Damnation and Vengeance.

She certainly was in trouble now.....now that they had finally found her.

And what a mess she was. Blonde hair matted to her scalp with her lover's seed, the same virile substance that slicked her tanned skin and still oozed copiously from her holes...even as she let just a little more slide from between her full lips to drip down her chin....her throat a ragged mess where he had used her so gloriously.

And yet, as the 7 stood around her.....ones that she once loved and vowed to serve and protect with all her heart and soul....it was with hate and wicked contempt she viewed them. She knew what had to be coming....and it wouldn't be pleasant....at all.

And yet, when Rafael stepped before her, a derisive scowl lining his already fierce countenance....she had been no means ready for the first of her curses. The head of her demon lover, the entity responsible for her seduction....and the blissful corruption that had come with it....dropped nonchalantly at her feet. With a soft cry, Alexis rose to her knees....crawling in all her nude glory to spill suddenly rising tears over the grisly trophy.

"No...."

She was on her feet in a flash....not of her own ability or will....but of those around her. The buxom angel flinched at their combined fury.....the seven archangels of God bearing down on her with their rage at what she had done. In the presence of such power.....the much younger angel found herself completely paralyzed....even when she wished for nothing more than the strength to run right now.....to fly far away.....

Xephiel stepped forward and her eyes widened. The avenging angel had already delivered his curse....what could this one have in store for her? Certainly his visage held no more kindness or pity than Rafael's had. It was only when the archangel raised a glimmering blade that Alexis truly began to wonder if she had gone to far.....would they really end her existance?

Long seconds passed as the dark skinned angel slipped from view, Alexis still unable to move in whatever spell they had cast on her. Anxiety only mounted further when the grand seraph, Suziel stepped forward to fix her with a burning stare.

"Such a whore you've become, Alexis. I never dreamed that my own assistant would sink so low as to allow herself to be violated by a demon."

Just then, Xephiel made his presence felt....strong fingers entwining in her hair....yanking the long and glorious locks backward. Perfect blue eyes widened in horror and alarm, a small cry escaping her bruised throat as Alexis felt the sharpened edge of the blade slash through her feminine pride. A long arm reached over her shoulder....even as Raechiel stepped forward to press a firm palm against her toned angelic stomach. The blonde hair burned and sizzled in the archangel's grasp.....blackening to the most perfect of all shades of black. It didn't take any explanation.....a haircut....no matter how rough....shouldn't burn like hers did now.....a similar transformation that would just be the beginning of her disgrace.

And yet her new raven locks were the least of her worries as Alexis arched suddenly in raw agony, every nerve in her body on fire, muscles spasming beneath Raechiel's touch. Tears flowed freely from impossibly wide eyes, the agony too much to even scream through.....

"This is my curse, daughter. Rafael denies you your lover. I deny you his unborn child. The blasphemy he created in you is dead before it even started to gain strength.....know now what you have done."

The archangel's eyes widened suddenly at the presence of another hand. Curious he turned back to Suziel....noting the sudden flow of power from the seraph into her former student....negating just the smallest of details of her comrade's curse.

"Suziel? You seek to free her from the barrenness that I have forced her to live with? To grant her fertility once more? Why?"

And yet when their eyes met, it wasn't kindness he saw there.....

"So you dreamt of being a whore, Alexis? Then you shall have your wish."

The others came to her then.....each visiting their own curse upon her. Rumisiel placing a brand upon her shapely back, the sign of Satan clearly etched on her flesh....branding her as a member of the fallen. Lorelei continuing the changes of her body....robbing her of her bountiful bosom.....her gloriously seductive tan.....her breasts gradually reduced to a fraction of their original size even as her skin paled almost to the appearance of moonlight.....

Through it all Suziel never ceased pouring her power into her one-time assistant....exercising her powers over love and lust to ignite a different sort of burning within this fallen's body. One that could only be quenched one way.....the way she herself had chosen. She was dangerous, yes......but she could be bound.

