Chapter 11 - Fallen's First

At the perimeter of the settlement, a handful of abandoned huts lay in various stages of decay. Saer fingered the leaves spilling off one of the roofs, denser but skinnier than the ones from Ruki’s village. The thought snagged his lungs, realizing he might never see it, or Ruki’s people, again.

He ducked inside and rummaged to find a pair of thin, dusty blankets woven from animal fur.

His throat tightened. Ruki had offered him a blanket on his first arrival to the surface. Humans preferred to cover pieces of themselves, particularly those specific to reproduction. While Saer possessed the anatomical parts, he’d never given them much thought during his time with Ruki’s tribe. He’d never even told Lucifer about them—it must have been Arek.

Here with Neyu, a different yearning came from his human body.

Could their maker have possibly known their flesh would crave intimate touch like humanity seemed to? Hellsfire, he could only imagine the Twins realizing and indulging—

“What’ve you found?” Neyu’s voice broke him from his thoughts.

Saer lifted the blankets and pivoted towards her. “Some form of clothing will keep them calmer.”

Neyu put a hand on her hip, pulling attention to its delicious curve. “You think I’ll send them into unrest like this?”

Saer gripped the blankets so tight, his knuckles ached. He cleared his throat, though his voice still rose rougher than normal. “Undoubtedly.”

Something wicked and delighted gleamed in her desert bluebell eyes. Neyu stepped forward, her hips swaying in the most distracting fashion possible, and her voice lowered. “Then you’d best dress me up.”

Hells help him.

Not trusting his voice any longer, Saer shook the first blanket out and snugged it around his waist as quick as he could manage. The instant he finished, he grabbed the second, then closed the distance to wrap it around her torso. The edge of his palm brushed the side of her breast, and her breath caught, drawing his gaze to hers.

Saer hadn’t meant their skin to touch, but something about the contact shot like a lightning bolt through him, and he was suddenly all too aware of how near they stood.

“Was that…?” He didn’t even know what he intended to ask, letting the sentence trail off, but Neyu smiled at him, and his focus narrowed to her lips.

“I think I’ll quite enjoy the surface with you, Dearest,” she whispered.

Dearest.

Saer swallowed and worked his fingers in slow motion, wrapping the blanket the rest of the way around her body, then tucked one corner at her back, next to her shoulder blade for security. The majority of her shapely legs would remain on display, but it would suffice.

This close, his breath caressed the silver crescents framing her face, and they shuddered.

Shouts from behind broke the spell. Neyu blinked, turning towards the first humans she’d ever encountered.

It had taken Saer years of observation to blend with humanity.

Neyu pulled away and walked towards them as though she knew them. What could he do but follow?

The people Saer and Neyu approached held startling differences and similarities to humans he’d encountered before. Their flesh closer resembled Runeak’s human form—a deep, dark brown. They spoke a language not at all related to the one Saer learned from Ruki’s tribe.

But the languages of pride and lust were universal.

Two peripheral guards whistled at one another and approached them. A hungry glaze overtook their expressions, and a sense of protectiveness drew a growl from Saer’s throat. Neyu shot him a look of warning. “I’m pulling on them, as you taught. Let me work.”

He hated and admired her brazenness when she stepped away, her pull guiding them beyond the village’s eyesight. The pair of soldiers didn’t spare him a glance, but elbowed one another as they leered at Neyu. One mimed a lewd gesture on his wooden spear, a motion Saer recognized from young men in his time with them.

Hands balled into tight fists, Saer reinforced his stance to keep from ripping their faces off their skulls. A small, inner voice, under his rage, questioned the ferocity of his reaction when envy didn’t belong to him.

But, envy didn’t discriminate. Nor did any of the other sins Lucifer sculpted Its creations from.

Neyu’s fingers moved in a rolling, sinuous pattern as she pulled on the men’s lust, raising it to a boiling point until both their jaws slackened. Their pupils dilated as they reached for her.

In two steps, perhaps three, Saer could have put himself between them and Neyu. He bared his teeth and rooted himself in place.

One groped forward, his hand nearing her breast, and Saer couldn’t hold back his barking growl. It left him the same moment Neyu’s hand snapped up, gripping the man’s wrist with her Daemoenic strength. The man cried out in alarm and twisted, but the demoness held fast, turning her glared focus to Saer. The other male froze, suddenly unsure.

“Settle yourself, Pride,” Neyu said, the calm antithesis to his fury.

Saer couldn’t find words. He snarled and twisted away, raking both hands through his hair before curling them on the nape of his neck. Sounds haunted his back as Neyu resumed her course, a man’s gasp, a pleased chuckle from her throat, then a trembling, male cry. The feel of his own sin increased, originating from the males.

As Neyu fueled their lust, pride also rose off the men, a link he hadn’t anticipated, but made perfect sense.

Saer’s fingers ached from squeezing so hard. “Hellsfire.” Had he been a fool this whole time? Was he just the first imbecile to succumb to her wiles? The way the human men looked at her, begging to touch her without words—wasn’t that how he felt every time he found himself near her? How he’d felt mere moments before?

