“I’ve made my choice.” Simeon marched over to me and grabbed my hands.
I jerked them away. “I’m not going to do it, Simeon. I can’t.”
“You must, Abigail. Think of Judd and Kaleb.”
“That’s not fair. What...” My voice broke in a sob, and unexpected tears broke free and slid down my cheeks. I swiped them away and started again in a whisper. “What if you don’t come back? What if I lose you forever?”
“Oh, sweetheart.” He cupped my face and pulled me to him. “It makes me happy to hear you still want me despite all that has happened. I’ll do everything in my power to come back to you. It won’t be forever. A few months at most.”
I rested my hands on his waist. Was he lying to me? I couldn’t tell. All I read in his expression was a sense of urgency.
Malakai cleared his throat. “This is all very touching, but the clock is ticking. Tick tock. Tick tock. It’s you or them, son.”
Simeon moved in closer and kissed my ear. “Trust me, love.” He reached down with one hand and twined his fingers with mine.
“What will happen to you?”
“I’ll be fine. When I come back, you’ll see.”
I didn’t believe for one second that he wouldn’t suffer. What was Hell without misery? My heart pounded frantically, and my entire body trembled. How could I say goodbye to him? What choice did I have? To die and take Judd and Kaleb with me? Or to deport Simeon, and pray his trip wouldn’t be fatal.
If there was a chance we could all live...
“Promise me you’ll come back to me, Simeon. Please.”
His lips traveled along my jaw and then pressed into mine. Soft and tender, he kissed me, calming me, giving me hope that everything would be okay when I knew down deep it wouldn’t.
Not for Simeon.
He tugged my resistant hand up. No. I couldn’t let him leave yet.
I forced myself to break away from his lips. “It wasn’t supposed to be like this.”
He gave me a weak smile and touched his forehead to mine. “I love you, Abigail. Remember that.”
I wanted to say something in return. Anything to show him how much he meant to me. But all I could do was watch as he lifted my thumb to his chest...next to the other two thumbprints I’d branded on him. I’d been doing my job, something I’d never thought twice about before. Now guilt ate at my gut. Now I regretted ever thinking the man before me was anything but good.
“Five...” Malakai started counting down. “Four... Three... Two...”
“Forgive me,” I sobbed and pressed my thumb to his skin.
Chapter Twenty-Five
From yellow to a searing red, the tiny imprint on his chest transformed, telling me the process had begun.
Snow melted at our feet as the heat rose from the ground and wrapped around our bodies. I gulped down and looked up at Simeon.
“I’m so sorry,” I said.
“This isn’t your fault, Abigail.”
I’d never heard him use that tone. Was it fear? Worry?
“But please do me a favor and turn away. I don’t want you to watch.”
Oh, God. What had I done? I wanted to apologize again and again, but what good would it do? The Hell Spirits couldn’t be stopped once they began. Could they?
The smoky entity rose from the perfect circle of now dry, gravelly dirt and climbed our joined bodies. I refused let go. Despite his request, I gripped tightly to his forearms and pressed my lower half as close to him as possible. Maybe if I tried I could stop them. I hadn’t ever attempted it before.
Maybe if I held on to him they’d take me too. We could go through this together.
And come back together.
The familiar swirling cloud tunneled above our heads, like a tornado. I’d seen it so many times. Never had it seemed this ominous and threatening. It whipped our hair around, black and copper twining together and blinding me at moments, but I kept my attention planted directly on Simeon. He wasn’t going anywhere if I had anything to say about it.
“Abby!” Judd yelled over the sound of the howling wind.
He was awake. Good. He and Kaleb could flee, and I wouldn’t feel guilty for leaving them behind.
“Let go of him!”
Simeon jolted forward, pushing up against me. I stumbled until I could grab his slumping shoulders and steady us both. It was apparent the Spirits had entered him. Veins of red crept over the whites of his bloodshot eyes, and his breathing became ragged.
I held on to him, but I worried I wasn’t feeling the same effects as he was. Wouldn’t they enter me too? This was my doing, and I couldn’t allow him to suffer on his own.
