The Devil You Need (13 page)

Dumped!

Amid agony and loss, young miss is cast aside,

Her heart has just been tossed, to save her hero’s
hide.

I didn’t even know I was falling until my knees cracked
against the floor. Pain shot up my legs and I barely noticed. I closed my eyes,
trying to breathe past the agony searing my chest. Hard hands grabbed my
shoulders, dragging me upward. I opened my eyes, hoping Dialle had returned. I
looked up into a velvet-black gaze filled with sorrow.

Hot tears slipped down my cheeks, dripping off my chin.
“Emo. He left me. Oh god, he threw me away.”

My friend pulled me against his chest, murmuring nonsense
words that were meant to comfort. They pinged uselessly off the dense armor of
my pain. Nothing could pierce that armor. Nothing could touch the icy hole in
my chest.

Emo lifted me into his arms and I wilted against him,
allowing him to carry me up the stairs. I didn’t know where he was taking me.
Didn’t care. I only wanted to curl into the fetal position and die.

He laid me on my bed and stretched out next to me, wrapping
his long body around mine. I shuddered against him, numb with horror. I felt so
empty. So cold.

Emo yanked a blanket up to cover me and kissed my forehead.
“Just let it go, Astra. Get it all out.”

But I couldn’t let it go…because it would consume me in a
flash flame of sheer agony. I shook my head, grabbing Emo’s hand and clutching
it as I shivered until my teeth clacked together. Locking my muscles against
the need to cry, I forced the tears back.

Emo placed a hand on my face. “Sleep, Astra. Rest. When you
wake up it will be over.”

Drowsiness slipped over me, softening the muscles I’d braced
against the pain. My mind went muzzy with fatigue. “What did you…” The words
trailed away, lost on a cloud of black oblivion. And I started to drift.

The bed dipped and Emo’s heat left me. Something niggled. My
mind struggled against the imperative of sleep. There was something I needed to
do. Something important.

Something having to do with Dialle.

Sleep beckoned me with velvet arms. I sighed, sinking into
the mattress. My thoughts scattered and I lost the nugget of my concern…felt it
drift away…then a single thought pulsed through the enticing waves of
nothingness.
Where was Emo going?

Shit! I dragged myself back toward consciousness. Terror
clutching urgent fingers around my heart. I shoved at the mattress, forcing
myself into a sitting position. I panted against a wave of dizziness and then
dragged the covers back. Emo must have put me under some kind of sleep spell.

My feet touched the floor.
Slayer, I need you.

Astra? What’s wrong?

I’m in my room. I need your help.

The air thickened in front of me and Slayer was standing
there. He took one look at me and frowned. “You look like hell. What happened?”

I shook my head and stood, grabbing his arm as my head swam.
“It doesn’t matter. I need you to take me to the Royal Court. I think Emo’s
gone after Dialle.”

Slayer frowned. “Why?”

“That doesn’t mat—”

“I’m not taking you anywhere until you tell me what’s going
on.”

“Dammit, Slayer! We don’t have time.”

He crossed strong arms over his chest. “I have all the time
in the world.”

I muttered a few choice expletives. “Dialle dumped me.”

“Ouch.”

“Yeah. And I think Emo has gone to tell him what he thinks
about that.”

“That’s not gonna go well.”

“No. And they’re both…delicate…right now. A killing rage is
not exactly conducive to holding onto the light.”

“Not to mention one of them is going to get killed.”

My heart pounded with fear. I loved them both. If either one
of them… I shook my head. I couldn’t think about that. “So now you understand
the urgency?”

“Yeah. We’ll need reinforcements. The court is a bloodbath
right now. Major internal battles going on. Dialle’s men are trying to fight
off the royals who want to take his throne and their guards. Royal Fallen put a
call out to the dark world and he’s got an army of nasties at his back. The
last I heard Dialle was barely holding on.”

I wrung my hands, my gaze darting around the room in a
panic. “Frunk. And me without my powers.”

Slayer held his hands out, palms up and a sword shimmered
into them. “You still have the best sword skills of anybody I know…except for
me of course.” He grinned and I couldn’t help smiling back. I grabbed the
sword. Checking my boots, I discovered Emo hadn’t stripped me of my weapons
store. Good.

