Her Fallen Protector

by Nichole Severn

  None of this was real.

  “I assure you, it is.”

  A jolt of panic raced up her back. “How do you know what I was thinking?”

  “There’s a lot we need to discuss, darling. But for now…” Edward Jansen offered her his hand. “I need you to trust me.”

  Her gut wrenched, told her not to take his hand, but how could she ignore the possibility of discovering her true identity? She’d been promised answers before and slipping her hand into his seemed too easy. “What about Jacob? What will happen to him?”

  “Israel.” A hot flash of disgust crossed this younger version of her father’s features, accelerating her pulse. In an instant, he transformed from caring father to demon and back. The fact that she’d lived with a monster for ten years of her life settled like a rock in her stomach. “I should’ve separated the two of you sooner, but I guess that doesn’t matter now. Damien and Isabel will take care of him and you’ll never have to see him again.”

  She sidestepped the Dumpster, maneuvering toward the alley entrance. “He helped me escape. I can’t just leave him—”

  “No!” Red tinged the edges of his eyes and she clenched her teeth. His hands wrapped around her arms, fingertips digging into her flesh. The pain nearly buckled her knees and she struggled to get free. “That angel is the reason you were taken from me, and I won’t lose you to him again. Do you understand?”

  Angel?

  “You’re hurting me.” The pressure built until she thought he might break her arms. His hold grew hot, burning through her shirt and across her skin. The heat flooded into her in a shocking wave, taking the breath from her lungs. She jerked back. Welts and red splotches decorated her skin where his fingers had rested, the shirt’s sleeves completely destroyed.

  “You’re never to think of him again, Duemos. He’ll be the death of everything we want to accomplish.”

  Her muscles locked in place. “What did you call me?”

  He assessed her as if she’d taken him by surprise. Edward Jansen’s features softened as he dropped his hold, his lips thinning into a straight line. “Duemos. Your true name.”

  …

  A growl escaped Isabel’s throat as she slipped into unconsciousness. Blood pooled beneath her body. She’d heal. So would Damien. “Next time, don’t surprise me from the trees,” Jacob said.

  His steps held more weight than before. It’d taken a massive amount of energy to fight them off, not to mention the simple act of releasing and harnessing his blackened wings. Energy he wouldn’t get back. He searched the darkness for Vdarra, narrowed his senses toward the spot her trail ended. A light, sour smell tainted the city air and his heart jumped into his throat.

  Neither angel nor demon.

  But familiar all the same.

  Electricity shot down his back. He couldn’t afford to think. He had to act.

  Traces of her father’s scent lingered, but not enough to track. He needed more. Anxiety hummed in his veins. He stalked back toward Isabel. Wrapping his fingers around her neck, he lifted her off the ground, her legs dragging in the grass. “Where did he take her?”

  Her eyes rolled to one side. Unconscious.

  “Where!”

  “If you want to see your mate again, seraph, I suggest you put her down.” Damien’s voice slithered across his skin, hot and cold at the same time. He stood, stumbled slightly as he worked for balance. Blood trickled from the deep wound directly above his naval, then slowed as the edges knit back together. One of the perks of demonic power. Straightening completely, Damien inhaled a wet, deep breath. “Now.”

  He didn’t have the strength for another round, but Vdarra had been taken. Nothing in the Afterlife would stop him from finding her. He couldn’t lose her again. Not after he’d been given another chance. “Tell me where he took her,”—he turned with Isabel still in his grasp—“and I’ll kill you quickly.”

  Damien’s low laugh reverberated throughout his body, and Jacob’s awareness rose that much higher. “Your power is draining every second, Israel. You can’t fight me and you won’t last two seconds against him. But I can. Put her down and maybe we can make a deal.”

  Options played across his mind just as he squeezed Isabel’s throat a bit tighter. The heat simmering just below his surface came alive and shot into his prisoner’s body. Isabel jolted beneath his touch as a soft whine escaped. Damien spoke the truth. The Deceiver’s powers far outweighed his own, and Vdarra’s trail had already begun to fade. He had little choice in the matter if he wanted to save her. “Your kind has taken everything I ever cared about. What more could you possibly want from me?”

