Sin of the Saints (Between Delusion and Sobriety Duet #2)

Chapter 9

Chapter Nine

Bartimaeus

“ Y ou can’t be here,” I growl at the demoness.

“I know that, angel . And if you’ve got half a brain, you must know that if I’m here that means I had no other choice.” She crosses her arms over her chest and her dark aura shifts. I hear her gasp as my burning touch causes her pain.

“If you’ve infiltrated the holiest of holies to seek vengeance, know that you won’t leave this place alive.” It’s not a threat, it’s a promise.

“If I return empty-handed I’m as good as dead in my world, so I had no choice.”

I hold my breath. “Who sent you?”

“Belle—” Every subsequent word she says is wiped away and blurred, and my guts twist up.

Belle.

Belle.

Belle.

She’s alive. She hasn’t disappeared.

“Are you even listening to me?” Her voice grows harsh, there’s still honest concern in her. Concern. The demoness is concerned for me.

“Did Lilith not awaken? Belle…” Her name rolling off my tongue almost kills me.

“She did.”

“Then how—”

She shamelessly interrupts me. “You weren’t listening to a word that came out of my mouth! I just told you, Belle and Lilith are the same entity. And she’s in danger—”

I don’t stick around to listen to her, instead leaping to my closet and pulling out clean clothes. I strip naked and run into the washroom to clean the sweat off me. After a brief shower I get dressed and return to my room. I feel Valentina’s gaze scouring me.

“What?” I bark.

“Ah… I-I… do all angels look like you?”

I’m aware of the shirt stretching over my muscles, which threaten to tear the cotton fabric, and the jeans that press tightly against my waist. I know I look completely normal, as a guardian angel should – minus the wings. I don’t deserve them because of my sins, according to the Pope. I shrug, having no intent to answer her.

“How do we get to her?”

“You’d better start praying, angel, it won’t be simple. Impossible, more like.”

“Libretto, he…” I clear my throat. Damn, this is hard. “Did he do something to her?” It’s been so long.

“She’s tough and he knows it. She’s changed, you might not recognize her, but she can’t use her powers and we’re running out of time. He must be furious that I’ve disappeared, and I have no doubt he saw us on camera when she urged me to run.”

“Fuck,” I swear and shut my eyes tight. I can’t imagine what he’s done to her. The worst scenarios are playing out in my mind and I shake my head violently to drive them away. I have to be focused. For her. I press my ear to the door of my room and listen. The hallway is empty. “How did you get here?” I ask her.

“I borrowed one of the cars from the castle parking lot. With the money they’ve got I’m sure no one will miss it,” she mockingly answers.

“That’s good. You did good, Valentina.” Did I just compliment a demon? That’s so fucked-up, but this is my life now if I mean to head out and rescue the Queen of the Damned. A betrayal that will never be forgiven. “We have a four-hour drive ahead of us, but the roads are empty at night, that works in our favor.”

I go to the dresser by my bed, seeking it with my hands extending forward, and from the drawer I pull out my two Desert Eagle handguns, giving one to Valentina.

“It’s heavy, but its bullets are heavier and they’re better-suited for the targets we’ll be hunting. You know how to use a gun?”

Valentina takes the gun from my hand like it weighs nothing at all. I hear her giggle as she cocks it. Then she says in a patronizing tone: “Oh please, I was at the top of my class in firearms. They won’t know what hit them.”

“Very good,” I smile darkly.

“Fuuuuuuck!” I roar, punching the dashboard in front of me.

“You’re keeping me from focusing on the road, idiot! You’ll get us killed before we reach Belle!” Valentina screams, and her dark aura moves towards me, but as soon as her hand touches my skin it burns her and she pulls away.

“I’m done for, they’ll never forgive me!” I bang my head on the headrest of the car Valentina stole from the demon castle.

“I guess we’re in the same boat then, angel.” She focuses her eyes ahead towards the road, towards the blackest night I’ve ever felt since being pulled from my grave. The chill implies there isn’t so much as a drop of light in this night, not even from the moon or the stars. It’s as though tonight foretells the doom that will fall upon us once we set out on this suicide mission.

“I shot him,” I say, more to myself, not believing the chaos we’d left behind. The place I can never return to. Not after what I’ve done.

After we’ve armed ourselves and snuck out over the walls of the Vatican palace under cover of darkness. Just as we thought we were out, I heard Ellis behind me, and sensed the gun in his hand being cocked as he pressed it up against Valentina’s head.

It was instinct. I just fired. One clean shot straight to the heart.

I felt Ellis’ eyes shooting sparks at me in shock, then he plummeted to the ground and his lips wouldn’t stop murmuring a silent prayer as his pure aura slowly faded.

I wanted to run to him, to help him, the angel who had been my commander, my friend, my brother, but Valentina pulled me away. An alarm sounded throughout the palace, and luckily the demoness had extraordinary physical strength and managed to pull my heavy body away. The scent of seared flesh hit my nose but I pulled myself together and got into the car. Valentina got us out through the secret rear entrance, the one the guardian angels use.

Now I’m looking at Valentina. Her dark aura, that had been raging around her, is now calm, and I hear her sigh in relief. I empty my lungs as the adrenaline slowly leaves my body.

I reach a hand out to her and she flinches. I can’t blame her; she must be experiencing tremendous pain.

“TheLordshall preserve thee from all evil: he shall preserve thy soul 1 ,” I mumble the prayer for healing, skipping the part where I erase memories. It served me when I needed my students’ blood, but now I only wish to ease her pain.

Valentina lets out a gasp and I realize the burning sensation is slowly fading. Though I’m keeping my gaze straight ahead, I feel her gaze, so full of awe.

“Thanks,” she chokes out, as though she’s witnessed a miracle. “Your God has given you immeasurable powers.”

“Your Devil has blessed you with something else we holy ones are deprived of, yet we all secretly long for it.”

“What are you talking about?”

“The deadliest sin,” I growl, “Lust.”

“Ah… I can’t imagine a life of celibacy. God must prefer his saints to be tormented.” She giggles and I can’t help smiling. Yes, she’s probably right. “Is that why she sent me to get you of all people? Has she snagged you too?” The second part of her sentence is said in a loose whisper, and I think I hear a note of embarrassment in her voice. I shift uncomfortably in my seat, the leather creaking. “Don’t worry, she’s ensnared us all.” I look at her, her aura that’s once again raging around her, and I try to decipher her words.

“All?” I dare to ask.

I hear the leather creak again as she shifts in place. “Yes, angel , all of us.”

Oh fuck, I feel the blood flow and pool between my legs as filthy sexual fantasies assault my mind. I tighten my grip on the seat and breathe deep.

“We’ve got time to burn, angel. I can make it easier for you. I can smell your need for release.” Her voice grows thick and the temperature in the car climbs at least a few degrees.

I reach for the A/C button and turn it onto the lowest temperature. She giggles in response. It’s not Valentina’s offer that’s heating up my blood, but the knowledge that I’ll soon see Belle, the one who ignites sparks of fire inside me.

“Really? How exactly will you do that? You’ll catch fire if you so much as approach me,” I taunt her.

“Clever,” she bursts into laughter and leans back. I’m grateful that Valentina can’t touch me, but I’m suddenly nervous about the possibility that this fucking aura will keep me from touching the one I want more than anything.

“But Belle will be glad you survived.”

Belle thinks I returned to the Creator? I twitch with fear when I consider everything she’s been through all this time, thinking that. In a few hours I’ll have answers to all the questions running through my mind.