Her Deadly Angels by Ginna Moran
Chapter 15
Death at the Door
ELIAS
THE DIGITAL CLOCK on the oven changes to three, and I hunch over my empty plate, wishing that someone would come home soon. Home. It’s fucking weird to think that I’m now sharing a huge-ass mansion with evil bastards who have made it their sole purpose to free me of my demonic contract. I should be happy. It’s what I’ve wanted. But then again, I can’t help wondering at what cost. No one has told me in any extensive detail why it’s important apart from that I was a fuckup to bargain away my soul to begin with.
Don’t get me started on the fallen angel and soulmate bullshit. Because damn. I must’ve really loved Raven to have given her part of my former angelic essence. I only wish I could remember more. I never even believed in reincarnation. It’s a lot to think about, but being alone for hours to watch the night drag on to early morning has been plenty enough. I can’t sleep comfortably without pain meds, because my chest rattles and aches, and every time I cough, I feel as if my lungs will fall out. I hate how much better I feel from Dante’s bite, because now all I can do is think about him sinking his teeth into me. It’s strange as fuck. I don’t even like the asshole. But the relief? It’s better than the painkillers. I feel alive instead of drugged.
Finally getting my ass to move, I pop my dirty plate into the dishwasher and swig water straight from the tap because I couldn’t find any glasses. It’s obvious these demonic hell raisers don’t eat mortal food by the lack of basically anything useful. Poor Raven has probably been surviving on cheese sandwiches, which has to change. I prefer some damn meat depending on how I feel. All I know is that I don’t want to keel over with my last meal being something substandard in my mind.
Strolling to the grand staircase, I slowly climb up instead of taking the outrageous elevator. Call me paranoid, but I don’t know what kind of evil bullshit Kase and Dante—and now the new guy Micah, who looked ready to toss me into a wall—attract to their bastardly lair. I will not get trapped in an elevator if some man-eating ghost or some shit invades the place with the beasts away. No damn thank you.
I rest for a moment on the landing overlooking the badass living room. I’ve never watched TV on a screen that takes up the width of an entire wall with surround sound positioned in a way that startled me when I flicked it on the show Raven sucked me into. The woman sure loves her TV, and it speaks to the part of me that just wants to spend the rest of my days curled up with a beautiful woman until the gates of Hell drag me in. At least it’s something. It’s strange how Raven’s presence calls me to her, especially knowing what I do now. I wish my mind would open up and let me know more. I want to feel the things that should come with the knowledge, but it’s just not there, and I’m not so sure it ever will be again. I see the way she looks at Kase and Dante and the way they look at her. I’d be stupid to ever consider I could somehow change things.
What am I even thinking? I’m dying. My wishful thinking will only leave me sorely disappointed.
I stroll the long hallway in the direction of my modest room. Kase and Dante have giant suites that are almost like apartments within this mansion. My room, on the other hand, is just a basic room. I have a bathroom that connects to another room, a wall closet with a sliding door, a window with a view of a pool I’ll never get to enjoy, and a fucking twin bed barely big enough to fit me. It’s like the demons wanted to ensure I will always be alone.
Except I’m not.
I see the monstrous form lying on my bed before my brain registers what the fuck is going on. Reaching for my belt, I come up empty-handed. Weaponless. Fuck. I left my dagger on the kitchen counter.
“My wicked little hunter. Were you ever planning to tell me you had moved?” Vincent Valeka, my very own personal demon, rests on the burgundy flannel comforter with his hands behind his head.
I try to command my feet to turn me around, but I can’t move. Vincent twists his fingers, tightening the invisible chain he locks around me until I gasp and heave. I fall to my knees on the tan carpet and hang my head.
“I didn’t move,” I manage to spit out, my lungs tight and stinging with each shallow breath. “I was kidnapped.”
“Then I suppose it’s a good thing I found you. We don’t want to risk you dying without me. I’m sure you would prefer not to risk a monster devouring your soul before I have the chance to properly reap it.” Sitting up, Vincent swings his legs over the edge of the bed and gets to his feet. His skeletal-like frame freaks me out even more with him towering over me, his sunken eyes looking ready to fall into his skull. It sets off the sensation that has turned me into an excellent hunter, because it’s like I have a sense for evil, and when I can see it coming, I can strategize how to fight.