  “What every demon wants from an Archangel. Your blood. Release Isabel, give me the rest of your power freely, and I’ll lead you directly to her.”

  He dropped her, never taking his gaze off Damien. The prickling sensation based at the lower end of his spine reminded him just how much he despised working with the enemy, but for her, for Vdarra, he’d die a thousand times over. “Deal. Take me to her now and you’ll get your reward.”

  Isabel stirred at his feet, her breathing ragged. She pushed to all fours. The wings at her back retracted into her pale mortal disguise, but red eyes remained prominent. She wasn’t strong enough for complete transformation, but heat pulsed against his sensitive skin nonetheless. “You traitor.”

  She lunged forward and ripped through Damien’s throat.

  “No!” He charged. His chances of finding Vdarra dwindled with every drop of Damien’s spilled blood.

  “No closer, seraph.” She braced herself behind Damien so Jacob couldn’t reach her.

  “Why?” Damien asked, his mouth wide, his shaking hands reaching for his throat. The damage had been done. Despite his power, he couldn’t heal the wounds inflicted by his own kind, as Jacob couldn’t heal the wounds inflicted upon him by his. Damien’s knees buckled, but Isabel held him up with sheer strength.

  More powerful than he’d originally estimated.

  She peered at him from behind her partner, only half her face visible. “I’ve worked too hard for you to take this away from me, lover.”

  Only gurgling sounds left Damien’s throat.

  She grasped the vial from around his neck and tore it away. He slumped to the ground. With a steady gaze, she stepped over him. Red eyes turned black and she pulsed with blistering Archdemon power.

  “That’s better.” She sighed. “I’ve been wanting to do that for centuries.”

  The adrenaline fired up once again. His hands tightened into fists. He’d beaten her once, but even Damien hadn’t possessed this kind of power and it hadn’t come from killing an Archdemon. “What are you?”

  A shrill laugh trickled from her lips. “You’ll see.”

  In a burst of flames, Isabel disappeared.

  The blast knocked him backward. He scrambled to his feet and across the grass toward Damien. Placing his hands at the wound, he forced as much energy as he could spare into the lifeless body. “Come on.”

  The adrenaline he’d had before disintegrated in small amounts, forced into Damien’s body, but nothing happened. No echo of a heartbeat. No inflation of the fiend’s lungs. “Come on!”

  Blood seeped between his fingers and soaked into the ground. He pushed a larger amount of energy through his hands and the world swam. Only Damien’s dead eyes stared back at him. Vdarra’s life lay in that dead gaze. In a last attempt to get his answer, he gripped Damien’s shirt by the collar and pulled the demon’s torso off the ground. “Tell me where she is. Just tell me where he took her.”

  Silence.

  He let go. The body slumped against the grass, pieces of Damien’s mortal exterior falling from the true demon beneath. It would disintegrate in seconds without his help and he stood, frozen in place as every chance of finding Vdarra disappeared on a breeze. Hope left his body in a rush, widened the rip in his heart.

  A cold brush of power at his back revealed he wasn’t alone. His senses tingled. Exhaustion overwhelmed t
he sensation, weighing down every movement and sense. “Have you come to kill me, brother?”

  “Should I?” Sorren asked.

  Jacob forced himself to turn and regarded the massive warrior a few feet away. “I did what I had to in order to protect her, and I don’t regret a single choice.”

  “She’ll lead them to the Seal, Israel, and the Dark Master will do everything in his power to resurrect his daughter.” Sorren took a step forward, but Jacob didn’t have the adrenaline to counter. “She’ll lead her army across this earth, then invade Heaven and kill us all. Is that what you want?”

  “I can’t lose her again.” The words left his mouth easily enough, but the intention behind them wavered.

  “I don’t regret my decision.” Duemos cradled his jaw between both hands, her amber eyes boring into his. She gave him a smile, followed by a chaste kiss. The wind carried autumn leaves and pieces of her black hair on its current. “I wouldn’t change a thing.”

