Page 6 of Midnight with the Devil

She didn’t immediately respond. Diana wasn’t stupid. She’d seen movies about deals with the devil. There was always a catch, and the trick was finding out what it was.

“What about my mom, or any other friends or family? You’ll save my dad but let someone else that I love die instead, right?”

His eyes widened the slightest bit, and then he smiled as though pleased she wasn’t simply agreeing.

“That is called cosmic balance, you clever child, and no, I do not have to bend to the will of cosmic balance. You won’t face anyone else’s death because of our little deal.”

Diana couldn’t ignore the possessiveness that seemed to emanate from him as he gazed at her. Was her soul really worth it to him? If so, then she had one heck of a bargaining chip, and she refused to waste it.

“I want you to promise thatno oneI love gets hurt and my dad gets totally healed forever.”

He waved a finger at her. “Now, now, you can’t demand—”

“Do you want my pure soul or not?” The second she issued her challenge, invisible electricity sparked between them. The heat burning through Diana held a promise of what was to come, and it scared the hell out of her. She had to make this deal, but only onherterms. If he didn’t agree, she still had the power to walk away, and she would.

When he didn’t respond, she stood up and started toward the chapel door.

“Fine.” He growled the word as he came up behind her. She turned to look at him, stepping back instinctively as he came too close. “I can give your other loved ones extra protection, but if the other side makes a decision, that’s on your precious angels, not me. I don’t have control over what those winged idiots do. But I swear that nothing I do will cause them harm.”

“Okay, so three months of my submitting to you and you heal my dad.”

“Submitting?” He laughed. “That’s a rather interesting word. Is that one of your fantasies? To have me dominating you?”

Diana shuddered at first, but then an inner voice whispered,“Yes. Dominate me.”A voice she’d buried every time the desires surfaced, because it filled her with shame “Is that the deal?” she repeated.

The devil grinned. “Yes. That’s the deal.”

“Do we…shake on it or something?” She held out her hand. He eyed it and then took her hand in his and tugged. She fell against him, surprised at the feel of his warm body against hers.

Before she could push him away, he bent his head and whispered, “Youalwaysseal a devil’s bargain with a kiss.” And then he slanted his mouth over hers, burning her lips with his as he ravaged her mouth, his tongue seeking hers. She was too stunned at first, but as his mouth softened on hers, she melted into him.

A frightening sense of falling forever in the darkness and fluttering black wings surged through her, but he held her, banding his arms around her and tethering her so she wouldn’t vanish in the nothingness.

She tried to banish her fears, praying for one spot of light in the darkness as they kissed. There was a brilliant flash of bright light, the feel of soft downy feathers brushing against her cheek, and then she glimpsed a shining city in the clouds.

Then it was gone. The nothingness remained.

His lips left hers, and the warmth of his body faded. Dimly, she heard his silken whisper in her mind.“You are mine now, Diana.”

When she opened her eyes and jolted awake, she lay on one of the pews in the hospital’s chapel.

She’d only had a wild dream. Her father wouldn’t get better. A tear rolled off her cheek onto the fabric of the seat beneath her. She sat up slowly, combed her fingers through her hair, and tried to compose herself. Then she left the chapel and returned to her father’s room. As the door to the chapel closed behind her, she swore she heard a faint, low masculine chuckle.

“I’m going crazy. The stress of all this is getting to me.”

As much as she would’ve done anything to save her dad, there was no such thing as bargaining with the devil. Because she didn’t believe in the devil.

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But his doom reserved him to more wrath; for now the thought both of lost happiness and lasting pain torments him. - John Milton, Paradise Lost

Lucien stood in the chapel, invisible to Diana, watching her wipe away her tears and leave the room. She was a beautiful woman, with dark-brown hair and dove-gray eyes that reminded him of lightning in winter snowstorms. He’d seen lovelier women, yet there was something about her that drew him in, a natural beauty that seemed to come from within. It was possible that her pure soul was calling to him, but the longing to thread his hands through the straight waterfall of her hair…that was pure lust on his part.

“You don’t believe in me yet, but you will.” And by the time she realized what bargain she’d made, it would be too late. Her soul would be forever trapped in his clutches, corrupted by his darkness, and that soul would keep the gates of hell strong and secure.

After she left, he raised a hand to his lips, brushing the tips of his fingers over them, wondering.

It had been a most curious thing. When he’d kissed her and sealed their bargain, he had thought he’d seen something, just a quick second of a young girl’s hand brushing over cool blades of grass on a summer morning, the chilly drops of dew tickling his fingers as they tickled hers. It had felt…heavenly. He’d convinced himself that he didn’t want to remember what heaven felt like, how it tasted, how it looked, but kissing Diana had brought back forbidden memories. He buried the rush of pleasure that thoughts of heaven brought because it always brought back the pain of his fall. Instead, he focused on why he would experience that with Diana when he never had with any other mortal before.

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