Her Demonic Angel (Her Angel Romance Series Book 5) (16 page)

A muffled cry brought her attention snapping down to the wide black curved steps and the tall arched entrance of the fortress.

Veiron.

Erin ran forwards across the black paved courtyard.

A man stepped out from behind Veiron and hauled him up, holding him suspended off the steps by his neck. The man’s golden eyes slid to her and his handsome pale face contorted into a cruel smile.

The Devil.

“Leave him alone!” Erin shouted even though she knew it was useless. Her gaze flicked back to Veiron. Black ribbons of smoke held him now, threaded around his arms and legs. They slowly tightened and she gasped as they cut into his flesh and crushed his obsidian armour against his chest, forearms and shins. Blood streamed down his limbs and dripped to the floor beneath his feet. Erin kept running, heading straight for him.

She hit an invisible wall just three metres away from the steps.

“Please... you’re hurting him!” Erin rained her fists down on the barrier, tears filling her eyes.

The smoke dissipated and Veiron crashed to the floor, hitting the curved black steps at a vicious angle. He tumbled down them and lay close to her feet, broken and bleeding, barely breathing.

Erin crouched and pressed her hands against the invisible wall that separated them.

“Veiron?” she whispered and her tears cut down her cheeks, hot and fierce. Her heart ached so painfully that she couldn’t breathe. “Please wake up. Let me know you’re alive.”

He wheezed. The action caused blood to pump from the slices across his stomach. It poured over his skin and pooled beneath him, spreading outwards towards her. Her heart wrenched when he moved, slowly pushing himself up onto his elbows, and tore his battered chest plate away. It clattered across the black paving and landed at the Devil’s feet.

The Devil stepped over it and approached, neatening the cuffs of his black jacket and shirt, so casual that she wanted to punch a hole in his head to wipe the snide look off his face.

Veiron almost made it into a sitting position, swaying violently all the while. Erin flinched when the Devil pressed one polished leather shoe against Veiron’s chest and slammed him back down with such force that the black paving splintered beneath him.

Veiron choked up blood.

“Leave him alone!” Rage curled through Erin’s veins, heating it and driving her to action. She smashed her fists against the barrier and let out an inhuman growl. “I swear I will kill you if you hurt him.”

The Devil didn’t heed her words. He stepped up onto Veiron’s chest and positioned his other foot against Veiron’s chin. He was going to snap his neck.

Fear pounded in Erin’s blood, her heart beat violently in her chest, and dark red flames flickered over her hands and licked up her arms.

The sight of them seemed to please the Devil.

He smiled at her, a glimmer of sick satisfaction crossing his face, and then shoved his foot forwards.

Erin screamed, threw her hands out in front of her, and everything exploded into a bright crimson fireball.

She shot up in bed.

Darkness surrounded her.

Erin breathed hard, pulse racing and limbs trembling, cold sweat trickling over her bare skin. Her stomach twisted and turned, and she doubled over, fighting the urge to throw up. It wasn’t real. It wasn’t real. It was just another bad dream. She could still smell the stench of burning flesh and Veiron’s blood.

Could hear the Devil laughing.

The door burst open, flooding the room with blinding white light, and Erin threw herself away from it. Her heart leapt into her throat, her legs tangled in the sheets and she hit the floor. She clutched the green bedclothes around her, shaking all over, and peered over the top of the mattress to the door.

A shadowy figure stood in the bright doorway, a long blade in one hand.

It reached into the room.

The light flicked on.

Veiron.

His bright crimson eyes scoured the room, as though looking for an intruder, and then settled on her. They widened and concern filled them.

“Erin?” He stalked into the room. “I felt you panic and I thought someone had come for you. What’s wrong?”

She couldn’t look at him. She felt so stupid. It had just been one of her usual nightmares and he had come rushing in like the cavalry, sword in hand, ready for battle. She picked herself up off the floor, weak knees threatening to give out, and pulled herself back onto the bed. She didn’t stop shaking.

What on Earth did she look like? She was soaked with sweat, trembling, and her heart was still pounding against her chest.

