Trust the Fall (Fallen Hunters Series Book 2)

by Melissa Winters

  Not if that’s what she chose.

  A promise was made not long ago, and I intend to keep it. I told Victoria I’d never bend her will, and I won’t. If she chooses a life that doesn’t include me, I’ll walk away.

  “Satan, can I be of service?” Lilith’s smooth voice calls from a dark corner.

  She slinks out from the shadows, wearing nothing more than stickers over her nipples and a red G-string.

  “Lil, what the hell are you wearing?”

  “What? This?” She feigns innocence when we both know damn well what she’s up to.

  We’ve done this dance for millennia. She knows when I’m tense and in need of release, and every time, she comes willingly to serve. This getup is precisely what she’d wear for a night of losing ourselves in each other.

  Those days have long been over. Since the first night I saw Victoria in that cemetery, I haven’t been able to touch another woman. Lilith included. She knows this, and it’s been a source of contention since.

  She’s been relentless in her pursuit to persuade me back to her bed, but it’ll never happen. Not when I’ve had Victoria and know what love feels like.

  “She saw her own thoughts, Satan. She wants him. Give in. I can make you forget it all,” she purrs, running her red-painted nails down my chest. I bat her away.

  “Enough, Lilith. You know it’s not happening.”

  “And why, Satan? Because of her? That angel?” she sneers. “She doesn’t understand you and she never will.”

  “I don’t care. I love her.”

  “She won’t choose you. She can’t, and we both know it.”

  Her words hit hard, and the need to lash out at someone can’t be contained.

  I jump from the throne, prowling toward her, and based on her wide eyes, she knows she’s overstepped.

  “What’s happening here?” Zeke asks, coming into the room with Michael on his tail.

  I brought them here to begin the preparations for taking back the throne and for Victoria’s departure to the reaper kingdom.

  “What does it look like?”

  “Like you’re about to strike a woman.”

  “Demon,” I correct. “And for the record, I was not going to hit her.”

  “In her case, I’d permit it,” Michael sneers, eyeing Lilith like she’s a rat carrying the plague.

  “Leave us, Lilith,” I command, and she scurries off.

  “You brought us here; now what do you want?” Michael snaps, ever the conversationist.

  I turn, taking my place on the throne before answering. It’s a power move. One that should send the message that this is my domain and they’re only guests.

  “You forget I’m allowing you access to Hell at God’s request. This isn’t a favor to you, Michael, and in truth, I could simply refuse altogether.”

  “No,” Zeke cuts in. “I apologize for his behavior on behalf of Heaven. As you know, the past day hasn’t been easy for him. Victoria has refused to see him.”

  “I wonder why,” I deadpan, taking a sip directly from the decanter.

  “Lucifer, would you prefer we come another time? You seem preoccupied.” Zeke eyes the whiskey.

  “It’s fine. I’m fine. Please take a seat.”

  I snap my fingers, and two chairs appear behind the angels. It’s as simple as thinking about the object I require and snapping my fingers. Very basic, but effective.

  The angels glance at each other before sitting.

  “First order of business—the Bellamys,” I say, getting the conversation rolling.

  “God wants Lawrence to gain access to the Fae world. Someone has already beaten him there. Thus, the Fae are anticipating his arrival.” Michael doesn’t look at me as he delivers this news. Instead, he picks at invisible lint on his pristine robe.

  “I’ll arrange for someone to escort him to the portal first thing tomorrow.”

  Michael nods in acknowledgment.

  “How is Julian doing on getting the witch here?”

  “Shante is trying to determine what kind of magic Yvette is using. As soon as she’s cracked that, she’ll be ready to come to Hell,” Zeke states.

  Witches are on their own timelines. They have no allegiances until it suits them. If removing Nolda requires their help, who knows how long that could take and how much damage could be done.

  “Do you think that’ll take long?”

  “A week maybe? Two tops.”

  I nod my head. “I need a favor from Heaven.”

