“Are you okay?” she asked quietly.
He nodded, but his expression remained grim.
She missed his permanent optimism. Where was the cheerful demon she’d first met? “Do you want to talk about it?”
“What would you like to talk about?” He frowned.
“You look unhappy. I thought maybe…” She nodded at Lucian, who appeared to be threatening Pooey, judging by how many rude hand gestures he was making at the little demon.
“No, it’s…” He shook his head. “It’s stupid.”
“I like you when you’re stupid.” She smiled.
His frown deepened.
“I didn’t mean it in a bad way.” She winced. Clearly talking about feelings wasn’t her gift. She decided to stick to what she was good at instead, saying things that most people found offensive. “I just wondered why you had a face that resembled a cat’s ass.”
“What?” Kieron widened his eyes in alarm.
“Kind of like this.” Dora scrunched up her mouth into a sullen pout.
Kieron burst out laughing, and his blue eyes lit up with that light she loved to see in them.
She impulsively hugged him, relieved to see him smiling once again. Ever since they’d been in Heaven, he’d looked so much sadder than normal. She could only assume that it was something to do with the revelation that Lucian was his father.
Kieron’s arms wrapped around her and tightened, drawing her close against his chest. His shirt smelled of clean washing, which was oddly comforting in such a strange place.
Heaven wasn’t anything like what she’d expected, but then Hell hadn’t been either.
“It’ll be okay,” she mumbled into his chest. “Fathers are never very normal.”
He tensed in her arms. Then he pulled back and frowned down at her. “What?”
“Well, Lucian, he’s what’s bothering you, right? Don’t worry about it. My father isn’t exactly a saint either.”
His frown deepened. “Lucian kind of is a saint, or he was. What are you talking about?”
“Er, about what’s making you unhappy.”
A confused expression appeared on his face. “What, you think Lucian is making me unhappy?”
“Well, that seems to be what’s happening, yes.” She nodded.
“He’s a dick, but so was my last father. That’s not why I’m upset.”
She frowned. “Is it being in Heaven?”
“Well, that does suck, but no. It’s you.”
The words hit her like a brick in the face. She released him and stepped back. It was a shock to her entire body that was causing her eyes to water and her throat to burn.
Did he just say that I’m the thing that’s making him miserable?
“What?” She had to force out the word. Through this completely ridiculous nightmare, Kieron had been the only constant, sane, wonderful thing in her life. Losing him now seemed like Heaven’s worst punishment.
“Well, you make me upset now, so I’m trying to make that go away.” Kieron frowned. “It’s difficult.”
Dora felt as if she was dying on the inside, but she refused to show it.
Now is not the time to cry like a little girl.
She scowled at him. “Okay, I know how to make it go away.” She turned on her heel and stormed down the path toward Lucian and Pooey. She heard him calling out behind her, but she ignored it.
I’m a fucking idiot. I fell in love with a demon. What did I expect?
A little voice in the back of her mind cried out that it expected more than this, but she fought to ignore it. She wanted to go home more than ever now. It felt as if her world was falling apart around her, but she ignored that too.
Go home. Forget about all of this and just go home.
As she caught up with Pooey and Lucian, she noticed the sparkling golden road ahead of them. It shone with gossamer lights illuminating off it. Pooey and Lucian didn’t seem to have noticed it because they were immersed in a fully-fledged, shit-talking battle as they stepped onto it.
“If I’m Toto, you’re fucking Dorothy!” Pooey snapped.
“No, I’m the Great and Powerful Oz, and you’re my bitch, so roll over and play dead!” Lucian cried.
Jesus, how long have they been having this argument for?
Dora watched them in awe as she followed them onto the Golden Road.
“We’re off to see the wiz—” Lucian began, but he was cut short when Pooey jumped up and slapped him across the face, leaving a red mark on his cheek.
Pooey grinned.
Lucian’s eyes darkened as he summoned a purple ball in his hands and stared down at the fluffy demon.