"I will tell you my curse, Alexis....but only because I want you to fight it. I want you know what has been done to you, and what will be done to you. Right now, you feel nothing save for the rigors and trials your damned lover put you through....trials you seek to experience again even now. The next man you lay eyes on......you will feel my curse.....you will feel my enmity as your body heats like nothing you've ever seen. And further more.....your womb is ripe......and you will bear fruit. Hope....pray.....that the children you will bear will one day reconcile the actions of their mother."

The seraph gave the pitiful creature before her a sad smile, "Fight it Alexis....fight it and lose.....for the next man you enjoy.....will ensnare your soul in servitude for all eternity.....for your own sinful flesh will demand its surrender."

Powerful hands closed then about her wings.....Alexis' icy blue eyes widening suddenly. She had forgotten one.....she wasn't done yet.....and he was the most powerful of all.....

The heavens tore asunder as the delicate bones of her wings snapped beneath the might of the furious Gabriel. Pearlescent feathers, blackening instantly as the chief archangel's very touch forced to the surface the presence of her corruption. He held her there....a thin line of saliva dripping from between stunned and horrified lips.....the agony too great even for her......waiting for the last vestige of pretense to be shredded......her once lusterous coat of feathers now a cape of black gloss.....

With a thunderous shout he lifted her, ignoring the injuries he'd just inflicted, indeed desiring to inflict as much pain as her tiny mind could ever withstand before hurling her earthward.....never to return to heaven......or so he had always hoped......

"It is not to the demons we curse, you Alexis. It is the mortal world you shall walk until the end of your days....."

-------------------------------------------------------------------------

Thin hands brushed through a full blonde mane of hair. Just what the hell had caused that explosion? A failed military bombing run, or what? Wouldn't be the first time a laser guided explosive dropped in the wrong place.....that was part of the glory of living within just a few miles of a military base that tested as much as Nevada's did. Still.....he wouldn't give up his cabin for the world. It provided comfort and solitude the majority of the time.....plenty of encouragement to write his new book.

Though sometimes the lonliness did get to him. For some reason he just couldn't bring himself to stoop so low as to get a hooker, despite all the ranches built around the surrounding desert for just that reason.

Your mind's wandering again....not good. Are you really that nervous?

It had to be here somewhere......flaming comets don't crash down in practically your back yard every day. He just had to take a look before the military got here....which they undoubtedly would. If he was lucky, perhaps he could even find something claimable.....meteorite ore or something stupid like that. Literature wasn't always what it was cracked up to be.....a valuable or two to sell would make for nice insurance.

And there it was.....

Grant's eyes widened slowly at the size of the crater.....the soft desert sand mixed with its salt forming a smoky glass where intense heat had melted the two together. And in the middle of this obscenity to nature......seemed to be someone laying down......hurt perhaps?

"Hello? Hello there......are you ok?"

He had no weapon to defend himself, and yet it was a pretty sure bet that whoever was caught up in the middle of what happened here probably hadn't survived it. As he drew closer.....the huddled figure took on more and more feminine of features.......a girl? Stopping suddenly....his eyes widened in alarm as the body in the center of this crater stirred ever so slightly.....shifting even more long seconds later before emitting a low moan.....

"Hello....are you ok?.....what the fuck happened to you?"

(Looking for a female writer to play the part of the fallen angel and her learning to deal with all of her bitter....and blissful....curses. Please note that mortals cannot see an angel's wings unless they themselves desire it....this goes for broken one's too. )

(bump) I know it's another of my scary long intros. Anyone interested? :-D

bump? :-(

bumpy, bumpy bump?

No love for me? Anyone out there who wants to play? :-(

Still looking for a writing partner. Feel free to PM me for more information about the thread if you're interested.

Every bit, pore, follicle, and freckle screamed in agony. She was dazed and half mad, but surviving the banishment was the least of her worries. Alexis knew she would live and even heal to a point. She felt heavy and leaden, slow of mind and broken of spirit. The horror she'd brought upon herself was fresh and no doubt would be freshen daily by rote.

Suziel's words came back drumming with the beat of a heavy heart "I will tell you my curse, Alexis....but only because I want you to fight it. I want you know what has been done to you, and what will be done to you. Right now, you feel nothing save for the rigors and trials your damned lover put you through....trials you seek to experience again even now. The next man you lay eyes on......you will feel my curse.....you will feel my enmity as your body heats like nothing you've ever seen. And further more.....your womb is ripe......and you will bear fruit. Hope....pray.....that the children you will bear will one day reconcile the actions of their mother."

