The Damned (The Unearthly Book 5)

  The demons made gurgling sounds that turned into growls as their windpipes formed. Once they finished filling out, they came to flank me. These ones stood seven, eight feet tall.

  “You will lose,” he said. “It is inevitable. Enjoy the reprieve from hell. Soon enough we will cast you back to the fires like all those other traitors, and there you will stay.”

  Chapter 7

  Gabrielle

  Right after my attacker’s little speech, he shot up into the dense cloud cover. He even managed to make it look like he wasn’t fleeing from the six fully formed demons that now surrounded me.

  Probably heading straight to the big man upstairs to tattle on me.

  The demons didn’t wait for my orders. They leapt off the ground, their leathery wings stretching out incredible distances to carry their weight. Without a backwards glance, they flew into the night, trailing the celestial that had taken off before them.

  I just fought an angel.

  I prodded the back of my head, still dazed from the injury. It hurt the way poking a bruise hurt, but despite the lingering blood, the skin had sealed up.

  Silver lining: I could heal fast again.

  What a mess. I’d managed to make enemies of both earth and heaven all within a couple hours of arriving here. That had to be some sort of record.

  “Hot damn, Sabertooth,” Oliver said from behind me, “just when I think things can’t get any freakier around you, you one up yourself.”

  I turned to see him and Leanne heading towards me. I glanced around my surroundings, noticing the onlookers for the first time. Most had their phones out, angled towards me.

  “Go home,” I told them, the siren riding my voice, “and forget what you’ve seen here and remove all record of it from your devices and your mind.”

  The crowd dispersed, and I used that time to catch my breath and allow my skin to dim.

  “That meeting you foresaw wasn’t with Andre, was it?” I said to Leanne once the siren was safely locked away.

  She rubbed her face. “Apparently angels don’t have clear futures.” Her hands muffled her voice.

  The fairy clucked his tongue. “That would have been helpful to know beforehand. Not that I minded the show. Fuck me, angels are hot. I wonder what his feathers would feel like …”

  “They’d burn you faster than they would Gabrielle,” Leanne said.

  “Hmph.”

  “I didn’t realize angels could visit earth,” I said, staring up at the sky. I mean, it made sense. Nephilim, after all, had to come from somewhere.

  “They can, but they don’t. At least, not often,” Leanne said.

  “What brought him here?” I asked.

  “You.”

  I swiveled to face her. “So they know about me?”

  “Oh, I’m sure they’ve known for a while.” She didn’t sound happy about it. “They’ve just decided to act on it now, I suppose.”

  I frowned. What kind of divine beings sought to murder a teenage girl?

  I stared into the sky. I could no longer see the angel or my demons. My skin prickled. I’d set loose nearly twenty creatures since I’d arrived on earth, and they’d all made themselves scarce. That … probably wasn’t good.

  “Can we go? It’s colder than a witch’s tit out here,” Oliver complained.

  “We’re still waiting for Andre.”

  My heart sped up at the mention of him. I dreaded seeing him, dreaded revealing what I was—a being whose evil was second only to the devil’s—dreaded exposing him to my situation. I could only give him more heartache.

  But I was weak enough to want him anyway.

  “Do we have to do this outside?” Oliver asked.

  “For the future I’ve seen, yes, we do.”

  “Pfft. Is that the same future where Gabrielle took on an angel? Dropping the ball, Leanne.”

  “You think I haven’t already spent hours pouring over how this should go?” Leanne asked. Her appearance was a testament to it. She looked worn. “I don’t have the time and mental capacity to figure out the future in its entirety and live life in real-time.”

  I didn’t know what Leanne had seen, but I now understood how this could go very wrong. She mistook an angel for Andre based on her inability to foresee either’s future. And that small detail could’ve meant the difference between life and death.

  A car door slammed. I swiveled towards the noise, and I swear the world went silent for a moment.

  There.

  He.

  Was.

