03 Before The Devil Knows You're Dead-Speak Of The Devil

by Eimer, Patricia

  “What I don’t understand is why?” He pulled me closer, so that I was lying against his side and his free hand tangled up in my hair. “I know you didn’t actually do it, but you were tempted. It wouldn’t change anything that actually happened because he’d have stolen your powers no matter what but it’s the fact that you were tempted.”

  “Why does that bother you so much?”

  “Because the Faith Anne Bettincourt I fell in love with would have never been tempted. She would have handed Michael his ass on a silver platter and then banished him somewhere nasty. She wouldn’t have let him get close enough to steal her powers.”

  “He held everything I wanted out in front of me like a big, juicy apple, ripe for the plucking. That’s why I kept listening. That’s why I let him get close. It was stupid, but I couldn’t help myself. He offered me everything I wanted and for a second in there it would have been so easy to say yes.”

  “What did he offer? Please tell me you weren’t tempted because of me, because I would have stayed. I would have stayed no matter what. ”

  “I was tempted for myself. I wanted normal. I wanted normal so badly that for a moment in there I would have given him anything to get it.”

  “Normal?”

  “I wanted it so bad that it hurt and I knew that we were never going to have it with the way things were. If I was the Angel of Death, we were never going to get to be normal. There would be no house, no dogs, no arguing about whose turn it was to do the dishes. No…”

  “No?”

  “No kids.” I kept my eyes fixed on the ceiling. “If I’d have stayed the Angel of Death, it would have always been the two of us and I know you. You wouldn’t have left. You’d have stayed.”

  “Of course I would have stayed.” His fingers ran through my hair again and I relaxed into his touch. “You’re it for me.”

  “What would you have to give up staying with me? What would you be forced to live without because I one day, for one split second, I wasn’t able to keep my damn eyes on the road?”

  “What do I have to give up now that you’re mortal?” Matt asked, his breath tickling my ear as he tightened his grip on my fingers.

  “I thought—”

  “One of these days.” He leaned down to kiss my head and tightened his grip on me. “You’re going to realize that no matter what your super-evil demon instincts say to the contrary I really do mean it when I say that I want to spend the rest of forever with you.”

  I snuggled closer to him. “Forever is a long time.”

  “Funny, I was thinking that it wasn’t nearly enough time now that we might not have it to spend together.”

  “We’ll get my powers back. I promise you—no matter what it takes—I’ll find some way to get my powers back.”

  “I know we will.” Matt tangled his feet in mine.

  “So no worries about forever then, huh?”

  “Faith?”

  “Yeah?” I closed my eyes and let myself relax into the feeling of his chest rising and falling against my cheek.

  “When I thought I lost you today…” His chest hitched. “When I came in and you were lying there…”

  “I know.” I tightened my grip on him.

  “No, you don’t. I saw you lying there and all I can think was ‘it wasn’t enough time.’ There wasn’t nearly enough time. Not nearly enough time to have told you everything I wanted to. There weren’t enough sunrises or breakfast pastries or laughing on the couch together. I haven’t played enough games of naked Marco Polo with you.”

  “Matt.”

  “I haven’t heard about all your most embarrassing memories. I could have lost you today, I did lose you today, and all I could think when I saw you lying there was that I didn’t have enough time. I want more time.”

  “We’ve got more time.” I closed my eyes so that I didn’t make an ass out of myself by crying.

  “No, you don’t understand. I want all your time.”

  I sat up and saw that he had his eyes closed, his face screwed up in a grimace. “What?”

  “That’s not what I mean.” He shook his head and looked at me, his eyes glowing. “That sounds creepy and possessive and sort of stalkerish. What I’m trying to say is that I want you with me for the rest of time. Officially. No one trying to tear us apart. No worrying about what happens when my family goes batshit or your father does something stupid and more than a little insane. I want the two of us. Forever.”

  “Are you asking what I think you’re asking?”

