Risking Eternity
Voirey Linger
For two hundred years, Dominicus has lived in isolation, sentenced to take human souls to hell. But this night’s victim is unlike all the others. She tempts him. One kiss and she comes apart in his arms. One taste, and he can’t walk away.
But Maggie isn’t the only temptation he faces. Dominicus fights an attraction to Renatus, his best friend through the eons and a male with whom sex is forbidden. With her, he risks Hell, with him, losing the only piece of Heaven he has left.
Maggie cannot begin to understand what Dominicus has done. Demons covet her soul and Lucifer won’t give up his prize. In claiming her, he’s not only compounded his sin, he’s sparked a war between Heaven and Hell. Angels battle demons, and Dominicus must make a choice. Does he deliver to Lucifer the human whose soul calls to him and ensure his salvation, or save her and risk eternal damnation?
An Ellora’s Cave Romantica Publication
www.ellorascave.com
Risking Eternity
ISBN 9781419929076
ALL RIGHTS RESERVED
Risking Eternity Copyright © 2010 Voirey Linger
Edited by Grace Bradley
Cover art by Syneca
Electronic book publication May 2010
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This book is a work of fiction and any resemblance to persons, living or dead, or places, events or locales is purely coincidental. The characters are productions of the author’s imagination and used fictitiously.
Risking Eternity
Voirey Linger
Dedication
To my chat Divas and the Ratters. I couldn’t do it without you. Inez, you are a meanie and I adore you. Em, Kat, Kate, Kim and Margie. *smooches*
And a special thanks to one person who may never see it. Stephen, you were the first person who really saw me as a writer. I promised you this way back then and now I can finally deliver.
Trademark Acknowledgement
The author acknowledges the trademarked status and trademark owners of the following wordmarks mentioned in this work of fiction:
Starbucks: Starbucks US Brands
Chapter One
Hard bricks bit into Dominicus’ rear end and he shifted on the edge of the building’s roof, trying to find a more comfortable position. Rain fell in a fine mist, drenching the night and muffling the noise of the city. The low clouds blocked the Heavens and reflected the city lights and gave the sky an unnatural orange glow.
This was the thing he disliked most about his assignments, sitting hidden from the world while he waited for instructions. He frowned. No, there was something he hated more. The stench at the gates was worse, and sometimes the pleas from those who realized what was happening.
The dying never went quietly into Hell.
It was his punishment, leveled on him by none other than the Most High. Every night he waited, invisible to human eyes, while a human died. Every night he watched as the blackened soul separated from the dying body. Every night he took that soul to Hell. The human myth of an Angel of Death had been made real and would remain so until his curse was lifted.
He shifted again and returned his attention to the nightclub, five stories below. Neon glowed in the night, highlighting the people crowded under the awnings. The hard pulse of music drifted up to him. A taste of the atmosphere inside seeped onto the streets to lure in those looking for gaiety. Scanning the crowd, he tried to feel out the soul-deep emptiness, the bite of evil, that would mark his assignment, but there were too many people clustered together. They all had cravings, all needed something they thought they would find inside the garishly lit building.
“Are you prepared for this night’s work?”
“Checking up on me, Renatus?” Dominicus turned to look at the white-robed angel who had appeared behind him. Light sparkled off droplets of rain collecting in Renatus’s golden hair. The fine elegance of his features were marred by a pinched frown of disapproval.
“Of course not. You don’t need to be watched, do you?”
Dominicus couldn’t help but wonder if the light angel intended the subtle dig or if his words should be accepted at face value. Too many years living on the Earthly plane had soured him, made him suspicious. Still, Ren was his only contact with the Heavens now and didn’t deserve his distrust.
“If you are not here to make sure I am doing my job, then why have you come?” Dominicus watched as Ren took a seat beside him on the ledge, close enough the snowy white wings brushed his own black ones. The faint tickle of contact made his feathers stand on end.
“So hostile, Dom. Your time here does not seem to have mellowed you.”
No. His time hadn’t mellowed him. Quite the opposite. If anything his penance made him more certain he was justified in his rebellion. The Most High didn’t do enough to preserve the souls of creation. In the past two centuries, he’d delivered too many to the gates, seen the hunger and greed in the demons’ eyes as they devoured the souls and took their power for their own.
“Why are you here?”
“Can I not come to visit my friend?” A flicker of something crossed Ren’s face, something that looked suspiciously like regret.
Dominicus shot him a wry look. “You could, but you have not.” The angel wasn’t there to see him, that was certain. Ren never came without purpose anymore.
Renatus could not understand Dominicus’ continued defiance. His legalistic mind could not understand any defiance, for that matter. Dominicus’ constant questioning of Most High’s laws was an ever-growing barrier between the friends.
