He lowered his gaze to her throat again and the marks on it. Desire pulsed through him whenever his eyes found them or whenever they met hers, and he was beginning to believe that desire was his true feelings and not a spell she had cast on him. It came from deep within him, heated his blood like an inferno and set his heart pounding. He had never felt anything like it and he feared he never would again if he let this woman out of his arms.
“Veiron?” She brushed her soft fingers across his cheek and then swept them into his short red hair, and his eyes rose to meet hers. She smiled at him, worry reflected in her eyes and in her touch. “Are you feeling okay?”
“I see things,” he said and then told himself to be quiet. She didn’t need to know about them. It would only strengthen her hold over him. She would seek to soothe him, to take away his pain, and he would fall right into her hands.
“Tell me,” she whispered. Exactly as he had predicted. She sought to use his weakness against him. He would not fall for her ploy.
“They give me headaches.” He frowned when she lifted her fingers to his left temple and ran their tips in soothing circles over his skin. He would tell her no more. That had just been a slip.
“What do you see?”
“You… me… the traitor and the abomination. Hell. It is a trick. You have cast some sort of spell on my mind.”
She shook her head and continued caressing his temple. “Not me. You do remember me then?”
She looked pleased by that. Veiron said nothing. He wasn’t sure whether he had remembered her or whether the lies she had planted in his head had merely borne fruit.
“Do you still remember things about us?” she said.
“They are all lies. My mind rejects your trickery. When the images cease, my head hurts and the false memories disappear.”
“Or your false memories take over again.”
Why was she insisting that what he saw with her was the truth and that Heaven had changed his memories?
“Speak with Marcus and you will see that I’m telling the truth, Veiron.” She lowered her hand to his chest and he almost missed the feel of it on his skin, smoothing out his troubles, leaving him feeling compliant and all too willing to do whatever she asked of him. “We can show you the truth. There’s a pool in Hell that can show it to you.”
Veiron growled at the mention of Hell and beat his wings harder, carrying them more quickly towards Heaven. His chest hurt, a dull throbbing that spread through him, leaving a bitter taste in his mouth.
“I knew you were tricking me. This is all some power of yours… some evil you have cast upon me!” He doubled his efforts, desperate to reach Heaven and get away from her. He couldn’t take it. He could no longer tell truth from lie. She poisoned his heart and his mind, all in some attempt to turn him against his master. “Oh, you are evil indeed. Your father’s progeny without a doubt. How you trick and tempt an angel. He would be so proud of you!”
She gasped and tears filled her eyes. “How can you say that to me? How can you be so cruel after everything we’ve shared?”
“Desist! I will listen to no more of your foul lies. You seek to make me fall.”
“No,” she barked and grabbed his armour over his shoulders. “I would never do that to you. I tried to make him stop… I tried to make him save you too… he refused. You didn’t want to die. You didn’t want to become an angel again, forgetting everything the Devil and God had put you through… you have to believe me, Veiron.”
“I believe nothing that comes out of your mouth.” He turned his focus away from her, trying to block her out, but she pulled herself up. The shift in her weight in his arms caught him off guard and he tipped forwards, almost losing his grip on her as they plunged downwards. She shrieked and clung to him and he resisted the urge to tighten his grip on her as he righted himself and continued upwards.
“You died barely a week ago, Veiron. I saw you die with my own eyes. Whatever you remember, it happened. You died trying to reach me and save me from the Devil.”
He halted again and stared into her eyes. Why had that shocked him? Of course she would know what he had seen. She had been the one to plant those images in his head somehow. She had constructed the false memories that plagued him.
“Why would you need to be saved from your father and why would I be the one doing it?” he said and she lowered her gaze to her lap.
“Because my father… if you can call him that… is a vicious, evil bastard. He tricked me and you died because of it… and you tried to save me because you love me.” She slowly raised her head, her eyes drifting up over his chest and then his neck before they finally tentatively met his.
“I do not love you.” He steeled himself against the tears that lined her dark lashes and the pain that radiated through him. “I feel nothing for you. You will come with me to Heaven where you will be contained and questioned.”
Her expression turned solemn and her voice lost its warmth, gaining a note of resignation that he discovered he didn’t like. “No, Veiron, I won’t be contained and questioned. I will be killed. Let’s not pretend anything different will happen.”
She had known her fate all along yet she had still allowed him to take her, had refused to fight him and had accepted the death sentence that awaited her in Heaven. What strange sort of creature was she? She confused him at every turn, entranced him whenever she smiled and it showed in her eyes, and bewitched him with only the sound of her voice breathing his name.
“I will prove that you know me, and that you care about me, and that you just don’t remember that you do because Heaven has tampered with your mind.”
He frowned at her. “What do you mean, prove that I know you? I will not allow you to lure me down to Hell for your master… so how will you do such a thing?”
Erin smiled and briefly pressed her lips against his.
Nothing happened other than a momentary hunger to return the kiss.
“You tried that before. It did not make me recall whether I loved you or not. It did not prove anything.”
She nodded and stroked his cheek, her amber eyes darting between his. “I really hope this will.”
Erin pushed out of his arms.
