Good Side of Sin

by Haigwood, K. S.

  I scoffed. “Misunderstanding? She tried to kill me and you think this is all just a misunderstanding? Did you hit your head?”

  Melina turned to look at me, and smiled sweetly. I wanted to slap that smile off her face.

  “She wants to apologize for any trouble we’ve had since our arrival. You should let her, and then forgive her. It’s what an angel would do.”

  “Seriously, Isaiah? You’re siding with her?” I lunged toward them, wanting to hurt the archangel as much as I needed to hurt the queen of Limbo, but Thoros caught me around the waist with one arm, lifting me effortlessly against him. “Give me one good reason why I shouldn’t tear her apart!” I fought against Thoros’ hold on me. “Let me go, Thoros. I don’t want to—”

  “I’m her brother.”

  “—hurt you…” My voice trailed off. Maybe my anger had caused me to misinterpret the archangel. I stared at him, disbelieving. “What?” I said in a whisper.

  Nothing could have prepared me for what he’d said in that moment. I froze. Petrified. Stupefied. Thoros’ arms tightened around me, hugging me closer to his body. Protectively. Lovingly. And obviously to keep me from hurting myself and others.

  Why hadn’t Isaiah said something earlier? I felt so hurt. Hot tears stung my eyes and I bit my lower lip to keep from lashing out. I couldn’t tear my eyes away from him, and the pain in my chest continued to crush me. He didn’t speak through my mind. He didn’t apologize. He only lowered his head, refusing to make eye contact.

  “Isaiah?” I finally managed to choke out.

  “For all the trouble we’ve been through, Melina has sent a crew out to locate the lost men we have come for—including Malcolm.”

  Malcolm? Malcolm could be on his way to me at this very moment? I wanted to cry with tears of joy and relief, but I wasn’t sure if this was a trick or not. I was so confused.

  My eyes widened as they shot to the pretty woman now standing at Isaiah’s side. She bowed her head in a nod, and then looked back at me with compassion in her expression. I wasn’t buying it. “I do apologize for any inconvenience you’ve suffered—Josselyn, is it?”

  I ignored her question; she knew exactly who I was. Instead, I asked one of my own. “Do you greet all your guests with a beating, or am I just special?” I didn’t wait for her to answer; I looked to Isaiah. “Did you tell her about the offer?”

  He cleared his throat and glanced away when Melina turned her odd eyes on him. “I was just about to get to that when you woke up in your childish fit of rage—”

  I pointed my finger at him and shouted, “Don’t you dare make it look like any of this is my fault, Isaiah! I don’t care who she is to you!” I jerked my wrist toward Omega. “Whether you want to believe them or not, she ordered him to hurt me to get information from me, and he would have killed me had you not finally decided to do your job of being my guardian angel! I kept calling and calling, but you weren’t there!” I felt the tears streaming down my face, but I was too angry to wipe them away. “Nobody was there…” I caught Aries moving toward me out of the corner of my eye and remembered what had happened the last time the seer had touched me. I took a step back and glared at her. “Don’t you dare touch me.”

  Thoros took me in his arms and pulled me in close to his body. I suppose it was a small attempt to help calm me down, but it only made me angrier. I felt like I was suffocating, and I didn’t know whom to trust anymore. I shoved away from him the exact moment a knock came at the door.

  “Enter!” Melina shouted. Not a moment passed before it opened and people started pouring into her chamber.

  There were four of Melina’s guards with five familiar-looking men following behind them. My rage had been clouding my thoughts until the sixth male walked into the room. Malcolm!

  “Jossel?” My name left his lips, and a sob tore from my throat.

  I ran to him, not thinking or caring about anything else in that moment except that he was here with me and he was all right.

  I could barely see his wide eyes and shocked expression at the sight of me here, in Limbo, in the private quarters of Queen Melina, but I could see him clearly as he opened his arms wide for me to fall into. He grabbed me and squeezed me hard, making it impossible for me to catch a full breath, but I didn’t care; I was happier right then than I had been in months. I had finally found him!

