Touched by Death: (Sins of The Fallen book 3)

The hum of conversation drowns out the music in the background as we make our way to the bar and hop up on the barstools. The air reeks of beer, sweat, and sickly perfume—a scent I have come to associate with pubs.

Pulling beer, the barman spares me a glance and half shouts to be heard, “What can I get you?” His long, brown dreads are tied back, and intricate tattoos adorn his arms. The two top buttons on his black shirt, bearing the logo of the pub, are undone to reveal a smattering of dark hairs.

I gesture to one of the bottles in the fridge tucked beneath the counter behind him. “A bottle of cider, please.”

After handing the beer to the customer to my left and taking payment, he turns around and bends down to open the fridge. My eyes slide down to his shapely butt, where his slacks strain against the skin.

“You don’t wait around,” Dmitriy comments drily, drumming his fingers on the counter.

The barman straightens back up, places the cider in front of me, and tips his chin at my companion. “What can I get you?”

I like his defined jaw and the day-old stubble that decorates his tanned skin. He looks to be somewhere in his late twenties.

With his most charming smile, Dmitriy uses his magic to trick the barman into thinking we’ve paid. When I snort, he flashes me a wink. “Jealous?”

The cool liquid slides down my throat, and I shake my head. I’d placed a spell on the barmaid back in Ireland.

“What’s the deal with Daemon and the others? You’ve avoided them since you returned to my father’s house.”

Dragging my thumb through the condensation on the bottleneck, I shrug one shoulder and say, “It’s hard to talk about.”

“Maybe it’ll help. I’m a good listener.”

The left corner of my mouth threatens to pull up, but the ache in my chest prevents it from slipping free. I sigh, bringing the bottle to my lips as I look at the mirrored wall behind the bar. My reflection stares back at me from behind the glass shelves filled with bottles of alcohol. After taking a sip and placing the bottle on the coaster, I slide my gaze to him and attempt a weak smile. “Daemon is marrying Dariana.”

“So?” He sounds genuinely confused.

Slowly spinning the bottle, I avoid his eyes. “So… I’m in love with him.” I blow out a breath and push the bottle away with a wince. “I’m in love with them all.”

Dmitriy studies me for a moment, causing my skin to crawl beneath his careful scrutiny. The urge to unzip my skin and run for the door has me breaking out in a cold sweat despite the muggy air. I scratch my brow.

“Look, I have never been in love. But the betrothal… It means nothing. Everyone knows it.”

“It doesn’t matter,” I say as though it’s not a big deal. But it is. It’s a big fucking deal, and the throb behind my ribcage is an insistent reminder that I allowed them to steal not only my innocence, but my heart, too. I should have been more careful, but I wasn’t. And now I’m paying the consequences of falling in love in Hell.

“I can’t be with them anymore.”

“Why?”

Irritation flares up inside me, and I blow out a frustrated breath. “I can’t, okay? Daemon is marrying the girl I love.”

“But you’re in love with him, too?”

“I never claimed it wasn’t a mess,” I reply, looking at him. “They knew all this time, and they never told me.”

Reaching out, he strokes a strand of hair away from my cheeks, and the stupid tears in my eyes escape. “You know he won’t let you go, right? Once my cousin sets his eyes on something, he’ll burn down the world to keep it.”

“You make it sound like he sets his eyes on girls a lot.”

“No,” he replies, shaking his head softly, his finger trailing down the curve of my jaw. “You’re the first.”

With my heart suspended somewhere between beating heavily and taking flight, I sweep my gaze over his face. His ruggedness isn’t lost on me. Swiping at my pesky tears, I break our connection. “I need to protect myself. I can’t let them break me over and over. I’m not strong enough.”

He reaches forward and takes a sip of his beer, then wipes his mouth with the back of his hand and lets out an agreeing sound. “It makes sense. So what will you do when they come for you?”

“I won’t let them.”

