Envy's Kindness (Seven Deadly Sins Book 2)

by R. A. Pollard

  With that, she stood and gestured to her broken front door. Why did the sinfully sexy walking demon/god/whatever have to be crazier than she was It was just not fair. Hell, they were made for each other. His crazy made hers seem like a bad dream. Just her luck.

  His eyes implored her. “Please, Sera, you’re in danger. The Malakhim are not messing around here. They already tried to kill my brother, Asmodeus. They came for Isabelle, twice. My father is lying on his deathbed, having been run through by that bastard, Michael.”

  Sera watched him suck in a sharp breath. He was so passionate about this. His every word echoed with truth, but how could she honestly believe a word he said? He was out of his mind. Damn, she could believe almost anything. She could see into people’s pasts for heaven’s sake. But this, this was so far out there, how could it possibly be true? There was a small part of her soul that was worried, afraid he was right, that someone was hunting her because of her power. This wasn’t true—it couldn’t be.

  “You need to leave. I can’t believe this shit. You think it’s funny coming here and making up some stupid story for the freak? Did you think I would just believe anything that came out of your mouth?” Okay, she was starting to lose her calm now. That had to be it. He had read about her in some stupid paper somewhere and came here to exploit her in some way.

  She watched him. Clearly, he wasn’t going to leave. He just began to pace back and forth in her kitchen, mumbling something about him coming here being the worst idea Lucifer could have come up with. Sera looked toward the hallway where the shotgun still lay. Could she get to it and force him to leave? The idea of picking up that weapon of death turned her stomach.

  Suddenly he turned to face her, “Touch me.”

  Sera just stared at him, then began to shake her head. “I don’t touch people, and I’m so not touching you. People like you have a sickness. It sticks to me after I touch them and becomes part of me. Not a chance. You need to go now, or I’m going to get that gun. You can be damn sure I won’t miss this time.” Where had he been for the last hour of their conversation? Was his brain on sabbatical or something when they had the discussion about her not touching people? She scowled at him.

  “Look, I’m not human, believe that or don’t. But I can shield my energy from you, that way you can sense only the truth. You won’t be harmed by my past. Which—trust me—is long and full of stupid events of my own making.” He pulled off his gloves. She backed up so fast he no doubt thought she considered his hands some kind of deadly weapons. Hell, in her mind they might as well have been. They could cause all sorts of problems for her. He picked up a glass, then put it back down.

  “Please, Sera. I can’t leave you unprotected. I know you think I’m insane, but you have to trust me,” he implored, his eyes locked on her tense form.

  If she picked up the glass, she was risking everything. Did he not understand that? On the other hand, she could throw it at his head. She briefly considered it.

  Sera stared at the glass he’d touched, licking her very dry lips. She put her hand to her throat. She wanted to run away, hide from this. She just wanted to go back to where her world was safe. Why push past the walls she had built? But what if he was telling the truth? How was she supposed to help stop the end of the world? She couldn’t even go out and have a beer without having a nervous breakdown.

  The fear that he was telling the truth was almost as bad as the fear that he was lying to her and making it all up. Sera bit down hard on her bottom lip, the sharp pain clearing her mind, the taste of copper coating her tongue. This was crazy. She was out of her mind. Why was she even considering this?

  With hesitant movements, she pulled off a leather glove and dropped it onto the table beside the glass. He said he could shield his energy from her so this would be a good test. If she felt nothing, then she would consider touching him directly. Maybe. Opening and closing her hand, she looked at the glass like it was going to jump up and bite her.

  Time stretched as she battled with herself. Either this would prove him wrong, and he would leave, or he would be right. Sera was not entirely sure that was a good thing either. Stop being a damn coward! Fuck it! She gritted her teeth and reached out, grabbing the glass. Her eyes screwed closed. She knew how this worked, she expected the pain and prepared herself for it. But there was nothing! Her eyes flew open in shock. She looked from him to the glass, then back to him. She released her hold on the glass, confusion on her face.

