Another hard bang came at the door, knocking it free of two hinges, causing it to fall crooked to the side of the jamb. The corridor lighting was brighter and silhouetted the male, but I knew who it was.
I rushed to grab Maci with one arm while pulling my spear free from the straps with the other hand.
“Put her down. I’m here to help you, Rhyan, to try and make right the wrong I’ve done by you, brother.”
“You are no brother of mine, Coen,” I growled out through a clenched jaw.
“Stay bitter if you like, but I am here to help you. I deserve my fate, but you do not deserve this.” He gestured with his hand at Maci sitting on my hip, and shook his head. “She is not your daughter. They are trying to get you to hate Princess Abigail so you will not want to save her.”
“How would you know anything about us?”
“I have my ways. You spend a long enough time in Hell, you either start to learn things to keep you alive or you go insane running from your fears.” He cleared his throat and gave me a stern look. “I’m risking a lot. I will be punished severely for disobeying them and helping you, but no matter the hell I go through, I wouldn’t have been able to live with myself if I didn’t at least try after what I did to your charge. I apologize, Rhyan. You will never know how deeply sorry I am to have been so selfish and greedy, but I am glad my charge was able to be brought back to the light and find love in your charge. That, I will never regret. I’m only sorry I put you and yours in danger.”
Maci wound her arms around my neck and clung tighter to my body. “He’s a bad man, daddy. Don’t listen to him.”
I knew he was a bad man.
“You do not have a child, Rhyan!” Coen bellowed. “Your wife committed suicide while pregnant and that is why she is here, in Hell. That is why you are here to save her. The child in your arms is a demon disguised as a child to distract you. Don’t let it happen. Don’t let the greed of wanting it to be real allow you to accept it as truth. Lucifer must not win!”
I blinked a few times. I felt like I had been clawing my way back to reality for the last several minutes, but I could still feel the rage simmering, waiting to be released on this enemy of mine. I fought it the best I could and tried desperately to remember why I was there. “Lucifer can’t win,” I mumbled.
I felt a little hand on my cheek and I turned to look at Maci. She was real. I knew she was real. I was looking at her. I had memories. I couldn’t just abandon her like Abbi had.
“Don’t leave me, daddy. I will be good. I promise I will.” She sniffled and buried her face by my neck. Her soft sobs ripped at my insides and made me want to strangle Abbi for hurting our child.
“It’s a lie…a lie…a lie…a lie,” echoed in my mind.
I could feel something slipping from me, something good. As a guardian angel myself, I knew that, if the charge chose to do bad and ignore good, we lost contact until we got the upper hand. Isaiah…I was losing Isaiah because I was making bad decisions. Evil was winning. I began to panic.
“Isaiah! Isaiah, don’t leave me!”
I heard a mental sigh of relief, then his voice, “I am here. Now, you must take care of business so you can complete your mission. The child is not real, Rhyan.”
I stared at the little girl in my arms that looked so much like me and Abbi, and I remembered. She wasn’t mine. I had no child. My heavyhearted gaze looked to Coen and he nodded in understanding.
“You are the only one who can do it. I can’t earn your door for you.”
I took a deep breath, then tried to set Maci back on her feet.
“No, daddy, no! Don’t leave me!” She clutched at my neck with her tiny hands, but I was fully aware that she was not my daughter, and that made it a little easier to pry her arms from me while she kicked and screamed and fought to hold on as if her life depended on it. I felt the hot liquid as it leaked from my eyes, then gave a hard shove and knocked her to the floor. She wrapped her arms around her bent knees and cried as she looked up at me. “You don’t want me, either?”
“You are not my daughter,” I said, and her face distorted into something hideous, then she jumped from the floor like a spider monkey and wrapped her limbs around me before I even knew what had happened.
Her teeth sank in at my left shoulder and I let out a screeching howl as her tiny nails dug ditches in my back and chest. I fell to my knees, fighting, and finally managed to rip the tiny beast loose from me. I threw the thing up against the wall by the window, but it was quickly on its feet and headed back to me for more.
