Chapter Sixteen
Something was different.
Sofia awakened to the most delicious warmth imaginable, flowing through her from head
to toe. She breathed in deeply, a sleepy smile curving her lips, and immediately smelled
the exotic scent that was Phenex, all sea salt and spice. That was when she understood—the
hand splayed on her hip, the knees tucked beneath her own, and the gentle breathing
sending puffs of air against the back of her head. And spread over her body from neck
to feet, draped over the blankets, were soft black feathers.
Phenex had held her in her sleep, wrapping her in his wings. The realization, especially
after the way they’d left things last night, filled her with a warmth that had nothing
to do with the blankets. He might not say he was sorry. In fact, he probably wouldn’t.
She wasn’t really sure he knew how. But in this case, actions spoke louder than words,
and she’d take it.
As her thoughts lost the fog of sleep, her body continued to wake up. Now she could
feel the hard muscles of his chest, the long, lean muscles of his legs. And most distractingly,
there was a distinctive bulge pressing against her backside. One that grew more pronounced
when she used stretching a little as a pretense to wriggle back against it.
The hand on her hip came to life at that point, fingers tightening to press into her
skin.
“Keep that up and I’m not going to be responsible for what happens. I don’t do impulse
control this early.”
He breathed the words directly into her ear, his breath making her skin tingle.
“Do you ever?” she asked, amused even as her body stirred to full awareness.
“If I didn’t, I would have had you the first night we met.”
Those words, and the hunger they hinted at, took whatever impulse control she had
and lit it on fire, burning it to ash in a matter of seconds. Even with her world
turned upside down, she knew two things for certain. She wanted Phenex. And she was
tired of waiting.
Slowly, deliberately, she arched back into him again, grinding against the cock that
now stood at full attention beneath the thin fabric of whatever he was wearing. She
heard the hiss of his breath, felt the way every muscle in his body tightened against
her. Then the hand at her hip slid up to cup her breast. When he toyed with the nipple
that was already a tight bud beneath the thin cami, she couldn’t hold back the soft
moan that welled up in her throat.
Phenex’s tongue flicked out to tease her earlobe before he whispered, “You were warned.”
Sofia’s breathless laugh turned to a gasp when he gave her breast a hard squeeze,
sending pleasure sizzling through her, pooling hot and wet at the apex of her thighs.
He seemed to know, his long, talented fingers slipping below the waist of her shorts
to tease and stroke.
“Mmm,” he purred. “I think you like this.”
Sofia couldn’t formulate a response, apart from a soft, choked sound as he swirled
his finger around the swollen bud of her sex. Slowly. Very, very slowly. Sofia pressed
her hips against his hand, wanting more. She reached behind her, flattening her hand
against his muscled flank, urging him against her.
“Like this?” he asked, almost a whisper, as he began to press rhythmically against
her, urging her against his deft fingers even as the feel of his cock drove her mad
in an entirely different way.
“Tell me,” he murmured, and she could hear the way his voice had roughened with desire.
She wanted that, wanted to know he needed this like she did. Somehow, she summoned
the words, sliding one foot up the outside of his leg as she opened for him.
“Yes,” she breathed. “Like this. Just like this.”
“But I can make it better.”
He nipped at her earlobe, then briefly shifted his attention to pushing the shorts
down her legs and off. She did what she could to help, her movements shaky and anxious.
Her body didn’t want to do anything but melt back into him, and it seemed to resent
being commanded to do something else. When those were off, shoved somewhere toward
the footboard beneath the covers, Phenex moved away from her. She heard the rustling
as he removed what had felt like boxers, and Sofia took the opportunity to pull her
cami off, flinging it somewhere in the direction of the door.
Phenex chuckled as he pulled her back against him. “Anxious?”
“Maybe.” She hooked her foot behind his thigh, giving him full access to her heat.
Phenex flattened his hand against her lower belly.
“Me, too.”
He moved his hips, and then the length of his cock was sliding between her legs, slick
with moisture and creating slow, deliberate friction without entering her. He began
to fondle her clit again, teasing in small circles and light flicks of his finger,
playing her until she was arching against him, throbbing at every push and pull until
she was whimpering, so close to climax that she could barely breathe. She could hear
Phenex’s increasingly ragged breaths behind her as his hips began to move more quickly.