  Andre strode towards me, the wind whipping his hair and coat. As soon as our eyes locked, all those images I’d seen when we first met swept through me. Me and him, laughing, crying, kissing, in formal attire, naked, in the sun, in the rain. Always touching, always together, forever and ever and ever and—

  Severed.

  The images ripped away from me violently. My heart clenched. It still had the muscle memory of a time when it held him inside it. I closed my eyes. He was a beautiful illusion that had come to destroy what little was left of my heart.

  “Soulmate.”

  I opened my eyes. He hadn’t disappeared.

  Disbelief and the purest form of hope moved across his face. He took a step forward.

  I should run, I should force him to keep his distance and allow him to grow to hate me the way nearly everyone else did. But in the end I couldn’t.

  I was moving and he was moving and I couldn’t look away and my heart ached and ached and ached because he wasn’t mine anymore.

  He wasn’t mine.

  And then Andre swept me into his embrace and crushed me against him. My hands gripped his upper arms, and they couldn’t decide whether to push him away or pull him closer. My mind and my heart were utterly conflicted.

  “Andre.” My voice came out broken.

  His body shook. “I thought I’d lost you. I thought I’d lost you. Please never leave me again. Please.”

  I couldn’t make that promise before last night, and I definitely couldn’t make it now. In another world and another life he and I were human, and worlds and bonds didn’t separate us.

  He didn’t wait for my promise. His head dipped and his lips crashed into mine. That was the only way to describe it—crashing together, like some terrible train wreck.

  I twined my arms around his neck, wishing I could melt into him. He tasted like I remembered—like home. Sharp tears pricked my eyelids. All I wanted to do was live in this moment and never go back. Just him and me and our lips and tongues and no distance between us. But the moment came and went and that little voice inside my head kept saying, not mine, no longer mine.

  My emotions tangled together, and for the first time since I arrived back on earth, I felt human again.

  “Andre, I’m sorry, I’m so, so sorry. I’m sorry, I’m sorry, I’m sorry.” I couldn’t stop saying it. Maybe if I repeated it enough, it would wipe away any suffering he went through.

  “Shhh, it’s okay,” he said, running a hand over my hair. “It’s going to be okay.”

  How to tell him it wasn’t though?

  The tears I tried to hold back now trickled down my cheeks.

  He brushed them away with his thumbs. “You still cry blood,” he said, his tone laced with … relief? Satisfaction that I hadn’t wholly changed?

  My bloody tears glimmered on his hand, and … oh my God.

  I caught his wrist. “Don’t let it touch the ground.”

  “I wasn’t going to.” He brought his hand—and mine along with it—to his lips.

  Even worse.

  I jerked Andre’s hand away. “Stop. Don’t—it’s unholy.”

  That … sounded crazier than it should’ve.

  He paused, then carefully brushed his hand off on his shirt. “Better?” he said.

  I swallowed and nodded.

  “You still have your fangs,” he said, wonder filling his voice.

  “I do.”

  “And your glamour,” he said, touching my cheek
as my skin dimmed.

  A crazy laugh wanted out. I clamped my jaw shut. I was an unholy, taint-of-the-earth badass. I needed to start acting like one.

  Something pained entered Andre’s features. “I can’t feel you.”

  I should’ve known this would come up immediately. I looked away, staring out at the dark night. “That’s because I’m bonded to something else.” A shiver worked its way up my spine.

  Andre went rigid. His eyes flashed, and his hair lifted. “Who are you bonded to?”

  “You already know,” I whispered quietly, finally meeting his gaze.

  Bad idea.

  God, don’t cry again.

  I was hurting him all over.

  His power flared out. I felt it pass through me, rippling the air and earth as it moved outwards.

  “Has he hurt you?” Even without our connection I could feel Andre’s power building on itself.

  I shook my head. “I’m fine.”

  Andre’s nostrils flared as he scented the lie. I wasn’t fine. I’d been in hell for a day.

