Angel of Distrust

by Tabitha Barret

  Derick was annoyed by how pushy Calin could be. He rounded the walkway and saw Bohden, the castle guard, a few feet away. He nearly tripped over his feet when he saw the mental image of Liam hunting something. Through Liam’s wolf eyes, he saw the outline of something tall. It wasn’t until Derick saw there were three targets instead of two that he realized something was wrong. He turned and ran toward the Hall of Shadows. His gut was telling him that the fight in the cave was a distraction. The real fight was going on inside the Hall of Shadows.

  Derick skidded to a stop when he made it to the Hall of Shadows and didn’t see any of the guards standing in the long tunnel leading to the hall. Slowly, he walked through the fire-lit tunnel and entered into the main cavern. His stomach sank when he saw all of the guards laying on the ground near Reese’s podium along the wall a few feet from the entrance. They were bleeding and twitching, but he couldn’t tell if all of them were still alive. Derick immediately noticed that none of the Fallen had a weapon in their hands or anywhere near them. He found their weapons in a pile about twenty feet away from them.

  He carefully slid around the corner of the tunnel and put his back against the cave wall. The massive hall was divided into sections and the prisoners were lined up in rows. Each section held multiple rows of prisoners chained to the floor or dangling from chains attached to the ceiling of the cave. There were too many sections for his eyes to count since the hall was almost as large as the main section of Hell. There were “safeways” between the sections for the Fallen to walk along that were wide enough to provide some protection from the bound prisoners. Of course, there was always the potential for the occasional accident when the prisoners managed to shift their bodies closer to the safeways. Torches lit with Hell Fire illuminated the safeways so that the fire couldn’t be used by the prisoners to harm anyone.

  Searching for Reese, the Overseer of Shadows, he found him standing next to a beautiful blonde and two people draped in strange black cloth. He assumed that they were the warrior brothers Takeru and Masao. He expected to find Reese fighting for his life or at least bleeding; instead Reese was smiling at the blonde with a contented look on his face. He vaguely remembered that this Luna chick was some kind of temptress. The brothers and Reese were the only people with bloody swords in their hands, so it stood to reason that Luna had used her power to control Reese and forced him to assist the brothers in attacking the Fallen.

  He watched Luna rub her hand over Reese’s cheek and smile sweetly at him. Though she was dressed in blue rags, Derick could tell that the rags were once part of a beautiful satin dress. She was tall and slim with a decent chest. She was pretty enough to drive most men wild, but he didn’t like blondes. Her purple eyes had a faint glow to them as they bored into Reese’s eyes. She was definitely working some kind of mojo on him. He wasn’t sure how to save Reese, but he had to do something. The brothers were cleaning their swords on their robes and placing them back in the sheaths on their hips. It looked like they were preparing to leave.

  “That’s a good angel. You did everything that I asked. I want you to stand here and wait for Crevan to arrive. When you see him, you are to kill him immediately. Even if you are gravely injured, you will fight him until your breath ceases to fill your chest. Do you understand?” she purred as she continued to stroke Reese’s cheek.

  “Yes, my dearest Luna. I will do as you ask,” Reese said automatically.

  Derick was pissed. Luna was forcing Reese to kill Crevan by sending him on a suicide mission. He wasn’t exactly friends with either angel, but they deserved better than to die because this wackjob wanted revenge.

  Reese stood up straight and rolled his shoulders. With his sword at his side, he was ready for battle.

  The two brothers held out their hands to Luna and waited for her to join them. They looped their arms through hers as they walked side by side toward the exit. They were still far enough away that they hadn’t spotted him yet. He had two choices. He could tell Calin and Liam to send Lucifer and Hades to deal with Luna, but he knew from Anjali that Hades and the Council had once fallen under the spell of a Rusalka and nearly died because of the siren. If the temptress was as powerful as the Rusalka, she might be able to control any male who got too close to her. His other option was to find a female Fallen to subdue Luna, but he was afraid that the brothers would overpower anyone who came to help. With Calin injured and Liam focused on fighting the other assassins, he couldn’t risk pulling them into this fight.