She throbbed beneath his hand, against his cock, tightening…
Then without warning he was gone, pushing back from her and leaving her quivering.
“Not yet,” he said, his voice soft and strained. “On your back, Sofia.”
She did as she was told, the only time she’d had absolutely no reservations about
following Phenex’s command. He moved to kneel between her legs, pushing them apart
so that her knees were slightly bent, her feet flat on the bed. Then he sank down,
his own knees spread apart. Sofia watched him rise before her, in awe of what she
saw. Before her this way, his alabaster skin bared and his black wings flared, he
looked like nothing less than some dark and ancient god…or a fallen angel. His eyes
burned vivid blue, and the look in them, a desire as hot as eternal fire, was only
for her. They roved over her prone figure, caressing her heated skin without even
touching her. When they finally returned to meet her gaze, there was something almost
reverent in the way he looked at her.
“You are the most beautiful creature,” he said, his voice a seductive melody.
“Not like you,” Sofia breathed. She pushed up so that she could stroke her fingers
over his lips, down his chest. He allowed it, though his muscles jumped and flexed
with even the lightest brush. He was a wonder, Sofia thought. Pure masculine perfection.
She could touch him for hours, exploring every inch of silken skin. But not this time.
Not when she still ached and throbbed, when his cock thrust upward between her spread
legs, taunting her with how it might feel to have him deep inside her.
She dragged her fingers down Phenex’s chest again, this time all the way down until
she’d wrapped her hand around a shaft that felt like it was covered in hot silk. She
saw the way his muscles tensed, heard the shudder in his breath. His hips twitched
as she gave a small, testing stroke.
“Sofia,” he ground out. “I don’t think…this time—”
“Uh-uh. Turnabout is fair play.”
He didn’t fight it, though she could see it was a struggle. Before he could change
his mind, she began to work her hand up and down his cock, slowly at first, then picking
up the pace. He was so hard, the heat radiating from him incredible. Phenex’s head
tipped back, his eyes slipping shut.
“Ah,” was all he said, a soft, broken sound.
Sofia’s breathing was uneven as she watched him, as she felt him begin to rock his
hips in time to her strokes. It was heady stuff, holding him in her hand, controlling
his pleasure when she knew that nothing could ever truly control a man like this.
He’d given her power over him, willingly. It was a revelation—one she tucked away
to take out and marvel over later. For now, she wanted to share.
She stopped stroking him and moved her hands to his hips, waiting until he opened
his eyes to look at her, his question unspoken. Sofia nodded.
“Now,” she said.
Relief flashed across his face, bright as day. Then his wings snapped fully out at
his sides as he pinned her to the bed, hands at either side of her head, in a single,
swift motion. Then he drove into her, burying himself to the hilt.
Her hoarse cry mingled with his at the sudden, intense pleasure of their joining.
He stretched her tight, filling her completely, throbbing deep inside. Phenex was
still for only a moment, and Sofia looked up at him to see his eyes slip shut, his
mouth opening to reveal the shining points of his fangs.
This time, they didn’t frighten her at all. Still, it was something of a shock to
realize that not only was she not scared of them, they were actually a turn-on.
Then she stopped thinking altogether as Phenex began to move in her. Sofia gasped,
arching into him as he set a pulsating rhythm that wound through her and made her
swell around him, made her slick with need. However hot she’d been before, he pushed
her higher, further, harder, until there was nothing but their two bodies sliding
against one another, nothing but the low, rough sounds Phenex made at the apex of
every thrust. Nothing but raw, primal lust.
There was some dark part of her that thrilled at being at his mercy, unable to do
anything but take him pounding into her while she arched helplessly beneath. She tightened,
shivered, every push of his hips sending her closer to the edge of some unknown precipice.
His thrusts turned wild, Phenex’s head falling back as he began to lose himself. And
seeing him like that, seeing him let go, was all it took to give Sofia that final
push and send her flying into the darkness.
She cried out as she came, clenching around him as something deep inside exploded
into thousands of shimmering sparks. Again. And then again, each burst nearly as intense
as the last. Phenex growled, then slammed into her one final time before he found
his own climax, coming with an inhuman roar.
