Her Deadly Angels by Ginna Moran
Chapter 16
Family Reunion
RAVEN
“YOU REALLY NEED to get a new car. This crap-mobile is a piece of shit. Raven is far too good to have to face this kind of torture.” Kase smacks the steering wheel of Elias’s car, scented with cigarette smoke.
Elias fiddles with the pack of smokes in his palms that he found in the pocket behind the seat. “Are you buying me one?”
I smirk without commenting, eyeing his nervous gesture. I would’ve once judged him for continuing to smoke even though he’s dying, but it’s his choice. He’s going to make his decisions, and he’s already living with the consequences. Plus, after smelling Hell, I don’t think anything could ever smell so disgusting.
“No, but I’m fucking going to buy me something devil-approved and family friendly if I’m going to be chauffeuring you bastards around all the time.” Kase drums his fingers on the steering wheel. He glances at me in his peripheral vision. “Come sit on my lap, angel-girl. I’m collecting your end of the deal now. It’s going to be the only way I survive another moment.”
I laugh and lock my fingers around his tail, stopping him from trying to tie it around me. “You haven’t completed your end yet, so no. I said after you took us to and from Elias’s family. Not on the ride there.”
“You’re one helluva negotiator, Raven,” Kase muses, sliding his tail from my hand with a shiver.
“I’ve learned from the best,” I say, snuggling into his side, teasing him by resting my hand on his thigh.
Dante follows my lead and sneaks his hand a few inches under the hem of my dress until I lock him out by squeezing my legs shut. “Don’t make us regret this.”
“It’s fucking too late for that. We’re here.” Kase jerks the vehicle to a stop and kills the engine.
I flick my gaze from Dante’s hand still trying to test my resolve and out the front window. A warehouse looms behind a barbed wire cinderblock wall at the end of the street. Searching the area, I look for signs of life but only spot a gray and white cat pouncing toward something on the sidewalk. I was expecting Elias’s hunter family to reside in a home and not this old, industrial building. It’s creepy and the kind of place I’d expect serial killers to drag their victims.
“Looks just as I expected.” Dante swings the door open and climbs out, opening the backdoor for Elias. He offers him his hand, and the simple gesture warms me to my core. Dante can be a psycho, but he’s also caring and helpful. “A shithole.”
Kase laces his tail around my wrist, stopping me from exiting. “We have some rules, angel-girl. Do not leave our sides. Do not speak to anyone. Keep your eyes down. Tell no one anything.”
“Okay, master. You say these things like I’m going to go running in there screaming that Hell is about to take control of the universe.” I twist my hand and manage to lock my fingers around part of his tail. Stroking it, I wait for him to give me a reaction.
And damn it, does he.
Yanking me onto his lap, he kisses me, stealing my breath. His hands roam down my back, tugging the hem of my dress up until he can grab my ass cheeks. Micah groans and slams the door, his annoyance heavy in his voice. I don’t know what he expected after our kiss, but I can already tell we might need to have a conversation about my relationships. Relationships. Shit. I never imagined such a thing as being involved with several men—devils—from my life, and it’s been easier than I expected with Kase and Dante. While they’re not technically together or regular lovers, especially with me in the picture, they are bonded. They’ve always had each other and have basically shared an existence. But with Micah? I worry. I can’t survive Hell’s rulers fighting over me and my soul. Without Micah having even a cordial friendship with Kase and Dante, things could get rough if we progress. I’ll have to work on getting everyone to bond.
“Break it up, you two. You’re not staying in the car to fuck while I escort Dead Man Walking into a compound of Hell haters.” Dante expands his wings, blocking out the sun. “We had a plan, remember. We’re not that kind and generous to grant final wishes without strings attached.”
Kase breaks from my mouth but doesn’t let me go. I’m horny enough and not really wanting to see inside the Serial Killer Warehouse now that Kase gets me worked up. Last night was rough as I stayed up with Dante and watched Elias sleep like angelic creeps...with pitchforks.
“You have Micah. Put him to work. He’s on probation and needs to remember his place if he’s going to stay and help Raven complete the mission,” Kase mutters against my throat, his voice vibrating over my skin making me grind harder.
“Not happening.” Leaning in, Dante locks his hands around my waist and tugs me out of the car. “We’re all staying together.”