  “Not as eloquently as I had hoped to, but yes.” Matt sat up and took both of my hands in his. “I know that you’re terrified of promising something that you don’t think you can give but I know it’s there. I can see it every time I look at you. You’re everything that I’ll ever need. We don’t need to have to be some sort of big ceremony thing but I need to know that it’s permanent between us. That no matter what happens, I have you by my side.”

  I pulled my hands away from his. “So you don’t want to get married. That’s what you’re saying right? You want us to be together, but you don’t want to get married?”

  “What?” He grabbed my hands again. “No, I want to get married but if you don’t want to get married… I’m screwing this up.”

  “Do you want to try again?” I asked and he narrowed his eyes at me.

  “Fine.” He stood and stalked to the window, his hands on the windowsill while his shoulders hunched. He took a deep breath and his wings rippled underneath his skin, trying to get free. He took another deep breath, and turned around.

  “Faith Anne Bettincourt will you marry—”

  The sky behind him framed by the window exploded and I felt myself thrown backward off the couch. I slammed into the high counter on his kitchen island. The world went black and, for the second time today, I knew I was losing consciousness.

  Chapter Fifteen

  Someone was slapping my face. Again. Didn’t they know kissing Matt was a much better way to bring me around? More effective as well. “Come on, sweetheart, open your eyes for me.”

  “Damn it.” I opened my eyes, staring up at Matt. “Say it again.”

  The lines around his eyes smoothed and he let out a sigh of relief. Maybe he was right. Forever wasn’t enough time. “What?”

  “Ask me again,” I insisted, shifting so that I could sit up even though my back was killing me.

  He wrapped his arm around my waist and helped me to sit, pulling me close. “Marry me,” he said into my ear and I shivered at the feel of his lips against my skin. “Please marry me.”

  “What?” Tolliver asked and I saw my entire family crammed into one phase portal, all of them staring at me. “You just asked her to what?”

  “Marry me?” Matt asked.

  “Yes.” I nodded, not bothering to look over at the crowd.

  “Are you sure? Are you really sure? You’re a demon and, like you’ve said, I have some insane followers. Homicidally insane. And Brenda seems to have some sort of supernatural ability to break out of every prison that we build for her so she might—”

  “I know.” I threw my arms around him.

  “Once we get your powers back, you’re going to be the Angel of Death again,” he said and I hugged him tighter.

  “Yep.” My head rested against his shoulder as I climbed into his lap.

  “Your father caused your last fiancé to have a complete mental breakdown. You had to have his memories of your entire life together wiped out.”

  “You’re made of stronger stuff than that.” I kissed his cheek.

  “I’m pretty sure it’s not going to be easy.”

  “I don’t want easy,” I said quietly and tried my best to drag him closer. We were already pressed together everywhere I could manage and even now I didn’t know how to root inside of him and live there for the rest of time. “I want you.”

  “Are you sure?” He pulled back to look at me. His eyes were filled with a weird mixture of hope and fear. “Are you abs
olutely sure that you’re sure?”

  I glanced over his shoulder and saw the rest of my family standing there silently, watching us. J sniffled. Malachi, the one guy who’d stuck with me through absolutely everything that had gone on in my life nodded, his eyes unreadable.

  “I’ve never been surer of anything in my life.”

  “Thank all the angels of the Celestial choir—including my father,” Matt said, his voice hoarse, before he lowered my face to his. He pressed our lips together for a kiss that would have made my knees wobble if I weren’t already sitting down. As it was, it left me a little shaky anyway.

  “Guys,” Hope said, her voice nervous. I moved slowly away from Matt’s kiss to see her standing at the—surprisingly intact—window, staring out at the street below. “Not that this isn’t terribly interesting and all, but I think we have a problem. Beyond the whole thing’s going boom bit.”

  “What?” J hurried over to where she was standing as Matt helped me to my feet.

  “Whatever blew up, it wasn’t good.” She pulled the curtain back.

  What should have been a peaceful night was now something that most people would have described as Hell on Earth. As a brilliant orange fireball exploded a few streets over, I knew that we weren’t that lucky. Hell rarely relied on pyrotechnics.

