Page 99 of Touched By Sin
My breath gets caught in my throat when she nips my bottom lip with her teeth. Then she dives in and plunges her tongue into my mouth, her grip tightening on my throat. She tastes of gin, strawberry lip balm, and the enchanted night.
With her eyes still closed, she swallows deeply before leaning back. She’s breathtakingly beautiful. So beautiful that I want to kiss every inch of her and explore every soft curve. My heart hammers inside my chest as I reach up to cup her face, and my trembling breaths, visible in the night air, mix with hers. “It’s just us. I don’t think they’re coming.”
She leans back in and whispers against my lips, “They’ll come.”
Something sharp digs into my chest, causing me to frown as I break away from her parted lips. My hands fly up to my mouth when blood begins to pour down her chin. Dariana’s eyes widen before she’s yanked off me.
Amenadiel pulls her into his chest, pressing the sharp edge of his bloody knife against her throat. “Angel, did you think you could hide from me in the human world?” He tsks, tightening his grip on Dariana while she struggles in his arms. “You can’t hide anywhere.”
Dariana’s wet coughs and the blood that pours from her lips has tears trailing down my cheeks.
“Don’t hurt her. I’m here. You have me.”
His dark chuckles echo against the brick wall. The bouncer is gone, and the music is silent. It’s just us, my loud, beating heart and his crazed smile.
“Please.”
Tilting his head to the side, he says, “The angel begs.”
With my hand outstretched in front of me, I push off the wall and take a careful step forward. “I’ll do anything. Just let her go.”
“Do you know how to kill an angel?”
More tears. Why am I so fucking weak when I need to be strong? I should have fed. “Amenadiel, you don’t need to do this.”
“Answer the question.”
Dariana’s breaths are coming fast, her dark eyes pleading with me not to do anything stupid. “Run,” she chokes out.
I tear my gaze away from her, shaking my head. “I don’t know the answer.”
“They don’t teach you anything in Eden.”
A scream leaves me when he slides the gleaming knife across Dariana’s throat. Blood pours from the cut, and her eyes grow wide with fear as she gurgles.
Throwing her against the wall, his hand shoots out and tears her heart from her chest. It beats in the palm of his hand, grotesquely beautiful. Crimson blood drips from his fingers as he holds the torn organ out to me. Dariana’s lifeless body collapses in a heap on the cobblestones.
“You stole her heart with your blue eyes and heavenly light. It’s only fitting that you should have it.” He fakes concern. “What’s wrong, Angel?”
I turn, fleeing down the alleyway. Fear chokes me, but I don’t look back. If I stop running, even for a second, he’ll be on me. Every nerve ending in my body knows it. My blonde hair flies behind me and I lose my shoes. They lie abandoned on the cobblestones, like in a scene out of Cinderella. Loose rocks dig into the souls of my feet, but the pain doesn’t register through this haze of panic. I have to keep running. I need to get away.
“Angel!” he calls out behind me, above me, all around.
A sob rips from my lips as I turn the next corner. The main street is empty. Even the bars, which were buzzing with nightlife earlier, are now dark, their windows bordered shut with wooden planks. The world is void of life, as if I’ve stepped onto an apocalyptic movie set.
“You can’t run from me.”
I don’t know how many shopfronts I run past before I collapse to the ground, unable to breathe through the clogged fear in my throat. Stumbling back to my feet, I keep running. Blood pours from a stinging cut on my knee, and my black dress has turned white, trailing behind me on the ground and disturbing the low-lying mist. I look like a runaway bride.
“How long until he comes to save you, Angel? Can you hear him?”
Amenadiel’s words give me pause and I halt, turning in a circle as Daemon’s deep voice echoes against the buildings. I’m in a town square. The fountain in front of me is empty of water.
“Angel, wake the fuck up!! Fuck, what do I do?!”
I whirl around at the sound of heavy footsteps behind me, my white skirt dragging on the ground, my blonde hair plastered to the sheen of sweat on my cheek.
“Angel,” Amenadiel says, advancing on me slowly. “Why are you running?”
