“I have useful assets.” Juliet turned toward Zaiden, crossing her arms across her chest.
Zaiden’s gaze slid over her in a suggestive manner. “Honey, I know you do, but Kasadya isn’t looking for a good lay.”
“Just like a man… and a Nephilim it seems, if you can’t take the heat you try to degrade and belittle. Listen, I’ve been running the show for almost ten years here and have kept off the radar from your preternatural goons. I have a weapon. A damn good one, with a nice pointy end to it.” She grabbed her purse on the couch.
“Oh, by all means take your time presenting this weapon of destruction.” Zaiden waved his hand.
Juliet ignored the chuckles. Her hand clasped the yew hilted dagger and brought it out. The looks on their faces gave her the impression of what it must have felt like to Arthur when he pulled the sword from the stone.
Gideon’s ruddy brows rose high on his forehead.
“Well, bloody hell, that’s Raziel’s dagger. An Archangel’s weapon has powerful mojo.” Blaize said, his eyes turning a dark violet, erasing all signs of red from existence.
Sarice moved from the edge of the couch to take a closer look. “Can’t deny a gal a good demon fight when she has the right party favors,” Sarice said meeting Juliet’s gaze with a nod.
Good, she had Sarice’s approval.
Zaiden growled, his fangs showing as he did so. The Watcher had serious issues of playing nice with others, but being a Guard of Judgment, the assassin for the preternatural world, she had a hunch he preferred to work alone. But finally he relented. “Fine. You’ll go with us, but you’ll listen to my commands. Is that understood?”
“You won’t regret this.”
“I already do.” He strode toward Owen. He clasped the boy’s shoulder. “I’ll take him. Blaize, you take Juliet, and keep it respectful,” he added. “If we get Lucca out alive, I don’t want to deal with an irate mate.”
Blaize’s lips slid into a grin as he looked at Juliet. “Don’t worry. You’re in good hands.”
“Just remember I have a dagger.”
Blaize gripped her forearm. “I like it rough, but I draw the line when the gal’s spoken for.”
With no more than a blink of an eye, Blaize shimmered, taking her on a ride through space and time. He stepped through the gauze-like veil, entering a world only imagined in dreams, darker and denser, but with exquisite detail like a masterpiece coming alive on a canvas.
Zaiden led the way up the long walkway where a medieval castle stood on a hill with the dark cloudless sky as a backdrop.
“I’ve stepped into the looking glass,” Juliet murmured.
Gideon moved beside her. “Come on, Alice, now that you’ve arrived in our world, let us show you around.”
Chapter Forty-Six
To ensure his cooperation, Lucca’s hands were secured with silver shackles attached to the floor. He had a hunch it also gave his captors the ability to smack him around without him being able to retaliate. Demons could be so selfish.
His healing powers from the glamour were kept at bay so he would feel every lash and fist slammed into his body. Real heavenly behavior from the Ex-Archangel, he thought sarcastically and chuckled. Could be the reason he landed his Seraphim arse in Hell. His cracked lips split opened as he smiled. The tangy copper of blood laced his tongue.
“Why, Lucca, if I didn’t know better I would believe you were enjoying your visit.” Kasadya crouched down in front of him, his black eyes searching his.
Kasadya had shimmered him to one of his lairs, not the pits of Hell, though this dungeon would soon become Lucca’s. He was on his own now. The brethren would not look for him. They believed he betrayed them before he’d been whisked away by Kasadya. His abandoning them in a fight would bring home the ruse. It didn’t matter. Juliet and Owen would be safe. Raziel’s book would remain hidden.
“Didn’t my father tell you how he entertained himself?” Lucca spat on the ground. “This is nothing compared to what I’ve endured before.”
Kasadya’s brows rose. “Your father enjoyed beating you, but as far as I can see his lessons didn’t help you in the least. You gave the Book of Raziel to the poet. Tell me where I can find him and your torment will end.”
