Lucifer's Cage (After Dark Book 6) Read online

  “Candace, I am yours. Yours. Do you understand? If I could, I’d kneel at your feet and offer myself to you for eternity. I can’t fucking live another day without you by my side. I’m deadly serious about making you my Queen of Hell.”

  He was going to tear out of these bonds if she didn’t take him seriously. He looked at her face. Tears pricked at her eyes.

  “You just admitted you’re mine,” she whispered.

  “That’s because I am. I have been since you landed in my bed and made me fall under your spell. You are my everything. What else do I have to do to prove that to you?”

  She sat up, staring down at the deep red marks on his chest she’d made with her nails.

  “Just tell me one thing.”

  “Name it.”

  “What happened the day He cast you from Heaven?”

  He sighed. She just had to push. He had to give her something, if only to prove he trusted her and wanted her in his life.

  “If I promise to show you, will you stop this line of conversation and ride my cock? You’ve made me so fucking hard and I need to be in you.”

  She was silent for a long moment. She put her hands behind her back, unhooking her bra and tossing it aside. Her underwear followed next. His mouth watered at the sight of her naked above him.

  “You want me to fuck you?” she asked.

  “I want you so much my cock fucking hurts.”

  She ground against him, her wetness coating him. He grunted.

  Fuck, she wasn’t lying. She’s soaking.

  “Like this, you want me to ride you? Make you come?”

  “Fuck, yes,” he growled. “Ride my cock, little witch.”

  She bit her lip, grinding harder. He’d promised he wouldn’t try to get free, but he wanted to run his hands over her skin. He wanted to push her down on the bed and fuck her with abandon. Knowing she’d get off on being in control stopped him. She needed to let go. She needed his submission for once.

  “I’m going to fuck you, Lucifer, but you don’t deserve to touch me. I’m going to make you watch me pleasure myself.”

  And with that, she shifted and sunk down on him. He groaned.

  She’s so hot and tight. Fuck, no one compares to her.

  She rose and fell slowly, watching him with hooded eyes. She twisted her nipple with her fingers. He watched her, mesmerised by her movements. Not being able to touch her was torture.

  She braced one hand behind her as she rode him, her legs open for him to see where they were joined. His heart hammered erratically in his chest. Her fingers trailed down her stomach, brushing against her soft curls before her hand slipped between her legs. She moaned, stroking herself.

  “I know you want to touch me here,” she said. “Can you feel how wet I am for you? Do you know how much I want to come all over your cock?”

  “Little witch,” he groaned.

  There was nothing he could do but watch her ride him and pleasure herself. Her pace increased, her moaning becoming louder.

  Fuck, I’m going to explode in a minute, but I can’t come yet, not until I’ve felt her. I want her clenching around me.

  “Tell me, does it make you harder seeing me like this?” she asked.

  “Yes, fuck, Candace, please. I want you so fucking much and it kills me that I can’t touch you.”

  “Too bad.”

  She smiled at him, her fingers moving faster, her hips grinding against him. He growled, thrusting his own into hers. He couldn’t help it, he needed to fill her, deeper, harder. Biting her lip, she groaned. He did it again, finding a rhythm to match hers.

  “Fuck, Lucifer, I’m going to come all over you, don’t fucking stop.”

  She cried out, shaking and trembling over him as her sex clenched.

  Shit, seeing her come apart is so hot.

  He tried desperately to hold on, grinding into her. It was too much, he felt the stirring before it ripped through his body.

  He cried out her name, falling into oblivion along with her.

  Chapter Twenty Six

  Candace pitched forward onto his chest, panting. He wanted to hold her, run his fingers through her hair, but his wrists were still bound.

  “Fuck,” she whispered.

  “Can I touch you now?” he asked.

  She nodded against his chest. The ropes dropped the next instant and he wrapped his arms around her, kissing the top of her head. The battle between them wasn’t about winners or losers, it was about love and the need to consume each other.

