Page 6 of The River of Hatred

“How did it go?” he asks, that decadent mouth sliding over mine with his words. “Sariel asked for my permission to join.”

I sigh and lean back, keeping myself upright with my hands braced on his shoulders. “Liam was brought to Purgatory injured last night. Since we finally settled on today for the angel to come down, Jessica had to be brought up to speed so she could go instead.”

“Who is the angel? Do I need to eviscerate them?” I know he’s being serious, but I had to stop panicking every time he declared he’s going to kill someone months ago. I’d be on tenterhooks my whole life if I kept that up.

I kiss the top of his nose. “Ithuriel,” I reply. “And, no, he didn’t offend me.”

“Hmm.” Ash sounds skeptical. Would I lie to him about it? I probably would, for everyone’s sake.

“Really,” I reassure him, sliding my hands down his arms, tracing the muscles I can still feel through the leather armor he wears most of the time.

“I do not know him.”

“No. He’s young. By your standards at least. Apparently he was friends with Sariel back in the day?” I tear my gaze away from what my hands are doing to see his reaction.

“If he mentioned him, I don’t recall it,” he muses. “Perhaps he was no one important to him.”

“Mm,” I ponder, sliding my hands up to his neck, where I can touch his warm naked skin. “Or maybe it’s exactly the opposite.”

I can’t wait anymore and lean back in to press my mouth against his. He instantly opens and takes control of the kiss, moving one hand to the back of my head so he can hold our mouths flush.

It only takes a minute of our tongues sliding against each other for me to start undulating my hips against the growing hardness between his legs. I pull back and he lets me, though clearly reluctantly. “Is it ever going to stop? This need to have you inside me all the time.”

He pulls my hips down and thrusts his up as if showing me he’s as affected by this madness as I am. “I certainly hope it never does,” he breathes and continues to grind our sexes together.

The demon kneeling behind me, one I have to admit I forgot about along with the rest of the audience in the throne room, sputters in impatience and indignation at being ignored. I wince, worried that the smell of charred flesh is imminent, but Ashtaroth just gives a short command to those present. “Get the fuck out or shut up.” He lifts me off him as he stands and deposits me on his throne. “You’re killing the vibe,” he tells his subjects and I laugh, making his eyes spark in reaction. It still amuses me when he attempts to get with the times.

My husband drops to his knees in front of me as some of the demons start filing out – including the one that’s lucky to still be alive. He unbuttons his leathers and takes himself in hand, making me bite my lip and squirm. He licks his lips.

“Lower your pants and spread your legs as wide as you can.”

Chapter 4 – Sariel

Iinsisted on being the first to carry our dainty Nephilim toward our destination. It gives me a chance to test the waters. I have a plan and my plans are usually a lot of fun. Well, for me at least.

A couple of hours into the flight, she’s still enchanted by the new perspective of being hundreds of feet above ground. Every now and then she glances toward my black-feathered wings, her large, cornflower blue eyes gleaming. I remember that she must not have had a chance to see any up close before, what with the Fallen at Purgatory all rejecting an archdemon’s aid in regaining the power to summon them.

She’s also staring dazedly at Itha’s snow-white wings as he flies a safe distance away so that our wings don’t tangle, but close enough should Jessica need him. Because he doesn’t think she’s safe with me.

Ithuriel… a thousand years ago, he was one of the two reasons for my existence, right after the honor of serving God and executing His will. But that should have been the only reason. I knew not long after my creation, when I started exploring the purpose behind it, that there was something wrong with me for how much I longed to be in his presence. When we were in our mortal forms, I yearned to run my fingers through his pearlescent hair. To run the tip of my nose over the arch of his wings, perhaps eliciting a shudder. Desire would coil in my stomach, overpowering everything else, including reason.

Itha thinks I fell because I wanted to fuck mortals. I fell because I would have been his damnation. It took centuries for me to take my first lover, though he was always at the forefront of my thoughts as I’d find release.

My resolve to maintain his innocence weakened. I hoped he would come to see me. Back then I would have seduced him the moment I saw him and kept him by my side. But then more centuries passed in silence, until today, when it became obvious to me that he had forgotten I even existed while I’d been pining over him. My heart pounds in shame and betrayal.

I’m still going to seduce him. Just not to keep him. I’m going to ruin him. And little miss Nephilim’s going to help. I see the way she reacts to him, to the pale physical perfection, thegoodnessemanating from him. Even now she’s taking furtive glances at the angel’s sculpted face and chewing on her bottom lip. She couldn’t have been more obvious if she tried.

I lean in to speak in her ear, giving her the illusion of privacy, fully intending to be overheard. Our hearing far surpasses hers. “He’s gorgeous, isn’t he?” I whisper, making her shudder. She might be attracted to Ithuriel’s holy perfection, but I know how to make unholy sin feel so, so good. In the corner of my vision, I can see Itha’s body stiffen mid-flight.

She quietly clears her throat. “I haven’t seen an unattractive angel.” She softly avoids answering directly, and I laugh.

“Ah, but there’s just something about Itha. Those high cheekbones,” I growl hotly. “The sad gray eyes. That pale, long neck. You’ve no idea how often I fantasized about just sinking my teeth into that perfect skin and marking it.”

Jessica gasps and I can feel her muscles shifting as she squeezes her thighs together. Looking at Ithuriel, I see wide-open eyes and flushed cheeks. He’s positively aghast. It’s all I can do to stop myself from laughing. Ah, this is just perfect. I plan on having them both eat out of the palms of my hands before we even enter Belial’s territory.

“This was before you fell?” the mortal asks. I cut my gaze back to her and narrow my eyes, but I see she didn’t ask to get back at me for embarrassing her – she’s genuinely curious about me.

“I don’t remember much from before I fell,” I lie. I remember everything. Every minute I spent apart from the angel flying beside us. Every restless night where I’d watch humans fall in love and give in to their primal urges. I would fantasize about spreading Itha’s white thighs and feasting on him.

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