Good Side of Sin (4 page)

He huffed as he pulled the sheet over his midsection. “Get in here,” he barked, startling Tooka awake from her bed in the corner. She flew over to him and snuggled under his armpit, as if his harsh words had frightened her.

Thoros smiled as he petted the top of her head, and then pulled her in for a brief hug. “It’s okay, girl. You sleep well?” He chuckled as she rattled on in her language about a fire-breathing dragon in a dream she’d had, all the while enhancing the dramatic effects with the use of her little hands and wings. To a human, the little gargoyle-like animal’s speech would have only sounded like gibberish, but to five of the eight forgiven demons living in the house, she sounded like one of them.

Only those of them that had previously been royalty under Lucifer had come to Earth still possessing their powers. Thoros supposed Lucifer allowed them to keep their magic because he thought they would wreak havoc on the innocent. Turned out that he was the only one doing that, and, surprisingly, it had nothing to do with the power of lust Lucifer had gifted him with.

A few moments passed and the handle turned, letting in a very pretty Phoebe. Her features still held the scars of her sins, but Thoros didn’t see them when he looked at her. To him, they only made her look more beautiful. He cursed under his breath. The boys had set her outside his room because they knew she was the only one of them, besides Tooka, that he wouldn’t yell at.

“How many?”

“I’m sorry?” Phoebe asked, confusion creasing deep lines on her forehead.

“How many did I murder last night?” he choked out.

“Oh… two,” she responded in little more than a whisper.

“Jesus,” he said, and then threw the cover off his lap and started for the bathroom. He heard the quick intake of breath and regretted making her feel uncomfortable around his immodesty, but the damage was already done and an apology wouldn’t help erase the image from her memory. “Sorry,” he muttered anyway, and then slammed the door behind him and turned the handle to make the shower come on. “Tell Baddon to get everyone together in ten minutes,” he shouted through the closed door. “We are having a family meeting.”

***

It ended up being more like twenty-five minutes before Thoros left his room and started down the grand staircase of the mansion. His thoughts had drifted to Josselyn, as they always did when he was alone—or when he wasn’t alone—and allowed his mind to wander. The hot spray of water coming from the showerhead and the steam in the room, along with the fact that he was naked, made him completely vulnerable and open for sweet torture from the memory of her.

He had caught himself fantasizing that she was there with him again, and he’d had to immediately turn the water to cold. Regardless of how much he wanted the female, that always seemed to chase away any thoughts of her, at least until he could dry off and throw on some clothes. Then he always rushed to find someone or something to distract him. He agreed with himself that it was better than locking himself in his bedchamber, curling into a ball on his bed and crying like a baby. He refused to let the reality that he would never have her eat him alive.

His shaking hand touched the end of the banister and even he had to admit that the trembling had only gotten worse over the past few months. He knew he was suffering from withdrawal, and Josselyn wasn’t the only thing he was doing without; it obviously wasn’t healthy for a person with a sex addiction to go without sex for three days, let alone three months.

The angel had ruined him, and he hated her for it.

As Thoros walked into the study, he locked eyes with Baddon, giving the giant a curt nod before finding a seat. His good friend had been trying to get to the bottom of this for the better part of the week, but every time he’d suggested doing anything about it, Thoros had refused to participate, convinced it was just a side effect of something Abigail’s angel had done when getting them released from Lucifer, or maybe it had something to do with being on Earth, something the humans were doing that was rubbing him wrong. They were destroying the ozone with their motored vehicles and the consumption of the tobacco they smoked, willingly. Then again, it could be something he had done, and that’s why he was in this room now, tight-lipped and itching to turn and run the other way.

Thoros cleared his throat and sat in an empty chair closest to the door, a good twenty feet from the rest of the group that were willing and waiting to help, and then gave Baddon a do-not-push-me look when the guy raised an eyebrow at him. They couldn’t help unless they shackled him in silver chains. He wasn’t opposed and wouldn’t object to the idea if that’s what they suggested needed to happen.

The thought of killing another innocent human made him want to throw up his last meal. Thinking about that, he realized he hadn’t eaten in days, hadn’t even had an urge to.

“…do you think, Thoros?”