  The sound of engines distracted us. A line of cars were approaching from the direction of Castletown. It didn’t take a genius to guess that the Politia had somehow caught wind of my presence in Douglas.

  “We need to go,” Andre said.

  He tugged at my arm, but I resisted.

  “Just leave me,” I whispered. I was no good to him like this.

  “You must’ve hit your head when you came back. I will never leave you, soulmate.”

  That endearment killed me. He still considered me his.

  He glanced away from me, and I followed his gaze. Only then did I realize we had an audience. Oliver, Leanne, and Andre’s driver all watched us.

  Andre refocused his attention on me. “We need to get you and your friends to safety,” he said.

  Leanne stepped up to us. “We do need to get going, Gabrielle, and yes, Andre—we’d love to.”

  Andre nodded to them, even as I flashed him a strange look. He caught my gaze and gave me a small smile. “I was about to ask them if they wanted a place to stay.”

  Ah.

  Oliver squealed. “Sleepover at the vampire castle! Love!”

  “You’ve both risked your lives and futures to help my mate,” Andre said to Leanne and Oliver. “You have my protection as long as you need it. Now, do you guys need a ride?”

  Leanne shook her head. “We’ll be fine,” she said. “We have our own car.”

  “Then we’ll meet you back at Bishopcourt.”

  He took my hand and led me to his car.

  I worried my lower lip. “How badly have I ruined their lives?”

  Andre gave my hand a squeeze. “Your friends will be fine. Money and power talk, soulmate, and I have plenty of both. I will make sure Leanne and Oliver are taken care of.”

  That, I believed without a doubt. As much as Andre punished those who’d wronged him—or me—he rewarded those who helped us. And right now, allies were in short supply.

  Still, the possibility that my friends wouldn’t be able to go back to Peel Academy broke my heart. They’d given up so much to help me. If nothing else, I had to remedy the situation for them.

  “Did I mention that I like the dress?” Andre said, lightening the mood. His eyes strayed to those holes between the spider silk where he caught peeks of my skin.

  “Oh, it’s the dress you like?” I asked.

  He tugged me a little closer so that his mouth pressed flush against my ear. “And everything beneath it.”

  He pulled away, only to catch sight of my bare feet. “Why aren’t you wearing any shoes?”

  Before I had a chance to respond, I was up in the air and then cradled in his arms. I let out a small squeal and wrapped my arms around his neck.

  “Never mind,” he said. “We will be remedying the situation soon enough. And this gives me an excuse to be close to you.”

  “Andre, I’m fine. Put me down.”

  Surprise, surprise, he didn’t.

  Punk.

  Even once we were situated inside his town car, he didn’t let me go. Instead, he clasped me closer and ordered his driver to turn up the heat.

  I buried my head in Andre’s chest. How long would I get him before the fairytale was up?

  Then I’d be back in the devil’s lair. The thought sent my pulse spiking.

  “You have a heartbeat, soulmate.” Surprise coated Andre’s words. “And I can smell your fear. What are you frightened of?” Absently he rubbed my leg, trying to warm me up.

  “So many things,” I said. “But losing you, most of all.”

  “You will never lose me,” he said, his expression intense. “We’ll figure this out.” He was determined, just like all those other times he’d been sure he could save me.

  I wanted desperately to believe him. But could things ever go back to the way they were? My hope had long since run out.

  “Each day it’s going to get worse,” I whispered. “I’ll lose a bit more of my humanity each night, until you no longer recognize me. You won’t want to be with me then.”

  He let my leg go to cup my jaw. “I will always want to be with you, Gabrielle. Always.”

  “And I will always want to be with you,” I whispered. “But that doesn’t change things.” I swallowed, this next part hard to say. “I really am his soulmate.”

  Andre’s eyes stormed, hurt and anguish rolling through them.

  “I really am,” I repeated. “It’s impossible, but it’s true. And I can’t stay away from him. I don’t know how.”

