Chapter Eight
Limos
Icouldn’t stop my hand from brushing her soft, freckled face as she slept. The sadness that had stolen my attention earlier had faded, but it was burned into my memory, and the pain in my chest hadn’t gone away.
Her smile had been so full of heartbreak, it’d silenced me and made it impossible to seek her out after she left.
Most mortals begged for their lives, denying their inevitable deaths, but Nomi quietly accepted hers. Her concerns fell to the baker she hugged and teased all day instead.
A letter she’d written after leaving me earlier was addressed to him. It hadn’t been sealed, so I’d read it, unable to contain my curiosity. The first two lines had stunned me to the spot.
Dearest Old Man,
If you’re reading this, I’m dead, and I’m so sorry I left you after I promised never to leave you alone again. I did everything I could to stay.
The pain in my chest had intensified after reading her beautifully scribed letter. It hadn’t been angry or frustrated or pitying. Every line was full of gratefulness and affection for all he’d done for her. Her love for him was in every word.
I’d always thought mortals were self-serving and greedy. Today had proven that I was wrong to assume they all were. This one in particular I was drawn to in ways I couldn’t ignore anymore.
Her vibrancy and compassion and her joy and capacity to love were mesmerizing. Because from the sadness and pain I’d caught sight of the previous night when she talked about her now-dead father, I couldn’t fathom how she’d blossomed to be this strong and kind.
She reminded me of Ares.
It wasn’t my intention to tell her about finding the only person who I could count as someone I cared about, but I’d been guided by impulsivity since meeting the mortal. Against my better judgment and all the plans I’d carefully made, I revealed it.
I told Nomi more than I should’ve.
I hadn’t been in control of myself. I’d been motivated by urges. The urge to be close to her, to feel her skin, to taste the food she made, to hear her soft laughter and raspy voice—all of it made me speak and do more than I ever had.
Ignis and Glacies were tucked under her chin again, staying as close to her as possible since she went to bed. They’d been attached to her all day, frantic to ease her hurt. Because the human was desperately sad but refusing to show it.
I’d never seen the wisps protective over anyone, not even myself. But they were drawn to her the same way I was.
The feeling in my chest intensified again, and I rubbed at it with a fist. I couldn’t make heads or tails of anything I was doing or feeling, and I’d never struggled to understand my actions or the actions of others. But everything since meeting my Counter Soul had boggled the mind.
With my arm tucked under my head and body laid out next to hers, I stared at her soft face and brushed my thumb over her lip before I could think better of it. A sigh escaped her and I went rigid, but she didn’t move more than that. She stayed asleep.
I dragged her lower lip down with my thumb, slipping closer.
The softness against the pad of my finger I wanted to test on my own lips.
I couldn’t explain why. It seemed important, and I couldn’t deny myself the chance.
But as soon as our mouths were a breath away, my senses screamed danger.
I was on my feet and moving with frightening quickness from her home.
The demon wasn’t far. He’d done his best to stay hidden, but my senses were finer tuned than my fellow Horsemen. I rarely fought, but when I did…
He didn’t see me coming before I had him lifted into the air. Thick ice swiftly covered his body. I left his head free and stared into the eyes of a possessed mortal.
“Who sent you here?” I demanded in an even, low tone.
His lips pulled back into a snarl. “I—”
Then his body was enveloped in hellfire, burned from the inside out. He became ashes in my hand, but ice protected my skin from the brutal burn. This fire was definitely born of Hell. I’d know its smell anywhere. Someone had sent him, and they didn’t want it traced back to them.
Was it the same demon who’d gone after Zelus’s Counter Soul or someone else? If they were coming after mine, it meant they hadn’t succeeded in getting his. But how were they finding her when they’d never once located me?
Despite the mortal’s death, Thanatos wouldn’t trace me here since he’d been consumed by hellfire, so I was safe from the Horseman they called Death for now. But it meant I might have more problems than Michael if one of the Fallen Brothers was after my Counter Soul.
Ignis and Glacies had split, remaining partially with Nomi. They never left her side anymore, and I couldn’t blame them, not with as many demons that had already come.
