Fealty of The Fallen

I take off my helmet and look around as a mild breeze sweeps off the Mediterranean and brushes my cheek, welcoming me back.

“Well,” I turn to Vinny and run a hand through my hair. “Are you ready?”

My brawny best friend yanks off his helmet and swings a leg over his bike, the steel frame lets out a sigh of relief. “Like you wouldn’t believe, brother.”

“Well then…” I stretch my arms overhead to ease my back and shoulders from the ride as Vinny makes his way over. “What do you say we get this show on the road?”

He slings an arm around my shoulder and pats me on the chest. “I say you’re on, brother.”

Being back in Eden is a welcome respite in our long and wicked existence, and my anticipation for what’s to come is palpable.

The enigmatic city on a secret island off the coast of Spain was built for debauchery and never disappoints. But we’re not just here for pleasure. We’re here for another reason.

After the War in Heaven, when we were stripped of our wings and cast out of Heaven, a schism occurred among the angels. Those who pledged allegiance to Luke, leader and mastermind of the rebellion, became daemons, while those who refused became undecided. Angered with their disloyalty, Luke banished the undecided to Eden where they must remain—in perpetuity, or until they swear allegiance.

That’s why Vinny, I, and the rest of the legion have returned. While the pursuit of desire and corruption has driven our eternal existence since The Fall, we are far more than what folklore and legend suggests. We are warriors that honor strength and loyalty, and for the past five millennia, have returned to Eden at the beginning of every century, in pursuit of the undecideds’ loyalty.

For ten days, every one hundred years, our mission is clear—do whatever must be done to secure the fealty of the fallen angel to whom we are bound. Diablo, the one to whom I am bound, has not wavered in five thousand years, and has been the vein of my existence.

I wasn’t always so determined to secure her fealty. When we were first bound, she didn’t want to be on our side, and I didn’t push the matter. I came to Eden, stayed for the mandatory ten days, then left. But as her stubbornness began to wear on me, I started to fill my time here with decadence and sin. The lost souls who called Eden home, whose sole purpose was to serve our every need while we were here, made it easy to do whatever, whoever I wanted.

Yet, despite her unwillingness to swear allegiance, Diablo intrigued me, and over the millennia, while I was away from Eden, she began to occupy my every thought. She was confident, and intelligent, and possessed an undeniable charm. And her beauty was beyond compare. I was drawn to her in every way possible and wanted her on our side.

As Vinny and I make our way to the front door of Saints, our favorite hangout here, I find myself wondering how the past century has been to Diablo. I can’t wait to see how she’s changed since the last time I saw her.

After making it inside we look around, and Saints, too, like the outside world had changed in the past century. The last time we were here it looked like a speakeasy with thick velvet curtains, wood tables and chairs, and a smoky haze that was so thick it clung to the walls. Now, however, it’s a bar with a club-like vibe, throbbing bassline, and a game room in the back.

Regardless of the changes, it is still our place, everything from the drinks to the music catered to our liking. This century Vinny likes metal and beer, while I’m a rock and bourbon guy. Everything about Vinny and me—from our music tastes to our looks—is like night and day. Yet, no matter what our differences may be, the bond we share is unbreakable. Forged in war and strengthened through time, we’re brothers, and I’d have his back, and I know he’d have mine, until the end of time.

“Are you anxious to see Lila?” I ask as we slide into a booth near the back.

Vinny’s undecided was a pixie-sized redhead with as much personality as he had muscle. She was also Diablo’s best friend, which meant I’d been on the receiving end of more than a fair share of disapproving glares over the centuries.

“Are you kidding?” He smiles, his gold-brown eyes flickering with mischief. “I can’t wait to get started.”

Vinny’s methods of winning Lila’s fealty differed from mine, but who was I to judge? He’d made progress with her in the last few centuries, and it sounded like this time, he may succeed.

I, too, was thinking of changing my approach with Diablo this round. In fact, I was considering using some of the tactics I’d used in building Primordial, the successful business I ran in the mortal world.

I was notorious in business and it wasn’t because I was ruthless. It’s because I was patient. Something I’d never considered when it came to Diablo. And the idea I could use the very tactic I’d been known for in the mortal circles I moved through, on the most important transaction of my existence, had me eager for my time here to get started.

“What are you planning for your first night here?” Vinny asks.

Lifting my chin at a couple of legion members that have just walked in, I start to answer but then stop as a server comes up to the booth. Like all the staff at Saints, she’s dressed to please. She’s wearing a leather skirt and fuck me heels, which show off her long, lean legs, and her long blonde hair is pulled into a high ponytail, to emphasize the amount of skin she’s showing thanks to her backless halter top.

Having already signed away the essential part of who they were, anything the soulless did in service to us was child’s play. Judging by how she’s looking me up and down while licking her lips, she’d like to serve me in more ways than one.

“Bourbon, neat.” I give her a once over, then turn to Vinny. “You?”

“Beer,” he replies boredly, thrumming his fingers on the table, and ignoring the server completely.

“Got it.” Seeing Vinny’s attention elsewhere, she turns back to me and flashes me a wicked smile. “I’ll be back.”

After making a mental note to keep her in mind if things with Diablo turn sour—which, given our history, was likely—I take a contemplative breath and lean back, looking around.

