Renegade (51 page)

“Rid me of an immortal Prince?” Lucifer scoffed. “You might be powerful, but not even I am that powerful.”

“I’m not talking about killing him,” I said. “Just… putting him out of commission.”

“You talk as if I don’t like the chaos he creates. Chaos is my livelihood. It’s what turns a soul to my side.”

“To an extent,” I agreed. “But look at everything he’s done. He’s brought his wrath to Earth. He’s killed people brutally, leaving the bodies to be found. He’s unleashed a pack of werebats on innocent people, and he’s made an entire town sick with some unknown plague. Fear is high in Maine. And when you have so much fear, people look to God for help. You cannot turn even the darkest of souls in their hour of need. You might need chaos, but fear… fear is bad for business.”

I felt Sam’s eyes on me so I glanced at him, my eyes colliding with his, and he spoke to me like we were the only two people in the room.

My God, Heven, you have grown. The strength and will you omit is brighter than the sun. All this time I’ve loved you and protected you… you didn’t need me to protect you. You needed me to get out of your way so you could show everyone just how utterly amazing you really are.

You loved me when I couldn’t love myself.

You carried me when I couldn’t walk.

You offered to die so I could live. You, Sam, are the very definition of strength. If I am strong it’s because you shielded me until I could find the strength once dormant inside me. If I don’t need protection, it’s because you protected me so well I was able to stop fighting long enough to learn how to shield myself.

Don’t ever, not for a single second, think that you ever need to get out of my way. I want you here. Right here beside me. Forever.

“What are they doing?” Lucifer’s voice interrupted the silent exchange.

“Mind chatting,” Riley replied, the hint of snark returning to his voice. “It’s what they do best.”

“I could just let Beelzebub destroy your precious town and move on to other places. The world is very big. Lots of corruption to be had!” Lucifer snapped.

I tore my eyes away from Sam and looked back at the Devil. “Yes, Beelzebub’s poison is contained right now. But when the town, the state is destroyed—what then? Fear will spread like wildfire and he’ll move on to another place and another town.”

“I’ll send him back to hell.” Lucifer shrugged.

“Yes, where he can continue gaining power to try and overthrow you.”

“That will not happen.”

I shrugged. “I’m sure you know who I am. Perhaps instead of making a deal with you, I’ll take the deal Beelzebub offered me.”

“He offered you a deal?”

“Someone is out of the loop,” Riley quipped and I smiled.

“He offered me a permanent place in hell at his side. As I am the Soul Reaper, I control the stolen souls. And if he controls me…” I let my words dangle in the air.

“I’ll kill you first.” He snarled.

“Or you could let me release all the stolen souls from hell, thus weakening all the Princes in hell and guaranteeing you’ll have absolute power.”

He laughed—a maniacal laugh. “Allow you to release all my stolen souls?”

I nodded. “And in their place we will chain Beelzebub to the floor of hell. I am sure his soul is more powerful than all the others combined.”

“I won’t stop collecting,” he said, almost like a warning.

“We won’t ask you to,” I replied.

Sam cleared his throat and spoke. “The only thing we ask is that you and your minions leave us and our family alone. Forever.”

“Forever is a very long time.”

“Forever is nothing when you have eternity to live, and we do not,” Sam replied.

Lucifer turned thoughtful. Finally, he spoke. “I’ll agree to your deal.”

I felt excitement spread through me until he held up a finger.

“But.”

“But, what?” Riley asked.

“But you will get no help from me. If you want to release the souls, find them on your own. You want to chain Beelzebub to the floor of hell? You’ll have to find him.”

I nodded. “Deal.”

We turned to walk away when he called out to us. “Just remember, if you fail, your souls will be ripe for the picking.”

Something cold and dark slithered down my spine as we walked toward the car. If it hadn’t already been clear, now it was crystal: failure was not an option.

Heven

Riley and Kimber climbed into the car and started the engine. I was about to duck into the back seat when Sam grabbed my arm and pulled me around, right into his arms. I smiled against his chest, enjoying the feeling of him against me.

