Good Side of Sin (17 page)

The demon snarled and turned to face Thoros. He was going to get to her first. He was closer.

NO!

I pushed myself harder and could see worry cross over the demon’s face for the first time. I was going to make it. I smiled through my tears. I was going to make it first.

“Josselyn! No!” Thoros shouted, but I ran even harder and watched as the demon looked to me, and then to Thoros, and then back to me, before shrieking loud enough to wake the dead.

I joined in with her screams as I threw my arms out wide and closed my eyes a second before I wrapped my arms around her body. I heard a fleeting pop, and then felt the hard impact of our bodies crashing into one another.

I had a hold of her and she wasn’t fighting me. My mind was too jumbled to question it. I had her. She wasn’t moving and everyone was safe. It worked! With my eyes still closed and trying desperately to catch my breath, I squeezed tighter and just held on until Isaiah could get to us and do what was necessary to make her talk.

What happened next startled me. The thing I was holding onto wrapped its arms around me, giving me a hug and a light kiss to the top of my head.

My eyes shot open fast and I swiftly looked up into green eyes—green eyes that belonged to Thoros. He sniggered as my mouth fell open. I began to look in all directions for the demon I was supposed to be clinging to.

“Where did—” I began, but Thoros cut off my words.

“I think you scared her off with your banshee yell.”

I looked at him aghast. “Me? I was trying to catch her, and then you had to play the hero and come to my rescue. I had everything under control, and then you had to jump up and ruin everything!”

“She would have taken you,” he said, and then smiled as he shook his head. “I couldn’t let that happen.”

“She wouldn’t have taken me! She would have taken you!”

“And you didn’t want that to happen?” His expression turned somber as his arms left my body and his hands came up to gently frame my face. I closed my mouth and swallowed, suddenly at a loss for words. Those green eyes bore into mine and I forgot we were standing on a sidewalk with an audience.

“Kiss him, Josselyn,”
Isaiah whispered through my mind.

I closed my eyes and turned my head. Sighing, I pushed my way out of Thoros’ embrace. I couldn’t do this. Even if he was my soulmate, I couldn’t waste any more time pining over a lust-filled demon when souls were missing, one of my closest friends was gone and Heaven was falling under the control of an ancient fallen angel. The demon had proven that last bit only a few moments before; the cross hadn’t really affected her at all. Her act had all been for show, to trick us.

I opened my eyes and looked at my fingers where the cross had burned them. Blisters had formed and the affected area was red and hurting. It should have already been healed.

I watched as Thoros brought his hands up to mine and then traced his fingers around the outside edge of the burned area. I sucked in a breath through my teeth when he touched the sensitive area and he jerked his hand back. A moment later I was pulled against that hard chest of his and trembling arms enveloped me once again.

“Whatever needs to be done to stop this, Josselyn, I will be right beside you.”

I nodded in gratitude, and then allowed myself a moment of comfort. It really did feel right to be in his arms.

“DEA! Nobody move!”

I turned swiftly to see two wide-eyed humans looking at all of us.

Ignoring the irate woman with the gun, Thoros pointed at the guy beside her. “Hey, that’s him.”

There weren’t enough seats in the small apartment where everyone could sit down comfortably, so I thought it best to bring the humans back to the mansion to interrogate—I mean, sort things out, just in case the demon decided to come back. Most of the angels and half-souled had already gone on ahead, and so I stood with Isaiah as Baddon and Thoros tried to calm the girl down enough so she would at least lower the pistol. Not that it would hurt them if she pulled the trigger, but that was a conversation that could be had later.

We didn’t want to scare them, but there was obviously something linking the male mortal to Thoros—or the demon that had just left—and my aim was to figure out what that something was. And I needed to do that fast; time was definitely not on our side.

Isaiah didn’t want us to fleet the humans; he was afraid it would frighten them too much. It was either that or one of us ride back to the house with them in a cab. I didn’t trust they wouldn’t awake from their state of shock and freak out halfway through the twenty mile ride. I could only imagine what the cabbie would do if the chick started waving her gun around in his backseat. And Heaven forbid if she actually got a shot or two off before I could restrain her. Of course, I could always tamper with his mind and make him go directly to the house and not remember anything he’d seen or heard, but… yeah. The bottom line was it would take too long and I was tired of wasting precious time.

