Page 97 of Demon Kissed
What. The. Hell?
I punch my pillow, pretending to reshape it, but really I’m just getting out some aggression. Yeah, he’ll see me on the damn drive home. In, like, six hours, because he and Kastros are assholes and told us that we were going to leave at five AM.
Fury fills me, and I want to kick myself. I should have asked him if I could ride home in the other car. Why didn’t I ask that? It would have been a perfect solution; it would fulfill my new life strategy to avoid William Washington at all costs.
I’m an idiot. But we all knew that, right?
I think again about Kastros’s kiss. I wish it hadn’t been interrupted. I wish he could have shoved me up against the wall, and I could have ground against him.
I wish…
I wish…
I suddenly find myself walking through the cloud meadow, and for the first time, I feel a sense of wistfulness while I’m here. Like I’m missing something.
I’m on a hill in the meadow that’s a little removed from everything else. It’s not my normal spot near the friendly baby clouds. It feels bigger, more empty, and a bit more ominous.
When I turn and look behind me, the hills of cloud stretch as far as the eye can see, like the dunes of a vast white desert. There are no gardens, no creations, just the steady rise and fall of dense white masses that have peaks and valleys like whipped meringue. Just past those dunes, I can see a ribbon of red, as though a fiery sunset lurks beneath those clouds.
But then he arrives. Ziel walks out from behind a massive, slate grey thunderhead. Tonight, he’s tall and his skin is a rich dark gold. His head is shaved bald, and his dark eyebrows rise when he sees me. His signature red cape streaks out behind him as he runs towards me.
Suddenly, my heart feels complete.
Is my conscience telling me that I’m good because I finally accepted the feelings I’ve been fighting for the demons? Or is my heart trying to tell me that loving the demons is just as dreamily unrealistic as loving Ziel?
My questions cease a moment later, when Ziel scoops me up and spins me in a circle. I start to laugh, but his lips on my neck quickly change that laugh to a gasp.
He pulls back and stares down at me. “Katrina Colt, I’ve been waiting for you for what feels like an eternity.” He brings his fingers up to trace my cheek, and I lean into his gentle touch. “You’re perfect,” he whispers.
My thoughts become as wispy and incoherent as a cirrus cloud. I reach my hand up to his jawline, studying his new face. Tonight, he has prominent cheekbones and warm brown eyes. But it’s not his appearance I love; it never has been. It’s the warm feeling I get from being with him.
I push up onto my tiptoes, and my lips seal against his. And it feels like a sun forms inside of me. I grow warm and light and bright from the inside out. I whimper because it feels so amazing that I can’t hold all of that brilliant, glowing heat inside of me.
“Katrina.” He whispers my name again before his lips retrace their path along my neck. When he reaches the base of my neck, his tongue traces over my collarbones, and I’m startled by how intense and amazing that feels.
His hands slide slowly around my neck and down my back. And it’s only then that I realize that my dream self is wearing a backless halter dress. His fingers trace over my sensitive skin, and I think I might float away.
I grab onto him so that he can keep me grounded, but when my hands dig into Ziel’s shoulders, it seems to spur him on and change the intensity of his movements. His hands stop stroking my back and instead, slide down and dig into my ass. He pulls my cheeks apart slightly as he grips the silky dress, and for some reason, that makes me wild.
I spread my legs and shove my body at his, finding his thigh and grinding down against it as I lock our lips together.
Ziel scoops me up all the way into his arms, wrapping my legs around his back, and then gently goes down to his knees with me in his arms. He lays me back in the clouds, and there I am, spread open beneath him.
And unlike how the real Katrina would be, dream me is completely unafraid. I know exactly what I want. I smile up at him as I reach slowly behind my neck and undo the knot that holds this silky, silver fabric on top of my skin.
This has been coming for a long time. It feels inevitable. It feels like fate.
I slowly pull down the straps of my gown.
His eyes grow wide, and he swallows hard. Seeing the effect I have on him, knowing he has the exact same effect on me, catapults me out of my normal headspace and into a universe where he’s beautiful and I’m beautiful and everything is utterly breathtaking.
“I need to worship you,” Ziel whispers.
He leans down, and I can feel his hot breath trace over my skin. It’s such a contrast to the cool, soft clouds at my back. My skin feels utterly alive, and every nerve ending is activated. His fingertips trace lightly down my sides and then gently tug the dress I’m wearing down to my hips. I lift them and am just as surprised as he is to discover that dream me isn’t wearing panties.
“I think my mind must have been ready for you when I fell asleep,” I say with a grin.
“I like the way your mind works.” He smiles before lowering his head and gently tracing his lips over the swells of my breasts. My hands immediately fly to the back of his head and the smooth, shaved skin there.
