A Vampire for Christmas

chapter EIGHT





DAMIEN WAS PUZZLED, unable to understand why this visit of hers was so radically different. Why had he not noticed that she was not human during their earlier encounters? Why hadn’t her inhumanity occurred to him, given her reappearance in his life?



“The first two times you came to me…you didn’t have wings.”



She dipped her head to confirm his observations. “Not when I came to see you, but when I first arrived in the mortal realm I did. To hide our presence here on Earth while we’re on a mission, our wings disappear almost as soon as we land.”



“Then what happened this time? What changed?” Damien asked, narrowing his eyes as he searched her features for any sign that she was different from the Angelina he had met in his two other lifetimes.



“When I came back to Earth this time Ramirez was there, waiting. It was almost as if he knew I was returning.”



Understanding dawned as he recalled the injuries he had tended earlier in the night. “Those wounds on your back…”



“Before I could become fully human, his men grabbed me and Ramirez sliced off my wings.”



Damien shook his head and then dragged a hand through his hair in frustration. Some had said Ramirez had made a pact with the Devil. Maybe it was true. Maybe that’s how he had known where to be so that he could ambush Angelina.



But regardless of how Ramirez had captured her wings, Damien intended to help her retrieve them. He reached out, tenderly wrapping her in his arms. Bending his head, he rested his forehead against hers. “Why does he want your wings?”



“They are the key to my immortal soul. If I do not get them back soon—”



“You go to Hell? Never. No just God would allow someone as good as you to go to Hell,” he said, digging his hands into the thick masses of her dark hair. Cradling her head gently, he tried to reassure her.



Angelina worried her lower lip, and the glint of her tears shimmered in the moonlight. “I do not know what will happen if I don’t get them back. All I know is that as long as he has them I am bound to this mortal plane.”



“Which is a good thing, right? That means you can stay with me.” He massaged her scalp with his hands in an effort to ease her obvious distress.



“I wish I could stay, Damien. But that is not why I was sent here. I’m supposed to help you see the right path so you can save your soul…remember?” She looked up at him, the tears subsiding and determination taking up residence on her face.



Damien laughed harshly and shook his head. “You forget that I’m not worth saving, my love.”



Angelina knew he wanted to believe that. Had convinced himself of it, maybe as a way to deal with his father’s rejection and his mother’s loss. But she had seen his actions as he helped others, as had the Archangel Raphael. It was why Damien had been chosen for salvation.



And he had grown during her past two visits. He had become capable of love. But she also understood that he could not fully love another until he was ready to love himself.



“You only think you’re not good enough. You’ve hidden your real self so that you won’t be hurt again.”



He pushed away from her and stalked to the window. He repeatedly dragged his hands through his hair in frustration, as if wanting to pull it out. When he turned he was in his vampire form, eyes blazing and long deadly canines exposed.



“I’m a demon, remember. Evil,” he argued and stalked back toward her, the rumble of the animal in his voice.



Angelina stood her ground, tilting her chin up at a defiant angle. Showing no fear of what he was. “Demon or human doesn’t change the true nature of your soul. Of who you really are inside.”



“And who am I?” he said, continuing with his defiance.



“A good soul. One who will make the right choice this time,” she urged and ran her hand across the sandpapery beard on his cheek.



“And if I do? What then? You go back to Heaven?”



“If I have my wings, I can return to Heaven,” she confirmed with a curt dip of her head.



Damien morphed back to his human form, processing all that she had said.



Without her wings she was doomed to remain in this mortal realm, but at the risk of her soul. But to get her wings back he would have to confront Ramirez yet again. And if he did so, would they play out the same scene they had played out twice before?



Not if he had any role in it. This time it would be different. Even if it meant losing Angelina again once her angelic mission was over, he would do it to save her soul. He would do it to be the kind of man she believed he could be.



“We will make things right. Together,” he urged, truly convinced that with all that he had learned he would make the right choices this time.



A brave smile came to her lips, although tears did finally slip from her lids and down her face. “Together,” she whispered.



He stroked his thumbs across her cheeks and pulled her close, offering solace with his embrace. But they had too long been denied the pleasure of being together and comfort soon gave way to desire.



Angelina could feel the passion rising in his body, from the very obvious jut of his erection along her belly to the tension filling his arms and shoulders. He was restraining himself for her, yet another indication of his growing measure as a man.



But if this was to be their final time together, the last thing she wanted was restraint. And although she knew the Archangel Raphael might be angry, she could not deny her love for Damien no matter the price to be paid in Heaven for such a transgression.



Easing away from him slightly, she raised her hand and laid it flush along the center of his chest. Beneath her palm came the faintest hint of a heartbeat. A vampire heartbeat, not that it mattered to her. It was a good heart. One that knew how to love.



She shifted her hand over to cup the swell of his pectoral muscle and lazily ran her thumb over his hard masculine nipple. A tiny shudder crossed his body and spoke of the pleasure that her simple action brought him.



Glancing up at him while she continued with her caress, she said, “Will you touch me like that?”



His low guttural groan stoked desire within her, which burst into flame as he cupped her breasts and gently fingered her tight nipples. His actions dragged a sharp gasp from her.



