“They cursed me.” Marcus closed his eyes and grasped the meaning behind those three words. Everything he had trusted and believed in had betrayed him and it cut him to the bone. His fists trembled at his sides. They had done this to him. Why?
“The demons?” Lukas’s tone was low and cautious, as though he had sensed Marcus’s rising anger and was afraid that he would unleash it on him.
“No.” Marcus tilted his head right back and stared at the black ceiling of the cavern, looking beyond it to the mortal realm and then Heaven beyond that. “Not the demons.”
Veiron’s voice echoed around the black cavern.
“The angels.”
CHAPTER 23
Marcus’s silver-blue gaze slowly shifted to Veiron.
He walked across the blackened field of rock towards them, a vision of darkness in his obsidian armour and with his leathery dragon-like wings furled against his back, their clawed tips gleaming in the fiery light.
“What do you mean?” Einar said and held Lukas back when he materialised his gold and white spear in his hand. “This is Veiron… the one who foresaw Amelia’s death.”
Lukas and Apollyon looked Veiron over and neither seemed impressed. Marcus didn’t like it either, but they needed Veiron’s help and he was starting to think that this man was more trustworthy than any in angel in Heaven. Veiron had said plainly what would happen to Amelia. He hadn’t lied to them as far as Marcus could tell, but then he couldn’t call himself a good judge of character anymore. He had been so easily deceived by those he had placed his trust in.
“It is an angelic curse,” Marcus said and all eyes were on him.
Apollyon didn’t seem shocked and neither did Einar. After the conversations that Marcus had shared with them, their response didn’t come as much of a surprise to him. All three of them had their doubts about Heaven and now those doubts had been proven sound.
Lukas looked between Marcus and Veiron, his green eyes full of disbelief. Marcus had heard Lukas’s story from Einar, about how another angel had used Lukas and pinned the murder of hundreds of humans on him, and the punishment he had endured because of it. It must have been difficult for Lukas to bring himself to trust Heaven again and now they had shaken his faith in it once more.
Marcus could feel a sliver of his pain and confusion, and they were feelings that he shared. His own belief lay in tatters and everything he had fought for was gone, tainted by lies and deceit, and he felt as though he had lost a part of himself because of it. Or more than a part. He felt like a different person now. The once dutiful and loyal soldier who had been happy obeying his orders and had believed in everything he had been told was gone. Naïve. Foolish. How had he been so blind to everything that had been happening around him? How had he been so stupid as to cling to belief and never question the things he was told to do? Even when he had demanded answers, he had lacked conviction, easily swayed by his superior into giving up his quest for the truth behind his mission, trusting that they knew what they were doing and the path they had chosen for him was the right one.
“Poor little soul,” Veiron said in a sweet voice and Marcus curled his fingers into tight fists and glared at him. “Only a powerful demon can lift that curse or possibly the angel that gave you it, but something tells me that you didn’t come down here to beg the Devil to remove it now, did you? You didn’t know.”
Marcus clenched his jaw and steeled himself, battling his rising desire to grab Veiron by the throat and shake some answers out of him. No good would come of it. The Hell’s angel had left when Taylor had turned nasty towards him and he couldn’t risk driving the man away now. As much as he hated it, he would endure the demon’s mocking for Amelia’s sake.
“What possible reason could they have for cursing you?” Veiron ran his gaze over him. There was an edge to it that made Marcus feel as though Veiron already knew the answer to that question. “You must have done something very bad… or perhaps it was something they didn’t like.”
Marcus thought back to the night he had gotten drunk with his so-called friends and had awoken with the curse. He had spoken to them about something after their last mission, something that had been dear to him at the time.
He had talked about requesting a change in his duties and position so he could become a soldier of Heaven, one of the many who protected it against intruders and went to battle in times of war. That was his dream. They had cursed him that night and he had ended up having to watch over mortals instead, bound in Heaven with no ability to fly, useless without his wings.
If the curse hadn’t happened, he would have asked for that change in duties and headed into a role that had nothing to do with mortals or guarding them, an area of servitude where he would have had no reason to meet Amelia.
Did this curse have something to do with her?
His wings had returned when he had been assigned to watch over her and the curse had remained ineffective until he had met her. The more he thought about it, the more he realised that the times when the curse had hindered his wings, stopping them from appearing, were all related to her.
Something else dawned on him and he didn’t like it one bit.
When he had defeated the Hell’s angels and had leapt with Amelia, expecting his wings to come when he called them, he had been thinking about leaving with her, taking her somewhere far away where it would be difficult to find them. The moment his wings hadn’t appeared, his plan had changed. He had decided to go to Einar instead.
When Amelia had died and awoken as something angelic, she had mentioned that she knew them all.
A shiver rushed down his back.
The curse had changed his plans and led him to Einar. Einar in turn had led him to Apollyon and Lukas. Heaven had used the curse to bring all four of them together so Apollyon’s duty would come into effect and he would have no choice but to follow his orders and kill Amelia.
Marcus stared into Veiron’s red eyes, struggling to comprehend what he was thinking.
“I used to do work like that fancy curse you bear.” Veiron sighed wearily. “Now you can understand why I switched sides. I was already doing a demon’s work.”