“Turn out the light.” She burrowed into her knees, feeling like a fool for getting so worked up over a dream. “I look like a mess.”

“I don’t care what you look like.” He walked into the room and stopped at the edge of the bed. “I just need to see that you’re all right.”

She had to smile at his blunt honest words. “Can you at least give me some dignity and use the table lamp instead?”

He nodded. The light turned off by itself and the table lamp came on. She was never getting used to his tricks. He waved a hand towards the door and it closed.

Veiron sat beside her on the bed, facing her, and she noticed for the first time that he was fully dressed, wearing a black dress shirt that emphasised the breadth of his muscled chest and stretched tight around his biceps, the sleeves rolled up his forearms, and black jeans. He pressed his left hand into the mattress and reached across with his right. Erin stilled as he brushed his thumb across her cheek and she realised that she had been crying too.

She hated that she probably looked truly weak to him now, shaken by a dream. He had called her weak when they had been in Hell. What was he thinking about her now?

He opened his hand and cupped her cheek in his large warm palm.

“Do you want me to stay?” he whispered and relief washed through her, steadying her heart and stopping her trembling.

Erin nodded.

Veiron stood, set his blade down, and removed his boots. He rounded the bed to her right side and laid on the mattress beside her, his head propped up on the green pillows, and rolled onto his side to face her. He stretched his left arm out. Erin stared blankly at it.

“Come,” Veiron husked and Erin settled on her side, facing him, and rested her head on his upper arm.

She stared into his eyes, his face illuminated by the bedside lamp behind her. It was so peaceful. Her heart remained steady, drumming softly against her chest, and her eyes remained locked on his. They were dark and gentle, no trace of red in them now. Her breathing slowed to match his.

Comforting.

It had been a long time since she had felt so at ease and safe.

Veiron made sure that feeling ran deeper, until she felt calm to her core, by curling his arm around her. His hand settled below her ribs and he held her.

“You can talk to me about it,” he whispered, soft voice warming her and backing up his words. “I’m here for you, Erin.”

She couldn’t remember the last time she had talked to someone about the things she saw in her dreams. She had stopped speaking to Amelia about them after their mother had died. She didn’t know why. She had just closed herself off.

Erin dropped her gaze to his chest, staring at the small V of skin and muscle she could see beyond the open top buttons of his black shirt.

“It’s been a while since I had two dreams back to back.” She toyed with the first closed button on his shirt, rolling it between her fingers, focusing on it. “I saw London burning. I thought it was Hell, but it wasn’t. Someone was carrying me... an angel.”

“What did he look like?” Veiron murmured and moved his hand to her hair, stroking the short black lengths and soothing her rising panic.

“White hair and green eyes, and he wore armour like yours but it was blue and silver. He said that he was my guardian angel.” She looked up into his eyes to see if it was possible that she had a guardian angel.

“I wore armour like that once.” He smiled but there was sorrow in it.

“You wore it in my dream too... and you had short hair and no tattoos. You attacked the angel and he said something... what was it... something about he should’ve put you down before.” She didn’t like the thought of that or what had happened afterwards. She wanted to close herself off to him again, didn’t want to talk about what had happened and dredge up the pain she had felt in her nightmare.

“It sounds like me.” His smile held more warmth this time and she knew in her heart that he was trying to cheer her up.

She wished she could smile too.

Erin dropped her gaze back to her hands and flipped the collar of his shirt back and forth, trying to find her voice again. It was hard. The wave of emotions she had felt in her nightmare pressed down on her and her pulse spiked again, fingers shaking and cold sweat prickling down her spine. Veiron held her closer, his strong hand clasping the back of her head.

She slowly undid two more buttons on his shirt and parted the material with her fingers. She stroked the smooth skin of his pectorals. There were no marks on his flesh but sometimes when she blinked, she saw him cut and bruised, bleeding.

“You were you again in the next part. There was a huge black fortress and this sort of amphitheatre or something around it. A wall of black spires. The Devil had you and I couldn’t get to you. He hurt you, Veiron, and I tried to make him stop, but he—” Erin cut herself off, unable to go on without breaking down.