  “Pick it up again. Hold it longer. I have never…that’s amazing. Please do it again, Ze.” She hated that she sounded like she was begging. Still, it had been almost twenty years since she had been able to touch an object held by another person and not feel echoes of their past.

  He let out a breath and nodded to her with a half-smile, gripping the glass once more. This time she moved closer to him, watching carefully. This time he offered it to her from his hand. Sera reached, hesitantly at first, and accepted it from him, her eyes going wide in shock and awe.

  Her nose burned with threatened tears. She didn’t know if he understood, if he could even comprehend what this meant to her. At that moment, the plain-looking water glass was the most treasured item in the world to her. She smiled, genuinely smiled, her eyes bright with awe and hope. She quickly yanked off her other glove dropping it to the floor and clutched the glass with both hands.

  Nothing! It was just a glass, a plain old boring piece of glass. She wanted to scream and cry all at once. Her eyes found his, and the look he was giving her made her heart stutter. A blush rushed over her cheeks. He was a stranger, a stranger watching the most incredible moment of her life unfold. Slowly she placed the glass back on the table, an incredible and terrifying opportunity lay before her.

  She rubbed her hands against her jeans. Was she actually contemplating this? Touching someone? What would it feel like? Would his skin be rough? He was a man after all, a demon. Would he be hot to the touch? All these crazy things started rushing through her head. One thing stood out, though. She was going to touch his hair. She had to! Her fingers ached to sink into the starlit depths.

  He smiled and without a word, offered her his hand. “Trust me, Sera.” He kept his voice pitched low.

  Could this even be possible? That he was a demon and not a man? That she could touch someone like him? Her brain battled against the limited knowledge she clearly had of the world, trying to accept it went so much deeper than she had known. His words were so simple. Trust him. How long had it been since she trusted anyone? Her eyes dropped to his hand, and she reached for it slowly with a soft trembling of her arm.

  She could feel the heat from his skin. This whole epic step was giving her an ulcer. She could do this. He had promised to shield himself, but if she touched him, did that mean she already believed him? God, she just wanted to see if she could touch another person, human or otherwise! She snatched her hand back, rubbing it against her jeans again, then turned around to look up at the ceiling. She licked her lips, took a deep breath, and mumbled, “I’m such a coward.”

  She was not letting this beat her, damn it! Gritting her teeth, she turned determination threading through her. She reached again and swallowed, her throat so dry she could barely breathe. For the first time in years, she was less than an inch away from touching someone willingly, when the room exploded in light.

  CHAPTER SEVEN

  Ze was flung against the wall, the plaster around him shattering against the strength in his body. Covering his eyes with his arms, he groaned before rolling to his feet. Standing where the table had once been was one of the Malakhim bastards, his wings spread, his back to the demon. His blond hair seemed to have a mind of its own, floating in the air, crackling with power. He was reaching for the cowering Seer, a shimmering blade in his hand.

  The demon reacted instantly, a growl leaving him as he tackled the angel from behind and forced him away from Sera. Ze gritted his teeth against the burning pain of those deadly silver and black feathers slicing into hi
s flesh. He forced the angel’s head against the porcelain sink with a sickening crack.

  “Sera! Run!” He was unable to say anything else as the angel seized him by the waist with one arm, his sword raised in the other with deadly intent.

  Ze lifted his hands to block the downward strike, gripping the wrist that held that deadly weapon before making contact with a face only a mother could love. Scars marred his once pristine flesh, one eye a mass of scar tissue, the other, shimmering gray, crazed with hate. He knew this angel. This was Jophiel. Mammon, Sin of Greed, had done a number on his face back in Tartarus when the Malakhim came for Pandora’s Box.

  Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Sera make a break for the hallway. Jophiel gnashed his teeth against the weight pressing down on his body. The angel was impossibly strong, driven by his rage. The mad eye turned to the retreating female, and he made a move to go after her.

  “You’re fighting me, you bastard!” Ze had to keep the angel’s attention fixed on him so that she could escape.