An awkward silence fell between them and Ren turned to study the people below. “There is concern for you in the Heavens,” he finally said, his voice quiet and hesitant. “You have been on the Earthly plane, separated from your kind for far too long. There is concern you have Fallen.”
Dominicus contained a snort of disbelief. Two hundred years after he was barred from the Heavens, they were now concerned? Where was their worry when he was cast down to the mortal plane to exist in solitude? All had turned their backs on him. All save Renatus.
“I have not Fallen.”
“And yet, you have not Risen, either.”
“Risen?” he asked incredulously. “I am confined here, cut off from all I have known, from receiving power. I have no companionship but yours, and you are a rare visitor. There is nothing to lift me back into the Heavens.”
“That is not true, Dom.” Ren’s hand clutched Dom’s arm as he repeated his oft-voiced plea. “You’ve always had the power to return. Rescind your statement. End this defiance and ask the Most High for forgiveness. Please, come home with me.”
“Until my punishment is lifted, I will stay as I am.”
“Don’t be so sure.”
Dominicus gave Ren a hard look, searching for a clue to his m
eaning. Had something changed? Perhaps his situation was not as static as he’d believed. Judging from Ren’s expression, this was not a good thing.
“What is happening, Renatus?”
“I cannot offer anything but the pronouncement.”
Dominicus stiffened. If Renatus was here in his official role of Messenger, his existence would soon be completely altered. “Which is?”
“I was sent to warn you this assignment is of the utmost importance. The Most High says, ‘This is your test. You have learned more than you know. We must all make our own decisions, find our own paths. It falls on you to do the right thing.’”
The Most High’s words resonated within Dominicus, the absolute truth in them sending a shiver through his body even as his hand curled into a white-knuckled fist.
Leave it to the Heavens to deliver an important message and yet be cryptic.
“And what is the right thing?”
“That, my friend, is your test.”
* * * * *
The throb of music had Maggie’s head pounding. People crowded the floor and the stench of sweat and alcohol lingered over scantily clad bodies. They rubbed and teased, promised sex under the guise of dancing. She leaned against the bar and watched them dance, but she wasn’t interested in joining them tonight.
She was tired of this scene. Night after night she stalked the bars, looking for fun, for entertainment, for companionship. Day after day she woke up, hung over and lonely. She wanted a guy who was going to be around for a while, not just a quick fuck. The club scene was definitely not the right place to be looking for long-term.
She pushed away from the bar. Time to go home. The shortest route to the door was across the dance floor, so she picked up the beat and started to dance her way through the crowd. A man blocked her, his lips moved, but she couldn’t hear him over the pulse of music. Shaking her head, she moved away to find another path, only to have him appear and block her again.
Maggie started to make her way to the door but the swarm of bodies pushed her and she swayed unsteadily. The bass thumped and her head pounded back in rhythm, hurting so much the room swam and her stomach rolled and she swallowed against the rising bile.
She stumbled and a man’s hands steadied her. It was the same guy. Where did he come from? She jerked away and tried to get to the door. Sounds were getting fuzzy, as if her ears were filled with cotton, and the room seemed to be getting darker. What the fuck was wrong with her?
She pushed her way through the door and into the night. The music faded and she took a deep breath, trying to purge the smells of the club from her lungs as she walked toward the line of waiting cabs.
A wave of dizziness assaulted her and she stumbled. Someone caught her, spinning her away from the cabs and toward the line of people waiting to get into the club. He’d followed here, the guy from the dance floor. Shitshitshit.
The line of people beside her surged. There were men yelling and a scuffle broke out.
“Come on, let’s get you out of here,” he said, his hand gripping her elbow as he tugged her toward a nondescript blue car.
No, she couldn’t go with him. She couldn’t remember why, but something in the depths of her fuzzy brain screamed to not get in that car with him.
She tried to jerk away from him, but he just wrapped his arm tighter around her waist, holding her to him as he pulled her farther away from the club. Confusion and fear melded.
Oh God, help me.
“No, let me go. Someone make him let me go! Please, someone help me,” she called, but the escalating fight in the line drowned out her cries for help. There was a flash and a pop, and the mass of people bobbed as they all ducked, screaming. The world tilted crazily and a burn ripped through her chest.
“Shit, I can’t fucking believe this,” the man muttered, close to her ear. His hand covered her chest and when he pulled away it was covered with something dark. He ground out another curse. His arms left her and she fell to the ground.
The ringing in her ears grew louder, drowning out everything else. Maggie realized this must be what it felt like to die.
Chapter Two
Dominicus curled up his lip in distaste. Death and dying were not the business of angels. Yet here he was, ready to take yet another soul to the gates of Hell. Why was this punishment leveled on him? With every passing night, he was more convinced it was wrong to allow the fragile souls of mankind to be taken to that place of evil, and yet, he had no choice but to take them.
