Two big warm hands gripped my waist, plucking me right out of the free fall. He pulled me flush to his chest and his black smoky wings coiled around us. I meant to scream. I meant to pray. I meant to be afraid of him. Instead I gripped his shirt and held on for dear life.
Cold air washed over and then my feet landed in snow. His warm body vanished right out from under me and a chill seeped into my bones. I looked up and gasped. The whole train was sliding off the bridge and speeding for the ground down below.
The incubus shot across the sky like a rocket, his wings flapping behind him. He threw his hands up and the train froze mid-fall. The metal shrieked and hissed but then it gently landed on the ground. He dove through the doorways into the train and then leapt back out carrying an old woman. He sat her on her feet and rushed back inside, then came out holding two children with blood on their foreheads. He did this over and over and kept emerging with injured people.
My jaw dropped.
He caught me. He caught me. Plucked me right out of my free fall of doom and placed me on my feet in the snow. Why? I didn’t know. Why would he kidnap me, attack me, and then save me from a train accident? It made no sense. There was something I was missing. I looked up and found him helping the other humans off the train, I’d never been more confused in my life. This is your chance, Chloe. Your getaway. Don’t miss it!
Get away? To WHERE? We were in the middle of the Black Forest surrounded by snow and ice. And I was in a silk gown. Something moved in my peripheral vision. I jumped and threw my hands out. Red smoke shot out of me like rockets. But it was just scraps of paper floating down to the snow at my feet. Paper. A crazy idea came to me suddenly. People on trains tended to have magazines to read. One of them had to have a picture of somewhere.
I looked up as seat cushions and debris dropped to the ground. There’s got to be at least one I can use. I sprinted toward the carnage, dodging people left and right. It took me a few minutes but I finally found it. A single magazine half buried in the snow. I dropped to my knees and yanked it out – and my breath left me in a rush. It was a magazine for a travel company. The picture showed a sliding glass door that led to a beach with golden sand, a bright blue sunny sky, and a turquoise ocean.
A door is a passageway. I can go through this. I can do this.
I grabbed the paper and held it up to my face. I summoned my magic and red smoke poured out all around me. Up ahead, the incubus was preoccupied helping the humans get to safety, but I refused to just accept this niceness, this façade. I had no idea what to make of him anymore, and I certainly wasn’t sticking around to find out.
Sunlight sparkled and shimmered from the picture in my hand. Birds flew by. I had to try this. I sat the picture back down and let my magic surge inside of me. The incubus still had his back to me. His hellhound tackled demons as they fell. I took a deep breath and jumped inside a picture. The world vanished under my feet, and once again I fell.
Chapter Nine
Chloe
I landed face-down in the sand. It was cooler and softer than I had ever expected it to be, like as if silk had been crushed into powder. My body was stiff and sore, screaming in protest of the torture I was putting it through. But I finally pushed up on my hands and knees, spitting sand out of my mouth and gasping for air.
But the air was thick, too thick to breathe. It tasted like salt and stung my nose as I inhaled. So I opened my mouth to gasp but it was like sucking in smoke. My lungs burned. I coughed and leaned over, fisting the sand for support but it slipped through my fingers. Water dripped down the bridge of my nose and landed on the back of my hand. I jumped and looked up, but there was no rain.
It was the air. It was…wet.
Beads of water pooled on my forehead and on the back of my neck, I felt some dripping down my spine and into my cleavage. I wiped my hands over my forearms and there was a layer of liquid coating my skin. I whined and swatted at it. Ew, ew, ew what IS this? If I didn’t know any better I’d think it was sweat. But I’d only literally just arrived.
Heat surrounded me from every angle. I felt like I was locked inside a sauna.
Where the bloody hell am I? It was still daylight for bloody sake. Well, kind of. The sun was setting on the horizon, a big glowing orange orb sinking into the ocean. The sky was a masterpiece of colors with the reds, pinks, and purples. The clouds rolling over somehow mimicked the rolling waves on the water.
