Salvation in Darkness (Misplaced Halos Book 2)

by Nicole Edwards

  “You look lovely this evening,” Perfidious told Asmia when the female stood to greet him.

  Although it’d been nearly a week since he’d started with the mind-control efforts, Perfidious wasn’t taking any chances with his sweet Fae. Until he could trust she wasn’t going to slit his throat while he slept, he figured it best she remained behind these solid bars, protected deep within the mountain. Which meant he was still sleeping alone, something he wasn’t all that fond of.

  “I’d prefer to see you without the dress though,” he told her.

  Asmia’s black eyes glittered as a smile pulled at her mouth. Without hesitation, she quickly slipped the black silk from her body. The fact she wore nothing beneath pleased him immensely.

  It was all he could do not to shove her to the ground and mount her from behind. His cock raged with the need to claim her, but he was refraining for now. The first time he took her would be something they would remember for the rest of their days, so he figured there was no reason to rush. This was just the beginning for them.

  “The angels have called off their search for you,” he lied, keeping his voice even. “They’ve cast you aside, moved on to more important things. I thought you should know.”

  There was no reaction on her part. Not so much as a grimace on those lovely features.

  “You knew that was going to happen, though. You’re nothing but an employee to them, a servant.” Perfidious paused behind her, sliding his finger down her spine. “How does that make you feel?”

  “It doesn’t,” she replied softly.

  “You don’t care about them anymore?”

  “No.”

  He smiled, then leaned in and brushed his lips to her shoulder. “That’s good. I’m the only one you should be worried about now. I’m the one who’ll care for you, Asmia, keep you safe. You know that, right?”

  “Yes.”

  He tried to pretend the robotic responses didn’t bother him. It was temporary. For now he would continue to control her mind, to keep her enslaved to him that way. It was necessary while he chipped away at those loyalties of hers. Before long, he would have her defeated, feeling as though she was nothing. At that point, Perfidious planned to build her back up, mold her into the perfect queen.

  And in the meantime, he would wait for his request to be approved. It had been a gamble, but he’d sought Lucifer’s approval in aligning their souls. The king of Hell hadn’t gotten back to him yet, but Perfidious knew his request was being considered.

  “Are you hungry, gorgeous?” He strolled around to stand in front of her. “Would you like to feed from me?”

  Her eyes remained straight forward, locking on his face. “Yes.”

  “Say please.”

  “Please, Perfidious, may I feed from you?”

  He untied the sash that held his smoking jacket closed, then let the silk fall open, revealing his chest. He happened to be quite fond of the human he’d acquired recently. One of the best he’d come across in quite some time. However, he was starting to wonder why he even bothered. Eventually Asmia would need to get acquainted with his true form. Considering the human husk wouldn’t survive in Hell, he would have to leave it behind.

  “Come to me,” he ordered, maintaining his position a few feet away.

  When she stepped forward, he braced himself for her touch. Those soft hands flattened on his chest, and no sooner did they make contact than Perfidious felt that flood of euphoria. It was almost better than sex, the way her body siphoned his energy. He’d done some reading on the subject and learned that the Fae fed from the emotional energy, not merely strength. It was a peculiar phenomenon, but it intrigued him.

  As he stood there, his cock throbbed, tenting the fly of his silk pants, pulsating with the need to find entrance into her lovely body.

  Soon, he reminded himself. Only a little while longer and this gorgeous female would be ripe for the taking. In the meantime, he was going to keep her nourished and under his spell.

  “Stop,” he demanded.

  Her hands instantly fell to her sides, her eyelids lifting to reveal her black irises. That beautiful amethyst color seemed to have disappeared completely beneath the shadow of his mind control.

  It wouldn’t be much longer before her entire existence would be erased, hidden from those who were still beating feet to find her. Those angels were like bulldogs. They didn’t seem to know when to quit, which had caused only a few problems for him in recent days. Luckily, he had access to humans who were keeping the angels busy and looking the other way.