  Israel brushed her hair back, but couldn’t return her smile. Doubt pulsed in the center of his chest. His level of confidence didn’t match his lover’s. “Even if they find out about us?”

  She stroked her hands across his shoulders, pushing him down into the forest leaves. She rested on top of him, running her fingers through his hair. In another lithe movement, she smoothed the skin between his eyebrows, an action growing far more frequent.

  “You worry too much. Besides, I don’t care if they find out about us.” Her gaze softened. She kissed him then, the warmth of her lips making him quiver. “Even in death, our bond can never be broken.”

  He straightened, forcing the memory back into place as resolution helped him breathe a little easier. “I can stop him, but I can’t do it alone. I need your help to find her.”

  Sorren’s apprehension was strong; it narrowed his gaze. His dark brows furrowed, and his shoulders deflated.

  “We were brothers once, Sorren. We fought beside each other for centuries. I saved your life more times than I can count. You owe me this. Please.”

  “I’ll give you twelve more hours. They’ve taken her to start the next test and I’ll have no choice but to intervene if the Dark Master succeeds. Do you understand? Duemos cannot take control of that army.”

  An electric energy rippled through his body as a scream echoed in his mind. Dread forced him to his knees. He fought to breathe as his heart restarted. The Deceiver had hidden her scent well, but the cry of her soul would always reach him. Even in death, their souls’ bond couldn’t be broken.

  “It’s begun,” Sorren said, his voice dark. “Her power is growing.”

  He worked to regain his strength and pushed to his feet. The familiar brush of his mate’s dark power warmed him to the bone. His own power entwined with it, brighter, lighter, dancing in his blood stream and invigorating him. He imagined her suffering as her body ripped itself to pieces from the inside. His own experience of watching her die wouldn’t compare. He focused wholly on her soul’s screams and centered on her location. He at least had energy for that. His throat dried and he swallowed hard. “They’ve injected her again.”

  Sorren placed a hand on his shoulder. “You have twelve hours, brother. Follow your connection and finish what we started over a millennium ago. Bring that bastard to his knees.”

  Chapter Ten

  Another scream ripped from her throat.

  Her entire body burned from the inside. Flames licked nerves and vital organs. As though it would never end, the pain overwhelmed every sense she owned. Two pairs of shoes centered in her vision, but were lost in the next moment as another wave of suffering crested, blinded her. She dropped to the ground, and only the freezing concrete against her cheek told her she hadn’t died yet. Her fingernails clawed gashes into the pavement. Scalding betrayal swirled deep in her bones. The flood of hatred she’d been holding back peaked as her father crouched in front of her.

  He’d done this to her.

  He’d injected her.

  He’d planned this all along.

  He pushed her onto her back then cradled her face between large, calloused hands. His lips moved, but nothing registered. Muffled echoes reverberated in her mind. She couldn’t differentiate between her own pleas and his words.

  He swiped his fingers across her forehead, brushing hair from her face as another wave of agony engulfed her. The stinging in her shoulder from Isabel’s bite skyrocketed. Small words broke through as she tried to avoid choking on her tongue. “Powerful…mine…”

  Crisp and clear, her own scream shook her entire body.

  His touch fueled the flames, but when the bastard stepped back, a piece of her longed to follow. Familiar and devastating urges pulled the breath from her lungs.

  She inhaled sharp and quick. The feeling of a sword in her chest ached more than a memory. The air burned, tore up her windpipe. She couldn’t get enough. Another inhale. Had to breathe. Her entire body spasmed and by the end of it, she noted an absence of anybody else in the alley.

  He’d left her here to die.

  Alone.

  She’d gone into free-fall and her stomach lurched with the urge to vomit. Breathe. At the head of the alleyway, red streaks blurred in her vision. Passing cars. She could make it. The pain disappeared as she crawled toward the street. Like draining water from a bathtub, the remnants of her energy left her body. At least she could finally breathe.

  It didn’t last long.

  Pulse after pulse of heat worked its way into her heart and another scream ricocheted off the surrounding buildings. Nobody would find her here. Nobody would come for her. “Jacob!”

  “Get up,” a voice whispered.

