He smashed his right fist into Apollyon’s jaw, knocking him to one side, enough that he could tip the male off balance and escape. He came to his feet and kicked Apollyon hard in the gut before he could defend, winding him.
“And I warned you never to underestimate me.” Asmodeus backed off a step and breathed hard, fighting to quell the urge to bloody his claws. “Luckily for you, I have more important matters that require my time.”
He scanned the route ahead. The road forked. Asmodeus cursed in the demon tongue, choosing the foulest one available to him.
Apollyon picked himself up, dusted himself off and frowned at him. “Serenity would kill me if her cousin went hungry and ended up stuck in Hell. That is the only reason I am not killing you right now. You will return her, Asmodeus. You had no right to take her.”
Asmodeus smiled wickedly. “I did not take her.”
Apollyon’s blue eyes widened, shock rippling across his face, a face Asmodeus wanted to beat into a bloody pulp until they no longer resembled each other.
“She followed me. I told her to remain. She fell into Hell after me.”
“That changes nothing. You could still bring her back.”
Asmodeus stepped up to him, staring straight into his eyes. “It changes everything. She is mine. She chose to be with me.”
“Asmodeus,” Apollyon growled and Asmodeus shook his head, warning him not to even try to fight him. His twin clenched his fists, squared his jaw and then relaxed. “Tell me she is at least far enough from the pit that the eternal pain in my backside cannot reach her.”
“She is safe.” He would not say it again. He was tired of his twin questioning his ability to protect what was his.
“Swear you will return her to her cousin soon.”
“I will do no such thing. Liora will return when she chooses it. I have promised her I will bring her back to this world once she is ready… but I will not do so before I know she is safe from my master.” Asmodeus stepped away from Apollyon and looked up at the sliver of inky sky between the buildings.
No stars. The city lights drowned them out. He would have liked to see them again. Perhaps after everything had ended and he knew Liora was safe, they could gaze at them together again.
He had to keep her safe first and protect her from the Devil, a man who had easily defeated him and had commanded him to bring her to him. It wouldn’t be long before the Devil lost patience and did something foolish, like send Hell’s angels to find him and Liora. He needed to stop the Devil. He needed to win this time.
“Apollyon,” he said, voice as distant as his gaze and his thoughts.
“What?”
“When you fight the Devil… how do you defeat him?”
Apollyon fell silent and tense. Asmodeus closed his eyes, lowered his head, and opened them again, settling them directly on his twin.
“I need to know.” It was hard for him to ask for his twin’s aid and Apollyon had to know that, and therefore know how important it was to him. “I need to protect her.”
Apollyon stared at him. “You are serious about her.”
Asmodeus cast his gaze at his feet, wishing he could see beyond the paving slabs, rock and earth to his beautiful Liora.
“I give it my all and do not give up, even when it feels I am on the verge of death and I am defeated, unable to go on,” Apollyon said in a quiet voice. “I keep fighting because I want to live. Have a reason to live and you will have a reason to fight.”
“Liora,” Asmodeus whispered, his heart expanding in his chest, aching to see her again. “I would slay anything for her. I would die for her.”
“You are missing the point,” Apollyon said and Asmodeus looked at him, surprised to catch warmth in his blue eyes, a touch of compassion and understanding. His twin had never looked at him with anything other than disgust before. “Liora is your reason to live. You will live for her… even when you feel you cannot go on and your end is near, you will not give up because you want to live for her.”
“With her.” Asmodeus wanted to be with her right that moment, looking into her hazel eyes and hearing her soft melodic voice caressing his ears, bathing in her smiles and tender touches, and savouring the sweetness of her kiss.
Apollyon shook his head, a look of pity in his eyes. “She has you well under her spell.”
If only he knew. She had cast it upon Asmodeus the moment he had set eyes on her and had held him under her thrall ever since, powerless to fight her, unable to resist her, desperate to win her against all the odds.
“You get a pass this time, but the next time I sense you in Paris, you had better have Liora with you. I would not leave it too long either. Serenity has a temper and no one messes with her family. She will geld you if you keep her cousin from her much longer.” Apollyon unfurled his black wings and spread them, cast him one last look filled with confusion and concern, and took flight. His voice drifted down from the darkness. “And the supermarket is down the road to your left, just around the corner.”
“Fuck you,” Asmodeus growled. “I had that.”
Apollyon laughed.
Asmodeus was tempted to unleash his wings, call his sword and chop his twin’s head off to shut him up. He hadn’t needed his help. He had been handling everything. He trudged onwards, pretending he hadn’t heard the directions and feigning surprise when he found the supermarket around the corner.
He approached the doors and leaped backwards when they swished open without him touching them, flashing his fangs at the unholy invention. A male walked out, cast him a look that asked if he was deranged, and walked on. Asmodeus cautiously approached the doors as they closed and they slid open again, allowing him entrance.
He stepped inside and squinted, the bright lights hurting his sensitive eyes.
A woman bustled past him with a small person in tow. A child. Offspring. The female had mated and borne a boy. Asmodeus plastered on his best smile when the boy looked up at him. Clearly, it was not the one Liora liked as the young fair-haired boy gasped, grabbed his mother’s hand and hid behind her skirt.