“You must stop it, Rhyan. Kill your greed!” Coen shouted.
I knew he was right, and without another thought I closed my eyes and brought the spear up. She struggled to stop before reaching it, but she hadn’t been prepared and the metal pierced her through the heart.
She looked down at the shaft sticking out of her chest and sucked in a quick breath. Looking up at me with sad eyes, she frowned and I watched as a tear fell from her eye, then they closed as she took her last breath. She slowly began to disappear, and I kept a close eye on her until she was completely gone.
I took in a deep breath of my own and looked back to Coen and the green door he was standing beside. He’d really been here to help me.
“Thank you,” I said as I got to my feet. “I suppose we are even now. If there was a way to get you out of here, I would try.”
He shook his head a little sadly. “I know you would, but I am the one that got myself into this mess; I’ll have to get myself out. I hope to see you again someday, Rhyan.”
I walked to him and offered him my hand. “I’ll see you then, brother.”
He grinned and grasped my hand with his, then pulled me into a brief hug. “Go get your soulmate.”
I nodded once and returned his smile. “Nothing can stop me now.”
Chapter 46
Josselyn
“Yer move,” Troy said, and Josselyn blinked out of her daydream, then huffed as she looked down at the chess board. Troy was winning, she thought. And why wouldn’t he be? He was the only one paying attention to the silly game.
She’d done everything possible to keep from thinking of that arrogant demon, but it seemed like the more she tried, the harder the task was to accomplish. Everything she looked at reminded her of him and that…that kiss.
“Ugh!” She growled and stood, ignoring the game and the inquiring stares from the ever growing audience at the Chamberlain residence. Four more angels had been sent for protection. Rhyan was growing closer to completing the quest, and Isaiah and Troy felt the security necessary. Josselyn felt Murry was bluffing.
The only thing that even remotely distracted her from thinking about the Prince of Lust was her thoughts and memories of Malcolm. Where are you? She willed Malcolm to hear her, wherever he might be. She fought the urge to cry when she allowed herself to see him in her mind. She was at an impasse. She couldn’t concentrate on anything else, so she only had two options: think of Malcolm and be sad or think of Thoros and be mad.
It would actually benefit Murry to drop in right then, because she wasn’t prepared. At any rate, she was glad they’d sent more reinforcements. They’d finally figured she was obviously good for nothing.
Goosebumps rose on her arms and she shot a look into the kitchen at Troy to see if he’d felt the new presence. Bored playing chess alone, he was now engaged in a baseball conversation with Adam, and didn’t seem to have noticed any new activity. She looked around the living quarters. The other angels were occupying their own downtime and not paying her any mind.
Josselyn stood. “I’m going to do a perimeter check. I’ll whistle if I come across anything.”
The only other female angel there raised her hand to wave Josselyn off without looking away from the TV.
Josselyn raised an eyebrow at her, then just shook her head and walked toward the front door.
Even as angry with Thoros as she was, she couldn’t deny that she was anxious to see him again. Maybe he
would grovel at her feet and beg forgiveness. The thought brought a smile to her face and she opened the front door.
Her smile faltered when a petite, black-haired beauty grinned back at her.
“I assume you were expecting someone else?” She didn’t give Josselyn time to scream; Lameria covered Josselyn’s mouth and popped them both to Hell.
Troy
Troy heard the familiar pop and stopped talking, then held his pointer finger up to Adam as he took a step back and looked down the hallway to an open front door.
“Jesus!” He took off at a mad run down the hall and out onto the front porch. There was nothing. He heightened all his senses, but couldn’t detect anything amiss. He turned and tore back through the house to the living room, desperately searching for Kendra and her child. He scanned the room three times, but they were not there.
“Adam!” Whaur is Josselyn? She’s supposed tae be watching them, he thought as he ran through the house to the master bedroom and nursery. “Adam!” he shouted again.
