Good Side of Sin (39 page)

As his face flamed with boiling rage, Thoros had to remind himself that this was only temporary; they would all leave soon and Omega would stay behind in Limbo. The guy wouldn’t be anywhere near Josselyn while he was trapped here with Melina, because he would be trapped here, too. He would just have to settle this once he returned, Thoros thought. There wouldn’t be anyone to stop him then.

In time, he knew he would hope she found love again, well after he returned to Limbo and couldn’t see how happy she was… without him. His selfish nature wouldn’t allow him to wish that for her now. Not even with Malcolm, and especially not with a guy like Omega.

Thoros had expected Josselyn to understand the reason behind his actions, to at least realize that he had done this for her, so she wouldn’t have to make a decision that would kill her inside, but she was acting like he was dead to her now, like he had never existed in her life.

He had been anticipating her seeing him from the grand staircase at the palace, then come running and throw herself into his arms, refusing to let go until they were ripped apart as a result of his signing Melina’s contract. Maybe he shouldn’t have interfered, but he couldn’t see another way to protect her from Melina’s deal. Heaven and Earth had to be saved and Melina was the key to Lucifer’s undoing.

“You’re stupid. You know that, right?”

Thoros looked over to find Malcolm had ridden up beside him. He grunted and turned his attention back to Josselyn and Omega fifty feet ahead of them. “I can have a pity party all by myself, thank you. I don’t need—nor do I want—your company.”

Malcolm apparently wasn’t paying attention, because he acted as though Thoros hadn’t spoken at all. “Maybe I should just say you’re poorly educated instead of stupid. You’re ignorant, for lack of a better word or explanation—”

“I’m fully aware of how stupid I am!” Thoros shouted and both Josselyn and Omega turned to look at him. He locked eyes with Josselyn and swallowed the lump that had instantly formed in his throat. The sight of her mad at him, hating him, tore a hole through his heart.

Her lips moved as if she was talking, but he knew it wasn’t to him; she was talking to Omega. He tried to read what that beautiful mouth was saying, but he’d never been much good at reading lips. She turned back around, but Omega held his stare a moment longer. Thoros’ jaw clenched tight when the corner of Omega’s mouth twitched into a smirk.

“Easy there, dummy. You’re about to pop a vein,” Malcolm said.

“What did she say to him? When she was looking at us, what did she tell him? I couldn’t read—”

“That she is glad you are staying here, because she has secretly had a crush on him since she arrived here.”

Thoros’ head whipped around, panic clear in his features. “What?”

Malcolm laughed. “I don’t have a clue what she said to him. I’d tell you to ask Isaiah, but she relieved him of his duty as her guardian angel, so that means he can’t hear you, either.”

Thoros’ eyes popped wide in shock. “What? Why would she do that?”

“Like I said earlier—you’re stupid… or ignorant. I like stupid better, though, so I think I will stick with that for now. Anyway, Josselyn thinks if Isaiah had been doing his job properly that he would have known what Omega was doing to her in time to stop him, and he should have also known that you were planning to betray her.”

Thoros closed his eyes and counted to ten, taking precious time to inhale deeply through his nose and exhale out of his mouth several times before looking back at Malcolm. “I see,” he nodded, “I broke my promise to her and now she hates me—”

“Pfft! If that was all it was, you might have a chance of being forgiven one day. Unfortunately for you, and fortunately for me… you’ve screwed up pretty bad. I don’t foresee you getting more than the time of day from her—ever again.”

Thoros glared at him and spoke through clenched teeth, biting off each word in a crisp, tight syllable. “What—don’t—I—know, Malcolm?”

He shrugged. “That all of you are underestimating her. Not once since I’ve known her has she failed at doing something she put her mind to, but when you saw her in distress you ran to her rescue and messed everything up, instead of letting her think of a way to fix it. You didn’t trust her to make the right decision, so you took the option away from her. I was standing there. She was trying to get you to shut up long enough so she could think of a way out. You didn’t even try to negotiate further; you simply accepted what the Wicked Witch of the South laid out on the table for you. Tell me—did you do it because you secretly want Melina or because you know you will fail Josselyn at some point in time, so you just decided to cut the cat off at the crosswalk and do it now to save you both wasted time?”

