Speak of the Devil

by Maya Daniels

  “If I get you out of here, Eric will follow. They will both live.” Raphael speaks urgently. “Your word, girl! You do what I say!”

  Panic makes me hyperventilate, but I gather my wits about me. Hearing the calm and collected Raphael lose his cool does not sit well with me. “You have my word. Now, get me out of here,”

  The door opens slowly, and through the crack, I see Raphael watching me intently, as if expecting me to grow another head. My heart feels like it’ll break through my ribcage, thumping painfully fast. I can’t remember how long I’ve been locked up in here, but I’m holding my breath at the idea that I will finally be free. One of my eyebrows lifts up when he doesn’t open the door fully.

  “When I open the door, I need you to stay behind me and walk towards the back of the hall. Am I clear?”

  “Crystal.” Clenching my fists, I let the pain from my nails digging into my skin stop me from running out.

  “Remember your promise.” His penetrating gaze narrows slightly before he starts pushing the door open.

  I wait. My body coils up, ready to spring into action the moment I step foot out of here. Raphael blocks the doorway with his six-foot-five frame and broad shoulders. His focus is solely on me, and I know that if I twitch a muscle, he will slam the door in my face. Michael’s power saturates the air rushing inside the room, causing my skin to burn like I’m slowly being fried. Shadows writhe behind Raphael like some scene from a horror movie. My nails dig deeper in my skin while I breathe through my nose in an attempt to stay as still as a statue. The sounds of fighting are too loud now that there is no door separating me from them. Nodding as if I’ve done the right thing, Raphael turns his back on me but doesn’t move. Like a trained monkey, I walk up right behind him, wrapping my hand around the belt of his pants to let him know I’m planning to stay at his back.

  Raphael faces the hall to our right, allowing me to slide behind him. He is too large for me to be able to see what is going on in front of us, but I follow his lead when he takes a step back. Shadows twist and turn around us like a living being. They cover most of the white walls and ceiling, making the hallway look like it’s coated in fog. Slowly, trying to stay unnoticed, we inch down the hall. With a quick glance over my shoulder, I see the door at the end of the hallway getting closer with each step back I take. But then I hear Eric’s pained roar, and I stick my head around Raphael to get a look.

  Michael has Eric pinned to the wall with a lightning bolt. The thick, crackling power is pushing deeper into his shoulder while his black t-shirt starts sticking to his body because of all the blood pouring out of it. The shock at seeing him so close, and him being in pain, cripples me. A pathetic whimper escapes my lips. But that’s enough for Eric. His burning amber gaze locks on mine, and a shudder rakes through my body. This is not my Eric. He is, but he isn’t. He looks primal and wild. A shiver, so strong that it makes my hands tremble, races up and down my spine.

  “Helena.”

  My name sounds like a prayer on his lips before Raphael whirls around, snatching me in his arms and bolting out of the hall so fast that all I hear is Eric’s enraged roar behind us.

  Eric…

  She is alive.

  I can finally admit to myself that until this very moment, I thought I would never see her beautiful green eyes look at me. No matter how foolishly I convinced myself that I would get her back, somewhere deep in my core, I believed I’d be too late. I doubted, even after Maddison’s words earlier gave me hope. Until that gaze locked on mine and the pressure that had been constricting my lungs from the moment she was taken from me lessened.

  Helena is alive.

  The bolt of electricity pinning me to the wall digs deeper into my shoulder. The pain of it searing my skin brings me back to the present, and the fucked-up situation I find myself in. Lifting my foot up, I kick Michael in the stomach, my boot crunching his ribs and bending him in half. My free arm swings, jutting my elbow up and hitting him on the underside of his jaw. His head jerks back sharply with an audible crack. With a roar, he stumbles back and the bolt disappears. My shoulder is throbbing, blood pumping through the wound at steady bursts, but all I want to do right now is get to Helena. I was planning to kill Michael—the fucker deserved it—but I can do that the next time we cross paths. My mate is more important than my vengeance.

