Touch of the Demon Read Online Free PDF Page B

Mammon would exact blistering retribution against Celeste
for thwarting his plan.
    An odd pain
twisted through his heart, so unexpected, so intense the breath
stumbled in his lungs. Instinctively his fingers tensed, and her
delicate bone structure became imprinted upon his palms.
    Celeste was
his. It was more than a thought, more than a fleeting whisper of
physical satisfaction experienced during the seconds following
synapse-exploding-sex.
    It was a
certainty. A knowing. An inevitability he could feel surging
through his blood, pumping through his heart, and claiming every
last dark shadow of his immortal soul.
    No other being
possessed the right to touch her. And if any dared harm her he
would defend her with all he was and ever had been.
    But none of
that answered the one question burning through his brain. “Why
didn’t you banish me from this realm when you had the chance?”
    Her golden eyes
shimmered with flecks of green and he gazed at her, fascinated
despite knowing she was the reason for his eternal damnation. “I
couldn’t,” she said simply. “And later—I knew I wouldn’t.”
    “When the
moment to alter your daughter’s destiny had passed.” He couldn’t
help the edge of bitterness in his voice. “Don’t you know the brat
she conceived tonight is responsible for a millennia-long war in
the cosmos?” Responsible for dragging Legion into the power
struggle between gods and humans?
    Celeste stared
at him in obvious shock, as if she hadn’t the first idea what he
was talking about. But perhaps she didn’t. Children of the Earth
Goddess didn’t time travel, as a rule.
    “Of course she
isn’t. Her descendants ensure peace, not war, Rafe. You’re the
warmonger. You and the other demons you work with.”
    At last he
flung her aside and strode the length of the grim room. For some
reason hearing her call him a demon stung, although he shouldn’t be
surprised. Dark angels and the Earth Goddess had never enjoyed an
amicable relationship. Why wouldn’t she pass her prejudices onto
her Children?
    “I don’t know
what that goddess bitch has been telling you,” he said, although he
certainly had a good idea. “But you do know that she’s as
self-serving and mercenary as any of the celestial gods?”
    Celeste marched
after him, grabbed his tensed forearm and for an unaccountable
reason he allowed her to. “The Great Mother wants only the best for
her Children,” she said fiercely.
    “But you aren’t
her true Child. You’re half of the Earth and half of the sky.” He
couldn’t resist the taunt. It was so clear to him--why had Celeste
herself never seen it?
    For a moment he
saw the doubt hover in her heavenly eyes. He seized the moment.
“She’s used you for her own purposes, Celeste. You can feel that
now, can’t you?”
    Before she had
the chance to answer, an eerie breeze swept across the room.
Candlelight flickered, and before his eyes the familiar outline of
a naked, voluptuous woman materialized.
    “Mother,”
Celeste said, bowing her head.
    Enraged by that
show of reverence, Rafe stepped toward the manipulative old hag.
“Fuck you, witch,” he said.
    She smiled, and
her gaze dropped to his groin. “Thank you, but no,” she said.
“You’ve already served my purpose, Rafe, and most vigorously too, I
might add.”
    Arrogant whore.
Rafe wrapped his arm around Celeste’s shoulders and pinned her to
his side.
    “Whatever you
have in mind, you can forget it. I’m taking Celeste with me and
there’s nothing you can do to stop us.”
    “I wouldn’t
dream of stopping you.” She stepped forward, reached out, and laid
her hand across Celeste’s belly. A smile of satisfaction touched
her lips. “But that’s beside the point. You can’t leave Earth yet.
Not for a few centuries, anyway.”
    “The hell I
can’t. I’ll keep Celeste from your clutches and safe from Legion.”
For himself, he wouldn’t bother running or hiding from Mammon’s
fury. But for Celeste, he could do both.