Apollyon looked thoroughly unimpressed.
Liora’s smile faded and she looked back at Asmodeus, studying his eyes, his lips and then his fingernails.
“Your mood has changed abruptly. Did I do something wrong? Did you wish to throw the stick again?” Asmodeus said and turned to face her.
Liora shook her head, and then dragged her courage up and met his gaze. She touched the marks on her neck beneath her hair and felt the scabs.
“I was just thinking about something. You have fangs and claws, and golden eyes… like Erin… like the Devil.”
He tipped his head back and smiled. “Ah, and you were wondering why I have these things? Erin has been putting thoughts in your pretty head. It is true that I have a drop of the Devil’s blood in me.”
“Why?”
He raised his hand, brushed his knuckles across her cheek and cleared the hair from the right side of her throat, hooking it behind her ear. He stroked the marks he had placed on her, his eyes darkening with desire that rippled through her too.
“To control me and make me obedient to him, and to ensure I would serve him and was everything he desired me to be… as evil as he is.”
“But you’re not as evil as he is. There’s good in you.” Liora placed her hand over his and flattened it, so the heel of his palm brushed the top of her breast.
Asmodeus stared at their joined hands, his pupils dilating further. “The Devil has… I lived with him for many centuries… I saw… Liora, there is a chance that this good in me did not come from Apollyon.”
Her eyes went as round as the moon rising beyond the palm trees behind him.
If Asmodeus was right, then that was a doozy of a secret he had just spilled to her. “Seriously?”
“I cannot be sure. I may be wrong but it is something that has plagued me for countless centuries. If I am right, then perhaps I am only as evil as the Devil is… but I am still evil. The bad in me outweighs the good.”
“But there is good in you.”
He sighed and looked over her head to the distant horizon and the sunset. It reflected in his eyes, turning them fierce and golden. She didn’t expect him to answer. He didn’t like it when she pushed and she was pushing, and he was going to stand firm and not give her what she wanted. She wanted to hear him admit that there was good in him but he couldn’t bring himself to do that. It was easier for him to cling to the thought that there wasn’t and that he was as evil as his master.
She looked beyond him to the group around the fire, took hold of his hand and began leading him towards them.
Serenity looked up and smiled as Liora settled herself on a thick log across the fire from her, close to Veiron where he was cooking on a grill over a smaller fire nearby. Erin stood beside him chatting about hellhounds and her father.
Asmodeus sat beside Liora when she patted the log and rested his forearms on his bent knees.
Apollyon and Serenity were still catching up with Amelia and Marcus. Liora’s gaze fell on Apollyon and then returned to Asmodeus. She caught him staring at his twin, watching him, and kept still and silent. Apollyon laughed and talked with Marcus and the others, a completely different person to the one she was used to seeing. What was Asmodeus thinking as he watched his twin interacting with everyone?
His eyes were turning cold again, sharp and emotionless, and she could feel the distance growing between them. The evil she could always sense in him grew, battling the good and creating a struggle within him that made her want to rest her hand on his to reassure him that he didn’t need to compare himself to Apollyon or think the things she could almost hear going around his head.
She wasn’t very good at interacting with people and conversing easily either, and preferred to keep to herself most of the time. She wasn’t like Serenity. Serenity could smile, laugh, and make friends so easily. Liora didn’t have that talent.
Asmodeus didn’t have to feel bad or that he was lacking because he didn’t share Apollyon’s ability to make easy conversation with these people. She opened her mouth to tell him that but Erin sat down on the other side of him, stealing his attention away from Apollyon.
“I’ve wanted to ask you this for months,” Erin said and Liora leaned forwards so she could see the dark-haired woman, curious about what she wanted to know. “Did you mean to free me that day that you came to my cell or did you intend to torment me?”
Liora frowned at her, magic breaking to the surface of her hands, called forth by her anger over hearing Erin pose such a question to Asmodeus when he was in the grip of his emotions, struggling to find balance again.
“I desired to set you free.” Asmodeus kept his voice low and she had the feeling he was trying to stop others from hearing their conversation. Angels had fantastic hearing though. She could tell that because a hush fell over the camp and suddenly everyone was looking her way.
“Why?” Erin said with a frown.
“Because I knew you were the Devil’s daughter and I did not like how he was treating you. I felt it was… wrong.” Asmodeus’s dark eyebrows knitted together and Liora did settle her hand on his arm now, hoping it would offer him some strength and comfort in the wake of his minor epiphany. He knew right from wrong after all. He flexed his fingers and held Erin’s gaze. “You have the Devil’s blood in you, just as I do. I felt compelled to help you, but I am unable to breach the barrier around the prison without the Devil sensing it.”
Erin smiled when Veiron rested his hand on her shoulder and she covered it with her own. “That makes us sound like we’re sort of related… only you have two fathers. At the time, I thought you had wanted to help me. I’m glad I wasn’t going crazy and was right, and you were looking out for me. You’d make one hell of a big brother. You have that leader vibe happening just like Apollyon.”