Alexis tried to block out the words but they came anyway, "Fight it Alexis....fight it and lose.....for the next man you enjoy.....will ensnare your soul in servitude for all eternity.....for your own sinful flesh will demand its surrender."

She'd have to fight it. Or become a breeding mare, tied to a mere mortal man for the remainders of her days.

And God no, not already. She heard the voice and wanted nothing to do with it. "Hello....are you ok?.....what the fuck happened to you?"

"Go away, I'm fine." She struggled to sit up and flipped back the long black strands covering her features. Oh, Lord, her breasts! She'd long been an object of desire and had no problem finding lovers above. Yes, she could have reigned it in a bit and been more repentive. A far lesser curse should have been hers, she felt.

She got to her feet with no help from the man. Man. MAN. "Go away, I don't need help." She all but shrieked. "Please, just go, I'm fine, I just... fell."

And sure, wasn't that the truth?

Slowly the figure at the epicenter of this glassy explosion struggled to rise. The closer he came to her, the more she threatened to steal his breath away....naked as she was, she was arguably the most beautiful woman he'd ever layed eyes on.

"Go away, I don't need help." She all but shrieked. "Please, just go, I'm fine, I just... fell."

Grant stopped dead at the unmistakable note of panic in the woman's voice, his eyes raking her with his gaze even now....delighting secretly in each petite little curve of her flesh....just who the hell was this woman? And why was she out here naked as the day she was born?

Fell? From where...heaven? Damn girl, there aren't many built like you...not in all the whorehouses in the world. But you're not one of them are you? Some daredevil maybe? I don't see a parachute anywhere though....and that wouldn't explain this crater....

Even more curious was the fact that she kept her eyes clenched tightly shut, as if suffering some massive headache....

"Listen....if you're hurt....I can help. My cabin's not that far off.....its not all that primitive. It's got a phone, if you need to call someone."

He began his slow advance once more. The smooth ground made it less than easy for him to continue towards her. Stripping off his own shirt, he pressed it against her pale skin....almost as if bidding her to take it.....

"Here....I know its warm now.....but when the sun sets fully, its going to get awfully chilly out here.....even in the desert."

Already, he thought he could see her nipples standing out just a little from her glorious breasts. That was....before she hastily moved to cover herself just a little.

Strange.....she still hadn't opened her eyes.....

"Dammit." Foreign and from farther away than he could fathom certainly. The curses rolled off her tongue as if she'd been the saltiest sailor. And he was stubborn as hell, not leaving her although she begged him. He seemed intent on prying into her business and making himself a pest.

Opening her eyes caused her head to pound and the world to waver and triple visions of everything made her shut them tight again. A wave of nausea slammed into her and in a moment she was bent double with his shirt draped around her, gagging and spitting. Here....I know its warm now.....but when the sun sets fully, its going to get awfully chilly out here.....even in the desert."

When she stood straight and opened her eyes again, she thought she'd tear in half with the agony of her womb. She closed them quickly unwilling to look at this man.

They'd taken ... NO!

Xephiel had taken her child. And the damnable Suziel, once her mentor, had furthered the curse by making her receptive to mortal seed. With unsteady legs she lurched forward, trying to remove herself from the man's presence. Unfortunately, the curses had left her weak, sick and pitiable, if one were to judge by the concern of the man.

Alexis swore her vengence then. She raised her face to the night sky and yowled her curses heavenward before collapsing at the feet of the would be rescuer. DAMN them all.

She vowed revenge, even as the night swam away.

His ankles ached from traversing the uneven ground. Grant willed his arms to hold up, despite their fragile looking burden. It had been hard enough getting to the fallout crater by himself, the terrain proved doubly treacherous burdened as he was by her weight too.

And yet, every time he looked down at her, it seemed so rewarding....her beautiful face looking so peaceful in slumber, raven locks spilling over one shoulder where her head was pillowed.

