The shadows emanating from Erin’s back grew larger, flickering on an unknown breeze, and Asmodeus could feel her power rising with her anger. “Liar. If you didn’t take her and your men didn’t take her, then who did? There was evidence, you bastard. A bloody big fault line like Hell’s angels make.”
The Devil’s red eyes shifted down to Asmodeus. “I recall other beings having the ability to create such a rift.”
Asmodeus frowned. It was true that he had that ability, but he hadn’t taken Liora. The Devil had commanded him to bring her to him, but he had resisted. He hadn’t succumbed to his master’s order. He would remember if he had done such a thing against his will.
If he hadn’t taken her and Hell’s angels hadn’t taken her, then who else had the power to create a rift?
Apollyon did.
Asmodeus’s eyes narrowed and switched, burning crimson as it dawned on him. His fangs lengthened, pressing hard against his compressed lips.
“You,” Asmodeus ground out and stared at Nevar where he lay face down beside him, still struggling against the pressing weight of the Devil’s power. The abilities of the master were often passed to servants. “You took Liora.”
Guilt flickered in Nevar’s violet irises.
“You!” Asmodeus growled and jerked towards him, and roared when he couldn’t break the hold of the Devil’s power. He wanted to rip into Nevar.
He had orchestrated the whole thing.
Nevar had taken his precious Liora from the island and delivered her to the Devil, knowing it would hurt him and make him desperate.
Nevar had then led Apollyon to him, giving him a chance to confront him with would-be allies around who could protect him. When that confrontation had failed to provide the result the angel wanted, he had taken drastic measures to hurt Asmodeus. He had crushed the one accessible thing he held dear.
Liora’s pentagram.
He had then tracked them to where Liora rested and had waited until Asmodeus was vulnerable and distracted before delivering the final blow. Only it had gone wrong. Liora had protected Asmodeus, wrecking Nevar’s chance to kill him.
All this to have revenge on him?
“Why?” Asmodeus croaked and his shoulders slumped. “You hurt me as I have hurt you… but you hurt others too. You hurt Liora. She was innocent in all this.”
“You love her,” Nevar growled into the basalt beneath him. “I wanted to hurt you. I still want to hurt you. I want to rip out your heart… she is your heart.”
“I will rip out your heart,” Asmodeus growled and tried to attack him again. The Devil’s power held him fast. He snarled and bared his fangs at the dark male on the steps above him, earning a glare and an increase in the power pressing down on him as his reward. Asmodeus fought it. “Release me.”
“I swear, Nevar… you lay a hand on Asmodeus and I will end you. Release me,” Liora barked from behind him and he sensed her power rising, her fury coming to the fore and bringing her magic with it. It pushed against the Devil’s power and his own, a powerful tempest that physically rocked him forwards. “Release me, you bastard!”
The Devil raised his hand and glared at Liora, his eyes burning crimson. The strength of her power instantly diminished.
“Damn you! I won’t let you lock down my magic again.” Her words were a black snarl and Asmodeus managed to look over his shoulder at her.
Purple and black magic crackled around her hands where they clutched her bare knees, intermittent and weak. Her arms trembled and her knuckles were white. The Devil was exerting incredible power on her and his little witch was fighting it, determined not to let his master force her to the ground. Beads of sweat dotted her brow and she struggled to breathe. Her hazel eyes turned wild, her pulse raced and her panic washed over him.
The Devil was choking her.
“Stop it. You are hurting her,” Asmodeus snapped and turned on his master. “Harm her and I swear I will make you pay for your mistake.”
The Devil sighed and lowered his hand, and Liora gasped at air. “Fine, but if she even thinks about raising a single finger against me, I will not hesitate to make an example out of her.”
Asmodeus growled and bared his fangs, and the Devil raised a single black eyebrow at him.
“Do not threaten me, Asmodeus. It is tiresome.”
“Then release me.” Because he still meant to break Nevar’s neck and send the twisted male back to Heaven and to a nightmare. Nevar didn’t want to die. He didn’t want to forget everything that Heaven had done to him and become an obedient sheep again.
