Cursed Darkness (Angels of Fate Book 2)

by C. S. Wilde

  We trained her well, his own voice whispered. She’ll be fine.

  Liam shook his head and followed Hauk to the bar. He needed a drink now.

  Archie and Pedro chased after them. Liam vaguely heard Pedro ask Archie where Liam had learned Portuguese.

  “His mother was Brazilian,” the old man said. “I told him it would be nice if he learned the language. You know, as a way to honor his roots.”

  Liam had always found it a dumb-as-fuck idea. His birth parents never wanted him, so he paid the favor back. It was hard in the beginning, especially since his mother was a crack whore who overdosed when he was seven.

  Archie always told him she didn’t know better, but in the end, she had chosen death over her own son.

  Liam’s darkness felt Pedro pointing at his back. “I’m Brazilian, but I’m not that tall. Don’t got green eyes, either. Where does that come from?”

  Archie could say Liam’s father was German. That’s what was on the adoption papers: biological father Günther Striker. Liam never bothered to look him up, though. As he’d told himself several times throughout his life, his human parents didn’t matter.

  Instead of explaining this to Pedro, Archie just said, “Brazilians can be tall, too. Who knows, seu puto?”

  Liam snickered. Yeah, he’d taught some bad words to the old man.

  As they headed to the bar, he watched the Gorge stealthily spread through the vast space. Most had drinks already in their hands. Some watched the humans dancing, others engaged in conversation, while others like Phil and Lacey made out in front of everyone.

  Liam couldn’t help but compare those two with a demonic version of Bonnie and Clyde. They had closed deals with innocent teenagers, mostly victims of bullying, and then adults who fought depression. Good people who simply needed guidance but instead, damned their souls.

  Liam fisted his hands. It wasn’t fair, but then again, nothing was nowadays.

  They finally reached the bar. Hauk bought them a round of tequila, which they quickly downed, and then the demon ordered two more rounds for the group.

  They leaned back on the counter, observing the crowd. Pedro said he would get some fine piece of ass tonight, to which Archie snorted and asked, “Have you seen your own reflection, dumbass?”

  “Idiots,” Hauk chuckled before downing another drink.

  Right then, that asshole didn’t resemble the cruel maniac who wanted to burn the world. Just a normal guy having a drink with his buddies.

  After the fourth round, a blissful buzz took over Liam. The mass of guilt and regret he carried over his shoulders felt lighter.

  Oh, he could get used to this.

  Beside Archie, a teenage girl with curly black hair and amber skin ordered a whisky sour. She pulled a fake ID from her pocket and handed it to the bartender.

  The man didn’t oppose, but Archie raised his brow. “May I see your ID, young lady?”

  The girl frowned at him. “Why? You a cop?”

  Hauk was at her side in a flash. He smiled down at her and leaned closer. “You don’t need to show him your ID.” He lifted one eyebrow at Archie. “Right?”

  The old man swallowed, and Liam could swear he’d say something that would piss off Hauk. Instead, Archie managed one tight-lipped, “Yeah. It’s fine.”

  It wasn’t, of course.

  Across from them, two women with too much make-up and overly short dresses talked to one another. They observed the space with cunning eyes, fake arousal beaming from them.

  Prostitutes.

  A Selfless was basically a cop, which meant Liam often ran into working girls. Human or not, they had a knack for getting into trouble. Every once in a while though, he handled cases where a dead hooker was found on the street—human, most of the time—with no one to mourn her. No one to care.

  His thoughts went back to his mother, and he downed his tequila in one go.

  Be that as it may, the call girls were a much better option for Hauk than the teenager who openly flirted with him.

  Liam approached the one with brown hair tied in a high ponytail. “Evening, sweetheart.”

  She caressed his chest. “Evening, baby.”

  “How much for my friend up there?” He nodded to Hauk.

  “I don’t think I’m his type.” She studied the demon and the girl. “Too old, you see.”

  “C’mon.” He grabbed a Benjamin from his pocket and showed it to her. “Won’t you at least try?”

