He coughed out a laugh, surprised by my comment. “I’m flattered you’ve put that much thought into my death. Perhaps I should have you arrange the funeral.”
“I’d have you cremated for the sake of irony. You were reborn in fire so it’s only fitting that you’d be buried in it, so to speak.”
He blew a stream of smoke. “How poetic. Perhaps you should have been a writer instead of a waitress.”
“My life’s bad enough without being a starving artist, thanks.”
Silence settled between us. I listened to the wind blow through the trees and the distant barking of a dog across the street. I was so used to the urban surroundings of Albany that it felt weird not to hear tires screeching, horns blowing, and ambulance sirens screaming every few minutes. Out here, there was just a blanket of natural sounds—frogs, crickets, cicadas, and the occasional owl. Interesting.
“What’s it like?” I asked.
“What’s what like?”
“Being an archdemon. I mean, do you get direct face-time with Old Scratch?”
“Why do you want to know?”
I shrugged. “Just making conversation.”
“Since when have you ever wanted to converse with me on your free time?”
I gave him a dirty look. “I can’t sleep. I can’t go get a drink or I’ll backslide. I need a distraction, okay?”
He smirked. “If you need a distraction, I can think of a couple things we could do right now…”
“One more comment like that and I’m leaving.”
He shook his head, exhaling smoke out of his nostrils. It made him look like some sort of dragon in human form. “Killjoy.”
Belial sucked in another mouthful and then spoke in a less humorous tone. “It’s just a job, like anything else. Some of my orders are direct, but for the most part, I’m a free agent. Your angels have one mission and that is to serve and protect. Mine is the opposite. My only mission is to corrupt. As long as my activities fit within that creed, I may do as I wish.”
“So you’ve been on Earth since the beginning?”
He nodded. “For the most part. Hell is similar to Heaven in that it is independent from what you consider to be time. It’s impossible to describe, before you ask. You have a very limited understanding of these concepts, being human and all.”
“And what about the other archdemons?”
“They have preferences. Moloch, Beelzebub, and Mammon stay in Hell. They hate humanity and would rather work with other demons planning things. They’re not field men. Mulciber and I prefer things up top because there’s more to control. Besides, demons are strangely predictable whereas humans can surprise you sometimes.”
“Seriously?”
“Indeed. Granted, most people are predictable, but every so often, you get a couple of exceptions.”
“Like Zora?”
He seemed to examine me momentarily and I felt a sudden spike in his energy. He wasn’t angry that I’d mentioned her name, but he definitely felt something. “Why so interested in my former servant? Reconsidering my offer?”
I sighed. “Forget I said anything.”
I started to slide off the railing, but then he appeared in front of me, both hands on either side of my thighs, not touching me, yet close enough that my heart rate tripled. A blush curled across my cheeks when I realized that someone behind us would think he was doing something naughty because our bodies were almost aligned due to the height difference.
He removed the cigarette stub from his lips and tossed it aside, blowing one last lungful past my right cheek. I cleared my throat and adopted an indifferent look so he wouldn’t know he’d unnerved me.
“I think we need to establish some boundaries. You seem to have trouble understanding personal space.”
“Always with the jokes,” he said. “Sometimes I find it charming, but other times, it just pisses me off.”
I frowned. “What are you getting at, Belial?”
“How long shall we continue playing this game? Another year? Two? Three? A decade?”
“Look, I don’t know what you’re talking about—”
“Yes, you do,” he snapped, and I could hear the venom in his tone like a splash of boiling water against my skin. His energy flared around him, raising goosebumps on my bare arms. Part of me knew he wouldn’t hurt me just for getting on his nerves, but I wasn’t entirely sure where this conversation was heading.
“It’s no secret that you hate me,” he continued. “I’m perfectly fine with it. I’m not too fond of you, either. But what I can’t abide is being manipulated. That’s my forté, if you don’t mind.”
