Sinful Obsession

3. 3 – Asmodeus

3 – Asmodeus

H er sweet face stares back at me as she sleeps, soft puffs of air fanning my chest as I study her. My gaze lingers on her delicate features, the gentle curve of her cheek, the flutter of her lashes, and the faint worry lines in her forehead as she tries to battle her own thoughts even in her sleep. This beautiful creature has no idea how much she means to me or how much I’ve already claimed her in ways she can’t imagine. My mark will show those that seek to take her away from me but it may be too little too late.

The delicate balance of Earth may start to unravel due to my claim but a world without Vienna isn’t one worth living in.

For now, though, this is all I can give her. One day, I’ll show her the truth of this world, of heaven and hell, and all the layers in between. There is so much more than darkness and light, right and wrong, good and evil. The teachings running through her ears from her parents are nothing more than lies built to paint hell as the evil that must be destroyed. If only Vienna could truly understand the world she’s stepped into by loving me.

One day, I tell myself.

Today, though, I shall show her something else. Something that the people around her would never want her to know. My beautiful woman is always so desperate to make those around her believe and see the truth. That is far from the problem. It isn’t that they don’t believe or that they refuse to see Vienna’s side. It’s that they pretend to care and don’t, wearing those false smiles and lying through their teeth to hurt my woman.

They think they are saving her, saving her from me but all they are doing is pushing her away. In the end, the only person she will trust is the one person who may destroy the very world she lives in. I used to think the idea of friends and family would be something I would enjoy but seeing Vienna’s, I want nothing to do with them.

I refocus on my woman, a heavy sigh falling from her plump lips as she curls tighter into my hold. My hand has a mind of its own as it traces little patterns along her arm and then up to her neck over the bond I’ve created. She stirs slightly, moving even closer, a smile playing on my lips. Even in sleep, she seeks me out, needing me, craving me. Vienna is so easy to love, so easy to be soft with, so easy to forget that I have a legacy to run the fiery pits of hell.

“You’re mine, ” I whisper into her ear, reminding us both what a precious gift I have in my arms. Part of me wonders if I should have been rougher with her. After all, I’m not made to be gentle. I am a demon and the son of Satan but with Vienna, she brings out my need to protect and nurture, to truly see the force she will grow into.

Vienna stirs again, her eyes fluttering open, sleepy and unfocused before they brighten finding my gaze on her. A soft smile touches her lips as she angles her head up and I gladly give her the kiss she’s looking for. “You’ve never stayed long, Asmodeus. I like waking up to you,” she murmurs against my lips.

She isn’t wrong. I don’t usually stay after she falls asleep but this feels important, a part of our growing forbidden connection.

“I like holding you in my arms, love. I couldn’t pass up the opportunity,” I respond, caressing the side of her face and drawing her into another kiss. She tastes sweet and innocent, even though I know she’s not but I could taste her lips all day if I didn’t have responsibilities to attend to. “You shouldn’t trust so easily,” I say, instantly regretting those words. Still, I’m waiting for the day when she finds that I’m not what she thinks I am.

Waiting for the day when she truly sees the darkness for what I am and decides that it’s not worth the risk.

Vienna glares up at me before pushing herself into a sitting position. She folds her arms across her chest, her breasts hanging off her arms. I try to focus on her face, her nose scrunched up in anger but it’s hard to when everything about her is so beautiful, so inviting. “You are the only one who hasn’t made me feel insignificant. Sure, you might be a demon and hell, you might be a figment of my imagination but you make me feel safe and loved and cared for. Not one person has ever made me seen and for that? Yes, I trust you. I don’t trust easily, Asmodeus. Not anymore.”

I sit up as well, drawing her into my lap to soothe her worries. “I’m sorry, love. I shouldn’t have assumed.” She’s still a bit tense despite my apology. There’s more to tell her but the pain that flickered through her expression as she told me that I am the only one who has made her feel seen hurts. I gently pinch her chin, focusing on the flush in her cheeks and shifty eyes as I kiss her again, letting my hand roam down to her chest and squeeze one of her breasts.

If I do nothing else, I want to make sure that she feels beautiful in her own skin.

She gasps into my mouth as I break the kiss and replace my hand with my lips, sucking her breast into my mouth. My tongue circles around her nipple, tugging and nipping at it as my hand moves farther south and slips into her pussy. Vienna lets out the prettiest little sound, fingers sifting into my hair as I pleasure her. I switch my attention to the other breast, continuing to pump my fingers inside of her until her hips are meeting my shallow thrusts.

And when she comes for me, I memorize every one of those little sounds she makes for me. Her body shakes in my arms as I remove my fingers and suck them into my mouth, her sweet nectar exploding on my tongue. A groan of appreciation tears from my throat, Vienna meeting my gaze with a much softer expression than before.

“Why do I feel like you’re distracting me from something with orgasms?” Vienna asks, those deep brown eyes seeing more than I want her to. She scrambles off my lap and sits on her knees, hands fisted on her thighs as she leans forward. “Asmodeus?”

I grab one of the sheets and wrap her in it, knowing that I won’t have the strength to restrain myself if she continues to sit like that. “There’s things you don’t know, Vienna. Something about the people in your life.” Her nose scrunches up again even as she’s still trying to catch her breath, her skin flushed. I hope she knows just how gorgeous she looks, wrapped up in that sheet, just the top half of her face visible.

Her head tilts to the side, confusion morphing into anger. “What do you mean?”

I hesitate, not wanting to ruin this moment and yet knowing that she needs to know. “Your parents,” I begin, my voice soft and steady. “They’re not the people you think they are. They keep things from you, things they think you don’t need to know.”

“What… what are you talking about?” Her voice wobbles, a hint of fear running through her words.