“Hey, are you okay?”
I gasped and leapt back at the sound of a guy’s voice – and landed flat on my ass in the sand. I looked up and my eyes widened. Two young boys stood in front of me. They couldn’t have been more than twelve or thirteen. I knew without standing that they weren’t even as tall as me yet.
“Miss?” The one on the left smiled and I recognized his voice as the one that had just spoken. His emerald green eyes were as warm as the air choking me. His curly blond hair bounced in the salty breeze. “Are you okay?”
“Am I…okay?” No, I am certainly not bloody okay.
“Yeah, nice crash landing,” the other one said with a wild grin. His brown hair was trimmed into a short mohawk. His eyes were an unnerving shade of gray, like a thunderstorm. “Did you hurt yourself?”
“Who are you?”
The one with the mohawk frowned. “Are you British?”
“Where am I?”
“Are you okay?” the other one asked with a smile.
I scrubbed my face, then shoved my hands into my hair. White powdery sand fell over my eyes. I groaned. “Of course I’m not bloody okay! I landed here in a damned ball gown and why is your air choking me?”
“Ah, don’t have humidity in England?” The curly haired blond chuckled. He waved. “I’m Peabo.”
“I’m Atley.” He tapped on his chest and I spotted black band tattoos around his wrists, which was strange for a child. “You’re in St. Pete.”
“What?”
Atley frowned. “St. Petersburg?”
I frowned and looked around. “This is not Russia.”
“Russia?” Atley arched one eyebrow. “Huh, um no. This is Florida, near Tampa. In the United States—”
“I’m in America?” My eyes widened. I scrambled to my feet and looked around. But with the sun setting there wasn’t much else to see. “I’ve never been to America.”
Atley scowled and glanced over to Peabo, then over my shoulder, and finally back to me. “Did Tegan send you? Is she here?”
I froze. My pulse stopped. “Tegan?”
“Yeah, Tegan. The High Priestess? She’s the only one I know who can portal—”
“Are you with The Coven?” I spit out between clenched teeth.
Atley’s cheeks flushed pink like the sunset. “No, I’m not.”
“But we’re good friends with them. They used to live here.”
My stomach rolled and then tightened into knots. No, no, no, no. I didn’t trust The Coven. Not after Tegan handed me over to the incubus. I had to get out of here, away from these boys, before they called her and she portaled.
“Here, let’s call them and see what she’s up to,” Peabo said as he pulled an iPhone out of his pocket and started typing. “What’s your name?”
Get out, Chloe. Get away. NOW. GO.
I opened my mouth, then turned and ran. My feet sank in the sand, slowing me down. I grabbed the skirt of my dress and pushed harder, sprinting faster. Both boys were shouting for me. Their voices grew louder and louder as they chased after me, closing the distance. I cursed. I had to get off the sand so I’d have better footing. I couldn’t let them catch me. I looked to my right and saw cars driving by, which meant there had to be a road. I leapt toward it when that searing pain from the train grabbed ahold of me.
I screamed but then my body locked up. Every muscle spasmed. My breath cut off. A wild, electric tremor ripped through my body like I was having a seizure and then my knees hit the sand. My back arched. I gasped for air but none came. The pain was too much. I felt like I was being torn
apart, like my rib cage was severed in half. Shooting pain shot down my arms and into my stomach. My eyes twitched. Blue light flashed.
“MISS!”
“What happened? Atley, what got her?”
“I DON’T KNOW!” he shouted back. I knew he dropped down in front of me but my vision was all wonky. “Breathe, miss. We’ll get help!”
“What’s that light?” Peabo pointed to my chest. “What is she Tony Stark?”
I looked down at my chest and choked on a scream. That bright blue light was coming from me. That glowing blue crescent moon inside my clear crystal quartz pendant was pulsing with light.
A warm gust of wind rushed over us smelling like salt and maple syrup—
“SHIT!” Atley shouted and spun around.
