Liora’s hazel eyes grew even wider and Asmodeus sensed her panic. It flowed over him, beating in his veins and in his ears as her pulse accelerated and she breathed so fast he was sure she would pass out.
He shot to his feet and slipped his arm around her waist, supporting her as her knees gave out, keeping her upright. She turned wide eyes on him, her dark eyebrows furrowed, and pressed her trembling hands against his chest.
“Wow. That was pretty cool. You’re either fearless or foolish to stop my man when he’s in a rage… but it’s nice that someone here was able to get him to cool off.” Erin gave her sister, Amelia, the slip and walked up behind Veiron. She pushed him in the back of the head. “When I say you’re upsetting junior, you’re meant to stop fighting. This baby gives me hell when you’re in danger and you know that, you big oaf.”
Veiron growled and lumbered onto his feet, and his skin began to pale again, his body shrinking to its normal size. His armour disappeared, the black long shorts he had been wearing before replacing the pieces. He rolled his shoulders, twisted his neck and then checked himself over. Asmodeus wanted to slash the uninjured male across his chest, repaying him for the blow he had delivered while Asmodeus had been distracted.
Erin rubbed her stomach again and looked between Liora and Asmodeus. “Witch… and evil angel. I’m guessing you didn’t come here to give my husband some exercise?”
Asmodeus shook his head. “I am not. I am here to request your help.”
“Help?” Marcus, the male angel allied to Erin’s sister, frowned at him, his blue eyes swirling silver. He looked beyond Asmodeus, no doubt seeing if Apollyon agreed with what he had said. Apollyon must have because Marcus looked annoyed and sheathed his silver blade at his waist.
“Why do you seek our help?” Erin said and Asmodeus braved a step forwards, ignoring how Veiron growled threateningly.
“I do not seek the help of all of you.” He looked around at the four of them and then down into Erin’s amber eyes. “I seek your help.”
“My help?” She patted her stomach. “I don’t know if you’ve noticed, but someone got me up the duff. I can’t use my powers so I’m not sure what use I’ll be to you.”
“I do not need your power, and your pregnancy is the reason you are able to help me. The Devil has made a pact with you, yes?” Asmodeus sent one of his blades away but sheathed the other at his waist, keeping it close in case he needed it. Veiron looked ready to launch himself into another attack, regardless of what his female desired.
Erin nodded.
“I believe that the Devil will not dare start a war on your island and risk upsetting you, and therefore you are the only one able to protect Liora from your father.” Asmodeus held his hand out to Liora and she came to him, slipped hers into it and stood beside him. “I am here to request that you offer us the same protection you give to the others.”
“The Devil wants you?” Erin said to Liora and Liora nodded and wrapped her other hand around his, clutching it in both of hers. She was still trembling, weak from exerting so much power in order to freeze Veiron and shaken by how her magic had controlled her. “Do you know why?”
“No,” Asmodeus answered for her and frowned. “I have tried to seek the reason but he refuses to give it, stating only that it is his business and that he believes Liora is dangerous in the wrong hands.”
“What?” Liora gasped and he glanced at her, squeezed her hand, and smiled. It didn’t erase the panic from her eyes. “You could have told me that before.”
“I did not wish to frighten you.”
“That’s rich coming from a man who I distinctly recall enjoys scaring the shit out of people and torturing them for fun,” Veiron growled and Asmodeus glared at him.
“Veiron, Gorgeous… you aren’t really helping.” Erin wrapped her arms around one of his and the Hell’s angel moved behind her, enfolding her in his muscular arms.
He settled his hands on her stomach and sighed. “I did upset junior.”
He pressed a kiss to her hair. She smiled and brushed her black hair from her face, hooking the thick red stripe down one side of it behind her ear.
“I do not trust him,” Amelia said and furled her silver wings against her back. The wind tousled her long silvery ponytail and she closed ranks with Marcus, coming to stand beside him, her weapon at the ready. “Look what he did to Nevar. We have no reason to trust him or offer him any sort of protection. He’s evil and dangerous, and for all we know, this could be a scam by the Devil to plant one of his men on the island so he can snatch the baby as soon as it’s born.”