“Out here. You can’t go inside.” Elias rests his palms on the hood of his car. His sickly pallor does nothing for my nerves, which immediately kills the desire Kase aroused in me.
“The fuck we aren’t.” Kase hops out of the car, not fazed by Dante dragging me away. “You didn’t honestly think we came here just for you to tell these bastards goodbye.”
Elias turns his gaze to me, pursing his lips. “Raven said she offered you a deal.”
Tipping his head back, Dante laughs. “Not a deal. She bribed us, and the only reason we agreed, since she will let us fuck her any which way we please regardless, was because I want to know where the fuck you learned your hunting skills from. Not many mortals know how to create a demon trap.”
I whack his shoulder. “You think I’m going to let you fuck me again now? That kind of comment is not the way into my pants.”
Dante play-hisses and flicks his tongue at me. “Don’t worry, pretty soul. I have other ways to ensure it.”
Micah slams his hands on the roof of the car. “That’s enough. We’re wasting time better used on other things with this arguing.” Glaring at Elias, he adds, “You better figure out a way to get us in. I know you have it in you.”
Elias scrubs the back of his neck with his hand. “How about a compromise? Raven can go with me since I won’t have to break the shields and—”
“No!” all three devils say in unison.
I hold my palms up at my devils and turn to Elias. “That’s not going to happen. I’m still learning to protect myself, and you’re in no shape to promise to keep me safe. The last thing we need is for one of the demon hunters to get killed because they invaded this imaginary devil claim bubble surrounding me.”
“There is one other way to get them inside without too much trouble,” Elias admits, shifting on his feet, probably feeling Kase’s hellfire more intensely than I do as it crackles and dances a bit uncontrollably around our feet.
Kase releases another bout of hellfire, his devil form begging to break free, causing him to flick embers toward the ground. “We don’t care about fucking trouble. Get us in or we’re changing plans. I sense a horny fucking angel nearby.”
I automatically peer around the street but don’t catch sight of Andre. “Don’t make me remind you of what you won’t get if you break the deal. Come on, Kase. It’s his dying wish.”
Dante narrows his eyes. “You wouldn’t.”
I drop my arms to my sides and place my hands on my hips. “Oh, I will. I’ll even tailor what I had planned to do for Elias.”
Micah steps closer, looming over me. “He can’t handle anything in his current condition.”
Braving the devils, Elias tightens his jaw and offers me his hand. “You know what? I might just take it instead. Even if my body can’t handle her like when I was healthy, it would be one helluva way to go.”
I tip my head back and laugh, purposefully pulling Elias to me and spinning him away protectively. “Don’t poke the beasts. They will not only spank me, but I’m pretty sure Dante would spank you too.”
“And it wouldn’t be with my hand.” Dante expands his wings, towering behind me. “Though if you’re Raven’s soulmate, then you might enjoy it.”
Fuck. Me. Now I can’t get the visual from my mind. The only man I’ve ever seen Dante with is Kase, and he gives him dominance. But thinking about Dante using his control on Elias? I don’t know how I feel about that. I’m willing to see though...but maybe not like this. I’d be a bit worried about Elias’s fragility. And I’m suddenly feeling rather protective. It’s strange.
“I’ll pass.” Elias snuffs out my curiosity. “With my luck, you’ll kill me with my ass out, and that’s not the way I want to go.”
“I wouldn’t let him spank you to death,” I tease, laughter lightening my voice.
“Just to the brink. Raven has to be the one to take your pathetic life.” Micah crosses his arms, his words wiping the smile from my face.
Whipping my attention to him, I glower. He really has something out for Elias if he’s willing to risk my anger to say something we hadn’t even told Elias about yet. Something I’m not sure I can follow through with, especially the more I get to know him. He’s not as douchy as I thought he was.
Kase swings his fist and punches Micah in the gut hard enough to send him reeling. Striding between them, Dante creates a wall with his wings, stopping the impending fight. I step forward, but Elias laces his fingers through mine and tugs me back.
“Come on. We have to go,” he mutters, tightening his grip on my fingers. “They’ll never let us go without them, and I’m not sure I want to introduce the rulers of Hell to my family.”
I flick my gaze to the three devils, still focusing on each other. “I told you, Elias. I can’t go without them. It’s not worth the risk.”
