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Instead, cold fingers crawled up the back of her neck "You could join me"

Arriane lurched away Her skin crawled

"Jointhe ranks of Hell"

TWO

INFERNAL DESIRES

Arriane recoiled "No," she whispered, certain of its impossibility "I could never"

Tess’s blue eyes pleaded with a fierce intensity "We can end our secret affair and proclaim it to the universe"

The way her voice boo off the rafters in the barn, made Arriane nervous

"Don’t you want that?" Tess cried "Don’t you want to be together, to snap the arbitrary shackles that prevent us fro our true selves?"

Arriane shook her head This was unfair Tess was out of her mind She had the most sublimely beautiful soul Arriane had ever seen, but this tione too far If she cared for Arriane at all, Tess would already knohat her lover’s ansould be

But then--

Arriane wavered, allowing herself for a moment to see the situation from Tess’s point of view Of course Arriane wanted to love Tess openly She alould What else did she have to do to prove it?

No! How could Tess ask this of her? To side with Hell over Heaven! That wasn’t love That was insanity

"Maybe the rules are right," Arriane said tentatively "Maybe angels and demons shouldn’t--"

"What?" Tess cut her off "Say it"

"Lucifer would never allow it," Arriane finally said evasively, turning away from Tess to pace the barn She passed the horses in their stables The cows in their pen Everything had its place She looked across the barn at Tess and had never felt further away froht allow it--" Tess started to say

"You kno he feels about love!" Arriane snapped "Ever since …" But she trailed off That old story didn’t ht now

"You don’t understand" Tess laughed a false laugh, as if Arriane were failing to understand so as siht you with me--"

"Who said?" Arriane’s head snapped up "Lucifer?"

Tess stepped away, as if afraid, and for ain the rafters of the barn A stone statue … a gargoyle He seeone She found Tess’s wild eyes again, and she felt betrayed

"You told hi just short of her lover’s breast It heaved with surprise at being confronted, but Tess did not back away

"How dare you," Arriane spat, spinning on her heel

Before Arriane could run out of the barn, Tess grabbed hold of her wrists Arriane wrenched away, feeling Tess’s fingers drag against her skin

"Leaveit, but Tess wasn’t listening anyway She caown so hard the fabric ripped

"Yes, I told hiht into Arriane’s face "Unlike you, I don’t care who knows!"

Arriane pushed her She pushed her so hard, Tess fell backward into a tower of stackedon her with a clatter, splattering her pale skin with a fehite drops

Tess kicked the pails away and rocketed to her feet And then--Arriane had not been expecting this--her wings bloomed out behind her shoulders

They never exposed their wings to each other; it was soo It was too plain a reminder that their love was not s filled the barn with shiold of the last h behind her shoulders like twin htly at her sides, fully extended, rigid, with the tips curled slightly outward in Arriane’s direction

The ritual fighting stance

The horses whinnied and the cows began to bleat as if they could sense the tension, the brink of so bad

What happened next, Arriane did not intend--but she also could not help it: Her wings responded to the call They blooood, she let out a heedless cry of joy But in the nextout at her sides

Tess beat her great golden wings, and her body rose She hovered in the air for a fraction of a second before she lunged down, tackling Arriane The two of them rolled to the floor of the barn

"Why are you doing this?" Arriane cried, gripping Tess’s shoulders, straining to hold her back as they wrestled

Tess had a fistful of Arriane’s long hair She jerked it backward to look Arriane in the eye "To show you I would fight for you I would do anything for you"

"Let s felt the old netic pull toward the eternal foe Arriane screamed out in pain and slapped the face she’d only ever wanted to dote on

"Once you join round, "he will accept you He will accept our love"

Arriane shook her head, cowering beneath her lover She was afraid of what Tess would do next, but she had to tell the truth

"It’s a trick"