Good Side of Sin (30 page)

Ethan and Emma both gave up smell.

Aries gave up her sight.

And Isaiah chose to give up a memory. I could only guess what his favorite memory was, but after the ferry took it from him I couldn’t tell he was any different than before. Maybe he wanted to forget his favorite memory. I would test my theory about what I thought it might be later.

The fog cleared as we approached the other side of the massive lake. I wondered how long it would take us to get to our destination. Minutes? Hours? Days? It hadn’t taken Omega long to meet us at the gate. I could only pray our meeting with the queen would go smoothly so we could be on our way back through the gate in an hour or so.

I also wondered if we would have to pay another toll for the ferry to take us back across. It seemed to have a mind of its own. There was nobody paddling, and there was no sign of a motor, nor could I hear one. It was just… moving.

The ferry eased up to the landing and Omega was first to step from the ferry onto the dock. “Follow me,” he said, but didn’t sound too happy about leading our little group anymore.

I had a feeling that he had already talked with Melina about us, and she had sent him to make sure we were brought straight to her. We probably didn’t even have to give up a memory or one of our senses. Just the thought of that being true made me want to pick up something big and clobber him over the head with it. If he thought I wouldn’t demand all of them back he was clearly underestimating me. It really sucked not being able to taste anything. I could only imagine what Aries was going through without her sight. I took her by the arm to help her stand, startling her. She stood quickly, and then Emma and Ethan were there to help her to the dock.

Isaiah helped Aries up, and then Thoros jumped to the dock and they both offered a hand to give me assistance.

Once on the dock, I turned to Isaiah and tested my theory. “How was Lameria when you talked to her the other day?”

He gave me a clueless stare and blinked a few times. “Lameria who?”

I frowned as I shook my head. “Nobody,” I smiled and waved it off. “I’m sure I probably got you mixed up with someone else.”

He chuckled lightly. “Another side effect of Heaven: memory loss. Let’s hope you don’t forget Thoros. The lovesick fool would fall apart.” He slapped Thoros on the shoulder with his palm and led us in the direction of the others.

I smiled at him, but inside I was crying. He had wanted to forget his soulmate, his one true love, and the ferry had gladly taken it from him. I was glad Thoros and I had chosen not to go that route. I never wanted to lose any memories of the time we’d spent together. I welcomed even the bad ones.

Omega gave me a sly smile as we approached, and I gave him a scowl right back. He knew what Isaiah’s memory was about, because the ferry didn’t have it; he did! He held his hands up in a silent truce, but I would rather have pushed him off the edge of the dock in the acid water than forgive him for what he’d done to us.

“Where is Melina?” I said through clenched teeth.

Deep lines formed in his forehead as he frowned at me. The creases proved that he did have flaws and wasn’t perfect by any means. The trouble was, I found they made him even more attractive. Even though he was good-looking, that didn’t mean I liked him. Not even a little bit. I had seen his personality, and it was ugly. My balance scale was weighing a lot heavier on the
not
liking him side.

Thoros stuck pretty close to me, but was talking with Isaiah, trying to form a plan when Omega grabbed my arm and turned me toward him. Just as I was about to shout, he bent down and whispered in my ear before Thoros realized what he had done. “I’ll give them all back before you leave, even the memory of your angel friend. I would have never taken your memory of the demon, nor would I have taken the memory of you from him. I really just hoped he would choose to lose a memory so I could find out how he escaped Hell. I’ve been trying to discover a way out of here for over thirty years.”

I glared up at him, quickly noticing out of my peripheral that Thoros had discovered my absence. “I know how he got out of Hell. I was there. But if you think I am going to tell you anything after how you’ve treated us, then you’re dumber than you look.”

“How did he do it?” he growled in my face, and then was twisted around and nose-to-nose with a very livid Thoros.

Thoros’ grip tightened around Omega’s throat. “You got a freaking death wish, asshat—”

“Don’t!” I said, and Thoros eyes widened in surprise. “He was only telling me that he was sorry and he won’t antagonize you anymore. Right, Omega?”

My eyes darted between the two men, and finally Omega spoke. After a moment, Omega nodded.