  He twisted the wrist that held the blade, breaking bone and wrenching tendons. The angel roared out in pain, the sword dropping to the floor. The deadly glow vanished back into the metal as the angel crashed his fist against Ze’s throat.

  Hissing against the pain, Ze brought his knees up. He pushed the angel away, releasing the damaged wrist and scrabbling for the fallen weapon. The sound of a shotgun blast roared through the room and sent the angel flying into the sink. The porcelain cracked, and black blood erupted from the hole in his chest, his body sagging against the sink. Ze turned to find his little red-haired pixie standing there, gun clamped in her hands, her eyes on the angel, wide and lost once more.

  The angel groaned and leaned forward. The damage seemed to be healing already. So the rumor that human’s weapons had little effect on the Malakhim were true. Shit, this didn’t give them much time. Surging to his feet, Ze pulled the gun from Sera’s limp hands and gently tilted her head so that she was looking at him.

  “You didn’t miss that time. You’re learning.” His smart-ass comment earned him the stink eye.

  She whacked him on the arm. “Shut up. I should have just let him kill you, is that it?”

  He just grinned at her outrage and swung her up into his arms. Her sputtered protest died on her lips. No doubt she just realized she couldn’t read anything from him. At least in her shocked state, she wasn’t struggling in his arms. Her jade eyes stared up at him as he carried her from the house, stepping over the remnants of the broken door. Hastily, he moved toward his bike, setting her on the back.

  “What the fuck was that?” The swear word on her lips brought a grin to his. So she did have fire, once she managed to build it and let it show at least.

  “That’s a Malakhim. His name is Jophiel. He used to be prettier until he had a run-in with my brother.” He mounted the motorcycle and reached to insert the key in the ignition. He didn’t get a chance. The ground began to shake, the air pressure dropping around them. Ze turned his eyes to the house. What the hell was that angel bastard up to? He got his answer in a flash of blinding light.

  The whole front of the house exploded before them, the shock wave felling the trees in front. If not for the fact that he had parked behind her truck, Ze had no doubt they would have been thrown off the bike. Keeping his head down, he heard the sob from behind him. Growling, he looked at what remained of the structure.

  The front was gone, splinters and planks of wood raining down from the sky. Small fires burned in the corner of the building. He could see what remained of the front room and the stairs that lead up to the second floor. So much for repairing the staircase. The wraparound porch was gone, and the whole building shook and groaned with the strain of too much weight and nothing left to hold it.

  Sera choked back a scream, covering her mouth with her hands, and buried her face against his back. Jophiel would die for making her cry like this. He got off the bike and turned to her, cupping her cheek with his bare hand, brushing away a tear, bringing her pained gaze to his.

  “I want you to take my bike and go to town. Find a man called Rusaeus. You can’t miss him. He has eyes like ice. He will take you to Isabelle. They can keep you safe, Sera. I swear it.”

  Damn it all to hell. She looked so lost in that second. He knew he should just let her go, but fuck, if he was about to die here, he was not going without one last pleasant memory. Leaning forward, he covered her mouth with his, her taste hitting him like a sledgehammer to the gut. By Hades, she was addictive.

  At first she didn’t respond, and Ze worried for a second that he had seriously misjudged the hot looks she had been giving him. Then a soft whimper left her, and she threw her arms around his neck. Her response went right to his groin. She returned his kiss as if trying to draw every second from this first experience…as if it would be their last kiss.

  Ze growled into the kiss as she responded with fervor. He swept his tongue between her parted lips, bringing that unique and tantalizing taste to his soul. It was over far too quickly for his liking. Pulling back, he looked into her dazed eyes. Brushing his thumb over her well-kissed lips, he gave her smile.

  “Go on. You think I’m going to let that overgrown buzzard kill me after a kiss like that?” Reluctantly he released her. His lips burned with her brand; his fingertips tingled from the feel of her skin. He faced the advancing angel as he heard his bike roar to life. She would be safe. Rus would make sure she made it to Isabelle, and that was all that mattered.