“I second that.” Marcus settled his hand on the hilt of his sword. “Is the female a relation of yours?”
The male looked beyond Liora to Serenity.
“Yes. She is my cousin.”
“Asmodeus was sent to Paris to capture her and take her to the Devil,” Apollyon said and Liora tossed him a scowl over her shoulder and then looked back at Erin.
“It’s true that he was meant to take me to the Devil but he protected me instead. He killed a Hell’s angel to keep me from the Devil’s hands and he has risked everything to keep me safe. He’s made an enemy of himself for my sake and the Devil won’t stop until he has me now.” Liora squeezed his hand again, tighter this time. “No matter what you think or what you know about him… he isn’t here to harm anyone. He’s here because he wants to protect me, and he believes you can help him do that.”
Erin sighed, raked her gaze over Asmodeus, and then looked back at her sister and Marcus, and then up at Veiron. Seeking their input.
Asmodeus looked at the couple, feeling more than ever that his ability to protect Liora rested on their shoulders now. He had to convince them to offer them the protection they had given the others. Their friends.
How?
He was unaccustomed to acting kindly towards others and wasn’t sure what the process of making friends involved, or whether he was even capable of convincing these people that he meant them no harm. He was sure that was the first step, and so far he had failed dismally at proving himself an ally.
In his defence, he had been attacked the second he had set foot on the island, before anyone had even asked him what he wanted.
Perhaps it was hopeless. If Apollyon and Serenity had brought Liora here without him, Erin probably would have granted her protection immediately. He was jeopardising everything by accompanying her.
“It is true that the Devil wants Liora,” Apollyon said and Asmodeus growled, warning him not to intervene. He couldn’t bear it if his twin was able to succeed where he could not, convincing Erin to give Liora the protection she needed from the Devil. “Asmodeus, this is not about us. This is about Liora… and Serenity.”
“You speak perfect words, Brother, but forget I can feel your inner emotions. You desire to convince Erin to extend her protection to Liora and refuse it to me.” Asmodeus’s mood darkened, his hope draining away.
As it faded, the side of him that wanted blood on his hands and violence began to take control, growing within him, pushing down the good that Liora had nurtured.
These people before him had seen what he had done to Nevar, a guardian angel, on the plateau, battling him on his master’s orders. Apollyon had been there and had fought him while Amelia, Marcus and Veiron had set Nevar free of his chains. He would play on that to turn them against him, if they needed any convincing. The three of them regarded him with cold, sharp eyes, all ready to cut him down if he said the wrong thing.
“Apollyon?” Liora looked behind them at the angel and Apollyon said nothing. At least the bastard didn’t try to lie and defend himself. Asmodeus had known how it would be and had expected no more from his twin than this attempt to separate them.
“What would you do if I extended my protection to Liora and denied it where you were concerned?” Erin said and Asmodeus held his head high, masking the pain in his heart and crushing his desire to ask her not to do such a thing.
He released Liora�
�s hand and stepped aside. “I would leave her under your protection. If you swear to keep her here and keep her safe… I will leave. I will do that for her.”
Liora’s heart picked up pace again and her anger flowed over him, laced with hurt. “I don’t want to stay here without you.”
The force behind those words warmed his heart.
Asmodeus turned to her and looked down into her hazel eyes, seeing the pain in them and wishing he could take it away. He raised his hand and cupped her cheek, holding her gaze and searching for the right words, the ones she wanted to hear. He couldn’t say them. He couldn’t lie to her.
“I am sorry, Liora,” he whispered, low enough that she would know he spoke these words for her ears alone and meant every one of them. “I should leave. I want you to be safe, and you will be safe here if I go. I have no other course of action… no other way to protect you now. This is how it must be. Erin and everyone will protect you if I leave. I will do that for you. I would do anything to keep you safe.”
“No,” Liora murmured, lifted his other hand and pressed a kiss to it, closing her eyes at the same time.
