23. Cassius

Being inside Kushiel was like touching the sun. Kushiel's light surrounded them, golden threads tied them together, and Kushiel was hot and tight around his dick. The look in Kush's eyes was mesmerizing, and the little mewls of pleasure and groans coming out of his angel's mouth only spurred him on, causing him to thrust faster into Kushiel's body.

Their hands were clasped, their fingers twined together, and Cass had never felt so close to anyone in all his life.

Kushiel's hips were splayed impossibly wide, and he let go of Kushiel's hand to lift one of his legs up. The motion let him sink deeper into Kushiel, and the angel's shout of pleasure let him know he had hit his prostate.

Kushiel apparently really liked having his prostate played with. His dick was leaking a stream of precum onto his stomach as it bounced against his skin with each of Cass's thrusts.

"Cass," Kushiel mewled out, his eyes closing and his one hand squeezing tightly around Cass's.

Cass thrust faster and harder, making sure to hit that spot over and over. Kushiel canted his hips up, and then he was crying out as white cum painted his abs, his ass squeezing Cass even more tightly.

Fuck. His angel had come untouched, and it sent Cass spiraling into his own orgasm.

"So beautiful. So good for me, Kush," Cass moaned out, his orgasm rolling over him, his hips thrusting frantically into Kushiel.

Kushiel mewled, more cum spurting from his dick as Cass filled him up.

Cass collapsed onto him with one final pump of his hips, careful not to fall too heavily, catching his angel's mouth in a kiss. They were both panting and sticky, but Cass didn't care. They kissed ravenously at first, and then more gently, until Cass's slowly softening dick slipped from Kushiel's body. Cass rolled to the side, resting his head on Kushiel's chest.

"My beautiful angel," Cass murmured, sliding his hand along Kushiel's chest. He encountered the sticky mess on Kush's stomach, but he only smiled at the evidence of how undone his angel had come.

Kushiel blushed as he gazed at Cass. "You are the beautiful one, Cassius. You are everything," he whispered.

"You are my everything," Cass said, kissing one of Kushiel's nipples just because it was there.

They basked in the silence for a moment before Kushiel asked, "Would you like me to clean us up?"

Cass hummed in agreement, and then his hand was clean, as was Kush's stomach. "The perks of angelhood," he chuckled. "Bet you didn't think you'd be performing that kind of miracle today."

Kushiel laughed with him, and Cass was overjoyed at the sound. His angel didn't laugh nearly enough. They settled into each other, snuggled up and content, and Cass felt himself drifting to sleep.

Yes, they were on their way to see a demon sea monster, and they still had a mystery to solve and lost souls to find, but he would steal perfect moments wherever he could. With that thought, he let sleep overtake him.

Cass awakenedto Kushiel staring at him, gently petting his head and smiling softly at him.

"How long was I out?" Cass asked, giving a yawn.

"Maybe twenty minutes? I think we're slowing down," Kushiel answered.

Cass realized it did seem like the engines were quieter, which is probably what woke him. He got out of bed and stretched, and he smiled to see Kush's lusty gaze sweep over his naked form.

"Sea monster first, then sexy looks," Cass joked.

Kushiel blushed and got out of bed to get his pants and scarf back on. When Cass got a look at his perfect naked body, he almost rethought the whole demon first thing, but he supposed being interrupted by a sea monster might prove to be a real mood killer.

Cass couldn't help shifting his sight a bit to look closer though. What he saw took his breath away.

They were bound by a thick golden ray of light, and the bond glowed so brightly that Cass had to resist the urge to shield his eyes. It was beautiful, just like his angel.

He was going to say something to Kushiel, but he heard the engines cut off completely as he pulled on his clothes. He thought Kushiel must know they were soulmates—the angel had declared his love, after all. Still, they hadn't talked about it, and he wanted Kushiel to know how happy he was about it. Now didn't seem to be the time, however, since he didn't think a sea monster interrupting that would be a good idea either. He knew his Kushiel was shy and doubted himself, and he wanted time to reassure him about how happy he was that they were permanently tied together.

"Let's get this over with," Cass sighed. "Although I'm still not sure how exactly we're supposed to get Leviathan's attention."

They climbed up the steps and made their way toward the bridge, the yacht rocking gently on the water. The captain met them on the deck, waving a hand at them.

"Looking for Levi, yeah?" he asked as he came over to them.

Kushiel and Cass both nodded, and to Cass's surprise, the captain then pulled out a chest and started throwing stuff into the ocean. It looked like coins, jewelry, fancy clothes, and even some paper money.

"Ummm," Cass began, "what are you… uh…"

The captain smiled and winked at them. "How else do you think to lure a sea monster, eh boy?"

"I don't get it, though. What is treasure gonna do? Leviathan is a demon of envy, not greed," Cass responded.

