The petite blonde Asmodeus knew to be Serenity appeared in the doorway behind Apollyon, a cream satin robe covering her slender frame. She finished tying the belt to keep it closed and frowned at him and then Liora.
Apollyon straightened and advanced a step.
Liora tensed.
Asmodeus growled and bared his fangs.
If the male dared to lay a finger on her, he would use the last of his strength to protect her. He would not let the bastard harm her.
Apollyon’s blue gaze shifted from Liora, to him and then back again.
“Explain why you have brought this creature to me.” Malice dripped from Apollyon’s deep voice and Asmodeus hated how alike they sounded even though they had been raised in different realms.
“Do not tell him.” Asmodeus pushed away from the wall before him, turned to face his enemy, and leaned against the other wall beside him, using it for support and hating that he needed to.
Liora looked over her shoulder at him and he knew she wasn’t going to obey that order. Foolish woman. She might believe that telling Apollyon and her cousin why he was here would help them trust him, but in reality it would do the opposite. Apollyon would want to remove his head.
She drew in a deep breath, lowered her hands and flexed her fingers at her sides. Her palms faced him and a tiny flicker of black, red and purple magic twirled in her hands, hidden from Apollyon and Serenity.
She would fight for him?
He pushed himself up until he was standing with only his right palm against the wall, and slowly straightened to tower behind her, eyelevel with Apollyon.
“The Devil sent him to take me to Hell, but he isn’t going to do that.” Liora’s voice didn’t wobble in the slightest and pride filled his heart. His little witch wasn’t afraid of Apollyon or her cousin. She would fight them if it came to it. “He wants to help me.”
“You believe him?” Serenity’s French accent strongly laced her English. “You are a fool… he is lying.”
“She is right, Liora. What reason do you have to trust his word? He is evil, despicable, and I have seen what he is capable of… he will deceive you given the chance. It will sweeten the satisfaction he will feel when he hands you over to his master.” Apollyon glared over her head at him and Asmodeus stared right back, his anger rising as each vicious word about him left Apollyon’s lips.
“If he is evil and despicable and takes pleasure from doing horrible things… then you are too… because all of that comes from you.” Liora tipped her chin up and squared her shoulders and Asmodeus grinned behind her, enjoying the brief flicker of shock in Apollyon’s eyes.
“Liora,” Serenity snapped and Liora held her left hand out to silence her.
“Stay out of this, Cousin.” Liora lowered her hand. “You want to know why I can trust him? He killed a nasty looking fallen angel to protect me when the Devil sent him to take me to Hell.”
Apollyon’s blue gaze shot to him. “Is this true?”
Asmodeus didn’t answer him. He lowered his gaze to the back of Liora’s head and fought off another wave of sickness. It was stronger this time and the room wavered so badly that he feared he would pass out.
When everything stopped whirling, Liora was before him, her hands against his bare chest, supporting him. The concern in her hazel eyes touched him deeply and his black eyebrows furrowed. He didn’t deserve such a tender, caring female.
“Please, Apollyon… he’s sick and I don’t know what’s wrong with him.” Liora looked over her shoulder at the dark angel. “I didn’t know who else to bring him to.”
She hadn’t meant to betray him. She had brought him here because she had feared for him and had thought that Apollyon would know how to treat him, and she had known how he would react to it. That was why she had asked him to trust her.
Apollyon heaved a sigh, sent his armour and wings away, replacing them with the black loose bottoms he had worn before, and padded barefoot across the wooden floor to him.
Liora stepped aside.
Asmodeus bit back a growl when Apollyon roughly inspected him, checking his eyes, mouth, and throat and prodding his bare stomach.
Apollyon shoved him back against the wall. “He is hungry.”
The male stalked from the room, passing Serenity and heading into a dark area beyond an opening opposite Asmodeus. He returned with a clear plastic pack with some brown crescent-shaped items in it and threw it hard at Asmodeus. It hit him square in the face and dropped to the floor before he could catch it. Asmodeus growled at him.