With any luck, the sun had set in time for him to avoid any real sunburn. If not, well it wouldn't be the first time he'd been dumb enough to go running around without a shirt on. It was her he was worried about....that creamy pale skin of hers would fry with little effort at all.

Just what the hell happened there anyway?

He didn't actually think she had been cursing at him. And yet....she had been royally pissed about something. And for some reason Grant didn't think this was just a simple practical joke either. Dumping a drunk naked chick in the desert was cruel, undeniably so.....but that wouldn't explain the crater.

And that scream. She had practically howled like an enraged beast....and he'd been so startled that he'd almost missed catching her when she collapsed.

With a soft sigh, a thick boot heel kicked open the door to his cabin, only barely dextrous enough to turn its latch handle with an elbow. Moving almost immediately to the small living room, he did his best to deposit her gently onto the couch.....though it took considerably more effort to tear his gaze off of her now that he was finally getting a good look.

He'd never considered himself a lecherous man, indeed, he'd been more than gentlemanly to the ladies he had encountered....sometimes almost to a fault. And yet, there was this ever present temptation.......he wanted to touch her.....as if the act itself could prove that she was more than just a dream.

The strange girl squirmed in her sleep, an almost pained look on her face as the tiniest of moans escaped her. It was almost enough to make a man uncomfortable in his pants.

This is wrong. You should get her covered up before she wakes up.

And yet, he couldn't resist one last longing look at her. He knew full well that it was most likely his last. She'd wake up....and then be gone......so why did he feel like he was missing something important here.

And then it hit him....his eyes widening.....scanning her once more as if he could miss such a thing by accident. The girl had no navel.....only a smooth, perfect expanse of flesh. For a second, Grant's heart sped irrationally.....

"Get a hold of yourself, dude. In these days, snakes are born with two fucking heads. So you found a girl with no belly button. I'm sure she's got the answer for it on a personal medical record somewhere."

And just like that it was brushed off. It had been far too long since he'd worked on his book last. His desk would just far enough away to provide a certain amount of solitude, and yet allow him to keep an eye on his sleeping companion.

He only hoped she'd not been hurt too badly by whatever the hell had happened to her. The hospital was a looong ways off.....

One moment she was flying high with delight in her lover’s arms. The next spiraling down, damaged wings useless. In her first mortal sleep, dreams haunted her. No doubt a little extra thrown in with malicious spite from her former comrades. What had she done that was so wrong? Did not their maker provide for the eventuality of procreation? If they were made sexual creatures, why prohibited? Why was it such a great sin? Blather all of it. She’d laughed at the rules, let her passions rule her and they’d brought her low. She refrained from remembering it was a demon she so blithely cavorted and carried on with.

It hurt, this life. The spawn of her union had shriveled and twisted in her womb as her body reabsorbed it, the pain was excruciating. Alexis twisted and moaned on the sofa. Still for a time, then steeped in nightmares and memory and misery.

The only blessing she received was being unconscious during the worst of it. The paleness of her skin became white, then gray with her agony. She either shuddered with cold or thrashed with fever. A hospital wouldn’t have a clue, could perhaps treat the symptoms without ever finding the underlying cause.

All as it should be. Destined to roam the earth as a wanton slut for some man. To be his breeding bitch, still damned if he decided he no longer wanted her. And the dreams were treacherous. Whatever she dreamed it became worse, until with some bit of strength provided by her vengeful soul let her surface. Her mouth tasted foul, and every bone and joint felt filled with sand and glass.

Eyes sticky and scratchy, she tried to open them. And slammed them shut with a start, not wanting to chance seeing the man if he were near. Not hearing anyone about she opened her eyes and looked around the room. Utile, functional and decidedly masculine. No frills. She spotted him peripherally, in a chair, obviously asleep, and looked away quickly. She saw the towel and water by the sofa and it was just as obvious he’d nursed her in her delirium. She smelled foul, strange what you notice. But she’d never had to contend with any kind of body odor before. Alexis was sickened. She was tempted to look at him more closely, but flinched almost as soon as the thought crossed her mind.

Disgusted with the frailty of this earthly body. And the rage and disgust coalesced inward to the stinking mass that she began sowing.

Revenge. In time.

