Her Archangel: Chapter 7

T E M P T A T I O N S

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Push me away, I beg you.

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Adiona had Cleo pressed against the wall, their chests rubbing against each other as they heaved. Cleo felt goosebumps rise on her arms at the contact and it took all her willpower to stare straight ahead and not into the mesmerizing green eyes a few inches above her own. Seconds seemed to go by in hours and she looked at her side to see the muscles in Adiona's arms flex. Her mouth went dry.

"Cleo," Adiona's voice sounded hoarse. "Push me away."

Cleo couldn't move, couldn't speak. Her skin felt too hot. She was overheating.

Adiona growled softly and dropped her head to the shorter woman's shoulder, her hot breath sweeping across a delicate neck. "Push me away, I beg you. Punch me, slap me, anything to make me go."

"Why?" Cleo couldn't recognize her own voice. Something was happening. Adiona's smell was intoxiacting her mind and she wanted so badly to kiss her.

"Fuck you," Adiona moaned, and it sounded like she was in pain.

"Yes please," Cleo replied without thinking and she didn't care. Her mate's body in such close proximity was clouding her senses.

"Cleomandra!" Adiona screamed suddenly and the human girl jumped. Suddenly, her mind clicked in place and she instinctively pushed against the hard body with all her strength. Adiona fell to the ground, clutching her eyes and panting.

Cleo's own honey orbs were wide with shock. What on earth was that? She whipped her head to the side and breathed a sigh of relief to see the door closed. She looked back at the angel kneeling on the floor, her back pumping with each breath.

"What the hell just happened?" Cleo almost yelled but refrained herself out of fear of her crew overhearing. An Archangel in this condition wasn't a good thing to witness. She felt a dark energy vibrating in the room, and it made her uncomfortable.

Cleo moved to help her up but Adiona raised a hand.

"No," she kept her head turned away from the singer. "Stay away Cleo. Do not touch me."

Cleo's shapely eyebrows furrowed in confusion and concern but she complied to her wishes and stepped back.

She watched the black wings go up and down as Adiona heaved with each breath. She looked like she was in pain, and no matter how hard Cleo tried convince herself that it didn't bother her, she felt that deep down inside she cared for this woman who called herself her mate. For the past weeks, even though Adiona was keeping her distance and trying to keep her end of the bargain, Cleo couldn't help but feel closer to her. It seemed as though her interest about her got stronger everyday and the more Adiona pushed her away, the closer she wanted to get. She was fascinated by this angel hybrid, and found herself studying her almost every move. The gentle but firm way she dealt with Cleo's fans in keeping them at bay, the way she stirred her coffee, the perfect way she dressed, the sexy way she drove a car, and so much more. She realized that Adiona seemed to do everything as if she had all the time in the world; slowly but efficiently. It was calming to see.

But not this time. This was not calming to look at, at all. The way her angel was hunched over like that, struggling with each breath as she battled whatever pain it was that Cleo wanted so desperately to understand. Maybe if she understood her pain she would understand who she was.

After what seemed like forever, Adiona's breathing went back to normal and she slowly moved her hands away from her eyes. Then she laid herself down on the carpeted floor, as if exhausted from her efforts. It shocked Cleo. Nothing Adiona did ever exhausted her. One time an elevator at a hotel they were staying at had stopped working and Adiona had single-handedly carried their luggages up the thirty-four floors while Cleo and her crew were talking. By the time they turned around, their luggages were gone and in their place stood a single woman with her arms crossed. "Let's go." Was all she said before turning on her heels to climb the steps. Cleo's crew didn't react and she wondered if Adiona did a weird mind-erase thing. She marveled at her strength.

"Adiona, talk to me," Cleo was pleased to hear her voice a lot firmer than she felt. "What's going on?"

"Nothing." Adiona mumbled a reply as she stood back up to her full majestic height. Everything she did seemed to be majestic.

And Cleo snapped.

She seethed with anger and she grabbed Adiona's arm just as she was about to walk away. She flinched back as if burned and Cleo hastily dropped her hand. She didn't want to touch her.

"No, Archangel, you listen to me," she said through clenched teeth. "I have been through hell the last weeks because of what happened. And what makes it worse is that a certain uptight angel won't fucking explain to me what the fuck is going on!"

Adiona's face remained passive and that pissed off Cleo even more.

"Then after a month of treating me like shit, you press me against the wall, do your sexy vodoo thing, then shove me away. What am I to you? A plaything?!" Cleo body shook. She needed to get this out. "And then there's Blaire. I have no idea where in the universe she is and it is killing me. You won't tell me a damn thing and I'm so tired of your bullshit. You can't force me into your world with me not knowing anything about it!" she was yelling now, but she didn't care. "I feel like your own personal pig right now. Do you do this a lot? Shove feeble humans into your world to see and worship how great and mighty you are and making them feel like the dumbest animal in the whole fucking earth?" a tear slipped its way down her cheek and she angrily wiped it away. "Tell me, dammit!"

"Miss Stone?" a knock sounded at the door Cleo jumped. Adiona, of course, stayed stoic. "We're packing up and leaving in five minutes."

Adiona strode to where Cleo was in two graceful steps. "We'll be there."

Then looking at Cleo in the eyes that made her breath hitch, she said, "Meet me back at the hotel. My room."

Then without another word, she opened the door and was gone.

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Cleo took a deep breath and raised her hand to knock. She was nervous, and she chastised herself. You've been waiting long enough, Cley, she told herself as she waited for the door to open. You should be ready by now.