  I call the shadows back to me, letting them sink back inside my body. The whiteness of the walls and floor blinds me for a second, but my feet are already moving. Michael is struggling to lift himself off the floor, flopping like a carp out of water. I might have broken more than a few of his bones, and bent one of his wings in an awkward angle. It’ll take him enough time to stand up that I can reach the back door of the hallway. Raphael must have gone insane as well since he dared to touch her. I will break every single bone in his body, too, when I reach them.

  “Come back and fight, you coward,” Michael roars behind me, but I’m onto his pathetic excuse of getting me off track.

  “Don’t worry; I’ll find you soon enough to finish what we started.” Sprinting towards the door, I don’t even turn to look at him. “You have my word.”

  My entire focus is that door. If I had the power to burn through it with my gaze, it would’ve been bursting in flames by now. My heart slows down, the rage turning into a cold and calculated calm. I am a perfect predator now. My breathing evens out, and all the sounds around me amplify. I can feel Michael’s shallow breaths and the fast thumping of his heart like it’s my own. Every sound of pain he makes as the fabric shifts while he is trying to lift himself up. Heavy footsteps are thumping away behind that door. Much more substantial than just Raphael’s body weight. He is still carrying my mate in his arms. I am going to break them slowly, I decide, as I strain my ears to hear what else is waiting on me behind that door.

  “Raphael, go back. We must help him. Put me down, you asshole!”

  Helena’s husky words are like music to my ears, spurring me on. That she doubts my ability to get to her should hurt my pride, but hearing that stubborn tone in her voice gives me hope that my mate is not harmed to the point of no return. The door is almost at arm’s reach when I hear Maddison’s scream.

  “Raphael, no!”

  Everything around me slows down; it feels like I’m frozen in space and time. My outstretched hand is a hair’s breath away from the doorknob, my fingers almost touching it. Maddison’s scream fades, and all the sound disappears a second before a blast hits the building in front of me. The walls cave in, the door bursting into pieces that fly past me, a few embedding themselves in my body. Flames like the pits of Hell have opened before me, swallowing me. I’m sent flying back until my back hits the solid wall that I was pinned to at the beginning of my chase after Raphael. My head cracks hard, and darkness covers everything.

  Blinding pain makes my head throb, and muffled sounds float in and out of my ears. Distorted shadows swim in and out while I squint so hard my eyes must be slits. When I try to lift myself off the unforgiving ground, the pain in my limbs almost makes me roar with anger. What the fuck is wrong with me, and where am I?

  “Eric!”

  That voice will bring me back from the clutches of the abyss anytime I hear it. All the sound returns with a whoosh, and memories flood my mind, causing my head to spin. I forget all about pain and anger.

  “Helena!” Jumping to my feet, something that seemed impossible only a moment ago, I look around for her.

  When I don’t see her immediately, panic squeezes my chest. Dust makes it impossible to see far, and flames crackle around me, the sound almost like they are chuckling menacingly at my anguish. There was pain in Helena’s voice. Is she hurt? How bad is it? My mind goes crazy with the idea of her burning under broken pieces of the building. Running blindly through the collapsed walls and ceiling, jumping and tripping over bricks and plaster, I search for her, frantic with the need to hear her voice again.

  “Helena!” My voice is so hoarse it scratches my throat and I almost
cough out a lung. “Talk to me, cupcake!” Please, I scream in my head, but I don’t dare to voice it. No need to frighten her.

  “I can’t even fucking die without you pissing me off.” Her voice is weak and strained, but the relief I feel at her comment almost makes me drop on my knees and sob like a youngling.

  “Keep talking.” I have to clear my throat and swallow a couple of times to dislodge the lump. It’s the dust that makes me feel like this. I will go to eternal sleep and still claim that to be the truth.

  “I kind of don’t feel like it at the moment.” Helena coughs weakly. “Can you please hurry?”

