She wasn’t at all surprised when he drew his sword again as he came near her, obviously intent on carrying out his mission even if it cost him his life. That was the M.O. of a hunter angel, so she shouldn’t be surprised. With a sigh of resignation, Abby crouched as Brax appeared behind the angel, stabbing him through the back and chest. The angel’s sol flashed a brilliant white for a moment before fizzling out as he fell forward onto his face, unmoving.
Abby blinked back tears. She hated that he was dead, but his death, when compared to the idea of it being one of the demons who’d put so much effort forth to save her, was a minor loss. She was certain losing any of the three men would devastate her.
“I’m sorry.” Brax sounded genuinely regretful. “I didn’t have a choice.”
Abby looked at him, surprised he seemed hesitant. She realized he was afraid she wouldn’t understand, so she managed a small smile. “I know. You were acting to save me, and he had every opportunity to leave with his life. It was his own foolishness, prompted by blind devotion and how Iramiel controls them all, that led him to that fate.”
Now that she was outside the sphere of influence, she could see how Iramiel had exerted a tyrannical grasp on the angels, from his vast surveillance network to his willingness to kill anyone who got in his way. He’d strayed far away from the mentorship Destriel had surely provided before taking his long sabbatical.
A second later, the body disappeared, and silence reigned in the meadow. That reminded Abby of the howls and cries of the animals she’d heard earlier, and she rushed around in search of them, certain they must be injured.
The first animal she found was a mother dear, with her fawn nearby. They both laid on the ground, and they were certainly dead. Tears streamed down Abby’s face as she knelt beside them. “I did this.” She put her hand on the mother, trying to heal it, but nothing happened. She looked up at Dante. “Can you fix it?”
He looked uncertain, but he knelt beside her and touched the deer. Seconds later, the mother stirred and stood up. She had blood by her ears, but she appeared completely recovered. She was also clearly frantic and started to dart away before pausing, rushing over to her baby. She eyed them warily, and when Dante approached the fawn, she seemed poised for confrontation for a moment before she turned to flee.
Dante knelt beside the fawn, touching it, and it startled back to life. It seemed bewildered, but it instinctively ran in the direction its mother had taken, and Abby hoped it would be okay.
“What happened here?” asked Brax, sounding shaken.
As she searched the area of the forest around them, Abby told them about the unexpected song that had burst from her mouth that had done such damage while Dante mended the creatures she had inadvertently killed in her attempt to escape the angel assassins. When they had come full circle without finding more injured or dead animals for Dante to heal, they slowly returned to their campsite.
Everyone was quiet, and Abby was certain they were now second-guessing their choice to help her. Were they afraid of her? She wanted to reassure them she’d never hurt them, but how could she make that promise? She certainly hadn’t intended to hurt the angels, but survival and emotion had pushed her to that point. All it took was her losing control once, and she might hurt the men she cared about or worse. The thought sent a chill through her, and she shivered. She couldn’t risk hurting them.
Chapter Twelve
Mal went through the motions of making dinner, but it was mostly to have something to distract his hands and a reason to focus on something else besides Abby. If left to his own devices without distraction, he would’ve stared at her all night, holding her in his arms and reassuring himself she was really okay. He was angry at himself for leaving her alone and putting her in that position, though they’d had little choice in the matter. They had thought they were acting to protect her, but all they’d done was leave her vulnerable to a different sort of danger.
She was so quiet and withdrawn, and he was afraid she would never forgive them for leaving her. He wanted to throw himself at her feet and beg her forgiveness, and that made him realize just how much he cared about her.
He was forced to face the truth, and there was no escaping it. Somewhere along the way, he had started to fall in love with Abby. That had been completely contrary to his wishes, but now that he’d acknowledged it was happening, the prospect didn’t seem as frightening as it had before.
