The Holy Dark

by Kyoko M

  “The cops are gonna realize you’re not one of them,” I said. “It won’t take them long. Same goes for my husband. I hope you’re prepared for what he’s going to do to you when he finds you.”

  “If I were you, I would be more concerned about myself.”

  I snorted. “You may not know this because we just met, but I don’t exactly have a good sense of self-preservation. That’s why Belial is so hot for me most of the time.”

  “Belial is nothing more than a vain errand boy. He failed to complete his job in the forest. The only reason I have not killed him myself is because he is still of some use.”

  That raised a huge red flag. “What are you talking about?”

  He didn’t answer. Instead, he pulled into a parking garage. We drove up to the second level, parking near the rear. There were cars all over the place, but no one seemed to be around. Everyone was still at work. I had a tiny ray of hope to get out of here and it was getting dimmer every second.

  Moloch climbed out of the front and unlocked the back. I lashed out at him as he reached for me, aiming for his throat. He parried the blow and grabbed my arms, twisting them so hard behind me that I cried out. He shoved something inside my mouth. It was black and spherical and tasted like ash. It melted on my tongue—a foul taste—and then thickened into some sort of glue. My lips were sealed shut. I couldn’t make a single sound.

  He hauled me out of the car, keeping one painful grip on my upper left arm. I kicked every inch of him I could reach, but the blows bounced off solid muscle. He didn’t even flinch. No choices left. Now or never.

  I managed to snatch my arms free, withdrew the feather, and stabbed him in the neck. His skin blackened and hissed, but he didn’t cry out. Rage filled his features. He caught my right wrist and snapped it. The pain paralyzed my arm, shooting a line of fire up to my shoulder. The feather floated out of my grip to the pavement, too far away to reach.

  Moloch grabbed the juncture between my neck and shoulder, then squeezed. Pain darted through my upper torso, pooling in my belly. I screamed and screamed. Nothing came out. My body crumpled under the stress. I slumped over against the car and fell into a pit of darkness that had no end.

  A sharp sting in my neck woke me up. I was handcuffed to a chair, but not blindfolded or gagged. The disgusting crap Moloch had shoved in my mouth was gone, so I was free to whine after something jabbed me in the throat.

  “Ow,” I mumbled, opening my eyes. Tiny white dots wheeled around in my vision. There was a spotlight on me again. What was it with demons and their love of absurdly bright lights?

  “Now, now,” a smoky voice said. “Don’t fuss or you won’t get a lollipop when I’m done.”

  I sighed. “Belial. Why am I not surprised? Let me ask you this: do I get some kind of coupon for being kidnapped by you so many times? Free frozen yogurt? A cruise to the Caribbean?”

  “Afraid not, my dear. Perhaps next time.” He tossed the syringe he’d just stuck me with on the long metal table about a foot away from me. My surroundings were not that different from the place in Harlem. The usual suspects—concrete floor, low ceiling, bloodstained instruments of torture. I should have been more afraid. I wasn’t. I was pissed.

  “Oh, so there’s going to be a next time? Good to know you’re not going to chop me up like a bad Saw sequel,” I groused, wiggling against my restraints. My broken wrist stung sharply as I moved. No use. I was stuck. Again. This was the absolute last fucking straw. I was going to go apeshit on these bastards.

  “That will come later,” the archdemon said, pulling up a chair across from me. He crossed his long legs and lit up a cigarette. “For now, we wait.”

  “For what?”

  He checked his Rolex. “I gave you a rather hefty dose. It shouldn’t take long.”

  “Well, don’t keep me in suspense. What did you give me?”

  He took a drag from the cig before answering. “Sodium thiopental, with some modifications courtesy of yours truly.”

  “Truth serum? Gosh, Bels. You could at least be more original.”

  Belial shrugged. “If it is not broken, do not fix it.”

  “Thanks for butchering that proverb. Why did you drug me? Trying to get me to admit how you make me go ‘sploosh’ in my panties?”

  He smirked. “No. I need to know where you hid the coins you found.”

