He lifted his head and looked up at the sky, admiring the intricate patterns the bare limbs of the tree next to him made against the glittering black void of the sky. He wished that sky could be blue. The same color as Madeleine’s eyes, eyes no longer darkened by the haunted shadow he had placed in them. Maddie belonged up there, beyond the clouds. Not where he was going. He’d done the right thing. He could take comfort in that much at least.
“Ashemnon.”
Startled at the voice and a little alarmed as the invisible power slipped up over his mouth and nose—never his favorite part, the sensation had to be akin to drowning—he glanced over to see Riam standing next to the tree.
“Good luck to you,” the angel said.
Ash managed to give him a nod. Then the creeping magic completed its journey and the earth cracked open to swallow him in a whirlwind of searing heat, screams and the sickly orange glow of the lake of fire.
“Ash!”
Madeleine flew around the corner of the building in the direction she’d seem him disappear. Back here there was a narrow passage between the apartments and an aging brown wooden fence. She’d expected to find him still walking along the carefully tended grass, but the only sound was the wind whistling through the limbs of a lone tree. There was an odd tinge of scent riding the sudden gust, something like…sulfur. It stung her nostrils. But there was no sign of him.
She pulled her sweater tight and glanced behind her. It was as if no one had been here. He was gone already.
She didn’t know why she’d come. It was crazy, and she hadn’t planned out what she wanted to say when she found him. But their exchange at her door hadn’t satisfied her. They couldn’t end this way. He deserved more than her pitiful words for giving her her life back, and dammit, she wanted to make him listen.
Giving her life back was inaccurate. Because of him she’d never had much of a life to start with. But it didn’t matter.
She turned back around and shouted into the wind rushing through the alleyway, though its bite nearly stole her voice. “Ash!” Maybe she really hadn’t been quick enough. Maybe he’d already reached the other end. She sprinted in that direction, halting when the alley opened into the courtyard.
It didn’t make sense for him to come this way in the first place. It was time to face the truth: he’d said he had to go and he was gone.
A broken sob tore from her throat. “No.”
She had so many questions for him, and now there would never be any answers. She turned and began the trudge back to her apartment, silent tears slipping from her chin.
What happened then would remain a mystery for the rest of her life. Something grabbed her out of nowhere, something knocked the air from her lungs with nothing but a single touch. Her body was wrenched to one side and slammed against the fence, and she found herself staring into the eyes of a man she’d never seen before. Big, golden-haired…and the most frightening thing she’d ever seen in her life with that killing hatred burning in his black eyes. As she stared in horror, they began to glow red.
Pain radiated from her chest, further cutting off her air and, when she tried to cry out, no sound would come. His hand shot out to grip her throat, the hold tightening to bone-crushing proportions. His other hand slammed into her chest and the agony there went nuclear, partially blinding her. Every nerve in her body screamed as if it were being torn out. But she knew, in the moment before the sudden rushing darkness could claim her completely, that it wasn’t anything physical being torn out. It was her soul.
Ash, help me! He couldn’t leave her now. He wouldn’t.
She could no longer see, or feel, but she could hear. A sudden flutter like a thousand wings beating the air. An infuriated shout, an answering roar.
There was no strength in her; she could only assume she was lying on the ground by now. Judging from the direction the sounds were coming from, she was. She wondered if her heart even continued to beat. But it had to, didn’t it? She was alive; she wasn’t dead yet. The noises of a vicious fight were still swirling around her, close and then distant and then close again. Whoever they were, they seemed to be locked in a death-match.
Her muddled brain tried to make sense of the words tearing from their straining throats.
“You can’t touch her soul. It is written—”
“I can still kill the whore.”
“Kill her, and she goes with me. You’ve still lost.”
Maddie tried to move and sensed…nothing. Numbness should be preferable to pain, only at the moment, it wasn’t. It was infinitely more terrifying. She wasn’t aware of the ground beneath her, of the blades of grass that should be prickling against her cheek.
What if she was dead? The voices coming from above her, arguing over her…they didn’t sound like any voices she’d ever heard before. One of them was so clear and piercing it was almost painful—and she clung to that, because it was the only sensation she could discern in this tumult of darkness—but the other was low and menacing, a growl that couldn’t have come from a human throat. The only thing she knew was neither of them was Ash, and she wanted him, needed him to come put a stop to this…
The noise from the fighting reached a crescendo. Maddie wanted nothing more than to get up and run away as fast as she could, but nothing on her body worked.
Paralyzed. Whatever he did to you, you’re paralyzed.
After those words whispered through her half-functioning mind, all her thoughts became one repeated prayer.
Oh, please, God, help me…
Suddenly, absolute silence descended, and for one terrible instant she thought her hearing had gone too. But then she heard her name in that crystal, too-clear voice, sharp as wind chimes. It came from right above her.
“Madeleine?”
She couldn’t reply. Would he think she was dead if she couldn’t answer him? She found that, cold as she was, she could grow far colder and darkness could reach far deeper at the thought of those ramifications.
The voice grew softer, sighing. “Oh, Madeleine. I should have seen this coming.”
What did that mean?