“How the hell am I manipulating you?”
He let out a dry chuckle. “You’ve been doing it from the beginning. It began when you came to The Morsel to ask for my help. If it had been just the angels, I would have told them to piss off. But I didn’t. You knew that. You also knew you’d be safe working with me because of my desire to have you for myself, and you went along with it, despite having no intention of becoming my servant.”
“Then what’s the problem? If you already know I don’t want to become your servant, why are you so mad at me?”
“Because you pull stuff like this. One minute, you hate me and try to kill me. The next, you laugh with me as if we’re friends or lovers. I think it’s only fair to ask what you truly want from me instead of pretending like there is nothing between us.”
“That’s because there isn’t anything between us. At least not on my end.”
“Is that so? Then why is your heart beating so fast?”
“Because I’m scared of you.”
“Scared of what? That I’ll kill you? You know I won’t, so that’s a lie. Tell me the truth, Jordan. I deserve that much after what I’ve had to put up with from you.”
“Deserve? You deserve to burn in hell for all eternity. How can you possibly think I’d want you after you stabbed me in the chest and murdered my ex-boyfriend in cold blood?”
“You’re right. You should want nothing to do with me after what I’ve done to you, and yet here we are. All alone in the dark at a motel, miles away from the husband you claim to love.”
His words made me so livid that I dug my fingers into the rusted metal railing to keep from slugging him. “I love Michael. I will always love Michael. There’s nothing you can say that will change my mind.”
“How could you not? He’s perfect, after all. Handsome, charming, funny, noble, and of course, good in bed. Let me guess. He’s the type that likes it missionary style, because he likes looking down at that sweet little face of yours.”
“Y’know what?” I said slowly. “Why don’t you go into your hotel room, open up the refrigerator, and look on the bottom shelf. There’s a bottle of old fuck you in there.”
I shoved him away and jumped down, stalking through the hallway to return to my room. It took a tremendous amount of will power not to slam the door because it would wake up Juliana. There were so many things welling up inside me that I practically threw myself in the shower. I turned it on full blast, stood underneath the scalding water, and told myself Belial was wrong. He was trying to play mind games. That was all he did. It was all him, not me.
The heat of the water on my skin unraveled a memory through my mind, one that caused the raw wound in my chest to ache. Our six-month anniversary.
“This is the girliest idea you’ve ever had…and yet somehow the best.”
Michael chuckled, and the sound tickled up my spine through the hot skin of his chest. I crossed my ankles and propped them on the rim of the tub, watching the water drip off my calves, dispersing the layer of bubbles below. I took a sip of champagne, appreciating the way the candlelight glinted off the glass. Michael shifted behind me as he reached for one of the strawberries in the bowl perched on one side of the tub. He held it out for me and I started to bite down, but he moved it at the last minute, laughing at the sound of my teeth clicking.
He took a bite of the fruit and the
n let me have the rest. “Yeah, it’s pretty girly, but I figured you could use some time to relax. No ghosts, no job, no friends, just us. Gotta stop and smell the roses every once in a while.”
“True. Though I would’ve been fine with ordering a pizza.”
He poked me in the side. “You don’t have a romantic bone in your body, do you?”
“Not yet, I don’t,” I said with no small amount of slyness.
He choked halfway through another sip of champagne, alternating between laughing and coughing. I felt immensely proud of myself for making him lose his composure.
“I’m writing that one down,” he said when he caught his breath. “Just so you know.”
“Glad I could amuse you. So what is gonna happen when we hit our five year anniversary? Keep this up and it’ll be hard to top them after a while.”
“Well, if you’re a good girl, one day I’ll take you flying with me.”
I glanced at him over my shoulder, shocked. “Seriously?”
He brushed a lock of hair away from my forehead. “Yeah. Granted, it’s ten times harder to do with all these satellites and that damn Google Earth, but I’m sure we could figure it out.”
