Her Darkest Devils by Ginna Moran
Chapter 9
RAVEN
Devilish Consequences
I LIE FROZEN on the couch, staring up at the vaulted ceiling. I don’t know exactly how long I’ve been here, a couple hours, but it’s taking my body a helluva long time to find the will to wake up. I’m exhausted. My heart hurts. It doesn’t help that every time I open my eyes, I see the devils in their true bodies in the middle of the living room and the place is trashed. The coffee table lies in shambles, and the wall painting I picked out hangs crooked with a burned hole in the middle of the canvas.
No one yells, but everyone seems to radiate with Hell power, and my head spins because of it. I’ve been through so much the last couple days that whatever Andre did to put me to sleep doesn’t want to release me. It wants me to remain in the same circle of flames, surrounded by darkness, that Andre left me in before I woke up the first time here. Not to mention, I feel as if I’ve been drinking all night and now have a killer hangover, yet I was dosed with a shot of Hell and not a yummy margarita. Fuck, I could use one right about now. I’d rather be shitfaced than finally gather the strength to face my angry devils and the fuckhead who wants to be a pain in not only my ass but my soul.
“Why the fuck do you even care if the fucker dies? We’ll be nice enough to let you get your fill of her soul every once and a while. Whatever keeps you in line.” Lucian crosses his arms over his broad chest, the velvety dark skin of his beast looking almost unreal in the soft light of day peeking in through the window. If he didn’t currently stand ten feet tall on hooves with two massive horns, a glower on his face, while holding a fire whip, I’d even say he was ethereal and beautiful. He just looks scary.
Kase growls and sits back on his haunches. Red power zaps across his devil form like he can barely contain his wrath. “Are you fucking stupid? You just don’t get it. Elias is her soulmate. He is intended to take a throne no matter what you think. You’ve already let this realm get to your head. We have a contract.”
“Fuck the contract. What you want is Raven, and I’m offering to share her damn soul like we had originally worked out.” Lucian wraps his fire chain around his hand but doesn’t act on it.
Swinging his fist, Dante punches Lucian in the face hard enough to send him reeling. I suck in a breath, expecting Lucian to retaliate, but he doesn’t.
And then everyone looks at me.
“It’s about damn time, angel-girl. You sleep like a fucking rock.” Kase bounds toward me in his feline form and bows next to the couch, lowering his big head to my eye level. “Andre said you were exhausted, but damn. Remind me not to allow him to Raven-sit when there are punishments to give.”
Punishments? What the fuck is he talking about?
“You fuckers have wasted all of our time. She doesn’t have it in her to summon the nerve of a devil,” Lucian snaps, transforming from his hellish form into a man. “Just fucking accept that there is nothing to do and move on. Stop letting her tug you around by your damn cocks.”
Micah sighs, transforming into his human self next. “Stop coming up with excuses and accept the consequences for your actions. You wouldn’t want us to assume that you’re afraid, now would you?”
I tense at his comment, expecting for Lucian to blow up and attack, all he does is glower.
“The last thing I’m afraid of is Raven. Let’s just get this over with, so I can get back to cleaning up the shitshow of a world you two have created. It’s no wonder the legions so easily turn to me. You’re more fitting for the pits than managing the contracted souls here.” Lucian smirks, trying to get under Kase and Dante’s skin.
I get the nerve to clutch onto Kase’s muscular devil form and pull myself to my feet. My knees shake for a moment, but with his support, I remain tall. “Shut up, Lucian. You obviously don’t care about what’s truly important, and I’m tired as fuck over having to constantly deal with your self-centered, idiotic, dumbass. I thought I was scared of you, but now you’re just annoying the shit out of me.”
Lucian glowers and steps forward, acting like he might rush me. Spreading his black-feathered wings, Dante creates a protective wall and hisses. The two of them stand off, testing each other and seeing who’s going to make the first move, but Kase wraps his tail around Dante and Micah locks his fingers onto Lucian’s shoulder.
