Her Deadly Angels by Ginna Moran
Chapter 6
His Soul to Keep
RAVEN
“TRY AGAIN. OPEN the gates and drag him here if you have to.” I point at the empty ring of hellfire in the middle of the living room floor. The scent of rotten eggs trickles in through a measly crack with no sign of Lucian trying to break free.
Kase growls and strolls along the perimeter. He’d never admit it, but he doesn’t want to cross the barrier. I wouldn’t put it past Lucian to purposely fuck with us and wait until we do something that exposes us to his dangerous fury. He was pissed off that Kase and Dante managed to keep my contract intact, giving me a lifetime to complete my task of baiting angels to join Hell.
And now that I think about my deal with the worst devil, I recall the moment with the female demon and how she mentioned there was a price on my soul.
“Or if you prefer I enter it and call for him, I will. The bastard has some explaining to do anyway. I forgot to mention it, but Elias came after me because he heard that Hell had a bounty on my soul, which is why he thought he could use me to get the Higher Power’s attention. A demon even tried to collect, but he killed her.”
Red fire shoots from Kase’s palms, and his true devil form explodes free. I close my eyes and tense, half-expecting guts and remnants of his human façade to rain over me, but nothing happens. Well, except for more red fire and an earthquake violent enough to send me crashing to my ass.
A looming shadow towers over me. Kase bares his fangs and roars, blowing my hair from my face. The gourmand scent of his vanilla breath bathes me in a way that I can’t help inhaling, trying to drink it in. He smells so fucking delicious. I wonder if he tastes the same. He hasn’t cum in my mouth ever like he prefers to see if we can conceive the antichrist—though we can’t...I think. No one’s mentioned it, and I assume because I know they’ve been fucking mortals before me and I think something like spawning a satanic heir would be something a bit hard to hide.
“How the fuck could you forget to tell us that?” Kase says, thumping his big paws on each side of my head. His guttural voice used to freak me out in this form, but I’ve grown used to his wrath lashing out at least once a day.
I stretch up, not letting him intimidate me, and lock my fingers to the outside horns of his three-pronged crown of blunt bones jutting from his forehead. “Do I have to remind you that Dante kind of had my mouth full?”
Dante howls a laugh from the spot he quietly stands, watching the two of us. He didn’t want to be within the vicinity of the summoning circle either. Whipping his head toward Dante, Kase unleashes his wrath and roars at him next. Dante unfurls his breathtaking black wings and flaps them, using the force to push him forward. He knocks Kase off me and flashes his snake fangs, matching Kase’s Hell façade with his own. The floor shakes under their wrestling match, and I scramble to get out of the way.
“No wonder the three of you fail to get anything done.” The soft, musical voice swirls through my mind. I almost had forgotten how melodic Micah’s thoughts were sneaking into my head. “You are either having intercourse or fighting. I thought by now things would have progressed and you would have brought one of my brethren to me. Lucian wouldn’t be so attentive if you had. And to be honest, I’m growing tired of his need to flex his power.”
I jerk my attention to the summoning circle and spot Micah towering so tall that he has to hunch to stand on two legs. My heart kicks into overdrive, the frantic beats trying to freak me out at the sight of Micah in all his hellish glory. Seeing him like this—with two long tusks curving from his wide mouth, hooves instead of hands and feet, bristly hair, orange glowing eyes instead of gold, and a tail that looks ready to flog me if I get any closer—reminds me of the angel I broke to turn him into this beast. I blink the tears away before they can sheen my eyes and suck up my mortal instincts that scream at me to run and hide. Instead, I want to prove to him that no matter the form he takes, he is still the stalker angel I’ve gotten to know and that seeing him now...I’ve missed him.
“Do you have anything to say for yourself, heathen?” Micah asks, his voice swirling through my mind.
Kase and Dante continue to fight, rolling around the floor in an attempt to see who calls mercy first. With one look at them, I gather my nerve and step closer to the summoning circle. Hellfire dances around Micah, heating the air. I stop short of him and tip my head back, staring into his orange-glowing eyes.
“It’s really fucking weird to hear you say intercourse,” I say, responding to his prodding a little late. “Does Hell not automatically give you a filthy mouth?”
