Dark Surrender, page 24
“Are you ready, my dear?” Jonathon asked.
A crazed light was reflected in his eyes.
“Ready for you to let me go,” she said.
“That I can’t do. I need you. Together, we will bring forth life. Lucifer will be born of your body, flesh incarnate, and the world will be ours.” He stroked her hair back from her forehead. “You will be my Queen.”
Terror flooded her, making her tremble with fear. Rape was detestable enough, but the thought of carrying something so evil in her body was revolting.
Then the realization dawned on her. Did Kyriel know of Jonathon’s depraved plans? Is that why he’d tried to get her pregnant? To save her?
I did it because I love you.
Hope returned, along with confusion. Asmodeus had wanted Kyriel to get her pregnant. But if the dark angel was in league with Jonathon, knowing his plans for her, why would he go against him?
She glanced up at Asmodeus sitting above them. He wore a smug smile, and winked at her.
Jonathon stood, seeming to grow taller, larger somehow. “It’s time.” His eyes darkened, his body shaking.
He looked possessed, and when he climbed above her on the altar, she pulled at her restraints for the thousandth time.
They didn’t give.
“Let her go.”
That deep, husky accent sent waves of relief through her. Jillian turned her head to see Kyriel stepping out of the dark shadows.
“Kyriel!” She rejoiced in his comforting presence.
Nothing bad would happen to her now that he was there.
***
Kyriel curled and uncurled his fists, ready to do serious harm. A possessive rage fueled him, brought on by his desire to protect Jillian and keep her safe. He would slay anyone or anything that would do her harm.
“Get away from her,” he commanded, raising his hand to strike Jonathon and use his powers as God intended.
Asmodeus hit Kyriel first, dropping him to his knees with a blinding shock of pain.
Kyriel was getting tired of taking those hits.
The dark angel leapt down from his perch and circled Kyriel, prepared to keep him subdued with his powers.
Jonathon scrambled off the altar and picked up his sword. “I thought you finished him.”
“So did I,” Asmodeus drawled.
Kyriel didn’t know what Asmodeus was up to and he didn’t care. His only desire was to get Jillian back.
Whether she wanted to be with him, or not.
“I’ll have to end it myself.” Jonathon charged straight for Kyriel, sword raised and ready to strike. The black blade was almost invisible in the darkening room.
What did he think to accomplish with the weapon?
Kyriel forced himself to stand and, just as he was rising, Jonathon drew back his sword and in one, fluid motion he stabbed Kyriel in the stomach, running him straight through.
“Die, angel,” Jonathon hissed, brutally twisting the blade.
“No!” Jillian screamed.
Kyriel blinked, shocked by the awful pain that consumed his body. He wrapped his hands around the hilt of the sword, then weakness dropped him down to his knees.
He studied the gaping wound, watching his crimson blood gush forth, creating a thick, red pool on the floor.
Kyriel had taken a blade before, but never one like this.
Weakness and the rapid loss of blood made him dizzy.
How would he save Jillian now?
Chapter 37
“No!” Jillian’s screams rent through the air, the echo ricocheting off the vaulted ceilings.
Jonathon left Kyriel where he was, on his knees, the sword painfully piercing his gut.
He strode back over to the altar where Jillian was tied up and stood at the base of the heavy stone slab. Raising his arms above his head, he threw his head back and unleashed a ghastly, demonic howl.
Jillian cringed in fear, feeling helpless, while hovering above her, Jonathon’s body began to transform. The muscles in his neck strained. His arms grew larger, longer, his chest filling out with bulging muscles. His legs thickened, tight against his pants and, as his waist widened, the pants tore at the seams and fell from his body, leaving him naked.
Around him a dark aura flickered and the image of a horned monster appeared, rows of pointed fangs in its smiling mouth.
Lucifer.
Jillian screamed as the image grew larger, blending its hellish form with Jonathon.
***
Kyriel had to act fast.
He gasped for a full breath and couldn’t get one. Not while he was impaled with the sword. He tightened his hands around the hilt. Preparing to draw the blade out, he bolstered himself for the pain that was about to follow and drew the sword from his body.
The pain was brief, the relief great. He took a long, deep breath and dropped the sword to the floor with a loud clang of metal.
His loss of blood was significant, but he would recover. He prayed his powers would be strong enough to defeat Jonathon and keep Asmodeus subdued.
Asmodeus was quick to act and he picked up the discarded sword. He headed for the altar and Kyriel raised his hand, sending a shot of powers. The hit struck Asmodeus, but had no effect. The dark angel continued to advance.
Kyriel muttered a curse.
He would have to think of something else.
***
Jillian saw Kyriel struggling, weakened by a wound that would have been fatal if he was human.
She feared he might not have the strength to save her from whatever monstrous mutation was transforming Jonathon.
She didn’t want to watch, but she also couldn’t look away. Transposed over his body shimmered the dark image of a demon. Its snarling smile curved around sharp, dripping fangs. The giant horns extending from its bulbous head were uneven, one twice as long as its counterpart. Six fingers on each gnarled hand were tipped by black claws and its body was nothing but solid, hard-packed muscle.
Was this Lucifer?
