Gabriel watched his brother leave the room and sucked in a lungful of air. Raphael snorted and turned his nose up at Gabriel, following behind Michael. Zadkiel hesitated but fell in behind them. Chamuel was still out cold on the floor. Gabriel’s eyes met Uriel’s, and the young angel shook his head, clearly in pain.
“I know. He has lost his mind. We can’t let this happen. It is one thing to kill those who have committed sin. But to take souls that have been untouched? It is against the very laws for which we claim to stand.” Gabriel exited the room, peering down the hall after his leader, then moved in the opposite direction, Uriel close on his heels. The young angel had barely left his side since his punishment.
“We have to warn someone. Michael won’t stop, not until he has enough angelic blades to ravage the world.” But who the hell could he warn? Who was brave enough or stupid enough to stand against the Archangel Michael?
CHAPTER NINE
Sera leaned back against the Harley, watching the group of men milling around on her property. Arms crossed over her chest, she studied each one carefully. Did hell just spit out insanely handsome men who looked like gods? Not only were there four men over six feet tall walking about like they owned the place, but she also had two dogs lounging near her and the bike. Wait, not dogs, hellhounds. They were demons who spent most of their time in hound form, she’d been told.
She glanced at the one closest to her. He resembled a Doberman Pinscher, his head swinging back and forth as he listened to the night, ready to move in a second no matter how relaxed he looked. This one was apparently the demon Rus that Ze mentioned to her earlier. The other hound was virtually identical to Rus, but his eyes were steel gray and shone in the darkness, a stark difference from his brother’s eyes of ice blue. She had learned so much already. Not only was Cerberus not a three-headed dog, but the triplets who were the center of the myth had a grudge against a certain silver-haired demon for spreading the rumor in the first place.
This was all beyond insane. Everything that had happened tonight had been surreal. She refocused her attention on the group of demons. The one she knew, Ze, was staring at the charred remains of her home, talking to one of his brothers with white-blond hair, who nodded as he listened. That one was the Sin of Pride—Lucifer, their leader.
A pair of males with black hair were removing some of the larger bits of wood from the driveway. They were talking about getting a bulldozer down here to flatten the house so they could have an even surface to begin rebuilding on. One had been introduced to her as Asmodeus, Sin of Lust, and the other, with eyes of pounded steel, called himself Abbadon, Sin of Sloth.
The last brother, Belor, Sin of Gluttony, declared they all needed food and had jumped into their rented truck and headed into town. There wouldn’t be much open, but Doris at the diner might be convinced to make them something to go. If the Sin of Gluttony could do anything, it was convince someone to make food, apparently.
Ze had explained to everyone they were not to touch her under any circumstances. Not unless they shielded themselves fully so she wouldn’t feel any backlash. Her eyes had burned with tears that he thought about her weakness and worried for her protection. To be honest, since the whole killing-of-the-angel thing, she was not finding that fear to be much of a problem any longer. Some things just put life into perspective.
Ze turned his gaze to the woman watching in the darkness, and he rubbed his hands against his jacket. The tingling was getting worse. His brother frowned at him, red eyes narrowing.
“Will you explain to me why you’re acting like you have bugs under your skin?” The leader of the Seven Sins turned to look at the woman, then back at his brother. Ze prided himself on being one of the most levelheaded of their group, always grounded. But right now he knew he looked like he was about to lose his mind.
“I don’t know, it may be nothing. It could, however, be astronomically bad. Do we have any leads on Tanus?” Ze rubbed the spot over his heart which had been pierced by the angel blade. He could feel a low vibrating sensation in that spot, and it worried him immensely. Concern for his lost brother pricked at his conscience. He should be helping to look for him, not lusting after some red-headed pixie with more balls than sense.
“No, nothing yet. We won’t stop looking. We will never stop. Now, quit changing the subject and tell me what’s wrong. I need to know all the facts.” Lucifer pinned him with a red glare.