“I…can’t even make a joke right now. That would be amazing, Michael,” I said, sliding my body so I could sit in his lap sideways. I touched the side of his face and he kissed my palm, losing some of the humor.
“Don’t sound so surprised. I’d do anything to make you happy, you know that.”
“Me too.” I leaned forward enough to kiss him.
He cradled my cheek, trailing his fingertips over the nape of my neck.
“Besides, I think you find my wings to be a bit of a turn-on.”
I giggled, smacking him in the arm. “They’re not. I just think they’re beautiful.”
He grinned. “Uh-huh. So if I take you in that bedroom right now and reveal them, that wouldn’t be a big deal, right?”
I lifted my eyebrows, adding a sultry purr to my voice. “Why wait?”
He wrapped his arms around my waist, pulling me closer, muttering, “Tease” before allowing me to sink into his embrace.
I leaned against the cold tiles, weakened by the memory. Would he even want me back after what I’d done? A year ago, my soul had been damned and somehow, I felt the same way now as I did back then. Not worth saving. But it was more than that. In some sick, twisted way, the demon was right. If I hated him so much, why was he such a large part of my life? Was my anger just a mask to hide behind?
I pressed my forehead to the wall, biting my bottom lip. No. I did hate Belial. I hated him for what he had taken from me and what he wanted to take from me still. I wanted him to suffer. I wanted to wipe that insufferable smirk off his face once and for all and prove that I was better than him. That he couldn’t control me. That he could never, ever own me.
All at once, I realized my heart was racing again. No, couldn’t be. Probably just heat exhaustion. How long had I been in this shower?
I climbed out, drying off and telling myself I didn’t have time for an existential crisis. God willing, I’d be able to do that after this mess was over. For now, I needed sleep.
I crawled into bed next to Juliana, and thankfully she didn’t wake up. I stared at the ceiling until the darkness spun around and blurred my vision. Sleep dragged me down into its clutches, only releasing me once sometime around three a.m. I rolled over onto my side and cuddled the thin pillow against my cheek. I could have sworn I felt someone’s long fingers smooth the hair away from my face, but when I opened my eyes there was no one there. I closed them again and slept on.
Chapter 29
Jordan
FOUR OBNOXIOUSLY LOUD knocks woke me. I groaned, rolling my head over to look at the clock. It was so early that even Juliana hadn’t gotten up yet. She burrowed underneath the comforter, becoming nothing more than a lump on the mattress, just as I got up to answer the door.
Belial stood on the other side with a cold expression that reflected my own. “Rise and shine, Seer. We should keep moving. Do you need any supplies? Our driver is currently at a supermarket.”
“Yeah, hold on.” I got a slip of paper off the nightstand and handed it to him. “Make sure he gets exactly what’s on this list or I’ll have to walk around looking like Don King.”
The first sign of amusement appeared in his voice as he let his gaze sweep over the haphazard state of my crowning glory. “For once, you’re not exaggerating. Though to be fair, I think you’d look good with curls.”
It might have been because I just woke up, but I swore that sounded like sincerity. I eyed him. “You’re messing with me, aren’t you?”
“I would never.” He then whipped out his phone, snapped a photo of me, and returned it to his pocket along with the paper all before I could even move.
Ignoring the death glare I’d aimed at him, he handed me a sack full of food from Burger King. “Eat quickly. We’ve got a lot of ground to cover.”
“How’s Avriel?”
“Better. He should be able to tell us more information on the road.”
“Have you heard back from your contact yet?”
“No, but I should be getting a call soon.”
“Alright. We’ll be ready in about fifteen minutes.”
As I shut the door, I noticed his gaze slip down to my bare legs. Even after a fight, he was still the same guy—a complete and total lech, and an unapologetic one at that. The wonders never ceased.