“Please, you have to trust me. They won’t hurt you.” Tugging my hand, he hauls me with him, forcing me to walk or eat shit on the ground. “We’ll be in and out in just a couple minutes. I don’t want to stay long. I only want to say goodbye to my best friend.”
I purse my lips and slowly nod my head. “Five minutes.”
“You can stay by the door,” Elias says, nodding his head.
I stop resisting and let him guide me along. Like Kase senses my sudden recklessness, he growls and lassos me with his tail, yanking me away from Elias. I screech in surprise, landing in Micah’s arms. Fire lights his gaze and he shakes his head in annoyance.
So I kiss him.
“This had better not have been your plan,” Kase snaps, keeping his attention on Elias.
“No, it was me trying to take advantage of an opportunity instead of convincing you to act as if you’re my prisoner to get the hunters to allow us all in through the back and into the only non-warded room on the premises. It’s where some hunters capture and interrogate demons.” Elias combs his fingers through his tousled hair. “Which is what I meant about it being too much trouble.”
“Me, your prisoner? No one will fucking believe that.” Kase lifts an eyebrow and turns to me. “It’s laughable.”
It kind of is, but I don’t say as much. “It wouldn’t hurt to try. Please, Kase. Think of our deal. Just give Elias this dying wish. If you do, I’ll add something to the bargain.”
Red light warms Kase’s gaze. “I’m listening.”
I lick my lips. “You can leave your mark on me.”
“I have something better in mind.” A wicked smirk lights his handsome face. Uh-oh. “I want you to wear a ring from me too.”
I glance at the one Micah gave me with the soul in it. I hadn’t thought anyone noticed. “Deal.” Turning to Elias, I reach out and touch his shoulder. “Enjoy this moment. I don’t think anyone on Earth has ever had the chance to control a devil.”
Elias lifts his eyebrow. “Except for Raven.” Turning to me, he adds, “And I don’t know how I’ll repay you.”
Micah grabs Elias by the shoulder and spins him away. “I’m sure we’ll think of something.”
***
“How in the world did you manage to get two demons to willingly come here, Elias?” a hoarse, masculine voice asks.
I stretch onto my tiptoes, trying to glimpse Elias with his hunter friend, but the window inside is far too dirty to see anything except the blurry forms within harsh lighting.
“I’m already a dead man, so I offered them a deal. Don’t worry about it, Preston. Just get the holy circle ready. Make it quick,” Elias responds. “They have a woman with them I want to steal from their sadistic asses.”
The two figures separate, one heading in our direction. Micah releases a low growl, the rumble vibrating across my shoulder blades as he steps closer, touching his hands to my hips. His body heats me up, and I rub the sweat prickling along the hairline of my neck. I shiver as Kase twines his tail around my waist, ensuring I’m never out of his grasp even with space between us. Running my fingers over the smooth appendage, I absently stroke it for a moment before I realize it’s probably not a great idea to get him worked up.
“Dante better have his act together,” Micah mutters near my ear. “A holy circle can entrap us for a while if he doesn’t, and I’m not absolutely certain we can trust Elias.”
“We can. Trust me if you don’t trust him,” I say, grasping his hand to slide it more around me.
“I do, but you don’t understand our history, Raven. He—he abandoned me without a single word. Never told me about you or his plans. He just vanished like the selfish disgrace he is.” Micah huffs a breath through his nose, his familiar crisp ocean scent wafting over me.
I open my mouth to ask him more about it, but the cranking of a metal sliding door screeches through the air. I stiffen and reach for Kase, wanting both devils to hold onto me in case. If I wasn’t so worried about something happening to Elias, I’d suggest we all go wait in the car, but the only way I feel even a little bit better is to stay close where I know Kase, Dante, or Micah can intervene. With the thought of Dante, I shift and try to peer over Micah’s towering form for my favorite kinkster. He’s hiding out of sight, and I realize I hate it. I want my eyes on him too.
“Hey, fuckers. In here. Don’t touch anything if you want the book,” Elias says, appearing in the wide doorway to a huge concrete storage room.
“We want to see it first,” Kase says, falling into his demonic negotiator role. He makes playing along with Elias sound so easy and natural. If Elias had said something like that to me, my first reaction would have been to ask him what the fuck he’s talking about. We never even mentioned anything beyond a fake deal.