Too bad for me, I can’t send this dickhead, lying, despicable bastard back to Hell without risking him dragging me down with him. Instead, I do the only thing I can think of. I turn on the balls of my feet and sprint away as fast as I can. If I can keep distance between us, maybe someone will come back and intervene. I hadn’t wanted to make a deal with Raven’s soul keepers, but now that I have and now that I see they aren’t chaining me up, I will fight to stay.
“Wicked hunter, there is no point in running. This is the house of the devils. I’m stronger than ever graced with the darkness that clings to everything. How very lucky I am to have your soul to grant me access. It makes this far easier.” Vincent grabs me by the neck and lifts me off my feet.
The sudden theft of my breath slackens my body, my chest and lungs wanting nothing more than to just give up. I know if I put up a fight now, Vincent might collect my soul early. I never added that in my contract the same way I fucked up and didn’t include anything about where the lung cancer would go once my best friend and most trusted confidant was healed of this terminal disease.
My eyes bug out with the agony. An image of Preston comes to the forefront of my mind only to have it obliterated with Raven and her bright soul, the perfect reflection of mine. I close my eyes, my body going slack. This is it. I’m going to Hell. I’m going to be Vincent’s slave for all eternity, and this stunt guarantees the worst punishment. Had I just accepted things and acted like an obedient bastard, he’d have gone a bit easier on me. My soul wouldn’t be moments away from discovering if taking a pounding from behind wouldn’t require the training Dante teased me about. The bastard. Fuck him. He and Kase should’ve been here. Raven and the new devil Micah should’ve been here. Now I’m going to die alone and in misery, with an eternity of regrets.
Just when shadows try to steal my vision, the constriction on my throat loosens, and I hit my knees to the floor. I gasp in deep, painful breaths, but I’ll take this new torment over what Vincent surely has in store.
“Elias, shit. Shit.” Raven’s gentle hand rubs between my shoulder blades, warming my skin. “Can you get up? We need to move.”
I swallow the burning in my throat, trying to speak, but give up and nod my head instead. An ear-piercing roar quakes across the hallway, rumbling the floor with its vibration. Jerking my attention in the direction, I nearly shit myself at the raging boar-like beast charging after Vincent in his grotesquely bloody skeletal form—all bones and tissue without the skin.
“Hurry,” Raven says, squeezing my hand. She wraps her arm around my waist and takes some of the weight off my aching body. “We need to get to the safe room.”
“Safe room?” The words sound hoarse coming from my mouth. And fucking A. Why didn’t anyone tell me there was a safe room in this gigantic house? I’d have spent my night in there rather than just screwing around everywhere else.
“It’s at the end of the hall. Last door on the right.” Raven nearly drags me the remaining dozen feet to the metal door that swings open by her presence alone. “I’m sorry no one told you. I just found out myself from Micah.”
“The bastards,” we both say in unison, and I can’t stop the smile cracking across my face.
This isn’t a happy moment, and as quickly as my smile comes do I force it away, but I feel so damn relieved watching the metal door swing closed, locking us in an...apartment-like suite. The studio setup looks ready to accommodate us for weeks with the non-perishable groceries waiting to be put away on the counter, the king-sized bed made and looking inviting as fuck, and a sectional couch with a TV in front ready to melt our minds.
“Here, let me help you to the couch,” Raven says, half-carrying me forward as my body chooses now to give up on doing anything other than just hanging on to the last fragile strings of my life.
“Darlin’, can I lie on the bed? I feel like I’m dying,” I mutter, forcing my feet to work. It makes me feel pathetic as fuck with Raven needing to help me.
“You better not be,” she responds, tightening her...bloodstained features.
I stare at her in shock for a moment, drinking in the state of her clothes covered in blood. My eyes automatically search for injuries, but with the amount of blood? There is no fucking way she’d be hauling my ass around if it belonged to her. The amount looks like it came from a fatal injury. Spattering across her skin like she was aggressively stabbing someone.
I snap out of my thoughts and motion at the front of her shirt. “Where the fuck have you been and what the fuck were you and the raging asshole doing? Sacrificing virgins?”