“I need to know what’s going on, Veiron, and I need to know how to get rid of this curse.” Marcus took a step towards him and ignored the black voice that curled out of the pit, offering him assistance with it.
“Have you seen Taylor?” Einar said and Marcus couldn’t believe that he had forgotten about her. He had been so caught up in his own problems that he hadn’t thought about the fact that she was wandering around Hell searching for the very man standing in front of him.
“No, why?” Veiron frowned at him. “I figure she’s playing house back in London, Wingless.”
“She isn’t. She came down here with us and went to find you. You haven’t seen her?”
Veiron’s look darkened and his red eyes brightened until they glowed like embers in the low light. “What do you mean, she’s down here? How could you be so irresponsible?”
Marcus intervened when Einar started towards Veiron and placed himself between them. “I am sure she will be back soon, Einar… we are here to find out what’s going to happen to Amelia now that she has died, so—”
“She isn’t dead yet.” Veiron’s words dropped on him like lead weights, each one dragging his insides down a little further, and he turned slowly to face the demonic angel.
“What the hell do you mean?” he whispered and took another step in his direction. “I saw her die and I saw her reborn as an angel.”
“An angel?” Veiron laughed. “She isn’t what you could call an angel and she isn’t dead yet. I’ve seen her death, remember? Do you think I would be standing here hindering you with idle conversation if it had already happened?”
“Hindering me? Not dead?” Marcus spat out another dark curse and the Devil laughed this time, his voice booming out of the pit and mocking him. His army was almost within reach of Heaven. Veiron’s kind was going to attack it to retrieve
Amelia. Why?
Marcus growled in frustration, ran at Veiron, and tackled him to the ground. The rough basalt scratched at his knees as he straddled Veiron and then scraped his back when the demonic angel used his leathery dark wings to knock him away. Before Marcus could get back onto his feet, Veiron was kneeling astride him, his hands pressing down hard into his shoulders, pinning him to the sharp ground.
“Tell me what the hell you’re talking about!” Marcus struggled, trying to get free, causing the rocks to cut into his back. The scent of blood joined that of brimstone in the choking hot air.
Apollyon tore Veiron off him and held him off the ground by his neck from behind. Veiron beat his wings and Apollyon snarled and grabbed one, twisting it behind Veiron’s back and tearing a growl of pain from the demonic angel. Veiron’s teeth sharpened and turned the colour of blood and his eyes glowed brighter, burning as fiercely as the pit.
“Enough.” Apollyon cast him aside, sending him tumbling across the black charred ground.
Veiron was still a moment, laying on his side, and then slowly pushed himself back onto his feet. Marcus took Einar’s hand and hauled himself onto his feet too. He scowled at Veiron who returned it a hundredfold.
The Hell’s angel kept his distance this time, warily eyeing him and the three angels flanking him.
“Why isn’t Amelia an angel?” Marcus had wanted to believe that she was because then Heaven would have no reason to harm her, at least he had thought that at the time they had taken her. Now, he wasn’t so sure. They had done something terrible to him, cursing him in order to keep him in check and to control his actions. What was their objective? Were they going to kill Amelia?
Panic lanced his heart but he refused to surrender to the need to fly out of Hell and go to her. He needed to know what he was dealing with. He needed a plan if he was going to save Amelia, and that meant staying where he was until Veiron told him the truth about her, no matter how much it hurt him to remain.
“There are no female angels. I thought this was something everyone knew?” Veiron looked at each of them in turn and then settled his red gaze on Marcus.
“We knew.”
“She may look angelic, but appearances can be deceiving can’t they?” Veiron smiled and stretched his wings out, and black feathers began to grow on them, hiding the leathery membrane. When the feathers were all in place, they turned crimson. He stared into the distance beyond Marcus, his expression turning thoughtful. “She once had wings like ours… they were beautiful and dripped with blood that was fatal to us. A female angel. The original creation. Our forebear. God believed that women would be perfect angels, gentle and caring, mothering and protective. God gave her everything, endowing her with power the likes of which no angel has ever been blessed with since. He realised his mistake too late. Instead of helping mankind in its earliest form, she drove them to sin and to the point of destruction. God destroyed her, but angels are eternal. He could not undo his mistake.”
“So she is an angel like us.”
Veiron shook his head. “She had been tampered with during her creation. While her body had been born in Heaven, her soul had been born in Hell. The power that flows in her blood has rendered her a pawn in their eternal game.”
Veiron’s focus came back to him.
“She’s a pawn, Marcus, just like you and me, only she’s a divine instrument. A weapon.”
“A weapon?” Marcus’s heart started at a pace, beating hard against his ribs, and the desire to leave Hell now and go to her flowed through his veins and burned in his soul so strongly that he couldn’t ignore it this time. He tried to call his wings but they wouldn’t come. The marks on his back blazed and he flinched at the intense heat, grinding his teeth together in an attempt to endure it without the others noticing.
“Marcus?” Einar touched his shoulder. He looked at him and saw that he was staring at his back. Marcus gave up his fight to hide his pain and growled. It was useless. The changing colour of the marks would give away what he was thinking and that his curse was active, and they would know his pain. “Stop it.”