A sudden muffled snort startled her. She sat back and waited for him to wake fully. Her eyes closed. Her hands fumbled on the table until she found the towel and draped it over her head. Foolish looking. But survival was survival.

"The light hurts my eyes." Even her voice sounded different. More low-pitched. And her throat was parched.

How long he lay there, he couldn't be certain. His neck hurt, constantly cocked to one side, cradled in his forearms as they pillowed him against the hardwood of the desk. With a soft moan, Grant straightened up to check the damage, cursing softly the pinched nerve that responded almost instantly to a stretching.

At least I made good progress. Inspiration comes in such fickle spurts.

Turning to get something to eat, the young man froze instantly as the sight before him reminded him that he was not alone. His body responded almost instantly at the sight of her.....the delicate curves she'd displayed unknowingly to him last night rushing back unbidden do his mind despite the blanket he'd covered her with.

"The light hurts my eyes."

Gone was the musical quality of her voice he had heard when she frantically screamed for him to stay away last night....only to hurl curses at the sky itself....damning things and people alike in a blur of profanity. Instead, her voice carried a husky seductive quality to it that did nothing to calm his already swelling erection. It just seemed so perfect for her.....and despite himself, he found his mind's eye dredging up visions of her in the most provocative of poses.....almost as if daring someone to claim her, that sexy voice liquid honey....as if he were a fly to be drawn to her.

He could see her flinch slightly as he knelt beside her, a towel thankfully draped over her sexy, impish face to sheild her eyes from the light. A gentle hand rested on her shoulder, the bare flesh warm beneath his touch.

"Are you ok? You were feverish last night.....I almost thought I should pack you into my Jeep and drive you to the hospital, you were thrashing so badly."

Grant smiled despite his worry for this strange woman.

"I'm glad to see you awake again. Still....I think you should probably continue resting. I'll set about making you something to eat."

Long minutes passed before he returned....a bowl of soup held before him.....still steaming from the small stove he cooked over. Setting it on the table next to her, he reached slowly for the towel covering her....beginning to peel its cool surface from her face.

"Here....its time to eat, friend. I've brought you some soup just in case some of that illness still runs your system."

It was funny how a gentle touch could begin a tiny chink in the armor she’d taken up to protect herself from humanity. The gentle touch on her shoulder was fire, his hand warm and alive.

"Are you ok? You were feverish last night.....I almost thought I should pack you into my Jeep and drive you to the hospital, you were thrashing so badly."

Feverish? She was now, just at his proximity.

"No hospital, please,” her low whisper was haunting, laced with longing and despair.

When he returned she smelled what he carried and hunger slammed into her full force. Evidently, healing and being cursed as human, left it’s mark. To go from being an entity that depends on something else entirely for sustenance, it was very strange to experience hunger. Alexis salivated for the first time for food and not fleshy pleasure and had to swallow quickly to keep from drooling like her old lecherous lover.

"Here....its time to eat, friend. I've brought you some soup just in case some of that illness still runs your system."

She felt his hands start to raise the towel, and quickly shut her eyes. This man didn’t make it easy for her. She felt the heat of him emanating across the scant inches that separated them. That he was kind and gentle with her, made her want to howl not to be nice. She needed the rage to sustain her, or so she thought. Perhaps she merely wanted to nurse her grudge against the Angels.

Alexis pulled the coverlet around her more tightly as a barrier against his heat and the stirring she felt in her lower belly. Evidently she’d recovered enough to feel lust.

Damn, Damn Damn!

She didn’t need that. Impulsive she’d always been and now, my God how much she wanted to open her eyes wide and have this man assail her, naked and primal. Pheromones released and captured. Appreciated and relished. Alexis wanted to crush her body onto his, avarice and lustful greed her only guide. She wanted to drink of him, ride him, feed him her orgasm.

And it took every ounce of will power she possessed to remain seated and still.

“Can you darken the room? Any amount of light hurts.”

“Can you darken the room? Any amount of light hurts.”

Grant moved quickly to heed her request. The living room only had one window, one that he quickly shuttered with blinds, leaving the barest of light to filter through as he walked the room's perimiter....extinguishing the electric lamps he had stylishly placed at its corners.