She laughs in exasperation and pushes me a little too hard toward the bed. I lose my balance and land face-first on the comforter. It steals the giggles from her mouth. Sucking in a breath, she hurries to flip me over, my body relaxing under her touch. The second she bows forward, hovering her hands over me as she ensures she didn’t cause more damage, I realize how thankful I am that the bastard angels denied my request for salvation at her expense. Her vibrant aqua eyes capture mine, and she swallows and wets her lips. I experience a moment of déjà vu, looking up at her like this with the light haloing the world around her soul.
Reaching up, I comb her hair behind her ear and say, “I’m okay. I promise. You didn’t hurt me, darlin’. I’m still reeling from Vincent.” I open and close my mouth, surprised by my ability to say his name. Maybe it’s because we’re alone and we’re far more connected than I realized.
“I’m going to rip his insides out and strangle him with them when my devils catch him.” Her eyes narrow at the thought. “He’s going to regret ever getting within an inch of you.”
My brows pinch together as the weight of her words sink in. I would’ve thought she’d gut the demon because hurting me put her eternity at risk. Hearing her say she’d go psycho hunter on his ass really digs into me in a good way. I’m used to being the one protecting people and not the other way around. It’s fucking hot. It takes everything not to pull her onto me and kiss her. She even leans a bit closer like she wants me to. And damn. My cock hardens with the lust she awakens in me. I shouldn’t want her like I do. It could be the end of me on more than a physical level with how dominating her soul keepers are. But the stupid, reckless part of me that makes me a good hunter thinks it’s worth the risk.
But then my dumbass coughs, fucking ruining the moment.
Raven pulls me up and plops beside me, rubbing her hand along my back. It does nothing to chill my body out, and I swear to fucking God if my lungs collapse and I die with a damn boner, I will figure out how to give the universe Hell even if I’m a demon’s little bitch.
“I don’t know how to help you,” Raven says, her voice lowering as she tries to hide her frustration. “I feel helpless.”
I clutch her leg and remain hunched over, concentrating on slow, shallow breaths. It’s getting harder and harder to inhale and exhale, my chest hurting with enough pain to make my eyes water. Fear rises the longer it takes to get myself together. What if I die right here and now? What kind of end would that be?
“Elias? Hey, Elias. Look at me.” Raven shifts off the bed to kneel between my legs. “Elias.”
My vision blurs with my slowing breathing. I blink me eyes dozens of times, trying to clear the haze, but nothing helps.
“Raven.” I’m not even sure if I’ve said her name out loud, but bright light consumes me, and tingles prickle across my skin. The pain melts away, leaving behind a vision of Raven. But not as the woman I know. She is the woman I once knew. Grace.
Am I dead? No. If I were dead, I’d wake up surrounded in flames. This vision is a memory. A peek at what Heaven was for me in another life.
A smile lights Grace’s beautiful face. “Elias, you gave me quite the fright. Are you well?”
I don’t respond. I can’t. Her beauty, love, and light entrance me just as it had the day I laid my eyes on her, crying alone in the rain at the gravesite of her lost Hope, her little sister, a young woman taken by the travesty of Scarlet Fever. Grace’s prayers called to me in such a way I couldn’t ignore. I stood over her, expanding my wings, protecting her from the rain in her moment of grief that wouldn’t let me leave her.
“Elias, my angel?” Grace’s eyes sheen over.
Still, I can’t reply.
Light engulfs Grace, and I jerk my arms up, trying to catch her before the saviors steal her away. A surprised yelp sounds through the air. I blink in confusion, staring at Raven lying beneath me. My hands press into the tan carpet on each side of her head as I orient myself to what’s happening. She clutches the front of my shirt in her fingers, keeping space between us.
“Elias, damn it. You scared the shit out of me. I thought you just died.” Raven crinkles her nose, looking so breathtaking as she stares up at me.
The déjà vu hits me in full force as a dozen more memories click together. And this time, the knowledge comes with more than just facts. It comes with the all-consuming truth of who she is to me. How her soul matches mine, kissed by the essence of the heavenly power I once had.
“I’m sorry,” I murmur, my mind now ultra-aware that I’m between her legs with our bodies touching. The intimacy turns me on, and my cock throbs, knowing how close it is to the sexiest woman in the universe. Of all time. “I’m not doing so good. My demonic soul keeper was right. I’m running out of time.”
