Her Demonic Angel (Her Angel Romance Series Book 5) (33 page)

He beat his wings and rose with her.

“I don’t know!” Erin looked down at her hands and wished that she hadn’t. Veiron was holding her from behind and she had a terrifying view of a long drop to a painful death. “It was instinct. He was there and it just happened and then he went poof.”

“Well… just make sure who you’re pointing those hands at before you fire, okay?”

Erin’s eyes widened. He was worried she was accidentally going to unleash a fireball on him. Erin looked down at his arms around her waist. His skin gradually turned black and now that she knew he was changing, she could feel him shifting against her back. She looked across and watched his crimson feathers draining to black and then falling away to reveal the leathery membrane beneath.

“I’ll just stick to you like glue and then we won’t have to worry, right?” she said and cursed herself for not sounding sure. She didn’t want to incinerate her lover by accident.

Veiron kissed her shoulder with his wide black mouth and squeezed her as he took them higher. His voice was a deep rumbling purr in her ear. “Absolutely. Ah, fuck.”

“What?” Erin raised her eyes and saw what had Veiron swearing.

Another contingent of Hell’s angels swarmed towards them. She was beginning to feel as though for every one they defeated, another five took their place. It was an endless surge, a relentless tide of demonic angels. Was there no end to the Devil’s army?

Veiron cut down an angel that dared to attack them, smashing his spear into one of his wings and sending him careening down to the ground. He hit with a boom and a bright light engulfed him. When it faded, the demonic angel was gone. How many was the Devil willing to send back to Heaven in order to capture or kill her and her friends?

Veiron beat his wings and shot through the Hell’s angels fighting in the air, heading straight for Amelia. Her sister turned as they approached, her silver hair flowing around her shoulders and grey eyes glowing. Amelia raised her hands, a blue orb of light appearing between her palms, and glared at Veiron.

“No.” Erin held her hands up.

“Not the enemy, so back off, bitch,” Veiron snarled, his voice deeper and rougher than usual. He flapped his wings and came to an abrupt halt close to Amelia, who launched her fireball at another approaching wave of demonic angels. “Like I would let anyone grab Erin. Try to have some faith in me.”

“That does not look good.” Marcus cut down another demonic angel with one of his curved silver swords and pointed towards the incoming swarm of Hell’s angels with the other.

“Not good at all. It’s the First Battalion. These boys live to fight, and if they can dismember and torture in the process, all the better. The Devil isn’t looking to take prisoners.” Veiron shifted his grip on her and Erin swore he was trembling. She glanced at her sister and Marcus. They looked tired too, blood coating them and both of them sporting minor wounds.

“Incoming!” someone shouted and Erin was too late.

By the time she had turned to see what was happening, a huge black blast of energy sent her, Veiron, Amelia and Marcus flying. Veiron tried to keep hold of her but the shockwave tore them apart.

Erin tumbled through the air and hit a demonic angel, taking him down with her. He snarled, exposing sharp red teeth, and barely managed to stop himself from crashing into the ground. Erin pushed away from him before he landed and hit the ground, rolled and grimaced as she twisted her ankle.

Damn it.

She quickly pushed herself up. He would come after her and she didn’t have a weapon other than her powers, and she still wasn’t sure how to use them. The times she had used them so far, she had been reacting on instinct.

When she had made it a few metres and no one had grabbed her, she paused and looked back at him.

He stood exactly where he had landed, growling as he straightened out his leathery wings and his armour.

Not attacking her.

Erin spun around, searching for everyone. Marcus was back with Amelia, battling on the ground now. Amelia had put her wings away. Had that black blast of power damaged them? Taylor and Einar were fighting close to them, forming a square with them and driving back the demonic angels. She couldn’t spot Veiron anywhere but then she hadn’t expected it to be easy considering he had gone demon on her.

He would find her, she was sure of it, but until then she was on her own and she had a lot of ground to cross to get to her sister and friends. Erin spotted a discarded sword just a few metres from her and ran for it, keeping low so the Hell’s angels flying above wouldn’t spot her. Hopefully.