The door opened to reveal a certain sexy female bodyguard. Cleo breath caught in her throat again at the sight of her, just as it always did. Her black wavy locks fell across her shoulders and framed an impeccable face carved by the heavens. Adiona had changed into casual silk pants and a royal blue silk robe. Underneath the robe she was wearing a bralette that made Cleo's jaw clench. She had a mole right below her right breast.

"Come in," she said, and Cleo snapped to attention, forced her legs to move and followed Adiona in. "Have a seat."

Adiona gestured towards an armchair and she sat across from her. Cleo however, didn't move from her standing position and Adiona raised a perfect brow.

"I'm not sitting down until you tell me."

Adiona sighed, "There are a few bananas in the fridge. Please, take some."

Cleo was surprised and silently thanked Adiona for caring. Maybe she did a little. Maybe she was still a little human.

A few minutes later, she was sitting down nibbling on a banana with three more resting on her lap. She gestured with a hand.

"Go. Start talking."

"What do you want to know?"

"What's your other half? You said you were part angel. What's the other part?"

"Pass."

"Adiona."

"I don't want to answer that."

"I'll scream again."

"Succubus. I'm part succubus."

Cleo's eyes widened. "Succubus? As in a sex demon succubus?"

Adiona rubbed her temples. "Yes, that."

"So that's what the creepy voice meant by the 'devil's mark', " It dawned on Cleo. "You passed through the hellhounds because you had the devil's mark. You're literally part demon."

"Yes," Adiona's voice was soft. "An abomination." Her long tapered finger carressed her full bottom lip as she seemed to reminisce old centuries long forgotten.

Cleo frowned at the choice of word Adiona used to describe herself but ignored it. "Explain to me what happened a while ago. Why did you ask me to push you away? Weren't you the one who pushed me against the wall in the first place?"

"It's the succubus in me," Adiona sounded utterly disgusted with herself and Cleo noted the emotion. "It craves you, and it makes me act out of pure sexual impulse. It's getting stronger everyday, and it just snapped today."

"Wait a minute," Cleo stood up, grabbing a banana and peeling it. "Does my attraction to you have anything to do with you being a sex demon?"

"No, it doesn't," Adiona calmly replied. "I'm not voluntarily releasing any aphrodisiac scent except what happened a while ago. That was the only time it slipped. Apart from that, your attraction to me is all you."

Cleo could feel herself getting red with embarrassment. She fumbled with the banana in her hand and sat back down.

"Um, so w-why are you an archangel then?" she tried to change the subject and hope to heaven Adiona forgot what she just asked.

Adiona noticed her change but let it slip. "My mom made a Deal."

"I bet she's pretty," Cleo wiggled her toes as she nibbled on her banana again. "What was it?"

"She was," Adiona murmured and she stood up, walking towards the door. "That's enough questions for this century. Now if you'll excuse me, I have business to attend to. I am sorry for attacking you this morning. It won't happen again." A wave of emotion flowed from her and into Cleo, shocking her. It was of immense sadness, unlike anything she had ever felt before. 

Cleo really did hate it when she did that. Abruptly cutting off their conversation, ignoring the rest of her questions, and then disappearing. It made her feel like she was just a waste of time, like trash. She felt her heart ache because of the hurt.

"I'm sorry for bothering you," Cleo stood up to leave and Adiona opened the door for her. Cleo paused at the doorway, with a sudden urge to comfort. "I just want you to know that I accept you, whatever you are. Thank you for your time." She bit the inside of her mouth to stop herself from crying because really, no one likes the feeling of being a bother to another. And what she felt rolling off of Adiona almost broke her heart. What exactly happened to  have broken an Archangel this much? 

Before Adiona could reply, Cleo had shut the door by herself and quickly walked away.

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Adiona could feel the hurt within Cleo and even saw it in those large brown eyes. It stirred something within Adiona and she pushed it down. She forced herself to be the emotionless thing she had come to be. Emotions were what made humans weak in the first place. And she was not weak. She couldn't afford to be weak right now.

But she is destined to be yours.

Adiona shook the thought from her mind. What she felt for Cleo was purely because of the succubus with her, itching to claim her mate. She suppressed it the best she could, and when it snapped today, she had almost raped Cleo.

When she had asked Cleo to come to her at the snack area, she had meant to scold her and talk sense into her about listening more for her safety. But the image of those legs in those fishnet stockings and the smooth, caramel flat stomach that flexed as she walked to her brought the inner beast to life. She pushed it down and tried focusing in her eyes. The heat she saw there almost made her lose it. Then when Cleo stood before her and bit her lip, the beast was loose.

Everything moved in slow motion then. As Cleo's pearl white teeth pressed down into luscious lips, Adiona had already closed the door. Then before Cleo could get over her confusion to ask what she was doing there, she had her pinned against the wall.

Almost immediately, her succubus released tendrils of her aphrodisiac scent and Adiona watched in horror as it enveloped Cleo's senses.

I need to stop. Cleo has no idea what's going on. This is practically rape.

She braced her arms on either side of Cleo, trapping her there.

I can't.

And so with what was left of Adiona's mind, she had begged Cleo to push her away. She both regretted it and felt relief in it. She knew it had to be done, simply because she wasn't in her right mind.

Heck, she didn't even know what she was thinking when she answered the brunette's questions. Azriel was the only one in heaven and below who knew about her other half and dark secret.

Speaking of Azriel...

Az?  Adiona opened the window, looked down to see nobody was looking, then flew into the clouds. Is Blaire still alive?