Page 27 of Fallen

“That’s the plan.”

He suspected Alex would try and talk himself out of ever coming back to In Extremis after what happened tonight, and that just wouldn’t do. Talon would have to intervene, give him a reason to keep coming back. He took the bottle back to his table while he debated his next move.

More than anything, he wanted to hear Alex say his name again. That needy, desperate croak, like Talon had stumbled across something even Alex hadn’t known he wanted.

He bided his time, draining the bottle as the crowd began to disperse. He would wait, give Alex time to settle, and then seek him out. Alex couldn’t leave. Talon wanted him, and he would do whatever it took to keep him.

The sky hung in the ephemeral haze between night and morning when he finally left the club, tossing his empty bottle away.

He traversed the city through the shadows and came to a stop before a wooden door in a hallway bathed in dim fluorescent light. Alex was inside. This was his apartment. Talon had made a point, after that first night, of finding out where the human lived. There were no sounds from within, and though the door was warded, they weren’t made for a demon like Talon. He had no idea that any black-eyed demon with the inclination could step across his threshold. Talon would fix that, but only if Alex promised to invite him in after they were in place. All he had to do was make sure Alexwantedhim to cross them.

He slipped past them with barely a shudder and into the darkened apartment.

It was sparse. The narrow hall opened up into a kitchen area on the left and the living area further ahead. The bright lights of a billboard streamed through the blinds in streaks of sickly white. There was an open doorway to the right. The bedroom, with a bathroom door beyond it.

Talon crept silently into the bedroom. There were no pictures on the walls or surfaces, nothing that made the space distinctly Alex’s. A clock with red LED numbers told him it was almost five AM.

Alex lay sprawled on the right side of the bed on his back, his hands tucked under the pillow above his head as though he’d surrendered himself to sleep. Talon’s mouth watered at the long plane of relaxed muscle on display, the coarse body hair dusting his chest and trailing down his stomach. He looked so vulnerable like this, so bare and ready for the taking, belly-up and unaware. What would he do if he woke up and found Talon here like this?

Talon fisted his fingers in the soft sheet covering Alex’s exquisite body. He pulled slowly, revealing inch after inch. Alex shifted as his body was exposed to the cool air but didn’t wake. Black, athletic boxer briefs were the only thing protecting his modesty, and Talon wanted to rip them off with histeeth.

Alex murmured in his sleep, tossing his head to one side. Talon wasn’t there to protect him from his nightmares right now. He turned inward with his hands on the mattress, focusing on the sleepy fog of Alex’s mind and pressing inside, swimming down into the deepest depths.

It was harder to concentrate while still maintaining a presence in the physical world, torn between dream and reality.

He found Alex in his childhood home, surrounded by his murdered family, and grabbed him by the arm, hauling him from the memory unceremoniously and sending him tumbling to his bed.

In reality, he climbed onto the bed and knee-walked between Alex’s invitingly spread legs. Alex barely twitched, soothed by Talon’s presence in his dreams.

“Talon,” Alex breathed, reaching for him.

“I’ve got you, little bird,” Talon said, in both the dream and reality. Below him, Alex stirred at the sound of his voice, not quite waking.

His dream self and his real one cupped Alex’s length through the fabric, massaging with the flat of his hand, nice and slow so as not to wake him. Alex gave a breathy sigh, shifting his hips. His dream mimicked reality; they were on the bed in both. Talon wondered if he could manage to pull his waistband down without waking him completely, but he didn’t like his odds. He was already pushing for too much, as Alex was clearly unaccustomed to this kind of touch.

When his cock was heavy and hard, Talon abandoned it, flattening both hands on his flanks and sliding them up, up, up. Over his ribs, thumbs teasing at his nipples as they passed them, beneath the pillow and anchoring his wrists firmly to the mattress. Face to face with the gently squirming holy warrior, he leaned in and sealed their mouths together. He tasted just as good as he had in the club.

His lips were soft and plush, tasting faintly of mint. Unresponsive at first, and then, automatically, pursing—andopening. His body responded as he did in the dream. Talon wasn’t going to waste an opportunity to explore, slipping his tongue inside. A shocked moan spilled from Alex’s throat, his fists flexing uselessly. His legs rose, but instead of trying to kick him off, he drove his toes into the mattress and rockedup.

Talon moaned, and the haze of the dream world faded away. Alex’s eyes flew open, and he pressed his head back into the pillow, parting their mouths.

“Talon.” There it was. Confused and pleading and definitely not a ‘no, get off.’

“You are so beautiful,” Talon crooned. “I had to see you, couldn’t let you walk away for good.”

“You—are you here? Is this real? Am I dreaming?” His voice was breathless, his body writhing.

Talon chuckled, rocking his hips in a slow, sinuous rhythm, just enough to tease. He wanted Alex desperate, whining, saying his name like the prayers he said to his precious god. “I think I might be the one dreaming this time, little bird.”

“What? Oh, God,” he moaned, his body rolling up to meet Talon’s hips. His arms flexed again, but Talon held fast. “This can’t be real. You can’t be here. I have wards on the door.”

“Mm, that’s right, and they would work on any halfling, wouldn’t they?”

“Yes. Yes, they would.Oh.” He moaned so beautifully. “Keep doing that.”

Talon nipped his way across Alex’s jaw. “I want to take you apart, little bird. I want to make you feel so good you can’t think about anything but me.”

“We shouldn’t—you’re a demon.”

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