  Deciding on the moronic option three, he took a deep breath and pushed himself off the wall.

  “What’s it like being in love with the same girl? Do you have to take turns fucking her, or does one of you get to watch while the other bangs her?” Derick yelled to the brothers. He remembered what Hades said about the egos of the brothers keeping them from working together over the decades. He hoped that if he pissed them off enough, they might turn on each other, before they tried to kill him.

  Though he couldn’t see the faces of the brothers under the black ceramic masks attached to the fabric wrapped around their heads, he could see their weird brown eyes staring back at him. He wasn’t sure if he had pissed them off, but they were now keenly aware of him.

  “You foolish child, you do not know what you are talking about. My men love me, and would lay down their lives for me. Come to me and I will show you the truth,” Luna said releasing the arm of the brother to her left and holding it out to Derick. Her voice was melodic and caused his skin to tingle. She was definitely trying to use her power on him, but it was not strong enough to diminish the love he felt for his soul mate Anjali. He wanted to laugh at her, but he used her arrogance to his advantage.

  The brother that she released turned to look at her quizzically as he tilted his head. Derick raised his eyebrows and smiled. Jealously was definitely a factor in this love triangle.

  “If you show me the truth, do they get to watch as I fuck you?” Derick asked, his voice smooth as silk as he pretended to enjoy the idea. His eyes moved to the other brother to gauge his reaction. Even through the billowy uniform, he could see the man tense up. He didn’t like the idea of sharing.

  Luna raised her eyebrow at his forwardness, though Derick wasn’t sure if she liked the idea or was shocked that he had suggested it. Either way, she rearranged her expression and took a step closer, still extending her hand. “Come to me and you can do what you want with me,” she purred. Her long blonde hair began to move slightly as if it was caught in a breeze. It wasn’t wild like Anjali’s hair when she was mad, but more like it was alive.

  “I like the sound of that. Are you sure that your pets won’t mind?” He looked dismissively at the brothers.

  She removed her hand from the brother to her right and held out both hands to Derick. “They will do as I say. They will not care,” she said as her voice dropped an octave and took on a sultry tone.

  Luna was either oblivious to the emotions of the brothers, or she didn’t care. Regardless of what she said, Derick could see the brothers look at each other as they placed their hands on their swords. He had a feeling that they would be furious that they had broken into Hell to free her only to be replaced before they escaped.

  Derick rubbed his hands together and smiled seductively. “You know, I have a thing about fucking out in the open where anyone can see me. Having an audience like this is making me incredibly hard. Come here and I’ll show you,” he said seductively. The entire time he refused to look at Luna and instead focused on the brothers. Even an idiot could tell that he was trying to cockblock them.

  The brother on the left finally snapped and charged at him. With his sword in the air, he let out a battle cry. Derick saw him coming and jumped out of the way with only a second to spare. He looked back at the warrior who had accidentally struck the cave wall, and driven his sword into a small fissure.

  Derick looked the warrior in the eyes and laughed at him. “I hear that she likes your brother better than you. I guess he has the bigger
dick.”

  The warrior glowered at him, but there was doubt in his eyes. There was some truth to their rivalry.

  “Do not kill him, Takeru,” Luna commanded. Apparently, she was interested in how hard Derick was.

  Takeru didn’t like her command, but he bowed his head to acknowledge it. Derick wondered why he wasn’t acting submissively as Reese had done. Reese was willing to fight to the death to please her, yet Takeru looked like he still wanted to remove Derick’s head. That’s when it hit him. The poor bastards weren’t under her spell; they simply loved her. He smiled, knowing how to defeat them.

  Derick turned his head and longingly gazed at Luna. “I want to kiss you and make love to you until you scream, but first, I need to know that you will love me forever. I don’t just give my heart to anyone. Tell me why you want me and I’ll tell you how hard I want to fuck you,” Derick smirked.

  Luna ogled his entire body. It must have been a long time since she’d been with a man. He found it interesting that she was so easily turned on by his suggestions. It seemed that her warriors had never satisfied her in this way before.

