Page 24 of An Unexpected Ascension (A War Between Worlds #1)

The Demon

It’s the alcohol.

It's the angel shivering with want before me.

It’s Hell.

It’s everything except my desperate desire to know what she feels like from the inside. To know how tightly she grips me, sucks me in and uses me.

But what is Hell without making bad choices and regretting them later?

It’s what I tell myself as I unbutton her jeans and slide them down her slim legs. It’s what I convince myself when I push her naked body against my mattress where no other has ever been. It’s what I pretend when her trembling fingers strip me bare and trail hesitantly down my chest.

Her body cradles mine as I hover above her, my hips spreading her thighs wide. My cock weeps with yearning, bobbing against the mound of her sex as I leave a bruising path of kisses down her torso. Stopping at each breast to cherish her perfectly budding nipples.

Those soft moans fill the silence.

“This... this feels... I don’t like it.”

She pants.

“No?”

I smile against the inside of her thigh.

She shakes her head, her hair splayed along the pillow. A dangerous desire reflects in those glassy green eyes of hers, daring me to continue. The scent of her arousal a contradiction to her very words.

I drag my tongue along her center, tasting her. A gasp sounds loudly as her head tips back while I tease her with my mouth.

“It’s too much.”

She chokes.

“Too intimate.”

I add a finger, curling and pumping, eliciting more of those beautiful sounds.

By the time I add a second, she’s gripping a fistful of my hair, yanking me up. Her eyes, wild and wanton, meet mine. The flush in her cheeks works its way down her neck and chest beneath the kissed bruises already marring her pale skin.

“You’re not a lover. I don’t want you like this. Now fuck me like we’re in Hell.”

“You want Hell?”

I tease, licking my lips and savoring her flavor.

I crawl up her body, lowering my face to hers. My mouth descends, her lips smashing together to keep me out, but I pry her open. My tongue sweeps insides, leaving her to swallow her own essence.

“You don’t want me to stare into your eyes while I ease my way inside of you?”

My cock nudges her entrance.

She whimpers but shakes her head in denial.

“You don’t want me to caress the side of your face asking if you’re okay?”

Her body swallows my tip, clenching so tightly around me as my fingers flutter over the flush in her cheek.

Despite her claims, she holds my gaze as I slowly push into her, spreading her open for me.

“You say you don’t want this, then this can be your Hell.”

“NO—”

I devour her words with a brutal kiss as my cock fills her completely.

I thrust in slow pulses, allowing her to adjust. Her body shakes, her nails clawing at my skin leaving trails of pebbled blood while I fuck her mouth with my tongue and make love to her body.

She hates every moment of our joining, hates how gentle I am being, how sweetly I thrust into her. I want her to hate this, I want her to wake up in the morning and regret every moment because I know I will.

Her mouth tears from mine and she gasps for breath as if I’ve stolen it right from her. Her eyes swirl with insanity, wanting so badly to hate every moment, but loving it all the same. Before I have a chance to catch her, that palm of hers is striking the side of my face. There’s a sting against my skin while my balls tighten.

“Hit me back,”

she growls, my fist tightening around her wrist.

I dip my face again, my mouth flush against hers, tasting her anger. Though her words deny how badly she wants this, her hips meet me thrust for slow, antagonizing thrust. When I refuse her demand, her teeth grip onto my lower lip, clenching as hard as she can, piercing the flesh.

By instinct, my hand snaps up around her throat. She only smiles, blood staining her teeth.

Fuck.

The sight elicits a groan from me, a tingling in the base of my spine. My pace grows violent, while my blood drips down, splashing against her lips. Rivulets fall from the side of her mouth, her smile a ruby red.

All focus once held is utterly lost to the sight of the angel drenched in my blood.

I drag my wounded lip up over her chin and over her cheek, marking her. My grip still wrapped around her neck. She struggles to breathe, but there’s an unhinged look of bliss on her face that does two things to me: breaks my control and creates a festering resentment.

“You’re going to hate yourself tomorrow,”

I taunt her.

“Not as much as I hate you.”

She reaches down between us to chase her pleasure, but I catch her hand. In one swift motion, I roll us until my back is against the mattress and she’s writhing on top. I slip my hand beneath my pillow, revealing a small Toor knife.

“Only seems fair.”

Her eyes widen as I draw the blade against her wrist, blood instantly seeps from the split flesh, glistening in the dim lamp light. It pumps through her veins; drip, drip, dripping down onto my chest.

She cries, her head falling back, that long, dark hair tickling my thighs as I buck my hips. My cock hitting a wall inside of her in harsh, painful thrusts. Her swollen breasts tease me, begging to be punished. A loud slap echoes in the room as my palm reddens those breasts. Her wails following after.

