“I know one thing she is. She’s falling in love with a demon, a creature of such vile filth I shudder to think of it.”
“Why are you so distressed? It’s just one girl. One soul.”
“Because she’s a Candidate, you swine.” The righteous indignation coming off the angel was palpable enough that Ash tilted his head back. The world could have ended in that simple statement.
Madeleine, a Candidate? A special soul in training to gain her wings. He’d known they sometimes chose from the old souls to fill their ranks, but not always. In fact, it was so rare it hadn’t even occurred to him.
No wonder she’d been sent back to earth under such vile circumstances this time. It all made sense now, even as he didn’t want to believe it. The unsavory conditions of this life she was living, even before he came into it, were to be her final trial. To see if she could maintain her goodness under duress.
Had he been an idiot not to realize it? Damn. If he didn’t take her now, she’d most likely move on to become one of them after this life cycle…or else she’d be given another go at life, since he’d pretty well sabotaged her this time. Or rejected altogether. Hell, anything could happen.
If she went to the ranks, she would be as the one sitting across from him now. His mortal enemy, both of them locked in an eternal struggle, mere instruments in this never-ending cosmic game.
He couldn’t let that happen, but…
She would be so beautiful with her wings, it would pain him to look upon her. Another ache rose in the heart he hadn’t thought he possessed until he met her.
The angel was waiting for his response to that bombshell. Keeping his expression vague—or, at least, hoping he did—Ash gave him a mocking smile. “Ah. So it all comes clear. Well, don’t get your feathers in a ruffle. She’s my sweet, scrumptious little candidate too. We’ll take good care of her where she’s going.”
“I wonder if telling him that was the smartest move you could make,” Nicolae said and, if Ash didn’t know better, he would think the old man was scolding the angel.
“Yes, I know. He’ll be even more determined now.”
“I told you from the beginning how determined I was. I told you there would be no changing my mind. Whatever yoke you deem fit to strap on her in her afterlife makes no difference to me. She was signed over to me, and I intend to take her.”
Nicolae turned to face him directly, not a hint of intimidation on his seamed face. “I must say, Madeleine’s potential angelhood aside, I find the implications of your contract disturbing. If it’s honored, it might set a precedent that could prove disastrous.”
Ash sniffed. “And how’s that?” he asked flatly.
“Well, once word gets around that any mortal on earth who’s indifferent to another soul can damn that soul to Hell for personal gain, there could be chaos.”
“Not any mortal. I didn’t pull someone off the street. Gatlin was her father. He had claim on her himself, and he simply chose to relinquish it because he’s a filthy bastard.”
“He’s not the only one,” the angel muttered.
Nicolae ignored him. “All the same, we do frown upon these arrangements.”
Ash sat forward, fighting the urge to leap out of his chair. He’d been halfheartedly thinking of a way to release Maddie himself, but he wanted it to be on his terms. His decision. If he was going to suffer punishment for losing a soul, he wanted it to be because he chose to. Not because he suffered a defeat. “Frown all you want. You aren’t taking this away from me, damn you.”
“Riam and I have been discussing it at length.” So that was the angel’s name. “We’ve found ourselves in a bit of a gray area, but we’ve reached what we feel is a fair compromise, and we were hoping you would be amenable. If not, then as the holder of the contract, you have the right to refuse. But with a potential angel at stake, Riam is prepared to take this matter to the High Tribunal, and I must say I’d be happy to refer it on.”
Son of a bitch. The High Tribunal was supposedly neutral, like Nicolae, but it rarely turned out well for Ash’s side.
“This isn’t right. If she wasn’t a Candidate, you wouldn’t blink. What gives her more value than any other soul? The mere fact that you want to fit her with feathers and a friggin’ gold halo and allow her to run amok spouting self-righteous bullshit? That’s grand.”
“Do you want to hear the terms of our compromise or not?” Riam demanded. “Because we can go straight to—”
“Fine. State the terms.”
Nicolae gave one brief nod. “It’s really quite simple. Offer her the same bargain.”
“What?”
“It’ll be her final trial of sorts,” Riam said. “Only punctuated. Make her aware of what she’s facing. Do whatever you must to be certain she fully believes you. Then tell her she has the option of naming another who can go to Hell in her stead.”
“This is preposterous.”
Riam was already talking over Ash’s protest. “If she does so, then your contract is in full force and she will be yours to do with whatever you wish. But you may only take her, not who she names.”
“And if she doesn’t name another?”
“Then your contract is null and void. You’ll destroy it. You will no longer have any hold on her whatsoever. She will be completely free from you. She’ll belong to us.”
Ash felt a grin unfurl across his lips. “Impressive. If she tries to take the way out, she goes down. Such trickery even we rarely employ.”
The angel scoffed. “I seriously doubt that. It’s the only thing we could think of that you might agree to.”
