22 ANGEL’S ADVOCATE
ANGEL’S ADVOCATE
W ITHOUT HER ABILITY TO FLASH, S UNSHINE WAS unable to overpower the towering demon. To his credit, Mist didn’t try to injure her, but he wasn’t gentle as he forced her to follow him.
He obviously knew the layout of the building well because he dragged her across the roof to a particular corner and simply dropped off the edge. His wings flared to break their fall as they landed on the balcony of the demons’ apartment.
Mist opened the patio door, keeping a firm grip on her arm. At this point, she was going along willingly, even if it was stupid. She wanted to make sure Raum was okay.
Her concern morphed rapidly into alarm as they stepped inside and were met with chaos. Raum’s enormous four-winged demon form was locked in a furious tussle with a massive flaming Belial.
Around them, the ceiling and walls were blackened with scorch marks. The dining table was on its side, and dishes and decorative items had been shattered. It seemed that anything breakable had been destroyed.
Mist and Sunshine had both frozen in shock, which told her that this had not been part of the plan. That small second of reflection was all she allowed herself before she sprang into action.
She reflexively tried to flash out of Mist’s grip, failed again, and then simply swung a hand around to strike him in the throat. Distracted by the mayhem, the Hunter didn’t see the hit coming, and his recoil gave her the opportunity to tug her arm from his grip.
“Raum!” she shouted, running into the fray. She had no idea what she intended to do against Belial, especially with her abilities bound, but she knew she had to do something. She didn’t want Raum to get hurt.
The giant demon bird swung his head around, noticing her.
The distraction cost him, and Belial struck him with a punch that would surely flatten a human’s skull.
Raum retaliated viciously, flaring his wings and launching into Belial, shredding him with his talons and tearing at his skin with his beak.
But Belial didn’t go down and continued striking with powerful blows, and of course, he was on fire the whole time.
“Stop!” Sunshine shouted, forgetting all sense of self-preservation and running straight toward the furiously battling demons. “That’s enough!”
Miracle of miracles … they actually listened to her.
They came apart, and Sunshine immediately put herself between them. Turning her back on Belial—possibly unwise since he surely wanted her dead—Sunshine faced Raum. She reached up to stroke his sharp beak. “Are you okay?”
Before her eyes, he shifted to his scaly half-demon form, quickly tugging his hoodie off so his wings could appear. They were covered in glossy black feathers and looked silky to touch—just like in her dream.
She hadn’t seen them until this moment, but somehow she’d dreamed them perfectly.
Meanwhile, the flames surrounding Belial were extinguished, and he regained his “normal” towering height.
He’d managed to retain his clothing despite the hellfire, which evidently didn’t burn him.
His platinum-blond hair now hung past his broad shoulders—having grown when he succumbed to his rage during the fight—and his fists were clenched so hard she could count half a dozen veins on each forearm.
The two brothers pinned each other with furious glares. Hellfire blazed in Belial’s eyes, obscuring the blue irises and black pupils.
“Repair the ward, Mishetsu,” he growled.
Sunshine glanced back at the Hunter and found him already over by the patio door, using his own blood to complete the interrupted sigil on the wall, which had allowed Sunshine to enter. He must have interrupted it before coming to grab her with the cuff.
It seemed they’d had time to prepare. She wasn’t sure what to make of that.
“What the fuck, Bel?” Raum was vibrating with tension, and the hand Sunshine placed on his arm seemed to be the only thing holding him back. She’d never seen him so angry. She’d barely seen him angry at all, in fact.
“It’s for your own protection,” Belial said. “You’ve been compromised—”
“What the fuck does that mean?!”
“I don’t know what kind of contract this angel forced you into, but I can’t risk letting you go until you get your free will back.”
“She’s not forcing me to do anything.”
“I can’t know that. You know how it is when a demon is bound.”
As much as she hated to admit it, Sunshine knew he was right. She had forced Raum into a contract. She had bound his free will. And he couldn’t tell his brothers about it because he was incapable of speaking about it.
But she wasn’t.
“He is bound by a contract,” she said to Belial. “That is true. He can’t tell anyone about it, as per the terms of the agreement, but I can.”
“What are you doing, Sunshine?” Raum hissed.
Belial fixed piercing eyes on her. “And what did you hold over his head to get him to agree to that?”
She glanced away. She had to admit Belial unnerved her. She’d learned much about him through history books, and his sacrifice had never been forgotten. Except by him, of course.