The dip in my sternum between my pecs fills with her blood, slipping down towards the center of my stomach. I watch in awe as it finally makes its way lower, lower still, where our bodies are joined.

I find her watching us collide, her very blood easing my entry, coating my cock. My hands clench her hips, my thumbs digging deep into the divot of her bones where I slam her down onto me over and over again.

Her walls tighten, clenching me with a desperate need for release and that just won’t do. I roll us over again until she’s on her back, pulling myself free from the suction of her body. She grunts, the painful emptiness a torturous thing.

“What are you?—”

Gripping her hair, I yank her from the comfort of the bed and onto the floor.

“Giving you what you want,”

I answer, facing her away from me.

I lift her hips, setting her on her knees, then force her chest to the ground. Her round, pale ass welcoming me, her center wet with blood and arousal. I plunge into her, her nails biting into the concrete floor, cracking with the force.

“And getting what I want; you on your knees.”

Her cries fill my soul with such triumph, her surrender leaking with every retreat of my cock. I can feel her muscles go limp beneath me, accepting every bit of what I’ve done to her.

I reach around her waist and between her thighs, drawing forth a frenzy on such sensitivity. She shakes, body trembling with pleasure. I can feel my own gathering, a tightness in my balls, a tidal wave of relief to this ageless aching.

Needing it to last, I bring my palm down against the flesh of her ass, my handprint ringing red before my eyes. She yelps, and yelps again as I continue; thrust, slap, thrust, slap. Until her entire bottom is nothing but splotches of rouge.

“Please.”

She cries, her mouth muffled by the floor.

“Please what, Angel?”

“Let me come.”

The sound of her sob snaps a tightly corded string within me. Snaps and breaks loose a flood gate.

“I love the sound of you begging.”

Crossing her arms behind her, I grab both her wrists and use them as leverage, pounding my way into oblivion. Her screams ride on the wave of my release as my stomach tightens and I spill my seed deeply inside of her. The angel holds me like a silk fist, milking every last drop, swallowing it inside her body like a greedy whore.

Depleted and spent, she collapses to the ground, parting ways with my body. I drink in the sight of her, soaked in sweat and blood and come. It nearly awakens the lustrous beast inside of me again.

She rolls slightly over onto her back, her palm resting against her damp forehead. Her chest rises and falls in quick succession as she struggles to catch her breath. It’s when she opens her eyes that my awe fades, replaced with a guttural hate.

A hate for myself, a hate for her.

There she is, the one woman in all of eternity that I shouldn’t want, sated and leaking with my seed. The worst part of it is that I fucking loved every second of being inside of her.

I crawl back over her, parting her lips with mine in a brutal kiss. Only this time, she doesn’t fight it. She doesn’t touch me though either, the back of her hands falling against the floor beside her head. I want her to, I want her to drag those nails down my chest, my shoulders, my back. I want to feel her fiery wrath in her fingertips, but her thighs fall open as if the effort from our joining had rendered her boneless.

My lip burns with each caress of her mouth, her tongue running over the fresh wound. My hand trails down her abdomen slowly until I reach the apex of her thighs. She moans into my mouth softly as I slip two fingers inside of her, playing with our release. I use my seed as I draw circles of pleasure, evoking one last orgasm to wretch through her. This time, as her insides convulse, tears gather at the corners of her eyes. The very image will star in many dreams to come.

I can’t stop my cock from hardening all over again, the tears streaming down her face everything I’ve fantasized about since setting eyes on her. Withdrawing my fingers, I slip them into her mouth and shove myself back inside her throbbing cunt.

The sound of her gags echo in my apartment as my fingers shove deeper and deeper still, until I’m halfway down her throat, my fist pressing against her widened mouth. Those tears leak profusely now, her green eyes glittering. I rut like a fucking animal, using her body to selfishly bring myself more pleasure.

It’s quicker this time and when I feel my balls tighten, I pull out, marring her belly with my seed. As I yank my fingers from her throat, she coughs, rising to her elbows. She inches herself back as if I could bring myself to use her a third time.

I only chuckle.

Light filters through the drawn shades blanketing the glass wall, casting my apartment in that all too familiar red glow. It’s later than I meant to wake, our journey ahead longer than the length of day.

Too many creatures play at night, and I’d like to avoid that as much as possible.

I stretch beneath my covers, my body lighter than usual, the cause still lying asleep next to me. Flashes of glassy green eyes swirling with hatred and utter satiation tease me as I trail my gaze over her body wrapped in my sheets.

My fingertips draw featherlight circles along her cheekbone, rousing her from sleep. Her lashes flutter open meeting me with round jade gems. I should pluck them from her skull and mount them in my room as a trophy, but instead I found that forcing tears from them while I fucked her mercilessly sufficed just as well.

I brush my lips against hers and she stiffens.

“What the fuck.”

