Requiem for Darkness - A Paranormal Romance Featuring Fallen Angels, Demons, and Witches

by Shuler, Tara

  Aztos looked confused. His brow wrinkled, and his eyes shifted back and forth as though he were searching for something inside his own mind.

  “And yet you love her?” Aztos asked.

  “My love for her is unconditional,” Malachai admitted. “Whether or not she loves me. Whether or not she loves a demon. None of that matters to me. I love her, and I will never stop loving her, even if she never returns that love.”

  “Then I have no choice but to kill you where you stand,” Aztos growled, unsheathing the Dagger of Xamien, which glinted menacingly in the sunlight.

  “Aztos, no!” Beth shouted, her voice pleading.

  Panicked, Beth stepped between Malachai and Aztos. Her eyes were full of fear, and she tried to shield Malachai with her own body.

  “Move aside, Elizabeth!” Aztos growled, stepping forward with the dagger wielded and ready to strike.

  “No! I will not let you do this!” Beth shouted.

  “You would give your own life for him?” Aztos snarled, his voice full of scorn and pain.

  “I would give my life to prevent you from turning into the man I know you don’t want to be,” she said gently. “Aztos, this isn’t you. I know you think it is. I know you think you’re nothing but evil, but you’re not. Just give me a chance, and I’ll prove it to you!”

  “Beth, please step out of the way,” Malachai implored, and he tried to pull her behind him.

  “Stop!” she snapped, jerking away from him and turning back to Aztos. “Please, Aztos. Prove you’re the man I know you are. Don’t do this!”

  Something glimmered inside Aztos. It was just a tiny flicker, like a spark attempting to ignite a larger fire, but it was quickly extinguished by the wave of anguish he felt over his wife protecting the fallen angel who loved her.

  “I said move aside,” Aztos warned. “I will not give you another warning.”

  “Please, Beth, just let him do this,” Malachai begged. “I don’t wish to see you hurt because of me, and perhaps this is the best thing that could happen to me, anyway.”

  “Stop it, Malachai! Don’t say that!”

  “It is true. I have fallen from the Lord’s good graces, I have destroyed your life, and I am in love with the wife of a demon – a woman who does not love me and likely never will. What is the point of living?”

  “He is right, you know,” Aztos added. “He is better off dead.”

  The vitriol in the voice of Aztos was thick and bitter. Had Beth not interfered, he’d have already plunged the dagger into Malachai’s heart, and it would all be over.

  “Aztos… please… I love you,” Beth whispered weakly.

  Aztos felt a surge inside him. It was foreign, and it scared him. He was overcome, and he was powerless to explain it. His hands began to tremble, and he allowed the dagger to drop to the ground. In an instant, he was gone.

  Beth breathed a sigh of relief, and she reached down to lift the dagger. She intended to hide it as soon as she had the chance.

  “Give it to me,” Malachai pleaded.

  “What? Why?”

  “Please, just give me the dagger.”

  “I’m going to hide it where Aztos can never find it. Don’t worry, you’ll be safe.”

  “I don’t wish to be safe. I wish to use it to end my life.”

  “Malachai!” Beth gasped. “Why?”

  “I cannot bear this, Beth. I love you, and I can’t stand seeing you with that… demon. He doesn’t love you, and you deserve better. But since you love him, and you don’t love me… and never will, I just want this to be over. You should have just let him do it!”

  Beth stepped forward to touch Malachai’s arm, but he recoiled.

  “Don’t!” he begged. “Your touch is poison to me. It seeps inside me and won’t let go. Feeling your touch without your love is like the venom of a serpent. It burns, and it paralyzes my soul. It destroys me slowly, from the inside out.”

  Beth’s heart ached. She cared deeply for Malachai, but it was Aztos she truly loved. If there was a chance, however slight, that Aztos might return her feelings, she could never be with Malachai.

  “I’m so sorry, Malachai,” Beth whispered. “I would do anything to take your pain away. But I need you. You’re my only friend. Please don’t leave me.”

  Malachai sighed dejectedly.

