The Holiday From Hell (13 page)

"Thank you, Luce, for everything," she said sleepily, snuggling up to him in bed afterwards.

Luce was sated and exhausted, his body still buzzing from their incredible lovemaking. "I don't deserve you. When I dreamed about all the things I wanted to do with you and to you, I never thought any of those dreams would come true. But now –"

"Demons dream?" Mel asked, suddenly staring at him.

His cheeks heated as they flushed. "Not dream, not really," he muttered. "More like daydreams. Fantasies. When those dark souls in Hell wrap around your soul, there's no getting out. No leaving your body for anything, except to join them in terrorising other souls. Trapped in your own head, sometimes it's pleasant to imagine how good life could be, if circumstances were different. Sometimes, I just used my body's down-time to plan my next attempt to take over the world, telling myself that maybe the domination of Earth wasn't as impossible a goal as I'd thought. Maybe this time, I'd get closer…" He clenched his teeth, trying to block out all the painful memories.

Her gentle hands stroked them away. "You can't get much closer than you are now, my love. And I'm sorry if I caused you grief. I was just surprised, is all. I mean, angels don't dream, but humans do, and I know so little about demons that I wondered. I wanted to ask you what it was like."

"I know. It's all right." Luce pulled her closer, praying that her skin against his would be enough to keep the darkness at bay. "What do you do at night, while your body slumbers in my willing arms? Do you watch me as I watch you?"

Mel hesitated before she said, "When you're not with me and I miss you, yes, sometimes I leave my body and travel to where you are so I can see you. Once when you were in New York…and once more when I was in Japan without you. It's not an indulgence I permit myself often. Most nights, I walk the paths of the future, trying to determine the correct course of action to yield optimal results. Or I visit mortals who hold the key to these desirable futures, as their decisions are the nodes separating the present from what could be. I speak to them in their dreams and give them insights into probable futures, in the hope that I can persuade them to make a beneficial decision. Sometimes, I even help them with other significant parts of their lives and responsibilities, if they desire my assistance."

Like the Hans in Korea. "What about tonight? When we're supposed to be on holiday, with no work to do, will you desert me as we sleep so that you can continue working yourself far too hard? While I thought you were peacefully resting last night, were you still trying to solve the world's problems?"

Mel's lips were warm as she kissed his chest. "No, my love. Last night I watched you healing me and finally understood how you managed it. But the other nights here…on our first night, I sensed an owl and I spent most of the nights this week just watching the night wildlife and the stars, as they lived their hidden lives in the darkness outside this place. I lost count of the number of kangaroos that came past."

Oh God, was that her tongue rasping across his nipple? So that's why men have nipples. So that Mel could…Luce's mouth went dry. "Can I…may I join you in your stargazing tonight, if you're going to do the same thing? If you don't mind having company, that is. I'll need your help, though. I've never left my body to travel the way you do. As a demon, I couldn't, and when I was an angel, I never spent enough time in a human body to experience sleep. I wouldn't know how…" He trailed off as he saw Mel's eyes widening with shock.

She swallowed several times, as if her mouth was as dry as his. "I'm so sorry, Luce. Some mentor I am. I never thought to ask you and I had no idea you didn't know how. I'll share the stars with you until sunrise and the start of a new day." Mel tilted her head up and gave Luce a lingering kiss. "Sleep, my love. I can't wait to steal your soul." She settled against his chest once more, releasing a deep sigh that seemed to relax her whole body as she exhaled.

Luce closed his eyes, trying to empty his mind enough to put his brain to sleep. Steal his soul? It was already hers. She couldn't steal something she owned so completely. He felt his lips lift in a smile before he drifted into slumber.

"Can you hear me, my love?" Mel's voice held far more power without a human body to restrain it. "Lucifer, light of the morning, can you feel me?"

Warmth touched his soul, spreading to envelope him completely. The dawn of the first perfect morning in Heaven – or Mel's soul embracing him. No other sensation his soul knew could be as blissful as this. He didn't want to break the moment. "I love you."

Her soul hummed with laughter. "And I love you, but you're not going to see any stars unless you free your soul from that body. I can drag you out, but it's best if you do it yourself, so you know how to."

"You can rip my soul from my body?" Luce didn't remember being able to do that as an angel. Hell, it was a damn good thing demons couldn't do it.

