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In the Land of Nod seven days later

Racked with agony, Cain sat naked at the edge of the sensation pool in his bedcha in the ether as he clutched silk sheets to his chest Anything that would bring her to hi back and forth, his hands treain with his eyes tightly shut, and then inhaled Da essence Her scent was set ablaze in his mind, fevered by the oil of Hathor she'd trailed He winced and shuddered, the denial unbearable, the incarceration a suffering he'd never known

Bitter tears rolled down his cheeks while deci memories turned his saliva thick in his mouthShe was his universe, the potential bearer of his eh his Neteru blade was piercing his heart He could almost taste blood from the phantom wound she'd left

Cain licked his chaffed, dry lips, re Damali's mouth upon his A shiver almost arched his back The desire to hold her had become a need, then an obsession, until it produced an incomparable ache Just thebite, her deepall of it was like a knife that carved at his groin and filled his sac with , unspent seed that could not be spilled in this sensationless realm

But tasting her blood had made him feel it down to his marrow

The peristaltic drive to release inside her without a way to ejaculate now tortured his mind to near madness

"Devastation" he murmured into the soft fabric that had been filled with her sweat "How could you allow him to manipulate you this way?"

Feminine wetness that had overflowed fro to his palate, a razor ofwould last a led to breathe as the reality wore on

Days ago he'd abandoned the frenzied attempt to make love to her telepathically, to find relief in his desperateshe'd touched, but to no avail Her vibrations had ceased; his thrusts against inani re to was her deliriu scent and what remained of their last encounter in hiserased from his real only the burn for her in its wake

He couldn't conjure her in visions or connect to her astrally The orgas hi in his charoan, every hot gasp, each time he'd wailed her nae that there would be endless days and nights until his solo apex finally ebbed

"Damali" A sob choked off his words as he nuzzled the sheets, re her voice, her caress, the way she'd reached for him and had arched under his hold, a plea in her eyes to love her hard "I would have given you the world, and so much more"

Seven brutal days of suffering had lacerated his soul Her blood had been a sweet tonic that still burned inside his veins "Do not banish s ripped his guhts

It was to be twelve days ofa war hiatus that had also been reserved for his oldest friend Everything had been so perfectly orchestrated, the strategy sound The cease-fire had been established to quell civil unrest in his empire, and yet he was more bereft over the loss of Dara

His pool now remained eerily silent; Damali's vibrations blocked to his communion Her voice was as unreachable as a distant star, dead to hiht only a resonance from the past

"I loved you so," he whispered against the tear-da you with all that is within el queen of all that I know"

The sensation tank reonized wails echoed off the white old-and-silver mortar and every conductive metal object radiated pain so acutely that he reached his hand out and touched the glasslike blue surface of the ether with his fingertips His pride in ruins, broken, he would settle for knowing her whereabouts even through the vibrations of another man

Carlos had befouled his lair, his pool Cain closed his eyes Just to knohere Damali was, he would link to his Neteru brother who also shared his vae He had to know Seven days was more than he could bear Her absence had become a viral infection that fevered his mind, drove hi worse than blood hunger

But the moment he honed his focus to Carlos, Cain drew his hand back as though he'd been burned The sheets fell away fro tee

"No," he whispered, disbelief robbing his lungs of air He went to his hands and knees, splaying both pal, listening-he had to understand Shecouldn't have done this

On his feet in an instant, Cain's body transfor battle bulk A war cry filled his chest and he released it like sudden thunder Lightning arched froold, and then black

"Transgressor! Betrayer! Befouler! Be da armor to cover his nakedness and with his blade of Ausar in his fist

Capillaries burst in his temples; blood was in his eyes "Married? You blotted her from my world by a treacherous act of round? I will behead you and make her a !"

With one long lightning bolt that cracked and singed the air as it ejected froe of the Olympic-sized pool overturned and exploded into rubble The four-poster, solid gold, king-sized bed flipped over and ht-footinto shards of lass with a wave of Cain's uard sphinxes came alive at the front entrance and rushed in to assist hi confused, stricken expres�sions that their lassy eyes

The high, vaulted ceiling began to give way, but Cain stood in the ed he would not even shield hi marble, boulders, and debris as he decimated his cliffside lair

"You manipulated her to murder my father, Dante! You took my father's throne in Hell, stole his empire, and then threw it back in his face! You robbedher You be�set the Neteru Council of Kings against me to seal me in Nod with their shields of Heru! You come to ale, after you kept her fro for one year-my Damali, the detri ed for"

Cain's eyes narrowed to enraged slits "Because of you, dom is under civil unrest! Then you betray my beloved's heart, take her body, and marry her away from me? Are you insane? Do you believe there will be no redress? I will have justice, Rivera!"

Pure fury roiled through Cain like a dark tornado, spiking adrena�line to rage in blackout proportions In a sharp pivot with both hands on his broad sword, Cain sliced at a standing colurip

"Noooo I at the blade handle in his hand and then down at the broken steel at his feet "Formillennia you have deceived ht?" Cain threw his head back and roared "What game is this, Adam? Did you also deceive Ausar? What con�spiracy is afoot amid the archons-I demand an answer! It is my due!"

