against the palm of my hand. My brain doesn't get that I'm fully awake, because it flashes an image of Paul in Lillith's arms, of his soul on her lips.

Stop that. It was a dream. It's over, it's done.

"Jess? What's wrong, hon? You look like you're about to cry."

I feel the tears in my eyes. Stupid body. Being human was so... leaky. "I'm okay. Just had a bad dream."

"Want to talk about it?"

"I thought I lost you. It's silly." I smile, force the tears away as I trace the outline of his jaw. "You're right here. Everything's okay now."

Something dances across his eyes, a thought too fast to follow. He nudges my black curls away from my eyes as he peers at my face, an odd smile on his lips. "You've never looked at me like this before."

"Like what?"

His hand strokes my cheek. "Like I'm your everything."

"That's like poetry. 'I'm your everything.' I like that." My smile stretches until it eats my face. "And it's true, you know. I'd do anything for you. I'd die for you."

"Oh, I know." He laughs-a soft, almost bitter sound of muted joy, completely out of place with the way he's smiling at me. "Would you give me a good-morning kiss to start my day right?"

Yum. "As my White Knight requests."

Before my lips touch his, he stops me, puts a finger over my mouth. "Babes, are you sure?"

I search his face, looking for the joke. Finally I say, "Of course I'm sure," wondering for a moment why Paul sounded like Daun.

"Well then." He removes his finger from my mouth. "Kiss me."

"If you insist." Smiling, I lean down and plant my lips on his...

... and I'm falling into his kiss, sucked into his mouth and swallowed whole. He opens wider, his tongue thrusting against mine. With that touch, electricity surges through me, crackling, transforming my blood into liquid fire.

Oh, yes-scorch me with pa.s.sion.

Our lips fused together, he rolls me onto my back and straddles me, pinning my hands above my head. Then he moves down, licking my jaw, my neck, stopping to kiss the hollow of my throat before tracing lines along my collarbone with his saliva-slick lips.

My heartbeat quickens as he la.s.ses his way down to my left breast. I feel his breath, hot and moist, on my nipple as he presses his lips around it in an O, teasing it for a moment just before he gives suck. Moaning, I arch my back, pushing myself further into his mouth. I want to wrap my arms around him and thrust myself onto his shaft, but his hands still pin my arms.

"f.u.c.k me," I tell him, my voice a throaty purr. "Please. f.u.c.k me now."

"Soon, babes. First, a little fun. I want to make my succubus squeal."

He nips me, just the slightest graze of his teeth, and my nipple swells to the point of bursting. Then he changes sides, his mouth working on my right nipple until it's just as hard as the left. Writhing beneath him, I struggle to free my arms. I have to hold him, pull him to me and into me, but he won't let me go. I groan, rocking my head from side to side as the heat blossoming in my nipples spreads down to my crotch.

"Paul..."

"Shhh."

With his tongue he traces the outlines of my ribcage, then licks over my navel and the curve of my belly, pausing just above the top of my pubic hair. Releasing my hands, he spreads my legs wider, gently nudging with his fingers and sending gooseb.u.mps up my thighs. I reach down and tangle my fingers in his hair, then I steer him where I want to feel his kiss.

"Here, babes?"

His tongue darts out and licks me, lapping the wetness between my lips, plumbing me. I bite the inside of my cheek to keep from crying out as my body tenses from his attention. So close, sweetie, bless me you're so close...

"Ahh, yes. Right... here."

He finds that magic spot, and there he stays, sucking and wagging his tongue faster and faster until I think I'm going to die.

Oh... unholy h.e.l.l...

Something deep and wild tears through my flesh, and then I'm screaming as every part of me erupts, screaming from joy and unbridled pa.s.sion.

Anything you want, love, I'll give you anything you want, be anyone you want, just please please please do that to me again, love me again, love me- The o.r.g.a.s.m peaks, then slowly ebbs. Aftershocks roll through me, bucking my hips and curling my toes. Paul kisses my s.e.x after every jerk until my body lies still. Grinning like a lovestruck fool, I sigh, content, and my eyes slip closed.

"So," he says, his fingers stroking my thigh, "can a talented demon like me bring you to o.r.g.a.s.m in one sitting?"

"Mmm. Bless me, yes..."

"Good girl. Call my name," he growls, shoving his fingers deep inside of me.

I squeal as I suddenly climax again, rocking me to the core as I shout his name to the deepest level of the Pit-his name, not Paul's, his true name: "Daunuan!"

Wave after wave of unadulterated pleasure breaks over me, crashing on my flesh, stinging my skin with bliss. Daunuan, my mind chimes, the name burning itself into my soul.

Daunuan.

