1. Evangeline

Istepped inside the smokey bar and let the door close behind me as my eyes scanned the room to get the layout. It didn’t take long for my angel eyes to adjust, but it did take a few seconds to differentiate the auras in the room. As an angel, I could see the evil in a being as inky black shadows in their aura, and the thicker the shadows were, the more evil they were. This bar was filled with it, but I was looking for someone specific.

As a soldier in God’s army, my mission was clear: hunt down sin generators and eliminate them. This was not just a duty but a crucial task to tip the balance in Heaven’s favor. Sin generators were not mere sinners; they were beings who infected others with their evil. They spread their darkness through force, possession, coercion, or temptation. Today, my target was a particularly active demon whose presence was causing the area around the bar to bleed shadows. It was like a pyramid scheme of sin; if I didn’t stop it at the source soon, we’d lose the neighborhood. I couldn’t let that happen.

After finishing my scan, I sauntered to the bar, ordered a dirty vodka martini with extra olives, and slid onto a bar stool. A few people had caught my attention because of the sheer volume of evil they possessed. My target could be any one of them. I crossed my legs, my short dress sliding up even further to bare my leg nearly to my hip. A human might look at me and not believe I was an angel. Over the millennia, humans have twisted the original teachings to support their sexist and controlling desires. Drinking wasn’t a sin, and neither was sex. As with all things, it comes down to what you do with it.

This particular demon preyed on vulnerable women, coercing them to use their bodies to spread evil to their partners. While promiscuity was not a sin, turning evil into an STD was. The infected women would unknowingly leave a trail for the demon to follow. He would find how to tempt the new person into sin using the trap door his minions left. And the cycle would continue indefinitely unless I stopped the demon first. I had disguised my grace and hoped to be a tempting enough target to draw the demon to me.

With a wink, the bartender set my drink down on a napkin in front of me. I mirrored his wink and added a flirty smile. His aura was cleaner than most in here tonight, and maybe if tonight goes well, I’ll let him take me home. Give him a little taste of grace to help keep him on the right path, and well, put an end to this dry spell I seemed to be on. My abstinence wasn’t intentional; I just got caught up in the job and forgot to live a little—story of my life.

I lifted the glass to my lips for a sip and turned on my stool to survey the room again. I was going for the lost and needy look tonight and shyly met the eyes of the three people I thought might be the demon. The evil was more concentrated around the one in the corner booth, but he was surrounded by so many others that I couldn’t tell if it all belonged to him. He was leaning into a woman’s space to whisper something in her ear that made her laugh. His blue-tinted white eyes met mine as she laughed, dropped to my chest, and slid down my legs. Even if I weren’t watching as he eye fucked me, I would have been able to feel his gaze. I fought the urge to shudder in disgust as I dropped my eyes and then lifted them to meet his again through my eyelashes. A salacious grin split his face when I did. Well, I had his attention.

I shifted my eyes completely as I mentally began my countdown until I would look at him again and found myself getting lost in a new pair of intense yellowish-gold eyes. My head tilted to the side as I regarded him, and he mirrors my movements, tipping his head as well. The man had wavy black hair down to his shoulders, and even while sitting, I could tell he was tall. I couldn’t tell what he was, but I knew he wasn’t human based on his size alone. He was sitting at a table with two other equally large men. He said something to them as I searched their auras. They weren’t overly saturated with evil, but they also weren’t clean. It was hard to read them, almost like I was looking at them through a filter that prevented me from identifying who or what they were.

I was so focused on trying to penetrate their shields that I didn’t immediately realize that the other two had also turned to look at me. Both had black hair like their friend, but the one with a faux hawk had reddish-orange eyes, and the other with short hair had nearly black eyes. With my enhanced vision, I could see that he had brown flecks in them. Yep, whoever these men were, they weren’t human. Not that my grey eyes with purple flecks screamed human, either. For the longest time, I would have to change them to make them appear more human. That necessity stopped when humans developed colored contacts. Now they assume I’m wearing contacts.

I involuntarily squirmed in my seat under the weight of their stares. I felt an uneasy pinch in my chest that I hadn’t ever felt. Before I could figure out what it was, movement in my peripheral distracted me. The man from the corner booth was moving out of it with the woman he had been chatting up. My eyes widened as he separated himself from the group, and the evil followed him. This had to be the demon I was looking for.

The three hotties all but forgotten, I turned back toward the bar to finish my drink as I watched from the corner of my eye as the demon went through a door, towing the woman behind him. This was it. I could catch him in the act and take him out in the process. I followed him through the door and listened closely as I crept down the hall. I heard a sound behind a door and grinned as I opened my palm and summoned my flaming sword. I got a little ahead of myself, envisioning all the evil being wiped out in the area once I killed this demon, and I didn’t have my guard up like I should have when I burst into the room.

When I entered, the demon was pressing the woman against the wall, whispering to her in Latin and infecting her with his evil. At the sound of the door, he spun to face me, a triumphant grin on his face. “I was hoping you would follow me, angel,” he purred. Before I could respond, he had disappeared into a cloud of smoke.

Dammit! I open my palm, and my flaming sword vanishes. I was so close! I go to step toward the woman who has slumped to the floor, but I realize that I can’t move. The demon was still here, and he wasn’t done with me yet. Seconds later, the men from earlier also come running into the room. Time seems to slow at their arrival as the demon materializes in front of me. He doesn’t take solid form. I see him more as a smokey mirage, and as he speaks, I realize I’m the only one who can see him. He’s used his powers to slip in between the seconds of time.