  Panic almost cripples me, but I stop to focus myself. Acting like a mad man will not help me find her faster. Closing my eyes and pushing my pain to the back of my mind, I slow down my racing heart. Wasting precious moments might cost me significantly, but I have no other choice. After an agonizingly long moment, I can hear her puffing short breaths not far to my left. With all my focus on her breathing, I open my eyes and scramble over everything in my path to get to her. My claws, fully extended, dig into bricks and tiles before finally reaching the spot where I can feel her. Surprisingly, this area is a clear circle, like a dome had been placed over it before the blast. No fires are raging, and no dust obscures my view. I need to blink a few times so my mind can catch up with what I’m seeing.

  “Don’t just stand there; I can’t breathe.” Helena wheezes, struggling to move her body.

  In two strides, I’m at her side, and grabbing one shoulder, I fling Raphael’s body off her. Helena gulps lungfuls of air and struggles to lift herself up. Dropping on my knees next to her, I gather her in my arms and mold her body to mine. My shoulders curve in as if I can press her in so tight to me that we can become one being. Nuzzling my face in her hair, I inhale her scent while my entire body trembles with the violent storm of emotions raging inside me.

  “Hey, monster boy.” Her tiny hands clutch at me, telling me the feelings are mutual, no matter what her words say. “I’m kind of happy to see you.”

  I bark a surprised laugh, sounding more relieved than I want to show. “I’m kind of happy to see you too, Hel.”

  She laughs weakly as her hands slowly move over my arms, until they stop at something sticking out of my skin. Her sharp intake of breath presses her closer to me, making me squeeze her tighter in my embrace. Her pained groan at that almost makes me drop her on the ground.

  “Oh my God; you are hurt.”

  “I’m fine; I promise. Just a few scratches and bumps, that’s all.” Now that she pulled away, I can’t stop my gaze roaming over her face as if trying to memorize it all over again.

  “You have pieces of wood sticking out of your arm and leg, Eric.” Her face is pale, and a vein throbs on her neck like a flutter of butterfly wings.

  That’s when I notice the changes in her. Her green eyes don’t sparkle like they used to. There is a dullness in them that brings my rage too close to the surface. Dark circles under them make that more prominent. Her cheeks look hollowed out, and her skin doesn’t glow like before she was taken from me. Not from the dust or the explosion. No, this is from the torment that she’s been through. A feral growl sounds around us, making me crouch, ready to protect her, until I see her staring at me wide-eyed. The noise came from me, but I can’t stop myself from doing it again. That’s until my burning gaze settles on the Archangel’s body not far from us.

  “I’m going to rip him to pieces.” My words are garbled, my tongue too thick in my mouth from anger.

  “Eric, no!” Helena crawls faster than I thought her capable off, and on her knees blocks me from Raphael. Her hands are stretched in front of her, palms facing me as if that will stop me from killing the fucker.

  “They hurt you!” I hiss at her, angry that she won’t let me take my fury out on him.

  “He saved my life, Eric.” Searching my face, she must have seen my reluctance because she hurries to assure me. “Whatever happened that brought you here, I think it was his doing. He was getting me out and away from Michael when the bomb went off.” Swallowing thickly, she looks over her shoulder at Raphael before her tearful gaze lands on me again. It pierces my heart. “He shielded me with his body from the explosion, Eric. I think he died to protect me.” Her voice catches on her last words, and big tears slide down her cheeks.

  Helena…

  I don’t take my eyes away from Eric. He is crouched like a panther, ready to pounce. Tremors pass through his body. I know he is fighting with his control to calm the rage that’s clearly written all over his face. If I saw him like he is at the moment a month ago, I would’ve either tried to kill him or ran as fast as my legs would carry me. But things have changed. Lines were blurred between good and evil, and they had nothing in common with light and dark. Nothing in common with angels or demons. I don’t know why it took me so long to understand this, and maybe Michael holding me in my white cage was a good thing in the long run. Because I finally know the truth deep down to my soul.

  It has nothing to do with what you are. It has everything to do with who you are.

  And the demon in front of me, his beautiful eyes turned into glowing ambers filled with rage at my pain is confirmation enough. As well as the body of the gentle Archangel that gave his life so that I could keep mine. A sharp pain stabs me in the center of my chest, making it difficult to breathe. He paid for the wrongdoings of his brother with his life.