"Now, Jezzie."

He pulls his hand out of me and mounts me, thrusts himself deep inside, deep to the breaking point, then slides out and back in, and again, pumping, faster, faster now, his hands gripping my shoulders and my heart slamming against my chest and my groin is on fire, on fire, oh bless me I'm on fire and he's smiling at me as he f.u.c.ks me, f.u.c.ks me raw and he says, "You're mine."

Yes...

He crushes his pelvis against mine and with a grunt, he explodes inside of me- -and it burns it burns oh help me Sire it's burning me burning me alive- My body jerks beneath him, bucks him off of me as my muscles try to break away from my bones and they're charring and my flesh is on fire and my heart is cooking in my chest and I'm screaming screaming screaming until my tongue blackens and flakes away- Hands grasping my face, holding my head still. A voice, his voice, calling to me: "Jezebel! Jesse, hear me!"

And I do, even with the meat of my body broiling in the juice of my blood, I hear him.

"No pain, Jesse. There is no pain."

Like a circuit being flipped, the agony switches off. I feel the conflagration roaring through me, devouring me, but it's someone else's body.

Thank you, I try to say, but all that comes out is a groan.

"Jesse," he says. "Jezzie. It's okay. I'm here."

I'm sinking down, but his strong arms are holding me, keeping me safe. A finger slides across my brow.

"Sleep, babes. I'll wake you when it's over."

The last thing I feel is the press of his lips on mine, and then his kiss steals my breath and the world disappears.

Chapter 14.

Across the Dimensions From somewhere in the gray nothingness around me: "Jezebel."

The voice resonated within me, reverberated through my soul. I knew that voice-its rich timbre, its profound sadness. Lucifer the Light Bringer. I wanted to speak, to throw myself into His arms, to ask any of the thousands of questions bubbling inside. But I couldn't move. Wrapped in a coc.o.o.n of nothing, I floated.

He said: "Remember, the butcher may be tricked into turning piper."

Sire, I don't understand...

"Listen."

And I did, but instead of His voice, I heard Daun from far away, saying: "Almost got her..."

"Remember," Lucifer said. "Listen."

In the background, closer now, Daun's voice: "Hang on... yes, there she is."

My brow tingled, as if from the brush of the softest of lips, and then something nudged me, hooked me, reeled me in...

My eyelids fluttered, then opened. Everything around me was still gray, but I sensed colors just out of my field of vision. A damp thickness enveloped me like clothing soaked with sweat and s.e.m.e.n; it clung to my limbs, my skin, weighing me down. It was sort of relaxing in a disconcerting way, like floating in a hot tub filled with congealed blood. Not that there was anything weird about bathing in blood... except there was. That sort of thing Just Wasn't Done. That sort of thing was Very Bad. Problem was, I distinctly recalled splashing through fountains of blood, gushing from severed jugulars. I remembered the patter patter patter of the thick liquid slapping against my skin, remembered the sweet aroma of fermenting copper.

Thus the disconcerting feeling.

I pondered, floating there in the gray skein, wondered what I was. Demon. Human. A demonic mortal with a soul, complete with the ability to love someone other than itself, intimate with the concept of sacrifice. I had existed without a soul for four thousand years. Now all that was left of me was a soul. But I still felt like me, whatever that meant-the me who seduced mortals with my body and took them down to h.e.l.l, the me who seduced mortals with my dance and took them for all their money. Me.

The former succubus, the one-time human.

Jezebel.

From somewhere above me, Angel's voice: "I don't understand. How could she have vanished?"

"f.u.c.k if I know." That was Daun again, closer, just beyond the gray veil. "But I've got her now. Come on, Jezebel. Time to shed your skin."

Pressure against my lips, pushing against the coc.o.o.n around me. A ripping sound, then his tongue broke through, red as fire, and thrust into my mouth, found my own tongue, dueled with slashes of flame.

Ooh. Whatever I was, demon or human, the temperature in the hot tub just got lacked up a notch. Sweet...

As the kiss deepened, the gray skein molded itself to me, clung to me as if desperate for purchase in the growing storm of pa.s.sion. Then the mouth attached to mine jerked up, taking me with it. I stretched, stretched, stretched until I reached the breaking point-then snapped like ethereal taffy, burst through the wet grayness, still locked in a fiery kiss.

There really should be a word that combines "whoa" and "yum."

The tongue drew back, the lips pulled away, and the kiss ended with a quiet, anticlimactic pft. Unanch.o.r.ed, I swayed on my feet, eyes closed, feeling so light that angels would have traded in their wings to attach me to their backs. I sensed my limbs but didn't feel the weight of gravity pulling them down.