freckled head. He might not have horns while possessing Dee’s body, but his voice possessed sharp canines in folds. “And you fucking know that she can and why, don’t you, angel? Now, Riona, do it. It will smell like the sweetest roses you ever had, like sunshine through autumn leaves, like creation. Breathe it in, deep as you can, and use it.”
The scent tickled her senses, but she resisted. “Jerry, I can’t… What if it hurts you? What if it throws you out of Dee’s body? What if you wake up back in Hell?”
He kissed her cheek. “I’m already in Hell. Not because I’m a demon, but because I love you like you love him, and will never have you. You have my heart, now take my magic and punch through this bitch so you can save him.”
She didn’t want to cry. She refused to weep over any feelings she had for Jerry. He was a demon, and he tried to set her up to kill an innocent just so she’d be damned. But, damn… She wasn’t going to be able to hold up.
She stilled herself, then inhaled the deepest breath she ever took.
Her body hummed with power. It was a like reliving the Awakening all over again, only on a smaller scale.
And naked.
She stepped forward.
No enchantments this time; the Morgana Box parted before her, letting her pass unobstructed as its border waned. What the f—? Was Jerry’s magic that strong? Undoing the barrier felt no more taxing than shooing away a feather.
Riona’s mouth flickered with joy, her feet longing to alight and burn up the stairs. A quick look over her shoulder, however, distracted her.
“Jerry?”
Ramiel was helping the demon to his feet, the latter breathing heavy and red-faced.
“I’m fine, go on,” Jerry declared, though Riona couldn’t help but wonder, seeing his arm braced across his abdomen like someone had just delivered unto him the mother of all sucker punches.
The growl that erupted from the building’s entryway gave her only enough warning to turn her head. Horned demons with green skin and red eyes charged full force in her direction, and further up the corridor inside, she could see a half dozen following.
Jerry’s body flew full force into them just in time, Ramiel pulling up behind.
“Run, Riona!”
She knew she had to listen, no matter how the idea tugged at her that she should stay and fight. It might be too late already. She had to get to him. She had to save Marc.
Working her legs, Riona hit the stairs at a gallop, not bothering to look back.
Chapter 24
Some parts of his body had spontaneously developed a brain of their own. At least, given the way his hips, hands, lips, and tongue were acting independently, each trying to reign supreme in the conquest of Riona’s flesh, a coup de corpe seemed the most likely explanation.
Riona pulled Marc’s hand back into hers and away from her waist for the third time. His fingers had once more hooked around the hem of her white-trimmed panties. Some part of him wanted that slip of silk and ribbon off this very minute so it could join its distant relatives — Aunt Blouse, Uncle Jacket, and little cousin undershirt — in the pile on the floor.
“Maaa-aarc,” Riona cooed, her amusement sparkling, when he resisted her tug and tried again. “You take those off, and little stands between us, but one bad decision.”
“One bad decision? Already giving it a nickname?” He joked as he brought his mouth back down over hers before pulling back to examine the way she wore lust in her features. “Like a thin layer of cotton would stop me if I was going to follow through.”
Both were playing the parts of erotic diplomats with every inch of their bodies, the territories being negotiated by treaty. The essential articles that staved off overindulgence remained in place. Riona lay on her back atop her bed in her matching bra and panties. Marc, bare-chested, successfully managed to keep his pants fastened up and his belt on, although at one point, it was unhooked by Riona’s lithe fingers. But even the heavy-set thick cloth of his black slacks couldn’t restrain that piece of him engorged and pressing uncomfortably against its cotton-weave confines, wanting to get out so it could, in turn, get in.
As he tasted the flesh where Riona’s neck was the sweetest, and felt her tremble beneath him, concern filled him. What was the matter? Was she scared? Nervous? Cold?
But when he drew his eyes up