Sanctified (2 page)

Gabriel smiled and stepped closer, drawing Jesse to him. “I swear to you, nothing more. I am the demonic equivalent of a human knight. I swore fealty to an archdemon, and in return, I control the city of Terrova. When I was exiled, another demon took over ruling Terrova in my stead.”

“Why were you exiled?”

A slightly pained expression clouded Gabriel’s face before it faded. “Treason.”

Jesse blinked. “What? What the fuck did you do?”

“I slept with the enemy -- one of the archdemon’s biggest enemies, actually.

Lilith convinced him to exile me instead of putting me to death.”

“Jesus fuck.”

Gabriel laughed. “Not quite him.”

It took a second for the joke to sink in, but when it did, Jesse rolled his eyes.

“You’re horrible.”

A slow smile spread across sinful lips, and Jesse forgot about what they’d come down for the moment Gabriel kissed him. Jesse’s back hit the stone wall and he wrapped his arms around his lover’s neck, content to let Gabriel’s touch replace the worries.

“We have to go,” Gabriel murmured, though he seemed no more inclined to move than Jesse did.

Jesse muttered what he hoped sounded like agreement, then he dove in for another kiss. Gabriel groaned into his mouth, nipped Jesse’s bottom lip, and pulled back slowly.

“Will Lazarus be there, in Abaddon?”

Taking Jesse’s hand, Gabriel continued down the corridor. “Knowing him, he’s holed up in his estate. I can’t get there. It’s not in Abaddon, but it’s not on Earth either.”

Jesse kept quiet, not wanting to bring up the whole issue of whether or not there really was a cure. They stepped into Gabriel’s sanctuary, but instead of stopping, Gabriel led the way into a room off to the side. Aside from a stone bench and a full-length gilded mirror, the room seemed quite nondescript. Gabriel stopped before the mirror and whispered something under his breath.

“Holy fuck!” Jesse gasped, eyes wide as thick red smoke swirled within the glass and billowed outward into the room.

“Come on.”

Mouth opening on a protest, he didn’t have time to say a word before Gabriel slipped into the smoke. Jesse had no choice but to follow, his eyes squeezed shut.

* * *

“They’ve entered.”

“Who?”

“Bela and his… companion.”

Semoriel joined Lazarus at the blackened mirror. “How do you know? I can’t see anything.”

“Scrying takes time to master. Believe me, they are in Abaddon.”

Though he still saw absolutely nothing but blackness, Semoriel knew Lazarus spoke the truth. He shifted behind the mage and dared to encircle Lazarus’ waist with his arms. Much to his delight, the mage shivered just the slightest bit.

“What happens now?”

Lazarus tipped his head, humming softly in encouragement. Semoriel peppered the blue skin with kisses, the heat of his breath warming the mage’s flesh. When Lazarus reached back, arm curling around Semoriel’s head, Semoriel bit down. The mage gasped, body going stiff. Blood flowed over Semoriel’s tongue, inciting fire in his veins despite the chill.

He wanted more than anything to bend his lover over the nearest piece of furniture and take everything Lazarus would give him. He’d never felt anything so strong, so utterly soul-consuming like the desire Lazarus stirred deep within him.

“Do we have time?”

Semoriel chuckled, puffing warm breath near Lazarus’ ear. “For?”

The mage moaned and rubbed his ass back against Semoriel’s hard cock. “I need.”

“You shall have.” Semoriel turned them slightly and pressed Lazarus forward onto a worktable. “Such sweet flesh…” he murmured, lifting the mage’s robe to bare his backside. “And all mine.”

“Yes.” Lazarus hissed and spread his thighs when Semoriel drew the tip of a finger along his crease. “Stop your damned teasing, demon,” he snapped.

“As you wish…” Semoriel pulled out his cock and rubbed the head over the mage’s hole. “Without slickness, it’s going to hurt.”

“Fuck. Me.”

Nails digging into blue flesh, Semoriel squeezed his eyes shut and thrust in hard and deep. Searing pain shot through him, and somewhere in the fog clouding his brain, he thought he heard one of them -- or both of them -- cry out. He remained buried to the hilt in his lover, waves of heat warring with the intense cold of the mage’s body.

Beneath him, Lazarus grunted and shifted, then words began drifting through Semoriel’s head.

“Pain releases the gates of the mind… breaks down the barriers.”

