Bloodline (Paranormal Romance, Dark & Twisted) Saving Demons Series Book 1

I never knew rage like this before. My flesh spat fire, and flames rolled up the spines of my wings. Luna crumpled to the cave's floor. The dagger was still in her grip, buried beneath her somewhere. I roared, sending a tremor through the bowls of the earth. Darkness slithered close to my body, ready and eager to hear my commands. It rained from the stalactites above me and crowded around me.

  "Turn down your circle now, Devine, or I will come inside," I warned, in the voice which belonged to the animal within me. My very presence struck fear into everyone in the cave. No one moved. No one could speak, for their fear was their paralysis.

  "Turn down your circle!" The boom of my voice rocked the stalactite above, and pieces gave way, falling to the floor and shattering around the circle of light. Fire flared from the spines of my wings, lashing out at the darkness around me.

  "Why do you wish for me to let you in?" Devine asked, accusingly. She stood above Luna's crumpled body. I sensed her doubt and insecurity. A little pool of crimson blood slowly grew in size at Devine's feet. It was the blood of My Moon's. Her lifeblood.

  "I find it rather peculiar that you would risk coming inside my circle. You know what would happen, Bane. You would hurt me. This would sever your path to freedom. Forever you would remain here, in this realm."

  "Devine," Aine said, in a small, shaking voice. "Let down the circle. He will come in, or he wouldn't threaten to."

  "You do not know the damage it will cause, Devine," Psyche warned. "It could damage you permanently!"

  "Hi, Bane!" Izzy screeched from the corner. "I'm so glad you showed up. These girls didn't get their spankings. Ashmodai kinda can't do it since he's trapped inside my head, so maybe you should spank em, Bane. Something's wrong with Luna. I'm worried these girls may have done something horrible to her."

  "If Bane wanted to come inside, he would have already done so," Devine said.

  "Make the choice, charlatan. Turn down your circle, and fast, or with its body, I will hastily coalesce. My patience runs thin," I said.

  "Wait just a minute here." Devine's eyes went large with surprise as her little, simple mind finally put it together. She now realized that I had feelings for the Lady Moon. And she now realized what this meant for her and the rest of The Coven."What is in the circle that you want, Bane? It certainly is not me. It's not Psyche or Aine. You have denied us multiple times. You have said your interests lie elsewhere. Luna Lanchester is the elsewhere! We have the magical formula! The Love-Bond!" she said. This caused the others to gasp.

  "Luna is the last of the Lanchesters," Izzy yelled. "You can't kill her. Besides, I really think Bane would be upset if you did. He chose love over evil, Devine. Maybe you could learn a thing or two from the son of Lucifer. Jesus loves you, too, you know. Hate the sin, love the sinner. It's not too late for you, Devine," Izzy said, but everyone was ignoring her.

  "Very well, then. Your transgression will be your demise. Let the disruption I cause to the elements about you be your Achilles's heel, Devine of the Hallows," I said, "May they haunt you for eternity."

  Unlike the invisible ward around the coven-stead territory, the circle was malleable. There was a great deal of resistance that felt much like elastic stretching, as I pressed against the circle. But it gave way to my force, snapping like crisp, frozen branches on a tree, until I was fully inside. There was an immediate and tumultuous reaction to my presence in the circle. Devine doubled over and fell to the floor, convulsing wildly. Psyche and Aine ran to her aid, but the moment they touched her they were jolted backward. A stiff wind whirled inside, whipping little pieces of water around like a tropical storm. Fire spilled from the barbs of my wings and arched upward, raining against the inner circumference of the circle until a wall of flames surrounded us, chocking off the magic that was so tightly wound around us. But I paid no mind to any of this. Luna was all that was important to me.

  I squatted down before her, curling my wings around her to create a protective wall that no one, or no thing, could penetrate, while I assessed the damage, honing in on her vital organs. My Lady Moon was still breathing, faintly, raggedly. Her pulse was much slower than what it should have been. But she was still alive.

