Arianna Rose: The Gates of Hell (Part 5) (17 page)

Kane and Abdiel had been unsuccessful
. Arianna, the Sola, lived.  The raven-haired bitch was a thorn in his side.  She should have been at his side, not lodged in it.  Diversions such as this most recent one distracted him from tuning in to the ever-present current of evil that flowed below the masses, the very one that guided him to each gateway.  The two men he’d thought competent and capable enough to hunt her had been struck down.  They’d managed to botch the one job they’d been given. 

Gritt
ing his molars so hard his teeth threatened to splinter, Darius slapped his hands against the thick glass of the presidential suite before spinning and batting a modern table lamp.  Both the shade and metal base sailed across the sunken living room and smashed into the far wall.  Slivers of glass from the shattered light bulb fell to the ground like glitter, but Darius did not feel even the slightest bit of relief.  To his left was a Baby Grand piano.  He contemplated lifting it and pitching it through the wall of glass.  But a voice halted him.

“Are you all right, my lord?” Lilith’s melodic voice rang out. 

He turned toward her, his nostrils flaring and chest heaving.  The hood of her robe was lowered and her hair, flowing in every shade of pale blond, hung down to the small of her waist. The satiny, fluid fabric skimmed her body enticingly, hugging each of the curves of her fit frame.  His eyes lingered in the vicinity of her chest, the stiff buds at the center of firm mounds that strained against the material commanding his attention. 

Following his line of vision, Lilith slid the tips of her fingers over an eager peak.  And suddenly the frustration he’d been feeling about Kane and Abdiel’s failure was replaced with a different kind of frustration. 

Desire corkscrewed tightly, almost painfully, inside him. Sensing it, she advanced with the predatory grace of a jungle cat.

With her gol
den mane framing her high cheekbones and delicate nose, and the dangerous glint in her eyes, Lilith looked like a lioness, untamed and deadly.  He watched as her fingers twitched at her sides with excitement; saw the rise of her chest and the tightening of her blood-red gown with every swell. 

When she stood before him, he took
a step toward her. She answered his movement by taking a step backward.  They continued their dance of approach and retreat until her back was pressed against one of the floor-to-ceiling windows.  Raising both arms and placing a hand on either side of her head, he caged her with his body. 

But Lilith did not react the way any other woman—mortal or otherwise—had ever reacted.  She didn’t push him or try to duck below one of his arms, and she didn’t squeal with delight.  She simply leveled her cerulean eyes at him, her demeanor cool and unruffled, patient even. 

“Tell me what you want, Lilith?” he asked and spoke in a low, gravelly voice, the one all women found sexiest. 

A thrum of electric
pleasure had begun to hum through his body as she reached out and trailed her fingernails down the side of his cheek to his chin and throat, pressing harder as her hand descended to his collarbone.  He jerked; an involuntary response to being gouged.  As he did so, she leaned in close enough so that her breath fanned his lips.  Minty and sweet, he wanted nothing more than to plunge his tongue inside her mouth and taste what made her breath so intoxicating.  But he waited, sensing in her the need to delay the inevitable.  The buildup was half the fun for her, or so he’d guessed. 

“You know what I want,” she said calmly
then proceeded to yank the lapel of his shirt apart.  Buttons landed against the polished floor with a series of light tapping sounds and Darius was stripped naked from the waist up, the prominent peaks of his pectoral muscles giving way to his six-pack abdominal muscles.  Still, Lilith didn’t shy away.  And while both her voice and expression remained impassive, he swore he saw a flash of excitement in her gaze, a small thrill sparkling there not when he’d been rendered shirtless, but when he’d reacted to the increased pressure with which she’d dragged her fine, razor-sharp nails to his clavicle. 

Though outwardly Lilith was stoic, h
e could feel the fury rolling through her veins as her mouth hovered over his, teasing and torturing him with the nearness of her plump, pink lips, before she stole away from him with lithe, catlike movements. 