  “Fine.” She took the money. “But you I would do for free.”

  He winked at her and then returned to the bar, settling between Pedro and Archie. He suspected the old man had put Pedro there strategically to add some distance between Hauk and himself.

  The leader of the Gorge flirted non-stop with the teenager, who gladly accepted his advances. No wonder. Hauk was the cruelest son of a bitch Liam knew, but he looked like he belonged in a boy band.

  “Master will be proud!” Pedro shouted before downing another drink.

  “He will.” Hauk eyed the girl up and down. “Very proud.”

  The girl leaned over the counter to order more drinks and brushed the side of her hip slightly against Hauk. “You should focus on making me proud, babe.”

  Demons in all the Hells, that kid couldn’t be more than seventeen.

  What was she doing?

  Liam glared at the working girl, who merely shrugged. She couldn’t find an opening. The teenager was all over Hauk.

  Shit.

  “Fucking TV,” Archie grumbled under his breath. “Kids are growing up way too fast these days.”

  This was also a jab at Liam because he’d lost his virginity when he was younger than that girl, and Archie had been far from pleased.

  The teenager handed Hauk a drink, then flicked her curly hair over her shoulders. The demon bit his lip, arousal oozing from him.

  An agonizing sting pierced Liam’s lungs, followed by the sensation of falling into an unending void. He would never forget what his own death felt like, but he had no idea why that cruel dread came back to him now.

  Hauk nodded discreetly to some demons around the bar who slowly, carefully, headed to the pub’s entrance. They stood there, forming a living wall.

  Hauk clinked his glass with the girl’s and downed the liquor at once. He slammed the glass on the counter and watched the dance floor. “Want to have some fun, darling?”

  “Oh, very much.” The girl’s words already came out slurred. “You’re so hot.”

  He caressed the curve of her waist. “I know.”

  The prick of incoming death swirled and thrashed inside Liam, swallowing all of him into a black hole. His darkness pulsed with a warning. Get out, get out, get out. But all exits were blocked by second-tier demons who could kick Liam’s ass.

  “Archie,” he muttered, but his partner held still with every muscle clenched. Only then did he notice how pale the old man had grown, even under the pub’s dim lights.

  “Kid. I’m so sorry for bringing you into this,” he croaked.

  Liam’s throat tightened. He wished he could say something but fear stole all his breath.

  A scream broke through the crowd, passing unregistered among the music and the noise. A moment later, a severed head rolled up to Hauk’s foot and glared at Liam. The cut on the neck was drenched by the man’s own blood. It had left a red path that led to the crowd ahead.

  People still danced and talked, barely noticing what had happened. Liam’s breathing rushed, and he bit down on his teeth so hard that a jolt of pain swam up his skull.

  The call girl with the high ponytail gaped at Hauk and the head before screaming her lungs out.

  The music stopped. The moving bodies halted.

  People wondered what had happened, and someone even shouted, “Hey, put the music back on!”

  The teenage girl stood beside Hauk, glaring at the head. Her lips quivered, but she couldn’t form words.

  “Time to feast!” Hauk ordered his demons before grabbing the
teenage girl by her hair.

  Her pleading screams didn’t stop him. He bent her forward and lifted her skirt, and then his wings burst from behind him.

  Some humans shrieked in horror, others lost their voices to fear.

  The second-tiers from the Gorge also unveiled their wings, which meant that they were ready to fight or fuck.

  Probably both.

  When Liam was eleven, he watched a cow walk into a piranha-infested river on the Discovery Channel. The water churned and turned red, but soon enough, the cow’s bellows silenced as it went underwater.

  This was eerily similar. The demons crashed down on all the humans, and the pub became a hellish sight of ripped limbs, flowing red, and horrid screams.

  Archie kept his wings tucked inside his essence in a silent sign of rebellion, but Hauk didn’t notice. The demon watched the scene with delight, though he still gripped the back of the teenage girl’s neck, keeping her bent over before him.

  Well, as long as he admired the Gorge’s bloody work, he wasn’t raping her.

