9 comments/ 37258 views/ 23 favorites Of Gods and Vampires By: Onyxwolf The day I died was the best day of my life. A peculiar statement in itself but nevertheless, true. I was walking down a well lit street to the well lit parking garage to retrieve my sensible safe vehicle when the mugger struck. One minute I was walking considering dinner for the night and the next a knife sliced my throat open and left me bleeding to death on the sidewalk. I can recall holding my throat in some feeble attempt to stop the spilling of my life's blood out into the night, desperately tying to scream only to hear a mewling wet gurgle issue from my mouth. And finally I can recall my dark angel, the man who scooped me up and drained what was left of my life and my blood from my body. And then I knew no more. But that day issued forth the rest of my undead life. Undead. Such a word was known by most humans and with it came thoughts of satanic cults, deals with the devil, and soulless creatures who drain mortals left and right. Pfft. Puhh-leeeaze! Every Bram Stoker induced, erotic, wildly dark belief of vampires and the undead is greatly over exaggerated and off point. First of all, we do not drink human blood - eww! We are not soul-less, we simply possess a different kind of soul. We do not transform into bats and we do not explode in sunlight. We do however, hunt. And yes we drink blood, but only a very particular type of blood. Demon blood. Ok, confused yet? Here's the skinny. Vampires, as we are most commonly known, are a race of humans who have been controlled by a virus. The underlying virus however, can only take hold and transform a person who's bloodline contains that of the original demi-gods. Now, the demi-gods in themselves were a strange lot. Four immensely powerful immortals who withdrew from this earth back in the days of the druids and the ancient Celts. The four demi-gods sired countless half-mortal children with countless women. These are the bloodlines that flow still through humanity. We project an 'aura' of sorts that other vampires can pick up on, I luckily enough had been under watch and when my mortal life was ending I was bitten to preserve my demi-god bloodline. Debate still rages over whether the demi-gods themselves were nothing more than powerful demons, but that is neither here nor there. Vampires exist solely to control the balance of power and prevent demons from having free reign in human territory. Demons are not incapable of entering humanity's world and they do so frequently and NOT as cloven hooved beasts running around raping women. Although they do from time to time sire half demon offspring, but so long as their offspring abstain from causing chaos we ignore them. Demons enjoy chaos, death, and destruction and do their best to nurture these elements in the human world, always attempting to bring about an ultimate anarchy and chaotic state. The witch trials and other notable human tirades into the morbid and chaotic can be linked to several demons subtly manipulating humans in power. Vampires do live basically forever. We can die, but its very difficult. We gain power and can heal ourselves in two ways. First, through demon blood. Demon blood is rich with power and healing properties, drinking a pint a year is enough to sustain our immortal lives, however when wounded we must drink deeply to regain strength and health quickly. Demon blood is powerful and we partake of necessity and to increase our own power. Secondly, ironically enough, sex is the other means for healing and gaining power. At the moment of the climax of our partners the boundaries protecting the life force are dropped enough that we can soak in the life force of another into our beings to replenish. Hence the reason an orgasm has often been referred to as the "little death" by humanity. Often our kind will bring a partner repeatedly to climax in order to skim off some of their life force to replenish. It makes our kind highly sought after partners to say the least. Its dangerous, however, as if we loose control we can suck a human, or even another vampire dry of life force killing them, even another undead. And now I serve in the vampire race, fighting demons to preserve the fabric of reality, and though I am the youngest of my kind, I have quickly become nearly the most powerful... my name is Eve. ----------- Eve sat tensed staring down below at the mass of Friday night party goers entering and exiting the bars and clubs. So far golden auras on all of them. No hints of red or black, no blue or green. Just the brilliant gold glows of the human souls that danced, and laughed, and lived oblivious to the hunters in their midst. She sighed and raked her hand over the slicked back hair she restrained with her usual leather tie back. Her fangs ached, hidden back in her gum line they throbbed dully, denied the pleasure of draining a demon for weeks now. Unlike her brethren, Eve solely drew her energy and power from demon blood, she couldn't bring herself to suck the life force from a partner during sex so casually as the rest of them did. As such she fed frequently and without qualms, sating herself on demon blood every chance she got, growing stronger each time and more powerful than almost any in her race. So the elders would often send her alone to hunt the most dangerous of targets and the strongest classes of demons. She had never failed yet. She was close to giving up on her evening and leaving her perch on the ledge of the building when she noticed a man step from one of the bars and into the street. His aura was silver shot with crimson. Unlike any she'd yet seen and hinting at power beyond all the demons she'd ever taken down. This one was old, and immensely powerful. He paused and tilted his head, looked straight at her and grinned. His eyes were a haunting, luminous blue, set into a face of smooth bronzed skin and finished with slightly feathered raven black locks. His smile was all sarcasm and wit, a natural predator unafraid of anything and at ease wherever he went. His mortal façade was that of a powerfully built six foot something man with a casual grace and a predators charisma. He was dangerous. A hiss escaped Eve and she thrust forward her fangs, letting them pitch out like a saber tooth cats. Eyeing him she let him know what he was dealing with, that she was trouble with a capital T. The demon gave a short bark of laughter and turned his back on her. Eve bristled with impotent fury. She stepped from the ledge of the building, falling five stories to land gracefully on her feet in the alley below. She stalked after the demon with blood on her mind. After two blocks Eve realized the demon was toying with her, pausing whenever she fell behind and waiting for her, then setting off again. When he finally turned into an alley she nearly sprinted to get to him before he was in too public a place for her to move again. She almost collided with him where he stood in the dark alley, a twisted smile on his face. Eve thrust her fangs forward hissing softly as she prepared for a battle, her fingers twitching as she worked the long daggers out of her sleeves. Her eyes flashed with anticipation and she thrust a blade at him, unperturbed as he moved out of the path of her blade. He was very fast. "Not tonight my beauty, but soon." The demon smiled at her again then with a flick of his wrist cut a hole in the fabric of dimensions and retreated into it. Eve's next lunge was far too late and in her rage she felt the energy coursing through her and she let out an inhuman howl of anguish burying a dagger into the side of the building. The shockwave of her power rippled outward like an EMP pulse, shattering windows for blocks. She growled low and feral in her throat as she stalked off to return home, unsated. ----------- The elders were prattling on about responsibility and duty and protecting humans without involving them in the age old battle for their safety as Eve doodled on her notebook pretending to feign some interest and failing miserably. They were angry about the shock wave she had released outside of battle and furious about the hasty cover up that had to be staged to ensure the humans remained complacent. They were also disturbed by the shock wave in and of itself as no vampire had the power to release a wave of energy like she had done unknowingly tonight; power waves, telekinetics, and several other powers were known to exist only in the demon race. The elders were concerned about Eve. The demon was another matter all together however. It had been agreed that a demon who could rip a dimensional portal and had a silver aura shot with crimson was of the highest order in the demon realm. This demon was big trouble, the worst any of them had ever encountered and could possibly be impossible to slay or drain. The fact that it had merely smiled in the face of the most successful demon hunter the vampire race had did not bode well for any of them. The elders decided it was too risky to go after this demon and had issued a warning that they were all to avoid him, to try to clean up after him as much as possible and prevent any half breeds from being born in his wake. At the moment this was the best they could hope for until the ancient texts had been searched for a weapon or means to deal with the high demon. Finally, blissfully, the bitchfest that had been the meeting of the counsel was over and Eve rapidly escaped to her rooms. The vampire community had two main covens. Each coven ruled over a hemisphere, east or west, and readily aided the other whenever possible. They all worked together to ensure their numbers remained strong and the demons remained in check. Eve lived in the communal house of the east hemisphere cove, the House of Black. Ever vampire in the coven carried the surname "Black" no matter who or what they had been in their mortal lives. The elders resided deep underground in the Black household, not to avoid the sun, but rather to practice their arts and research new ones without interference or risk of discovery. The House of Black was an old sprawling Victorian style mansion on the outskirts of New Orleans. The epicenter of the coven's power and politics the House of Black was enormous and capable of housing two hundred vampires in separate rooms and twice as many if they were inclined to share rooms. Eve sat at her desk and logged onto her laptop to surf the world wide web for awhile. The internet, while catering to humans for the most part, was a wonderful source of information if one knew where to look. Eve logged onto her favorite demon reference site and began to search through the aura characterizations. ----------- "Do you think she'll go after him again?" Gabriel looked at the eldest vampire in the Black house as he spoke. "Eve is an anomaly, Gabriel." Sireen smiled at his fellow elder vampire. "You knew it when you drained her and made her one of us in truth. She is and always has been unpredictable and without parallel among our race. If ever there was a vampire that could tear down the very Gates themselves and destroy the demons for good, it is her." He paused for a moment. "But at the same time, she could easily destroy us all in the wrong hands." Gabriel nodded absently. "She is dedicated to our cause though." "She is dedicated to the hunt, Gabriel. Nothing more. She lives to drain blood from demons, that blood lust could easily be turned against our own." Gabriel brooded silently as he considered the vampires he had created that night twenty years ago. Watching her being killed by that human had been hard, it was always hard when they died, and bringing her back had been equally difficult. She was not like any previous inductee he had bitten, her blood was more potent and she was stronger than any other vampire, too strong for one so young. The elders all suspected and feared that she was closer to a demi-god herself than she was to a vampire. ----------- Eve signed off her laptop and flopped back onto her bed. She brooded over the complete lack of information available on the internet about demons with silver and crimson auras, no reference to any metallic auras at all. Being unable to find information on the demon one was hunting made the hunt more difficult but more fulfilling as well. This demon obviously was old enough and strong enough to keep anyone from gaining information on him. Eve sighed; his blood would be pure bliss if he was that strong. She rolled over onto her side and wrapped herself around a pillow to sleep until evening. ----------- The order for the evening was to stake out a rave happening downtown. Raves were notorious for demons, that many humans along with drugs and alcohol spelled disaster in any language. This rave was no exception. Eve spotted her first demon almost immediately. The lesser demon's orange aura stuck out like a catholic school girl at a goth convention. Eve dropped in behind the demon and followed him as he lured a young girl out into the alley. Lesser demons were not too bright and rarely noticed her kind until it was far too late. Eve reached around from behind the demon and yanked him back into an alcove off the alley, wrenching his neck to the side she plunged her fangs into his neck. The demon screamed, its unholy sound echoing off the walls drowned out by the music playing at the rave, and thrashed as she sucked his blood back through his veins and into her fangs. Eve didn't stop until every drop of blood had been pulled from the demon's body, she dropped the lifeless form and watched it turn to dust and blow away. Her fingers were shaking and her head was spinning as the blood coursed through her body, strengthening and empowering her. The rush was hardly anything compared to a higher level of demon, but even lesser demon blood was acceptable when there was no better hunting to be had. Eve stalked through the crowds, riding out the high of the demon blood, feeling the music thump and course through her like her pounding heart. She closed her eyes and danced like a drug addict who had just had a fix. The display was part real pleasure and part ploy, her erratic euphoric motions attracting demons as well as drunk human males. Eve danced up against another lesser demon and casually maneuvered him behind a column where she tore out his throat and sucked him dry before he hit the floor. She returned to the dance floor and continued the hunt, feeling the swell of euphoric power crashing through her brain. Lesser demons may not be as powerful but drain enough of them and you still got a power high. Eve felt him before she saw him and stopped dead on the dance floor. Her heart skipped a beat as she caught sight of the silver and crimson aura dancing around a man who looked like pure sin. Eve met the eyes of the demon, his laughing mockery reflected in the brilliant blue eyes of his human glamour. Eve walked toward the demon following him as he left the rave and began to stroll down the empty streets of the warehouse district heading toward the waterside. She paced him following at the same distance and keeping him in eyesight at all times, she knew her daggers would do little to hurt the demon but could slow down the human form he was in long enough for her to get her fangs into an artery. Eve turned a corner and found herself looking at a long expanse of dirty beach at the edge of the docks and there was no sign of the demon, he was gone. She cursed her stupidity knowing that the demon could cut dimensional portals and had probably vanished while she had been taking her time stalking him. Eve's breath caught in her chest as the swift arms snaked around her, yanking her head up and immobile and catching her body in an effective and painful hold. She could smell the deep smoky musty scent of brimstone and amber, a demon's perfume. Her breaths came ragged as she was held at his mercy and she waited for death to claim her a second time. "So fearless you are." The demon breathed against her ear. "Stuff it demon, spare me your rhetoric and get it over with." Eve spat out her words with false bravo. "So much hate and defiance." He purred against her neck and lightly ran his tongue over her skin. "You would mind your tone after a few hundred years as my slave." "I'd kill myself first." Eve held off the tremors threatening to break her resolve. "No, you would beg me to keep you, beg me to allow you to be with me. You would do whatever I asked of you and be grateful for it. Vampire. You barely know what you are and you act as though you could rule the world. You know nothing and were you any other vampire I would have killed you already." He paused and smelled her hair. "But you have the air of destiny Eve Black and you are not to die by my hands nor by your own." The demon turned her carefully in his grasp and pulled her tight against his human body, keeping a controlling and painfully crushing hold on her allowing her no recourse but to stand staring up into his blue eyes. He smiled, causing his eyes to crinkle at the edges and lighting the handsome human face up with mirth and dark humor. Eve shuddered and looked away. The demon twisted her arms back and grasped both wrists in one hand, threatening to snap the bones in her arm as he held her still. With his free hand he gripped her chin and turned her face back to his, and lowered his mouth onto hers. Eve stiffened instantly, appalled and disgusted into stillness as the demon kissed her, he forced her mouth open to his and slid his tongue into her mouth. She squirmed and struggled against him despite his grip on her arms and thrust back against his tongue with her own trying to force him from her mouth. She gasped and nearly retched when he finally released her mouth and smiled mockingly down at her. "Such spirit." He laughed as she spit on his face. "Perhaps I know another way to subdue you." The demon kissed her again and Eve struggled even as his fingernails bit into her chin, holding her jaw and forcing her mouth open again. The demon then purposely and slowly ran his tongue over her sharp incisors and drew his own blood. He let a single drop slide into her mouth before stepping back and releasing her. Eve crumpled to the ground, a harsh groan came from her mouth and she clutched herself as her body began to convulse. The blood coursed into her system like a straight shot of heroin or some other uncut street drug. The intoxicating waves of power that began to hit her left her breathless and gasping, her body bucked and shook as her senses went overboard dumping her into a fit. One drop and her body was reacting like she had overdosed on something and had begun to die in a fit of rapture and euphoric bliss. Eve looked at the demon as he smiled over her, watching her body shake, sweat, and jerk. "Monster." She whispered harshly. "Feel free to call me Joven." The demon grinned and stepped back into a hole in the dimensions. Eve laid on the ground and waited for the pleasurable pain to stop, her body was twitching, ever muscle on end, filled with energy and power. She felt herself crying as another wave of nauseating power wracked her body and sent her into convulsions again. Blissfully she blacked out on the pavement. ----------- "I've never seen anything like this Gabriel." Sireen looked at his protégé. "She is in what resembles a coma that humans enter when great trauma has occurred, but our kind are not known to enter these states." "I don't understand it either Sireen." Gabriel looked down at the stricken vampire before them. "The men who found her said she was alone and unconscious, they didn't see her leave the rave but saw her take down a couple of lesser demons earlier in the night. If it hadn't been for them looking for her, who knows what could have happened to her." Sireen nodded. "For the moment all we can do is wait and see if her body can fight off whatever has put her into this state. You do feel it as well, do you not Gabriel?" Of Gods and Vampires Ch. 02 She sits quietly in the dark. Her anger is a palpable rage that seethes across the room becoming a great tidal wave that crashes against the locked door. Her eyes focus unseeing on the wall before her but her senses stretch beyond the door and feel all of those walking around the house. She unfurls her legs and stands throwing herself against the door fruitlessly once again releasing a howl of inhuman rage and unknown horror that echoes through the underground chambers. She hates them all, they keep her confined, they deny her the freedom she longs for and separate her from the one person she wants so desperately to be with. Gabriel. He's up there somewhere. She can feel him. She can hear him breath even through the steel and concrete of all the levels of her prison. She can smell his skin, taste him still on her lips, and with every second of every day she longs for him. They cannot keep her here forever. She will not rest until she is free. ------------------------------------------------ "What are we going to do with her?" Icarus looked around the table at his fellow elder vampires. "It's been almost a year since she drained the demon and Gabriel. Our prison will only suffice for so long." "Our solution seems to be working so far, why should we change our stand at all on her?" Malfus folded his hands before him. "How long do you expect it to hold? Even without feeding her strength grows, slowly, but it grows. You know as well as I that she will gain enough power to tear through that cell and this house like butter and free herself." Icarus looked around the table. "Gabriel needs to be moved to another holding facility. Holding him here is unwise, as he is no longer anything but a mere vampire we can contain him more thoroughly than we can hope to contain her. She will get loose, it's only a matter of time." ------------------------------------------------ Gabriel groaned as he was shifted roughly. The hood over his head made it impossible to see where they were taking him. He felt like the inside of his head would explode as the side effects of the constant drugging took it's toll. He groaned and slumped against the hard wall of the vehicle he had been placed into. He felt the needle puncture his neck and remembered no more. ------------------------------------------------ Eve raised her head and scented the air. He was being moved. She screamed and threw herself against