  A large, bat-like creature flung itself toward Hope. She quickly stepped away. The screeching Envy slammed into the thick glass, and the cherub who was chasing it smacked into it from behind. They both slid down the window with a gruesome squeak of fat and sweaty skin against glass.

  I shivered and Matt tightened his arms around me.

  “That’s not good. I mean the sky and the fireballs could be written off as some sort of unexpected eclipse with meteor showers, rare but plausible,” Tolliver said. He’d shoved Lisa behind his back, blocking the view of her from the window.

  “They aren’t meteor showers,” Jesus said absently from his spot at the window next to Hope. “Those are reapers.”

  “Reapers? Are you telling me that the reapers have what? Gone rogue?” Dad hurried over to the window and glanced outside. The Alpha followed and the two of them stood at the window, looking at the devastation their world had become.

  “Reapers,” Dad said, his voice filled with horror and he gazed at the scene out the window.

  “Reapers,” the Alpha echoed.

  “Shit,” I muttered. “Michael. He kept talking about death of the old gods and making the world tremble at his feet. My guess is this is his version of a pregame show for that.”

  “I think you might be right,” the Alpha said.

  “So what do we do?” I asked. “Can’t you guys go wrangle them in or something?”

  “Reapers only answer to the Angel of Death,” Dad said. “It was supposed to keep things fair. No outside interference in their work in case one of us went sentimental.”

  “What?” Hope asked

  “You mean you can’t control them? Whose stupid idea was that?” Lisa asked, her voice panicky.

  “Twenty bucks says you can figure that out with one guess,” I said and crossed my arms over my chest.

  “No bet.” Matt shook his head and tightened his grip on my waist.

  The Alpha turned to look at His son and my heart started to pound. “I’m sorry.” He shook His head and held one hand out toward J, His palm up. “I did it for you.”

  “What?” J stepped back from him. “You did what for me?”

  “There’s so many things that I can’t give you.” The Alpha dropped His hand but kept His eyes fixed on His son. “So many things that you wanted that I couldn’t give. You were everything I thought I could ever want and I wanted you to have everything you wanted.”

  “So this is my fault?” Jesus asked. “You’re saying that this is my fault?”

  “Of course not.” Dad stepped between the Alpha and His only son. “Your father is only saying that he did it with the best of intentions.”

  “How is this”—Jesus waved his hand at the window, motioning toward the rapidly unfolding Apocalypse—“the best of intentions?”

  “You wanted to be mortal. You wanted—no, you needed to know—what it was like, all of it, but mortal means death. What was I supposed to do? You wouldn’t let your uncle or I, either one, intervene. We both tried. You wouldn’t let us help you.”

  “Because I knew what I needed to do. I had a plan.”

  “I know. I know you did, but how could you expect me to stand there and watch, not doing anything?”

  “So you gave it up?” Lisa asked, her hand coming down to caress the bump of her stomach. “You gave up power to the Angel of Death for him? So that he could, well, you know.”

  “It seemed like the best idea at the time,” the Alpha said.

  “Yeah, well, I’ll give you a ten out of ten for efforts in the parenting department but a four on execution,” J said so angrily he made the Alpha wince.

  “J—” I shifted out of Matt’s arms and started toward my cousin.

  “Okay, everyone, knock it off with all the touchy-feely stuff for a moment,” Tolliver said. “We can worry about whose fault this is and who wants to marry who and all that other craziness later, but right now we’ve got bigger problems.”

  Tolliver spun to look at Dad. “You have demons loose. I know you think they’re not under your control, but I worked with these guys a few times. They’re more scared of you than they are of Michael. So go get those freaks under control. We’ll handle things here.”

  “I don’t think that’s—” Dad said.

  “No thinking privileges for the two of you right now. You were stupid enough to outsource Death—and a potential Apocalypse—so, thinking is obviously not your strong suit.” Tolliver pointed first at Dad and then at the Alpha.