While I expect him to laugh, he doesn’t so much as smile. Instead, he studies my face intently before sweeping his dark eyes past me to stare into the distance. After taking a sip of his beer, he puts it back down onto a coaster he pulled from beneath an abandoned glass. His movements are careful and measured, and I can’t help but notice the lethal grace in each shift of his muscles beneath his shirt. He looks at me, at my wings peeking up behind my shoulders. “They won’t leave you with a choice. This is Hell, remember? When we want something, we take it.”

Breaking eye contact, I mutter, “How could I forget?”

“Would it be that bad? To be with them again?”

It’s a question I’ve mulled over in my head. “I can’t watch him marry someone else.”

“I get it.”

“And if they marry, then what? I’ll be their thing on the side?”

“I’m not gonna pretend I understand the dynamics between you all.” He takes another sip of his beer while I curse the clogged feeling in my chest that refuses to go away. “So,” Dmitriy starts, his tongue darting out to lick away the froth on his lip. With a tip of his chin in the barman’s direction, he says, “What’s the plan? Invite him out to dinner afterward?” His voice drips with amusement, and his eyes shine beneath the dim lighting as I shoot him a look of disapproval.

“Very funny.” My eyes seek out the barman again and skate down his body, then back up to linger on the pulse point in his neck. The throb in my teeth as they elongate has my hand flying up to cover my mouth.

Dmitriy clasps my shoulder and gently squeezes it when I hurriedly take another sip of cider. “You’ll get the hang of it soon.”

I guzzle it down like it’s my lifeline, then slam the bottle back down and scan the room. Wooden beams run the length of the roof, a fire crackles in a fireplace near the back, and lone candles decorate each table. I let my gaze slide over each one before closing my eyes and inhaling a slow, deep breath. In my mind’s eye, shadows crawl out from between the gaps in the wooden flooring, a thick mist traveling along the ground and devouring everything in its path. It comes for me, chasing away the pain that grips my heart in a vice. The moment the cold brush of gnarled, crooked fingers with oozing, maggot-eaten flesh curl around my bare ankle, chaos erupts. Each candle blows out, and the flames from the fireplace spread across the floor, setting curtains and furniture alight.

Dmitriy chokes on his beer and jumps off the barstool. “What the fuck are you doing?”

The flames heat my cheeks, growing taller and fiercer, burning everything in their path—a vessel for mindless destruction. My soul feeds on the chaos and fear. Humans run left and right in their panic to find a way out, but the flames block the only exit.

Inhaling their exquisite screams, I jump off the barstool and home in on my meal near a window. He throws a chair at it, effectively breaking the glass and feeding the flames more oxygen. The curtain rod falls, and he ducks out of the way of the burning curtains.

“Jesus, fuck,” Dmitriy blurts, staring disbelievingly at the horror unfolding in front of us. “We need to get out of here.”

“What’s the hurry?” I ask, a small smile playing at the corners of my lips as the terror that clogs the air licks at my skin like a lover’s caress, promising pleasure and release. The blood in my veins thrums with power. Now, all I need is blood.

My meal helps as many as he can out the window before pulling a chair over, arm held over his mouth to protect him from the thick smoke. As he disappears through the window, I follow him, deaf to the screams and fear in the room.

Climbing out behind him, I land amongst the shattered pieces of glass in the grass and seek him out amongst the coughing, crying humans. I find him near the road, seated on the lawn with his head in his hands.

“What are you doing now?” Dmitriy asks. He sounds fed up with me, as though I’m an unruly child.

“What does it look like I’m doing?” I cross the grass, but Dmitriy stops me with a firm grip on my shoulder before I can reach the man I have my eyes on.

“I’m serious, Aurelia. What are you doing?” Gesturing vigorously behind him, his concerned eyes find mine again. “You burned the pub down within five minutes of entering. Why?”

I can’t explain to him why the darkness inside me craves destruction or understand why his doesn’t. Instead, I shrug him off and turn to make my way to the stranger with the dreads, but Dmitriy grabs my wrist and pulls me back. “Answer the question.”