  “Please, Eric. Don’t take your anger out on someone that doesn’t deserve it. You said yourself that doing the right thing has nothing to do with what you were born to be.” I try again to bring his attention to me. “Plus, we need to remove the wood from your arm and leg. You’re losing too much blood at the moment.”

  After long moments staring so intently at me that I almost squirm on the spot, the green color bleeds through the amber glow. Finally, my Eric is looking at me with an unreadable expression on his face. My Eric. I have no idea when I decided on calling him mine, but butterflies fill my stomach at the thought. I almost smile at him, my lips freezing on my face when he sways, barely catching himself before he topples over. Panic gets me moving so fast I reach him just in time to catch him before he drops.

  “I’m fine,” he stubbornly says, but he doesn’t move away from me.

  “Yeah, I’m sure you are. Just like I’m fine.” Waddling around him on my knees, I look at the piece of wood that stabs through the front of his bicep, the sharp point sticking out from the back like some ancient spear. “I’m going to pull it out, just don’t be a cry baby.”

  “That’s what every guy loves to hear, Hel!” he tells me dryly, and I can’t help but snicker at his serious face. “Just do it.”

  Eric doesn’t take his focus off me. I can feel him burning a hole through the side of my face. I’ve shot the guy, twice! And he only grunted, pulling out the bullet with his bare hands. He heals almost instantly. The fact that he hasn’t pulled the pieces of what looks like a door from his body makes fear crawl up my spine, and I can barely breathe. Will I make it worse if I pull them out? Is that why he left them there?

  “Why haven’t you done it by now? You could’ve healed already.” Wrapping my fingers around the wood, I turn my head to look at him.

  Eric’s scrutinizing gaze travels from the top of my head to my toes tucked under my ass, and back up until it locks on mine. “You called my name.”

  He doesn’t say it accusingly, or even angrily. It’s a simple statement on his part. Me? I’m an emotional mess. My heart speeds up to a point I’m thinking I might end up having a heart attack. My entire body feels like it tingles, and a shiver makes me tremble. At this very moment, I know that no matter what happens, or where I am, if I call for him, he will always come. I have done nothing but bring trouble and distraction to him, yet he would do everything all over again without hesitation. What have I done to deserve loyalty like that? I haven’t looked away from him yet so I nod, letting him know that I got the full meaning of his simple words.
Without warning, I yank the wood out of his arm, almost falling on my back. He doesn’t make a sound, but when I look back at him, there are lines etched on his handsome face, betraying his pain. I open my mouth to say I don’t even know what, when a voice cuts me off.

  “You are alive!” Maddison comes out of nowhere, stumbling in her haste to reach us. “Didn’t you hear me screaming your names?” Not caring that Eric is bleeding all over the place, she bends down and punches his shoulder, glaring at him. “You cut down a few centuries of my life!”

  Trying to hide the smile that is pushing my lips up, I bend over his leg, grabbing hold of the wider piece of wood. A dozen prayers float through my mind that he wasn’t hurt worse. A small hand closes over mine, jerking back hard and pulling the embedded wood out of Eric’s leg with a sucking sound that turns my stomach. Eric growls deep in his throat.

  “That’s for scaring the shit out of me,” she tells him primly before she throws herself at me. “I’m so happy to see you’re okay!”

  “Thank you. I’m happy to see you didn’t get hurt in the explosion, as well.” Hugging her back, the words are choked out of me.

  “We need to get out of here.” Eric’s voice stops the flood of tears that were threatening to come out. “I’m not sure why they haven’t shown up yet, but the humans will be here any moment.”

  “It might have something to do with the bomb,” Maddison says, plopping down on the ground next to me. Rubbing the back of her hand over her forehead, she smears dirt and ash on her porcelain skin.

  “We will talk about the bomb and your carelessness when we get out of here.” If looks could kill, Maddison would’ve been dead by the way Eric is glaring daggers at her. “You could’ve killed her!”

  “Whoa there, cousin! That was not one of mine.” Lifting both hands as if she’s surrendering, Maddison shakes her head, her ponytail bouncing around her face in a cloud of red curls.