“We will get you out of this before that happens,” she says, blinking until the sheen disappears from her eyes.
I force myself to roll off Raven and lie on the floor beside her. “I need to be prepared in case. I just...”
She shifts and rests on her elbow, staring at me in silence without prodding for me to finish my comment. Her messy hair veils her face, but I can still see her endless eyes capturing mine through her midnight tresses. I resist the urge to push the strands out of her face again, sensing she needs the protection from me as much as I need it from her. Because if I can see her clearly, peer right into her soul, I know I’ll do something stupid. I’ll kiss her and steal her away from her soul keepers. The persistent memories that spin through my mind make it hard to think of anything else.
There has to be another way to help her that doesn’t involve the devils. If I can break my contract with Vincent on my own, it’ll buy me a tiny bit of time to figure things out. My soulmate doesn’t deserve this fate. She’s at the mercy of Hell because of me.
If I could just get her away...
I sigh, shaking my head, knowing that if I draw out the silence any longer that I’ll lose my nerve. This might be my only chance to be alone with her again because I don’t even know if tomorrow will even come for me.
“Raven,” I finally say, testing to see if she lets me cover her hand with mine. “If I die before you get things—”
“Don’t.” She scoots closer and touches my cheek. “My devils won’t let that happen. They won’t.”
“You can’t truly know that, darlin’. As much as I hate raining on your flame of hope, I have to. I have a dying request.” I wet my lips with my tongue. “If I die before things get handled, will you ensure to return my body to my family? I want them to handle my burial. Your soul keepers might throw me in the trash or something, and I want my family to know what happened.”
“I would never allow such a thing,” Raven says, her eyes widening. “But I understand, and I will humor your request even though it won’t be necessary.”
I nod, remaining expressionless. “I wish I could see them, you know. They’re probably assuming the worst.” I feel guilty as fuck to bring this up, using Raven’s concern for me like this, but I can’t help it. These memories blooming in my mind get to me. I can’t just sit back and watch as her soul keepers steal her away from me. She’s my soulmate. That must count for something, even if our history isn’t all unicorn farts and confetti rain showers.
“You’re lucky you have family who cares for you. Mine hasn’t answered my calls in months. They wouldn’t even care if I died.” She lowers her voice with her words and averts her eyes to gaze at my hand resting on hers.
I grimace at her admission. “I’m sure that’s not true.”
She shrugs. “It is. They hated my ex-fiancé and disowned me because of it. I should’ve listened to their warnings. I just—I don’t know how to explain it.”
Sorrow sinks into me, and I can’t help wondering what our lives would’ve been like had the Higher Power not used time and death to keep us apart. Would I have found her sooner? Remembered on my own? Would it have been possible for us to have a normal life? I wish I knew.
“But whatever,” she adds, bumping her shoulder against mine. “It doesn’t matter. It also gives me a thought. What if I convinced Kase and Dante to allow you one more visit to see your family?”
I clench my jaw, both loving and hating how I predicted how her thought-process would work. She has an angelic soul with a devil streak, but in the end, she’s always been mortal.
“A favor like that comes at a cost I can’t afford and definitely would never ask you to pay,” I respond, meeting her eyes again. Call me a selfish bastard, but I need this. I need her. The strange innate desire inside me won’t allow anything else otherwise. This same need might have been the same reason I abandoned grace.
“There isn’t a price for anything, Elias. Trust me. Let me talk to them. I’ll get it worked out.” Raven’s expression lights up, a wicked grin widening her smile.
And damn it. She is sexy as sin.
I swivel my torso and meet her with my own grin that fades the second she sucks her bottom lip between her teeth. The urge to close the space completely overwhelms me, our moment together stirring something dark inside me. I crave to taste her lips. To see if my kiss can remind her of the knowledge burning a hole inside me.
I swallow and lean an inch closer, seeing if she’ll be the one to come to me. “Darlin’, you’re going to get me in trouble all over again if you keep looking at me like that. I’m starting to remember our past, and it’s getting to me in a good way.”
She tilts her head slightly. “Yeah? Will you tell me what you know?”
“We were close. Inseparable. Alone together in that life just as we are now,” I murmur, afraid to give more details. What if it pushes her away? But then again, what if she stays? “We saved each other in a way.”
