Touch of the Angel (Demons of Infernum, #3) (23 page)

Never before had he felt so complete, like he belonged so fully. If her mind was the gift, then her body was the treasure. Soft, wet, and so hot.

Mine. All mine.

After several more thrusts her muscles tensed and she screamed, plunging back against him as she rode out her climax. His self-control broke and he followed her over the abyss. Pleasure like he’d never experienced before pulsed through his cock, sending his release streaming into her body. Blinding black dots obscured his vision and danced in tune to the ringing in his ears. For one second he thought he might pass out. If he did, it would be well worth the mind-blowing experience. But in the end he stayed standing, though the muscles in his legs were so relaxed he could barely hold his own weight.

Maybe he’d be better off sitting.

Grabbing hold of Amara’s waist, he sat onto the step and pulled her down on top of him, with her back to his chest and his erect cock still buried inside her. Amazing how right it felt to be joined with her, even now, after the heat of their passion had begun to recede.

“That was amazing.” Amara leaned her head back against him.

He wrapped his arms around her and lifted a hand to cup one of her breasts while he nuzzled her neck. “Yes it was.”

“You’re a master at lovemaking, and I’ll tell anyone who asks.”

That made him laugh. “If I am, it’s only because you’re so inspiring.”

She made a soft sound of pleasure in her throat and rubbed up against him. “The sun will be up soon. Let’s hurry and get back to your place so we can do this again.”

“Sounds like the best plan I’ve heard all day.”

Chapter Twenty-Three

Asmodeus paced his third-floor balcony for the tenth time that night. Curly ribbons of dawn snaked through the sky, painting the dark with orange ribbons of light. Another half hour and it would be full daybreak outside. All of his subjects had returned hours ago. All but two: Gofrey and Amara.

Belpheg’s deadline rapidly approached. He was running out of time, and something had gone wrong. He could feel it in his gut. In the gnawing disappointment ravaging him like a flesh-eating worm. He’d been so certain his plan would work. With Amara back in his grasp, the Detainors would have rapidly followed. The burgeoning bond he’d felt between her and one of the brothers would have drawn them all here. He knew that with a certainty. With the shield protecting his residence in place, he could have lowered it to lure them in one by one. Trapped each man as he came through and absorbed his power.

But now? Without her?

Belpheg would be furious that he’d failed to capture the brothers yet again, and so close to the equinox.

When he’d used his scrying bowl to spy on Amara earlier, he’d discerned that the brothers had found a way through the shield. What a conundrum. Capturing them practically guaranteed he would gain the two abilities he lacked, but if he didn’t get those powers before the shield fell, he might not be able to defeat them all. What to do?

The phone inside his main chamber rang. Asmodeus stepped inside and walked over to his table, taking a seat before he pressed the intercom button. “Yes?”

“It’s me,” said Faris, the man he’d called earlier to track down Gofrey. “I went to his apartment liked you asked.”

“And?”

“He’s there. Or what’s left of him, at least. Ain’t no doubt about it. He’s dead.”

“Shit.” Asmodeus slammed his fist down on the table. The news of Gofrey’s demise wasn’t a surprise, but it did place an unpleasant wrench in his plans.

“Want me to bring the body back to you or anything?” Faris asked.

“No. That’s all.” Asmodeus disconnected the call and sat back in his chair to contemplate.

He would have to go to Belpheg. It was the last thing he’d wanted to do, but he was running out of options. All his years of collecting abilities would be wasted if he couldn’t prevent himself from being apprehended.

Asmodeus closed his eyes and forced himself into a deep state of meditation. After some time, he felt his spirit leave his body. It landed in the desolate astral realm, right in front of the dark fae.

Belpheg cocked an eyebrow at him. “I’m surprised to hear from you again so soon. I assume you’ve absorbed their essences?”

Asmodeus hunched his back. “I’ve run into a complication. They defeated the contingency of demons I sent for them.”

Belpheg’s countenance morphed into a glower that sparked an involuntary tremble in Asmodeus. “You idiot. Now they may know about you!”

Asmodeus winced. “I’m afraid they already did. It appears the Council sent them for me.”

“
What
?”

The steely tone in Belpheg’s voice made a shiver race down Asmodeus’s back. “I may have let out a little...slip...to one of my mercenaries about the abilities I’d gained.”

When Belpheg’s hands shook with barely banked rage, Asmodeus said, “Do—don’t worry. I can resolve this. I’m almost ready to take them on.”

“You stupid fool,” Belpheg spat.