the ceiling, mortar cracked and stone creaked and crumbled releasing a powder of dust and debris but her cell remained in tact. She battered herself against the walls and ceiling until she could no longer hear Gabriel being shuffled through the house. She heard the doors of the vehicle slam and it sped away. Eve sank down on the floor next to her pallet and groaned softly, she rocked back and forth in anger. She felt her insides clench as rage filled her so completely she couldn't think straight. She wanted her freedom, she wanted out of this cell, and she wanted him back. There was little hope that she could break out now, she loathed them all and silently cursed them all. "Such a sad sight." The high demon slid through the worlds effortlessly. "To have seen you so mighty the night you were reborn and now to see you so low." "You would be wise to leave demon, I have no time for you and my hunger is great." Eve whispered softly. "So battered you look, sitting there dirty, unkept, with your wings folded denied the sky." The demon smelled of brimstone and blood. "What I wonder, would you do for your freedom?" Eve looked at the demon finally and pulled her lips back from her extraordinarily long sharp fangs. "What indeed." ------------------------------------------------ Eve cast aside yet another drained demon. The lesser demons provided a slow, steady increase in her power and energy as she drained them dry. She snarled softly and sank her fangs into the next demon in line, drawing his blood out as fast as she could swallow. Time was on her side, she fed insatiably on the inexhaustible supply of victims sent to her. ------------------------------------------------ Eve felt feral. She was consumed by the power of the demons she had drained and she was overwhelmed by her own hatred of all of those responsible for her confinement. She closed her eyes and pulled slowly on her energy reserves, the power flowed into her center and focused. The demon blood screamed in her veins accelerating to a fevered pitch and she let loose a roar of fury leaping into the air. She crashed through the concrete, steel, and mortar smashing her way through all of the walls of her prison and into the main foyer of the house of Black. She stretched her four wings to their full length of a little over thirty feet shaking the dust and debris from them as she looked around the foyer at the vampires cowering in fear. Eve opened her wings and hissed at the elder vampires standing at the bottom of the stairs. She met their unwavering stares with her own challenge. "Eve of the house of Black." Icarus growled at her. "Know your place, you are a vampire in the house of Black and sworn to protect, uphold, and adhere to the faith sworn down by the demi-gods themselves." "The demi-gods are DEAD." Eve spat. "I took the power of the last, and I alone have excelled beyond the vampire race. I offered you total loyalty and my unwavering service since the day I died. And HOW do you reward me? Me, who was dragged into the shadow realms between worlds and nearly killed by a higher demon?" "And what of it Eve?" Icarus smirked. "What do you think we owe you, you'd STILL be dead if we hadn't sent Gabriel to drain you dry!" "Gabriel." Eve hissed. She darted across the room and slammed Icarus against the wall, her hand around his throat. "Where is Gabriel?" Icarus smirked. "Somewhere you will never find him." Eve tore out Icarus' throat and drained the elder vampires' blood dry. She raged through the house of Black killing or maiming every vampire she came across. As the first rays of sun crossed the lawns of the house of Black they found buckets of blood splashed across the foyers, walls, lawns, and rooms. Eve sat atop the roof of the tower in the west corner of the mansion, her wings folded around her blood splattered body, her back turned on the sun and it's warmth. Eve stared at the lake behind the mansion and let her mind wander back to the night that changed her life. Eve was tired her body was trembling on its way down from a euphoric high of power and rage. She stood slowly and leapt down to the ground; she walked into the house and made her way upstairs to her old bedroom. She stretched out on her bed and closed her eyes trying to block her thoughts and the repercussions of what she had done. She felt the weight on the bed, felt the slide of a hand running up her thigh and along her hip and she shuddered deep inside. "So beautiful." The high demon purred against the back of her neck. "Covered in blood, reeking of death, and racked with guilt." "Go away." Eve sighed. "You have no right and no authority to order me to do anything my pet." The demon grinned and bit the back of her neck. "You belong to me now and I tend to take full advantage of that, in all aspects. Get some rest, I will return for you tonight." Eve sighed and squeezed her eyes tight. What have I done, Gabriel where are you now? ------------------------------------------------ Gabriel sighed leaning against the cool walls of his prison. His fangs ached dully with the inevitable need to feed. He lifted his arm and turned his wrist upward. He closed his eyes and sank his fangs into his vein, feeding on his own blood for several minutes until he passed out from the pull of his own blood flowing backward in his veins. ------------------------------------------------ "Wake up Eve." The demon ran his long fingers through her hair. "We have much to do this night." Eve sighed and got up from her bed; dried blood flaked off her skin and clothes. She glared at the demon but offered no resistance. Her skin crawled as he pulled her into his embrace and slid his long spaded tail around her waist tightening it until she flinched. He slid the end of his tail between her thighs and stroked along her crotch. With a flick of his wrist he cut a whole through dimensions and pulled Eve into the demon world. Even the shadow realms had not prepared her for the true horror of the demon realm. The smell of rotting flesh, death, and blood was choking. Half eaten corpses of humans, vampires, and demons alike lay strewn across rocks and piked up on inverted crosses. The sky was blood red scoured with dark menacing clouds that spouted lighting that carried the scent of brimstone. Every outcropping and edifice oozed oily black liquid that bubbled and popped like hot tar. In the far distance a towering spire shot straight up to unimaginable heights, piercing the black clouds and casting a terrible shadow over the landscape. "Welcome home my goddess." The demon purred. "You can only keep what you kill here, and today you kill in my name, Baal demon king." "You overestimate yourself." Eve hissed. "No Eve, eventually you will come to realize that all the Gods of heaven and all the Gods of hell are constantly at war. That the demon kings and the sovereign angels make their plays to seize and maintain power." "There is only one God and he condemns us both." "Still so naïve. Come we have work to do." Baal tugged Eve roughly and dragged her away from the spire that cut the landscape. He pulled her down a hillside and into a ragged gulley that cut it's way down and widened as it went deeper. She stumbled and hissed flexing her great wings in agitation as he dragged her down into the earth. If even possible the stench grew worse, becoming so thick it made her lungs burn and feel like they would turn inside out in an effort to force out the smell. Eve glared at the wide scarred back of the demon dragging her into the depths of hell and she cursed him with her every breath. The blackness engulfed her slowly until she saw nothing and only felt the menacing grip on the demon on her wrist and the jagged rock of the earth under her feet. She stumbled and finally fell to her knees feeling her arm wrenched in its socket as Baal yanked her forward. He cursed in a foul torrent of demon speak and wheeled on her, grabbing her by her hair and yanking her to her feet with a violent jerk. "You test my patience Eve!" He roared. "I can't see you bastard, what do you expect me to do wait until I fall into a pit!" "Worthless spawn of a vampire." Baal cursed. He yanked her onto her feet and tugged her tight against his chest. "I warn you, take not more than a mouthful." Baal opened his neck with one of his dark talons letting his blood trickle down his throat. Eve moaned as the smell of fresh demon blood entered her nostrils, she wrapped her arms around his neck and licked the blood from his neck. The salty power filled tang of the blood gave her a heady rush of power and an instant shock of adrenaline and desire down her spine. Her fangs ached and her instincts screamed for a kill but suicide was not her wish for the day. She sucked at the cut on his neck drawing the blood into her mouth in a greedy gulping mouthful. Baal shoved her backward as he covered his wound waiting for it to heal. Eve's eyes adjusted almost instantly, the world became sharp, filled with obscene color. The outline of the demon before her pulsed with a dark outline radiating power and terror. She could see ever detail with stunning clarity and precision, she found she could focus on items far away and bring them forward and draw out every detail. She grinned, her long fangs slid out past her lips and she savored their sharpness on her skin. Baal grasped her arm and dragged her to her feet, continuing to drag her into the bowels of hell. Baal stopped behind a large rock outcropping. Light spilled from around the corner of the outcropping and the sound of loud breathing could be heard clearly. Eve stepped toward the light and was snatched back almost instantly by Baal. "Fool." He hissed. "Wake him and you will have no chance at all." She looked at the demon. "You're afraid." Baal smirked. "Even in hell there is always something bigger and badder than oneself Eve." He grinned. "And by plot or might a demon may move up in the world, as it is." "I see." Eve narrowed her eyes at the demon. "And I'm guessing this would fall under the plotting category." "But of course." Baal released her arm. "You will wound the beast, drain him to the brink of death, and I will finish him off and gain his power and place in the underworld." "Easier said than done I imagine." Eve crept to the edge of the stone outcropping and slowly peered around into the chamber beyond. She almost instantly wished she had not. The demon appeared to be a morbid mixture of reptile and some human. The proportion of him was unlike anything she'd seen, stretched out on his back he had to have measured forty or fifty feet from head to toe. His body was corded in gargantuan muscle, his long serpentine tail ended in a series of sharp spines much like an ancient stegosaurus, he had long horns that protruded from his head and curved backward like an impalas', and a long forked tail and snakelike face finished off the ensemble. The demon slept on a pile of bones and half devoured corpses. Eve slipped around the corner of the rock outcropping and made her way quietly toward the sleeping demon. The feathers on her wings bristled and shook slightly as she crept toward the demon trying to formulate some plan of attack she felt might succeed against such a large quarry. She paused and crouched down behind a stalagmite, hiding as best as she could with the towering wings she carried behind her. There was always a rush of adrenaline before a fight and this was no different, if she was to have a hope of winning she needed surprise on her side, but even with it she could expect nothing less than a hard fight on her hands. She examined the layout of the cave with a critical eye and slowly stepped out and proceeded to the base of the pile of bodies the demon slept upon. She stood to her full height slowly and stretched her wings out behind her preparing to leap for his throat. There was a loud crash from behind her just as she leapt into the air for the sleeping demon. At once the demon came awake and focused on Eve's form coming toward her. Eve hissed as she came up against the opened palm of the demon who snatched her from the air like a toy and slammed her into the side of the cave wall. He ground her into the limestone as she spat blood and dug at his wrist with her claws and bit his hand with her fangs. The demon tossed her across the cave like a rag doll and followed her flying body with a hard flick of his tail which crashed into her side opening a series of horrid gashes. Eve flipped wide off the wall and spread her wings launching herself at the demon at a high rate of speed. She made a tight fast turn around his grasping claws and latched herself onto his back wrapping her arms around his neck as she dug her fangs into his shoulder then again into his neck seeking a vein. The demon swung his tail around and knocked her off his back flinging her into a wall of rock and pinning her down with his spiked tail. The spines of his tail pierced through her thigh shattering the bone and releasing a stream of blood. Eve screamed and bringing her fist down on the bone spike breaking it off inside her thigh. She twisted free of the wall and flung herself again at the demon wrapping herself around his thigh. Eve buried her fangs into the main artery in the demons inner thigh and pulled hard sucking a huge mouth full of blood into her system. The very strength of the demons power and the potency of his blood made her almost instantly heady and she tugged again even as the demon scored her with his tail and his claws trying to pry her off of his thigh. Eve sucked harder feeling the demon start to shake as his power was drained and he lost control of his own body. She sucked hard gulping down mouthfuls of blood as quickly as possible. She felt the demon go down to his knees hard and the fight go out of him as she pulled more blood out of his veins. "Enough." Baal bellowed and yanked her off the demon's thigh. Eve hissed and glared at Baal, her lips stained with blood and her fangs dripping. Baal took the larger demon by the neck and tore out its throat, taking the final draw of life out of him and sucking out his last drop of blood. He roared as he dropped the dead demon and took on the raw ripple of his power and his status in Hell. Eve could feel her body beginning to heal itself with the help of the blood she had consumed even as Baal's form grew and changed with the power he had consumed. His humanoid body grew in size and muscle and his horns lengthened and thickened on his head. Baal snatched Eve up hard against his chest and wrapped his tail around her waist several times before dipping the spaded end of his tail between her legs. Baal split the realms and dragged her through, they were back in her bedroom in the house of Black and evening covered the earth. Baal spun Eve around in his arms and grinned viciously down at her. "Very helpful." He smiled. "Having a God as my own private pet." "I may owe you Baal, I may be under contract with you for the time, but I will never be anyone's pet." Eve spat. Baal threw Eve onto the bed and stretched himself on top of her. Eve hissed and reached for his eyes with her fingers. Baal easily avoided her fingers and pinned her to the mattress with his considerably larger size. His long tail whipped around and made a cut on his side, drawing a ribbon of blood onto the spaded end of his tail. He brought the end of his tail around and let the drops of blood fall into Eve's mouth carrying with them lust and power. There was an instant spike of lust within Eve as the blood passed her lips. The fight went out of her body replaced with a quickening of her pulse and moistening between her legs. The demon's blood was an untold aphrodisiac when he exerted his will over it. Baal released her wrists and covered her neck with his lips and bit her throat gently at first and then with a harder almost malicious intent. Eve bit the demon back without breaking his skin, thoughts of fighting had fled to the farthest reaches of her mind and the intoxicating desire took over. She felt the demon's spaded tail slide up her thigh cutting off her pants with it's sharp edge. A violent downward jerk on her top eliminated it from her body and Eve found herself lying naked underneath the demon. Baal dug his claws into her stomach, opening lacerations which were only deep enough to cause excruciating pain. Eve screamed and thrashed going for the demon's throat again. His tail whipped around and wrapped around her neck and snapped her back down to the bed pulling back against her windpipe until she stopped fighting. He sank his fangs into her shoulders leaving deep punctures along her shoulder blades and watching the blood flow from her body. He lapped at the blood slowly like a connoisseur tasting a fine wine or delicate gourmet food. He sampled her pain and her torment, delighted in her lust coupled with the anger and impotent rage. When Baal released the chokehold he had on her neck Eve flew at him like a wounded animal. The demon received her with open arms and even as her fangs punctured his neck he sunk his own fangs into her throat. They tore at each other in a twisted macabre dance of pain, anger and lust. When she pulled on his neck he pulled on hers, the blood being exchanged from one to the other in the same instant. Of Gods and Vampires Ch. 02 Baal dug his nails into her sides, dragging them down until he had a firm grip on her hips. He pulled her down onto his engorged cock, thrusting himself hard into her as he took another drag of her blood. She screamed and ripped her fangs from his neck lashing out at his face with her nails before she went for his throat again. Baal sunk his fangs into the other side of her neck as she bit into him again. He rolled her over forcing her down into the mattress and dug his nails into her thighs as he drove down into her. Every angry gasp and violent pull on his neck just made him even more intent on finishing what he started. He pulled himself slowly out of her tight body and thrust down hard again pinning her down, forcing her thighs as wide apart as he could. Eve sucked blood into her mouth but found her resistance fading with the drags of blood and the potent lust from the demon. Baal pulled back from Eve's fangs and pinned her down the mattress. His engorged cock flexed inside her tight body and he began to thrust in short hard bursts while he watched her wounds heal over. Her wings were splayed out across the bed and she looked like the perfect picture of a fallen angel, full of impotent rage and lust. When he released his hold on her this time she came at him without the violent desire to kill, she wrapped herself around him with pure lust and bit him several times on the chest licking the blood from his wounds. He scratched at her sides and bit her shoulders savoring every taste of blood and flesh. He could feel her insides tightening around him as she grew excited and felt the growing wetness as he moved inside of her. Eve moaned her fangs dripping with blood and her head falling back as the demon shifted inside her. He rolled her over slowing until she was on top of him. She felt herself slide down until the demon was hilt deep in her body, Baal whipped his long tail around and stroked her ass with it slowly. The shape of the spaded end of his tail slowly changed it's sharp edges dulled and it took on the shape of another hardened cock. The demon used his tail to enter Eve's ass and began to thrust it with the same rhythm he had established with his cock. She let out a cry that was more animal than it could ever be called human her hips bucked with violent vigor as she focused on her pleasure. Baal's fangs sank into her and pushed her head against his neck so she could bite him in return. Eve bit him hard feeling her bloodlust spike with her physical desire, she felt herself climax her legs locked around his hips and her fangs tugged violently as her muscles convulsed. Baal dragged blood out of her and released himself inside her body; he pumped his cock in her shuddering cunt as he continued to move in her ass with his tail. The exchange of blood and life force evened out and as the demon felt her orgasm passing he pulled her off his neck and released her throat. She was covered in sweat and blood, shaking from top to bottom in the throws of her orgasm. He let her fall back on the mattress and stood smiling. "The best pet a demon could have." Baal split the realms and disappeared. ------------------------------------------------ Eve woke slowly fighting groggily against it. Fully awake she laid there taking count of the aches of her muscles, the stickiness between her thighs and the throb of her blood in her veins. She made her way to the shower and laid her head against the tile as the hot water sluiced down her body. The water ran red as she washed the blood from her body wishing that her sin could wash off as easily. After her shower she sat on the veranda and soaked up the sunlight hating herself in silence for everything she had done. She stood and leapt lightly into the sky opening her wings. Eve knelt slowly before the altar in the cathedral of the huge church. She looked up at the stained glass and the depiction of Christ's crucifixion and she hated herself for what she was. I consort with demons and I allow myself to be used like a pawn I deserve to die. Her fingers clenched around the hit of the dagger that had almost ended her life in the shadow realms, surely it would still work. What hope was left for her now, a demon's whore without the strength to even protect herself. In this day of cell phone picture messaging, digital cameras and computer networking that the priest standing in the back of the church would have a cell phone on hand to record the appearance of an angel in his church. A beautiful tormented angel kneeling before God in his place of worship asking for forgiveness for some failing in her character. This angel was more beautiful and tragic then the priest could have ever envisioned and more human than he would have thought. Eve felt the haunting call of a memory a faint recollection of something long forgotten, a memory of a time and place. She closed her eyes and felt warmth and peace flood into her mind and the words tumbled out from between her lips without meaning to her ears. Some scholar or another would identify it later as ancient Aramaic and roughly translate it as