The Darkest Passion lotu-6

by Gena Showalter

  “Of course I do, but that doesn’t mean… We can’t…Damn this!” He snaked the corner, stalked down the hall and practically kicked his door from its hinges. He set Legion on her feet and backed out of the chamber. “Take anything of mine you want, just get dressed.” He didn’t wait for her reply, but shut the door with a firm snap and whirled on Olivia. “Tell me about her deal with Lucifer.”

  Drop to your knees…

  “No!” One step, two, she backed away from him.

  “Olivia,” Aeron said, scowling. “Stop.”

  Kiss him, then…somewhere, anywhere…

  Her attention fell to his lips, and she licked her own. A kiss, so innocent. So necessary. Must…resist…

  “Stop that,” he barked again.

  She gulped. “Stop what?” Beyond the door, she could hear Legion stomping around, tossing things to the floor and muttering about “stupid angels.”

  “One, denying my command and two, trying to seduce me.”

  “Why would I try to seduce you? It’s not like you’re any good at the actual bedding.” The moment the words escaped her, she plastered her hand over her mouth. Truly. How was this happening? she wondered again. That hadn’t been her taunt, but the voice’s.

  Aeron bristled. “Not good? I gave you an orgasm the first time we…just the first time, damn it!”

  Her eyes widened as realization struck. Another danger the voice presented: she liked the results. Aeron barely had a leash on his anger, and the thought of him out of control, determined to prove just how good he was at pleasing her, thrilled her.

  Resist? Perhaps that wasn’t such a good idea.

  Really? Well, if that’s the case, Aeron will fall for the voice, not you. Is that what you want? Finally. Rational thought. Thought that cracked through some of the darkness, allowing light to seep inside.

  “What are you going to do about your little demon friend in there?” she asked him, returning to the only subject that mattered at the moment.

  Aeron scrubbed a hand down his suddenly tired expression. He’d been doing that a lot lately. “I don’t know what to do about her.”

  “To make a bargain of this magnitude, she would’ve had to promise something huge.”

  “Like what?”

  Olivia shrugged. “Only she knows the answer to that. Well, and Lucifer, but I guarantee he won’t tell us.”

  “How do you know she bargained with Lucifer rather than Hades? And does the bargainer matter?”

  “Yes, the bargainer matters, but Hades is currently locked away and incapable of making such deals, so you don’t have to worry about him.” When the Titans escaped their immortal prison and overthrew the Greeks all those months ago, Hades had been included in their number. Lucifer, though, the Titans had left alone. Someone needed to be in charge of the underworld, she supposed. Even someone as vile as the devil, the creator of evil. Better him than the insane Hades, though.

  Rub your body against his…

  “Enough!” Any more of this, and she was going to bang her head into the wall until she passed out. No more darkness, no matter how much she liked the results. “I’m not going to do it, even though I want to, so you can just hush.”

  Aeron tossed up his arms, a man who’d said goodbye to the last of his patience. “Do what?”

  “Never mind. Just, well, until you know more about Legion’s end of the bargain, I wouldn’t trust her. She could have shared secrets, promised to kill one of your friends.”

  He shook his head, suddenly confident. “She wouldn’t do that. She loves me.”

  His faith in a conniving demon was irritating. Why couldn’t he feel that way about Olivia, a former angel who never, ever lied? Why did he constantly try to push her away?

  The bedroom door swung open, and Aeron stumbled backward. Legion caught him with a husky laugh. He quickly straightened and turned. She was wearing one of his T-shirts and a pair of his sweatpants and both bagged on her.

  “Happy now?” she asked, twirling on her tiptoes. “This is…all I could find. But you know…what the funny thing is? I still…look good.” In her exuberance, the hesitant pauses returned to her speech.

  He backed away from her and into Olivia. Olivia flattened her palms on his shoulder blades to keep him from running, her heart picking up speed. Contact.

  “Olivia and I have to go into town. You’re going to stay here. And I mean it this time. Do not go anywhere. I need to talk to you when I return.”

  Her siren’s smile quickly faded. “What! No. Hell, no. I’m going…with you.”

  “You’re staying, and there’ll be no arguing about it.”

