7even Circles: Moon Is Calling (7even Circles Series Book 1) (6 page)

Chapter 9

Cass was ready to bolt by the time Ari and Michael returned. She tried to feel every emotion known to man, but of course it would figure that when she tried to feel something, she couldn’t do it, or she got the wrong emotion. It seemed like no matter what she did, she couldn’t find the trigger.

She tried to be angry, focusing her thoughts of fury on a mannequin in the church’s basement. She concentrated so hard that she gave herself a really bad headache. Next she tried to concentrate on love, but she hadn’t let herself really feel that emotion before. She’d never been in love.

Her thoughts wandered to the romance novels she secretly read, and she started to giggle. When Father Raphael asked what was so funny, she looked at him and pictured him riding on a horse to save a damsel in distress, with his sword he could barely hold. She burst out into full laughter. Obviously humor wasn’t her trigger.

Finally Father Raphael got up from his chair in the corner. “Let’s take a break.”

“Great idea.” She ran up the stairs, and as she opened the door she almost ran over Ari. He caught her and pulled her upright. His hands lingered on her, and she could feel the heat between them sizzle.

“Easy, beautiful.” He stroked her cheek gently, and she shivered from a small zing that went through her body.

She stepped back from him in surprise. “That can’t be.”

“What can’t be?” Michael asked, coming from the kitchen.

“Father Raphael and I have been trying for what seems like all day…”

“It has only been an hour and a half.” Raphael amended for her.

“Anyway, we’ve been at this trying to locate my trigger so I can learn to control my powers. Nothing, nada, zilch. Then Ari touched my cheek and—
bam
, there’s a spark.”

Raphael and Michael both stared with horror at Ari. Ari just puffed out his already muscular chest and smiled. “I light you up, huh baby.”

She rolled her eyes. “Maybe you just piss me off enough to want to zap your ass.”

He approached her slowly, with his usual bad-boy swagger. “There’s only one way to find out.”

Father Raphael stepped between them. “We have other things to deal with right now than your libido.”

Michael agreed with him. “Raphael is right. Let’s go to the kitchen and talk about this demon and where he might be hiding.”

Michael and Raphael went ahead down the hallway. She watched them disappear inside the kitchen. “Come on.” She turned to look at Ari, but he didn’t move. He had a gleam in his eyes.

“Ari?”

Before she could stop him, he reached for her and pulled her in for a kiss. His lips were full and firm. She fought him at first, but faced with his persistence, she finally opened up. The moment their tongues met she felt something explode inside of her. All her pent-up needs and passions came pouring out into the kiss.

Cass had kissed men before, but this was like a revelation. His hands traveled her body, she felt them spinning, a door opened and she blinked, looking around. Somehow he’d managed to get them inside a closet. She should push him away, tell him she didn’t want this. He nuzzled her neck with his lips, and all thoughts left her except one:
I must have him
.

She wrapped her arms around his neck and pulled him back for another kiss. This time there was no hesitation; she was open and on fire for him. She pressed her body closer, rubbing against him. Her nipples hardened into tight little points, and she felt dampness in her panties.

Cass bit his bottom lip, gently pulling it with her teeth. He growled and pushed her against the wall, knocking hangers onto the floor. He lifted her legs, wrapped them around his waist, and ground his hard cock against her pussy.

“Fuck yeah.”
Was that her voice? Was she possessed? Oh...God.
He was fucking her with their clothes still on. Somehow he’d gotten his hand between them and under her t-shirt. He shoved her bra up to free one of her breasts. She arched into his large hand.

“Do you have any idea how many times I’ve fantasized about this—about you?”

She shook her head. “Ari.”

He bent down and raised her shirt so he could suck her nipple into his mouth. When he released her she protested, trying to pull him back to her. He chuckled against her.

“Did you fantasize about me?” He licked the underside of her breast, making her shiver. “Did you, Cass?”