such. "I have failed in every way that I know possible. My body is impure and my heart and mind are torn lost in this maze of hatred and lies. I beseech you to end this torment and allow me to pass safely into a place without such pain and suffering. Let me die and redeem me in that death." Eve plunged the dagger into her heart and felt the blood flowing out over her hands in a hot rush of escaping life. Let it be over she begged quietly. ------------------------------------------------ Baal split the realms with a roar of anger and snatched up the bleeding woman dragging her body back through the realms. He turned in his rage and stormed to the only place there was to take her. The mighty spire was close enough he could reach it with a single hop through the fabric of space. Cerberus stood before him vicious and angry snarling as he stood imposingly between Baal and the door of the spire. "Tell him I bring Eve and she is in need of him." Baal roared at the beast. The doors to the spire swung open and Baal strode forward carrying the mortally wounded Eve. He was ushered to the highest chamber of the tower a journey that took only a second for the demon king. "Leave her and wait downstairs Baal." "As you wish Lord Lucifer." Baal retreated instantly. Lucifer looked over the wounded God for a moment before he moved and yanked the blade from her heart. Wicked thing this dagger and wickeder still was the wound gaping in Eve's chest. He used the dagger to open his wrist and let his blood flow over the wound closing it instantly and multiplying to replace her lost blood. She would live but not without consequences. He stood and watched her wings wither and retreat into her back. ------------------------------------------------ Eve groaned. Death shouldn't hurt this much. And she thought it shouldn't come with silk sheets. Eve sighed and opened her eyes and looked around the opulent chamber. The bed was an ancient four posted wood canopy bed covered in black and red silk. The canopy was black silk and red curtains closed around the two long sides of the bed while opposing black curtains sealed off the head and foot of the bed. Eve stood and let the sheets slide off her nude body as she stepped out of the curtained bed and surveyed the chamber. The ceiling was high and looked to be more of a natural obsidian or dark rock formation giving the chamber an earthy base. Stalactites hung from that ceiling each with soft lights that gently illuminated the room below. All of the furniture was antique made of a rich honey shaded wood. There was a small desk, a dressing table, a tall armoire, the bed and a side table. Eve stood for a moment before the cold chilling shock set into her. She reached back and felt her shoulders and they were bare. She stumbled over to the armoire and looked in the mirror which confirmed her wings were gone. Her back was smooth and her skin was unbroken but her wings were simply gone. Eve stared in the mirror allowing the horror and shock to sink in for several minutes. She didn't hear the door behind her open and didn't register another presence in the room until he spoke several minutes later. "The price we pay." Lucifer whispered. "They aren't gone really just retreated until you have the control to bring them back." Eve turned slowly. "Who are you?" "My name," he smiled. "Is Lucifer." Eve stumbled. "Satan?" She whispered. He laughed and it was a full rich sound musical and ancient. "I recall that name though it has been many years since one has so boldly uttered it to my face." He smirked. Lucifer was quite handsome Eve reflected. He was darkly beautiful his hair a rich blue black and his skin a tone between warm honey and olive. He was tall and powerfully built and at least for the moment wholly human in appearance. There was an unmistakable aura of power around him and for the first time in quite awhile Eve could see the throbbing aura of the demon reflected around him. It was brilliant gold mixed with silver and shot with blue and red. It was the singularly most amazing aura she had seen on a demon to date. Lucifer too took in the woman standing before him. She was quite fantastic but he had always known she would be. Her skin bore the scars of her death and her battles with the demons she had killed and it only enhanced her valkyrie beauty. Her skin was bronzed by sun and life itself and her hair was a almost a match for his own, black and straight it ran down her back like water. Her eyes were clear icy blue like peering into the heart of a glacier fringed with incredible black lashes and slanted ever so slightly at the corners. Eve finally took stock of her nudity and stepped over to pull the sheet from the bed and wrap it around her torso. "Modesty does not become you Eve." Lucifer smirked. "With the smell of Baal still clinging to your skin your modesty is quite wasted, however I will have clothing brought to you and you can come down and join me for some conversation." Eve felt the blush crawl into her skin and the shame his words brought back to her. She pulled down the sheet and looked at the hideous scar on her chest where the dagger had torn through nearly to her heart. Couldn't even get that right. A lesser demon crawled in and laid a pile of clothing on the chair next to the armoire and retreated silently. ------------------------------------------------ As he'd known she was a vision in the subtle silk. It nicely accentuated her curves and the knee length tapered skirt showed off her lovely legs. The silk was very subtle and shifted to fit the mood of it's wearer so as Eve walked down the staircase the silk was a deep rich black reflecting her bleak mood. Her back was left bare and her the bodice scooped low to display just enough of her breasts to be provocative without being slutty. "Have a seat Eve." Lucifer indicated a chair across from him. She sat quietly and kept her eyes downcast for the moment wondering exactly how much of the human wisdom on Lucifer was true and how much was myth. He was the king of lies, the Prince of the underworld, or was he? "You are strong but you are flawed in your beliefs and it holds you back." Lucifer paused. "Allow me to tell you a story and you may take from it what you desire." "For all of humanity's recorded history there have been Gods and demons. All races, all cultures have had them. And they have all existed." He smiled at her scoffing choke. "They have. Ra god of the sun was Ra angelic sovereign. Aries god of war was the demon Aries a king of this world. Allah, Buda, Thor, Jah, Altjira, Tlaloc, Diwas, Belenus, Shangdi, Tuoni, Shiva, Pacha Kamaq. Honestly I could list them for years and never get them all demons and gods alike and they all existed some of them still do. Humans believe what they wish to and Gods and demons allow them to why entice them with the truth? "But there are two sides to each coin not so much good and evil although we do have our tendencies to lean to one set of behavior or another. It's more about stability and the force with which we rule. "God" as you would believe him is a patron deity in heaven who is still living at the moment but he loses his power because he relies on love to keep his subjects loyal. "I indeed was one of his most loyal followers but I chose to leave him, I left because his love was not true and he placed another above us all. But that is neither here nor there and not worth remising about. The fact remains that the power plays in heaven are grander and that they are so absorbed with their own power struggles and their pursuit of this love that they rarely intervene in the world of humans. "Then there are demons and this realm. I control them all. Unquestioningly. Unlike the gods of heaven I rule with will and force and strength no others here have the power to take my seat from me so I command a certain amount of control of the grand scheme of things. Even Baal bows to my command although not often willingly. He greatly overestimates his strength in thinking that he could keep you as a pet however." Lucifer smiled and produced a cup of coffee from nowhere which he sipped slowly. Eve looked at him like he had just told her that the end of the world would be brought about by the Care Bears or the Smurfs. It was just too weird for her human belief system to incorporate. "So where do I fit in in all of this?" Eve looked at him. "Where do you want to?" Lucifer stirred his coffee. "There was no coincidence in your birth Eve and while the extent of that is not something I choose to share at this point you have control of where you will go. Do you wish to simply live or do you wish to rule? That is a choice only you can make. For now you will need to remain here and recuperate." "I should have died, you should have let me." "No." Lucifer set down his cup. "What you did was foolish. The Blade of Destiny is not something to take such foolish risks with and you are lucky I could still save you. That blade has one purpose in this world. Joven was foolish to steal it when he did and you were foolish to use it on yourself. Your wings while they have retreated for now could have been lost forever had you left that blade in much longer." "They aren't gone?" Eve self consciously touched her back. "No they are still there, just retreated and they will be changed from now on. They will be stronger, changed if they return but not gone. For now you need to rest and try to relax. Baal will not bother you further unless you wish to see him." "Thank you." "Go back to the chamber upstairs I will send you someone to eat." ------------------------------------------------ Lucifer stepped through the realms and wrapped his arm around Gabriel's neck. He pulled the former demi-god's head back and pried Gabriel's mouth open. Lucifer carefully opened a vein and allowed a trickle of blood to run into Gabriel's mouth. It took a few minutes for Gabriel to come around. "Welcome back." Lucifer smiled and released Gabriel's neck. Lucifer squatted across from Gabriel and looked over the once great demi-god. Gabriel was light to Lucifer's dark. Where Lucifer's hair was blue black, Gabriel's was icy white. Where Lucifer's eyes were a warm rich chocolaty espresso color Gabriel's eyes were icy white blue. Lucifer's skin was between honey and olive and Gabriel's was pale flesh colored without tan or blemish. Opposing sides of a coin; light to dark. Gabriel looked at Lucifer. "It's been awhile Lucifer." Gabriel stared across the room at Lucifer. "That it has been Gabriel. Rather sad state that I now find you in half dead and devoid of power." Lucifer licked the blood from his fingers. "Perhaps but I still have no regrets." Gabriel smirked. "Can you say the same brother?" Lucifer laughed. "You never have understood have you Gabriel? I have no regrets and the hatred you have against me is largely misplaced." "You made your choices Lucifer and I've made mine. Had it not been for your scheming I would still be in Heaven faithfully serving." "Would you now?" Lucifer stood and circled Gabriel. "To serve for his love? That pathetic thing he tosses at you until you love him in return and then he takes away as soon as something better comes along? Something flesh and blood something warm and willing in a very carnal way? Please. I gladly take my place since my "fall" and I regret none of the choices that placed me where I am today." "As you wish brother." Gabriel smirked. "Your Eve on the other hand may have me rethinking my stance." Gabriel was at Lucifer's throat in an instant. Lucifer easily overpowered the weakened vampire and tossed him to the ground pinning him down with a knee. "Ahh brother you are so predictable." Lucifer hissed and extended his fangs. "If I wanted it I could rape your Eve repeatedly for weeks until she begged me to kill her and then not to stop. But I don't have to savor her flesh as Baal has already tasted her pleasures, quite a nice pet she makes for a demon." "Liar!" Gabriel roared and struggled. "I am, but not now. Baal drugged her with his blood, got her drunk on lust and fucked her until she came beneath him." Lucifer smirked and released his brother. "And she turned the Blade of Destiny on herself in her shame." Gabriel stilled instantly. "Yes brother," Lucifer stepped away. "She plunged it nearly into her heart and yet she lives if not for the sacrament of my blood she would be in the land of the dead even now. So quit your fucking thrashing and listen for once. I have a proposition for you." ------------------------------------------------ "Eve." Lucifer smiled. "What can I do for you?" "Why did you save me? Why didn't you just leave me to die?" "It was not your time Eve." Lucifer laid the Blade of Destiny down on the table before him. "Why did you turn the Blade on yourself?" "I deserve to die." Eve hissed. "I am a worthless whore unfit to be called vampire, human, God or demon." "That is hardly true." Lucifer steepled his fingers. "No God can reign in heaven without knowing hell, no demon king could ever rule in hell without understanding heaven. It's well known that my life began in heaven as an angel among the Gods themselves and I chose my path and to leave that place. "Unlike heaven hell is ruled by strength and held by power. Heave relies on games playing their pawns off each other in the never ending quest to be the most loved, the favorite in the eyes of one God or another. Here we rely simply on our own strength and intelligence none here had what it takes to remove me from my position so here I remain for now." "That seems a very narrow view of things." Eve smirked. "Only has narrow as the reality of things. God played us all off of each other for as long as there was history, all the Gods did and still do. At any given time heaven is divided under the command of several ruling Gods and the angels who serve them. They war with each other, switch sides, curry favor, plot, overthrow and kill each other to be the most favored and remain in power. "Unfortunately the power plays in heaven have overridden their goal of creating and nurturing earth and things have stagnated." Lucifer paused and turned the Blade over with his fingers. "Hell still works with precision we plot and destroy, kill and maintain our end but heaven has fallen behind and the veil between the worlds has grown thin. "The current state of things threatens the very fabric of all the worlds. It's become necessary to put into motion many plots to try to restore the balance but nothing can be done without great pain and sacrifice." Of Gods and Vampires Ch. 02 Eve snorted rudely. Lucifer chuckled. "Why else would I have my own brother possessed so that he could lead astray three other angels and create the demi-gods?" Lucifer watched her face. "Why else would I sacrifice him on the alter of betrayal allowing him to be led astray if not for another purpose? Why else would I put Gabriel through this?" "Gabriel?" Eve whispered. "Yes Gabriel. My only brother. I tricked him into a position to send a demon to posses him and lead the other three astray. Tricked them into consuming Garo a demon king. Had the demon use Gabriel to fornicate with human woman and spread his seed to begin the vampire race with his brethren and then left him with his guilt to form purpose for them. Unpossessed Gabriel did great things and formed the vampire houses. So I freed him from the bondage they put him in and brought him here." "Gabriel is here?" Eve looked at Lucifer then turned as the door opened. "I am." Gabriel strode into the room. Eve ran for him only to be brushed aside by Gabriel. Eve's pain filled eyes followed Gabriel as he went to stand behind his brother. "And I know what has occurred in my absence." Gabriel looked at Eve with condemnation in his eyes. "Gabriel I..." "Don't bother." Gabriel shook his head. "Touching." Lucifer smiled. "Things are almost back to where they must be. Gabriel I promised to restore what I stole from you with my schemes." "Yes you did." Gabriel stood quietly as Lucifer got to his feet. "So be it." Lucifer smiled. Lucifer grasped Gabriel by the hair and tore his head to one side. Eve saw the longest fangs she had ever seen push forward from Lucifer's mouth and without another thought he sank them into Gabriel's neck. Lucifer drank deeply of his brothers' blood sucking in down in fast greedy gulps. Gabriel's eyes fluttered closed and his body went loose he slumped as he lost consciousness and was supported only by Lucifer's arms around him. Lucifer pulled the life out of Gabriel and dropped him. "No." Eve whispered. "No! What have you done?" Lucifer turned and looked at Eve and spat at her. He stepped away from his brother and wiped the blood from his mouth. Eve stared with horror and pain at the body laying on the floor. Gabriel's body shifted very slightly. Then there was a great gasp and he bolted up from the floor clutching his neck. It was a horrible macabre dance as he twisted in pain and torn his shirt from his back. The skin on his back twisted and peeled off, it split down the shoulder blades and broke open. It was like watching a horrible bug molting as Gabriel's skin blistered then cracked and the flesh tore from bone along his spine. The first protrusions to emerge were the long bony appendages, six that pushed out like great antenna sticking up through the holes in what had been Gabriel's back. The grew and pushed apart until they had fully split the body in half and out of that ragged piece of flesh stood the true Gabriel. He was covered in blood which began to absorb into his pearlescent skin. The six protrusions on his back sprouted their shafts and then burst forth with pearly white-blue feathers which thickened, lengthened and filled out the wings that sat perfectly one over the other to work together as a single unit. Gabriel flexed those great wings and beat them once with great force as he stood there returned to his angelic perfection. "As I promised brother." Lucifer smiled. "As did I." Gabriel nodded and tore a rift in the universe and vanished. "Gabriel." Eve whispered. "He's gone Eve. He has a God to love and his honor restored he has no use of you." Lucifer saw her alone with her torment. He picked up the Blade of Destiny and left. ------------------------------------------------ Baal picked Eve up carefully and took her back to her room after she had cried herself to sleep. He deposited her on her bed and turned slowly to leave. "Baal." Eve whispered. "Yes?" Baal looked at Eve. "What is happening?" She looked at him. Baal slipped out of his demon form and slid easily into a human guise complete with clothes for once. "It's complicated." "It was you wasn't it? In Gabriel?" Baal nodded. "I possessed the angel Gabriel at Lucifer's request. That is why Gabriel hates me so much." "I don't understand." "You aren't meant to understand it all. Do what is in your best interest and fulfill your own potential." Eve looked at him. "Was fucking me part of the deal?" "Sometimes ones work has it's perks." Baal smiled. "I need to get out of here." "There is only one way to do that." Baal sighed. "Only the Blade of Destiny can cut through the realms like a demon does, it's imbued with the soul of a former demon king. The problem is the blade rejected you once already it nearly killed you. "The Blade is said to only have on true master who it waits for and will only acknowledge that one. It's deadly enough without belonging to someone but when it acknowledges it's true owner then it will bond with that one and all it's powers become that person's. And Destiny calls to Time. To be the master of both is something that the universe waits for and cringes from." "What does that mean?" Eve stood and pulled on her clothes. "That I don't have the answer to. I do know that the Blade of Destiny will consider each man, woman, demon and God based on who they are when they pick it up. If you are no longer the same woman you were the last time you picked it up it may reconsider you." "And what do you want out of all this Baal?" Eve looked at the demon. "The right to continue to live as I know how if the veil between the worlds fails then heaven, hell and earth will be at full out war." "Fair enough." ------------------------------------------------ Eve looked down at the Blade of Destiny. She considered the dagger carefully and smiled. What more would it take she questioned silently. What would you ask of me in order to make me worthy for you? If I offered you a lifetime of service would you take me? Eve reached out and wrapped her fingers around the Blade. The metal was cool and smooth in her hand comforting instead of horrifying. The Blade glowed briefly and melted slowly vanishing into her skin. Eve blinked and stared at her now empty hand. She curled her fingers and felt her nails dig into her palm. She turned and faced the wall of the chamber. Eve smiled and closed her eyes. "Come forth." She whispered. The Blade of Destiny appeared in a flash of red light in her hand and her wings burst forth from her back. The wings were changed layered one atop the other instead of in tandem with the top set of wings being jet blue-black and the under pair of wings were crystalline white. Eve smirked and flicked her wrist across the space in front of her tearing a hole straight into heaven. "Time to play." Eve grinned. Of Gods and Vampires Ch. 03 The angel Saphora stretched out on the chaise lounge and contemplated the brilliant aquamarine sky. She stretched her three soft pink wings and lifted effortlessly into the sky. The sun was warm on her back and the breeze was gentle as she made her way to the silver palace across the sea. She dipped low down to the water and trailed the ends of her fingers over it's glasslike surface before shooting up toward the veranda twelve stories straight up. Saphora touched down gracefully on the white marble floor of the veranda. The columned archway leading into the palace was lined with silver and gold filigree. The ceiling was patterned with gentle geometric shapes and flora motifs. As she walked across the cool white marble her bare feet made no sound. The interior of the palace was cool and spacious draped with airy silks and comfortable plush furniture. She climbed the stairs slowly and turned to the right to follow a long hall to another spiraling staircase leading upward further. She climbed the stairs tirelessly until she reached the