Nevar snarled at him.
“No. It would not be wise. We need him alive.” The Devil turned away from him, focusing back on Erin.
We? Asmodeus frowned. He had never heard his master speak in such terms before. The Devil only ever cared about what he wanted. Why did he suddenly want to protect Nevar?
His master held Erin’s gaze. “So you see, Daughter, I did not break the pact. Nevar delivered Liora to me so I might protect her. She needed my protection.”
“You hurt her. You made her sleep.” Asmodeus struggled against his invisible bonds, every muscle tensing until he felt as if they would burst from the exertion.
Nothing happened.
He growled again and breathed hard, fighting to keep his frustration and fury in check so he could talk to his master without resorting to threatening him. Upsetting him further would only result in casualties. Asmodeus had no love for many of the people gathered around him, but Liora did, and he loved her, so he would protect them too.
“I warned you, Asmodeus. She is dangerous in the wrong hands. I sent her to sleep to protect her.” The Devil moved to the edge of the steps and stared down at him, his eyes swirling fire.
“Liar,” Erin muttered and squared her shoulders. Her black dress fluttered around her thighs and a breeze tousled her short black hair and the shadow wings growing from her back. “You forget I know when you’re lying, Pops. You might have sent her to sleep to protect her, but that isn’t the only reason you wanted her out of commission but in your hands.”
“True.” The Devil regally waved his hand and a tall-backed black stone throne appeared behind him.
“And, you did break the pact. You sent your thugs to take Asmodeus and Nevar from my island. Asmodeus is my friend. Nevar is sort of a work in progress. You can work your way out of what happened with Liora, but you cannot get out of that one.” Erin tipped her chin up and glared at her father.
Asmodeus stared at her. She thought of him as a friend?
Erin glanced his way and winked at him. “You look like you just got the shock of your eternal life.”
Asmodeus snapped his mouth shut and frowned. She sounded like Liora when she teased him.
“Also true, Daughter. I did take Asmodeus and Nevar, but they left me little choice.” The Devil seated himself and sighed as his gaze drifted from Erin to Asmodeus and then Liora, and finally settled on Nevar.
The angel grunted and flattened further against the broken pavement, his eyes watering as he gritted his teeth. The Devil was forcing more pressure onto him and less on Asmodeus. He tried to move but failed to make any significant progress.
The Devil shook his head. “Do behave, Asmodeus. I need you alive but if you do something foolish, I may forget that and kill you… and then your precious love.”
Asmodeus flashed his fangs and growled. He wouldn’t let this male near Liora. Never again.
The Devil’s eyes settled back on Nevar. “I thought you would be useful, but it turns out that you are yet another disappointment. Do you know what you have done?”
Nevar didn’t look as though he did and Asmodeus didn’t know either. The expression on Erin’s face warned that she was losing patience fast and that the Devil had better explain himself soon, or she was going to act out her retribution for him breaking the pact.
“I did not think so. Come and I will explain.” The Devil crossed his legs, leaned back into his chair and crooked his
finger.
Someone shifted behind Asmodeus.
Liora stepped into view and slowly approached the Devil. Her lips compressed into a thin line and her eyebrows married, and her hazel gaze darkened. Magic flickered around her hands, coming in bursts that lasted barely a second before they disappeared again, subdued by his master. She was fighting but she wasn’t strong enough to break free of the Devil’s power.
She couldn’t protect herself.
Asmodeus would do it for her.
He growled and fought with every ounce of his strength. When that failed, he gritted his teeth and called on his darker nature, the side he had tried so hard to hide from her, the one she had asked to see. She hadn’t looked at him as if he was a monster. There had been only affection, curiosity, and a touch of desire colouring her hazel eyes. That knowledge gave him the strength to use that side of himself again now.