“Are you absurd? I love Josselyn. Of course I trust her to make good decisions; I just didn’t want her hating herself. I can live with her hating me—”

“Can you? Because I don’t think I could live with her hating me. If you did it to make her happy—”

“I did it so she wouldn’t have a choice but to do what she came here to do: her job. She would never be able to forgive herself if she chose me instead of Heaven—”

“She wouldn’t have chosen you over Heaven and Earth. She would have thought of something else Melina might possibly want and then negotiated some more, but she wouldn’t have settled for the only deal she was offered, which brings us back to the fact that you are stupid.”

Thoros opened his mouth to argue, then shut it with a snap and growled. “So what am I supposed to do about it now?”

Malcolm shrugged again. “Hell if I know. I didn’t come up here to give you a solution. I came up here to tell you what you did wrong. You looked as if you were confused, and I was afraid you were going to tear the horn off that saddle there. You were the one that signed that contract with your own blood. It’s legit. Binding. But if you really want Josselyn, you’ll figure it out. Impossible things happen every day. They are called miracles, but you can’t just sit back and wait for them to happen. You have to make them happen.”

Thoros rode in silence for a long spell before commenting. “What would you do if you had screwed up this badly with her? What would you do if you had done what I did?”

Malcolm smiled. “See now, I don’t ever have to worry about that. Unlike you…” he tapped on his head with his index finger, “…I’m a genius.”

Thoros rolled his eyes. “If you’re such a genius why did we have to come to Limbo to rescue you?”

Malcolm’s smile grew wider. “
You
didn’t have to, but I knew
she
would. Even I had never heard of anyone rescuing anyone from Limbo, but I knew she would find a way if there was one. I bet she went through hell trying to get here, too, didn’t she?”

“What do you mean?”

“I mean that nobody was looking for me, but she was, even when she was told not to, I bet. She won’t stop until she gets her way. Call it stubborn or bull-headed, but her attitude and drive to succeed are what gets her what she wants. But—if I had somehow found a way to tell her I didn’t want her to find me—then, and only then, would she have stopped trying.”

Thoros blinked. “Can you break that down for us stupid people? I don’t get your point, Malcolm.”

“You told her to stop trying when you signed that contract. I think she knew the moment you did it, too. One minute she was hysterical and full of anguish and despair, and then she just turned it off, like you didn’t matter to her anymore, like nothing mattered to her anymore.”

Thoros shoulders slumped.

“Like I said…” Malcolm continued, “…stupid.”

When Baddon came to, he was laying on a cold stone floor, shivering.

“I was beginning to wonder if you were going to die. Can’t say that I would be real torn up about it if you did.”

Great. Someone had brought him back to the mansion.

He wanted to sit up and face Lameria, but his blood loss left him a little handicapped, so he just laid there and fought for his consciousness. “Where did…” He stopped, licked his dry lips, gave a good attempt at swallowing the ball of sandpaper in his throat and started again. “Who brought me down here?”

“Fallis—but it wasn’t Fallis. He’s possessed or brainwashed or something. He’s usually nice to me, not that I’m very nice back, but still, he doesn’t treat me like the rest of you do—”

Baddon started laughing and managed to roll to his back so he could stare at the ceiling. “And just how do we treat you, Lameria?”

She huffed. “Like you don’t like me.”

“Ha! That’s because we don’t like you. You’re a bitch that craves drama and attention. None of us, besides Fallis, have the energy to cater to your petty temper tantrums or whatever bi-polar mood swing you’re having in any given moment.” He turned his head so he could see her face. She wasn’t looking at him, but that didn’t matter. “Why didn’t you just stay in Hell?”

“Screw you, Baddon!” she screamed, and then covered her face with her hands.

He was just about to come back with a snarky comment when someone started throwing the locks on the door. With every last bit of energy Baddon had left in him, he managed to get to his feet and lean against the wall for support. If he was going to die, he wasn’t going to do it lying down like a pussy.

After the last lock was thrown, every muscle in Baddon’s body tensed. He didn’t know what to expect, but he couldn’t imagine anything nice coming through the door to greet them.

The door swung outward, creaking on its hinges, and several men were shoved in. Black cloth covered their heads and their hands were tied at their backs. They stumbled and fell over one another from the force their assailants used to get them into the room.