“There is no need to fight. We’re all on the same side, and if everyone would settle down, we can carry on. We have bigger things to deal with than this power struggle you insist on always having with each other. Like the saviors. Cassius grows bolder with his confrontations. You saw his army tonight. I haven’t seen him summon the guardians in centuries. Not since...not since Elias fell.”
Something inside me explodes at the mention of Elias, and I charge across the room, duck under Dante’s wing, and launch at Lucian. He reflexively catches me instead of knocking me away, and I slap him in his smug face.
“You’re such a fucking bastard!” I scream, swinging my hand at him again. “Tell me where you’re keeping Elias!”
Strong hands hook to my waist, yanking me away. Kase’s familiar vanilla vetiver scent wraps around me, snuffing out the Hell threatening to ignite and set the room ablaze.
It’s not enough to chill me out completely. I thrash and try to break free. “Put me down. I’m going to beat the fucking answer out of him.”
“Easy now, pretty soul. You need the proper weapon for that kind of torment. Plus, I don’t want your hands all over him.” Dante ruffles his feathers, closing his wings. “I have the perfect thing.”
I tighten my jaw, glaring at Lucian. “You better bring the Andre 3000 dildo for the strap on because I’m going to fucking beat him with it before pegging him until he calls me master.”
Dante howls a laugh. “Shit no. It’s supposed to be punishment for trying to steal a kiss and not open a damn door for him thinking he can have you in any way he pleases.”
Lucian’s stone face breaks, his jaw twitching. Shit. That’s not a threat to him. He loves the idea. And I might like it a teensy bit too. The power in dominating him and proving that he might be the most notorious devil, but when it comes to him fucking with me and my life, he’s going to learn that I will fuck back harder, more viciously, and with the biggest fucking spirit dick in the universe. He might think he is the rightful controller of Hell, but I know I’m its rightful queen and the Seven Sinners are intended to be my kings.
“Your affection isn’t free to take, and there are consequences,” Dante continues, ripping me from my thoughts. “We’ve made it damn clear that he can’t bully you into it either, which is why it’s time you teach him as much. He’s to kneel before you and apologize and accept getting whipped by his own chains.”
“Only if she wants to.” Lucian folds his arms over his chest. “She could decide that her rejection is enough.”
I blink a few times. “Wait. I’m whipping him with his chains?”
Micah grabs the fire whip from Lucian and dangles it in front of me, proving that they’re serious. “As many times as you feel is necessary. We don’t take these breaches lightly, heathen. It’s important in maintaining a semblance of peace between us.”
I hesitate, nervous to touch the glowing chain. I’m afraid it might burn me.
Lucian mistakes my reluctance for something else and grins. “I told you she didn’t have it in her to follow through.”
Kase and Dante both chuckle at the same time, knowing exactly what Lucian’s words just did. I summon my strength and bravery to snatch the glowing chain from Micah and narrow my eyes at Lucian.
His nostrils flare, and a wave of sweet, sweet smugness crashes over me. I just proved him wrong, and he knows it. We all know it.
I step forward and meet his eyes, hoping that I can summon even an ounce of intimidation. “Why don’t you make things easier on yourself?” I say, using his own words against him. “Tell me where the fuck you have Vincent imprisoning Elias, or face my wrath.”
Huffing a breath, he grabs the hem on his shirt and yanks it over his head, tossing it at Micah. His muscles bulge and flex with his movements. Lucian locks his dark eyes to mine and proceeds to unbutton his pants, kicking them off too, showing off the fact that he goes commando.
It takes everything in me to keep a straight face and not look down at his cock—big even soft—though I expect it to rise and harden at any second.
“Why don’t you make this fucking easy and get on your damn knees, suck my cock, and beg me not to throw your soulmate’s soul to my hellhounds.” His jaw twitches as he smirks. “I’m sure they’d eat it faster than the glutton over there.”
