Good Side of Sin (38 page)

“Shut up!” the demon screamed in Baddon’s face, and he realized the rest of the demons in the host had come out to play. She didn’t look like Chelsea anymore, nor did she resemble the fiery red-head they had all seen at agent Cross’ apartment or at the edge of the property back at the mansion. Actually, Baddon wasn’t certain this chick was even a chick. He was positive he heard the vocals of at least four dudes come from that throat.

He closed his eyes and groaned in anguish at the memory of screwing her—him—it. He turned his head to the side in case the ping-ponging that was going on in his stomach decided to start doing jumping jacks.

“Your friends will bring the alflight back—they have no choice—they need him just as much as we do. He is the key to the rise
or
the fall. You say he doesn’t have an evil bone in his body, but will he turn dark under pressure? Will he be weak when his love for your God is tested? What about when he gets the offer of being Lucifer’s right hand man and can go and do as he pleases? Heaven and Earth won’t be a place of torture. Lucifer doesn’t want to hurt the weak humans. He wants to make everything better. The humans have already destroyed Earth. Lucifer wants to take away disease, war and poverty. No longer will people starve or fight amongst each other. They won’t have to; every being will have everything they could ever dream of. Humans suffer in this world, and your God does nothing to prevent it. He does nothing to stop it. Why would you want to be on their side, Baddon? They will lose; they have already failed.”

Baddon grinned. “I’d rather be on God’s side on his worst day, than Lucifer’s on his best.”

The beast hissed in his face and then jerked away, leaving a vile stench in its wake.
Hadn’t she ever heard of a breath mint? Or twenty? Ugh!

He leaned back in his chair and stretched his stiff muscles as much as the restraints would allow, grimacing as his ligaments sizzled like bacon frying in a pan when the silver touched them. “We could sit here and argue all day about which side will win, but the truth is nobody knows what will happen until it’s over. You’ve already stripped me of my powers and drained me of most of my blood. It’s obvious I couldn’t harm you even if I tried—which I wouldn’t, because I’m not stupid. You’re obviously the alpha male—female…whatever you are. So, what do you say about letting me out of these restraints, so I can stretch before I die and go back to Hell? You wouldn’t let a man perish with his hands tied behind his back, would you? Only cowards do things like that.”

The monster seemed to be deliberating with itself over Baddon’s plan, and he tried to hide his disappointment when he realized it wasn’t going to fall for it and unlock him from the imprisonment. Just when it opened its mouth to refuse him freedom, a loud explosion thundered throughout the room. The gust of it knocked Baddon’s chair over backward, and his weight, combined with the force of the wind, caused the chair to break into several pieces when it slammed into the hard floor.

Baddon didn’t wait to see if the demon had noticed; he scrambled out of the broken chair pieces as quickly as he could, and then dove behind the overturned table. As he looked around the edge to see what was happening, something whizzed by his head and shattered against the wall. He jerked back and took cover the best he could. From what he had seen, there were about thirty or forty men and women in black tactical gear running all over the apartment. It looked as though they were searching for something. They had to be angels, he thought; they wore the same uniform as Troy and Josselyn.

Baddon’s eyes locked on Fallis across the room and he let out a breath of relief as the guy ran over to him. He shoved himself into a sitting position and turned around so Fallis could free him from the cuffs. “Damn I’m glad you’re here! I thought that she-demon was going to be the last piece of ass I ever got—”

THWACK!

“Oof—” Baddon blinked, shook his head in an attempt to clear the stars from his vision, and then blacked out.

How could I have been so stupid? I knew—I knew! Damn it, I knew all along he would do this to me. Even as he told me he wouldn’t, I’d
known
he would. I should have listened to my mind instead of my heart. I’m so stupid!

“Josselyn, are you all right?” Malcolm said calmly by my ear as he ran his fingers lightly over my hair, but it almost seemed like a dream or that I was imagining it. Nothing felt real to me anymore, not even the shattered heart in my chest. I felt…

Numb.