He used his power as a cloak, rendering him invisible from the crowd. Once hidden from the humans, he bent over the woman while the man holding her laid her on the hard concrete. She’d been drugged by a predator and shot by a stray bullet. The poor human didn’t have a chance of surviving. Freckles stood out in dark relief against her rapidly paling skin and red hair tangled under her, growing dark as the pool of her blood grew and soaked into it. The last vestige of life sparkled in her eyes and he reached down, ready to take her essence, but the soft glow of her being stopped him.
Purity. The demons coveted souls such as this. That purity was the only thing that glowed so clearly at the point of death and it had no place in Hell.
He looked deeper, seeking whatever may have earned her damnation and found nothing. She’d made mistakes, true, but at the core of them all was the desire to love and be loved. Surely there was no sin in seeking affection. The thought plucked a chord of pain in his own heart. Was everyone not deserving of love?
There was a nudge from the Heavens, reminding him of his duty. This assignment is very important. It falls on you to do the right thing.
But what was the right thing?
A tear slipped from the corner of the woman’s eye. He knew the only thing keeping her alive was his hesitation to take the soul from her body.
The man who’d followed her from the club stood and looked around quickly. His mind projected his fear of discovery and the need to flee. Dominicus could see the shadow of a soul hovering over the man’s body like a film of soot and ash. Ah, yes. This was evil. Dominicus could see inside him, see his lust, his hunger for violence. He could see the faces of others he’d drugged and raped, of one who had died after ingesting his poisons. He could see this woman was tonight’s intended victim.
It falls on you to do the right thing.
The right thing was suddenly so clear.
Reaching out, he took hold of the edge of evil shrouding the man’s form and pulled. The human spasmed, his face a mask of shock and horror, as the soul ripped free with an unearthly scream of pain. If ever there was something vile enough to be worthy of Hell’s minions, surely this was it.
The man fell, dead before his body hit the ground, and Dominicus took flight.
With powerful strokes of his wings, he entered the lower realm. Hellfire’s dull red glow gleamed off the waiting demons’ reptilian scales as the catlike creatures paced behind the blackened gate. He barely spared them a glance before throwing the putrid soul to them. It shrieked and the demons leapt, swarming over it and dragging it farther into Hell. He didn’t stop to mourn the soul this night. He barely took time to notice the stench of decay or the wash of heat over his body. Getting back to the girl was his only concern. The muscles of his back and wings burned and his heart pounded. He had to go faster, to get to the girl before one of the devil’s minions could wander to the scene and claim her. He couldn’t lose her.
Approaching the nightclub once more, Dominicus took in the chaos of the panicked crowd. Some fled the scene, anxious to get away before the police arrived. The ones who remained milled in confusion, fear and morbid curiosity.
Dominicus spotted a black and tan puppy sniffing the woman’s toes and fought to fly faster. He landed beside the dying woman with a shout, startling the hound.
“Begone! You have no business here,” he snapped, leaning in to cover the barely living human with one wing.
“You think not?” The pup cocked its head to one side and its eyebrows quirked as
it studied him. Evil in the guise of innocence.
“I know it. Your master has his prize and there is nothing else for you here.”
“Oh, but you are wrong,” the demon answered, its mouth dropping open in a doggie grin. “The soul you took to the master was already his. The prize is still there, clinging to its mortal body. You, of all beings, should understand the value a pure heart such as this holds for Lucifer. He wants it.”
He did know. There was power in purity. Demons had no power of their own, could not recover their strength without taking from another. This soul would be a gluttonous feast for creatures accustomed to the fouled souls of the unclean.
“Your master’s wants mean nothing to me. The woman now lives and shall continue to do so. Now go! Back to your master. I banish you from this place.” He swung his arm at the dog and it scurried out of reach.
“I’ll go, but your power is limited, angel. You can’t protect her forever. We were promised this girl and we will have her.” The hound gave the girl one last glance, then turned and trotted away, disappearing into an alleyway as the strobe of police lights turned the corner. Dominicus watched heavy hearted as the demon departed. The echoes of her spirit were familiar. He wondered if he would soon be like her; an angel Fallen from Heaven, damned to Hell.
He couldn’t let that happen to him.
His attention returned to the woman. Her breathing had stopped and he could see her soul beginning to lift from her body. Laying a hand over her chest, he used his power to push the spirit back into her and pin it there. She would live until he could find another, less obvious place to tend to her.
Dominicus once more used some of his precious stores of power to distract the agitated crowd, to divert attention away from what he was doing. Once he took her from this place no one would remember what had happened to her.
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