by Evans, Misty
Why was I always in the dark? Oh, right. Because Lucifer never told me anything.
My hand instinctively went to my heart and then traveled down to my lower abdomen. Tears burned at the corners of my eyes and I had no idea why, except I was sure I wasn’t going to like the answer to my question. “Whose soul is it?”
“It’s your…”
In the distance, the tree screamed, the noise like nails on a chalkboard as naked limbs reached skyward.
I slapped my hands over my ears again and grimaced. A storm rose out of nowhere. Lightning flashed and we all ducked. Wind tore through the trees, blowing back my hair and swirling the fog into dozens of dust devils that swiped at my feet and whipped against my back and legs.
Zayfeer grabbed my arm and jerked me sideways as a large branch broke off a nearby tree. “We have to get out of here!”
Nikita jetted by, heading in the direction Z had emerged from. He pushed me forward, helping me dodge the debris flying through the air. As the fog parted and swirled, I saw an opening to a cave.
We were about to duck inside when a fresh pain exploded inside my chest. I staggered, falling to my knees. Dark spots danced in my field of vision. “Wait,” I called over the noise.
Z grabbed my shirt and hauled me to my feet. “What?”
“He kills that tree, he kills me. I have to stop him.”
Z’s eyes narrowed. “That’s not possible.”
“With her?” Nikita dog-snorted. “Anything’s possible.”
Hair blew across my eyes and I gripped Zayfeer’s tunic. “Just tell me whose soul it is. Is it mine?”
The rational wasn’t there. God had returned the halves of my soul, reuniting them and giving me free will. There was no way my soul or any part of it could be imbedded in that tree.
But if the soul wasn’t mine, then why was I having such a visceral reaction to its destruction?
Z shook his head. “It’s not yours.”
Another blow rocked the tree in the background. I gasped and clawed at the burning inside my chest. He looked as if it pained him as well.
“The soul inside that tree? Amy…it belongs to your mother.”
Chapter Twenty – Trial By Fire
My mother?
The wind died as fast as it had come. My fists tightened on Zayfeer’s tunic. Did he think I was stupid? “Stop playing games. I never brokered my mother’s soul.”
“Yes, you did. She was your first.”
Nikita moved closer, leaning against my leg as if offering support. “You were young. Just a pup.”
A shaking started in my legs, snaked up my hips and into my stomach. My magic repelled the weakness, but it flooded my arms and skittered up the back of my neck.
My voice came out a whisper. “You’re lying.”
Z’s gaze held mine. “Why would I lie?”
“You’ve been playing games with me since you broke out of your purgatory. You tried to blackmail me at Keisha’s party. All in the name of redemption. Don’t stand there and pretend innocence.”
He started to reply when a loud crack rent the air and we all ducked.
Not the tree. Not a bolt of lightning. Not the heavens.
The earth.
Right through the middle of the forest, a giant fissure fractured the ground and zigzagged through the trees. The forest floor trembled. The trees quaked. A volcano of fire and brimstone erupted from the spreading crack and a pair of matching black shadows emerged, spreading over the landscape. Wings; on their feathery ends, fire.
“Finally,” Nikita said. “Something interesting.”
From the earth, a voice rang out, roaring up into the sky and echoing over the trees. “How dare you threaten the one I love?”
I knew that voice. Knew that tone. Turning loose of Zayfeer, I stumbled toward the cave’s entrance. “Luc?”
I couldn’t see anything but the outline of black wings. Black, glossy wings that trailed fire. Orange flames licked the trees in my forest, turning the whole thing into an inferno. The smell of burning wood flooded my nose.
“No.” My voice was still ragged. “Not the souls.”
Zayfeer grabbed the back of my neck and forced me to follow where he pointed. “Look. He’s releasing them.”
Thin, white vapor trails rose out of the flaming trees and spiraled into the clouds. “Where are they going?”
“If the people are already dead, Heaven. If not, they’re headed back to the land of the living and the bodies they were taken from.”