  Zeke’s eyebrow rises, but he doesn’t say anything.

  “Can you get a cage made of Heaven’s soil?”

  “For?” Michael and Zeke ask in unison.

  “I don’t plan to kill Nolda right away. Torture is the best way to ensure that no other demons, high or otherwise, step out of line once I’ve reclaimed my throne and each and every traitor is dealt with.”

  Zeke bobs his head. “I guess that would be the way it’s done in Hell. No mercy.”

  “Mercy is reserved for those who deserve it. Nolda took Victoria from me. He will suffer.”

  “Victoria isn’t yours to have,” Michael declares. “She’s the reaper princess and my daughter. She’ll never be yours.”

  I stand, hovering above the angel menacingly. “You might’ve been involved in her birth, but you’re far from her father, Michael. Do you have any idea what she wants? Do you even care?”

  He joins me in standing. “That may be so, but I know that Hell isn’t where she belongs. Is this where you want her?” he asks, motioning around the room. “Here amongst demons?”

  I want to kill him. I want to watch him bleed out in front of me. Because he’s right and I hate him for it.

  Victoria is good. She doesn’t belong here.

  “I’ll see what I can do about the cage,” Zeke interjects.

  “Admit it, Satan. You’ll never have her.” My blood boils, and before it can bubble over, I snap my fingers and Michael disappears.

  Zeke’s eyes go as round as saucers. “What did you do?”

  “I sent him home.”

  “I’m not trying to piss you off, Lucifer, but you know he’s right. Victoria doesn’t belong here.”

  “I know what she wants,” I bark.

  “And what’s that?”

  “Me.”

  There’s no part of me that doesn’t know that with every fiber of my being. Victoria loves me. She’s attracted to the reaper, but that’s all it is. She’d choose Hell over the reaper kingdom any day.

  “She’d choose you, but she’d never be happy here. It goes against every fiber of her being.”

  “I know.” The words come out broken and I hate that I’m showing weakness to Zeke.

  “Even more, it would never be allowed.” Zeke’s words are the sobering truth.

  The reapers won’t allow it, and neither will Heaven.

  We’ll constantly be at war, which will only weaken my control over the demons of Hell. This is the one situation in which love doesn’t conquer all. It will only end in tragedy.

  We’re star-crossed, and a piece of me recognized it the first time I laid eyes on her.

  “There’s truly no way, Luke.” Zeke says softly.

  It’s not lost on me that he didn’t call me Satan, Lucifer, or some other moniker approved by Heaven.

  “She knows exactly how I feel. She won’t listen. You know her, Zeke.”

  “Then I guess you have to make her leave.” He shakes his head. “I’m not saying this because of my past with her or my aversion to you,” he explains. “We’re united right now to stop a war and save humanity. If she chooses to stay, the reaper kingdom will come for you and Heaven because we didn’t keep our word. It’ll only spur another war. One that would be catastrophic.”

  “And I should care because?”

  He huffs an unamusing laugh. “She’ll die, and you’ll have to live for eternity knowing you could’ve prevented it.”

  There it is. The worst of the truths spilled today.
This isn’t Romeo and Juliet, where we both drink the poison and choose to live in the afterlife together. One dies. One remains.

  I can’t live forever without a world in which Victoria lives.

  Zeke dips his head, aware that I’ve already made my decision. The only correct one.

  “I’ll be going now,” he says, making his way to the door.

  “One request,” I call out, and he looks back over his shoulder. “I’d like Leeanna to meet Victoria in the reaper kingdom. She’ll need a familiar face, someone who’s on her side.”

  “And you think Leeanna is the right person?” He doesn’t sound convinced.

  “They have history.”

  “Bad history,” he grunts.

  “Not all of it. I think once they hash out their differences, she’ll be the right person.”

  “I’ll try. I can’t promise that Heaven will allow it.”

  “Do your best,” I say, dismissing Zeke and turning back to my half decanter of whiskey.