“Please, Abigail.” Simeon’s voice was strained. Painful. “Turn away.”
His face paled to a sickly jaundiced color before my eyes. Dark blue streaks zigzagged from his hairline, down his cheeks to his pursed mouth, where blackened blood seeped through.
Without warning, Judd grabbed my shoulders and yanked me back and away. “You have to let him go, Abby.”
I struggled to squirm out of Judd’s grasp as the Spirits disbanded from the funnel in the sky and fully encompassed Simeon with their fingerlike tendrils. He fell to his knees, a horrifying groan broke from his purple-tinted lips.
Judd jerked stubbornly at my arms. “Damn it, Abby. You shouldn’t watch.”
“I don’t want to watch. I want to go with him, damn it. Let me go, Judd.”
With strength I didn’t know Judd had, he spun me around and wrapped his arms around me with an overpowering hug. “No fucking way are you going anywhere, honey. Not without me. You got it?”
A hot gust of air whipped through the sky and sounded like the snaps of multiple wet towels. Simeon’s painful groan followed by complete silence squashed any hope I had left. He was gone. The Hell Spirits had taken him.
Because of me.
I collapsed against Judd. My lungs were heavy against my chest, but I couldn’t seem to relieve them. I couldn’t breathe at all. What had I done? And how the heck would I fix it? There was no way I could sit back and let Simeon languish in Hell when he’d done nothing wrong.
Judd rubbed my back and kissed my forehead. “It’s okay,” he said. “Just breathe.”
Malakai’s evil snickers pulled me back to the situation at hand. Now we would find out if he would stick to his part of the bargain. Yeah, right. Simeon’s deportation may have been for naught.
I finally released a breath, wiped any tears that had spilled, and turned to face the demon. He smiled at me, his teeth entirely too straight and reflecting white against the moonlight. Asshole. I squelched the urge to run over to him and knock those teeth out of his skull.
“Amusing show, Angel pet.” He clapped teasingly. The demon minions, including Eli, laughed until he put up a hand for them to quiet. “Simeon was a fool. Now maybe he will learn his lesson.”
I dug my fingernails into the palm of my hand and burrowed my heels into the snow to keep from attacking. “You’re the one who needs to learn a lesson, you monster. Simeon is your flesh and blood. How could you do this to him?”
“Whatever are you talking about? I didn’t do a thing.”
Kaleb, still held captive by Freddie, bent over and vomited. He must’ve watched his uncle’s deportation. Shit. Freddie released him, allowing him to fall to his knees.
I started to go to him, but Judd braced a hand on my shoulder. “You got what you wanted, Malakai. We’ll take the human and leave now.”
Malakai snickered again. “Angels never change. So trusting and so very naïve.”
“Sir,” Cesar said. “It’s much too risky for us to stay here any longer. You should not have sent Freddie and Victor for the human without your protection. I warned you their MOG would find us.”
My ears perked up. Why hadn’t I thought of that? MOG surely would’ve been able to view Kaleb’s capture without Malakai present. An Angel rescue squad was most likely on the way.
Way to muck up your evil fest, boys.
; Hopefully we could outnumber the demons and overcome Malakai.
“Cesar, must you be so cowardly? Your whining is grinding at my last nerve. Leave if you must. I have business to attend to.” Malakai’s gaze drifted up and down my body .
Judd maneuvered in front of me and crossed his arms against his chest, so all I could see was his broad back. Nice thought, macho man, but I wanted to see what was going on. I stepped beside him and gripped his biceps. The show was just beginning.
Cesar ran a nervous hand over his blond mane of hair. It wouldn’t hurt him to take a How to Manage Your Dumbass Leader 101 course. It appeared the Fabio look-alike was the brains behind the evil, yet he had absolutely no control.
“Sir,” he began again. “I fear this mission has become too personal for you. Please take my counsel and―”
Malakai pointed his dagger at Cesar. “Simeon’s insolence was contagious, was it?”
“No.” Cesar held up his hands in surrender. “Of course not, sir.”
“Then do as I say and shut up, or I’ll have the Angel deport you as well.”