grand hall close to the pinnacle of the palace. The walls were made of pearly glass that allowed in the light and sights of the sky around her but reflected like mirrors from the outside. The room was built entered around a dais with a large silk draped throne that dominated the entire end of the room. The throne was placed so that the rising sun came up behind the throne and created a grand spectacle with that stark imagery. At the moment the hall was empty save chaises, throws, and sofas distributed around the room. "I've been waiting for you." The masculine voice boomed. "I'm sorry I was delayed." Saphora bowed low. "How may I serve you my Lord?" "Such love and devotion." God smiled as he stood slowly and walked toward the young angel. "I need you to do something for me." "Anything my Lord." Saphora smiled. --------------------------------- Gabriel brooded in his chamber in the silver palace. His silent reflection was troubled by the events that were propelling things forward on a dangerous track. Nothing made sense anymore and the end result was uncertain. Gabriel ran his fingers down the soft downy feathers of his wings and sighed as he remembered the feel of earthly skin so much softer. His brother was not to be trusted and the fragile truce that sustained things right now would not last forever. Gabriel stood and stretched tiredly before heading to his audience with God. He placed his best face on and climbed the stairs with great trepidation. God had always been a very difficult and often unpredictable in his sudden changes of mood and character. The burden of the six wings weighted heavily on Gabriel as his responsibility and duties settled back onto his shoulders like the wings protruding from them. "Gabriel." God's voice was smooth and silky. "Yes my Lord." Gabriel took a knee before Him. "I have missed you in your long absence but I understand that a demon possession was to blame for your abandonment of your duties." God purred in his silky dangerous voice. "That is correct my Lord I was most unfortunately unwise enough to fall for one of my former brother's schemes." "It happens." God nodded. "But your true love of your God won over Lucifer's poison. Now there is much that needs to be done around here there are two other gods in the kingdom who challenge my rule and the love I give to my angels." "I understand." Gabriel whispered. "Take Saphora and bring me the head of the so called god Diamius." "Yes my Lord." --------------------------------- Eve soared over the landscape of heaven keeping a low profile and hugging the ground as much as possible. As the sun began to sink in the sky Eve saw a gold topped dome in the distance and set down on a hill overlooking it. The palace in the distance was wide and Mughal styled with round domed towers similar to the Taj Mahal. Eve watched as several winged figures floated down from the sky and into the palace as the night set in. There were no lights in the palace and the soft grey colored stone was the only thing that made the palace discernable in the low light. She took to the air and made her way down to the palace landing silently in an open courtyard before the main entrance. The arched doorway was open and unguarded which gave her a moment of pause before she walked slowly inside. The doorway became a long hallway that opened up into a broad chamber bathed in rich dark silks and heavy incense and perfumes. Seated directly before her was a wizened old figure. The man was neither old nor young but possessed an ageless quality that extruded a deep calm and sense of power. He sat and met Eve's level stare with his own and said nothing simply waited as though he had expected her for some time. She looked over the rich clothing he wore and the deep golden hue of his skin and wondered what land called this man God. He smiled as though her thoughts amused him. "Who are you?" Eve questioned. "My name is Diamius and you are Eve." He smiled. "You know me?" "I know of you dear Eve and I know what has brought you here although you do not yet know it yourself." Diamius gestured to a rug near his feet. "Sit we have much to discuss." Eve felt the wings on her back bristle and twitch fluttering with her inner turmoil as she walked over to be seated near Diamius. "Your wings look healthy my dear, but torn. One set black, one set white as you wage with the duality of your soul. And two pair hardly what I'd expect of someone of your power." "I suppose I should strive for six like Gabriel?" Eve smirked. "Oh heavens no!" Diamius laughed richly. "Six wings is a sign of a warrior slave one committed to another to serve for a lifetime. Four wings is the sign of an unclaimed power with no allegiances open to be influenced. Three wings is the majority rule in the heavens those angels devoted to one god or another who serve with mindless abandon and devote their lives to another's cause. So while four wings is not so bad it is not what I would expect from you." "Should I have none at all as you do?" Eve eyed his naked back. Diamius laughed merrily. "Do I have none Eve? So easily fooled are you!" Diamius stretched and with an ease of many years practice his wings pushed out from his shoulders through the slits in the back of his robes and stretched wide. They were glorious a single pair of huge white wings that spanned perhaps five feet more than her own and were filled out to an impressive size with downy white fluff and elegant perfect flight feathers. "They're beautiful." Eve whispered. "A god's wings." Diamius flexed them powerfully. "When you learn to master your wings they will retreat when you ask and come forth when you wish it. Your wings hold more power than flight alone Eve you would be wise to search yourself for your power before you come up against someone who has control of theirs." "I haven't come here for a lesson in the use of my wings." Eve muttered. "No, you have come for Time. It calls to you now as surely as your own soul will call you to your rightful place. Time is a fickle thing Eve and to posses it you must face your own heaven and your own hell and know the difference between the two. A true mastery of yourself is needed to posses Time many have tried for it and failed and there have been those who possessed it and were driven mad by it. "Our time is not long Eve and I cannot give you half the guidance I wish I could impart upon you. As we speak Gabriel comes for my head at the order of the lord God." Diamius smiled. "This end for me is inevitable and I have no will to fight it. You must decide if you wish to seek Time or not for only I can send you on the path, it dies with me." "I can kill Gabriel and there will be no need to cut our conversation short." Diamius laughed. "So eager to kill Gabriel? A harder task than you might believe and like you he has to fulfill his own part in this drama; Lucifer has seen to that. Gabriel does not yet see his truth and without it he is lost. Unlike his brother Lucifer, Gabriel is at odds with himself and who he is, he refuses to question what he has been told and live up to his potential. In many ways living on Earth and being free of the influences here in heaven was the best thing for him. "Lucifer is a stronger being than Gabriel is now. In time Gabriel may grow to understand his place but Lucifer will always be the stronger, wiser and truer of the two brothers." "Truer?" Eve spat. "From the Prince of Lies himself? I hardly think Lucifer will ever be the truer anything." "So much still to learn Eve." Diamius stood slowly. "Do you wish to seek Time Eve yes or no?" "Yes." Diamius nodded and pulled her to her feet. "Close your eyes Eve." Eve closed her eyes and felt his hands cup her cheeks. His hands ran down her neck and shoulders all the way down her silk clad sides and she felt warm from head to toe. "Know yourself Eve only when you do will you succeed. Accept your light and your dark and make your choices wisely. This is all the help I can give you now." "DIAMIUS!" Gabriel's voice boomed as he stepped into the hall his wings stretched wide and a short sword in his hand. "What are you doing with Eve." "Be brave my dear." Diamius pulled Eve close and with a sudden violent cleaving motion tore a whole into the fabric of reality and shoved Eve into it. He sealed the hole the second she vanished. Gabriel was at Diamius' throat within a second slamming him back into the marble column. "What did you do to Eve!" "She is gone Gabriel and nothing you can do will bring her back she will not return until she is ready, perhaps never at all." "You speak in riddles old man. Where did you send her and why? Answer me!" Gabriel dug his nails into Diamius' throat. "You will never know." Gabriel roared as he brought the sword down on Diamius' neck severing his head. He took the head of Diamius by the hair and stalked back toward where Saphora stood. "That was the infamous Eve?" Saphora smirked. "She looked like nothing better than a common tart." "Mind your tongue Saphora." Gabriel walked out of the building without another word. The two angels lifted into the sky and set off back toward the silver palace with their prize. The flight was a long slow affair in which Gabriel brooded over the sudden appearance of Eve in heaven and what it could mean. Had Lucifer sent her here for some reason or was there something else going on? And where had Diamius sent her now the whole thing made no sense. The accent to the veranda of the silver palace felt like it was burdened by the weight of several hundreds of pounds on his chest and throat. The accent ended mercifully as they touched down on the veranda and began the walk up to the audience chamber. Gabriel set the head down on the pedestal on the center of the room and took a knee. "Well done Gabriel." God purred softly. "No problems I trust?" "We ran into Eve." Saphora quickly piped up. "WHAT!" God jumped to his feet and strode over to Gabriel and yanked him up by his hair. "Tell me you killed her!" "I could not Diamius sent her through a tear and we don't know where." Gabriel winced as a handful of hair was pulled from his head. "She should not be here, not even for a moment!" God roared. "Diamius could have only sent her one place and for all our sakes I hope she dies there." "Where?" Gabriel whispered. "Her own personal hell if legend is true." God chuckled. "Leave me." Gabriel left the room and headed back down the staircase to his room. He stared out the long windows into the night and wondered if Eve was okay and if she would ever forgive him for the things he had been forced to do. --------------------------------- Lucifer smiled as he felt the ripple effect from Eve being forced into the void. He walked over to the small ancient looking desk and poured himself a small measure of liquor. Things were lining up and shaping up nicely although it would take a great deal more on Eve's part to achieve the end result. The liquor burned all the way down and for a moment Lucifer closed his eyes and relaxed. How long had it been since there had been hope? He had almost lost track. --------------------------------- Eve choked and gasped. She lay in the fetal position on a dirty floor shaking from cold and exhaustion. The dirty straw covering the floor was alive with bugs and rats scurrying around seeking food. Eve threw up and didn't care as she laid in it. She was covered in filth and half crazed with pain. Days, weeks, months time had ceased to exist in the place she had been sent to. She had no idea where she was or why she was here all her attempts to escape had been unsuccessful as well as her searches for Time. Morning came slowly here and the light began to leak in from the single high window on the east side of the cell. Eve heard the door bolt slide back slowly and then the sudden wrenching pain as she was lifted by her long hair and dragged from her cell. The man strung her up by her wrists until her toes just touched the floor. "You are too defiant for your own good woman. Too weak to fight anymore and yet you still hold onto your arrogance." "Gotta have something to amuse myself with." Eve spat a mouthful of foul spit in his face. "This could be so much easier on you if you'd only accept you are nothing more than a slave here." He turned and picked up a razor sharp scalpel. He walked around behind her and pulled up one of her wings making an incision just below it. He sunk the scalpel in as deep as it would go and ran it across her back from just under the one set of wings to just under the other set. After making the incision he pulled the skid up and examined the muscles connecting the base of her wings into her shoulder blades. Eve dry heaved as the pain assaulted her. He stabbed her in the side with an injection of a mild pain killer he didn't like it if she passed out before he'd finished. He made a vertical incision along her spine and examined her spine with slow leisure poking it with needles from time to time. He dropped the first incision and allowed it to begin to close and heal while he poked at her spine. "An extraordinary creature you are woman." The man stood and set the bloody scalpel down on the table. "It's hard to fathom how something so unique could be so generously tossed into my lap to study. After all it's no every day that I get such a wonderful specimen delivered to me. A wonderful twist of fate you landing here in my lap so to speak." "Yeah lucky me." Eve muttered. The man brought the flesh biting whip down across her stomach. Eve screamed despite herself. The man enjoyed his perversions after his science and each day was a new dose of pain and torment. The metal ends tore chunks of flesh out of her flat stomach and threw splatters of blood across the wall. Eve groaned as she went slack in her restraints slipping into unconsciousness. Eve stirred slowly awake in her dank cell starting to regain consciousness as her head started to spin and her body began to ache. Her nostrils flared and she caught the scent of demon's blood. Eve's eyes snapped open and she stared across the cell at a small doe eyed child shivering half naked on the floor. The child was only half demon but it was enough demon blood to peak Eve's hunger. Deep inside she knew that the child's blood contained enough demon blood to help her body heal and her fangs ached in hunger. Eve pulled back away from the child and inched back until she was up against the wall. "Are you an angel?" The little half demon child asked in awe. Eve hissed a feral foul sound exposing her sharp fangs as he wings shivered in pent up anger and starvation. The child shrunk back in fear and revulsion and Eve closed her mouth keeping her distance from the child and the temptation of her. The smell of her blood was clear and the faint hue of her demon aura was visible to Eve no matter how far away she inched. Eve could feel her insides shaking and her wings twitching she could feel her steely grip on her control beginning to waver and she cursed the foul man who was making her life such a hell. She opened her eyes and focused on the solid brick wall of the cell. With determination she stood and hurled herself head first into the wall. Her skull connected to the wall and she fell back startled but conscious. She threw herself more violently against the wall and felt peace as she blacked out and slipped into unconsciousness again. The metal floor was freezing cold and Eve knew her skin had frozen to it's surface when she regained consciousness. She braced herself and yanked upwards tearing skin off her body as she removed herself from the floor. She crouched above the floor crying and rocking herself as she shifted from foot to foot to keep them from refreezing to the floor. She reached back into her wings and tore handfuls of feathers from them that she used to place under her feet to keep them insulated against the cold metal floor. She slowly looked around the room for the exit. The walls were smooth polished metal identical to the floor and ceiling without windows or any signs or a door. There was little hope of escaping without even knowing where the way to escape was. Eve laid her forehead down on her knees and ran her hands up and down her arms in a feeble attempt to generate some kind of warmth. Eve closed her eyes and wrapped her wings around herself pulling them tight against her body. She shivered uncontrollably and began to hyperventilate. I need to get out of this Eve shivered again hard. So cold so much pain I need to get out of here, I need to get free get out of here. I'm stronger than this I will not let some maniac destroy my life. I'm stronger than any of this and nothing can hold me... "IN HERE!" Eve screamed. Her wings thrust open and a shockwave was thrust forward blowing the walls of her icy prison apart from the seams. Eve gasped and stood slowly looking at the destruction lying around her. The walls of the steel room had been blown outward on two sides opening into the night. She stumbled and ran out into the night gasping with greedy lungfuls of the clean air. Her wings opened and slowly and with great difficulty lifted her into the sky as she began to rise into the air. She felt drained, weaker than she could ever recall being but free and glad of it. She made it about a half a mile from her icy prison before she collapsed from the sky straight down into the sand below. She laid there and slowly faded into unconsciousness again. --------------------------------- Her skin was cool and being bathed with water. Her lids fluttered and opened as a sluice of cool water bathed her forehead and rand down over her eyelids. She groaned and shifted her sore aching muscles and numerous open wounds. The cool sponge passed over her face again and down her throat and she felt her body temperature evening out. Her eyes focused on the figure holding her and she screamed. Eve backpedaled out of Lucifer's lap like her skin was on fire struggling to cover her nudity. She stopped with a hard oomph when she hit the wall behind her. Her wings wrapped around her torso to cover herself as she stared at Lucifer. He calmly placed the bloody sponge into the basin of water and stood turning away from her. He put the basin on the table then picked up a long dark silk robe which he brought to her. Eve snatched the robe and pulled it over herself covering her nudity. Lucifer didn't say a word before he turned and left the room. She pulled on the soft silk robe and winced and whimpered as she shifted her sore torn up body. She went to the basin of water and began to wipe the remaining dried blood from her skin. Rivulets of red water ran down her legs and puddle on the floor at her feet. Eve stumbled to the sleigh bed and crawled under the sheets. Of Gods and Vampires Ch. 03 Eve was wracked with fever her temperature skyrocketed overnight and her skin poured sweat. Lucifer held her down as she convulsed in the throws of her fevered sleep. He checked the wounds on her back and stomach that would not close and had not begun to heal. The worst injury was a foot and a half long slice along her spine that had swelled becoming an angry red shade. He probed it gently with his fingertips and felt the wet shifting goosh of the puss inside the wound. He rolled her onto her stomach as he probed the wound carefully with his fingers. With slow precision he caused his index finger's nail to lengthen and sharpen until it was an effective size. He used the razor sharp edge of his nail to pull open the edge of the wound and then squeezed the yellow liquid out of the wound. Lucifer drained the puss from the entire length of the laceration on her back and checked the other wounds for infection. None of the other wounds were infected but they didn't appear to be healing as they should have. He stood and walked to a cabinet on the side of the room where he removed a small glass decanter filled with demon's blood. He bathed each of the wounds in the demon's blood with a sponge and watched them. Slowly the injuries on her stomach, sides and upper back closed and the redness seeped out of the wounds. The long laceration on her back did not close and the redness did not decrease at all. There was something wrong with the wound. Eve was shaking and sweating; she whimpered in her sleep and spasmed as the fever raged inside her. Lucifer strapped Eve down to the bed to prevent her from injuring herself and he covered her with a light blanket. As he left the room she was still thrashing against the restraints and her wings were flailing weakly. Eve groaned and began to stir slightly she twisted and felt her were restrained. Eve almost immediately felt the surge of anger and pure rage driven power. Before the door had even opened she threw her wings open and ripped the restraints out of the wooden railings on the bed. She roared in her anger and threw her arm off to the side. A table at the end of the bed flew across the room and shattered against the far wall. She was breathing hard feeling the swell of power tapering off and exhaustion taking it's place. Lucifer stood inside the door watching the naked valkyrie stretching her newly acquired powers. "Feeling better I see." He walked toward the bed. "Why did you restrain me?" Eve hissed. "You've been unconscious for three days fighting an unnatural infection on your spine, it still has not cleared but obviously it's not as bad as it was." He handed her a robe. Eve shrugged on the robe and tied it in the front adjusting it so the open back left her wings unrestrained. Her back was sore and stiff along her spine and she could feel the heat of infection and the tight pucker of a wound trying to heal. Vaguely in some dim part of her brain she recalled being sponged with cool water and her wounds cleaned and bandaged. "You're going to need to get some rest Eve your body is still fighting that infection." Lucifer handed her a dark colored wafer. "A cookie?" Eve raised an eyebrow. "Filled with some additives that will help your body metabolize and heal faster and hopefully help you fight off that infection." Eve mutinously took a bite of the wafer. "Not bad, needs chocolate." "I'll be sure to add some to my next batch." He smirked. Eve chewed silently acutely aware of her state of near nakedness and she clutched the front of her rob closed as she finished the dark wafer. She turned and walked around the room slowly as she contemplated the events