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

When I opened my eyes I found myself staring into the molten obsidian of Bane's eyes. For the first time in a while, I felt whole once again. But it was a weak whole. I felt like I hadn't slept in days. I was confused, and I had no idea why I was lying in Bane's arms on the beach, with one of his wings walled around us in a half circle. Little wisps of flames curled away from the tips of his wings without even singing feathers. I felt dopey. And I had a hard time remembering what had happened. But as Bane stared down at me, pieces of information began to trickle into my memory, like he gently, slowly showed me what had gone missing from my memory.

  With a gasp, I looked down at my chest. My shirt was torn and saturated in blood. Where I'd gouged my skin with the dagger, flesh was mangled and rippled, but the wound was closed, like something very hot had melted my skin together. I was no longer bleeding.

  I looked up at Bane, now even more confused. What did it mean that he had shared his immortal blood with me? What did it mean that he sold his soul to Izzy's god so that I would come back to him? And what did it mean that I was his everything and that with me in his arms he found a place he could call home?

  "Oh, Luna!" Izzy came around the fiery wing and dropped to her knees beside me. She gave me a tight hug. "Are you all right? Are you still drugged-up? I am a little drugged-up, still." She uncurled herself from me but stayed on her knees. "Can you believe we got to ride a flying man? Luna, that was incredible! So, now will you admit that your boyfriend can up and fly like that?"

  "Yeah, ok. I'll admit it." I tried to laugh, but I found myself too breathless and weak. Slowly, I tried to sit myself up. Bane guided me, keeping his massive palm on my back for support. The pain in my chest was not as bad as I thought it should have been. According to the memories Bane had trickled into my mind, I wasn't capable of pushing the dagger deep enough into my breast to cause any real damage. It was the poison that affected me more than the wound.

  Izzy clapped giddily, squeaking with joy. "Romans Chapter Ten, verse thirteen says; Whosoever shall call upon the Lord shall be saved." She looked up at Bane. "You and I have a lot to talk about, Mr. You can't just go and get yourself saved and then not learn how to live the way God wants you to live, you know."

  "Some privacy, Isabelle Gordon," Bane commanded, his other wing slowly came around, but he left a little gap between them so that Izzy could slip through them.

  "Are your wings always on fire like this?" Izzy asked, as she crawled on her hands and knees through the hole Bane had left for her.

  "It will dissipate, along with this great adversity," Bane said, impatiently.

  "No need to be angry anymore. It's over. For now," Izzy said from the other side of Bane's wing.

  "It has only just begun, child," Bane said to Izzy while looking down at me.

  "Matthew Chapter Six, verse thirty-four says; take therefore no thought for the morrow: for the morrow shall take thought for the things of itself. Sufficient unto the day is the evil thereof."

  Bane wrapped me in his arms and embraced me. It came unexpected. But I eventually wrapped my arms around him and burrowed deep into his warm, strong arms.

  "You could have been free, Bane," I whispered into the deep crevasse between his breasts.

  "I am free, right here, My Lady Moon." His voice rumbled against my face.

  "So, you really are the son of Lucifer?"

  Reluctantly, we unwound ourselves from one another's arms. In the cocoon of his wings, I could see his face, due to the flickering spirals of flames above my head.

  "Yes, My Lady. I am the first born son of Lucifer, The Fallen One."

  I thought about the time I felt Bane's desire to drink my blood until it was dry in my veins.

  "That was you, coming into me, Luna, just as my brothers had."

  "You mean, I was seeing into your thoughts like you can see into mine?"

  "It is not a one-way link."

  This made me smile. This was very awesome. Somehow this made me feel less helpless when it came to my need to feel whole. Maybe I could feel whole even when he was not around, by linking to him the way that he links to me.

  "I will never unlink from you again, My Lady. I cannot bear a second without you in my mind, without knowing what is in yours. Where you are at, what you are doing, what you are dreaming about. I will keep you safe there."

  "Sounds a little on the obsessive side, Bane," I said, but I wouldn't have wanted him to feel any other way.

  "You have only a hint of an idea of just how obsessive I have become, My Lady. Your worldly meaning is far less potent than mine. But you are not safe with me. I am the oldest of my three brothers, which makes me the mightier, but there are three of them and only one of me. You are not safe with me, especially now that I have angered my father. It is you he will punish for my dishonor, Luna. I can protect you, yes, but I cannot purge them from your mind at a constant, nor from my own if I am weakened by your presence."

  "What are you trying to say?" My voice broke from a sudden rush of angst.

  "It is with great adversity that I must acquiesce to the allure of your presence. It is rather debilitating being near you. You cripple me deeply, and I cannot protect you this way. From afar, I would be of most use to you. From afar, I can still remain your bastion."

  "No, Bane! You can't just leave me alone like that. You can't just go away and never see me again. Are you crazy?" I swallowed the tight lump that his words had formed in my throat, gulping it down with difficulty. "We'll deal with your brothers and father as we go. We'll handle it. Together. You can't just stay away from me! What about Ashmodai? He said he'd protect me if only I'd invite him to."