  “You’re right, you do need me,” he relented. “You need me to protect you from that demon scum you married. So whatever pain I must endure, I will continue to do so. I can’t leave you alone to bear this by yourself.”

  Beth sighed with relief.

  “I need to go find him,” Beth said apologetically.

  “Fine, go,” Malachai said, but his voice said otherwise.

  “I’m sorry,” he told him, but it fell on deaf ears, as he’d already vanished.

  Beth took a quick detour to hide the dagger underneath the back porch, burying it under a mound of soil and covering it with a heavy stone. Satisfied, she quickly went to find Aztos.

  Beth burst through the front door shouting, “Aztos! Aztos, are you here?”

  She flitted from room to room, searching everywhere for him, shouting his name in vain. Finally, she headed down to the basement. The lights were off, and it was nearly pitch black, but she could barely see a dark shadow in the corner, highlighted by the faint light cast from the door upstairs.

  “Aztos?” she asked, walking slowly toward him.

  There was no response, but as she approached him, she could see him kneeling on the floor, facing the corner. She fell to her knees behind him and placed her hands tenderly on his shoulders.

  “Please talk to me,” she whispered.

  “Why don’t you go to your angel?” he growled.

  “I don’t love him, Aztos,” Beth pleaded. “I love you.”

  “You do not know what you are saying,” he demanded. “You are blind. I am a monster!”

  “No! You’re not a monster! Please listen to me, Aztos,” she begged. “I know you. I see inside your soul every time we’re together. I know who you are, and you are not a monster! You are the man I fell in love with!”

  Aztos clenched his teeth so tightly together his gums began to ache, and his jaw felt like it might break. His eyes began to sting – something he’d never felt before. He didn’t understand what he was feeling.

  “The things I have done…” he said, his voice more grunting than speaking. “The things I have done make me a monster!”

  “But you would never do those things if you weren’t forced to,” Beth argued. “You don’t choose to do them!”

  “Yes!” he shouted! “I choose to do them! I choose to save my own soul at the cost of countless others!”

  “Who could fault you for that, Aztos? No one would blame you for not wanting to be thrown into The Pit for all eternity. You wouldn’t…”

  “I blame me,” he growled.

  Beth gulped, and she felt a dull ache in the pit of her stomach.

  “Then let’s find a way out,” Beth suggested gently. “Together.”

  “There is no way out.”

  “There must be. Let me help you find it.”

  “Lucifer does not just let demons go, Elizabeth,” he scoffed. “I cannot just leave! He created me. I belong to him.”

  “Then we need to find something to exchange for you.”

  “Lucifer would not just make an exchange.”

  “Yes, he would,” came a voice from behind them.

  The both turned quickly to see Malachai standing on the basement stairs, barely illuminated by the light coming through the basement door.

  “What are you doing back in my home, angel?” Aztos shouted, flying into the air and landing at the base of the stairs.

  “I came to see if I could be of assistance to Beth,” Malachai said gently. “I mean you no harm.”

  “Get out of my house, now!” Aztos yelled, his fists clenching tightly at his sides.

  “I will, if you will first hear my offer,” Malachai urged.


  “You have nothing to offer me,” Aztos snarled.

  “Then I make the offer to Beth,” Malachai said. “But hear it, first. Then, if you still wish it, I will go.”

  “Fine,” Aztos growled through clenched teeth. “What do you want?”

  “I believe I know something that will convince Lucifer to release you from your servitude,” Malachai said. “You could offer him an exchange.”

  “What sort of exchange?” Aztos asked skeptically.

  “Offer him the soul of an angel,” Malachai answered.

  “What?” Beth gasped. “You don’t mean…”

  “I mean my soul, yes,” Malachai acknowledged.

  “No! Absolutely not!” Beth shouted.

  Aztos’ eyes narrowed, and he winced painfully.

  “I believe Lucifer might agree to such an exchange,” Malachai said directly to Aztos.

  “Why would you offer such a thing?” Aztos demanded. “You know what will happen if Lucifer manages to get his hands on you.”

