Page 16 of The River of Fire

Daniel chuckles and I realize my saintly friend is relieved that I got off instead of getting offed. Before I manage to voice my outrage, he sobers and says, “I only hope he will not care torepeat the encounter.”

I look at the floor, staying quiet. The demon’s parting words didn’t seem like a final goodbye to me. And I don’t give voice to the conflict I feel – I’m not sure that I want it to be a permanent goodbye. Being wanted by such a godly being would be incredible. I could never feel insecure about myself with the most beautiful individual I have ever seen worshiping my body. The shame returns immediately and my shoulders slump. This is not a giving, benevolent creature. Untold horrors happen at his command.

I stand up too fast and wince at the pain in my ankle. “I’m going to take a shower.” I need to feel clean again. Then I need to check up on Kevin.

“But I just wrapped down the swelling!” Daniel has his arms out in the closest way of saying ‘what the fuck’ as he will ever express.

“I’ll wrap it up again after.” I wave as I shut the door and limp to my room.

I hobble toward the bathroom, strip, and wince in chagrin at my still-wet panties.

“What a clusterfuck.”

Chapter 12 – Kevin

With my arm secured in a sling, I hurry to the training fields outside of Abaddon. Spotting my friends, people closer to me than anyone else has ever been (except for Lana), I feel a definite spring in my step.

They are gonnalooooovethis.

“Kevin!” Jess shouts and runs towards me with furrowed brows. “What happened to your arm?”

“A golem. But never mind that –”

“That’s brilliant!” Ethan interjects, while Jess leans in to examine my arm behind the fabric.

“What’s important is that… wait, ‘brilliant’?” I shoot Ethan a glare. What I really want to do is punch his stupid mouth shut.

“Not that you got hurt, of course.” Ethan placates me with what I can see is little sincerity, clearly evidenced by his awestruck smile. “We’ve just never encountereda construct before.”

“Who do you think made it?” Liam asks. He’s at least thinking about important things. The wrong important things, but still.

“Guys, who cares about golems and who made them and why they were there! Guess what happened?” I make eye contact with each of them, enjoying the suspense.

“Your balls finally dropped?” Ethan’s voice is as dry as the sand around us.

“Fuck you, asshole!” I swear if my arm wasn’t in a sling, I’d jump into the Fiery Pits for the guy – but he pisses me off daily.

“Tell us what happened, Kevin.” Jessica’s always there to make sure we don’t kill each other in a fistfight gone too far.

“Right. Our illustrious leader, our great commander, the stalwart presence leading us to victory in every fight –” Everyone groans on cue and my grin spreads further, “– got to third base with an archdemon. Or was it second base? Regardless! There was dry humping.”

Jess’ mouth falls open, Liam frowns, and Ethan goes bug-eyed.

“What?”

“How did that happen?”

“Was there spanking?”

Chapter 13 – Lana

After bathing and sleeping off the lingering shame and arousal, I limp out to the training area where my teammates, and the rest of the Elioud as well, train daily to maintain optimal physical readiness. While we heal faster than we did in the mortal realm, it’s still going to take Kevin and me a couple of days to recover from the sprain and broken humerus.

Jess, Liam, and Ethan are stretching while giving Kevin, arm in sling, their rapt attention.

Oh no…

“Lana!” Ethan yells once he sees me, his chocolate eyes sparkling with mischief. Ethan is tall, lithe, and always obviously Cambion. Most of us don’t really know where in our family trees the Celestial blood mixed in, me being an exception thanks to Maalik. But Ethan’s grandmother swore up until herlast days at a mental asylum that his grandfather was a demon that stole her virtue and left her bred and unwed. His family was sure it was the desperate ramblings of a mentally unstable woman, trying to save her reputation in a strict society. I mean, it worked for Mary, right?

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