Liora bent and picked up the pack of brown things, and frowned at them and then at him, and then at Apollyon.
“Hungry? Who doesn’t know when they’re hungry?” She looked back at him, an incredulous look on her face that he hated because it made him feel stupid.
He cast his gaze down to his boots and growled under his breath at her.
“Asmodeus has never left Hell. In Hell, he would never feel hunger or thirst, and would never feel the need to sleep. In the mortal world, he will.” Apollyon scoffed and Asmodeus looked up at him through his lashes, narrowed his gaze on him and snarled.
Apollyon grinned at him and Asmodeus wanted to rip it from his face. He was mocking him and making him feel like a fool, and he was doing it on purpose.
Asmodeus didn’t want to look like an idiot in front of Liora.
He didn’t want her to think he was weaker than Apollyon and less intelligent.
A shadow of Apollyon.
“Why are you really here, Wretch? You might fool her, but you do not fool me. You are up to something and, in this world, I am king and you are nothing more than the court jester. Answer me, or I end you here and now.” Apollyon’s derisive tone cranked Asmodeus’s anger into the red.
Asmodeus shoved away from the wall and came to face him, using all of his remaining strength to keep upright, refusing to allow his twin to mock him in front of Liora and refusing to show any weakness.
“I don’t have to explain myself to you,” he snapped and squared up to Apollyon, staring straight into his blue eyes. “If I wished it, I would be king of this realm and you would kneel at my feet. Remember that.”
Apollyon smiled and Asmodeus sensed the rise in his power. It swept over him, too much for him to handle in his weakened state, pressing down on him and making his knees threaten to give out. He would not allow it. He would not have Apollyon make a fool of him.
He would not unwillingly go to his knees.
“I will remember it… and I will remind you of it in a few minutes time when you pass out because you were hungry and thought you were sick.” Apollyon’s smile widened into a vicious grin. “I will drag you back to Hell where you belong.”
Asmodeus stepped back, edging towards a closed door that had many locks.
He glanced at Liora. She stared at him, disbelief still colouring her expression, mocking him as much as Apollyon’s words had been. Serenity stood a short distance behind her, her expression dark and threatening. His head turned again, spinning and sending him stumbling backwards. He was too weak to fight Apollyon and he wouldn’t stand here and let the male mock him and make a fool of him. He was no court jester. He was king.
King of Demons.
A king without a queen.
His gaze drifted to Liora and the look she still wore cut him to the bone. She thought him a fool. They all did. His fangs descended again and darkness rose within him, obliterating and crushing the weakness, the softer emotions he had foolishly allowed to take control of him because he had wanted her affection and attention. He didn’t need a queen.
“Burn in Hell,” Asmodeus barked, turned and grabbed the door handle. He yanked it open, breaking the locks, and stormed out of the apartment and down the dimly lit staircase.
“Asmodeus,” Liora called after him but he didn’t slow.
He didn’t need her.
He didn’t need anyone.
CHAPTER 6
Liora was madder than the March Har
e.
She turned away from the staircase, stalked back into the pale spacious apartment, and glared at Apollyon.
“Have you been with him the whole day and night?” Apollyon said in his usual dark commanding tone that demanded an answer and she continued to stare at him, funnelling her fury into it so he could sense how angry she was with him. “Serenity has been worried sick… and you have been out with that wretch!”
“Don’t call him that!” Liora’s power curled around her fingers before she had even uttered a command to call it forth.
It swirled black and purple with flashes of red, a sign of her growing rage, and left her feeling invincible. If she wanted, she could put Apollyon on his backside before he could even attempt to defend himself. Serenity would be angry with her if she did such a thing though.
Liora found she didn’t care, but she wasn’t in the habit of making enemies of her friends.