  Shit. That was why Moloch didn’t kill me earlier. He really did need me. Still, something wasn’t adding up. Might as well go for it. I had nothing to lose at this point.

  “Then why’d you try to kill me in the forest if you needed me?”

  “We’ve been under orders to kill you and then retrieve the coins in your possession. We figured since you were mobile that you’d carry them with you. That’s why we attacked before you reached Montpelier—so we could search both of your cars. We didn’t find them, so we had to bring you in.”

  “I’m guessing this was all Moloch’s plan.”

  “Naturally.”

  “You’re daft if you think this is going to end well for you,” I said. “Moloch thinks you’re a pawn. He’s going to take all the credit for this.”

  “Moloch is a bishop at best,” Belial said. “I am a rook. He can think whatever he wants of me. He knows nothing of my skills.”

  I arched an eyebrow. “What skills?”

  He shook his head, taking another pull on the Lucky Strike cigarette. “You never believe me when I tell you of my exploits. How else do you think I found your hotel in Connecticut?”

  “You bum-rushed Myra, remember?”

  He shook his head. “That is how I found your room, not the hotel itself.”

  “So what? You seduced the desk clerk?”

  He smiled. “No. Better.”

  It was not hard to find her. Angels were terribly predictable creatures. She was perched on the adjacent building with her bodyguard kit—her dirk, a sniper rifle, a sleeping bag, a case for the gun, binoculars, a burner cell phone, and reading material. The night was cool but not cold so she didn’t have a coat on when I approached.

  She whirled as soon as she sensed me, opting for the dirk over the gun. I held my hands up in surrender, grinning as her brown eyes narrowed at me.

  “Belladonna, my beauty. How long has it been?”

  “Not long enough, hellspawn,” she sneered, tightening her grip on the hilt. “You have three seconds to vacate this roof before I split you in half.”

  “What a shame,” I said. “I was thinking of doing that to you instead.”

  She rushed me and I whipped out my own blade, parrying her sloppy thrust. Belladonna never was the patient sort. She was much like her namesake—poison wrapped in a pretty package. And that was what I was counting on.

  “A beautiful night, is it not?” I asked, gesturing to the sliver of moonlight above us. “Much like that one in Paris three centuries ago. Do you remember?”

  She shoved me back a foot or so, retaliating with a swipe at my head. I dodged, continuing on without her commentary. “You were on mission to save those clergymen someone had targeted. I was sent in to stop you. Help me here. What was it that caused those poor bastards to die horrible, bloody deaths?”

  “Shut up!” She dashed forward, thrusting with the tip. I blocked it. “Ah, yes. I kissed you and you lost sight of the assailant.”

  “Enough of this, demon!” She slashed my wrist, making me drop the knife, and grabbed a handful of my shirt. She shoved me against the wall that allowed roof access, holding the blade at my throat. I remained still in her grip, my hands up in mock surrender.

  “Now, if I recall, the proper protocol for failing a mission back then was to bring in the head of the one who cost you that victory. Yet, for some strange reason, you did not pursue me. In fact, you let me leave. Why is that, Belladonna?”

  “I will silence that tongue of yours,” she growled, digging the sharp edge in deeper, just below the point of piercing skin.

  “I most certainly hope you will,” I whispered.
“Because I think we both know that you won’t kill me. You have something I want and I have something you want. Perhaps you’d like to make a deal.”

  Fury blazed in those mahogany depths, but it wasn’t alone. There was a wealth of good old-fashioned lust in there as well. We were close enough that I could feel her erratic breaths against me. The cracks in her armor deepened until it shattered around her. I watched her remember the way it felt to kiss me, and how she had never experienced anything like it before. Angels led a life of unflinching celibacy—unable to mate with humans any longer and inherently unattractive to each other as they were related. Most of them could conquer the very human need to copulate, but not all of them.

  “What do you want, demon?” she asked in a hushed voice.

  “Tell me the name of the Seer’s hotel and I will give you exactly what you need.”

  “You speak of treason.”