  “Are you really afraid I’ll stop wanting you?”

  “Only because it scares me how much I love you,” she murmured.

  His arms tightened around her. Nothing could induce him to let this girl go.

  Not now.

  Not ever.

  “You’re the only woman I’ve given my brand to. Others have worn the sixes, but you wear my wings, little witch. No one else.”

  She looked up at him.

  “I never got a chance to tell you how beautiful it is.”

  “Just like you, beautiful, strong, so self-assured yet fragile. A bird with clipped wings.”

  Her eyebrow raised in question.

  “Is that supposed to be a metaphor for how I crave my dad’s approval and affection?”

  “No. They clipped your wings, but I’m showing you how to be free even when you’re broken.”

  She shifted, raising her arms and holding his face in her hands.

  “You have shown me more than just freedom. In some crazy, fucked up way, I finally understand myself. I see a girl who thought she wasn’t worthy of anything until she met an angel who gave her the one thing she was missing in her life. It was simple. He showed her she always had a choice. That’s why that girl now loves without conditions and without restraint. And that’s why this angel, right here, will always have her heart.”

  His heart thumped wildly. The words were on the tip of his tongue. She kissed him before he could say anything.

  “I don’t need you to love me back. I’m sorry if I pushed you. You don’t have to show me anything.”

  She pulled away, sitting up and staring down at him with those incredible violet eyes of hers.

  “I made a promise, little witch. I keep my promises,” he said. “But first, you’re going to tell me what happened this evening.”

  Shifting off him, she sat down with her legs crossed. Her fingers traced the outline of his brand.

  “My best friend, who I’ve looked up to as my brother my whole life, told me no one deserves me, especially not someone who punishes people for their sins. He acted like I had no idea of what I was truly getting into by following you home to Hell. That’s when I saw the truth. No one will ever deserve me in his eyes, only him. And I swear my heart felt like it’d been tossed in a meat grinder.”

  She didn’t look at him as she spoke. Her eyes filled with tears and her fists clenched in her lap.

  “He’s lied to my face since we were kids. Everything he’s done is tainted by that simple fact. The feeling of betrayal made me sick. It’s not as if I’ve never kept secrets from Jax, but he’s kept the biggest one of all from me. It’s fucked up that even though he has Sam, he still loves me. I don’t see a way through this mess. I suppose that’s what hurts the most.”

  The problem with secrets is someone always got hurt when they all came out. He put a hand on her fist. She looked so lost and scared.

  “You’re terrified of losing everyone you care for because of your love for me,” he whispered.

  Her eyes snapped to his. A single tear fell down her cheek.

  “Am I really that transparent?”

  He shifted turning on his side and propping himself up by his elbow. She opened her fist and he entwined his fingers in hers.

  “Not to others, but I’ve been inside your head, little witch. I know you in ways no one else can. Do you think you’re not free to return to Earth as you please? Do you think I’ll place restrictions on you?”

  �
��No. I know you won’t. I’ve never had any love for the fae but going against my mother isn’t a prospect I relish. And feeling as though I’ve lost my best friend in the midst of all this when I actually need him on my side. That just plain sucks.”

  He brushed her hair from her face, wiping away the stray tear. His little witch hurt.

  What can I do to make her feel better? Clearly, sex hasn’t worked completely.

  “What do you need, animus meus?” My soul.

  Her fingers tightened in his for a moment.

  “I don’t need anything but time, which I’m running out of. My engagement party is next week. I have to face her then.”

  He let go of her hand, pulling her towards him. She went willingly, curling up against his chest with her hand on his heart.

  There was nothing left to say about her problems. It was time he allowed her a little insight into his life.

  “I’ve never spoken of what happened that day except with Azrael, but he was there so that’s different.”

  “You said you were going to show me what happened. How?”

  “Close your eyes.”