Her palms push against my chest, slipping from beneath me.

I greet her with a teasing smirk, knowing I've worked my way under her skin. Her type of Hell was clear to me last night when she begged for me not to cherish her or treat her gently. If it weren’t for her wicked ways, I might have followed through, forcing her to hate every single second my cock coddled her.

“You act like we haven’t kissed before.”

“And I’d like you to act like it too!”

She bites out, kicking her feet through each pant leg of her jeans.

“How can I when you were such a perfect little whore for me?”

I push myself to sit up, my back against the cool brick wall, watching her aggressively dress.

“I’m not your whore. I’m not your girlfriend. I’m your victim, okay?”

“Excuse me?”

Her accusation heats my blood.

“I wouldn’t be here if it weren’t for you! You forced me into Hell. Kissed me, seduced me, and now you’re messing with me. Please just don’t fucking talk to me for a minute.”

Ripping the covers from my body, I round the bed, closing in on her. Still fully naked, she carefully avoids dropping her gaze from my eyes.

“You made a decision last night to let me fuck you. You did. You are not my victim; you are a willing participant,”

I remind her.

“And now you hate yourself for it.”

“I hate you for it!”

“Fuck me like we’re in Hell. Those were your words, Angel, I just gave you what you wanted.”

She seethes, vibrating with wrath and her skin flushing with fury. With each step forward, she steps back until she’s pressed against the wall. I lean in, my forearm planted beside her head, holding my weight.

Clutching my hardened cock, I whisper.

“And I’ll hear those words every time I fuck myself. I’ll see your face wet with tears, your cunt so filled with my seed. It’s what I’ll be thinking about every time I close my eyes. I’ll be your nightmare in Hell, but you’ll by my fucking wet dream.”

I plant another malicious kiss along her lips, her body trembling with rage, before I leave her there to sort through her thoughts.

After our reckless joining last night, I left her limp and lying on my floor as I washed myself of the blood that crusted every contour of my torso.

While doing so, I also contemplated all the choices I’ve made since I found her.

This little vixen was more trouble than she’s worth and yet, there she was in the next room.

Or rather, dragging herself into my ensuite.

Disregarding me with every fiber of her being, she slipped under the spray of water, nudging me out of the way.

Chuckling, I allowed her, the sight a dangerous temptation. Not for me, but for her ravaged body.

She stood there under the stream, eyes closed, swaying with drink and liquified bones.

Drops of water slipped down her face, slowing over the dried blood, mixing until the rivulets turned a pale pink.

I watched those very rivulets trail down her curves; down her neck, over her breasts, dipping and gathering inside her navel before falling between her thighs.

Fuck.

It had been too long since I last felt a woman’s touch, my cock laying limp and indifferent for ages.

Even before that, it was merely a quick release to keep myself from an internal explosion of wrath.

All that hate festers and only death and destruction follow. So, in my younger years, I found other ways to quiet that chaos until I trained my mind to quiet itself.

That is when the dreadful off switch became permanent, swathing my soul in pure darkness where no light would ever reach again.

It calmed me.

Those needless emotions near nonexistent... Until Briar Fentonelli died.

Somehow, that dreaded girl reached a trigger inside of me where even I cannot reach, igniting a scorching flame surely strong enough to burn the entirety of Hell.

Nothing good will come of this, but I heed no warning, ready to be set ablaze.

And now, when I find my little pet flush and furious in the corner of my room, I imagine all the ways I’ll use her until the end of time.

Which, lucky for me, won’t come anytime... ever.

I unravel the map I collected yesterday at the club, to which I now owe several favors for, and determine the best route to our weapon.

The map shows two worlds, one atop the other.

A mirror image of each other, yet utterly obverse.

Lucifer envisioned a place parallel to the Tree of Knowledge, his instincts strongly leading us in that direction.

I conjure a quill, marking our exact spot in the center of the city and draw a vertical line down from the Tree in Heaven to what seems to be another tree in Hell.

The Mortifier must be buried beneath it.

Briar huffs, but curiosity claims her, forcing her to join me.

“We’re here.”

I draw her attention to the first marker I made.

“And where are we going?”

“Here.”

My finger slides to the right, through a forest.

“I’m thinking we just make a straight shot through the Silva Timoris—”

then over to a mountainous range.

“—that should lead us to the Visio Nocturna Montis. It shows here there may be a tunnel that goes through it. Climbing is out of the question.”

Finally, my finger trails a path and stops at the tree surrounded by empty land.

“And then?—”

“The tree...”

she finishes.

“What? No fancy name?”

“I don’t think anyone’s ever set foot near it, let alone had a chance to name it. Perhaps we shall be the ones. Day three in Hell and you’re already on your way to making a name for yourself, Angel.”

She rolls her eyes.

“We can’t waste any more daylight. Let’s move.”