Her fingers trembled against his, not from fatigue this time. She was on the verge of tears and he didn’t want her to cry because of him and the decision that these people were forcing upon him. He didn’t want to leave her but he had to do it, for her sake. His chest hurt, a dull heavy throb that beat in his blood, whispering a forceful demand to stay with this beautiful female because if he left, he would leave his heart behind and become empty, dead inside.
It pained him to see Liora, normally so strong and stubborn, standing before him with her head bowed in defeat. He wanted her to be strong again, to stand tall and face life with the determination and recklessness that he had come to admire in her. He wanted her to fight and be the woman he had fallen in love with.
Everyone fell silent and stared at them, and Asmodeus hated them for it. He wanted to be alone with Liora. He didn’t want to leave her.
Liora raised her head, opened her eyes and looked up into his. Steely determination coloured her hazel irises. “We can go together. We can find somewhere else. Remus and Romulus can help you protect me. If we work together, we’ll be okay.”
Asmodeus cursed himself when tears lined her long dark lashes, each diamond drop cutting at him and making him bleed inside. He could feel her emotions, could sense her pain and suffering, and he found only pain in it himself. He didn’t want her to hurt like this, as if he was breaking her heart. He wanted her safe and happy, and he couldn’t achieve both of those things. If he made her stay and he left, she would be safe but not happy. If he let her leave with him and his hellhounds, she would be happy but not safe.
He cursed again, his head and heart aching as he tried to find a third way, the one that would fulfil both of his desires, and wouldn’t end with them being separated.
“Please, Asmodeus,” Liora whispered and squeezed his fingers. “I’ll be safe with you.”
Asmodeus did the hardest thing he had ever done in his life.
He released her and stepped back. “No. You will not. You will be safest here.”
“And what will you do?” She frowned at him, her words harsh, and then understanding dawned in her eyes and she shook her head. “No, Asmodeus. No.”
Romulus and Remus came to flank him and he silently thanked them for their support. He needed them now more than ever, needed to feel that someone was on his side, because he was on the edge, verging on doing something that he could see Liora believed was suicide.
“You are not fighting him alone.” Liora lunged forwards and grabbed his wrist, her grip surprisingly tight. He looked down and saw ribbons of magic curling around his forearm, seeping into his flesh and squeezing it as firmly as her fingers were. “I won’t let you fight him alone.”
Asmodeus stared down at her, absorbing how beautiful she was when her eyes flashed with fire and she challenged him like this, ready to fight him if she had to in order to get her way and make him back down.
“You really expect me to separate them?” Erin said and Asmodeus caught her looking at Apollyon out of the corner of his eye. “How am I meant to do such a thing when I lived through the same hell as they are?”
The dark-haired woman looked around her, her gaze verging on golden now, seeking answers from everyone present.
“Apollyon, you can curse me to Hell… you can all shout at me about it later… but when it comes down to it, it is my decision, and I’ve made up my mind.” Erin looked across at him. “I will give you the protection you desire, Asmodeus. I will give it to both of you. From now on, you fall under my protection. You are my friends.”
The ground shook and Erin’s face darkened, her eyes glowing gold.
“Yeah, you heard me. Bite me… no, I won’t take it back… why don’t you come up here and try it? Oh, that’s right. You’re stuck in Hell… Stick it. You heard. Stick it. I don’t give a damn… I happened to have an opening for two new friends. Yeah, yeah. Nothing I haven’t heard before. So he really is on your shit list?” Erin cast him a grim look and rolled her eyes, and continued her one-sided conversation. “No, I’m not listening. No. No means no… fine. Why do you want her so much? She doesn’t look dangerous to me… well, she’s pretty powerful, but… sorry to say that she’s under my protection now… in my hands. Bored now. Really bored. Bite me, Pops. I hate you. Go to Hell… ah, you’re already there. Burn in it. Ciao ciao!”
Liora stared at Erin and whispered out of the corner of her mouth, “Is she okay?”
“Telepathic communication with her father, I believe.” At least, Asmodeus hoped it was and that she wasn’t insane.