Both boys pulled daggers I hadn’t even seen on them and sprinted toward the water. I glanced ahead of them and my heart stopped. Big black creatures shot out of the water, looking like the ugly angry child of a hydra and a kraken. Long tentacles with faces and big red eyes sliced through the air. The boys charged right in, daggers raised.
I had to get out of here. This was my chance. But my legs felt like they were glued in sludge. It took everything in me to move a single muscle. I clenched my teeth and screamed as I pushed up to my feet. The world wobbled but I held on. I just had to lose these boys while they were fighting the water demons. I turned my back to the ocean just as a massive black object the size of a small car leapt through the bushes and onto the sand. It crawled toward me on eight legs, clearing the distance between us in a flash.
And I couldn’t move. My body seized up.
The massive spider-demon jumped in the air. It flew to right over my head then dropped.
I braced myself as a pearly white stinger dropped down right for me. But then a gust of wind that smelled like a bonfire slammed into my chest. Black smoke swirled in front of my face. The incubus jumped in front of me and the spider-demon’s stinger sank into his chest with a sickening swoosh.
I gasped.
He flicked his wrist and black smoke coiled around the spider-demon. It hissed and then turned to dust. The incubus spun around, the spider-demon’s stinger still lodged in his sternum. His glowing gold eyes looked me up and down three times, like he was checking to make sure I wasn’t hurt. He glanced over my shoulder and snarled, then reached up and plucked the stinger from his chest and tossed it aside.
My jaw dropped. My eyes widened.
He walked around me and held his hands up in front of him. Black smoke poured like a river from his palms. I turned just in time to watch it slam into the water-demons. Each and every one shrieked and froze and then burst into dust. A dozen of them dead instantly from his smoke.
“Bloody fuck. What?” I shrieked.
He turned and his golden gaze met mine.
I froze.
Chapter Ten
Chloe
His eyes bore into mine and heat filled my veins. A scorching fire exploded in my chest. My cheeks warmed like I was actually blushing. I was blushing like a schoolgirl for an incubus. Which meant it was official, I’d lost my mind. My most prized possession. Gone. With each passing second that his eyes burned into mine, I felt something shatter inside me. I didn’t know what that something was yet and that scared me.
I knew I needed to be afraid of him.
He’d given me plenty of reason to be.
But my mind kept replaying the memory of him saving people from that train. He’d even stopped it from crashing and possibly exploding. He’d caught me and gently sat me on my feet. I no longer knew what to think of him.
And then he’d gone and taken a spider-demon stinger to the chest.
For me.
I didn’t understand any of it. Not who he was or what he wanted, and most definitely not how the hell he’d just done whatever he’d just done…but I was sick of running. I was sick of being afraid. I was sick of being confused and not knowing what was going on.
With him standing ten feet away from me, the salty ocean air was able to chase his smoky scent away, leaving my brain free to think freely.
A shadow moved behind him and then that massive black hellhound appeared out of thin air. One red and one gold eye stared right at me, unmoving. Its tall pointed black ears twitched and black smoke coiled around its body. A low growl rumbled from deep in its gut.
The incubus put his hand on the hellhound’s shoulder.
“Ohhhh, DUDE!” Peabo shouted as he sprinted towards us. “How did you do that?”
Atley was hot on his heels, his gaze narrowed on the incubus. “Are you a new Coven member? Did someone die or quit again?”
The incubus peeled his eyes off of me to glare at the boys. “No. You need to leave.”
“No? So how do you have magic like them then?” Atley put his hands on his hips. “Maybe I should call them—"
“Do that. Then explain to them why two children were on the beach at dusk by themselves…at a time like this.” He arched one eyebrow. The wind blew through the dark strands of his hair, pushing them into his face. He just kept glaring at them. “Leave. Now. Before they come back and you get yourselves killed.”
Atley scowled. Peabo opened his mouth—
“NOW,” the incubus growled.
The hellhound hopped forward and snarled.
