RiskingEternity

Risking Eternity

Voirey
Linger

For two hundred years,
Dominicus
has lived in isolation, sentenced to take human souls to hell. But this night’s victim is unlike all the others. She tempts him. One kiss and she comes apart in his arms. One
taste,
and he can’t walk away.

But Maggie isn’t the only temptation he faces.
Dominicus
fights an attraction to
Renatus
, his best friend through the eons and a male with whom sex is forbidden. With her, he risks Hell, with him, losing the only piece of Heaven he has left.

Maggie cannot begin to understand what
Dominicus
has done. Demons covet her soul and Lucifer won’t give up his prize. In claiming her, he’s not only compounded his sin, he’s sparked a war between Heaven and Hell. Angels battle demons, and
Dominicus
must make a choice. Does he deliver to Lucifer the human whose soul calls to him and ensure his salvation, or save her and risk eternal damnation?

Chapter One

Hard bricks bit into
Dominicus
’ rear end and he shifted on the edge of the building’s roof, trying to find a more comfortable position. Rain fell in a fine mist, drenching the night and muffling the noise of the city. The low clouds blocked the Heavens and reflected the city lights and gave the sky an unnatural orange glow.

This was the thing he disliked most about his assignments, sitting hidden from the world while he waited for instructions. He frowned. No, there was something he hated more. The stench at the gates was worse, and sometimes the pleas from those who realized what was happening.

The dying never went quietly into Hell.

It was his punishment, leveled on him by none other than the Most High. Every night he waited, invisible to human eyes, while a human died. Every night he watched as the blackened soul separated from the dying body. Every night he took that soul to Hell. The human myth of an Angel of Death had been made real and would remain so until his curse was lifted.

He shifted again and returned his attention to the nightclub, five stories below. Neon glowed in the night, highlighting the people crowded under the awnings. The hard pulse of music drifted up to him. A taste of the atmosphere inside seeped onto the streets to lure in those looking for gaiety. Scanning the crowd, he tried to feel out the soul-deep emptiness, the bite of evil, that would mark his assignment, but there were too many people clustered together. They all had
cravings,
all needed something they thought they would find inside the garishly lit building.

“Are you prepared for this night’s work?”

“Checking up on me,
Renatus
?”
Dominicus
turned to look at the white-robed angel who had appeared behind him. Light sparkled off droplets of rain collecting in
Renatus’s
golden hair. The fine elegance of his features
were
marred by a pinched frown of disapproval.

“Of course not.
You don’t need to be watched, do you?”

Dominicus
couldn’t help but wonder if the light angel intended the subtle dig or if his words should be accepted at face value. Too many years living on the Earthly plane had soured him, made him suspicious. Still,
Ren
was his only contact with the Heavens now and didn’t deserve his distrust.

“If you are not here to make sure I am doing my job, then why have you come?”
Dominicus
watched as
Ren
took a seat beside him on the ledge, close enough the snowy white wings brushed his own black ones. The faint tickle of contact made his feathers stand on end.

“So hostile, Dom.
Your time here does not seem to have mellowed you.”

No. His time hadn’t mellowed him.
Quite the opposite.
If anything his penance made him more certain he was justified in his rebellion. The Most High didn’t do enough to preserve the souls of creation. In the past two centuries, he’d delivered too many to the gates, seen the hunger and greed in the demons’ eyes as they devoured the souls and took their power for their own.

“Why are you here?”

“Can I not come to visit my friend?” A flicker of something crossed
Ren’s
face, something that looked suspiciously like regret.

Dominicus
shot him a wry look. “You could, but you have not.” The angel wasn’t there to see
him, that
was certain.
Ren
never came without purpose anymore.

Renatus
could not understand
Dominicus
’ continued defiance. His legalistic mind could not understand any defiance, for that matter.
Dominicus
’ constant questioning of Most High’s laws was an ever-growing barrier between the friends.

An awkward silence fell between them and
Ren
turned to study the people below. “There is concern for you in the Heavens,” he finally said, his voice quiet and hesitant. “You have been on the Earthly plane, separated from your kind for far too long. There is concern you have
Fallen
.”

Dominicus
contained a snort of disbelief. Two hundred years after he was barred from the Heavens, they were now concerned? Where was their worry when he was cast down to the mortal plane to exist in solitude? All had turned their backs on him. All save
Renatus
.