The captain nodded, still chucking stuff overboard. "Of course. Envy is desiring what others have that you do not. Do you think this lovely yacht is mine? Or this money? Or this fine jewelry?" he asked, holding up a handful of necklaces, which he then promptly threw in the water. "Nope! None of it is mine, but I want it all, and so I stole it!" he cried out.

It was as if his statement caused a reaction, because suddenly the water was churning and bubbling, and Cass could almost make out a massive body beneath the water.

"Umm, maybe this wasn't the best idea…" he started, but the captain just cackled gleefully again.

A long, octopus-like tentacle reached out of the water, grabbing onto the side of the boat and tipping it precariously. Cass tumbled toward the side, but Kushiel grabbed him and held on, his footing firm on the deck.

Cass was about to scream, and Kushiel had his wings out, so he looked like he was about to fly them off to safety, when the captain took matters into his own hands.

Literally into his own hands. He walked over and gently caressed the tentacle, then reached down and took the tip of it to gently caress his face with the side that had suckers.

It was strangely sexual in a way that Cass couldn't even comprehend. He didn't know if it was the gentle way the captain held the tentacle, which grew to be bigger than his legs as it went down into the sea, or the fact that the tentacle seemed to be caressing the captain's face in return.

"Levi! I'm warning ya now—if you destroy this ship, you're bringing us back to land!" the captain called out.

With that, the tentacle swiftly retreated, and it was like the water spat a man out onto the deck. He looked like a guy in his early 20s, and his hair was so black it looked blue. Cass noticed the tips of it actually were a lighter blue. His eyes were a striking violet color, and his body was chiseled and firm. He had horns and a tail, but instead of wings, he had tentacles.

Cass looked at Kushiel, but Kushiel only looked vaguely confused. He supposed the two had never met before. He looked back at Leviathan, who had a bored look on his face.

"You got old, Bob," the demon complained.

The sea captain, who was apparently named Bob, only laughed like that was the funniest thing he had heard in ages.

"And you did not, young Levi. It's lovely to see you again, and Patrick will be right sorry he missed you. He's home with the grandkids, and I didn't know I'd be out looking for you, or he'd have surely come along for old time's sake," Bob said.

Levi's face seemed to soften a bit. "Ah, yes, you two were lovely morsels. You kept in contact with him?" Levi asked.

"I married him," Bob responded. "No one else would ever quite understand what we'd been through. And, well, after we spent a bit of time with you, we never did look at each other in the same way. Hard to be just friends after you had an orgy with a sea monster."

"I think it needs to be more than three people for an orgy, but that isn't really my department," Levi shrugged. "I am glad you two found what you truly envied in others. I would say it's nice to see you, but it seems you're back to envying what others have, and you know how I feel about pirates."

Cass was trying to make sense of all this, but he was having a hard time following. "Um, excuse me, can you guys fill us in?" he asked.

Levi noticed them for the first time then, tilting his head and staring. He seemed halfway feral, more beast than anything else, despite his human-like form.

"You don't have envy," he said, looking at Cass. He turned to Kushiel and smiled, and Cass noticed his teeth looked sharp. "You, however… you have some envy going on. Interesting trait for an angel."

"Leave him alone," Cass demanded, grabbing Kushiel's hand and squeezing it.

Leviathan looked at Cass again, then shrugged. He sort of reminded Cass of the emo college kids who came into the shop, and his attitude matched.

"Yeah, no real meal there anyway—what he envies is easily within his reach, after all," Levi muttered. He looked at Bob again, frowning. "You don't actually have any real envy either. You're happy with your life and your husband. What in nine hells are you doing trying to catch my attention?"

"Ah, you're just as beautiful, sexy, and weird as I remember. Patrick is gonna be so sad he missed it," Bob sighed. He then looked at Kushiel and Cass and explained, "When my buddy and I were younger we were regular spitfires. Mad at the world and not sure why. We ended up stealing a boat and a bunch of money from Patrick's job. We were pretty far out to sea when we ran into Levi, here. Turns out he doesn't like pirates much, and that's apparently what we were."

"Pirates crave what belongs to others, and they take it by force and violence. I've never cared for them. The ocean is the one place I shouldn't have to deal with envy—there's enough of that in the souls in hell," Levi sneered.

"Wait a minute," Cass interrupted. "You're a demon of envy. Aren't you supposed to encourage people to be envious?"

Levi laughed. "People don't need any encouragement to be envious. It is the natural state of humanity to want that which others have. I come to the ocean for a vacation and some peace, but humans always muck things up," he grumbled.

Bob laughed, adding, "Yes, Patrick and I definitely mucked things up, including our lives. Levi here taught us a lesson. He sunk the ship and the treasure, but apparently we weren't bad enough to warrant him letting us drown along with our spoils. Levi saved us, and he gave us quite the weekend to remember him." He winked at that last part.

