CHAPTER THIRTY-SEVEN
Lexi tugged on the binding that held her hands above her head. The rough wood was cutting into her skin but she didn’t care. No way was she going to sit here and let Michael finish whatever game he was playing. Whatever he had done to Richard seemed to have knocked him out for the moment, but the angel did not seem at all concerned. He just waited, of course he did. Everything the fucker had done was about bringing Layla here, not about actually hurting her.
“Lexi, dear, I would stop that. Wasting such precious blood. It really won’t do.” Condescending prick.
“Why don’t you come over here and stop me then? You seem so concerned about my physical wellbeing and all.”
Michael smiled, rolling his shoulders with a crack. The air hummed with power, and in the blink of an eye, his wings were gone. Lexi stopped struggling, her eyes wide as Michael fully stretched his arms back looking much more relaxed.
“There, much more comfortable. They do get in the way I find.” He sauntered over to her, taking his time in every step. For a supreme being who had the end of the world on his mind he did not seem to be in any kind of a rush. “I have to say, Lexi, you are almost as delectable as the Seer of Dreams, almost. I can see why Richard has been obsessed with you for so long.”
“What the hell are you talking about?” Lexi was starting to get a distinct feeling of dread in her stomach.
“Lust saw in Richard’s head. He tried to shield you from it. Honorable fool that he is. Still couldn’t stop his nature, could he?” Michael reached for her, running his hand down her flat stomach and under her shirt. She hissed at the icy touch, twisting her body to try and get away.
“Don’t talk about him!”
Michael laughed, grabbing her around the throat and closing off her airway. “Contrary little bitch, aren’t you? One second craving him, the next forcing him away? Making him feel like a beast. You did more damage to him than I ever could.” Lexi gasped, trying to suck in air, the brutal cold from his hand freezing her throat. “I don’t think of what’s going to happen next as a punishment, my dear. Think of it as a lesson, so you can appreciate the difference between what Lust is and what a real monster is. You’re welcome.” His voice was devoid of anything close to emotion as he leaned in and kissed her, the lightest feather of his touch leaving her lips like ice.
He let her throat go and moved away, revealing the form of a very awake and very insane-looking Richard. He was panting hard, his eyes locked on her with a deep hunger that chilled her blood. Oh god, he didn’t even look like the man she had seen twenty minutes ago. Saliva dripped from his open mouth, his eyes were bloodshot. One hand was rubbing his groin through his slacks, showing off the clear erection he was sporting.
“Richard? What’s he done to you?” Lexi had never been terrified before, not like this. The night her mother had died and her niece had been born had scared her, and brought sorrow and joy. But this was beyond that—this was a soul-destroying terror of knowing what was going to happen next, and being powerless to stop it.
“Lexi, Lexi. You know how long I have wanted to fuck you.” His smile was inhuman, his eyes were dead. Seer powers weren’t needed to know this man had no soul. He advanced on her, his hands moving to the belt of his pants. “I used to think about you when I fucked your sister.”
“Stop it, Richard! This isn’t you!” As he got closer his hands reached for her legs and she kicked at him, preventing him from getting a grip on her.
“Oh, this is me. He has set me free! All those years I held myself back! I had to be a good son, I had to follow the rules! I feel no guilt now! I can do anything I want! Fuck who I want! Kill who I want! I’m going to start with you, Lexi. Just like I wanted in school, your smart-ass mouth that always had a comeback. I’m going to make you take all of me. I’m going to make you like it, whore! And when your sister arrives, I’m going to make you both take it! Then I’m going to fuck you while I strangle the life from your body. Oh god, yes! That’s what I want, you will be the first. I want that, so badly. I want to watch the life go out of your pretty eyes while you feel me deep inside your pussy as you die, bitch!” He grabbed her, his hand gripping an ankle and pulling her roughly, forcing himself between her legs.
“Get off me, you bastard!” No way on this earth was she going to let this sick motherfucker touch her. She writhed against the bindings that held her. Ignoring the screaming pain in her wrists, her angry screams fueled her rage as she felt his hands pulling at the borrowed sweats, exposing her panties and legs.
He ripped them off her, his hands going to his pants again. Lexi took her chance. Lifting her body weight with her arms she brought her legs up. Lexi used the ball of her foot to crack him hard, directly in the face. The satisfying sound of breaking bone and the surge of blood brought a smile to her lips as he fell to the snow, cradling his face.