Micah scowls at Lucian’s words but doesn’t respond. None of my devils do. A part of me wishes they’d stand up to his comments, but I know if they do, Lucian will never take me seriously. He will never consider me worthy of a throne in Hell. I’ll always be a lowly mortal in his eyes.
I tighten my grip around the chain, strangely hot but not painful. “Turn the fuck around, you asshole. I’m done with your bullshit. You think you’re some badass, but all you really are is a weak, rejected bastard who thinks he’s a king. In my eyes, you’re a fucking peasant. Now bow, Lucian. Bow and feel my punishment.”
Lucian growls and fists his hands. He opens his mouth to say something, but Dante surprises me by kicking his legs out from under him. Grabbing Lucian’s hair, he yanks his head back and places his leather belt in his mouth. Silence fills the room apart from Lucian’s boiling anger, his resolve tested by the fact that Kase, Dante, and Micah all surround him, ensuring he remains before me.
My heart raps against my ribs, the discordant beats twisting my soul. On his knees, naked, and hunched forward in his human form, Lucian no longer embodies the fierce ruler of Hell. He embodies the bastard who deserved more wrath than even Kase can offer. He deserves the wrath of a woman like me, scorned, put through Hell, and thrown to the demons over and over again. And I’m done. I have one job, and I will complete it. Lucian will not stand in my way. If he can’t accept that the rulers of Hell are intended to be by my sides, not above me, then he can fuck off and live eternity with a wounded ego in the farthest corner of our rising kingdom.
“Just fucking do it,” Lucian snaps, his voice rumbling with annoyance by my prolonging his punishment.
“You know, if you’d just tell me where the fuck Elias is so we can bring him home, I might grant you mercy this time.” I flick my attention to my devils, but they remain expressionless. Again, they’ve put this punishment and Lucian in my hands.
“Mercy is for bastard angels,” Lucian snaps. “Now do it or don’t. I have things to do.”
I heave a few breaths. “I just don’t understand what the fuck goes on in that head of yours. You keep telling me things could be easy if I give in, but have you ever thought that it’s your ass making things difficult? This could be easy if you’d just devil the fuck up, stop acting like a dickhead brat, and accept that my eternity belongs to those who see me as what I’m intended.”
“Because your soul should be mine! Mine and no one else’s. You will be the reason I rise and change Hell. I’m taking control of the damn Mortal Realm and then Heaven. This universe will be mine.” Lucian’s horns poke through his forehead, startling me.
Fury explodes in my very being, and I swing the chain, lashing it across his back, stopping him from transforming into his devil form. “Fuck that! You’re not. You’re going to follow through with what you originally had planned.”
Lucian tenses as a thick, molten line ravages across his back. “Not when you fail, Raven.”
“Shut up!” Something insanely dark steals my vision, shadowing everything in red. Like my soul separates from my body, I stand beside myself and watch as fire lights my eyes as I whip the fire chain over and over across Lucian’s back, screaming and yelling at him incoherently.
Lucian falls to his stomach, heaving and clutching the floor, but I can’t stop. Hell consumes me. I want him to suffer like he made me suffer. Like I’m sure he’s made tons of other people suffer.
And then the world stops. The fiery chain disappears from my fingers, and I shudder and gasp, trying to figure out what the Hell is going on. Bright light shines in from the living room window, and I stumble toward it and away from Lucian’s body and the three dark figures huddled around him.
I yank the curtains open and meet Zade’s blue eyes, his features so soft and ethereal, glowing with his heavenly light. His eyes widen as his gaze darts past mine to peer at the mess frozen behind me, and he opens and closes his mouth, but no words come out.
Zade slowly shakes his head and frowns.
I reach out and press my palm to the glass. “Zade, I—”
He vanishes, kicking on the world around me. My body and soul collide back together, winding me, and I drop to my knees. Anger and despair course through my body. Zade’s expression screamed everything. He now thinks I’m a monster. He was afraid of me.
And angels? They don’t help people like me.
