Page 20 of Sin of the Saints

“Now, Belle! Now!” She slams the driver’s door shut and with trembling hands has a challenging time getting the key into the ignition. When the motor stirs to life she switches gears and hits the pedal. “Put the address into the GPS,” I lift my arm in front of her and hear the ticking sounds on the touch screen. “Try to stay down as much as possible, at least until we leave the city. Here, take my quilt.” I hold it out to her, and when she doesn’t respond I place it around her shoulders.

I hear her breathe, she’s trying to control her sobs. Her aura trembles and I think I hear soft bell chimes, but I push that thought out of my mind. It’s not possible.

The drive takes too long, is too torturous, silent except for Belle’s quiet crying. I want to say something, but the words stick in my throat like a heavy boulder. All this time, thinking we might never see each other again, I wondered if she’d forgotten me, that unshakeable connection we’d had until the moment our paths diverged. Does she know I sold my soul for her, and will never be able to get it back?

I’m rocked back and forth and feel the car turning onto a dirt road. I grip the dashboard to steady myself, but my mind is awhirl and I think I won’t be able to find a solid grasp until I can finally touch her, to realize everything I’d prayed to do every day we were apart.

The car stops and we sit in silence. I give her a few moments to calm down as she bursts into tears, but the truth is I need time as much as she does.

Being next to her feels completely different, fragrant like a flower in full bloom. She’s radiant, literally, and the energy her body is putting out undermines the determination I had before setting out on this rescue mission.

I feel her sharp gaze on me. She blurts out, stunned: “You’re glowing.” A strange feeling of déjà-vu passes down my spine.“How can you be glowing, Bar?” She shakes my arm and I remain frozen in place.

“You can touch me,” I say when I realize she isn’t burned by my skin.

“Why wouldn’t I be able to touch you? And why aren’t you answering me?”

“Give me your hand, Belle.” I hold out my hand and wait for her to respond. She does as I say, and wraps my hand in hers. Our auras seem to charge each other, and I gasp. “Belle,” I draw her hand to me and she rests her head on my chest. My still heart is burning, racing, about to jump out of my chest in a frenzy. “Do you feel that, Belle? My heart is beating for you.” She pulls my hand and places it on her breast, and I feel her heart beating in perfect time with the pounding of my heart. I feel wetness on my chest. “Oh my God, Belle, I’ve waited an eternity, but now I know you were made for me.”

Chapter Twelve

Bellcolor

“And Adam said, This is now bone of my bones, and flesh of my flesh:

she shall be called Woman, because she was taken out of Man1.”

“He let her into the Garden of Eden, Lilith,” Hillel tells her, and rage and jealousy flare up within her. The Garden of Eden. The same garden he said he’d created for her. “That’s not all.” He hesitates, and that makes her even more incensed.

“Don’t you dare do that, Hillel. Equal among equals. That was the deal. Don’t fear me, I’ve given you my word that I don’t fear you either. Remember that supremacy is what brought us here.”

He nods and holds his head high. Very good. “He’s created a counterpart for him. Bone of his bone. Flesh of his flesh.”

She lets out a derisive snort. “If she’s flesh of his flesh, she must be as empty as he is.”

“But He doesn’t trust them, not after He failed with us. He’s put them to a test.”

“What test?” she raises an eyebrow, curious.

“The Tree of Knowledge. He’s warned them not to eat from it, lest they die.”

“You don’t say,” Lilith giggles. She’s truly amused by this. “And I wonder who that test is really for.” She gurgles with the gluttony that awakens in her, approaching Hillel and digging into his huge, muscled chest. His scent is intoxicating, and she is an irresistible force when she’s at his side. He gives her life, he’s the answer to the empty void she felt within her from the moment of her creation.

“If we keep this up, we’ll set the whole place aflame,” he grunts, and her body trembles with the vibrations of his chest.

“Don’t blame me, Hillel, I just can’t get enough of you.” His skin grows goosebumps under her breath, and she presses her lips to his skin as it heats up. He groans with pleasure, his body yearning for her just as hers does for him. “Please, Hillel,” she implores him, her insides alight with sparks, embers on the verge of catching fire.

He grabs her head and devours her mouth. His breath excites her and she’s long since lost herself to frenzy.I’ll give myself to him whenever he wishes, I’ll give him everything he asks,the thought is emblazoned in her heart as a promise. His hands move over her body and her throat makes sounds like the beastsHecreated. It’s an indescribable sensation. Something within her awakens and covets the reins.Hecreated us like this. If someone must take the blame, it will beHim.She seeks affirmation for her feeling of being addicted to him.

Their mouths are in clumsy and tangled chaos, and their bodies wage a war that has neither winner nor loser. Hillel’spower challenges hers as they clutch each other, one pulling and the other pushing, and the product of this war are sparks igniting in the most intimate parts of their bodies.

“I need something from you, and I don’t know what.” He bites her lower lip.

She whines as the fires within their bodies spread outward, filling the void of the place they’re in, threatening to consume them. Their bodies are naked, sweat-slicked from the heat of the inner and outer flames, and her blood is on the verge of boiling.

“Take it, Hillel, take me.” Lilith grunts and his eyes gleam against the backdrop of the madness they’ve been drawn into, in which they now live. Blue eyes, clear as the sky from which they both plummeted into the abyss.

He doesn’t hesitate for a moment, and lifts her into the air. Her legs leave the ground and her back hits a burning rock behind her. Her sweat sizzles on the burning surface. Her body accedes to his wants and she wraps her legs around him, trying to find some place to grab hold of, because she again feels like she’s on the verge of plunging deeper into the depths of the underworld.

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