Jillian never expected to come face to face with the devil.
In a brief flash she saw the sum of her life, and how little she’d actually lived. So much time had been wasted being afraid of things she couldn’t control and, now that she’d decided to make a change, to start living each day to its fullest, it might be too late.
Above her, Jonathon’s naked body continued its frightening metamorphosis, becoming more of the demon and less of the man. She spared a glance in Kyriel’s direction and saw Asmodeus charging up to the demon with the black sword raised, its tip bathed with Kyriel’s blood.
The demon first turned its head, then Jonathon’s followed. He was like a puppet. One that was being possessed by evil.
“You’ll have your turn, Prince,” the demon spoke to Asmodeus. Its graveled voice was thunderous and made the entire room quake. “Once I am finished with the woman, you may submit her to your lusts.”
Jillian wretched, her insides churning with disgust. She couldn’t handle the thought of being raped by all three of them. How would she survive something so brutal and unimaginably loathsome?
The demon turned back to her and, as it came down over the altar to hover over her, she saw the growing length of its protruding sex, the thick girth longer than her arm. He was going to put that in her?
It would never fit. He’d split her in two.
The demon growled as he gripped his sex in one of his ugly, gnarled hands and lowered himself over her body.
Jillian strained against the ropes securing her arms over her head. “Wait!”
The demon actually paused, its black eyes staring at her, showing only her reflection in their glassy pools.
“You don’t want me,” she rushed out, saying the only thing she could think of to save herself. “I already carry another man’s child.”
Rage twisted the demon’s hideous face, and it turned on Asmodeus.
Asmodeus drove the sword through its exposed chest, planting it deeply to the hilt.
In a whirlwind of dark vapor, the demon disappeared, leaving Jonathon at the base of the altar, the sword buried in the middle of his chest. A look of disbelief crossed his agonized features.
Then he sank to his knees, and collapsed backwards to the floor.
Dead.
His lifeless eyes open, unblinking.
The horror was over.
“I missed.” Asmodeus stared off into the distance, his dark, unfathomable eyes focused on nothing. “I can’t believe I missed.”
Kyriel came shuffling over to the altar. Jillian’s heart almost burst at the sight of him, and she wanted nothing more than to be swept up in his strong arms. His wound was getting smaller, closing before her eyes, and the flow of blood had lessened.
“Kyriel,” she breathed his name on a reluctant sigh.
“I love you.” He unfastened the ropes bound around her wrists and swiftly gathered her up in his arms. He buried his face in the length of her hair and breathed deeply. “Forgive me, Jillian. I’ll do anything you ask, just forgive me.”
She wrapped her arms around him and held on tight. “I forgive you.”
For all the lies, and all the secrets, she loved him to the depth and breadth of her soul. Forgiveness was easy when the feelings were true, and Jillian never wanted to spend a day away from her angel.
Kyriel helped her down from the altar and held a protective arm around her waist as he turned to face Asmodeus.
“Do you want to tell me what that was?”
“I missed,” he repeated the words, a look of utter shock on his face. “How could I have missed? The sword was forged with Raziel’s magic.”
“Who’s Raziel?” Jillian asked, figuring it couldn’t hurt to learn as much about fallen angels as she was able.
It looked like they were going to be a part of her life in the future.
A future she was thankful to have.
“He’s someone you never want to meet,” Kyriel supplied. “Raziel is the source of Lucifer’s dark magic.”
Jillian wondered how that worked.
“I have to leave.” Asmodeus looked truly terrified. His face had gone pale and wan, his eyes wide. “I have to get the sword back to Zagan.”
He went over to Jonathon’s body and grabbed the sword by the handle. Stepping on the dead body with one of his heavy black boots, he yanked the sword free, along with a red splatter of Jonathon’s insides.
“I don’t know why it didn’t work.” With a fearful parting glance at the two of them, Asmodeus faded out with the sword.
“Are you all right?” Jillian asked Kyriel, admiring his fierce, handsome profile.
She would never grow tired of loving him.
“I should be asking you that.” He planted a kiss on the top of her head. “I was so afraid I wouldn’t be able to save you. I don’t want to lose you.”
“You won’t lose me,” she said. “As long as you don’t ever lie to me again.”
She didn’t know what to expect from a future with an immortal, all-powerful angel, and the possibility that she carried his child, but she promised to take one day at a time, accepting that all things come and go. And from this day forward, she would face her life with courage, and love.
“I swear, on my Code as a Warrior,” Kyriel vowed. “I will always protect, always defend, and always love you.”
Jillian felt exactly the same way.
Her heart lifted, soaring with uncontrollable joy.
This angel was all hers.
Epilogue
Eight Months Later
“I love this room,” Jillian mused as she sat behind Kyriel’s giant desk in the library, resting her hand upon her round, growing stomach. “I might never go back to work at the museum after the baby is born. I could just turn your house into a museum and work from home.”
Jillian had regained rightful ownership of The Whitmore, and the words Director and Owner were now painted on her office door. With the baby about to be born, she’d placed Denise in control and taken her maternity leave a few weeks early so she could devote her time to cataloguing and recording the historic collection Kyriel had amassed over the centuries.