The mother didn’t seem to notice her offspring’s fear and picked up a green plastic box that had one open side and a handle. She proceeded through a rotating device of four bent metal poles, dragging the boy with her, and unleashed the hellhound to wreak havoc. The boy immediately began picking things up and prodding holes in colourful round items. His mother noticed that, scolding him in French.
She called them fruit.
Asmodeus knew fruit. He had tasted fruit. He did not like citrus ones, although the orange juice had tasted sweeter than the one called lemon.
He picked up a basket, cautiously edged through the rotating device that allowed him into the main area of the shop, and avoided the citrus area of fruit. He picked up apples and strawberries, knowing for certain that Liora enjoyed those. There was a display of wrapped rectangles of chocolate nearby that seemed rather popular with the female shoppers too. He took many of those and then proceeded to walk up and down every aisle, feeling it wise to scour every inch of the large shop. He filled the basket with a mixture of sweet and savoury, and avoided anything chilled. It was sure to turn rancid in the heat of Hell.
Unfortunately, it placed many of the items he had already tasted and enjoyed off his menu. He settled for trying other items instead. There were things called crackers, peanuts, biscuits, cakes that looked interesting, and drinks in many colours and variations.
A woman at the end of the drink aisle offered him a tiny paper cup and a smile.
He peered at the black contents but didn’t take it so she offered him a different one, this one creamy in colour. Asmodeus still refrained, uncertain of what it was. He looked at the display next to her that had many more tiny cups.
Coffee.
Caffeine.
He backed off a step and glared at the woman.
She meant to seduce him with the aphrodisiac qualities of coffee.
This mortal world was far more dangero
us than he had thought. Females openly sought to lure males into their honeyed traps.
Asmodeus growled at her, flashing his fangs in warning, showing her that he would not fall for her ploy.
She shrieked and called out a word he didn’t recognise as she ran from him. He frowned in the direction she had gone, wracking his brain for the right translation. The female returned, two burly yet pathetic males in uniform behind her. Asmodeus smiled as the word came to him. Security.
Puny mortals.
He grinned wickedly and unfurled his huge black feathered wings, letting them rip through his shirt at the same time as he unleashed a fraction of his power, causing darkness to wash across the store. The woman shrieked again and leaped behind one of the men, pushing both wary males towards him. They leaned back, trying to keep their distance and fumbling with whatever weapons they had holstered at their sides. Asmodeus bared his fangs and threw his hand towards them, earning terrified screams that echoed around the store as the portal opened before him.
Everyone scattered when he took a single step forwards, the supermarket erupting into chaos.
Asmodeus sighed and casually walked into the portal, and stepped out into the main room of his castle.
Liora greeted him with a vicious slap across his left cheek.
Not the victorious hero’s greeting he had expected.
CHAPTER 12
“Where the hell have you… ooh… food.” Liora pounced on the basket, yanked it from Asmodeus’s hand and carried it to the table, her long black robe swishing around her ankles. She paused before reaching it and frowned at him. “I take it from the mode of transport that you neglected to pay for this food?”
She held the basket up.
Asmodeus shrugged.
Liora sighed in a manner that made him feel she was thinking she had to teach him right from wrong when it came to honest behaviour when in the mortal world, and then went to place the basket down on the table and froze again. “You’re wearing clothes.”
“Very observant. Blending in tends to work better when you look like the rest of the population. I did not want to draw attention to myself while searching for food for you.”
She set the basket on the long black stone table. “Why not just use a glamour?”
“I am still recovering my strength. Materialising clothing is far less taxing on my power than using a glamour to conceal my true appearance, although forcing my wings away does drain me.” He slid the basket across the table to him and frowned at his portfolio. He hadn’t left it at that angle.
“I have to say, mortal clothing looks very good on you.” Liora gave him a wicked smile and rifled through the basket. A grin formed when she spotted the chocolate.
Asmodeus’s frown darkened.
She slowed down and stared at him, and then followed his gaze to the black folder on the table near them.
“Ah… I might have taken a tiny peek at your drawings and paintings. They’re very beautiful.”
Asmodeus turned on her. “Very private.”
“Don’t be angry with me.” She tiptoed and brushed her fingers across his cheek, and his anger faded, unable to stand up to the calming effect of her touch. Under her spell indeed. “Did you draw the pictures from books?”
He looked back at his portfolio and wondered just how much of a peek she had taken. It sounded to him as if she had gone through the entire thing from start to finish. Hardly a tiny peek.
“No.” He shook his head and she lowered her hand to his chest, and he liked the feel of it there, settled on him, connecting them. “There is a pool that records the history of the mortal world. It is guarded by angels, but sometimes they are not around. When they are not around, I use the pool to see into your world, and sometimes I draw what I see.”
He hoped she didn’t ask why the guards weren’t around for long enough for him to draw and paint the scenes he paused in the pool.
“How did you really feel when you saw Paris from the air for the first time? It was your picture come to life.”
