Page 30 of A Wicked Dance of Obsidian and Light (Echoes of Darkness #1)

“S o, how exactly are we going to do this?” I ask from the passenger seat of Kaiden’s Escalade, digging my fingers in the smooth leather as the usual vengeful anxiety slowly ebbs away. The panic still clings to me, though, leaving behind an unpleasant, ashy taste in the back of my throat.

Kaiden’s gaze flits to mine briefly. With his right hand, he takes out a syringe from the inside pocket of his suit jacket, shows it to me, and then shoves it back in. “This type of party only happens twice a year, and Adramelech never misses it, so we’re going to find him and drug him with something special prepared by Malik. Everything is arranged already. I have someone on the inside working for me.”

“What do you know about succubae and incubi demons?” he asks after a few beats of silence.

“I know they embody beautiful women and men and that they exude powerful pheromones that make people go crazy with lust and hump each other’s bones at the snap of their fingers. I also know that the pheromones enhance sexual experiences, and the more people in the room fucking, the better because that’s how succubae and incubi feed: from the desire, lust, and sex.”

Kaiden nods. “The party we’re going to might seem…wild, and it’s going to be filled with dark creatures that don’t pertain to the Conclave along with some very high profile humans, so keep an open mind and don’t drink anything there, okay?”

“’Kay,’ I say. “Do you think he knows something?”

“He’s Lucifer’s right-hand man. If someone knows something, it’s him.”

“But don’t you think Lucifer’s going to be furious? Do you really want to risk angering him? I mean, c’mon…”

“Well, if Lucifer wanted to protect his chancellor, he should have taken him with him the moment he went into hiding. Besides, what he doesn’t know can’t hurt him.”

Kaiden turns right on what seems to be a private road, pushes the brake, and stops the car on the side of the road. “Can you pass me the box from the backseat?”

Turning around, I grab the black velvet box and place it in Kaiden’s awaiting palm.

“Put this on.” He opens it and hands me a black masquerade mask with intricate gold embossing.

Kaiden takes out a more masculine version of the mask he gave me. We both put them on, and I pull down the sun visor to look in the mirror. The mask is stunning. It covers half of my face and leaves a portion of my nose out, along with my lips.

He eases his foot on the break and pulls back onto the road, driving until we approach an opulent two-story mansion that exudes wealth and sophistication in every meticulously crafted detail. As the car idles on the gravel driveway, I take in the patterned gold-hued stone and the massive windows, framed by delicate tracery that punctuates the facade at regular intervals. Through the glass, I can see glimpses of the twinkling chandeliers hanging from vaulted ceilings. In my mind, a dungeon would seem more fitting for a succubus party than this, a house that looks straight out of The Great Gatsby .

A valet opens the door on my side. At the same time, Kaiden gets out and rounds the hood before placing the keys, along with some bills, in his palm. He then bends to whisper something in the valet’s ear. With a toothless smile, the valet nods and scurries away.

Pocketing the ticket he received from the valet, Kaiden offers me a hand to help me out of the car. When I step next to him, he places the hand at the small of my back, guiding me to the grand entrance of the mansion. The warmth of his touch singes my skin as shivers roll down my spine.

“Kaiden,” a gorgeous woman with East Asian features says in greeting. The seductive tone in her voice pulls my attention from the foyer’s sweeping staircase flanked by two ornate balustrades. A mask covers the right side of her face, and her coal-black hair is cut short in a flattering bob. If I thought my dress was provocative, hers is just a sheer crimson chiffon over lacy underwear that doesn’t leave anything to the imagination. Good for her; she looks amazing. I wish I were as confident as her to wear something like this in public.

Kaiden lifts his chin. “Maeve.”

Maeve gives him a come-hither smile that clearly says they’ve fucked at some point, her eyes drinking him in ravenously, and the unexpected pang of jealousy spreads through my veins like acid. When she turns to me, she gives me a withering glare.

“Oh, I see you brought a pet. I thought you were coming alone.” Her nose crinkles in blatant disgust, a slight accusation in her tone. “You usually have better taste,” she deadpans.

She did not just say that. The fucking bitch.

My fingers curl into fists at my sides, and I bite the inside of my cheek hard, almost drawing blood in order to stop myself from punching her.

“If I ever give a flying fuck about your opinion, Maeve, you’ll know,” Kaiden clips out, his tone dripping with ice. “Now, let’s get this over with.”

