Hellsbane 02 - Heaven and Hellsbane

by Paige Cuccaro

  “Eli, right?” he asked.

  Eli stood straighter. “Elizal.”

  “Right. Whatever. You come with me,” the blond said.

  “Emma, you’re over here,” Dan said, gesturing for me to follow. He ushered me around the corner into an interrogation room where another detective waited for me. He closed the door behind me, and I slouched into one of the gray, hard-cushioned chairs, propping my elbows on the matching institutional-gray table.

  It took about an hour, and a deft skill at twisting the truth, to explain why I coincidentally showed up at several of the murder scenes. Luckily I’d gotten pretty good at explaining the weird aspects of my life over the past year.

  Satisfied, Detective Yearly closed the blue case folder and pushed to stand. “We may have more questions so don’t leave town for the next week or so. One of our other officers wants to ask you a few things. Wait here.”

  The door hadn’t finished drifting closed behind Yearly before Dan pushed through. He took the chair on the other side, deep lines across his brow and at the corners of his eyes revealing his weariness and the anger slowly boiling under the surface. He stared at his hands, clasping them on the table in front of him. “You did it, didn’t you?”

  I straightened. “No. Of course not. I’m not a murderer.”

  Okay, technically I had killed people, but only the ones who really deserved it.

  His hard blue eyes swung up to me and the utter lack of warmth, or affection, made the breath in my lungs freeze. “Not the murders. I’m talking about Eli. You did it…with him. You made him fall. Didn’t you?”

  “Dan, I…” I sighed, words truly failing me.

  “That’s where you’ve been,” he said as though I hadn’t said anything. “You’ve been with him. With him.”

  “Dan, listen to me…” I scooted to the edge of my chair, reaching for his hands, but he pulled them away. Regret stabbed like an ice pick through my chest. “I’m sorry. I didn’t want you to find out this way—”

  “No. Wait,” he said, cutting me short. He took a moment to sigh, collecting himself. “I know it sounds like I’m jealous, but… Hell, okay, maybe I am—even though I know I don’t have a right to be. But more than that I’m disappointed. Dammit, Emma, I warned you about this. I told you this was where you were headed.”

  “I know. I should’ve listened.” Leaning my elbows on the table I held my head, the reality of what I’d done, what the consequences would be, suddenly making my brain throb. “What the hell’s wrong with me?”

  He reached for my hands, bringing them down to the table. “Nothing’s wrong with you. You fell in love. It happens. Even when we know better.” He made a soft snort, and a flash of pain flickered through his eyes.

  We shared a smile and he squeezed my fingers. “It’s not your fault, Emma. You’re the human. It was up to him to keep his distance.”

  “No, Dan. I’m just as much to blame as—”

  “Let go of her.” Eli was suddenly there beside me, and instantly the mark on my wrist burned.

  I flinched, pulling my hands back to grab my wrist. “Ouch. Dammit.”

  I knew if Eli really wanted to be in the interrogation room with me, he’d use his power to convince even the buzz-cut blond to see things his way. But I hadn’t realized why Eli didn’t want to leave my side. Now, I knew. I’m so stupid.

  Dan’s gaze flicked to my hand, covering my mark, and then to Eli. “Haven’t you done enough?” He pushed to his feet, his chair screeching against the concrete floor. “You’re a goddamn Fallen. And you took her down with you.”

  Eli ignored him and looked at me, worry tightening around his eyes. “It will happen every time we’ve been separated. I wish there was something I could do to stop it, but it is meant to work this way.”

  “You’re damn right it is,” Dan said, anger bulging the veins in his neck. “You should be sent to hell for this. And if she won’t fuckin’ send you, I will.”

  I stood just as Dan lunged across the table, reaching for the sheath at the small of my back. “Dan, stop.”

  He moved at human speed. I outmaneuvered him easily, but I hated that I had to—hated that a part of me knew he was right. I was in the presence of a Fallen. I had a duty—one I had chosen to turn my back on. Dan would never, could never do that—human or not.

  Eli moved like a flash of lightning, catching Dan by the shoulders, pinning him to the wall. He hit with a solid thud, but that was more because of his muscled body than the hard wall. “Daniel, be still. I’m sorry for your pain, but what transpired between Emma Jane and me could not be avoided. God help me, I tried.”

