Love Beyond Sight (18 page)

He leaned up against the door assessing the situation. "Well, this is an interesting turn of events."

Samuel pointed at Sebastian. "Get that Outsider who is disguising himself as me."

The real Sebastian raised his hand and the room fell silent. All of the minions' eyes glazed over. "I don't think there is any question, Outsider, which one of us is the imposter in this situation. The question is—which one of those pesky creatures are you?"

Samuel didn't speak and Eden wished he would. She pushed at his mind but felt no response. He'd blocked himself from her. In a swift move, Samuel crossed the room and undid the restraints at her wrists.

"I know her." Sebastian pointed at Eden. "She's the incompetent prophet."

"She's nothing to you." Samuel spoke through gritted teeth to the demon before turning back to her. He stroked her cheek once with the tip of his finger. "Run and don't look back."

No way would she leave him but he never gave her a chance to tell him. Instead, he turned on the demon, stalking toward the nemesis that had caused all of them so much pain.

"Who am I?" Samuel pounded on his chest.

"Sweetheart." Eden launched forward trying to grab onto Samuel's arm. "Please don't do this." She'd deliberately not used his name. If Sebastian didn't know him, she wasn't going to give him that information.

"Eden, I said go." Samuel pulled her hands from his arm. He was obviously not going to be stopped from whatever he'd chosen to do.

"Did you know?" Sebastian looked at Eden as if Samuel was not there wearing his face and hollering at him. "That your father was really something to behold? Even before I was born into this body, he almost prevented my very existence. If any of the Outsiders had listened instead of taking matters into their own hands, I wouldn't be here at all. How does it feel to be a total failure compared to good old dad?"

It didn't feel good, most of the time. But she'd seen this place and she knew they could win. If she hadn't seen Sebastian's arrival, it didn't mean it wasn't part of the original vision. He was beatable. Right here, right now.

Samuel grabbed the book off the table and shoved it to Eden. The pressure of the book slamming into her chest caught her off guard and she stumbled backward two steps.

"It's too late. They're dead. You can't bring back the dead. Well, I can. But you can't."

"They're not dead." Samuel shook his head. "And neither am I."

Eden gasped as she realized what was about to happen. Samuel was going to shed his face and show the demon just how not dead he really was.

Chapter Fourteen

He'd waited for this moment. In his heart, he'd always known he'd be the one to kill the demon. Did he wish that Eden wasn't watching? Oh, yes. But Samuel wasn't going to argue with her, not when it would give the demon an upper hand over him. Right now, even though Sebastian didn't know it, Samuel held all the cards.

Sebastian had no idea he hadn't died and the surprise alone should give him an advantage here. Then it was going to be a matter of figuring out how to improvise his way into getting what he'd want. He'd read the book that the Twelve had compiled when they'd dragged Eden off into the red room. To wake Leonardo and Marina, Sebastian had to die.

The demon had given the magic the Twelve had used to create the electrical impulse. The magic had to be cut off from the source. No more Sebastian, no more dark magic.

There was no way in hell he'd let Eden kill Sebastian, even if she could. Instead, he let his skin peel away.

"You really don't know who I am?"

Sebastian raised an eyebrow. "You tire my patience, Outsider."

But even as the demon spoke, he took a step back. "What is happening to you?"

"Well, obviously, I'm shedding my false face." Samuel forced his voice to remain calm. "I wouldn't want to look like you a second past when I had to."

"Yes, but what you're doing isn't possible."

"And yet you're witnessing it with your own eyes."
You presumptuous son-of-a-bitch
.

"The only one of you who should have been able to do that, died years ago."

Samuel stepped forward into the demon's personal space. "Did you stay around to see the body?"

He knew his face had been fully exposed. The red, raw looking skin that had never and would never heal tingled as the air hit it. The other part of his face, the scarring, didn't hurt at all. He could never feel anything from the scars. Sometimes he pulled at them just to see if he could get any sensation at all. Most of the time he couldn't.

