Angel of Distrust

by Tabitha Barret

  A pretentious smile spread across his handsome face. “Then how is this for therapeutic? I plan to kill you slowly after I torture you for a few centuries, but before I do that, you will release the other Predznak from your command. I don’t want them dying along with you if the master/servant bond is anything like a master/blood servant bond. I want them to be free of your tyranny so that they can finally live their lives without the constant misery of being your angel,” Haydn said matter-of-factly as if he was telling her to pass the salt and pepper.

  Anjali was stunned not only by his statement, but also by his demeanor. He should have been a raging lunatic, screaming his proclamation at her if he hated her enough to torture and kill her slowly. In her experience, only pure undiluted hatred of a person could cause someone to torture them, unless they were being paid, or were a sociopath. Haydn’s façade was either incredibly well constructed to hide his true feelings, or he was completely cut off from everything. If the latter were true, it meant that he had become a Rogue.

  “Think about what you’re asking me to do, Haydn. You want me to release the Predznak, but to what end? You were forever changed when you volunteered to serve me. There is no going back to Heaven, which means you will be branded as criminals. Why do you believe that the Council allowed the most dangerous angels ever created to roam the world without anyone to watch over them? They have allowed you to live this long for two reasons, in my estimation. One, I believe that they fear the consequences of killing each of you and not because they fear you, but because the world would never be the same. Without the Predznak evaluating the mortals’ reactions to sins, the world would fall into ruin. The second reason would be the Council’s fear of me. It’s true that the Council despises me, but I believe that they are too afraid of what I would do if they hunted and killed my Predznak. If I do what you want, the Council will no longer have those reasons holding them back. They will hunt you to your deaths and I refuse to allow that,” she replied boldly. He didn’t need to know that she had offered to return Alazar to Heaven to take on a new position.

  Haydn shrugged. “I’m not concerned about the Council. I’ve been waiting for them to unleash the Celestial Warriors on me for years. This would bring the fight to me, and I like those odds. Even if they managed to kill me, I would finally be free from this torture,” he stated. “I see it as a win-win.”

  Seeing the resignation in his eyes, she realized that he was on a suicide mission.

  “If you can so easily accept death, why do you care what happens to the other Predznak? I’m told that you were the first to turn on them. You became withdrawn and allowed your power to cloud your mind. You were the first to break the bonds of loyalty because you believed that they were plotting against you. Where is this sudden sense of brotherhood coming from? I thought you would have killed them by now in order to keep yourself safe,” she replied, trying to understand his motivation.

  Haydn opened his mouth to speak, but stopped and shook his head. “It was a mistake to engage you in conversation. I find that threats and shoving weapons in sensitive organs yields the best results,” he said calmly.

  He rushed toward her and pulled her to her feet by her armpits. He threw her against the craggy wall, scratching her back. His hand went to his knife sheath and he pulled out a thin, black knife that tapered to a long, sharp point.

  “You can’t hurt me,” she said, trying to see through the blue tinted glasses into his eyes.

  He laughed, causing his face to light up. She was surprised by how attractive he was when he wasn’t brooding.

  “I was an interrogator for Hell during my time there, or didn’t Lucifer tell you? I am very good at hurting people and making them do what I want without killing them.”

  She shrugged. “That doesn’t surprise me, but that’s not what I meant. You can carve me up with those knives, and cause me physical pain, but you can’t hurt me. Nothing you do to me will force me to release my angels. You have a lot to learn about being a Predznak if you believe that they would even want to be released from me. Together, we are stronger. I was able to free them from their madness and I can do the same for you, if you will allow me to do so,” she said.

  His warm smile was gone, replaced by a cruel, chilling smile. “You tricked them into being your slaves and I’m going to put an end to that right now.”

  The blade in his hand was coming down toward her face, intent on slashing her. Unable to block his hand, she did the only thing she could. She kneed him in the balls.

