Broken Halo (22 page)

      
“Her
mind was weak. She broke under the torture.”

      
Sonya
shivered. “What torture?”

      
She
shrieked when he struck her again, this time on her rump. It bloomed a vibrant
shade of pink like a rose in summer. Except this rose had a thorn that existed
in the tantalizing welt that was conceived by his power. Nimbus grazed his
fingers over the mark, smiling when she winced. The tenderness seemed to
surprise her and the gentle touch hurt her sensitized flesh. Good. The
conflicting marriage of his mercy and cruelty would confuse her torn heart and
likely break her spirit. Either the excruciating pain would get to her, or her
feelings for him in spite of the torment would draw the truth from her.

      
“She
and Less had the nerve to run away from their master. They were restored to him
and Jude executed the justice she deserved,” Nimbus said, backing away a couple
of steps in preparation for another strike should she get snippy with him.

      
“You
mean he tortured her.”

      
“Precisely.”
He moved her hair to the side and kissed her neck.

      
Sonya's
eyes closed and her breath hitched. She tried to fight what she felt. Tried to
return to the light, but she kept looking back at him standing in the shadows.
She tried to lure him out, but it was a lost cause. She would never save him
from the darkness, but her heart couldn't accept this. It was the reason she
fell originally and it was the reason she would fall eternally.

      
“What
did he do to her?” she prodded.

      
“Is
your imagination so shallow?” Nimbus cracked the whip against her other butt
cheek, experiencing chills of excitement when she screamed at the way it
gnashed at her hip. There was so little skin over the hipbone. How she was
suffering. He felt his eyes changing shape and color when he saw the red
seeping steadily from the gash. It trickled slowly down her thigh like a tear
of despair. He must dry her tears.

      
She
cringed when he knelt and applied his tongue to the wound. “Oh, please! Just
beat me if you are so inclined. Why must you touch me?”

      
He
grinned, allowing his tongue to fork and make love to her bleeding flesh. “Do
you not desire mercy, angel?”

      
Sonya
gasped, likely astonished that he called her an angel. “You are not merciful.
You are one of them. You probably tormented her too.”

      
“I
did not have that pleasure,” he said coldly.

      
Her
voice sounded whiny and broken like she would burst into tears. “Pleasure? Does
human suffering please you?”

      
“It
does, although human passion pleases me more. I cannot change what I am, nor
shall I apologize for it. I would that you should esteem yourself with the same
regard.”

      
“How
can I be true to myself when you constantly seek to change me?”

      
“I
do not wish to change you, merely to bring the truth of your nature to light.”
He circled her so she could see him walking nonchalantly with the weapon, “You
bind yourself to laws and regulations that leave you feeling oppressed and smothered.
You -”

      
“I
do not. I want to be good.”

      
“Do
not interrupt!” Nimbus slashed the whip against her thighs, tearing the skin.

      
Sonya
let out a bloodcurdling scream. Her body shuddered and sweated as her full
chest heaved against the pole she was chained to. She gave a tiny screech of
frustration and he delved her a punishing blow to her fanny. She cried out in
misery, giving herself over to the silence and complacency he required of her.

      
“You
do as I say and you are whatever I say you are. In your endeavor to cling to
truth, you have closed your eyes to it. Open them, Sonya. See yourself as you
truly are – an agent of darkness, a minion of depravity.”

      
“No.”
She wept.

      
“Yes!”
He hissed, reinforcing his point with the whip.

      
“Oh
god!” She sobbed.

      
“He
cannot save you when you willfully choose to be damned. That is the beauty of
the entire situation for me. This was all your choice. How intolerable that
must be for you to hear.” He flogged her again, taking care when he struck her
back not to be as rough or indiscriminate as he had her rear and thighs. Being
human, he didn't want to damage any of her vital organs, merely punish her for
treason and break her belligerent spirit.

      
“Please
don't say that,” she pleaded, “I'm so sorry for what I have done.”

      
Nimbus
burned with anger. That was the last thing he wanted to hear – that in her
heart she had repented of her transgressions – that she regretted being with
him. He cracked the whip violently against the protective shell that barricaded
the soul he was trying so hard to reach. The one she had sold, but somehow
still clung to. She would lose it and surrender it to him.

      
Sonya
wailed with a bone-chilling suffering he had heard many times when passing
through the dungeons here. Her tears were understandable. Even men had pleaded
for mercy when faced with unbridled brutality. She gave him her blood and her
misery, but withheld the thing he wanted most. She was afraid of losing her
soul, but she must or the underworld would seek her execution.

      
“Why
don't you just kill me already?”

      
Her
words cut him and he retaliated with a biting slash to her body. She cried out
as his heart cried out. The drop of blood rolled slowly down her skin like the
tears his bleeding heart shed. The barrier between them must be as frustrating
for her as it was for him.

      
“Is
that what you want - to burn in the lake of fire? Is eternal suffering in the
abyss a more desirable fate than a lifetime with me?” he growled.

      
Sonya
was bawling. “No. I don't want to go there, but I deserve to after what I did
to Hope.”

      
So
it was guilt she felt. “What happened to her was not your fault. Jude altered
her.”