  Sooner or later, they would realize the same thing he did: this creature belonged to him.

  And he damn sure wasn’t about to let her go. Not without one hell of a fight.

  Chapter Thirty-Nine

  “Nope,” Oliver said with a chuckle. “Not that one. The eight ball goes in last.”

  “Why?” Bijou asked, her gaze cast over the pool table.

  “Those are the rules.”

  He watched as she considered her next move, her hand curled around the end of the stick as she studied the solids and stripes on the table. They’d been at this game for a good hour mainly for this very reason. Bijou spent more time planning than she did actually doing.

  Not that Oliver minded. In fact, he found it fascinating. Then again, he found everything about Bijou fascinating.

  There was no denying his mood had vastly improved since she’d moved into the mansion. Seeing her every day, even if it was just in passing, had given him a new lease on life. Almost as though he’d finally found where he belonged.

  Of course, that was stupid. He was like a square peg being shoved into a round hole. Oliver had nothing in common with a single soul here, but that was no longer something he focused on. He wanted to say it was all thanks to Bijou, but he wasn’t sure that was the truth. Since Reidar had given him a job to do—a true-blue paying job—adding additional tasks on day by day, urging him to think outside the box and be a contribution to their mission, that odd-man-out feeling had started to abate somewhat.

  “What about this one?” Bijou pointed at the three ball.

  “Sure. Go for it.”

  He admired her as she leaned over the table, her lean body shifting and moving until she was where she wanted to be. Bijou was, by far, the most beautiful woman … vampire he’d ever set his eyes upon. Quite the opposite of any of the women he’d ever been attracted to. Oliver could admit he’d always had a thing for chicks with an edge. Probably the reason he’d taken to Seraphina. Because he’d mistakenly believed her to be a stripper, he hadn’t worried that he would offend her delicate sensibilities.

  With Bijou, he found he wanted to be a better man. In the short time they’d been hanging out, Oliver had managed to cut back on the cursing, and though he was still polishing off every bottle of Belvedere he could get his hands on, they were lasting a little longer than normal. Cold turkey wasn’t his thing, but he figured he’d earned an A for effort.

  He smiled when the cue ball sailed toward the three, sending it to the right corner pocket … just not quite in the pocket. Had she put a little power behind that shot, Bijou would’ve sunk it. Then again, they’d already had to replace two cue balls when she’d impaled them with the stick. Her strength had shocked him.

  “I want to go for a swim,” she said as she passed him.

  “What’s stopping you?” he asked, leaning over and taking aim at the ten ball. He reared back and took the shot, sending it to the corner pocket.

  “Will you go with me?”

  Oliver peered over at her. “I thought you liked to swim alone.”

  That was what she’d told him the first time he’d offered to go with her.

  “I lied.”

  “All you have to do is ask, Bijou. I’ve got the night off, so I’d be happy to hang with you.”

  Hell, he would’ve followed her anywhere. Which was the problem and the very reason Oliver had been keeping his distance. For his own sanity, really. He was well awa
re of his reputation when it came to women. Slam, bam, thank you, ma’am was his mantra. Or it had been. Then he’d met Seraphina and he’d mistakenly believed there might be more than a quick roll. Then he’d learned he’d been banging a demon and…

  “Are you okay?” Bijou’s soft hand landed on his arm.

  Oliver gently eased his arm away from her touch. “Fine.”

  “You look pale.”

  Yeah, well, thinking about Seraphina tended to do that. Especially since he’d gotten a glimpse of what she looked like without the skin of a human covering her. He still saw that image in his nightmares, woke up in a cold sweat because … that was just nasty.

  “So you’ll swim with me?”

  “Sure.”