“Okay, let’s find my sister and the angels. We’ll just have
to even up the odds a little.”

I started toward the door and Slayer grabbed my arm. “Have
you considered what you’ll do if Dialle refuses your help?”

I frowned. “He’s not my boyfriend anymore but that doesn’t
make him stupid.”

“He threw you away, Astra. That makes him pretty stupid in
my mind.”

Tears burned in my eyes. Just when I thought Slayer was a
complete ass he went and said something so utterly sweet it took my breath
away. “Thanks. I needed that.” On an impulse, I leaned in to kiss him on the
cheek. Slayer turned his head and captured my lips in an energetic kiss.

I pulled away, laughing. “There you are. I thought I’d lost
Slayer the ass.”

His grin widened. “I never left.”

We found Darma, Myra and my father in the kitchen. There
were bodies everywhere, bleeding and mangled. My sister and the two angels were
moving among them, healing as many as they could.

Gerch sat at the table, holding one arm and frowning. I was
surprised to see him. “What are you doing here? I thought you’d left with
Dialle.”

“Dialle left?”

I glanced at Darma. “Yeah. He went to try to hold the
court.” I figured the less I said about what happened between Dialle and me the
better.

Gerch’s beady, black gaze found mine, but he held his
tongue. “Dialle told me to keep an eye on you.”

I blinked, strangely touched by Dialle’s consideration.
Though the cynic in me wondered if Gerch stayed behind on his own. He and I had
forged a tight relationship over the last several months and his loyalties had
grown to encompass me as well as Dialle. I glanced at his arm, which looked as
if it had been chewed by a gargoyle. “You need to get healed. We’re going to
the court to help Dialle.”

It was his turn to look surprised. He blinked and stood,
wobbling a little before he could stop himself. I reached over and touched his
arm, pushing him back into the chair. “Darma.”

My sister glared at me but she put her hands on the devil
warrior and a healing light suddenly bathed his arm. He closed his eyes, his
broad jaw tightening against the pain.

When she was finished he sagged in the chair. I left him to
recover as best he could and headed for my aunt Myra. “Hey, angel. I need you
to charge my battery. I’m going to help Dialle fight off Fallen and his band of
uglies.”

She turned so abruptly that her glossy, blonde hair whipped
around her head, falling in soft curls over her slim shoulders. Her clear, blue
gaze slid my way, hostile and assessing. “You’re not going alone.”

I smiled. “I was hoping you’d say that.”

She motioned toward a nearby chair. “Sit. I’ll get to you as
soon as I can.”

My father left a newly healed devil soldier, one of Dialle’s
judging by the black uniform decorated on the chest and shoulders with heavy
silver braid, and came over to see me. He’d shed his angelic persona to work
with the wounded. My aunt had too. Otherwise it would have been battle of the
wings in the kitchen, which was a large room but not big enough to accommodate
the massive wings of a Seraphim and an Archangel. James Phelps wore a pair of
well-worn jeans and a soft shirt that had probably been a pristine white when
he’d donned it, but was now covered in blood. His thick, blond hair was mussed
and stuck up endearingly at the top, as if he’d run his hands through it
several times. He smiled down at me, tucking a finger under my chin to lift my
gaze to his. “How are you, child?”

I considered lying, but he was too powerful an angel, he’d
know the moment the lie left my lips. I shrugged. “I’ve been better.”

“You pulled Dialle into the light?”

“For now.” My gaze held his, the meaning of my words
throbbing on the air between us. Tears burned, threatening to spill, and I
brushed them quickly away, glancing toward Gerch.

My father touched my nose with a fingertip, as he’d done a
thousand times since I was a child. “All will be as it should be, Astra.”

I sighed, sniffing. “Yeah, that’s not real comforting right
now, Father.”

Myra hustled up and grabbed my hand. “Let’s do this. Things
worsen at the court.”

I felt the first tentacles of her magic as it slid through
me. “How do you know?”

“I…” My aunt’s head came up, her gaze slid to mine. “Astra—”

Pain speared my chest and I gasped, doubling over. I felt as
if I’d been run through with a sword. Looking down, I saw no blood, no holes in
my clothing.

My father placed a hand on my knee. “What is it, Astra?
What’s wrong?”