  I’m going to need several more for the next part of my plan.

  Getting Victoria to go to the reaper kingdom is going to require something extreme on my part. I know her. She’s stubborn as hell, and when she says she’s not going, she means it.

  But she has to. It’s the only way she’ll survive. If she turns her back on the reaper kingdom, war will rain down. Earth will fall, and so will Victoria.

  It might make me a selfish bastard, but I won’t live in a universe where she no longer exists.

  “You called for me?” Lilith struts in, now wearing something that barely passes as a dress.

  She’s pulling out all the stops, and I’d be annoyed as hell if it wasn’t playing right into my hand.

  “Yes. Pull together your best girls and meet me in the red lounge.”

  Her tongue darts out, licking her bottom lip. “The red lounge? It’s . . . been awhile.”

  “Prepare the cages and make sure the best of the best are inside.”

  “Yes, Satan,” she says, smiling wide.

  I hate what I’m about to do, but it’s necessary.

  I’ll only have to repeat that to myself a dozen more times to believe it.

  “Make sure someone brings Victoria down.”

  The smile fades quickly from Lilith’s face. “Yes, sir,” she grates, before trudging off.

  This night can’t end soon enough.

  ROLLING IN THE DEEP

  My back is against the wall, body trapped in by Luke’s strong arms at either side of my head. He leans in, and we’re only an inch or so apart.

  “Tell me no, Victoria. Say it now, because I won’t ask again.”

  I shake my head. “I want you.”

  His head lowers to my neck and he bites down. I cry out at the pleasurable pain as he laps at the wound, drinking from me. The tingling sensation works its way through my body until parts of me become numb.

  He’s taking too much.

  I squirm underneath his strong hold, as the burn from his bite intensifies.

  “Luke,” I call out.

  He pulls back, and it’s not the sea-green of Luke’s eyes I’m staring into, but a dark red.

  My Luke is gone, and in his place is a monster.

  He steps away, wiping away a drop of blood—my blood—that clings to his lips, before he walks away, leaving me dizzy and chilled to the bone.

  I crumple to the ground, curled into myself, self-loathing and bitter betrayal crippling me to the point of no return. One of God’s toughest warriors, I was brought to my knees in an instant. Love has always been my downfall. I trusted him not to hurt me.

  My broken body is lifted into the arms of a savior I can’t see through my own tears. I’m cradled into a warm, solid chest, and like a child, I coil further into it and continue to weep. All my self-preservation is gone.

  Luke finally broke me.

  “Vic. Look at me.”

  River.

  I need him to erase the memory of Lucifer’s treachery. This man, who literally picked me up off the floor, could possibly bring me back to life.

  “Can you make me forget him? Do you have that kind of power?”

  Lesser beings have been known to harness such capabilities. Maybe he can?

  “I can’t do that, Victoria. And you wouldn’t want me to.”

  I jerk awake, thrashing my arms to stop an attack that isn’t coming.

  It was just a dream.

  A very disarming, completely jarring, nightmare.

  I’m not even sure where to begin dissecting that monstrosity. From the flip between Luke and River to the totally bizarre vampire twist, that was . . . strange.

  Ugh!

  I throw my legs over the side of the bed and head to the attached bathroom. Turning on the cold water, I fill my palms with as much as they will hold and bring it to my face, needing the jolt.

  I grab the towel that was hanging on the wall and wipe my face. When I look into the mirror, I cry out at the woman behind me.

  “Jesus! What the hell are you doing in here?”

  A pale woman with icy blond hair stares at me in the mirror, her dead eyes void of color.

  “Your door was unlocked. I knocked, but when you didn’t answer, I came in,” she says in a monotone voice that chills me to my core. “You’ve slept an entire day away.”

  “What?” That news snaps me out of the fright brought on by the walking dead behind me.

  “This place is perpetually night, but yes . . . you’ve slept for more than twenty human hours.” She blinks, but otherwise remains still. “I was tasked with getting you dressed and escorting you downstairs.”