“I could’ve said fornicate.” A smile widens his mouth, giving me a view of his sharp teeth.
I crinkle my nose. “Can you please just call it sex and then we can move on? This wasn’t exactly the conversation I expected to have with you when—”
Reaching through the ring of hellfire, Micah hooks his thick arm around me and drags me across. I gasp in surprise, a yelp escaping my lips. Lucian couldn’t cross the barrier, and I had assumed Micah couldn’t do it either.
“I’m not tethered to Hell, Raven,” Micah says, his voice dancing through my head as he reads my mind.
And fuck. I knew he could speak telepathically but this? I grab one of his massive tusks like it’s going to somehow make a difference. It’s not like I can control him. Maybe I do it to try to stay calm. I don’t know. But feeling the heat radiating from him ignites a strange sensation in my core.
“Get out of my head, Micah. I did not give you permission to listen to my thoughts,” I snap, saying the words out loud. “And put me down.”
He huffs a hot breath in my face. “No and no. I need to know what you think of me now that I control the power you demanded I take.”
“And what have you found out, sneaking into my mind?” I try not to let it get to me, but having him able to peek into my head to discover things I’m not even sure I know unnerves me. What if he sees something he doesn’t like? What if—
“You want to see me as I was,” he responds, interrupting my thoughts without commenting on my nerves.
“I’ve missed you, Micah. I’ve been thinking about you every chance I get.” I suck my bottom lip into my mouth. I don’t know why I admit it, but it’s like a part of me opens up to him, even in his devil form.
“You’ve been worried about how I’ve been handling Hell,” he thinks to me as if he doesn’t want me to hear the sound of his voice coming from his monstrous form. “You shouldn’t be. It’s not an eternity of punishment like you think. I’m stronger than ever. Let me show you.”
A part of me wants to resist him, because I’m afraid of what I might see. Too bad I’m curious as fuck. It suppresses my urge to protect myself and encourages me to feel him on a soul-deep level and feel exactly what his jump from grace did to him. His alluring darkness weaves around me, prodding my essence until I meet his orange glowing eyes.
His beastly façade melts away, leaving me staring into the metallic gold depths of his penetrating gaze. Glowing against his dark skin, Micah’s eyes capture me and refuse to let me go, not that I want them to.
“You really did miss me, Raven,” he says, greeting me with a smile that lights his face. “I thought that perhaps I might’ve been a means to an end for you.”
His words steal the lightness from my heart at seeing him in his former angelic glory. It hurts me deeper than I expect it to, and I wonder if his harsh honesty is because of Hell or because I’m the one who sent him there. Maybe both.
“Of course, I missed you, Micah,” I say, keeping my voice low. I don’t want it to break. “I never wanted you to actually go to Hell and stay. I just thought—I don’t know what I was thinking, to be honest. I’m just happy you’re here and are okay.”
He twists his lips into a cocky smile. “Does this mean you will get your act together and do your job in a timely manner?” The fact that he doesn’t say anything about me doesn’t go unnoticed. “I’d prefer you not to wait decades.”
Maybe the part of him that cared enough about me and my soul is gone now, and I’m just the woman who is supposed to break angels. Whatever I am now...I don’t like it. It might be selfish of me, but I miss the angel who turned me into his purpose. The man—the devil standing before me—is far from being that same person.
“I have been doing my job. Why do you think we’ve been trying to summon Lucian?” I press my hands to his bare chest, the smoothness of his pecs pointing out the fact that he stands naked before me. Markings decorate his velvety-smooth skin, and I notice a red and black tattoo on his arm—one forged from Hell, I guess, representing the gluttonous boar-like beast he encompasses. I was so caught up in his gaze that nothing else mattered.
But now that I realize it, I look down to see him in all his delicious glory. He’s as buff, if not more so, than ever. The sharp definition of the V of hips point directly at his cock, the thick rod of flesh at least eight inches semi-hard. I narrow my gaze, willing it to grow to its full length, so I can see how big he truly is.
Micah pinches my chin, guiding my face back up to look into his eyes. “I don’t know why. You haven’t brought one of my brethren.” It takes me a minute to realize he’s answering my remark about why we’re trying to summon Lucian. I need to get my shit together. These devils need to keep their cocks covered or I’m just going to be brain fucked forever.