His appearance was reflected in the demon's eyes. One of his eyebrows hung low on his face while the other was barely visible at all. His nose had survived the flames so at least he still looked human despite the bumps, twists, and distorted skin that now defined his existence when he wore his true features.

"You lived?" Sebastian spoke through gritted teeth. "Why does nothing with you people go the way it is supposed to?"

"Because, ultimately, you don't get to win, demon." Samuel shoved him backward. Sebastian cursed as he lost his footing and slammed into the table.

Samuel wasn't foolish enough to think he was getting into a fistfight or a shoving match with the demon. No, he just needed a temporary distraction and the shove had provided that.

Darting to his left, he grabbed a bottle of black powder from the table there. The minions had been filled with information. Most of it useless but this item he was more than grateful to know about.

"You like fire?" Samuel's hands shook but he knew he could get through this without pause. He'd waited his entire life for this opportunity. "Have some."

Samuel poured the black powder on Sebastian who tried to duck to get out of the way. But it was fruitless. Once even a drop of the highly combustible powder met with the sweat on Sebastian's skin, it lit up.

Darting backward, Samuel shoved Eden to the floor, throwing his body weight over her to shield her as best he could from the blaze that was about to overtake their nemesis. Not one flame would touch Eden.

She made an oomph noise but didn't try to squirm out from beneath him. Smart girl, he knew she'd understand it was best not to move. Raising his head, he watched as the hissing and cracking turned into an orange inferno over Sebastian's body.

To his horror, the demon didn't move at all. He didn't scream, didn't even complain. Instead, he threw his head back, laughter filling the room as Sebastian's skin melted away in front of Samuel's eyes. It almost looked like he embraced the pain.

"Oh, Outsider." he yelled over the roar of the raging fire. "I'm still going to win."

One second, he stood there surrounded by a hot orange light and the next he'd melted to the floor, a puddle of water with pieces of ash floating around. The minions, who still had not moved, collapsed around him into their own liquid pools as if they'd too been on fire when they never had been.

"What the hell?" Samuel blinked a few times to make sure he hadn't imagined what he'd just witnessed. That wasn't at all how he'd pictured the demon's demise.

"What?" Now Eden moved beneath him and he darted up to give her some space. "What's happened?"

"He burned and then he, and all his fellowship, melted into the floor."

Eden pulled herself to her feet. "You're serious?"

"Completely." He walked over to Sebastian's puddle and bent over. "I have no idea what happened."

She pointed to the empty bottle. "Is it that stuff? Did it make him melt?"

Samuel shrugged, hoping he seemed calm when his heart beat very fast against his ribs. "I guess."

"I've never heard of a human being melting."

He touched his own face, realizing for the first time that Eden had seen him mask-less. "No, it's quite different than that. But he wasn't exactly human, was he?"

"You're right." She walked over to him and touched his shoulder. "He almost seemed gleeful."

"I know." And it clawed at Samuel's gut. Something had gone very amiss. Or maybe he was just in shock because it was over?

"Now what?"

He stared up at her for a second, wishing he could stare into her green eyes for a while and let this entire event pass them by. "I have no idea."

"About Leonardo and Marina?"

"Oh." Samuel jumped to his feet. "They should wake up. That's what the book said."

"Good."

He covered up his face with his hands. "Eden, why don't you go back to the others? I'm going to go find a new persona."

"Don't be ridiculous." She walked to him and grabbed onto his arm. "I don't think it's nearly as bad as you think it is."

"You're being kind."

"I'm not…"

He interrupted. "You are and, regardless, I can't stand having you look at me like this. I'm not vain. It's not that…"

"I understand."

He realized that she did. Nowhere in her gaze did he see disgust or horror at the sight of him. There wasn't even a hint of pity. No, all he saw was compassion and understanding. And love.

Eden loved him. The thought staggered him. He'd been in love with her forever. When had she come to feel that way for him?

"But I'm not leaving you. We'll go together. Whatever you do, I do."

Could he actually not change his look? The thought pounded through his brain. "Eden…"

The door swung open and in a crash, Gabriel, Kal, and a man he didn't recognize stumbled forward. Samuel's cheeks began to tingle.