  The air in her lungs froze. It’d sounded exactly like her own voice, but her throat couldn’t have produced the words. “Please. Help me.”

  “Help yourself. Get up. Now.”

  No rivers or lakes could relieve the burns flaming across her skin and she collapsed onto her back. Left to stare at the clouded sky in exhaustion, she cringed from the panic flashing like lightning in every muscle. Whatever her father had injected into her heart this time, Jacob wasn’t here to help. Would he even find her when her soul moved on to the next life?

  Vdarra couldn’t unlock her jaw. Her own body had betrayed her.

  “Get up!”

  “I can’t.” The pressure on her ribcage strengthened as consciousness slipped a little further away. Her vision blurred with tears. Too much. It hurt too much.

  She closed her eyes as fate set in: death. She’d only just begun finding the answers she’d searched years for, discovered who she was before the accident. Found Jacob. Flashes of flame lit up her vision, but soon transformed into something else completely.

  She drifted on a sea of pain and smoke. Her last thoughts settled on him. Tingles raced through her body, different than the pain she’d succumbed to for the last few minutes, like pulses of hope, only darker. Powerful. Pleasurable. His wings had been black as night, just like Isabel and Damien’s, and somehow she’d convinced herself in those precious moments he was just like them. Stupid. How could she have been so stupid?

  He’d never have done this to her, would never hurt her, and she’d left him behind with those animals because she’d been scared. Of him. No. It wouldn’t end like this. She wrenched her eyes open. Adrenaline cooled the heat. She had to find him.

  She wiggled her toes, then her legs. Success. Vision still blurry, she used the new tendrils of strength flooding her limbs and rolled onto her stomach.

  “Use your power.”

  That damn voice hadn’t come from her head, nor did the others that followed. Come back to us…kill…missed you… Dozens, possibly hundreds, of tortured pleas begged her to return. They drowned out the roar of her heartbeat. She covered her ears. Anguish lay in their words. “Stop. Please. Stop.”

  Remember…

  The angel at the end of the broadsword plunged the point deeper into her heart. On her knees, she couldn’t fight him off. Didn’t wan
t to. Her time had come. In the back of her mind, she’d known her fate. Forcing her eyes to meet her killer’s, she committed the emerald-green shade to memory and took her last breath as the forest burned around them.

  His magnificent wings only fueled the flames as they quivered, as did the tears in his eyes. Death couldn’t break their bond, even at her mate’s hand.

  “Israel.”

  Fire. Wings. Blood. A sword. Death. Another memory.

  She arched off the ground as if a puppet master held her strings. Energy ignited deep where the sword had entered, stabilized her limbs and pushed her to her feet.

  Pure power washed over her in an instant—dark, invigorating her senses like nothing she’d experienced before. The prickly sensation turned into icy waves cascading through her body. Her blood danced alongside the concoction her father had injected into her heart like a syringe full of adrenaline. The haze cleared, the voices more manageable the longer she gave herself over to them.

  Slivers of the strength she’d experienced in her prison fisted her hands. She ran her hand over the needle mark on her chest and the scratches on her shoulder, unsurprised they’d already healed. She studied the clouds, transfixed by the beauty of this world, the vulnerability. The heat blazed over her skin.

  Come back to us…

  The battle for supremacy inside her own head shifted. “Yes.”

  …

  His heart stopped. Something had changed. Heat penetrated straight to his bones, bypassing skin and muscle. No sign of her father or Isabel in the alleyway. Only her. The source. “Vdarra.”

  Whispers of her auburn hair floated around her shoulders. One hand rested on the center of her chest, a slight pigmentation marring her perfect skin.

  Dried blood.

  Her eyes snapped open and she smiled. “Israel.”

  He stood immobile. She’d called him by his true name. The hallucination he’d seen before wavered over her features, like an eclipse, no longer just a pair of eyes, but lips, nose, even her neck, ghostly white and vibrating. His throat went dry. Drawn to her, he stepped forward.

  “They want me to return to them.” Her singsong voice raised the hairs on the back of his neck. “They’re so strong. I hear them. They need me.”