Lightning broke like mirror shards from the sky, aiming at the black wings as they swept by overhead. There was the flash of a large body, then more fire. A booming sound erupted from the clouds, voice-like, but nonsensical. At least to me. It echoed down from the heavens, loud but muffled to my ears.
All I knew was that it didn’t belong to Lucifer.
His reply, however, came a second later, his words sending reassurance through me. “I will never give her up.”
Rain gushed from the clouds. The wind rose, driving sheets of water at us.
In response, the black wings beat three times in rapid succession. Luc sent a wave of fire and sulfur-smelling brimstone to meet the driving rain and the two elements collided like warriors on a battlefield.
The second they met, the rain sizzled, popped and…evaporated in front of my eyes.
No more followed. The heavens grew quiet. The clouds lifted and the fog fell back to the edges of the landscape.
Battle won. Point to the Devil.
Zayfeer, Nikita and I watched as the last of the forest burned to a crisp. All but the center tree. “What about my mother’s soul?”
Zayfeer and Nikita exchanged a look. Z shrugged. “Like I said, that one’s nonnegotiable.”
Chapter Twenty-one – Is That A Dragon In Your Pocket?
When Lucifer emerged from the flames and heavy smoke, he was the dragon I’d seen in the painting. Magnificent. Enormous.
Beautiful beyond words.
The scales of his dragon skin reflected the still-burning flames of the forest. His wings, with their fiery tips elongated to the finest of points, quivered with magic. He moved on four massive legs, the muscles rippling and flexing as he stalked me. His long, thick tail swung in arcs, decimating anything in its path.
As he drew closer, I noticed dozens of sigils tattooed on his dragon body. Symbols I didn’t understand but didn’t need to in order to appreciate their significance and splendor. They glowed with an internal light, as if hundreds of lightning bugs danced under Luc’s skin.
Zayfeer and Nikita went to their knees, bowing their heads as he approached. I stood mesmerized, the need to touch him, to stroke those glowing sigils and fire-tipped wings so strong I could hardly keep myself from running to meet him.
His massive head hung low and smoke blew out his nostrils. He stopped several feet away. A set of horns decorated the corners of his skull. His eyes…so dark and unfathomable…searched my face, a question in their depths.
A question I didn’t understand. I opened my mind, hoping at least to hear his voice there, but all I heard was the memory of Zayfeer saying, “…slay the dragon.”
I shook my head. Not on my life.
Another snort of smoke and the dragon blinked, waiting, watching me.
My god, I love you.
The thought wiped out Zayfeer’s voice, wiped out my fear. Fierce beast, fallen angel, wicked human…every one of Lucifer’s incarnations was like the rich, dark chocolate I craved every day.
Slowly, I reached out a hand. Reached for his long nose and broad forehead like he was a skittish horse. Anticipation expanded in my stomach, at once heavy and light. My head warned against touching him. My heart urged me on.
He tilted his head and tensed, but held still, waiting…waiting…
The scales were hot as coals. I expected them to be slick and reptilian, but instead they were soft as rose petals. Where my cool fingers made contact, steam rose.
At my touch, his
body shivered.
I stroked his nose, looked into his eyes. Magic tickled my senses. His, mine, and a soft, misty layer that lingered in the air from the battle. The dragon heaved a great sigh, releasing it in a slow, heavy stream as he closed his eyes. Relief?
Before I could decide, he dropped at my feet, all two tons of him. His massive bulk quivered as he hit. The ground shook.
“Luc!”
I fell to my knees near his head and rubbed his neck. Everywhere I touched him, our magics sparked, creating a glistening black light that trailed from my fingers. His breath came in gasps, the sigils on his body burning with their weird internal luminosity.
“What’s wrong with him?” I demanded of Zayfeer. “Is he hurt?”
The fallen angel stood several feet away, Nikita by his side. His face was grim, but not overly concerned. “It’s the change. He’ll be back to normal in a minute.”
The dragon’s body seized, going rigid and taut from nose to tail. The wings folded and shrank, drawing into his back. The horns retracted. Bones snapped. I flinched at the brutal sound.