“Our house,” Kyriel corrected, kneeling beside her and placing his hands lovingly on her belly. “We’re going to be a family.”
“I got a few bids on my apartment.”
“Are you sure you don’t mind selling it?” Kyriel asked.
“Not at all,” Jillian assured him. “We need room if we’re going to have a baby, and what would we do with all your stuff?”
“It’s not stuff,” he argued. “My things are priceless, Holy relics.”
“Now I know how you managed to put together such an amazing collection.” She laughed to herself. “You had a lot of time and resources to work with.”
“I’d give it all up for a life with you.” He took her hand and laced his fingers with hers. “You are my greatest treasure.”
Her angel was a great procurer of things, and he looked like he wanted to procure her.
Right on top of his desk.
***
Kyriel sealed his mouth over hers in a heated, passionate kiss. It was time to show Jillian how much she meant to him. He gently lifted her out of the chair and set her on top of his desk.
He pulled her sweater off over her head and kissed the hollow of her throat, then moved down to the soft rise of her ripening breasts as they spilled out of her lacy bra.
She laughed lowly. “I should work from home more often.”
“I like it.” Kyriel captured her mouth in another kiss, and pushed her back on the desk as he gently lowered himself over her.
During the cold winter months they had made this their favorite room in the house because, with the blazing fire in the fireplace, it was the warmest. Kyriel had to admit, he also liked seeing Jillian among all his treasures. The love he saw reflected in her eyes was the brightest treasure of all.
He pulled down one of the lacy cups of her bra so he could suck her pert nipple into his mouth and tease it with his swirling tongue.
“Oh, Kyriel.” She dug her hands in his hair, her body arching into him. “We’re going to wear out this desk.”
“Then we’ll get a new one and start all over.” He pulled loose the ribbon she was using to keep her jeans tied closed since she could no longer button them around her growing waistline, and he reached between her legs and dipped into her panties, finding her wet and warm.
She pulled his head down to hers and kissed him passionately, wildly, like only she could kiss. He worked to shimmy her out of her jeans, when a brilliant flash of light exploded beside the desk.
Kyriel growled with frustration. He was getting sick of angels flashing in on him all the time.
Word had spread that he’d made a deal with Gabriel to gain his redemption while being allowed to remain on Earth—therefore no wings. The only catch was he still had to fulfill his duty as a Watcher. Gabriel had returned the rings to the angels for safe-keeping, but there were other objects of power floating around in the world.
Kyriel liked being a Watcher, though he would always be a Warrior at heart. News of his situation traveled fast and the other fallen angels wanted to know how they could get the same deal. Kyriel could only send them to Gabriel for the answers.
“I hate to interrupt.” Gabriel anxiously cleared his throat. “I was just passing through.”
Kyriel handed Jillian her sweater so she could cover herself.
“I never thought I’d see this day come,” Gabriel said.
“What day is that?” Kyriel asked in an agitated tone.
“The day you become a family man. We’ve been working so closely together through the Ages, I feel like I’m losing a son.” Gabriel looked to Jillian. “But I’m also gaining a daughter.”
Jillian smiled. She liked Gabriel, and it made her happy that he returned the sentiment. He and Kyriel were good friends, and they had welcomed her into their lives.
Her only wish?
That she could make a deal with him, too.
“Be careful what you wish for,” Gabriel cautioned as he plucked the thought out of her mind. His Heavenly blue eyes sparkled with playful mirth. “I might be tempted to give it to you.”
“Would you?” she asked excitedly. “Would you be willing to make a deal with me?”
“Not so fast,” Kyriel said, worry behind his eyes. “Some of the others haven’t been too happy about their so-called deals.”
“Can I help that?” Gabriel shrugged dismissively. “The whole point of the deal is to be specific.”
“I know what I’m doing,” Jillian said. “You two aren’t so hard to figure out.”
The two men exchanged a puzzled glance.
“I won’t ask for much,” she said.
“Be careful,” Kyriel warned Gabriel this time. “The last time she said that to me, half of my ancient manuscripts ended up on display in her museum.”
Gabriel smiled, and stepping up to her, he closed his large hands over both of hers.
Jillian had never felt a touch so warm. It was almost hot.
“What do you want?” he asked, his eyes searching hers, probing deeply into her soul.
“I want to spend the rest of Kyriel’s life with him.”
Since Kyriel was immortal, she’d just asked for forever.
Gabriel’s smiled widened. “You have been paying attention.”
“Jillian,” Kyriel said her name on a surprised whisper. “You would do that?”
“I love you,” she said. “And I want to spend the rest of our lives together, raising our child. A child who could be immortal, like its father.”
“You don’t know how long forever can be,” he said. “Are you sure?”
“Yes, I’m sure, and I hope forever is long, because I get to spend it with you.”
“Works for me.” Gabriel tightened his hands holding hers and an intense heat burned her hands, blazing up her arms and through the rest of her body, then slowly it ebbed away.
“You’re as good as an angel now.” Gabriel released her hands, then gave her a gentle kiss on one cheek, then the other. “I’ll be back to check on you when the little one joins us. I’m betting on a girl.” He winked and faded out.
