Echoes and Embers (Rebel Angels) (5 page)

Alyssa suspected the girl was quoting Father Myron. She would have to thank the priest for his assistance and see if she could allay his misgivings. “My life has been eventful, but I will endeavor to minimize my wild tales.” Silence descended. Rosalind stared into the fire. She had endured so much in her young life. Alyssa refused to do anything that would add to her burden. “I want peace between us. Is that possible?”

Rosalind nodded.

Alyssa had hoped for a more enthusiastic response, but this was a start. “If I say something you know to be untrue, will you tell me?”

With a soft chuckle, Rosalind faced Alyssa. “Your story has changed so often, how am I to know what’s true?”

Encouraged by Rosalind’s playful tone, Alyssa offered a helpless shrug. “I guess you should ask Lailah.”

* * * * *

Enos Diadem crossed his arms over his chest and took a deep breath. It would be many hours before he filled his lungs with fresh air again. Paimon should be pleased by his news, but she could be wildly unpredictable, so he suppressed his optimism.

Pausing at the mouth of the steep stairwell, Enos braced himself for the putrid stench about to assail his senses. He hated
Paimon’s
fortress. Why she chose to inhabit the moldering cavern was beyond him. He descended the stone steps, avoiding contact with the slimy walls.

A mangy brown rat scurried across his boot. Enos shuddered. Paimon loved the vile creatures. They responded faultlessly to her demonic compulsions and in turn she treated them like pets, keeping them sheltered and well fed.

Enos kicked an especially large rodent off the bottom stair. If Paimon wouldn’t have sensed its destruction, he would have stomped its narrow head. He might be
Fallen
, but he chose a much higher standard of living than this filth.

A shrill shriek rent the fetid air and Enos shook his head. If he didn’t know better, he’d think someone was being tortured. But the familiar cry could only mean one thing. Paimon was being pleasured. The only thing the demon bitch liked better than rats was being
tupped
.

Her sexual appetite rivaled his, and he was Grigori, or had been until he
Fell
.

He rounded a corner and hesitated in the archway leading to the cavern’s main chamber. A massive gray demon sat on
Paimon’s
favorite chair. She straddled his lap facing Enos, her legs spread wide and hooked around the outside of the gray demon’s thighs. Her long silvery hair spilling over her naked body concealed the details from view, but her steady rocking and the blissful expression on her face left no doubt what was taking place.

“Shall I return when you’ve finished?” Enos grumbled.

Paimon stilled and the gray demon growled. “How long are you willing to wait? We could be at this for hours.”

Enos nodded stiffly. “I’ll report quickly.” At first glance Paimon still possessed angelic beauty. Her delicate features and lissome body belied the malice lurking beneath her appealing façade. It was only as he gazed into her soulless black eyes that her true nature revealed itself.

The gray demon’s tail coiled around
Paimon’s
thigh and disappeared under her hair. She gasped and quivered.

“I’ve located Catherine’s granddaughter,” Enos began.

“It took you long enough.” She leaned forward, her eyes closed in ecstasy as she gave the demon access to her back passage.

Enos didn’t need to see the demon’s tale enter her body to understand what was going on. Paimon loved to be filled to capacity in every way possible. In fact she found it hard to reach completion unless she was pushed to extremes.

She licked her lips and motioned him closer. As if to verify his conclusion, she said, “I want you in my mouth.”

Blood surged to his groin, instantly hardening his cock. He despised Paimon, but that was no reason to deny
himself
the pleasure she offered.

The gray demon grabbed her waist and moved her slim body up and down. Her hair parted, revealing one of her full breasts as it bounced and swayed.

More annoyed than aroused, Enos freed his cock and approached
Paimon’s
high-backed chair. If she wanted to suck him off, he had no objection, but he preferred to be in control of his sexual encounters.

 
“I should have ended your miserable existence when you lost her at court.” She reached out and grasped his shaft, drawing him closer. “I trusted you and you cost me time I can ill afford.” She accented her displeasure with her sharp fingernails.

Enos groaned as the sharp sting drove pleasure deep into his abdomen. “I will not fail again,” he gasped.

Her brows rose, the threat unmistakable. “You will not be allowed to fail again.” She leaned forward and sucked him into her mouth.

The force of her suction drew another gasp from him. Enos closed his eyes and rocked his hips, knowing better than to touch her. He didn’t respond well to ultimatums. They tended to make him uncooperative. But right now nothing mattered but the heat of her mouth and the firm slide of her silken lips.

* * * * *

Disconcerted by the trials of the day, Alyssa tossed in her lonely bed. Fractured images and scrambled memories swirled through her mind. How could she ever hope to make sense of the jumble?

Sariel didn’t know enough about the other angelic orders to help her reconstruct her past. She needed Lailah to help clear the confusion. Her need for Sariel was no less real. It was just very different in nature.

The pleasure he had given her in the forest only whetted her appetite for more.

