Retribution (Redemption Series) (4 page)

"Beautiful, isn't it?" he
asked.

He moved toward me, and I pulled Amber
to my side as I backed toward the ledge.

"You're a fool," I said
quietly.

It wasn't words I should have uttered,
but I said them anyway. Damon chuckled, his laugh harsh.

"Am I?" he asked as he
approached me. There was nowhere for me to go but down, and he knew
it."You're mine now, Dayton. Never mistake that."

With those words, Damon lunged, his hand
catching me cruelly, his fingers sprouting claws. He ran the sharp edge of a
nail along my skin, and I screamed as blood dripped down my arm. I knew what he
intended, and I struggled against his hold even as he lifted my arm, catching
blood in the palm of his free hand. He brought it up to his lips and drank.

"No," I whispered.

I was still bound to
Marcas
.
There was no way Damon could bind me to him as well. Could he? Damon licked his
lips, his smile wide and feral. Amber was whimpering behind me. She might have
the strength to keep him out of her head, but I knew from experience that
having a Demon drink from you made it harder to fight his control.

"I'm
Marcas
',"
I said confidently, and I knew my eyes were shining. I could feel mine and
Marcas
' power move through me, and I welcomed it. I stood
straighter, my eyes meeting Damon's. "And he's mine."

I smiled. The realization was swift and
sudden, and I felt overwhelmingly powerful. It was suddenly obvious to me why
mine and
Marcas
' bond had never worked the way it
should. He was a hybrid Demon and I was a hybrid Angel. We had been bound
unknowingly, but while Demons who bind servants to them also become their
servants' rulers, there had never been an Angel bound to a Demon. A Demon
couldn't rule an Angel, and an Angel couldn't rule a Demon. We belonged to each
other equally. I wasn't just
Marcas
' servant, he was
mine as well.

Damon frowned, his dark blue eyes going
red. The Seal shone, the light almost blinding in Damon's rage.

"No longer," he growled as he
placed the hand containing the ring against my stomach. My eyes went wide.
"I feel him, you know. He is close. The ring could trap him now,"
Damon breathed as pain surged through me.

I
gasped,
the
pain so intense I couldn't even find the strength to scream.

"Feel that?" Damon asked. I
struggled to breathe. "That's the Demon blood in your system. It doesn't
belong there, and it wants out. All I have to do is purge it. Purge it and
force my own blood down your throat."

I was choking now, tears building up
behind my eyes. I would
not
belong to
Damon.
Marcas
would
not
be trapped by the Seal. I gathered up all the strength I had
and grabbed Damon's hand. He laughed.

"Fighting will only hurt you,"
Damon whispered against my ear.

I could hear Amber screaming as Damon
forced me to my knees. His strength was incredible, and he followed me down, my
hand still wrapped tightly around his fist. The Seal was burning my skin, and I
wondered briefly if it was because of the Demon blood in me. And if so, how
could Damon stand it? I looked him in the eyes, the first tear searing its way
down my cheek.
"Fight, Day. Whatever
happens, fight. I'm coming."

"I will never be yours," I
breathed as I concentrated on the power circling within me, using everything I
had to shove it into Damon. His eyes widened as he flew backward, the Seal
still shining.

I felt Amber at my shoulder, but I stood
up slowly, weakly refusing her help. I stared at Damon instead, my eyes hard.

"You can hold me down, you can
force me to do things I don't want to do, but I will never be yours."

Damon stood, and I could feel his anger.
I took Amber by the arm and forced her to the ledge. Damon held his hand up,
the Seal brightened even more, and the pain I had felt before slammed into me.
It hurt three times worse than the first time, and I struggled to stay on my
feet.

"I will have my redemption,"
Damon ground out as he moved toward us.

I climbed onto the ledge and pulled
Amber up after me.

"If Angels wear halos, this is me
setting mine on fire," I said coldly as I pushed Amber off the roof, my
arm going around her waist as I jumped after her.

Amber's screams filled my ears. It was
the sound of terror, and I ignored it as I pulled at my magic. I had never felt
so in tune with my power. I could feel
Marcas
' fire
in my blood, the ice of my own power mingling with it to create something warm.

"Use
the power. Give
yourself
wings,"
I heard
Marcas
whisper in my head, and I closed my eyes, the last
glimpse of the world a terrifying view of the approaching ground.

"Help me fly. Give me wings,"
I whispered as the power moved through me, running up and down my arms and into
my legs. I was suddenly weightless even with Amber dangling from my arms.

"Dayton!" Amber gasped, and I
realized she was no longer screaming.

I opened my eyes to find myself floating
above the ground. I concentrated on moving upward, and we flew higher.

"We're flying," Amber said,
her laughter filling my ears. It was the laugh of survival, half hysterical,
half relief. I wanted to join her, but I didn't.

"
Marcas
,"
I said instead, my mind searching for him. I could feel Damon coming for me,
and I lowered myself to the ground, releasing Amber as my shoes touched the
grass.

"Run, Amber," I said urgently
as I lifted myself back into the air.

Flying was suddenly unbelievably easy.
It felt natural. It felt right. Amber looked up at me.

"I won't leave you," she said
quietly, and I knew her guilt and shame was going to get her killed.

"Then hide," I told her.

If I couldn't get her to run, then I
needed her as safe as I could get her. No matter what problems the two of us had
between us, I couldn't lose another family member. I couldn't. I loved Amber.
No matter what, I loved her. She nodded, and I flew upward, my eyes on the sky.
I could feel Damon, but I could feel
Marcas
too.