“No wait, what are you doing?” Dora cried as Lucian launched the ball of purple energy at Pooey, who tried to dodge it. But he was too slow, and the energy hit him squarely in the chest. He was knocked back, and he landed on the golden cobbles.
Dora was about to rush over to Pooey when she saw him sit up and smirk at Lucian.
“That was just fucking lame. It didn’t even tickle,” the little demon said.
With a knowing grin, Lucian folded his arms as a rubber band materialized in front of Pooey.
“What the fu—” Pooey was cut short as the band pulled back and twanged forward to slap him in the face. “Oh very funny.” He scowled.
“It will be.” Lucian’s grin widened as the band pulled back and twanged Pooey in the face again, and again, slapping him faster and faster each time.
“Oh you mother fuc—ow!” Pooey covered his face with his paws. “What the fuck? This shit is over-vengeful.”
“Will you fucking stop it?” Dora narrowed her eyes at Lucian.
“Why should I?” Lucian shrugged.
“Because it’s ridiculous.” She ran over to try to stop the elastic band, only to get a nasty whap across her wrist for it.
Pooey narrowed his eyes before he vanished, leaving the band twanging fresh air.
Dora widened her eyes. “What happened to him?”
Lucian widened his eyes too. “I don’t fucking know.” He turned around, scanning the road.
Dora watched a large branch rise up behind him before it whacked him on the ass with a loud thwack.
“Oh you invisible, little shit,” Lucian muttered while rubbing his backside as he spun around.
Dora heard the patter of tiny footsteps across the cobbles as Pooey stalked Lucian in ninja mode.
She sighed. Then her heart froze in her chest as she heard Kieron’s voice behind her.
“What’s going on?” He sounded so normal, and that was the worst part of it, the lack of emotion in every word.
She turned away from the group as tears filled her eyes.
No, like fuck you’re going to cry now, during this ridiculous fucking nightmare.
“I can’t handle this shit right now,” she muttered before she hurried down the road alone, leaving Pooey, Lucian and most importantly Kieron behind her.
“Oh, come on. It’s only mucking around,” Pooey called after her.
She couldn’t explain to him what was happening inside her, so she just kept walking. Distance would make it better. She just needed to cry a little bit without anyone knowing. Then she’d be okay.
She stumbled as her eyes filled up with tears. The ground seemed to sway beneath her, and she stumbled forward, falling onto her knees.
She tried to stand up before she realized that it wasn’t the tears making the road blurry. The road ahead was shimmering because it was moving!
Glancing back, her heart thudded against her chest. Kieron, Pooey and Lucian had jumped back off the road as it rose up and down in waves like an ocean.
“What’s happening?” she cried.
Lucian frowned at the rippling path. He must have said something because she heard Kieron shout: “It can’t be what?” at him.
Lucian looked up with a panicked expression on his face. “I think it’s reacting to the fighting! We must have activated the alarm system.” He shouted out
to Dora. “Hold on to something!”
The road began to crumble away beneath Dora as the cobbles bounced up and down, knocking her around like a rag doll. “What the fuck does that mean?”
“It means that—” Lucian’s voice was drowned out as the road fell away between them with a loud crash, leaving a gaping black hole that appeared to have no bottom.
Dora clung to the shiny cobbles, but they were slippery and falling away like dominos. It wasn’t long before she was hanging helplessly over a dark void, her hand gradually slipping off the few stones that remained.
“Angel Siberia, that’s where it drops you,” Lucian cried. “Get your fucking wings out and fly, now!”
Dora glanced back at him. She tried to summon her wings, she really did. But the second that she saw Kieron, her heart dropped and an overwhelming pain of loss filled her, which made her too useless to summon anything.
She closed her eyes as her hand slipped from the cobble, and she began to fall. She dropped like a stone, only seeing flashes of things as she fell past them. The look of horror in Kieron’s eyes was the last thing she saw on solid ground.