He had no doubt it would. His death was probably already written in the tomes, but he would go with honor. “Like I told you before, I don’t know where the poet is. That’s how it works. I don’t know his real name or where he resides. I give him something and he disappears. He doesn’t tell me where he’s headed and I don’t ask.” The lies were spinning faster as he told the story of deception, but the part about not knowing where the book was hidden was the truth.
At Doug’s, when they all met, he confided to Eli about the book and arranged to give it to him. Lucca didn’t want to know the location of the hiding place Eli chose. He was the target. If captured, Lucca knew torture was a possibility, but he couldn’t give up what he didn’t know.
Kasadya’s low chuckle sent fear racing down his spine, but he didn’t look away. He wouldn’t falter. The condemned Archangel stood to his full height and strode toward the door of the cell. Lucca hoped the beatings were through for the night, but it seemed Kasadya had other plans. He left the door open then returned a few minutes later followed by another male.
Lucca sat up straight, his mouth going dry as the male came into full light.
“Hello, son.” He snapped the whip on the stone floor.
Lucca glanced at him with indifference, even though his insides had twisted his gut into a knot. He’d faced leagues of warriors on the battlefield, but the whip brought back the memories of the beatings he endured as a child, reducing him to the boy who wanted to win his father’s approval, but never could.
“Do you remember the day you saved the young girl in the plaza?” His father asked him.
Lucca stared ahead and didn’t answer. His heart beat wildly in his chest. Had his father figured out whom Raziel had sent through the portal? Did he know Juliet was the girl he had saved?
“If you had listened to me, you wouldn’t be here now. That girl, that human female caused all this. She was the key, the turning point that sent you on the road to betray me.” He shook his head and regret laced his words. “After you saved her from a sure death that day, I lost control. It was all her fault. She made me hurt you.”
Lucca yanked on his chains, wishing his father would step close enough for him to grab him by the throat. “She made you flay the skin off my back?” He should have remained quiet. He should have let it go.
“So you do remember.” His thin lips curved, contorting his handsome features into something sinister Lucca had seen depicted in paintings. Evil did exist, and he was its entertainment for the night.
Arizul paced, his wrist flicked the whip against the ground with a loud crack. Each lash a reminder of what was in store for him. “She was human,” he spat. “You couldn’t have her. I was trying to help you.” He looked at Lucca, his eyes pleading for him to understand his side of the story.
“I’m sorry, you were trying to help me. How exactly were you accomplishing that? You almost killed me.”
He waved his hand in dismissal as if the result of his beating had just been a slight misunderstanding. “I saw, Lucca. I witnessed your future. You can’t be with her. It’s wrong. The damned don’t have souls. The Watchers are making a terrible mistake trying to find soul mates. We’ll all be damned to roam the earth’s realm forever. We’ll never see Heaven again.”
Lucca blinked in disbelief. His father knew Juliet was his soul mate. How could he know this when he’d come to the realization only recently? But he did know. “You used the Book of Raziel.” He shook his head in disbelief. His father had seen his future, knew Juliet belonged with him.
“That’s how I knew the girl would be your downfall?” he hissed. “I used the portal, but it’s unpredictable and I couldn’t control where I landed. I couldn’t change events no matter how hard I tried.”
Arizul drew near then, taunting him. “Christopher Marlowe would have introduced her to you properly.”
Lucca’s eyes narrowed as the horror of his father’s confession took hold in vivid reality. “So you had Kit murdered because of it.”
“It was for your own good.”
“Yes, father. Do tell. All you’ve done for me has been for my own good. It was your fall from grace that began this horror. Your lies and your abuse were only afterthoughts. I could have done without your fatherly affection.”
Kasadya came into view clapping his hands in a methodical sarcastic display. Lucca forgot the Satan was in the room. “I do so love family gatherings. We’re not in church and this is not a confessional, Arizul. No one cares about your woes of trying to save your son. I want the book.”
Arizul took a step back as Kasadya drew closer. Sweat glistened his father’s forehead and he licked his lips nervously. His father feared the Satan. Lucca used to believe his father never feared anything.
