The Demon's Song - By Kendra Leigh Castle Page 0,82
ever made.”
Sofia tried to shout, to scream for help. But her throat had tightened, refusing to work. She swayed, then fell, all her muscles locking at once. As she fell, Sofia finally saw Belial’s face. It was the face of an angel, beautiful and terrible. He could have been any of the Fallen she now knew…until he smiled, and she realized what the difference was between the high demons of Hell and Terra Noctem’s exiles. With Phenex and, to varying extents, his brothers, their true smiles, even though rare, lit up their faces with a light that made them astoundingly beautiful. But Belial’s smile was full of the biting, writhing dark. It was empty, and cold.
Predatory.
All Sofia could do was open her mouth and scream, silently, as the darkness enveloped her.
…
He couldn’t make himself go back. Just as he couldn’t make himself leave.
Phenex sat at the end of a pier, staring at the water. He’d hoped she might come out and look around, that she might see him and come tell him that she’d thought about it, that she would gladly give up her mortal life to come hang out in a cave with him for all eternity.
Hellfire, what a mess.
People came and went around him, boats sailed by. But there was no Sofia, and he had no better handle on the situation. He knew he had to go back. Nothing changed the fact that until Belial was dead, she was his responsibility. The sticking point seemed to be what “his” meant to each of them.
Sofia wanted love and acceptance.
He just wanted her, and the security of knowing she would neither die nor leave.
Why those two desires were incompatible was something he couldn’t fathom. Oh wait, no. It was because she wanted dinners with her parents, her job, sunlight, friends with reasonable lifespans…a human’s life. A home. And especially, for him to love her back.
Everything in him rebelled against the thought. He was a demon, damn it! Demons didn’t love. Demons didn’t have Ma and Pa Human over for casserole, and sit on the front porch to talk about their days, and maybe bake cookies in a sunny kitchen…and get a boat, a nice big one, that they could take out on the ocean with a bottle of wine.
Phenex buried his head in his hands. He was losing his mind. The only couples he knew were still very…supernatural. They loved Terra Noctem. Why did he want these things? When had he started wanting these things?
Cookies? Hellfire.
But…maybe. Maybe?
He could hear her scream in his head, so clearly that it was like someone had shoved an ice pick through his skull. Phenex winced and doubled over, clapping his hands to his ears. Then it was gone, vanishing as abruptly as it had come. He whipped his head around.
Sofia.
He was in the air in two steps, back at the balcony in three pumps of his wings. The doors were open, the bed still rumpled. The smell of her was strong, as though she’d just been standing here. Then he caught the other scent—brimstone. Belial had taken her. Another living toy for the Prince of Sloth. And this time, it was all his damned fault.
His heart constricted painfully in his chest, and something welled up from deep within him, places that had been locked for thousands of years. He thought of Sofia, alone and bloody in the cage that had once held Celestine, or clasped in Belial’s fists while she wept for a mercy that would never come. He thought of her touch, her laugh, her smile, and the way she came apart in his arms. Even the way she’d shouted at him—You asshole, I’m in love with you!
He wanted her back. He wanted her to want to come back. He needed…
Later. Phenex rose, putting every thought aside but one. He had to find Sofia before Belial broke her. To the demon, this was a game. One that would end with blood. All that mattered right now was that the blood shed would be Belial’s.
With a roar that shook the building, Phenex shot into the sky, chasing the scent of brimstone, and hoping that he wasn’t too late to finally, after all this time, make something right.
Even with his speed, Phenex always seemed to stay just behind Belial. The demon, and Sofia, remained infuriatingly close, but always just out of reach. He was unsurprised, though, to find that the trail ended as the sun was setting, back in the place where everything had begun.