Chapter 24 #2
Ramone pointed at Cassia. “That’s you if I ever hear how handsome another man is ever again.”
“Ohhh. She’s blind now?”
“And mute.” The man smirked at me.
My chest heaved. I wasn’t here for a party. “Elijah, I need to speak to you.”
He wrestled with several emotions before he replied, “I’ve done—we’ve done, everything you required of us. I am restoring this kingdom, and we never returned to the Second. Selena and I have followed your orders to the letter without fail.”
Selena’s eyes nearly bugged out of her head. “I should have known! You fucking asshole, leave that girl alone.” She jabbed her finger in the air toward Cassia.
If I was going to have their compliant cooperation, perhaps it would be prudent of me to remove the spell I’d cast on her.
When I turned around, Cassia had tears streaming down her cheeks. Her arms were wrapped around her knees, and she was rocking slightly.
Shit . I may have been a bit extreme...
The second she was able to, she leapt out of the chair and ran forward, stiletto in hand. I swiped it away from her easily, though it didn’t stop her from raining her fists down on me.
My hand stayed splayed on her stomach as I kept her at bay. “The Bloodmoon flowers would disagree,” I remarked, arching a brow.
Elijah took a deep breath. “Selena loves them, and it is her maze. I want to say you wouldn’t understand—and I suspect you don’t yet fully, but from where I’m standing, it appears you’ve been through some changes.”
Juliet motioned to Samantha and the woman joined her by her side. She whispered something in her ear and the two of them giggled.
Cassia was going to hurt herself, the way she kept flailing about. “Relax, love,” I said quietly.
“You’re such an asshole,” she snarled, “if you ever do that to me again?—”
“Do what? What do you think you’ll do? You’ve tried to kill me before.”
Her arms fell by her sides. “We don’t need to talk about that.”
“This motherfucker pinned me to the ceiling before,” Selena piped up, looking at Cassia and jutting her chin my way.
Cassia moved to the side. “That’s his signature move. He did that to his friend, Kiam.”
“You should just kill him before it gets worse,” Selena said.
Elijah whirled around. “Selena, stop.” She rolled her eyes.
Out of the corner of my eye, I watched the two women tentatively move closer. “You have to move fast,” Selena said, “I killed a Kakian before so it’s totally doable.”
Speaking of killing. “Who suffered you to live? Who are you?”
The green-eyed devil slowly blinked. “Ramone Von Fulgere, heir to the Satanic throne.”
To think of him as a devil was more accurate than I’d expected. “Your kind is an abomination, and your wife as well. Did you turn her?”
The man’s eyes glowed. “You know they’re over there conspiring to kill you,” he said, ignoring my questions.
I glanced at Cassia and her new friend. Cassia appeared rapt, listening intently while Selena gestured earnestly, explaining something about spells. “I know,” I told him.
“You’re smiling.” He was grinning, himself.
Was I? “It's cute.” I shrugged my shoulder. “Now answer me, who allowed you to live?”
He sank into the seat Cassia had vacated minutes before, stretching long lean legs.
“Alastair. He’s a friend of mine. Much like my new friend, here, I was subjected to parameters.
I am supposed to remain in Italy, in the Third.
” He flicked a glance at Samantha. “However, we felt the need to spread our wings.”
Rebellion was abhorrently contagious. A plague. “And how do you know Elijah?”
“I don’t.” His temper flared, injecting a sharp electricity into the air. “Your line of questioning is tiresome; I have things to do.”
It seemed no one cared anymore. The situation forced me to wonder how long these sorts of things had been going on and how long I had lived under an illusion.
The “why” of our laws weren’t discussed in any sort of depth, there were no compromises.
The laws just were, and it was my duty to punish those who disregarded them.
Seeing the laws in action and then witnessing the lengths others would go to in avoidance of them was mind numbing.
Elijah was happy. Maybe not so much at the moment, but it was clear he would be if I hadn’t darkened his door.
The devil was happy—as clearly evidenced by the way he stared at his wife.
I enjoyed killing for sport, food, and retribution. I liked the order my job provided, the clear sets of rules I made, and the inevitable consequences for those who didn’t follow them. It was predictable, secure, and kept everything running smoothly.
Save for the time I’d spent in slumber, it now seemed my entire life’s work had been for naught. Especially since I’d broken one of the biggest laws of all—falling in love with a human.
I wasn’t going to give her up, so what else did I have to lose?
Before he could ward me off, I leapt on Ramone, sinking my teeth into his neck. The second I took my first swallow, he began fighting me off.
My nails dug into his neck and his arm, clutching him as he swung around and roared. His life force flowed down my throat, infecting me with scraps of high-level demon and angel blood. The mixture was heady and invigorating, and I released him, shoving him into the wall.
He landed in a crumbled heap, mirrors and paintings falling from the walls and shattering across the hardwood.
The foreign magic tingled in my veins and sparked in my cells, a rush the likes of that which I’d never known before.
I laughed, a deep hearty sound as he tried to spring up on his feet but instead crashed his hip into the wall.
Savoring the blood staining my lips, I licked it away and faced the room again. Nobody moved.
Elijah cleared his throat. “So, um, what did you want to discuss?”