by Trina M. Lee
“Excuse me? Saving my ass? Is that what you think you’ve been doing?” My laughter was maniacal. I wasn’t sure if it was due to Falon’s apparent lunacy or the evil entity manipulating my emotions.
Falon grinned, happy with my angry reaction. “Isn’t it what I’m doing? Again?”
I groaned and flung the pillow from the bed at him. My bound wrists made the throw terrible. He caught the pillow and set it aside on the desk.
I held my wrists out, feeling pathetic and needy. It was not a good feeling. “Can you please get these things off me?”
He could. I’d seen him break them off Gabriel like they were toy cuffs. He stared at my cuffed wrists, pondering as if it were a tough decision. “I can. That doesn’t mean I will.”
“I’m going to claw your eyes out,” I hissed between clenched teeth. “If you only came to antagonize me, then you can just leave right now. How did you find me anyway?”
Falon’s chuckle was low and smooth. He was enjoying this. “You don’t want to know.” At my glare, he added, “I felt out your energy signature. I know it pretty well by now.”
That was awkward. “You’re right,” I said with a nod. “I didn’t want to know.”
Too many strange encounters involving fallen angel blood and succubus thrall had enabled him to know my energy very well. So well that he could pick it out of all the vampires and shifters in this building and find me. My sense of self-preservation did not feel good about that.
Falon’s silver stare grew heavy. His appraisal began to make me feel like a freak on display: Look at the hybrid, as crazy as crazy bitches come.
“Stop staring at me like that,” I said, still holding my wrists out. “Either you came to help me or you came to taunt me. There are enough people here who want to study me already. I don’t need you doing it.”
He held the stare a few more moments, just enough to get me riled up, then he got up and approached the bed. “Correction. I came to both help and taunt. It’s kind of a package deal.”
The only thing that stopped me from snarking back at him was the fact that he reached for the cuffs. With very little effort, he pried them open, freeing me. Having access to my power again felt so good, like everything could flow free, as it was meant to.
“Thank you.” It wasn’t easy to show gratitude toward him. I despised it. “Why do you want to help me? What’s in it for you?”
Falon tossed the cuffs into the corner behind the door as he strode over to peer out the window. “You sure are catching on to the ways of our kind. I’ve been thinking about what you said before, about Shya. I don’t think we can keep him from manifesting on this plane, but I do think we have options. But we’ll have to work together.”
With a frown, I pondered this. Falon had been Shya’s right hand guy, which was especially odd since Falon wasn’t even a demon. He was still walking that barely there line in between. Their partnership had changed the night Falon helped me drive Shya back to the other side. Or maybe it had never been what Shya had presumed it to be. Falon always had seemed to do his own thing, regardless of Shya’s expectations. The fallen angel had an agenda, and I wanted to know what it was.
I was about to say as much when Falon reached for the door handle. There was a sound like a loud zap of static electricity and a charge so strong it made my hair float. Falon was flung back like an explosive had gone off in his face. He hit the wall above the desk and slid down.
“What the fuck was that?” I breathed the words, shock having stolen my voice.
Falon gathered himself and shoved off the desk, looking pained. “That was me fucking up. Enjoy it while you can. It doesn’t happen much.”
My gaze darted between Falon and the door. “Explain.”
His well-defined features were set in a hard scowl. He seemed to be both embarrassed and pissed at himself. “Someone put a ward on the room,” he said. “We’re trapped in here. I can’t get out.”
Chapter Twenty
I didn’t know whether to laugh, cry, or hit something. “What do you mean you can’t get out?”
Falon cast a scathing look my way. “I mean what I just fucking said. There’s a ward on the room. Cast by a demon if I had to guess. To keep us magically inclined types trapped inside. I had no idea it was there until I touched the door.”
Laughter was easier than tears and violence. So I laughed because it was just so fucking ridiculous. Rather than coming to my so-called rescue, Falon had only gotten himself trapped in here with me. His glare darkened. He didn’t share my amusement.
