Chapter 18
Rathor enters the room and I can hear the screams echoing from down the corridor. My heart aches with their pain. I may be getting tortured too, but they don’t deserve this. How did they even cross the portal?
Lilith laughs as she stands in front of me, running her nail along my naked chest, breaking my flesh open.
Blood drips, and she scoops it up, placing her finger into her mouth, moaning at my taste.
“Delicious,” she purrs and Rathor grunts, moving closer to us. He’s naked and covered in the essence of the angels.
I can’t believe he used to be one of us. Lilith’s corruption is a lot stronger than I even knew.
“Share,” he grunts and she feeds him my blood. He groans as she runs her hands along his skin to his cock.
My stomach twists and I try to close my eyes. I don’t need to witness anymore of their depravity.
A sharp sting on my scalp makes me gasp and open them again. Rathor is pissed, his eyes blazing and his nostrils flaring. He gives me a sickening smirk, then leans down and bites my throat.
“No, stop!” I gasp as someone’s arms wrap around me tight. I don’t want to be chained again. I kick out and someone grunts. I can still hear Lilith’s cackling in my ears.
“Shh, it’s okay, Frida, I have you and you’re safe. I won’t ever let anyone hurt you again.”
“Evander?” I croak and his arms flex, pulling me closer to him, loosening his hold a little. My heart races and I take in some needed breaths.
“Yeah, I’m here. Michael came and got me. Just in time too. Gabriel is an asshole,” he grumbles, then yawns. The room is dark and empty. Faith must have left. I sigh, nodding.
“Yeah, he’s not my favorite, but he’s a puppy dog compared to Uriel. I’m glad that prick’s gone,” I mutter and Evander’s chest shakes as he laughs.
“Yeah, definitely won’t miss that bastard,” he says, then places a kiss onto my shoulder. We’re quiet for a few minutes, but the silence holds a lot of things unsaid.
“I thought I’d lost you,” he finally whispers and I shift, rolling so I can look into his eyes. His brows are furrowed, but I can see the truth shining in his gaze. I place my hand onto his cheek and give him a kiss.
“Elskugi,” I mumble against his lips and he sighs, rolling on top of me and kissing me deeper. I know he doesn’t know what I said, but he can feel the emotion in my words. I never thought I’d find love here of all places, but Evander is it for me.
“Mate,” Sera growls and I smile. A commotion in the hall interrupts our cuddling and Evander groans as he climbs off the bed. The doors swing open and Azrael storms inside.
He looks at me and Evander, then grunts. “Let’s go train.” I get excited until he turns his attention back to me. “Not you. Rest up, because we need you at full strength for what’s about to happen.”
I sigh, then lay back down against the pillows. Evander leans over and gives me another quick kiss and Sera preens, settling in for a nap herself. “I’ll see you later, sweetheart,” he says and I nod.
They leave and I look around the empty space. Ugh, I am a warrior, I shouldn’t be just laying here. Faith walks in, takes one look at me and nods. Before I can ask what she’s doing, she waves her hand over me and I start to feel really tired.
“I am so glad to be out of there,” I groan as Evander and I walk through my bedroom. Sera wants to shift, but I’m not ready yet. I’m still healing, but at least they released me from the infirmary.
“I can’t get over how fucking cool your bedroom is. I want a space like this,” he murmurs, looking around at the waterfall and cave. I grab his hand and let a girly squeal loose, making his eyes widen.
“Then let’s do it.” I tug his hand, turning back to the door and he laughs.
“Easy there. It can wait. Right now I really want to lead you into that cave, rip off these clothes and show you how much you mean to me. I really thought that I lost you, Frida. I never thought I would find someone in Heaven of all places, but you’re my soulmate.”
I smile, lean forward and kiss him.
We spent the night in my room, fooling around in the waterfall and cave again. I love bonding with him, and Sera is content.
Evander rolls over and pulls me into his arms, pressing a kiss onto my head. I melt. The way he breaks down all my barriers and turns me into some love sick fool surprises me.
“Your place is paradise,” he mumbles and I smile. I spent a long time crafting my perfect Heaven. “I don’t know what I’d even want in my room. I spent a long time deploying and living in new places. Maybe a cabin in the woods with my dog.”
I sit up and manifest some clothes. He leans, placing his palms behind him and watches me. I offer him my hand and he smirks, taking it.
“Come on, let’s go,” I say and he stands, manifesting some shorts, leaving his chest exposed.
I don’t mind. I love the view.