He tried to grab her but he was too slow. She fell, tumbling head over heels through the air, hurtling towards the ocean several thousand feet below.
Veiron twisted in the air and beat his wings, shooting down towards her, his heart thundering against his chest, commanding him to save her.
What was he doing?
She was immortal but she would still die by hitting the ocean from this height. His mission would be over.
Something deep within him hurt at the thought of her dying and said he couldn’t allow it to happen. He had to save her.
He pinned his silver-blue wings back and shot towards her, the air warming as they drew closer to the ocean’s surface. She flipped onto her back, her arms and legs flailing upwards, and her terror flooded him. She didn’t want to die. She didn’t have to fear. He would never let that happen.
Nothing would ever hurt her.
Nothing.
Veiron growled and doubled his effort, giving one huge flap of his wings to help speed him downwards. She reached for him as he closed in. Veiron stretched his arms out to her. The second their fingers touched, relief swamped him, instantly lightening his insides and driving out the fear. He clutched her hands, pulled her into his arms and spread his wings to stop their descent, and his relief became something more, something astounding.
She felt so right in his arms, as though she had been made for him to hold like this, to protect from the world and care for.
“Oh, Veiron,” she whispered and threw her arms around his neck, burying her face against his throat.
She trembled, freezing against him, and he clutched her to him, beating his wings to keep steady in the warmer air. The feel of her tears on his skin called to him, making him tighten his hold on her and stroke her back to soothe her. Her heart thund
ered close to his, echoing its beat. He had never felt such deep fear and such monumental joy so close together. It consumed him and he clung to her, needing to feel her in his arms and know that she was safe.
“I was so scared you wouldn’t catch me,” she whispered against his neck.
“I would never let you come to harm,” he said without thinking and then paused. He had felt that while trying to rescue her too. This crazy, dangerous yet beautiful female meant something to him.
“Will you come with me now?” She shifted closer to him, nuzzling his neck and sighing. “I swore I would never say this again, but… please?”
His heart said to go with her to meet Marcus again and see what the traitor had to say.
His head ached, the pain debilitating and causing his thoughts to swim. What was it he had wanted to do again? He looked down at the slender woman in his arms and his head instantly cleared.
He wanted to go with Erin.
He had to because he was beginning to suspect that she wasn’t lying and that he did know and die for her.
CHAPTER 31
“What is he doing here?” The abomination greeted Veiron at sword-point, waving it in his face, as though such a paltry weapon could intimidate him. Her appearance wasn’t helping matters. She wore a pale blue short dress, had her long silver hair twirled into a knot, and the arm that held the sword had spots of something white along it. Some sort of cream.
The yellow bottle held in the traitor’s hand where he stood a few metres behind the abomination next to a towel spread over the sand and a sun parasol looked like it might have contained whatever cream now spotted her.
Marcus tossed the bottle onto the towel and stalked towards them. At the same time, Erin slipped down from Veiron’s arms and casually pushed Amelia’s sword aside.
“The boy is here to discover the truth,” a deep voice rang out and Veiron’s gaze shifted to the owner of it.
Apollyon. The great destroyer. The angel of death. Heaven’s most powerful angel, and another traitor.
He too failed to intimidate Veiron in his current outfit of black knee-length shorts and nothing else. The warm breeze tangled the long black ponytail tied at the nape of his neck and Veiron stared at it, vaguely recalling having hair that long once. His head hurt again and he pressed his right hand against his forehead and cursed.
“Heaven does not want you to remember,” Apollyon said and Veiron cracked his eyes open, fixing them on him. “It is trying to make you forget.”
“Is it a curse?” Marcus this time and Veiron’s gaze snapped to the dark-haired male. Black shorts seemed to be the male uniform on the island but Marcus’s were looser and shorter, ending mid-thigh. They were wet too.
“It may be.” Apollyon approached him, exuding confidence and power that had Veiron instantly backing away. The desire to call his weapons to him was strong but he ignored it. Calling them and arming himself would give Amelia reason to launch an attack. He couldn’t do such a thing. His gaze slid to Erin. Not when it would place her in harm’s way.
His head ached again. Veiron grunted and clutched it, battling a wave of nausea that felt as though it might render him unconscious. He couldn’t allow that to happen. It would leave him vulnerable.
A soft hand against his cheek made him open his eyes. He stared into Erin’s amber irises. She stroked his cheek and then tiptoed and ran her fingers in circles around his temples, easing his pain.
“Move away from him, Erin. I don’t want you anywhere near him,” Amelia snapped and extended her sword towards him again.
Erin didn’t move. “I’m sick of hearing that. You never wanted me anywhere near him. What about what I want? Isn’t that important too? Besides, he won’t hurt me.”
“How do you know this isn’t all a trap? He’s probably using this as a chance to get you to lower your defences so he can capture you.”
Erin smiled up at him. “He already captured me… but he brought me back.”
“What?” Amelia stalked forwards and Marcus caught her arm, holding her back.
Erin slowly set back on her heels and turned to face them. “I let him capture me and we talked, and he wants to speak to Marcus about what he said. He wants to know his past, and the truth. It’s his choice.”
