Willow

I’m done with this asshole in my head. He … she … it needs to realize I signed an eviction notice about ten seconds after I realized it was here. Over and over, my body continues to be stolen from me as I wait for Devin to come back. I don’t know what he’ll do. I’m not sure he can help me at all, to be honest. There’s a sinking feeling in the pit of my stomach, and I’m pretty sure it means this only ends one way. With me in a pine box.

That’s not true, little human. There’s another way out.

Finally, the Watcher speaks. It’s weird to hear my own voice in my head when I’m not the one using it.

“What way?”

Let me call my leader. He can save you. You can be with Devin again.

I’m not an idiot. These are the bad guys, that much is abundantly clear, but if I can figure out a way out of this with my life intact, I’m open.

“What’s the catch?”

No catch. Aside from you letting me get a head start out of town. I don’t like your vessel. There’s a reason the fallen chose vampires over humans. Your little bodies can’t withstand the force of our grace.

“If you’re fallen, how do you even have grace?”

We lost our wings, but our grace is like our blood. The blood of the fallen may be weaker, but it is still strong enough to burn up a human from the inside out.

I shudder at the visual. “Aren’t you a guy? Why are you inside me?” Before the Watcher can answer, I chuckle. “Oh … you’re gay. I get it.”

Anger snaps in my head, making me wince. I can choose any vessel I wish, but it’s true, I’d have preferred to take a male host. I find fucking a woman so much more pleasing, and the feeding is … more effective.

“What do you mean?” My skin crawls at the thought of him using me to feed on Devin.

A woman’s body is so different from a man’s. The ability to create life, for instance, takes its own special magic. We are able to feed on that when we spill our seed inside a woman. Here, inside you, I’m starving all the time. You can take from him, but he can’t sustain a life like a female can. He has less power for me to feed off, and Sariel takes from you even as I take from Devin. To keep this up, we’ll have to drain him dry just to survive a week.

My stomach twists. I don’t want this. I don’t want to have an intruder in my head, calling the shots, making me hurt Devin.

“Fine, call your leader. I want out.” I couldn’t care less who he calls as long as I can get this over with.

The Watcher laughs, and my ears pop as the air around us shifts. The most beautiful man I’ve ever seen stands before me. His benevolent smile and soft gaze eases my worry.

“Hello, Willow. It looks like you’ve gotten yourself into a bit of trouble.”

I nod. I have no words for this being. I just want to stare at him and bask in his aura.

“And you, Armaros. What is wrong with you? Why would you take a human? You could have easily turned her before letting go of Mark.”

Suddenly, my mouth is speaking words I have no control of. “She staked him. I had just enough time to get inside her before I’d have been sent to purgatory. Please believe me.”

The beautiful man shakes his head, staring down sadly at his feet. “I really didn’t want it to end like this. Purgatory is the best place for a fuckup like you, Armaros.”

Calm washes over me as I realize he’s going to send the Watcher away. I’ll be free. Things can go back to how they were. Until his eyes harden and he extends dark black wings tipped in crimson liquid. With a quick flick of his wrist, my bindings come undone, but I can’t move. My arms flop uselessly by my sides as he slashes the length of my forearms with two sure strokes of an invisible blade. They bleed immediately. He’s cut me deep. Panic starts to build in my chest, but he rests a hand on my forehead.

“Hush, darling. It will be over soon. I can save you if you wish. Join me and live. All you have to do is swear your loyalty. You can have Devin, you can have your vengeance, you can even live forever if you want. Just say the word, and I’ll give it all to you.”

In that instant, I know who he is. I know what he wants. And there’s no way I’m giving it to him. With me gone, Devin will fulfill his bargain and his soul will be saved. With me gone, he won’t be distracted and they can win their war. With me gone, he stands a chance at redemption.

I’m already so weak, my lips can barely form the words. Lucifer leans in, his chiseled face close to my mouth as I whisper, “Go to Hell.”

* * *

Devin

“Willow!” I smell the blood, thick, coppery, and plentiful, as soon as I step through her door.

Something isn’t right, and as the air shifts, a sense of despair cloaks me. Angels. Someone is here, with her, hurting her.

Running to her room, I stop and fight the bloodlust rising as I see her. She’s still breathing, her chest rising and falling in shallow pants, but her skin is so pale.

“Who did this? Willow? Talk to me, Angel. Who?”

She’s trying, her lips move, but no sound comes out. All she can do is shake her head as she bleeds freely from her wrists. I race into her bathroom, grabbing every towel I can find to stanch the bleeding. Pressing the fabric to the precise cuts while I tear at the skin of my wrist and hold it to her mouth, I pray for the first time in a very long time. She frowns, moving her mouth away from my offering.

“No,” she manages.

I pull her into my lap and press my wrist to her again. “Willow, you have to drink. You’ll die if you don’t.”

Shaking her head again, she seals her lips.

“Fuck, Willow! Come on. You can’t leave me. Not now. I just found you.”

But she’s stubborn, refusing me with the will of a warhorse, and I’m crumbling. The only thing I can give her to keep her going is soaking into the floor along with her life. Her pulse has slowed to a nearly imperceptible rhythm now. It’s only a matter of a few short minutes until she’s gone, and I can’t do a fucking thing about it.

“Gabriel, please!” I scream his name, not caring about the neighbors, or the time, just needing his help. I’d spent hours calling for him tonight as I roamed the city with no results, and now, with nothing left, here I was begging for his attention. “Answer me this time, you fucking winged asshole!”

“Oh, Devin. What have you done?” Gabriel’s voice makes me cringe. He sounds almost amused at my plight as I sit here while the woman I love dies in my arms.

“It wasn’t me. One of you did this. I felt it.”

His eyebrows rise in question. “I assure you, none of my brothers did this. We don’t need to kill her.” He reaches out and places a hand on her head. “Oh, but she has a Watcher inside her. I see. Lucifer always was the twisted sort.”

My vision runs red as waves of rage course through me. “Lucifer did this?”

“Most likely. She must be strong, to refuse him.”

“Fix her.” The tightness in my words betrays my slim margin of control.

He shakes his head and sighs. “I can’t. She’s a breath away from Heaven either way. Her body can’t handle the Watcher for long. He’ll burn up her soul as he uses her body. And when she dies, her Watcher will be sent to purgatory.”

“Fine. Thanks for nothing.” Gritting my teeth, I look at her. I might be a selfish prick, but there’s no way I’m letting her die. Even if she hates me for eternity, at least she’ll still be here. Tilting her head back, I open her mouth. She’s not fighting me now, because all the fight has left her. I break the skin of my wound again and let my blood trickle into her mouth, willing her to swallow.

“Devin. Stop this.” Gabriel’s voice holds the barest hint of warning.

“No. She can’t die. Not now.” A tear slips down my cheek, and I want to scream in rage and frustration. She can’t leave me. I won’t allow it.

“You’re condemning her soul to purgatory.”

“But she’ll be alive. She’ll be with me.” But then it dawns on me. Sariel. The transfer of a Watcher from one host to the next typically happens during the process of making a vampire. Is this going to kill me? I don’t fucking care. If I go down saving her, so be it.

She already has a Watcher, Devin. I have nowhere to move on to.

It doesn’t matter anyway. As I hold my wrist to her mouth, desperation claws at me with every second that passes. She doesn’t move, doesn’t swallow or latch onto my skin.

She’s gone.

I’ve lost her.