  Masao aggressively stepped forward but stopped when Luna gently put her hand on his arm. “Dearest, you know that my heart belongs to you. I am merely playing with this boy. I will kill him and we will be together at last. Do not fret,” Luna whispered to Masao.

  Derick leaned over and whispered to Takeru, “It seems that she does favor your brother over you if her heart belongs to him. I just want to have sex with her, but you seem like you truly love her. Are you really going to let your brother steal her away from you the second you leave Hell?”

  Takeru looked at Derick for a long moment before whipping his head around to glare at Masao. “She does not love him. She only pretends so that he will protect her from her enemies. I am the one she loves,” he said confidently.

  Derick shrugged. “I don’t know; that dress is pretty thin and I can see her nipples getting hard. Look at the way she’s touching him. She’s acting as if she’s stroking his dick instead of his arm. If I were you, I would eliminate the competition so that you can guarantee an eternity with her. She’s going to kill me either way and I will love her for it, but Masao doesn’t look like he will give her up without a fight,” he said conspiratorially.

  Takeru freed his sword and held it in front of him with two hands. His shoulders were heaving and he looked furious. He watched Masao touch Luna’s cheek with his gloved hand as she blew him a kiss in the air. Letting out a battle cry, Takeru ran at Masao.

  Derick held his breath hoping that his plan worked, though he wasn’t sure what would happen if one of the warriors defeated the other and claimed her. Thinking fast, he called to Luna. “It looks like your warriors are about to kill each other, which means that you have time for me.” He slowly pulled up the bottom of his red T-shirt to show off inch by inch of his stomach and chest. He wished he was more chiseled like Liam or Calin, but he was happy to see Luna wet her lips as she walked closer to him, ignoring the warring brothers.

  Her eyes trailed over his abs and up his chest as he pulled the shirt over his head. He put on his best come-hither stare and popped open the button on his jeans. He walked toward her with more bravado than he owned and hoped he looked like he was trying to seduce her. Assuming that she was hard up, she immediately responded to his advances and rushed over to him. The dueling brothers were a distant memory.

  “Kiss me,” she purred.

  Derick hated the idea of kissing her but he had to sell the performance if he was to enact phase two of his plan. Closing his eyes, he grabbed her by the back of her neck and pressed his lips to hers. He almost gagged when he tasted the ash on her lips from living in Hell for so long. Normally the scent of cinder made his blood race, but these were not the lips he craved. He thought about Anjali’s perfect mouth and took control of the kiss. The temptress’ hands roamed his chest and back. He tried not to shy away from her clammy hands, but it was difficult. It felt wrong to kiss her on so many levels. He remembered his aggressive high school girlfriends and wanted to vomit. This was how he felt when he was with them. He understood the truth after being with Anjali. She was the only woman he could ever love.

  Derick cracked open his eyelid to see that the brothers had stopped their deadly dance and were staring at him.

  “Tell me how much you love me,” Derick whispered in her ear as he stared at the brothers.

  Luna nuzzled his neck. “With all my heart,” she moaned as she cupped his ass.

  Derick pushed aside her squirmy hair and winked at the brothers. “Still believe that she loves you? You sold your souls so that you could rescue her and five minutes after busting her out of prison, she’s ready to climb on top of some stranger. Get your heads out of your asses and see the truth. She doesn’t love you and she never has. She’s been using you. You are so distrustful of each other that your feud has blinded you. Instead of fighting each other, you should be fighting together to rid the world of this temptress,” Derick said boldly.

  Luna hissed and bared her sharp teeth that became jagged and yellow. She bit Derick’s shoulder and dug her nails into his back. He yelled from the pain, but managed to slam his fist into the side of her head, which was a bad idea. She took a chunk of skin out of his shoulder but she backed away, grabbing the side of her head.

  Derick stumbled away from her and put pressure on his shoulder to stem the bleeding. He hated the thought of punching a woman, but he didn’t have a choice. He winced when he turned to find Luna, but forgot about his pain when he saw the semi-beautiful Luna turn into a withered old hag. She had changed from a vivacious twenty-year-old into a thousand year old handbag in seconds.