leading her here. Exactly where had Diamius had sent her and the purpose of the torture she had gone through. "You should rest." Lucifer cautioned. Eve chuckled and turned to face Lucifer feeling a rush of giddy headiness. She stood barely an inch from the fallen angel's chest and grinned up at his face. "Why?" she chuckled. "I seem to be fated to a life of hell and all too soon a painful death if things continue on this track." Lucifer shook his head. "Fate has always been what you make of it Eve, even fallen angels change their stars." Eve laughed and stumbled falling forward against his chest. "I have no stars and I'm not sure I have a soul left either." Lucifer caught the tipsy Eve and steadied her for a moment. Eve leaned forward and rested her cheek against his broad chest and felt the deep warmth seeping from his skin and the rhythmic pounding of his heart. Eve smiled and leaned forward covering his mouth with her own. Kissing the ruler of hell shouldn't have felt so good, or maybe it should have it was hard to tell at this point in time. Lucifer tasted like sin ought to a dark promise with a sweet underlying remnant of a once angelic nature. Eve felt her grip on consciousness fade and she passed into darkness. --------------------------------- Eve groaned and shifted slowly under the feel of cool silk sheets. Eve felt the unmistakable warm heat of a purely masculine form against her back and froze instinctively. She rolled over and nearly screamed as she stared at a naked Gabriel sleeping next to her. She raised her hand and flexed her fingers barely inches from his skin longing to touch him and find out if he was real but stopped when she noticed the marquis cut diamond ring nestled against a gorgeous gold band on her all important finger. Eve stared at it as if a strange growth had appeared on her hand and then reached to her back to find no wings there. Her fingers went into her mouth and found no vampire teeth. She was mortal as human as the day she was born and for some reason she found herself insanely scared by this realization. Eve was shaking in fear when Gabriel's eyes opened. He smiled at her and ran his fingers through her long black hair. "Good morning beautiful." "Gabriel?" "But of course." Gabriel smiled and pulled her head down so he could kiss her. His tongue slid between her lips and stroked seductively. He got out of the bed and walked into the bathroom to turn on the shower. Eve admired his nude form as he walked back in and scooped her up out of the bed. He carried her into the bathroom and into the shower under the hot spray. Gabriel forced Eve up against the wall of the shower flattening her breasts against the cool tile wall. She moaned as he covered her back and modeled against her biting the side of her neck playfully as the hot water poured down over them. Gabriel bit her neck as he ran his hand down her sides to her thighs. His hands dipped down between her legs and spread the lips of her pussy so he could slide his finger inside her. Eve whimpered as he curled his finger inside of her and yanked her legs open. Gabriel lifted her up and slid his hard dick inside of her body thrusting into her from behind. He pushed her hard against the tile wall as he moved inside her from behind he pulled her head back with a fistful of her hair so he could kiss her roughly. Gabriel grabbed her hips to hold her so he could thrust roughly and quickly in and out of her body bouncing her against the tile wall as the water sluiced down their bodies. He kissed and bit along her neck and shoulders leaving red teeth marks in her skin. Eve ached and squirmed as his nearly immobile prisoner against the tile wall. She felt her stomach starting to flutter as he became rougher and more insistent as he thrust inside her from behind. He ran his hands along the flat smooth span of her stomach down to spread her vaginal lips so he could flick her clit with his finger. He rubbed the hardened nub with his finger alternately flicking and twisting it causing Eve to jerk and jump. He drags his fingernails along the insides of her thighs while he stroked his cock in and out of her. Gabriel lifted her legs and brought them back until he had her at a better angle for a deeper more full penetration. He used the wall for leverage and slammed her against it as he thrust as hard as he could lifting up until he ended up on his tip toes with each inward thrust. Eve shuddered and screamed as she orgasmed she felt her insides clench and then shatter into waves of pleasure as he moved inside of her. Gabriel released inside of her body grabbing her hips as he drained himself into her. Gabriel washed Eve's body slowly using a loofa and some kind of fabulously scented body wash. He massaged shampoo into her hair and then allowed her to return the favor letting her wash every inch of his glorious body. Eve felt a strange kind of overwhelming peace for the first time in a long time as she stood there with him. Donning a large plush robe she followed Gabriel downstairs after their shower and curled up onto a window bench in the sunny breakfast area as Gabriel busied himself in the kitchen. He brought her a plate of fresh fruit with a croissant some cottage cheese and a glass of orange juice. He sat next to her and they ate in relative silence. Something felt strangely wrong and off about everything Eve thought. Besides that she was human and everything before now seemed to have been a strange dream she felt like this place was fake, a pale shadow of what the real world should be. Eve looked down at the brilliant ring on her finger and the man sitting next to her. Everything in her brain screamed that this was paradise and everything in her heart hated it. Eve stood without a word and walked into the kitchen. She looked at the bar and picked up a long chopping knife. Eve poked the end of her finger with the knife and watched a drop of blood blossom on her fingertip. "Eve?" Gabriel stood at the end of the counter. "What's wrong?" "This isn't real." Eve whispered. "Of course it is Eve, this is your home." "It's all wrong." Eve looked at the beautiful man she'd once have given everything to share this life with and buried the knife into her chest. The pain exploded into her being causing her to gasp as she fell. Gabriel caught her in his arms and she looked up at him remembering that night so long ago when he had ended her mortal life. The pain faded and her eyes closed. --------------------------------- "Very well done." Eve groaned and rolled over slowly. Her head ached and her chest hurt. She opened her eyes slowly and saw a brilliant silver katana sword with a black lacquer hilt. "You have seen the facets of your very soul and made choices well hence far. You would choose your own death over a world of falsity." "Wouldn't anyone?" Eve smirked. "Why on earth would I choose to stay in a false world with a false happiness in place of something real whether it was happy or sad?" "So you are the one." The knife glittered quietly. "And you have brought Destiny." The Blade of Destiny formed in her palm and floated slowly to the Sword of Time and stopped. "What would Destiny be without Time?" The Blade of Destiny queried. "Time and Destiny rely on each other Eve. Many Gods and Demons have come in search of me." The Sword of Time's voice was like a musical instrument floating through the air. "Inevitably they have all gone mad living in their fake worlds or tormented by the demons of their own souls. Before I resided here I drove those mad who held me and had not faced who they were. And yet you were strong enough to suffer your pain, leave your heaven, deny the hell of your false life and come here. You come with Destiny to seek me." "I came in the hopes to understand why I exist at all." Eve murmured. "You exist because a carefully devised and executed plan was put into place." Time spoke quietly. "Destiny clings to you because you are Hope though you may not realize it yet. Only Hope can restore the balance that was lost." "What balance?" Eve spat. "The Gods ignore people as they die and things become horrible in the world of men and the Demons make war on the vampires and drag humanity into the dregs in their boredom." "And why do they do this?" Time asked simply. "I'm afraid I am not aware of the whys of much of anything." Eve smirked. "Three worlds. Demons, Gods and Humans. Once humans worshipped their Gods and Demons. They paid worship to them and the Gods and Demons fought their disputes face to face. But the gods became vain and self centered they forgot their feud with the demons and humans forgot their gods. Balance is preserved through ceremony and through the use of tradition to preserve both good and evil in equal measure. Without balance there is nothing but death and a complete end of all things to be had." "So a balance has to be restored." Eve pondered. "Yes and only you can do that." Time whispered. "I don't see how I could do that." "Eve think." Time spoke with patience. "Right now there can be no balance because there are no rulers in heaven." "There is God." Eve said. "He is a pawn of his own lust and desire. He helps no one and cares not anymore for the fate of humans or the balance. With Diamius gone there really is no one left to form a match for Lucifer and restore the balance." "What about Gabriel?" Eve asked. "Gabriel." Time intoned. "He is Lucifer's pawn and has been since they were angels together. Gabriel has never had a reason to hate Lucifer. If he cannot hate Lucifer he cannot rule heaven and restore the balance." "He would have to hate his own brother?" "Yes he would Eve. Hatred is what helps hold the balance and when it's lost then good and evil are no longer at odds. It would take something significant to cause Gabriel to hate Lucifer enough to defy him." "Yes it would." Eve murmured. "Are you ready to return to heaven and do what you must?" Time asked softly. "Yes." "Take us and you will return." Time and Destiny spoke as one. Eve grasped Time in her right hand and Destiny in her left hand and felt them meld with her and disappear into her body. She closed her eyes and felt her body slide through the veil and into the world of heaven she had left. --------------------------------- Eve stood before Diamius' headless corpse in the hallways of his magnificent palace and she felt a cold rage bubble up from inside of her. Eve called forth Time and Destiny and felt her wings burst from her back the twin pair of wings beat powerfully. Rage coiled up from inside of Eve and she flexed powerfully and felt the power coiling up from inside of her belly. She screamed and thrust her wings wide releasing a blow of power that leveled the palace with a single motion causing the entire structure to explode around her. The anger in Eve's heart took hold and she leapt into the sky flying toward the silver spire cutting the sky in the east. Her wings beat hard and she rose in the sky shooting forward at incredible speed rising higher and higher into the sky until she was level with grand meeting room. Eve roared and charged the glass windows of the palace with her sword and dagger drawn. Eve skidded to a halt on the marble floors of the meeting room. She turned to face God who sat on his thrown looking entirely unruffled at the appearance of the four winged angel. "And so you join us at last Eve." God murmured quietly. "I have come to kill you and end your reign of selfish indifference." Eve growled. "Do you think you will be able to?" He chuckled. "Saphora remove this infidel from my presence." "My pleasure." Saphora purred. Eve turned to face the pink winged angel. Saphora charged Eve and found herself caught and thrown across the room by Eve's roundhouse kick. Saphora grabbed a handful of Eve's hair and yanked her around. Eve used the butt of Destiny and slammed it into Saphora's gut garnering a deep grunt of pain from the angel. Eve snatched Saphora by the hair and spun her around finally bringing Saphora's head down into her knee knocking her unconscious. Eve turned and faced God again and found herself facing Gabriel. Her breath caught and she felt a constriction on her heart at the sight of him. He was naked from the waist up and as beautiful as anything she could have remembered. His icy white blue wings glistened in the morning light and his white hair and icy blue eyes perfected his angelic presence. "Stay out of my way Gabriel I'll have no problems knocking you to the floor." Eve snarled. "Do what you must as will I." Gabriel said quietly. Eve charged Gabriel and crossed the Sword of Time across the golden sword Gabriel was carrying. They turned and crossed swords again and Eve rounded and punched Gabriel in the nose breaking cartilage. He grunted and came around with a swoop of his leg and knocked her to the side. Eve rolled and used Destiny to cut Gabriel's Achilles tendon causing him to collapse to the floor. Eve stood slowly and looked at the bleeding angel at her feet. She walked slowly toward God. Saphora grabbed her from behind and pulled at her hair. Eve threw Saphora off her back and buried her fangs into the young angel's throat draining her of blood. Eve threw Saphora's empty shell across the floor and turned to face God now covered in blood and sweat her wings were shaking with adrenaline. Eve strode toward God with anger and hatred in her eyes. She lifted the Blade of Time and climbed the stairs toward the throne. "So you would be the one?" God smirked. "And what shall you do with the kingdom of heaven Eve? Will you be so able to have the angels love you?" Eve grasped him by the hair and hissed into his face. "I have no use for heaven or the love of your angels I came to remove an ineffectual leader from a position of power." "Tell yourself what you like." God smiled. "We all do when we remove someone else from power so that we may take it." Eve growled and slit his throat with the Sword or Time watching as his blood spilled out over the floor like a waterfall of death. Eve walked down the stairs from the throne and stepped past Gabriel who was sitting on the floor in a puddle of his own blood. His wound was slowly sealing itself closed and he would be able to walk in only a few minutes more. Eve looked down at Gabriel. "So now you will rule heaven Eve?" Gabriel whispered hoarsely. "I don't want heaven." Eve let Time and Destiny meld back into her body. "You can stay here with me Eve, I still love you." Gabriel smiled. "No thank you." Eve turned and tore a hole through the realm back into the human world. She walked through the hole without a backward glance. Of Gods and Vampires Ch. 04 Eve watched the sun set from the roof of the tower of the House of Black. The thing about vampire bodies was that they dissolved into a fine powdery dust and blew away leaving no trace of blood or tissue for humans to investigate. The House of Black was an empty tomb and silent witness to a massacre that no one would ever know about. But Eve remembered every blow of that night and every drop of vampire blood she had spilled. Eve reached behind her and fingered the horrific scar that now graced her spinal column. A chilling reminder of her trials in the false reality she had endured to reach the Sword of Time. So now she carried Time and Destiny inside her body and she had become the murdered of Gods and Demons alike. Eve stroked the mutilated skin and felt the slight twinge of pain still radiating from the scar. She sighed and watched the golden orb setting in the horizon. The sky was the same blue, the grass the same green, clouds the same white and yet everything in her world seemed to be standing on end at odds with her perceptions. Her mind was mulling over what she needed to do and what it would require to do so. "Time." She whispered softly. "Yes Eve." The Sword of Time answered in her head. "Why didn't I kill Baal when I slept with him?" "Because," Time answered. "Baal was never human he had none of the life force that vampires feed upon during sex for you to consume. Had you slept with Joven you would have killed him as he was once human turned demon." "Then why did I drain from Gabriel?" Eve thought back. "Gabriel sealed his power and unsealed it with the souls of vampires who were once human. By using their souls he took on a portion of their human soul and life force, the life force which then you could feed upon." "So only those who were once human or have used specific processes to obtain a portion of a human life force can be killed through sex?" Eve pondered. "That is correct. Those who are created as gods or demons cannot be harmed intercourse with a vampire or with you." Eve sighed softly. "Eve." Time whispered. "Yeah?" "You have more power than you might think." Eve scoffed. "It's true Eve." Time intoned. "You have strength you have no yet tapped and there is much more to you than meets the eye. There is a great deal about you that you still need to learn or discover in order to succeed and survive." "I think facing Lucifer might be more difficult that I'll be ready for." "You think you have to face him?" Time purred. "In one way or another yes." "Lucifer is a very unique individual not unlike yourself Eve. Lucifer has never been one to extend himself to help others without striking a useful bargain or involving them in his plans. And never once, not in all his years has he given his blood to save the life of another. And yet for you he willing spilled his own blood to save your life when Destiny pierced your heart." "You're point?" Eve muttered. "There is more to Lucifer than the stories of evil you grew up hearing and you would be wise to keep that in the back of your mind at all times." Time grew quiet. Eve closed her eyes and wrapped her arms around her body closing her eyes. A cold wind blew from the north across her back ruffling her feathers. She thought about the false world in which she was a human once more, blissfully happy with Gabriel. Eve longed for that false reality to be a true reality and wished that she could feel Gabriel hold her and wake up next to him each day. Eve pushed aside her memories and her thoughts of Gabriel and she considered the paths she had lying before her and which one would be the easiest to walk. With her eyes closed she rolled her shoulders and began to shift her wings with her mind until they began to retreat into her back. --------------------------------- Gabriel was sitting on the throne in the silver palace looking over the backs of several dozens of angels who had pledged their loyalty to him. Deep inside he felt a deep despair and the weight of the burdens he bore. Lucifer was still his brother and Gabriel loved him deeply. Gabriel knew that he owed Lucifer a great deal. Gabriel stretched his six wings and began to send the angels out on their recon missions they were pulling in the remaining straggling angels to bring them into the fray. Within a week or two he would have all the angels in heaven brought in to serve or they would be dead. Once the angels were all under one leader then Gabriel would find out what Lucifer wanted next. --------------------------------- Lucifer strode across the polished black floors of his room in the black palace of hell. He looked over the landscape through the semi transparent obsidian windows and watched the demons fighting below. Everything was in alignment as he had hoped but somehow something was missing, one final act was coming and this was the one thing he did not know how to bring to completion. The demons were restless and there was little he would be able to do to prevent them from taking their viciousness out on the world of men. The balance was in tatters and he was in a position to attempt to restore it. Eve was the key but he was not aware what her final act need be. All this time he had worked to bring her into being, worked to keep her alive, worked to manipulate the elements around her to bring her to her potential and yet now things were stagnated. Lucifer considered that he might have missed some crucial step along the way and that she would not reach her full potential and restore the balance between good and evil, heaven and hell. If this was what happened there was no hope left all three worlds would be torn apart. The world of men would fall to the demons or angles and heaven and hell would crumble without the human world to support them. Lucifer turned and headed through a tear in the fabric of reality to go to his yearly meeting with the humans he manipulated. --------------------------------- Eve stood in her bedroom and rubbed lotion over her long sleek legs. She continued upward with the lotion and coated her shaved genitals in a thin layer of the lotion rubbing it into the skin. She wiped the remaining lotion over her belly and walked over to her vanity. She picked up a small crystal spray bottle filled with her favorite perfume a very delicate soft extraction of lotus blossoms. She sprayed her wrists, throat and lightly down her stomach and then waited a couple minutes for the perfume to dry. Eve opened a drawer on her vanity and pulled out a delicate gold box. She opened the box and smiled as she fingered the little scrap of nothing inside the box. The lingerie had been purchased on impulse quite some time ago and never used. The bodysuit had a small single string on each side of her hips with a thong portion that was made up of beautiful embroidered red flowers with semi transparent fabric giving a peek a boo look between the black silk and red flowers. Running up from the top of the thong was a cinch up string that would make crisscross of string up her stomach to just under her breasts. Her breasts were lifted and held by more black fabric in a floral motif with embroidered red flowers. The cups only covered up to her nipples leaving them hard and exposed poking out over the tops of the embroidered red flowers and the cups were held up with small ornate black straps in a semi floral design over her shoulders. Eve pulled on the bodysuit easing it into place and making sure every strap and string was in place. She turned around in front of her body length mirror and checked every inch of the suit. Eve selected a choker from her jewelry box that was tight around her throat and had a few ornate dangles of black onyx beads with a singly red ruby to the center of it. She walked over to the closet and pulled out a dress