Chapter 14 The Devil’s Weakness
RAVIAL
Just as sweet and enticing as the first time I tasted this star maybe even sweeter. She let out the softest, most delicate moan I’d ever heard as my lips moved against hers. Of course, she didn’t kiss back, not because she couldn’t, but because this little lamb of mine found this meeting of lips… unholy. And perhaps it truly was, for someone like her.
The Heavenly Father really knew what He was doing with this one. Not only had He sent her to Earth, but He had hidden her from me, placed her in a Catholic orphanage, and strengthened her bond with Him. How exquisite. And the bond was strong. I felt it when I held her, when my lips touched hers. Contrary to popular belief, the so-called “devil” doesn’t flinch at the Creator’s name or get burned by touching His things.
Bibles, crosses, prayers, mere trinkets humans clung to for protection. They had no idea I could recite every word by heart, that I was made from Him even in rebellion. I wouldn’t be hurt by their defenses unless I wanted to harm a human and the Creator would watch over them if they truly believed.
Belief is crucial. Most so-called believers only pay it lip service, but that was of no concern to me. Holding those instruments could work against me if wielded properly, yet I had no intention of harming humans indiscriminately not that I was innocent. I had done such things before, and I still could. But now, I manipulated them instead, bending their wills to my favor. Most humans blamed the devil for every misdeed, but I only influenced what I chose. I was neither omnipresent nor omnipotent.
But back to the matter at hand, the little lamb pressed against my chest, letting me kiss her so closely it made my heart race. I felt a strong energy emanating from her, so potent I didn’t fully understand it. If He truly intended to hide this sacred being from me… why could I touch her like this? It was an enigma, something beneath the surface I could not yet comprehend.
“Hmm,” her soft, submissive moan pulled me from my thoughts. I looked down at her face: almond-shaped eyes closed, lashes fluttering, cheeks and nose flushed a delicate pink. Amusement tugged at me. It was almost too easy.
Her body pressed gently against mine, her warmth seeping through every point my hand touched. I brushed my lips against hers slowly, savoring the softness, careful not to push too far too fast. Then I moved to her upper lip, pulling it gently into mine.
A startled moan escaped her, and her hand clenched harder against my chest. That’s when I noticed something. My body reacted in a way I hadn’t expected. I was hard.
I went rigid and immediately pulled back, her hand slipping from my chest. I stared down at myself in disbelief. Shock didn’t even begin to cover it.
I didn’t get affected by a kiss. Never. I wasn’t a teenage boy experiencing a first taste of intimacy, nor a naive greenhorn. And yet, there it was. I had to reason with myself. It was just a physical reaction. A natural one. Nothing more.
I could explain everything in this human shell I wore, every spark, every twitch, every pulse of that reaction. Endorphins. Dopamine. Adrenaline. Oxytocin. A perfect chemical cocktail stirred by attraction and proximity. I understood it all. Science and sin often danced to the same rhythm.
But I had never experienced something like this not even the first time I took human form and lay beside one of them. This wasn’t new to me, and yet… it was.
Why this? Why her? No, the answer was simple enough. I finally had in my grasp the chosen star of God. The thought of devouring her light, corrupting her purity with my darkness, that had to be it. That rush, that ridiculous, humiliating physical reaction was nothing more than that. A response to the chase, to the forbidden. Nothing else.
I looked up and found her staring at her feet, fingers twisting nervously. Her face was flushed, her chest rising and falling rapidly. My eyes followed the motion despite myself. In that simple dress, her difference from Avery was… striking.
Avery was lovely in her way, slim, graceful but she paled beside my little lamb. This one had softness where Avery had edges. A full chest, a trim waist, hips that curved like temptation itself. She was built like a promise Heaven never intended to keep.
“Come,” I said quietly. She lifted her gaze through her lashes and stepped closer, hesitant but obedient, until the air between us all but vanished.
“Did you like the kiss?” I asked, my thumb brushing her lower lip before I could stop it. Her soft gasp vibrated through me like a secret note.
“Bloody hell,” I muttered under my breath as heat spiked through me again. My body betrayed me, tightening in ways it shouldn’t. I snatched my hand back, running it over my face, fighting to control both my thoughts and this treacherous flesh.
“Take the lady to the car,” I ordered her attendants, voice sharp.
I felt her gaze still on me. She hesitated, took a small step forward, instinct, innocence, or curiosity and I stepped back.
“Now.”
She flinched, and the attendants quickly obeyed, ushering her out and closing the door behind them. The moment she was gone, I exhaled hard.
What in the seven circles of Hell was happening to me?
I pressed a hand against the front of my slacks, trying to will the reaction away, clenching my other hand into a fist. When I thought Avery was the chosen star, I’d felt nothing. No spark, no pulse, no hunger. Watching her grow from child to woman might have dulled that possibility but even so, there was nothing.
And that had made sense. Desire was beneath me. Corruption was art. I wanted to break the star, not bed it. I had planned to twist her faith, not fall prey to flesh.
But now…now it was different. This one, Leitana. My little lamb. She was something else entirely. Soft, naive, and yet there was a strength humming beneath that innocence. It wouldn’t be easy to taint her light. And yet here I was, the Devil himself reduced to this pathetic human impulse.
Sex had always been a chore. A function. Something I did when this body demanded it, mechanical, empty. A relief, perhaps, but never pleasure. I’d worn many human shells, all of them reeking of their urges. It was disgusting, but manageable.
Until now.
This was not supposed to happen.
I growled under my breath, gripping the edge of the nearby shelf. The power inside me rippled outward, shaking the room. Shoes, clothes, all rattled to the floor as the walls quivered with my fury.
And then, a voice.
“My Lord.”
The sound cut through the tremor instantly. My eyes snapped open to find one of the Princes of the Underworld standing a few feet away, head bowed. The air still vibrated faintly from the residue of my power.
“We felt your energy,” he said carefully. “Is there a problem, my Lord?”
I smiled, sharp, humorless. “Everything is fine, Asm. Nothing I can’t handle.”
He hesitated, then asked, “Does it have something to do with her?”
My eyes flicked up, and that was enough.
“Apologies,” he muttered quickly, lowering his gaze.
“Return to Hell,” I said coldly. “We’ll speak later.”
And just like that, he vanished.
I stared at the empty space where he’d stood, fury simmering under my skin. They had felt my power all the way in the Underworld. That alone told me how out of control I’d been.
All because of her.
That little lamb. That damned light.
It wouldn’t happen again.
Or so I told myself, knowing full well how wrong I was.