The pride scorched from the two men, searing into his shoulder blades.

A groan met his back, something between pleasure and agony.

Screaming, Saer whirled and pulled on what was meant to be his. His hands clenched the air between him and the trio, and yanked back. He siphoned the men’s pride with reckless ferocity—a metaphysical and physical wrench.

The males whimpered and fell to their knees. Still clothed, all of them.

It didn’t matter.

Saer drowned himself in their pride, ate it up, stole it from their cores, and forced them into a state of utter worthlessness and self-loathing, even as lust crashed through their bodies. Until that moment, he’d known he could stoke pride, but never siphoned it.

He gave the sin one final jerk, and the men sobbed, prostrating.

Saer’s venomous glare darted to Neyu at the sound of her disapproving growl. “Release them, Pride.”

“You don’t command me,” he said, the words grating.

“Release them, Pride.”

The males wept, shuddering and pathetic, on the ground.

Saer severed his hold on them and turned with a hiss of disgust, unwilling and unready to digest more of Neyu’s disappointment.

He put as much space between them as he needed to quiet any further sounds they made. And while he did escape her reproach, he couldn’t distance himself from the persistent bitterness at the back of his throat.

* * *

Saer found a tree to lean against, putting its broad trunk between himself and the trio he’d left behind, the village all but forgotten. His anger seethed, scalding enough that he wondered why the tree didn’t catch flame. Wrath burned inside his chest, different from Hellsfire, but no less deadly.

Hours passed.

The sun continued its arc over the clear, blue sky, heating the atmosphere enough for Saer to draw minuscule comfort. His eyes unfocused while staring across the endless plains, enmeshed in his thoughts and agonizing, in silence, over what he couldn’t see or control.

A layer below that agony, he brooded on why he fretted in the first place. He’d witnessed jealousy amongst humanity but never experienced it with the same ferocity. Wisps of possessiveness struck him now and again, but never to this degree.

Until today.

Until that man moved to touch her like he held a claim to her. Thieving the moment from them. From him.

Again and again, the scene played in his mind. Saer unleashed another wordless scream and slammed his fist into the tree he leaned against.

“Does it help?”

He hadn’t heard her approach. Hadn’t been aware of any of his surroundings. Saer released an aggravated breath and turned towards Neyu’s voice as she moved next to him. She still wore the blanket from before. It didn’t look touched from when he’d wrapped her in it, but he couldn’t bring himself to gain any solace from the observation.

Hellsfire, she was beautiful.

He pushed the thought away, hidden behind his glare. “I’m not sure what you mean.”

She didn’t appear pleased while assessing him. “Punching structures that can’t fight back. Do you feel better?”

Saer scowled and tore his gaze away from her in answer.

“Saer—”

“What?”

Neyu paused as though reanalyzing her approach. “Why are you angry?”

“I’m not.”

“Hrm.” The small sound carried a hint of wry amusement, and Neyu’s bare feet crunched over the grass, drawing nearer. One of her hands rested on the trunk of the tree. Her other reached up to brush along one of Saer’s silver crescents and his heart squeezed at the gesture.

“Talk to me, Dearest,” she said, voice soft.

Saer growled behind his clenched jaw and leaned away from her touch. “We’re here to perform a duty. You are doing so. Our maker will be pleased.” The words left him in a deadpan voice. He refused to meet her eyes.

Neyu’s hand paused, then lowered to her side. “I don’t care about pleasing him right now.”

Something both terribly wrong and right resonated within Saer at her declaration. Tumultuous, the same as everything else he’d felt since observing her alongside humanity.

“Are their souls with you?” Saer asked.

Neyu made a soft noise like a humorless laugh. “I haven’t killed any humans this day, no.”

“They burn easily—”

“Saer.”

The leash on his temper snapped. “What, Neyuukhan?”

In answer, Neyu shifted to stand directly in front of him, her hands raising to caress either side of his face so he had no choice but to gaze upon her or shut his eyes. He looked daggers at the demoness, but she kept her voice steady. “What do you think happened?”

His growl halted at the unexpected question, though ire persisted. “You would know that better than I.”

“And yet, it seems whatever your mind has come up with—in place of reality—plagues you.”

The soft skin of her palms tempted a sense of peace as they curled under his sensitive jawline. Saer fought to ignore it, focusing on her words. “It doesn’t matter.” He pulled away from her touch and stepped around the demoness to show her his back.

Neyu didn’t let him get one full step before snagging his elbow. “Talk to me.”

Pride didn’t bother to quell an aggressive sound erupting from his mouth as he whirled around, breaking her hold. “I won’t be manipulated.”

The demoness’s eyes widened. “Manipulated?”

“Yes.” His fury spilled over, the accusations pouring out before Saer could think twice. “Every touch, every word, every look. You make the ones who want you feel special. Everyone. Which means none of us are.”

Neyu’s rage surged to meet his, eyes flashing with a heat that had nothing to do with the sin she embodied. “How dare you?”

“Tell me I’m wrong.”

