Hope in Love (15 page)

“I spin the thread of life, Morta. I do not question your
cutting them.” Nona continued to work at her wheel of life.

“Michael will not be happy you’ve given this power to
Ramiel.”

“It’s the Father who directs what comes from my wheel, not
me.”

“What should I do about Uriel?” Morta let out a sigh. He
wouldn’t hurt Patricia. Osce was another matter. She hoped Uri had released the
woman. Ramiel’s disturbance could still be felt and she feared his further
involvement.

“He will not return her until you present yourself to him.”
Nona had read her thoughts.

“Sisters, we must visit with Michael.” Decima had entered
the room without the others’ knowledge. Morta gave a fey smile to her stronger
sister.

“Why?”

“We must discuss how to handle Uriel. Should Ramiel decide
to hunt him there will be a problem. If we can get Yael’s friend back, all will
be well.” Decima’s downcast eyes revealed to Morta she didn’t believe that
would put an end to the situation. She was right. Uriel and Ram were both very
strong and neither would give up.

She needed to stem this now.

“I will go to Uriel and put a stop to this.” Her hands
trembled. Morta hoped her sister Fates didn’t notice. She wasn’t afraid of
Uriel. Her fear rested in her own heart. It rested between her thighs. The
thought of seeing the angel of repentance had her soaked with desire.

“Morta, it is not necessary. Michael can handle this,”
Decima said.

“It’s my fault. It’s because of Osce and…well, that doesn’t
matter. I shall go.”

* * * * *

Uri’s eyes stared vacantly at the chamber that was to be his
and Morta’s. He’d been sure he could convince her to spend some time with him
once she saw what he’d built for her. Fucking Ramiel. He wouldn’t have hurt his
exulted. Ram should have known that. But to destroy all Uri had created in
dedication to Morta. Unforgivable. This was Lucifer’s home but he should not
have showed Uri’s secrets to Ram.

The hopeless bastard would pay for this destruction.

“Where is she?”

Uriel’s body stiffened at the sound of the only other being
in the universe who made him shudder with anger right now. Osce.

“Why?”

“Why, my ass. Send her back, Uri, or I’ll kill you.”

“My, my. You’ve spent too much time with prissy-assed
Ramiel. Don’t tell me you feel something for the flapper?”

“Don’t make this hard. She has nothing to do with what’s
between you and me. Morta stands between us, not Patricia.”

“Ahh, but she got you here.” And that’s what Uri wanted.
Osce had touched what belonged to him. She didn’t know it yet, but Morta
belonged to him.

“Where. Is. She? I won’t ask again.” Uri watched O’s eyes
swirl with golden flames. He’d finally get to put an end to this bastard. He
lifted his arms and lightning bolts streaked in Osce’s direction.

“You gotta do better than that. I’ve learned a lot from your
sorry ass over the years,” Osce said as he sent a torrential spray of water to
extinguish the heat of the bolts.

Uri’s wings unfurled and he lifted to the ceiling of his
chamber. In a replica of Ram’s earlier destructive motion, he spun until he was
invisible. Showers of molten liquid rained down upon O’s body which was now
covered in a fall of water.

His body rose up and torpedoed in Uri’s direction. Uri had
forgotten the exulted had different vision than most. He could see the angel
even at his super speed. Osce slammed into his left wing, knocking him into a
spiral. Shit. Uri had thought this would be easier.

* * * * *

Ram’s eyes widened. He’d waited with patience to feel what
he now felt beneath his feet. His mind had wandered tirelessly through the
underground. He glanced at Yael who sat quietly under her tree. She’d not taken
her eyes off the lilies. It was as though she’d thought they would disappear
and this would all be a dream.

His wings angled out from his body and he went below.

When he entered the chamber, he saw Osce’s battered and
bloody body. He settled lightly beside him. If he’d had no hope, it wouldn’t
have cut through his heart like it did. This man was his friend. Ram felt every
slice of agony he did. His eyes found Uri in the dark corner where his golden
bed had stood. He’d known Ram was coming.

“Uriel,” his voice boomed. The underground cavern shook with
seismic rumbles. The archangel stood there and glared at him in silence.

Ram bent to Osce. “I’m sorry. I should have gotten here
sooner.”

