More fic/excerpts
OOC: Another excerpt.
Despite the fact that it was surrounded by complete darkness, an amethyst gleamed.
And some distance away, an archangel tossed fitfully in bed.
Warm sunlight streams through the window, and Gabriel can feel it on his face; it must be near noon by now, and yet he is so comfortable that moving doesn’t seem remotely attractive.
Until a tantalising scent reaches his nose, and there is a light touch on his cheek, stroking slightly before disappearing. Warm breath ghosts over his face, and a smooth, seductive voice whispers in his ear, “Sloth.”
Gabriel’s eyes fly open to see Belial’s disconcertingly dark eyes staring back. The Prince of Temptation withdraws slightly, smirking, as Gabriel shakily sits up.
Belial sits on the edge of the bed and proffers a breakfast tray, and Gabriel inhales the aroma of crisp waffles topped with sliced strawberries. Oddly, there is also a glass bowl of chocolate mousse and a chalice of ruby-red wine. Gabriel’s mouth waters, even as his stomach, strangely, protests, and Belial laughs, and holds a strawberry to Gabriel’s lips, and whispers, “Gluttony.”
There is another laugh from the doorway, and Gabriel turns to find the pale, heartbreakingly familiar, yet eerily alien, gaze of Lucifer Morningstar holding his own.
Lucifer smiles, gently, patronisingly, at him, and coos, “Poor Gabriel. Poor, confused little Messenger.” He crosses the room, laying an achingly gentle hand on Gabriel’s head, playing with his hair. “If He created everything, He also created temptation, and it is part of His Plan. He created the things that you long to do yet fear so much. Isn’t it a Sin not to appreciate His creations?”
Gabriel can do nothing but take ragged breaths, gasping when the hand is removed. He watches, swallowing, as Lucifer pulls Belial to him with the tenderness of a young lover, and kisses him so sweetly and yet so passionately that something deep inside Gabriel stirs, aching.
The Lightbringer pulls away, and either Belial or Gabriel, or perhaps both, gasp as his hands move over Belial’s chest, and how had Gabriel not noticed before how gloriously naked the two Fallen were? Lucifer bestows another kiss upon his Crown, before turning and facing Gabriel, a predatory look twisting his fair features, and Gabriel shivers at the expression on his erstwhile friend’s face. Lucifer holds out a pale, perfect hand, invitingly, and whispers, “Lust.”
Gabriel’s wings are out, and as Lucifer moves to touch them, he realises that the feathers are a glossy black, like the Morningstar’s own, and then Lucifer touches him, and he cries out, though whether in horror or in pleasure, he does not know.
With an inarticulate cry, Gabriel sat bolt upright in his bed, shivering despite the heat, wrapping his arms and wings around himself. He touched one of the feathers. Still white. Still pure.
But was he still pure? He shuddered at the memory of the dream. Just a dream. Dreams are not real. And that was a lie; he had worked with Morpheus long enough to know that not all dreams came though the ivory gate. And often, dreams were manifestations of things the dreamer wouldn’t even dare think otherwise.
It was just a reaction to having Belial, of all demons, in the Manor, and to finding that copy of Paradise Lost in the library.
But yet… The thought was as bad as the deed. His head bowed.
Forgive me, Father, for I have sinned.
~*~
Note: The ending [everything after he does not know] differs from the original; the other ending involves the plot we’ve got going right now, so Loki is also having a nightmare, and the dreams blend together. Right now, at http://community.livejournal.com/lt_safe_house/14785.html, this nightmare is still happening and Gabriel is very, very freaked out.
Thanks to apocryphal_muse aka Belial for letting me borrow her character!