  I clucked my tongue. “Nonsense. It is simplicity itself. I came after you. You were unable to defeat me. I found the location on my own. Besides, you have no love for that woman or her accomplice. The true betrayal would be to yourself. You owe her nothing. After all, she did irreparable damage to your Commander. I intend to rectify the situation.”

  She stayed quiet. I went for the kill.

  I slid my hand along her spine, trailing my fingertips over her backside. She tensed, uncertainty flicking through her eyes as she stared up at me.

  “So,” I said. “Do we have a deal?”

  Five. Four. Three. Two. One.

  Her weapon clattered to the ground. I had to hide a triumphant smirk as I drew her to me, flipping our positions so that she was pressed against the wall. She clung to me, desperate, hungry for a taste of what I’d given her all those years ago.

  And so I fed her.

  I closed my eyes, trying not to conjure up mental images. “I’d say I’m not surprised, but I’d be lying. I can’t believe she did that.”

  Belial adopted an offended look. “Just because you pretend to be unaffected by my charms does not mean other women are.”

  “But she’s an angel, for crying out loud. How did she fall for your bullshit?”

  He leaned forward, blowing a smoke ring, and then let a rather satisfied smirk slip over those pale lips. “I told you I had skills. Skills I’ve acquired over a very long career of pleasing women. You can most certainly know that she will not forget that encounter for the rest of her existence.”

  It was difficult wrapping my brain around that concept. Belial was apparently such a good lay that he could make an angel sin. Hmm, maybe I should have slept with him at least once, just to test the theory. I mentally slapped myself for that last thought and pushed past his bragging with another question.

  “Where is she now?”

  “Wouldn’t you like to know?”

  I rolled my eyes. “Fine, don’t tell me. I’m sure when Gabriel finds out, she’s toast. Good riddance.”

  I straightened up a bit, regarding him seriously this time. “Since you seem to be feeling so chatty, can I ask you a personal question?”

  He stared at me with his reptilian eyes, exhaling twin streams of smoke from his nostrils like a dragon. The silence mounted and then crumbled when he answered.

  “Very well.”

  “The Seer you corrupted, the one married to Uriel. Zora. Why is it that she had such an influence on you? Because it seems to me that there’s more to her than just something you conquered.”

  “Hmph,” Belial snorted. “You would ask that, wouldn’t you?”

  When I didn’t answer, the demon sighed and massaged his forehead with his thumb, the cig clutched between his first and middle finger.

  “As a human, your concept of time and age is somewhat bent. But for argument’s sake, think of me as a younger demon in the days when Zora was still alive. In the bloom of my youth, I was far more passionate and thus far more reckless about the things I corrupted, and she was the ultimate prize. A Seer who had fallen in love with an angel. I figured that if I could make her mine, if I could be on the inside listening to their plans, then I would be the most powerful demon on the planet. I had the respect of those beneath me, but not their fear, not their reverence. The same thing goes for my master. Eloquent and crafty though I was, he still did not consider me to be the crown jewel of the fallen princes. So I made a plan to get her on our side.”

  He exhaled again, his gaze wandering off as if drifting into a memory. “For the longest time, I had trouble even making contact with her. It took me four months to figure out her patterns and learn bits of information about her past, her aspirations, and most importantly, what attracted her to Uriel. There’s a key to the female species and that is that you are not as complicated as modern comedians make you out to be.”

  I lifted an eyebrow and he smirked at me. “I know you don’t believe that, but it’s a fact, my dear. Live long enough and you’d know that. The key I’m talking about is attraction. Most women cannot control whom they are attracted to and so all I needed to do was to find out what kind of man I needed to be in order to get beneath her skin. It wasn’t hard. Uriel’s nobility was well known and so I opted for the opposite because there are two things inherent in every person: man or woman, it makes no difference. Sex and violence. The trick is to activate these impulses within your woman of interest.”