“Glad you finally made it.” His eyes were glazed over with
pain.

Ram focused his attention on the angel of repentance. He
couldn’t kill him but he sure would make him hurt like a motherfucker.

“Have you nothing to say?” Ram asked in disbelief.

“Screw you, man. You had no right to obliterate my home.”

“You had no right to touch or inflict any distress on Yael.
For that you’ll suffer.”

Ram lifted into the air and aimed his body at Uri. They
clashed together in midair. Bones crunched as they both fell to the cavern’s
floor. The ground trembled. He landed on top of Uriel and grasped a wing and
pulled with all his might. The angel bucked up in pain. The cry he expelled
rattled the walls again and brought stone tumbling down around them.

“Where is Patty, you bastard?” Ram asked with a handful of
feathers in his hand.

“Go to hell.”

“I’m there with you and I’ll ride your ass until you talk.”
He wrenched Uri’s arm until it separated from the socket. Suddenly there was a
blinding light in the center of the room.

When Ram turned to look, he was hit hard in the face. Not
before he recognized the true angel of death—the Grim Reaper. Samael. And he
carried his scythe. The Father must be royally pissed to send him.

“You boys listen up,” he grimaced, towering over the two on
the floor. Ram and Uri held their breath. “I’m missing the second quarter for
this bullshit so let’s make this snappy.” His scythe came down and buried
itself a foot into the stone only inches from Uriel’s face.

“You’re going to have to kill me unless he tells me where
Patty is, Sam. So do your thing.” Ram reached down to grab Uri’s other arm with
the intention of tearing it off when he felt it. Cold rushed up his spine and
froze him stiff before he flew from Uri and slammed into the wall across the
room. He landed in a heap beside Osce. Shit. Morta. Ram wouldn’t strike back at
her.

“Ramiel, enough. Take Osce and leave. I shall return Patty
to your home.” Morta would brook no argument from him.

“I’d say you two fellas are pretty damn lucky. Thanks, Mort,
I owe you one. Now I can get back to the game.” Samael vanished in a flicker of
light, his sword of death clanging behind him.

“Uri, I’m not done with you.” The words hissed through Ram’s
clenched teeth.

“Ramiel, go now,” Morta said. “Or do I need to have Samael
return?”

“I want Patty, Morta, and soon. Yael misses her.” Ram lifted
Osce in his arms and disappeared.

He’d opened his mind to Yael and she waited for him to bring
Osce.

“I’ve been worried.” Her concern had been for him. Ram had worked
hard to keep her out of his mind during the brief battle with Uri. It wasn’t
easy. She would become even stronger once she realized her new powers.

As he laid Osce on the sofa, he saw it. The thread that
bound them together. While Yael ministered to his friend, he pulled the string
from the book and kept it hidden in the palm of his hand. How long had she had
it? Did she even know what it was? He felt Michael. Soon Ram would be pulled
away.

“Yael, I must go. Take care of Osce. Morta will return
Patty.” He’d barely gotten the words out before he was taken from the room.

Ramiel?

I’ll be fine.

* * * * *

“What have you done?” Michael asked from the chair behind
his desk. Ram stood in the middle of the room. Decima and Nona flanked Michael
and they waited for his reply.

“You mean Uri?” He tried to buy time. Michael knew. The
Fates did too by now.

“You
know
what I mean,” Michael said.

They weren’t going to make it easy for him.

“I’m not letting her go. You can’t take her from me.”

“Ramiel, why? Do you understand the situation you’ve
created?” Concern laced Michael’s voice.

“There’s no problem now. Don’t touch Yael, and there is no
problem.”

Ram’s eyes pierced Michael’s. He hoped he made him
understand. He would never let Yael go, not even for Michael. He loved her. Damn.
It was that simple. He saw the smile tug at Nona’s mouth.

“I love her, Michael. I’ll bring the universe to an end if
you or anyone harms her.” The air vibrated and the sound of thunder rippled
across the heavens. The Father listened.

“Where are the ties that bind?” Michael asked.

“I have them.”

“Ramiel, untie them. She’ll never know. You won’t remember
either.”

It could only have been with the Father’s blessing that Nona
had given him the power to keep her. He would not untie the binds. The words
were clear to him now. He would not lose her to himself.