When the intensity finally began to ebb, Phenex threaded his fingers through Sofia’s
and dropped his forehead to touch hers. It was sweet, gentle, and all the more potent
for the way he didn’t even try to find words. He didn’t need them, Sofia thought,
her heart pounding against his chest.
For right now, simple feeling was enough.
For right now, he was perfect.
Chapter Seventeen
“I’m fine. No, really. No, I haven’t been abducted. Especially not by aliens. Amy���”
Sofia looked at the ceiling, her cell phone pressed against her ear, and tried to
figure out a good way to explain to her roommate where she was without actually, well,
telling her where she was. So far, it wasn’t going well.
“Look,” Amy said, every bit of her concern coming through loud and clear. “I’m glad
you met somebody interesting, Sofia. Nobody deserves that more than you. But basically
moving in with a guy after only knowing him a few days? Don’t you think that’s kind
of fast? It’s just not like you at all.”
Sofia cringed. She’d wanted to catch her friend before she got back to DC and discovered
a closed-up, unused apartment that hopefully didn’t smell of barbecued vampires. Amy
still had a few days left in her unexpected vacation, and she’d sounded really relaxed
and happy at first, but unfortunately that didn’t mean she was any more apt to buy
the story Sofia was peddling.
So much for making sure Amy didn’t worry.
“I didn’t say I moved in with him. I just said I probably won’t be around much. We’re…having
fun.” She tried to make her tone carefree, like everything was great and this was
no big deal. Which might have worked, if Amy hadn’t actually known her so well.
“Sofia, sweetie, I’m being serious. Are you on drugs?”
“What? No!” She pulled the phone away from her ear and looked at it in horror. Drugs?
She was that bad a liar? She pressed her lips together and sighed. Of course she was.
Resigned, she put the phone back against her ear.
“Amy, you’re always telling me I need to be more spontaneous. I finally decide to
have a crazy love affair, and you decide I’m on something. Come on.”
There was a gusty sigh from somewhere in Virginia. “You have a point. You’re just
always so responsible that this seems kind of…well, like you said, crazy, I guess.
First Sara, now you. She called me, too, you know. And she really
is
living with some guy now. She’s out of the apartment at the end of the month.”
Sofia frowned. “Sara called you?”
“Mmm. Finally. Seems like I’m the last to know everything anymore.” Amy sounded so
unhappy that Sofia started to regret calling at all. But what was she supposed to
do? She couldn’t just vanish like Sara had…though the fact that only Amy had gotten
a call when Sofia had been the one to save her from being sucked dry rankled.
“I’m not going anywhere,” Sofia said firmly. “You’re going to see me. This isn’t permanent.”
All of a sudden, she knew exactly the right thing to say. “Amy, honestly…he’s a musician.”
Her friend’s burst of laughter told Sofia that she’d finally succeeded in easing Amy’s
mind. Not all the way, probably, but enough that she wouldn’t be calling the cops
and worrying she’d be found in a ditch somewhere.
“Oh my God. Is he famous? He is, isn’t he? He’d have to be to finally get you to walk
on the wild side like this.”
“Yeah, kind of,” Sofia agreed. It wasn’t exactly a lie, either. Phenex might not be
famous by name, but his kind had plenty of notoriety. In religious circles, at least.
“I can’t say much right now, but believe me, I’ll have stories.”
Stories she’d have to come up with later, Sofia decided. But for now, hearing Amy’s
relief more than made up for the guilt she felt from lying. She’d never believe the
truth anyway, Sofia told herself as they lapsed into familiar, comfortable chatter
about other things. She wouldn’t believe it, and it would be dangerous for her if
she did. This was better.
Too bad it didn’t feel that way.
Ten minutes later, Sofia hung up after an affectionate good-bye, then simply sat on
the velvet couch. Her smile faded as she stared into space, lost in thought. Outside
the window, the world was as dark as it always was here, brightened only by the soft
glow of the gaslights. This was only her fourth day in Terra Noctem, and the lack
of light was already getting to her.
At least there was work. For all his grousing, Phenex had escorted her to and from
work the last two nights, skulking around the hospital during her shift just to make
sure nothing awful happened. Well, nothing awful to her. In the ER, there was generally
at least a small amount of awful every day. If she was lucky, she managed to help
fix it.