  “I am fully aware, but I am prepared to make the sacrifice if it will make Beth happy.”

  “Malachai, stop it,” Beth said flatly. “I won’t allow this. We won’t allow this. Right, Aztos?”

  Aztos was silent, clearly contemplating Malachai’s offer.

  “Aztos!” Beth shouted, now standing beside him and tugging at his arm. “Tell him we won’t allow it!”

  “One soul,” Aztos commented. “One soul and I will never have to… I can be…”

  Aztos turned to Beth with a tortured expression. His eyebrows were pushed together, wrinkling his forehead, and his lower lip quivered so slightly it was nearly imperceptible.

  “One soul,” he repeated.

  “Not his,” Beth refused.

  Aztos opened his mouth to speak, his eyes pleading. He said nothing, but instead waited.

  “Aztos, not his!” Beth said once again. “Offer him mine.”

  Aztos’ eyes shifted from their normal amber into a hazy burnt orange, and he glared at her stormily.

  “You would offer your soul in place of his?” Aztos screamed. “What good would that do? It would be no benefit to me to have my soul if you…”

  He could not complete the sentence.

  “If I what?” Beth demanded.

  “I cannot live an eternity without you!” Aztos finally admitted. “I will not! I would rather face The Pit!”

  Beth’s eyes glazed over, and she stumbled backward. She could hardly breathe.

  “Aztos, what are you saying?” she pleaded.

  “I am saying… that I love you…” he said, blinking rapidly to quell the flood of tears that threatened to flow.

  Beth blinked, her eyes hazy and stinging. She was motionless.

  “Elizabeth?” Aztos asked.

  Suddenly, she snapped back into consciousness, and she flew into his arms. He wrapped her in a strong embrace, and she looked up into his shifting eyes.

  “It is true?” Beth whispered.

  “Yes, it is true,” Aztos admitted. “I never thought it would be possible. I thought demons could not feel real love. But I know this is love. I know I would die for you. I would die without you.”

  “Make the exchange,” Malachai pleaded. “I deserve it for what I have done, and Beth deserves to be happy.”

  “Malachai, you do not deserve that,” Beth snapped. “And I will not allow this!”

  “This is my choice,” Malachai said. “I make it willingly. You don’t have a say in the matter.”

  “Aztos, don’t you dare consider this,” Beth warned. “You can’t do this to me.”

  “It could mean being free to be with you,” Aztos pleaded. “We could be together without… I would never have to…”

  “There must be another way,” Beth said. “Surely, there must be.”

  “There is no other way,” Malachai said somberly.

  “You’re wrong, Malachai,” Beth insisted, putting her hands on Aztos’ shoulders and starting deep into his eyes. “There is a way, and I’ll find it. Aztos, I promise you we will find a way. But this is not the way.”

  “She is right,” Aztos admitted. “This is not the way. As much as I would love to get rid of you, I cannot do it like this. I’ve heard your offer, now get out of my house before I change my mind.”

  “As you wish,” Malachai said, bowing politely, and then disappearing.

  “I love you more than ever,” Beth whispered, laying her head against Aztos’ chest and sighing contentedly.

  “I am sorry I have been unable to love you the way you deserve, Elizabeth. I have only just realized how strongly I feel for you.”

  “I always hoped one day you would come to love me,” Beth whispered. “It was worth waiting for.”

  Aztos stroked her hair gently, and squeezed her body close to his. He couldn’t believe he’d never seen it before. She was everything.

  Chapter Thirteen

  “Mom, we need to talk,” Beth spoke into the phone.

  “Sure, honey,” Sharon agreed. “What do you need?”

  “I need your help,” Beth told her. “Can you come over?”

  “Is your husband coming to get me, again?” Sharon groaned.

  “No, Mom,” Beth said. “He’s not home right now. I need to talk to you privately. Well… as privately as it can be around here.”

  “Okay, sure. Can you text me directions to your house?”

  “I’ll have to Google it. We don’t really get out, much, so I don’t think I could give you directions. Let me map it and I’ll text you the directions.”

  “Okay, honey. I’ll be there as soon as I can.”