She wanted to weep from this frustration.
Riam stared down at the crumpled figure on the ground and wanted to drop through the earth and thrash every demon in Hell. Especially the one whose fault it was she was brought into this situation in the first place.
But his anger was short-lived. It turned out he’d lied to that one, assuring him everything would be all right. He had to gnaw his lip to keep from uttering a curse. After all these years, he should have learned not to overestimate the demons’ ability to adhere to the rules. He’d been a fool.
Saklon, the coward who particularly enjoyed deeds such as this, had retreated back to the slimy, slithering depths from whence he’d come and left Riam with a colossal mess to clean up. Quickly, he surveyed the area to make sure Madeleine wasn’t in danger of being found, then he stilled himself to send out the telepathic distress call to the earthbound angels of the area.
“This is Riam of the Order Iaoth, requesting aid for transport of a human female to the nearest safe house.” He gave the address, though the angels were all aware of one another’s locations and one of them should be able to find him easily.
A moment later, the answer came.
“This is Celeste. I’m en route, Riam. ETA fifteen minutes.”
Good. If someone found Madeleine like this, she would be taken straight to a hospital. Not good. Kneeling next to her, he laid a hand upon her head and felt in one consuming rush the fear ripping her thoughts to shreds. Her soul was hanging on by mere threads. He could see it, like a vague, shimmery superimposition of herself overlaying her skin. Another second and she’d have been free of her mortal confines. He would’ve had no choice but to take her with him.
What choice did he have now? He couldn’t put her back. But neither could he leave her this way, with one foot in her world and one in his. Maybe he should have let Saklon finish the job; at least then she would be
free. But the horror of what had been going on right before his eyes had been too much for him to stand by and watch. He’d jumped to action without thinking.
“Madeleine, can you hear me? There’s no need to speak. Think of what you want to say to me, and I’ll hear it.”
“What happened to me?” Even her mental voice was weak, wavering.
“I take it Ashemnon explained to you what he was, what he had planned for you?”
“Yes.”
“That was one of his superiors who attacked you just now. He didn’t succeed at killing you, but now you’re…in between.”
“What happens to me now? Where is Ash? Please, I need him.”
“I’m sorry, Madeleine. I’ll try to help you any way I can.”
“Who are you?”
“My name is Riam.”
“Are you…like Ash?”
“No. I’m the opposite.”
“You’re an angel?”
“Yes.”
Worry lanced through the thoughts coming from her. She was wondering about the implications of the fact she was conversing with an angel. He stroked her head, knowing she couldn’t feel it, but wishing he could soothe her somehow. He got the distinct impression that she didn’t necessarily want to ask the question that formed in her mind then.
“Can I be saved?”
“That depends on your definition of salvation.”
“Go back to the way I was before?”
Riam sighed. He didn’t have any answers for her. “Just rest for now, Madeleine. You’re safe. Someone is coming for you. Her name is Celeste. Trust her, she is like me, only confined to the earth. You won’t be able to communicate with her like you can with me, but she’ll take care of you.”
A sharp blast of panic came from her. “But…where are you going?”
“I have to see what I can do to fix this. I’ll remain here with you until she arrives. Just hold on.”
She fell silent. What else could she do? She was completely at their mercy.
He wanted to tell her that, whatever happened, it would be all right in the end. Even if she couldn’t go back to her former life, she was headed for much greater things. He doubted she would want to hear that right now. At the forefront of all her anguish was Ash. She wanted to know where he was, if he was all right.
Riam didn’t address those concerns because he had absolutely no idea.
A few moments later, the glare of headlights swept briefly over the fence beside them and he glanced up to see a black SUV pull to the curb. The passenger side door popped open and Celeste jumped out, casting a quick glance around before approaching them at a brisk pace.
She was looking well, dressed all in black and with her usually wild auburn hair tamed into a sleek, practical ponytail. Her gaze narrowed on Madeleine and her brow furrowed as she reached Riam’s side. “Oh no.”
He nodded, knowing she saw the same thing he did: Maddie’s ghostly spirit clinging to her flesh. “Thanks for getting here so fast.”
“How did this happen?”
“Can’t you guess?” “She’s had her soul all but torn out by one of those fiends,” he finished, pushing the thought over to Celeste. “She’s almost completely detached.”
“Riam…I don’t mean to sound insensitive, but you should have let him finish the job. At least she wouldn’t be suffering like this,” she replied.
“I know,” he muttered. It was nothing he hadn’t already thought about himself. Still, it wouldn’t have been the best solution to the problem, at least not in his mind. Madeleine wanted to live. She’d just been given her life back. She deserved the chance to enjoy it. He wanted her to have it.
It wasn’t in an angel’s power to kill a human, so freeing her himself was not an option. He didn’t know what to do.
“Which one did it?” Celeste asked.
“Saklon,” another voice said, almost spitting the word out. “I can still smell the bastard.” Riam turned to see Damael, Celeste’s lover, stride up behind them. He went directly to Madeleine, bent and lifted her in his arms, cradling her against his chest like a sleeping child. “We can talk later. Now we have to get her out of here before someone sees.”