“You bitch! You fucking little whore!”
Richard surged to his feet and drove his fist into her stomach, knocking the wind from her. She sucked in a breath, only to have another fist drive into her ribs. She coughed and he pulled her head up by her hair.
“I’m gonna fuck you now, Lexi. I’m pretty sure you aren’t gonna like it.” His cruel smile made her sick. His hand moved to her panties, grabbing the edge. Lexi drew her head back and brought it forward hard, cracking him in the face where her foot had already broken his nose.
He roared and stumbled back, covering his face, his pants around his ankles and his cock hanging out of his briefs. He kicked the ground, swearing loudly. Michael just laughed the whole time.
Richard rolled to his knees, slowly getting back to his feet. He looked more like a rabid beast in that moment, blood and spit dripping from his face. He walked to her and back-handed her face so hard her head jerked to the side. She went limp in the restraints. Richard panted and laughed with manic joy.
“Mine, you’re mine.” His hand pulled her panties from her body and he stepped between her legs, one hand rubbing his cock back to hardness.
His triumph was short lived. An explosion of whirling blue flame erupted from the air no more the four feet from him. His eyes stared in terrified awe as the flames parted with a pair of huge mottled blue wings revealing the form of a massive demon.
Tanus lowered Layla and Annabelle to the ground, his gaze locked on the motherfucker that stood between them and a beaten and bleeding Lexi. He heard Layla gasp.
Richard let out a small pathetic laugh, like that of a broken child, as he stumbled back from the half-naked woman. Pointing at the demon he began to laugh his mind fractured into hysterics.
“A demon, a fucking demon!” He stumbled in the snow, falling to his knees. His eyes went wide when they found Annabelle. “There she is! There is my little girl! I’ve come to take you home An, errr, ba… baby! You are going to make me rich! You know that! You will heal sooo many people. Only the right ones! Then I will breed you! Maybe I will put a baby in you first, just to be sure!”
Tanus curled his lip in disgust. Richard was out of his mind crazy. He began crawling toward Annabelle. She cried out and hid behind her mother, and that was the last straw. Tanus saw red, the fire in his soul roaring to life. He turned his gaze on the mortal. There would be no cleansing of this soul, Wrath was going to burn him to ash. He stepped between the pathetic meat sack and his family. He opened his wings, flames rushing over his flesh. The human looked up at him and tears rolled down his blood-stained cheeks—a moment of clarity in his fractured mind.
“Kill me. Please, kill me.” His voice was a whimpered plea.
“With pleasure.” Tanus’ cold tone chilled the air. The smile on the mortal’s face was thankful bliss. Fire gathered at the tips of his wings, black mingled with blue fire.
“TANUS! NO!” Layla’s voice snapped him out of the rage in a second. He turned his head back to look at her.
“You are joking, right?” He couldn’t understand her. Richard had been about to rape her sister, and she wanted him to stop? She moved toward him and touched his back, her eyes locking on his. His wings dropped a little, the flames dying down.
“Not like this, Tanus, please?” Her eyes implored him and he sighed, tucking his wings up on his back.
“If you wish it. I am not sure Lexi will be so understanding.”
Clap. Clap. Clap. Clap.
He turned to see Michael walking toward them through the snow. “Bravo, Wrath. What a show. Good entry, nice landing. Too bad about the ending, bit of a letdown. I expected flames, rage. Where’s the fury? I’m disappointed.” Tanus moved, shielding Layla from Michael’s gaze, his chest heaving, keeping every sense locked on Michael. The human, Richard, was bent over, a sobbing shell in the snow.
“So, it appears the Seer of Beasts has managed to calm your inner rage. How sweet. A love story for the ages. Deserves to go in a fucking romance novel.” Michael dropped his hands to his sides, his calm demeanor gone in a second. “I’m done playing, Sin of Wrath. I’m tired of the games with these miserable humans. I’m sick of fighting for ground against those who should be fighting WITH me!”
“How can you stand it?” Michael’s voice echoed in the valley. He panted hard before composing himself, running his hand down his suit. He let out a breath slowly. “This world is plagued by imperfection and decadent overindulgence. All they do is eat, eat, eat! Fuck, fuck, fuck! Join me, Wrath. Together we can cleanse the world of this filth.” He gestured to the whimpering Richard who was now rocking back and forth drooling on himself.