She tamped down her anger and dialled back her power until magic lazily circled her hands, there if she needed it but not liable to spin out of control and harm her friends without her really desiring it. Whenever she lost her temper, her magic had a tendency to act without her consent. It was the danger of being in possession of such strong power, and something she’d had to live with ever since her parents had died and she had gained their magic on top of hers.
She drew in a slow deep breath to calm it further, bringing it firmly under her control, and exhaled, releasing her tension with it.
“He has a name, Apollyon,” she said in a low voice. “He is not a creature or a wretch or something despicable. He has feelings.”
“There is evil in him. Great evil. I could feel it. Can you not feel it too?” Serenity whispered and Liora looked her way and then back at Apollyon where he stood closer to her.
“You’re right. There is evil in him, but there is also good. I have felt it.” She waited for Apollyon to say something but he remained quiet.
She stared at him, seeing the similarities between him and Asmodeus, but also the differences. It wasn’t just their eye colour and hairstyle that set them apart. It was everything and nothing at the same time. They weren’t as different as Apollyon wanted to believe, and he had shown that tonight. He wasn’t as good as he acted. Asmodeus wasn’t as evil as he acted.
“You’ve felt it too, haven’t you?” Liora took a step towards Apollyon. He opened his mouth and she didn’t give him a chance to voice the lie she could see coming. “Tell me the truth, Apollyon. You have seen the good in him.”
Serenity looked at her dark angel, a frown creasing her brow.
Apollyon closed his eyes and lowered his head, causing long strands of his mussed hair to fall down and caress his sculpted cheeks. “You are right. There is good in him, but that does not mean he is worthy of your trust.”
“He protected me when the Devil sent that angel to bring me to him. He killed him and light took the body. He did that to stop the Devil from having me.” She neglected to mention that Asmodeus had stated that he had done it because he wanted her for himself.
Her heart said to go to him before he left her. He needed her. He was weak and hungry, and she wanted to take care of him and make him strong again, and not just because she believed he could protect her from the Devil.
“Why does the Devil want you?” Serenity said and she shrugged.
“I don’t know. Asmodeus doesn’t know either. He was only told to grab me and bring me to him.”
“I have seen what that fiend does with females and the lengths he will go to in order to get what he wants. It is highly likely that the Devil will attempt to sire a child on you.” Apollyon’s tone lacked warmth and his words left her cold to the bone.
The thought of being used in such a way turned her stomach and she knew from the way that Asmodeus had looked when he had told her that the Devil wanted her and he wouldn’t let him have her, that it didn’t sit well with him either.
She had to go to him, but there was something else she had to say first.
She stared straight into Apollyon’s rich blue eyes.
“You were mean to make him look foolish because he had never experienced hunger. It was cruel.” She held her hand up when Serenity went to speak and frowned at Apollyon, unafraid of the way the paler flecks in his eyes started to swirl and his power rose, beginning to press down on her. “It was cruel and you took pleasure from it.”
Liora shook her head. She had expected Apollyon to be angry with her for bringing Asmodeus to his home, and had even expected him to turn on Asmodeus, but she hadn’t expected him to be so nasty.
“I can see where Asmodeus got that trait,” she said and turned towards the door.
“Liora!” Serenity snapped and she braced herself on instinct, expecting her cousin to lash out at her with magic for her vicious verbal attack on her lover. When she spoke, her tone had softened and the power Liora felt in her faded. “Where are you going?”
Just like her good cousin to forgive her so swiftly. If their positions had been reversed, Liora would have at least shot a warning spell across her bow.
“I have to speak with Asmodeus.” Liora looked over her shoulder at Apollyon and Serenity.
“You cannot trust him,” Serenity said and came to stand beside Apollyon in the middle of the room. They made a good couple. Both of them were powerful, virtuous and held the respect of their peers.
Perhaps Liora and Asmodeus looked that good standing beside each other. She would have to look in the next window or mirror they passed and find out. Both of them were powerful, a bit wicked and dangerous, and didn’t give a damn what others thought about them.