Asmodeus couldn’t help but bristle at that. True he’d made a mistake, but Belpheg had no right to speak to him this way. “I don’t know who you think you are, but—”

A clap of thunder sounded and, in the blink of an eye, Belpheg stood a few feet from him. With a mere lift of Belpheg’s hand, Asmodeus’s legs crumpled beneath him, sending him into an involuntary bow. He tried to rise but he was rooted in place, and his throat closed as if an invisible hand squeezed it.

“All of these years, did you really think you had any power in this relationship?” Belpheg’s hand shook and his voice sounded different than it ever had before. Deeper. Far more frightening. “Even as clueless as you are, I know you had to wonder what I received in return for the ability to distort energy I granted you.”

“Th—the right to borrow my powers at some future period of time,” Asmodeus choked out. “That was our bargain.”

“Yes. But more than that.” Belpheg laughed. “I changed you from a worthless, mentally damaged runaway into a man of wealth and power. Did you not think that would come at a great price?”

“What was the price?” Asmodeus whispered, knowing he wouldn’t like the answer.

A bolt of lightning pierced the dark sky.

“I also took your soul. Piece by piece.”

“No.” Dread and horror clawed at Asmodeus’s chest, threatening to suffocate him with its force. “No, you couldn’t.”

“It was so easy. You are nothing but my pawn. An egotistical fool.”

Did the dark fae speak the truth? Fury churned inside of Asmodeus, along with the bitter recognition that Belpheg wasn’t lying to him. Deep down, he’d sensed the loss of some integral part of him every time he accepted assistance from the mage. But he’d likely been too blinded by greed and his own personal agenda to acknowledge it.

How he ached to lunge at the fae and strike him down, but he couldn’t even move. He belonged to Belpheg; he saw that now. The best he hoped for was mercy.

“If what you say is true, then you must’ve spent years building me up for some purpose,” he said. “It’s in your best interest as well as mine to ensure I’m strong enough to elude capture. Give me something to help me overtake the Detainors so that I can manipulate their powers.”

Belpheg appraised him for a long moment, his face mottled with rage. Finally he turned, and the invisible grip on Asmodeus’s throat eased. Asmodeus dropped to his forearms and sucked in a breath.

“I’ll help you, but I will
never
forget how you failed me.” Belpheg reached into the billowing sleeve of his robe and emerged with a small silver orb that crackled with electricity. “When you meet with these Detainors, hold the sphere in your hand. It will boost your energy so that you can subdue them. But be forewarned, its power won’t last long. You must defeat them quickly. Modify the shield as I once showed you, so that when these brothers take it down, it will reactivate. Use that to exclude anyone but them from entering.”

Asmodeus reached out for the sphere and forced himself to say, “Thank you.”

Belpheg released the sphere into his hand, then stepped closer. With Asmodeus still on his knees, the movement put him in direct line with the dark fae’s groin. Memories long ago buried suddenly flashed through Asmodeus’s mind. He was no longer a powerful man, but a frightened boy of twelve, watching in hiding as his mother was arrested. Fleeing down the dark, barren streets of Infernum, afraid that they would imprison him, too. Hiding behind a shack, where an older demon found him and forced him to his knees.

No.

Once again Asmodeus tried to stand, to no avail.

“You’ve greatly disappointed me, Asmodeus.” Belpheg placed a finger under his chin and forced his head upward, so he looked him in the eyes. “You only have two more powers to gain before you are at full capacity. I’ve invested so much time in you. You were one of my favorites. So broken, yet so beautiful.”

When Belpheg’s fingers traveled down his neck toward his chest, Asmodeus almost choked on the bile in his throat. The way Belpheg watched him when they interacted had sometimes unnerved him, but the dark fae had always respected his personal space. He’d never given him overt reason to believe his interest in him was sexual. This...this was his worst nightmare, come to life. Again.

Belpheg grabbed a lock of his hair and jerked his head back. “Five days until the equinox. That is all the time you have left to absorb their powers and come to me. Should you fail, I’ll strip you entirely of your abilities. I won’t waste any more time or resources on you. Do you understand me?”

Heated rage flared in Asmodeus’s chest. He resisted the urge to curse at Belpheg. “Yes.”

Belpheg let go of him, and a split second later Asmodeus felt his spirit fly back toward his body.

He came to with a rough jerk. Lifting his head, Asmodeus saw his hands on the table in front of him. They were shaking. On the table in between them lay a silver orb. It appeared far duller than it had in the astral realm. He touched it and the sphere lit up, pulsing with energy. Mindful of Belpheg’s warning that its power wouldn’t last long, he snatched his hand away.