“So no poofing either?” I asked when my laughter had subsided.
“No.” That one word held enough seething anger to silence my laughter entirely. “In, apparently, but not out.”
“But what about sunrise when you can’t take corporeal form anymore? Then what?” I stared at him, perplexed.
“Hard to say for sure. It could bind me to the room, so I’m forced back here when the sun goes down. Fuck.”
That’s when it sunk in. Falon was trapped in here with me, at least until whenever Briggs or someone else came back. There was nothing funny about that at all. “Well… fuck.” I eyed him, assessing his sour mood. I couldn’t decide if having his company was better than being alone or not. “Why would a demon do such a favor for the FPA? Never mind. Stupid question.”
Demons only did things when they got something out of it. There was a good chance Shya himself had put the ward on this door when he was still chummy with the Feds.
It all made me a little more wary and somewhat respectful of Briggs and his team. They were improving their weapons and, evidently, also their lockup. Now if he could just stop getting his men killed, he would really be onto something.
“Demons are more involved in government activity than you would think. I should’ve known better. I should’ve checked first.” Falon had drifted back over to the door where he looked it over with a scrutinizing glare.
“Shoulda. Coulda. Woulda,” I quipped, and that glare landed on me. This was going to be fun. Maybe I should try to be helpful. “So even with the power we both have, we can’t get out of here?”
Falon rolled his eyes up toward the ceiling as if praying for patience. “You don’t know how wards work, do you? A ward is a door, a lock, a barrier. Whatever. It’s pure magic, breakable only by the demon who made it or those with greater power. Like an angel or a demon more powerful than the one who made it.”
“Great. So now we’re roommates until Briggs comes back. That’s swell.” I never moved from my place on the bed, leaning against the wall. Falon was doing a good job of taking up space, pacing the small room. What else could I do but watch?
Falon paced over the broken chair, kicking pieces each time he passed through. Then he stopped all of a sudden. “I swear, every time I help you out, I pay a price.”
I scoffed, wishing I had something heavy to throw at him. “I didn’t ask for your help.” The atmosphere grew thick with frustration. A showdown with Falon was not on my to-do list, much as I might enjoy it. So I scrutinized his attire, seeking a way to lighten the mood. “You’re looking especially trendy tonight. Have you been reading GQ magazine?”
The long-sleeved, grey, V-neck shirt he wore combined with dark pants that fit him to perfection actually did give him a fashion magazine appearance. His short, fair hair was styled, looking more silver toned than usual. Falon was such an odd creature. Visually, he was quite intriguing with those eyes and the confident set to his mouth. I didn’t know a lot of angels, but they were so beautiful. Indescribable really.
Falon returned my observance with his own clever little remark. “No need. I’m naturally appealing to the eye. Have you been reading The Walking Dead? You’ve got this corpse thing going on. I won’t lie. It’s frightful.”
A smirk tugged at my lips. Well, at least I would be entertained while I waited. I wondered how long it would take us to go from flinging verbal barbs to psi balls.
“Well, this is going to
get weird fast,” I said with a sigh.
The silence that fell was indeed awkward and growing more so by the minute. I was starting to wish he’d never thought to drop in and spring me. But he wanted my help with Shya, and as much as I disliked Falon, we now had something in common. We both wanted to keep that demon from manipulating us further.
“So,” I broke the silence before it could become painful. “What are our options as far as Shya is concerned?”
Falon stopped moving about in restless impatience. He scooped a chair leg off the floor and spun it in one hand. It moved between his fingers with ease. I didn’t doubt that he could turn that thing into a deadly weapon. However, if it came my way, I’d stuff it in a place he would never recover from.
“Well, we could bind his power, like he did to Lilah. He’s resourceful enough to find a fast way out of that though. I think our best bet might be to trap him by binding him to an object. It won’t be easy, but it is possible.” The chair leg stopped in his hand, and he pointed it at me. “Something like that amulet would work.”