Keeping her calm is the most important but these truths won’t be easy to hear. “Your parents always told you to be pure, to stay true to the teachings of the church but they’re hypocrites in every sense of the word. Your father has been having an affair, something he’s hidden from everyone in his life. And your mother… she resents you, Vienna. She’s always resented you, always wished for something else, something different.”

I reach forward to touch her and she leans back, glaring at me. “That’s not true.”

“Vienna, I don’t want to hurt you but you need to know that the people in your life aren’t as pure as they’ve led you to believe. You’ve been held to a standard that they don’t even keep themselves.” A mixture of emotions moves through her face and I hate myself for revealing this part of her life to her. I thought it might help her understand but I’m seeing that it might only have hurt her instead.

Watching her fight her emotions is both fascinating and terrifying before she settles on just one—determination. “I don’t understand why they wouldn’t just say something. Dad’s always been so silent at dinners and Mom has never been quiet about how I’m not good enough. The question is why I have to be pure when they’re dragging themselves through the very dirt I’m supposed to avoid.”

“Because they don’t want you to know,” I say, my tone darkening slightly. “They want to keep you sheltered, to keep you in this perfect little bubble they’ve built around you. They think they’re protecting you, but all they’re doing is keeping you weak, dependent.”

She stares at me, her eyes glistening with unshed tears, and for a moment, I wonder if I’ve gone too far, if I’ve broken something inside her that can’t be fixed. But her expression is hard, her jaw setting in a way that tells me she’s already processing, already beginning to understand. “And my friends? Like Ella? What’s wrong with them?”

“They talk about you behind your back. They don’t trust you, Vienna. They think you’re… fragile, that you’re not capable of understanding the real world. They see you as something to be pitied, something to be managed.”

She unwraps herself from the sheets and crawls back into my arms. Unlike most humans, Vienna has never once been terrified of any of my forms. She craves my presence and she wholeheartedly trusts me when I give her the truths she so desperately seeks but can’t find. Some part of me is selfish in isolating her from the world she’s grown up in.

The other part of me knows that this is necessary for what is to come.

“Vienna, love, none of them see what I see. But I see you. I see how strong you are, what you will become, what you already are. It’s not that they don’t believe I exist but that keeping you in the little bubble they’ve curated is more important.” I press a soft kiss to her forehead, waiting for her to fall apart but she doesn’t.

The anger coursing through her is beautiful. “I’ve always hated that no one ever believed me but they will tomorrow when they see the bond. They will know you are real, Asmodeus. And then I’ll sit back and watch as they have to apologize to me for all those hateful words.”

She clings to me, her anger softening, her breathing slowing as I run my fingers through her hair, murmuring soft words of comfort until her eyelids begin to droop, her body relaxing against mine. She’s exhausted, both physically and emotionally, and I know she needs to rest, to let these revelations settle.

“Sleep now,” I whisper. “Let yourself rest. You’ll need your strength for tomorrow.”

I stay with her until her breathing is deep and steady, until I’m sure she’s fully asleep. Then I slip away, making sure she’s comfortable. One day, she’ll have the entire picture but for now, this is enough. Moving silently through the shadows, I slip through the cracks of reality to return to Hell. The cracks are widening, the end just around the corner but there are many steps that must be completed before that comes to fruition.

If it ever does.

The familiar weight of darkness settles around me as I step into my realm, the air thick with the scent of smoke and sulfur, the oppressive heat pressing down on me like a familiar embrace. As I move through the only home I’ve known, a presence waits for me just beyond the entrance to the forest I find solace in.

A shadowy figure slowly solidifies, a dusky red being stepping forward to reveal the true presence of Satan, himself. Also, my father. His gaze is sharp and disapproving, his forked tail swishing behind him in annoyance. That’s one of the only things that the humans got right about hell, the presence of the devil himself.

“Father,” I force out, my tone an expert blend of respect and defiance.

Satan’s gaze narrows as I morph into the darkness I was born into, losing my physical form, a form created to walk the Earth. The change doesn’t soften his expression. “Where have you been?” he demands, his voice a low rumble that echoes in the open space. No one is around us, this area of hell reserved for royalty.

“On Earth.”

He scoffs, shaking his head as smoke billows from his nostrils. He’s dangerously close to spreading his fire through my favorite forest which takes years to recreate to the specifications I need. “You were with that human, weren’t you? You smell like her. Why do you insist on crawling onto that plane every evening?”

“She’s important. Powerful, in her own way. And she trusts me. That trust could be… useful.” I hate using Vienna but it’s the only way my father won’t try to pursue the true reason I am in her bed.

“Useful? You think her trust is worth something? You’re wasting your time, Asmodeus. You should be focusing on your responsibilities, on upholding our cause. You know, the fight between us and the angels, the one where we destroy everything they’ve built?”

It’s always been my father’s goal after he was thrown out of heaven. He stripped off his own wings and vowed never to return. He also vowed to tear down the beauty of the world that the angels had helped create, brothers that discarded him the moment he was no longer useful.

I am part of that plan, given tasks to ensure the success of the world crumbling in our hands. “I am doing my part,” I state, refusing to back down.

My father stares at me, observing the entity I am as I bleat around him. He created me, gave me a purpose, and is now calling on me to fulfill it. An agitated sigh falls from his lips as his skin darkens so that it almost matches mine in this form. “Your loyalty lies here, Asmodeus. Do not let a mortal distract you from what you were created to do.”

I don’t bother arguing, slipping off into my favorite forest. Satan doesn’t understand, just as Vienna’s family and friends don’t. She’s the key to something greater, something that neither Heaven nor Hell has yet to see.

I continue deeper into the depths of Hell, the familiar darkness swallowing me whole, my mind already drifting back to her, to the way she trusted me, the way she looked at me with such fierce loyalty, such unwavering belief.

This is only the beginning, love.