“I’m surprised you agree to it, that you aren’t prepared to press the matter and try to get her released without putting her in such a predicament.”
“Don’t tempt me.”
“No, really. You’re that certain of victory, aren’t you?”
“If she’s truly fit for our ranks, and I’m convinced she is, then she will be that selfless. Yes.”
“And if she’s not, to Hell with her, quite literally. Right?” Ash chuckled. Riam only glared. “At any rate, it’s an easy way to placate me, if I’ll go along like a good little boy.”
“Are you in agreement or not, demon? I could banter with you all day, but unfortunately I have scores of your kind’s victims to contend with.”
A vision of Madeleine’s face rose in his thoughts, her blue eyes dancing as she looked at him. If he accepted the compromise, that meant he had to tell her what he was, what he’d done. Somehow it seemed far worse than the thought of taking her unaware. Inconceivable, almost. And if she tried to save herself, he had to be willing to watch her horror as she realized she’d just doomed herself.
He had to repress a growl and an outburst of furious frustration that might blow this house to pieces and hurtle Riam and Nicolae a hundred miles away. For the first time, he wished he’d never appeared in Gatlin’s crappy, rat-infested apartment twenty-seven years ago. He almost wished he’d never set eyes on Madeleine. Or that he’d just taken her soul in the damn parking garage, or in the street, like he would have done if he hadn’t been a colossal idiot. He wished he’d done it before he’d known her.
“Do we have an accord?” Riam asked.
It might still give him everything he wanted. Or he might lose her altogether.
One of his colleagues had been in love with an angel once. For centuries, he’d pined for her. When he’d tried to have her, finally, it had caused such an upheaval no one was certain whatever became of him. Ash wasn’t prepared to go through that. He’d endured enough torment. He couldn’t take any more.
It was only when the angel shifted uncomfortably that Ash realized he’d been staring dead at him, unmoving, for a good minute or so. With a snarled curse, he pushed himself out of his chair in a sudden burst of movement that made the other two flinch. Good. They were right to be afraid of him right now; he wanted to punch a hole in the world.
“We don’t require your answer this very moment,” Nicolae said calmly as Ash paced the length of the room like a caged beast, his hands clenching and unclenching at his sides. Given the way Riam’s jaw tightened, he wasn’t thrilled at the prospect of delaying the matter. “So long as you don’t move to collect before you’ve given us your decision, of course.”
No, he had to decide now—Metos would be after him yet again, wanting to know what the f**k was taking so long now that the stay was lifted. He’d be demanding Ash do whatever Nicolae asked to get their precious acquisition with as little hassle or outside interference as possible.
But he was beyond tossing back a scathing taunt at the other two. Indecision burned like flames licking at his skin. He wasn’t accustomed to not seeing the way clearly before him. He’d wanted Madeleine, he’d gone after her. Part of him was screaming to refuse their compromise and face the High Tribunal, if that was what it took to claim her. The other part…
He didn’t even want to consider the other part.
Dammit, if only he’d moved on her when things were simpler. How many times would he regret it? Now there was her memory to contend with. The softness of her skin. The silk of her hair. The sweet music of her laughter. Hell, the sound of his own. He’d lost this game when he’d given in to his desire to touch her. She’d beaten him.
All his thoughts came to a halt, and he ceased his relentless pacing. For that alone, for besting him without even trying, she deserved a chance to escape the fate he’d planned for her.
“Fine,” he said to the two somber beings near the desk, and out of the corner of his eye he saw their heads lift and swivel toward him. But he couldn’t bear to look directly at them as he spoke his agreement. “I’ll give her the option. We’ll see…how it goes.”
Nicolae sat and began scribbling in his ledgers in his typical dismissive manner. Riam came to his feet and approached Ash, moving swiftly and noiselessly. Ash stiffened and cut him a warning glance that stopped him in his tracks.
“Don’t say one gloating word to me, or I’ll send you flying.”
“I was actually going to thank you for being reasonable.”
“That’s almost as bad, coming from the one whose dirty work I’m doing.”
The damned angel laughed. “Are you actually mad at me for making you out to be the bad guy?” He shook his haloed head. “You demons are good for the occasional chuckle, I’ll give you that.”
Oh, he was so certain of his victory. It was all over his f**king face: the serenity, the smug triumph. Ash wanted to crack that expression, watch it fall piece by piece, if only for the fun of it.
He allowed a blithe smile of his own and strolled over to Riam until they were nearly nose to nose by the time he finished speaking. “One word of warning to you, before you get too busy patting yourself on the back, or stroking your own wings, or whatever it is you do to congratulate yourself. I can be…extremely convincing. I know terrors you can scarce conceive of, and I’ll lay them out in such cruel detail for her that by the time I’m done, she’ll damn every soul she knows to Hell if it’ll save her own.”