Cass cleared his throat and tried very hard not to picture two young men and a tentacled demon.

"So you, what, had sex with modern day pirates?" Cass asked Levi, and he had to try not to giggle after he said it.

"They didn't really envy what they stole. They thought they envied each other, but that wasn't right either. They envied the freedom to do what they wanted, yet they were both too afraid to do it. I simply gave them a nudge in that direction," Levi grumbled.

"A nudge," Bob chortled. "He fucked our brains out, is what he did, and Patrick and I were finally able to admit what we wanted. Each other. Anyway, it is lovely to see you, and I'll give Patrick your regards, but lest I be tempted, I'm heading to the galley while you ‘chat' with these two."

With that he winked and walked off.

"Does he think…" Kushiel started, speaking for the first time.

"I'm not having sex with you two," Levi said, sounding bored. "That'll just create envy, and I'm on vacation, for fuck's sake."

"We don't want to have sex with you! We have questions for you," Kushiel responded, a spark of anger flowing through their bond.

Cass was actually flattered that it pissed Kushiel off to think of Levi having sex with either of them. They did need answers, though. Although Cass somehow didn't picture this emo-looking demon who seemed to have perfected the art of sneering and looking bored to be responsible for all the lost souls.

Levi sighed dramatically, then made a go-ahead gesture with his hands and his tentacles.

It was kind of freaky.

"Erebus," Kushiel stated.

Levi waited, still looking bored. Cass sharpened his vision, looking closer. Levi was a bright light, and he didn't sense a shroud of darkness around him that such an act would probably have created. Demons weren't really evil, after all—they were still souls filled with light. Most of the ones he saw were pretty bright, including Leviathan.

"Souls who were on their way to redemption," Kushiel added.

"I still don't hear an actual question," Levi huffed.

"What has happened to them?" Kushiel asked.

Leviathan sighed dramatically. "I have no clue what you're going on about. Nothing has happened to them. They're on Erebus, where they always are. They're totally not my department, and I am not taking responsibility for one more thing. I'm on vacation. I just want to float in the ocean, maybe destroy a few pirate ships, and possibly play with some humans."

"They were stolen by someone who was full of greed and envy," Kushiel declared.

Levi actually looked surprised at that. "Why the fuck would someone steal souls from Erebus? All that work, and for what purpose? It wouldn't accomplish anything," he reasoned.

Cass didn't think Levi was their guy. First, he seemed like a loner who was more content to hang about topside than someone who had any followers in the underworld. Second, Cass really didn't sense evil or malice from him.

"I don't think he's our guy," Cass murmured to Kushiel.

"Of course I'm not the demon you're looking for," Levi snapped out. "I can sense envy, but it's so prevalent I spend more time punishing it than causing it. Humans are envious creatures. But then angels and demons are as well, I suppose," he added.

"So do you know who our guy would be? Someone who has been topside recently, has followers in the underworld, and is full of greed and envy?" Cass asked.

Levi actually seemed to think about this for a minute before speaking. "I suppose it could be him. He has been more envious lately, and he's always been full of greed. He really takes himself way too seriously, too."

"Who?" Kushiel asked.

"Mammon. I sensed him by the marina a few weeks ago. He was taking a whole lot of sea water for some reason. I didn't ask. He's such a know-it-all, and he grates on me," Levi stated.

With that, Levi turned and vaulted over the deck into the water. Cass rushed over, and yep, there was a giant sea monster next to the boat now. Leviathan looked sort of like an octopus, yet his facial features seemed human.

"Do you know where we can find him?" Kushiel called down.

Cass was a little surprised to see the mouth—beak?—form words just like a human mouth would.

"Nope. No clue. And not my job. I have ships to sink and sailors to ravish," Levi called out, and then he looked at Bob, who was coming out of the galley, calling out, "Unless you'd like a repeat?"

Bob chuckled. "Oh, I am tempted, but Patrick would want to be here. Perhaps we'll come back and call on you again."

A tentacle waved from the ocean, and then Leviathan sank below the surface, eventually fading from sight. When he was gone, Bob headed back to the bridge, mumbling about heading back to land to get home to his husband.

"Well, I think we can rule him out, and he seems to think it's Mammon as well. I think we know which demon we're looking for. Do you know anything about him?" Cass asked.

"No, I don't. Unfortunately, no one seems to know where to find him, either," Kushiel admitted.

"We'll figure it out together," Cass reassured him, leaning over and pulling Kushiel into his side.

Kushiel snuggled close. Yes, they had a suspect, but somehow Cass didn't feel like they were much closer to an answer on finding the lost souls. For now, however, they were looking out across the ocean, the afternoon was beautiful, and Cass was happy to enjoy a few more stolen moments with soulmate.