Dancing on the Head of a Pin Read online

  “I must remember to compliment Cael when next I see him,” an oily, malevolent voice said. “I wouldn’t have thought his taste so refined. I half expected a cherub—some wimpy, curly-headed fat boy, not a raven-haired beauty.”

  The ugly voice belonged to an even uglier creature. A foul stench of sulfur and decaying flesh hung about it in a cloud, an almost greenish halo that surrounded its three heads. Between its legs, a serpent slithered and coiled, hissing softly.

  Malak immediately knew the name of his uninvited visitor.

  Asmodai.

  “Where is Cael?” Malak asked, taking an involuntary step back from the noxious stench. “What have you done to him?”

  “Me? Why, nothing, dear Malak. Nothing Cael did not wish me to do, at any rate,” Asmodai replied, grinning with a mouthful of sharp yellow teeth. His ram’s head bleated and snapped a mouthful of air, while his bull’s head pushed it aside with the flat of its snout. “He is a fine lover, isn’t he? He and I have quite a history together. Did he tell you about us, sweet Malak? He’s in Hell now, waiting for me to return.”

  “You’re lying!” Malak cried with a fierce frown. He bared his teeth at Asmodai, his wings twitching into existence. Straightening his spine, he stood tall, as an avenging angel before the spawn of Hell.

  Asmodai chuckled at Malak’s show of Heavenly strength. “Such posturing is a waste of your energy, Malak! Surely you realize that when Cael fucked you, he also fucked up any chance you might have had to be in the good graces of Heaven again, don’t you? There is no power behind your wings, no halo hovering over your head.”

  Malak felt his resolve falter, stung by the truth of Asmodai’s words. He’d worried over the same thing himself. It occurred to Malak that Asmodai might have sensed that fear and was seeking to use it against him. “Where is Cael?” he demanded again.

  “Here” came a familiar deep and soothing voice from behind Malak. A warm hand clapped his shoulder, a warmer body stepping up beside him. “What has he said, Malak? What lies has he told you?”

  “Lies? I’ve told no untruths here, Cael,” Asmodai answered smoothly.

  “He said you were lovers and that you’d gone back to Hell.”

  “I’ve never allowed him to touch me, Malak. Not even while I was in the Pit.”

  “I know it, Cael. You’d never have been able to rid yourself of the stink if you had,” Malak replied, smiling softly and covering Cael’s hand with his own.

  “Oh, isn’t this sweet? True love, how perfectly nauseating! Although I do admit that he is a fine piece of ass, Cael. Quite accommodating,” Asmodai interjected. “Tight, so very tight—nearly as tight as you were once upon a millennium. He rode my cock as if it were a thoroughbred. Which, I admit, it is.” He grinned, petting the scaly head of his snake cock.

  “Fuck off, Asmodai!” Cael yelled, taking a step forward. His wings rustled angrily, his muscles bunching. “Go spew your bullshit somewhere else.”

  “Temper, temper, Cael. This is what gaining a soul does to a perfectly good demon. Spoils you. Makes you lust for things you have no business wanting. You are a creature of Hell and always will be! Love is an illusion you will never taste, never touch. You’re only fooling yourself. You are a demon, Cael! No imaginary religious construct can change that,” Asmodai spat, retreating in the face of Cael and Malak’s combined fury.

  “You’re wrong,” Cael said softy. The quiet tone of Cael’s voice sounded far more dangerous to Malak’s ears than his earlier roar. Even he was tempted to step away from Cael.

  “Am I? We shall see soon enough, won’t we?” Asmodai retorted. With a last lustful look at Malak, he disappeared.

  Chapter Nine

  “ARE YOU all right?” Cael asked Malak as soon as Asmodai’s vile presence had left them, and the breeze once again blew fresh and sweet through the open sliding doors.

  “You came back,” Malak whispered, staring wide-eyed at Cael. “You’re here.”

  Cael nodded slowly. He reached to brush his fingers across Malak’s cheek but hesitated. “I know you don’t want me here, but I couldn’t let you face Asmodai alone.”

  “Who said that?”

  “Who said what?”

  “That I didn’t want you here? I do want you. I’ve spent the past week weeping into my oatmeal over you, you idiot!” Malak grinned, throwing himself into Cael’s arms. Malak’s arms wrapped around Cael’s neck, hugging so tightly he made it seem as if he were trying to crawl inside of Cael.