“And we’d like a word with the hunter in charge around here,” Micah adds, his gruff voice far from the angelic tone he used to speak to me in.
“That wasn’t part of the deal,” Elias snaps, glowering. If I didn’t know any better, I’d think he wasn’t acting any longer and that he and Micah arranged something without me knowing.
A loud whistle shrieks through the air, startling me, and I intake a sharp breath. Tugging me with him, Kase moves toward the doorway, inadvertently making Micah follow along like I’m the chain keeping the two of them together.
“Son, why don’t ya let me finish up with this? I wish you’d have called, Elias. I’d have better prepared for our...guests.” The slightly accented, masculine voice booms from inside like the man thinks if he talks loud enough, it’ll somehow intimidate my devils—though maybe if they weren’t the rulers of Hell, it might work. I’m not sure. I don’t deal with many demons.
“I got it, Pops. You don’t know what we’re dealing with, and I do. Just bring me the grimoire.” Elias faces the man, his body slightly hunched forward like it’s taking everything inside him to remain on his feet. “Trust me. These guys only want a specific page. They said they’d help me with my deal with my demonic soul keeper. Now go get it. You know it belongs to me. I was the one to get it.”
The old hunter scowls. “Watch your tongue, son. You—”
“Enough!” Micah shouts, his body rippling against mine. “We don’t have time for this.”
Releasing me, Micah shoves past Kase and stomps into the storage room. I try to run after him, but Kase lifts me up from behind. My arms hang at my sides, his embrace pinning me to him. I don’t fight and relax. I appreciate the hellish intervention because sometimes I react before I can process things.
And it’s a good thing at least one of us thinks things through.
Fire explodes in front of us, igniting a circle around Micah before he can reach the old hunter and Elias. Widening his eyes, the old man takes a few steps back and scrambles to grab a gun from his belt. The fucker immediately starts firing the weapon, spraying bullets across Micah’s chest. His devil form breaks free from his skin, and he roars and tries to ram through the fiery cage, but it only crackles under his attempts.
“Kase, he has two souls!” Micah shouts, colliding into the fiery barrier again.
I frown and squint at the hunter as if I can see what Micah does. Kase whistles through his fingers and spins, tossing me right into Dante’s outstretched arms as he lands a few feet away. Shouts echo from the building, and I whip my head around to watch several hunters rush into the room. Kase roars. Leaping around the demon trap, he smashes into the old hunter, snarling in his face.
“Stop! Don’t hurt him!” Elias yells, braving Kase’s wrath to lock his hands around his tail, trying to yank him back.
“Dante, let me go. We have to intervene,” I say, wiggling in his arms. “Please. I don’t want any of them to get hurt.”
“Hang on, pretty soul. There are bullets flying everywhere.” Dante folds his wings forward, shielding us as something pings off the metal frame.
“Then you go. I’ll wait here. I swear. Just get Elias before he gets killed.” I wiggle some more until he sets me on my feet.
Combing my hair away from my ear, he leans in, his warm breath tickling my skin as he uncontrollably hisses. “If I catch you running off with the horny angel while I protect your damn soulmate, that tight little asshole of yours is mine to do as I please later. Understand?”
I smirk. “Yes, sir. With so many of you dirty devils sharing a house with me, I guess it’s time I let you train my body. I know you’ll be extra naughty with me.” I know I shouldn’t prod at his desire, but I want him to know that no matter what, I’m his filthy soul even with others wanting a piece of me.
He hums and smacks my ass. “Fuck, you make me want to bend you over and take you now. Too bad I can’t stuff you by myself like Kase can. The lucky bastard.”
I shake my head and push him toward the frightened hunters as Kase herds them into a corner, not reacting to their weapons. It takes someone managing to pull out holy water to shake at him to get him to even back up a little.
Dante stretches his wings, expanding them almost from one side to the other. “Get your hunters to back down, and we won’t kill them. We only want to talk to you, old man. You wouldn’t want us to share your dark little secret, would you?”
Little secret? What is he talking about?
A gust of wind lifts up my hair from my neck and shoulders, sending the strands dancing in the angel-made breeze. If Dante hadn’t told me Andre was nearby, and if I hadn’t caught the fragrance of his coconut scent, I’d scream and run into the fray of things. His shadow looms behind me, but I pretend I don’t notice his arrival.