Twenty
Emotional Abyss
The fall seemed to go on forever as Dora dropped toward an endless pit of darkness. She hugged herself, trying to summon her wings, but nothing happened. Closing her eyes, she hoped that it would be painless. Whatever shit happened next, she didn’t want it to hurt.
She yelped when someone’s arms wrapped around her, hauling her against them as she jerked in the air and began to rise. She didn’t dare look back as she heard the beat of wings.
It’ll be Lucian saving me, just like it was Lucian who saved me from the fire. That’s why Kieron didn’t save me. I’m so stupid. I should have noticed it then. He doesn’t want to save me anymore.
Swallowing the painful knot in her throat, she turned to thank Lucian. He wasn’t so bad after all.
Her eyes widened when they met Kieron’s blue ones. He looked angry as he flew up, his wings beating hard to pull them out of the abyss. Golden rocks were falling around them as the road continued to crumble away above them, causing him to jerk sideways to dodge being hit.
“What were you doing going off on your own?” he snapped at her.
Dora felt the pain fade away as anger inflamed in her chest. “What the fuck do you think I was doing?” She scowled at him.
“I don’t know, but you’re not doing it again.” His arms tightened around her, almost painfully crushing her against him.
“You can’t tell me what to do!” she cried. Enough was enough. If he was going to break her heart, like hell she was going to be taking orders from him.
“Yes, I can. I can tell you what to do when you’re so stupid that you keep on dying!” he shouted.
“Why do you even care,” she muttered.
He clenched his jaw, his eyes on fire. “Because you left me before, and I’m not going to let you do it again.”
Dora looked up at him and frowned. “Huh?”
“I’m not losing you again.” He leaned down and kissed her before she could say another word, his lips angrily crushing against hers in a kiss that sent shooting sensations through her entire body. She helplessly clung to him as his strong arms crushed her against him. It wasn’t just a kiss. It scorched her soul. It was absolute possession.
She panted for air when he pulled away, staring down at her with that same fire in his eyes.
“I-I don’t understand.” She tried to get her head around the events of the day, but none of his actions made sense to her.
“I promised myself that I’d never let you go again. After you died… I’m never feeling that way again. You’re going to be more careful.” He squeezed her tightly as if to make his point. “You’re not dying again, Dora-minx. I won’t allow it.”
“Ohh.” She widened her eyes. That was what he’d meant by she was upsetting him. She hadn’t realized, but he must have watched her die on Earth. It wasn’t lack of love. It was too much of it.
She threw her arms around his neck and kissed him again, her heart jumping with joy. He was still her demon boyfriend. He did care if she lived or died.
He let out a low growl as they spiraled in the air, entwined in a heated embrace. “Never letting you go again.” His low voice sent shivers of excitement down her spine.
She clung to him, her heart pounding.
I’m never letting you go either.
“Kinda wanting to barf up here.” Lucian’s voice called down to them.
“I second that motion.” Pooey’s voice followed a few seconds later.
Kieron kissed her one last time. Then he reluctantly pulled back, resting his head against her forehead with his eyes closed.
She ached for him to kiss her again, but she sighed too before peering up at Pooey and Lucian, who stood in a similar stance side-by-side with their arms folded. Apparently, Kieron and her kissing was the one thing that could unite them in a kind of mutual disgust, judging by their expressions.
“Okay, enough of the gawping. We’re—” Dora didn’t finish as something yanked on her ankles, almost ripping her out of Kieron’s arms.
She gasped and stared up at him with wide eyes.
He tightened his grip on her, pulling her back against him. The muscles bulged up in his arms before he yelped. “It’s got me too!”
Then they were ripped downwards at high speed.
Dora looked down in horror to see nothing but smoke wrapping around her legs, but something was pulling her and Kieron down.
He was flapping his powerful wings, but the force dragging them into the abyss was far stronger than him.