She tried to remember details about the Order of Grigori, but nothing specific came to mind. Which order did she belong to, or had she belonged to, before her transformation? Again she needed Lailah for the answers.

Punching her pillow and rolling onto her side, Alyssa tried to sleep. She released her thoughts and allowed a soothing lethargy to overcome her.

Hovering over Alyssa’s bed, transparent and intangible, Sariel eased into her mind. She drifted in a state somewhere between wakefulness and dreams. He guided her, gently influencing her thoughts, coaxing her memories past the barricade of lies.

His desire for her burned more brightly than ever before. But he had to understand her unique nature before he allowed himself to act upon the emotions escalating within his being. In repose she appeared so vulnerable, so innocent.

He knew she wasn’t quite as innocent as she seemed, but she was certainly vulnerable. Scanning her thoughts, he melded with her, leading her with subtle compulsions, allowing her to delve deeper than she could go alone.

She tossed her head, sighing, mumbling words he couldn’t understand. An image formed, undulating in translucent flux before Sariel commanded it to solidify. Seven angels gathered on a hillside in the
land
of
Nod
.
Eden
’s eastern gate identified the location. Why were they gathered here? Who were the others? He recognized Alyssa and Lailah, but the five males were strangers to him.

A towering blond male spoke with practiced authority. He appeared to be the leader of this gathering.

“Aren’t you tired of the hypocrisy? They cast out Lucifer for the same sort of rebellion the humans indulge freely. Why was my brother punished while mankind is allowed to flourish?”

Lucifer’s brother? Was this Ambrose, Prince of the Cherubim? That would explain the locale. The Order of Cherubim had been charged with guarding
Eden
’s gate to keep the mortals from partaking of the Tree of Life.

“I was there that day.” The passionate voice drew Sariel’s attention to the dark-haired male standing at Alyssa’s left. His golden gaze burned with rebellion and anger.

Understanding surged through Sariel. Rosalind’s favorite painting had depicted this male. Gideon. Lailah had called him Gideon.

“You were more than there,” Ambrose sneered. “You participated in the battle. You fought at Gabriel’s side!”

“I did as I was commanded,” Gideon snapped.

“You made your best friend
Fall
!”

“Lucifer made his choice long before the battle,” Lailah insisted. “Placing blame won’t change the past.”

“The truth is—”

“Truth,” Alyssa scoffed. “Do any of us comprehend the truth? How are we supposed to recognize truth in the midst of all these lies?”

“Perhaps my brother was right all along,” Ambrose muttered.

“We have become slaves to these mortals,” one of the other males said.

“No,” the male between Lailah and Alyssa said. “We are expecting to find justice and there is no justice in Heaven.”

Observing the memory left Sariel shaken. He understood the cost of rebellion all too well. This sort of defiance was never allowed to fester, not after a third of Heaven Fell in the last uprising.

As if responding to his thought, a flash of lightning rent the sky. Thunder shook the ground and the Rebel Angels closed ranks, forming a tight circle back to back in classic angelic battle formation.

Michael, Prince of the Archangels, appeared in front of Ambrose. Wings spread wide, flaming sword poised to strike, Michael waited for the others to face him before he spoke. “The stench of your dissension has reached the throne of God.”

“You have no authority over me,
Archangel
. My order is more highly ranked than yours.”

Sariel recoiled from the open hostility radiating from the cherub.
Archangel
or not, Michael commanded the armies of God.

“I have whatever authority I am given.” With a forceful wave of Michael’s hand Ambrose disappeared.

Time itself seemed to miss a beat.

Silence descended on the hill.

Michael turned to the others, gesturing with his flaming sword. “This little band of rebels is about to be dispersed—permanently. You each have one chance at redemption, or you will be expected to
Fall
.”

“
You
are going to grant us this opportunity?” The only male who had not yet spoken stepped forward. “I want nothing from you.”

“Then nothing you shall have.” Michael waved his hand and the other angel disappeared.

Lailah cried out. “Where did you send Caleb? This is so unfair. We did not create this conflict. We are trapped within in it.”

“We are slaves to mankind?” Michael paraphrased, pointing his sword at the male who had first uttered the words. “I think, Uriah, you might benefit from such servitude.”

“Stop it!” Lailah reached for Michael’s arm, but it was too late. Uriah disappeared. “How can you blame us for our discontent? There is no peace in Heaven and life has lost its splendor.”

“Life reveals its splendor in the most unlikely ways, Lailah. I pray that you will understand before it is too late.” With a sad shake of his head, Michael dispatched Lailah.

“Are we all to
Fall
?” Gideon shouted, stomping toward the archangel. “While the mortals revel in immorality and violence, you will punish us?”

“Whether or not you Fall is and has always been your choice. I am forcing nothing upon you.”

“I thirst for their blood,” Gideon cried. “I want to feel it running over my hands and—”

“Be careful what you wish for, Gideon, or I will give you
exactly
what you want.”

“Do your worst! This is madness.”