Using the glass as a mirror, he watched as fire streamed from her fingertips in a thin jet until it coiled on the floor shaped like a glowing whip.
She trailed the grip of her whip along his spine, the heat of it licking his flesh.  Quickly, however, the fire went out and she was left with a snake whip.  

With her weapon in hand, winding about her thigh,
Lilith was living up to her reputation, that she had a perverse love of violence.  Her standing was well known in the underworld.  Her lover’s pain brought her pleasure.  She was a sadist through and through. 

He t
ensed at the feel of the handle knot grazing his back as she stroked him with it a second time, anticipation tensing the rigid cording of muscles there. 

She was behind him, out of sight
.  But he knew she was close.  Even without the glass, he could feel it, feel her.  The space between them was heavy with the undercurrent of lethal power, both hers and his, quivering with energy so potent, so volatile, he could practically see a quickening in the atmosphere.  Then the air went perfectly still for a fraction of a second, and he took his eyes off the window, just before a shrill sound like the cracking of thunder whipped through the air.

Lilith’s whip snapped through the air and connected
with the exposed skin near his shoulder blade.  A sharp sting came lightning-fast, and then needle-hot pain exploded from where he’d been struck.  But oddly, as the initial pain subsided, a fiery trail of goose bumps was left in its wake. Not entirely unpleasant. And Lilith prowled.  He could see her in his periphery now.  Her red gown was no longer cinched closed.   Rather, it draped around her shoulders, gathering at her elbows.  Sumptuous mounds, round and full and the color of cream were on display, the tight nubs at their middle tempting him to take one between his thumb and index finger and pinch until she moaned with pleasure. 

As if reading his thoughts, Lilith glided closer
, placing herself in front of him.  He felt her taut nipple sweep across the swollen peaks of his bare chest. 

And there they were; b
oth breasts ripe and ready for the taking. 

To his dismay, however, h
er face bore no trace of desire.  The only indication he had that she wanted him was her proximity. 

Slowly, he reached out a hand and cupped a breast, kneading the supple flesh and feeling a stir below his belt so pronounced he hissed aloud.  Her sapphire eyes,
polar tunnels that remained fixed on his, but focused on a distant point, remained unmoving, unblinking as he slid his thumb over the coral beads at their center. Her impeccable posture persisted.  She did not lean into him or flinch, rather, she continued to stand, a seductive statue carved of flawless, white marble. 

Incited by her indifference, he handled her more roughly, sliding his other hand between them and gripping her other breast while grasping her nipples firmly.

Unexpectedly, the crack of her whip sounded again followed by a cruel smarting at his calves.  He cried out, and a low purring sound echoed from deep in Lilith’s throat.

The faintest of pink blushes tinted her cheeks and a slight smile curved one corner of her mouth. 
Pinching a bit harder as retribution for being lashed and in response to her vocalization, Darius watched as her excitement mounted.  She dropped her whip and reached forward, grabbing his forearm, and dug her sharpened fingernails into his flesh.  Skin broke and blood appeared.  A thin rivulet of scarlet ran from the crook of his elbow to his wrist. 

Darius could tell Lilith was transfixed by the blood, that the allure of it beckoned her.  But impressively, her gaze never wavered. 
With her eyes locked on his, she traced the wound that ended by his hand, dripping tiny beads, and allowed one to fall onto her fingertip.  She brought the crimson droplet to her lips and flicked her small tongue over it, lapping it with a single stroke. 

He watched her, rapt, as she tilted her chin upward almost imperceptibly and
sighed, her lashes fluttering in ecstasy. 

His fully engorged loins couldn’t withstand another moment of her foreplay.  He wrenched the fabric of her gown from her arms and waist and watched it pool at her feet like a puddle of lifeblood.  But Darius didn’t give a damn about the dress at her feet.  He was mesmerized by the fact that she wasn’t wearing panties, or more specifically, by the strip of pale curls at the juncture of her thighs. 

