Her Demonic Angel, page 20
part #2 of Her Angel - Eternal Warriors Series
“Veiron,” she whispered and he slowly turned to face her, his expression as dark as she had ever seen it.
“What is it?” he snarled and she froze mid-step, confused. Was he still angry because of what she had said earlier?
She took another step towards him and wasn’t sure what to say to him or where to start. The muscle in his jaw tensed and the edges of his irises burned crimson.
“Nothing,” she said and felt weaker than she had ever been. She straightened a heartbeat later and looked him in the eye. “What’s wrong?”
“Nothing,” he parroted and she frowned at him, unwilling to take that as his answer. He looked away from her, towards the sea and the dark horizon.
“You left us.”
He shrugged. “I wanted to walk... I needed some space.”
Space from her? She reached out to take his hand but he moved, angling his body so her attempt failed.
“I thought I would enjoy what little time I had here,” he said. “No offence to Marcus and Amelia, but I’m not exactly interested in going over old ground with them.”
Erin had failed to hear what he had said after his first sentence. “You’re leaving?”
Her heart pounded in her ears, loud enough to drown out the sound of the gentle waves breaking against the shore.
“I have to.”
Erin grabbed his hand this time and forced him to face her. If he was going to leave, he could at least do her the courtesy of looking her in the eye and telling her why. It wasn’t as though they were just friends. The time they had shared with each other had to mean something to him. It had to. It hadn’t just been casual sex that had meant nothing to him, or her. It had been something incredible.
“Why? Where are you going?” she said and he looked down at his feet and then finally met her gaze.
“Home.”
Erin dropped his hand, shock rippling through her. “You can’t go back there! What about what I saw?”
Veiron stared into her eyes, cold and emotionless, as distant from her as he had ever been. Erin took deep breaths to calm her rising anger. In. Out. Steady. It wasn’t working. She wanted to scream and rant at him, to beat her fists against his bare chest until he said that he had only been joking to wind her up and that he was staying.
“That’s why I need to go back. I have to see what happens in my future.” Not the answer she had wanted.
Tears threatened to fill her eyes but she sniffed them back, unwilling to look weak even when her heart felt as though it was going to break.
“How?” she said, the barest tremble in her voice. She had known he wanted to leave. She should have been more prepared for it when it came. Would have been, but she had thought she had more time to work on convincing him to stay. The way Veiron looked right now, she felt as though he was going to fly off at a moment’s notice and she would never see him again.
“There is a pool in Hell that can show the future. I need to go there.” The uncertain look in his eyes, the trace of fear she easily spotted in them, made her heart skip a beat.
“Where is this pool?” Her voice trembled fully now. Her eyes widened. He didn’t answer. “God... no, Veiron... don’t tell me that it’s near that fortress I saw.”
He looked away from her. It was all the answer she needed. Erin grabbed his arms and shook him until his dark gaze slid back to her.
“You can’t go there alone!” She gripped him close to his elbows, squeezing so tightly that she felt sure she was hurting him. He didn’t show it if she was. His gaze remained dark and cold, void of feeling. Erin clung to him, afraid that if she loosened her grip, he would create one of those portals and beam himself straight to Hell and the Devil. “I won’t let you go alone. I’m coming too.”
Veiron laughed and then frowned at her, as though he had thought she was the one joking now. “No. It is too dangerous... and I don’t need your help.”
That one stung. “I won’t let you go alone, Veiron. I have my powers.”
“Powers you do not know how to use,” he growled and Erin flinched. There was no need for him to throw that one in her face. She could figure out how to use them as they travelled. She could help him. “You are back with your sister now and that is all that matters. My mission here is done, Erin. Let me go.”
“No!” Erin didn’t care if he meant let him go forever or just release him. It wasn’t happening either way.
“You must. Stay here with Amelia and Marcus. They’ll take care of you.”
Erin swallowed. “I don’t want them to take care of me.”