He couldn’t imagine losing her as he had Lori, and he was still afraid to love again, but it was more of an abstract fear now. Now that he loved her, or was well on his way to doing so, he couldn’t ruminate and regret the actions that had led him there. Instead, he’d focus on keeping her safe, because he refused to lose another love.
“You certainly look dour,” said Dante as he came over to the campfire, ostensibly to help stir the pot of beans.
Mal grunted at the kid, not saying much. He wasn’t surprised when Brax joined them a moment later, also kneeling, though he made no pretense of stirring the food. “Are you all right, Mal?”
Mal shrugged a shoulder. “I guess I will be. I just realized…” He trailed off, not looking at them.
“How much you care about her,” said Brax, sounding sympathetic. “I figured that might happen to you. I know it’s already happened to me, but it seems stronger since we shared pieces of our sol with her.”
“It’s definitely a different kind of bond,” said Dante. “I don’t think it’s ever happened before. I mean, whoever heard of demons sharing their essence with an angel to keep her alive?”
“Whoever heard of an angel loving demons?” asked Mal with pain bleeding through his tone. “It doesn’t seem likely that she could ever feel the same for us.”
“I think you’re wrong,” said Dante with quiet conviction. “She hasn’t shared her bed again since that night, but she seems emotionally closer. If the bond is having this effect on us, surely it’s having the same on her.”
“Don’t get too ahead of yourself, kid,” said Brax. “We don’t know if she’s feeling the same way for us, or if the bond did anything to amplify what she was already feeling. As much as we want her to, you can’t assume she’s falling in love with us. She’s pretty naïve in the ways of the world, sex, emotion, all of it… It’s new to her. I don’t want to see you get hurt counting on something that might not happen.”
“Or you could just ask me,” said Abby, startling the three of them. Mal turned quickly to look at her as the others did the same. She stood a few feet away, looking visibly amused by their quiet confab around the campfire.
He cleared his throat. “What?”
“You could just ask how I’m feeling.” She shook her head at them, as though it was the most obvious option in the world. “I’ve never felt like this before with anyone. I didn’t even know what this feels like before, at least not for sure, but if I had to label what I’m feeling, love is as good a descriptor as any.”
“How is it that you feel?” Dante’s eyes gleamed with hope.
“I feel like I can’t breathe without you near me. The idea of losing any of you feels like it could crush me. It was part of the reason I was able to tap into that song.” She shuddered as she said the word. “I feel like I would die for you, but it would kill me if any of you did the same for me. Does that make sense?”
Mal found himself nodding first. “It sounds like love to me.” Looking at it honestly, he could label it as love as well, and he was certain it would only grow in intensity the longer they were together. He’d felt something similar for Lori, but not even to the depths with his wife that he felt for Abby.
That caused a vague dissatisfactory ache of guilt to splinter him, but he was done fooling himself. The love he’d had with Lori had been amazing, but it couldn’t compare to what was developing with Abby. Was it because they both had powers and lived beyond the human existence, or was it something more fundamental, like the link between their sols?
He had no idea, and he was no damned
poet or philosopher with the tools to eloquently figure it out. Abruptly, he realized silence still reigned, and Abby looked on the verge of tears. He cleared his throat. “It sounds like love,” he said again. “I feel the same way.”
Her eyes were still sparkling with unshed tears, but her lips trembled as they moved up into an optimistic smile. When her gaze moved to Dante, the smile fled, and she appeared to be waiting on tenterhooks.
“It sounds pretty close to what I’m feeling too.” The kid blushed, as though embarrassed to be discussing his feelings. It was probably nerve-racking for him, particularly with the older two demons there. Mal remembered how awkward it was the first time he’d confessed any feelings to Lori, and that had been just the two of them.
He reached over and patted Dante on the shoulder, perhaps a little too hard, because his friend stumbled, but at least he didn’t tumble headfirst into the fire. Dante glared at him, but he smiled a moment later, likely responding to the knowing wink Mal sent him.