  He let me go, only to frame my face with his hands and wipe my tears away with his thumbs. He was smiling. He was happy. I laughed a little. The thrill of happiness and adrenaline rushing through my veins was causing me to be a little lightheaded; the feeling was exhilarating.

  “I never gave up hope that you would come for me. You’ve been in my thoughts every moment we’ve been apart. Jossel… you came for me,” he said again as if he was still having trouble believing I was really here.

  I smiled. “Of course I did. You would have done the same for me, were the situation reversed—”

  “I love you, Jossel—”

  What?

  “—I’ve wanted to tell you that for decades, and now that you have come all this way to rescue me, I now know you feel the same.” He gave a long sigh and smiled down at what could have only been a stunned expression on my face. Then he shocked me even more when he brought his lips to meet mine and kissed me.

  I was speechless. No words would come to me. None. I knew Malcolm liked me; he had kissed me before, but I had no clue his feelings went as deeply as love. What the hell was I supposed to do now?

  I gasped and jumped back as Malcolm was tackled to the floor. Thoros was three punches in when I finally realized what was happening.

  “Stop! Stop, Thoros! Please stop! He doesn’t know!” I caught his arm in mid-swing and pulled until he lost his balance and his blood-covered hand fell to the plush carpet. His head shot up and he stared at me with narrowed eyes. I glared right back. “I said stop!” I snapped. “He doesn’t know anything that has happened since Rhyan was in the Syde of Pride!”

  In the next moment, Malcolm pushed against Thoros’ chest with his palms, knocking him off him, freeing his legs. I saw the kick coming before Thoros did. He didn’t even have time to brace himself before Malcolm’s foot connected square on with Thoros’ nose. A loud crack echoed throughout the room, and then blood shot from his nostrils in a spray, covering the front of Thoros white formal shirt and my red gown.

  I couldn’t move. All I could do was sit and stare at Thoros and Malcolm giving each other murderous looks. I should have reacted differently at seeing Malcolm. I should have stayed in Thoros’ embrace and let Malcolm figure out my relationship with the ex-Prince of Lust on his own.

  This was bad, and not to mention nearly impossible to explain without hurting Malcolm’s feelings. What was I going to do? I turned my head to look at Isaiah. His expression clearly said that he’d known all along of Malcolm’s feelings for me, and that I should have realized it, too. I blinked a few times and recalled a memory in Isaiah’s business quarters. He had known then. He had been trying to tell me that I was the reason Malcolm had been possessed. The demon had used Malcolm’s weakness to possess him through the speculum. After that, on Earth, Malcolm had said I was his weakness, right before he had kissed me.

  I took in a shuddering breath and let my face fall into my hands. “Oh, God…” I squealed in frustration.

  “Jossel…” I felt a gentle hand on my shoulder, but I didn’t look up right away. I wasn’t ready to see the confusion in Malcolm’s eyes. “Josselyn, please tell me what’s going on here. Why did you bring an archangel and a demon prince to Limbo? It doesn’t seem likely that all of this is just for me.”

  The air left my lungs as I slumped in defeat. I shook my head as I looked up at him. “There is so much I have to tell you. Maybe we should talk in private.”

  He gave me a knowing, but disappointed look as he pressed his lips together in a hard line. He nodded. “Yeah, it looks like maybe we should.”

  Chapter 39

  Fallis


  Fallis looked over his right shoulder at his backup and just shook his head. He had not wanted everyone in the house to accompany him in his attempt to rescue Baddon, but regardless of his wishes, there they were and ready for his next orders—not that they had followed the first one he had given them: to stay there!

  He looked at Phoebe and rolled his eyes. What could she do besides get in their way and get herself taken, like the idiot they were here to rescue? This mission was all set up for failure. He was sure of it.

  “Troy, I’ll take one of your angels, so he can communicate with you and the rest of your men surrounding the apartment. Keep Phoebe with you—”

  “Why do I have to stay with him? Why can’t I come with you and Damien?” Phoebe said.