She grabbed the sword. It was smaller and lighter than the broadsword she had once tried to wield but she still wasn’t sure she would be able to use it. She had seen plenty of action movies. How difficult could it be? She gave it a few test swings and was surprised by how powerful she felt. Strange considering she had power in her that could do infinitely more damage than a piece of steel.

Erin ran at the nearest Hell’s angel, roaring a battle cry at the same time and ignoring the pain in her ankle. He turned sharply and she brought her sword down, intent on cutting him straight across the stomach. He sidestepped her and then evaded her second strike and even her third. Erin blew her short black hair out of her face and growled as she swung again. The demonic angel didn’t even block her or raise his own weapon. He just kept sidestepping.

It was frustrating as hell.

She decided to forget him and try another. She ran at her second target, going for a sneak attack this time, and swung so hard she would have fallen over if it hadn’t connected with him. The sword sliced into his side and he snarled and turned on her, eyes burning crimson. He raised his own curved red blade and brought it down hard. Crap.

Erin flinched and clumsily brought her sword up, hoping to block his strike. His sword didn’t even hit hers.

She peeled one eye open and frowned. He had stopped with his sword mid-strike and was staring at her. Affronted didn’t cover how she felt when he huffed, turned away and beat his dragon-like wings, taking off.

What the hell?

Did no one want to fight her?

She tested her theory by strolling straight up behind another demonic angel and kicking him in the back of his left leg, so it crumpled beneath him and his knee hit the basalt. He snarled as he turned and then snorted and just shoved her aside before stalking off towards Taylor and Einar.

Erin’s hands burned. No one wanted to fight her. Why?

Heat prickled down her spine. Another black bolt arced through the air. This time it sent a demonic angel flying.

Veiron. It had to be him. He landed hard, spraying fragments of black basalt everywhere. Erin ran towards him, weaving through the demonic angels that were heading for him too. Marcus beat her there, landing hard and attacking with both of his curved blades. The demonic angels shifted backwards and a gap opened, a path that drew her eye and formed a straight line between her and someone she had never wanted to see again.

The Devil.

He sat on a black throne at the periphery of the battlefield, dressed impeccably in a black suit and deep blue shirt, with his legs crossed at the knee and his fingers steepled in front of him. His eyes glowed so brightly that she could feel them on her, burning across the distance. Her hands heated another ten degrees.

This was his doing. Her sister, her lover, her friends were all fighting for their lives because of him. And he had ordered his men not to touch her. There had to be a reason for that. She had to be of some value to him, just as everyone had said, if he didn’t want her to come to harm. When he had held her captive in this horrific realm, he had been angry with those who had hurt her and he had treated her well.

If anyone could make him stop this insanity and call off his men, it might be her. Her hands shook, heart trembling in her throat, beating timidly now. The sound of battle and the sight of her friends and Veiron fighting so hard to win against his Hell’s angels made her strong though. She straightened, clutched the sword tightly in her right hand, tipped her chin up and strode towards the Devil.

Some of the Hell’s angels stopped to watch her pass while others continued the fight. Erin drew slow deep breaths. She had to do this. If the Devil wouldn’t call off his men, then she would damn well fight him and make him call them off.

He smiled as she approached, a sensual one full of pleasure. He had been waiting for her all this time, toying with the lives of her friends until she had noticed him and come to him. He had known what she would do. Erin cursed him for that and for manipulating her by endangering those she loved.

Erin stopped directly in front of him, flexed her fingers around the grip of her blade and looked him straight in the eye.

“I want to bargain with you.”

His amber eyes sparkled. “I had not expected you to return so soon, Erin. It was very brave of you but also very foolish. Your compassion makes you weak.”

No, it didn’t. It made her strong. Her love for Veiron and for her sister, and her newfound friends, all of it made her strong.

Erin held her head high, refusing to waver and give in to her growing fear. This man didn’t scare her. She wouldn’t let him scare her.

“I said I want to bargain with you.”

His smile widened. “A deal with the Devil? How cliché. Speak. Ask what you will of me.”

“Call off your men.”

The Devil didn’t seem very interested in doing such a thing. He sighed and looked at his polished fingernails, picking at them.