  Dan struggled for a second, his angry gaze going from Eli to me and back again. “What, you’re blaming her?”

  “No! This was my decision. My failing,” Eli said. “And I will be punished for it. If it would not destroy Emma Jane, I would hand you her sword and kneel before you. But she would never forgive you, and I will not destroy yet another life.”

  “Elizal.” All eyes turned to the angel in dark glasses, jeans, and a gray hoodie, standing in the now-open doorway. “We have devised a way to use the girl without killing her. We must leave at once.”

  “Fred, thank God,” Dan said, struggling to break free of Eli’s hold. “Give me a sword. I want to be an illorum. I’m ready to fight.”

  “Dan, stop it,” I said.

  It didn’t matter. Fred wasn’t listening to him. Instead he stared at Eli, and I could almost see his mind working out the scene. I knew the moment he sensed Eli had fallen. I could see the pain in eyes. “Brother, what have you done?”

  But Eli wouldn’t look at him, didn’t answer. He just lowered his head.

  “Eli, get out of here,” I said. “Now.”

  “No. Wait.” Dan grabbed Eli’s wrists, holding him, though the angel still had Dan pinned to the wall. “What the hell’s wrong with you? He’s a Fallen now. Can’t you tell?”

  “Dan, shut up.”

  “Give me a damn sword,” he insisted.

  “Elizal…” Fred took a very human step forward, his pale face frozen in pain.

  Eli lifted his head to Dan and said quietly, “Thank you.” Then he looked to me. “Good-bye, my love.”

  And then he was just…gone.

  A half second later, so was Fred.

  Chapter Twenty-One

  “How could you?” I screamed at Dan.

  “How could you not?”

  I moved to follow Eli—to try to find him somewhere in the world. But Dan stepped in my path, holding my shoulders. “What are you doing, Emma? Think about it. He’s a fallen angel, the same kind of evil slime that raped your mother.”

  I shoved him off me harder than I’d intended and he stumbled. “Dan! I’m so sorry. Are you okay?”

  He found his balance quickly and gave an irritated nod. “I’m fine.”

  “Eli’s nothing like those fallen. You have to believe me,” I said. “He’s exactly the same man he was before. It’s my fault he gave in. He doesn’t deserve to die for it.”

  Dan stepped in my path again. “You’re not thinking clearly. He’s an angel. He used his powers to seduce you and make you think it was your idea. It’s not your fault. But you have to snap out of it. You have to let him go—let him suffer the consequences of what he’s done.”

  “What we’ve done,” I said. “I was there too. And he didn’t use his power to seduce me. He didn’t have to. You were right—I love him. I think I have from the start. So whatever consequences he has to face, I should be there facing them, too.”

  I sidestepped Dan too fast for him to see, let alone stop. An instant later I was on the sidewalk in front of the station. I didn’t have the slightest idea where to begin to look for Eli.

  The streets were just coming to life, early risers driving to work and walking down from the bus stop. I reached for my power, opening my mind to the din of human thought floating on the ether. What was I hoping to find? I knew from experience if a Fallen didn�
��t want to be found he could make it damn near impossible.

  I clenched my teeth, hating the idea of thinking of Eli as a Fallen. He was nothing like the others, the Fallen I’d heard about. They were self-centered, obsessed with sex, and never gave a thought about who they hurt. That wasn’t Eli. Not now, not ever. My heart wouldn’t accept anything else.

  The hum of thoughts flooding through my head wasn’t any help. If anyone had seen him, they hadn’t noticed or didn’t remember. Not that it would make a difference. Eli could travel at the speed of thought and be on the other side of the world in an instant. Still, I had to try. I pushed farther, and almost screamed when I caught a whisper of something that turned my heart to ice.

  C’mon, Fraciel, say the word and I’ll take the Fallen scum’s head.

  I zeroed in on the mind behind those thoughts and pushed my power into it—overriding his consciousness. Where are you?

  His answer was pure reflex. The roof. And only after that did his brain stumble over where the question had come from. I heard his thoughts, but knew he spoke aloud. “Who said that?”

  I didn’t have time to explain. What roof? I asked—my mind to his.