“What are you up to?” he asks, but lets me pull him through the woods, back to the door. I give him a wink and smile.
“Taking you to your perfect Heaven.”
LILITH
THIS SCENE HAS DARK, GRAPHIC, TRIGGERING CONTENT. READ WITH CAUTION.
As Rathor picks me up off the battlefield, I scream in pain. I can feel the bones throughout my back grinding against each other. He pulls me back through the gate, falling to the ground.
“How the fuck is he that powerful?” he says through bloody coughs and gasps.
“I tried to warn you. Before you got there he killed Uriel in a display of power that wasn’t even close to ours, we had no chance,” I reply back through gritted teeth. “This is what you get for not listening to me.”
I struggle to move my legs while holding my stomach firmly trying to keep my guts from spilling onto the floor.
“Shut up, you knew what the plan was going into this, it was your weak ass Knights that couldn’t hold their own,” he continues ranting.
“No shit, of course they aren’t as powerful as he is, he destroyed Uriel like he was a fucking nuisance,” I snap back, as I feel my shoulder and stomach heal, then close.
“AUGH… MOTHERFUCKER,” I scream as I feel my shattered spine move back into place and begin to heal. “Get away from me, you fucking prick!” I roar, pushing away from Rathor.
“Fine, fuck you then,” he snaps, getting to his feet and walking away from me.
“Your fucking ego, your arrogance couldn’t let you listen to reason and it cost me four of my Knights,” I shout, then reach back, grabbing my wing. I pull hard until it snaps back into place.
“AUGH…,” I pant through the pain as it begins to heal.
Glancing over my shoulder, I sneer. “Now you get to explain to Lucifer and Beelzebub not only why you failed, but how you got my Knights killed.” I snicker, looking over and I see Rathor’s wounds across his back begin to close.
He turns to leave and I follow him down through the labyrinth.
Fuck, he’s hot. Regardless of how pissed off I am at him, seeing his rippling muscles covered in blood… I’m always overtaken by lust.
As we approach the council chamber the doors fly open and everyone is standing around the table, looking more pissed off then normal.
At the head is Lord Lucifer standing behind his chair. If I could get my hands on him, the things I would do would be down right blasphemous.
“Now that we’re all here, SIT.” He commands in such a demanding tone it sends shivers down my tail. “Rathor, you have one chance to explain to me, why four of my Knights are dead, how could you let that Lycan we had in captivity escape and how are you still alive?!”
“Lord, you mean my Knights,” I quietly butt in.
“If I wanted you to speak, Lilith, I would reach down your throat and rip the words out myself,” he viciously snaps. His threat making me slightly aroused.
“Everything was going as planned, Lilith arrived in Purgatory first in an attempt to turn him, which failed. Then the Knights pulled the prisoner through the gate and I followed. After a little back and forth I saw an opportunity to get him to lose all control, which would normally have made him more vulnerable. I delivered a fatal wound to Frida, he lost control and shifted, wildly attacking, which wasn’t a problem.
We were handling it without issue. But then something changed, an eerie calmness surrounded him and he changed into something I’ve never seen before.
” Rathor pauses, then continues as all eyes are fixated on him.
“His fur changed to almost a void of color with how black it was where his wings connected. It looked like lightning piercing the void as he radiated divinity. Then he obliterated the Knights faster than any of them could react before turning his attention toward me and Lilith. I shifted and attacked, but every attack did nothing.”
He continues explaining what happened and how we escaped. Looking over the faces of the demons in the room a wave of fear swept over their faces except for our Lord. He stayed calm and collected, almost stoic.
“Lilith, is there anything you would like to add?” Lucifer asks once Rathor is done.
I nod. “My Lord, when I got to Purgatory I witnessed Evander kill the Archangel Uriel.” As soon as I said that the fear in the room turned to dread and a look of concern crossed Lucifer’s face.
“If that is true then Michael must be training him. We had some reports that not only were some of our beasts missing, and Belphegor has been missing for some time now. This explains a lot,” he mutters, then moves to the center of the room.
“This is how we are going to handle this, Beelzebub you will take however many legions and whoever you feel is necessary to kill Evander.”
“Yes, my Lord, it will be done,” he hisses.
“Lilith when Beelzebub is ready you will get the rest of your Knights together. Pick out beasts for each of them. Along with that, I have special weapons just for your Knights. Get with Hephaestus to collect them. Evander’s life ends now.
Do you hear me, Beelzebub, NOW! I want his head on this table,” he snaps.
“Lord, I have some promising news.” Abaddon steps in.
“What is it?”