  Expression petulant, she stomped her foot. “Why are you…taking the ugly angel then?”

  I’m not ugly!

  “I need her,” was all Aeron said, but there was steel in his voice. Boiling steel.

  Breath hissed between Legion’s teeth as she leveled her gaze on Olivia, who was still peeking around Aeron’s side. There was more hate in those eyes than Olivia had ever seen. “Touch him, and I’ll…kill you. Under…stand?” The more intense her emotions, the more trouble she had speaking, it seemed.

  “You will not harm her.” Without pivoting an inch, Aeron wrapped a hard arm around Olivia’s waist, his fingers digging into her lower back. “There’ll be no more threats. Do you understand? I won’t tolerate it.”

  Legion pressed her lips together, and a moment passed in silence. Then she smiled. A forced, too-sweet smile. “Any…thing you say, Aeron. I love you and…only want you happy.”

  A lie. Olivia heard it in the undercurrents of the demon’s voice. Not about the demon’s love for Aeron, but about her promise to leave Olivia alone. She would have to be on guard, for she’d seen demons at work and knew firsthand how insidious they were, how much destruction they could wreak.

  “Try,” she said, and whether the challenge came from her or that tempting voice, she didn’t know. Didn’t care just then. “Because I plan to do a lot more than simply touch him.” Truth.

  Aeron swung around, pinning her in place with his probing stare. His pupils were dilated, just as they’d been before he’d kissed her back at Gilly’s, his chest moving up and down as if he couldn’t quite catch his breath. “Not. Another. Word. From. Either. Of. You,” he gritted out.

  Kiss him…

  For once, she didn’t resist. Darkness be damned, she closed the distance between them, rose on her tiptoes and planted her lips against his. Legion needed to know Olivia was just as determined as she was to win this man. To have him in every way imaginable.

  Her tongue pushed inside his mouth, but only briefly. Only long enough for a taste. He opened up, clearly wanting more, which surprised her and heightened her desire, but she forced herself to straighten and spin away.

  “Come, Aeron,” she said. “We have things to do. Together.” Without a backward glance at either Aeron or the now-cursing Legion, she strolled away as if she didn’t dread facing the rest of the day.

  CHAPTER SIXTEEN

  “I CAN’T SEE ANYTHING,” Aeron whispered an hour later. “It’s too dark.” An unnatural darkness, at that. There wasn’t a speck of light, and the flashlight he’d brought with him highlighted nothing, merely disappearing into the yawning thickness of gloom.

  “The night Lysander appeared to me, he told me I would remain an angel in all the ways that mattered until my time expired,” Olivia said. “I think I can—”

  “Shh. Inside voice.” He didn’t want her to become a target. In fact, the thought enraged him, but he only had himself to blame. He shouldn’t have brought her here, whether Nightmares was a threat or not. He just—he hadn’t wanted to leave her within striking distance of Legion. Or touching distance of Torin. And he had promised to show Olivia the harsh realities of his life.

  I’m such a fool. A fool drowning in a storm of his own making. Desire for Olivia—check, that hadn’t lessened. Had only grown. A jealous, bloodthirsty pseudo-daughter determined to end his angel—check.
A vow to convince said angel to return home—check, even though he now hated himself for that vow. Send her away, never knowing how she fared? Torture!

  “She’s sleeping,” Olivia said, and that, too, was stated at top volume.

  “She can awaken,” he gritted out. He’d never minded the dark, but as he inched down the steps and felt his way along the walls of Scarlet’s home, which just happened to be an underground crypt in the local cemetery, bumping into—furniture? coffins?—and having no idea what waited ahead, the possibility of leading Olivia into slaughter caused tendrils of fear to blend with his rage. How could he protect her like this?

  “She won’t awaken, I promise. Anyway. As my time has not yet expired, maybe I can…”

  As Olivia’s words trailed off, he stopped, pivoted. She knocked into him and humphed. Even though he’d felt her only briefly, he savored the contact. Soft, warm. Exhilarating. That’s all his body needed to ready itself. Again.

  Mine, Wrath said.

  I know. You’ve told me. Over and freaking over again. And Aeron had let him, had stopped caring. Because…No. Don’t go there.