  Haydn grunted when she made contact and dropped to his knees. His expression would have been comical if he hadn’t been trying to murder her. He stupidly hadn’t thought she would fight back.

  She grimaced when she felt the wound in her right thigh open up. She gritted her teeth and threw herself against the wall. She rebounded off it to give herself more force as she lifted her knee and smacked it into his jaw. He flew backward and landed in the sand. He was momentarily dazed, but quickly got to his feet and pulled out a second knife, the first one having been lost in the sand.

  When he came at her again, she remembered a move that Calin had forced her to learn. She focused and tensed up her body, waiting until Haydn was close enough before she spun and kicked him in the side of the head. He fell on his side and dropped the knife. His glasses flew off and landed in the cave entrance a few feet away. He yelled in frustration and glared at her. His bright green eyes bore into hers. “You will pay for that.”

  He ran at her and grabbed her shoulders, but she didn’t wait to see what he had planned for her. She pulled her head back and head-butted him, which hurt like hell and made her want to vomit.

  He staggered back and clutched his forehead. Shaking off the dizziness, she dropped to her knees and fished around in the sand for one of his knives. By the time she had one in her hand, Haydn was coming at her. He tried to raise his knee to kick her in the face, as she had done to him, but she twisted around and drove the blade into his calf.

  He yowled in pain and dropped to the ground. He stared at the knife embedded in his leg in disbelief.

  She stumbled in the loose sand, but managed to throw her shoulder into the wall and right herself. She turned around and scowled at him. “Release me!” she commanded.

  His eyebrows flew up. “Are you crazy? If you’re kicking the shit out of me with the bonds on, I’m not about to experience what you can do without them.”

  She took a second to catch her breath before addressing him. “Here’s the way this works, Haydn. I will never release the Predznak from my service, so forget your plan. Unlock these bonds so that I can release you from your power, which is clouding your mind. If you refuse me, you will have to kill me because you will never be safe from me. I will make it my life’s mission to take your head. If I were you, I would pray for a quick death before Lucifer or Alazar find you.”

  Haydn hissed at her ultimatum. “You will release my brothers before I end your life.”

  Frowning at her lost angel, she sighed. If she was able to release her power, she might be able to free him from his power as she had done with the other Predznak, but with her power bound, it was impossible. If she couldn’t reason with him, her only option was to escape from the cave and attempt to free him once her power was accessible. Until then, she didn’t have time for his games. She still had a Harpy to find.

  She stormed off toward the dark cave entrance leaving Haydn bleeding in the sand.

  Slowly extricating the blade from his leg, Haydn looked up at her. “There’s nowhere for you to go.”

  Looking at him over her shoulder, she smiled. “Those angels that you are so desperate to free will do anything to find me. If you can’t understand that we are meant to be together, then there is nothing I can do to help you,” she said dismissively.

  When she reached the end of the cave, she saw what Haydn had meant. The sea was at high tide and had overtaken the beach in either direction. In the distance to her right, she saw a section of beach that
was higher than the water. Between her and the beach was a series of rocks protruding from the water, though the sea spray was constantly churning around the rocks and hitting against them with enough force to splash across the tops of them. It was a harrowing path, but she had no choice. She had to take it.

  She braced her shoulder against the side of the slick cave wall and carefully stepped onto the rocks. They were slipperier than she expected and were difficult to see in the moonless night. The bottom of her dress was instantly soaked when a large wave hit her legs. She was grateful that she was still in a tropical climate and the water was warmer than in the northern seas, but the air was chilly without the sun. The bonds made her shiver uncontrollably since she was unable to regulate her body temperature.

  She continued her journey until she was far enough away from the cave that Haydn couldn’t grab her. She was furious that he planned to torture her so that she would release the Predznak. The Destroyer wanted to punish him for believing that he could command her to do anything. She had no idea why Haydn was so concerned about releasing his brethren, especially since they had hated each other for centuries and parted ways on bad terms. Regardless of the reason, Haydn had no idea what he was asking her to do. She hadn’t been lying about the Council issuing death warrants for them.