“I had other plans for you, but this will be even better,” he purrs as his ghostly hand trails down my cheek. “You’ll be my greatest accomplishment. Imagine how I’ll be celebrated. Zabiza, the demon who corrupted an angel. And with you, I can kill two birds with one stone. Cause your damnation and get these mutts off my trail. How fortuitous for me that you both showed up on the same night. I’ll have to find new hunting grounds, but I was beginning to get bored anyway.” He moved behind me, and I felt his influence brush against my mind. “Enjoy your evening.”

My ears popped as the demon left, and time resumed as it was meant to. I knew I needed to go after him, but as I looked at the three confused men before me, the pinching in my chest grew as my temperature rose. I felt myself becoming aroused, and as I licked my lips, I realized what these men were—hellhounds. Now that we were in such close proximity, I could smell the brimstone and see the animals within. Even as my lust grew, I knew I should get out of there immediately. Unfortunately, my desires overrode my other instincts, and I struggled to care that they were hellhounds. I wanted them. All of them. Now.

My arousal heightened, and I could feel myself getting wet as I dropped any mental walls I still had about giving in to my desires. The three men inhale, their eyes glowing as their growls vibrate the air around me. I should fear them. I should fight them. Wordlessly, I walk to the hound with the black eyes and practically climb him like a tree as I drag his lips to mine. He seemed reluctant or in shock until I impatiently nipped his lip to get him to open his mouth. As soon as he does, I dip my tongue inside his mouth teasingly, urging him to play with me, to encourage him to get on the same page I was on.

He tasted smokey, and when I moaned into his mouth, he finally stopped acting like a statue. His arms locked around me to support my weight as he took control of the kiss. I was breathless when I leaned back. “Take me to bed. I need you. All of you,” I begged. He held me tighter as he teleported us away from the bar. Something about it felt... wrong, and I struggled to identify what it was, but as soon as his feet hit the floor and we materialized inside a shabby bedroom apartment, I pushed the feeling aside. I’d figure it out later; right now, I needed to get laid.

I felt the air around us shift as his buddies arrived seconds later. As I dropped to the floor and pulled my dress over my head, warning bells went off, but I ignored them. None of that was important right now.

“My name is Rylan,” Dark Eyes said. Pointing to the other two men, he continued, “That’s Kase and Jett.”

“I don’t care,” I replied, reaching for his shirt. “Get naked.” He helped me pull his shirt off, and it looked like he wanted to keep talking until I slid my hand into his pants and wrapped it around his hard cock. Thank fuck he was well endowed. He undid his jeans, and as soon as they were shoved down to his knees, I pushed him onto his back and rushed to follow him. It felt like I would explode into angel dust if I didn’t have him inside me right that second, and he was still kicking his jeans off as I mounted him.

I was so slick that I didn’t need any additional prep as I slowly sank onto his cock with a satisfied moan. This was what I needed. I didn’t stop until my ass was resting on his thighs. I felt so fucking full. It was like he was made for me.

“Shit, you feel good, baby,” Rylan groaned.

I moaned in agreement as I lifted my body, enjoying the feeling of him sliding against my pussy’s walls. Before he could completely slide out of me, I dropped back onto him. The bed dipped on either side of us as his two very naked friends joined us. Their hands cupped my breasts and captured my nipples between their thumbs and forefingers, pinching them lightly. I wasn’t sure who was who, but I moaned appreciatively as Jett and Kase turned my head to kiss them one after the other. The same smokey taste flooded my mouth as I alternated kissing them while riding their friend for all I was worth. Rylan’s hands squeezed my hips tightly and guided my movements, encouraging me to move faster as he thrust into me from below.

As the pressure toward my orgasm grew, so did the feeling in my chest. I had only just met them. I wasn’t sure you could even call it that, but I had never felt as connected to anyone as I did now. I might have questioned that feeling if I hadn’t been so lost in my basic needs. “More,” I begged. “I’m so close.”

Simultaneously, Jett and Kase moved their mouths to my nipples as Rylan moved to my clit and circled it with his thumb. “Come for us, beautiful,” Rylan demanded roughly. I met his dark eyes and noticed the flecks of brown were glowing like flames within them. I had never seen anything so beautiful in my entire existence.

My muscles locked up as I felt my orgasm crash into me. I screamed and lost control of my wings as I came. Rylan’s eyes widened in surprise when he saw them. Jett and Kase fell back in shock as I rode out my orgasm. My entire body was trembling as wave after wave of pleasure coursed through my body. I had never come so hard before. Everything about my time with them felt different. Not wrong, just different. More. It was all so much more than I had ever experienced.

“She’s an angel!” Kase or Jett exclaimed.

In the back of my mind, I wondered why it mattered and why he sounded horrified.

“It’s too late. I can’t stop it,” Rylan said. “Fuck. I’m so fucking sorry, baby.”

The sorrow in his eyes and his words confused me. Why was he sorry? He just gave me the most mind-blowing orgasm of my life. Seconds later, he threw his head back and roared as I felt him come. As soon as he did, my mind cleared, and the sudden clarity made me realize how badly I had just fucked up. It didn’t matter that this was ultimately Zabiza’s doing. The deed was done, and I had been a willing participant. A scream tore from my lips as I felt my grace being stripped away.

There may not be any rules about sex, but there were rules about fornicating with the enemy. An angel couldn’t have sex with a hellhound, an important detail I had refused to consider until it was too late. As soon as his sperm entered my body, I was beyond saving. I was suddenly transported away against my will as a second scream tore from me. I didn’t know where I was; everything was dark, and I writhed in midair as I continued to fall from grace.

What had I done?