Page 78 of Lust

When he sees me wavering, he adds. “This is our only chance to get out of here and get to Jenny. You have to make the choice. Your friends or your sister.”

“I have to get Jenny,” I choke.

He takes my hands and threads his fingers through mine in comforting gesture. “Your friends will understand that.”

I hold my breath as the doors open. Inside is the most ornate elevator I’ve ever seen, with red velvet wallpaper patterned with pictures of the ten circles of Hell descending from Purgatory at the top to Satan’s lair at the very bottom. Dade presses the button marked 7- VIOLENCE. I pull out my Hell Cell and take photos as the doors close and we start to descend. The elevator moves eerily slowly.

I’m going to get Jenny!

I’m going to the seventh circle of Hell in pajamas.

I’m going to the seventh circle of Hell with Dade!

It’s absolutely insane.

“How will we know which Tower Jenny is in?” I ask, remembering all the hundreds of thousands of towers I’ve seen outside through the windows of both Lust and Purgatory.

Dade pulls me to his chest, wrapping a protective arm around me. “I don’t know, but we will keep looking until we find her.”

“Why are you doing this?” I whisper. “You hated me. I hurt you.”

“And I, you.” I feel his head shake and the movement of his hair tickles my face as he pulls me closer. “I never hated you, Valentine. I have endured a great many emotions where you are concerned, but hate is nowhere close to any of them.”

“Endured?”

"Endured!" he declares with conviction. "It's been a more profound form of torment than this place. I've longed for you, yearned for you, but earlier, when it became clear that neither of us might survive this ordeal, I knew I had to be with you. The idea of enduring eternity without you is far more agonizing than any games or trials the demons could devise. It's ironic, really. They invest so much effort in devising ways to torment us, yet all they had to do to truly torture me was to make me believe I might have to spend eternity without you."

I exhale deeply, overwhelmed by emotion. He kisses me again, and this time I draw every ounce of warmth and security from it. I could stay like this with him for the rest of eternity.

The lovely feeling is abruptly broken off by the elevator, stopping with a lurch. We turn to the doors, waiting for them to open, but they don’t. The elevator jolts again and then we start moving back up. I look at Dade in a panic, but it’s clear he doesn’t know what’s going on any more than I do. It seems to take an age for the elevator door doors to open, but when they do, a number of guards rush at us. In an instant, Dade scoops me up, slinging me over his shoulder, and unfurls his wings. He crashes into the guards, sending them sprawling, and then bursts out of the elevator.

Once more, I'm swept away through a labyrinth of corridors, but this time, we're soaring through the air. Fear clenches at my heart as the walls of the corridors rush by in a dizzying blur, given the incredible speed at which Dade is carrying me. The sense of urgency and danger is palpable and I can barely gulp in breaths of air. Once upstairs, he flies me up through the atrium to the seventh floor, where he deposits me at my door.

He’s pale and shaky and out of breath. “They’ve seen me, but I don’t think they saw you. The safest place for you right now is in your own room.”

“For me?” My heart plummets, a mixture of fear and dread welling up within me. After his declaration in the elevator before, I can’t believe this is over. I raise my Hell Cell to the door and unlock it with a shaky hand. “What about you?” I pause. “I don’t want to be alone,” I admit.

He bundles me inside and shuts the door quietly behind him. “Who said I was going to leave you alone?”

39

YOU SHOULD WARN A LADY

QUINN

My breath catches as we lock stares. He’s devastating in the darkness. An outline of obsidian wings and muscle. His naked chest is all too apparent in the dim light, highlighted against his long black hair and black pants.

I lick my lips as I stare at him. I’m terrified, and upset and my whole body is shaking, but none of that matters when Dade steps forward and kisses me with such intensity, it almost makes me forget how close we were to getting out of here.

I’m swept away in an urgency, kissing him back, matching his dark fire with my own.

Urged on by the terrifying closeness of getting caught and the probable chance that demons will be at our door within the hour, we fumble to the bed in a mess of ripping each other’s clothes off. By the time my back hits the sheets, I’m already naked and my clothes are in shreds on the floor. It’s the first time I’ve seen him fully naked and I’m not prepared. I knew he had a tail. It’s not a secret, but seeing it laid out on the bed unfurled is thrilling and weird. The picture of the woman and demon in stained glass flashes in my mind. I’ve never been more scared and more turned on in my whole life. I’m trembling and I can’t say if it’s due to terror or the fact I’m finally going to have sex with Dade. Probably both seeing as sex with Dade is a frightening and exhilarating prospect in itself.

“You know the demons will find you eventually,” I heave out breathlessly.

“Don’t even think about answering the door this time.” He growls into my ear as he pins my arm to the bed and runs his tongue down the sensitive spot under my ear.

I can barely breathe with his weight and sensation, but this time I’m doing it on my terms. “I wouldn’t dream of it!” I wrestle my arm from his grip and flip him over so I’m on top. He’s done enough controlling. Now it’s my turn.

---