  A moment passed in silence, their breathing the only sound. The air was musty, thick with age, dust and death, but he would’ve been content to wait here forever. Here, she was safe. Here, they were together.

  “Can what?” he finally prompted.

  “This.” Pinpricks of light flickered.

  He blinked, rubbed his eyes. Those pinpricks were actually sparking off her skin, he realized, blending together and growing in intensity. Growing so much she was soon chasing away the shadows and his eyes were tearing.

  “How—”

  Slowly she grinned, her beautiful face illuminated, shining like the purest star, those dark lashes framing those sky-blue eyes. He could have kissed the breath right out of her. Don’t you dare. But now that he knew her taste, now that he’d felt her rub against him, how was he supposed to resist?

  Legion. Lysander. Freedom.

  Oh, yeah. He could have cursed.

  “Humans were sometimes trapped in darkness, and I had to show them the way out.” Olivia shifted from one foot to the other, and motioned behind him with a tilt of her chin. “Scarlet is just around the corner. I can sense her.”

  “Thank you.” Motions stiff, Aeron forced himself to turn away. His eyes immediately mourned the loss of her.

  Wrath, too, howled in protest.

  Calm. We’re still with her. Aeron led his charge down the correct dirt path and soon found himself standing in a makeshift bedroom. Pikes sprung from several places in the floor, gleaming sharply and anchored firmly by concrete. Between them were trip wires, and at the far end of the room, guarded by the entire fun zone, was a coffin.

  Why a coffin? Because she could close herself in for better protection? Smart woman, if so.

  He palmed a blade and closed the distance, dodging those pikes. Olivia stayed close to his heels, every step measured.

  “Careful,” he muttered. “Stay behind me.” He flipped open the lid, halfway expecting a fight.

  Nope. As Olivia had promised, Scarlet slept peacefully, completely unaware of his intrusion. He studied her. Silky black hair framed her seemingly delicate face. She hadn’t looked delicate before, when she’d cornered him in that alley. Her lashes were longer than he’d realized, like feathered fans reaching for her cheekbones. She had a small nose, and her lips were redder than before.

  She wore a T-shirt and jeans, both black, and weapons were strapped all over her body. She didn’t disarm, even to sleep. Interesting. Even he removed his blades before crawling into bed. He kept them nearby, of course, but not on him.

  Relaxing, his gaze shifted. The walls were dirt, just like the floor, and there were blades peeking from several locations. Anyone who fell, either into the wall or onto the floor, would tumble straight to their death.

  Nightmares could have placed traps at the doorway or even on the steps leading down here, but hadn’t. Why? Perhaps she’d known the unerring gloom would frighten most people—most innocents—away. But the ones who persisted, the ones who kept going, would clearly have more sinister intentions. Perhaps those were the only people she wanted to hurt.

  If that were the case, that would mean she killed discriminately. That would mean there was a line she wouldn’t cross. Or perhaps she just liked the kills to be made nearby, so that the first thing she would see when she awoke was blood and death.

  Either way, the woman was serious about protecting herself.

  He almost hoped she would rouse and attack him. He needed a battle. His nerves were on edge and bloodshed would have calmed him. Too many things were happening, changing. Too many things were going wrong.

  Baden’s demon finding a new host, thanks to Galen. Discovering Cronus and Rhea were possessed. Everything with Olivia, of course, and her naughty clothes and searing kisses, with her irresistible suggestions (just then, he almost missed the voice) and her attempted seduction of another man, all of which were like matches on the kindling of his arousal. And jealousy. And anger.

  Yes, he needed to kill someone today.

  And if all of that wasn’t enough to deal with, Legion looked at him the way he wanted Olivia to look at him. She’d made a pact with the creator of evil, and she’d blatantly lied to him about it. There at the end, just before leaving her behind, there’d been no more deluding himself about that. Sly determination had practically poured off her.

  What was he going to do about her? How was he supposed to handle her? He still loved her like a daughter, still planned to keep her in his life. No way would he abandon her. There just…there had to be a solution.

  Don’t think about that now. You have a job to do. The job. Right. So. Back to Scarlet, the problem at hand. Did Galen know about her?