His head shot up and he focused on the group, all of them staring at him, expecting him to answer a question he hadn’t heard spoken. “I’m sorry. What was that?”

Coen stood and gave Thoros a comforting smile as he walked across the room to him. Thoros eyed the fallen angel with suspicion, and then immediately felt relief and relaxation when the guy’s hands touched his temples.

Thoros stared up at him with a silly smile on his face, feeling as if he had just taken a handful of happy pills. “What did you do to me? I feel great,” he muttered.

Coen smiled. “In Hell, the royalty are the only ones that have power besides Lucifer. In Heaven we all had gifts.” He shrugged. “I lost them when I fell, but once I got part of my soul back, I’ve discovered some of my gift has returned. I suppose I’m being tested by God. I cannot say that I blame him. I’m thankful for whatever he allows me to have.”

“Just don’t get greedy, angel,” Lameria said with a smirk.

Phoebe huffed and everyone looked at her. “I’m the only one in this house that can’t defend myself with magic.”

“You’re immortal; why do you worry about defending yourself?” Fallis asked, and then Lameria cut in before Phoebe had a chance to answer.

“I thought this meeting was about Thoros, and why he’s all of a sudden killing people and looking like shit.”

Thoros shot her a puzzled look. “I look like shit?” he asked.

“Have you looked in the mirror this week?” She rolled her eyes as she looked back to Baddon, mumbling quietly under her breath. “That’s putting it nicely.”

Baddon cleared his throat and motioned with two fingers for Thoros to move closer. “Thoros, why don’t you come up here and join us, so you don’t—you know—miss anything vital?” It had been a request, but Thoros knew Baddon wasn’t going to take ‘no’ for an answer. And the big son of a bitch could get him down quicker than anyone he’d ever met.

Thoros glared at Baddon from under his lashes for only a moment before huffing, then standing and dragging the chair noisily behind him so he could place it closer to the group.

Baddon continued after Thoros got situated. “As I said before, I think Lucifer is behind it somehow. He still has half your soul—”

“He has half of all our souls! Why am I the only one killing people?”

Baddon took in a deep breath and let it out slowly. “I’ve thought about that, and I think it’s because you were the first to turn against him after Abigail. I keep waiting for this to affect the rest of us to confirm my theory, but,” he sighed, “it just hasn’t happened yet.”

“Yeah, that’s obvious.”

“What’s the last thing you remember about last night?” Damien asked.

Thoros thought about it for a minute, his eyebrows drawing together in thought and frustration as he ran the previous day’s events through his head out loud. “I slept until a little after one. I watched an episode of
Maury
, and then
Jerry Springer
, and then that show with the doctor that’s not really a doctor…” He snapped his fingers. “He’s always trying to help people better themselves with stuff that doesn’t work—”

“
Dr. Oz
?”

Thoros clapped his hands and pointed at Phoebe. “That’s it!
Dr. Oz
!”

“I think he’s really a doctor,” Phoebe replied.

“Back to your day, Thoros,” Baddon interrupted the debate about daytime TV with the loud bass of his voice.

Thoros leaned forward, letting his elbows rest on his knees. “Well, that’s about all that happened.”

“Such a sad excuse for a man,” Lameria retorted in a low voice, but Thoros ignored her jab at his ego.

“So, what happened after you finished watching TV?” Coen asked. “Think hard. What made you want to leave the house?”

Thoros shrugged again. “I don’t really remember. None of you were here and I got bored, I guess.” He sat there for a minute, and then looked up at the group with wide eyes. “I remember a guy on a bicycle. He looked to be in his late-twenties or so, short, dark-brown hair, red t-shirt, blue jeans, and he had a navy blue pack on his back. I remember he flew by me on the bike with a black Mercedes hot on his trail. I fleeted to keep up with him. The guy lost his pursuer at a red light, but I followed him all the way to Caesar’s Palace and… that’s the last thing I remember. Then I woke up naked in my bed about an hour ago with a guard outside my door.”

“The guard was necessary—”

“I know. I’m not bitching. A blanket would have been nice, though.”

“I put one over you, but you were dressed in the clothes you had on yesterday when I left the room.” Baddon turned his head to the side, and then looked over and glared at Tooka. She wouldn’t meet his gaze. “Uh-huh, well, maybe we need a pet dog instead of a pet dragon with a crush on Thoros.”