Marcus shifted his focus back to Veiron and away from his desire to leave Hell and go after Amelia.
“She can’t be a weapon,” he whispered, his heart aching at the thought of Heaven using her to that end. He didn’t care where she had been spawned or what she was. She was Amelia to him. The woman he loved.
“I’m afraid she is. She became a weapon the moment both sides realised the potential of her blood. She was the first, born of both God and the Devil, a union of infinite strength and power. Her blood is sacred. Within it she holds phenomenal power, more than both had thought possible.”
“What power?” Marcus said and Veiron smiled as the Devil’s voice rose from the pit.
Marcus couldn’t understand what he had said but Apollyon clearly could because he moved forwards, his gaze locked on the pit, a flicker of shock in his blue eyes.
“What?” Marcus caught his arm and Apollyon looked back at him, his black wings partially obscuring his face.
“It’s a seal.”
“A seal?” Marcus looked back at Veiron and the demonic angel nodded. “Her blood can seal this realm?”
“Not just this realm.” Veiron pointed upwards. “It has sealed your own in the past. If her blood is spilt in one realm, it will seal the other until that blood loses its power. Eventually, she is reborn and the race to find her begins again.”
“They’re going to kill her.” Marcus turned his back on Veiron and cursed when his wings wouldn’t emerge. Veiron was right. Amelia wasn’t dead yet. She had only been awakened. The event surrounding her death was still to come. That was why his mission hadn’t ended with Amelia’s death at Apollyon’s hands.
“Not them,” Veiron said. “You.”
Marcus froze to his core. His heart beat loudly in the silence echoing in his mind. His hands shook. He stared blankly ahead into the black field full of belching pits of magma, trying to take in that single innocent sounding word that held such pain and foreboding.
“You, Marcus,” Veiron repeated, his voice lowering and filling with darkness. “I said that you were there at her death.”
“No… I am not going to kill her. I love her! I am going to save her.” Marcus spun on his heel to face him. “I won’t kill her.”
“Strong words considering that you killed her last time.” There was conviction in Veiron’s red eyes, belief in the words that he was saying, and Marcus covered his ears.
“No. You lie. I have never met her before. I don’t know what you are talking about but I am not going to kill her!” Marcus scowled at him and then turned to his fellow angels. “Apollyon… tell me he is lying. You were alive when I was reborn.”
Apollyon stared at the broken ground, his eyes gradually brightening until they were vivid blue and Marcus could feel his anger.
“I have no memory of killing her or of anything that followed, but… now that I am thinking about it, I have a feeling that something had happened then… only I cannot remember it.”
Marcus fell to his knees. This wasn’t happening.
“You were reborn in a time of peace?” Veiron said and Marcus hung his head forwards and nodded, his hands resting between his knees.
He had been reborn at a time when the world had been serene and beautiful, and Einar had been reborn then too.
“A time of peace always follows her death if Heaven spills her blood.”
“I didn’t do it.”
“Your proof is right there. See it for yourself.” Veiron pointed to the small pool in the distance near a rugged semi-circular outcrop of black rocks. It shimmered brightly, changing colour as it reflected the events occurring on Earth.
Marcus hesitated. The pool would reveal the truth but he wasn’t sure whether he wanted to see it. It had hurt him when he had realised that Heaven had betrayed him. He wouldn’t be able to cope with the pain if he discovered that Veiron was right and he had killed Amelia in his
previous life.
“It is a terrible fate we endure, Marcus,” Veiron said on a sigh. “Each time I am reborn, I succumb to the Devil and do his bidding in this game. I grow weary of it and the memories that return as the game goes on. You are not the only person who has killed her.”
How many times had he killed her though? He wanted to ask that question but he feared it. It was bad enough knowing that he had killed her once.
“I had never thought they would take things this far though.”
Marcus wasn’t listening anymore. He stared at the pool, building up the courage to accept his fate and what he might have done in his past. If he had killed her last time, had betrayed her, that didn’t mean he had to repeat history and follow his destiny and do it all over again. He didn’t want to see the terrible things he might have done to her, but he dragged himself to his feet and crossed the uneven ground to the pool, shunning Einar and Apollyon as they attempted to stop him.
He collapsed to his knees at the edge of the small oval pool and held his trembling left hand out over it, focusing on the point of his rebirth two thousand years ago and then taking the images back beyond that. He focused on himself and his existence at that time, and stopped when he saw Heaven stained with blood.
Marcus looked away, unable to bear the sight of himself in the pool. He covered his mouth with his hand and stared at the ground, shaking his head and cold to the bone. He had killed her.
His gaze crept back to the frozen image in the pool and he couldn’t take his eyes off his spear where it pierced her blood-soaked chest.
He had killed her.
“Come away,” Apollyon said in a soothing low voice and gathered him close, forcing him to look away from the image. It branded itself on his mind and his heart, seared there for eternity.
He had betrayed her.
What if she remembered that?
Her Angel: Eternal Warriors Romance Series Complete Series Box Set (Books 1-5) Page 26