“Any other reason doesn’t matter, and Lucian will not be coming to your call,” he adds, tightening his jaw, his eyes flashing with fire.
A dozen questions flit through my mind, and I frown. Lucian is confusing as hell. He was nearly overbearing before, demanding things happen instantly, but now he’s absent. What is wrong with him?
“I will, though. Mostly. If you make the journey from my kingdom worth my while.” Micah rubs his thumb across my lip and graces me with a grin that leaves me weak in the knees. I love the way he looks at me way too much, and his comment? His desire for me gets to me in a good way. “For now, all I ask from you is a kiss. I mean, if you want me to come at your summons.”
I don’t even have to think about it before I lean in and caress my lips to his. His fingers tighten on my hip, and he slides his other hand from my face and into my hair. My soul zings at his closeness. I slide my hands from his taut pecs and to his shoulders, letting his presence consume me. It’s not our bodies that truly tangle and touch in this moment, but my soul with his essence as he experiences me on another level.
“I can’t wait to have your body,” he thinks, his voice coming from everywhere and nowhere as his lips tease and taste mine, sweetly but with a devastating passion I know he’ll unleash at any moment. “I need you in your corporeal form. It’s all I have thought about, Raven. I never did get enough from you, especially with your soul keepers standing in my way.”
A blip of fear blooms from my middle as his heat ignites a blaze around my soul.
He hums, deepening our kiss. “They think they somehow have a right to you—”
Fire shoots around me, engulfing Micah and cutting him off from me. Screams of pain rip through the air. I stand frozen in shock at the strange world around me. Heat licks my skin, but it doesn’t burn. It warms my being and sinks into my bones, caressing my soul.
“Micah?” I ask, squinting through the bright glowing flames. I should be freaked the fuck out standing alone in what I’m pretty sure might be Hell. I should scream for Kase and Dante to get me out of here, yet I can’t. Curiosity makes me its bitch once again, and I shuffle a few steps forward along the burning coal-like path leading into a tunnel. My gut says this isn’t the main gateway to Hell. It’s the entrance of Micah’s portion of the fiery kingdom.
“Micah?” I call again, raising my voice over the heart-wrenching cries of the damned. “Micah, please. Where are you?”
Strolling deeper into the tunnel, I focus on the firelight at the end. I wonder how many Hell-bound souls mistake the flames for the expected light at the end of the tunnel crap. They’re probably surprised at first, thinking about how the fuck they made it into Heaven and then when they realize it’s fire and not heavenly light, they probably bitch and bemoan all their life choices. I know I would.
“All right, Micah. You need to stop this. I know I’m not actually here.” Like a new level of awareness, I sense a disconnection within myself. Micah plays with my soul, tangling my light with his darkness, but I know I’m anchored to the Mortal Realm. No one has said as much, but I’m nearly fucking certain I have to die to enter Hell completely. This is all just a mind fuck—and not a good one.
Micah doesn’t respond, and annoyance courses through me. I summon my bravery and remind myself that none of this is real, so I can get my legs to take me through the veil of fire. I rush through and spin, patting my arms instinctually. Nothing burns and my...damn it. I’m still wearing my towel. At least Micah didn’t undress me in my mind. If it were Kase or Dante, I’d be butt-ass naked. Probably bent over. They wouldn’t hide from me either.
Screams echo through the air around me, pulling me from my freaky thoughts. Spinning on the balls of my bare feet, I drink in the...far from hellish palace. I expected lava and skeletons, beasts and tortured souls strung up every which way, and not the sleek throne room of what must be a palace within Micah’s level of Hell. Towering obsidian walls stretch what seems like miles above me, climbing toward a ruby vaulted ceiling with what might be flames dancing on the other side, setting the room aglow in blood-red light. Huge arched doorways, with hellish beasts carved into the frames, lead into pitch-black chambers. My curiosity doesn’t get me to step closer to any of them because it checks out and calls to my fear to return my better sense to me.
I catch sight of an eerie throne on a raised platform with stairs leading to it. It seems like such a ridiculous sight. I have to sit in it and see what it’s like. I’m not one to pass up the opportunity to sit in a fancy chair. I used to do it all the time at furniture stores growing up, tours of places my parents took me to, and once at a museum of an old mansion—chains blocking the entrance be damned. But Micah’s throne is far superior than the head seat at a table for fifty people. All I’m missing is a scepter...or pitchfork, I guess.