  “I—” the Alpha said.

  “No talking privileges, either,” Tolliver said. “Go deal with your people. The rest of us will deal with the problems in this realm.”

  “Right,” Dad said. “We’ll let you all handle this realm while we get the others under control.”

  He grabbed the Alpha by the arm and the two of them popped out of existence, neither of them looking pleased with the situation.

  J ran a hand over his face and sighed, pinching the bridge of his nose. “I never thought I’d say this, but I liked him better when he stayed out of everyone’s lives.”

  “Malachi.” My brother pointed at my dread demon. “Take the girls downstairs and watch them.”

  “Oh, hell no,” my sister said. “You’re not stashing me somewhere while craziness reigns down on the local population. You need me.”

  “I’m not going, either!” I looked at Matt for backup.

  “Neither of you have any powers,” Tolliver said.

  “I’m smarter than the rest of you combined. I don’t need powers.” Hope put her hands on her hips. “Plus I have more experience with incubi.”

  She stalked over to the window and pointed at one of the incubi flying past, his gold hair streaming behind him while he chased a flame-haired angel with golden wings. She pulled the window open and stuck her head outside. “Hey!”

  The incubi stopped in midair and stared at her.

  “Angel girl’s got a nasty case of the crabs. Try elsewhere.”

  The angel let out an indignant shriek and the incubi took off in the opposite direction, probably looking for more interesting prey.

  Hope slammed the window shut. “Like I said. More brains than the rest of you combined. You need me for damage control.”

  “Fine,” Tolliver said. “Help Malachi guard Faith and Lisa.”

  “No.” I shook my head. “I’m not going to hide.”

  “You don’t have any powers,” Matt said, his voice stern and unyielding. “We need you to stay with Malachi.”

  “I’m going with you,” I said. “I started this and I’m going to finish it.”

  “I don’t need protection, either.” My best friend narrowed her eyes at her husb
and. “I’m a perfectly competent demon.”

  “Lisa.” Tolliver said and I could hear the fear in his voice.

  “Tol.” She stepped toward him and he wrapped his arms around her.

  “Please?” He breathed against her hair.

  “I can help.” She moved away from him so that they could look each other in the eye. “I can help you.”

  “Not today.” Hope looped her arm through Lisa’s.

  “It’s the Apocalypse,” Lisa said.

  “No, it’s not.” Hope shook her head and glanced over at me, her eyes wide as she jerked her head toward the door, trying to get me to help her lure Lisa out of the apartment and back downstairs. “This is a warm-up. Haven’t you read your crazy, Armageddon-obsessed right-wing prophets?”

  “What?” Lisa asked as Hope slowly pulled her away from Tolliver, who was backing up at the same time.

  “Didn’t my brother give you a crash course in religious texts and proselytizing nut jobs?”

  “No?” Lisa looked at her wide-eyed.

  “Book of Revelations? Four Horsemen? ‘And I looked, and behold a pale horse: and his name that sat on him was Death, and Hell followed with him’? Any of that ringing a bell?”

  “I remember that vaguely from Sunday school as a kid, but I only really went for the cookies, so it’s all a bit hazy.”

  “Okay, look,” Hope said. “According to John, who was a pretty smart guy, the Four Horsemen come out to play and kick off a bunch of craziness that ends with the Rapture. A large part of the population wiped out in one fell swoop. Then it gets a bit crazier, creatures of torment get involved, and lo and behold Armageddon.”

  “So this is the Apocalypse?”

  “No, because when John was prophesying he said that it wasn’t enough to destroy the world. It had to be destroyed by a greater evil then man could conceive on their own.”

  “The Anti-Christ,” I said.

  “Tolliver is supposed to start the end of the world?” Lisa asked, her voice high-pitched and panicky.

  “I am not,” Tolliver said. “Really. You know me. I’m not the world-ending type. Personally, I think John was making it all up. There were no visions, no divine insights from Dad and the Alpha, only John making crap up because he didn’t like that I got all the girls.”