Page 55 of Midnight with the Devil

Their lips parted briefly, and she raised her lashes to gaze into his eyes.

“Can you take me anywhere?”

He nodded.

“Would you take me somewhere you love?”

He stared at her for a long moment, then nodded solemnly. They vanished from the forest of butterflies in an instant. When she opened her eyes again, they were deep within a canyon. The night sky was dark and endless above them. All around them stood people holding luminaria candles. The crowds moved slowly, people walking one by one to stand in front of the entrance to an ancient city, where they placed the candles on the sand. Gold circles of light blossomed like thousands of massive lightning bugs along the sand. The collective glow illuminated the entrance to a building carved into the stone wall of the canyon.

“This is…Petra. In Jordan,” she gasped softly.

“It is,” Lucien said. “They sometimes hold night concerts. Tonight is one of those nights.” He curled an arm around her waist and led her back toward the edge of the crowd. Then they sat down on the sand next to several other people to wait. The canyon rustled with the whispers of the crowd, making the ancient façades of Petra come alive with ghostly whispers. They stood directly in front of the most famous carved part of the ancient city, Al-Khazneh.

Then a man stepped out of the doorway of the carved stone edifice, and a hush fell over the crowd. The candles flickered, and everyone watched as the man waved at them in greeting. He stood solemn and silent for a heartbeat, and then he began to sing. His voice carried the notes of a familiar opera, and it was both haunting and beautiful. The music of the song echoed through Petra and the canyon, spinning spells of arias and firelight from the luminarias.

Diana leaned against Lucien’s side, resting her cheek on his shoulder as she listened to the man sing. After a moment Lucien wrapped an arm around her, and in that moment Diana knew without a doubt that she’d fallen in love with him. He’d brought her to a place that he loved, and it was ancient and beautiful, full of quiet reverence. There was no evil here, no schemes, no crossroads bargains or demons. It was only them, the light of the luminarias, and the haunting beauty of an opera being sung. It was a holy moment, one she knew she would carry deep in her heart for as long as she lived. When there were no more midnights to meet him, when she was old and gray and living a quiet life,thiswould always be in her heart. And he would never know, could never know how she’d fallen in love with him.

I fell for the angel, not the devil.

15

The mind is its own place, and in itself can make a heaven of hell, a hell of heaven. —John Milton, Paradise Lost

Long after the opera singer had left and the candles were extinguished, Lucien held Diana in his arms, soaking in the moment and memories of this place. Petra had always been one of his favorite places. Funny, he hadn’t been here in years, but he had heard about the concerts somehow, and that had lingered in the back of his mind. When was the last time he’d done something simply because he wanted to? Something pure, something without repercussions in the universe that would draw the wrath of his winged brothers?

Diana sighed softly, and the sound was dreamy and relaxed.

“That was…amazing.” She turned in his arms and leaned up to kiss his cheek. A wild pulse of electricity seemed to shoot through his body at the point where his lips touched hers.

“That’s only the beginning of what I would like to show you.”

“Oh?” Her eyes brightened, and he nodded.

“This way.” He nodded toward the doorway that led inside Al-Khazneh. The moment they reached the entry, he drew open a ripple in the structure of the earth’s plane of existence and connected them to another location. They stepped through in the blink of an eye onto moss-covered ground. Diana’s gasp was full of delight as she spun around.

“Where are we?”

All around them wooden beams were crafted to hold up the large ancient branches of a wisteria tree. Purple flowers cascaded down in enchanting waterfalls. Ground lights illuminated the flowers from below, while fading sunlight danced through the blossoms from above.

“Welcome to Ashikaga Flower Park in Tochigi, Japan.”

“Japan?” She whispered the word in shock. “How on earth do…” She half smiled. “I need to stop asking that.”

“I would try to explain, but it’s like a fish explaining how breathing underwater works to a bird.”

“Right. I love wisteria.” She spun around beneath the tree as a light breeze stirred the branches. “It’s so whimsical, you know?”

“Whimsical?” He chuckled. He had never had occasion to use that word before.

“Yeah, whimsical.” She opened her arms. “Want to dance?”

“There’s no music, and I do not dance, at least not the kind I think you’re wanting me to do.” He licked his lips, picturing how he’d love to grind his hips against hers in the most erotic way beneath strobe lights while music thumped rhythmically all around them.

“We don’t need music. Come on, please?”

Lucien walked toward her, stunned that he was even doing this, but she’d begged so sweetly.

“You’re going to owe me so much in bed, darling,” he said, grinning.

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