“Go fuck yourself, Michael.” Tanus felt Layla’s hand tighten against his back, her head to his wings. He would never leave her, she was his life.
Michael shrugged and sighed. “Oh well, worth a try.” Michael lifted his hand and snapped his fingers. Richard’s body suddenly burst into flames, his screams of agony ripping through the air.
Layla gasped, pressing her face against his back. “Oh, god.” Annabelle had a death grip on his leg the whole time, her eyes wide, staring at the angel and the unspeakable act he’d just performed.
“Well, well, there she is. Annabelle, isn’t it? First of the new generation of Seers. We’re going to have so much fun together!” Tanus didn’t know what was more disturbing, the fact Michael was smiling at the five-year-old like an old friend, or the fact he was acting like a big kid himself.
“You… stay away… from her.” The broken voice came from behind him. Lexi lifted her head, focusing on Michael with narrowed eyes. Tanus could see her body had already started healing the wounds. He thanked the gods for her fast healing ability; already her face was looking better. The fact she was naked from the waist down didn’t seem to bother her at all—at least she gave that impression, but he knew better.
Michael turned his head back to Lexi, his eyes losing that easy edge he used with the child. “Silence, Seer, your part in this is done. Chamuel, see Lexi to her new accommodations.”
Tanus watched a brown-haired angel, who had up until this point been silent, move away from an unconscious man. He nodded and began walking toward Lexi as if he didn’t have a care in the world.
“Don’t touch my sister!” Layla straightened her back and moved from behind Tanus.
Tanus could feel the energy in the air building. His eyes focused on the figure of the unconscious male near the truck whose hands were tied to the truck’s grate. With his head drooped forward, he barely seemed to be breathing. He knew right away this was Asmodeus. What was wrong with him? His energy level was so low, barely moving at a snail’s pace inside his body. It almost looked like the same energy pattern when Annabelle had been close to death, when her own life force could not make it to her brain because of the blockage at the base of her skull. Fury boiled in his gut. His brother looked dead, and the bastard angels were just dismissing him as if he were no threat.
Come on, brother, wake up. I know you’re in there. Fight this thing. Tanus reached for him with his mind. They had to have some kind of link, they shared a heart.
Tanus assessed the situation before him; it did not look good. Lexi was incapacitated with an advancing angel coming toward her. Asmodeus was out cold with no sign that he was coming to any time soon. Layla was shaking so hard he could see her physically trying to hold herself still, and poor Annabelle had tightened her death grip on his leg. He needed this to end, and quickly. He would not allow his family to suffer any longer.
“You’re all so noble, you Seers. Always protecting the things you love. But I fear you are in a difficult predicament, my dear Layla. Who will you protect? Your twin sister? Your demon lover? Or your sweet firstborn daughter?” Michael looked like a kid in a candy store. He rubbed his hands together with abject glee. “So exciting! Who will you pick?”
“That’s enough, Michael.” Tanus turned, kneeling and whispering something to Annabelle. She nodded slowly and let him go. Straightening, he turned to face the angel walking toward him through the snow, each step he took melting the ground around him.
“Tanus.” Layla’s voice was barely a whisper. He turned back so he could see her and smiled.
“I love you, Layla. No matter what happens, you gave me that ability.”
Michael made a disgusted sound. “You are truly and utterly pathetic. I keep hoping you will show me some evidence that you are not as woefully pitiful as you seem. Yet every time you disappoint me.”
“I live to disappoint you, Michael,” Tanus flexed his claws out. Last time he faced down this angel he ended up bleeding out, on his knees on the floor of a cave in Tartarus. He had underestimated this man, and he had paid for it. He would not make that mistake again. Right now Michael did not have his wings out—he had a chance, and he only needed one.
“Evidently.” Michael curled his lip and scowled. “Come then, Sin of Wrath. Do try and put up more of a fight this time, won’t you?”
Tanus growled low. No, dammit, he would not let his fury swamp him! That was his mistake last time, he’d run in head first, he hadn’t thought it through. He didn’t read his target, he just attacked, and ended up paying the price for his impatience. Layla was his talisman, she was his protection from that raging torrent inside his soul—this battle would go very differently.