Shadows burst from beneath his knees, snapping at Nevar and striking at the ground around Asmodeus. Nevar growled at him, baring his fangs. Asmodeus stared him down and flashed his own canines, driving Nevar into submission as his power rose, battling against the Devil’s. The darkness curled over his hands, turning his nails to claws and cascading upwards until it had reached his shoulders. The shadows around his feet burrowed into his legs, swirled over his thighs and banded around his stomach, turning his skin black as night.
The weight of the Devil’s power lessened as his own power rose to the fore, pushing it back. He focused and growled, forcing the Devil’s power back, and stumbled to his feet.
The Devil shot him a black look and raised his hand. Liora stopped. The force of his power increased in strength again, shoving at Asmodeus, landing hard on his shoulders and driving him back down. He refused to kneel again, standing his ground on trembling legs, battling the immense force of the Devil’s power.
“You will not touch her. Never again,” he growled and rose to his full height against the overwhelming weight of the Devil’s power. “I will not let you!”
The shadows exploded over his chest, his wings shot from his back, and his horns curled from behind his ears. He launched forwards and was in front of the Devil before the male could move to defend himself, sweeping Liora behind him and shielding her within the cocoon of power around him.
Hot palms pressed against Asmodeus’s sides and then she rested her head between his wings. Her warm breath teased his flesh and he trembled as he clutched her close to him with one hand. In his other, his sword appeared, flashing violet and black.
“For once, you do not disappoint me, Asmodeus.” The Devil casually crossed his legs the other way and the corners of his wicked lips tilted into a half-smile. “You will need this ferocity to protect what you have awakened.”
“Awakened?” He faltered and frowned at the male before him. What was he talking about?
The Devil’s gaze slid down to Nevar again and narrowed on him, burning red with furious fire. “Or should I say… what he has awakened.”
“Asmodeus?” Liora whispered and he looked over his wing at her.
He pulled her around to his front and tucked her against his side, curling one wing around her to keep the Devil’s eyes off her bare legs. He had asked Erin to dress her after they had tended to her wounds and had bathed the blood from her skin, and the female had lent her the sexiest black shorts and top Asmodeus had ever seen. He wanted to growl at any male who dared look upon his female when she was dressed this way.
Liora looked up at him, her eyes speaking to his heart, relaying her emotions. “I feel strange.”
“Shh, my sweet little mortal.” He sent his sword away and stroked her cheek, hoping to soothe her fear.
She wasn’t the only one who felt different. He had thought it was the Devil’s power but within the shield of his own, he still felt strange, as if his body knew something his mind did not. Something was wrong.
Now that he was thinking about it, he had felt this way since the crystal room.
Since the moment Nevar had skewered them on his sword.
Ever since then, he’d had a sense that he was being watched or was linked to someone, like when the Devil called him.
The feeling had been subtle at first, but now it was strong and compelling him.
He felt as if he needed to return to the chamber.
Awakened.
Asmodeus recalled the carvings on the door. The dragons and the behemoth amongst them, devouring angel, demon and mortal alike.
He looked down at Nevar and then to the Devil. “What has he done?”
“He has ended the game,” the deep voice came from behind him and he turned to look at Apollyon. The male’s eyes swirled blue fire and he grasped his twin golden blades. His power rose, pushing against Asmodeus’s, and he strained as he slowly got to his feet, stumbling as he fought the Devil’s power.
“How?” Amelia said from beside him, her grey eyes filled with disbelief. “The game is eternal. That pretty much means there is no end to it… so how the heck can he have ended the game?”
Apollyon looked into Asmodeus’s eyes and a chill went through him, his sense that something was wrong gaining clarity and form in his mind.
Asmodeus whispered, “Because everything is about to be destroyed.”
“Wait a minute.” Liora pushed away from him, bringing his focus down to her. The wild edge to her hazel eyes told him that she was afraid, that he was frightening her, but her heart was steady, speaking to him and telling him that she knew he was voicing the truth.
The Devil clapped. “Brains and brawn. I had hoped you would serve your purpose one day, but I had not planned that it would be this day.”