Darma touched my shoulder, kneeling beside me. “She’s gray
and her heart rate has doubled.” She reached to feel my forehead as pain sliced
into my throat.

I screamed, jerking to my feet and turned a horrified gaze
toward my family. “Dialle’s hurt.”

The three of them shared a shocked look.

I grabbed for Myra, reaching for Gerch with my other hand.
“He needs us.”

Myra looked as if she would argue but something in my face
apparently made her reconsider. She nodded and I felt the first signs of a
shift as a change in the air. I clutched Gerch’s thick hand tightly, both out
of fear and to make sure I didn’t lose him in the shift.

Slayer ran into the room as the air started to shimmer. “I
need your help!” I shouted.

He nodded and said something that I couldn’t hear. The world
fell away, leaving behind only the stark silence and immobility of the space
shift. My heart pounded hard in my chest but I couldn’t hear it. My stomach
roiled with terror. Outside of my own body, my only sensual awareness was the
feel of Myra’s soft hand on my arm, and the pressure of Gerch’s enormous paw
clutching my hand.

The first thing I was aware of as my feet felt the ground
again was a blood-curdling scream as a royal and two soldiers rushed us, swords
drawn. Gerch jumped in front of me and took on the soldiers, his enormous form
dancing lightly across the gore-coated floor as he fought both guards. I didn’t
have time to admire his style. The royal rushed me with a yell and I barely got
my sword up in time to stop his heavy-bladed weapon. The concussion of his
strike jarred my shoulder, washing it with pain. My slim blade held his a mere
breath from my face, my arm shaking with the effort. “Fallen. Imagine running
into you.”

The royal inclined his head in a mockery of a bow. “We’ve
been expecting you.”

White light flashed past us, followed by the pain-filled
yelps of a couple of gargoyles as they crashed into the far wall, taking
several combatants with them. “Astra?” My aunt had grown to fill the hallway
where we stood, her wings brushing the blood-coated stone as she started to
glow with power.

“I’m fine. Find Dialle.”

She hesitated only a moment before flashing away.

The tall man standing before me had a cold, black gaze.
Thick rings of red rimmed the colored part of his eyes, spinning in dizzying
bursts. Wisps of silky black hair had escaped the leather tie at the base of
his neck, framing his angular face. His jaw was taut with anger. “It’s good to
see you,
my queen
. It saves me having to come looking for you to kill
you.”

“Yeah, good luck with that. I’d think by now you people
would realize Dialle and I are hard to kill.”

He infused his sword with power and I flew backward, hitting
the wall. I sucked air into my lungs, ignoring the pain shearing down my spine.

Buzzing filled my ears and I shook my head, trying to dispel
it.

The air shimmered again and Slayer and Darma appeared.
Slayer managed a single step in my direction before the distant buzzing became
a cloud of dark fairies.

The two of them were engulfed in the nasty bugs before they
had time to react. Slayer sliced the air and spun as shimmering strands of
fairy twine slipped around him, tightening until he couldn’t move his sword
arm. Darma screeched as hundreds of tiny swords sliced through her skin like
razors. Her hands came up and desperate bursts of white energy flew around the
space as she tried to fight them off.

Fallen ducked an errant stream and I shoved him, gaining a
couple of inches of space that allowed me to slice my sword across one of his
arms before he retaliated with a downward stroke that nearly sent me to the
floor.

My father appeared behind the royal and Fallen turned his
head as the space lit with white energy. The royal was engulfed in white light,
his dark eyes widening as his body started to dissolve under my father’s pure
energy. His scream continued to throb against my ears as my father turned away,
sending a stream of white light into the roiling cloud of bug-sized nasties
attacking Darma and Slayer. The dark fairies disappeared with a sizzle and pop.

My sister and the dragon slayer were both bleeding from a
dozen cuts and they were entombed in sticky fairy string. Darma shuddered and
tugged at the string. I remembered all too well how that felt. “Here, let me
help.”

A moment later, my father and I had extricated the dynamic
duo from their prison web and we turned toward the distant sound of battle. In
the time it had taken us to fight off Fallen and his nasties the battle had
moved deeper into the court, leaving behind a floor full of corpses. I was
relieved to see that not many of them were dressed in Dialle’s black-and-silver
uniforms. Which reminded me. “Where’s Gerch?”