“What is it, Troy? What happened?” Adam asked as he stepped out of the nursery with Ben in his arms.
Troy came to a complete stop, and was just about to tell him that his wife had been taken when Kendra stepped into view from behind Adam. Confusion consumed him.
“Troy? Are you alright? Has something happened?” Kendra asked, panic rising in her voice at the strange look the angel was giving them.
He shook his head slowly. “I-I dinnae ken.” He turned from their curious stares and ran back to the living room. When he arrived, the angels were all on their feet, all of them sensing that something was terribly wrong. Troy scanned the room again, counting heads. One was missing. Josselyn.
“Whaur is Josselyn?” he demanded, then shouted it again a few seconds later when there was no response from anyone in the room.
“I heard her say something about doing a perimeter check, then she left the room.”
Troy’s gaze fell upon the female angel, Tara, he thought her name was. He knew Josselyn wasn’t outside anywhere. He’d already been out there and sensed nothing. “She say ony’hing else?”
Tara shook her head. “Not that I can remember.”
“No’ that ye kin remember,” Troy said, and walked to the female angel that had suddenly found something more interesting to look at on the tip of her shoe. “I wisnae aware angels could have memory lapses. Dae ye kin why yer here?” He looked up at the other faces. “Dae ony o’ ye ken why yer here? It’s no’ tae eat human food or watch cable TV, I kin tell ye that much.”
“We’re here to protect the human family,” Tara whispered.
“And each other!” he shouted. “Josselyn is gone because every last wan o’ ye are self-absorbed. You wouldnae ken whit tae dae if—”
Kendra gasped from the entrance of the room. “Oh my God, no,” she whimpered.
Tara looked up to meet his incriminating stare. “She said she would whistle if she came across anything.”
Troy’s eyebrows popped up. “Oh, so ye think a demon prince or princess would gi’e her time tae—whit was it—whistle, if she happened tae bump intae them ootside the house alone?”
“I’m sorry. I had no idea—”
“Go tell Isaiah yer sorry. Tell him tae send better back-up than whit’s here. And while yer at it, tell him I’m gaun tae get her back.”
Tara’s eyes filled with tears as she shook her head. “Troy, I—”
“Go!” He shouted in her face and she vanished without another word.
Thoros
Thoros sat, drumming his fingers on the arm of a chair in Lucifer’s chambers. He’d made eye contact with Abigail several times, but there were no mind conversations going on between the two of them.
“First things first. What are your intentions with the male angel, Thoros? He has just entered into your syde,” Lucifer asked, pulling Thoros away from trying to decipher what Abigail was trying to tell him with her eyes.
He cleared his throat and looked over to the hearth, where his master stood with his back to his company. “I wasn’t aware he’d gained access.”
Lucifer spun on his heel to face the prince, fire in his steely gaze. “I’m sure there is a lot you do not know. How could you know anything about what is happening in your syde when you are on Earth playing house with an angel? I smell her on you and sense her clearly in your thoughts; do not try to deny my accusation.”
“I would never deny any accusation from you, but I will say that you are misreading into it. It is all part of my plan, master. I do not fear the male angel will escape Lust. I set everything up for his arrival before I visited Earth even the first time. It is true of my wooing a female angel. I don’t deny that, but my reasons are not what you assume.”
“Let you be frank, then.”
Thoros nodded. “My aim is to claim another pure soul for you, but I didn’t want to say anything until I knew for sure I could accomplish such a task. Our last visit together wasn’t what I expected, but I have no doubt in my mind that I can get her to give it to me willingly with only one more visit.”
Lucifer sat across from him and crossed his ankles atop the coffee table that separated them. He’d gained control of his anger, so an expressionless face was all that was seen. It made Thoros nervous to not know what was coming.
“You aim to keep her for your own after I have possession of her soul?”
Thoros didn’t know what to say. He felt it was a trick, and either way he answered the question wouldn’t gain him any brownie points, nor would it be in Josselyn’s favor. Fear choked him and he fought to keep from nervously clearing his throat again. It showed weakness, and Lucifer hated weak royalty.