Maeve’s nostrils flare as she approaches Kaiden. She starts to pat him down for weapons, and I realize she must be the person he has on the inside because we wouldn’t be allowed to enter with the syringe in his breast pocket. Kaiden said we weren’t even allowed with phones inside, so we left them in the car.

Maeve is making a show out of it, touching him with languid strokes and bending seductively while pushing her tits and ass out as her hands move upwards on the inside of Kaiden’s legs. She stops a second too long when she reaches his crotch and palms him seductively while biting her lower lip.

I see red, vibrating with a blistering rage as I hold myself back from grabbing her wrist and snapping it in two. Blood pools in my palms where my nails are biting into my skin. I would rather let a hellhound skin me alive and watch it eat my organs than sit through another second of this.

I chance a glance at Kaiden, who couldn’t look more bored even if he tried to. He doesn’t even make eye contact with Maeve—his gaze fixated in front of him with a blank stare while waiting for her to finish making a fool out of herself. That manages to calm me down a bit, but only by a fraction. I still want to gouge her eyes out.

She finally moves to me and starts patting me down, her lips twisted in a mix of contempt and revulsion. When she finishes, I shoulder-check her and, not so accidentally, step on her toes with my heel as hard as I can. Oopsie. I know it’s petty, but I don’t care. I do surprise myself though; I’ve never acted like this before, not even when Veronica was blatantly throwing herself at Noah. She cusses me out under her breath, and I can feel her eyes drilling holes in the back of my head as I make my way to Kaiden, who’s waiting for me near a woman serving champagne.

The busty blonde, wearing nothing more than a lace teddy, hands us each a flute from a tray, and we take them. Kaiden offers me his elbow, and I wrap my fingers around it as we round the corner, reaching a massive door.

“Welcome to the place where your dirtiest fantasies come alive,” a brown-skinned attractive man clad only in a satin pair of boxers says before opening the door with a flourish.

As soon as we step through the threshold, the arousal hits me like a ton of bricks, making my clit pulse with need to the beat of the seductive song reverberating from the walls and high ceiling. The air is a heady mix of musk and desire.

The room is the size of a ballroom, with red velvet curtains hanging above the windows that sweep the gleaming floor and are scarcely lit by flickering candles. Plush velvet couches, the same color as the curtains, are scattered on either side of the room, occupied by people engaged in various forms of sexual interlude.

We pass a man sucking another man’s cock lounging on one of the couches. I cringe hard at the loud slurping noises as heat travels from the bottom of my feet all the way to the tips of my ears. I quickly avert my eyes, but I’m hit with another sexual scene as someone dressed from head to toe in a latex suit eats out a woman sprawled on the table in front of the couch. Kaiden takes the champagne flute I’m holding and bends slightly before placing it alongside his on the table right next to them, unfazed.

Everyone is wearing some form of mask to conceal their identity. I can make out a few possessed humans, though, the ethereal sight alerting me of their tainted aura. Unconsciously, I reach for my onyx choker, and my skin itches with the need to free them from the possession. I shove the urge down because it would only ruin what we came here to do, and it would be pointless; I don’t have any weapons on me anyway.

The atmosphere is heavy with sexual tension, moans, and sounds of pleasure breaking through the music. Servers wearing only lacy teddies or nothing at all but masks weave their way through the crowd, droning trays filled with different colorful drinks. There’s also a makeshift dance floor bustling with gyrating bodies dancing lasciviously to the beat. Hands and lips move freely as limbs tangle together in a symphony of carnal urgency, their expressions a mix of bliss and euphoria.

A fine sheen of perspiration covers my skin, and my pulse is racing. This party is crazy. It’s like I’m trapped in a porno movie set, and like a bystander witnessing a car crash, I can’t look away. I know it’s the succubus and incubus pheromones causing all this, but coupled with the maddening attraction I feel every time I’m near Kaiden, I’m on the verge of combusting any second now.

Kaiden unexpectedly takes my hand in his and pulls me to the dance floor, slicing through the crowd of moving bodies. His touch burns through me all the way to the tips of my hair. The simple gesture seems so intimate and natural it makes me blush more fiercely than witnessing all the people blatantly fucking around us.

“What are you doing?” I ask, almost stumbling on my feet.

His lips twitch with the ghost of a smile. “We need to kill some time.”

I swallow. Hard. “Can’t we, like, stand in a corner and wait?”

“We need to blend in.” And with that, he whirls me around in a swift, experienced move so quickly I lose my breath as he plasters his front to my back, one of his arms banded across my midriff and his other hand at the curve of my hip. I can feel every inch of his hard-as-steel body pressing into my back, and the temperature in the room suddenly gets a hundred degrees hotter as he starts to move his hips to the beat of the music.