  The police station, he thought in reflex.

  I was on the roof in front of him in time to hear him say, “There it is again. I think someone’s talking in my head.”

  “That would be me,” I said, my gaze flicking from a dirty-haired kid to Fred, and then I stopped dead. I didn’t even want to breathe, desperately hoping if I didn’t move, neither would Fred. “Please, don’t.”

  He stood facing me on the other side of the black tar roof. The scruffy teenage illorum lurked a few feet further back. In front of him, with the point of Fred’s sword at his neck, knelt Eli.

  “Fred, don’t,” I whispered again like any sudden sound or movement would set the angel into motion.

  I could barely see the side of Eli’s face, but I could tell he blinked at the sound of my voice, one brow going up as he twisted to see me. “Emma Jane…” He looked back to Fred. “Fraciel, please. No. Not her. Send her away.”

  Fred’s dark glasses hung on the collar of his T-shirt, so I could see when his ghostly pale eyes swept over to me. His bloodred brows creased. “Why not? I should think it fitting. She caused your fall, did she not?”

  “No,” Eli said. “It was my fault. My decision. She…she means nothing. It could have been any female.”

  I knew he was lying, but still, a tiny knife twisted in my heart. I pushed the hurt away and reined in the thunderstorm of emotion. “Let him go, Fred. This isn’t seraphim business.”

  His gaze flicked to me. “Precisely. This is between a magister and his illorum. Have you met my illorum, Ronald?”

  He gestured to the jittery, disheveled kid behind him. The dude looked nineteen, maybe twenty—his unwashed hair sticking up at odd angles, his stained jeans belted low across his butt offering an unappealing view of his blue boxers. His T-shirt wasn’t just dirty, it was too short with a hole in the seam at his right shoulder. Plus, he was wearing a black leather, studded dog collar. Seriously? Ronald was a joke…except for the three-foot-long illorum sword in his hand.

  “Since when did you lower yourself to training illorum?”

  “Since more and more of my beloved brothers are being killed…or overcome by their wicked desires.” His gaze fell back to Eli. “End him, Emma Jane.”

  “What? No. I mean, not yet. He…he just fell a few days ago. He hasn’t hurt anyone—”

  Fred’s head snapped up. “But, he has. He has hurt you.”

  “No, he didn’t.” I stepped closer, hands out. “Look at me. I’m fine.”

  Fred smiled, his head tilting to the side. He wore the expression of someone who’d just realized he’d have to speak slowly and use small words to be understood. “I was not referring to physical harm. What he has done cannot be seen with the naked eye or felt by an enthralled mind.”

  “I am not enthralled,” I said, trying not to yell. “I knew exactly what I was doing, just like I do right now.”

  I drew my sword. No way would I stand by and watch this angelic snob punish Eli for loving me. Fred lowered his sword. Wise angel.

  “He said you mean nothing to him. Lust was his downfall, not love. Does he lie?” he asked.

  I glanced at Eli just as he lowered his head, defeated. He’d lied to protect me, but I wasn’t the one in danger. It was a sweet, yet pointless gesture, and I couldn’t let him die because of it. I drew a breath, making my decision. “Yes. He lied. We…couldn’t help it. It just happened. I love him. And I know that he loves me. We shouldn’t be punished for loving each other. He’s not like the other Fallen.”

  Fred looked back at Eli. “You see the damage you have done? She believes this down to her core. How can she hope to find mortal love now? How will she go on once you are gone?”

  “You don’t have to lie, Eli. We’re not like the others. You’re a good man. You didn’t rape me; you wouldn’t. You didn’t wipe my memory of you to protect yourself.”

  “No,” Fred said. “He didn’t. If he truly loved you, he would have. He would not have seduced you into his bed. If he truly loved you, he would have left you a year ago when he sustained your life and carried you into that church to heal.”

  I blinked at that. Fred knew about the first time Eli and I had met? I’d been attacked by a demon disguised as a soccer mom. I’d almost died, but Eli had worked his magic. Even Tommy said he’d walked a pretty thin line between what he was allowed to do and what was forbidden. But none of that mattered now.

  “I beg of you, Fraciel, repair what damage you can. Take all memory of me—”

  “No.” My hand tightened on my sword.