He had no idea that his guest was so much more than what he'd ever been, though if someone had told him that she wasn't human, it certainly wouldn't have taken much to believe them.

With a sigh, he made his way back to her, his fingers running absently through his dusty blonde locks as he reached for the soup bowl. Her only reaction to him had been to slam her eyes shut and tighten the hold the blanket had over her nakedness.

Silently, he pressed a warm spoon against her sensuously full lips. How he envied that spoon.....

"You know....if I was going to rape you, I could have done so last night. You can relax a little."

Grant watched as those blissful lips opened slightly, gently accepting of his gift as the yellowish broth slid between them without complaint. For long minutes he sat there.....feeding her when she seemed unwilling to feed herself.

"What happened out there?", he whispered quietly. Truth be told, he wasn't sure he wanted to know. Again, an impending sense of dread threatened to swallow him. How long would it be before this lovely regained her physical faculties and left him for where she came from.

"If it was a trick, it was a dirty one, leaving you out there naked like that. You could have been killed."

The image of the crater rose unbidden to his mind once more. This had to be more than some collegiate prank. And then there was last night.....she had been badly hurt to call out like that in her sleep....not to mention her collapse....

And yet she seemed to be healing at an unusually quick rate.

He stopped when she sputtered slightly at the salt content of the thick broth. Unfazed, he tipped the lip of a cup against her....bidding her to drink and wash the offending stuff away.

Grant sighed, despite the feelings he couldn't help but have for this ghost of a woman, he knew he had to do the right thing....

"If you'd like....I can take you home tomorrow if its not too far. I suppose I have enough money to get you a bus ticket if its further than what I can go. I'm sure you have people worried about you....."

"You know....if I was going to rape you, I could have done so last night. You can relax a little." She nearly sputtered the soup right back at him when he said that. If he knew...

The soup tasted good, and he was patient, feeding her. She thought of where she'd... landed. Desert. They coudln't have dropped her in a more Inhospitable area. No place to hide out or seek shelter away from people.

"What happened out there?", he'd asked. "If it was a trick, it was a dirty one, leaving you out there naked like that. You could have been killed." She snorted, almost spewing soup out of her nose at the pure truth of his statement. If he knew...

"If you'd like....I can take you home tomorrow if its not too far. I suppose I have enough money to get you a bus ticket if its further than what I can go. I'm sure you have people worried about you....."

It was a dirty trick. She'd never heard of any other but one, being tossed out. And his was a special kind of case wasn't it?

"There isn't anyone worried."

She held herself stiff. Wondering how she could leave. "Could I wash up?" Maybe he had something she could wear. It was rotten to have to depend on him leading her around. But she didn't feel guilt yet. It would come no doubt, if he continued being so kind.

Kneeling bedside, she couldn't help but feel him against her, as he slowly helped her to rise. More than once, his hands slid down her body, seeking a better hold through the shifting blanket, finally getting his beautiful visitor to a standing position.....a thin and perfectly sculpted arm draped delicately over his shoulder as he let her lean on him just a little....

She still hadn't opened her eyes, yet....choosing to let him guide her to the bathroom. Like most of the cabin, it was simple in design....like its owner, not expecting to have to be functional for more than one person.

Migraine perhaps? Best to keep my voice soft yet too.

The two of them gradually slowed as he neared their goal, a blanket cloaked thigh bumping solidly against the edge of the porcelain bathtub. With a soft twist of his hand, the sound of water running reached their ears. Looking up, his soft blush went unnoticed. This would be a good time to leave.....

"I'll leave the light off, but there is no window in this room, so that means I'll leave the door open just a crack. Not to sound like an asshole.....but I've already seen you naked, so there's no...umm...need to peek....or anything."

For a moment, he felt bad that he had no clothes for her in his remote cabin. He'd never had female company here before. And yet at the same time....as he walked just far enough away to keep her in hearing distance.....he couldn't help but feel what a shame clothing such beauty would be.....

"I'll be just outside the door, please let me know when you're done. I'll come help you out if you need."

Humanity didn't have much going for it, but for sheer soothing relief, a bath was quite wonderful. She dunked and stayed under as long as she could, before surfacing and sputtering.