  He tapped the end of his cigarette against his thumb and then tucked it in one side of his mouth as he dug around in his pockets for another. “She knew what I was when I came to her. Thought it would be a piece of cake to dispatch me. She was quick-witted and very powerful, one of the most capable Seers I had seen in quite some time. But as our paths crossed, I began to see that she was also starting to get tired of the sacrifices. Tired of sleepless nights, tired of fighting off bad spirits, tired of being persecuted for choosing to marry outside of her race, and tired of being unable to conceive. She stayed strong for years before I got my first break. We were both cornered by the authorities of that time and I helped her escape. I let her think that there was an ambiguous side to my personality and worked from there. Like naïve women, she figured she might be able to rehabilitate me from my so-called wicked ways. The opposite actually happened. Instead of painting my black heart white, I blackened hers.”

  He lit another coffin nail and snuffed out the old one. “We made it two months before Uriel found out and she was banished. My greatest success, taken away in the blink of an eye. You humans consider us to be callous, but I must say that the decision to exile her to Purgatory was cruel beyond measure. If given the chance, I never would have done it.”

  “She’s the first woman that ever understood you, wasn’t she?” I asked, a little softer than I intended.

  The smoke curled over his upper lip and kissed his forehead as he nodded ever so slightly. “Perhaps. Is that all you wanted to know?”

  I leaned back. “Guess so, if that’s all you’re willing to share.”

  “For now,” he said. “Anyway, let’s have a look at you.”

  I tensed as he rose from the chair and checked my eyes, my pulse, and my breathing. It was a bit brighter in here now, which meant my pupils had dilated. My heart rate and breathing were elevated. The drug was taking its toll. I was about to spill my guts to the one person who didn’t need to know my truest thoughts and fears.

  He brushed my hair behind my left ear before sitting down again. “That seems to be coming along nicely. By the way, I never did tell you I like the new hairstyle. I hope you were thinking of me when you did it.”

  “What makes you say that?”

  “You don’t remember that morning at the hotel last October? I said curls would suit you. They do, you know. You look like your mother.”

  I shook my head, then stopped because it made me dizzy. “Don’t talk about her. You didn’t know her. Next subject.”

  “So defensive. We still have a few minutes together before the bad things start. Is there anything else you’d like to know?”

&nb
sp; “Yeah. Why does Moloch keep letting you interact with me? You always seem to weasel your way out of killing me. I thought he’d do this interrogation himself.”

  “You may not believe in fate, Jordan, but I do. You and I are tied together by forces not of this world. Even Moloch recognizes that something always brings us together. Besides, he saw how infuriatingly stubborn you are and if he came in here, he’d just bash your pretty little head open without getting anything out of it. I know you. I know how to get what I want out of you.”

  “Like the Leviathan? Like your daughter, Juliana? She’s fine, by the way. She should be starting Pre-K by now.”

  “Delightful,” he said without an ounce of sincerity. “I told you not to take it personal when I betrayed you last year. It’s my job.”

  “Whatever helps you sleep at night, Bels.”

  The beginnings of a frown clouded his features. At last, a crack in the mirror. I had suspected he didn’t believe it any more than I did. It was always personal between us and I bet it would be until he finally killed me.

  “You seem to be getting increasingly more hostile, which means you’re trying to distract me. I think the serum is working now.”

  “Fine. Ask me something I’d normally lie about.”

  He paused, his gaze lingering on my neck. The hickey hadn’t faded yet. “Did you and Michael have reunion sex?”

  “Yep. Five times.” I frowned hard. Shit. He was right. I was losing my inhibitions.

  “Five?” he asked incredulously, glancing at my legs. “I’m surprised you’re not limping.”

  “I healed myself afterward.”

  He coughed midway through inhaling smoke and then laughed. “It appears I’ve underestimated your husband.”

  “You and me both,” I muttered. Dammit. I couldn’t stop. My lips kept flapping even though I wanted desperately for them to close.

  His eyes sparkled as he looked at me, clearly enjoying my altered state. “Well, I must confess I am a bit jealous. You both always think I’m joking when I suggest a threesome, but I really am not. Michael is quite the specimen.”