Fuck me.

He’s good. Really good.

It should be illegal for someone who looks like Kaiden to also be able to dance like this. Instinctively I lift my arms and snake them around the nape of his neck, starting to gyrate my hips and rub my ass against his hard length. I feel as though I’ve been thrust into a wicked dance of obsidian and light. And no one bothered to teach me the choreography. The problem is…I don’t want it to finish, either. I could lose myself forever in this moment.

Everything seems to fade around us, and it’s only me and Kaiden wrapped in our own little bubble. His touch sets me ablaze like a match thrown over a gasoline-soaked floor. I feel breathless, dizzy, high on his intoxicating smell, and so turned on I can barely see straight. Wetness pools at my core and leaks down the inside of my thighs, and I’m reminded of the fact that I’m not wearing any underwear.

“Mmm, angel. You feel so fucking good against me,” Kaiden rasps in my ear, and his hot breath, along with the tendrils of hair framing his face, tickle the side of my neck.

Suddenly, Kaiden twirls me to face him, holding me against his chest while his fingers splay at the small of my back possessively and we sway to the music. My breath hitches in my throat when his hold tightens, pressing my body impossibly closer to his. His other hand comes up and cradles my jaw as his burning gaze sweeps my face.

“You’re radiant, Iris I—” He clears his throat. The emotion blazing in his eyes like hot embers surprises me, so at odds with his usual quiet stoicism. Golden flecks swirl in the obsidian abyss. “I feel like I can’t fucking breathe when I look at you. You shine brighter than the sun. I know I’m not worthy…but I want to bathe in your light.” He pauses. Shakes his head. Then his eyebrows drop low. “No, not just want; I need to kiss you more than I need my next breath. I need your light to burn me from the inside out, and if only ashes are all that’s left of me, then it will all be worth it because at least I got a taste of Heaven.” His voice is gravel wrapped in satin as his gaze zeros in on my lips.

“I—we—I don’t want you. I—I can’t. We can’t,” I croak, stumbling all over my words, trying to hold on to the little thread of sanity keeping me together. After all the time we spent together, I’m afraid that if he kisses me now…I’ll never be able to come back from it. That without meaning to, I will hand him a tiny part of my soul that I’ll never be able to retrieve. He’s a demon and everything I should stay away from, but damn it, if I’m not two seconds away from throwing all caution to the wind. “I—”

I don’t get to finish my sentence because, in the next second, Kaiden’s lips slam over mine in a searing kiss.

Time stops.

And that tiny little thread?

It snaps. It catches fire. It unravels with the speed of light.

Every part of my body comes alive as he owns my mouth with sure, languid strokes that I can feel all the way in between my legs. The kiss starts innocent and soft but immediately transforms into the most intense, possessive kiss I have ever experienced. Tongues battling for control and teeth gnashing. Sinking my fingers into his hair, I pull him closer with a desperate moan as my nails bite into his scalp.

He swallows the sound, kissing me so thoroughly, as if he can’t get enough of me, like he wants to brand me forever with the intensity of our shared connection and leave me ruined for every other kiss I’m going to have in the future because nothing can compare to this feeling. Nothing can even come close.

People are fucking all around us, but somehow the way we devour each other with undisguised hunger, our chests bouncing in sync, our hearts beating at the same delirious rhythm seems so much…more. I’m losing myself in him. I’m drowning. He’s pulling me down, down, down, in the unrelenting currents, and the thing is…I never want to come back for air.

Time seems to have lost all meaning, and I don’t know which way is up when Kaiden slows down the kiss. His teeth sink into my lower lip with a little nip before he pulls away to trace the contour of my lips reverently with his thumb.

“If you ever want to kill me, Iris, all you have to do is deny me of your lips or offer them to another man,” he says gruffly, and I’m struck stupid by the fire in Kaiden’s eyes. No one has ever looked at me like this before, with so much intensity. There’s something more, too, as though the very fabric of his soul is reaching out to mine, and I get again the sensation that I somehow know him, that the connection we share runs deep, deeper than anything I have ever felt before.

I swallow through the lump in my throat. “This might seem crazy, but…have we, have we met before?”

He sucks in a shaky breath, and for some insane reason, I think he’s going to say “Yes,” when suddenly his eyes dart across the room, and the moment we shared dissipates like smoke in the wind.

“It’s time.” Kaiden takes a step back, and without giving me another look, he takes my hand in his, turns around, and pulls me toward the bar at the back of the room.