  "Ashmodai is not an option for you," Bane growled. "With that, I will never capitulate. Do you understand me? Ashmodai, from the dawning of time, has been my adversary. For you, My Lady Moon, to call upon him for his protection would be an affront to me." The flames brightened and curled away from Bane's wings as if lashing out with his anger.

  "An affront to you?" I wrinkled up my nose. I was a writer, yes, but most of the time it was hard for me to understand what Bane was saying when he'd throw a word in there, like affront, for example.

  "It would be an insult to me, My Lady."

  I thought about Roman. He could help protect me. He was strong and brave and---

  Before I could finish that thought, Bane's hand lashed out and his fingers curled around my neck. Slowly and fluid-like, he rose to his feet, taking me up with him, while keeping us cocooned in his wings. His eyes pierced into me. "You. Are. Mine!" He roared, shaking me once. My feet dangled off the ground. His grip was too tight. I couldn't breathe. A strange wheezing sound came from my throat when I tried.

  If I have to destroy everything or everyone who attempts to intervene, I will, and with great carnage. This cannot be circumvented. And if you shall choose not to head my caveat, severely and without clemency, I will chastise you, My Lady Moon." Bane loosened his grip, and I could breathe again. I was put solidly back on my feet, but he kept his hold on my throat.

  "Do it, you pig-headed animal!" I yelled at him. "Squeeze. Squeeze! You are not the boss of me. I am not your possession. And if you don't ever want me to hate you, you can't go around hurting people."

  Bane suddenly pulled against him, kissing me with shocking intensity.

  This disarmed my anger.

  The fingers around my neck slid through my hair to the back of my head. Bane raised his lips from mine. "You are intrepid and belligerent. But I will render you docile, I can guarantee. And abstinence from destruction is impossible, for from it and for it was I created. You could never hate me, Luna, no matter the monster you discover I am. And even if hating me was possible, it would matter not."

  "You don't have to be who you were created to be, Bane. You have already proven that to yourself. You don't have to be a demon. And I really wish you'd stop sounding like Sean." I said

  "I must go now, Luna. Roman is near. And since I cannot destroy him, I must remove myself from temptation," Ba
ne said, sounding begrudged. "I will be near. I will be watching. And I cannot promise that I can keep you happy that way, My Lady, with not harming Roman." He uncurled his wings, and the world wrapped around me in their stead. "I will be watching," he reminded. His wings twitched up and outward, feathers ruffled. The moonlight etched them with silver.

  "And, My Lady, Roman is not your Dammon," he said. Then he bent at the knees and sprang into the sky,

  Izzy wrapped me in her arms, the smell of baby powder drifted under my nose. "I think I might throw up now, Luna. I was going to do that earlier, but the purple polka dots and fluffy stuff kind of distracted me. Then I was going to do it again while I was waiting for you and Bane to, you know, smooch and what ever, but I didn't want to ruin your moment with the sound of barfing."

  "Izzy, I really think you should stop hanging out with me," I teased her. She leaned heavily into me, and I now had to hold her weight up. "Before you know it, you'll be talking to the dead animal heads in the coffee shop."

  "You really think so?"

  "Oh, absolutely!"

  "Well, if I do end up talking to them, and they talk back to me, will you still be my friend, Luna?"

  "Izzy, my boyfriend has wings. Of course my best friend can have conversations with dead animal heads!"

  "Oh, Luna! You're the---" Izzy doubled at the waist, ending her sentence with a long overdue, violent upheaval.

  One that ended up all over my toes.

  Completely and utterly disgusted, I could only stand there in horror.

  "Ugh, I just threw up on your feet, Luna."

  "Yeah, I noticed that."

  "Really? Because I was kind of hoping that you wouldn't."

  "If you were hoping I wouldn't, Izzy, then why did you mention it?"

  "Hugh, that's a really good question. Why didn't you ask me that before I said anything?"

  "I think we better get you to bed. You can sleep in my room. Hopefully whatever they gave you will wear off with a little rest."

  "I'm not feeling so well, Luna."

  "You'll feel better after you rest. But you gotta give me a minute to go wash my feet in the lake."

  Off in the distance, I could hear the rumble of Roman's jeep, and my heart skipped with excitement. I didn't understand how my insides felt one way while my brain felt another, but that's exactly how it worked.

  "Luna, my brother is coming," Izzy said. "He really likes you, I can tell. But you probably don't like him, hugh? Most girls don't. It's not that he's mean or anything. He's just seriously misunderstood."

  "Izzy, I don't like your brother. And I have a boyfriend, so you can stop playing cupid."

  "Wish I had a boyfriend."

  "You do?"

  "Of course, I do! But the kind of man I want doesn't exist in the world I live in. Not really, anyway."

  "Well, don't be surprised if your wrong about that!" I giggled, thinking about Bane and how I once felt the way Izzy was feeling now.

  "I want a man like Ashmodai," Izzy said. "And you might want to watch your feet." Izzy barely finished saying this before she doubled over and vomited.

  All over my feet.

  Again

  ****

  Chapter Fifty-Five

  Luna