I climb the massive, shiny black stairs wide enough to accommodate Micah’s huge devil body. Reaching the platform, I gawk at how huge the throne is up close and personal. The seat itself reaches my boobs. It doesn’t stop me from swinging my leg up and shimmying my out-of-shape ass onto it.
I plop my butt down and place my hands on the armrests, having to spread my arms wide to do so. A jolt of energy shocks me to the core, kicking the world on around me like the throne transports me to another plane. I scream as agony seizes me, shadowing my vision. Voices hum through the air, the cacophonous wails of the damned pleading and begging for forgiveness, for help, for an end to their very existence.
It steals my breath, the pain and torment cascading over me as if it is mine, and mine alone. My head spins with the noise, and I try to throw myself from the throne, but dozens of hands break through the stone and lock onto me, restraining me in place.
Firelight and black smoke fill the air. Hundreds of figures roam the room, lost and defeated. Unlike those screaming, these souls have succumbed to their fate in Hell, taking their eternal punishment in silence while flaming monsters weave through the masses, inflicting unimaginable torture. I heave, my stomach clenching in disgust. I can’t believe Micah allows this to go on. Is this how it is for Kase and Dante? I know they are psychos, but to see the demons beneath them declaring punishment on the devils’ behalves leaves me reeling. There is no way in literal Hell I want to experience what it’s like to watch a demon shove what might be some sort of demonic animal carcass down someone’s throat until they explode. The endless loop of torture shatters my soul.
I can’t do this.
I can’t be here.
But what choice do I have? The angels were right about me. I’m far too selfish to sacrifice myself to Hell to stop it from growing.
“Micah! Micah, please!” I scream, trying to pull free of the hands restraining me. I try to close my eyes only to have bony fingers pry at my lids. “Micah! Let me go!”
My ears pop and a wave of icy darkness swallows me whole only to spit me out in the living room of the apartment. I stumble through the hellfire and into Dante’s arms. Gasping, I rub my eyes, trying to rid the vision of Hell from my mind. The scent of rotten eggs clings to me and smoke wafts from my sweaty skin.
“Hey, look at me,” Dante says, pinching my chin, forcing my face away from the blazing summoning circle. “It’s okay. It wasn’t real.”
Tears burn my eyes. “You’re lying! It was real. Those souls—”
A roar lashes through the air, reverberating through my bones. Kase clomps toward the circle, where I spy Micah’s silhouette in his mortal façade. His gold eyes meet mine, a strange look crossing his face.
“What the fuck, Micah!” Kase hollers. “What did you do?”
Micah doesn’t respond to Kase. He doesn’t even look at him.
And then he whispers, “I’m sorry, Raven. I’m so sorry,” into my mind.
The summoning circle vanishes, leaving a ring of ashes in Micah’s wake as he abandons me without an explanation as to why he put me through that. My body and mind reel, trying to grasp reality, but my soul feels as if it resists and remains in Micah’s kingdom. Every time I blink, I see the demons. I hear the screams of the damned.
“Raven, look at me. I need you to focus on me. Come on,” Dante pleads, carrying me down the hallway and toward his room, not allowing me to stare at the empty space where Micah had stood.
I finally gather my nerve and meet Dante’s vibrant green gaze. “I did this to him.”
“He chose his fate. He made his kingdom to reign. Do not blame yourself.” Dante’s diamond-shaped pupils expand and retract. “I mean it, Raven. What he chooses to do is not your fault.”
Then why does it feel like it?
Another roar sounds from the living room, and I catch the scent of Hell as Kase opens the gates again. “Micah! Lucian! Come and face me!” he yells, his guttural, growly voice shaking the whole apartment.
Neither responds, and a part of me is thankful.
Closing his door, Dante cuts me off from Kase as he unleashes his wrath, his anger palpable, heating the room.
Something inside me shuts down.
In a moment like this, I want to pray. I want to ask for guidance and help. But my faith is gone, and only vengeance waits for my calls in the form of righteous avenging angels.
So instead, I sit in silence.
I push the world away completely.