  “You said… but….”

  “Yes, I know. I was stupid too. Cael, I was so wrong about everything. About you, about how I feel about you, about everything. I’m so sorry, Cael. I came back into the bedroom to tell you, but you were already gone.”

  “You weren’t stupid. Well, maybe just a little bit,” Cael answered, smiling as Malak nipped his shoulder in mock anger. “But I was a prize-winning asshole. I should have understood how losing a piece of your soul was going to affect you. But honestly, Malak, I thought you knew what would happen if we made love. If I could, I’d give it back.”

  “I did know, and I wouldn’t want it back. It was just that everything hit me all at once, Cael. First the way your body made me feel, then the feeling of my soul sundering—which wasn’t bad at all, before you start apologizing again—and then realizing that….”

  “Realizing what?”

  “That I love you. That I have since that day when I left my cave and you found me. Do you remember?” Malak said softly. He drew back and looked Cael in the eye. “I fell in love with you that day but never allowed myself to admit it.” A blush colored Malak’s fair cheeks. “Anyway, after we made love I think I went a little crazy. But as soon as I realized what I’d done, what I’d said, I went looking for you so I could explain. But you were gone. I thought you didn’t want me, just my soul, and now that you had it I’d never see you again.”

  Cael’s body trembled as the magnitude of Malak’s words hit him, his knees feeling weak, threatening to give way. He leaned heavily on Malak, resting his chin on Malak’s shoulder. Smiling softly, Cael said, “I remember that day. I remember feeling such an incredible wave of relief when I saw you that it nearly dropped me from the sky. Malak, I left because I thought you hated me for condemning you to live here. I’m the reason you can’t go back to Heaven!”

  “Heaven wouldn’t be paradise for me anymore, Cael. It would be a stale, lifeless place without you. I don’t want to go back, not if it means leaving you here.”

  Cael’s arms tightened around Malak until he held his angel as tightly as he could without crushing him, burying his face in Malak’s neck, breathing deeply of Malak’s clean, fresh scent.

  “Do you know when I fell in love with you, Malak? The moment I saw you kneeling in the middle of the bazaar in Sodom. It was as if you were a single moment of flawless beauty surrounded by chaos and ugliness. I lost my heart to you that day, even if I didn’t understand it until just recently.”

  “You love me?”

  “I always have. I just didn’t know that’s what I was feeling—I couldn’t, not until I had a soul.”

  Their kiss was soft but quickly grew needy. Cael’s tongue swept past Malak’s lips, meeting his in a swirling, hungry dance. But after allowing himself only a few moments of tasting Malak’s sweetness, Cael pulled away and looked him squarely in the eye. “Wait, we need to talk first, Malak.”

  “What’s wrong, Cael? Don’t you want…?”

  “Of course I do,” Cael growled, slipping his hands around Malak’s waist and pulling their bodies flush against one another. He felt Malak’s heart fluttering behind Malak’s breastbone as he felt the hard, hot evidence of the desire he’d provoked. If anything, it matched his own, which made him smile against the silky skin of Malak’s shoulder. “But we need to talk first. We have a problem, Malak—a serious one. Deadly serious.”

  Malak drew in a deep breath and nodded. “All right. What is it, Cael?”

  “Lucifer is a liar.”
<
br />   “No shit. For that you stopped kissing me?” Malak chuckled, but one sharp look from Cael and his laughter died in his throat.

  “Listen to me, Malak, and let me finish,” Cael said sternly. “Lucifer lied about the rules of the contest, Malak. At the end of time, I’ll go back to Hell. That much he told the truth about.” He put up a hand when Malak opened his mouth to speak. “But there’s more. Because of the contest, I possess a piece of your soul. We’re connected, Malak. I can feel it, and I know you can feel it too. Because of that, when Lucifer hauls my ass back down into the Pit, he’s going to drag you along with me.”

  “What? That’s impossible!”

  “No, I’m afraid it isn’t.”

  Malak shivered as the truth of Cael’s words sunk in. “Well, we won’t have to worry about that for a long time yet, Cael. We’ll figure out what to do.”

  “That’s the other part of our problem, Malak. Asmodai told me that Lucifer has released the Horsemen, and I believe him.”

