Touched by Death: (Sins of The Fallen book 3)

Music pulses through the black-painted walls, the sultry bass loud enough to be felt in the worn floorboards beneath my leather Oxford shoes. Lucifer is seated at one of the tables toward the back, with a cigar and a glass of brandy. Watching the orgy on stage, he swirls his tumbler before kicking it back. In my periphery, naked bodies gyrate, grinding against each other in a symphony of moans and groans. His eyes find mine as I pull out a seat at his table. “I thought this place was beneath you.”

Unbuttoning my suit jacket, I remove it and drape it over the back of the chair. I set to work on the sleeves, rolling them up my arms. “Not at all, brother. Though I prefer to partake rather than watch.”

Humming under his breath, he sips his brandy. As I sit down, he flicks the ash into a tray on the table. “What brings you here?”

A busty angel—dressed in a gold thong, with small raven wings dusted in sparkles—saunters up to us with a tray. Placing a tumbler in front of me, she fills it up with an amber liquid. Her tits are dangerously close to my face, but I’m bored for once. While her breasts are more than a handful, her wings are tiny compared to a certain little angel’s.

“We need to talk.”

With a tilt of his chin, he sends the female angel walking before pinning me with his obsidian eyes that are so dark, I sometimes wonder if there was ever a hint of light behind them. But his feathers were once white, and his skin used to shimmer.

Even so, Lucifer is one with the shadows that cling to his skin like a swirling mist.

Cigar smoke curls in the air while he watches me with a bored expression that I’ve seen many times before. After putting the cigar out in the tray, he relaxes back against the leather booth and gestures lazily for me to go on.

My attention strays to the stage, where a pile of bodies writhes in time to the sultry beat—men fucking women, and men fucking men. “Genesis is back.”

Lucifer pauses with the tumbler halfway to his mouth, growing eerily still.

“Let’s just say she holds a grudge.”

Lowering his tumbler to the table, he opens his mouth to speak, then snaps it shut again. Spinning the glass, he chuckles darkly. “After all this time, you still manage to surprise me. I thought I had you figured out by now, but here you are, making me laugh.”

“I’m being fucking serious.”

He nods, looking up from beneath his dark lashes, with a slight smirk. “Tell me then, brother. Where is she? I don’t see her around.”

“She’s hiding… inside the angel.”

Not a single reaction flicks across his face as he studies me. The moans on the stage behind me escalate. He hikes his elbow up on the back of the leather booth and flashes one of his famous smiles that showcases his fangs and dimples. “You’re losing it, brother. Old age is finally catching up with you.”

Gritting my teeth, I look away, watching the angel behind the bar wipe down the sticky counter.

“She’s hiding inside the angel, huh? How exactly is she doing that?”

My attention returns to Lucifer, who gestures for the woman to refill his glass. “She’s hiding in the shadows.”

Lucifer ignores me, too enthralled by the busty brunette. She refills his glass and leans down to whisper something in his ear. As she leaves, he smacks her ass and pins his amused, dark eyes on me. “Hiding in the shadows? I didn’t know you were partial to hide and seek.”

“Can you be serious for once?”

“It depends,” he responds, picking up the glass of brandy and taking a casual sip, his eyes skating past me to the orgy. “The female angel at the back looks lonely. Care to join?”

Rolling my eyes, I follow his line of sight to a girl perched on the edge of the stage. “You have always liked them young.”

“They’re more eager to please.”

I study the girl who is likely a millennium younger than us—a fledgling with curiosity still burning in her gaze. Lucifer has always coveted that. Maybe because he’s so bored with his own existence.

“You’re partial to young females, too.” The left corner of his lip slowly slides upward as I bring my attention back to him. With a tip of his chin in the young female’s direction, he says, “Her wings are cut.” Eyebrows quirking suggestively, his smirk grows. “She can’t fly away.”

I snort with disgust. “Unlike you, I find angels with clipped wings as exciting as human girls. I like a challenge.”

“Like my son’s newest obsession?”

Brows furrowed, my gaze snaps to him.