  Focusing on her harrowing journey, she judged the distance to the next rock. Nearly losing her footing, she braced herself against the wall and prepared to leap. The trip was taking longer than she wanted, giving Haydn more time to come after her.

  When she reached a point where the rocks were spread too far apart, she knew she would have to jump to reach the next one. Swimming was out of the question with her hands bound behind her. Even if she tried to float and kick her legs, the tide was strong enough to suck her under or smash her into the rocks. Shivering in the cold air, she had to make a decision. She could go back to Haydn and try to come to some kind of understanding, or she could jump to the next rock and try to make it to dry land.

  Haydn sat in the damp sand and cursed his life. No one told him when he volunteered to become a Predznak that he would be miserable for the rest of eternity. If only he could figure out how to turn everything around. All he wanted was to be happy again. He wanted to look at the sun and remember joy and warmth. He wanted to stand beside his brothers and feel a kinship with them again. Instead, he was doomed to repeat the same bleak day over and over again.

  Seeing Anjali in Brazil had been a sign. He had searched for her over the years, but could never locate her. One lucky break and everything had finally come together. Though he had never seen her before, he knew who she was the second he saw her. She had been asking the locals about a missing friend, but he could hear the lie in her voice. He wasn’t sure why she was lying to the locals, but she had obviously been searching for someone. He had seized his opportunity when he saw her standing on the street corner and formulated his plan. Of course, his plans were altered when she was jumped by the men and taken to the farmhouse. Her actions at the farmhouse were impressive, but it was only a matter of time until she made a mistake. When he saw that she had been shot, he smiled and knew that with a little patience he would be able to capture her without a fight.

  There were so many questions he wanted answered, including why she felt compelled to fight those men instead of quietly rescuing the women she spoke of, and why she felt compelled to change into Serena’s dress to do so, but all that had to wait. First, he had to convince her to release however many Predznak she had under her control before he ended her life. Then, he would find a way to hide from the Council and start his new life.

  Pulling the knife out of his leg and wiping the blood on his pants, he laughed at his misfortune. How had a helpless girl managed to get the better of him and stab him with his own knife? She should be as weak as a kitten with the Celestial Bonds wrapped around her wrists. It was embarrassing enough to be kicked in the balls by her, but being stabbed was downright pathetic. He hadn’t been kidding about fearing what would happen without the bonds weakening her. Clearly, someone had trained her. She mentioned a fight with Balthazar, so he was most likely under her command, but it was possible that she also had Aeries by her side. Heaven help him if she had both of them. He didn’t look forward to dying at the hands of Aeries, his former Lord Commander. He hadn’t considered the possibility of standing toe to toe with Anger before his impromptu capture of his master. It would be in his best interest to allow Anjali to kill him quickly before Aeries got a hold of him.

  Ignoring his gutless hysteria, he brushed the sand off his pants and got to his feet. He assumed she would have surrendered by now since there was no escape from the cave until low tide, but she was taking a long time to concede defeat. She certainly was stubborn.

  Wincing when he put pressure on his wounded leg, he decided to start slow with the torture and work up to the bone breaking. Sadly, he no longer experienced delight during interrogations, but he might be able to muster a smile at the bare minimum knowing that his master was suffering, just as he had.

  He stepped out of the cave and looked around, trying to figure out where Anjali was. A small yelp and a large splash made him whip his head around just in time to see the black dress of horrors slide under the water.

  Damn it she was obstinate! Now instead of hurting her, he had to rescue her. How humiliating!

  He threw off his hoodie and pulled off his boots. Swearing, he pushed his black wings out through his T-shirt and launched himself into the air. The water was pitch black and swirling too fast to see anything. He hovered for a few more seconds, hoping to see the bright blue glow of the bonds, but there was nothing. The current must have dragged her away from the shoreline.

