Veiron ignored him and charged.
Asmodeus roared and slashed at Veiron, driving him further backwards on the sand. The footing was difficult, soft and hindering his movements. He wasn’t used to fighting on this sort of terrain. He beat his black feathered wings, trying to keep himself upright and nimble, able to dodge the attacks that the Hell’s angel threw at him, shoving forwards and jabbing with the long red curved blades of his double-ended spear. All the while, Asmodeus kept part of his focus on Liora behind him, ensuring that she didn’t end up in the crossfire and was safe from the furious angel before him.
“Leave… I will not let you near her. Go back and tell the Devil I will kill him for this.” Veiron snarled each word, his voice thick and gruff, as demonic and vicious as his appearance.
“I cannot leave.” Asmodeus tried to keep him moving backwards, away from Liora, placing more distance between them.
The darker part of him demanded he give Veiron hell and teach him a lesson he would never forget.
The Hell’s angel had been itching to fight him ever since they had first met, desperate to prove himself stronger. Asmodeus wanted to show the little wretch that he was insignificant, his power nothing compared with his own, and he would have if the situation had been different.
He had to hold back and weather the storm though, shielding Liora and playing nicely with the demonic angel, otherwise he would ruin the best chance he had of protecting her.
Asmodeus growled and struck the demonic angel’s spear again, knocking it upwards. “I cannot let you defeat me. Listen to me. I am not here on my master’s business.”
Veiron countered Asmodeus’s every thrust and slash, blocking his blades with skill that he admired. The male was wild, lost to his temper, but retained an incredible ability to fight and came close to breaking through Asmodeus’s defence a few times, driving him backwards towards Liora.
Asmodeus blocked Veiron’s spear with both blades, shoved upwards and then slashed at him, catching him on the thick breastplate of his obsidian and crimson armour. Veiron twisted out of the path of the remains of his blow, turned and battered him with his powerful wings before continuing in a full turn and bringing his spear down hard. Asmodeus bent at the knee to brace himself and blocked the black shaft of the spear. The spear hit hard, sending jarring vibrations down Asmodeus’s arms. He growled and pushed forwards, knocking Veiron off balance, and shoved to his feet, preparing his next attack.
“Veiron!” A familiar female voice broke the tense silence and shadows swirled behind him.
Erin came rushing out of them, her short black hair blowing back from her tanned face and her black knee-length dress fluttering in the breeze.
Another female was before her in an instant, silvery feathered wings, chrome armour and long pale hair bright in the strong sunlight. She held Erin back so she couldn’t leap into the fray.
A dark-haired male angel halted next to her, wearing silver and blue armour, his pale blue eyes locked on the battle. His gaze shifted beyond Asmodeus.
“Apollyon?”
Veiron roared and attacked harder, and Asmodeus almost lost his footing, each blow he blocked more powerful than the last. He couldn’t go all out. He couldn’t use his full strength to teach this pathetic male the lesson that he hungered to bestow upon his brutish head. He needed his assistance and he would never have it if he harmed him. Asmodeus wasn’t used to having to hold back or ask anyone for help, and it was hard to ignore his desire to rip into the male and show him that he was weak, inferior, and foolish for challenging him.
“Veiron! Will you calm the hell down and let the guy speak? You’re upsetting junior!” Erin pressed her hand to her stomach, rubbing her swollen belly. Asmodeus’s lack of attention cost him.
Veiron slashed down his chest and Asmodeus roared in agony and stumbled backwards.
“Oh, I’ve had enough of this macho bullshit,” Liora snapped from behind him.
Veiron went to cut him down and froze mid-swing. Asmodeus wrapped his arm across the long gash on his bare chest and growled at the male, bracing himself for his attack.
It didn’t come.
Veiron’s gaze inched downwards towards him and sweat broke out on his brow, as if just moving his eyes had taken incredible effort. What had happened to him?
Liora stepped into view beside Asmodeus, her hands held out before her. Black, red and purple ribbons shifted and danced around her fingers and forearms, and her eyes were darker than he had ever seen them, her expression fierce as she glared at Veiron.
