Chapter 1 #2
He smiled, and for a second I almost choked on my blood.
He was beautiful, holy, and terrifying, eyes lighting with an inner flicker of heavenly gold that could consume this entire prison into a glob of burning beauty until it melted into the sea.
Perhaps I shouldn’t insult angels while I was sitting across from the most dangerous one I’d ever seen.
“I’ve killed angels,” I said, like I didn’t understand the threat he represented to me. I did. But being destroyed by an angel would be quick and painless.
“You wrote down several angels you claimed to have killed in the last hundred years, all of whom had left the ranks of the HOST’s and were involved in far less holy work.”
“Does it matter if they were corrupt when I killed them when, according to you, they could all be redeemed?”
“Did you begin on the path of light and then choose to turn to darkness and evil?”
I stared at him. That’s exactly what I’d done. I’d turned to the epitome of darkness and evil in Tralcon the demon, when I’d made a deal, selfishly, to save the life of my fiancé. “Everyone in this prison started out innocent.”
“And your parents?”
I sucked on my blood bag, giving him my flattest look.
I wasn’t going to talk about my parents.
It wasn’t any of his business that I’d never met my father, not when he’d abandoned my mother during the war in the old country before she moved across the sea to find something better.
She could have stayed and waited for him, or she could build a new life for her baby.
Those memories before I turned were foggy and precious, even after my mother died, when I’d lived my uneventful life as a clerk in a small bookshop next to a bakery.
“You’re so open about your murders and so closed about everything else,” the angel mused, rubbing his chin.
“There is nothing else. Are we done here? I have my cell to get back to.”
He opened the folder on the table to a picture of the most gruesome death I’d seen in a very long time, then leaned back, studying my reaction.
I moved towards the table, leaning over to pore over the details of the image, pushing it aside to look at others.
Five scenes with multiple pictures of each, and every scene in the precise style of my old demon master, Tralcon, when he was summoning strength, growing his followers, feeding the evil inside of him.
“How old are these?” I demanded, looking up at the angel to glare into those dangerous eyes, my own probably glowing red like the coals of the underworld.
“They all occurred in the past year. If you don’t care about redemption, what about vengeance? You worked for a demon for a very long time. I found your name when I was researching this particular case, all of these deaths. You killed Tralcon, but demons don’t always stay dead.”
I dropped into the chair, going over the pictures even though I’d already memorized them down to the smallest detail. I’d known that today was ill-omened, but I hadn’t imagined that the worst possible scenario had come about. It had taken everything to kill him the first time. But I’d do it again.
“You need me to help you destroy the demon threat,” I said clearly, conveying as much confidence as possible.
However, if he hadn’t stayed dead, how could I be assured in my capacity to deal death?
How could I kill him again? You didn’t find a cursed ruby blade capable of killing a demon every day.
“No one knows him as well as I do, and he’ll be looking for me to take back what’s his.
You can use me as a killer as well as use me as bait.
You’ve seen my record. I don’t kill unless forced, and never harm innocents.
I’m not a threat to the greater good, but this demon is a threat to everything.
At the rate he’s going, he’ll be full-power before the year is out, and then… ”
He held up a hand, shaking his head. “You don’t have to convince me that you’d be an asset. That’s why I’m here, Miss… You didn’t put down a name.”
“They call me Ruby. That’s good enough.”
“Is it? That’s the name of the knife you used to kill.”
“This demon threat is what you should be worried about, not my name.”
“Or lack thereof. Yes, Miss Ruby, I would be honored if you would join my team to find this demon.”
“Team? I’m not exactly a team player. I’m an assassin.”
He gave me a slow smile. “You’ll need to adapt.
I’m going to send a handler for you. Not a threat to the greater good?
You’re a murderer. I can’t just let you walk out of here without any safeguards, or I’d be no better than one who intentionally abuses his power.
I’m not careless, Miss Ruby. And I’m not going to throw away your life any more than I would another one of my team.
If you would like to play the game, hunt a demon, then you may, but only if you follow my rules. ”
“You want to be my new master?”
He laughed, and the sound was painfully perfect. “No, Miss Ruby. I am a commander, not a master. I would never give orders to one who wouldn’t willingly take them. I’m an angel, not a demon.”
I studied him, my eyes narrowing. “You haven’t given me your name.”
He raised a golden brow. “My name is Richard. My parents gave me that name after my father. I am usually called something quite different, but you’ll have to find that out from your handler.
He is an angel of death, otherwise known as a Reaper.
It is his duty to see that demons are killed and remain so.
You are to assist him, but the death is not your responsibility. ”
I stared at him, truly shocked for the first time in a long time. He wanted me, but not to kill people? What else did I do? “I don’t understand.”
“Only the most pure and holy of angels are allowed the position of Reaper. Do you know why? Because killing corrupts the soul. We must always safeguard the soul. And you, Miss Ruby, have a soul. I’m not sure how you managed it, but there it is, shining in your eyes.
I don’t suppose you’d like to tell me how that happened. ”
“You won’t make me telling you whatever you ask a condition of my working on your ‘team’?”
“No. You will do your best to help because we have a common cause.”
“But you don’t want me to kill the demon.”
“Exactly. The Reaper will take care of it.”
“I made a deal with a demon for my soul before I was turned. After he died, I got it back. Everyone whose souls were taken got them back. Having a soul doesn’t necessarily make anyone good, though.
There are very bad souls.” And they were working with him again if those pictures were any indication.
He smiled. “You’re right. There are very bad souls.”
“And I think it’s more rational to give the job of murder to someone who is already corrupt instead of corrupting someone who is pure.”
His smile spread to light up his whole face. “It is not murder when the Angel of Death destroys a demon. It is an execution. But I appreciate your desire to protect the innocent from corruption.” He stood, towering over me with his aura more than his actual height.
I stood automatically and stiffly, not sure what you were supposed to do in the presence of so much majestic goodness. Bow? Salute? I was still holding my blood pouch, so I sipped it, studying him silently.
“The Reaper will come in the next few days to release you, that is, if I manage to convince him that you’d be an asset. He also claims to not be a team player, and usually his role of Reaper is very isolating. This should be a good experience for both of you.”
“Right. Destroying the demon will be an excellent experience.”
He raised a brow. “We must agree that you allow the Reaper this death. All death. You may not kill any creature, good or evil, as long as you are working with me. Do you swear it? I warn you, swearing an oath to me will bind your soul to your word.”
I pressed my lips together for a moment while I quietly had hysterics.
The last oath I’d sworn had destroyed my life, very literally.
But he was an angel, and he wanted me to not kill.
I could maim well enough to protect myself.
Killing wasn’t ever necessary for my own safety.
He couldn’t allow a murderer to leave prison without ensuring that I wouldn’t fall into bad habits and murder again.
Of course, I’d never killed anyone without an express order directed by one who controlled my soul, so the likelihood of me starting now was incredibly slim.
He didn’t know that. He didn’t know the years I’d put into resisting the compulsion to kill, mostly to spite my demon master.
Mr. Good didn’t want someone who killed carelessly, but Tralcon had made a game of tempting me to greater evil.
For a hundred years that’s the game we played, and at the end, I’d killed him, the only one I’d ever killed by my own will.
“I swear not to kill the demon or any other unless it is in defense of the Reaper’s own life.”
“The Reaper’s? Not your own?”
I gave him a slight smile. “I’m already dead.”