“Have I hurt you?” he asked, worry evident in the deep furrow marring his brow.



She offered him a smile, reached up and brushed back the errant lock of ebony hair that had spilled forward when he gazed down at her. “No, my love. It’s just that I’d forgotten how wonderful it feels to have you touch me.”



“Sweet Lord,” burst from his lips, and he swept into action. Bending, he lifted her into his arms and strode the short distance to his bed, where he gently laid her on the silken comforter, mindful of her earlier injuries.



Before she could do a thing, he had slipped between her legs as they draped over the edge of the bed. His erection was poised at her center, creating a pool of heat and wetness. She waited for his entry, but he smiled and cupped her breasts again.



“I can feel your need. Down there,” he said, his voice a low tone that vibrated through her body. That made her shudder as he moved his erection along her swollen lips, but didn’t enter.



“Damien,” she said, half plea, half question.



“I want to pleasure you,” he replied and bent, trailing a line of kisses along the edge of her mouth and jaw until he was at the shell of her ear.



“Only you,” he whispered before kissing her just behind the ear.



He continued tweaking the sensitive tips of her breasts. Each little pinch and tug sent a burst of need between her legs.



Then he began a slow descent down the edge of her collarbone. Butterfly-light kisses, which had her grasping his shoulders and urging him closer, until he finally closed his mouth on the peak of her breast.



Angelina arched off the bed at the heat of that kiss. She threaded her hands through the silk of his hair and held him to her, lost in the sensations he was creating with his mouth and hands.



Damien nearly came at the way she cried out his name, but held back, wanting her to experience every pleasure, every bit of joy he was capable of giving her. Over and over he suckled her breasts, licking and tugging at the sweet caramel tips. Alternating his hands and mouth from one breast to the other until she was shaking beneath him and bumping her hips upward in a plea for more.



He chuckled then and raised his head, smiling at her abandon. “If all Angels are as tempting as you, why would any fool choose the Devil?”



She returned his smile, but it had a bittersweet tinge, as did her words. “Because the Devil fools those who think desire means anything without love.”



As he had been fooled, but no longer, Damien realized. From the vision of that Christmas Past in Cuba to the one of a very painful Christmas Present, he had come to appreciate the difference. Which was why he would not waste the opportunity to let her know his heart this Christmas Eve.



“I love you, Angelina. Whatever happens tomorrow, please remember that,” he said. He knew that no matter what he did, she would leave him again. Because of that, he wanted this to be as special as possible between them.



She must have seen his distress. She stroked her hand over his hair and said, “If I could stay with you forever, I would.”



“I know, my love.” He dropped a kiss directly over her heart. Then he laid a line of kisses down her center until he was poised at the first hint of lush ebony curls.



He eased his hands to the juncture of thigh and hip, stroking the smooth skin there. About to shift and urge her legs open, she made that movement on her own, parting her thighs wide.



Her nether lips were flush with the rush of passion and he stroked the back of one hand along that sensitive cleft. She raised herself against him and murmured a plea.



“Make love to me, Damien.”



He smiled. “In time, Angelina. I would not rush this for all the world.”



Tenderly, he caressed her again, teasing his fingers around where she most wanted him to touch. He moved his other hand down so that he could part her curls and expose the swollen and responsive nub at her center. He bent then, placing his lips there in a provocative kiss.



She moaned and lifted her hips. Dragged her fingers into the thick locks of his hair to urge him on.



He licked and sucked at the nub until she was almost writhing on the bed, her body shaking. The aroma of her desire sharp in his nose. The taste of her passion alive on his lips as he moved downward, continuing to caress that sensitive tip with his fingers while he sought to bring her yet more pleasure.



He kissed and laved her lips until he could slip his tongue into her center, mimicking the way he would shortly love her.



A climax slammed through her then and he nearly came himself as her body quaked beneath his mouth.



She uttered his name in a long, heartfelt cry and he could wait no longer.



He rose to his feet and ran his hands along her thighs, holding her steady as he positioned himself at her entrance. She watched him, her dark emerald eyes nearly black with her passion. A very visible aura of blue light, like a halo, limning her body as she rested on his silken comforter.



As the tip of him probed and then slipped in just a bit, her gaze dropped down to their joining. Then she rose on one elbow, reached for him, her thumb riding along the top of his erection. It made him quiver and his heart ached with that tender caress.



Slowly, he pressed forward, ever so conscious of his size and her body. Of the warmth of her encircling him as she welcomed each inch of him. Of the wetness of her, so slick.



Once he was home, buried deep within her, Angelina lay back down and wrapped her legs around his hips. “Please don’t move. I love the feel of you inside me.”



If he died again right then, held in her embrace, nothing could be better. Except moving in her. Feeling her heat and wetness caressing him.



But he held back, her pleasure being foremost. Her happiness meaning the world to the man he had become.



He was shaking, his body damp with sweat as he battled for control, when she offered yet another temptation. As he watched, she raised her hands and cupped her breasts, running her fingers along their tips, which caused a jump of her muscles all along his length.



He groaned and closed his eyes, afraid of losing control, but her voice came in soft command.



“Open your eyes, love. Watch me.”



He couldn’t disobey.