  “For what?”

  “I don’t know. Lilith requested it,” she says, and the mention of Lilith sours my mood further. “Hurry up. He isn’t to be kept waiting.”

  I want to fight her, but the need to get to Luke and apologize for everything is greater than my need to be disagreeable.

  “There are clothes in the wardrobe,” she says, turning her back on me.

  “What’s wrong? I thought you were all about equal opportunity down here. You don’t want to see my goods?” I taunt, because remaining silent in the presence of this ghostly figure is more disturbing.

  “I have plenty of opportunities waiting for me that don’t carry blades that’ll end my existence.”

  “Too bad. Luke would say you’re missing out.”

  I quickly dress in the first thing I find. A red velvet belly shirt and matching skirt.

  “Let’s go,” she says, walking into the hall at a snail’s pace, her back leg dragging behind as though broken.

  We don’t speak the entire ten-minute-ish walk. There’s not much to see, as the place is nothing but rock walls and dirt floors. The demon walks us down a dark hall, and if it weren’t for the sudden thumping under my feet, I’d refuse to go any farther with her.

  The passage ahead looks ominous.

  “Just this way. Master is waiting.”

  I really hope by master she means Luke.

  She takes a sharp right, and a giant arch opens to a vast room bedecked in red and black leather as far as the eye can see.

  “What’s going on?” I ask the demon, trying to keep the tremor out of my voice.

  Half-dressed demon women circle around Luke. Their hands run all over his arms and chest while buck-naked women dance in cages suspended from the ceiling.

  An erotic bass thrums through the room and despite myself, my body itches to move with the beat.

  This erotic atmosphere makes me feel like I’m in some sex club in the middle of New York City, not in the bowels of Hell. Then again, magic reigns supreme here. Second only to all things sin.

  All seven of them are fully present. Tables line one side of the room, full of every type of craveable food imaginable. Gluttony is written in bold black letters on the blood-red walls.

  Demons masked in glamours enjoy all the trappings Hell provides. Their monstrous skins are tucked away for the evening while they b
ask in what they envy most, human beauty. Jewels dangle from around their necks, while diamonds and rubies drip from the females’ ears and bodies. There’s not an unattractive person in sight.

  On another side of the open space are rooms that look more like cabanas. Heavy red and black suede curtains hang down, creating the appearance of privacy, but they’re not meant to be effective. No, here the unseemly act of voyeurism is encouraged. While couples fornicate, swapping their partners or joining in on one of the many orgies, a group of onlookers lean back in their comfy chairs, pleasuring themselves while they watch.

  Bile pushes its way up my throat.

  This is Hell.

  No demons are being tortured at this moment. Instead, they’re all granted a front-row seat to the debauchery, with Lucifer right in the middle, perched atop his golden throne.

  One woman sits between his legs, massaging his thighs, while another runs her hands through the same hair I did only hours ago.

  Can I handle this for an eternity?

  “What the hell is going on?” I nearly scream.

  The effects of it burn my throat.

  The music doesn’t stop, but it conveniently gets quieter, as if this entire scene was orchestrated for my benefit, and suddenly there’s no doubt in my mind, that’s exactly what it was. Orchestrated.

  I stomp my way toward Lucifer, and every demon gives me a wide berth. They’re smart. The first to get near me is going to lose their life.

  My hand is on the hilt of the knife that River gave me, and I won’t hesitate in using it.

  As I approach, Lucifer shoos the woman between his legs away. His eyes don’t widen. No excuses are given. He sits back like he doesn’t have a care in the world, watching me with hooded lids. He looks like he was just thoroughly fucked, and I have no doubt that’s exactly what he wants me to believe.

  Idiot.

  “Tori . . . I’m glad you could join us.”

  That name from his lips is all wrong. He doesn’t call me Tori. Yet another sign that he’s trying desperately to either piss me off or hurt me. I’m not going to let him accomplish either one.