Baddon counted them: there were six. He recognized Troy and Coen right off because of their build, and just before the door slammed closed, he caught sight of Fallis and Marcus on the other side.

Bastards!

Baddon rubbed his hands over his face, desperately trying to figure out what was happening. Lameria was right. Fallis had to be brainwashed or possessed. Compared to Baddon, the son of a bitch was a saint. Then again, there had been over thirty angels in Chelsea’s apartment, and none of them had offered to help him. Was it possible Heaven thought Baddon and the rest of the half-souled immortals were siding with Lucifer? Did Fallis think that and turn against them? He shook his head and winced when a sharp pain shot through his head, and then reached up to rub the knot Fallis had left at the crown. No, he thought, Troy and the other angels wouldn’t have been thrown in with them if Heaven thought that. It had to be something else… but what?

Baddon whistled loudly to get the attention of the blinded men scattered on the floor. “It’s only me and Lameria in here, so don’t start swinging when I touch you.” He removed the cover from Coen’s head, and then jerked back in shock when he noticed the guy’s face had been beaten so badly that his eyes were swollen shut. There were various other cuts and bruises, including a gash on Coen’s neck near his jugular vein, but other than that he just looked exhausted. He was unconscious, but at least he was breathing.

He dreaded seeing what the others looked like under their hoods. Baddon shuddered, then pulled the tape and gag from Coen’s mouth, but didn’t have a key to unlock the silver cuffs binding his wrists behind him. He was thankful someone had removed his restraints before tossing him in here. He supposed they thought he was going to die anyway. He still wasn’t sure he wasn’t going to.

Baddon quickly un-hooded and de-gagged the others, without paying too much attention to their lacerations or broken bones, and then he sat down before he fell down. The room had begun to spin around him, so he closed his eyes and just leaned his head back against the wall, taking in heavy breaths to keep from throwing up.

“Baddon?” Troy muttered through his busted, swollen lips.

Baddon’s eyes opened to narrow slits, and he found the angel was trying to scoot himself over to him by bound arms and one leg. From the femur bone protruding through the BDUs of the other, even Baddon could come to an educated guess that it was broken.

“Don’t move. I’ll come to you,” Baddon said, and then crawled his way to the angel. “Who the hell did this to you?”

“Marcus, but someone else is behind it, someone bigger; he’s an elite, but no’ intelligent enough tae pull off something o’ this magnitude. We have tae get out o’ here so I kin go back tae Heaven and find out who it is.” He coughed, and tensed up as if something hurt.

“Your ribs broken?”

Troy nodded. “Four or five, but they are the least o’ my worries if I dinnae get out o’ here and stop this. I should ha’e seen some sort o’ sign, but I thought the demon was the red flag. Damn it! The big guy is going to nail my nuts tae the wall for this wan.”

Baddon stared down at him. “The big guy? As in…”

Troy smiled. “The wan and only.”

“Right.” Baddon fidgeted uncomfortably. “You ever… you know—”

“Met Him?” Troy chuckled, and then groaned again. “Yeah. Just tae be in His presence is a feeling like nae other. He connects wi’ everyone equally, and understands each person’s needs and wants like ye could nae even imagine. There is a sense o’ peace and calm and love that an individual never experiences as a human. He is extremely fair, but just as firm.”

“So, why doesn’t he just stop this? Why doesn’t he put a stop to poverty, war, hunger, disease and Lucifer?” Baddon exclaimed.

“God made Heaven and Earth, as well as every soul that has ever existed, including Lucifer’s. What man does effects everything, but there will be a fight between good and evil until wan o’ them wins. It’s never been a fight between God and Lucifer. It is a fight between Lucifer and man. It is a choice that has tae be decided every day: tae do the right thing or no’. God gave man free will tae make his or her own decisions. There is a balance, and right noo Lucifer’s side is heavier. If Heaven and Earth are destroyed, it will be because man has chosen for it tae happen. His son already died for our sins once. God will still exist. God will always exist. And if sin destroys this world, He will create another Heaven and another planet full of selfish beings to destroy it again and again if that is what he wishes tae dae. Ye ask why he doesn’t stop it? Humans are the parasites that live here; why don’t they stop it? They have a means tae, but people are selfish; they look out for themselves, trying tae destroy everyone above them and forget everyone below them. That’s just ma opinion, but does it answer yer question?”