Steal Me From Heaven (14 page)

He turns to face me. Taking my upper body in his arms, he leans me back into the water and dips my head below the surface. My hair and body are soaked, but I feel clean and reenergized. I remember the blood on his wing, my blood.

“Open your wings,” I say. He looks at me but complies. Stretching them out and above the water, he flaps them back and forth. I see they are indeed bloody and somewhat dusty. “Lower them into the water.”

“But I will not be able to fly for a little while. What if something happens?”

“Everything will be all right,” I tell him. “We don’t look like we are going anywhere anytime soon.” He dips the tips of his wings into the water and shivers. I take the cool liquid into my cupped hand and raise it to the top of his wing. I clean him, repeating the process over and over until he glimmers in the moonlight once more. When finished, he cups water into his palm and holds it to my mouth and tells me to drink. I do. My body accepts it gratefully. He shakes the excess water from his plumage.

“Thank you,” he says as he picks me up in his arms and carries me to the grass. Laying me down gently, he covers the length of my body with his hard, warm being. Reaching down between my thighs, I find his shaft and massage him to length.

“Wait.” He stops me, and I am confused. This is what he wanted. I am offering myself to him.

He rises to his hands and knees and looks my body over. I do not feel uncomfortable with his gaze. His eyes smolder and begin their heart-melting blue glow. He sits back on his knees and wraps my legs around his arms. Scooting me forward against the blades of grass, he rests my thighs on his shoulders and lowers his head. His wings fold down behind him but do not recede into his body. He doesn’t smell me like Jacob preferred to do beforehand. I open up for him and feel his tongue circling my center. My heart is pounding out of my chest. His touch feels different than I am used to. He takes my pink flesh into his mouth and suckles. I roll my head to the side and part my lips. I moan in pleasure. His tongue continues to invade me. He goes in deep, seeking to draw out my honey. His hands are kneading my thighs.

I think of Jacob. I try not to, but I feel that I am betraying him. I have had but a few lovers and Malachi has had many sexual experiences. He switches up what he is doing, and my thoughts return to him. My hips move with him. A cry escapes my lips. I feel his fingers inside me as he flicks his tongue against my nub. My stomach tingles, and I feel I am on the verge of release. He stops once more. I cry out in displeasure.

“Take me now,” I sigh.

“No.” He lies back down on top of me and covers me with his body. I feel like I am the one being teased, and I do not like it. He strokes my wet hair from my face. Smelling my scent on his lips, I lift my head and hungrily kiss him. I invade his mouth with my tongue. Again I think of Jacob. I feel a burning sensation in my nipple. Malachi is tweaking it hard with his fingers while kneading my breast. I think of Jacob’s bite. Malachi hasn’t even tried to bite me once while pleasing me. My gums ache as my teeth push through to make their sharp points. My mouth opens to draw in a breath. Malachi sees my fangs.

“No,” he says. “No biting.” I close my mouth. I told him he could do anything that he needed to do to make us couple, yet he does not enter me. His fingers slip between my thighs again, and he rubs me with his open palm. His hand glides easily against my slick flesh. He increases his pressure until I cannot take it anymore. I am climbing higher and higher. I close my eyes and see Jacob’s face when I told him that I loved him.

“Open your eyes,” he softly whispers. I blink them open but close them quickly.

“Say my name,” he requests. My thoughts are not in this moment.

“Marion, open your eyes. Do not close them again.” I look into his piercing bright blue eyes.

“Say my name.” He desires for me to call out his name before we go any further.

“Malachi,” I moan.

“Let it go, you have to let him go. This will not work until you do. He is gone. Now what is my name?”

“Malachi.” I draw the letters of his name out longer as my breath is heavy and my bosom heaves against his chest. His palm closes and I feel his thumb rubbing against my clitoris in circles. I grow more and more euphoric. My juices are about to explode. Malachi kisses me and holds my lips to his. I cannot scream as I am closer to my release. I need to get this need out of my body. My eyes blacken, and I pierce his bottom lip with my fang. He lifts his head. He licks the blood from his mouth.

“Cry out my name.” He is demanding in his tone.

My voice carries across the night as I scream out his name over and over. It feels foreign on my tongue. It is not the name that I am used to shouting. He may be mine, but I am not yet his. He knows it. His hand stops once again right before I reach my orgasm. My heart is left beating wildly in my chest and my needs are left unmet. Malachi’s wings stretch out above us before he folds them into his body. He rolls over onto the grass and lies on his back. I see that he is still erect, and I still yearn. I roll over and reach out to touch him.

“No,” he says without looking at me.

“Why? I gave you permission.”

“You do not want me yet. Jacob is still too much a part of you. We cannot couple until you let him go in peace. You think that I want to replace him, but that is not my intention. I want you to love me, Marion.” I lie back on the grass and think about what he is asking of me.

“But I do love you. I just love him too. I cannot stop my love for either of you, and I have told him as much.”

“You try to make love to me like a Vampire. We are Angels, and we are to couple as such.” He closes his eyes and places his arms behind his head like a pillow.

“Are you going to sleep?” I ask.

“No, I never sleep,” he informs me. “I have to think.” We lay there in silence for a long time. The moon becomes visible high overhead. I feel him reach down and grab my hand. As he raises it to his lips, I rotate my arm so he can kiss the back of my hand. He twists it back over and clamps his teeth onto my wrist. He sucks in my blood. I just lie there like nothing is happening. If he doesn’t want to make love like a Vampire then why is he doing this to me? I find biting intoxicating. It is my nature. If he had done this while pleasuring me, then we might have coupled already.

I close my eyes. Since I left Jacob’s side two nights ago, I still hear him in my mind and feel him in my body. I know he is slipping away from me now as Malachi drains me. Tears escape my eyes and fall down my temples and into the grass beneath my hair. I am mourning my loss.

