Page 55 of Fallen

Alex laughed again, stronger this time.

“There is so much more to life than what you allow yourself.”

“You’re just trying to tempt me to the dark side.”

“Yes.” He didn’t even have the decency to deny it, slanting their mouths together in a hot, drugging kiss. “Are you tempted?”

He was. He really was.

Talon didn’t stop kissing him, slow and indulgent. One hand trailed down Alex’s throat and chest, teasing his nipples through the fabric of his shirt. With a flourish, he whipped the seatbelt off Alex’s lap, the hook slapping against the door beside him. Alex let out a startled laugh, and then Talon’s hands slipped under his shirt.

“Hng, Talon,” he said breathlessly, letting his head fall back. His body squirmed, seeking more, as Talon trailed hot kisses down his neck. This car was entirely too cramped for the things his body wanted to do.

Talon moaned. “I love you like this, desperate for me.”

Alex’s brain snagged on those first three words. There they were again. Why were things so easy with this demon? He dragged Talon up by the hair and kissed him hard. One of Talon’s hands dropped to his groin, palming the growing bulge in his jeans. He rocked up into the touch, hungry for more friction.

“Look at you,” Talon breathed. “So eager for everything I give you. Could you get off like this, humping my hand? Do you want it that bad?”

The street suddenly plunged into darkness around them, all the street lights winking out in unison. They both froze, their damp mouths brushing before they turned their heads to look out the windshield. The sun was a molten flare beyond the horizon, and the sky above them was dark.

Talon inhaled, turning his head toward the driver’s side window. “I feel a demon nearby.” His hand was still absentmindedly cupping Alex’s crotch, but his erection was completely gone. His pulse thundered in his ears.

“It’s him,” Alex breathed. “He’s here.”

Talon sat back, fixing Alex with a serious look. “Time to go to work, little bird. I’ll be with you every step of the way.”

Alex nodded, then lunged from the car, grabbing his sword and rushing across the street toward the darkened house. A scream rang out from within as he got close, and he barreled right into the door, slamming his shoulder into it and sending it swinging open. He’d likely have a bruise from that later, but right now the pain was an afterthought.

Inside was chaos. There was a staircase to the left of the door. Through the hallway ahead, he glimpsed a woman and three children cowering in the living room. All of them were screaming. He opened his mouth to tell them everything was going to be okay?—

“Alex!” Strong hands snagged his arms and hauled him backward just as a body fell from the second floor. It was a pajama-clad man, and he writhed in pain on the wood floor, alive but definitely hurt.

Alex raised his gaze toward the staircase that hugged the foyer wall. A figure stood there, humanoid and unmoving. His stomach twisted in horror. It was the demon. He knew it was. Steeling his spine, he raised his blade.

“Oh, holy man.” He recognized that sinister, growling hiss. “You shouldn’t have come.”

Slow footsteps descended the staircase. Alex rushed toward the injured man, hauling him up and ignoring his whimper of pain. They didn’t have time for him to check for injury.

“Go, go, go!” he said, helping him limp into the living room toward his wife and kids.

“What’s happening?” the woman shrieked. “Who are you?”

“I’m here to help,” Alex said. “That…manis a killer, but I won’t let him hurt you. Just stay back.”

Talon was still at his back, one hand flat between his shoulder blades.

“Interesting,” the demon said as it strolled into the living room.

Nausea pitched in Alex’s gut. The demon was exactly like he remembered. Shaggy brown hair, pointed face, solid black eyes, ugly and flat and so unlike Talon’s midnight irises. When it smiled, its teeth were too sharp to be human, its Cheshire smile stretching toward its ears. Like it tried to look human but fell short of the mark.

Those ink-black eyes swept back and forth between Alex and Talon, observing the way they stood close together, Talon’s hand on his back.

“You’re no holy man,” the demon rasped to Talon. “So why are you with this one?”

Talon straightened, bringing them closer together, and the demon’s sharp smile widened.

“Oh, are you playing with it? Taking your carnal pleasure? Do you make it cry? It would cry so pretty.”

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