  Fallis tried to control his temper with the girl, but his patience had already worn so thin, there were holes in it. “There’s nothing you can do against a demon that strong, Phoebe! You’ll only get yourself hurt or—or worse. You want to go back to the Syde of Pride? I’m sure Velan would welcome you back with open arms.” She flinched at his outburst and he forced himself to calm down. “Just stay with Troy. I trust he will keep you out of trouble until we get Baddon out of there. With enough luck, and if he’s still alive, we can get Ethan’s dad out, too. It’s important that you listen to me and stay with Troy. Do you hear me? Do you understand?”

  Phoebe rolled her eyes and looked away from him. “I’m not deaf or stupid. I hear you.”

  Fallis only stared at her a moment, and then said, “You may not be deaf, but I’m not so sure of how high your IQ is.”

  Her hazel eyes flickered with icy anger and he knew he had hit a nerve. The corner of his mouth turned up in a smirk as he looked behind her, ignoring the pretty shade of pink her scarred face was turning.

  “Damien, you and Marcus are with me. Let’s make this as quick and painless as possible.” Fallis let out a big breath, and then fleeted to the roof of the apartment complex. Two short pops sounded immediately after, and he knew his three-man team was complete.

  Fallis let his powers flow out around him, trying to sense the demon or Baddon in any of the rooms below his boots. Baddon’s presence popped up like a beacon in the night. He was on the east side of the building, either on the third or fourth floor. “I found him.”

  “Yeah, I did too,” Damien said, “and he isn’t alone.”

  Fallis picked up the dark vibe from at least a dozen or more demons, all of them in Baddon’s immediate vacinity. He swore as he turned toward Damien and Marcus. “It’s a trap! It knew we would come for Baddon. That was the plan: get us on its turf so it could get control of us, too. It’s the only way to lure Isaiah, Josselyn and Thoros in once they return from Limbo with Ethan.” He swore again and swung his fists through the air around him. He ended up bent at the waist with his palms on his knees and growling as his anger threatened to consume him. He had to calm down or he would start making mistakes. He closed his eyes and sighed. “We can’t win this. This demon is different. It’s like a freaking super demon or something. It’s like—it’s like Lucifer has managed to find a way to possess one of his demons and is now on Earth!” He stuck his arms out for Damien and Marcus to look at. The flesh was raised in goosebumps. “I can feel his presence as if he was standing right here beside me.”

  “I don’t think Lucifer is actually in that host—”

  Fallis pointed toward the setting sun as if what he was talking about could be seen by the three of them. “I know you felt its power the other night, Damien. If it is not Lucifer, then it’s nearly as strong as him. Who gives a damn if he is actually in that host? I say it’s just as horrible, and none of us are prepared to fight it.”

  “You want to just leave Baddon here?” Damien said.

  Fallis rubbed his hands over his face in frustration. “No.” He shook his head. “Baddon wouldn’t leave any of us. He would bust in with horns blaring and go down fighting, if that’s what it took.”

  “So we need horns?” Marcus said.

  Despite the danger they faced, Fallis smiled and nodded. “Horns would be nice. But an army wielding silver weapons would be better.”

  Marcus glanced up to the sky and whistled through his teeth. “Troy!” he shouted, and only a second passed before Troy’s massive body was standing before them.

  “Need something?” Troy asked.

  Marcus smiled. “Fallis needs horns and an army.”

  Troy’s grin spread wide across his angelic face. “Hold tight. Let me see what I kin come up wi’.” He winked, and then popped out of sight.

  Fallis blinked several times at the empty place where the giant had been standing. “He’s going to get more angels, isn’t he?”

  Marcus nodded enthusiastically. “And horns.”

  Josselyn

  I dreaded having this conversation with Malcolm. It was now bluntly obvious how he felt about me, and I—well, I loved him, but it was only as a friend would love another friend, maybe even a best friend. He mentioned that he’d had these feelings for me for decades. I grimaced as I wondered exactly how many years total that was.

  “What’s he doing here, Josselyn?” Malcolm asked in a calm voice.

  Damn. He wasn’t even going to give me time to prep.