“It must be so strange.” Raven eases closer, mingling her breath with mine. I’m glad I smoked my last cigarette hours ago. “I still can’t imagine having a completely other life.”
“I’m sorry I lost you then.” I don’t know why I say it, but the words never felt truer. “Grace.”
“Grace,” she repeats. “How fucking ridiculous, right? Grace stole your grace.”
I chuckle, loving how she speaks like a woman after my heart. “I gave it to you. It was the final move for me as an angel. I gave it to you before I fell, which is why I returned as a mortal. At least I think. This is the first time the thought came into my head. Fuck, the things you do to me on a level I never knew possible.”
“I wonder what else I could do to help break your past life free.” She caresses her fingers over my cheek, making me shiver. Is that an innuendo, and I’m too chicken shit to flirt back? What if she’s being genuine in her curiosity? I guess I’ll find out. I’m already dying, so I might as well lose all my fucks toward the woman who has my soul but also is off-limits. Fuck forbidden love.
“Is that so?” I say, cupping my hand over hers, pressing her fingers harder to my cheek. I crave to feel the weight of her touch.
Her expression says it all as blush tints her cheeks. “Mmmhmm. All the possibilities burn through me.”
Fuck yeah. She wants me to make a move. I can feel it in the ache in my balls. How she licks her lips in anticipation. “I have a few in mind.”
She tips her head and inches closer. “Show me.”
My body buzzes as I lean in to kiss her, my whole being on the verge of exploding. I’ve never felt like this with anyone. This is different than a couple flings. Some dates. This is soul deep.
“Raven, fuck. Are you hurt?” Kase storms into the safe room with Micah behind him. “Micah said the bastard got in.”
“He used my soul,” I say, speaking up. My palms sweat at the fire erupting in Kase’s palm. I tense and grab Raven, instinctually trying to shield her from wrath himself. “If Micah and Raven hadn’t come hom—” I snap my mouth closed. One look into Micah’s glowing orange eyes screams I’m a damn fuckup for running my mouth.
Spinning, Kase punches Micah in the gut, sending him crashing into the wall. “What kind of bullshit are your trying to pull? Do you want Raven to fail? Do you really think Lucian will pick you as her punisher for eternity? I damn well know he won’t.”
Raven scrambles to her feet and braves getting between the two assholes. “Come on, Kase. It’s not like that. We thought Elias would be safe here.”
Kase blows hellfire in anger, sending it billowing across the room. “Angel-girl, Elias looks like he’s about to drop dead. Why don’t you help him to Dante’s room, so he can help him the second he gets back?”
“And leave you two here to fight?” she places her hands on her hips.
Fear tightens my chest, and I cough, my whole body tensing at Raven getting in Kase’s face. My hacking up a lung is enough to draw their focus from each other. Raven rushes toward me, a frown pouting her face.
“Micah, can you help me carry him?” Raven asks, glancing over her shoulder. “I don’t think I can do it.”
Striding past Kase, Micah stomps toward me. And damn. It’s déjà vu all over again. A memory breaks free and I see Micah in all his angelic glory with his white wings and golden eyes. Features soft and easy-going and utterly familiar.
He manhandles me and lifts me off my feet. “I’m doing this for Raven, you treacherous, greedy, selfish bastard. Do you understand?”
“I guess?” My words come out as a question. I can’t recall exactly what kind of history I have with Micah, but I know it’s there, and he plans to hold it against me.
What the fuck ever.
“I’ll be there in a minute,” Raven calls, motioning for Micah to take me.
I don’t get a chance to argue or do anything really.
I’m no match for a devil.
Micah carries me from the room like he’s about to toss me out like the trash. Maybe I deserve it. I don’t know.
“What’s your problem?” I ask, using my arm to block my head from bashing into a doorframe.
“I don’t trust you with this mission. You’ll probably do what you’ve always done best. Put yourself first and let the rest of us clean up after you. But I swear to the depths of Hell. Leave Raven out of it. She doesn’t deserve more disappointment in this life.” Micah kicks open a door leading into what I assume is Dante’s suite, and he drops me on the bed.
Storming off, he leaves me in a tornado of confusion.
I’m starting to think that this is how my life will be from now on—getting punished for a past life I don’t fully remember.
I have to get out of here with Raven.
I’ll do whatever it takes.