  Her smile was so wide he got a flash of fangs. That strange sensation—like someone had tossed sparklers into his chest cavity—had him gripping the side of the table. Oliver figured it was some strange fetish, because that would be just like him. He was a man-whore, no doubt about it. Never mind the fact he was doing his level best to keep his sights off the sweet, lovely vampire he was spending his time with. So it made total sense that he’d find some kind of sexual fascination with those sharp canines. The thought of Bijou sinking those razor-sharp teeth into his—

  “I’m going to grab a snack first. Then I’ll go get changed,” Bijou said. “Meet you down there?”

  Shaking off the crude image superimposed in his head, Oliver nodded. “Yep.”

  His gaze shifted to her denim-clad ass as she strolled out of the game room, disappearing into the hall.

  Oliver exhaled as he replaced the stick on the wall, then gathered all the balls into the rack, leaving them in place for whoever came to play after them.

  He rubbed a hand over his stomach, attempting to ease his intestines. He wasn’t sure what was causing the ruckus, but for the past few days, he’d felt … he wouldn’t so much say he was sick, but there was definitely something up. The more time he spent with Bijou, the worse it seemed to get. At first he’d mistaken it for desire. Because, duh, she did it for him in a major way.

  But then the cramping had started, as though his stomach was attempting to eat itself. It was almost like a hunger pain. On steroids.

  “Probably nerves,” he muttered as he stepped into his bedroom, closing the door behind him.

  That made him smile. Him? Nervous? No way. Not when it came to chicks.

  Then again, stranger things had happened.

  Orianna hugged the toilet, her face pale and clammy, sweat beading on her brow.

  It was the same position she’d been in for the past few hours, ever since they’d returned to the mansion. More specifically, ever since Eclipse had turned her into a mist and relocated her back to his private quarters.

  “Sezari?”

  “Hmm?” No matter how hard she tried, she couldn’t lift her head from where it rested on her forearm. It was hard enough to lift her eyelids, much less the heavier parts of her body.

  “I am so sorry,” he said for the thousandth time.

  She wanted to tell him not to be, but until her molecules realigned to the same spot they’d been before he’d ghosted her out of Oklahoma, she couldn’t string that many words together.

  Her stomach heaved, her head bobbing as she stared down into the clear water in the bowl. Her eyes closed as her body attempted to expel her stomach. She was convinced that was all that was left because everything else was long gone by now.

  A cool rag covered her forehead and she sighed, turning her head on her arm. The toilet flushed thanks to Eclipse, but she knew a heurosp was pacing the hallway, eager to get in here to clean up so neither of them had to.

  She wanted nothing more than to fall into bed and sleep for a millennium, but until she could get her body under control, relocating was only going to make it worse.

  Eclipse squatted down beside her. “I’ve got Reidar trying to find a human doctor.”

  Orianna managed a smile. A human doctor? What were they going to do? She seriously doubted there was a cure for motion sickness induced by teleporting.

  And to think, Eclipse had warned her it might be uncomfortable.

  That was the freaking understatement of the year.

  Uncomfortable was wearing jeans to Thanksgiving dinner or riding a bus next to a woman with pointy elbows. This… It was as though her brain had registered the fact she’d been splintered into the ether, her chemical makeup splattered across time and space only to be pulled back together at the end. Yeah. She’d take sitting in a car for nine hours, thank you very much.

  She couldn’t imagine anything worse than this. Not the worst hangover in the world held a candle to having your body split apart and miraculously pieced back together.

  The bad news? Well, that would be the fact that the magic reset button on her hormones had been pressed, and not only did she want to expel her innards, Orianna also had a bad case of the wants. Her body needed Eclipse’s despite the fact she was in no shape to accommodate. Which she figured was part of the reason for the sweat on her brow.

  A knock sounded, and then Eclipse was gone, leaving her to hug the toilet all by her lonesome. Orianna could hear the soft rumble of voices followed by a click, more footsteps.

  “I think we’ve got a solution.”

  She wanted to open her eyes to look, but her brain couldn’t relay the information to her optic nerve, so she remained right where she was.

  “It’s morphine,” he said simply. “It’ll knock you out long enough for your equilibrium to return.”