Tooka’s anger flared and she bared her pointy teeth at Baddon, and then flew over to land beside Thoros’ chair.

Thoros chuckled as he stroked her head lovingly. “We’re not replacing you with a dog, Tooka. And she’s not a dragon, Baddon.”

“I know what the hell she is! She was in my damn syde before Murry stole my position!”

Smile still in place, and comforting a growling Tooka, Thoros responded, “Then you know she isn’t a dragon. Dragons aren’t nearly as pretty as kurets are.”

Baddon threw his hands up in defeat. “It doesn’t help when you encourage it,” he said to Thoros, and then pointed at Tooka, who only snapped at his finger with her tiny, sharp teeth. “You pull one more incident like that and I’ll put you on a leash outside—”

“She’s not a dog, Baddon,” Thoros snapped as he coddled her. “She’s one of us, so cut her some slack, will ya’? She’s not hurting anyone, unlike me. Just leave her alone and let’s get back to the subject of why I’m killing humans.”

“Yes, let’s do that,” a female voice said from the door, and everyone in the room jumped to their feet in alarm. Baddon steadied Thoros as he began to sway. “Sorry I’m late to the party. I had more important things to tend to first,” Josselyn said, and gave them a smirk.

It was all I could do to stand in the same room with Thoros and keep my cool. I wanted to scream at him and hit him for betraying me, but I didn’t. He’s a demon and that’s what demons do; they fool people and—and they hurt people. Well, I had been fooled once and it wasn’t going to happen again, because I wasn’t about to let him get under my skin or anywhere near my heart this time.

Trusting him wasn’t a necessity to the assignment, and I promised myself I wasn’t going to do
anything
that wasn’t necessary. I was going to figure out what Lucifer was doing with Thoros, do my damnedest to stop him, and then go find Malcolm.

That was the plan.

Following a plan was not difficult.

I held my head up and focused on the big guy with fire-engine red hair and shocking blue eyes. He was big, but Troy still had him beat by an inch or so.

I started to speak to him, but Thoros beat me to it by turning on the guy as he pointed at me.

“What is
she
doing here?” Thoros shouted, stunning me even further into silence.

The big guy placed his hand gently on Thoros’ shoulder and tried to move the irate demon to a chair, but Thoros roughly knocked his hand away.

“Sit down—”

My eyes widened in shock as I watched Thoros pull back his arm and put all his strength into the punch that connected square on with the big guy’s jaw.

Two other male demons rushed to grab Thoros and shoved him into a chair, and then held him forcefully down by his shoulders and arms. There was no need for it. Even I could tell all the fight was out of him and could see the shame he felt by the look in his eyes.

What had Lucifer done to him?
I wondered to myself.

I took a few steps closer to Thoros with the six angels of Troop C at my back mimicking my every move; they didn’t trust the demons, either. Well, apart from Troy, but I still thought he was harboring untold secrets I should have known about before coming here. Thoros’ breathing escalated into overdrive the moment he realized I was advancing toward him.

Is he scared of me?

The guy that had taken the punch adjusted his jaw and glared at Thoros. “Now, you know better than that.”

I gasped when the giant demon leaned back on one of his legs, his other foot coming off the floor slightly as his arm drew back like a pitcher at a major league game. I staggered back into Troy’s chest and watched in horror as that huge fist came crashing down on Thoros’ cheek bone.

I reacted before I even thought about it. Power shot from my palms and knocked the big demon across the room and up against the far wall. He groaned as he fell to his knees, but didn’t try to fight back. I didn’t pay him any more attention as I rushed to Thoros’ side. I knew the six angels that had arrived with me would have my back.

The two demons restraining Thoros quickly moved out of my way. I knelt in front of him, but he recoiled from me, and then turned his head to the side and spit out a mouthful of blood and a tooth onto the Persian rug.

“I’m not staying for this ridiculous show!” Lameria’s voice rang out as she stood from her chair and headed for the door. As she was about to pass me I looked up and she stopped to say, “You should have just stayed up there and played with your pretty dolls, little girl. There is no saving him. Can’t you see that you have already ruined him?”