My wings flutter behind me with unease as I scan the scene in front of me. Tall flames reach for the starry sky, and the air is thick with black smoke and coughing humans, some bleeding from scrapes and cuts. One woman collapses to her knees near the set of doors and releases a guttural scream that should horrify me. But a ripple of pleasure coils down my spine. I turn back to look at the man with the dreads, who stares off into the distance as if it pains him to face the terror in front of him.

Dmitriy grips my shoulder and shakes me. “What is wrong with you? What is this?”

“Wrong with me?” I ask uncomprehendingly. “We’re fallen angels from Hell. We don’t have morals, remember?”

With that, I shrug him off and cross the lawn with one goal in mind—drain the human. The blood in my veins quickens with anticipation, and my heart thuds heavily as I crouch down before him and clasp his stubbly chin. As soon as his blue eyes find mine, I channel my stirring magic to place him under a spell.

“You’re gonna come with me,” I instruct when his eyes grow hazy and distant. Then I take his big hand and lead him away from the burning pub toward the dense cluster of trees across the road.

Dmitriy calls after me, but I don’t turn around, too seduced by the darkness inside me that calls me forward, whispering my name from behind the shadows stretching out on the grass. Breathing in the scent of the night, mixed with the inferno, I stretch my wings out behind me. Thick smoke conceals our retreating forms from prying eyes, but the instinct to hide him from view and to secure my meal from other potential predators is still at the forefront of my mind as we enter the tree line.

Pushing him up against a thick trunk, my nose descends on his neck, and my hands mold against the grooves in the rough bark. A soft, satisfied moan rumbles in my throat at the scent of his iron-rich blood. My clit pulses as I drag my tongue over the curve of his chin to taste his tempting lips. I bite down, digging my nails into the bark. He begins to emerge from his daze, and anticipation thrums in my veins at the thought of his fear, how it’ll taste when I finally release him completely.

Letting go of the cold bark, I squeeze the outline of his dick. He’s hard, much to my pleasant surprise, and I groan into his mouth and tangle my tongue with his. “There’s a good boy,” I whisper, reaching for the top button and undoing it with a quick flick of my thumb. As I go to pop the next button in line, I’m suddenly wrenched off him and tossed to the damp ground.

Towering over me, Alaric bares his teeth with a feral hiss and puts his boot on my chest to keep me down. To say that I’m surprised would be a lie. I’m not.

Not even a little.

“I should have known,” I say, laughing tauntingly. “Are you stalking me now?”

His eyes flicker with hellfire as he leans down to sneer in my face. “Did you think you could just walk away? That we would let you fuck around?”

“This debate is getting fucking old,” I growl, attempting to push myself up, but he’s too heavy. “It’s part of the hunt.”

I flop back down as Dariana’s face comes into view. Unlike Alaric who looks two seconds away from strangling me to death, she winks. “Got yourself into trouble again?”

I flip her off, pick up the nearest stick, and hurl it at Alaric before frowning and attempting to lift my head off the ground. “Where’s Dmitriy?”

“Ronan is escorting him home.”

Blinking up at Alaric while deciphering the meaning behind his detached words, I release a disbelieving laugh. “If he does anything to hurt him—”

“Then what?” Alaric interrupts, increasing the pressure on my chest.

Annoyance flares up inside me, and I peel my lips back in an animalistic snarl. My meal, slowly emerging from his daze, slumps against the tree. If I don’t act fast, he’ll get away.

“I need to feed,” I admit reluctantly.

“Is that so?” he mocks with a winged brow as he tilts his head to the side. “It looked to me like you were about to suck his dick. If it’s cum you want, all you have to do is ask.”

“Let. Me. Go.”

“Ask nicely, little angel, and I’ll consider it.”

My growl intensifies, and he bends down and pats my cheek hard, causing me to snap my teeth at him.

