I observed more closely the place, trying to enter Radcliff’s head. My gaze stuck on the stained glass. I had seen it before inside Radcliff’s club. It was the same scenery but a different type of worship. Club 7 depicted the sins and everything unholy, and it took inspiration from… this place.
“Was he a good man?” I asked.
“To God’s blind eyes, yes.”But not for you.
It was all an illusion.
Everything about Radcliff was.
We were all blind in front of him. We spoke tales, yet no one knew who he truly was.
“Is that why you have that card? The Devil?” The pieces of the puzzle of Radcliff were starting to come together in my mind. “Is it for revenge?”
He parted from me, looming closer to the stained glass. “Not quite. You can’t take revenge on who you are. Your identity.” He chuckled with a sinister laugh. “Perhaps we’re suffering the same torment, Lily.”
I gulped, and he continued his walk across the church. Radcliff, too, wanted to be greater than life. Instead of becoming light, he became death and shadows. Instead of leaving an imprint on Earth, he left one in hell.
“Obsession,” I spoke in a suffocated whisper.
That’s how our universes collided together. His demonic one in quest of an aphrodisiac and mine for a heavenly fragrance. My hope and his inhumanity in an eternal battle.
“You know, I grew up with the sisters of the charity. But I never found my place there.”
Radcliff’s attention was suddenly on me. I clamped my fingers into my flesh. All these years, I’d never confessed. And today, I would. To the Devil and his church of the night.
“I was taught I was never alone, but I always felt lonely. Abandoned somehow.” My voice was creaking and tight. My throat closed as if I was forbidden to speak those words. “I wanted to believe, but all I felt was pain like I’d never matter to anyone. It was a nightmare. I never had something that was only mine, you know? Except for my dream.”
I didn’t know why I was confiding in him something I never dared to bring up to anyone. Probably because he could understand me. I took my pain, my sorrows, my fears, and from there I became water, fighting the deadly fire that was tormenting me.
“I thought I’d resent this kind of place, but I don’t. Like I said—”
“There is beauty in the ugly,” he finished.
And just like that, our ugliness met, forming a strong bond.
And most importantly, I found Radcliff’s light.
A heart that could someday beat again.
Iwas too hot.
The humidity amplified the feeling of the sweat running down my skin. I was trying to catch my breath, which was echoing through the amber room. The crackle of the burning candles, like a hellfire, flared wildly in a sunset landscape.
I’m burning.
My senses on hyperalert, I touched my forehead, wondering if I wasn’t inside a sauna. I closed my eyes, smelling saffron and sandalwood. I was spinning like I had a heavy sunburn. Losing my equilibrium, I pulled open my eyelids.
Desire grew in my belly. The shadow of a man ambled in my direction. Each of his steps made the earth shake, the room narrowing under his presence. My sight was blurry—I had to squint to see him closer.
His body was tinted in a fire color. It displayed well-defined abs with drops of sweat sliding through them to his black trousers. My throat became dry as I admired the epitome of power and strength. I was in turmoil, my gaze stuck on his hunky biceps.
But, in a flash, he vanished into thin air. Or so I thought until I felt a scorching breeze behind me, an invisible presence making each of my cells rattle.
“You’re mine, little witch,” the Devil whispered behind my ear.
Radcliff.
His calloused hand untied the knot of my dress, which fell to the ground and turned to ashes. I was naked when he seized my waist possessively, his lips enchanting my neck. Being unraveled and offered to him, I left my inhibitions behind, and my primal instinct shone. I was falling deeper inside a tornado of lust.