He yanked his arms free of her grip. “I can’t be the one to do it.”
Erin bristled and glared at him. “I can take care of myself!”
Veiron just stared at her. She damn well could take care of herself. She could master this power of hers, whatever it was and wherever it had come from, and she would.
“If you go down there, so help me God, Veiron, I am coming with you and you can’t stop me.”
He gave her a look that said he could easily stop her.
Erin squared up to him, ignoring the fact that he stood almost a foot taller than she was, set her jaw and clenched her fists. Her fingers began to tingle and heat and she felt queasy. “I will not let you go alone.”
“What do you care if I go back to Hell where I belong? You have your sister now. Marcus will take care of you both.”
Erin unclenched her hands and sagged, the fire draining from her and leaving her cold. It wasn’t the first time he had mentioned that she had her sister and Marcus, and something told her that he wasn’t mentioning it because it meant his mission was a success. Amelia had kept her away from Veiron and had treated him poorly. She had told Erin countless times that he wasn’t worth her attention and was a bad man. Was part of Veiron’s desire to leave because he felt her sister would never accept him as Erin’s lover?
“Veiron,” Erin whispered and tried to touch his hand but he moved it out of reach. She smiled briefly and then looked up into his eyes, tears filling hers. “I care... you’re the only thing I care about... can’t you see that? The thought of you going down there when you know you might die... that kills me. Please don’t go.”
“I must.”
“Please.” She wasn’t above begging if it came to it, anything to stop him from going off to Hell half-cocked and looking for a fight because of the things her sister had said and the things that she had said too. “Stay.”
“No.” He turned away from her. “Go back to your sister, Erin. Nothing you could say will change my mind.”
“Fine. Be like that.” Erin backed off a step. “Maybe she’s right and I’m wrong about you.”
He hung his head and sighed, his broad shoulders heaving with it. Erin hesitated, torn between touching him one last time, swirling her fingers around his tattoos, and remembering him with a final kiss, and walking away.
She opened her mouth to speak.
“What’s wrong?” Amelia said, appearing out of the darkness. She took one look at Erin and settled her arm around her shoulders.
Erin wanted to shirk her touch and shout at her. This was all her sister’s fault. Things had been going fine, except for the occasional hiccup on her part, between her and Veiron and Amelia had wrecked it. She was sure of it. Amelia had kept her away from Veiron all day and she had thought nothing of it until now. She stared at Veiron’s back, willing him to turn around and see in her eyes that she was sorry and that she wanted to be with him. He had to stay.
“Veiron is leaving,” Erin said.
“I know.” Those two words leaving Amelia’s lips made her frown and she turned it on her sister. “Marcus told me he intends to go to Hell to find out more about what the Devil wants with you and something about his future.”
More about what the Devil wanted with her? Why hadn’t Veiron told her that? If he had, she might not have felt so certain that she would never see him again. Now she felt as though he was going back to Hell for her sake, to bring her answers. If he believed the Devil wanted her because of her power, then perhaps the Devil knew where her power came from. But Veiron would have to speak to the Devil, and the Devil wanted him dead.
It would end as she had seen in her nightmare.
“Did Veiron also tell Marcus what I saw in my vision?” Erin looked from Amelia to the dark-haired man in question. Marcus shook his head. “The Devil kills him... and I’m there... and I unleash the power I have on him. If Veiron goes to Hell, he’ll... he can’t.”
“Veiron can take care of himself,” Amelia said and Erin caught the words she didn’t say hidden in her tone.
Veiron wasn’t worth her concern.
Erin broke free of her sister’s grip and stared at the back of Veiron’s head. “I won’t let you die... and I know you can hear me. I care about you, Veiron. If that means I have to go into Hell again to make sure you survive, then I will do just that. I’ll do whatever it takes to make sure you’re safe and to keep you with me.”
Veiron’s shoulders shifted in a deep sigh and he ran a hand over his hair, settling it at the back of his head, close to his ponytail.
