RiskingEternity (2 page)

Chapter Two

Dominicus
curled up his lip in distaste. Death and dying were not the business of angels. Yet here he was, ready to take yet another soul to the gates of Hell. Why was this punishment leveled on him? With every passing night, he was more convinced it was wrong to allow the fragile souls of mankind to be taken to that place of evil, and yet, he had no choice but to take them.

He used his power as a cloak, rendering him invisible from the crowd. Once hidden from the humans, he bent over the woman while the man holding her laid her on the hard concrete. She’d been drugged by a predator and shot by a stray bullet. The poor human didn’t have a chance of surviving. Freckles stood out in dark relief against her rapidly paling skin and red hair tangled under her, growing dark as the pool of her blood grew and soaked into it. The last vestige of life sparkled in her eyes and he reached down, ready to take her essence, but the soft glow of her being stopped him.

Purity.
The demons coveted souls such as this. That purity was the only thing that glowed so clearly at the point of death and it had no place in Hell.

He looked
deeper,
seeking whatever may have earned her damnation and found nothing. She’d made mistakes, true, but at the core of them all was the desire to love and be loved. Surely there was no sin in seeking affection. The thought plucked a chord of pain in
his own
heart. Was everyone not deserving of love?

There was a nudge from the Heavens, reminding him of his duty.
This assignment is very important. It falls on you to do the right thing
.

But what was the right thing?

A tear slipped from the corner of the woman’s eye. He knew the only thing keeping her alive was his hesitation to take the soul from her body.

The man who’d followed her from the club stood and looked around quickly. His mind projected his fear of discovery and the need to flee.
Dominicus
could see the shadow of a soul hovering over the man’s body like a film of soot and ash. Ah, yes. This was evil.
Dominicus
could see inside him, see his lust, his hunger for violence. He could see the faces of others he’d drugged and raped, of one who had died after ingesting his poisons. He could see this woman was tonight’s intended victim.

It falls on you to do the right thing
.

The right thing was suddenly so clear.

Reaching out, he took hold of the edge of evil shrouding the man’s form and pulled. The human
spasmed
, his face a mask of shock and horror, as the soul ripped free with an unearthly scream of pain. If ever there was something vile enough to be worthy of Hell’s minions, surely this was it.

The man fell, dead before his body hit the ground, and
Dominicus
took flight.

With powerful strokes of his wings, he entered the lower realm. Hellfire’s dull red glow gleamed off the waiting demons’ reptilian scales as the catlike creatures paced behind the blackened gate. He barely spared them a glance before throwing the putrid soul to them. It shrieked and the demons leapt, swarming over it and dragging it farther into Hell. He didn’t stop to mourn the soul this night. He barely took time to notice the stench of decay or the wash of heat over his body. Getting back to the girl was his only concern. The muscles of his back and wings burned and his heart pounded. He had to go faster, to get to the girl before one of the devil’s minions could wander to the scene and claim her. He couldn’t lose her.

Approaching the nightclub once more,
Dominicus
took in the chaos of the panicked crowd. Some fled the scene, anxious to get away before the police arrived. The ones who remained milled in confusion, fear and morbid curiosity.

Dominicus
spotted a black and tan puppy sniffing the woman’s toes and fought to fly faster. He landed beside the dying woman with a shout, startling the hound.

“
Begone
! You have no business here,” he snapped, leaning in to cover the barely living human with one wing.

“You think not?” The pup cocked its head to one side and its eyebrows quirked as it studied him.
Evil in the guise of innocence.

“I know it. Your master has his prize and there is nothing else for you here.”

“Oh, but you are wrong,” the demon answered, its mouth dropping open in a doggie grin. “The soul you took to the master was already his. The prize is still there, clinging to its mortal body. You, of all beings, should understand the value a pure heart such as this holds for Lucifer. He wants it.”

He did know. There was power in purity. Demons had no power of their own, could not recover their strength without taking from another. This soul would be a gluttonous feast for creatures accustomed to the fouled souls of the unclean.

“Your master’s wants mean nothing to me. The woman now lives and shall continue to do so. Now go!
Back to your master.
I banish you from this place.” He swung his arm at the dog and it scurried out of reach.

“I’ll go, but your power is limited, angel. You can’t protect her forever. We were promised this girl and we will have her.” The hound gave the girl one last glance, then turned and trotted away, disappearing into an alleyway as the strobe of police lights turned the corner.
Dominicus
watched heavy hearted as the demon departed. The echoes of her spirit were familiar. He wondered if he would soon be like her; an angel Fallen from Heaven, damned to Hell.

He couldn’t let that happen to him.

His attention returned to the woman. Her breathing had stopped and he could see her soul beginning to lift from her body. Laying a hand over her chest, he used his power to push the spirit back into her and pin it there. She would live until he could find another, less obvious place to tend to her.

Dominicus
once more used some of his precious stores of power to distract the agitated crowd, to divert attention away from what he was doing. Once he took her from this place no one would remember what had happened to her.

Carefully, he lifted the woman’s bloody body and took once more to the air. Returning to the roof of the building across the street, he laid her down as gently as he could.

Healing was not a gift he possessed. Like any divine being he could do it, but not as quickly or completely as one with the gift, such as
Renatus
, or an angel who was not separated from the renewing strength of the heavens. He only prayed he had the power left in him to heal her.

Placing a hand over her wounded heart, he called on the bullet, drew it to him until it worked its way free of the brutalized flesh. Merciful Heavens, there was so much damage to her fragile human body. He didn’t know if he was strong enough to keep her alive.

“What do you think you are doing?”
Renatus
hissed, appearing beside him.

“I do what I must.” He sent another wave of his dwindling power into the woman’s chest.

