Autumn Feast - Charlie Richards Page 0,42
Goodie-Two-Shoes when I could be having fun being worshipped and adored by an array of juicy mortal morsels.”
“And me, stuck with Mr. Personality,” Azrael said, shaking his head. “And what juicy mortal morsels?”
Ravish laughed. “Jealous much?”
“Oh, for the love of—” Hamish threw up his hands. “Get a room, you two. I’m going to see if Liam is all right.” He pointed at them. “Try not to shed blood while I’m gone.”
Ravish watched him go. “Alone at last, Angel Cake. Let’s talk this out. You want his soul. I want his soul. You want to get away from me, and I want the same. We both know you tried to trap me here. So, remove the spell.”
“It wasn’t me.”
“Well, it sure as heaven wasn’t me. You just don’t want to admit that you can’t get enough of me.”
“I’ll show you enough, you devilish fiend.” Azrael raised a hand and sent Ravish flying up to the ceiling.
Ravish hit the ceiling hard, laughing. “This is fun!” Ravish dropped down to the floor, landing on his feet. “That all you got, girlie boy?”
Azrael let out a shout and charged him. They struggled in mid-air. Ravish pulled him closer. “I could kiss you at this moment, Angel.”
Azrael stuck the point of his sword to the top of Ravish’s groin. “And I could incapacitate you, demon, permanently.”
“That wouldn’t be nice,” Ravish whispered, licking Azrael’s face slowly with his tongue. “You’d be sorry. I wouldn’t be much use to you.”
Azrael tried to get away from him, but Ravish held him firm. “Your power is waning,” he said softly in his ear. “You want me. Desire is weakening you. Do you remember what it felt like when I was inside you, Azrael?”
Azrael’s body went limp. His sword languished at his side. He looked into Ravish’s eyes. “You don’t play fair,” he said softly. “You never did.”
“I’m a demon. We don’t know fair,” he told him. “Kiss me. And I promise we will work out a solution to the problem, preferably in bed.”
Ravish’s mouth moved closer to his. He could almost taste his angel kisses, but just as their mouths met, the sword came up again, this time against his side. “Let me go, or I’ll gut you,” Azrael threatened.
Their gazes met, locked. “I’d die for a kiss from you.” Ravish grabbed Azrael’s blond hair and pulled back his head, smothering his mouth with his. Then Ravish pushed the angel away and flew around the room, landing on the other side of it.
Azrael made a big deal of wiping the kiss off his mouth. “There is no working out a compromise with you, demon. Hamish will choose, or we will battle it out.”
“They have bigger problems,” Ravish said, taking a seat on the sofa.
“What problems?”
“No sex,” he whispered.
“That has nothing to do with us. What are we now, marriage counselors?”
“Liam is traumatized. He was in Yemen. I saw the scenes of horror in his head.”
“Another place where your evil reigns.”
“I don’t do evil.” Ravish objected. “I punish evildoers. I collect the souls from your side.” He smiled. “Mortals commit far more atrocities than I can ever dream up.”
“Why would you want to help Liam, anyway?” Azrael leaned against the mantle.
“Hamish will be grateful, pledge his allegiance to the dark side. Then I can stay.”
“Stay? Among the mortals?” Azrael asked him.
“Yes. I don’t fit anywhere. I get tired of doing the same thing all the time.” Ravish looked over at him, his voice softening. “I only competed for this job because I knew I’d see you again.”
“More of your bullshit. You wanted to see me to get revenge for something you did.”
Azrael had said it, but Ravish noticed he looked away when he did.
“Anyway, that was a long time ago. We have other matters to contend with. I can heal Liam too. I am the angel that can heal emotional scars, anxiety.”
“But you won’t. Just like Hamish won’t.”
“Because taking away that pain will take his memories too, and that’s part of him,” Azrael said almost to himself. “It’s always a tradeoff, but I could just get rid of the effects, leave the memory.”
“You softie, you.” Ravish teased. “I do admit you have the advantage over me there. However, it doesn’t mean it’s enough to win Hamish’s soul.”
Azrael rolled his eyes. “So, we are back to square one.”
“Apparently,” Ravish replied, smiling.
Chapter Four: Hamish
“Who in the world are they?” Liam asked. “And what are they doing in our living room?”
“Just calm down, Liam. It will be all right. I know them.”
“That doesn’t