I grow weak from blood loss. I try to take my arm away, but he snarls and tugs it deeper into his mouth. He is the one acting like a Vampire. My eyes grow heavy, and I get sleepy. My wrist is wet with his saliva and my blood. I need blood, but I am too weak to try to take it from him. I lose all thoughts.

Chapter 7

When I wake, there is a bright white light encasing me. I do not see or feel Malachi touching me. At first, I think it is the sun. I try to sit up.

“Lie still,” I hear him say. I look up behind my head and see him sitting on the grass with his feet folded underneath him. His hands are out to the side of my face and my head is between them. The light is coming from his palms.

“What are you doing?” I ask.

“Trying to heal you. Your body is healed from the lack of blood. You’ll still need to drink of me later, but your mind is not letting me in. Try to relax.” He closes his eyes and concentrates. Several moments later, I see his features harden and a darkness wash over his face. “Did you remember anything?”

“No,” I say. I find the whole thing a little strange.

“I know why Jacob cannot tell you anything about your past. The memory is too painful for you. I was occupied fighting the battle with your Demon. I did not get to you in time to help when Arthur’s men took you. Maybe I am not the best protector for you.”

“You have to tell me. You can’t just say something like that and expect me to let it go.”

“I will try to help you remember, but I will not speak of it again.”

I get up off the grass and storm over to my clothes. “I am tired of everyone deciding things for me.” I get dressed in my limited wardrobe. “Are we ready to go? I think we are done here.” Standing up, he goes and retrieves his pants. He opens his wings and checks one out and then the other.

“They are dry enough to fly. Let’s go.”

“What about my drink?” I ask.

“I told you that I have healed your body. You are thirsty because your Vampire mind tells you that you should drink after someone drinks from you. Besides, I need your blood in me a little while longer before you reclaim it.”

“Why?”

“To help you let him go. My body will purify your blood.”

I noticed when I woke up that Jacob is no longer able to send thoughts my way. “I hope you are happy. I can no longer hear
him.” I didn’t want to reveal that to him. He smiles, but that only makes me angry. “Just because you filter him out of my mind and body does not mean you can rid me of him.”

He comes and stands closely before me. I feel the heat off his body. He is holding his pants in his hands since he has yet to put them on. “As long as I can have your heart and soul, he can have the rest.” Leaping with his legs, he takes to flight. He does not wait or even slow down. I do not have time to steam or pout. I transform and yell as my wings pop out, and I ascend after him.

When I catch up, he is clothed. I come up beside him when I hear him talking to me over the currents. “We really need to work on you transforming silently. You made a flock of birds up roost with all your screaming. How will you sneak up on your enemies when you are shrieking at the top of your lungs?”

“Shut up,” I yell. “You didn’t have a problem with me shouting your name.”

“I can make you cry out my name anytime you wish.”

“Obviously not, since I am still sexually frustrated. Maybe you can’t perform.”

He gets angry. “I will not satisfy you while you pretend it is not my touch that makes you groan in pleasure or wet with desire. I deserve all of you, and I will wait until you offer me that.” He is tired of talking and flies away from me, creating enough distance where he does not hear me apologize.

Two hours later, we are circling above a small farm with a cottage surrounded by trees on top of the hill. The ocean is to the right of the house, which sits on a cliff. The house is small but adequate. One more circle and then he descends. I land about fifteen feet behind him. We make the usual changes to our appearance and then walk up the steps to the front entrance. The door opens easily. It is not locked.

“You need better security,” I say.

“It is well secured. No one knows where I live except for Adam and a few close friends. They will not betray their people, not even a Fallen. No one can enter unless they are led in by me.” I remember hearing that no one can touch an Angel’s property. He takes my hand and pulls me through the door. I feel like I just walked through very thick air.

“What is that?” I ask.

“An energy field. I’m sorry the house is so small. Angels are not materialistic like Demons and Vampires.”

“How do you pay for things?” I wonder.

“I just ask for what I need. I will teach you to do it, but first you must be able to call forth your inner light.”

“You mean that I will glow like you do? How is that possible if I cannot recharge from the sun?”

“But I believe that you can,” he says.

I remember feeling the sun burn the flesh from my foot and now he wants me to walk out into the burning light on purpose. “You can’t stop it from hurting if it doesn’t work.”

“No, I’m sorry. I cannot. You are Angel, not Fallen. Your powers and gifts may be limitless. We will have to figure out what you can and cannot do.” He leads me into a small bedroom. “Daylight will be here soon. If you would like, I have a shirt that you can sleep in. I will wash your clothes for you and tomorrow, we can go to town and get some more things for you to wear. Now I have to prepare this room for you before the sun comes up.” He turns to leave but stops.

“I will have blood ordered for two days a week so you don’t have to drink from me each day. If I keep it in the underground tunnel, it should hold. I do not have electricity up here on this mountain top. There is a spring house for water and then you saw the ocean off to the side of the cabin. I prefer you to stay indoors unless I accompany you. Make yourself comfortable. This is your home now.”

He leaves, and I begin to look around. The house is simple, not fully decorated, with shades of white and blue. Red and black are not among his color choices. There are no blinds or curtains on the windows. I know he enjoys looking at the sea and watching the sun rise and set. His furnishings are sparse but will do. The walls are made of logs and they remind me of my first home with Jacob years earlier. This home needs a woman’s touch.

I hear banging on the outside wall and a shadow covers the floor. He is nailing the shutters shut over the windows. I leave the bedroom and walk into the kitchen. I open the cupboards. There are only two sets of everything—cups, plates, bowls, and silverware. The rest is bare. I think he must not have much company, and I think about what a lonely existence he must lead. He could not even speak to me until I became a Vampire. I do not know how often he converses with humans.