Page 30 of Witch's Dawn
"Well I can't imagine why that would be the case," I said as coldly as I could muster before turning on my heel and walkingaway.
I strode past Nona, heading to the very back of the shop for some privacy and air. It felt like I was going to choke on the tension building like a volcano between me and Ash. I just needed a moment to clear my head, catch my breath, and hopefully, he would take the hint and be gone. Then maybe, just maybe, I wouldn't have to deal with this internal tug-of-war anymore and just keep living my life as simply as a witch possiblycould.
But no suchluck.
The moment I made it to my quiet back office and closed the door, Ash appeared before me. He stood a full head taller than me and regarded me with that cool, aloof look as if silently daring me to kick himout.
I opened my mouth to do just that but before any sound could escape, his lips crashed into mine in a passionate, blood rushingkiss.
18
DEJA
The light sparkI felt the other night grew into a roaring inferno. It consumed both of us in an embrace that feltinseparable.
His kiss took my breath away while at the same time seemed to fill my lungs with the coolest, refreshing spring air I everinhaled.
Fire, ice, lightning. Every force of nature seemed to erupt and course through us as we unleashed the hunger and need we'd beenrestraining.
I was only vaguely aware that I was sitting on my desk, his hands anchored at my hips as my legs wrapped around hiswaist.
His mouth felt like it was made for mine, nipping at my lips and caressing my tongue with his like we'd been lovers for centuries. Again I couldn't shake the familiarity like I'd kissed him before so long ago. But I definitely never felt passion or chemistry like this. It was downrightmagical.
My hand skimmed down the front of his chest until he grabbed it right before I reached where his heart wouldbe.
His mouth broke away from mine abruptly and I gasped as I came up for air. My only coherent thought was wondering if demons actually hadhearts.
"You want to know the truth?" he said in a low, husky tone before placing my palm on the left side of his chest. "Close your eyes and see for yourself who I reallyam."
His skin roared with heat beneath his shirt. Any normal person would have been running a dangerously highfever.
I listened carefully before closing my eyes. He definitely had a heartbeat, although there was something unusual about it. If I had to guess, it was a human heart beating inreverse.
I closed my eyelids to see a familiar vision of him in my mind. Large black wings sprouted from his back in a beautiful, majestic span. The heavy pewter crown on his head sat crookedly and the snake slithered around his muscular shoulders, its forked tongue tasting theair.
My eyes shot open and I pulled my hand away, gasping for air. I felt only a sliver of his power and felt like my lungs were collapsing. It pressed in on me from every side with all the force and density of a collapsingstar.
"Your wings," I rasped, fixated on their beauty. "Why do you havewings?"
"Because I was cast out of heaven before time was ever measured," he said with a wry smile. "They don't get used often inHell."
"You were an angel?" I blinked, looking up at him. In an odd way, there was something angelic about him. His fair, blonde featuresespecially.
"One of the original three," he explained softly, running his fingers from my thighs to my knees. "Lucifer, Beelzebub and I were cast out for defying the Judeo-Christian God. The three of us formed the first hierarchy of Hell and called ourselves the UnholyTrinity."
I sat back for a moment, trying to soak it all in. I just made out with an original fallen angel and one of the most powerful demons inexistence.
"That was one of your truths," I mused, returning his icy but oddly affectionate gaze. "So your lie was that you were the serpent in the Garden ofEden."
"Correct. That was Lucifer, notme."
His hands continued trailing lightly along my body as he spoke, from my knees back up to my thighs, to my waist and up my arms. It was the gentlest touch, skimming with only his fingertips as if curiouslyexploring.
"So what's with the snake around yourneck?"
"God made humans terrified of snakes after what happened in the Garden," he explained, fingertips traveling across my shoulders. "I gave humans back the power overserpents."
"Plenty of people are still afraid of snakes," I pointedout.