I blinked and tried to think of something to say. Could I even still speak? I didn’t know of anything to say, or any reason to say it for that matter, so I didn’t try. I knew I was laying half on-half off Malcolm’s lap, with my head cradled in the crook of his elbow. I could see his face, blurry and concerned-looking through the tears obstructing my vision. I wanted to tell him that I was fine, or that I would be in just a few minutes, but honestly I didn’t even have the energy to lie to him.

I thought I would be so happy once I found Malcolm, but only bad things had happened since. I just wanted to crawl away and ignore the world.

“I’m so sorry.” Malcolm tucked my hair behind my ear with a shaky hand then bent and kissed my forehead, like he always did. It felt nice, and I tried to smile, but failed horribly. He shook his head as he sighed. “I don’t know what to say. For once in my life I am without words. I don’t know how to fix this. You know I would fix this for you if I could, don’t you?”

I did know that. I realized now that his love for me ran just as deep as mine did for—for
him…
Thoros. There was no fixing this. Fate had dealt us a screwed up hand. Malcolm loved me. I loved Thoros. And Thoros, well, Thoros won again. I would never be the same. I knew in my heart—that was now, at this very moment, turning cold and uncaring, like a shard of ice at the very tip of the North Pole—I could never love again.

I knew Malcolm loved me, but I didn’t care anymore. The one person I trusted with my whole heart had betrayed me.

I took in a shuddering breath and slowly let it seep back through my lips. This pain felt worse than anything I had ever encountered before, but I could feel my strength building, fighting its way to the top, so I could overcome this horrible emotion.

My eyes dried up and I brought Malcolm into focus. He had hope and despair in his eyes. I had no urge to comfort him.

I heard loud, running footfalls on the stone floor heading our way, and I turned my head to look down the long corridor. It was the group I had come to Limbo with, and at the head of the line was Isaiah. Had he known what Thoros was going to do all along? I couldn’t trust him, either.

They slowed their running when I sat up. Ignoring Malcolm’s outstretched hand, I got to my feet and ran my fingers over the ball gown, ironing out the wrinkles and imperfections in the once beautiful dress. I didn’t smile as I looked up to meet Isaiah’s eyes, and, from his shocked expression, he knew I wasn’t happy with him. He didn’t need, nor did he deserve, an explanation of my thoughts.

“I’m going back to my chamber to change into something more suitable for the return to Earth. I suggest you all do the same. Since Melina has now given us permission to leave, I will take Emma, Ethan, Aries and the five spirits with me. Isaiah, you can bring Malcolm and, when Melina and Thoros decide to join you, I suppose they can accompany you back to the mansion. Melina has twenty-four hours with Lucifer before she will be pulled back here, to Limbo…” I took in a steady breath. Even as cold as I felt, I couldn’t bring myself to say out loud that Thoros would be coming back here with her. “Let’s all pray we can get the mission complete by that time. Now, if you will excuse me…” I took my skirt in my hands and walked past the group.

“Josselyn?” Isaiah said with a strained voice, and I stopped, but didn’t turn. “I had no idea what he was planning. He kept it from me somehow or I would have warned you, I could have done… something. You cannot know how sorry I am—”

I whirled to glare at him then. “Don’t be. It’s over. It’s done, Isaiah. We have a mission to complete, so if we could all keep our focus on what is most important here, that would be great.” I started to go again, but stopped when something else occurred to me. “Oh, and, Isaiah… I’m relieving you from your duty as my guardian angel. You never were very good at it anyway.” I saw the hurt in his eyes before I looked over at Emma, Ethan and Aries, but I didn’t care that he was hurting. “Is everyone ready to go home or do any of you feel like staying here for eternity? I can’t promise we are going to win this battle and, if we don’t, you will belong to Lucifer. Might be something you need to think about before you walk back through those gates.”

Aries was the first to follow me, but the others fell into step behind her, leaving Isaiah and Malcolm alone with the one other thing I was leaving behind: love.

“Everybody ready to go? Emma, leave the gown on the bed. It stays here,” I said, and then turned and walked out the door before I could catch the sour look I knew she was giving me. “Let’s go!”

The four of us walked down the long corridor to the grand staircase. The men I was taking back with me were supposed to be waiting for us in the great room.

Of course, they were not. I don’t know why I thought they would be; nothing else had gone according to plan in the last few months. All five of them were standing at the front door of the castle, and among them were Omega, Malcolm, Isaiah, Melina, and, of course, Thoros.