Silence reigned.
Marcus broke it. “If Veiron will be in danger by travelling to Hell and you are concerned about his safety then I will go with him.”
“No!” Amelia snapped and Erin wanted to remind her that she didn’t have the right to get upset about Marcus going to Hell when she had been telling Erin just a few seconds ago to let the man she loved travel to Hell and not worry about him.
Loved.
Not falling then. Fallen.
Marcus sighed as Amelia glared at him. “Einar and Taylor will arrive soon. When they do, Taylor can hide you and Erin. I shall go with Veiron to Hell, and everyone is happy.”
Erin was certainly happier with that as it gave her more time to convince Veiron that she loved him and didn’t care about what everyone else said about him, and it threw Marcus into the equation. She wasn’t going to give up on accompanying Veiron though. Unless Marcus being there and her not being there would mean that her vision wouldn’t come true.
“Veiron?” Erin said, needing to hear him say that he would stay and wait for the others to arrive, and then he would go to Hell with Marcus.
He grunted and kept his back to her.
“At least think about it,” she said and Amelia slipped her arm around her shoulders again.
“Fine,” Veiron grumbled. “I’ll think about it.”
Erin smiled.
Amelia squeezed her shoulders. “Why don’t we hit the bar and Marcus can talk to Veiron? I don’t know about you, but I could use a cocktail or two.”
Or ten. The mood Erin was in right now and the all-inclusive package they were on, she would be hitting the bar as hard as she could and not stopping until Veiron came to tell her that she couldn’t look after herself after all and carried her to bed.
She wanted to stay and convince Veiron herself, but Amelia was right. Veiron wasn’t listening to her but he might listen to Marcus.
She hoped that he did.
Because she had the terrible feeling that if he went to Hell alone, she would never see him again.
CHAPTER 18
“I thought we had agreed you would wait?” Marcus said and Veiron ignored him and stared out at the black moonlit sea.
They had but seeing Erin with her sister had changed his mind. He knew when he wasn’t wanted and Erin’s impassioned speech hadn’t convinced him to stay. As soon as he was able, he was leaving, whether that was when Taylor arrived or before then. He would rather face the Devil alone and cause the future Erin had seen to happen than hang around watching Amelia poison Erin’s mind and watching Erin drift away from him.
She hated his kind. How long would it be before she hated him too?
Marcus sighed. “You like her... do not deny it. I might be new to love but I am not blind to it. If you like her so much, why are you in such a hurry to leave?”
Veiron closed his eyes, wishing he was a thousand miles away and wasn’t getting interrogated by a man who had apparently had one love and one woman in his current lifetime. What did Marcus know about the difficulties of love? He had been a guardian angel, one of the good men. Amelia had probably thrown herself at his feet on discovering that.
Although, Marcus had tried to kill her.
If Erin was as tough as her sister, there was a chance that she might get over the things that his kind had done to her, just as Amelia had gotten over what Marcus had done.
But that counted on her sister changing her mind about him and stopping her assault on their relationship.
“I know when I’m not wanted,” Veiron said, opened his eyes and glared at Marcus.
It killed him to leave. Is that what Marcus wanted to hear him say? He didn’t want to, not in his heart. He wanted to stay with Erin and protect her from whatever came after her. They had shared so much in their time together and he didn’t want to let her go. The thought of it wrenched at him, sinking claws into his heart and threatening to tear it from his chest. He needed her, had never felt so hungry for someone before, so possessive and protective, and unwilling to allow anyone near her.
Even seeing Marcus close to her had made him want to growl and fight the man.
“I really don’t think you do.” Marcus moved around him and looked up the shore towards the resort complex, his back to the ocean. “I know Amelia isn’t handling this very well and I will speak to her about it.”
Veiron appreciated that but he still wasn’t going to change his mind.