  “What? No one knows when—”

  “I believe him, Malak,” Cael repeated.

  Malak’s face paled as he absorbed the news. “What are we going to do, Cael? I don’t want you to go back to Hell, and I certainly don’t want to go there either.”

  “I know. Neither do I. The only option we have is to try to stop them.”

  “Stop the Horsemen? Can we do that?” Malak’s eyes widened.

  “We have to try. You have a copy of the playbook, right?”

  “The what?”

  Cael smiled and rolled his eyes. “The Bible. You’ve got one, don’t you?”

  Malak nodded slowly. “Yes. There’s one in my nightstand.”

  “Go get it. We need to map out a battle plan.”

  TURNING TOWARD the door, Malak took a few steps, then paused, looking back over his shoulder at Cael. Cael looked the same as he always had, golden and beautiful, strong and unflappable. But there was a glow in his blue eyes, a tenderness that had never been there before. It touched a place deep inside of him that was still raw and achy with need. Malak’s body responded immediately with a flush of desire that nearly made him cry out with its intensity. He made a decision, or rather his body made it for him, and he turned back to Cael.

  The Horsemen had waited since the beginning of time—they could wait a half hour more.

  Walking slowly toward Cael, Malak stripped off his shirt, shimmering his wings into solidity. He spread them, stretching them wide, the lust that began to heat his skin pulling a similar reaction from his cock.

  “Malak….”

  “Shut up, Cael. I need you. I need you to….”

  “To what?” Cael’s voice was husky with the same need Malak was feeling.

  “To fuck me.” The command felt crude and unfamiliar on Malak’s tongue but sounded oddly sensual in his ears, and his cock twitched its agreement.

  Cael reached for him, but Malak danced away toward the sliding glass doors. “Catch me,” Malak said, more of an order than a tease as he stepped outside onto the porch. His gave his wings a mighty flap, launching himself up into the sky. Despite the direness of the broader situation, Malak felt joy bubbling up from deep within him, spilling over into a wide smile.

  He could feel Cael right behind him, heard the leathery rustle of Cael’s wings as Cael pushed himself to catch up. Then suddenly Cael was in front of him, hovering, blocking Malak’s way.

  Cael’s eyes had darkened, the bright blue deepening into midnight, sparking with desire. His full mouth parted in a knowing smile, and he swiped his tongue over his lower lip. Malak felt a compulsion to taste that tongue rocket through him, propelling his body forward into Cael’s welcoming arms. They clamped around his waist like bands of hard, tempered steel, pulling him flush with Cael’s body. Cael’s cock, as hard as the rest of his body, lay trapped in the crease between Malak’s thigh and hip, his own erection digging into Cael’s abdomen.

  Wings moving in unison, they kept each other aloft, drifting slightly on the air currents. Malak captured Cael’s mouth, his tongue seeking and engaging Cael’s in a hot, wet dance.

  This time there was nothing gentle or innocent about their kiss. It was demanding, needful, wanton, and wicked. It was the kiss of a lover too long denied, hungry, passionate, and commanding. It was three thousand years of denial let loose.

  He wrapped his body around Cael’s, one leg sliding up to hook around Cael’s thigh.

  “Malak!” Cael groaned—or tried to, since Malak had Cael’s lower lip trapped between his teeth.

  “I want you inside me, Cael. Now!” Malak ordered, thrusting his pelvis. His cock dug into Cael’s flesh. Evidently, some of Cael’s wickedness had backwashed into Malak. After an eternity of goodness, of pure thoughts and self-denial, Malak had to admit that being a little sinful felt wonderful.

  Malak slipped free of Cael’s arms and let himself drop a couple of feet lower until Cael’s cock rose before his eyes. His wings still beating, keeping him airborne, Malak darted closer and took Cael into his mouth.

  Rewarded by a long, guttural gasp from Cael, Malak’s eyes rolled back into his head as the heady, musky taste of Cael filled his mouth. Growling low in his chest, Malak sucked harder, trying to draw out more of Cael’s potent flavor.

  The head of Cael’s cock wet his tongue with drops of bitter salt as he licked it playfully, swirling his tongue over the rounded tip. Relaxing his throat muscles, Malak took in as much of Cael’s length as he could, clamping his lips around its girth as he let it slide back out. Again he drew it in, and again he released, setting a pace that had Cael twisting long fingers into Malak’s hair, groaning loudly.

