Azazel, page 11
“Don't like that idea, do you?” Morrah raised a brow. “You thought I would allow Azazel to waltz back in here a second time?”
She said nothing, but stared at the window.
“As much fun as it would be to drag you away from him again, it's time consuming, and I'd like to keep you close.” He smiled at her. “Maybe you might grow to love me and never want to return to Azazel.”
She snorted. “Yeah, right.”
“Centuries is a long time, and when I'm the only person you will see… you won't have much of a choice.”
She swore something crossed the window, a quick shadow. Must have been the person who Morrah said he was meeting.
But then a familiar feeling came to her. One that happened when Azazel was near. She smiled at Morrah. “You can wish all you want.” She stepped away from him, but he grabbed her wrists.
“You will fall to your knees and beg me to make you mine in every way. Fuck Azazel and his gift.”
“Again, you sound like a fallen.”
“Maybe I should become a fallen. You seem to have a thing for the creatures of the underworld.” Morrah leaned in so his lips were right in front of hers. His hand wrapped around the back of her head, trying to force her closer. “Come on, Sybil.”
“Get your hands off my mate.” Azazel's voice boomed through the room.
Morrah shoved her away and spun around to face Azazel. “How did you…” He growled. “It doesn't matter.” Morrah drew his sword and launched himself toward Azazel.
Sybil got back to her feet and moved away from the fight.
The sound of clashing blades sounded throughout the room. Sybil summoned her sword and rushed toward Morrah, bringing her sword down. Morrah turned just as her sword came down in a slice, the blade catching his wing.
Blood coated her blade, and he turned around, snarling at her.
“You can't kill me, Sybil, without sacrificing yourself. We're tied together, remember.”
Like hell she was going to let that happen. “I'm not afraid of death.” She growled. And he laughed.
“You aren't, but Azazel is terrified of losing you, so he won't fight his hardest. He'll continue to do just enough to save you, but I'll continue hunting both of you for the rest of your lives.”
“I'm not afraid to kill you.” Sybil ran forward, but Morrah was too fast, dodging each swipe, each stab, each attempt to wound him again.
Azazel would attack from the back, swooping in when he could, but Morrah was right. Azazel wouldn't kill him and risk of losing her.
Sybil turned to see where Azazel had last attacked Morrah. Both angels moving more like flashes of light than anything else.
An arm wrapped around her body, pinning her arms to her side, and then a blade came to her neck.
“She comes with me, Azazel.” Morrah's voice was in her ear. “You can't have her. I can't kill her, but I can make her bleed in front of you. Make you watch your mate writhe in pain.”
Azazel stopped for a moment. “Sybil?”
“I'm okay,” she muttered. She laid her hand flat against Morrah's leg behind her. “Don't abandon me.” She couldn’t hide the shaking in her voice.
Azazel nodded slowly and took a step forward. “Morrah, let her go.”
Morrah laughed and pointed the blade at Azazel. “Shouldn't have gone easy on me. I know you. You think she'd be better off dead than with me. So, kill me.”
Sybil closed her eyes and tried to focus her magic, trying to find the blessing within Morrah.
“Stop, Sybil.” Morrah growled in her ear. “Or I'll kill him.”
She opened her eyes, and Azazel gave her a subtle nod. She wasn't sure if he meant for her to listen to Morrah or to keep going. Either way, she made her choice. She pushed her magic into Morrah and grabbed on to his blessing.
Morrah let out a growl and drew his sword across her body. The wound was deep, but not enough to kill. Pain exploded in her, but she grabbed on to his arm, refusing to let go.
“Sybil!” Azazel took a few steps toward her. “It's not worth it.”
She looked at him. “It's worth it. He doesn't belong among the angels.” She growled and forced more of her energy into him. She pulled on his blessing, forcing it to come out. Morrah shoved her to the ground, but it was too late. She already had a grip on it. She laughed as she ripped it out of him.
It a flash of light, she felt the connection between to the two of them break, and when her vision cleared, a human Morrah stood in front of her.
His wings and powerful aura were gone. Gone was his divine sword and unearthly handsomeness.
Morrah snarled and stalked to Sybil. “How dare you? Give it back.”
She laughed, and it hurt. Black ate at her vision. “No. It doesn't work that way, remember? Azazel might not have been willing to sacrifice me, but I was. Fuck you. Now you can't hurt anyone else. “
Morrah raised his foot to stomp on her when a sword shot through his stomach. He looked down at the blade, then at Sybil.
Sybil one last smile. “Goodbye, Morrah.”