It’s hard to believe that humanity was coming out of its first world war and a global pandemic the last time we were here. Given the state of things in the mortal world, a lot hadn’t changed—same shit show, different century.

Vinny and I shoot the shit for a few, and when the server returns with our drinks, she leans over the table seductively to place Vinny’s beer down first, then mine. I meet her smile with my own, then nod for her to leave.

“To the next ten!” Vinny calls out heartily.

Lifting his bottle, I do the same with my glass and tap it against his beer. “To the next ten.”

After taking a sip, I turn to the mirror behind the booth and check my appearance. The ride was long, but it didn’t show.

The Fallen may have been stripped of ethereality when we fell, but there was an upside to siding with Luke. As one of the most powerful angels in Heaven, he used what energy he retained to sculpt us into beings of beauty that could entice any mortal, doing some of his best work on me.

The reflection staring back at me was one of vitality and power. My chiseled jaw demanding, and my dark brown hair and cobalt eyes were a striking combination. This century, in particular, looked good on me, and I wasn’t opposed to using this fact to get what I wanted—even Diablo.

When I hear a commotion stirring on the far side of the bar, I look beyond my reflection to see what’s going on. But when I can’t see shit, I turn around and my stomach plummets. Walking toward me is Diablo and now I know what the commotion was about.

“Shit,” Vinny chokes out, spitting out a mouthful of beer.

Coming to a stop at the booth, I stare at her, speechless. “Good to see you, Dante.” She smiles at me coolly, emerald eyes flickering with light as she turns to look over her shoulder, black as night hair, cascading down her back in thick waves. “Do you like?” she asks innocently.

Like is not the word. In fact, what I’m feeling, I have no words. She’s changed alright, in a big way, and I can’t believe what I am seeing.

Her legs are no longer coltish, her waist tiny, emphasized by curves mortal women would kill for, and her flawless skin is like porcelain. But it’s not her appearance that has me stunned. It’s what she’s wearing. A black, low-cut bra pushes up her round, perfect breasts, while matching panties cut high on the hips. She’s also wearing a leather studded waist belt, and leg harness, which is pulled tight across her stomach and thighs, and a pair of black wings jut out from her back, held in place by leather straps that wind around her torso, and over her shoulders. Her body ebbs and flows in all the right places, and if she weren’t bound to me, I’d be envious of the daemon to whom she was.

Shaking the daze from my mind, I push up from the booth and grip her arm, yanking her away from the booth, to a quiet spot near the back.

“Put some clothes on,” I growl when we’re out of earshot.

She looks up at me from under thick ebony lashes, and my pulse kicks up a notch. “Nice to see you too, Dante.”

I back her against the wall and place a hand on either side of her head, caging her in. I want no one, and I mean no one, to look at what belongs to me.

“Something wrong?” Her lips pull into a playful smile. “Or perhaps you see something you like.”

I roll my lower lip between my teeth while raking my eyes up and down her body. All of it. I like all of it. I want to touch her, and at the same time, punish her for showing everyone what only I should be seeing.

“Oh angel…” I bring my finger down her jaw, while locking my eyes on hers. “You’re going to pay for this.”

She lets out an airy laugh and places her hand on my chest. “Oh Dante. Didn’t you know? I’ve been paying since The Fall.”

My muscles flex under her touch, and I wonder if she can feel how I too have changed. The physique under her touch isn’t bulky or overbearing like Vinny’s. I like to run and spar on the mat, which increases my stamina and builds strength, while chiseling my muscles to perfection.

“Are you ready?” I lean in, eyes intent on hers as I close the space between us.

She swallows and licks her lips, heat stirring in the space between us. “The sooner it starts, the sooner I get to go back to what I was doing.”

“And that was?” I reach for a lock of her hair, rolling it between my fingers.

“Wouldn’t you like to know?” she purrs.

“Not like to know,” I correct, and take a deep breath, filling my lungs with her. She smells of vanilla and sugar, and it makes my mouth water. “Demand. You answer to me when I am here, remember?”

She presses her lips together and drops her hand, studying me. “You don’t own me, Dante. We are bound. There’s a difference.”

“Is that so?” I grin, her stubbornness making my body burn.

“Yes,” she lifts her jaw in defiance, “it is.”

I drink her in again, still stunned by what I see. Diablo has always been beautiful, but now the very sight of her makes me ache.

“A mere technicality,” I smirk with satisfaction, ignoring the hum in my body.

“One that matters,” she counters.

“Oh yeah.” I lean in, eyes drifting to her pink mouth. “And why is that?”

“Well,” she runs a finger along my lower lip, shooting fire straight through me. “Because I too have power, Dante.”

Every part of me hardens and a dozen dirty thoughts race through my mind. “Is that so?”

“It is,” she drops her hand.

Her willfulness intrigues me, but I also want to tame it in so many ways. “And what, pray tell, is this power?”

She locks her eyes onto mine, and her lips upward. “Knowing that the technicality also applies to you.”

With a smile that’s more sinister than sweet, she slips out from under my arm and walks away, leaving me speechless for the second time in only a matter of minutes.

Shock, then anger, courses through me as I drink in the exposed skin of her perfect bottom, peeking out from under the lace of her panty. Then my anger gives way to something else entirely. What I’m feeling, I can’t describe it. But I think, for the first time in five millennia, I may be nervous about the next ten days.