“I told you this was important. You were warned to follow orders on this assignment and you did not.”

“That is not what you said. You said to do the right thing, and I am.”

“You call this the right thing? You are saving the dead and killing the living!
Dominicus
, you must listen. This might be your last chance to save yourself from a
Fall
.”

“This matters to you?”
Dominicus
retorted.

“Of course it does.”
Ren’s
face was a mask of hurt. “You have been my friend through the eons. I want you to return with me, for our lives to return to normal.”

But things could never be normal again. Did
Ren
not see that everything had changed? They could never go back. He could never go back. His entire existence was forever altered.

Turning his back on
Renatus
, Dom focused on the human. The flesh was not repairing fast enough and the soul began to separate from the body once more. Merciful Father, he couldn’t save her. He wasn’t strong enough. Her eyes began to dull.

Father, please help me!
His soul screamed, but there was no light from above,
no
strength from the Maker filling him.

“I need help. Give me your power.”

“What? Are you insane?”

Renatus
leaned close to look into his eyes, no doubt looking for signs of a
Fall
, and
Dominicus
saw his opportunity. Keeping one hand over the human’s wounded
heart,
he reached out with the other and grabbed
Renatus
by the back of the neck. Jerking the other angel close, he covered his mouth with his own. Hand fisted in the golden hair, he held
Renatus
still as he kissed him deeply, drawing power, channeling it through his body and into the dying woman.

Ren
fought, twisting to get free, and
Dominicus
gripped tighter, jerking the other angel off his feet and pressing their chests together. Heavenly power flooded him, surging through his body in a rush of heat, thickening him.
Dominicus
angled his head, breathed in every last tendril he could before
Renatus
broke free. Breathing heavily, the light angel backed a safe distance away and dragged his arm over his lips.

“You are touched by evil,” he spat, wiping his mouth, his face twisted with disgust.

Dominicus
smiled and licked his lips, taking the last drops of
Renatus’s
energy into his body. It tasted like he’d always imagined
Ren
would, strong and male. “No, I am preserving good. If I have to steal your power to do so, I will.”

Such a theft between angels was a breach of trust, between friends, a violation. A tinge of guilt pricked
Dominicus
, but he shoved it aside. This was the time to act. He would make his peace with
Renatus
when the girl was recovered.

Lifting his hand, he assessed the human’s wounds. The ragged flesh had closed and her heart was once again functional. With a nudge of power from him it began beating again, her body jerking as she drew air into her lungs with a harsh gasp.

“Your sacrifice has saved a life tonight, my friend. You should rejoice.”

“I will rejoice when her spirit enters the gates of Hell, where it belongs, where you were supposed to take it. Do you have any idea what you have done?”

“So harsh.
It’s unlike you,” he murmured.
Ren
was becoming very distraught over this human. How very strange. Later, when the woman was out of danger, he’d try to figure out just what that signified. For now, there was more work to be done. “I need to take her home. Do you know where she lives?” He looked at the other angel expectantly.

“You expect me to help?”
Renatus
asked in amazement. “Find her home yourself. You have chosen to act outside Heaven’s commands, so you can proceed alone.” With that,
Ren
left, his departure even more abrupt than usual.

“I shall simply have to do this the human way,” he told the girl, who blinked at him uncomprehendingly. Spotting a small wallet tucked in the waistband of her skirt, he pulled it out, smiling when it opened to reveal her driver’s license. Maggie Barton. The name suited her. He smiled and checked the address. Her apartment was not far from this location. He picked her up and took to the air once more.

Landing on her bedroom balcony, he used his waning power to will the door to open and carried her through the darkened apartment to her bathroom. Another thought turned on the lights and sent steaming water pouring from the showerhead. With a final push, he willed her clothing and his away before carrying her unconscious body into the tub. Under the stream of water, he began to tenderly wash the blood from her.

Her injury was repaired but the drugs were still strong in her body. She didn’t flinch, even when the water hit her face. She
lay
limp and motionless, dead weight in his arms, while the water ran down the drain, streaked crimson with her blood. Worry stabbed at him. Did he have enough strength left to deal with the chemicals in her system?

When the water ran clean, he willed it off and shook the droplets from his feathers. He took the towel from the bar by the tub and wrapped her in its fluffy softness. Another towel hung by it, and he draped it over her head, squeezing the moisture from her hair. Through it all, she never showed any response. She was getting worse.

Moving to the bedroom, he placed her on the bed and leaned in, trying to breathe in her essence, to analyze what she needed. Alongside the bitterness of alcohol lay the salty bite of the date-rape drug.

“Poor girl,” he whispered as he stretched out beside her. “I’ll get rid of it all for you. You will wake up clean and pure.” He lowered his face to hers, until her faint breath washed over his face. He smoothed her damp hair back from her face with one hand. “I can only give you this one night, though. The rest is up to you.”

He placed his mouth over hers and breathed in, drawing the toxins from her. The first taste made him want to pull away in revulsion. She was filled with enough chemicals to stop the hearts of several humans. It would have killed her, just as surely as the bullet.

The demons must have wanted this soul very badly indeed.

The drugs clung to her, slowing her body, making her breathing shallow. Focusing his power into his mouth, he drew deeper, purging them from her body. They flooded his mouth where his power burned bright, singeing him as he destroyed them. Again he sucked in, taking another vile breath of chemicals, but this time he could taste something else, something sweet and pure mingled with the foulness.

The flavor of Maggie.

Another deep drink from her lips, and the sweetness overcame the sour. A groan of pleasure escaped him and his tongue slipped over hers, searching for more of her taste. Like a feast for a starving man, her sensual flavor overwhelmed him. Healing forgotten, he ran his tongue over hers, caressing, encouraging hers to play, too.