“It’s okay, Erin,” Veiron murmured and stroked her hair. He pressed a soft kiss to her forehead. “It’s okay.”

“No, it isn’t... I fought back. I did something... I don’t know what it was but it scared me.” She pressed her hand to the bare patch of his chest and felt his heart beating steadily against her palm. It comforted her. Veiron was strong. It was just her feelings for him that made her fear that someone would hurt him. Wasn’t it?

“Have you ever dreamed things that have happened later?” Those words chilled her.

“No... maybe,” Erin said and undid another button on his shirt, revealing the first muscles of his abdomen. “There are times when I see things in my dreams that do happen, but they’re always a little different. Recently, my dreams have all been strange... about my sister and a man.”

“Marcus?”

“I don’t know. He’s tall and has dark hair and pale blue eyes, and has wings tattooed on his back.”

“That’s Marcus. He was an angel sent to watch over your sister.”

“A guardian angel?” She looked up into his dark eyes, torn between pursuing discovering more about Veiron and the man called Marcus, and asking him whether he honestly thought that she had precognitive dreams. “Like that other man in my dream and you?”

He smiled and stroked her cheek, but his tone turned emotionless and detached. “I haven’t been a guardian in a long time, but I started out like Marcus and then we went our separate ways.”

There was pain in his eyes as he said that, a haunted look that told her not to ask about it. She touched his cheek but the barriers had come up again, shutting her out. Whatever had happened to him, he didn’t want to remember it or feel anything because of it. He had buried his pain deep.

A noise sounded from below and Erin tensed.

Veiron brushed his knuckles across her cheek, drawing her back to him. “Don’t worry. I won’t let anything happen to you.”

She stared up into his eyes, her fingers stroking his chest. “What about you and what I saw? If I... if my nightmares are things destined to happen... then... Veiron, I don’t want that to come true.”

“I won’t let that happen either. You don’t have to worry, Erin. We will find out more about this power of yours and we will find a way to change things. You might see only the future as it stands now. It is constantly changing. The slightest action might alter it completely.”

That was comforting. There had been times when she had thought her nightmares and dreams were more than just her imagination running wild, instances where things had happened that had been very close to what she had seen during her sleep. She had never imagined that she would be lying in the arms of a fallen angel, a demonic angel, when she realised that what she had was a power.

Erin only wished that her power had been as useful and fantastic as some of the ones Veiron had. The knowledge that she could see the future in her dreams left her cold to the bone and she never again wanted to sleep without Veiron close to her.

Erin looked into his dark eyes for long seconds, and then whispered, “Can I see your eyes again?”

He didn’t hesitate this time. His irises changed, glowing like embers in the low light.

“They’re amazing.” She stared at all the threads of gold in the crimson, making them her sole focus so she could push away the creeping fear about what Veiron had called her power and the things she had witnessed. “They’re like fire... can I see your wings too?”

Veiron nodded. He slipped his arm out from beneath her and she sat up with him. He moved to kneel in front of her, unbuttoned his black shirt, and peeled it off. His body distracted her, all delicious hard muscle and masculine strength that she wanted to run her hands over and kiss. Erin dragged her gaze away from it, back to his eyes. His wings slowly appeared, growing out of his back, the crimson feathers shining in the light. He stretched them, flapped once, and then brought them to rest. The longer feathers brushed the mattress on his right side and the floor to his left.

Erin held the covers around her with one hand and reached out with her other. She ran her hand down the soft feathers of his left wing, following the curve. Veiron closed his eyes and sighed.

“Does that feel good?” she whispered, shaky and nervous. It looked as though it did. She’d had a few lovers in her time but they had all been human. Veiron was an angel, whether he was in service of the Devil or not. She wasn’t sure what angels liked or what sort of things would give him pleasure. If he could feel such a thing. The blissful look on his face said that he could and the woman on the floor below, his ex-lover, had told her that Veiron was a fantastic lover, and a very protective male. That had left Erin feeling a little ill. She didn’t like the thought of Taylor with Veiron, or the thought of trying to best that woman. If Veiron had left Taylor, how was she supposed to find a way to convince him to stay with her?