Ze sighed, kicking a piece of charred wood. How was he going to explain this? “I can’t explain it, Lu. I just feel on edge. My hands itch. I have a terrible feeling that something changed between myself and the Seer when that blade linked us all together. It killed the angel, but something was released, some kind of power. I watched it sink into our skin. I died, Lucifer. I mean, like, actually died. She pulled me back somehow. I can’t explain it. Ever since then, I have had this feeling something is different. When I moved the angel’s body, I could have sworn I saw something—a vision. Jophiel in a room with the other Malakhim. I can’t read minds. It’s not one of my talents, besides the fact that you can’t read the mind of a dead man.” Lucifer stared at him. Great, now his brother thought he was crazy too.
“Angelic blades are unpredictable. Given they possess souls of humans, they have a tendency to act out if they so wish. Maybe this one has done something because you killed the angel?”
Ze knew Lucifer was reaching. A better theory than none he supposed—temperamental angelic blade, why not? “I have a theory I would like to try out if you will permit me?” Ze faced his brother.
Lucifer frowned but nodded. “Go ahead, but if you damage my suit, we are going to have issues.” Lucifer crossed his arms.
Ze stared at his hands, opening them so his fingers were splayed wide. Slowly, he lifted them and pressed his fingertips against his brother’s face. The contact of skin on skin sent a shock through his core, right into his heart. His mind was ripped from his body, drawn into a memory that he had long forgotten.
The world around him spun madly, muffled voices and veiled images rushing past. Pulling into himself, he tried to grab onto one thing, just one. Everything suddenly stopped spinning, and a picture formed before his eyes. Almost as if he were walking out of a thick fog, the misty haze cleared, bringing the vision into focus.
All seven of them sat together drinking in a tavern in ancient Greece, before his brother Mammon had been put into the Pit for five hundred years. Long before Tanus had begun to lose his control over the Sin of Wrath. All seven of them were young, powerful demons, who could have anything in the world. Back then they had taken what they wanted—women, money, even lives. Their Sins were fresh in their souls, and Hades had let them run wild, embracing their darkness. This was a time when they were first learning how their Sins truly affected humanity.
Ze had been a cruel, heartless fucker back in those days. He had made men do evil things for the pure joy of watching them fight over the smallest object. Jealously was so easy to inspire in man because every man craved what another man had; be it his wife, his money, or his life. Ze had been a wish granter, a Jinn to those who came to him. He had fed deep and long on that envious nature inherent in man. He had been one of the last of his brothers to feel regret and guilt over his actions, his soul one of the hardest to awaken.
Lust had almost lost himself in his sin more than once back then. Asmodeus. Ze focused on the form of his brother. Gods, it had been so long since he had seen his brother’s true form. He had forgotten he was a mahogany-haired pirate of the taverns, his eyes glimmering shards of amethyst. How had he forgotten that? Hell, they all had. Even Asmodeus had lost his true self over the centuries.
Ze pulled away from the memory, stumbling, only to be steadied by a hand on his wrist. He blinked the fuzzy vision from his eyes, shaking his head. It couldn’t be. How could he have attained her powers? It was impossible! Some spells could mimic another’s power, but you couldn’t move power from one person to another. It just didn’t happen.
“Ze. You okay?” Lucifer’s face came into view.
Ze nodded, rubbing his hand over his forehead. “I think we have a major problem on our hands, Lu. I just saw your past. A memory from long ago, all seven of us. Before we started to change, before we began to learn about the consequences of our Sins on humanity.” He turned his silver gaze to Sera. She knelt beside Benediktos, scratching his tummy, and the bastard hellhound lapped it up.
Lucifer frowned and began to pace. “I have never heard of such a thing. Powers don’t jump from one person to another. People are either born with them, or they’re not. It’s in your DNA.”
“Yeah, well, before this evening I couldn’t have read the history of a mushroom if I wanted to. Now I can feel my skin itching from just being close to you. My heart burns from the memory like it has become ingrained in me. Sera mentioned something before everything went to hell. That the things she sees stay with her forever.” How on earth was he going to explain this to her?