“Yes—please, Ari.” She needed something, anything, to take her over that edge. He returned to her breast, sucking and nibbling her, driving her crazy. She vaguely heard the zipper to her pants being undone, and he distracted her enough that she didn’t notice him pulling her pants down just a little. When she did finally register a draft he already had his hand in her panties.

This was the moment where she should finally pull back, make him stop touching her. She felt his fingers parting her folds and entering her at the same time he bit gently on her nipple. It was all she needed to make the fireworks building up inside of her go off. She moaned out her release, calling his name like a mantra.

“Ari, Ari, Ari.”

He moaned himself as he slowly slid his finger out of her wet folds. “Look at you, sweetness, you’re glowing.”

She opened her eyes and looked down at her body. He was right, she was glowing. She was about to question him when the closet door was jerked open and bright light filled the small space.

“Good heavens!” Father Raphael sputtered and tried to turn away, but Michael was standing too close to him and they both fumbled around in a circle.

Ari was much quicker in moving to block their view of Cass. “Don’t you guys know how to knock?”

“Why would we knock to enter a closet?” Michael asked, trying to peek around Ari. “What are you doing in here?”

“Trying to tap into Cass’s powers. It was working, too. She was starting to glow.”

“Really?” Father Raphael moved further inside the closet, attempting to look at her. Thankfully she’d pulled her shirt down and her pants up.

“Could we all—come out of the closet, please?” Cass felt the heat in her cheeks. “Damn, that sounded weird.” It was embarrassing enough to be caught making out in a closet but now all three men were looking her over from head to toe like she’d grown horns or something.

“I’m sorry, but I don’t see the glow. Maybe my eyes aren’t what they used to be.” Father Raphael shook his head. He left the closet, and the rest of them followed to stand in the hallway. “Could you try to replicate it?”

Cass closed her eyes and tried to focus on the glowing.
Come on, glow-worm!
She opened her eyes expectantly, but nothing happened. “I don’t get it.”

“Maybe the half-demon did something to cause the glow,” Michael offered.

Ari leaned his shoulder against the wall and crossed his legs casually. “Oh, I definitely did something to her. And I’m more than willing to repeat it, anytime and anyplace.” He raised his fingers, the fingers that had been inside of her doing wickedly sweet things, and licked them.

She felt her pussy spasm with need, and she sucked in a breath. Shaking her head, she glared at him. “Stop that, Ari!”

“Cassandra, now you’re glowing.” Father Raphael’s voice broke through her fury.

She looked down at her gently shining fists. “Why is it doing this now?”

“The trigger is a strong emotional response.” Ari said as he finished licking his fingers.

“Like anger? I get angry all the time, so why haven’t my powers surfaced before now?”

Everyone looked at Ari like he held the secrets of the universe. He snorted and shrugged his shoulders. “The hell if I know.”

She looked down at her hands. The glow was beginning to fade. “So, what? Do I just get mad again or something? Is glowing all I’m able to do? How is that even helpful against a demon?”

“Follow me.” Father Raphael walked to the kitchen and opened the door to the basement. He turned the light on and made his way down the dark stairway.

Cass waved her hands in front of her face when she walked into a spider web. “This is so creepy!”

“What’s the matter, Cass? You don’t like dark and dirty places?” Ari asked from close behind her.

She stopped to turn halfway around and slap his chest. “Shut up!”

Michael squeezed past Ari and got between them. “Yeah, half-demon, shut up.”

Ari growled when Michael placed his hand on her shoulder. “We don’t need the half-demon, send him away.”

Ari snorted. “Have you forgotten that I was the one who helped you find Cass and save her? You and the priest would’ve been sitting at the kitchen table drinking tea and twiddling your thumbs if I hadn’t helped.”

She didn’t know why, but she felt like she had to defend Ari. “He stays.”

Michael was obviously not happy about it. “Fine.” He didn’t say anything else as they went to stand by Father Raphael, who was pulling open a large chest.