"There's a reason demons are trapped in their bodies. Yes, your every thought is open to me as if you'd spoken it. Any angel who works as an escort must learn to do it, for when a soul won't leave a corpse and needs that extra push." She hummed with laughter again. "Luce, is that a challenge?"

It was Luce's turn to laugh. "I'll make it clearer, then. Come claim my arse and I'm all yours."

He sensed her confusion. "I thought you'd want to do it yourself, but you have a strong desire for some sort of violence from me," she said. "Luce, I'm not…"

"I haven't been out of this body for millennia, and even the thought of you using that kind of power over me does things to my libido you wouldn't believe. Please, take me to the stars, Melody."

Luce felt her mirth as she seemed to wrap tighter around him, forming a blissful bubble with him on the inside. Heaven. No, better than Heaven. Secure in her embrace, he dared to look around. Everything was dark, moving past so fast it was difficult to recognise anything. The only constant was the stars, which were above…no, around…no…on all sides except underneath, which looked like…"Mel, why have we left the Earth's atmosphere?"

"I'm giving you the stars, my love, or at least the only one I can give you tonight. Have you ever seen a solar tempest up close before?"

Luce looked up. The Earth might be receding fast, but the huge white sphere loomed larger by the second. He'd been free of his body for less than ten minutes, and Mel was about to fly him into the sun.

He'd never seen anything like it. It was like watching ocean waves swelling in a storm, except these were far more fluid and on a much larger scale. Maybe like liquid mist. Only mist on Earth could never be this powerful. Cyclonic clouds, maybe, as they churned the ocean into a waterspout…

"Isn't it gorgeous? So much raw power is pretty awesome."

Luce did a double-take at the sound of a voice that wasn't Mel's. "Who in Hell are you and what are you doing out in the vacuum of space?"

"Avoiding arrogance like yours. Lady Muriel, did he promise you eternal servitude for bringing him out here? If not, you deserve it."

Mel hummed with laughter while Luce looked for the unwelcome soul. Its energy signature was so close to that of the sun that he had to focus hard or lose it entirely.

"Saule, I take it you know Lucifer already? It must have been from a long time ago. I haven't seen you in this system for…ooh, must be going on five thousand years or more. I thought you were watching a black hole somewhere."

The soul hummed, as if she was laughing with Mel. "I was until Malakbel requested assistance keeping track of a stellar nursery over in the Sagittarius constellation. Belenos was bored with this stable star and dying to spend some more time with Malakbel, so he offered me everything under the sun to swap places with him. Give me a stable star with life-supporting planets like this one and I'm much happier, so I finally gave in and this star's mine for as long as I like. Or as long as Mr High and Mighty here continues to ignore all the Dynameis because we're beneath him. How'd you get him out of Heaven and all the way out here? Don't tell me he's finally taking an interest in the universe."

Mel's laughter had ceased. The muted glow flowing from her soul seemed like something more sombre. Sadness or mourning, perhaps. "You've been gone a long time. Luce has spent most of it in the world, as have I, but he's had the more difficult time of it. We're sharing our knowledge and I don't believe Luce has seen a solar tempest before. I wanted to share the experience with him." Luce felt her drift closer to him, a tendril of her being twining tighter around his. If she'd been in her human form, her body would be pressed along his side and her fingers would be gripping his hand.

"He doesn't share. He'll take everything you have to give and leave without a word of thanks, as he did to Meness. I expected to be reunited with my partner when I returned, only to discover that the Morning Star had somehow seduced him from the moon to Heaven, to fight for some hopeless cause. Now Meness is tainted, a demon condemned to Hell, and Lucifer? He doesn't look as if he's faced any consequences at all."

"Those who fought at my side fought for what they believed in and they chose their fate. I forced no one," Luce snapped. "I endured Hell for longer than any of the others, not that it's any of your business. And Meness? He's one of the few permanent staff in Level Eight. He favours the bolgia where he gets to transform damned souls into various creatures. From the moon to painful shapeshifting – it suits him."

Saule seethed, but Mel slipped between them. "I'm sorry for your loss. That Meness chose a path that led away from you is difficult to bear. It would break my heart to lose Luce as you have your partner."