Her vision disappeared.
Azazel dropped the sword and ran to Sybil. “Sybil? Sybil?” He gathered her in his arms. Blood coated the front of her clothes. “Dey? DEY!”
The imp appeared and looked at him and then at the body on the ground. “She did it?”
“At the cost of her life. She needs to be healed. Please?” Azazel held Sybil out. Her life force was trying to escape her body with each ragged breath she was taking. Panic filled him. He didn’t want to lose her. She was his. Now and…
Dey shook her head. “I can’t heal a wound that severe. She’s already lost too much. Either you need to find a vampire to change her or…”
Or he could bless her with immortality like he had witches before. But they’d never discussed if that was what she wanted. He swallowed. Fuck it all. He had to save his mate. He was immortal and now she could be, too.
He kissed Sybil’s head, and they disappeared. He took her home and laid her on his bed. “Hold on, Sybil. Please. I love you. Hold on.”
He put his hand over her heart, ignoring the blood that was coating his fingers. He said the ancient words that would pull the life force from around them and tie her soul to her body. She would be immortal in the truest of sense.
Kissing her head, he sighed. “I hope I didn’t just fuck up everything, but I couldn’t watch you die.”
Dey appeared. “She turned Morrah into a human and killed him?”
“I killed him. She turned him human, severing their connection. I took advantage of his shock and ran him through.” He didn’t look at her. “It almost cost me, though. He’d wounded her hoping to get her off him.”
“He didn’t have the ability to heal. She would have killed him in her death.”
Azazel nodded. “I don’t think he thought that through. He was just trying to keep her from taking his gift of being an angel.”
Dey held her hand out, and medical supplies appeared. “Let me patch her up so she stops bleeding. She can rest and regain her strength.”
“Then we can truly start our life together,” he muttered and stepped out of Dey’s way.
He didn’t leave the room as Dey patched her up. Sybil’s eyes pinched a few times in her sleep, only to smooth out while she settled. There was no telling if it was dreams or pain, but he wasn’t leaving her side either way.
“There, all patched up.” Dey brushed her hands off. “Immortality is a great gift, but this way she’s not bleeding all over the place and the pain will fade faster.” She shrugged. “Let her sleep.”
He nodded. “I don’t plan on waking her up, but Dey, I have one more favor to ask.”
She nodded. “What’s up?”
He pulled a piece of paper out of his pocket. “Give this person a call and see if what they are selling is still available?”
She laughed and then disappeared. He looked at Sybil. “Your life is changing again, but this time, you’re not alone.”
Sybil woke up to what she swore was the sound of a goat bleating, but that was impossible because Billie was dead, and Sybil was last laying on the floor dying. Now she was in Azazel's bed, surrounded by his scent and his blankets.
She gently touched the bandages on her stomach and chest and sighed. Azazel had saved her. She slowly sat up and Azazel was at her side instantly, putting a hand on her back to help guide her.
“Hey,” she said with a small smile.
He grinned. “Hey, glad to see you're awake.”
“Yeah, about that. How did you keep me alive? I know I was dying on that floor.”
Azazel looked away. “Remember, one of the other gifts I can grant is immortality.”
“You gifted me immortality?” The shock was apparent in her voice. “You… I…” She tried to wrap her head around the idea of immortality and living with him forever. Truly being his mate.
He cringed. “I couldn't just let you die. I know I didn't ask you first, and it's not something we've discussed, but I couldn't bear the idea of Morrah taking you away from me so I…”
She launched herself at him, cutting him off. She wrapped her arms around his neck. “Thank you.”
“Thank you?”
“Well, I'm not dead for one. Morrah didn't get that satisfaction even after his death. But I didn't want to leave you. I'm tired of being alone all the time. I want a life with you, as strange as it might be here in hell. I want to be with you.” She gave a soft laugh. “Seriously, thank you.”
He relaxed and wrapped his arms around her. “You still need to heal, but you've been sleeping for a couple of days, so that helped a lot. It let your body heal some. You don't seem to be in a lot of pain right now.”
“I'm sore, but it could be worse.” She pulled away from him. “We'll need to get the rest of my stuff from my house if we're going to live here.”
He nodded. “We can arrange that as soon as you're up to it. We don't have to worry about Morrah anymore.”
She kissed him. “I know.”
Another bleat sounded outside the bedroom door. “I think I might have hit my head too hard though, because I keep hearing a goat.”
Azazel grinned. “Well, that's because…” He got off the bed and then went and opened the door. A baby goat came bounding in, bleating in glee, and jumping on the bed.