  I slowly, carefully, turned her shoulder off the floor to look at her wound. I just about collapsed from relief when the dagger stayed in the pool of blood on the floor. Luna had shoved the blade into her breast, but the thrust was not near powerful enough to slice deep enough inside of her body to cause any real damage. Carefully, while keeping my wings walled around her, I gathered her limp body in my arms and rose to my feet.

  That was when I smelled it. The poisonous herbs.

  The dagger had been dipped in the poisonous herbs, and now there was poison pulsing through Luna's veins. Her heart was not struggling because of the loss of blood. Her heart was being viciously attacked.

  I shot out of the circle, ripping Izzy away, pole and all, then I severed the ropes with one scorching touch of my finger, tossed Izzy onto my back, and I ran, holding My Lady Moon carefully in my arms, absorbing the impact of my footfalls with my arms so that I could keep My Lady comfortable in my embrace.

  I hit the night air and took to the sky, ignoring the cacophony of screeching and squelching that came from Isabelle on my back, ignoring her complaints about the fire lashing away from my wings. I tuned everything out that was not pertinent to Luna and the fact that poison was permeating every organ in her body.

  In a moment's time, I landed on the beach in front of My Lady Moon's house and sank with her to the sandy shore. Izzy scurried off and away from me, hovering in my shadow. I curled my wings around the front of our bodies, enveloping My Lady and I. Desperately, I ripped the blood saturated material away from Luna's wound and quickly covered the wound with my mouth. I latched on and began to suck, taking deep and long draws, swallowing her poisoned blood as if my own life depended on it.

  Because it did.

  I knew this now.

  My very own existence depended on Luna's survival. I drank and I drank until I could not smell the herb-scented poison in her blood anymore, until her heart slowed dangerously. I had only a fraction of a second to get this right. If I failed, I lost My Moon. If I failed, I lost my everything.

  Hastily, I used a sharp cuspid and raked it across my forearm to create a deep incision. Meat separated and opened wide. Blood spewed out. I covered her wound with mine and began to envision myself filling her full, transfusing my immortal blood into her, as I began to pray to my God.

  Then it dawned on me. My God, my father, had abandoned me. I had no god to receive my prayers.

  I whipped open one of my wings. "Isabelle Gordon, I am in need of your god," I commanded, hearing my voice tainted with desperation. "Now! Beckon him now."

  Isabelle flinched and then spoke quickly and clearly. "My God cannot be commanded, Bane."

  "He needs to be here, with me. I need his power in order to save her!"

  "Do you believe that Jesus died on the cross for our sins, Bane?" Isabelle sounded almost as desperate as I did.

  "Of course I do! I watched until he took his final breath. I was there. I gave him vinegar to drink. I was there to witness the empty tomb!"

  Isabelle could not hide her shock. "Accept Him into your heart," she managed to say. "Accept Him as your personal savior."

  "I do accept!"

  "Do you admit that you are a sinner?"

  "I am sin incarnate!"

  "Then ask Him into your heart, Bane," Isabelle's voice softened.

  "If your god, your Lord, has the power to bring my Lady Moon back to me, I will serve Him for eternity. I will march into the pits of Hades' Realm and bid by father fair well. I will be His fearsome warrior until the world crumbles at my feet. He can come into my heart. He can come into my anything, for all I care. I only wish My Lady Moon opens her eyes. If she opens her eyes, your God can have my soul!"

  Isabelle was smiling from one side of her face to the other. "He is not just my God, Bane." Isabelle dropped her gaze
to My Lady Moon's face. "He is your God, too."

  I looked down at Luna. Her thick lashes fluttered like the wings of the butterflies that lived inside of her. And then her beautiful, exotic eyes looked up at me. Izzy's God was a powerful, merciful God.

  And now He was my God, too.

  ****

  Chapter Fifty-Four

  Luna