“Do what you must,” Kasadya hissed. “Flay him, gut him, I don’t care, but you find out where he’s hidden the book or you’ll pay the price.”
“I will not disappoint you.” His father bowed.
“See that you don’t.” Kasadya whirled around, his long coat flying behind him as he left the room.
His father turned toward Lucca, his eyes cold and unyielding as Lucca remembered them to be.
“Let’s get reacquainted, shall we, son?”
Chapter Forty-Seven
Chaz listened to Zaiden’s plan with surprised interest. Being one of the appointed elders for the Grigori court, he would make the final decision if a covert operation would go into effect.
Zaiden wanted to hide Owen, the son of Raziel, at the Grigori Keep while his band of makeshift warriors went off to find Kasadya. The Satan governed hell’s minions that were worse than any nightmare and all damned difficult to kill. How did they think this plan would work?
Chaz gaze shifted to Juliet Romeo, a beautiful female in her own right. Her modern clothes of jeans and T-shirt did not take away from the regal air about her. She was a lady in her time, but carried the lethal grace of a born warrior. Chaz kept his wings folded behind him, but he knew this human didn’t fear what he was. “Why do you risk your life for Lucca?” he asked her.
The room fell silent as if everyone forgot to breathe. She looked him in the eye, another brave quality he admired about her. “I love him.”
Zaiden let out a groan, but Chaz silenced him with a lift of his hand. He approached her, wanting her to speak. “You love Lucca, a Nephilim who has been banished from here. His wings are bound. He’s been disgraced.”
She stood up straighter, this daughter of Eve. “Not in my eyes.”
Chaz’s lips curved. He paced in thought before speaking again. “Eli suspected Lucca found his soul mate, I was not so sure. What say you to that?” he halted his steps and faced her again, wishing to see her expressions, wanting to witness the truth in her eyes. “Is Lucca your soul mate, would you take him as yours?”
“I already have.” Judging by her don’t-mess-with-me stance, she told the truth.
Chaz glanced at Zaiden who rubbed his hand across his face as if he liked to clasp the hand over Juliet’s mouth to keep her silent. “Don’t look so worried, Zaiden. This isn’t an inquisition.”
“Bloody hell feels like it,” Blaize uttered his opinion under his breath.
Gideon elbowed him, but Chaz didn’t comment on the behavior. He looked at Juliet again. “And what of Lucca? Does he love you as well?”
“Yes.” Her nostrils flared as if his question had cast doubt and she didn’t like it. He pushed on anyway.
“No hesitation. You believe him. You don’t have doubt that he has betrayed you?”
“Sir… uh… Elder,” she corrected with impatience. “Lucca is my mate. End of story.” She yanked her T-shirt down to reveal the mark he left. “Now if we’re done with the questioning I’d like to get him back, and I do believe you owe him his wings too.”
“Do I?” His brows lifted high on his forehead. Along with all the other qualities, the female was brazen as well.
“Yes. His banishment was to atone for his lack of understanding and respect to his human side.”
“I’m impressed Lucca confessed his sins to you. He’s usually a private sort. Emotions are… well, alien to him.”
“He wanted me to know who he was, what he was, and accept him for him. I do,” she clasped her hands behind her back, her feet slightly spread apart, giving her the appearance of a soldier facing her superior. “I accept him, all of him, his good and his bad faults.”
“So you would take him even if he did not have his wings?” Chaz lifted one brow in question.
“I would take him any way he would come to me, but I know if you would grant it, he would be forever grateful to have his wings restored. He put his life on the line for me. The least I can do is petition on his behalf for you to give him back his wings.”
Chaz nodded, hearing her plea and liking what he heard. No human could love so deeply without the adoration being returned. Perhaps Lucca had indeed learned his lesson and had found his soul mate in the process. “So be it.” With a flick of his hand a stone appeared in his palm. He used his other hand, hovering above the stone as he chanted. The stone brightened and changed into a dagger clear and glowing iridescent. He looked at Juliet. “This is Angel blessed. When you find Lucca, you must thrust the dagger into his neck, right above the collarbone. If he loves you as you claim, his wings will be restored.”