  She did as he asked. He placed a hand over them, a soft glow of yellow erupting from his fingertips. Reliving this was never easy, but Candace was right. He had to let her in some day.

  She let out a soft gasp, her fingertips pressing into his chest.

  He closed his eyes, sucked backwards into a memory he wished he could forget.

  §

  The shouting match between Azrael and my father made my head hurt. I couldn’t do anything but watch silently. What could I even say? He would never allow us the freedom we desire and now we’ve angered him.

  “You cannot possibly comprehend what servitude means, Father,” Azrael said. “You may have created all of this, but you don’t understand what you ask of us.”

  “You are an angel. Your role is to serve.”

  God. The man who gave us life but put us in chains for eternity. I stepped forward, unable to take the tension between them any longer.

  “Stop. Just stop. Do you hear yourself? All of them serve you out of blind allegiance. None of them understand freedom. Azrael and I deserve more. We all do.”

  My father stared at me with unnerving intensity, but I refused to look away. Azrael walked over, coming to a standstill beside me, his expression hard.

  “Is this what we’ve come to? My sons hating me for their servitude? Or is it because I’ve put mortals above you?”

  I closed my eyes, trying to hold back the tide of curses I wanted to throw at him. He made me so angry, but I needed to remain calm. Unclenching my fists, I opened my eyes and looked at him.

  “Neither of us have any love for humans, but that is not why we wish to be free. Choice, Father, that’s all we ask. We want a choice to serve, not an edict.”

  He turned away, pacing the marble floor in front of his chair. It’s not quite a throne, carved of white marble, glistening in the light. The other angels who followed us have been punished. Stripped of their current roles and made to serve under those they once presided over. I have no regrets. They wanted freedom as much as Azrael and me.

  “You test my patience with every word, Lucifer. Both of you have disappointed me greatly, but you, my brightest son, have hurt me the most. You live in Heaven where you are afforded every privilege imaginable. Why have you defied me at every turn? Do I not do enough for you?”

  The words cut me like a knife. He doesn’t understand what we are asking of him. Why is choice so difficult for him to wrap his head around? He gave free will to humans, why not to angels? Why are we any different? Just because we are immortal. He says he created us to serve, but I don’t believe that for one moment. If we were only meant to serve, he would not have granted us minds of our own.

  “Because you put us in chains, Father. They might not be visible, but we are chained nevertheless.”

  Silence. What else could I ever have expected from him? I looked over at my brother, but his gaze was on our father, undisguised disgust written all over his face.

  “Leave us, Lucifer. I will deal with you separately.”

  I looked at my father one last time before walking out. There is no point arguing. He’s made up his mind about what he’s going to do with us.

  I felt a sense of foreboding. Nothing was right any longer. My life as I know it will change. This was the day everything fell apart.

  I paced outside the room for what seemed like eternity, wondering how he’ll punish both of us.

  Azrael walked out, his head bowed. He didn’t look my way as he sat on one of the long benches which looked out over a garden with a fountain in the middle. The water trickled down silently.

  “Father says you are to go in now.”

  “What did he tell you?” I asked.

  “You know I cannot repeat his words, Lucifer.”

  I took a breath and walked into my father’s rooms. He was sat on his marble chair, eyes guarded.

  “Lucifer, you are my brightest child and yet you have proven to be the most defiant. Why have you chosen this path?”

  As if he doesn’t know the answer to that question. I’ve said it a thousand times.

  “I want to be free.”

  “Freedom comes at a price, my son.”

  “Does their freedom come at a cost?”

  Humans. The crux of our every argument. They are given the whole world to run riot in and yet we are stuck in servitude to them day after day.

  “It will. Someone has to punish those who have trespassed against their fellow men and women. Those who have sinned.”

  I watched him carefully for signs of what he could possibly mean by that. Punishment. He can create someone to carry out this task, surely?