“Liora,” Serenity whispered and Liora tensed, blinked, and stared wide-eyed at her arms and then the demonic angel she had under her power.
She swallowed hard and stumbled backwards, lowering her hands at the same time. Veiron collapsed to his knees, shaking the island, bent over to clutch the sand and breathed hard.
Liora’s hazel eyes grew even wider and Asmodeus sensed her panic. It flowed over him, beating in his veins and in his ears as her pulse accelerated and she breathed so fast he was sure she would pass out.
He shot to his feet and slipped his arm around her waist, supporting her as her knees gave out, keeping her upright. She turned wide eyes on him, her dark eyebrows furrowed, and pressed her trembling hands against his chest.
“Wow. That was pretty cool. You’re either fearless or foolish to stop my man when he’s in a rage… but it’s nice that someone here was able to get him to cool off.” Erin gave her sister, Amelia, the slip and walked up behind Veiron. She pushed him in the back of the head. “When I say you’re upsetting junior, you’re meant to stop fighting. This baby gives me hell when you’re in danger and you know that, you big oaf.”
Veiron growled and lumbered onto his feet, and his skin began to pale again, his body shrinking to its normal size. His armour disappeared, the black long shorts he had been wearing before replacing the pieces. He rolled his shoulders, twisted his neck and then checked himself over. Asmodeus wanted to slash the uninjured male across his chest, repaying him for the blow he had delivered while Asmodeus had been distracted.
Erin rubbed her stomach again and looked between Liora and Asmodeus. “Witch… and evil angel. I’m guessing you didn’t come here to give my husband some exercise?”
Asmodeus shook his head. “I am not. I am here to request your help.”
“Help?” Marcus, the male angel allied to Erin’s sister, frowned at him, his blue eyes swirling silver. He looked beyond Asmodeus, no doubt seeing if Apollyon agreed with what he had said. Apollyon must have because Marcus looked annoyed and sheathed his silver blade at his waist.
“Why do you seek our help?” Erin said and Asmodeus braved a step forwards, ignoring how Veiron growled threateningly.
“I do not seek the help of all of you.” He looked around at the four of them and then down into Erin’s amber eyes. “I seek your help.”
“My help?” She patted her stomach. “I don’t know if you’ve noticed, but someone got me up the duff. I can’t use my powers so I’m not sure what use I’ll be to you.”
“I do not need your power, and your pregnancy is the reason you are able to help me. The Devil has made a pact with you, yes?” Asmodeus sent one of his blades away but sheathed the other at his waist, keeping it close in case he needed it. Veiron looked ready to launch himself into another attack, regardless of what his female desired.
Erin nodded.
“I believe that the Devil will not dare start a war on your island and risk upsetting you, and therefore you are the only one able to protect Liora from your father.” Asmodeus held his hand out to Liora and she came to him, slipped hers into it and stood beside him. “I am here to request that you offer us the same protection you give to the others.”
“The Devil wants you?” Erin said to Liora and Liora nodded and wrapped her other hand around his, clutching it in both of hers. She was still trembling, weak from exerting so much power in order to freeze Veiron and shaken by how her magic had controlled her. “
Do you know why?”
“No,” Asmodeus answered for her and frowned. “I have tried to seek the reason but he refuses to give it, stating only that it is his business and that he believes Liora is dangerous in the wrong hands.”
“What?” Liora gasped and he glanced at her, squeezed her hand, and smiled. It didn’t erase the panic from her eyes. “You could have told me that before.”
“I did not wish to frighten you.”
“That’s rich coming from a man who I distinctly recall enjoys scaring the shit out of people and torturing them for fun,” Veiron growled and Asmodeus glared at him.
“Veiron, Gorgeous… you aren’t really helping.” Erin wrapped her arms around one of his and the Hell’s angel moved behind her, enfolding her in his muscular arms.
He settled his hands on her stomach and sighed. “I did upset junior.”
He pressed a kiss to her hair. She smiled and brushed her black hair from her face, hooking the thick red stripe down one side of it behind her ear.