Veiron noted that she failed to expand on how she had convinced him to return with her. Would Amelia be angry with her if she knew that Erin had chosen to freefall towards Earth and her possible death in order to prove to him that he felt something for her?
His superiors had informed him that they had grown up together despite being born to different parents. Heaven had placed Erin with Amelia’s family so they could keep an eye on her and were aware of her location at all times, and so the Devil wouldn’t find her. It had been decided that the Devil would find Amelia and would be so consumed by his success in hunting her down that he would overlook Erin, not realising that she was his daughter.
“Please, Erin… think about it for a moment. What better way to gain your trust than to pretend to do as you asked? He might be planning to wait until we’re all asleep before capturing us all.”
“Then we won’t all sleep at the same time. Is it too much to ask that you show a little faith in me for once and stop trying to control my life?” Erin tipped her chin up. “Veiron stays or I go, it’s as simple as that. You’re not the boss here, Amelia. In the immortal words of the man behind me, get off the power trip before I knock you off it.”
He had said that? It didn’t sound like the sort of thing he would say but Amelia had been starting to annoy him and he had considered saying something about her attitude towards the woman who had grown up with her as her sister.
“Maybe we should go.” Erin turned to him and he shook his head. He could see that she was hurting, could feel it, but he couldn’t let her run away from those seeking to control her.
“I have come here for answers and I will have them.” He raised a hand to sweep his knuckles across her soft tanned cheek but Amelia’s sword pressed against his throat.
“Don’t touch her,” Amelia growled, her grey eyes burning silver.
“Will you drop it already?” Erin grabbed Amelia’s hand and twisted her arm, forcing her to drop her sword. The moment the sword hit the sand, Erin released her and Amelia rubbed her wrist. “Stop trying to drive the only man who has ever truly given a damn about me out of my life!”
A huge blast of orange light exploded from Erin’s hands, hit Amelia square in the chest and sent her flying into the air. Amelia’s silvery wings erupted from her back and she spread them, righting herself and stopping herself from hitting the sand.
“Erin,” Marcus barked and Erin breathed hard, staring at her hands with wide eyes.
“I didn’t mean it,” she whispered and looked at him, shaking her head, and then at Amelia.
Amelia glided to the ground and folded her wings back. “I know. I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have pushed you. It was wrong of me.”
Erin’s hands fell to her sides and she glanced over her shoulder at him. “Is it possible that Veiron is cursed?”
“Anything is possible.” Marcus looked him over and Veiron didn’t like the hard edge to his pale blue eyes. “He cursed me once after all.”
He had?
“Do you have any tattoos?”
Veiron shook his head. “None that I know of.”
Marcus turned his back to him. Elaborate blue-grey wings covered his shoulder blades.
“You placed this curse on me. It no longer works. You removed it for me too… you have nothing on your back like this?” The man turned back around to face him. “We should check you over to be sure. It could be small and you might not have noticed it.”
Veiron nodded and focused so his silver-blue wings disappeared and he could remove his armour. He didn’t want to send it away using his powers. He wanted it on hand in case something happened to him.
Erin stood close to him, her amber eyes locked on his wings as they shrank into his back.
If he had known her before his death and had been a demonic angel working for her father, then his wings had been crimson once, as they had been in his dream of her making love with him.
A scowl knitted her dark eyebrows. Did she not like his wings as they were now? Or his hair?
“You had tattoos,” she said when his wings were gone and stepped closer to him.
She ran her small hands over his blue armour and a fierce ache to feel them on his bare chest bolted through him. He stared down into her eyes, losing awareness of the others as her pupils dilated, desire heating her amber irises until they resembled molten lava. She swept her hands over his shoulders, fingers brushing bare skin, and he sucked in a sharp breath to steady himself. Her touch was electric, scorching him at a thousand degrees, making him burn for her.
Veiron stepped into her, driven by a desire to have her closer to him, to capture her waist and drag her soft body into the hard length of his. He wanted to possess her.
“I liked your ink.” She grazed her short nails over his biceps and held his gaze. “It was sexy.”
“Yours is sexy too.” He paused and frowned, echoing the shock rippling across Erin’s features.
“You remember my tattoo?”
He ignored the ache building behind his eyes and didn’t think about anything, just let it flow out of him. When he wasn’t trying to remember, things came to him painlessly.
He could picture her tattoo in his mind, could remember tracing it with his tongue and his fingertips, eliciting soft breathless moans from her.
“A dragon, curled around your spine… like your painting.”
Her eyes shot wide. “You remember the painting too?”
Pain erupted when an image of it flashed in front of his eyes and he clutched his head in both hands and doubled over, growling and gritting his teeth. Darkness swam at the edges of his mind and he swayed, fighting it and the waves trying to pull him under.
“Veiron. It’s okay. I’ve got you,” Erin whispered, hands stroking now, caressing his arms and then his hands, covering them and easing them away from his head. She replaced them with hers, burying her fingers into his short scarlet hair and running the pads of her thumbs around his temples, easing the pain away again.
Her Angel: Eternal Warriors Complete Series Box Set Page 64