  People ran, trying to escape the trap, but there was no way out.

  Shock kept Liam standing at the bar, watching in horror as innocents begged for their lives. He tried to ignore their pleas for mercy and the screeches that followed, but they slipped into his skin and settled in his bones.

  He was a Selfless, or at least he used to be. His duty was to defend the weak. Kill the monsters, not help them. Yet now, innocent blood flowed on the floor, and he did nothing to stop it.

  Liam’s right hand hovered over the sword on his belt. His left hand patted the holy—damned—gun underneath his jacket. Screw this mission. He would go down killing as many demons as he could.

  But then Firma’s death would have been for nothing.

  Be smart, Liam’s own voice rang in his ears.

  It had come from inside him, but he couldn’t pinpoint where. Definitely not from the darkness, because it still pushed him to leave this place.

  Get out, get out!

  Ironic that this carnage was too much even for the worst version of himself.

  “Help,” a voice whispered.

  Liam caught the teenage girl’s wide eyes brimming with tears. It reminded him of a trapped deer.

  She might be okay now that Hauk was distracted, but the demon’s attention would return to her soon enough.

  Liam nodded discretely. There had to be a way to get her out of this.

  His attention fell on the call girl ahead, her back slammed against the wall as she watched the hellish scene around them. Her colleague had disappeared, but a huge smudge of blood painted the wall where she’d stood not a moment ago.

  The woman caught Liam’s stare and saw through him. She noticed the weeping teenager, and that’s all it took. She understood.

  The call girl took one deep breath before stepping forward. She swallowed back her tears and focused on Hauk. “Whatever you are, I can make you see stars, baby.”

  Hauk ignored her.

  “Come on, let the kid go.” Liam feigned a smirk. “We have enough to play with.”

  The demon raised a curious brow. “Is that so?”

  Liam showed him the room filled by running and screaming humans. They didn’t die quickly. Most demons tortured or hunted them, playing with their toys. Pedro himself chased a screaming woman with blood on her forehead.

  “There’s plenty of adults here to have fun with. Kids are so inexperienced.” Liam glanced at the call girl and said, “I bet you can rock his world, right, sweetheart?”

  Gods, the words hurt his throat because he was offering one innocent in exchange for another. But the woman understood. She had volunteered for this.

  And it gutted him.

  Her voice failed but when she focused on the teenage girl, she inhaled deeply. “This little thing doesn’t know half the shit I do.” She approached and stopped beside Hauk, drawing patterns with her fingers on his chest. “What do you say, baby?”

  Hauk rolled his eyes at Liam. “I know what you’re doing. Consider this your baptism into the dark. The true dark.”

  The talons of his wing pierced the woman’s body from behind, impaling her like meat on a skewer. He raised her so high her feet dangled in the air. She tried to scream but could only gurgle blood.

  “You will thank me later, Liam.” Hauk threw her body against the wall.

  Liam swallowed the cry that ripped him from inside. As he watched the woman’s corpse fall to the floor like a broken doll, her eyes glassy and hollow, he begged for her forgiveness. Not that she would ever give it.

  She was dead, and it was his fault.

  Kill Hauk, the darkness hissed. End him now.

  Be smart, his own voice demanded, burning with light. We’ve sacrificed so much.

  Liam watched his own hands. He slayed monsters. He wasn’t … he couldn’t …

  He turned to where Archie stood beside him, his rock, his only beam of light right now. The old man just stared ahead as if he wasn’t really here.

  This was how he coped: by shutting himself off from his surroundings. Liam wished he could do this, but he didn’t know how.

  He couldn’t ignore what was happening.

  Hauk caressed the teenage girl’s hair. “Fine, Liam. I won’t rape her.”

  He pulled her to him so that she had her back close to his chest. The demon then took her trembling hand gently, intertwining her fingers with his own. In one quick move, Hauk snapped them all.

  The sound of bone cracking went almost imperceptible against the screams in the pub. The girl howled and cried as she bent over in pain.