  The angel was breathing heavily, his clothing stained with his black blood, his raised wings silhouetted against the flames that were now eating at the Seer’s former haven. The bastard would pay tenfold for the pain he had brought her. Ze kept his eyes on the angel as he retrieved his blade. It shone like a beacon in the darkness.

  “Jophiel, you’re looking well. How’s the eye? I hear losing an eye can give you problems with depth perception. Any thoughts?”

  The angel hissed at him. “Fuck you, Envy! Your brother did this to me! I will take it out on your hide. After I’m done scarring that pretty face of yours, I’m going to have the Seer begging me for her life. It will be so sweet.”

  Ze cracked his knuckles, then his neck. “You lay a single hand on her, and I will feed you your own feathers, you twisted fuck.”

  Ze shifted his weight, waiting for the angel to come at him. The bastard just smiled, black blood dripping from his lips. With one beat of his huge wings, he took to the air, the force from his wings sending Ze flying backward into the truck and leaving behind a demon-sized dent.

  Staggering to his feet, he looked around for the angel, swearing low as silver flames erupted on his skin. Coward was going after Sera. He had to find her! Pulling open the door to the truck, he climbed in and turned the key. The great beast roared to life, and he hit the gas, the wheels spinning on the dusty ground. Foot to the floor, he drove as fast as the beat-up truck could take him, the shimmering of the angelic blade and the angel wielding it fading into the distance.

  In any other moment, at any other time, Sera would have been living her dream, riding on a bike like this, racing through the darkness. But running for her life hadn’t been on her to-do list this week. Let alone being kissed! She had just been kissed! Her brain could hardly keep up with that revelation right now, her lips were still tingling, but she had more important things to worry about. Keeping the throttle open, she dared to glance over her shoulder. A shimmering light was gaining on her. Swallowing down a sob, she prayed to whoever would listen to keep the demon safe. She was going to kill him later for letting someone blow up her home, so he had to be okay.

  She must get to town to find this Rus guy that Ze had mentioned. She couldn’t be that far from the main road, surely. To ensure that her home remained a haven from the world, she had picked one so far away from town that she would never see another being. Now, however, that was backfiring. The one person who could save her might very well be dead. How was she going to stop such a be
ing when a demon couldn’t fight it?

  Her eyes were drawn to the dirt road rushing beneath her. Her shadow was growing, which told her the light was getting closer. A voice whispered in her mind, a warning shimmering over her skin. Looking back, she screamed and jerked the handle bars, swerving just enough that the glowing blade missed her. The front began to skid, and she began to lose control of the bike on the loose dirt of the road.

  The metal beast slid out from under her in a cloud of dirt and gravel. She rolled over and over, her skin torn by the rocks, and finally came to a stop in the ditch. Wincing, she made a quick assessment of her body. Nothing was broken, but she was bleeding from multiple grazes and road rash. Pushing herself slowly to her shaking legs and wincing at the pain radiating through her battered body, she peered into the darkness. Only the headlight from the softly ticking bike illuminated the night around her. She tried to determine the angel’s location. She knew he was here, she could feel him.

  “For all his attempts to save you, you crash his bike and fall into my lap. How poetic.” The voice came from behind her, causing Sera to scramble up the bank to the road. She was still unable to see a thing. His sickening laugh seemed to come from all directions, and she turned desperately, trying to find the source.

  “Why are you doing this? What did you do to Ze?” Sera shouted into the night, her eyes frantically searching the black of the sky.

  “Oh, the demon is fine. I’m going to play with him later. I owe him for what his brother did to me. But first, you, little Seer, belong to the Malakhim now. You will be our key to humanity’s destruction!”

  Sera whirled around, her eyes stopping on the angelic form now backlit by the headlight from the bike.

  His silver and black feathers shimmered as he moved. The deadly blade in his hand glinted. If not for the mass of puckered scars that marred his face, he would have been beautiful. But Sera suspected no amount of perfect skin could hide his evil soul. His one remaining eye was locked on her with contempt, his clothing saturated in black blood. He lifted his free hand, rubbing the hole in his shirt, his skin perfect and healthy despite taking a shotgun blast to the chest minutes earlier.