  “Azrael will be tested. He will come to hate humanity, but one day, he will learn his place and what his duty really means. A Darkness will come. One that will consume the world. Only he will be able to save them. And you will be there to make sure he follows through. It will come at a time and in a form neither of you will expect.”

  A Darkness? What kind of Darkness does he mean? Consuming the world?

  “It will be my wrath, Lucifer. If he does not save them, then all Heaven and Earth will burn. There is another place. A place for the souls of sinners. I will call it Hell. And you will be its King.”

  I stared at him. Hell? King?

  “You would have me punish sinners?”

  “You are a disappointment, Lucifer. You have always been my favourite and yet, you have the strongest will. Unbreakable. Is it not fitting that you should break those who have disappointed me? Those who have hurt, maimed and killed?”

  I took a step back, seeing my entire existence in Heaven flash before my eyes in an instant. All of it gone. Wasted.

  “You will never return to Heaven. Eternity, Lucifer. You are consigned to Hell for eternity.”

  Before I had a chance to speak, the room spun around. I stood before the gates of Heaven with Azrael next to me. Our father stood just inside them, his expression sorrowful.

  “My sons, you are to be exiled from Heaven. Never shall you cross these gates. Never shall you infect the minds of your fellow angels with lies and deceit. You wanted freedom. You’re free to roam Earth as you please, but do not forget your duty, Lucifer. Do not forget you owe your life to Hell.”

  He put his hands out. I felt myself falling, falling and I could not beat my wings to fly back up. They burnt with an intensity I’d never experienced before.

  Where was Azrael? I can’t see him. My vision went dark around the edges.

  I landed with a thump. When I opened my eyes, I found myself surrounded by blackened earth. Rising to my feet, I looked around.

  All I could see is fire.

  The fire which never dies.

  And I know.

  I am in Hell.

  §

  Lucifer felt dampness on his hand, pulling it away, he found Candace’s face wet with tears. He hadn’t notic
ed, so lost in the day the Devil was born.

  She opened her eyes, staring up at him.

  “I had no idea,” she whispered. “I should never have asked you to tell me.”

  She reached up, holding his face and pressing her forehead to his.

  “Humans think their God is benevolent. To them, perhaps, but to His angels, never. Especially not to the one He called His favourite son.”

  “He was right about one thing… You are unbreakable.”

  He laughed. It was hollow.

  “Perhaps that was true before, but not now. You see, I gave my soul to a witch and if she leaves me, I’ll break and the pieces of my soul will scatter in the wind.”

  Her bottom lip trembled. A sob escaped her perfect mouth. He cupped her cheek, knowing she wasn’t able to speak at that moment.

  “Shh, don’t cry any more for me.” He wiped her cheek with his thumb. “Showing you my worst memory was not meant to upset you. I trust you, little witch, with everything. I want you to remember that when you’re afraid.”

  She pressed her mouth to his. Her lips were damp from her tears.

  “Thank you for trusting me. I won’t be afraid any more. Next week, I’ll tell my mother then we’ll have forever.”

  If only that were true. They would have years, but forever wasn’t on the cards. Not when he knew her soul belonged in Heaven.

  Chapter Twenty Seven

  Lucifer watched her hands shaking as they walked down the long corridor. The double doors at the end were dark wood with intricate carvings of the fae. Beyond lay her mother’s dining room.

  “I don’t want to do this,” she whispered.

  He put a hand on her arm.

  “I’m here, little witch. You need not be afraid.”

  She looked at him, violet eyes betraying her inner turmoil.

  “I don’t want to pretend. She’ll have invited the royal families. I can’t stand any of them. Stuck up wastes of space. They think I’m polite, courteous and obedient. I never gave them any reason to think otherwise.”

  “Then they’ll just have to learn who their princess truly is.”

  She half smiled at him, turning back to the doors. They opened as they drew closer. Most of the seats were already filled. Her mother sat at the very head of the table. The laughter and voices rang through the room as they neared the doors.