The fact that he now had the ability to take the Detainors on was tempered by the knowledge of what he was to Belpheg. He surveyed the room, wondering how everything could appear so normal when the world had spun on its axis. All this time he’d denigrated his succubi for being nothing more than foolish pawns, when he himself had been an even bigger one.

He’d tricked himself into believing that Belpheg would be content to make use of Asmodeus’s abilities on a one-time basis. How idiotic when he considered it. The dark fae had stolen his soul, and he’d
let
him.

He was going to capture these brothers and absorb their powers. Failure wasn’t an option.

But once you get them, then what?

Another unwilling memory forced itself into his head. The old demon, finding him repeatedly, no matter where on the streets he tried to hide. Because this was what happened to a defenseless orphan with no home to call his own. And sodomy was not even the worst of it.

The image of Belpheg superimposed itself onto the demon’s body, melding the present with the nightmares of the past.

No.

No.

Now he knew that would be his fate if he submitted to Belpheg. He refused to be the dark fae’s slave. He would rather die first.

But wait...

Once he got those other powers, once he got the twelve he needed, he would be at full capacity. He’d be invincible. Belpheg himself had told him so.

He would be able to
defeat
Belpheg.

Asmodeus refused to be a pawn in someone else’s game, to be nothing more than an object to be used and tossed aside. After he’d grown and moved to this dimension, he’d sworn that it would never happen again. That
he
would be the one in power. Time to put a plan in place.

Asmodeus pressed the button on the intercom and summoned one of his lackeys. “Dorn.”

“Yes, master?”

“I’ll need you to hire the services of several dozen mercenaries. Also, tomorrow I want you to put the word out to the Detainors that they have three days until Solara is killed. Be discreet. I don’t want them to know I’m drawing them here. Make it known that the longer they wait to claim her, the worse it will be for her.” And lest the bounty hunters think he was bluffing, “Send Solara up to me now.”

“Yes, master.”

He would make the Detainors come to them. Once they did, he would be ready. In three days’ time, they would be dead.

And he would be unstoppable.

§

In his darkened ritual chamber, Belpheg sensed the moment Asmodeus decided on treachery. The invisible cord that bound Asmodeus’s soul to his, the one that had been painstakingly forged with each gift of power he’d given the incubus, hummed with betrayal. The fool!

A tremor of uneasiness racked Belpheg’s body. He hadn’t been quite truthful with Asmodeus. He didn’t have the ability to remove the powers he’d given the incubus. And if Asmodeus succeeded in gaining the full extent of his powers, he would be close to indestructible. If the incubus set his mind to defeating Belpheg, which it seemed he had...Bel-pheg couldn’t say with one-hundred percent certainty who would win.

That was unacceptable.

Asmodeus had just become a major liability. Ordinarily, cutting him loose would have been unthinkable. He’d spent years cultivating the incubus, and without him he was one short of the twelve he needed to make the circle. Yet he could get a replacement.

True, it would take time to mold that substitute into what he needed. Time he wasn’t sure he had. His powers grew more unstable by the day. But Asmodeus now thought to challenge his authority, and that would simply not do. He would have to hold on. Start over. Even though it was better for him, the circle didn’t
have
to be formed by the March equinox. Any one of the equinoxes or solstices would do.

Belpheg considered removing the shield over Asmodeus’s residence, but that would require physically traveling to the site, and for a multitude of reasons, he didn’t want to do that. Besides, from what Asmodeus had told him, the bounty hunters had already discovered a way through it.

Some modification of the power in the orb he’d given Asmodeus would render it less useful than the incubus imagined it to be, and since the orb was tied to Belpheg, he didn’t have to be in its presence to do so. He couldn’t disable it entirely, though. What a shame.

An alternate plan was taking root, one that might necessitate the involvement of his old acquaintance, Mammon. It was a Plan B, but it appeared things had come to that.

Circumstances being what they were, Belpheg had never contemplated infiltrating the Council prison. Mammon was said to be well-guarded. But now...Mammon might be useful.

What he considered would take much planning, and some assistance on the inside. Lucky for him he’d put his feelers out on the brothers when he first learned of them last month. He now knew a few secrets, things they didn’t even know.

As for Asmodeus...the incubus was on his own now. For Belpheg’s sake, he prayed the brothers would defeat him.

If only he could be positive of it.