Beyond where they stood, Semoriel caught sight of the mirror. Where he hadn’t seen anything before, now he did. His damnable brother and that annoying human. For a brief moment, Semoriel wondered how a human could be in Abaddon, but that didn’t matter.

“I understand now.” He returned his attention to the writhing, moaning body beneath him. “Now show me more, mage.”

“Later.” Lazarus reached back and swiped his nails along Semoriel’s right hip.

Bright blue light followed in their wake, and Semoriel swore his veins froze below the surface. “Take me.”

“Gladly.”

Lazarus shouted and shoved back into every thrust Semoriel made, their bodies slapping together in the once silent room. Panting, moaning, the mage came undone, begging wordlessly for more. Semoriel snarled and sped up the rhythm. A split second later, the mage threw his head back and screamed Semoriel’s name. Semoriel buried himself balls deep, grunting as the spasms milked out every drop he had.

Unable to move, and quite unwilling to do so, Semoriel draped himself over the mage’s back. “You must teach me more.”

“My pleasure.”

Darkness, so thick it seemed fathomless, surrounded them. Jesse clung tighter to Gabriel’s hand. He didn’t like being practically blind, especially in a place that smelled stale and earthy, like old cloth and wet dirt. Gabriel gave him a reassuring squeeze.

“Where are we?”

“In the catacombs beneath my keep.”

“Catacombs? Don’t you need dead people to have catacombs?”

Gabriel chuckled. “In Abaddon, there are plenty to go around.” He stopped walking and Jesse nearly ran into his back. “Listen to me.” Jesse felt Gabriel turn, then found himself closer to his lover. “I haven’t been here in a very long time, Jesse. My exile ended years ago, but I never returned. Beyond this door, I will not be in this form.”

“You mean… human form?”

“Yes.”

Jesse took a deep breath. He’d come this far, and he certainly couldn’t leave now

-- and expect to live, at any rate. “Okay. I’m ready.”

Warmth covered his mouth and he opened to Gabriel’s kiss. He drank in the man’s breath and taste, unsure if he’d ever experience it the same way again. When the kiss ended, Gabriel sighed. Then he turned back to the door and Jesse heard a rattle.

What sounded like chains clattered to the floor, and the door opened. Pale golden light spilled into the narrow corridor, and Jesse gasped, stumbling backward.

“I told you,” Gabriel rumbled, his voice coming from deep within a massive, muscled chest. He towered over Jesse by nearly two feet, and enormous bat-like wings flattened down against his back.

“I…”

Black horns curled out of Gabriel’s head, parting the black hair. If ever there was such a thing as a devil, Jesse had the distinct feeling he stared at it now.

“Gabriel?”

“I will not harm you.” Gabriel reached out and one clawed fingertip traced Jesse’s parched lips. “Nothing will if I can help it.”

Jesse shivered. A part of him feared this side of Gabriel, but another part -- a deeper part -- craved it. God, what was he becoming?

“I can protect you here, within my keep, but outside, it will be more difficult.”

“I know.” Jesse swept his gaze along Gabriel’s tall frame. “Would it be really fucking weird,” he muttered, “if I said you look… kinda hot?”

Gabriel’s laugh resounded deeply, almost filling the scant space around them.

“Weird? No. Reassuring? Yes.”

Reassuring? Jesse lifted one eyebrow and stared at his demonic lover. Something about a demon needing reassurance didn’t quite compute, but Jesse brushed it off. He couldn’t help but want the being before him, demon or no.

“Come on,” Gabriel said, taking Jesse’s hand in his. “We will be safely inside soon enough.”

Jesse wasn’t sure if he wanted to know what that meant. With the tiny bit of illumination through the doorway, he caught sight of twisted piles of cloth and bone, but none of it resembled anything… human. He swallowed hard and crossed over the threshold after Gabriel, the door shutting behind them.

Torches lit the way, their flames flickering on the slightest draft from down the hall. The cold dampness of hardened earth gave way to handcrafted walls of stone.

Jesse felt a bit more at ease and not as if the ground above could crumble down onto them at any moment.

“How old is this place?”

“Thousands of years is my best guess,” Gabriel said. He glanced back briefly. “I eventually lost count.”

Jesse couldn’t begin to imagine that length of time. He’d never been much for history, and the simple fact that he now walked through a place so ancient it dwarfed, in age, anything else he’d ever seen, completely stunned him.

“Where are we now? Inside the castle?”