she'd never worn. The bodice was form fitting and it was black in color. It was a strapless gown with a very slight dip between the breasts. The skirt of the gown was ruffled and gathered in the front with a short train in the back. The gather came up to high thigh and was just slightly off to the left hand side with alternate black and red ruffles. Eve slid the dress on slowly and straightened it until it was perfect. She picked up a comb and ran it though her long straight black hair until it fell down her back in a sleek shiny waterfall. A final mirror check confirmed that she looked as good as she was going to get and that the back of her dress just covered her new wicked spinal scar. Eve walked out of the house borrowing one of the House of Black's cars on her way out. --------------------------------- Gabriel carefully unwrapped the shiny silver mirror he had discovered after the death of God. The mirror was an ancient relic and had been closely guarded Gabriel only knew about it as he was charged with protecting it along with many other of the secrets of heaven. The mirror provided the holder to view anything or anyone in any of the realms at any time. With the mirror one could watch a person, place, thing or point in time for as long as they pleased. Gabriel stroked the silvery surface of the mirror longingly and carefully pulled it out of the box. "Show me Eve." Gabriel whispered. He smiled as the vision of Eve driving a sleek silver BMW came into view. --------------------------------- The Plaza Hilton hotel was a grand old affair with a grand sweeping entrance and valet parking. Eve slid her car up under the columned overhang and handed her keys to a valet as she got out. She ignored the obvious checking out the young man did of her legs and breasts as she left the car. Eve walked past the doorman and proceeded up the wide marble staircase to the grand ballroom. The ballroom was decorated to the nines for the annual corporate event and the high rollers were already smoozing their business contacts, the young ladies invited for color and the bigger sharks in the pond. Eve took full advantage of the ruffled part in the front of her dress to show off her legs and the high heels she was wearing. Eve let her gaze rake over the high rollers and she smiled as the sharks picked up on blood in the water. Eve was still well known around town as she had been the House of Black's poster girl. She was the president of one of the House of Black's many Fortune 500 companies and her net worth on the books was estimated in the hundreds of millions which had always given her a spot on Forbes' richest people list. The collective gathering of human high rollers and dealers recognized her as a financial whale. Eve pasted on her best false smile and walked down to be greeted by the first wave of greedy old men and hungry young ones. She made the appropriate responses and quipped when appropriate and used a biting comment when anyone became overzealous or rude. A pleasant young man asked her for a dance and Eve found herself being whisked around the ballroom. --------------------------------- Lucifer had been aware of Eve the moment she had entered the ballroom. He watched her from the balcony as she chatted with the high rollers and whirled around the dance floor with a young buck looking for a meal ticket. Lucifer smiled despite himself she was comfortable in any environment and commanded attention wherever she went. Eve was a tiger amongst unsuspecting lambs and they bent over backwards to get closer to her. He wondered if any of them knew her as he did if they would still risk getting close to her. Eve standing over a dead demon covered in blood feral in appearance every bit the warrior valkyrie of myth. Lucifer weaved through the crush of people exchanging polite words as he made his way toward the open dancing area. Lucifer slid in behind the young man who had been monopolizing Eve's attentions and tapped him on the shoulder. "My turn young man." Lucifer smiled as the young man quickly stepped aside. "My, my, my how nicely you clean up young Eve." "On occasion I can manage to look half way civilized. Although I do believe that my uncivilized hellion can be infinitely more attractive." "I couldn't agree more." Lucifer chuckled. Lucifer placed one hand in the small of Eve's back and took her hand as he took the lead. She smiled and moved easily into the steps of the dance following him easily. Lucifer was a remarkably smooth dancer and Eve would have expected nothing less of a former angel turned ruler of hell. "So my dear," Lucifer smiled. "Your trip up went well I take it." "I'm sure you already know the answer to that." Eve smirked. "Are you looking to take over the world of men now that the world of heaven has fallen beneath your feet?" Lucifer looked at her seriously. "What could the world of men possibly hold for me?" Eve shook her head. "Then why are you here Eve?" Lucifer queried. Eve smiled. "Let's go somewhere we don't need to edit our conversations." "Of course," Lucifer guided Eve off the dance floor. "I have a standing reservation in the penthouse we can discuss things there." Eve was quiet on the long ride up the elevator and remained mute as she looked over the penthouse suite. The suite of course was sumptuous and contained a small kitchenette, open sitting room entertaining room, a large bedroom, master bath and balcony. Eve set her bag down on one of the end tables and stared out the windows over the city. "So you didn't manage to take over heaven." Lucifer stood behind her. "Didn't want it." Eve shrugged. "Don't blame you." "Wasn't all bad but it's not my style." Eve turned to face Lucifer. "So what you'd prefer to take over hell?" Lucifer grinned. "Not all of it." Eve leaned forward and kissed Lucifer. In the real world he tasted even better; honey drenched sin smooth as a fine dark chocolate and headier than any drug. She could feel her fangs aching and pushing at her lips in an attempt to protrude fully. Eve felt the hand in her hair and was yanked back. "So all of this is for me then is it?" Lucifer looked over Eve's clothing. "Is that objectionable?" Eve licked her lips. "No." Lucifer wrapped her hair around his fist. "I can't say as I object at all but I won't fool myself into thinking there aren't other motives behind this. That being said I will take what is freely offered." Lucifer yanked Eve's head back and went for her throat. He bit her throat viciously as he pushed her against the huge windows overlooking the city. Lucifer tore the bodice of her dress to her navel exposing the red floral embroidered bodysuit cups and the laced up runner heading down toward her crotch. He pushed the torn bodice down to her hips letting his gaze wander over her torso. Eve was shaking with a mixture of fear and excitement that provided a brilliant rush of adrenaline and endorphins to her blood. Lucifer kissed Eve hard and bite her lower lip letting her blood coat his tongue as he probed her mouth. He let his fingers run down the huge scar on her back slowly for a moment before he whipped her around to look at it. "I don't recall this being here the last time I saw you Eve." Lucifer examined her back. "Who did this?" "Someone in the void while I was seeking Time." Eve murmured. "It must have caused you a great deal of pain." He thumbed the scar in a teasing manner. "It was tolerable." Eve responded. Lucifer slid his hands down under the waist of her dress where it was hanging on her hips and cupped her ass cheeks. He eased the skirt down off her hips and let it fall to the floor as he massaged her ass and looked over her shoulder at her reflection in the panes of glass in front of them. They made a picture perfect dark couple; black hair, blue eyes, her bronzed skin, his honeyed olive skin. He was taller than her by over a head and had broad well muscled shoulders and an all over powerful athletic build with muscles to spare. She was lean and amply curved with a tough underlying athletic build. She turned away from the glass pane and pulled the front of his shirt open snapping off buttons as she tore the fabric. Eve began to gently bite his chest as she unbuckled his belt and unzipped his fly. She pushed his pants down off his hips and let them fall to the floor. Lucifer's cock was impressive even only half hard as it stood now. There was little doubt in her mind that when fully hard he'd be larger by far than either Baal or Gabriel had been. Eve looked up at the dark angel and held his gaze as she sunk down to her knees before him. She cupped his balls in her hands stroking them with her fingertips as she tilted stared up into Lucifer's eyes. She trailed a fingernail along the underside of his shaft and ran it around the head cock watching it lengthen and harden. Eve parted her lips and extended her tongue to follow the path of her fingernail starting at the base of his shaft and tracing up to and around the head of his cock. She gently flicked the tendon at the base of the head of his penis and stroked the length of him in her hands. She twirled her tongue around the head of him and then opened her mouth and slid it down over his entire length. Eve closed her eyes and slid down until he was in her throat before she pulled back all the way to the tip of his head. She flicked her tongue over the end of his cock as she massaged his balls with her hands. Lucifer groaned taking a fist full of her hair as she sucked on his dick he twisted the long black strands around his fingers. Eve let the tips of her teeth gentle drag over his length as she went down on him again eliciting a sharp intake of breath from Lucifer. Blood pounded in her ears and her body temperature began to climb causing sweat to pop up along her spine. She curled her tongue around the shaft of his cock and used it to tighten her hold on him as she slid back again. She kissed the end of his head gently and licked the salty taste of precum off her lips. Eve leaned forward and nipped the skin below his navel just above the root of his shaft. Lucifer jerked her hair and pulled her head back holding it firm as her brushed her lips with the head of his dick. She opened her mouth and he thrust himself into her throat again pulling her hair forward as he did. She sucked hard tightening her lips around the base of his shaft as he began to thrust in and out of her mouth. Eve moved with the thrusts of his hips using her tongue to stroke the underside of his cock as he thrust in and our of her mouth. She felt his balls swell and the length of him swell and jerk as he began to release into her throat. A warm pulse of salty cum coated the back of her throat and tongue as he thrust into her mouth again. Eve swallowed around the length of him and continued to suck on him until he had released the last drop of his seed into her mouth. Lucifer put his pointer and middle finger underneath her chin and gently guided her to her feet in front of him. He slowly stroked her face with one hand and broke the string of her thong with the other. He pushed Eve back onto the top of the desk in the sitting room and leaned down in overtop of her. The length of his body rubbed against hers as he pinned her down to the desk. Eve hissed as he bit her erect exposed nipples. He sucked hard on each of them and trailed bites up her throat to her neck. Lucifer extended his fangs and dragged them along her throat very slowly listening to the quickening of her blood in her veins and her sharp intake of breath. He dragged one fang over her skip bringing up a small line of blood on her throat. He licked the blood from her neck and felt his knees grow weak in a way he'd never known. Her blood was unlike anything he had ever tasted in his life it was all at once more potent, more powerful and yet more innocent than any he'd tasted before. Lucifer bite her throat sinking his fangs down into her artery and dragged hard on her blood. Of Gods and Vampires Ch. 04 Eve gasped and shook under him she grabbed his hair and felt her body jerk as her blood was pulled from her artery. She felt lightheaded and incoherent as he took another deep draw of her blood. Lucifer released her throat and snarled in a feral manner befitting his infamous reputation; blood dripping from his fangs and a darkness in his eyes. Her wound sealed almost instantly without leaving a single mark on her skin. Lucifer kissed her hard letting her taste her own blood on his lips and tongue. He dragged her to the edge of the desk and stroked the head of his cock along her slit. She moaned as he teased it around her wet hole and stroked her clitoris over and over again. He watched the play of pleasure across her face as he licked, bit and sucked on her body. He dragged the length of his cock over her slit and rubbed her navel with it. He watched her frustration rising as he tormented her. Eve hissed and threw Lucifer off her. She stood and circled him like a cat toying with prey examining the chiseled sculpture of his body for the best angle of attack. She curled back her lips exposing her fangs in a feral snarl. She backed him up against one of the plush sofas grinning as she watched him. She gently shoved him back so he fell onto the sofa in front of her. Eve slid into Lucifer's lap slowly straddling his thighs and pushing him back against the cushion of the sofa. She licked the side of his neck and bit his shoulders softly refraining from breaking his skin. She moved her body slowly like a belly dancer's rolling her stomach and hips causing her wet pussy to brush against his erect cock with each pass. Eve curled her fingers in his hair and leaned in to bite his lower lip before teasingly kissing him. He dug his fingers into the sides of her hips and yanked her down impaling her on his cock and swallowing her moan into his throat. She jerked in his lap and then undulated in a serpentine motion moving on his length and eliciting a deep groan of pleasure form him in return. Eve felt full and stretched her body getting used to the size of him inside of her. She could feel her muscles tightening around him as she moved in his lap and the increasing wetness and warmth between her legs as she rode his lap. Lucifer cupped her ass cheeks and squeezed them as she began to thrust her hips against him in a slow rhythm. Eve felt her back beginning to itch and her skin stretching and straining and her head swam. She rested her forehead against his shoulder rocking her hips slower and slower as her body shook. Lucifer wrapped his hands around her back and held her steady. He lifted her head and looked at her eyes and then lifted her lips and pushed on her gums. They turned white under pressure and did not quickly return to color he'd drained too much blood from her at one time. Lucifer lightly smacked her in the face bringing her around with a violent start as she hissed at him and struggled wildly. He groaned as she thrashed and her body contracted around his cock and her struggles made her hips jerk and thrust in a violent fashion. He Grabbed her chin in his hand and held her head still. He used one of his fingers to force her mouth open and then pulled her down to his neck placing her fangs against his skin. Eve's eyes glassed over as she could feel the rhythm of his heart beat just under the skin and felt her hunger flare. She sank in h teeth and drew on him as he had of her. There was an instant kick to the stomach like feeling as the blood coursed like fire into her body. Her spine cracked as she bucked violently like serpent and every muscle in her body contracted into a spasm of twitching. Lucifer moaned as she pulled blood from his body and her pussy clenched on his cock. Lucifer's blood was the most potent thing Eve had ever tasted. He was like original sin in a delicious heady alcoholic drug. She took one more draw of his blood before tearing her fangs from his throat and letting her head fall back. Her back split open and her wings unfolded spreading to their full span deep black pair laying over white. She bucked her hips hard and brought her face down close to his. Her pupils were wide and her body was alive with oversensitivity to everything as it metabolized his blood. She thrust her body against his in a feral and frantic frenzy feeling her stomach flutter and her muscles clench around his length. Her head fell back and she abandoned herself to nothing more than the desire to mate and the need to fulfill a most basic and animal instinct. She alternated between short quick thrusts of her hips to low slow movements drawing out the pleasure and sensations. Lucifer finally grabbed her hips and stood impaling her deeply as he walked to the wall and pinned her back against it. He thrust hard and repeatedly into her body snarling as he bit her neck and sucked on her nipples. Eve was shaking and crying out as she wrapped her legs around his hips and thrust herself to meet each one of his powerful thrusts into her. She dragged her fingernails down his back drawing blood with their sharp points and he reciprocated leaving marks on her hips as he moved inside her. Eve screamed as she orgasmed feeling like her body would come apart at the seams as she released. Her body bucked so violently she felt herself hitting the wall behind her and her wings beat as well. Lucifer released a feral groan and he began to release into her body he held her hips against him as her muscles milked the hot fluid out of his cock. His eyes closed and his wings burst forth eclipsing Eve and darkening the room. His wings looking like they had been made from pure darkness spun into huge powerful dark wings that radiated power and force. Eve started opened mouthed as her body came down from an amazing high and she took it all in. He slowly unpinned her from the wall and stepped away sliding out of her body. He shrugged his shoulders and the site of his wings disappeared back into his honeyed olive skin. Eve slowly shrugged her wings back into her body. Eve was very tired and said nothing as Lucifer picked her up and took her to the bedroom. She laid her head on his chest and listened to his heartbeat as she fell asleep. Deep inside she felt the sharp twinge of pain beginning to build. --------------------------------- The mirror shattered against the wall in the silver palace. Gabriel said not a word as he strode out of the room and rallied the masses of angels that had been assembled at his command. He stood on the veranda of the palace and felt the shift in the universe around him and felt the change rippling through his body. --------------------------------- Baal slipped through a hole in the realms at the end of the bed and took a knee. "My Lord Lucifer." Baal whispered. "There had better," Lucifer muttered. "Be a very good reason for you being here and waking me up to boot." "I apologize my Lord." Baal bowed his head. "An army of angels marches to war in the shadow realms as we speak." "Leave us." Lucifer snarled. Baal retreated from the room. Eve slowly sat up in the bed and looked over her shoulder at Lucifer who was now standing by the foot of the bed. "You knew this would happen." Lucifer didn't look at her as he spoke. "You knew that the being here, doing this would turn Gabriel into my enemy." Eve didn't say a word she stood slowly using her hand to steady herself against the bed as a wave of blinding pain shook her to nausea. "It appears that I need to defend myself now." Lucifer smirked. Lucifer tore a hole through the dimensions and left Eve sitting there. Eve fell to the floor clutching her belly as she curled into a fetal position against the pain. "Time." She croaked. "Yes Eve." "What's going on? I did what needed to be done." Eve whispered. "With all decisions there are consequences for all involved and all who will come from then on." Time replied. Eve curled up on the carpet and wept silently. --------------------------------- The army of angels streamed into the shadow realms dressed for war. Their armor gleamed and their weapons were unsheathed as they took up positions on the side of a great span of flat ground. The shadow realm was buffeted by it's violent winds as it was so close to hell the last barrier before you were in hell proper. But of course etique was preserved even in war and no invading of hell or heaven was permitted unless one or the other fell. Wars were waged in the shadow realms to spare the real realms from harm. Perhaps this was why the shadow realms were barren shells as they were now. Demons were streaming into the shadow realm from the other end of the great plain. They bore little or no armor their hideous forms serving as armor enough. Spikes, scales, slime, shell, bone. Their bodies were as varied as the animals nature provided them to model themselves after. Weapons were both forged and naturally occurring for the demons and their taste for flesh was as great a weapon as their lack of fear. Lucifer crouched on a small raised plateau of rock and watched the demons and angels entering the world. He saw Gabriel standing with his forces and smirked slowly. His brother's wings had finally sealed and become a single powerful pair of wings that looked as though the heavenly clouds themselves had been lashed together to form them. So Eve has succeeded after all. He chuckled softly and wondered if she was laughing as she watched her work unfold. --------------------------------- Eve coughed up another foul mouthful of bile and shook with cold and pain. She whimpered and held herself as best as she could against the pain. With difficulty she summoned Destiny and slid it into the realms forming a tiny crack. "Baal." She croaked. "Help me." The demon king stepped out from the realms silently and looked down at the broken woman on the floor. She was neither angel or demon as she was right now and yet she had become stronger than any of them. For many years Baal had spoken with Destiny alone in the black palace and learned a great deal more than he should have been privy too. He knelt beside Eve now honoring a bargain struck so many years ago between him and Destiny. "Baal take me to the shadow realms please." Eve whispered. "I will." Baal stepped through his hole. --------------------------------- When Baal appeared in the center of the plain holding Eve it was the last thing Lucifer or Gabriel had expected to see. Eve's skin was ashy and she was still clad