Did she even still have her gift? It looked like they were going to have to make some in-depth discovery to find out precisely what had occurred between them when the angel blade snuffed out the life of the Malakhim, Jophiel.
Leaving Lucifer to deal with the house was more than a relief for Ze. He headed up the hill, where Sera was kneeling to pet Ben. No, he didn’t like that, not one bit. He couldn’t stop the insane jealousy that rushed through him. Jealousy was one emotion he had very little control over. When he reached her, she stood, her eyes brightening. Gods, he could come home to those eyes. Shaking himself at such a damned domestic thought, he couldn’t help the stupid smile on his lips.
He glanced down at Ben. The hound looked up with puppy dog innocence and barked at him. Ze glared down at the mutt. “Stop flirting and go make yourself useful somewhere.”
The hound let out another bark and vanished into the darkness, right before their eyes. Ze managed to hold back his growl. He was going to get the bastard neutered next time he saw him.
Sera gasped, watching the fading wisps of shadow melt into the floor. “How did he…?”
“Hellhound. They spend most of their time in that form, remember? They also have the power to manipulate shadows. But Benediktos enjoys the women, so he spends a lot of his day in his demon form. Be careful—you pet his tummy, he might just claim you for his own,” Ze joked. He tried to ignore the burning, gut-wrenching envy he felt from watching the filthy mutt flirt with Sera.
Sera’s eyes went wide, her hand moving reflexively to her throat. Ze noticed she did that when she was trying to distance herself from the situation. Tilting his head to the side, he studied her as she frowned at him, then dropped her gaze.
“You’re jealous.”
“No, I’m not. That would imply I have some kind of claim. Which I don’t. I just don’t.” Ze frowned. He was rambling; he never rambled. Glaring, he turned to Ben, who had reappeared near Lucifer.
“I know you’re jealous, I can sense it. Hell, I can see it! Like fingers of shadow stretching from your skin. What the hell is going on?”
Ze felt his stomach drop. This couldn’t be happening, it just couldn’t. In what world did powers shift from one person to another? His theory of having gained her hindsight had proven correct, but now he suspected she had gained his Sin-eating ability. It had to be impossible. He reached out and gently grasped her shoulders.
“Take a breath for me. I’m going to try something. I need you to describe to me what you see, what you feel. Okay?” Sera locked eyes with him and nodded slowly.
Ze focused once more on Benediktos, who was now talking with his brother. The fact that the mutt had tricked her into thinking he was just a damn dog boiled Ze’s blood. He gritted his teeth against the Sin pounding in his veins. He had always lived with this Sin in his blood, always known when another felt the green envy for their fellow man. He had almost drowned himself in it. The taste of sin was sweet nectar, addictive and dangerous. It had taken years to work his way back from the bottom of that craving. But he felt nothing now other than his own black jealousy against a demon he would have otherwise just kicked away like a puppy.
Facing Sera, his heart skipped a beat. She was staring at him, her jade eyes appearing to glow. She let out a soft sound close to a moan and stepped forward. Her nose made contact with his throat, and she breathed him in, brushing her tight little body against his like a cat. God help him, he was just a man. How could he be blamed if his body sparked into life, reacting to her proximity, and he went hard as a damn rock.
“You smell so good.” She sounded almost dreamy, her voice low. She was literally purring against him. Her hands moved to his hips, scratching at his riding leathers with her nails.
Ze prayed for strength, his body roaring at him to bury his face in her hair and take a deep breath of her scent. That thought was damn difficult to contain as she brushed back and forth against his straining erection, trapped within his clothing. Groaning low, he took her shoulders in his hands and held her at arm’s length.
She looked high, and he knew the drug her body was experiencing for the first time. He had lived it. She smiled, and it was downright sinful—her sweet face, framed by red hair and those piercing eyes. She made a soft mewing noise in the back of her throat, and gods help him, he wanted to kiss that hungry look from her lips. Despite his need to claim this infuriating female, he had to make her see him through her haze of need.