Tapping the side of his nose with a single digit, he smiles knowingly. “It’s my business to know things.”

“You know nothing,” I spit, leaning forward and resting my elbows on the table’s dull, black surface. “I’m telling you that Genesis is back, and you accuse me of harboring feelings toward a fledgling?”

He simply smiles, staring at me with that unrelenting gaze of his that sees too much. Then, with a shrug of his shoulders, he looks back at the stage as he takes another sip of his drink. His throat bobs on a swallow, and he lowers the tumbler back down. Darting his tongue out to catch a drop of liquid, he says, “Genesis is dead.”

There’s no getting through to him. He’s too distracted by the orgy on stage and his own agenda where world domination is concerned.Text property © Nôvel(D)ra/ma.Org.

At the sensation of warm hands sliding over my shoulders, I jump. Soft lips brush the shell of my ear while I stare at my brother across the table, who winks at me as he sips his brandy.

“We haven’t seen you here in a while, Amenadiel. You’ve been neglecting us.”

My fangs elongate, throbbing painfully, and I brush her off. “I’ve been busy.”

“Busy?” The female angel pouts, sliding her arms around my shoulders and bringing her naked breasts dangerously close to my face.

As I look at Lucifer, he drains his glass before slamming it down on the table.

“My brother has gone and fallen for a fledgling. While I would encourage his newest obsession, as it keeps the angel away from my son, I prefer to watch him squirm. Do me a favor, Alyssa. Fuck the tension out of him.”

Flames flickering at my fingertips, I ignore his amused laughter and rise to my feet with a snarl.

“You’re so damn pussy-whipped,” chuckles Lucifer. “Who knew you’d fall for someone? Never-fucking-mind my son’s fuck toy. This shit is too funny.”

“And who knew you’d be so fucking blind to the truth? I’m not interested in the girl, but in the woman hiding in her shadows. Genesis is back, and she’s out for revenge.”

“I’m shaking in my fucking boots,” he drawls, as he curls a finger at the barely legal angel with clipped wings. She hops down and makes her way over on bare feet. As she nears, I spot the bruising, cuts, and whip marks on her skin. Sometimes, it’s easy to forget what a sick fucker Lucifer is.

He slides his arms around her waist and pulls her down on his lap. When she ducks her head to hide behind a curtain of hair, he brushes it over one shoulder. His touch is deceptively gentle, but I know my brother. I’ve watched him in action.

His eyes find mine, glinting with lewd, cruel intent. “We can fuck her together. Like old times. Remember, brother, when we used to share girls? I miss the old you.” Laughter spills from his lips. He tips the girl’s chin with a single finger and looks at me. “You used to be positively evil.”

“Times have changed,” I respond while one of the male angels on the stage paints a female’s face with cum.

Lucifer watches the scene with a bored expression. Nothing less than extreme violence will soothe his restless soul. “I’m disappointed.”

I don’t respond, reaching for my suit jacket and sliding it off the chair.

“You need to relax,” he drawls, caressing the girl’s tits while I roll down my sleeves. “Genesis is dead. I should know—I killed her.”

With a snort and a shake of my head, I shrug into the jacket. It stretches tight over my shoulders as I button it up with one hand and throw back the drink with the other. “She’s back, and she’ll kill you in your sleep if you’re not careful.”

He pauses. “Is that concern I hear? Why would you warn me? Wouldn’t it suit your little agenda if the angel kills me?”

My brother has a point, and I have no fucking clue why I came here to warn him. But what he doesn’t know is that we’re all in danger.

Maybe I just wanted to see his reaction to the news. Truth is, Genesis’s death still plays on my mind centuries later.

Lucifer gives nothing away, though. His face remains a blank, bored mask while he pats the girl’s ass in a silent demand for her to get up. As she rises to her feet and sidles out from the booth, he says, “Are you sure I can’t entice you to share some young pussy? You look a little tense.”

Sneering at him, I walk off, calling out over my shoulder, “I see nothing has changed. I don’t even know why I came here.”