“The Deathway -- the escape tunnel that runs under the keep, from the dungeon to the catacombs, and finally out into the forest beyond.”

“But we didn’t come through a forest. I’m confused.”

Gabriel started up a set of stairs and Jesse followed. When they reached the top, he realized they’d entered the dungeon itself. The corridor widened and along each side, doors lined the hall. Tiny barred windows served as the only way to see into each cell, and Jesse managed to make out a set of shackles hanging from a wall hook.

“The mirror portal bypasses the forest. The woods are the only safe route in times of siege. The portal will obey me and no other.”

“Ah. That explains things,” Jesse muttered. “I think.”

He continued on with Gabriel and they ascended more steps. The higher they went, the drier the air became. More torches lit their path, placed in intervals along the stone walls.

When they came to a heavy wooden door with iron braces, Gabriel turned. “Stay close to me and never leave my sight.”

Jesse nodded. “I will. Trust me.”

* * *

Gabriel didn’t know what to think. He figured his presence would be met with scrutiny and surprise, but what he hadn’t expected was to find his home utterly abandoned. No one -- servants, guards, even the pitiful regent he’d had -- remained.

The entire stone keep felt still -- as if Death itself had paid an untimely visit. Something didn’t sit right.

“Uh… I thought you said there’d be others here.”

Gabriel shook his head, words difficult. “I don’t know,” he muttered. “This isn’t the way I left it. My home has always been an active place, but this…” He waved his hand about, gesturing toward the empty great hall. “This is wrong.”

“Wrong?”

“Where are the servants? Where are the guards? There’s nothing -- not even a bone or a shred of cloth. It’s like they all simply disappeared.”

He scanned the room, hoping to find some hint as to where everyone had gone.

When he spotted a black spot on the floor near the dais, he hurried over. Barely aware of Jesse behind him, he bent down and swiped his fingertips through the black soot.

“What is it?”

“Demon ash.” Gabriel wiped the stuff off on his jeans and stood. “It’s what remains of a demon. In this case, I have the feeling it used to be the one holding the keep during my exile.”

Jesse approached the dais slowly, as if he expected something to leap out at him at any moment. “So someone killed the demon?”

“Or something,” Gabriel said with a sigh. “But there’s no sign of any struggle, no evidence of fighting.”

A crash of wood and metal from the corridor beyond the great hall startled them.

Jesse jumped, bumping into Gabriel. Gabriel held him close and twisted just enough to see over his shoulder, back toward the closed doors. No other sound came.

“Quiet.”

He led the way over to the door and lifted the enormous ring. The door cracked and groaned before opening and Gabriel peered into the dark space.

“Who’s there?”

Something shuffled in a far corner, but didn’t answer. Gabriel glanced back at Jesse, then stepped through the doorway. He crept to the far side and knelt. Lifting his left hand, he summoned a flame small enough to provide a scant bit of light. Frightened
human
eyes peered at him from half-sunken sockets. The person’s face, hidden beneath a layer of blood and dirt, appeared young.

“Who are you?” Gabriel asked. The human cringed. “I’m not going to hurt you.

What happened here? Where is everyone? Where is the regent?”

“Gone.” From the soft whisper, Gabriel knew the person was a very young female.

“Gone. Where?”

“Dead,” she hissed softly. “They came seeking the one named Belsha’tstsar.”

Gabriel narrowed his gaze and heard Jesse gasp quietly behind him. “Why do they want him?”

“Ba’al… I heard them say he’s dead.”

“What? That is impossible!”

“I don’t know!” Tears streaked down her face and Gabriel winced. “Please, don’t hurt me!”

“Shh…” Jesse knelt beside Gabriel and for a brief moment, the young woman stopped crying and stared at him. “My name is Jesse. This is Gabriel.”

“You are human,” Gabriel said. “How did you get here?”

“My home burned down. A man pulled me out and bit me. When I woke up, I was here.”

“What’s your name,” Jesse asked her.

“Eve.”

* * *

“I thought you said humans can’t be here. So why is she?”

Gabriel cast a quick glance over at Eve. Thankfully, the food stores had been untouched. She wasn’t a vampire, though she’d certainly been bitten. The angry red marks on her neck stood out against her pale flesh. None of his kind had done this. The marks were too wide apart for a human-like vampire. Whatever brought her here, Gabriel had the feeling it was also responsible for the state of his home.