He pulled out a bulky book wrapped in a leather cloth. Father Raphael went over to a rocking chair and sat down placing the book in his lap. “It’s been a long, long time since I’ve seen this.”

“What is it?” Cass went to kneel at his feet. The book looked really old. She loved old books. She reached out and stroked the cover, and was surprised to feel warmth coming from it.

“It’s a history book documenting the origins of angels and demons. One of the first and few ever written. We call it the Book of Knowledge.”

“I hate to break it to you, Father, but any Bible can tell you the tale of the fallen angel that became the Devil.”

Raphael laughed. “That’s the CliffsNotes version. It only highlights what the author of the book wanted people to remember. What’s inside this book, no one was expected to remember.”

“Huh?” She was confused.

Father Raphael opened the book and found a passage.
“He loved the light, but the dark called to him too. It was his lover, his companion. How could he not follow it?”
He looked at her expectantly. “Who do you think that was written about?”

“The Devil, or the angel who fell and became the Devil. He followed the darkness.”

Michael knelt across from her on the other side of Raphael. “No, that was written about Gabriel, the strongest and fiercest Arkangel of all time.”

“So Gabriel became evil?”

“Never!” Michael looked at her like she’d said something blasphemous.

“There is good and bad in everyone, even angels and demi-demons. We all have a choice: to follow the light or to follow the dark. Sometimes we have to do a little of both, caught in between worlds. Gabriel fell in love with a woman, but he was torn because he loved God and loved being a soldier for the light. However, the woman he loved was the first who had ever stirred his soul. He didn’t know until it was too late that she was a servant for Lucifer. The woman was a tool, a way to get Gabriel to leave his post. Thousands of souls were lost in that horrible battle. Gabriel wanted to die as well. ”

“He didn’t, though.”

“No, he didn’t. He learned a valuable lesson and hardened his heart. He closed himself off from all emotions after that. Not long after that, the prophecy of a Child of Light was foretold. The idea spread among the commanders that this could be instrumental to fighting the demons, to keep them from taking over the Earthly plane.”

Michael picked up with enthusiasm where Raphael stopped. “Gabriel is a genius. He was the one who realized that just breeding an Arkangel with a human wouldn’t produce someone strong enough, which is why we lost so many of our nephilim brethren. However, if the human was half demon when it bred with an Arkangel, the offspring would allow the angels to take the fight where none had been able to go before.”

“The inner circle,” Ari whispered from across the room.

Michael beamed. “Exactly! No angel has been able to make it past the outer circles, and full demons, because they have no soul, can only remain on the Earthly plane for a seventy-two-hour time period. A child born of a half-demon and an Arkangel would have a soul, and therefore would have the strength of a demon and powers of an Arkangel, with none of the limitations.”

Ari stepped forward, furious. “You do realize you’re talking about a child, right? You planned out the seduction of some poor demi-demon woman and had her give birth to an innocent child, who you want to use as a fucking weapon!”

Cass looked down at her hands. She felt sick inside.
Was that all she was? A weapon?
Father Raphael placed his hand on her shoulder and she felt comforted immediately. She looked up at him.

“Is that all I am? A weapon?”

“No, child. You are hope. It is true that you may one day be able to help fight the demons and succeed where so many of us have failed. It’s not all on you, though.”

“What powers do I have? A demon’s strength…but I don’t feel very strong. What am I supposed to get from the Arkangel side?”

“We’re not sure which of our powers will translate to you.” Raphael looked at Michael. “Perhaps we need to let her know what powers we have.”

Michael puffed out his chest as he spoke. “An Arkangel can electrocute a demon. He wields a sword of light, he has wings to fly to the heavens, heals quickly, and some have the ability to gain knowledge through touch and can also heal others the same way. I have limited powers, powers of touch: I can sense what the person is feeling, and can track and locate them if the connection is strong enough and they are conscious. Of course, I can also fly using my wings, which are pure white.”