  He tucked his wings into his back and dove into the deeper water further away from the rocks. He swam away from the shore and searched for the dreaded blue light. He knew from experience that the glow could be seen through the murkiest water. He had been thrown into the Realm of Drowning Seas by an enraged Lucifer on more than one occasion. The hideous bonds lit up even the darkest part of the realm.

  Panic filled him at the thought of losing her, though he couldn’t comprehend why he was upset. He didn’t care about her; he only cared about freeing himself and the others. When he realized that she might be lost to the sea forever, he worried that the Predznak might be reassigned to another master, or worse, decommissioned and killed, just as Anjali had said.

  He kicked his legs and dove deeper into the ocean. She couldn’t technically die from drowning, but she had no way to save herself with her hands bound. A small twinge of regret found its way into his frigid heart. Though he normally regretted nothing, he suddenly remembered the sensation. Would he be responsible for the death of the Bringer of the Apocalypse? He gulped when he considered the consequences. It was one thing to talk about killing her and plotting to do so, it was another to actually do it. He wondered if it would be ruled an accident, or if they would charge him with murder.

  He shook himself from his disconcerting thoughts. This was what he wanted, sort of, wasn’t it? He wanted her dead, or so he had said to Alazar when they conspired to kill her centuries ago. Why should he feel regret now?

  His heart leaped for joy when he finally spotted the blue light. He swam up to the surface to take a breath and dove down to retrieve the headstrong woman.

  He caught the edge of her dress and cringed. He would have preferred to tear it from her body and leave it at the bottom of the ocean, but he didn’t have time for that. Anjali’s eyes were closed and she wasn’t breathing. Her pale face was lit up by the blue glow surrounding her. It made her look ethereal and dead. Something inside of his chest burned as if he had been stabbed or poisoned, tortures he intimately understood, but he couldn’t comprehend why he felt this way.

  He looped his arm around her waist and pulled her up to the surface as he tried to keep her head above the rolling waves. They were further away from shore than he thought, so it took a lot of effort to get them ba
ck to the beach. By the time he reached the shore and pulled her onto the sand, he was tired and out of breath.

  Throwing himself on the sand, he took a second to breathe. He looked over at her body laying still on the dark beach and almost wept. She would survive this, yet he still wanted to cry. What the hell was wrong with him? Why did he care about her now after centuries of hating her?

  Unwilling to deal with his tumultuous thoughts, he propped himself up on his arm and touched her cheek. She was freezing. He thought about taking her back to the fire in the cave to warm her, but something felt wrong about that. Instead, he carefully took her into his arms and spread his wings. He hated himself for allowing her to break his resolve, but he didn’t know how to fight it. He bent his knees, careful to keep pressure off his injured leg, and propelled them into the air, taking care not to jostle her too much. He had to keep her safe until she woke up. Once she was awake, he would decide her fate.

  ∞

  Hades stormed into the Throne Room and saw the banes of his existence standing in front of the dais. The Nachtghuls looked worse for wear, which pleased him to no end. In general, he couldn’t care less about Lady Black having Nachtghuls, but these three servants were insufferable. Their loyalty to her was unwavering, so they were useless to him as spies. They cared little for the rules of Hell, which was typical for a servant, but he wasn’t allowed to punish them for it. On top of everything, they felt that they could do or say as they pleased because Lady Black refused to keep them in line. They were a danger to Lucifer and him. If the other servants acted like the Nachtghuls, there would be anarchy…again.

  He tried not to flinch when he saw Calin’s bite marks. The Shades had damaged his shoulder and arm worse than he initially thought. Calin was the one Nachtghul he tried not to piss off, which went against his very nature, but Calin was unpredictable. He was fiercely protective of Lady Black, an admirable quality, but the boy would shoot anyone he felt was worthy of shooting, regardless of his master’s orders. Though a gunshot wound was mild compared to being frozen in the Realm of Frost, he didn’t want to suffer the humiliation of being degraded by a servant, especially a servant he wasn’t allowed to kill.