Soap, she took it and sniffed. A faint scent of it clung to the man. She lathered and dunked again. Shampoo? The whole thing she did, the water eased her aches.

She dunked back again, rinsing. Then lay back, lulled by the water and the food. She dozed.

True to his word, Grant kept his ears, if not his eyes on her. Though it wasn't like him to start work so early, it was an easy matter to busy himself with writing his book. The scratching of his pen did little to muffle or conceal the splashing in the bathroom as his guest bathed.

It was only after long minutes of silence that he'd started to get edgy.....

No doubt, she's toweling herself off right about now.

Shaking his head to clear it of the image of this brunette stranger, wet and naughty as she climbed from the tub, it was all he could do to dredge up his own train of thought and turn back to the paper he scrawled on....

Yet when another long and interminable period of time passed, and still no sound from the bathroom.....

Frowning, Grant rose from his chair. Surely she hadn't drowned herself in the bathtub? He'd have a hard time explaining that.....naked woman....dead.....he didn't even know her name. He'd be branded a sex criminal for the rest of his life.

Tentatively, he pushed the door open just a little....letting a sliver of light illuminate the room's darkness. Swallowing hard, he couldn't believe he was seeing her in such a way so soon after last night.....

So perfect. Every feminine curve appeared to hold just the right amount of muscle tone beneath it......the strange woman's arms draped over the back of the tub.....her breasts thrust half out of the water, their darkened creasts only barely left unseen....each heavy breath lifting them just enough to view.....

"Oh...my....god."

His voice was the barest of whispers, held as he was, frozen in place as his gaze swept even lower to the mysteriously majestic belly, long and coltish thighs tapering down from where the apex of her feminine body surely must be....

She slept through it all. And for a brief moment, he felt bad for leaving her here, hurt as he had known she was. He had to get her out before she caught ill again......the water having long ago lost its warmth.....

"Wake up....we have to get you back to the couch...."

A gentle touch on her face brought a response....and another of those illicitly sexy moans from her lips.....

"Come on....I'm not sure I'm going to get away with carrying you a second time."

It was true.....she was slippery now.....he would have a difficult time finding a safe place of purchase on her moist skin.

"Come on....its time to get you moved...."

She moved sluggishly, reluctant in her slumber to be roused. "Come on....its time to get you moved...." Moved where? She started and opened her eyes to stare directly at him. Her mouth widened in a surprised circle, before she pleaded, "Noooooooooooo."

Oh God, please no. She felt the burn begin.

"Noooooooooooo."

Grant flinched at her apparent disapproval....whether it came from his insistance she be moved, or her recent awareness that she was fully naked before him once more.

He was not one to be denied however, his hand sliding over her firm ass cheek, completely unaware of the effects this would have on her....indeed, that she was becoming an entirely new person now that she had seen him for who he was.

Swearing softly, his muscles still ached from the night before, and yet the were just enough to pull her from the bathtub...his grip on her slipping from her bare buttock to almost the crook of her knee. And yet she clung to him with the one arm she had gotten around his shoulder....

Moving back to the living room, he could feel her shivering, the flesh beneath his touch flushed and heated once more. With a soft frown of concern, he let himself meet her gaze for the first time....seeing more than just one emotion swirling deep within those colored orbs....

"I shouldn't have left you. It seems your fever has returned...."

Slowly he reached for the blanket as if to draw it back up her body....his heart panging already at the thought of it being held hidden from him once more.

"I was wrong...I should have taken you to the hospital. This might be too much for me to handle by myself....."

"No, no, no." her voice wet and aching, mimicking her body. His scent filled her nostrils and his heat seared where he touched. Alexis rocked, awash with sexual sensation and need. Her breasts felt heavy and her nipples were taut.

"It's too late. It's the start of the end of me." That the words would be senseless to him didn't matter. She filled her lungs with his scent. She didn't let him reach the blanket. Her hand caught his wrist and she pulled herself up flush against him.

Her eyes sparkled with lust and the myriad colors flickered around dialated pupils. Gold and green and blue and violet. Her arms touched his body, her mind already beginning the journey of enslavement before she raked his shirt open and pressed her hot lips against his chest.