I’d gladly send all their sorry asses back to Hell. If only to even the score. What I wouldn’t give to avenge Simeon and protect Judd and Kaleb.
Cesar lowered his head and cowered. Wimp.
“What now?” I asked. “An Angel rescue team is close. I can feel them,” I lied, surprisingly well. “They’re coming in a large group. Aren’t you frightened? Don’t you want to run before it’s too late?” Again, I had no idea who or what was coming but I thought I’d give it a shot.
Malakai’s lips thinned. “I suppose I’ll have to hurry then.” He waved his fingers, gesturing for me to come closer.
And damn it if my body didn’t respond. My legs moved under me as if they had a mind of their own.
“Abby, what the hell are you doing?”
“It’s not me.” I tried to drop to the ground to keep from moving, but my body stiffened up.
I heard Judd walking up behind me, and I noticed Kaleb jump to his feet from the corner of my eye.
“Stay back,” I said. “I can handle this.”
Just as soon as I get my body under control.
I should’ve guessed Judd would ignore me. He grabbed my arm to stop me and was greeted with the infamous stab to the gut. He keeled over, falling to his knees.
“Fuck. Shit. Fuck. Fuck. Fuck.” At least he could still talk. “Goddamn you, Malakai.”
Malakai laughed. “Believe me, Angel, God has been damning me for as long as I have walked this earth. Now silence yourself!”
“Fuck―” Judd’s words were suddenly muffled.
“You’d better not have hurt him,” I said, trying desperately to look over my shoulder.
“I have not even begun to hurt the Angel. However a muzzle will do him some good.”
A muzzle. Okay. That wasn’t too bad, but it was probably infuriating Judd.
I stopped directly in front of him. Despite the cold air, sweat rolled off my temples and down my neck. I’d never worked so hard to fight back. And it irritated the heck out of me that my thumb was so close to his chest, yet I was powerless to do anything about it.
He showed me his nauseatingly white smile again. Fine. As long as I didn’t have to look into those familiar silver eyes.
“Honestly,” Malakai said, brushing his smooth hand down my cheek. “I don’t have a clue what Simeon saw in you. You aren’t the least bit attractive.”
“Thanks,” I managed to say. Any insult from a demon was a compliment in my book.
“You seemed quite fond of him. He fucked you well, did he?”
I didn’t bother to respond, but Judd murmured loudly behind me.
Malakai ran the dagger along the strap to my chemise. “Simeon never had any taste when it came to women.”
“Leave her alone,” Kaleb said, fear clearly shaking his voice.
Malakai let out an annoyed sigh. “Silence him, please.”
I heard a struggle to my right, but I couldn’t turn my head to see what had happened.
Please, God, just give me some movement back, so I can send this Hell spawn back where he belongs before he hurts Kaleb or Judd. I swear I’ll be good from now on. I’ll even give up sex.
Nothing.
And cheesecake?
Still nothing.
Damn.
Malakai jerked the dagger up, cutting the strap. Silk slinked down my chest. I couldn’t see how much I was revealing, but I could feel the cold air bite into my breast. He licked his lips and put his hand on me.
“Don’t touch me,” I warned.
More murmuring from Judd.
He laughed again and pinched my nipple hard. “No, Simeon was blinded by something other than beauty when he saw you, of that I am certain.”
My shoulders twitched. My wings were screaming to break free. Heck, every nerve in my body was working overtime just to move a quarter inch on its own accord.
He brought the dagger up to the strap on my left shoulder.
“Sir,” Cesar said.
The dagger cut through the silk, and my chemise fell to my waist. “But a pussy is a pussy, and I cannot say I blame him for wanting to sample an Angel’s.”
Extra loud murmuring from Judd.
“Sir,” Cesar said again. “They are close.”
Malakai inhaled a breath. “Not close enough.”
My pinky finger curled up in my hand, and I realized I’d moved it. Yes! It was a small achievement, but at the moment, I’d take anything. Now to keep him busy until the rest of me decided to cooperate.
“Has anyone ever told you you’re creepy?”
The tip of the jagged blade slid slowly down between my breasts.
“Handsome, charming, well endowed? Yes. Creepy?” He licked his lips again. “Never.”