      
“But
he would not have been capable of doing so had I been where I was supposed to.”

      
“True.”

      
She
wailed at this. Perhaps his choice of words had been poor. He laid the whip
against the wall and dabbed up her wounds with a handkerchief. She winced and
whimpered at the gentle contact.

      
“Hell
will be insufferable enough. There is no need to punish yourself before your
time.”

      
“I
keep thinking to myself that it didn't have to be this way, but the damage is
done. Sometimes I feel so bad for what I have done and sometimes I just don't
care. I don't know who I am anymore,” she sobbed. “I could be in heaven right
now, or even on earth protecting someone, but instead I'm being beaten by
someone who hates me.”

      
How
could she think that? Was he really so in control of his emotions that she
couldn't even see the weakness that lay behind his olive-green eyes? Did the
assertive master in him eclipse the desperate male inside of him who needed her
more than he needed salvation, power, or sex? “I don't hate you, Sonya. I never
did. I'm sorry your heart is broken. If I could give you back your place in
heaven I would, but I can't. Who am I fooling? I should be the one to be
tortured for your downfall, not because I deceived you, but because I don't
care. If I could undo this and save you I would damn you all over again,
because I want you too badly to think of letting you go.”

      
“I
know,” she said quietly. There was a moment of silence before she started
weeping again, “All I ever wanted was to be with you. I don't care if I have to
be stripped, beaten, humiliated and violated, as long as I'm yours that is all
that matters to me. I should have run when I realized I fell for a demon, but
instead I ran into your damning arms. I should tremble in fear over the thought
of spending eternity in the abyss, but the only thing that makes me tremble is
the thought of an eternity without you. I know I will burn for saying this, but
heaven isn't the same without you.”

      
Nimbus
was speechless. Those were not words he ever expected to come out of her,
certainly not directed at him.

      
“How
do you live with yourself knowing what your final destination is? How can you
ever find a moment's happiness?” Sonya asked.

      
“You
learn to live in the present. The moments of happiness are a valid distraction
and leading souls astray is a fulfilling form of vengeance.”

      
“Is
that why you made me stumble?”

      
“No.
I tricked you for personal reasons. It had nothing to do with the larger
picture.” He walked around to the front of her and caught her tear, “I missed
you. The separation was more than I could bear. My affection for you may be a
selfish one, but it is unbreakable. I make no apologies for caring about an
angel.”

      
Her
lids veiled her eyes and milked the tears of remorse from them. “I'm not an
angel.”

      
“You
are
my
angel.” Nimbus kissed her
slowly, deeply. Her thankful little whimper was pure and devoted as she gave
him everything in that kiss. He could feel the magic in her kiss spreading
through his body, touching every place inside of him. His cock stirred and his
heart felt peace. He would take her, but first he must see to her wounds.

      
“Please
take me away from here,” she implored. “We can leave behind this mad, senseless
battle between good and evil and be together just the two of us.”

      
The
fantasy was ideal, but unrealistic. There was no escaping light and darkness.
One could stand in either one or the other, but one could not depart from both
any more than one could embrace them at once. “Now you are talking like a human
being. We can close our eyes to truth, but we cannot destroy it. The end will
come whether we want it to or not.”

      
Her
dark eyes bore the sorrow that rang in his tone. “But we can share a lifetime
together and be happy. Isn't that what you want?”

      
Jude
walked in. “For the love of death, man, have you gone soft? Since when does
kissing and sweet talking equate to torturing prisoners?”

      
Nimbus
gave a weak smile as he held Sonya's entrancing gaze. She was beautiful like a
star in the heavens. The death of a single star out of countless others might
go unnoticed to inhabitants of the earth, but he would cease to exist if this
star ever burned into nothingness. “What do you want, Jude?”

      
“Besides
the interbreeding of vampires, demons and humans to create one ridiculously
powerful race?” Jude hinted. “Not a thing.”

      
Nimbus
rolled his eyes. “Ah, yes, the dream of your forefathers. If only they had
contrived such a theory before the condemning flood.”

      
Jude
snickered. “You know I have no forefathers, only peers. Punishment may be
inevitable, but it is often delayed. Who knows how many unstoppable creatures
we could create in the meantime?”

      
“Enough.
Go damn yourself with Less and a demon of your choosing.”

      
“I
thought perhaps the lineage would be that much stronger if the human female was
once an angel,” Jude implied.

      
“And
should God choose to thwart your plans Sonya's life may be at stake since you
involved her.”

      
“Her
life is already at stake. I overheard a conspiracy that she should be destroyed
if not soon mated to you. It seems the council despises games even more than I
do. They want her to join us or die.”

      
Nimbus
sighed. His demeanor was one of composure, but inside he bellowed in aggravation.
Why hadn't Sonya kept her mouth shut? If she hadn't prayed she wouldn't have
condemned herself. What sort of singular character sought genuine fellowship
with God while in the belly of hell? She was an odd one. “I'm taking her back.”

      
“To
earth?” Jude concluded.

      
“Yes.”
Nimbus unchained Sonya and cleaned up her torn flesh.

      
“I
will see you out safely. There are a good deal of angry individuals down here
right now. Perhaps you can get out before they realize you are gone.”

***