Especially because Lucian’s darkness feels heavy in my soul.
“Damn, angel-girl,” Kase murmurs, touching my shoulder. “Let me—”
I cry out and shake my head, afraid that whatever light within my soul that attracted him might be in jeopardy. I can’t control my racing thoughts and mind. It doesn’t help that Lucian remains stiff on the floor in silence.
I just don’t understand him. I don’t understand what the Hell was the point of this.
I hurt on every level. My body, mind, and soul. I never wanted to be this person, but here I am, scaring angels and whipping Lucian. He did this to me. He got too far under my skin, and I don’t know how to move forward. What if this moment cemented my eternity? What if I can never get Zade to join us? My actions and fury toward Lucian might’ve just changed everything. Maybe this is what he wanted all along.
“Leave us.” Lucian’s sharp voice rings through the air. “I would like a moment with Raven.”
Dante fists his hand. “The fuck we’re going to let you. She—”
“It’s okay, Dante. I want to hear him out. I know you won’t be far, and I’ll try to stay open for Micah if I need him.” I open and close my hand, Lucian’s mark on my palm glowing from using the fire chain.
Dante hisses and shoves his boot into Lucian’s side, flipping him over onto his bleeding back. I wince, the lashes cutting across his formerly smooth skin bad enough that I can imagine how painful they are. Lucian’s soft grunt proves as much.
“Try anything stupid and it’ll be me who holds the whip.” Dante knocks Lucian with his boot again for good measure. Maybe now Lucian will learn just how psychotically protective my devils can be.
Micah and Dante have to pull Kase with them, because he gathers his red Hell power, ready to chuck it at Lucian, even injured on the floor.
Groaning, Lucian trembles as he rolls back to his side, leaving small bloodstains on the floor. “You proved me wrong, Raven,” he mutters, propping himself up on his elbow. “I didn’t think you had that much Hell in you. Your light is as deceptive as I am. We’re more alike than I realized.”
Ugh. The last person I want to be compared with is Lucian. “We’re nothing alike. You pushed me into this. I don’t get off on punishing people relentlessly like you. I just want you to stop being—well, you. Being a dick to me is one thing, but when you threaten the people I care about—I will figure out how to make you stop.”
“We’re going to continue to go round and round until I wear your soul out. You feel that darkness inside you, darkness that everyone thinks belongs to me, but it’s all you. Soon enough, you will realize and accept it. I saw it last night. I saw it today. That darkness is what makes us alike. You haven’t lived long enough to truly embrace it.” Lucian turns his head and finally meets my gaze instead of staring at the ceiling. “You could be the ruler of Purgatory, but you could also be so much more.”
“I’m not on a power trip. Why can’t you understand that? You think you can manipulate me to do whatever you want. You think you could come here and suddenly steal control from Kase and Dante, who’ve been trying to finish what you all started together. I want to know why. It’s more than what you say it is, and I know it. If you wanted my soul so badly, you should’ve just listened to everyone. Now instead of having your brethren surrounding you like you originally wanted, you have enemies.” I rest my chin on my knees. “You’re just as alone as you were bound to Hell.”
“You say that as if I don’t enjoy being alone.” His eyes flicker with fire. He’s lying, and we both know it.
“I don’t even know why I bothered giving you an extra moment of my time after this. Why you would want it? I just beat the fuck out of you. If I were you, I’d leave and never want to see me again. You really are twisted.” I start to push to me feet, and Lucian jerks out his hand and grabs me by the wrist.
Panic squeezes my chest at his strength, but then he loosens his fingers and surprises me by twining our hands together. I’m too shocked to do anything. I shouldn’t allow him to. I mean, it’s in the contract that he can’t steal my affection which is why it came to this. But for the first time ever, his features soften and the Hell vanishes from his eyes. He looks mortal—no, he looks angelic.