Mal turned his gaze to Brax as Abby did the same. Brax grinned at her. “I love you, Abby. I think I might’ve since the first night we met you.” He shrugged at his friends. “What can I say? I’m a sucker for angels.” He chuckled as he said that, for they all knew how untrue that was. Back when he was still fighting, Brax had been a fierce warrior and racked up more kills than he could probably count.
“So, what do we do now?” asked Abby.
“I guess we’d better eat these beans before they burn to the pan,” said Mal as he looked down, hoping to partially distract himself. Coming to terms with how he was feeling and spending moments wallowing in the emotion were two different things. He wasn’t sure how to cope with the second, so it seemed better to acknowledge it all and just move forward.
Abby briefly looked disappointed, but then she nodded. “I am hungry.”
They ate dinner, and Abby retired to Dante’s tent an hour or so later. She was yawning, and Mal speculated the use of her new power had taken a lot out of her. He waited until some time had passed before looking at his friends. “What do we do now?”
“We keep her safe.” Brax sounded firm about that. “I know how we can do that with the demons.”
“How?” Dante looked confused. “If Zephael wants her, they’ll keep coming for her too.”
“Not if she wears our claiming mark. There’s not a demon who’ll go against that and try to take another demon’s claimed mate. Even Zephael wouldn’t stoop that low.” Brax seemed convinced of that as he took a long drink from the bottle in his hand. “It’s something to consider, at least if Abby agrees.” He looked at Mal. “You wouldn’t have to do it too. I know how you feel about that sort of thing, so if you want to avoid that level of commitment, I could claim her.”
“Or I could,” said Dante with a scowl, clearly angry at being left out. “She feels like my mate too.”
“I’m not trying to cut you out of the equation, kid,” said Brax.
“He’s just trying to offer me a way out,” said Mal in a quiet voice. “You never met Lori, and you weren’t around when I knew her, but Brax knew her a little bit, though he’d already taken off for parts unknown when we were attacked by the group that killed her. He knows what I went through afterward though. Raw agony and grief like you can’t imagine.” He kept his tone aloof, just barely able to talk about it. He certainly didn’t want to risk destroying the fragile shield built from time passing that blunted the memory of the events. “He probably knows I can’t go through that again.”
“Oh,” said Dante, sounding far more subdued. “You don’t have to claim her if you don’t want to, but I need to.” He looked at Brax. “Can we both claim her?”
Brax shrugged. “I don’t see why not, as long as she’s willing. She’d just get two claiming marks instead of one.”
“Three,” said Mal decisively and to the evident surprise of his buddies. He looked at both for a moment and shrugged a shoulder. “I’m in. All in.”
“We’ll discuss it with Abby then,” said Dante. He seemed on the verge of jumping to his feet to do just that.
“Let her sleep,” said Brax. “Tomorrow is soon enough, and she’s clearly exhausted.”
“I could do with some shuteye myself. I’d forgotten how draining it is to travel by portal.” Mal tossed his empty beer bottle into the disposable trashcan and stood up. “All for that circle jerk too.” They’d barely been in Infernum for five minutes. Orias had just wanted to check in with them, and he’d ended the meeting as abruptly as it had begun. It had been a waste of their time, and he still wasn’t certain why they’d had to go all the way to Infernum just to tell Orias they were still working on the situation.
“That sounds good.” There was a gleam in Dante’s eyes.
“You’re going to let her sleep, aren’t you, kid?” asked Mal with a faint hint of warning. “If she says yes, she’ll need all her strength anyway.”
After a moment, Dante quickly nodded. “I’m not going to wake her. I just like watching her sleep.” He flushed, clearly embarrassed by the admission. “Not in a creepy stalker way like that sounds, but she looks so peaceful. Like nothing could harm her, and nothing bad has ever touched her.”
“You’re awfully romantic for a demon,” said Brax with a chuckle.
“You’re a sap,” said Mal as he punched Dante lightly on the arm.
Dante just rolled his eyes, but he was grinning as he started to walk to his tent.