Goosebumps prickle over my skin, and I tense in anticipation. Keeping my gaze trained at Dante and Elias managing to get everyone to stop fighting, I try to focus on anything and everything else even though my body begs me to turn around.
“I wonder how long the old hunter has been possessed,” Andre muses from behind me, standing close enough to my back that all it would take is to shuffle my feet an inch to rest against his chest.
So I do. I back into his taut pecs and wait for him to steady me with his hands. When they touch my shoulders, I reach up and cover his fingers with my own. His scent engulfs me with the flap of his wings. I tip my head back until I stare at his handsome face upside down.
“What the fuck are you talking about? Possessed?” I scrunch my forehead in confusion. “By a demon?”
“Another soul. One who managed to cling to this realm instead of being ushered onward to their afterlife. It happens.” Andre keeps his voice low, and he tips his chin a bit like he considers kissing me. But he doesn’t.
I don’t try either.
Not because I don’t crave another taste of his lips or feeling his mouth on mine, but because an eerie silence creeps through the air a second before an ear-piercing shriek.
“Give us the holy relic, and we won’t send you to Hell. Now!” Dante hollers, stealing my attention away from Andre.
“What is he talking about, Pops?” Elias asks, sounding far younger than he had before we arrived here. I know the old man isn’t of blood relation, but he obviously means something to Elias.
“Son, do you trust me?” Pops says, keeping his blade drawn and his gaze on the devils, watching as Dante manages to break the demon catcher from the outside with a gust of air from his wings. “You know I’ve always done right by you. Whatever these demonic bastards try to tell you, I want you to remember how I raised and taught you. It has always been me around you, and no one else.”
Micah steps over the charred dust, the only reminder that the demon trap was ever there. “Because you don’t allow the true owner of that body to come out and play. Now give us the holy relic, and we’ll take it, along with Elias, and you can remain here with the hunters.”
“We really don’t give a fuck about the man,” Kase adds.
I should feel bad about their words, but they’re right. I don’t care about whoever the hell managed to get possessed by a ghost. I only wanted to bring Elias here as a kind gesture to show him that I’m not some Hell-bound monster...shit. Maybe I am. How can I not care?
“Is that a deal? If I give you the holy relic and let Elias leave with you without trouble, you’ll let me be, right?” Pops asks, confirming the bargain my devils try to make.
Kase smirks. “It’s a deal.” Uh-oh. His expression screams that the old man might’ve fucked up with his bargain.
Andre groans under his breath and pushes harder against me like he plans to rush past me to intervene. “Don’t watch, little hellion. Please. It’s going to get—”
“What in the actual fuck, Pops?” Elias shouts, throwing his hands out, staring into the trunk Pops had a hunter roll out. “Are those...wings? Angel-fucking-wings? This is how you’ve been managing to create weapons against Hell? Where did you get them?”
“None of that matters, son. You just have to know that without them, none of us ever stood a chance against Hell. We fight to help people, and who gives a fuck about the wings.” Pops tries to close the space to Elias, but Elias steps out of his reach.
“Old hunter, tell him the truth,” Micah says, speaking up. “Tell him whose wings those are. Have you had them in your possession long?”
Pops flares his nostrils. “It’s not like he wanted them. I saw how he gave up his grace, and you damn well bet I wasn’t going to let them go to waste. So what?”
I blink a few times in shock. Is he implying that the holy relic—the disgustingly shriveled, browning wings he has sitting in the trunk protected by strange symbols—belong to Elias? Holy shit. I don’t believe it.
“Shoot me for all the good I’ve done with them. The Lord has let me hop from one vessel to another for a long time to ensure I could take care of you. It’s how I knew where to find you to train you myself,” Pops continues, trying to touch Elias’s shoulder only to have Elias whack his hand away. “With enough good deeds, I can buy my ticket to the good place. You get it, don’t you? I had to—”
“You destroyed him!” Micah explodes into his ferocious devil form, shaking the room with his hulking footsteps. “You destroyed everything!”
Swinging his giant hoof, Micah punches Pops in the stomach, lifting him off his feet in the process. The old man hugs Micah’s thick arm to stop from flying across the room.