“I can trust him. I’ve felt the good in him and I know he will protect me.”
“There is good in him, Liora, as well as evil, but that does not mean you can trust him. He works for the Devil. He was created for that purpose, to be the Devil’s right hand man, a powerful ally. He serves that dark lord, Liora.” Apollyon took a step towards her, his black eyebrows pinching tightly together and his blue eyes narrowing with them. He looked like Asmodeus when he did that, and it made her want to see her angel even more.
“I need to speak with him. I can handle myself and I will be careful, but I have to go.” She stepped out of the door and raced down the stairs, taking deep breaths with each step, feeling the oppressive weight of being around Apollyon and Serenity lifting as she neared the ground floor and hopefully Asmodeus.
She didn’t just want to talk to Asmodeus about what the Devil had planned for her. She wanted to talk to him about the weird feelings she’d had recently, the sense that someone was watching her and had been close to her several times. She needed to know if he thought it was the Devil or someone else.
Liora muttered another prayer under her breath that when she reached the main doors of the building, Asmodeus would be there.
She bolted across the marble floor of the elegant foyer and shoved the brass and glass doors open. Her heart lifted and her tension melted away when she spotted Asmodeus standing on the pavement in the quiet narrow street, his head tipped back, causing the longer strands of his black hair to fall away from his handsome face.
Liora took the three stone steps down to the pavement and stopped beside him.
He looked stern and his golden eyes had gone cold. She didn’t like it.
A chill crept through her when his irises brightened, the flakes in them beginning to swirl, and he wavered on the spot, as if in a trance. His gaze slowly inched down to her, bringing his head down with it, his eyes focused on her like a hawk eyeing prey and then he visibly relaxed. His shoulders settled and his frown disappeared, as if whatever had been bothering him was gone now.
“Is something wrong?” She couldn’t get her voice above a whisper while he was staring straight at her, the black and amber flakes in his eyes settling and his pupils narrowing.
He shook his head. “Go back inside and leave me alone.”
Well, that was rude. She placed her hands on her h
ips and glared at him.
“No,” she said and he raised a single black eyebrow at her. She could see straight past his cool but dark façade to the reason he wanted her to leave him alone and she wasn’t going to let him have his way, because he had no reason to feel hurt or upset. She reached out and laid her left hand on his forearm. “You’re new to hunger. It isn’t unreasonable that you would mistake it for sickness.”
Asmodeus huffed and stalked away from her, heading down the street, the long feathers of his black wings fluttering around his ankles. Liora frowned now. She wasn’t going to let him leave her, not when he was still starving and not even after she had somehow managed to get him to listen to her.
She hurried after him, adjusting her small black bag so it was behind her and wasn’t hindering her strides.
“Go away, Liora,” Asmodeus tossed the words over his broad shoulders and she shook her head even though he couldn’t see it.
“Not going to happen. There’s a nice café this way. We could get something to eat.” She looked up at the sky. It was getting light but it was still early. It would be at least thirty minutes to an hour before the café opened for the morning rush.
He cheated.
He spread his black wings and beat them hard, forcing her to stop to avoid being struck by them, and shot into the air. He landed on the edge of the building above her and strolled along it.
Now he was really pissing her off.
Liora focused on his position and called her magic. It was going to take a lot of her remaining power to get her up there. She had used a vast amount of it to bring Asmodeus to Apollyon and had left herself weak.
The world darkened and then a different view greeted her. Rooftops stretched around her, lower than she had expected.
Her coordinates were off.
Liora shrieked and dropped to the tar roof several feet below her, landing awkwardly on her right foot. Her ankle blazed, fire shooting up her leg, and she cried out again and her backside hit the roof. Her shin and foot throbbed as she rolled onto her back and clutched them, gritting her teeth against the pain.
Her Wicked Angel (Her Angel Romance Series Book 6) Page 7