Thoros’ eyes flicked up to mine, but I didn’t look away. I felt dead inside as he stared at me with a sad expression. I wasn’t buying it, and I suppose from the look on my face, he sensed that, because he dropped his head to look at the floor.

“I guess we are all traveling together. Wonderful.” I didn’t stop to chit-chat. I just walked out the door and down the palace entry steps, took the reins of the first horse I arrived at and pulled myself up in the saddle. “Let’s get going. I’d like a front row seat to the end of the world.”

I didn’t wait for them. I flanked my horse with my heels and we were off with the cool breeze blowing through my hair.

My horse’s name was Duchess. I knew this because someone had branded it into the side of her beautiful neck. The script was pretty and screamed royalty, like that made it all right to burn a living creature.

I slowed her to a walk and ran my hand over her sleek, black mane. She whinnied at me, pulling an unexpected smile out of me. “Hey, Duchess. You—”

“You know, you shouldn’t go off on your own like that,” Omega’s voice startled me, and I looked over at him on his steed in surprise. His horse’s name was Maston, and he was a pure white beauty. I thought I would feel anger toward him if he ever spoke to me again. I even waited for it to come to me, but it never did. “Duchess knows her way around the area pretty well, but she’s no match for some of the predators that could easily find you.” The image of the animals we had seen through the gates upon our arrival came fresh to my mind, and then Omega’s words of
‘If you die in Limbo, you belong to Limbo.’

“Sorry, I guess I wasn’t thinking.”

I expected him to turn his horse around and return to the group, but Maston kept an easy gait alongside Duchess. Every once in a while he would whinny at her, and she would whinny back as if they were having a conversation of their own.

“I want to apologize for what I did to you,” he said, breaking the uncomfortable silence.

I shook my head. “Don’t bother—”

“Melina sent me to the gates with orders to bring all of you in, and then kill you immediately, so that all of you would belong to her. I’ve never disobeyed her orders before, but I knew I needed to talk with her again after you said you had brought her something, and the half-souled asshole told me he had been a demon in Hell, but managed to escape it somehow. I knew she would want to know, and maybe change her mind about the whole killing thing. She ordered me to hurt you again after we arrived at the palace. I refused her order, Josselyn. I guess she took matters into her own hands and used my body to do her bidding. It wasn’t me that hurt you.” He sighed. “I only come to when your boyfriend knocked me to the ground and started punching me in the face. I understand if you don’t believe me. I know I’ve given you no reason to trust me, but I honestly don’t want to hurt any of you.”

I wanted to tell him that Thoros wasn’t my boyfriend anymore, but there was no point; we would be leaving Omega at the gate, and it really wasn’t any of his business anyway. I guess I’d always known that Melina had been behind my attack. I remembered how Omega hadn’t seemed quite like himself when he had shown up at my chamber door. He had always seemed arrogant, but never vengeful. “I accept your apology, Omega. What’s done is done, and there is no going back to change anything, so why dwell on things that have happened in the past?” I looked down and rubbed Duchess again, realizing that it probably comforted me more than it did her, but she didn’t complain; she just let me stroke her neck as she carried me toward my fate. “That doesn’t mean I trust you, though. I’m not sure I will ever be able to trust anyone… ever again.”

After a moment, he said, “I’m really sorry to hear that. It’s a sad day when
nobody
deserves an angel’s trust.”

I looked back at him in astonishment. I hadn’t expected to hear something like that come from a man like him. It seemed so sincere. Now, look at me stereotyping. I should be ashamed of myself, and I probably would have been if all my emotions hadn’t shut down earlier. At any rate, I was impressed he seemed to have a brain.

I nodded. “It’s been a pretty sad day.”

Thoros’ heart was hammering in his chest, beating a rhythm in time with each hoof that pounded the dirt road. If one more smile or laugh or even a look passed between Omega and Josselyn, he was going to lose his freaking mind; he was well sure of it.

It didn’t look as though either of them was intentionally trying to make him jealous. It just seemed like they were enjoying a casual conversation between adults. He still didn’t like it. Josselyn should be talking to him, not Omega!