  Hauk would torture her, and he was only beginning. Firma’s wounded and swollen face flashed in Liam’s mind.

  Gods, please, no.

  He couldn’t go through that again.

  The need to hurl built up in him. For the first time in a while, he prayed. Holy Gods in the Heavens, I am your servant, so long as I exist in your infinite Glory. The Gods are with me, and I’m with the Gods. The words came from his light, more recorded memory than Liam’s own will. They helped him block everything happening around him.

  Maybe, just maybe, he could reach that place where Archie had gone.

  “I see the beauty of Master’s work is too much for your partner,” Hauk’s voice cracked his focus. He was nodding to a catatonic Archie. “Yet you remain here with us, Liam. For someone who used to be an angel, that’s remarkable.”

  His jaw felt tight, his tongue glued to the ceiling of his mouth.

  “Yeah,” was all Liam could say.

  Someone’s arm flew in the air, looping in spirals that dripped blood. Liam noticed a flower tattoo stamped on the bicep.

  A laugh rumbled low in Hauk’s chest. “Why do you think I’m Master’s favorite?”

  Liam bit back the remark, but it came out anyway. “Because you’re a sick fuck?”

  “Yes, I’m a sick fuck.” Hauk grinned as he pulled the girl’s back against his chest and cupped her breast.

  She glared at Liam. “P-please,” she cried. “Help me.”

  Hauk kept watching him, never breaking eye contact. “We’re all sick fucks. So are you, Liam. You just don’t know it yet.”

  Kill him now, the darkness roared.

  In time, the light countered.

  Hauk closed his hand around her throat, and the girl bawled louder, begging him to spare her.

  “Will you behave?” the demon whispered in her ear. “I’ll be good to you if you behave.”

  She stilled and didn’t utter a single sound.

  He nibbled at her earlobe. “Smart little bitch.”

  Holy Gods in the Heavens, why do you allow this?

  But the Gods weren’t the ones allowing it.

  Liam was.

  “Today, you watch,” Hauk said through gritted teeth, his eyes feral. “But I’m not merciful, Liam. One day, you and your partner will be forced to act.”

  He would throw up right here while the girl cried without a
sound. Her silence was louder than the symphony of bellows and screeches that rang around the pub.

  Red smeared the walls, the floors, the bar, everything.

  Liam took a recomposing breath and watched the space ahead. Most humans were dead. He tried to ignore their unblinking stares and the bloody pools on the floor.

  Some demons raped the survivors, but the men and women barely screamed now. They had given up, blanked out. The mind could only handle so much, and this … well, this was the Hells.

  The demons who were done murdering and raping raided the bar and drank themselves senseless. Liam stood there, frozen with shock and helplessness, his entire body shaking. Angry tears tried to push their way out, but he didn’t shed them. He had to remain strong; this war depended on it.

  He’d killed that Archangel. Firma. Her name was Firma; remember that. Always remember that. He killed her so they could win this war, and if he ended Hauk now, she would’ve died for nothing.

  A choking sound came from beside him. Hauk was squeezing the girl’s throat so hard that her tongue stuck out.

  “You said you wouldn’t hurt her if she was quiet!” Liam cried.

  “And?”

  It took all of his strength not to wield his sword and cut off Hauk’s head.

  Firma flashed in his mind, begging Liam for mercy. His flames engulfed her, leaving a charred corpse that pointed at him and said, “You’re one of them.”

  No, she was wrong. Liam would prove it. One day, he would make Hauk pay. All these bastards would pay.

  “I thought you were a man of your word,” Liam spat.

  The grin that cut across Hauk’s face spoke of madness and cruelty. Still, the demon opened his hand and the girl took a deep breath, coughing and gasping as she desperately sucked in air.

  “You thought wrong,” Hauk said with amusement. “In fact …” He punched the girl in her ribs and she fell on the ground, crouching over her knees.

  This was Liam’s punishment for killing Firma; it had to be.

  The Gods could be cruel.

  Don’t listen … Tendrils of light and darkness wrapped around his consciousness in an embrace that was both freezing and boiling.