“You need to stop now, Sera. I know how good it feels, trust me, I know. But you need to stop before you do something you might regret.” Or not, his inner demon chimed in. Shut up, I seriously don’t need tempting from two sources!
“But I don’t want to. I’ve never felt like this before. I’ve never wanted to feel like this before. It’s amazing. I can feel you, your very essence. So sweet, warming me from the inside.”
Ze groaned at her words. When she found out why she was feeling this way, she might feel more inclined to attempt another shot at him, rather than scrape those nails of hers against his skin. He was a damned chivalrous fool, and it would be so easy, too. He could sink his fingers into her hair, tilt her head back, and devour that tempting mouth. She would respond, he knew she would, throwing herself into the feeling of the sin that writhed around her body. She would be unable to say no to anything he wanted as long as she was drawn to the jealously he felt.
The small pout on her lips was almost his undoing. Taking a deep breath, he got his emotions under control, accepting he was jealous of the damned hellhound, then allowing the feeling to leave him. Sera blinked a few times, her eyes clearing, and she looked at the demon before her, realization slowly spreading on her face.
“Oh my God! I just, I mean, I nearly…” Quickly, she backed away, covering her open mouth with her hand, then turned her blazing jade gaze on him. “You, you did this, didn’t you?” She stomped toward him, whacking him hard on the arm as she spoke. “Sin of Envy, are you kidding me? This is what you do? Hunt down vulnerable women? Make them crave you? I was fine before you came along, now this!”
Ze just let her smack him. She needed the outlet, and to be honest, it was sexy as all get out—her eyes alight, her hair shimmering around her, the anger flushing her cheeks a seductive pink.
“Woman, you can hit me as much as you like. I’m afraid it won’t change the situation we are both in.” He grabbed her hand as she went in for another strike.
“If you aren’t careful, missy, I’m going to show you just how uncivil I can be.” He kept his tone low as her eyes widened and her pupils dilated. His hand slid into hers, lifting it to his lips where he nipped at her fingertips. She gaped at him in outrage and no small amount of lust.
His gaze fell to the angry-looking slice across her palm, and he bent his head, pressing his lips to the cut. Her eyes grew wide as she watched him. He only thought he wanted her before the battle. What he felt now was even more intense. He needed to touch her, kiss her, be inside her, make her crave him as insanely as he was craving her.
“The sword, I cut myself. That green light from the blade. It healed everything else—the road rash from coming off the bike. But not this. Odd.” She turned her hand over and looked at the shallow gash. Ze took her hand again, gently kissing around the wound and up to her wrist. He indulged himself for a moment, biting down on the inside of her wrist until she gasped sharply. Her cheeks colored and her breathing becoming shallow. He smiled slowly at her, but she glared back at him, fire and spark alight in her eyes. Oh yes, she was perfection, and she was all his.
CHAPTER TEN
Damned infuriating, arrogant, pig-headed demon! To think she had been worried he might have died! Sera pushed away from him, his low chuckle following her as she headed down the hill to what remained of her home. His words heated her flesh. Uncivilized, hell, she wished he would be. Berating herself for her foolish girly thoughts, she tried desperately to come up with a reason for wanting to strip him bare and rub her naked body all over his while breathing in that maddening scent. This was more than just ten years’ worth of built-up hormones.
She kicked at a piece of wood on the ground and finally stopped, sucking in the cold night air, trying to reorient her brain after the events of the night. The other males wisely left her alone. She swore under her breath and moved away from the house once more, this time toward the small summer greenhouse that had miraculously survived the battle.
Pushing open the glass and wood door, a rush of hot, humid air enveloped her. The scent of soil and water filled her senses, calming her racing heart with an aura of the familiar. It only took moments before her skin was clammy with the humidity and her hair reacted as if she had touched a live wire. But none of that mattered right now. Her hair being a frizzy mess was the last thing on her mind.
Envy's Kindness (Seven Deadly Sins Book 2) Page 7