Erin brightened, her eyes losing their glow. “I got tired of walking around talking to him in my head when he bothers me. Veiron likes to know when my father is annoying me and that I’m verbally giving him the finger. One finger thoroughly given.”
Erin smiled up at Veiron.
“Erin,” Veiron whispered but Asmodeus sensed it wasn’t anger or warning behind his softly spoken word. It was awe and admiration because she had accepted Asmodeus and Liora, and because she had stood up to her friends and her father, sticking to her guns and not letting them separate another couple she saw as similar to her and Veiron. Affection warmed the Hell’s angel’s black eyes and he drew Erin into his embrace and kissed her.
Amelia, Marcus and Apollyon cast Asmodeus dark looks that did warn him, telling him that if he stepped out of line, they would do all in their power to have him cast from the island and beyond Erin’s sphere of protection.
Serenity smiled at him and then her hazel eyes shot wide with horror. “Ah… your… chiens!”
Asmodeus turned in time to see Romulus and Remus rolling down the sloping white sand, a furious tangle of black fur. The second they hit the shallow water lapping at the shore, they yelped, broke apart and growled at it.
He sighed and spoke to them in the demon tongue. “It did not attack you. It is water. Good for playing in and it will not harm you. Be aware there are creatures who make it their home, and some may bite back.”
Remus eyed it warily and then bounded in ahead of Romulus. Romulus looked back at him, as if waiting for permission. Asmodeus waved him on.
“Cute dogs,” Erin said and frowned up at Veiron, a slight edge of disappointment to her expression. “How come you don’t have any?”
Veiron settled his arm around her shoulders and pinned her to his side. “Because hellhounds normally make a meal out of demons or angels. Having them for pets is one fucked up situation. I don’t even want to know how he came to have tame hellhounds.”
“He saved them as puppies.”
Asmodeus cringed on hearing those words leaving Liora’s lips. Everyone stared at him. Liora slowly turned to face him, a flicker of guilt flittering across her face.
He furled his black wings against his back and squared his jaw, fixing everyone with a hard look that dared them to make fun of him for having saved
and raised the two hellhounds.
The sound of splashing and playful growls cut through the thick silence.
Erin looked him over, looked at the hellhounds playing in the shallows, and then her eyebrows slowly rose and disappeared beneath her straight fringe.
“Cool.” Her amber gaze drifted back to him. “Are they the same sex?”
He nodded. “Males.”
She looked disappointed. Why? He studied Romulus and Remus, and then Erin, catching the edge of excitement in her eyes as she watched them playing and stroked her belly.
“If they ever have puppies, sign me up for two, okay?” Erin said and the splashing stopped.
Romulus and Remus stared at her, looking as shocked as he felt. Clearly, they were beginning to grasp English and had understood enough of what she had said to know they didn’t like the sound of it.
“I do not think they are ready to become fathers just yet.” Asmodeus waved the two hellhounds on and they went back to playing in the water.
Veiron grunted and turned away, revealing the black and red tribal tattoos that curled around his biceps and deltoids, and over his shoulders and around his crimson feathered wings where they sprouted from his back. “I know how they feel.”
Erin playfully slapped him on the backside. “Bastard.”
Veiron growled, spun swiftly on the spot and went to grab her. She disappeared in black smoke and reappeared further up the beach, laughing at him when he stumbled forwards and almost fell into the sand. The big Hell’s angel snarled, turned and beat his wings, shooting across the sand to her. He tackled her, scooped her up into his arms and carried her into one of the large green tents erected beneath the palm trees.
“That’s them gone for hours. You’d think pregnancy would make them less like rabbits, not more,” Amelia grumbled, brushed her silver hair from her face and flicked Asmodeus a glare. “Dinner’s in an hour... if we can catch it.”
Her wings shrank into her back, a long flowing white and blue dress replaced her silver armour and she walked back towards the camp. Marcus sent his armour away, changing into dark blue shorts with a silver stripe down the side, and an unbuttoned white linen shirt, and followed her, raking his fingers through his unruly dark hair at the same time.
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