And then there they were, twin brothers,
the sons of Lilith and Cain, both hovering in the air. They were facing each
other, their eyes red. And I did the only thing I knew to do. I flew between
them.

Chapter 4

The bond has changed. It is stronger. Only one thing
can make the bond unbreakable, and I fear this bond can never be undone.

~
Bezaliel
~

I felt
Marcas
'
anger instantly, and it was chilling. It was far more potent than anything I
had ever felt, and I wanted to go to him, but I forced myself not to move. Damon
was smiling, his eyes moving between us. Together,
Marcas
and I were strong, but we were also weak. The ring was the key to unbinding us
and Damon knew it. From the beginning, the ring had been our salvation, the key
to separating us. Now, the ring was my enemy. I didn't want unbound.

"Brother," Damon said coldly,
nodding slightly as one corner of his lip curled upward. His eyes gleamed.

Marcas
kept his gaze
on Damon, his expression unreadable. For once, I welcomed
Marcas
'
even demeanor. Between the two of us, I was the openly emotional one,
completely readable. We balanced each other. But Damon fed off emotion. He used
it to his advantage, and
Marcas
knew this better than
anyone.

"How do you want to die? It's best
I know now,"
Marcas
said slowly, his face as
smooth as granite. I wanted to touch it, to make sure he was still real.

Damon laughed.

"You're confident, Brother,
considering . . ."

We both knew Damon meant the Seal.
Marcas
flew closer to me, and I could feel the heat
emanating off of him as he stopped a few inches away. I was sideways so I could
see each brother, my gaze drawn inexplicably to
Marcas
.
He didn't look my way.

"Would you rather have me
afraid?"
Marcas
asked.

Damon didn't approach us.

"Oh, you're afraid. Of this I have
no doubt," Damon said as he lifted his hand. "I've tasted her blood,
Marcas
. It even tastes like redemption."

Marcas
growled, the
sound deep and low, emanating from a dark place, and I knew the moment
Marcas
' arm suddenly wrapped around my waist, the moment I
was spun so that I was facing Damon, my back against
Marcas
'
chest, that
Marcas
had finally broken. If he had been
unreadable before, he wasn't now, and I knew it was because of me.

"Protective, are we? It should hurt
that I plan to destroy you, but it doesn't."

Damon's words were like daggers. I felt
them in my own heart whether
Marcas
felt them or not.
A Demon, his sanity lost, who would kill his own brother for something he was
never meant to have.

 
I
found
Marcas
' hand, and I grabbed it. Somewhere
during our journey, I had become less afraid of touching him, of showing him
how I felt when I wasn't sure he reciprocated. I no longer cared if his
feelings were as deep as mine. I was in love. I knew this because love had
removed the fear of rejection and left behind the need to show him how much I
cared no matter the obstacles between us. And I let my touch say everything I
didn't have the time to say, to say everything the moment wouldn't
allow
me to say.
Marcas
returned my grip.

Damon's eyes found our clasped hands,
and his brow rose. His gaze met
Marcas
'.

"This just went from sad to
pitiful. Tell me, Brother, have you fallen for another Angel?"

Marcas
didn't answer
him, although I knew without looking that his jaw had tightened. Damon laughed.

"And you fault me my redemption?
For someone who rejects so heartily what I want, you have a knack for attaching
yourself to Heaven."

"You bound us, Damon. I didn't seek
her out."

Damon snorted.

"Didn't you? You've watched her
since our mother ordered you to kill her. Lying doesn't suit you."

I didn't move. What Maria had said in
Egypt was true.
Marcas
had been watching me for a
long time. The years separating us, which had mattered so much to me before,
didn't matter anymore because Maria had been right about something else as
well. Sometimes it isn't the era a person was born
in
,
it's the soul she was born
with
.

"I didn't come here to argue,"
Marcas
said fiercely.

Damon grinned.

"No, you came here to die."

And with that, Damon lunged, narrowly missing
us as
Marcas
and I dove toward the Abbey. I folded my
free hand across my chest, the other still trapped around
Marcas
'
fist. My feet only just touched the ground when
Marcas
reversed.

We flew backward into the air, barely
missing a ball of fire, the flame's red color heightened by the Seal's power.

"Leave me, Day,"
Marcas
whispered suddenly into my ear, and I stiffened.

"What?"

"Together we are more a target than
we are apart."

I knew he was right, but I was finding
it hard to break away.

"If you die on me, I'll find a way
to bring you back to life and kill you myself," I warned as we spun again,
Damon's power just nicking the edge of
Marcas
' shoe.

Marcas
smiled.

"So be it."

And with those words, we parted. I flew
up, and he flew down toward his brother. Damon was not expecting the move, and
Marcas
' power was suddenly upon him.

There was a burst of red light, and I
lost sight of them. My eyes searched the darkening skies frantically.
Dammit
!

And then there they
were,
a tumbling mass in the air, power against power, Demon against Demon, brother
against brother.
 
Energy crackled from
Damon's hands, and a beam of light hit
Marcas
squarely in the chest, sending him reeling.

My torso was suddenly on fire, the
injury a reminder of the bond's hold on
Marcas
and
me, and I clenched my jaw against the pain to keep from screaming before diving
toward the pair. I kept my distance, my eyes on
Marcas
,
my heart swelling with relief as he recovered quickly. There was power moving
so rapidly between the brothers now that it was hard to keep up.