A primal growl rumbled in his chest and pure lust mixed with adrenaline.  He stooped and lifted Lilith, flinging her over his shoulder and swatting her round backside in the process. 

Her hair was splayed about his chest and shoulders, her breasts pressed against his back as he strode toward the couch. 

“No,” Lilith said when he placed her on the couch facing the fireplace.  “Not here.”

She sat up and walked back to the window, to where the city
was on display for them and them for the city. 

“Here?” he asked.

She nodded wordlessly, her face an unreadable mask of indifference, then climbed atop the Baby Grand piano.  Spreading her legs unabashedly, she gave both Darius and anyone who happened to be looking at their window at the time a view of her slick center.

Not wasting a moment and eager to plunge into her warm and waiting wetness, Darius removed his remaining clothes and moved toward the golden goddess who lay like a sacrificial offering, fair and waiting, atop the smooth black surface. 

He crept up her body unhurriedly, planting kisses that started at her bellybutton.  He continued upward cupping both breasts as he kissed between them. 

When Lilith didn’t arc her back or buck up h
er bottom the way most women had in the past, he took a stiff peak between his teeth and rolled his tongue over it, sucking and licking as he lightly pinched the other between two fingers.  He laved each with his tongue, alternating between both.  But when he glimpsed her face, her eyes were not closed and she did not appear to relish in his acts.  To the contrary, her gaze was vacant; she looked bored. 

Feeling his annoyance intensify almost as quickly as his
eagerness, he decided to delve south of her belly button and give her an experience she would never forget.  Few had been fortunate enough to be on the receiving end of his unique gift, and none had lived to tell about it.  She might.  Only time would tell.  No matter, her icy demeanor would melt and they would have this night together. 

He
left a trail of wet kisses from her chest to her navel then began nibbling her inner thigh, the stubble of his chin repeatedly grazing the soft flesh beyond her thatch of pale curls, tantalizing her with a preview of what was to come.  He continued to nibble and peck, waiting for her to call out his name, to beg for him to move to her center.  But she didn’t. 

He lowered his head and slowly drew his tongue down her seam, teasing and running it in long strokes before he found the sensitive button of flesh tucked within.  He took her nub into his mouth and sucked hard, swirling the bit of flesh around his tongue simultaneously.  He used his bristly chin to rub against her as he continued his
blitz, impatiently anticipating groans and pants of pleasure, incoherent babble, grinding,
anything
that signaled she was enjoying herself. 

Aggravation
seized him almost as fully as lust as he continued, his head buried in her womanhood.  Allowing it to get the better of him, he reached his hands beneath her bottom and grabbed it hard, squeezing until his blunt fingernails bit into the smooth skin there. 

A throaty moan sounded from Lilith and drove him to the brink of insanity.  He tightened his grip
on her backside and ground his face more aggressively, sucking and licking feverishly until her entire body clenched for several intense seconds. 

Sharp nails dug into his scalp, undoubtedly drawing welts.  He growled, a sound that seemed to incite her as she began tugging his hair so hard he worried for a second that she would rip it
, along with a patch of his scalp, from his head.  Pain, so much pain, melded with the throb of need.

Knowing he’d succeeded at pleasuri
ng Lilith and feeling triumph mix with his burgeoning demand for release, he slid his hands further up to her lower back and lifted her off the piano.  He placed her on the floor and spun her so that she faced the window.  Kicking her feet apart, he seized her wrists and placed them over her head on the pane.  She rolled her hips, thrusting her ripe bottom at him and presented her prize.  He maneuvered himself and pressed his ready flesh against her opening, moist and waiting for him. 

He plunged himself inside her deeply, giving her his full length without pause.  She inhaled sharply and his free hand flew to her breast.  He grabbed it roughly and pinched her hardened nipple while holding fast to her wrists. 

She sucked in several harsh breaths, wispy pants of delight interspersed within them, as he continued to pump for a long while.  Intermittently, he released her breast and slapped her backside hard, eliciting moans of pleasure the harder her struck her.