"He doesn't deserve you, Lady Muriel."

Luce could see the conflict sapping Mel's strength, stealing away what little she had as if it was being swept into space by the solar wind. Of course he didn't deserve her. But she deserved every bit of help he could give her. Including healing. He focussed on pulling energy into himself, concentrating it so he could channel it into her. Without a body, it flowed so easily it felt effortless – just like it must have when he was an angel in Heaven. If this was so easy, then he could surely summon more power, perhaps even heal her more than he had before. Maybe, just maybe, he could truly start to repay her for everything she did for him. He drew in a deep beam of energy and…

"No – look out!"

Saule's warning came too late. The flare engulfed Mel and Luce completely, filling him with so much energy he felt like his soul was fizzing. The stream surged straight for Mel, the most powerful beam of energy he'd ever seen. And once it had started, he couldn't stop it. He'd sucked the flare into existence and it wouldn't subside until Mel had had her fill.

Mel screamed. It wasn't sound so much as pure energy slicing straight through him. He was hurting her. Oh God, he was hurting her and he couldn't stop. Mel. Oh God, Mel!

The beam seemed to hit a wall, reflecting back at him. Now he was screaming, too, just as Mel had. But it wasn't painful. He felt…euphoric. Energy flooded into him, filling the furthest reaches of his soul, until he felt like the most powerful being in the universe. Brimming with so much energy he might burst. Mel's scream still pierced him, but now he could sense the nuances surrounding it. Blissful, mind-blowing, joyful… "Mel, if I could give you an orgasm this good, I'd be the most legendary lover this universe has ever seen."

Laughter hummed. "You just did, my love."

The flare was finished and so was she. Melody Angel, Lady Muriel, the radiant, angelic soul at his side. He was glowing, but she was incandescent. If this was what she normally looked like, he'd never seen her on a good day, let alone her best.

"How did you do that?" Saule demanded. "That flare sent me halfway past Venus and it didn't budge you a bit. You both look like you…you drank it."

Mel twined herself tightly around Luce. "Luce is a truly amazing angel and I'm delighted he chose to share that with me. Thank you, my love." There was a certain note of triumph in her tone. "Saule, I shall visit again when I can. Please, tell no one of this until I do."

Saule laughed, the humming slightly jittery as if her laughter was shaky. "No one would believe me. No angel can do that. And definitely no demon."

Luce stared at Mel. Healed. Finally, she was as strong as she was supposed to be. "I don't believe I did it."

"I do. You never cease to surprise me, my love. Saule is right – you don't deserve the exhausted angel you've been fighting to heal while I undo your efforts every day. You deserve a mentor at full strength." Her soul's light dimmed slightly, as if in mourning once more. "We should head back."

They both farewelled the sun's guardian angel and sped toward Earth and the little loft. Luce could have sworn they left a comet's tail streaming behind them as they streaked home.

Mel's soul sank into her body and Luce hesitated for a moment. Surely his first night out of his body wouldn't be his last – Mel wouldn't leave him trapped in it for millennia again. He darted from air into flesh.

"He's not moving. I should have waited, shown him how to return to his body. Please don't leave me, Luce. I love you…I love you…I was right, you are still the angel you once were. Please don't leave me now. Thank you. I love you. Please don't reject me…" Mel's voice sounded clearly in his head as her lips touched his shoulder, his neck, his cheek and, finally, his lips.

Luce happily returned her passionate kiss, listening to her repeat the same litany in her audible thoughts. Finally, he broke the kiss to say, "Why in Hell would I leave you? I love you. I just sucked on the sun so you'd feel better. And you think I'd leave before I found out what my supercharged Melody can do?"

Her laughter was filled with joy. "You heard me! I was beginning to think you'd never be able to. What I can do…oh, I…I know what I'd like to do." The images in her mind were enough to make Luce blush almost as red as Mel. "May I?"

May she? Hell, he'd beg for her to do half of what she just showed him. "Hell yes. Today's entirely up to you. From now until when we fall asleep tonight, you call the shots."

Her blush deepened. "Even in bed? Of the two of us, you're definitely the expert there. Far more experienced than I am."

He seized her and held her tight. "Especially in bed. You're my sweet angel, Melody, the very best." He groaned in bliss as she proved his point.