My hand went to the black onyx stone hanging around my neck. It had been a gift from Lena, spelled to enable me to keep my wolf after I died. I didn’t need the amulet anymore, but it now held sentimental value.
“No way, not this.”
“It was just an example. Relax. You’re so uptight these days.”
“I’m not uptight,” I protested.
Falon gave a half shrug. “Just completely insane.”
I flopped down on the bed and stared at the ceiling. It was hard to concentrate on forming a plan to deal with Shya with the entity whispering in my ear. Besides, Briggs was my current priority. Giving him to Shya to get rid of my demon mark wouldn’t keep Shya off my back for long, not as long as he was determined to have control of the vampires and wolves.
Making any kind of move against Shya would be potential suicide. If it didn’t work, he’d make me sorry I’d tried anything. If it did work, there would always be the chance that he’d escape whatever we did to him. I racked my brain, finding my thoughts too muddled to think clearly.
“Why did you even work with Shya if you’re just going to bail out on him now?” I asked with genuine curiosity. “What’s your story, Falon?”
Getting information out of him was like pounding my head against the wall: painful and pointless. Still, we were stuck here. I might as well try to learn something about him while I had the chance. He was a constant surprise, as unpredictable as they came. The info Veryl’s files had on him had been basic and minimal. Naturally, I wanted to know more.
Falon was quiet for so long I took it as his refusal to share. Then he surprised me by saying, “To you it may have appeared that I was working with him. Did you ever consider that I may have had other reasons to get close to Shya?”
It wasn’t much, but it was enough for me to bite. “And these other reasons might be?” I kept my gaze fixed on the ceiling. There was nothing to look at but avoiding eye contact seemed to make it easier for Falon to talk to me like I was a person.
He dropped the chair leg with a clatter and resumed his previous position perched on the desk. “I bet you want to know how I fell, don’t you? How I lost my grace. There are many stories. All of them are wrong. The truth is that I chose to fall. I saw an opportunity to fight the enemy from the inside, and I took it.”
That startling revelation drew my gaze to him. I didn’t respond right away. I didn’t know how. Never had I considered that Falon might still be working for the light.
“But, you did so many shitty things,” I said. “I saw you kill a priest.” And screw a demon queen.
With a careless shrug, Falon slid open one of the desk drawers. He rifled through some blank papers inside before sliding it shut and opening another. “I’m not faking anything, Alexa. To fight the dark from the inside, I had to join them. I’m not light. I never will be again.”
“Then why do it? Seems like an exercise in futility.” I watched him closely, trying to be covert about it. This angel had always been an enigma. Every word he said fed my inquisitiveness.
“Some things must be done. Someone’s got to do them. Might as well be me.” He spoke without remorse or emotion of any kind, just a simple statement of fact.
I rolled over onto my side to face him and propped my head up on my hand. “Why stop halfway then? Wouldn’t you have a lot more power if you became a demon?”
“Yes. I would also lose the trust of those I’ve gotten close to. Like Shya, although it’s a bit late for that one.” Falon peered into a drawer filled with pens and pencils. The room didn’t have much in the way of entertainment.
Because I knew when I was being manipulated, I asked, “Why are you telling me this?” It made no sense that someone who despised me as much as Falon did would share such a deep truth.
He cocked his head to the side, listening to something I couldn’t hear. Knowing this building, it could be just about anything.
“So you know that you can trust me,” he said, somewhat distracted. “If we’re going to plot together against Shya, we need to be able to trust each other on some level.”
I couldn’t argue with that. He had a point. “So how am I supposed to prove that you can trust me?”
“By never repeating what I just told you.” His gaze met mine, and we shared an unspoken agreement. He looked away before it could get weird, toward the door. “You know, I think we may be able to get out of here after all. If I’m not mistaken, you may be able to break the ward.”
“Me?” I squeaked. “Unlikely.”
Fueled by his sudden idea, Falon leapt up and returned to the door. He held a hand out near it, sensing without touching.
“You’re a creature of the light. With my angelic power and your light, you may be able to break the ward.”