  Chapter 8

  Gabrielle

  I could sense Andre’s anger and his thirst for violence. In the cramped space of the car, I practically choked on it.

  One guess where his thoughts were.

  He stared out the window, his hand absently stroking the inner skin of my arm. I still sat on his lap, but we might as well have been worlds apart. From what I could see of his profile, a muscle in his jaw feathered.

  I got the impression he had only the barest of holds on his normally tight control.

  Leave him be, the practical part of my mind instructed. The illogical, cursed part of me refused to let him continue to brood.

  I reached up and turned his head to face me. For the barest of moments I caught sight of the heady anger consuming him from the inside out. But as soon as his eyes landed on mine, his expression gentled.

  His hold tightened. “You are mine.” Possessive.

  “And you are mine,” I said.

  He inclined his head in agreement, and I pressed myself in closer.

  Andre rested his chin on my head.

  “How have you been?” I asked. I always thought of this man as a force of nature, but right now he seemed vulnerable. And so tired.

  He laughed gruffly, the action shaking me. “I lived an eternity every second you were gone, and I died countless times in each.” He pulled me tighter to him. “It’s a strange thing, having a bond break. Strange and excruciating. A part of me is gone.

  “Stranger still to sit here next to you and have it throb like an open wound. But when I’m near you, it aches less, and the will to die—I can think through it. But this isn’t natural. My body believes you’re gone and it wants to follow you. It can’t bear to be apart.”

  My blood ran cold. “You … want to die?” An uncomfortable heat followed the chill that passed through me. I hadn’t felt this type of fear. Ever.

  “Soulmate, this isn’t the first time. When you’ve lived as long as I have, death crosses your mind many times.”

  I brought my fingers to his lips. “Stop it.” I didn’t want to hear this, didn’t want to know that my situation might well and truly kill my soulmate.

  That couldn’t happen.

  That wouldn’t happen. Earth and heaven and hell be damned. I’d defy everyone and everything to keep this man safe.

  Andre wrapped his hand around mine and removed it from his mouth.

  “You promised me
you’d stay strong and not give up,” I reminded him.

  “Soulmate, you survived hell to end up in my arms. I’m as far as you can be from giving up.”

  Something awfully close to a sob caught in my throat. I cleared it. “Good.”

  And that was about when the last of my control snapped.

  Suddenly, I was kissing him and he was kissing me. My hands were in his hair, and his ran possessively over my back and down my hips. Our mouths didn’t separate as I hiked up my dress so I could straddle his lap. The only air I wanted to breathe was his, and the only taste I wanted to drink up was his essence.

  At some point the car came to a stop. Andre managed to open the door without us completely spilling onto the pavement, and I wrapped my legs around him as he stepped out of the vehicle.

  I didn’t notice Bishopcourt, or the people that witnessed our class act. There were only two things in my world—Andre and I—and soon there’d be only one.

  If this was just fairytale, then I would make the most of it.

  I didn’t remember the journey from the steps of Bishopcourt to Andre’s bedroom, but suddenly we were in there. Andre kicked the door closed and then we were ripping at each other’s clothes. Buttons popped as I tore Andre’s shirt open. He knelt, gathering the skirt of my dress and pulling it up and over my head in one fluid movement.

  At the back of my mind I realized he’d probably done this thousands of times with thousands of different women over the thousands of months of his very long life. But none of that mattered. He could’ve been with them and I might be with the devil and none of it meant anything. I knew this as surely as I breathed.

  This time, we didn’t ask permission. We didn’t fumble. Didn’t hesitate. His chest touched mine and I wrapped my legs around his waist. His lips met mine.

  In one smooth stroke he entered me.

  I gasped, my skin brightening. He leaned his forehead against mine, and our gazes locked. This close to him, I could see all the hues that made up his irises. And I wanted to look into those eyes for the rest of my immortal life.