The last couple days, though, it seemed that for every triumph over death she’d helped
facilitate at work, there had been two or three people who were beyond saving. Normally,
she could detach herself, but some of the losses broke through the shell to really
hurt. That, along with the fact that she’d only seen the sun in the brief trips between
Amphora and Georgetown heading to work, seemed to be wearing her down. She needed
to get out in the daylight for longer than a few minutes at a time, and soon. Otherwise
she was going to end up just as pathetic as Phenex’s flowers.
Sofia exhaled softly, stretching her legs in front of her, frowning over her unpainted
toenails. She wore a simple pair of jeans and a soft emerald sweater, things that
had come in the suitcase Meresin had brought for her. The big, dangerously quiet fallen
angel with the violet eyes wouldn’t have been her pick to gather up essentials from
her apartment, but not only had he followed her list exactly, he’d put in a few extra
things, thoughtful things, that surprised her. Her perfume, for one. A framed photo
of her and her parents, for another, smiling and laughing on a day last summer. That
Meresin had picked it up off her dresser and thought to include it floored her.
Far from understanding these men Phenex had escaped Hell with, Sofia felt that they
only got more complicated with time.
Especially the one she was sleeping with.
“You ready to go?”
Sofia turned her head to look at the front door, which was now half-open as Phenex
leaned in to look at her. He’d taken a guitar out on the front steps to amuse himself
while she talked to Amy, and she appreciated the privacy. She was less appreciative
of the dinner plans he’d made, but Sofia knew her discomfort was her own problem.
She was holed up in a vampire city. It stood to reason that eventually, she would
have to mingle. With vampires. And probably a few more fallen angels. And maybe other
things that, in any other situation, would want to eat her.
She tried to smile instead of grimace and knew she’d only barely succeeded.
“Sure,” Sofia said. She rose and walked to the door, slipping on the ballet flats
that she’d left beside it. Phenex brushed past her in one of the preternaturally quick
moves she still hadn’t gotten used to, and in a blink his guitar was back on its stand,
his hand instead at her waist. The feel of his hand on her, even in the most innocent
way, was enough to make Sofia want to arch into his touch. She fought off the urge,
somehow managing to act like a normal, non-nymphomaniac human being as they headed
out to the street.
She couldn’t seem to get enough of him. It was a problem…or it was going to be. Phenex
was no wild rock star, but hooking up with an immortal ex-demon made this relationship
just as impermanent. He’d said it himself—she’d never have to worry about taking him
home to meet her parents.
What he didn’t know, what she wouldn’t say, was that far from being a relief, that
statement just made her increasingly sad.
Amy was right. None of this was like her. Of the three of them—her, Sara, and Amy—Sofia
had always been the straight arrow. Maybe it was watching her parents struggle to
build a good life for her and her brothers. Maybe it was that she’d had to work so
hard to put herself through college, knowing how much she would be wasting—and how
many people she’d be disappointing—if she failed. But to her, everything was important.
She took nothing lightly.
And no matter how hard she tried, she couldn’t take the way Phenex looked at her,
the way he touched her, lightly, either.
It would probably be better for both of them if she could. But even Phenex seemed
to want something more than what he’d offered her. She just wished she knew what it
was…if he even did.
Phenex curled one wing around her back as they walked toward High Street, a habit
he’d developed that she liked. Especially down here, where every time she walked out
the door she felt as though there were hundreds of eyes on her. The two of them made
their way down cobblestone streets, some narrow and winding, others wider, all of
them dark and strangely charming. Sofia was just congratulating herself on gawking
less when an enormous black wolf dashed by her, closely followed by a gray. Her mouth
fell open, and it was several seconds before she realized her feet had stopped moving.
Phenex’s warm chuckle finally turned her attention.
Phenex looked down at her, a smile curving his lips. “One of the northern packs is
in town right now. They’re a little wilder than some.”
“Oh.” Sofia closed her eyes and shook her head, her laugh rueful. “How do you ever
get used to this stuff?”
Phenex shrugged. “This place isn’t so weird.”
“Hmm,” was all Sofia said. They obviously had different definitions of “weird.” But
it would figure that a guy who had once lived in Hell would have a much different
baseline for that sort of thing. Strange, that out of all this, he was the thing that
seemed most normal to her.