  Above Cael’s moans, the wind whistled. Malak released Cael only when he realized that they’d become too absorbed in their play and both pairs of wings had stilled. They were plummeting toward the ocean at a dizzying rate, spiraling with Malak’s mouth still latched onto Cael’s cock.

  Letting go, Malak laughed, feeling love and joy suffusing his being. He’d never felt so wonderful before and knew it was due to the love he felt for Cael, the love that he now knew was returned to him.

  Grinning, he pulled at Cael’s arm, flapping his wings with mighty thrusts, pulling Cael back into the air. Mating in midair was a dangerous business, but Malak couldn’t have cared less. He needed Cael now, this instant, needed to feel that glorious connection that only happened when their bodies were united.

  Letting go of Cael’s hand, Malak turned, presenting Cael with his back. A few flaps of his wings pushed him backward against Cael’s chest. As he felt Cael’s strong arms encircle him, Malak shimmered his wings into invisibility, tucking them up tightly against his back. Showing his complete trust, Malak allowed Cael to keep them both aloft while he gently lowered himself onto Cael’s stiff arousal.

  Wet from Malak’s mouth, Cael’s cock slipped into his asshole like a hand in glove, snugly, filling Malak to bursting. As their bodies joined, Malak felt his heart swell with love for Cael, and the two halves of his soul touch one another.

  Moving slowly, bracing himself on Cael’s strong forearms, Malak began to ride Cael’s shaft, grunting with the pleasure that stabbed into his belly each time he forced himself downward onto it.

  “Malak!” Cael cried. His fingers dug into the flesh of Malak’s chest, and his breath quickened on the back of Malak’s neck. “You’re fucking killing me, Malak!”

  “Am I hurting you?” Malak asked, twisting his head to the side, trying to look into Cael’s eyes.

  “No! Don’t you fucking stop, Malak!” Cael begged as his wings beat furiously, working double time to support both of them.

  “Come for me, Cael,” Malak moaned. Through their shared soul, Malak could sense Cael’s innermost feelings, felt Cael’s body’s reaction to him just as clearly as his own nerves. Words weren’t really necessary, but they added an erotic edge nonetheless. “Fuck me, Cael!”

  “Fucking you, Malak… loving you, loving your sweet ass,” Cael whispered, his vo
ice growing tight and his words clipped as he came.

  Cael’s red-hot seed flowed into him, a cry of ecstasy ringing in Malak’s ears, pushing him into an orgasm that ripped a scream from his throat. Time stopped, the wind and sea freezing in place as stars burst in Malak’s field of vision. He stroked himself feverishly. Ribbons of silver seed threaded into the air as he climaxed with such force that he feared his body would shatter into a million pieces.

  Completely and utterly drained, he collapsed in Cael’s strong arms. None too steady himself, Cael’s flight down to the beach was erratic, making Malak giggle.

  He’d done that. He’d sapped the strength out of his demon lover, leaving Cael as weak as a kitten. Malak’s face creased with a broad, self-satisfied grin as Cael laid him down gently on the dunes and collapsed in a heap next to him.

  His breath ragged, Cael asked, “What’s so funny?”

  “Nothing. I love you, you know,” Malak replied, rolling over and laying his head on Cael’s broad chest. He was still smiling, listening to Cael’s heart beating under his ear while his eyelids drifted closed.

  “Hey! No sleeping!”

  Malak cursed and jumped when Cael poked a finger into his ribs.

  “We’ve got a load of work to do. The Apocalypse? Four Horsemen? Remember?”

  Malak huffed, then turned his face and blew a loud, wet raspberry against Cael’s flat belly.

  “You’re acting more and more like a little devil every minute, Mal,” Cael snickered.

  “You’re a bad influence, Cael,” Malak said with a giggle. He pulled himself up along the length of Cael’s body, making sure he rubbed himself against every inch of skin along the way. Capturing Cael’s soft lips, he kissed him long and deep.

  “Did that sound like I was complaining?” Cael asked, arching an eyebrow when Malak let him come up for air. “Because I wasn’t. Seriously, though, we have to figure out a game plan.”