Asmodeus stiffened and narrowed his gaze on her, and then glared daggers across the fire at Apollyon, daring him to speak. Liora pressed her hand more firmly on his arm, trying to stop what she could feel coming. Erin had meant her words kindly, but Asmodeus had grown to expect such words to be born of malice and spoken in an attempt to mock or belittle. He wasn’t accustomed to kindness.
She could feel the tension in him cranking higher and blackening his mood. He didn’t know what to make of what Erin had said, and the longer everyone stared at him, waiting for him to respond, the darker his feelings turned.
“Asmodeus,” Liora whispered and he shot to his feet, knocking her hand off him, stepped over the log and strode away from the fire.
Erin blinked in confusion. Liora really didn’t know what to say to explain everything. She gave up trying to think of something and went after Asmodeus, easily catching him before he went too far.
Liora slipped her fingers around his wrist.
He tensed and turned on her. “I need some peace and quiet.”
“Stay.” She stroked his arm and held his gaze, trying to soothe some of his tension away, and dropped her voice lower, so only he would hear her. She hoped. “Erin meant it in a nice way.”
He flashed fangs and took his arm away, casting a black look over her head to the fire and everyone there.
“I need… I need to get away.” He threw another look towards the fire and this one verged on panic. “I have to… I need a break.”
“Why?” The reason dawned on her as his eyes flicked to her and then back to the others, darting over each of them in turn, and his irises burned red around the edges.
“I am not used to being around so many,” he said quietly and she wanted to tell him that she had already figured that out for herself. He was fine when he was alone with her, and had seemed alright when helping Veiron, but being around the others set him on edge.
“I’ll go with you—”
“No,” he interjected harshly, and then his tone softened and he caressed her cheek, an affectionate edge to his golden eyes. “Remain with your cousin and the others. You must eat.”
“So must you.” She was sure he must be hungry aft
er teleporting them all to the island, fighting Veiron and then wrestling with a shark.
“Save me some… just… give me five minutes.” He cupped her cheek and looked torn between leaving and staying now, and she wished she could convince him to stay even when she knew he needed to go and would feel better for it. “I just need five minutes.”
His unease returned when he looked beyond her. She could sense it in him and see it in his eyes, and she knew it stemmed from being around the others and Apollyon. He was trying to make friends, probably for her sake, so they could remain here and she would be safe from the Devil. He wanted to protect her but it was taking its toll on him. He felt he didn’t fit in here.
She felt it too.
She felt as if strangers surrounded her and that she only truly knew Asmodeus. He was her haven, the one she felt safe around, protected and secure, and happy. She didn’t want to let him go off alone and dwell on his dark thoughts, only making himself feel even more like he was out of place and evil, no good for her.
She didn’t want him to leave her alone with these people.
But the look in his eyes spoke to her heart and told her that he really needed some time alone and she would never do anything to upset him, so she stroked the hand that lingered against her face and forced herself to nod.
A faint glimmer of relief flickered in his eyes and he tilted her head up, lowered his mouth to hers and kissed her softly. It reassured her more than words ever could, telling her that he appreciated this gift she had given him and that he wouldn’t go far or leave the island. He would remain close because he wanted to protect her.
His fingers slipped from her cheek, he broke the kiss and turned his back on her.
Liora wrapped her arms around herself as cold stole into her veins and she watched him walk away.
Romulus bounded past her, following his master. Remus nudged her hand and she stroked him between his ears and looked down into his crimson eyes.
“Keep him safe,” she whispered and gently tugged his left ear, propping it up.
Remus licked her hand and rushed after his master and brother.
Liora sighed and padded back to her seat near the fire, weary now and unable to shake the heavy feeling in her heart. No one closed in on her and she felt grateful for it, glad that they were giving her the space she needed too.
She glanced at Erin and caught the sympathy in her eyes. Maybe she and Asmodeus weren’t as out of place in this group as they both had thought. Erin wore an expression that left Liora feeling that she knew what she was feeling and had been through it all with Veiron. A Hell’s angel. One of the Devil’s men, just like Asmodeus.
How long had it taken everyone to accept Veiron’s presence in the group?
She could understand why Amelia, Marcus, and Apollyon looked at Asmodeus with darkness in their eyes. He hadn’t proven himself to these people yet, not as he had proven himself to her. He hadn’t earned their trust, and she had the feeling that part of him didn’t want to either and he was only trying to make friends with them for her sake.
He didn’t need them.
She could understand that too. He was used to being alone and doing as he pleased, just as she was. No close family ties. No one to answer to but himself. No friends. No hurt feelings when those friends turned on you and betrayed you. No broken heart when someone you loved died or was taken from you.
She got that.
Liora looked over her shoulder, watching him walking the shore with his hellhounds, alone again.
She felt sorry for him and she didn’t like it because it made her feel sorry for herself too.
She had pushed away everyone except Serenity with her wild and dangerous behaviour, and how little she cared about anyone, including herself.
Liora looked across the fire at Serenity, watching her talking to Amelia, Marcus, and Apollyon, the centre of their attention again now. Serenity was all bright laughter and smiles, telling them about the trials she had gone through to become immortal together with a woman called Annelie, all so they could live forever with their angels.