“I have not
Fallen
.”

“And yet, you have not
Risen
, either.”

“Risen?” he asked incredulously. “I am confined here, cut off from all I have known, from receiving power. I have no companionship but yours, and you are a rare visitor. There is nothing to lift me back into the Heavens.”

“That is not true, Dom.”
Ren’s
hand clutched Dom’s arm as he repeated his oft-voiced plea. “You’ve always had the power to return. Rescind your statement. End this defiance and ask the Most High for forgiveness. Please, come home with me.”

“Until my punishment is lifted, I will stay as I am.”

“Don’t be so sure.”

Dominicus
gave
Ren
a hard look, searching for a clue to his meaning. Had something changed? Perhaps his situation was not as static as he’d believed. Judging from
Ren’s
expression, this was not a good thing.

“What is happening,
Renatus
?”

“I cannot offer anything but the pronouncement.”

Dominicus
stiffened. If
Renatus
was here in his official role of Messenger, his existence would soon be completely altered. “Which is?”

“I was sent to warn you this assignment is of the utmost importance. The Most High says, ‘
This is your test. You have learned more than you know. We must all make our own decisions, find our own paths. It falls on you to do the right thing
.’”

The Most High’s words resonated within
Dominicus
, the absolute truth in them sending a shiver through his body even as his hand curled into a white-knuckled fist.

Leave it to the Heavens to deliver an important message and yet be cryptic.

“And what is the right thing?”

“That, my friend, is your test.”

* * * * *

The throb of music had Maggie’s head pounding. People crowded the floor and the stench of sweat and alcohol lingered over scantily clad bodies. They rubbed and teased, promised sex under the guise of dancing. She leaned against the bar and watched them dance, but she wasn’t interested in joining them tonight.

She was tired of this scene. Night after night she stalked the bars, looking for fun, for entertainment, for companionship. Day after day she woke up, hung over and lonely. She wanted a guy who was going to be around for a while, not just a quick fuck. The club scene was definitely not the right place to be looking for long-term.

She pushed away from the bar.
Time to go home.
The shortest route to the door was across the dance floor, so she picked up the beat and started to dance her way through the crowd. A man blocked her, his lips moved, but she couldn’t hear him over the pulse of music. Shaking her head, she moved away to find another path, only to have him appear and block her again.

Maggie started to make her way to the door but the swarm of bodies pushed her and she swayed unsteadily. The bass thumped and her head pounded back in rhythm, hurting so much the room swam and her stomach rolled and she swallowed against the rising bile.

She stumbled and a man’s hands steadied her. It was the same guy. Where did he come from? She jerked away and tried to get to the door. Sounds were getting fuzzy, as if her ears were filled with cotton, and the room seemed to be getting darker. What the fuck was wrong with her?

She pushed her way through the door and into the night. The music faded and she took a deep breath, trying to purge the smells of the club from her lungs as she walked toward the line of waiting cabs.

A wave of dizziness assaulted her and she stumbled. Someone caught her, spinning her away from the cabs and toward the line of people waiting to get into the club. He’d followed here, the guy from the dance floor.
Shitshitshit
.

The line of people beside her surged.
There were men yelling and a scuffle broke out.

“Come on, let’s get you out of here,” he said, his hand gripping her elbow as he tugged her toward a nondescript blue car.

No, she couldn’t go with him. She couldn’t remember why, but something in the depths of her fuzzy brain screamed to not get in that car with him.

She tried to jerk away from him, but he just wrapped his arm tighter around her waist, holding her to him as he pulled her farther away from the club. Confusion and fear melded.

Oh God, help me
.

“No, let me go. Someone make him let me go! Please, someone help me,” she called, but the escalating fight in the line drowned out her cries for help. There was a flash and a pop, and the mass of people bobbed as they all ducked, screaming. The world tilted crazily and a burn ripped through her chest.

“Shit, I can’t fucking
believe this,” the man muttered, close to her ear. His hand covered her chest and when he pulled away it was covered with something dark. He ground out another curse. His arms left her and she fell to the ground.

The ringing in her ears grew louder, drowning out everything else. Maggie realized this must be what it felt like to die.