  Beth hung up the phone and switched on her laptop. She went to Google Maps and entered their address. She took the directions and texted them to her mother. A moment later, she received a text back.

  On my way. – Mom.

  Beth sat down on the sofa and flicked on the television. She chewed her thumbnail anxiously as she clicked through channels with the remote. She knew it would be at least fifteen minutes before her mother showed up, and she was hoping to have time to talk to her before Aztos or Malachai showed up. She continued to click the remote absently, not even paying attention to what was on. She finally turned the television off and tossed the remote onto the coffee table.

  Beth snatched her laptop off the coffee table and yanked it open. Using Google, she started to research demons and fallen angels. Most of the information was useless – standard fairy tale lore and things she knew weren’t true. She found a little information that seemed plausible, but nothing really useful. She was growing more and more frustrated and anxious, and when her mother finally knocked on the door, she nearly jumped out of her skin.

  “Mom! Thank goodness,” Beth sighed, inviting her mother inside.

  The two of them sat on the sofa, and Beth offered her mother a drink. Sharon declined, preferring to get straight to the matter at hand.

  “So what is so urgent that you needed me right away?” Sharon asked. “Is that husband of yours treating you badly?”

  “No, Mom. Aztos and I are… well… we’re making progress, believe it or not,” Beth admitted. “But I need help, and I’m not sure who to turn to, or who would even know this stuff. How much do you know about demons?”

  “I know some, why?”

  “Well, I was wondering if there was a way to… to get a demon out of servitude to Lucifer.”

  “Oh. You want to get your husband out of the whole demon lifestyle.”

  Sharon made air quotes with her fingers as she said “demon lifestyle.” Beth made a face.

  “Be serious, Mom. Is there a way?”

  “You’re playing with fire if you try to screw around with Lucifer. I know that better than anyone. Look what happened when I tried to do it. My only child is married to a demon.”

  “It’s not so bad, Mom. I actually… well, I love him.”

  “Are you serious? You love him? Are you sure?”

  “I�
�m sure. I love him. And I really want to be with him, but the things he’s being made to do are tearing him apart. He doesn’t want this.”

  “So, you think he loves you, too, now?”

  “I think so. He said he does, at least.”

  “I see. And you think it’s true.”

  “I feel it. I believe it.”

  “What about that guy I patched up the other day? Is he doing okay?”

  “He’s fine.”

  “He loves you, too, you know.”

  “What? How could you possibly know that?”

  “I could sense it. My powers seem to be blocked from demons. I guess Azmond did that when he boosted them. But they worked on him. Is he human?”

  “Not exactly.”

  “What does that mean? Is he human, nor not?”

  “He’s an angel. A fallen angel.”

  “Well, that shouldn’t surprise me. You seem to be a magnet for these supernatural beings.”

  “If I am, it’s your fault,” Beth quipped.

  “Touché. That’s why I’m helping you with this. You know that, right? I certainly don’t give a hoot about some demon.”

  “I know, Mom. And I appreciate it. I also know what could happen if you get caught helping me with this.”

  “I owe it to you. That, and a lot more. Beth, please believe me when I say that I am so sorry for what I’ve done. If I could take it back, I would.”

  “I wouldn’t want you to.”

  “What? How can you say that?”

  “Because I love him.”

  Sharon sighed, and then she asked, “Are you really sure?”

  “I’m sure, Mom. I love him. And I want to help him. The things they ask him to do are killing him. I can’t stand to see it.”

  “Alright. I might know something. But I’m afraid that if I tell you, they’ll find out, and…”

  “Wait, Mom,” Beth interrupted. “I won’t tell them you gave me the information. I promise.”

  “That’s not what I’m worried about. I don’t want anything to happen to you. I’ve made enough mistakes, and I’ve screwed your life up enough as it is. I don’t want to make it worse.”

  “Mom, please. I’m not afraid for myself. I just want to get Aztos out of this. I can’t stand to see what it’s doing to him. Trust me. I will do anything it takes, absolutely anything, to take this pain away from him.”