They danced around me, awaiting orders, twirling and flickering brightly. “See that there aren’t more.”
They brightened, then divided into thousands before shooting off in all directions and leaving trails of red and blue light. A starburst of color.
I stared at the dark street, overcome by a weighted sensation in my core, one I’d suffered when I discovered Ares was hiding from me the same way she’d hid from the other Horsemen.
After confirming there were no others, I returned to Nomi’s room. I didn’t lie out like I had before. I stood in the corner and stayed alert. The demon had gotten too close this time, and I wouldn’t let myself be distracted.
They knew where she was, but I wouldn’t make it easy for them to get close.
It’d been a little over a week since I started watching over the mortal.
Every night, I laid out next to her and watched her sleep, still consumed by urges I couldn’t explain.
Throughout the day, I’d pick off demons, but they weren’t aggressive the same way Zelus described with his Counter Soul. More searching than confident.
Maybe their hesitation came because I’d also been challenged by several angels in the area. One even claimed I was better off letting the soul die at her hand so Nomi could find eternal happiness in Heaven.
“If you don’t want the world to end like I suspect you don’t, Limos, let the human go quietly. Let her find eternal peace. I’ll be kind, I promise. Gentle. This one…she deserves it the most,” she said.
Her words struck something inside me. It burrowed and burned. The feeling nagged at me since hearing the angel’s words, an eruption of intensity that consumed my insides, but the angel quickly retreated when she realized how determined I was to protect the mortal.
Nomi went about her normal routine, reserving most of the day to stay by the side of her loved one at the place she called a bakery café.
Then she spent the evenings having dinner with him at his home.
He’d often grumble at her every time she’d insist on cooking and staying, but the happiness that softened his expression couldn’t be missed.
His affection for her was as vibrant as hers was.
She left her apartment early and returned late, having asserted that the meowing creature she fussed over stay with the aged mortal for a time.
Who had quite the noisy creature himself, the pudgy thing always on some crusade to attack shadows and defend its master despite falling on its face more than once in its attempts to do so.
After a week, the long days and late nights had weighed on her. She was withering away. She barely ate, even when she made it her mission to fuss over the other human and his lack of eating.
The only time Nomi returned to her home was to write letters and for a couple hours of fitful sleep.
I’d noticed it the second night, how her dreams plagued her.
When I lied next to her and stroked her skin, the fits calmed and her fear eased.
I’d taken to it every night since, going right to her side the second her breaths evened out.
The letters she wrote had grown over the week, nearly enough to fill a shoebox.
She kept them safely tucked away as if she worried someone might discover them, and she never let me watch her compose a single one.
She always told me to relax and play whatever games she had, then hid away in her room.
One staggering change I noted was how much space she kept between us.
When I’d lean in close, she’d retreat. When I’d sit next to her, she’d get up and find something to do.
I’d thought at first she was uncomfortable, but the more time I spent with her, the more I realized that it was an intentional effort to put distance between us.
And…it bothered me.
The nights I lied next to her were the closest we ever got, and I was eager for them. I’d nearly forgotten what I was meant to be doing. Finding Ares. In another few days, it’d be safe to track and follow Michael. The minute I had a location to trace, I needed to leave.
I peered at the room, having paused my game. I found so little joy in doing anything that wasn’t watching her that I’d only played to keep up appearances. I sensed her scratching away at the usual paper, her soft voice reading back the words she’d written.
Standing, I eyed the kitchen. Nomi liked to drink coffee and eat sweets. She’d brought some home from Felix’s earlier. They sat on the counter next to the machine I’d watched her make her favorite drink in several times.
Spiriting over to it, I fiddled with the buttons and got the black liquid pouring the way I’d seen her do. After it was done, I made the cup exactly how she did every morning. I put in cream and sugar, then plated the brown pastry she called a strawberry croissant.
I’d never much cared for humans or their food before meeting her. I hadn’t bothered to pay attention to anything unless I was spoiling it to bring about a scheduled famine. But I’d noticed a lot over the last week. She was especially fond of these.