“I do not trust him,” Amelia said and furled her silver wings against her back. The wind tousled her long silvery ponytail and she closed ranks with Marcus, coming to stand beside him, her weapon at the ready. “Look what he did to Nevar. We have no reason to trust him or offer him any sort of protection. He’s evil and dangerous, and for all we know, this could be a scam by the Devil to plant one of his men on the island so he can snatch the baby as soon as it’s born.”
“I second that.” Marcus settled his hand on the hilt of his sword. “Is the female a relation of yours?”
The male looked beyond Liora to Serenity.
“Yes. She is my cousin.”
“Asmodeus was sent to Paris to capture her and take her to the Devil,” Apollyon said and Liora tossed him a scowl over her shoulder and then looked back at Erin.
“It’s true that he was meant to take me to the Devil but he protected me instead. He killed a Hell’s angel to keep me from the Devil’s hands and he has risked everything to keep me safe. He’s made an enemy of himself for my sake and the Devil won’t stop until he has me now.” Liora squeezed his hand again, tighter this time. “No matter what you think or what you know about him… he isn’t here to harm anyone. He’s here because he wants to protect me, and he believes you can help him do that.”
Erin sighed, raked her gaze over Asmodeus, and then looked back at her sister and Marcus, and then up at Veiron. Seeking their input.
Asmodeus looked at the couple, feeling more than ever that his ability to protect Liora rested on their shoulders now. He had to convince them to offer them the protection they had given the others. Their friends.
How?
He was unaccustomed to acting kindly towards others and wasn’t sure what the process of making friends involved, or whether he was even capable of convincing these people that he meant them no harm. He was sure that was the first step, and so far he had failed dismally at proving himself an ally.
In his defence, he had been attacked the second he had set foot on the island, before anyone had even asked him what he wanted.
Perhaps it was hopeless. If Apollyon and Serenity had brought Liora here without him, Erin probably would have granted her protection immediately. He was jeopardising everything by accompanying her.
“It is true that the Devil wants Liora,” Apollyon said and Asmodeus growled, warning him not to intervene. He couldn’t bear it if his twin was able to succeed where he could not, convincing Erin to give Liora the protection she needed from the Devil. “Asmodeus, this is not about us. This is about Liora… and Serenity.”
“You speak perfect words, Brother, but forget I can feel your inner emotions. You desire to convince Erin to extend her protection to Liora and refuse it to me.” Asmodeus’s mood darkened, his hope draining away.
As it faded, the side of him that wanted blood on his hands and violence began to take control, growing within him, pushing down the good that Liora had nurtured.
These people before him had seen what he had done to Nevar, a guardian angel, on the plateau, battling him on his master’s orders. Apollyon had been there and had fought him while Amelia, Marcus and Veiron had set Nevar free of his chains. He would play on that to turn them against him, if they needed any convincing. The three of them regarded him with cold, sharp eyes, all ready to cut him down if he said the wrong thing.
“Apollyon?” Liora looked behind them at the angel and Apollyon said nothing. At least the bastard didn’t try to lie and defend himself. Asmodeus had known how it would be and had expected no more from his twin than this attempt to separate them.
“What would you do if I extended my protection to Liora and denied it where you were concerned?” Erin said and Asmodeus held his head high, masking the pain in his heart and crushing his desire to ask her not to do such a thing.
He released Liora’s hand and stepped aside. “I would leave her under your protection. If you swear to keep her here and keep her safe… I will leave. I will do that for her.”
Liora’s heart picked up pace again and her anger flowed over him, laced with hurt. “I don’t want to stay here without you.”
The force behind those words warmed his heart.
Asmodeus turned to her and looked down into her hazel eyes, seeing the pain in them and wishing he could take it away. He raised his hand and cupped her cheek, holding her gaze and searching for the right words, the ones she wanted to hear. He couldn’t say them. He couldn’t lie to her.
“I am sorry, Liora,” he whispered, low enough that she would know he spoke these words for her ears alone and meant every one of them. “I should leave. I want you to be safe, and you will be safe here if I go. I have no other course of action… no other way to protect you now. This is how it must be. Erin and everyone will protect you if I leave. I will do that for you. I would do anything to keep you safe.”