“Would you believe me if I did?” Neyu’s voice raised to match his furious holler.

“Was it all a lie?”

“I’ve never lied to you.”

“Am I just a necessary part of your plan?”

“You’re not listening to me!”

“How many of the others have you called ‘Dearest?’”

“Are you—?” Neyu closed the distance between them until her face spanned a breath from his. One of Lust’s fingers jabbed over Pride’s heart, her teeth bared in an expression more ferocious than he’d ever seen on her. “If I weren’t in love with you, I’d be scraping your face out of my fingernails right now!”

Saer’s snarl faltered.

“Hellsfire.” Neyu dropped her hand and moved to pull away.

He stepped forward when she shifted, giving the demoness no course other than to shuffle backwards. Neyu backed into the tree, catching her breath when her shoulder blades touched the barrier.

A deep rumble of a different and warmer flavor settled in Saer’s throat when he leaned over Neyu, the crescents of their hair brushing against one another. “I’m listening now,” he said in a low and cautious tone.

Neyu lifted a hand to push it between their bodies, her palm on his sternum. “I won’t be bullied,” she whispered.

The corner of Saer’s mouth twitched, despite himself. He glanced down at her hand, then back to her drowning-deep eyes. “I won’t stop you if you wish to move.”

A long, slow breath left her, but she stayed in place. “I didn’t expect to tell you this way.”

Saer leaned closer, the tip of his nose caressing hers. The demoness swallowed, and Saer angled his head upwards so he could skim his lips along her brow, choosing his words with care. “I missed you. In my time away, I saw humans overcome with emotions I imagined sharing with you. Those guards…” A subdued growl simmered in his gullet. “They don’t know you or I. Yet, they took that away from me. Us.”

“No.” Neyu’s hand slid up his chest, and Saer struggled to keep his focus. He took her movement as permission, and lifted an arm to slide his fingertips along her waist, inwardly irritated by the scratchiness of the blanket standing in the way of the softness of her skin.

“Explain,” he whispered against her forehead, then kissed it as he’d pictured doing thousands of times, ever since he’d seen humans share the gesture amongst those they cherished.

It felt right.

The demoness’s breath shook, and Saer smiled against her skin. “They didn’t want me,” she said.

“I find that hard to believe.” Saer dipped his head down and to the side so he could experiment with another feather-light kiss on the auricle of her ear. His lips were sensitive, and he tasted a whisper of her skin on his tongue. He hadn’t expected to appreciate these small touches so much.

She rewarded him with a full-body shiver. “We can only pull on their sins when they already exist. You taught me that.”

“Mmhmm.” Saer’s fingers glided along her ribs, itching to pull the blanket away, but staying his hand.

“I knew their lust wasn’t for me, though they pretended otherwise. It was for—” Neyu gasped—the tiniest intake of breath—when he kissed under her earlobe. “For one another.”

Saer paused long enough to consider, and she made a whimpering noise against him. “Please,” she whispered.

He groaned and pressed closer to her as his nose nuzzled against her neck, breathing in her scent. She smelled like lavender and roses.

A tightness and yearning made itself known below Saer’s waist, under his makeshift clothing. This close, Neyu angled against him as though instinct drove her as much as it drove him. She pressed her hips into the suddenly hard and insistent part of him.

He’d overheard other men speaking of coupling in both detestable and romantic terms. No human, male or female, had ever invoked those carnal urges in him. But Neyu’s nearness drove his human body differently, pulled at him, begged him. His mind started to muddy, wanting to forget all else but this demoness he held.

One thought stopped him. “Are you—?”

Neyu whimpered and shook her head, knowing what he meant to ask without needing clarification. “I taste your lust, but I can’t pull on it. I don’t want to pull on it. I just want—”

She gasped when he rolled his hips against hers in answer, and the sound sang through him.

They teetered on some sort of precipice. He knew he should stop this course—before they further broke the vow they’d made.

‘You are bound to protect me, obey me, honor me, and put no others before me.’

Not even one another. Not even his perfect match.

‘Dearest,’ she called him...

The significance clarified. Neyu broke that vow the first time she’d declared him as such.

“Please,” she said, and he knew he was as lost as she.

He slid a hand up to curl behind her neck while the other secured itself around Neyu’s waist and lifted his face just enough to kiss her jawline, then the corner of her full mouth. “Yes, Dearest?”

Something between a sob and a sigh left her, and Saer captured it when he at last pressed his mouth to hers.

She tasted as close to heaven as he’d ever achieve. Honey and butter and citrus.

Neyu’s arms wrapped around him, one of her legs lifting to coil around his hip, and Saer moaned into their kiss. Parting her lips with his, his tongue brushed against hers, eliciting harmonizing growls from each of their throats. The emotional onslaught crashed over Saer, and more urgency filtered into the kiss, intensifying until he had to pull back just enough to gasp for breath.

His demoness slid her hands under his jawline, kissing his lower lip, his chin. She whispered against his skin, “Show me. Teach me. Learn with me.”

Saer didn’t require any further encouragement.