It took an eternity for Idess to catch her breath. She felt boneless, weak, yet at the same time, a new energy churned inside her. She couldn’t describe it, but it came with butterflies in her stomach and warmth in her veins.
The rasp of Lore’s breathing filled her ears as she clung to him. Satiation shifted as a different instinct took over, and she took his hard length in her hand. She squeezed gently as she pushed herself away from his chest. He was watching her with curiosity, but at the same time, need flickered in those dark eyes, a reminder that this wasn’t entirely about orgasms just for fun. His very life depended on what she could give him.
Anticipation made her heart race as she began to stroke. His hiss of pleasure joined the rustle of leaves and calls of the birds in the trees.
“Idess,” he croaked, “I’m not… not going to last long. I need it too badly.” Closing his eyes, he sucked in a ragged breath and threw his head back. “In fact… ah, fuck…”
The sun caressed his face as he began to jerk, his big body surging and straining. His come splashed on her hand, and she used it as lubrication to speed up her strokes. A dark rumble of approval issued from his throat, then he was in the throes of orgasm again, this time eyes open and fixed on her with possessive hunger. He growled something that sounded like mine, before throwing back his head again and riding out the series of intense spasms.
“Now that was amazing,” she murmured, when he finally gripped her wrist—with his left hand, she noticed—to stop her.
“Amazing? Try embarrassing. I lasted all of two seconds.”
She laughed. “Not as embarrassing as things will be if we get caught by your sister out here.”
“True.” He reached for the towel, and as he was wrapping it around his waist, the dove cooed. “Did that thing watch us the whole time? The little pervert.”
“I’m sure he wasn’t watching,” she said, as she tugged on her pants. “He’s just grateful.”
Still, Lore glared up at the trees. “So if you and other angels can save lives, why is it that people die?”
“Dying is the natural order of things.”
“Okay… but I mean, you hear stories of miracles, of angels saving lives. Why just those few people? Why are they deserving and others aren’t? Why does the drunk driver live and the innocent victims die?”
Idess watched the sunlight caress his handsome, angular features like a lover, as though not even nature could resist the temptation of a demon made for sex. “What makes you think that being saved from death means one is deserving?”
“Yeah,” he drawled, as he cocked one knee up and draped his arm over it, “that’s a crazy question.”
She loved it when he got playful, even if his playful was pretty much just sarcasm. “The drunk driver is not given a gift by surviving. He’s given more hell on Earth. He’s either being punished, or his soul has something more to learn while earthbound. He might even be Primori whose actions lead to new laws or to activism that ultimately saves more lives. But the victims? Their souls are already perfected and ready for their reward.”
“At the risk of sounding like a moron… huh?”
She laughed. “Life on Earth truly means little to angels, because we’re concerned with the soul, not the body. The soul is the true essence of a person or animal. Life on the other side, in Heaven, is the true existence. In fact, those in Heaven see those who are earthbound as the ghosts. The way humans see spirits, as transparent beings, is how those in Heaven see us from there.” She waved her hand. “All of this? It’s hell in comparison. But humans don’t know that until they ‘die.’ What you call dying is, to us, birth.”
“Then why would angels rescue anyone in those miraculous saves? Why not just let everyone die and go to Heaven?”
Idess had asked those same questions many centuries ago, and though Rami had tried to explain, it took centuries to truly understand. “Because there is a purpose to life on earth. Most of the ‘miracles’ you hear about are Primori who were saved by their Memitim. A child falls from a twenty-story building and survives without a scratch. A woman is found alive beneath the rubble of a building two weeks after hope was lost. A man is hanged and his rope breaks before he is strangled. All Memitim saves. Mine, actually.”
Idly, he reached out with his right hand and drew circles on her knee, hesitantly at first, but he smiled at what most wouldn’t consider even a simple pleasure. “But is that always the case? You saved the dove. What if he was supposed to die?”
“Then nothing I could have done would have made a difference. When I channel my power into a human or animal, either they are healed or their soul is released. It’s kind of like draining them. I drain the life out of them, or I drain the death out of them. Either way, I prevent suffering and restore life… on the earthly plane or in the heavenly one.”