“Juliana, wake up,” I called, flipping on the bathroom light as I walked in. As predicted, my hair had formed a curly black cloud around my head. Belial would definitely enjoy that photo until the day I died. I brushed it back into a ponytail and checked my wounds. My limbs were still a bit stiff due to the bruising, but I could feel that my energy had returned so I could heal them on my own.
Juliana hadn’t replied so I walked towards the bed only to find her in the exact same spot—an L-shaped mound beneath the white comforter.
“C’mon, time to get up, hon.”
She whined at me, something along the lines of “I don’t wanna” in Portuguese. I considered this for a second and then dug my fingers in the middle of the lump, finding her stomach. She squirmed and giggled as I tickled her without mercy for about a minute. I couldn’t resist smiling when I peeled back the covers to reveal her cute face and frizzy hair. She went after me and we both fell back on the bed laughing like idiots.
Once we had calmed down, we split the breakfast her father had bought and got ready to go. I tried to make sure she had as much fun as she could before we left because I knew it wouldn’t be easy when she saw Avriel again.
I flipped on the television while Juliana was using the bathroom, gnawing my bottom lip as I channel-surfed. I’d gotten a rotten feeling in my gut. It occurred to me that with the FBI sniffing around Michael, Gabriel, and me, there was a good chance we’d be in the news. A couple minutes later, I found a report on the attack we’d organized on the armored truck.
“…police believe two people are responsible for the breakout. Their names have not been released at this time, but reportedly, the authorities are looking for a young black woman and dark-haired white male in his late twenties. Their last known whereabouts are in Athens-Clarke County, where a hotel staff member recovered what is believed to be suspect Edmond Saraf’s prison uniform.”
The broadcast switched from the reporter to a photo of Avriel—sullen as always in his orange jumpsuit. I swallowed hard, praying they wouldn’t show a picture of me next. If Lauren or Lewis caught wind of this, they’d panic. I didn’t need that right now. I was in deep enough.
“If you have any information regarding this man, please call the number below. Back to you, Jim.”
The bathroom door opened and I quickly shut off the T.V. as Juliana walked over. I covered the worried look on my face with a smile and asked her if she’d washed her hands. She turned right back around and I followed, helping her turn on the faucet. It was one thing to
know I was a wanted criminal now, but an entirely different thing to see the evidence firsthand. Somehow, the situation had been surreal up until this point. I wished I could get back to that big, numb place inside me where I kept plugging along by being in denial. Then again, nothing lasted forever.
I checked the hallway, pulled my baseball cap down low over my face, and exited the hotel room with Juliana in tow. Belial and Avriel weren’t outside. Maybe they were already in the RV. We went to the top of the staircase, but then stopped dead. Downstairs, two parking spots away from the RV, sat a cop car. The policeman was chatting with someone and drinking coffee, paying me no mind. Better keep it that way.
I tugged Juliana along with me, telling her to watch her step as we descended the short staircase, but keeping the cop in my peripheral vision. I told myself to calm down. They hadn’t released a sketch of me, but my pulse still pounded through my skull like drum beats.
We got to the door of the RV and much to my dismay it was still locked. The driver was nowhere to be found. Same for Belial and Avriel. Great.
I whipped out the temporary cell phone Belial had bought me and dialed his number, praying for him to hurry and pick up.
“May I help you?” he answered on the fifth ring, sounding annoyed.
“Get your sarcastic ass down here. We’ve got a problem.”
“Pray tell, what problem?”
“Excuse me, ma’am?”
I froze as I heard a male voice behind me. I turned slowly to find the cop standing there. My mouth went dry.
“Yes, sir?”
“Just wanted to take a second of your time to ask you if you’ve seen this man.” He held up a photo of Avriel.
I cleared my throat, holding up a finger to let him know I needed a second to finish talking on my phone. “James, do you have any of your Burger King food left? I have a sudden craving for bacon.”
“What the hell are you talking about?” Belial demanded.
“I dunno why, but I can’t get enough pig these days,” I said through clenched teeth.
There was a pause over the line. “How many?”
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