in only the smallest scrap of lingerie. She was limp in Baal's arms and there was blood and bile along the corners of her mouth. Baal set Eve down slowly on the ground and she smiled faintly. "You know," Eve muttered. "Never thought I'd die like this really. Always thought I'd die on my feet fighting as I was meant to." "You were never meant to fight Eve." Baal brushed a lock of hair out of her face. "Maybe." Eve coughed hard and choked for a moment. "There's a song Baal. Ever since I first heard it I've lingered on it. Maybe it's just me being silly but I always felt like they wrote it for me a band called Linkin Park." "How does it go?" Baal questioned. Eve smiled and sang filled with pain and emotion hearing it play in her brain as she did: "In this farewell There's no blood There's no alibi 'Cause I've drawn regret From the truth Of a thousand lies So let mercy come And wash away What I've done I'll face myself To cross out what I've become Erase myself And let go of what I've done Put to rest What you thought of me While I clean this slate With the hands of uncertainty So let mercy come And wash away What I've done I'll face myself To cross out what I've become Erase myself And let go of what I've done For what I've done I start again And whatever pain may come Today this ends I'm forgiving what I've done So let mercy come And wash away What I've done I'll face myself To cross out what I've become Erase myself And let go of what I've done What I've done Forgiving what I've done" Eve's voice cracked on the last word of the song and her body went stiff. The breath left her lungs, her eyes closed and her heart stopped. Baal laid her down on the ground and stepped away. He walked toward his place in the world of demons and away from the woman who had held hope in her hands. Both Lucifer and Gabriel were at the heads of their respect armies. Each brother had walked to within a few hundred yards of Eve as she had sang with so much sadness and strangely misplaced hope. Baal walked past Lucifer a short distance and turned back to look at Eve. Lucifer and Gabriel were glaring hatred at each other, a hatred that would never be put right. Their wings were symbols of their leadership of their realms, good and evil, dark and light. Balance had been restored and the war would cleanse and restore the way of things. The worlds were preserved. Eve's body was so pale and ashen lying on the bare ground. The wind blew furiously and then died down completely stopping. There was a soft light radiating from Eve's flesh that began to grown and concentrate in her chest. There was a slow splitting of the skin between her breasts and then a long horribly wicked sword began to rise from the gaping whole in her chest blade first. The end of the blade rose slowly and it continued to rise up out of her until a full length of very close to four and half feet of sword floated just above her. There was a brilliant gold light coming from the long sword much like the light from the sun. The wound it had proceeded out of sealed on Eve's chest. The sword moved to Eve's right hand and fitted itself to her palm. Her body suddenly arched up from the ground hanging as if suspended with only the top of her head and the heels of her feet still touching the ground. She gasped and there was a horrible shriek that issued forth from her throat. A brilliant blinding light flashed from her body and everyone was forced to look away or lose their sight forever. As the collected armies looked back what they saw was something they would never forget. Eve stood tall her hand was wrapped around the new strange sword and it was poised to her side like a deadly appendage to her body. Her black fell in layered waves around her face and blew across her eyes giving her a remarkably wild and warrior look as her icy blue eyes drifted in and out of view behind it. She was clad in a long gold colored dress that seemed neither classically styled or modern styled. The color did not clash with her bronzed skin but seemed to heighten the coloring she naturally possessed and bring out the stark black hair and blue eyes. Her feet were still bare adding a touch of heathen to her and her shapely calves were left visible. But what drew all eyes was Eve's newest addition. Sprouting from her back and reaching into the sky higher and more magnificent than anything were a single pair of spun gold wings. They looked as though they were made of sunlight laced with stardust and molten gold. Each wing would have weighed a ton by flesh and bone standards but these appeared to weight nothing and their massive size eclipsed even those that Lucifer and Gabriel bore. Eve ran a finger delicately over the sword whose name she needed not ask. She stretched her new powerful wings and she surveyed the war that was about to break out. She smiled genuinely for the first time in so many years that she had forgotten the feeling associated with the action. Her heart was light and filled with a brilliant happiness that could match her wings. Eve looked at Gabriel and then at Lucifer. "Hope lives." She laughed and vanished. Of Gods and Vampires "Yes I feel it, her entire body is letting of pulses of power and heat, just like a demon's body." ----------- There was only heat in this place, heat and blood and death. No escape, only acceptance. Eve shuddered and looked around. The ground was soaked in blood, the smell was awful, the smell of charred flesh and death. She look around her and found herself on a battlefield, one strewn with the corpses of demons, humans, and angels. Eve blinked. Angels? Surely it couldn't be. She crawled to the nearest one and touched the soft white feathers, it was real or had been. The perfect face marred by a demon sword that had cleaved it in half. Eve crawled through the wreckage and the bodies and up onto a hill. She peeked over looking down at several humans, four demons, and one angel standing together. The angel looked at the demons and shook her head, she alighted into the air leaving the humans and demons alone. But where they demons? They looked like angels tarnished with blood and soot, dark in skin tone and the color of their wings. The humans stood uncertainly, watching the angel-demons carefully. One of the four angel-demons picked up a half dead demon lying at his feet. This was obviously a demon, its bulging muscles roped with scales and hair, red and fire charred skin, yellow eyes, cloven hooves, a nasty looking beast. The angel-demon held the dying demon up and then cut him in the belly, a long slide of steel that started the blood flowing out of the demon like water. One of the other angel-demons held a chalice under the flow of blood, allowing it to pool into cup until overflowing. Once the cup was full the first angel-demon tore the heart out of the breast of the demon. Eve watched silently as the four angel-demons drank the blood and ate the heart of the dead demon. Angels no longer, Eve amended, watching as their wings turned black and leathery and their skin dark. The four known as the demi-gods. ----------- Eve's head was splitting when she awakened three days after the rave. Her body felt light and oddly tense, like a spring wound far too tight. The elders requested her presence upon hearing of her awakening. She descended into the basement of the Black household and took a seat at the long oak table around which the elders of the coven had gathered. Sireen and Gabriel sat directly in front of her and the spaces occupying her left and right side were vacant, the chairs removed. "Eve would you care to explain the events that occurred at the rave three nights past?" Sireen spoke slowly. Eve explained in detail the evening from start to finish and relayed the information about the demon's single drop of blood that put her into a catatonic state. After she had finished the room was silent for several minutes. "One drop of demon blood and you were knocked out of service for three days?" Lucien Black looked incredulous. "A demon of that power has not been seen in the mortal realm since the Crusades at least." A murmur of agreement followed the proclamation. "This is indeed quite vexing." Sireen steepled his fingers and looked at Eve. "Its imperative that we find out exactly what this demon is up to and most importantly that we keep Eve away from him as it seems she is what he is after; the simple fact that he did not kill Eve when he had the chance means that something very serious is in the works." Eve stared at her clasped hands on her lap and said nothing. She was deeply embarrassed that she had fallen into the trap of a demon and that she had been so weak that she had been unable to take out the demon when she had the chance. She had not confided in anyone about her dreams and would not do so for fear the elders would lock her in the basement until the demon gave up and returned to Hell. Gabriel had been unusually quiet and withdrawn throughout the entire meeting, Eve sneaked a glance at him from under her bangs. He sat with a far away look, lines of pain and anger etched on his face. Eve sighed and remained silent with her eyes downcast until the meeting ended. ----------- Gabriel watched Eve as she left the hall, her steps were quick but subdued lest the elders try to imprison her for her impertinence. Things were coming back full circle, Sireen would soon piece it together and Gabriel's life of anonymity would be over. Who he really was and what would happen from there rested with Eve and a demon set on bringing about the climax of the demi-god's mistakes. ----------- Eve was hot, so hot. She tossed and turned under the sheet, the covers long since kicked off. Her skin was covered in a thin sheen of sweat and her chest rose and fell with her rapid shallow breaths. She needed to get out of this house, she needed to cool down. Eve pushed off the sheet and walked to the window, looking down at the grounds three stories below. The weak moonlight fell across her naked skin making her alabaster skin seem even paler and more ethereal. Eve pulled open the doors to the terrace, stepped out, and vaulted over the railing and landed with a whisper in the garden below. She stretched and began to walk down the winding path that lead to the lake at the edge of the property by the tree line. The night was balmy and humid, the calls of night birds echoed in the darkness and the gravel under her feet crunched softly. The lake looked like a mirror laid into the lush grass, its smooth surface reflected the crescent moon above. The new moon was only a few days away leaving a pale sliver of moon, its light only enough to lightly illuminate the world below. Eve stepped into the water and dove into the depths, letting the cool water sooth her heated skin and calm her nerves. The black depths of the lake reminded Eve of dying, the darkness stretching on forever as you sank down, and the weak light growing steadily stronger as you came up for air. Eve swam for over an hour, hoping the physical exersion would allow her to sleep when she returned to her room. She swam to the lakes edge and climbed out onto the bank where she stood and looked back at the lake for a moment. As the water ran down her skin she felt the hair on her neck rise and knew she was not alone anymore. Naked and without weapons she turned around slowly prepared to do what she must to survive. She let her breath out and smiled as she saw Gabriel standing barely an arms length away. "I couldn't sleep." She shrugged lightly and wrapped her arms around her chest, self conscious for no good reason she could think of. "There is much going on that should concern you, I would imagine sleep would be difficult for you." Gabriel was staring out at the lake, his dark shirt was open at the neck, his jeans were comfortably loose and his feet were bare. "Perhaps next time you should consider bringing a weapon next time you decide to wander in the nude around the grounds." Eve felt herself grow red even though she believed herself many years past modesty and embarrassment. "Its good that you came along to save me than Gabriel, ever my dark guardian angel." Eve smiled at the joke and stepped over to lightly punch Gabriel's shoulder in an affectionate gesture she had used time and time before. Gabriel grabbed her wrist and whipped her around tight against his body his other arm wrapped around her waist and his face hesitated inches from hers. Eve's eyes widened suddenly and her mouth went dry and tight. "Yes Eve, it is a good thing that I am here for you just like I always have been." Gabriel's mouth claimed hers before Eve's brain could wrap around his words. Her eyes widened further then slid closed as her mouth opened into Gabriel's and she felt his tongue slip past her lips. Her finger curled on his shoulders and her rounded nails lightly dug into the cloth of his shirt as she found herself kissing him back, meeting him head on, her tongue following his back into his mouth to explore as he had. His hand ran along her wet skin, moving up and down her spine pressing her body into his adding a delicious friction between their bodies. Eve moaned into his mouth and felt him tighten his grip on her body, having released her wrist in favor of pulling her hips against his. She was hot again, ten times worse than before now, her skin felt like it was on fire as she pressed against the growing thrust of his erection. Gabriel released her mouth and moved down her jaw line and along her neck, his lips bringing goose bumps up on her skin as he reached the faded scar where he had bitten her long ago. Eve gasped. Her eyes swam and she swayed, pain lanced through her and she shivered. Gabriel lightly bit the scar and Eve cried out and shoved away, stumbling back away from him. "Eve?" Gabriel stepped toward her, concern and puzzlement in his eyes. "I can't." She shook and raised her eyes to look at him, tears already streaking down her cheeks. "I'm sorry, I can't." ----------- Eve ran as fast as her legs would carry her, pausing to leap and catch her balcony railing at the house, hauling herself back up into her room. She slid to the floor against the wall and buried her face into her hands weeping. She raged at herself. How could I? I can't sleep with him or anyone else, I am not human. I could kill him! I have no control over my power lust, I would kill him and hate myself in the morning. How could I be so stupid! I care about Gabriel, he saved my life and I have to be cruel to be kind. Eve wiped her cheek with the back of her hand and wrapped her arms around her knees. It was an age old argument with herself. Even on her first hunt Eve had realized that she had no control over the hunger inside herself and that to risk having sex with another would mean death for someone, most likely her partner. So she distanced from them all and hunted to satiate that hunger, feeding ravenously in hopes that someday it would abate and she could live some kind of a mock life with another vampire in the Black coven. But no amount of demon blood could slake her hunger and she had grown jaded in the years of trying. Why had this happened now? Fate seemed to enjoy throwing cruel spikes at her heart. How would she face Gabriel in the morning? Eve crawled into bed, utterly miserable and thoroughly disgusted with herself. ----------- Gabriel sat in the breakfast hall waiting. He had been there since dawn, waiting for Eve to come down for breakfast and the morning assignments. It was nearly ten o'clock and Eve had still not come downstairs. This was an utter mess, he'd fought his attraction to Eve since the first day, but ever glimpse of her brought his feelings back to the surface and reminded him of the taste of her blood and the dizzying pleasure and heady power within it. He had loved Eve as a human, even as he had watched her struggle through that life, working so hard to hold up too much responsibility and never asking for help from anyone. As a vampire Eve had become the siren Gabriel would kill to posses, but she held herself aloof and let no one in. Now as he had taken a chance born of his own desperation he knew things would never go back to being the same. She had softened against him, she had wanted him and would take him but for something that was holding her back. There was one last barrier to bring down, Gabriel need only find out what that barrier was. Alicia walked into the dining room and Gabriel looked up and hailed her. "Have you seen Eve this morning Alicia?" "Eve?." Alicia paused. "She's been gone since before sunrise Gabriel, I thought she went out on a run?" Gabriel knocked over his chair as he bolted out the door and toward the staircase. ----------- Eve sat on the ledge of the office building and watched the humans scurry to and from work. All at peace even if not happy in their lives. They might think otherwise but human souls were at peace, it was vampires who felt the true upheaval of a war from within. Humans died and went on to the next world. Vampires constantly wondered where they went, undead already and in the grey area where morals were considered. Eve curled her fingers around the hilts of her wicked daggers, a matched pair of barbed, curved blades that torn flesh from bone even in demons. She smiled and leapt down to the fire escape. Death waits for no one. Today she would stop hiding, stop fucking around and meet it head on. ----------- "I want her FOUND NOW!" Sireen's voice echoed off the halls and was followed by the fleeing footfalls of ever vampire in the Black coven leaving to search for Eve. "You!" He pointed at Gabriel. "Come with me." Gabriel followed Sireen back into the study and closed the door behind them. "I don't know what happened Gabriel, but this is a bad time for this, and its doubly dangerous for Eve right now, that demon might get her before we can track her down." "I know Sireen." Gabriel looked at the elder vampire. "It is almost time for things to come to a close and Eve is where the shift of power hinges." Sireen looked at Gabriel. "I've always known you realize. I know you are not younger than I Gabriel, and I have kept your secrets as you have mine, but I hope this time that your secret will not cost us all our existence." ----------- Eve scored a good deep thrust with her blades into the demon's chest. He laughed, the rich sound bouncing off the walls of the alley as he broke her wrist like a toothpick. She cried out and fell to her knees, snarling she head butted up into the demon's groin scoring a bark of pain from him. The world faded to black shortly there after. Eve drowsily came to, her eyes cracking in the red light to take in her surroundings. She was in the shifting dimensional planes, the wind whipped around dry and hot. She could glimpse her world and the demon realm from this place, this shadow realm between the real worlds that served as a barrier to keep everyone in their places. Only the highest order of demons and angels could rip through the two shadow realms; one shadow realm between the demon world and the human world and another shadow realm between the angel world and the human world. There was no doubt which shadow realm she was in, the one that separated demon hell from human world. She was strapped to a stone pillar that stood upon a high alter that overlooked a long bare valley ringed on all sides by wicked black mountains. The demon Joven stood nearby, his back to Eve as he pried one of her daggers out of the flesh on his bare chest. The sickening sound of crunching bone and wet sucking of flesh echoed in the silent realm as he worked the dagger back and forth to free it from where she had imbedded it in his body. "You know," he commented without turning. "This thing really does hurt a great deal, I may have to rethink being gentle with you after all." He winced as the dagger flew free tearing a chuck of flesh out with it. "Too bad," Eve grinned. "A bit deeper and I've had scored your black heart." Joven was next to her in an instant and he drove the dagger into her shoulder, separating the her shoulder at the joint and popping cartilage and bone apart as the shoulder dislocated. Eve nearly blacked out again and felt bile rise into her throat as she gagged on her pain, praying he had hit an artery and she would bleed out to end the torment. "So fragile." Joven smiled. "Barely a scratch and you choke on your pain. But for a few centimeters and I would have taken your life and watched it seem out of your very veins." He walked away leaving the dagger imbedded in her arm. Time passed in a waking nightmare for Eve. She could watch the sun rise and fall in her world but tracking the days was difficult as she drifted in and out of consciousness, her wound weeping with every move, unable to close and heal around the blade. The demon came and went freely from his world, leaving for days at a time to return with candles or a chalice or other items, Eve recognized items needed for a sacrifice and didn't bother wasting her comments on them. Time would tell. ----------- After three days Gabriel was beside himself. The city had been searched and then the state. There was only one place the demon would have taken Eve and they all knew it. Sireen had called off the hunt and given Eve over as dead, but Gabriel knew better. He also knew that he could follow the demon to where he had gone, but it would require him to throw off the blanket of disguise he had worn for years and to take the life of another vampire to reawaken the sleeping power inside him. Sealed the same way, his powers rested with a lock only the death of a vampire could open. Gabriel entered Sireen's office deeply depressed but resigned. "Sireen. Its time." Gabriel looked at the aged vampire. "I have to drain one of the Black coven to reawaken." Sireen looked at him. "So it was a life force seal?" Sireen registered Gabriel's nod. "I understand then, and I know this is not easy for you either. I will bring together the house and ask for a volunteer, meet me in the ballroom in ten minutes." Gabriel waited inside the ballroom, he watched as over three hundred vampires from just turned to ancient gathered and waited. They all stood nervously, knowing that one of their rank was probably dead at the hands of a Master demon and now the leader of the coven was calling them together. "My children." Sireen smiled. "What I ask you all is something that is very