“Do you want to take that chance? I don’t. She lives in me, Michael.
In my heart, in my soul. I would know her anywhere or anytime and I’d only take
her again. She’s mine. Her voice, her smell, they’re a part of me now. She is
what I am. Without Yael in my life there is no hope.”

“The meshing can be broken,” Decima said. “You will not
remember her, Ramiel.”

Suddenly it dawned on him. They did not know.

Ramiel, what is wrong?

Nothing, Yael. All is well.

I’m coming to you.

Yes, I need you.

The room lit in a blue blaze and Yael was there. She gazed
around to see Michael, Decima and Nona.

“Do not harm him. The meshing is my fault. I will go away.”
Tears ran down her face.

Ram’s heart burst open. His wings fluttered in the air. He
felt the love pour from her body. She would give him up and live with the pain
forever to save him from the wrath of God.

“I love you,” Ram said to her. That was all he needed to
say. She crossed the room and melted into him. “We’ll always be together.”

“The Father will not allow it,” Michael said his voice full
of sadness.

“It is allowed between us.”

“Only angels, Ramiel.” Now there were tears in Michael’s
eyes.

“She is an angel. She’s my angel.”
Show them, baby. Let
them see my angel.

Ram?

Show them.
He moved in her mind and showed her how to
loose her wings.

Yael’s eyes gleamed with wonder. Her skin became porcelain
white and shone blue. Glorious wings unfurled from her back. The tips carried
the same coppery gold color of the curls on her head.

I didn’t know.
Her voice wavered with surprise in his
mind.

I could not let you go. I need you. You give me hope
.
Ramiel’s cobalt blue eyes sparkled with love and happiness. There was a joy in
them that had been absent for thousands of years. Death still stood in his soul
and always would.

But tempered with Yael’s love, once again he carried the
hope of the world.

* * * * *

“Baby, stop. I can’t stand anymore.”

Yael peeked at him over the hard muscles of his stomach. Her
eyes glazed over with lust. His cock was deep in her mouth and she sucked him
hard. Ram pushed her off and rose up to sit against the bed’s headboard. He
pulled her up his body. Cradling her in his lap, he smothered her with kisses.
His teeth grazed her nipples and he sucked there until he had his fill.

Finished tasting her, Ram shifted Yael’s body and laid her
on her belly. He rained kisses down her back, stopping at the curve of her
sweet ass, each globe tended with his lips and nibbled by his teeth. Ram rolled
from the bed and brought her back to the edge of it. Lifting her hips up, he
stroked and pulled his penis to an enormous erection.

Ram reached between Yael’s legs and caressed her wet,
swollen nether lips. First one, then two fingers disappeared into her pussy. He
drew more liquid from her along with moans of pleasure. He used his wet hand to
smear the moisture onto his shaft and he prepared to enter her from behind.

His cock already had drops of cum on the tip.

“Your ass is so beautiful. You want me, baby?” She wriggled
her butt against him and the flow of juices from her body confirmed her
readiness. She wanted him inside her just as much as he wanted to get in there.

“Yes, Ram, yes. Please fuck me.” Hearing those words come
from his Yael’s sweet lips made him drip even more.

“I love when you talk dirty to me.” Ram beamed at her as he
moved his fingers from her canal and began to fill her with his thick cock. He
stroked the broad head through her slick folds and entered her easily.

With one swift shove forward, he buried his length in her core.
He ran his hands up her back. He went under her arms and found her heavy
breasts. Her nipples were hard pebbles of joy. Ram pinched and pulled them
until she bucked back on his length with abandon. She rocked on his cock in a
furious rhythm.

He pumped inside her like a madman. Letting her nipples go,
he grasped her hips and held her in place while he took her. His cock slammed
back and forth into her tight sheath.

Yael met every thrust with a push of her own. She clenched
her walls around him in a milking motion and sucked his penis further inside
her.

“More, give me more,” she begged.

“Can you take more?”

Ram granted her wish. He stretched her wide as he plunged
deeper with each stroke. Her body shuddered and convulsions throbbed around his
shaft. She was ready to come. He gripped her ass tighter and pulled her back
against him as he rammed faster into her pussy.