“I know I’m fucked up. That’s what happens when you’re bound to the place where the darkest souls end up. In Hell, humanity is gone. Humanity only lies in this realm.” Lucian scrunches his brows, sitting up. “And even then, it’s hard to find light. I tend to swallow it up and destroy it.”
“You’re a black hole,” I murmur.
“I was once known as the Morningstar.” His dark eyes soften in the corners, and he offers me a smirk. His handsome features hold my attention. I haven’t had much time to truly study Lucian. Now that I do, I can’t help myself from taking advantage of it. It’s like all those times I’ve watched documentaries about serial killers. My fascination as to why they do what they do and how they manage to act as if their lives are normal...fuck. This has to be unhealthy, wanting to know Lucian in hopes to figure this out. He doesn’t deserve my brain space like those monsters on TV. Yet here I am...
I sigh. “Lucian, what am I really doing here? What is it you hope to gain by this conversation? I’ll never forgive you or do what you want because of what you’ve done. Elias is alone and sick. He’s dying. I don’t care if you did it to make me fail. What I care about is him and how he deserves better than to die like that. He’s my soulmate.”
“He’s also the reason you’re in this position. Had I known you were his Grace, I’d have done things differently. I assumed he’d have done better than force you to relive the same sort of torturous life you had before.” Lucian grazes his thumb over mine.
My skin cools as his words sink in. “Wait, you knew me as Grace?”
“I knew of you but never got the honor of meeting the woman whose love could get one of my former brethren to turn his back on his purpose. We were negotiating a contract that never was completed. I assumed the saviors got to you and he was put back on his righteous path. It’s not like I was free to find out those things.” Whoa. Things are starting to make sense.
Damn it. I hate how many questions I have. “When did you know I was the soul? Is that why you’re being such a dick? More so now than before? You’re holding a grudge because—”
Lucian covers my mouth with his hand. “Answers come at a cost, Raven, and right now, there is only one way for you to pay.”
Anger rushes through me. “I’m not fucking you, Lucian.”
He licks his lips. “I’ll save that one for when you truly become desperate.”
Frowning, I search his gaze. Should I even ask him what he wants? He’s probably just toying with me. What I should do is run to my devils and tell them what I know so far. Maybe they can find out the answers.
“I want you to let me touch your soul again,” Lucian says, not waiting for me to ask him. “Help heal me from your punishment.”
Damn. He’ll give me some answers if I let him touch my soul?
I turn my gaze away from him, afraid that the new softness in his eyes will persuade me without giving me a chance to weigh the worth of such a deal. On one hand, I find a little soul touching not as intimate as fucking. But then again, shouldn’t I force him to suffer at least a little bit of pain for his actions?
“I...I gue—” A bright light at the front window steals my attention away from Lucian, and my heart skips a beat. It’s Zade. I know it. The sudden urge to go to him consumes me more so than getting answers from Lucian. Maybe this is a sign. Obviously it’s divine intervention, and I can’t ignore it. Not after seeing Zade’s expression while watching me beat the shit out of Lucian with his own chain. “I’ll think about it. I’m sorry. Maybe had you just asked me instead of withholding something I want to know, I would’ve. But right now? I want you to think about everything. Like I said, you’re the one making things difficult.”
I hop to my feet, not waiting for him to respond. Dashing away, I run through an entertainment room and head toward the back door. I don’t want Lucian to chase me out front. This will get me a bit of time to put some space between us to clear my head.
I hesitate near the back door for a moment, listening for Kase, Dante, or Micah, but I think they’ve gone upstairs or have moved to the huge office where the three of them like to discuss demonic affairs. I know Micah will be listening to ensure I’m safe and will only come if I’m not. Lucian will have to get to his feet to get them, and I’m not so sure he can.
I shudder at the reminder, forcing the darkness clinging to me away.
Right now, I need a bit of angelic light.
So I race out the door and call Zade’s name.
But he doesn’t come. It’s not him. It’s not Cassius either.
A tall angel with golden wings scowls at me, raising his flaming sword.