They got moving again, and soon reached the bustling street Sofia had first seen as
she was standing at the mouth of the tunnel from Amphora. It was lined with interesting
little shops and a variety of restaurants, some catering to tastes Sofia would rather
not think too deeply about. The lamps and lit windows gave everything a warm glow,
and everywhere, Sofia could feel the pulse of magic. Music drifted into the street.
There was so much here that was lovely, she thought. But then she looked up into a
darkness that contained no stars, or waited for a breath of fresh night air that never
came, and was reminded all over again that this wasn’t her place. The darkness was
deep here. And forever.
But if she thought of it as the strangest vacation ever, it was okay.
“You’re quiet tonight,” Phenex said, again jolting her out of her thoughts. She turned
her head to look at him, surprised to see how intently he was watching her. Had he
been doing that awhile? She hoped not. Which meant he probably had.
“Oh, I don’t know. Just tired, I guess. My hours are more messed up than usual down
here,” Sofia said.
Phenex’s brow creased before he looked ahead again. “Yeah. You’re a little pale. You
feel okay?”
His concern was sweet, if no longer quite a surprise. No matter what came out of his
mouth, Phenex’s actions said it mattered what happened to her.
“I’m fine,” Sofia said. She paused, then added, “I really need some fresh air, Phenex,
and some sun. I’d like to go aboveground tomorrow before work and just sit in a park
or something. I don’t care how cold it is. I feel like I’m wilting.”
“You look way better than my bird of paradise,” he offered.
Sofia raised an eyebrow at him. “I’m pretty sure that’s dead, but thanks.”
He leaned in close, his mouth just a breath away from her ear. “When we get home,
I’ll perk you up. Promise.”
She shivered, both at the heat in his words and at the words themselves.
Home
. So appealing to imagine having one with him. But not here.
A shout and a flash of light pulled Sofia abruptly from her thoughts.
“Great,” Phenex muttered. “Somebody’s in a mood.”
Just outside of the restaurant they were headed to, a glowing little gem of a place
with “Flicker” etched into the stone above the arched door, a figure Sofia immediately
recognized as Meresin stood. His wings were arched high above his back, half extended,
and violet light, like electricity, coiled up his arms and crackled at his fingers.
A man who Sofia could tell was a vampire was sprawled not far away in the street,
that same electric charge flashing around his body, making him yelp in pain.
“Meresin,” Phenex said, his voice hard. “You’re not supposed to get us kicked out
before we even go in the building.”
The other Fallen turned his head to look at them, and Sofia sucked in a breath at
the fierce light that filled his eyes, as strange a violet as the power that still
coiled around him. She tried to remember that picture he’d tucked into her things
as they approached. He couldn’t be as frightening as he seemed. Couldn’t be.
“I was just teaching someone a lesson about keeping his opinions to himself,” Meresin
said, his voice soft and silken. Sofia realized, all at once, that she hadn’t yet
been this close to him—and that it might be a bad idea when he was in this state.
He was, like each of the renegade Fallen, beautiful in his own singular way. There
was no softness in his face, which was all angles and edges. A short and tousled crop
of ebony hair was a striking contrast to his alabaster skin and wild eyes. His clothes
were nondescript, black on black, drawing attention away from a form that was just
as lithe and powerful as Phenex’s. From the look on his face, Sofia thought that Meresin
would prefer that no one pay any attention to him at all.
Which was hard when he was frying people in the street.
The vampire he’d zapped staggered to his feet and fled, and Meresin watched him go
with only the barest hint of satisfaction. Whatever was wrong with him, Sofia thought,
that hadn’t fixed it.
Phenex exhaled loudly. “What did this one say to you? Hello?”
Meresin fixed him with a hostile glare. “No.” Then, to Sofia’s horror, he turned his
attention to her. Immediately, something shifted ever so slightly in his expression,
and he surprised her by giving a slight bow.
“Miss Rivera. I hope the things I brought you were adequate.”
His formality surprised her.
“I…yes. Thank you. For everything. It was very thoughtful.”
He flinched, so quickly she might have missed it if she’d blinked. But he didn’t look
any closer to electrocuting her. So that was something. Phenex, ever helpful, snorted.
But then, she hadn’t shown him the picture. Something had stopped her. And now, looking
at how wary Meresin was, she was glad she’d kept that to herself.