“And if he doesn’t love her?” Gideon asked, winning a dagger-like look from Juliet telling him to shut up.
“He will die,” Chaz said simply with a lift of his shoulder. His gaze met Juliet’s. “The choice is yours.”
She didn’t flinch. Her hand whipped out and grabbed the dagger, stuffing it into her pocket. Chaz prayed her confidence in Lucca would be rewarded.
At that moment, the hall door swung open, announcing the new arrivals. Eli strode in the lead, a proud warrior who rewrote Grigori history with finding his soul mate and being brave enough to challenge the centuries old rules. He proved his point in taking Ryden as his mate. Ryden was a dark-haired beauty and she walked not behind Eli, but next to him as an equal.
The next to arrive was the Darklin, Sarice. A raven haired female, a Dark Angel in every confident stride she took. Chaz noticed her gaze first went to his Guard, Zaiden, before her eyes shifted to her brother, Blaize, in recognition. Blaize and Sarice were twins, a rarity among their kind.
Barachiel arrived last. The small band of warriors hoped for the Archangel’s cooperation. His wings were at his side and his yellowish green eyes were dim and not flaming with unnatural light. At least at the moment there would be no fear of lightning striking on anyone.
Barachiel paused with a respected few feet from Chaz. “I’ve come only out of curiosity. Do not make me regret it.”
Arrogant, Chaz thought, but he expected no less from an Archangel. “We have the book you seek, but we are not at liberty to give it to you at this moment.”
“Then this meeting is over,” Barachiel made a move to leave, but Chaz froze him with his words.”
“We will, however, aid you in capturing Kasadya and Arizul. We only ask that you help us free Lucca from the Satan’s prison.”
Barachiel looked bemused. “A strange request when it could mean your brethrens’ death. I would have thought you’d be please Lucca would cause you no more trouble.”
“With all his misgivings, he is still one of ours,” Chaz insisted. “We will not let Kasadya have him without a fight.”
“No? If he didn’t go willingly, he
’s been with the Satan for half a day. I’m sure torture would be part of the hospitality.” Chaz met Juliet’s gaze. She stood strong, but how would she be if Lucca came back broken.
“We won’t know until we get him back.” Juliet looked at Barachiel.
Chaz sighed, wishing she had not drawn attention to herself, but it was too late now.
Barachiel’s gaze raked over her. “A human?” He chuckled.
Chaz knew he wouldn’t be so humored if he realized Juliet was one of the humans he sought and the other was secreted away in his library. “Lucca is her mate.”
The Archangel looked at her again with curiosity this time, but then he dismissed her to Chaz’s relief. “Not my concern, but if your warriors help me send Kasadya back to Hell, the least I can do is help you find what is left of Lucca.”
“We’ll need Raziel’s help, too,” Blaize spoke up.
Barachiel’s low chuckle fell short of being humorous, his eyes spewing his true feelings of anger. “Raziel is being questioned at the moment. He will not be joining us.”
“He must,” Blaize insisted. “Raziel knows the portals the best. You may be able to locate Lucca because of the tattoo you placed on him, but we can’t follow your blaze of light. Raziel will be able to lead the rest of us directly to him.”
Barachiel seemed to consider this for a moment then he cursed under his breath as he realized the truth of Blaize’s claim.
Chapter Forty-Eight
Lucca faded in and out of consciousness, the scent of blood hitting his nostrils. His blood. Arizul stripped him to his waist. His torso burned, his skin flayed in areas, revealing bone. He blinked, his gaze picking up movement. It was Kasadya. His instincts told him to run even though he knew it was impossible to break the chains that bound him. Besides, just thinking about moving sent white starbursts of pain to his brain.
“Now, now,” Kasadya cooed. He crouched down. “Your father does know how to use the whip well. I might have to recruit him for interrogations. I could always use another enforcer to flay skin away.”
Lucca Page 29