“No,” Liora murmured, lifted his other hand and pressed a kiss to it, closing her eyes at the same time.
Her fingers trembled against his, not from fatigue this time. She was on the verge of tears and he didn’t want her to cry because of him and the decision that these people were forcing upon him. He didn’t want to leave her but he had to do it, for her sake. His chest hurt, a dull heavy throb that beat in his blood, whispering a forceful demand to stay with this beautiful female because if he left, he would leave his heart behind and become empty, dead inside.
It pained him to see Liora, normally so strong and stubborn, standing before him with her head bowed in defeat. He wanted her to be strong again, to stand tall and face life with the determination and recklessness that he had come to admire in her. He wanted her to fight and be the woman he had fallen in love with.
Everyone fell silent and stared at them, and Asmodeus hated them for it. He wanted to be alone with Liora. He didn’t want to leave her.
Liora raised her head, opened her eyes and looked up into his. Steely determination coloured her hazel irises. “We can go together. We can find somewhere else. Remus and Romulus can help you protect me. If we work together, we’ll be okay.”
Asmodeus cursed himself when tears lined her long dark lashes, each diamond drop cutting at him and making him bleed inside. He could feel her emotions, could sense her pain and suffering, and he found only pain in it himself. He didn’t want her to hurt like this, as if he was breaking her heart. He wanted her safe and happy, and he couldn’t achieve both of those things. If he made her stay and he left, she would be safe but not happy. If he let her leave with him and his hellhounds, she would be happy but not safe.
He cursed again, his head and heart aching as he tried to find a third way, the one that would fulfil both of his desires, and wouldn’t end with them being separated.
“Please, Asmodeus,” Liora whispered and squeezed his fingers. “I’ll be safe with you.”
Asmodeus did the hardest thing he had ever done in his life.
He released her and stepped back. “No. You will not. You will be safest her
e.”
“And what will you do?” She frowned at him, her words harsh, and then understanding dawned in her eyes and she shook her head. “No, Asmodeus. No.”
Romulus and Remus came to flank him and he silently thanked them for their support. He needed them now more than ever, needed to feel that someone was on his side, because he was on the edge, verging on doing something that he could see Liora believed was suicide.
“You are not fighting him alone.” Liora lunged forwards and grabbed his wrist, her grip surprisingly tight. He looked down and saw ribbons of magic curling around his forearm, seeping into his flesh and squeezing it as firmly as her fingers were. “I won’t let you fight him alone.”
Asmodeus stared down at her, absorbing how beautiful she was when her eyes flashed with fire and she challenged him like this, ready to fight him if she had to in order to get her way and make him back down.
“You really expect me to separate them?” Erin said and Asmodeus caught her looking at Apollyon out of the corner of his eye. “How am I meant to do such a thing when I lived through the same hell as they are?”
The dark-haired woman looked around her, her gaze verging on golden now, seeking answers from everyone present.
“Apollyon, you can curse me to Hell… you can all shout at me about it later… but when it comes down to it, it is my decision, and I’ve made up my mind.” Erin looked across at him. “I will give you the protection you desire, Asmodeus. I will give it to both of you. From now on, you fall under my protection. You are my friends.”
The ground shook and Erin’s face darkened, her eyes glowing gold.
“Yeah, you heard me. Bite me… no, I won’t take it back… why don’t you come up here and try it? Oh, that’s right. You’re stuck in Hell… Stick it. You heard. Stick it. I don’t give a damn… I happened to have an opening for two new friends. Yeah, yeah. Nothing I haven’t heard before. So he really is on your shit list?” Erin cast him a grim look and rolled her eyes, and continued her one-sided conversation. “No, I’m not listening. No. No means no… fine. Why do you want her so much? She doesn’t look dangerous to me… well, she’s pretty powerful, but… sorry to say that she’s under my protection now… in my hands. Bored now. Really bored. Bite me, Pops. I hate you. Go to Hell… ah, you’re already there. Burn in it. Ciao ciao!”
Her Angel: Eternal Warriors Romance Series Complete Series Box Set (Books 1-5) Page 96