All immortals lost memories over the course of their lives to keep their heads from overflowing and driving them to eventual insanity. But angels had access to the Empyrean Library, which held chronicles of all notable historical events.
Hell had nothing of the sort. Once Belial’s memories had faded, he would not have had the resources to refresh them, and that struck her as a shame.
Right now, however, she wasn’t feeling particularly sympathetic, especially once she noticed the wounds on Raum’s body.
Now in half-demon form, his lip was split in two places, his nose bled slightly, and blood soaked his clothing around what looked like a stab wound in his side.
Belial had a particularly gory wound in his neck, and his fists were covered in blood.
“Don’t tell him shit,” Raum said when she glanced at him.
“I have to. This has gone on long enough, and there’s no point keeping it secret from your brothers now.” She looked back at Belial. “I told Raum I would report the whereabouts of his family to Heaven if he didn’t cooperate.”
She swallowed at the sight of the hellfire in Belial’s eyes. Despite his origins, there was no forgetting that he was very much a demon now.
“You realize I have to kill you for this?” he said. “You could swear a hundred blood vows, but so long as there’s an angel walking around with this information in her head, there’s a threat to me. And that’s not something I can abide.”
“You won’t fucking touch her.” Raum’s voice was low.
Sunshine had no intention of dying today, but that didn’t mean she wanted Raum and Belial fighting.
“It was a lie,” she said quickly. “I have no intention of hurting any of you. I only told him that because I needed his help.”
“Yeah, I don’t believe a word of that,” Belial growled. “I know how silver-tongued angels can be. You’ll justify anything for your greater good .”
She opened her mouth to reply, but Mishetsumephtai interjected with a question. “What did you need his help with?” Until now, he’d remained so silent she’d almost forgotten he was there.
She turned to address him, hoping his inquiry meant she had a potential ally. “I was charged with finding a grimoire for the Empyrean Library. It used to belong to a human witch, but it was stolen by a demon and taken to Hell. I wanted Raum’s help to get it.”
“Who stole it?”
“Murmur. The Necromancer.”
“You’re fucking kidding me.” Belial pinned Raum with a furious glare. “Don’t tell me you went and stole from Murmur five minutes after I bargained away another favor with him.”
Raum’s eyes flashed. He looked on the verge of taunting Belial back into fighting, which wasn’t a great way to argue her case.
“I mean your family no harm,” she said quickly, “and I can prove it right now.” She looked at Raum. “I want to break the contract. It was your idea to put that clause in, remember? If we both agree to terminate the arrangement, we can.”
He said nothing. His eyes bored into her.
“I will swear a vow to protect your family, but I want to release you from all obligations to me.”
His eyes narrowed. “What’s the point in doing that if you already have the book?”
She hesitated, her stomach twisting in knots. “Agree to dissolve the contract first, and I’ll tell you.”
He frowned, but it was Belial who spoke. “Swear the vow first.”
She nodded. “I’ll need a blade.”
Belial stalked to the kitchen and returned with a big chef’s knife, holding it out to her. She took it.
“Sunshine, stop,” Raum said.
“No. I have to do this.”
“Why?”
She looked at him. “Agree to dissolve the contract, and I’ll tell you.”
His jaw shifted.
There was a pause.
When he spoke, his voice was quiet. “You don’t have the book, do you?”
She swallowed, and her stomach twisted tighter. She knew she should have told him the minute they arrived back on Earth. The truth was overdue.
“I never got it before I broke you out of the dungeon,” she admitted.
“But you said …” He trailed off, eyes widening. She hadn’t directly lied, but she had carefully deflected every question he’d asked about it, and she figured he was piecing that together now.
“I’m sorry I didn’t tell you.” She focused on making him understand. The other two demons could wait. “I know it was wrong, but I knew you wouldn’t want to leave Hell if I told you I didn’t have it.”
“No shit, considering that was the whole reason we went there in the first place, and why we went through all the trouble of getting those damn amulets.” His eyes narrowed. “Tell me you still have one left and you didn’t use them both.”
Sunshine pressed her lips together. She wasn’t going to speak any more lies.
“Fuck, Sunshine!”
Her eyes narrowed. “I don’t regret it, and why do you care anyway? I’m willing to dissolve the contract. No consequences. And I’ll swear the vow not to harm your family. Just agree and you’ll be free of all obligations to me.”
“Are you kidding me?” he snapped. “You think I give a fuck about the contract?”