Asmodeus released Liora and faced his master. “You created me because you needed Apollyon’s blood… the blood of the Great Destroyer.”
“You are not the Great Destroyer.” The Devil stood and looked back at the fortress, and then at Apollyon. “And neither are you. The true destroyer slumbers still, but it will awaken, given life and form by the power of the blood of Apollyon and the sacred blood carried in the veins of the mortal female.”
“You said you didn’t want to spill my blood,” Liora whispered, her eyes growing larger, staring blankly at the Devil. Asmodeus could feel her emotions, could sense the turmoil and pain inside her. Tears lined her dark lashes. She shook her head as her heart steadied and her emotions changed, fury burning her softer ones to ashes. “You sent the demons… you sent them for my mother. You bastard!”
Asmodeus caught her arms before she could launch herself at the Devil and pulled her back into his embrace. She slammed her fists against his bare chest, each blow harder than the last, the threads of purple and black magic chasing around her hands giving them force beyond mortal strength. He weathered them and struggled to hold on to her, refusing to let her go.
The Devil would kill her if he did.
He wanted to make the bastard pay for what he had done to her family too, but keeping her safe and alive was more important. He had to protect her.
He managed to get his arms around her and pinned her to his chest. She pushed her palms against him and her magic struck at his flesh, burrowing deep and stinging him. Each lash drained his strength and increased hers. She was absorbing his power, strengthening herself so she could break free of his arms and fight. He couldn’t let that happen.
“Did you take Liora’s family from her?” Asmodeus said and she stiffened in his arms, her palms pressing against his chest and her magic halting its attack.
She wanted to hear the Devil’s reply.
“I did.” The Devil stepped towards them and Asmodeus drew Liora closer, expecting her to begin fighting him again.
She didn’t. She trembled in his arms, her forehead resting against his chest and heart pounding in his ears. Asmodeus stroked her hair, needing to comfort her, wanting her to know that he was here for her and he would never leave her. She had lost her parents because of his master but she would never lose him.
“Why?�
� Liora whispered against his chest.
The Devil huffed. “They were not meant to die. I dealt with the fools who disobeyed my orders and killed them. I had foreseen that her mother would pass the pentagram to her, allowing my men to capture her.”
Asmodeus’s eyes widened as he recalled how the pentagram had reacted to him when he had unleashed his true nature, changing into his kingly form. It had tried to reject him.
“It repels evil.” Asmodeus stared at the ground by the Devil’s feet, lost in his thoughts. “The pentagram had protected the female line for generations, making it impossible for a being with evil intentions in its heart to harm them, keeping them out of your claws and those of your men. Her mother gave it to her in order to keep her safe from you and then sacrificed herself so you couldn’t get your hands on her and the power locked within her blood.”
Liora shifted in his arms and he looked down at her. Tears sparkled in her hazel eyes and he could feel the pain beating in her heart. She touched the spot over it where her pentagram belonged. It was gone forever, taken from her by Nevar. It could no longer protect her, but Asmodeus would keep her safe in its stead. He would repel all who would mean her harm with his blades and his claws.
Asmodeus gently brushed a tear from her cheek and she closed her eyes and leaned into his touch. He lingered with his hand against her face, giving her time to absorb the comfort she needed from him, wanting to soothe her pain. If he could, he would take the Devil’s life in payment for the lives the male had taken from her.
If he could.
“I only desired to send her mother to sleep, keeping her safe in the chamber,” the Devil said.
“On hand in case you needed to awaken the Great Destroyer… just as you kept me close by… a sacrificial lamb that you created for one purpose. I was never meant to be your second in command. I was only ever meant to be another pawn in your twisted games.” Asmodeus tightened his grip on Liora, clutching the one good thing in his life, the one thing that had given it purpose. Everything else had been a lie. Centuries of existence. Centuries of the Devil praising him and encouraging him, giving him free run of the realm, playing on his desire for power.
Her Wicked Angel (Her Angel Romance Series Book 6) Page 36