"You never sent the signal." Gabriel panted. "And then we all felt this tremendous jolt. I can't explain it. Like our insides exploded."

"Are you okay?" Kal moved forward. "What happened in here?"

"Samuel killed Sebastian. He melted him right to the floor." Was that pride he heard in her voice?

"What?" Kal and Gabriel spoke in unison. It would have been funny if he hadn't caught a strange gleam in the eye of the man he hadn't met yet.

"You're hurt." The man moved forward, an intense tone in his voice. "The fire that melted Sebastian, it couldn't have done this to you. These are old wounds."

Eden touched the side of his face. "This happened when he was twelve. Sebastian tried to kill him."

"Who is this?" Samuel wasn't entirely certain what was going on but the longer the newcomer stared at him the more his skin began to tingle. He had the urge to back up and move out of the other man's eyesight. But he'd just burned a demon to death; he wasn't going to run from the longhaired blond guy who clearly had a staring problem.

"This is Jason."

Oh yes, Jason. The one who was soul mated with someone named Charma. He was their healer.

Samuel grabbed at his face. "What are you doing?" More certain than ever that the other man was causing the tingling on his cheeks, he stepped back. He'd been through all kinds of healing. No way was he ever going through another round of that. Nothing would fix him, this was his life.

"Don't move." Jason bound toward him. "I can't control this anymore than I can stop breathing. If you move away, I will chase you."

"Get the hell away from me."

Jason grabbed his cheeks. "I have to make this better."

"Jason…" Gabriel's voice was the last thing he heard before his face erupted in flames. Or at least it felt like it did. He fell to his knees, Jason's hands feeling like suction cups against his face. Samuel tried and failed to wrench him off.

In his mind, he heard Eden scream and then the world went black.

* * * *

"Samuel, can you hear me?" Eden's voice penetrated the painless sleep he'd been enjoying.

He might have groaned a response, he wasn't sure but what felt like only seconds later, a cold cloth was brushed across his cheeks.

"He's coming around." That voice he knew and he didn't like it. Jason, the asshole who had attacked him.

His eyes flung open and before he'd even seen what room he was in, he swung in the direction he'd heard Jason's voice. He'd teach that guy to attack him. Samuel hadn't been prepared earlier but now he could take on anyone who wanted to have at him.

"Samuel." Eden yelled at him and a soothing, calming feeling filled his brain.

He dropped his hand and lay back down. Everything around him felt… peaceful.

"Thank you." He looked up at Eden who seemed to be addressing a small, blonde woman standing next to Jason.

Samuel blinked for a second as he regarded the room. "This calm sensation is because of you?" He pointed at the blonde lady.

"Yep, just calming you down a bit so you can hear Jason out before you attack my soul mate. I'm Charma, by the way." He'd figured that out.

"Well, you might as well let him talk seeing as I feel like I might start singing any second or float away on a sea of pleasantness."

Jason looked at Charma. "How hard a hit did you give him?"

"He was coming at you. I reacted. I might have gone a little far."

"Can you back it down a little? I'd like him to be coherent."

Charma nodded. "Sure."

Samuel looked around the room. He was obviously not in the hideout anymore. This looked like a hotel room. To his left, Gabriel, Kal, Isabelle, and Loraine regarded him silently. There were also two other figures in the crowd.

He lifted his arm even though he still felt woozy and awash with happiness. "You're Leonardo and Marina."

It wasn't a question. He didn't know who else could possibly be in the room right at that moment and he'd known Marina from the time he'd spent in Eden's mind.

The dark-haired man, Leonardo, nodded. "You're Samuel. You melted the demon."

"I killed him, yes." It still blew his mind that had happened.

"Not dead." Leonardo turned away. "Just out of his body now."

"What?" All of Samuel's good feelings fell away and he jerked himself into a sitting position.

"Please don't do this right now." Eden stood and sent Leonardo a look that would have made him crumble if she'd shot it his way. Leonardo looked away and although Samuel didn't know the other man, he thought that must be a pretty big move for him to avoid eye contact.