Chapter Twenty
CAM
Cam stared at Oriah in both horror and contempt. The idea that she wanted Thea to kill her, and everything she did to get Thea to the Demon Realm, was so horrific that he was on the verge of just taking his chances and killing her right there. Thea only just learned Oriah was alive not long ago and would have wanted to have the chance to get to know her, especially after her father's revelations about her.
What was even more disturbing, was that Thea was considering it. Thea had never killed a Legion demon before, he trained her to only focus on vanquishing Spectras and maybe the occasional Asmos demon. Yes, she was more powerful now, but why should she have to go through that just because her mother didn't want to suffer in hell for eternity?
It was only when Thea's mother confessed that she was mated to the Devourer that Cam understood why the Creator wanted her destroyed in the first place—killing Oriah would most likely affect the Devourer in some way, and possibly affect the entire Demon Realm. The Angels and the human world desperately needed that right now, especially after what Thea had done under the influence of her mother.
He watched Thea swallow and close her eyes. Her mother still had a hold over her, he could feel it in her energy, and it set him on edge considering what she had already made her do. Regardless of whatever excuses she gave Thea about her previous choices, she couldn't even let Thea make up her own mind and use her own thoughts and feelings. She forced her here and manipulated her the whole way and was still doing so. Even if Thea did kill her mother, how would she have escaped alive if Cam hadn’t come? The woman was was a monster.
"Hurry, Thea," Oriah pleaded, her voice grave and desperate.
Thea turned to Cam, her eyes shining with all of the emotion that had been missing from her lately—love, trust, desire. She looked torn, trying to make a decision that she didn't truly understand, and she needed Cam's help. Cam didn't know what to say to her. He knew deep down she wouldn't want to kill the one woman that had been missing from her life. Even though she grew up believing she was dead the whole time, if Thea killed her, she truly would be dead and it would be by Thea's hand. He considered moving to kill Oriah, but if she was truly mated to the Devourer she was indeed stronger than any other Legion he had fought. He didn't know how far she would go to hurt Thea if he tried to take her out. He couldn't be responsible for that, so he stood, frustrated and annoyed, watching the confusion on Thea's face.
The door swung open and several demons poured into the room. Cam began to fight automatically, but he couldn’t draw from the Stream and there were too many of them.
Finally, he understood what had happened to Kara. She had been inside the demon control room and he had been outside of it. If it had been shielded like this, she wouldn’t have been able to draw from the Stream. The demons had been trying to lure him in there also—if he had tried to save her, he would’ve definitely died. He should have shared the information with Zak, who could have instructed other angels, so any Power confronted by this situation would be prepared and possibly find a way around it.
He glanced at Thea and saw she was still frozen under the control of her mother. Soon, the demons surrounded both him and Thea and he immediately stopped fighting as he saw a demonic blade poised at her neck.
"If you move," said the demon standing next to her, in a low and gritty voice, "I will destroy her with this blade."
Cam froze, his eyes focused on Thea. He couldn't look away from her; her eyes were wide and he could tell she was struggling within herself, fighting to regain control over her body from her mother. The Legion surrounded him in a circle, watching him but not getting too close. The others surrounded Thea. He watched as they looked over her appreciatively, muttering between them.
"You should have killed me," Oriah said, despondent and angry. "Now you will be mated to the Devourer as well, Thea. You were the one he wanted all along. That’s what I promised the demons."
"No!" Cam roared, an acute anger filtering into him with the realization of what she was saying. He could not and would not lose Thea to the endless torment of such a life. His urge to kill Oriah strengthened. She was the one who brought Thea here. He wanted to destroy her completely, so she would no longer have control over Thea. He began to fight to get to her, and the Legion around him tightened as they fought back. In his fury, he was able to destroy one of the Legion who held onto him, tearing away so hard he took the Legion's arm off in a single rip but he didn't care. He needed to do anything he could to save Thea, even if it meant being the beast she hated.
"Cam!" Thea called, her voice weak. The Legion who was holding the dagger to her throat placed the tip on her neck and was drawing it down, creating a slim line of red on her skin. He stared at Cam with a wide grin on his face and dug the blade in deeper. Thea cried out and winced.
Cam stopped fighting and put his hands up. "Stop!" he bellowed. "Don't kill her. I won't fight."
The Legion around him grabbed him and held him tight, while the demon holding the dagger widened his grin. "Oh, we don't want to kill her," he said, playfully. "It's much more fun when angelic beings are mated to demons while they still have angelic energy in them. It's an exquisite experience, actually." He removed the dagger from Thea's throat. "She will be mated to the Devourer. He will want her as she is." He turned to the other Legions around Thea and ordered them to take her.
They began to drag Thea out of the room and away from Cam.
All of the burning pain rushing over Cam's body from being in the Demon Realm, the overwhelming burning sensation that covered his skin from head to toe, was nothing compared to the fury and desperation inside Cam. It coursed through his veins, it filled his whole body, it was more intense than any rage he had ever felt because there was only one thing he could do to save her now, and she may hate him for it. This was it. He would either die or fail her.
"Thea!" Cam cried, focusing on the feeling inside his body allowing it to turn into pure energy as he gathered a bit of his power into his core. Thea looked back at him, met his eye and held it. In that moment, he succumbed to the one thing his angel-form had wanted him to do from the very beginning. Pushing all of that energy into his halo, he reached for her, sending his halo of energy towards hers.
Thea's eyes widened as she saw it—she was the only one who could. Glancing at her mother, she projected her halo back to him.
Over the heads of the demons and her mother, their halo energy crossed and fed into the other, blending into each other's angel-forms as they mated. Power, unlike anything he had ever known shuddered through Cam, coursing into him and filling him with Thea's mind and her feelings. The burning all over his body lessened immediately, and he could feel the sting at the back of his neck where his claiming symbol would now be. But most of all, he felt Thea inside him—her whole heart and mind. He had never felt so complete.
He gazed at her in wonder, and she gave him a wondrous smile back even as the Legion were dragging her away. Inside of her, through their connection, he felt the love she held for him and it was so strong. She still loved him and he couldn't give that up.
Thea, he said to her, knowing she could hear him. We have to fight.