“Demon, we had a deal!” Pops gags and coughs the words out, hanging like a ragdoll.
Kase lifts and drops his shoulders. “Your exact words were, ‘If I give you the holy relic and let Elias leave with you without trouble, you’ll let me be,’ and technically, letting you be doesn’t include a body which doesn’t belong to you. Your time on this plane is up.”
“No!” Pops shouts, thrashing in Micah’s hold.
The strangest noise—words, I think—escape from Micah. Andre tugs me back and tries to shield my eyes, but I reach behind me and cup his junk in my hand, throwing him off. He groans in lustful surprise, shifting his arm until it rests under my breast.
“Raven,” he whispers, his hard body pulsing under my hand.
I ignore him the best I can, keeping my eyes trained on Micah, Dante, and Kase surrounding the old hunter as his skin shudders and moves and an ethereal light radiates from Pop’s chest to spread over his skin as if his veins glow from within.
“What’s happening?” Elias asks, his voice rising over the discordant collection of voices humming through the air.
Gunfire pops, piercing my ears and startling me. A couple of hunters try to intervene to save their leader, but it’s too late. My vision blurs as Micah rips the light free of the old man’s body, and it ignites in flames. Static buzzes over my skin.
“You murdered him!” someone shouts.
“Elias, this is your fault!” a woman yells. “You brought them here.”
Pulling me back, Andre spins and shields me protectively. “Oh, no. I must intervene before the soul takes another.” Andre abandons me outside and expands his wings.
Utter silence falls through the concrete warehouse. Every human stops fighting, and I know without having to ask that Andre reveals himself. Gathering brilliant light in between his palms, he shoots heavenly power at an inky shadowy spot hovering in the air in front of a man. The light engulfs the shadow, sizzling and crackling until a scream pierces my ears and flames burst across the floor.
“It can’t be,” a man whispers.
“Oh, blessed is this sight,” says another. “We’ve been saved from these monstrous demons.”
What the fuck?
I don’t get a chance to tell these bitch-ass hunters that they never needed saving from my devils because Dante closes the distance to me and scoops me into his arms. Carrying the gross severed wings, Kase tightens his jaw. His fingers smoke and smolder, and I rush forward and try to take them from him.
He holds them over his head. “No, angel-girl. If you touch them, they’ll mark you, and you might like what they do to you too much. I’ve had enough goddamn holiness for one day.”
“Our savior,” a few hunters say, drawing my attention back to Andre, stopping me from arguing.
Andre straightens his shoulders. “The Hell-bound cannot be saved. I’m sorry. I know that it sometimes takes a monster to kill one, and the Higher Power appreciates your work. Your sacrifices will not go unnoticed.”
“What?” a hunter asks.
Kase tips his head back and roars a laugh. “Hilarious, right? The beings you bow and pray to don’t even care—”
A loud groan cuts Kase off, and his eyes light with his red power. I shift and look at Micah, cradling Elias in his arms. My heart stalls at the sight of Elias convulsing, his eyes rolling back in his head.
“Oh, fuck. What’s happening?” Panic rises through me. I search over Elias for signs of injury but don’t see anything.
“Dante, take him. Go now. Get him as far as you can,” Kase commands, using the wings to point.
I find myself stumbling toward Kase as Dante snatches Elias from Micah and launches into the air.
“What’s wrong?” I ask, steadying myself. I tip my head back and stare at the sky, watching Dante’s silhouette shrink with the distance growing between us.
“His essence recognizes his wings,” Kase says. He shakes the gross wings. “We have to destroy them.”
Summoning their devil forms again, Micah and Kase crack the ground open in front of me. Heat radiates from the open portal to Hell. I hug my arms over my chest, rocking nervously at the whispery voices humming from the fiery pit.
Together, Kase and Micah scorch the severed wings and toss them into Hell.
I heave a breath, a sharp pain in my chest winding me.
My soul aches.
So does my body.
It’s like my essence is stolen away from me and succumbs to Hell with the destruction of Elias’s wings.
Lifting me up, Micah cradles me in his arms. All I can do is stare at the sky, letting the whirlwind of emotions rage through me. Andre’s light glows around me, and I tip my head back and stare at him as he watches me with the hunters pleading at his feet.
My devils take me away.