Thoros breathed in through his nostrils and let it out through his mouth. “I just bet he said that.” He took my hand and pulled me to him. “Don’t ever touch her again. I won’t let her stop me next time.”

Thoros tossed him to the wooden dock. More than half of Omega’s body fell over the edge, but he was strong enough and quick enough to grab a post before he slid the rest of the way off into the acid water. He quickly pulled himself up and lay breathless on his stomach.

“I hope you understand,” Thoros said in a low, menacing voice. “Powers or not, I doubt you will enjoy the beating I will give you the next time you have a stupid idea like that. But
I
will enjoy it.”

Omega didn’t comment. He just got to his feet and walked to the others without looking back at me or Thoros.

“What did he really say to you?” Thoros asked, knowing I had lied to him to save Omega’s ass. It had been necessary. We needed him to get to Melina.

I sighed. “I knew you would see through me. He wants to know how you escaped from Lucifer.”

“You know as well as I do that I didn’t escape Hell. Abigail and her soulmate were just smarter than Lucifer.” He moved closer to me, drawing me into his embrace with both his hands on my waist.

I nodded. “I know. But we need him to get to Melina, and that’s why I didn’t tell him. He said he would give us our senses back in exchange for the information on how you escaped. He thinks he can do the same from Limbo.”

Thoros shook his head as he kissed my forehead. “I don’t think we can help him. I’d rather kill him than help him get out of here.” He sighed in defeat and tucked a stray strand of hair behind my ear. “I’ll tell him how we got out after we talk to Melina, but I doubt it will do him any good.”

I hugged him and then let him go, my fingers dropping to his and lacing together loosely. I smiled and turned toward the others. “We’re ready,” I said to Omega.

He turned and grudgingly led us away from the lake.

Lameria was sitting, facing one of the four corners of her cell, with her arms limply wrapped around her shins.

Baddon set the paper plate with the ham sandwich and chips down on the floor beside her chains. She hadn’t eaten in days. Each time anyone had brought her food she had thrown the food—plate and all—against the wall. Covered with food or not, Baddon wasn’t giving in today. She had to eat. He’d shove it down her throat without shame if it came to that. She was beginning to look sick.

“You have to eat something, Lameria. You know I can’t let you out of here. You’re a danger to us as well as yourself. You tried to destroy everyone in the house with that stupid stunt you—”

“I don’t want to be set free,” Lameria whispered, and then cleared her throat as she turned her head to look at Baddon’s boots. “Is he gone?”

Is who gone?
Baddon thought.
Thoros?
He’d known they used to use each other for sex, but he never really thought either of them really cared for the other much. He nodded, and then realized she had turned back to the wall. “Thoros is with Josselyn in Limbo. They’ve gone to ask Melina for help. We hope for a safe and successful return, but they have already been gone over a day.”

Her head whipped around and her eyes narrowed into thin slits as she glared at him, and then she huffed and looked back to the wall without responding with words.

Baddon took a step closer when she sniffed and her hands came up to wipe at her face. “I’m sure he will make it back soon. I’ve never worried about him before. Well, except for the last three months, but Josselyn is here now and he seems happier than ever—”

“I wasn’t talking about the bastard Prince of Lust, Baddon!” she snapped. “Just go away and leave me alone. Please.”

More wiping her cheeks with fingers that came away wet. He was confused. He had never seen Lameria this way before. A bitch maybe, but never crying. How had she known anybody was leaving? He hadn’t seen anyone come down here besides Damien and Fallis, and she never showed either of them attention—negative or positive.

Lameria had never even met Ethan or Emma, and Aries was a female; she had asked if
he
had already left. The archangel was the only other male with Thoros and Ethan, but she couldn’t be talking about the head guardian; she had never met him. As far as he knew she had been in Hell for thousands of years, almost as long as Lucifer himself. He scratched his head in confusion. Could she have been in Heaven before falling to Hell? It was possible.

“Are you talking about the archangel?”