He envied Marcus for having Amelia and having contracted with her. Amelia was his master now and Veiron felt sure that if he died and Amelia lived, Marcus would be reborn as he was now, not as a guardian angel. If Veiron died, he would come back as an obedient soldier of Heaven and wouldn’t remember anything about his past lives until he inevitably fell and pledged himself to the Devil. He wouldn’t remember Erin, and that killed him. What sort of life could they have together?
Nothing but one filled with heartache and misery.
It was better this way. She didn’t need him. He was no good for her and would only end up hurting her. She had her sister now and Marcus, and as much as it hurt him, they would protect her in his stead and keep her safe from his kind and the angels. He couldn’t do that. He wasn’t strong enough. Amelia’s power far surpassed his own.
He would fail Erin and he couldn’t bear the thought of seeing her die. When she had been bleeding in his arms after the Hell’s angel had attacked her, it had felt as though his whole world had been falling apart before his eyes. He had felt as though he was dying.
He couldn’t go through that again. He couldn’t fall in love with her. No good would come of it. He needed to protect her and himself, and the only way for that to happen was to leave her.
“Veiron?” Marcus whispered.
Veiron shook his head. “I know you will take care of her, Marcus. You and Amelia both. She needs you, not me. I’m no good for her and we both know it. She’s better off without me.”
Marcus gave him a tight smile. “Are you trying to convince me or yourself, Veiron?”
Veiron frowned. “We both know it’s true. If she’s with me, she is constantly in danger, and I certainly don’t need the complication of having to babysit a mortal. She doesn’t belong with me. I will only get her killed... if not by giving away her location to those after her... then by my own hand. The Devil can use me against her... fuck, I don’t think I could handle that... and I don’t think I would be strong enough to fight him.”
Marcus made a low growling noise under his breath and his eyes brightened, beginning to glow an eerie blue in the dim light. “You think I did not fear for Amelia’s sake when I was falling for her? My mission was to protect her and I got her killed by Apollyon... and then I almost killed her myself... but the depth of her love for me and my love for her stopped me.”
“Erin doesn’t seem to like me that way, so let’s not go there. She’s barely looked at me since seeing Amelia again.”
Marcus scowled. “They haven’t seen each other in years and she is just discovering what happened to her sister. It is reasonable for the females to get wrapped up in each other... and I acknowledge that Amelia is not helping matters. She has stopped Erin from going to you several times this day... but Erin never stopped wanting to be with you. She did stop you from leaving, and I believe that what she said is what she feels. She cares about you.”
Veiron closed his eyes and pinched the bridge of his nose. Marcus had a point and Veiron believed Erin too. She did care about him, and he cared so much about her that he wasn’t sure what he was meant to do or how he was supposed to react. The sight of her with her sister, the fact that she had barely looked at him and hadn’t spoken to him all day, had messed with his head, but she had come to him in the end and asked him to stay.
He had felt the truth in her words in his heart. She cared about him and her time with him had meant something to her, something strong and deep enough that she had gone against her own flesh and blood in order to come to him. She wanted to be with him.
He wanted to be with her.
It was no use fooling himself into thinking any other way. The truth bled through each time and Marcus was right, he was trying to convince himself that Erin didn’t need him and he didn’t need her, and he was failing dismally at it.
“Speak to her,” Marcus said and blew out a long sigh. “And do not let Amelia’s actions or anything colour your judgement. Just speak to her and see where it takes you.”
Veiron nodded and walked up the beach with Marcus, heading for the complex. Warm lights lit the path to the brilliant blue pool and the bar next to it. Erin sat on one of the stools lining the oblong thatched building with Amelia next to her, nursing a brightly coloured drink and wearing very little. The sight of Erin in nothing but a black bikini top and a pair of black shorts heated his blood but it was the way the men coming and going between the bar and the tables on the patio were ogling her that sent his temperature soaring. If it hadn’t been for Marcus walking beside him, his eyes glued to him, watching him, Veiron might have completely lost his head.