I hole in the destroyed lair roof, and his gaze tore around the olden shields of Heru that still covered and sealed the thinning bar�rier between the Land of Nod and Earth

"I believed" Cain's voice quieted as he raked his fingers through his locks, incredulous He stared at the blade on the floor that should have cut through stone, tears rising and then burning aith renewed anger

The Neteru Council of Kings had betrayed hiiven the real mark of royalty to Carlos Rivera over hih Eve, but rather through a late elevation? A inal royal lineage of Dante and Lucifer? A co over hi, lied, stolen, and God knehat else, was allowed to bed the ht, and sire? This transgressor, this interloper of dubious her�itage, had been incarcerated for only a few short years, yet with full conjugal access to Damali, while he'd been locked away in the Land of Nod, devoid of carnal sensationfor eons -when his only offense had been to execute his wearisoh?

"Never!" He spat on the floor in disgust "Then my father's people shall have me where my rule will be revered"

Cain was purein velocity until he reached the edge of the ravine Headlong, he tu arrow to land in the central kingdoreeted by the stunned amazeht and the Dark dreay froes of Cain's nostrils as he whirred around to gain his bearings Battle-length fangs had filled his mouth, and the lack of a blade hadn't left hierous now than ever be�fore, he strode to the shadoall zone Patrons of the illicit sensations there scattered at his presence the moment he entered the dank alley

Tre as he approached the rubbery surface of the wall of seekers His footfalls thudded with lethal echoes as he stretched out his hands and dug into the flexible divide, plunging his fists into it up to the elbows Histhe the entire wall to wail

"Warlocks, bringher to this wall that she ht seduceexperiment Tell her to open a hole and prepare my father's throne for me in Hell!"

Harpies genuflected Level-Six vamites and stalactites and then fell to the floor, prostrate before Cain's passage The Sea of Perpetual Agony ceased its cries and went silent The lacier sealed over it and Cain store toward the Vampire Council Cha breaths of the bats and id air

The huge blackto the throne rooed knockers as the doors struggled to respond to Cain's royal entry, but see kicked off their hinges, each door exploding at the assault With every footfall that Cain landed on the black marble floor, the blood veins in it oozed to a halt beneath his furious steps, icy fingers choking off the flow of life within it and spreading out in a frosted glaze behind him

Lilith stood up fro with fresh blood In her peripheral vision she watched it ice over into a shining, ruby, still resin Her fingers and paloblet she clutched in her hand as she watched Cain stand in the center of the floor breathing fire and ice, his golden ares until the hue of pure darkness overtook it all

"Your throne awaits, Your Eminence," she said as chilly airto one knee with her head lowered and respectfullyCain toward his father's old throne, her tone was reverent "Hell has frozen over, sire it is your time to rule Destiny"

Cain did not speak as he approached the old Chairman's throne, but he stopped to look at the last vah, blackthe top section of the throne away to rid it of Carlos Rivera's naacy Then he saw Damali's name etched into the throne of every councilh him

He sat quickly, his back straight, his jaw set hard, and closed his eyes Tears of fa wafted through his cells Dante's virile ih his , ripening virgin in Eden, and then watched his father un�coil in muscular fluidity to shape-shift from an enormous black ser�pent to take the first Neteru ever made

"I will avenge you, Father," Cain murmured thickly as eons of vampiric information poured into his consciousness

Profound pleasure began to burn away his skin as his vertebrae knotted and becas with a twenty-foot span ripped through his shoulders, and his spine elon�gated, tearing flesh away fro a razor-sharp, scaled, spaded tail to exit

Cain siainst the excruciating transitionThis was power He drew in a wincing breath and kept his eyes tightly shutThis was of his line His father's people He would not cry out as theone with it and leaving him naked

The transforood it caused his ripped through his nail beds and gums He could feel his pupils dilate beneath his lids, and his inner vi�sion showed hiold bar that they'd becorandfather's eyes his father's fangs his ht and poithin the dark real! He would slay the pure Light male Neteru!

Every deviant carnal act that had ever been coroin simultaneously with the power of every evil that existed His body convulsed and shuddered But still he would not cry out, even panting, sweat leaking from his pores like black rain No Years millennia of abstinence, pain profound for his kind, had been endured He was a birthright monarch and would not cry out at his dark coronation or dishonor his father by a shoeakness Not in the throne that his father had ruled since the dawn of time! Not in the throne that had broken Rivera's spirit into two entities! He would crush that bastard's e!

The moment the top of the throne reconstructed and the smell of sulfuric scorch e to the exquisite torture of it all

He savagely bit into her shoulder, still refusing to cry out until his transformation was complete Her pleasure shriek asp as her spaded tail twined with his, slashing at the newly scaled flesh The sensation of wet, hot, writhing fe ecstasy e from the throne, finally caused hi her nails into the thick ropes of roan up from

His wingspan instantly eclipsed hers as the leathery appendages beat in unison to each lunging thrust Lifting her high into the vaulted ceiling in hovering flight above the throne, his talons tore at her ass, his ue until it bled black blood Messenger bats swar Cain reached down, gripping Lilith's waist with one are since the dawn of time up and out of the throne to him