  “Is this the beauty you claim to love?” he asked Takeru and Masao.

  The brothers saw Luna’s true form for the first time as they stared in horror at the hag. They muttered to each other in Japanese and sounded shocked by what they saw.

  “Help me defeat her before she ruins the lives of any more men. It’s time to put away your differences and do the right thing,” Derick pleaded.

  The brothers nodded their heads and mounted an attack on Luna. Derick had trouble following Takeru and Masao as they blinked in and out of view, wrapping themselves within the dim light in the cavern. They slashed at Luna, who was desperately trying to put them under her spell. Derick didn’t know why the brothers weren’t affected by her power, but he was grateful that they understood what was really going on after all those wasted years.

  Luna backed herself into a corner and curled up into a ball. The brothers stood over her and raised their swords. Derick ran over to Reese, who was staring blankly at nothing, and snatched a pair of Celestial Bonds from the back of his leather pants. He raced back to Luna as the brothers held their swords high in the air.

  “Wait!” Derick yelled. He slid across the rocky floor and quickly snapped the Celestial Bonds onto Luna’s wrists.

  Takeru lowered his sword and pulled at the fabric under his chin until his entire face mask came off his head. “She deserves death after what she has done to us. She lied to us and promised to be with us. We were, at times, willing to put aside our jealousy to consider loving her together, but she dishonored us by lying to us. We sold our souls into servitude to be with her. We were once honorable men, but we allowed our love for her to cloud our judgement and challenge our bond as brothers,” he said, angry that he had been led astray by her.

  Masao lowered his sword and stared down at Luna. Derick couldn’t see his face, so he wasn’t sure what he was thinking. Luna looked up at him with the same strange purple eyes. Her power was inaccessible with the bonds on, yet she still whispered to Masao about all the things they would do together.

  “My love for you had never faltered. You are the one my heart desires, Masao,” Luna said. Her sultry voice had become gravely and it sounded like she smoked two packs of cigarettes a day.

  Takeru grimaced and shook his head. It looked like he was trying to reco
ncile the woman of his dreams with the hideous creature before him.

  Masao knelt down on one knee and lifted his sword as he stared down at her. “Watashi wa, anata o aishiteimasu,” he whispered.

  Derick didn’t understand him, but Takeru’s perplexed expression told him that something was wrong.

  Masao twisted his sword and slid it up under his arm, stabbing Takeru through the stomach. Derick jumped back and held his arms up in defense, shocked by what had happened. Masao stood up and pushed the sword all the way into Takeru’s body until it went through his back.

  “You never loved her,” Masao hissed as blood poured from his brother’s mouth. Swiftly pulling the sword out of Takeru, Masao turned on Derick. “She is mine.”

  Derick nodded in agreement, trying to figure out what to do. A white blur of fur answered his prayers as Liam lunged at Masao from the tunnel entrance. Liam landed on Masao and pinned his sword to the ground with his giant paw. He growled a warning at Masao to surrender.

  Shaking from his near death experience, Derick turned to see a bleeding Vaughn rushing toward them. Reese was running toward Derick from the opposite direction. They both skidded to a halt next to Luna, trying to understand what had happened. Thankfully, Luna’s spell over Reese had weakened and he was able to ignore her command to kill Craven.

  Derick tried to get a hold of himself, but he was still rattled from seeing Takeru skewered. He wasn’t sure if wanted to throw up or try to forget the entire day by getting drunk off his immortal ass.

  Hades’ snide voice shouted commands to his right, but Derick didn’t care what he was saying. He had done enough for one day.

  Liam nudged his side with his muzzle and quietly pushed him toward the exit as soon as Vaughn and Reese had Luna and Masao in custody.

  “Where is Malcolm?” Hades shouted. “I need him to inform the Council that Masao will remain in Hell under my authority for assaulting my Fallen and attempting to free a prisoner in our custody.”