  This time she did conjure up enough energy to shake her head, rolling her forehead on her arm. No drugs for her. Nope. No way. Not after what she’d watched her mother go through for years.

  A soft grumble was all she could get out.

  “It’ll help, sezari.”

  “No. Drugs.”

  She was feeling better. Really.

  Her attempt to lift her head resulted in another endeavor for her body to expel her organs, but it didn’t last nearly as long. Surely that was a good sign.

  “If you won’t take the drugs, let me put you under for a little while.”

  “No drugs,” she forced through dry lips.

  “No drugs. I swear.”

  Orianna was about to ask what his intentions were, but then…

  Lights. Out.

  “She’ll be fine,” Aphotic said.

  “Her body just needs to rest,” Stygian added.

  “Penelope survived it,” Obsidian surmised.

  Eclipse was aware of all the voices, but he had nothing to contribute. They could placate him all fucking night, wouldn’t change the fact that he’d damn near killed his female. From the instant they’d taken form here at the mansion nearly twenty-four hours ago, he’d realized the error of his ways. Probably wouldn’t have been a big deal if it hadn’t been for the distance they’d covered in such a short time.

  “It really wouldn’t hurt to get a healer in here,” Obsidian said, agreeing to Eclipse’s earlier request.

  That got Eclipse’s attention. He peered over at his brothers as Aphotic spoke up.

  “We can’t afford another human knowing about us.”

  Stygian nodded in agreement. “He’s right.”

  “Not a human doctor, then,” Obsidian suggested.

  Eclipse barked a laugh. “Then what? A vampire healer? How the hell will that help?”

  “I was thinking more along the lines of an angel.” Obsidian’s tone said he didn’t appreciate the fact they thought he was an idiot.

  “And you know one?” Stygian inquired.

  “No.”

  Which was the biggest issue of all. They’d never needed medical attention. Their powers were strong enough to heal one another, the need for an outside source unnecessary. The only time they’d ever run into issues was with the fiestreigh. From time to time, if he or his brothers weren’t around, someone would require medical attention. Which was the very reason they kept the Fae on hand. Those
males and females had more powers than Eclipse and his brothers and, thus far, had been able to manage taking care of any injuries.

  “We’ve run into this issue before,” Obsidian said, his silver gaze settling on Eclipse’s face. “When you were shot, remember?”

  Oh, he remembered. He would never forget the sight of Penelope crumbling to her knees when Obsidian had removed the bullet from his shoulder. She had endured every ounce of his agony because it had been transferred through her mate.

  But Obsidian did have a point. Once they were all mated, they would be forsaking their females if they had to assist an injury. If they had someone in house, so to speak, he or she could take care of whatever emergencies arose. Someone who was trained for that sort of thing.

  “Not only that,” Aphotic inserted, “but like it or not, we’ve got humans in our ranks now. Oliver, Winnie. We need someone who’s familiar with the human makeup.”

  Eclipse didn’t mention Orianna’s mother, who was currently en route. Considering he had no place other than the mansion to put her, they were about to add one more to the head count. But he’d be damned if he would apologize for it.

  “Agree.” Obsidian paced across the room, then paused.

  Eclipse should’ve known what he was doing, but it wasn’t until he heard the flutter of wings that he realized Obsidian had summoned Michael.

  Heaven help them all. That male was spending more and more time here. In fact, Eclipse was surprised Michael hadn’t commandeered his own crash pad so he could waste away the days, not only the nights.

  The archangel took a quick look around, dark brows lowering. “Who died?”

  Eclipse growled low in his throat, pinning the male with a hateful glare.

  “Relax.” Michael waved him off. “I’m well aware of the human and her … issues.”

  Issues? He’d blown her apart, brought her back together, and now her body was rejecting itself.

  Obsidian went on to explain the situation as well as tack on his request for a medical professional.

  “Your request is for an angel to heal your humans?” Michael snorted as though the suggestion was ludicrous.