  “She used to live in a church,” Olivia said guiltily, before he could tell her they needed to leave. “But that didn’t work out for her.”

  Why the guilt? Because she’d led him here? Probably. Careful. He couldn’t let her guilt spark his own. “I believe I asked you to be quiet.”

  “I told you. She’s not going to wake up.”

  “How do you know?” Silly question. Olivia knew everything, it sometimes seemed. Which meant Sabin was going to love her. Information was the man’s best friend. Thank Olivia’s One True Deity she would be gone before the warrior returned. Aeron would hate to have to stab his friend for interrogating his woman.

  At the thought, Wrath chortled with glee.

  Well, maybe he wouldn’t hate stabbing the warrior. He owed Sabin, after all. And she’s not your woman! “Never mind. It doesn’t matter. We have to hurry before we run into other visitors.”

  “Like who?”

  “Like Hunters.”

  “Oh.”

  Aeron might have craved a battle with Nightmares, but not with Galen’s army. He didn’t want Olivia involved in something like that. He’d show her the horrors of his life another way. From a safe distance.

  Scarlet’s crypt was a good distance from The Asylum, so that was a point in their favor.

  “—so dark,” an unfamiliar voice suddenly said, the words echoing from the concrete steps above and reaching into the small enclosure.

  “My flashlight’s not working.”

  “I can’t see anything.”

  “Just keep inching forward, damn it.”

  Well, hell. This day could indeed get worse. Hunters were here, just as he’d feared. Had someone followed him? Used the Cloak of Invisibility?

  Was someone watching him, threatening his woman, even now?

  Aeron’s hands curled into fists. He scanned the crypt anew, but saw nothing out of place. He glanced at Olivia, who was still glowing but frowning now. Next he glanced at Scarlet, who was still sleeping. After that, the doorway.

  That dark, open space was the only way out of here. And to reach it, they’d have to run straight through the humans. The most likely armed humans.

  Those humans cou
ldn’t see through the darkness, but then, Aeron wouldn’t be able to, either, without Olivia’s light. But with her light, everyone would be able to see everyone else.

  There was only one thing to do. Only one option that kept Olivia safe.

  Aeron slapped a blade into her hand. “Keep it pressed to the girl’s throat,” he whispered. “If she moves even a little, don’t hesitate to cut her.”

  Not giving her a chance to reply, he gripped Olivia by the waist and hefted her into the coffin beside Scarlet. The sleeping female remained exactly as she was, but Olivia gasped. Immediately he clamped a hand over her mouth and shook his head. She gulped in fear, but nodded that she understood what he wanted of her. Silence.

  “Kill the light.”

  Again she nodded, and the glow of her skin washed out…dimmed…then disappeared completely. The shadows must have been waiting for just such an occurrence because they raced forward, enclosing every inch of space with that suffocating gloom.

  “Shit! Watch where you’re going.”

  “Sorry.”

  The voices were closer.

  Big as Aeron was, he knew he wouldn’t fit inside the coffin to act as Olivia’s shield. Not without crushing her. Instead, he flattened his hand on her shoulder—or what he’d thought was her shoulder. He jerked that now-burning hand away because he’d actually cupped her beautiful breast. And her nipple had instantly pearled.

  Mine. Protect.

  Careful this time, he aimed higher. Shoulder. Good. Trembling. Not good. That meant she was as overcome—and distracted—by the mistake as he was. Or afraid. He preferred the thought of her overcome.

  Clearly, he was the distracted one. Jolting back into motion, he pressed her to lie down and stay still. Thankfully, she didn’t resist. Whether she did as he’d commanded and placed the tip of the blade at Scarlet’s throat, he didn’t know. Just to be safe, he angled his other hand over Nightmares’s…face. Good. She was still motionless, her breath trekking onto his skin, warm, even.

  He hadn’t seen any traps around the coffin itself, so he inched his way to the front end, away from the corridor’s entryway. Not once did he remove his touch from either woman. He wanted Olivia to know he was here, that he would guard her. Always. He would have closed the lid, but wanted access in case the girl did, in fact, awaken.