Page 109 of Endless Terrors
He turned me around, guided me onto the edge of the bed, and lifted both of my legs. A breath after that, Heilel lodged his hips between them and pushed inside of me.
I was wet with need, but he still entered slowly. The sound he made told me that he was savoring every second of it. A moan slipped past my lips as my core stretched to envelop him. I put my arms over my head, overcome by the ripples of pleasure moving through me.
I’d thought resisting the devil had been thrilling, but giving in to him was a feeling that had no word to describe it.
In a hard, sensual movement, Heilel drew his hips back and entered me again. Again. Again. There was nothing slow and gentle about the way he claimed my body now, and my hands fisted in the sheets. We fucked against the edge of the mattress for a minute, then he stopped to haul me farther onto the bed. On my back, in the center of the bed, he put one of my legs on his shoulder and thrust inside again.
Time ceased to exist. I didn’t mark that first night with Heilel in seconds and minutes, but in gasps. Thrusts. Kisses. Expletives. No one had gone as deep, and it should’ve hurt. He knew exactly where to touch, though. As if he already knew the secrets of my body and how to make it sing. I had never orgasmed from penetration before, and yet I soon felt the telltale prickle of heat and mounting ecstasy.
As I lost myself to the delicious building sensation, Heilel buried his cock deep within me one last time and held himself there. A moan wracked his entire body, and he was still groaning when I cried out, clenching around him, caught in the throes of my own release. Light. Colors. “Heilel,” I breathed. “Oh, God, Heilel …”
Afterward, neither of us moved. Neither of us spoke.
Once our haze of desire had begun to fade, and it was possible to think again, Heilel pulled back slightly. He held my jaw lightly in the curve between his thumb and finger. I raised my gaze to his, and he peered down at me with an expression I couldn’t read. All I knew was that it made my heart ache and soar at the same time.
“I didn’t expect to love you,” he said.
I stared into his eyes, searching them. Everything inside me wanted to believe him. “What did you expect?”
But he didn’t answer.
“Now,” Heilel said, easing his weight off me. He settled onto his side, resting on one elbow. His eyes met mine, and they were hard with purpose. “Who did this to you?”
I woke up alone in Heilel’s bed.
The room was cold, and I saw immediately that the fire had almost gone out. It cast the rest of the room in near darkness. Unease crept over me. Maybe it was waking up in an unfamiliar place, or the way the shadows moved on the walls, like they knew they were dying. Like they were writhing in pain.
Had Heilel gone back to work? I started to wonder. My mind went back to the conversation we’d had shortly before I fell asleep. Just like that, I knew he wasn’t in his office. It also explained the heavy feeling in my gut. Maybe part of me had known this would happen from the moment I’d told Heilel the truth about Samael.
I shoved the bedclothes off me and realized, belatedly, that I was completely naked. But I didn’t want to put on the clothes I’d been wearing when Heilel had undressed me—they were still covered in dust from my trek through the Lowlands.
Walking on the tips of my feet, arms crossed over my chest, I hurried over to Heilel’s walk-in closet. As I expected, his clothes were mostly business attire. I found a few sweaters, and even one pair of leather pants, but no robes. Eventually I pulled on one of his white button-ups. It was too big, of course. I rolled up the sleeves, found my shoes in the dark, and slipped out of the room.
There was no sign of anyone in the hallway, and all the critters that hid in the shadows left me alone. I went to the elevator and pressed the symbol that I knew would take me all the way down. Down into the darkness where the devil did his famous work.
Moments later, the doors slid open with a hushed sound. Apprehension quivered inside me as I forced myself forward. My shoes padded softly against the stone.
Dagan stood outside one of the cells. Unlike all the other guards I’d encountered during my time here, he wasn’t staring straight ahead or ignoring me. Instead, he gave me a polite nod. I slowed as I drew closer, torn between the desire to see Heilel and the urge to run.
Dagan made the choice for me by moving aside. He opened the door as he went. A whoosh of air greeted me, and I could instantly smell the blood. My stomach clenched. I entered the cell—I could already tell it was bigger than the ones I’d seen—propelled by the need to find Heilel.
The first sound I heard was a whimper.
The first thing I saw was a hammer.
It hung from Heilel’s hand, its bulky head pointed at the ground. Blood trailed down the long handle and dripped off the end. Thick, black blood. Heilel stood with his back to me, shirtless, and he didn’t move at the sound of my footsteps. His head was bent, as if he’d stopped to take a breath or utter a prayer, neither of which were things the devil did. My eyes scanned the rest of the room, and I didn’t let anything show in my expression.
He had his subjects arranged in a neat row, each prisoner hanging an equal distance from the ones on either side. At this point, the majority no longer had faces, but I still recognized some of them. Or rather, I recognized parts of them. Two had milky white skin. Another had teeth like a shark.
They were the creatures that had taken me last night. The creatures that were in league with Samael.
I wondered whether he would suffer the same fate, or if Heilel had something different in mind for his brother.
Hanging in the middle of all the others, the demon with the thorns in her head was very, very dead. I couldn’t tell which part of her Heilel had removed first, but I would’ve placed a large bet that he’d done her thorns one at a time.
I turned my back on the gruesome scene and put my hand on their king’s arm. “Let them die, Heilel. They’ve been punished.”
His expression was detached. His grip on the hammer was white and unbreakable. Still moving slowly, I ran my fingertips down the length of his arm, traveling over every ridge and vein. I didn’t flinch when I felt the warm, sticky handle of the hammer. I curled my fingers around it and gave it a single, gentle tug.