“She’s cute,” he shrugged nonchalantly, “but one woman cannot keep me satisfied for an eternity. I may play with her for a while, then give her to someone else that might enjoy a taste.” Just saying the words made his stomach turn. He couldn’t give Josselyn away to be played with any more than he would be able to cut his own cock off.
Lucifer eyed him skeptically for a moment, then got to his feet and walked back to the hearth. Without turning to face him, he said, “What if I didn’t allow it? I only need one pure soul to gain access to Earth. If you do your job and make sure the male angel gives up in your syde, then I shan’t require another pure soul.”
“He will give up. There is no doubt in my mind he will fail, master.”
Lucifer sighed as he turned around. “Even as you say that, I sense there is plenty of doubt in your mind. So much, in fact, that I fear you will actually help him through your syde with ease.”
“I would never—”
Lucifer held up his hand and the room went silent. “Bring her in, Lameria.”
Thoros eyes widened, dread clear in his features that he wasn’t able to disguise behind a mask. He jumped to his feet as the door to Lucifer’s chambers opened and Lameria forced Josselyn into the room.
He knew better than to show what he was feeling, but he knew Lucifer could read him like an open book anyway. He swallowed hard as he watched the tears flow down her face. She wouldn’t look at him. She was looking at Abigail and avoiding him, which was probably best; he knew if she looked at him he would lose every ounce of self-control he had. He took in a deep breath and looked back to Lucifer.
“Why is she here?” Thoros asked.
“To ensure you do your job. I know more than you think I do, young Prince. There is an angel waiting for you in your syde. You are dismissed.”
Chapter 47
Rhyan
I turned in a slow circle, then looked up. The two white stone walls, approximately ten feet apart, went up to meet a tall, dark ceiling. I wasn’t sure if it was solid or just black emptiness. Hell didn’t have to make sense, and I had already been through enough of it to know that it didn’t.
“What do you think, Isaiah? Am I in a maze, or what?”
“Give me a moment, Rhyan. I’m dealing with something very disturbing at the moment.”
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“O-kay.” I wanted to ask what could be more disturbing than me going through Hell to save my demon wife’s soul, but I didn’t push. It might have had something to do with Malcolm, and I didn’t want to interrupt him when he could miss some sort of valuable information about my friend.
I huffed, adjusted the pack and spear on my back, then started walking. I kept my eyes open and alert. I couldn’t fall prey to any trickery in this syde. I was too close to the end to give up or die. Of course, they would be trying extra hard to get me to do one or the other, so that was all the more reason to stay focused on the quest at hand and not allow anything to mess with my mind.
From what Malcolm had said, Wrath would be all fire, torture, horrible destruction and death. That was something to look forward to, I thought, my wit still strong, but destruction wasn’t what I was seeing now, so that meant I was in Lust. It was the only other option left, unless Lucifer had snuck another syde in on me. It wasn’t in the contract, and I had to admit he’d stuck to his word so far, not that he had a choice. Malcolm said the contract was unbreakable, even for him. Regardless, I kept waiting for something bad to happen that I wouldn’t be able to fight my way out of.
I checked out my surroundings often, still just a straight, pea-gravel path with two white walls on either side of me. It didn’t go on forever, though; I could see an end, but I didn’t want to focus on it. I knew getting out of the syde wouldn’t be as easy as walking to the end of a path. I was counting on surprises. Lucifer hadn’t let me down in that department so far.
I stopped suddenly when I noticed a break in the wall to my left. I hadn’t seen it until I’d gotten right up to it, but it was there, and it was another straight path, like the one I was on. Only it stopped in a dead-end about fifty feet from my standing point.
“Heh.”
I looked back the way I had come, then the direction I’d been going, and finally back to my new option. Will there be another path if I don’t choose this one, I thought, and debated with myself until I heard a giggle on the air.
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