“It’s just not safe, Josselyn,” Isaiah said, pleading with his eyes.

“Nothing about any of this is safe, but luckily I’ve been trained in the Not-so-Safe Department. Give me a little credit, Isaiah. We have a whole lot more problems lined up on our path to saving Heaven than the Queen of Demons, if you know what I mean. I came here to do a—”

“I’ll fleet with them,” Thoros said to Isaiah as he walked up to join our disagreement.

I turned and gave him a narrowed stare. “I think I can get them from here to there in one piece. I don’t need your help.”

He took my arm and turned me to face him when I started to walk away. “I’m not letting you out of my sight, Josselyn. The demon has seen you now, and I won’t let—”

“You don’t need to worry about me, Thoros! Your focus needs to be on protecting the human soul the demon wants. Obviously she knows where you are at all times and only has to summon you for you to black out and fleet right to her. And wouldn’t it be just real convenient if the human she wants most of all already has his hand grasped with yours as we travel back to your residence?”

“Of course I want to protect the guy and his soul. That’s what I came here to do: figure out what the hell is going on and get it fixed so you wouldn’t have to, but I worry about you—”

“If you think I need backup, then I’ll let Baddon fleet with us.” He stiffened and I watched his jaw flex, but he didn’t move otherwise. “You are the only threat here that I can see.”

“Fine.” He glared at me a few seconds more, and then turned swiftly to look at Baddon and the two humans. They were as calm as could be expected, considering everything they had seen in the last few minutes. I had a feeling Baddon may have messed with their minds a little. They were just sort of standing there, staring off in a daze. “Fleet with them back to the house,” Thoros continued. “Don’t…” He let the sentence fall short as he stared at his friend. I realized then that he wasn’t jealous that I had chosen Baddon to take us back to the house; he simply just didn’t want me to get hurt. After all, I was the one carrying the souls the demon wanted now. But would Thoros blame himself if for some reason I did get hurt?

“Most likely,”
Isaiah replied to my inner monologue as Baddon nodded to Thoros in understanding.
“Just be careful. Thoros is right. The demon has seen you now. We don’t know what it wants with the soul or what it is capable of doing to get it. Maybe you’ve bought us a little time with that stunt you pulled.”

I turned then to look at him. I figured his sandy colored eyebrows would be drawn together in an angry scowl, but instead he was grinning at me. I felt the corners of my lips turn up and didn’t try to hide my smile. I rushed to him and threw my arms around his neck, happy that Sammy wasn’t here to ruin my hug this time.

“Believe in me, Isaiah. I can do this, but I need you to believe that I can. I won’t let you down. I promise.”

He hugged me back. “I believe in you, child. Be careful fleeting with the humans. I am going to travel with Thoros to make sure the demon does not interfere with his journey home.”

I nodded, and then pulled out of the embrace. I knew he would see the panic in my eyes if I looked at him, so I avoided his stare. “Be careful.”

A soft chuckle echoed through my mind.
“I won’t let the demon hurt him.”

I glanced at him then, but didn’t bother correcting his assumption that I was referring to Thoros’ safety. We both knew I would be lying if I told him I wasn’t worried about the half-souled immortal. Whether I wanted to admit it or not, it was now obvious to me that Thoros was my soulmate and, as much as he irritated me, I didn’t want anything bad to happen to him.

I nodded to him, then turned and bumped right into Thoros’ chest. “Oh—”

“My apologies, ma’am,” he said with a smirk and pointed to Isaiah. “I was just trying to get to my escort.” Before I could respond to his comment, he walked around me and took Isaiah’s hand. Without looking back, they disappeared into the air as if they’d never been there at all.

I huffed as I stared at the empty place where they had been.
What the hell am I supposed to do now?

Isaiah was waiting for us when Baddon, the humans and I arrived in the foyer of the mansion.

“I will take our guests into the living quarters to get comfortable,” Isaiah began. “The young seer requested to return to her home to retrieve a few things, but she wanted us to hold off on having the meeting until she could return. I believe she has useful and valuable information, and I feel it wise to include her in our decision making. From what I understand, she knows a great deal about us and can see the future.”