“Annelie is immortal too now?” Amelia asked and Serenity nodded.
“She made it through by the skin of her teeth.” Apollyon picked up a stick and poked the fire.
“And how is Lukas?” Marcus said and Liora eavesdropped. She didn’t know much about Amelia or Marcus, or this Annelie and Lukas.
“He still works for Heaven.” Apollyon tossed the stick onto the fire and watched it burn. “They call on him from time to time.”
Marcus’s expression darkened. “You think he reports on us?”
Apollyon shook his head, his look turning grave. “No, but I believe they may be able to monitor him somehow, and therefore us too.”
Serenity said something in French and the darkness lifted from his face and he stroked her fair hair and settled his arm around her shoulders, drawing her close to him.
Serenity fell into conversation with Amelia again, sometimes answering questions Marcus posed too.
Liora felt as if she was standing on the outside and looking in, not part of the group at all. She had never felt more different to Serenity as she watched her cousin conversing easily with the group, part of it, at the centre of it with Apollyon.
She was just a shadow of Serenity.
Asmodeus was just a shadow of Apollyon.
Liora looked over her shoulder again, following his progress along the moonlit shore. She ached to go to him.
Veiron crouched beside her and handed her two plates of food, and dropped his voice to a whisper that felt as though it was for her ears only.
“Give him those five minutes and then go to him.”
Liora looked into his dark eyes, surprised to hear support in his voice when he had been the one to attack Asmodeus on sight and only listen to reason once she had disabled him.
“I can’t say I love the guy. I’ve got my reasons for the way I feel, but I’m man enough to admit that he’s different now, and that… well, now I can see a little of myself in him.” Veiron smiled at her and shrugged. “I was like that once… didn’t play well with others… didn’t belong here. Ask the missus. He wants you to go to him… he needs you to choose him over us.”
Liora nodded, her heart feeling lighter when she realised that she and Asmodeus weren’t the first to go through a rough start to a relationship and that it was more than possible to make it through and end up together. Erin and Veiron were proof of that. She glanced over at Erin and caught her smiling at Veiron, a touch of pride and love in her eyes.
“Erin saw the good in me once.” Veiron held his hand out to Erin and she took hold of it, and settled her other hand on her belly. “And look at me now… about to become a daddy.”
Veiron kneeled beside Erin and placed his hand over hers, holding her bump with her.
“And you’ll be the best father in the three realms too.” Erin kissed his cheek.
Liora smiled at them, remembering how her parents had been so filled with love and devotion too, and hoped that things turned out better for Erin and Veiron.
A prickle ran down her spine and her smile faded.
Someone was watching her.
She looked around the fire at everyone and found them looking at each other, and then over her shoulder. Asmodeus had his back to her still.
The feeling came again. She shivered as the intensity of the sensation increased and it felt darker this time and sinister, setting her on edge. The same feeling she’d had in Paris several times.
Was it the Devil watching her?
Or someone else?
CHAPTER 19
Liora left the fire and went in search of Asmodeus, wanting to be around him and needing to speak to him about the strange sensation of being watched that she’d had over the past few weeks.
She found him at the far end of the beach, staring at the dark water and the moonlight playing on it. Remus and Romulus were at the treeline, sniffing and investigating.
“Asmodeus?” she whispered as she rounded him and he didn’t respond.
His glowing golden gaze remained locked on the water, no doubt fixed on a point deep below the waves.
She touched his arm and he tensed, his eyes snapping to her and the bright swirling fire in them fading.
“Your boss again?”
He nodded, closed his eyes and pinched the bridge of his nose. “He is getting persistent.”
“Can you hear him like Erin can?” She hoped he said no, because the thought of the Devil pushing his voice into Asmodeus’s mind and saying all manner of dark things put her on edge. She wrapped her arms around herself to keep the sudden chill off her skin.
“No. It is difficult to explain. I feel compelled to do something and I know it is not my own desire. In this case, I feel I must take you to Hell, to him.” He sighed and opened his eyes to glare at the water. “I do not want to take you back to Hell. It is hard to refuse his orders but I will keep fighting him.”
“Twice now I’ve… I…” Liora lost her nerve and focused, clinging to her courage again and telling herself that she could talk to Asmodeus about this. She didn’t have to worry what he would think of her or that he might believe she was crazy. She could trust him with this and he would help her find an answer to the question that plagued her. “Someone is watching me.”
Asmodeus immediately looked around them and pulled her into the protective circle of his arms, pinning her against his bare chest. She pressed her cheek to it and listened to his heart beating hard against her ear. He was so warm and the feel of his arms around her comforted her more than she had anticipated, chasing away her fears and leaving her relaxed and calm. He turned with her, scanning their surroundings.
“Do you know who?” He kept hold of her, one large hand against her shoulder and the other in the small of her back.
She shook her head. “I’ve never seen them. It started a few weeks back and since I met you, I’ve felt it twice more… both times you were being compelled by the Devil. Do you think it’s the Devil watching me?”
Her Wicked Angel Page 25