Broken Halo
Authors: Zoey Marcel
Broken Halo
Fallen Angels Trilogy, Book One
by Zoey Marcel
ISBN 13:
978-1-937831-26-4
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Chapter One
Temptation
Regency England, 1811
Sonya
stood in the tepid darkness of the warm June night watching the couple before
her. They were locked in a passionate embrace with the sheets tangled around
their entwined legs. Having been a guardian angel since the dawn of creation,
she had watched over countless souls and seen numerous couplings, but for
whatever reason, Mr. and Mrs. Hemingway's encounters always touched her.
Sonya
was the guardian over Hannah Hemingway's soul and felt a special family-like
bond with her. She cared for the frail, gentle woman like a sister. They might
have been sisters if not for their starkly differing appearances.
Hannah
was petite with golden locks and enormous blue eyes that shone with life and
innocence. She was a fair-skinned beauty who looked much younger than her twenty
one years.
Sonya's
long, straight, raven-black hair and bronze skin gave her a darker, more exotic
look than the young lady of the manor. Her eyes were the darkest shade of
brown, flirting with near blackness. The women were around the same height,
with Sonya being an inch taller at five feet, four inches.
Hannah
was the reason Sonya spent her days and nights here. She was sworn to protect
the lady until the day of her death when she would be called home.
Hannah's
husband, Jude had no guardian angel as he was not a believer in the faith she
held, but being married to Hannah blessed him with the assurance that he too
would be watched over by Sonya...until his wife died.
She
silently observed their lovemaking in a state of utter contentment. Hannah was
three months pregnant and both of the expecting parents were jubilant and spoke
of nothing else.
A
dark presence sent a chill through Sonya and put her on guard. A demon. She
turned to see the infamous incubus she knew all too well: Nimbus.
“What
are you doing here?” She questioned the entity.
He
flashed her a cordial smile, but by the time the gesture reached his
olive-green eyes, the look betrayed the deviant nature of his thoughts. “Look
at them, Sonya. Where else would I be?”
“Are
there no other lovers in the world copulating tonight that you have come all
this way to my precise location by sheer coincidence?”
“I
have been in England for some time now.”
“Your
accent would suggest as much.”
The
way Nimbus took to seating himself in a chair near her was disarming. He would
not touch the Hemingways with a guardian watching over them. Still, he did not
fear her anymore than she feared him.
“They
appear to be enjoying themselves,” he mused quietly.
She
felt his eyes on her, but purity and loathing forbid her to meet his searching
gaze. If the irritated, objectified way she suddenly felt beneath his probing
stare told her anything, the look his eyes probably harbored at the moment was
one of licentious greed.
“Do
you never touch yourself while you watch them?” He prodded.
Sonya
spun around to face him. “No! Why would I?”
His
grin was sinful and decadent. “To sate the ache in your vagina.”
She
felt the heat of the blush in her cheeks spreading through her entire body like
a forest fire. “What makes you suppose I have any such ache to contend with?”
His
toothy smile amply revealed his pearly whites and for a few seconds, erased the
truth of the fiend he had become. In this very human looking form, he was the
uncanny image of the angel he had once been - one of prominence and respect.
One with whom she had enjoyed an especially close camaraderie. That was before
the fall. There was a division in heaven and sides were chosen. Nimbus followed
Lucifer and was cast out of heaven with many others. Sonya remained faithful,
as did most of the other angels who were still in the Almighty's service.
Losing
her best friend had been difficult for her to accept, especially the way he had
stood at the gates of heaven before being changed and thrown down to earth, and
begged her to come with him. Not a tearful, imploring sort of plea. More of an
insistent, demanding urgency as though his command would will her body into
submission and his desire would turn her soul to the dark side, simply because
it pleased him and she could do nothing but yearn to please him. She had never
seen that side to him before. Ambition, strength and courage, but not a dark,
controlling conqueror. She didn't know if his breech into her psyche was a
new-found power of his, or if her affection for him had blinded her enough to
subject her to torn loyalties.
Watching
him disappear was a startling wake-up call that she was losing him forever and
this scared her to death and almost – almost tempted her to follow him out of
heaven. Her body had shifted as though about to take a step, when she felt
Cassiel's hand on her shoulder and whispered: “Please,” had halted her. His
beseeching murmur had brought her back to reality. His interference gave her
clarity of thought and saved her from making a decision she likely would have
regretted for the rest of her existence.
Once
the shock of the celestial mutiny wore off, Sonya became ashamed that she had
allowed a friendship to become so precious to her she nearly threw away her
place in heaven just to be with him. That would never do. She had other
friends. What was different about Nimbus? Why was it vital he remain by her
side for eternity? Why did he have to allow his greed to get the better of him?
He ruined everything, but he would not ruin her. She would never idolize
another being that way again.
Over
the years, he came to her at random times trying to entice her to join him in
the kingdom of darkness. He promised a wealth of power, pleasure and affection,
but she always resisted.