There was a purple bow around his neck.
“Sybil, this is Goat. Well, that's what Dey and I have been calling her, but you can name her whatever you want.”
Sybil squealed and hugged the small goat to her. “How about Hoof Raiser?”
He laughed and kissed her gently. “New goat, new home…”
“And new life”,” she finished for him. Kissing him again.
EPILOGUE
Four Months Later
* * *
Azazel pulled Sybil with him. “Come on, I just want to show you what has been keeping me locked in the office for so long.”
“Yeah, yeah, work this, work that”,” she teased. The truth was, she'd been helping him out with errands and keeping track of his meetings while he worked long hours trying to figure something out. She never asked about it. She rather enjoyed being his secretary.
Azazel pulled her around the corner where Mind Over Magic had been. There now was a beautiful new store front done in purple and black, a new sign was in place, and Azazel put his hands on his hips. “Well, what do you think?”
“I love it.” She ran to the door and twisted the knob. It opened for her, and she walked in, admiring how the shelves were already stocked. Nothing looked like it had exploded just months beforehand. “This is what you've been working so hard on?” She spun around.
He nodded. “Dey helped a lot. We weren't sure if we'd be able to get it done this quick, but we actually pulled in a lot of favors to have it rebuilt and restocked. And now it's yours.”
She turned back around and wiped a tear from her eye. “You're too good to me. First Hoof Raiser and then this?”
“Hoof can come stay at the shop too, if you want. That way, she doesn't get bored at home and try to eat Dey's paperwork.”
She laughed and nodded. “Yeah, I think Hoof and I will like this. Actually… I love it.” She turned around and pulled him down by his leather jacket for a deep kiss.
* * *
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Turn the page now for an excerpt from Hecate by Ariel Dawn, Book Six in the Speed Dating with the Denizens of the Underworld series!
EXCERPT
Sometimes you need to unleash the beast inside…
* * *
His body begged to shift, and the images that flashed in his brain were both startling and alarming.
Every part of him moved of its own accord, and suddenly Gunner found himself on the precipice of Cate’s doorstep, boxing her against the wooden door.
He leaned over her, his glowing eyes taking her in like she was nothing more than prey.
But both he and his wolf knew she was anything but prey.
She was a goddess, pure and simple, and her magic was exactly what he needed to be set free.
“Do you feel that?” His words were in his voice, but somehow it was as if they did not belong to him.
Cate looked up at him with fire in her eyes, her beautiful dual-toned irises radiating with their own glow.
“Feel what?” she said solidly, as if he was not brimming with an overabundance of feeling, pain, and shifting energy like some ticking time bomb.
His wolf lurched forth again, and his chest ached from the push. It felt as if his bones could not take any more.
Cate placed a single hand on his exposed chest, her eyes glowing like bioluminescent algae on the lake he’d loved as a child, something stunning, beautiful even, but only in the dark did it come alive.
When she touched him this time, there was no magical zap, no shock to knock him unconscious.
Only the feel of her soft skin against his and the maddening need.
And he could not fight it.
He could not fight her or the invisible tether, or the feeling of the Diviner warm in his hand, telling him what he could barely comprehend.
With his free hand, Gunner grabbed her by the hips with force, and crushed his lips to hers without thinking twice about it.
The sane part of his brain, which seemed to take a backseat to his newly awakened caged spirit, rationalized that this was just not right. None of it made any sense. Feeling the overwhelming spirit within rising to the surface, controlling his movements.
For starters, he barely knew Cate yet she seemed to have a way of getting under his skin. It was as if he was being puppeted, but yet, somehow, it all felt undeniably right.
The feel of her lips against his, her energy and how it called to him.
Especially when Cate returned his kiss with adamant hunger. She parted her lips, her tongue seeking his in a rushed, raw sort of way that felt more animal than human.
* * *
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Speed Dating with the Denizens of the Underworld Series
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Lucifer
Ash
Azrael
Samael
Azazel
Hecate
Bastet
Cain
Thor
Demi
Hell's Belle
Arachne
Osiris
Hades
Adam
Loki
Lilith
The Morrígan
Orion
Hera
Abel
Odin
Mormos
Zeus
Michael
Váli
Apollo
Raphael
Baldur
Poseidon
Gabrielle
Frigg
Uriel
And More!
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ABOUT THE AUTHOR
A.L. Kessler is best known for her Here Witchy Witchy Series. She lives in beautiful Colorado with her family. She can be drawn out of her writing cave with the promise of coffee and chocolate.
A.L. Kessler, Azazel