Lameria flinched and he knew he had struck a nerve. Her petite shoulders jerked with signs of heavy sobbing, and then she turned quickly, grabbed the plate of food and slung it at him. “I said to get away from me!” she screamed at him, fresh tears rolling down her face, and then turned back to the wall without bothering to wipe them away.

He didn’t go away. “You fell from Heaven, didn’t you? You were once an archangel, like Lucifer, like Isaiah, weren’t you?” When she didn’t answer, Baddon walked to her and jerked her from the concrete floor by her shoulders, and then turned her to face him. “Is Isaiah your soulmate, Lameria!?”

She brought the silver shackles locked around her wrists up and touched them to the first bare flesh on his body she could find.

He shrieked in pain as they burned through the flesh of his forearms, feeling every bit like the metal was electrocuting him and searing his flesh at the same time. He shoved her away from him and glared down at her as he struggled to catch his breath. Baddon’s fingers flexed, curling into tight fists several times as he contemplated on how to murder an immortal.
Surely it can be done. Will her head grow back if I rip it off?

“Kill me,” she pleaded. “Hell is more comforting to me than this place. I can’t live with this pain and misery anymore. At least Lucifer’s beatings will distract me from thinking about
him
.”

Baddon shook his head. “No. I won’t attempt to kill you. You are thousands of years old, but you are a spoiled brat hiding behind your anger. You need to grow up, Lameria. There are only two things I want: to find my soulmate and go to Heaven. You have to be a pretty bad person to do something to lose both of those things after you’ve found them. No. I won’t help you. How does it feel to have no friends? I believe I was your last one—until now. Enjoy your grief.” A piece of lettuce clung to his shirt and he grabbed it and tossed it by her feet. He turned and walked from the room, locking the silver knob and the deadbolt with a cloth from his back pocket to keep from burning his hand.

Outside the small locked quarters that held her prisoner, Baddon walked into the larger section of the basement where the seven corpses and the comatose marshal were located. He waved a hand to clear the air and realized why Josselyn had gotten sick the first time she’d seen them. It was getting ripe down here. He really hoped the angel brought back their souls soon, so they could dispose of the bodies and wake up the marshal. He would definitely need a small dose of amnesia. Explaining something of this magnitude to a middle aged mortal was impossible to do and without them going crazy or trying to shoot you. Baddon figured the guy was a pretty good shot since he was a cop and all, and he was definitely middle aged and grumpy looking. Even in his sleep, he looked constipated.

Younger people usually took the news better. He supposed they were more open-minded than the generation before them.

Fallis was working this shift. He was sitting behind a desk, looking at his laptop
.
Baddon had never taken up with technology. He couldn’t even call Chelsea because cell phones didn’t work in the house due to Fallis’ protections over the property. Plus, he didn’t have a clue where she lived or worked anyway. Hell, she may have just been a tourist that came into the city for the attractions and already gone by now; there hadn’t been a whole lot of talking the one evening they had spent together. A whole lot of moaning and groaning and screaming went on, but not many words. He knew they weren’t soulmates; it wasn’t possible, since he’d died over three hundred years ago, but he really enjoyed being with her.

Wonder if she is on one of those social sites
, he thought, and then voiced his question out loud. “Can you locate someone on the internet?”

Fallis looked up over the 17” monitor and raised his eyebrows. “If they’re on here I can find them. What’s her name?”

“Why do you assume she’s a girl?”

Fallis chuckled. “You just confirmed it, dude. I didn’t really think you wanted to chat with guys. I’m not judging you if you’re into that, though.”

“Well, I’m not,” Baddon snapped, pulling up a metal chair beside Fallis so he could see the screen. He took a closer look, noticing the avatar on the social site Fallis was using as his picture. “Angel wings? You know angels don’t have wings.”

“They were pretty. And humans think angels have them. I’m not a demon anymore, so shut your pie hole.”

“You may be more demon than you think, angel boy. Lucifer still had control over Thoros, and Lameria just burned my arms with the silver shackles,” he said, looking down and rubbing a finger lightly over the bright red area on his left arm.

Fallis’ brow popped up in amusement. “Wow! Did you kill her?”

“I wanted to try, but that would just put the bitch out of her misery, if it is even possible to do. She deserves to suffer.”