narrowing his eyes as he searched her features for any sign that she was different from the Angelina he had met in his two other lifetimes.
“When I came back to Earth this time Ramirez was there, waiting. It was almost as if he knew I was returning.”
Understanding dawned as he recalled the injuries he had tended earlier in the night. “Those wounds on your back…”
“Before I could become fully human, his men grabbed me and Ramirez sliced off my wings.”
Damien shook his head and then dragged a hand through his hair in frustration. Some had said Ramirez had made a pact with the Devil. Maybe it was true. Maybe that’s how he had known where to be so that he could ambush Angelina.
But regardless of how Ramirez had captured her wings, Damien intended to help her retrieve them. He reached out, tenderly wrapping her in his arms. Bending his head, he rested his forehead against hers. “Why does he want your wings?”
“They are the key to my immortal soul. If I do not get them back soon—”
“You go to Hell? Never. No just God would allow someone as good as you to go to Hell,” he said, digging his hands into the thick masses of her dark hair. Cradling her head gently, he tried to reassure her.
Angelina worried her lower lip, and the glint of her tears shimmered in the moonlight. “I do not know what will happen if I don’t get them back. All I know is that as long as he has them I am bound to this mortal plane.”
“Which is a good thing, right? That means you can stay with me.” He massaged her scalp with his hands in an effort to ease her obvious distress.
“I wish I could stay, Damien. But that is not why I was sent here. I’m supposed to help you see the right path so you can save your soul…remember?” She looked up at him, the tears subsiding and determination taking up residence on her face.
Damien laughed harshly and shook his head. “You forget that I’m not worth saving, my love.”
Angelina knew he wanted to believe that. Had convinced himself of it, maybe as a way to deal with his father’s rejection and his mother’s loss. But she had seen his actions as he helped others, as had the Archangel Raphael. It was why Damien had been chosen for salvation.
And he had grown during her past two visits. He had become capable of love. But she also understood that he could not fully love another until he was ready to love himself.
“You only think you’re not good enough. You’ve hidden your real self so that you won’t be hurt again.”
He pushed away from her and stalked to the window. He repeatedly dragged his hands through his hair in frustration, as if wanting to pull it out. When he turned he was in his vampire form, eyes blazing and long deadly canines exposed.
“I’m a demon, remember. Evil,” he argued and stalked back toward her, the rumble of the animal in his voice.
Angelina stood her ground, tilting her chin up at a defiant angle. Showing no fear of what he was. “Demon or human doesn’t change the true nature of your soul. Of who you really are inside.”
“And who am I?” he said, continuing with his defiance.
“A good soul. One who will make the right choice this time,” she urged and ran her hand across the sandpapery beard on his cheek.
“And if I do? What then? You go back to Heaven?”
“If I have my wings, I can return to Heaven,” she confirmed with a curt dip of her head.
Damien morphed back to his human form, processing all that she had said.
Without her wings she was doomed to remain in this mortal realm, but at the risk of her soul. But to get her wings back he would have to confront Ramirez yet again. And if he did so, would they play out the same scene they had played out twice before?
Not if he had any role in it. This time it would be different. Even if it meant losing Angelina again once her angelic mission was over, he would do it to save her soul. He would do it to be the kind of man she believed he could be.
“We will make things right. Together,” he urged, truly convinced that with all that he had learned he would make the right choices this time.
A brave smile came to her lips, although tears did finally