She tried to free her legs, but the iron grip around her ankles was immovable. “What is it?”
“I don’t know!” he cried as he tried again with no luck to free them both.
“Use your fucking wings.” Lucian bellowed from above.
Dora gritted her teeth and tried to summon her wings.
No you murky fucking smoke monster, you won’t take Kieron away from me!
Her anger swelled in her belly, which she expelled with a cry as her wings shot out of her back. Forcing herself to concentrate, she beat them against the fast moving air, slowing their descent as Kieron joined her beating his wings in time.
They locked eyes, both concentrating on each other as they fought against the smoke that was dragging them down.
Dora breathed a sigh when Lucian appeared, flying beside them and gripping both their hands before he yanked them up out of the pit, tearing them from the smoke’s grasp.
Instantly freed, Dora widened her eyes when she realized how much more powerful Lucian was. The speed at which he flew and how he easily broke away from the grip of the force inside the abyss were both revelations to her.
They cleared the chasm where the road had once been before he dropped them onto the grass beside Pooey.
She rolled over and stared at him with narrowed eyes. “You’re so strong?”
Kieron scowled at her.
She shook her head and patted his hand. “I didn’t mean it like that. I mean...” She turned back to Lucian. “How come you’re so much stronger than we are?”
Lucian looked away for a moment. “What? I dunno.” He shrugged.
“Yeah, you do.” She scowled at him. There was something off about him. There had always been something off about him, and it was becoming more evident here in Heaven.
He waved away the question. “I’m older. Power grows with age, and all that shit.”
“Bullshit,” Pooey said. “I’m older than you are.”
“No, you’re not,” Lucian muttered as he started walking away.
Twenty-One
God's Garden
“So how old are you?” Pooey asked, bristling with indignation as he smoothed the fur on top of his little demon head.
“That’s a very rude question,” Lucian said.
“I want to know the answer to that too,” Dora said. “A
nd I want to know where the hell we’re going.”
“Since you broke the Golden Road, we need to go through the Emerald Garden. It’s going to fucking suck. Thanks for that.” Lucian called over his shoulder as he led them toward a dark jungle of trees.
“I didn’t break the road. You said it was an alarm.” Dora scowled at his back.
“The alarm only goes off if there are volatile emotions on it. You looked pretty volatile.” She saw Lucian’s shoulder shrug.
“What about you and Pooey. You were pretty volatile on that road. You were the one who set off the alarm!”
Lucian was silent for a moment. Then he nodded. “Yeah, it could have been that. Okay, so when we get to the Emerald Gar—”
“Hold on there, your wobbliness, how old are you?” Pooey interrupted before Lucian could change the subject again.
“That’s none of your business.” Lucian began walking faster toward the jungle ahead.
“I’d like to know how old you are too,” Kieron said.
“Fucking hell!” Lucian stopped and spun around. “Fine! I’m older than time. There you go. Now give it a rest. We don’t have time for this crap right now.”
“What the hell does that mean?” Dora put her hands on her hips and scowled at him.
“Do you want a literal translation of every word, or—” Lucian didn’t finish as a blast of holy fire exploded into a shrub beside him, igniting it into a burning bush. After he jumped sideways, he rolled over and stared at it for a moment in silent contemplation before jumping to his feet and turning to the group. “Run!”
Dora stared up at the sky, shivering when she saw the Angel Guard above. There were only three of them so far, but more were cresting the horizon, hundreds of them were flying in their direction in the distance.
“Fine, but if that bush starts speaking to me, I’m going to—” Pooey didn’t finish as a blast of holy fire exploded into the ground beside them. He jumped sideways before looking up at the angel who’d shot at him. “Your aim is shit!” he cried before running into the thick copse of trees ahead.
Dora and Kieron quickly followed, stampeding through the thick jungle to escape the Angel Guard.
She glanced back to see Lucian shoot golden fireballs at the angels before he turned and followed them into the jungle.
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