Mal turned away, heading for his own, but he paused when there was a flash of red light, instantly recognizing the approach of demons. The portal would’ve opened at the nearest nexus point, which was too far way for them to have more warning. Multiple pairs of red eyes glowed in the darkness, letting their glamours drop in a show of force and aggression, as demons did before battle. It was a tactic meant to intimidate.
That didn’t stop him from drawing his sword as the horde surrounded them. Brax stood with his back to him, and Dante pressed his back to their sides. They’d taken up a position in front of the tent Abby occupied, and he was certain the other two were as determined as he was to keep the demons from taking her despite the massively uneven odds.
“Move aside and let us have the angel,” said Orias as he stepped forward.
Mal glared at him. “We don’t know what you’re talking about.”
The other demon glared at him, his eyes flashing red in the darkness. “Don’t even try it. Why do you think Zephael called you to Infernum? He wanted to scan you, and you all have traces of angel on you. The machine didn’t quite know how to interpret the results, but it’s obvious you’ve been consorting with an angel recently. It seems unlikely that it might be a different angel than the one Zephael wants, so hand her over.”
“Never.” Mal tightened his hand around the hilt, lifting his sword in a menacing fashion.
Mal shot a glance at Dante, finding him equally determined. The kid didn’t have much fighting experience, but he seemed ready to face off with a squad of demons to protect Abby.
“What does he want with her?” asked Mal. “She’s not going to be a weapon for anyone. We know why Iramiel wants her dead. It’s no reason that will help the demons, and it’s nothing Zephael can exploit.”
“I guess he’ll be the judge of that,” said Orias. “Move aside. It’s your last chance.”
“Your last chance to fuck off,” said Mal, strengthening his grip.
The demons started to approach, rushing all at once, and Mal lunged with his sword, connecting with the trunk of one of them and eliciting a cry of pain. He certainly didn’t enjoy it, and he’d never relished inflicting pain even when he’d been a soldier fighting the angels, but he was satisfied, because they were forcing him to do what he must to protect the woman he loved.
“Stop,” said Abby in a calm voice as she exited the tent.
Mal’s blood ran cold when she walked around it, and he reached out to grab her, trying to bring her toward him, but she evaded his grasp as she stopped bef
ore Orias. “Leave them be.”
“Sorry, angel, but I have orders to bring you all in. Zephael doesn’t like being lied to.” Orias seemed delighted as he contemplated what punishment awaited them. He nodded to his squad. “Take them. If they give you any problem, kill them all. Zephael has already decided they’re a disposable commodity when weighed against the angel.” As he spoke, Orias put his arm around Abby’s waist and disappeared. Clearly, he was transporting back to the portal.
Mal shared a glance with Brax and then Dante before slowly returning his sword to its scabbard. They’d made the unspoken agreement to surrender peacefully. There was no way they were going to allow Orias to take Abby back to Infernum without them. He fully expected them to strip him of his weapon, but to his surprise, the demons didn’t take their swords, at least not yet.
Chapter Thirteen
One moment, her lovers were in front of her, and the next, she blinked to find herself standing before a portal. She experienced a hint of trepidation as Orias nudged her forward less than gently, forcing her to step into it. That same familiar falling sensation crashed over her, but at least there was no burning or pain this time. Her patched-together sol was holding up to protect her.
When she stepped out, it was on an alien landscape, the likes of which she’d never seen. The stink of brimstone tainted the air, along with a smoky tinge obscuring everything that made seeing difficult. The ground beneath her feet felt hard and rough, as though nothing would ever grow there. It was hot too, and she realized they were near a natural vent releasing steam from glowing lava hundreds of feet below.
She stumbled back in shock as Orias appeared behind her, steadying her. He chuckled as he did so. “You’re so eager to throw yourself at demons. It makes me wonder what kind of angel you really are?” He cupped her buttocks and squeezed.
Sanctimalus Serial: Parts One-Three Page 11
