Descent - Tara Fuller Page 0,21
to life once more, and the ground rumbled beneath me. “My daughter tells me you’ve already met.”
“Your…daughter?”
Shock forced me back a step as I met Red’s impassive gaze. No…the only father an angel would know was the Almighty. How could someone so innocent and beautiful be the daughter of one of the most cold and unforgiving beings in existence?
“Despite my warnings, Gwendolyn has it in her head that she wants to see the other side,” Balthazar said. “It is your assignment to show it to her.”
“Show her?” A bitter laugh escaped me. “You’ve got to be joking. Look at her! She won’t last five minutes.”
“I’d choose my words very wisely if I were you, Easton.” A layer of frost powered past the heat of my skin and crackled up my arms. “She’ll last however many minutes in Hell as she wishes. Your existence depends on that.”
“I’m not a babysitter,” I said. “Find another way to scare her into submission.”
Gwen winced, but didn’t drop her gaze. Instead, determination filled her eyes, and her pale little hands balled into fists at her sides. Jesus…she looked like a kitten pretending to be a lion. Nothing about her was tainted. Every inch of her was perfect, from her fiery hair to her flawless skin and bottomless blue eyes. Before I could stop it, my gaze dropped to her lips. She probably even tasted sweet. Not that I cared. But I could think of a handful of creatures down south that would. I tore my gaze from her mouth and forced myself to focus on Balthazar.
“You’ve been requesting a replacement for Anaya for months. Here she is. Your job is to train her. If you don’t think you can handle the task, I’m sure I can find a more suitable assignment.”
The dangerous gleam in his eyes told me exactly what kind of assignment he’d have prepared if I refused. And refuse him was exactly what I needed to do, even if the punishment was something that would haunt me for the next millennium. Gwen didn’t belong anywhere near the death and destruction of a reaper’s existence.
“Why me?” I asked. “Why don’t you ask one of your squeaky-clean Heaven’s reapers to train her? Almighty knows it would be safer for her. Are you really willing to put her in danger just to teach me a lesson?”
“I don’t trust them to keep her safe,” he said, looking down at Gwen. “And apparently neither does she.”
Confusion stirred up the anger that had settled in my chest until I was choking on it. She trusted me to keep her safe? The girl was delusional! I was a walking land mine. I thought back to the way she touched me…the peace she’d given. She’d want to do that again. She wouldn’t be able to help herself. I couldn’t let that happen. I had to get her to realize what a mistake this was before she got any deeper.
“You want a taste of the other side, Red?” I asked.
She nodded, and Balthazar swiped his hand over his mouth and turned away. He’d probably been counting on my refusing this. That or was hoping I’d scare some sense into her and send her back begging for the only shiny white shelter she’d ever known. If that were the case, he’d come to the right man. Fear I could provide. When I was done with her, she’d never look at a reaper the same way.
I grabbed the smoking scythe at my side and dropped my eyes to the dark pit of screams creating a funnel below me. I returned my attention to Red and lifted a brow.
“What are you waiting for, Red?”
Her gaze narrowed on me, and her lips pressed into a tight line. “My name is Gwen.”
“Your name is whatever I decide to call you until you’ve figured out this isn’t where you belong.”
A fiery look flared behind her clear eyes, and I felt my lips twitch imagining the foreign feeling of anger washing through her. Watching her squirm was going to be more fun than I thought.
“Dude…what are you doing? She doesn’t belong down there,” Scout whispered.
“Right. And maybe it’s time she learned why.”
Chapter 8
Gwen
I trailed after Easton into a dilapidated house where hollow-eyed humans were draped over furniture like rag dolls. Some sobbed while others giggled hysterically, their insanity sparking emotions that ranged from rage to fear to hopeless confusion. I’d never seen a place filled with so much despair, so much wretched soullessness. I wrapped my arms around my