Relief flowed through him, relaxing his body beneath her warm hand. He felt comfortable enough around her now to tell her the truth.
“It awed me, but I think it was more than the view that took my breath away.” He lifted his hand and smoothed his palm across her cheek, cupping it and stroking it with his thumb, tilting her head back so she was looking up at him and he could bathe in her beautiful hazel eyes. “You took my breath away.”
She blushed and a shy smile curled her rosy lips, tempting him into dropping his head and kissing her.
“There you go again… saying things that most women would die to hear.”
“You are not most women.” He remembered her telling him something similar before and she was right. She wasn’t one of many. She was unique. Perfect. His.
“That look in your eyes is silently telling me something you said to me earlier, and I like that too.” She tiptoed, wrapped her slender silk-covered arms around his shoulders and kissed him.
Asmodeus banded his arms around her waist, holding her to him, savouring the softness of the kiss and the feel of her in his arms. It felt right to have her in his embrace like this. It felt as though she belonged there.
As if they were meant to be like this.
Together. Not alone.
She pulled back before he was ready for her to and smiled up into his eyes. “So who did you get into a fight with in the mortal world?”
He frowned at her and she touched his cheek. It stung. The bastard Apollyon must have grazed it.
“My not-so-evil-twin.”
“Apollyon?” Her eyes widened and she released him. “What did he want?”
“Me to return you. I denied his request of course. He decided to make it into more of a demand. I decided to show him that I do not kneel to anyone.” He claimed her waist and pulled her back to him, not stopping until her front was flush against his and he could feel her heat through his clothes.
“Did you tell him why I’m here?”
He nodded. “I did… eventually. He found me when I was tracking down an adequate source of sustenance for you. As always, he opened with various accusations and misguided beliefs, and then flexed his muscles. I flexed mine back. We argued, came to an understanding, and parted company.”
She touched his cheek again, anger shining in her eyes. “I hope he came off worse.”
Asmodeus smiled, captured her hand and brought it to his lips. He kissed each of her slight fingers, feeling her power rising to the fore, brought out by her fury.
“I did come close to breaking his arm and definitely bloodied his lip.”
She beamed with pride. Asmodeus kissed her again, silently thanking her for her belief in him and that she had chosen to side with him over his twin.
Her lips played with his for too brief a moment and then she was pulling back again. “Did he mention Serenity?”
“Repeatedly.” He tried to pull her back to him but she resisted. Stubborn little mortal. He did love it when she fought him.
“Is she pissed?”
Asmodeus had lost her. “Drunk?”
She laughed, the sound like music to his ears, sending a delightful shiver through him. “No. Angry.”
“Apparently. She is under the impression I have kidnapped you.”
Her look soured. “I wonder who could have made her think that.”
“Someone dashingly handsome, but too good for his own good with an evil twin who is far superior in every way?” Asmodeus tugged her back to him, settling his hands on her bottom. He palmed it, his body instantly growing hard for her. He wanted to end this dull talk of his twin and her cousin. He wanted to feed his female and satisfy her. He could see the next question rising to the tip of her tongue. “Yes, I corrected his view, confirming you were safe and had chosen to accompany me to Hell, where you are probably far safer than you were in the mortal world. I have also informed him that you will be allowed to return when you so choose, as long as I have dealt
with our mutual problem.”
“Your boss?” Her face fell further. “You aren’t seriously thinking of fighting him again?”
“I must.” He lifted his shoulders in an easy shrug. “It is either fight him or hand you over, and I have decided I will do the former. I will defeat him this time. I swear it.”
“Forgive me if that doesn’t reassure me in the slightest. At least wait a while, rebuild your strength, and strategize with me about it. We could fight him together.”
That was not going to happen. He would not allow Liora anywhere near the Devil.
“I do not have time. Apollyon mentioned that your cousin has a tendency to fall foul of her temper. Are all of your family like her?”
“I am… I can’t vouch for the rest. I don’t remember that much about my parents.”
“They are gone?” The sorrow that entered her eyes when he asked that confirmed that she had lost them, and a long time ago judging by what she had said. “I am sorry.”
She offered him a watery smile. “I guess I’m like you. No really close family. Just Serenity. I lost my parents when I was twelve… during a demon attack on my coven in London.”
Asmodeus growled at the knowledge that she had come under attack by Hell’s minions and that the Devil had likely ordered that attack himself. He held her closer, pinning her against his chest, and vowed to protect her even as he suddenly felt as though they were never meant to be.
He would be alone again before long.
Demons had taken her family from her, those she loved. How long before she began to see him for what he really was, realised that this was his world and he had done terrible things?
He had killed people, destroying families just as the Devil had destroyed hers.
“You’ve gone all quiet,” Liora whispered and emerged from his embrace, looking up at him. He stared over her head at the far wall of the long black room, unable to bring himself to look into her eyes while he was wrestling with his fears. “Asmodeus? Look at me.”
He couldn’t ignore her command. He dropped his gaze to meet hers and she brushed her knuckles across his cheek.
Her Angel: Eternal Warriors Complete Series Box Set Page 89