I made a noise of disbelief. “For one, I’m probably darker than you are. And for two, no way in hell am I taking your blood again.”
“Don’t pretend you don’t want to.” He cast a knowing smirk my way. “Get your ass over here.”
I sat up slowly, reluctant to do as he said. As soon as he brought my attention to his powerful blood, I did want it. I’d done a good job of ignoring it, seeing as getting out of there was my priority. Of course I want it, I thought. I just hate that I do.
When he gestured impatiently for me to hurry up, I moved even slower. It was impossible not to enjoy antagonizing him.
“Do you want to get out of here or don’t you?” he demanded, eyes flashing with annoyance.
“You know, I’m not so sure anymore. Maybe I’ll stay awhile. I could use the time to think.” The room was too small for me to drag it out much longer. I joined him at the door, peering out to see the guard seated a few doors down, in the middle of the hall where he could see every door. “Ok, what?”
Falon grabbed my hand and held it near the door, just inches away. “Do you feel anything?”
I shook him off, uneasy at his close proximity. Focusing on the door was difficult when my attention kept shifting to the heavy angel essence beside me. I could feel it fogging my mind, not that it was clear to begin with. The dark hunger within me tempted me with promises of how amazing that angelic power would feel coursing through me now that I was strong enough to control it.
“No, I don’t feel anything.” I didn’t. Whatever power was warding our only exit was beyond me, beyond life and death, having never been alive.
‘You want him,’ the evil entity whispered in my ear. ‘You can have him. There is no creature like you. Make him yours. Make them all yours.’
With a shake of my head, I clamped my hands over my ears and backed away from Falon until my back hit the wall. “Shut up, shut up.”
Covering my ears did nothing to drown out the malevolent voice. It only served to make it echo louder inside my mind.
Falon pulled my hands from my ears and searched me for some semblance of sanity. “It’s talking to you too, isn’t it?”
&nbs
p; “Yeah, this isn’t the first time.” I slumped against the wall, feeling my resistance fade. Falon was starting to smell really damn good. My gaze landed on the pulse in his neck, and I licked my lips in anticipation.
Seeing the sanity fade from my eyes, Falon backed away. “Don’t lose your mind just yet. We have to do this right. You’ve got to take my power and use your light to twist it into a divine force. If you fuck up, it won’t work.”
“A divine force,” I repeated with a bitter laugh. “There is nothing divine in this room. We both belong in hell.”
I slipped so easily into that dark place where only the hunger for blood and power dwelled. Falon had never seen me this far gone before, and the surprise was evident on his face.
“That’s not true,” he said, as if he thought that keeping me talking would help. “You’ve done a lot of good, Alexa. That matters. You are not the darkness that’s inside you. You do know that, right?”
It was the first and only nice thing Falon had ever said to me. Too bad it didn’t matter when all I could focus on was hurting him. I’d resisted the night he’d dropped in on Kale and me, but I didn’t have this evil building whispering in my ear, getting inside my head.
“Do you know how many people I’ve killed since I turned?” I asked, advancing on him with slow, even steps. “I don’t. I stopped counting. I’ve done nothing but hurt people, even the ones I love the most. If I am not the darkness, then I’m just a horrible person. It’s much easier to just be dark. No guilt. No tears. No sanity.”
Falon held his ground, knowing that to retreat would only encourage me. “I get it. It’s easier to give in than to stand up under the pressure. Trust me; I’ve been there. We’re not so different, are we? Creatures of light forced to become one with the dark. We walk in both worlds, and it often means walking alone.”
The truth in his words wounded me. Of all people for me to relate to, Falon should never have been one of them. That reality was so harsh, such a slap in the face, that I believed perhaps there was no hope for me now.
Alone. Yes, that was what I was now. Two beings trapped in one body and one mind, a battle that would destroy what was left of my fragile sanity. Maybe Shya was right. Maybe Willow had unknowingly condemned me to a fate worse than if the dark had claimed me in full.