“Please?” she said and hated that he had reduced her to begging so quickly. The battle raged on behind her, the sound of it shredding her nerves. She wanted to glance around and see if everyone was still fighting, still alive, wanted to reassure herself that Veiron was safe and with the rest of her side at last, but she couldn’t look away from the Devil. She could show no weakness. She had to keep calm, play it cool, and keep holding his gaze. He didn’t scare her.

His smile returned and he leaned back in his obsidian throne and uncrossed his long legs.

“And what will you offer in exchange?” he said, voice deep and exotic. A voice made for tempting mortals.

“My soul,” Erin blurted before she could consider the gravity of what she was offering.

He laughed.

Erin frowned at him.

“Really?” He shook his head, as though the worth of her soul wasn’t equal to what she desired. Wasn’t a soul the thing the Devil wanted most?

His sensual lips curved into another smile.

“I see that question in your eyes, Erin. If you had a soul I wanted to extract, then I would take it, but I prefer your soul just where it is.”

“What do you want from me then?” Had she really just said that? She had sunk below begging to letting him set his own price now and God only knew what he would ask for.

A scream cut through the din of battle. Her heart leapt and she barely stopped herself from looking away from the Devil. At the speed things were going, her side would all be dead before she could get the Devil to call off his men. Maybe that was what he wanted. He wanted to keep her here until she was the only one left and it would have been for nothing, she wouldn’t have saved her friends by sacrificing herself.

The Devil lowered his hands to the arms of his throne and slowly stood.

His eyes held hers.

“I want to awaken you.”

Erin frowned. Awaken her? What the hell did that mean? Like Amelia had been awakened by Apollyon? Amelia had died.

“You want to kill me?”

The Devil shook his head. “No, I do not wish to kill you. You do not have to die.”

Erin’s skull buzzed with her rampaging thoughts. If she didn’t have to die, then maybe it would be alright. Maybe he just wanted to awaken the power within her and have her use it in some way, as Apollyon had said. Would that be so bad? If she could deal a blow to Heaven then she damn well would, with or without the backing of the Devil. They deserved punishment for what they had done to Veiron, her sister, and Marcus.

“You do not have time to think about it,” the Devil said and another anguished cry rose above the noise of the fight, sending a chill down her spine.

“Fine! Call off your men and I’ll do it.”

The Devil grinned, his white teeth sharp and gleaming, and moved in a blur of speed. He grabbed her wrist, twisted her into his embrace, banded one arm across her chest and swept his other in a theatrical arc across the battlefield.

The Hell’s angels immediately stopped fighting, looked across at him, and took off as one, swarming into the black sky.

Erin’s heart settled at last.

It was over.

A humming broke the silence, low and menacing, causing the hairs on the back of her neck to rise and her fingers to heat once more.

Veiron stood a few hundred metres ahead of her, chest heaving, back in his human form now and covered in blood. Marcus stood with him, their backs to each other, weapons at the ready. Off to her left, Amelia, Einar and Taylor were slowly turning away from her.

What was coming?

Erin’s hands burned again, skin prickling as the fire spread up her arms and through her blood. Something was coming. Something dangerous. She tried to run to Veiron but the Devil tightened his grip on her, dragging her back against him and holding her there, with her back pressed to his front.

Her eyes widened.

Shapes began to form, coming out of the gloom. Black wings beat the hot air. Fiery light from the lakes and rivers of Hell glinted off the gold edging on their black armour and their golden weapons.

Angels.

Was it Apollyon?

Had he come to aid them?

Her heart mocked her, saying that she knew it wasn’t. Apollyon was an outcast like Einar, and Marcus, and the one they had mentioned called Lukas. No army of angels would assist them.

They were here to kill or capture them in the name of Heaven.

CHAPTER 26

E
rin had been wrong. The fight against the Hell’s angels hadn’t been insane. This was insane. The black-winged angels of Heaven had come at her side hard, a relentless force bent on killing them all. She struggled against the Devil’s grip, kicked him in the shin to try to make him let her go, but he didn’t give an inch. He held her against him, one arm across her chest and his other hand holding her jaw, forcing her to watch as her side battled against overwhelming odds.