“This world is fractured, vulnerable,” she said. “How can you not see it? Everyone and everything here are at odds. All the people here are telling themselves a story and they reject anyone or anything that threatens their beliefs. They’d rather cut off strangers, friends, and family than find a way to hold the paradox in their sphere. The Orders are certainly no exception to this.”
“Emma this isn’t you.”
“The Propheros sees truth right? I see the truth now, Calan. The Stygian is wholly and completely connected. There is a unity in the darkness, no shades of grey, just cohesive unity. Isn’t that what we all want? To return to the wholeness that we’ve lost along the way.”
I shook my head. “You’re talking about destroying our world. This isn’t right, you have to see that,” I pleaded.
She traced her fingers along my cheek, her brown eyes searching mine. “I’m doing this for us. Your whole life has been ripped to pieces, first when you were stolen as a baby by the Luxis, then again when your parents found you. When you discovered your whole life was a lie, and then I discovered the secrets of my parents. And all those secrets were an attempt to smooth over the ugliness of the separation from everyone. I’m going to fix that. The world will be possessed by something more beautiful and powerful than anything in our current world.”
My heart pounded in my chest. I didn’t want to hear this. How could I make this madness stop? Longing vibrated in my every cell.
But the creature in front of me was impossibly powerful and would stop at nothing to destroy our world. Somehow had I’d managed to lie to myself until I saw what she did on the television. What she did to Jo. The Orders were right. She had to be stopped, at any cost. Even if that meant obliterating the only person I loved with every fiber of my being. And then, when I tried to stop her, she would kill me without a second thought and very little effort.
It was only a matter of time before we’d try to destroy each other. But it wouldn’t be tonight. Leaning down, I succumbed to my hunger. Kissing her, she met my passion with her own. I roughly dragged her to me until I had her plastered against my body.
We kissed like it was our first or our last time. Nails scraped along my shoulders, while my fingers dug into her backside. She ground against my hard length and I gasped against her mouth. Emma groaned, and shoots of desire went through me until I thought I would explode. Our embrace was like life and death rolled into one chaotic yet fluid motion. I loved her, I hated her.
The suction of Emma’s hot, wet lips against my neck clouded my thoughts.
I was lost. Pulling off her shirt, I then dipped my head to kiss the swell of her breasts. Her nails raked through my hair, urging me on. Pressing my tongue against the lace of her bra until I could feel the stiff peak of her nipple straining against the fabric.
“Calan,” she said, pleading with me in one word for more. Picking her up, cradling her in my arms I strode to the bedroom and threw her on our bed.
Entranced by her body as she roughly shoved her pants off, I was careful not to even glance at closet where I'd discovered the dead woman. If I didn’t look, I wouldn’t remember. I couldn’t be hurt by the truth of what she was and what happened. Instead, I focused on the delicate pink tips of her breasts, the sleek, slightly muscled curve of her stomach, leading to a slight flare of her hips. My eyes came to rest on the glistening patch of auburn-colored hair between her thighs.
Stripping quickly, I covered her body with my own, sliding against her soft, hot skin. Kissing her with such fervor, our teeth clacked against each other and I tasted copper.
She went wild at the taste of my blood, forcing me to flip over so she could be on top. She met my tongue with her own violent thrusts as we battled for dominance. Emma traced her hands down to the V of my hips. Slithering down my body, an in human sheen crossed over her eyes for moment, sending a cold shoot through my body. Before I could push her away, her hot wet mouth closed around my hard cock. I closed my eyes, fisting my hand in her hair, and let out a growl.
Surrendering to the delusion that any of this was okay, I let Emma take me deeper in her mouth, thinking of sinking into her tight, wet center. Just as I reached the verge, Emma released me.
Grabbing onto my shoulders she hoisted herself up, and quickly guided my hard length into her. She grabbed the covers by my head and cried out. I sat up, holding onto her hips to slam them down harder and faster. The stark contrast of pleasure in this moment against the pain of the day had me on the edge again. Emma’s hands found my rear to guide me into the angle that was just right for her. Rocking into her, I was overcome with emotion. One by one I had to dismiss the thoughts and lose myself in her body.
Was this our last time together?
Could I stop loving her?
Could I do what had to be done?
Our hips collided and gyrated into each other over and over until my thoughts melted away, and I was only left with the sensation of the joy and pain of being with Emma like this.
My stomach dropped. Opening my eyes, I found we were hovering two feet off the bed. Emma’s blonde hair cascaded down like a waterfall. Her mouth was open and eyes screwed up tight as she gasped and cried out with every thrust.
Slowly we rotated in the air until we were parallel to the bed, but still in motion. Emma brushed away the hair that had fallen into her face. When her eyes opened and met mine, the blast of power and intensity almost stopped my heart. Desire coiled so tightly in my belly that I wondered my entire body would explode when the tension finally became too much.
If I hadn’t been extending my own powers out, helping to keep us up in the air, she might have overwhelmed me. Instead, the feel of her legs wrapped around me, her tight center, and her eyes drilling up into mine like I was her lifeline. Her nails scratched down my chest as she screamed in orgasm, leaving behind stinging red welts. As soon as her cry died down, I changed angles and redoubled my speed. She peaked again almost instantly. We slammed back into the bed, the impact sending me farther into her than before. I couldn’t take it anymore, allowing myself to join her as she orgasmed a third time, her body shaking around mine.
Once I’d come down from the heights of my pleasure, I curled around Emma, holding her as tightly as possible, our limbs tangled and entwined. She smoothed the back of my hair.
“I don’t want this to end,” I said into her neck, trying to keep the roar of emotions from crashing into me. I would surely drown.
“Shhh,” she said against my temple. “Everything ends, my love.”
We stared into each other’s eyes for what could have been hours. I pretended not to notice her relax her grip on the darkness within as it unfurled from her being, extending out around us. And she pretended to be the Emma I loved so desperately though she was only an imprint on a larger canvas of evil.
This wasn’t how it was supposed to happen. This was not the HEA we had agreed upon, and for a moment I was angrier than I had ever been in my life. I wanted to tear her apart with my bare hands. She didn’t comment when my fingers dug into her flesh with a bruising force. She only held me back tightly.
How dare the world give me a taste of heaven and then rip it away from me and drop me into hell. Maybe I truly was one of the damned, and by forgetting my place as one of the soulless I was paying the price now for trying to lay with an angel.