Riam stood rooted in surprise. Damael was a former demon himself, turned mortal by the angels in exchange for saving Celeste’s life after almost killing her by accident. It wasn’t that Riam was uncomfortable with him here, exactly, but…it was still jarring. He didn’t think Damael had exactly joined their side, or was sympathetic to their cause at all. “I wasn’t expecting you,” he said as they quickly made their way back to the waiting vehicle.
Damael climbed into the back of the SUV with Madeleine as Celeste held the door for him. Once he was settled, he turned a smirk on Riam. “Anything for a little excitement on this big ball of mud.”
“Oh, please,” Celeste said, amusement tingeing her voice even as she ran around to get behind the wheel. “As if you don’t get plenty of excitement.”
“Only from you, my lovely one.”
“Take care of her,” Riam said, and Damael turned his unsettling black gaze back on him. Sympathetic to their cause or no, Celeste trusted him. So Riam had to trust him too.
“I will,” he said, serious for one rare moment. He looked down into Madeleine’s face. “I know who she is.”
“Of course you do,” Riam said, unable to keep the bitter derision out of his voice. “She’s been a target for your kind for ages, hasn’t she?”
“Not my kind anymore,” Damael shot back. His eyes reminded Riam of a viper about to strike. “Let’s not forget that. I’m not planning to serve her up to Saklon on a platter. I have as much reason to hate him as any one of you, and he has just as much reason to kill me. But it happens Ashemnon was a friend of mine, and any fool could see he loved her.”
“What do you suggest we do?” Riam asked.
“Well, you can’t help her. And Celeste and I can’t, obviously. But a demon can.”
“What?”
“Ironic, isn’t it? You probably don’t know this because use of the power is virtually unheard of. But it happens they can return what’s been taken—well, within a reasonable amount of time. But she hasn’t been taken at all—her soul is still here, if what you say is true. It can be reattached…if a demon is so inclined to reattach it.”
Riam only stared, his mind firing. Damael narrowed his eyes on him. “So if you want to help her without killing her, your mission is to find the only demon in Hell who is.”
Chapter Fourteen
He didn’t know how long he’d been here. Apparently, they thought the blissful black oblivion of nonexistence was too good for him, so he was here, trapped, chained. Knowing exactly what they’d tried to do to Madeleine the moment he’d returned, but not knowing what had become of her.
“How are we doing today, Ashemnon?” The voice he hated beyond all reason hissed near his ear. He didn’t know who this sadistic bastard was who doled out his torture—the metal mask on his face was solid, robbing him of sight—but he wished he could get his hands on him just once. Blinding agony seared his side, something sharp and burning, and all his limbs wrenched against their restraints. But he refused to utter a sound, gritting his teeth until they nearly broke.
“So stoic, aren’t we? I wonder how your whore is doing? If I went to the surface, do you think she’d treat me as sweetly as she did you? I’m sure she would. After all, she can’t move, she can’t fight. She can’t even scream. We could all take turns—”
The words robbed him of all reason, enraged him more than physical pain ever could. “Motherfucker, you’d better hope I never get out of here.”
A cruel laugh. More pain. Caught off guard in the anguish of the imagery his tormenter’s words had incited, he roared, fighting the chains that bound him. They only bit deeper. “Get out of here? Laughable. As for her—can you imagine how frightened she is right now? She’ll slowly waste away, you know, waiting for you to come save her…it would bring a tear to the eye of
a true romantic. That’s what you are now, isn’t it? Are there tears in your eyes right now, Ash? Maybe I should gouge them out for you.”
Riam, Ash thought. Riam wouldn’t let her suffer. He wouldn’t abandon her—he would figure something out. As much as Ash had hated him, insulted him, the angel was shrewd. Even if Madeleine had to…had to die, she would be all right, because she would go with him. But he could hardly bear to think about the possibility. She didn’t deserve that—she deserved the life she’d never been allowed to have because of him.
Knowing she was up there, hurt and afraid, was all that was keeping him sane right now. That was good, even the pain was good. It kept him sharp. He had to keep his wits about him if he was going to find a way to help her.
“Enough,” a voice stated, and the agony stopped. If Ash hadn’t been half hanging from the ceiling, he would have collapsed to the floor. The chains nearly crushed his wrists as they took the brunt of his weight. The voice he’d heard belonged to Metos.
“Where the fuck have you been? Can’t bring yourself to come down here and see what you’ve done?” Dammit, it was frustrating not being able to see who he was talking to. He’d never felt so fucking powerless. Never.
“Ash, I have orders to follow, same as you. I don’t follow them, I end up right here beside you.”
“What a shame that would be.”
“I didn’t do this to you. You brought this all on yourself.”
“Fuck you. You don’t know what I’ve been through.”
Metos gave a short bark of laughter. “What you’ve been through? By my watch, all you’ve been through for the past two weeks is that woman’s bed. I realize the angel’s stay was granted, but had you moved earlier, that wouldn’t have been an issue. Oh no, you had your head in the clouds, you let her get to you. I worried about you, but I thought surely you would come through in the end. You didn’t. You let that winged rat make a fool of you, of us, and we cannot abide that.”