The sigils sank into Lucifer’s body and disappeared, taking their glow with them. The scales under my hands smoothed out and became skin and hair. Every change brought a grunt or groan from Lucifer’s lips.
The whole process took only seconds, but it seemed an eternity to watch the one I loved in so much pain. When it was done, Luc lay in a crumpled heap, pale and lifeless.
His magic was so weak, I could barely find it. I ran my hands over his body, stroked hair away from his face. His skin showed burn marks and was smudged with ash. I kissed the corners of his forehead where deep bruises had formed from the horns. I kissed his cheeks, his lips, worried when he didn’t respond. He had no heartbeat, no pulse, no magic.
“Come back to me,” I whispered in his ear.
My fingers continued to trail sparks everywhere they made contact with his skin. I touched the cuts and burns on his chest, arms and back.
Heal.
Magic flashed, enlarging the sparks into embers of energy. At my touch, the cuts stitched themselves together. The burns subsided.
I glanced up at Zayfeer and Nikita, a smile on my face, but they’d both disappeared. I glanced around. They were gone. By force or by choice?
The individual fires in the forest had burned down. The smoke and fog lingered, although not as heavy. Overhead, clouds crammed the sky, blocking out the moon and casting shadows on us.
Returning my focus to Luc, I worked my way down his body with my healing magic. With every repair, he breathed easier and the taut muscles relaxed. His magic was still so weak, I couldn’t get a handle on it.
As I concentrated on healing him, another part of my mind was furious with God. Who else could have done this? I wanted to strike out at something, take revenge, but there was nothing and no one around. That didn’t stop me from lifting my head to the clouds and cursing God for all I was worth.
I know. Not the brightest idea. God could strike me down with lightning or a thousand other maladies and kill me on the spot. I really didn’t care. The only thing that stopped my rant was the fact I had to make sure Luc survived, and throwing so much energy at my unseen enemy took too much away from my healing magic.
Luc was my priority. I’d deal with God later.
Shoving the anger aside, I laid my hand on Luc’s upper thigh where a large gash was leaking blood. I trailed a finger over the cut, cauterizing it.
The blood stopped. Luc heaved a giant sigh, rolled onto his back, opened his eyes and looked at me. “A few inches to the left would be good.”
A few inches to the left, and hel-lo. What was this? Apparently, the Devil was awake and fully alert.
I did a double check. Yep, definitely on the mend. “Is that a dragon in your pocket or are you just happy to see me?”
He sat up, grabbed me and pulled me into his lap. My magic purred. Gone was the vulnerability in his eyes. Now they snapped with hunger and his voice came out rough with need. “Since I’m not wearing clothes, what do you think?”
The hard length of him pushing into me wasn’t exactly conducive to thought. “I, uh…think you’re a very fast healer.”
A low rumbling came from his chest, his laughter shaking both of us and doing wicked things to my lower half. “Thanks to you, it seems.”
“Nikita said you lost your magic. How did you get here?”
“Keisha and her incantations. One that bound my blood to yours.”
That was disturbing on a couple of levels. A blood bond required blood from both parties. “She had some of my blood just lying around?”
He rubbed his thumb over the pulse at my wrist. It skittered like a puppy wagging its tail over kibble. “She’s one strong voodoo priestess. Once she bound our bloods, your magic summoned me. No power on Earth or anywhere else could have stopped me from getting here once you called.”
That sounded promising. I twirled a lock of his hair between my fingers. “So you’re, like what, my slave now? I can command you and you’ll have to do whatever I want?”
His lips took mine, his tongue delving inside my mouth as one hand went behind my neck. It slid up the back of my head and dragged me closer.
His magic was still anemic, but mine exploded, sending a sharp, aching need to the spot between my legs. I wrapped my arms around his neck and slammed my chest against his. We ravaged each other with our mouths, clinging tight and holding on.
Some moments later, he broke the kiss and ran his thumb over my lower lip. “I have always been a slave to your love.”