difficult for myself and for Gabriel. We all know that Eve has been taken, but she is not yet dead." There was a murmur of shock. "Please listen carefully to Gabriel and understand what he asks of you before you speak or volunteer." Sireen turned to Gabriel giving him the floor. "You have all been so good to me, and yet I have lied to you from the start." Gabriel paused then went on. "I am not younger than Sireen, in fact I am much older. In fact I am not a vampire. I am one of the original four demi-gods." Gasps and then silence followed his announcement. "After many years of fighting amongst ourselves the demi-gods went separate ways, I grew tired of being what I had willingly become so I sealed my power with a life force seal. This required that one of my own children, a vampire I sired, give up her life to lock my power within myself and allow me to pass as a normal vampire." The vampires were whispering to each other, shock and fear coursing through them as Gabriel peeled away years of lies constructed to hide himself. "Eve is not like you. She is the completion of a prophecy spoken from the lips of a dying demon to the four of us who were demi-gods. Eve can permanently tear down the shadow realm between this world and Hell and release the demons within upon this earth. Tonight when the new moon rises if that demon sacrifices Eve she will become something not demon, not human, not vampire, not demi-god, she will become a god in truth, a god of chaos." Gabriel closed his eyes. "In order to stop this I must ask that one of you, one of my blood, again give up your life to free the power I've sealed so I can stop the demon and release Eve. I ask one of you to give me your life, I beg it of you." The room was dead silent. The vampire stood and looked at the man they thought they had known. A demi-god living among them for years, silent and unassuming. Slowly a young woman stepped forward, her long blond locks were swept back over her shoulders. "You may take my life Gabriel." Alicia stepped to his side. "I am sorry Alicia." Gabriel ran his fingers down her cheek and along her jaw. He could feel the tears welling but denied them quickly. Gabriel did something he hadn't done since that day years ago when he had held Eve in his arms. He forced his fangs forward and down, pushing them out until the throbbed with a long suppressed hunger. There was a collective gasp from the group standing nearby, even by vampire terms Gabriel's fangs were abnormally long and sharp, marking him as not normal from the start. Gabriel had never allowed any of them to see his fangs and had not fed since Eve, before that not since the woman he killed. Alicia showed no fear, she stepped into Gabriel's arms and let her head fall back and to the side, her pulse hammering in her neck. Gabriel's hunger took over and he ceased to think, his fangs torn through her skin and buried into her artery, he pulled on her like a starving man, sucking the blood from her with crushing force. Alicia gasped and gripped his shoulders as the blood in her body reversed flow and her veins began to collapse, empty, behind the pull. It lasted only moments, and finally Gabriel lifted his head and Alicia's life ended. Her life force entered him and sank down deep, unlocking the locks put in place so long ago. Of Gods and Vampires Gabriel laid Alicia's body on the floor and collapsed to his knees, he shook and screamed as his back tore open and twenty foot leathery black wings shot out from his shoulders. Gabriel let his forehead rest on the ground as the wings opened and stretched, blood dripping from them as power coursed through him like a drug. It was over. He knew he was no longer Gabriel the vampire, he was now Gabriel the demi-god again. ----------- Eve opened her eyes and shifted against the bonds strapping her to the alter again. It was no use, they were still just as tight as they had ever been and the shifting around only reopened her wound on the dagger protruding from her shoulder. Dusk was settling in her world, a new moon would rise black as pitch tonight. Eve sighed and watched Joven wandering around lighting candles and settle herbs to light around the alter. New moons were always times of high power and potent, the veils between worlds thinned and power seeped through during these lunar phases. Full moons were the exact opposite, strengthening the bonds between worlds to unbreakable but releasing energies for an entirely different set of beings just the same. Eve resigned herself to dying in this place this night and only waited to see what the method was to be. ----------- Gabriel's wings ached and did not allow him to fly as effortlessly as he remembered, his flight was jerky and uncoordinated as he had too long lived without. He still moved faster across the night sky than he would have on foot, crossing to the outskirts of New Orleans and the place his demon assimilated memories told him that the sacrificial alter should still stand. Time was running out as night crept over the horizon. ----------- Joven torn the dagger out of Eve's arm with savage pleasure. Eve felt herself dry heave as a new wave of pain ripped through her body. She was too weak right now to fight him, the wound allowing her strength to slowly seep away as her body tried over and over to repair the damage it had suffered. The waste of energy was inevitable and left Eve as weak as a kitten and at the mercy of the demon. "Such a beauty in your pain, quite exquisite how you bear your suffering. Were you human you'd be the ideal familiar for someone like me." Joven purred and stroked her throat lightly before he grasped it in his hands. Eve choked and gasped for air, her throat was being crushed in the demon's hands and her lungs burned for air, her world swam until he dropped her upon the alter, her bonds removed. She coughed and curled into herself, wishing that a fetal position would grant her some safety while knowing it would not. Joven crouched beside her and rolled her onto her back, he used the dagger to slice the clothing from her body, leaving Eve exposed on the alter. "Mores the pity." Joven tsked softly. "Such a lush package and never sampled." The demon stripped down to nothing, the façade of a human male still in place as he stretched out on top of Eve. Eve gasped, her eyes went wide and she immediately went for his eyes with her fingernails, this was not going to happen to her. Joven laughed and grabbed her wrists holding them over her head as he forced her thighs apart with one thigh. "Such a hellion you are Eve. But I'm not sorry to say that this is going to happen regardless of how you struggle. I won't have to hurt you as much if you just accept it and behave yourself." Eve felt tears leaking out from her eyes as she silently denied this was happening. She sucked in a breath of tepid, incense laced air and brought her knee up into the demon's groin as hard as she could. The demon barked in pain and hissed from between his teeth. "Fine bitch, we'll do this MY way!." Joven dropped his façade and brought his face down to Eve's taking in her horror. The demon was hideous. This red tinged skin was blackened by burns and kriss crossed with a patchwork of scars and deformities. A long thick tail whipped in the air behind him, bighorn sheep like horns curled around his skull, black and oily looking, his eyes were yellow and shot with bloody goat-like irises, and his teeth were jagged knives in a mouth smelling of fetid meat and bacteria. His hands were claw like appendages ending in knife like black nails. Joven used a black nail to score her wound again sending lancing pain through Eve until she was shaking and trying not to pass out. Eve closed out the realization that the demon was aroused further by her pain and horror and that he was still planning to use his engorged phallus to break her will and possibly her mind. Eve thrashed and struggled to no avail beneath the demon's weight. She felt the hard push of his cock against her thigh as he slid up between her thighs set on raping her. Eve stilled suddenly. She was still a vampire and sex was still a double edged sword in her world. She felt herself heave again as she struggled with the bitter realization that she could win still but it would require her to degrade herself in a way she never thought possible. Eve resigned herself to the truth. Her thighs parted and the demon slid between them up to her sex, he released her arms as she ceased struggling beneath him. "A wise move Eve." Joven purred and wrenched her thighs apart as wide as they'd go. Gabriel hit the demon with enough force to tear him off of Eve's body and toss both him and the demon off the alter and onto the ground. The demon rounded on Gabriel as the hit the ground and ripped its nails through Gabriel's side scouring a deep wound. Gabriel tossed the demon off and turned to face the vile creature. "The demi-god shows himself at last, its good to see you doing so well Gabriel." Joven purred. "I wish I could say the same." Gabriel spit blood. Eve watched in mute horror her eyes fixed on the leathery black wings thrusting out from Gabriel's back. Joven seemed to be enjoying the look of confused horror on Eve's face. Gabriel refused to turn and meet Eve's eyes, he kept his back to her and his body between Joven and her prone form on the alter. Joven rushed Gabriel and grasped one of the leathery wings, tearing through the skin and ripping holes in the wing. Gabriel rounded on the demon and brought his knee into its torso feeling the satisfying crunch of bones giving way. Joven turned and wrapped his arms around Gabriel's neck, twisting his long tail around the demi-god's middle to hold him prone. "Still not strong enough to pick a fight with a real demon, Gabriel." Joven laughed. "I wonder if age will have improved the taste of your flesh." "No!" Eve leapt onto Joven's back and latched on like a parasite, she wrapped her arms around his neck and hooked her legs around his waist. Joven laughed and released Gabriel, leaving the demi-god half unconscious on the ground. "And what do you expect to do to me Eve? Perhaps I'll spare his life if you finish what we started." "I plan on finishing it." Eve hissed. Eve bit the demon fast, burying her fangs into his jugular from behind. The demon screamed and flicked his tail back, burying the blade end into Eve's back as he shook to try to remove her from his back. Eve removed herself from the pain of the demon's tail flailing her back into bloody shreds and closed her eyes to pull on his neck. A heady rush of blood was sucked into Eve's throat sending a wave of power and pleasure into her body, she pulled harder shutting out the world but for the taste of the demon's blood running down her throat. Gabriel looked on the scene with pure horror, watching but not interfering as Eve began to drain one of the most powerful demons in Hell dry. The demon thrashed and slammed Eve back against the alter trying to break her body and the hold she had on him but Eve continued to pull on his artery without feeling the pain inflicted on her body. "Stop it you bitch, what are you doing?" Joven thrashed and whipped his tail around again bringing off another chunk of Eve's flesh, his nails scouring her legs and arms as he tried to make her release him. "You will gain nothing, I'll take you with me!" Eve pulled harder, sucking down another pint of blood. I may not gain anything, she thought, but I'll kill you. The power was so intense Eve felt like she was on fire inside, her body melting down and breaking down inside but she still sucked on the demon's vein dropping her guard and seeking to drain everything from him. Eve felt the demon drop to his knees as the blood loss began to take its toll, she pulled and wrenched his neck as she felt him go down. The last pull she took from the demon tasted of death, a horrible bitter taste that lingered as the demon dropped from her grasp turning to ash on the ground. Eve was shaking as the life force of the demon flowed through her making her body feel like it was dying as well, pain lanced through her unlike any she had ever felt. "Gabriel, help me." She whispered softly and collapsed to the ground. Gabriel gathered Eve's limp, bleeding form and pierced the veil between worlds to take her home to die. Eve was dying again, she had taken far too much of the demon inside of her and taken its death as well as its life, without pulling back in time she was now slowly deteriorating as well. Gabriel took to the sky and flew slowly back to the house of Black, he landed on the bank of the lake and laid Eve down to look out over the water. Eve's eyes opened slowly and she let out a hiss of pain, her back looked like ground meat and her insides ached like they were rotting. She reached out and ran her fingers over the leathery skin of Gabriel's wing and smiled with effort. "You never told me." She looked at him. "I couldn't Eve." Gabriel sighed. "After the falling out between the four demi-gods we were hunted as we are never so strong as when we are together. I'm the only one left alive because I hid where they wouldn't look." "As a vampire, one of your own children." Eve mused. Gabriel nodded. "I helped found the Covens and set the vampires to their mission, I tried to atone for what I'd done even though I knew it wouldn't change anything." Eve smiled and ran her fingers along Gabriel's arm. "You're a good man. Demi-god, vampire, or human, you always have been." Gabriel looked at the dying vampire at his side and silently raged against the mistakes of his life pre and post demi-god. He'd have given anything to return to being a simple angel, take back the oath he swore with three close friends, take back the greed that sent him to the battlefield that day. Take it all back. "Gabriel, as cliché as it is, I'm quite cold." Eve sighed and looked into the black sky. Gabriel gathered Eve into his arms settling her in his lap as he brought his wings around to fold lightly around her. Eve laid her cheek against his chest and bit back a wave of nausea and choked on her own blood welling in her throat. She listened to his heart beating so slowly, having been stopped once they never played the same rapid tattoo again but this sedate toll for the rest of time. She sighed and looked up at Gabriel who sat watching her die, she smiled as brightly as she could and stroked his cheek with her fingers. "I love you Gabriel." Gabriel choked on a profound wave of grief. "Eve, you can't die like this." "I am." She grinned. Eve lifted her head and kissed him softly, wrapping her arms around his neck. I always have, she atoned in her mind, and I always will. Eve felt Gabriel gingerly wrap his arms around her shredded back and hold her against his body as his wings withdrew from around her. Eve knew she was crying and dug her fingernails into his scalp as she slid her tongue into his mouth, tasting what she had spent years avoiding. Eve rued pushing him away only days before and moaned when he stroked her mouth with his tongue as his fingers slipped into her hair. Gabriel pulled away from her and cupped her face in his hands. "Eve you are hurt far to badly for this to go any farther." Eve gripped his hand and held it against her cheek. "Gabriel, will you deny me the last request I will ever make?" Eve sealed his lips with hers again and slipped her tongue past his lips, she pressed her body against him until Gabriel softened his resistance and pulled her tight against him. Eve gasped and tilted her head back as he trained his lips down her throat and lightly bit her throat, playing with the scar on her throat. Eve ran her fingers along the ridge of his shoulders and along the muscles of the base of his wings. She ran her hands down until she slipped them under the waist of his pants and pushed them down off his hips, helping him to remove them. Eve wrapped her legs around Gabriel's waist, pressing against him with her groin while he stroked her sides and thumbed her nipples. Eve hissed softly as he covered one of her breasts with his mouth and raked his fangs over her skin. Eve kissed his shoulders and bit him softly, licking the blood from his wound. Gabriel's blood was sweet like fine chocolate and laced with his own underlying power, a potent mix of pleasures. Gabriel bit her breast and again sampled the potency of her blood, it was the same heady mix of power and seduction but laced with the bitter tang of death. Eve arched her back and slid down onto Gabriel's engorged cock, her breath catching in her throat as her body adjusted to the thick length of him. Eve rested her forehead on his shoulder and bucked in his lap, feeling the friction of him sliding inside of her. Gabriel thrust up into Eve and caught her whimper in his mouth as he slid his tongue into her mouth and rocked her hips in his lap. She was tight and every shift of her body and thrust of his hips was blissful torture, her muscles gripped his length and rolled over him. He thrust up into her, pushing his tongue into her mouth and running it along hers as she writhed in his lap. Gabriel lifted her and stood slowly, supporting her weight as he walked into the lake. The cool water lapped around their intertwined bodies as they sank into the lake. Gabriel held her hips and rocked her body back and forth on his cock, pursuing a slow steady rhythm between their bodies, pushing up off the bottom of the lake and bending her body backward likely to deepen each thrust. Eve ran her legs along his back and down his legs, arching her back into each of his slow thrusts as a feeling of lethargy began to tug at her body. She laid her head against his shoulder and nibbled his neck lightly, she felt a slow coil of tension building in her abdomen as he moved inside her body. Eve cried out as she began to climax, her body bucked hard against Gabriel and her body was swept with convulsions of pleasure. Gabriel's body bucked upward and he released himself into Eve's body, riding her orgasm out as her body milked his release from him. Eve's head fell back and she felt darkness creeping in on her vision, her carefully constructed barriers crumbled and she lost control of her body's responses. Gabriel cried out as Eve pulled on him, he felt her body suck a wave of life force off him and gasped in pain. Eve was dimly aware of her body's instinct to survive kicking in and the draw of power it had pulled in from Gabriel, she whimpered dully and tried to stop but could not force herself to quit. Eve pulled on Gabriel again, a deep wrenching pull that left him breathless and gasping, he felt his life draining away and didn't fight it off. Gabriel stroked her hair and rested his forehead on her chest, he let her pull again, feeling his body weaken as she drained him. Eve felt strength returning to her body and her back and shoulder sealing up as her body healed itself, she pulled harder even as she tried to stop herself. Gabriel's grip on her body slackened and he staggered back to the shore, dragging them both to the bank before collapsing. Eve was panting as she looked over at him, she pushed against her warring instinct to pull even as another drag of life force was yanked from Gabriel's body. "Gabriel, please stop me." Eve whispered hoarsely. Gabriel smiled and closed his eyes, feeling the final hard tug that yanked his life force from him and into Eve. Eve opened her eyes and watched as Gabriel's wings turned dark and wilted, falling away from his body in tatters that blew away. Her body was whole again and she knelt next to Gabriel and touched his cheek finding it cool and clammy. Eve wept over him, suddenly feeling her stomach clench in pain. Eve screamed as she felt her back split open like a chrysalis, she fell forward onto her elbows as bones shot up from her shoulders into the air, four thirty foot long boney growths reached for the sky above. The bones flexed and grew joints and cartilage and tendons along the length, muscle tissue slowly creeping along the bones and filling out the form. Eve was crying in earnest when her skin sealed over the wounds on her back and grew up to cover the four bone appendages. The air hummed around her and her skin glowed softly as the bony appendages began to sprout long shocks of quills, filling them out to look like an impressionists vision of wings sculpted with wires. The quills bristled and flexed growing long and thick on her boney wings. Eve nearly blacked out when raw pain tore through her as the quills burst open into tufts of black and grey feathers. Eve looked over her shoulder and saw her wings sat like a dragonflies or butterflies, in tandem, placed so that they could work independently or together. Eve whimpered softly and looked down at Gabriel, his body was still beneath her. She felt the tears running down her cheeks. Eve stilled suddenly as she smelled brimstone and charred flesh. She jerked her head up and looked to where another demon stood before her, the rift between worlds sealing behind him. Eve stood and faced the demon. "What in all of Hell do you want?" She hissed through her fangs. "I only came to see first hand the culmination of so much work and struggle on all of our part." The demon smiled in his human façade. "So what does it feel like to be a God Eve?" "I am no God," She spat. "There is only one God and he hates you and all of your kind." "So naïve." The demon turned to leave then glanced over his shoulder. "But only a God can strip a demi-god of his power and leave him alive Eve." And the demon vanished into the shadow realm. Eve blinked after him then looked down at Gabriel. His chest was rising with shallow breaths. Eve gasped and fell to her knees next to him, pulling him into her lap. She wrapped her wings around them both and prayed for him to be ok. Her body felt warm and it radiated its power into Gabriel as he slowly struggled back to this world. "Eve?" His hoarse whisper was the sweetest sound she had ever heard. "I'm here." Eve hugged him to herself. "I'm alive?" He looked puzzled. "But I'm not a demi-god anymore, I feel like a vampire again." Eve looked at his fangs under his lips and nodded. "You are. Somehow I must have killed the demi-god in you but left the vampire alive although that makes no sense." Gabriel stroked the soft feathers cocooning them and smiled. "Only time will tell what you can do Eve, great things I suspect."