  I noticed a large shade tree at the edge of the trail we were walking on. It seemed just as good as any place to rip my friend’s heart out and make him hate me. I took his hand and led him over to the soft grass and patted the ground beside me, encouraging him to join me.

  “Are you going to tell me why the Prince of Lust tackled me like a linebacker?”

  I huffed as I twisted my fingers together nervously. “I need to work up to that part, if it’s all right with you.”

  He took one of my hands away from the tangled mess I had created and held it in his hands, focusing on them, instead of directly on my face. After clearing his throat, he nodded. “Start anywhere you like. I’m listening.”

  I took in a deep breath and started the story from the time he had disappeared. I told him everything. I told him about how distraught I was when he had left us, and that the minion had only tricked him, that Lucifer never had his soul. I told him about the rest of Rhyan’s journey with Isaiah filling in his shoes as Rhyan’s guardian angel and helping him through the rest of the sydes of Hell. I filled him in about me being kidnapped by Lameria—and the fact that she is Isaiah’s soulmate, and now he doesn’t even remember her because Omega took away his memories of her. I told him about how I thought Thoros had betrayed me to Lucifer, but that he had really been trying to protect me and then got us all out of Hell, including him and eight others. Then I let him know about the demon that had been possessing Thoros and forcing him to kill and steal the souls of innocent humans. I didn’t leave out how strong that particular demon seemed to be. Then I told him about Heaven crumbling, Ethan and his dad, and finally our journey here to Limbo to ask Melina for her help, as well as ask for the souls Thoros had taken.

  He hadn’t said anything at all throughout my whole long-winded story. He had only held my hand and ran his thumb over my knuckles. It had been calming, and the words had flowed effortlessly from my mouth, like we had spent no time apart from each other. It felt so natural and comfortable to be here with him.

  Then my nerves set in and I was instantly exhausted. I hadn’t told him the hardest part, the part that would cause him to hate me forever. My eyes burned and my throat felt tight, but I took in several deep breaths and picked at the grass by my legs.

  “Malcolm…” I cleared my throat.

  I guess he sensed my discomfort, and maybe heard the tears in my voice, because his thumb stopped moving over my fingers and he stopped breathing. It was twelve long seconds before he took another breath, but he still didn’t relax. At that moment, I wanted to be anywhere else. I couldn’t do this to him. Why did he have to love me?

  I heard him exhale loudly, and then I was pulled onto his lap and hugged against his body. I clung to him like a life prese
rver.

  “I said I was listening, Jossel. Whatever it is, it can’t be that bad. Just rip the Band-Aid off. I can tell you’re scared. Don’t be. I’ll always be here for you.”

  I shook my head and the tears rolled down my cheeks. I sobbed silently as my hands fisted tightly in his shirt. Why did it have to be so complicated? I felt the longer I postponed telling him that I was in love with Thoros, the longer he would stay my friend. He said he would always be there for me, but I was almost positive he would change his mind about that once he heard what I had to say.

  He squeezed me tighter to him and kissed the top of my head, leaving his cheek resting on my hair as he spoke. “You love him, don’t you?”

  I took in a shuddering breath and covered my mouth with my hand as I looked up at him. More tears brimmed over and slid down my cheeks, and he hesitantly reached up with one of his hands and took mine away from my mouth. “We are soulmates, Malcolm,” I said after a moment of nervous silence.

  He let his head fall back against the trunk of the tree and his breath expelled through puffed out cheeks. “You know this for sure?”

  I took his shaking hand in mine, and he pulled me against him again, hugging me like he never wanted to let me go. He wasn’t yelling in anger, but there was a light tremor in his body that led me to believe he was fighting his emotions and, even though it was unexpected, it somehow made me feel worse.

  “I’m so sorry—”

  “Shut up. It’s not your fault your soulmate isn’t the best-looking, smartest man in existence.” He sniffed and took one of his arms away from around me so he could wipe his face. “I think you are the one that got cheated by fate there. I’m obviously the better man for you. It’s just too bad for me that God only made one of you. I guess I’ll just have to continue having a relationship with my mirror. Besides you, I’m the only other person I’ve ever been in love with.”