Behind him, Dariana laughs at my pathetic attempts to intimidate him. There’s no scaring off a powerful angel like Alaric. I know it. He knows it. We all fucking know it. I still try, though.

Fuck if I’ll lie here like a good little angel and let him dominate me like this.

Flames dance at my fingertips, but they fizzle out with a click of his fingers. I try again, and he puts them out just as fast.

“Baby girl, while you have the potential to be more powerful than me, and you have been at times, you’re not in control of your powers yet.”

A red haze descends, clouding my vision. Alaric’s eyebrows shoot up before he releases a chuckle. His dark hair falls into his eyes as he lets his head fall to his chest. Shoulders shaking, he flashes his incisors with a lethal smile that renders me powerless against him. “The monster in you wants to come out to play, too.”

“We need to tread carefully,” Dariana reminds him.

He sweeps his eyes over my face as he replies, “I know. I’m not blinded by her pussy like Daemon is.” His gaze trails down my body to between the apex of my thighs, where my dress pools in a sea of black fabric. “Though her arousal sure smells fucking divine.”

With a snort and a laugh, Dariana mutters, “Sure,” as she walks past us to my meal.

Mine.

My feral growl intensifies at the threat of her stealing him away from me. Vicious snarls that belong to a feral animal rip through the night. “Lay a fucking finger on him, and I’ll make you regret it,” I threaten.

At my warning, she looks at me and drags a single nail down the front of his throat, over his pronounced Adam’s apple. Pausing between his collarbones, she asks, “What are you going to do, little witch?”

My upper lip twitches while I continue snarling, pissed that she’s touching him. “He’s mine. I captured him.”

“She’s territorial,” chuckles Alaric, boot on my chest, elbow on his thigh.

“I thought sharing was caring?” Dariana taunts, making a show of popping the buttons on his shirt, one at a time, until his tanned chest is bared.

With strength I didn’t know I possessed, I fly up from the ground and push Alaric aside in a blur of movement. Dariana barely has time to react before I’m in between her and my meal. My wings are flared, and hellfire is licking its way up my arms. Her brown eyes reflect the wild flames as she lets out a loud, feminine laugh that rings out like chiming bells or a siren call at sea. Whatever magic she possesses in that soft lilt is dangerous.

“Back. The. Fuck. Off!”

Her tinkling laughter dies, and her hand flies out like a striking cobra. Flames erupt from her fingertips. She grips my throat tightly, and the fire that licks a path across my skin melts away my resistance. I wish I could just shut my emotions off and forget about her.

“You don’t make the rules here, sweetheart. Not when Daemon is in trouble because of you.”

My heart stutters in my chest. “Daemon is in trouble?”

“Do you care?” she bites out, flames crawling up my chin and dancing across my lips. “At the first sign of trouble, you fled.”

“And you didn’t?”

Her grip loosens, and her brows pull low. “What are you talking about?”

Inhaling the flames of her fire, I shut my eyes. “I came back. I found my way back to you, and you didn’t see me…”

“Look at me, little angel.” Her voice caresses the frayed strings that keep me tethered to her. Even now, my fight is futile as I open my eyes to find myself caught in her gaze. “I saw you.”

“No,” I choke out. “I killed to find you again.” My voice crackles with pain, but I press on, whispering, “I relinquished the last of my Light to be with you.”

“Yet you’re running.”

As my throat jumps beneath her burning touch, I drown in her eyes. “You’re marrying him.”

“Sometimes,” she says cruelly, “wingspan doesn’t make a queen.”

“But it does capture a heart. Enjoy your loveless seat next to the devil while he searches the crowd for me.” My hands fly out to my sides, erecting a firewall that forces her to stumble back. I stare at her through the crackling flames as the heat blurs the air. “Stay away from me, Dari.”

When Alaric takes a step forward, I cut my eyes to him. “Try to put these flames out. I’d love to see you try.”

As I finally turn around to feed the hunger inside me, I groan. My meal has escaped.

Fucking typical.