Did it feel gone to you too?
he asked me.

The Mindbond? Yeah. I’ve never heard silence so loud.

Emptiness,
he said, the word echoing through my mind.

It must have been the sludge… or maybe the bubble. I’m so glad that’s over.

I’d like to never repeat today ever again.

I barked a laugh against his shirt.
Me either.

He pulled away and looked down into my eyes.
We’re going to get our lifetime, Heven. I can feel it.

You think a lifetime will be enough for us?

Baby, I’m going to love you so good a lifetime will feel like forever.

I smiled.
That’s a deal I don’t mind taking.

He groaned and rested his forehead against mine. “We just made a deal with Lucifer.”

“Check that off our bucket list.”

His shoulders shook with laughter. “After all this the only thing on my bucket list is to watch paint dry. That’s about all I think I can handle.”

I made a tsk-tsk sound. “I think we can handle a little more than that. Like sitting in a rocking chair on the back porch.”

He laughed.

Riley leaned over the passenger seat. “You two can make plans to act like old people later. We got shit to do.”

Sam pressed a quick kiss to my lips and I pulled away, already hating the fact I had to sit in the back seat with Kimber.

But I never got that far.

A harsh shrieking sound filled the sky as the looming shape of the Devourer came into view. He landed barely two feet from the car and shrieked again.

“Something’s wrong!” I said, rushing to my favorite dragon’s side. He shrieked at me again and I stopped just short of touching him.

His feathers were dull and lifeless, his eyes looked cloudy and his head hung like he was too tired to hold it up. “What’s the matter, buddy?” I asked gently, stepping forward and reaching out to stroke his side. When I pulled my hand back, feathers fell off his body, landing on the ground beside my feet.

I looked at Sam. “Something’s wrong.”

Riley approached, studying the dragon, and then his eyes settled on the feathers lying at my feet. “Ana,” he murmured, and then his body spasmed and he looked at me. “There’s something wrong with Ana!”

The Devourer shrieked again, a painful sound that made me think he was agreeing with Riley.

“Can you take us there?” I asked the dragon.

He dropped low to the ground, allowing the four of us to climb onto his back, Riley taking the front position and hunching low over the dragon’s neck. It made me think this wasn’t the first time he had taken a ride on the Devourer.

 “Hurry,” Riley said as his great wings lifted us up into the air. “Take us to Ana.”

I’ve never heard that kind of worry in Riley’s voice before. I’ve never heard him sound afraid. What had he been doing all this time down in hell? Had he been spending time with Ana?

The dragon shot through the air, toward the island, and I prayed Ana was okay, that nothing was wrong. For her sake. And for Riley’s.

Riley

Something was wrong. As we flew, the once brightly colored feathers of the Devourer grew duller and duller and fell from his body, leaving bald patches in their wake. He was weak. Carrying four people on his back was a chore of determination for the great dragon, yet he refused to give up.

We flew over the black ocean, for once the water looking something other than slow. It moved in big waves, choppy and violent. I wondered what could have the power to churn it up like this, but I was afraid I already knew.

Ana.

When I left her the last time, the weather on the island was something other than perfect. She told me it was because of her emotion, that I was making her unstable.

So I left.

Without my presence what could be creating a storm so great it was leaking out into hell?

A picture of Hecate flashed into my mind.

She’d been there when I crawled out of the ocean. She’d been watching me with suspicious eyes and asking me what I was doing there. Had she somehow figured out where I’d been? All these weeks I was down here, is that what she was doing—following me—hoping I would lead her to the one thing that would bring greater power than control of the souls?

Was Hecate on the island with Ana?

“Hurry!” I snapped at the Devourer and he shook his wings to try and do my bidding.

He literally fell out of the sky when his lair came into sight. The four of us were left holding on as he crashed into the ground, where he lay and didn’t get up.

I climbed off while Heven rushed to soothe the dragon.

I ran. I ran through the cave, racing to reach the other side, searching for the light at the end of the tunnel. It was there, but it wasn’t nearly as brilliant as it usually was.

I stepped onto the other side and into a ravaging storm.