  “Memories of the boy, Thomas, will be lost as well,” Fred said. “Memories of Jeannette, and with her all knowledge of the Fallen known as the Duke of Bedford will be erased from her mind.”

  “I know.”

  “No,” I said firm enough to make them both look.

  Eli’s expression was heart-wrenching, so full of anguish and regret. “I’m so sorry, Emma Jane.”

  “Stop it, Eli.” I got a quick case of the cold and clammies, my subconscious aware of what the rest of me didn’t want to accept. “It’s not going to happen. You’re not going anywhere, and no one’s touching my memories.”

  “I will spare her the worst of the heartache, but she’ll fare better if she breaks the enthrallment herself,” Fred said.

  “Dammit, I’m not enthralled.”

  Eli shook his head. “No. Fraciel, no. There’s no need; she is not enthralled. I would never do such a thing. I swear it. It doesn’t have to be her—”

  Fred had stopped listening and looked at me. “Take his head, Emma Jane.”

  “Bite me, Fred.”

  “You must do this,” he said. “Or Ronald will.”

  “Emma Jane, leave. Just leave. Now,” Eli said. He twisted to see me, rage making him look like someone else. “Listen to me, woman. You stupid mortal. I don’t love you. And I resent that you’re forcing me to admit it. Do you hear me? I told you whatever I thought would spread your legs.”

  “Stop it, Eli.”

  “And you were easy. So fucking easy.”

  “Shut up.”

  “You’re making a fool of yourself, so go. Get the hell out of here!”

  I stood, staring. Stunned. My brain battling through the sting of his words. He was just saying it to get me to leave. Of course he was. I knew that…but it still hurt like hell.

  “Go!” he yelled and I jumped, but I wasn’t going anywhere.

  “Fine. But you’re coming with me.” I raised my sword, ready to fight our way out.

  “Ronald.” Fred glanced at the illorum behind him. “Take the Fallen’s head.”

  I moved between Eli and Fred an instant after I decided that’s where I needed to be. “You don’t want to do that, Ronny. It won’t end well for you.”

  “Emma Jane, no. You don’t understan
d,” Eli said. “Lower your sword.”

  Ronald smirked. “You’re pretty cocky for a girl.”

  “And you’re pretty new.” I could tell just by the way he held his sword, like he’d seen a lot of samurai movies and zero actual combat. “You’ve been marked, what, a week? Two?”

  His smirk flickered. “Eight days.”

  “And Fred threw you into the deep end already?” I shook my head and tsked. “Oh, Ronny. I almost feel bad for you. You should still be splashin’ around in the kiddie pool. Listen, I don’t want to hurt you, kid. But I will if you don’t back off. You ready for that?”

  “I’ve been ready since we got here.” He swung his sword in a circle, like a batter stepping up to home plate. “I was born for this.”

  “Yeah, kid. We all were.”

  Fred blinked out of the way, reappearing behind Ronald as the scruffy illorum hiked up his pants with one hand, sword in the other. “I’m taking that Fallen butt-wipe’s head whether you’re in the way or not, babe. This is gonna be awesome.” He skipped a step forward before picking up speed.

  He came at me fast, but not nearly as fast as his powers would allow. Had Fred not even taught him that yet? And just when I really started to feel bad for the dumb kid, he zipped in to hyperdrive, zigzagging around me to get to Eli.

  It was only my own power that let me track him and my skill that got me around Eli in time to stop Ronny’s sword with my own. The kid might look like a scruffy reject, but he was strong. Our swords clashed and the reverberation hummed over my skin. I shoved him back and swung, committing to my decision to defend Eli.

  For all his apparent awkwardness, Ronny wasn’t bad with his sword. He blocked my swing, but the instant our swords clashed, a glacial jolt stung my wrist. Like touching dry ice, the sensation was so cold it burned.

  “What the eff…?” I staggered back, glancing at my mark, but I didn’t have time to take a good enough look. Ronny was on the attack again—his sword in motion aiming for Eli’s neck. I was out of position and off balance. I couldn’t get my sword up in time, so I lunged at the illorum driving my shoulder into his ribs at full speed. We sailed at least ten feet before we crashed hard against the tar roof—the rough surface scraping through my slacks and blouse, taking skin.