Even
now, here he sat ogling the married lovers and Sonya as though they were
puppets existing only to perform in his lascivious show. She would have none of
it. It was one thing to watch the Hemingways worshiping each others' bodies and
to be moved by what she saw, perhaps even more than a little curious to know
what that felt like. However, it was an entirely different matter to observe
the sight with an incubus, who would more than likely be able to determine
whether or not she was aroused by what she saw.
His
dark, throaty chuckle was oddly appealing. “My dear Sonya, do you not suppose
that an incubus is capable of detecting sexual arousal? Or do you suppose it is
merely that couple's congress that is feeding me tonight?”
Her
gaze darted away from the lewd expression written on his ruggedly handsome
face. “Perhaps you feel only the sexual energy emanating from them and mistake
it for desire on my part.”
There
was a pause tangible enough to sink one's teeth into.
“Is
that a lie, Sonya? Angels don't practice deception. Are you coming over to the
dark side?”
She
squared her shoulders and turned to face her taunting foe. “Never. It was not a
lie.”
“Evasion
of the truth or the implication of something that one knows to be false and
tries to pass off as truth is akin to lying. Why should a pure, good creature
like you have anything to hide beneath a blanket of deception?” His question
was one of pure rhetoric as he pretended to give the matter considerable
thought, “The only times one lies are to protect someone from getting hurt, or
to keep from being discovered and punished. Now which is the case with you, I
wonder?”
She
rolled her eyes, focusing on the Hemingways. Their foreplay had become
intercourse as Jude hovered over his wife and entered her. Their joined gasps
sent a bone-jarring level of sensational awareness through Sonya's body that
was far stronger than anything any act of voyeurism had ever triggered before.
She wondered if Nimbus' presence had anything to do with it, or if she was
merely feeling especially inquisitive tonight.
“I
don't imagine it to be your fear that you will hurt anyone by concealing your
desires. After all, how could a harmless night of unbridled passion hurt?” The
lengthy pause was awkward and astoundingly scintillating. “I asked you a
question, Sonya,” there was more than a hint of displeasure in his tone.
Sonya
sighed with exasperation. He really was proving to be quite a nuisance tonight.
She turned to face him with her hands on her hips like a scolding mother.
“What, Nimbus?”
His
eyes narrowed. “What blatant disrespect. If you were my woman I would punish
you for it.”
“If
I were your woman it would be a punishment unto itself,” she jeered. Why was he
smiling at this? Why did she feel naked when her silken gown effectively
covered her? Why was she feeling so hot and cold when the night was mild?
“You
are a little hellion, aren't you?”
“You
are the hellion,” she returned.
“You
never answered my question.”
“What
question?”
The
lovers were panting and moaning, making any chance at focusing on providing
Nimbus with an answer next to impossible.
“I
asked whether or not you believed your secret desires would hurt anyone.”
Sonya
tried to quell the flush in her face. “What you think of as desire, I merely
attribute to a harmless fascination and curiosity, nothing more, nothing less.”
The
hushed timbre of his sensual voice became dreadfully serpent-like, but in a
flash, it was seductive again. “Yes. No one will be hurt by your wanton
thoughts, so why deny them, or try to snuff out that which you cannot fight?
Clearly sparing anyone offense or injury over your thoughts isn't the issue, so
that only leaves fear as the culprit for your deception.”
She
faced him indignantly. “I am not afraid.”
His
lips remained a straight, emotionless line across his face, but his slanted,
olive-green eyes were filled with obvious glee at his discovery. “You are
hesitant to admit to your lust because you fear the wrath of God.”
“I
am hesitant to admit to something that does not exist,” she countered
impatiently.
“Look
at them, Sonya. Look very closely. See the way he kisses her with such savage
hunger. Observe the way their tantalizing bodies move as one.”
The
sound of a cushion elevating could be heard, indicating Nimbus was now
standing. The quiet shuffling of cautious strides should have been cause for
warning, but despite the insidious way he stalked toward her from behind, Sonya
was unafraid. She could only smirk at the danger she considered to be
entertainingly absent.
“You
cannot tell me you have never wondered what it would be like to be Mrs.
Hemingway...or perhaps Mr. Hemingway.”
She
glared at him, but relaxed when she saw his teasing smile. “I am quite content
with my identity, I can assure you.”
Hannah
was whimpering. “Make me finish, darling. I need relief.”
Jude
showered her face with delicate kisses and murmured sweet nothings while he
rubbed the soft nub of her clitoris. “Soak me, love. I want to hear you cry my
name when you finish and feel your cunnie squeeze my cock so tightly it sends
me into orgasm.”
Sonya
felt suddenly perverse for gawking at the pair with Nimbus standing there. Her
nipples protruded through the fabric of her dress and her pussy clenched at
Jude's words. She had wondered what Hannah was feeling numerous times. What it
was like to feel a man's body against her bare flesh, the taste of a kiss, the
powerful sensations of orgasm which stripped away all self control until only
primal need and raw instinct remained.
“That
should have been us,” Nimbus murmured softly.
Sonya
didn't blush, but her heart rate quickened at his words, at his nearness. He
stood right next to her – close enough to touch. Not that she would, or even
wanted to; it was simply an observation. “You speak blasphemies.”