I nodded in agreement. I hadn’t met the seer yet, but I had felt her energy before we’d traveled to help Thoros defend himself against the demon. “Sure. We’ve waited this long. What’s another hour or two gonna hurt?”

“Fallis and Marcus have gone with her, so I’m quite sure we won’t have to wait long. I would think there is time for you to freshen up and collect your thoughts, if you cared to do so.” His eyes flicked to the top of the grand staircase and I turned to see Thoros, hands resting on the banister and looking down at us—well, actually he was just looking at me.

I swallowed, and then turned and started up the steps without replying to Isaiah. I felt the link between us fade and knew he was giving me my privacy back. I was grateful but suddenly afraid. As I stared up into the eyes of the man I approached, it was clear that we were very much going to be all alone soon. I didn’t know what he was thinking, but his eyes told me that he was just as frightened as I was.
But of what?
I wondered.
Me?

He held my eyes with his, but moved over to the top of the stairs to greet me, his well-built frame coming into full view and stealing the breath from my lungs. I suddenly felt like the innocent little girl I had been only three months previous, the girl I had been the very first time I had ever laid eyes on the Prince of Lust. That girl had been terrified of what this man could do to her mind, body and soul. That girl was still afraid.

I was taken aback by his magnificent presence and had to stop five steps from the top. He waited a brief moment before holding out his hand.

“Come to me, Josselyn.”

My eyelashes fluttered away the immediate moisture that blurred my vision and I glanced to the banister on my right to keep from looking at him. I wanted to do as he commanded, but I was afraid of him. I couldn’t trust him, but above all else, I knew I couldn’t trust myself with him.

As I stood there, thinking of running back down the stairs and out the door, not stopping until I had at least reached the East Coast, I heard him take a step down the stairs, and then another. I closed my eyes and tried to mentally talk my pounding heart into slowing down. I even tried bribing it with empty promises, but it only picked up its pace when I heard him take the next step. I knew he was close enough now that he could reach out and touch me if he so wished, but he didn’t. He took the last step and I could feel him all around me as if I was already wrapped in his strong arms.

A shiver ran up my spine at his closeness. I shuddered under the intensity of it. Goosebumps prickled on my arms and I remembered feeling the sensation once before. I had experienced the same feeling the first time I had met him at the home of Kendra Chamberlain, and had chalked it off to the fact that he was evil, a demon. But that wasn’t the case. I hadn’t felt it in the presence of any of the other demons after that; only him.
Was it because he was my soulmate? Did I have the same effect on him?
I looked to his forearm and noticed goosebumps graced his flesh. I didn’t know whether to laugh or cry.

“Don’t be afraid of me, Josselyn,” he whispered. “I would never hurt you.”

I felt the brush of the curtain of hair that hid my face as it was pulled aside and tucked gently behind my ear. His hand stilled and I sensed him stop breathing. I knew he had seen the wet trails on my face where my tears had betrayed me.

Opening my eyes, I looked up at him. “How can you stand there and lie to me? You are the only person in my life that has ever hurt me.”

I watched his Adam’s apple bob as he swallowed, and then he shook his head. “I was trying to protect you—”

“Protect me—” I shouted, and his hands came up to cradle my face, cutting my words off in mid thought. His breathing escalated and those green eyes were in a frenzy as they stared into mine, begging and pleading, but for what? I was there, in Hell, and witnessed it with my own eyes. Surely he wasn’t dumb enough to think he could lie to me now and actually think I would believe him when he said he didn’t betray me!

“Please,” he said with a quivering voice, and I noticed the tremble wasn’t only in his vocal chords. His whole body was visibly shaking. “Just let me explain—”

“Explain what, Thoros? What do I need to understand that I don’t already? I was there through all of it. I’m pretty sure I didn’t miss anything.” I counted the events off on my hand, starting with my index finger: “You mind-fucked me.” I threw up another finger and my voice went up an octave. “You forced yourself on me—more than once!” Finger number three made itself present. “You used me so you could get information that could be used against Murry.” Finger four went up. “You blackmailed me and made me promise to kiss you before you would tell me how I could save my friend.” I added my thumb and wiggled all my fingers in front of his calm and emotionless face. “Then, after I kissed you, you acted like it was the worst experience you had ever had. You sure know how to make a girl feel good, Thoros.”