Riiight. The Devil had never been a slave to anything. Even so, my heart skipped a beat. He’d allowed Keisha to perform a blood ritual to bind us together. He’d come to purgatory—a place, according to Zayfeer, he avoided at all costs—to find me. He’d taken on God in my behalf and released the souls of the humans I’d brokered. “Why is that?”
He kissed me again, long and deep, and I forgot the question. I kissed him back and laughed when he flipped me over and pinned me to the ground.
Yep, the dragon was definitely glad to see me.
Chapter Twenty-two – A Little Knowledge Can Be Dangerous
Somewhere around the time I lost my underwear and experienced what can only be described in heavenly terms as ‘jubilation’, I decided purgatory wasn’t all that bad.
In fact, my purgatory kicked ass.
The horror movie monsters had gone bye-bye. My magic was stronger than ever and I had used it for good, not evil, to heal Luc. (That is, of course, if you disregard the fact Luc embodies evil, but hey, he was my slave now, so I could keep him on the straight and narrow, right?)
The Mark was gone. The souls I’d brokered were free, except for my mother’s, which I intended to do something about as soon as I had all the facts.
And the cherry on top of this purgatory sundae? Luc was with me. Nothing could keep us apart here. Not God, not Michael…not even my previous failings as a witch.
I fell asleep in Luc’s arms inside the cave. While we were making love, my magic came to the rescue, carpeting the cave’s floor with a soft, thick moss. Overhead, dozens of fireflies clung to the ceiling, casting soft light in undulating pulses. Sweet-smelling herbs and night-blooming flowers burst to life at each spot Luc and I christened with our bodies.
I woke sometime later to see Luc standing at the cave’s entrance, backlit by a glow in the forest. Shallow disappointment flashed through me when I noticed he was dressed in a suit and tie. Where had those clothes come from? Had he gotten his magic back?
My own magic reached for his, but felt nothing. Too weird.
Not that he didn’t rock the high-end designer runway look. As always, no matter what clothes he wore, sex and power oozed out of him. This look, however, all business and I had hoped he’d still be naked.
He’s much more fun without clothes.
Rubbing sleep from my eyes, I sat up and tugged on my sweater and jeans. “Hey.”
He d
idn’t look at me, just continued to stare out the entrance. His hands were on his hips in a protective stance. “Good. You’re awake.”
“What is it?”
Leaving his spot, he took my hand, kissed it and interlaced our fingers. “Come see.”
He drew me outside and my breath caught in my throat. The moss inside the cave had trailed out and turned the blackened forest into a lush meadow filled with healthy trees, white-petaled flowers and a bubbling stream that wound its way past my mother’s tree.
She was no longer leafless, and instead, sported a full head of shiny green leaves that reflected a sky jam-packed with stars. Deer gathered at the stream to drink. Frogs, crickets and other nocturnal creatures hummed and crooned in the warm night air.
Peace.
This was what peace felt like. What it looked like. I drew a deep breath and leaned into Luc’s chest. How ironic, the two of us had brought peace to purgatory.
Hey, God. How’s that for universal balance?
Luc kissed the top of my head, stepped away. “This is all my fault.”
This? As in utopia? “It’s amazing. I never dreamed our combined magics could create so much peace and beauty. The only thing it needs is a big ol’ ice cream shop down there by my mom’s tree.”
Luc frowned. “Combined magics? I have no magic, and you’re in purgatory, Amy. There is no peace or beauty here.”
One man’s purgatory was another man’s Heaven. “Of course there is. Just look at it. It’s…perfect.”
He searched my face, the corners of his eyes pinching. “Whatever you’re seeing is an illusion.”
“No.”
“Yes.”
“But there are flowers and deer.” I pointed at the center of the meadow. “A pretty little stream and my mother’s tree…”
Luc waved a hand in front of my face as if testing my vision. I flinched and stepped back. The look on his face told me he thought my Happy Meal was short about a dozen fries.
My heart dropped. “You honestly don’t see any of that?”
The corners of his lips dipped. Once more, he took my hand and led me forward, down the moss-covered—at least to me—hill and into the meadow. We headed toward my mother’s tree, me pulling up short at the edge of the stream while Luc marched across, walking on top of the water.