"No, no, no."

She had protested all the way from the bathroom, and yet, after all that effort he was loathe to put her back down so easily. Her private mantra of denial seemed to continue as he pressed her back down into the couch.

"It's too late. It's the start of the end of me."

Grant gave her a look of alarm, second guessing his decision to take over her care for at least the hundredth time. And yet, nobody was more surprise when her thin fingers stopped him cold as he reached for the blanket.....she was surprisingly strong....

When he turned to look questioningly at her, his own eyes widened. Her pupils were dangerously dialated....even he knew how bad that was. A split second later and she was tugging at his shirt.....the buttons popping easily beneath her sudden vigorous assault.....

"You're not right....you should be having someone look at you right now...."

Her lips pressed against his chest, drawing a reluctant gasp from between suddenly parched lips. She had arched up from her position on the couch....and the way those dialated eyes regarded him now.....it was almost as if his fantasy involving her had somehow taken a crazy turn towards reality. A definate hint of sultry naughtiness filling those startling orbs...her arching leaving little to the imagination of just what she wanted.

And yet....this was all too crazy. Just an hour ago, she had been in pain....had spent the entire evening in what had seemed agony....they didn't even know each other's names, so it was highly unlikely she wanted to fuck him as a way of saying thank you.....

His own sinful flesh moved forward....fingertips tracing a long line up her reclining body.....moving gently from the taut muscles of her belly.....all the way up to one of those perfect breasts he'd been staring at just moments before.

And yet, it was the other part of him that drew him away from her....it was wrong....so wrong to take advantage of a girl that was obviously half out of her mind....

"H-hospital's....only....a 20 minute drive....."

His heart raced....not missing that her gaze followed him every step.....and those pouty lips of hers. Gone was the humility she had shown this morning....her body shifting for the first time to give him the barest glimpse of glistening sex.....

This was going to get difficult.

His retreat was like a rebuke and penetrated her prurient mind. With effort she pulled herself together.

Truth he'd probably not believe. A lie, could she lie? "It's ok, please, no hospital. I'm fine now." She shook and visibly got herself under control. She felt the throb of her labia, blood pushed there by her labouring heart.

He looked so, uncertain. "Please, I'm all right. Don't please." She started to cry with frustration. They'd get their revenge, watching her wrestle with this lust. Seeing her keen with need.

She grabbed the blanket and wound it around her. Making herself small on the sofa. She refused to look at him.

"Please, I'm all right. Don't please."

It was almost enough to break a man's heart.

It was crazy....insane almost....the reaction she had when he had retreated. Now he watched her as she curled into the fetal position on his couch, finally accepting the blanket that had been refused just minutes ago. Tiny shivers racked her body as she wept silently...giving the stunning brunette the appropriate appearance of being totally and completely miserable.

"Christ."

The oath was sworn softly, a release of emotion as his alarm turned to sympathy. Silently, he moved next to the couch once more. After a second of thought, he leaned forward to rest his head calmly on one trembling shoulder.

"Shhhh....its ok. I don't know what's been done to you....but you're safe now....."

Strong arms wrapped around her....pulling her against him as if he wanted her to feel the comfort he wished upon her.....all the while not knowing what that might be.

"I'm Grant, by the way....."

Burn, burn, burn. His very closeness seared her to the bone and she dug her nails into her palms hoping the pain would stem the tide of feeling. "Alexis."

She gave her name with no worry that the power she'd had would make it a significant act as it was when she was... still an angel. It was now just a name. As she was just a woman in a mortal world with a heavy burden.

Swallowing, she maintained her control as he touched her. She wished he was a bastard, tossing her out, or leaving her there in the sand. Not a decent, kind and caring man. He'd be taken down with her, she knew it. She'd cause misery. Unfair, so unfair. They could have done something to her that didn't envolve another.

Another time, another life, his arms would have been a fortress that would be sheltering. He was beautiful to her, in his pure humanity. Flawed, surely, but decent and everything she'd not be, ever... if she believed the angels.

But whatever else, she must not be healed up totally, her display and misery took her down. She slept. Uneasy, lurid sexual dreams colored her slumber.