All five of my fingers were free. I squelched a smile. His little spell on me was fading, and I was pretty damn sure he had no idea.
My wrist broke free next.
“Simeon must’ve avoided that gene,” I said, feeling the dagger work its way back up. “He wasn’t creepy in the least.”
“Simeon was a pansy. He deserves whatever punishment the Lord of Hell gives him.”
Two hands and an elbow were free. Should I use them to slap his smug face or wait to tackle him down and deport him? Shoot. A slap would feel great, but I’d better be patient.
I finally gathered the courage to meet his eyes. “Simeon is what you could only hope to be.”
“You talk too much, my pet.” He traced the cold, steel blade along my lower lip and then sliced the corner of my mouth with it. Blood trickled down my chin and pooled by my tongue. “See what you made me do. I shall cut your tongue out next if you mention his name again.”
Try it, asshole. Both my arms were completely mobile. And Judd’s murmuring was a little more discernible. I could make out every other curse word. Weird. What was happening?
“Sir!” Cesar yelled.
Malakai looked at something behind my shoulder and winced. He spun me around and held me to his chest, pressing the blade to my throat.
“Well, hello, Isabelle. I wasn’t expecting you.”
Isabelle? All I could see was MOG. No Angel rescue team, no other Angels at all. Just MOG. She walked out from the thickness of the forest and onto the plain beyond where Judd knelt.
Wait. I guessed MOGs had first names too. I’d never thought to ask. My bad. Isabelle, huh? I always thought she looked like a Summer or Sunflower or some other hippy name. But Isabelle was cool too.
She had on her usual tie-dye T-shirt and ripped jeans. Her cheeks and nose were rosy, and strings of hair strayed from her bandana. She looked so tiny and harmless.
Not to mention fragile. Inadequate. Powerless. Pointless.
Shit. What was she thinking coming here by herself?
“Malakai,” she said, perching her tiny hands on her waist. “I see you’re holding a knife to one of my Angels. I don’t like it.”
&nbs
p; “And?” Was Malakai shaking? He readjusted his grip on my shoulders, just above my naked breasts.
How humiliating was this?
MOG, er, Isabelle, rolled her eyes at him. “I see you haven’t gotten any smarter over the years.” She averted her attention to Kaleb, who was on the ground motionless. “You’ve harmed a human. I don’t like that at all.”
“Is he alive?” I asked. Please let him be okay.
MOG laid her hand on Judd’s shoulder. “Go see to the human, please. The demons won’t bother you.”
Judd jumped to his feet and obeyed, his blue eyes slit almost shut, glaring at Malakai all the while. Sure enough, Freddie stepped back, allowing Judd to assess Kaleb. He checked for his pulse and his breathing.
“He’s alive.”
I blew out a gush of air, and the tip of the blade pricked my neck. I stiffened. How quickly my life could be taken from me. Yes, superficial wounds healed pretty quickly. But a jab to the jugular would most likely do the deed. Who was I kidding? It would definitely kill me.
I wasn’t ready to die.
I’ll admit I’m not the best Angel, but the little voice inside my head told me I had a lot to live for. And, damn it, I wanted to believe it.
Chapter Twenty-Six
“Drop the knife, Malakai,” MOG said. She took a few steps closer, and the blade pierced deeper into my skin.
I let in shallow breaths and didn’t dare say a peep, knowing any movement on my part would mean certain death.
Any second now, I was expecting an army of Angels to jump out from behind the hundreds of snow-powdered trees that towered around us. The avenging Angels would bombard the demons and rip the knife from Malakai’s hands, and I’d be free.
Any second now. Yep.
Isabelle-MOG was deemed the Messenger of God for a reason, right? She was smart, right? She wouldn’t come out here alone and simply demand Satan’s Senior Servant and his band of idiot brothers to surrender. Cause that would be insane.
Right?
Someone would have to be high on dope to do that. Ha! What a jokester I was.
MOG’s eyes—which seemed clear and sober, by the way—left Malakai and settled on me. She blinked and tilted her cute little head, as if expecting something to happen. As if expecting me to do something.
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