The boys flinched and sprinted out of sight…leaving me alone with him. His gold eyes tracked their path but they must’ve fled fast because he turned that hot stare back to me. He patted the hellhound’s head and pushed his hair back with his other hand – without taking his eyes off of me.
Be courageous, Chloe. You’re not weak. You’re intelligent. Be strong.
I licked my lips, cringing at the thick taste of salt. “How are you alive?”
He arched one eyebrow and damn if it wasn’t the sexiest thing I’d ever seen— Chloe. STOP THAT. You have to FIGHT his magic! I shook myself and balled my hands into fists at my sides to hide their trembling. This attraction to him running rampant in my body wasn’t real. The heat in my veins and the flush in my cheeks were not real. The overwhelming desire to collapse in his arms like a romance novel cover from the nineties — not real.
“How did that thing not kill you?” I said through clenched teeth. “Wasn’t it a demon?”
He nodded. “Yes, these were all demons.”
“How. Did. It. Not. Kill. You?”
He shrugged. “I am a Prince of Hell. Demons cannot harm me.” His voice was deep and raspy like embers under a fire.
“Excuse me?” I narrowed my eyes at him. “You’re the Prince of Hell? So that makes you son of the devil?”
He rolled his gold eyes and it did weird things to the beat of my pulse. “My father’s name is Lucifer. He is an angel of Heaven given the dirty job no one else could handle. But yes, sure, the devil as you mortals call him – though you know nothing of him.”
Lucifer? An angel of Heaven? What am I hearing? “So…so…you’re not a demon?”
Those black wings popped out behind his back. He arched his eyebrow again and my stomach tightened into knots. “You think I’m a demon?”
“I thought you were an incubus,” I said in a rush before I could stop myself.
His eyes widened and he stared at me. But after a moment, his grin turned sideways into a devastating grin that did weird things to my insides. He ran his thumb over his bottom lip and strolled close. “You thought I was an incubus?”
I shrugged and nodded.
His smirk spread and a sexy little chuckle echoed in the ocean breeze. He stepped forward, close enough that I could smell his smoky scent. He stopped right beside me, then licked his lips and leaned forward to whisper in my ear, “I’m not an incubus.”
I looked up and our noses almost touched. “Then what are you?”
“I’m an angel.”
I gasped. “You don’t look like an angel.”
He stepped back and frowned. “Do you see angels often?”
I opened my mouth, th
en closed it and frowned. “Well, no but…my family said—"
“Your family hasn’t seen an angel in six hundred years, and I promise you, Michael didn’t look much different than I do now.”
This was too much. He was too blasé about it for it to be real. “Right, because you were there.”
He grinned. “I was.”
I gasped and stumbled backward. “So you’re not here to kill me?”
He shook his head. “I’m an angel.”
“But earlier…you…you were trying to…rape me?”
He arched one eyebrow and gestured around us. “Chloe, did you see what I just did here? Or on that train? If I wanted to rape you I would have.”
My stomach sank. I knew that. I’d known that. But still. Hearing it was different.
He sighed and the breeze rustled through his hair. He shoved his hands in his pockets and moved close again. “I admit that this evening has played out regrettably. It is my fault. Perhaps we should rewind a bit and start over? I’m Malachi.”
Malachi? That’s a hot name. FOCUS, Chloe. “I’m Chloe – wait. You already knew that.”
“I did. Chloe Lancaster.”
“How?”
He tucked a stray strand of hair behind my ear. “I’m a friend of your father.”
“My father is dead.”
“Yes, he is.”
I shivered but I was not cold. “Are you saying my father is in Hell?”
He smiled and it actually looked tender. “No, I assure you your father is not in Hell. But I was his friend when he lived.”
That was too much for me to process. Thinking about my father still made my heart hurt, so I needed to move on from that. I cleared my throat and ran my fingers over the collar of my dress. “If you’re not trying to kill me, then why are you following me? Why did you kidnap me?”
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