How to Seduce an Angel in 10 Days (20 page)

CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE

A Date with Fate

D
rusilla Tallow had a newfound confidence when she entered the Hall of Gods to address the Powers That Be. Tristan walked her to the archway of the ancient door, but she wasn’t afraid. She’d found her big girl panties, so to speak, and she’d pulled them up. The burning crown on her head didn’t hurt, either. Someone thought she’d done something right.

There was nothing any of these gods or goddesses could do or say to her that would change anything. She was strong in her convictions and Tally was prepared to take whatever punishment she had to endure for allowing the lamia into this plane of existence.

She came. She saw. She kicked the ever-loving hell out of the biggest, baddest, and nastiest evil they couldn’t. All in all, she was proud of herself. No matter what happened, they couldn’t take that from her.

If Tally had one regret, it was that she wouldn’t be able to be with Falcon, but she’d saved him along with everyone else. That was a heady sort of accomplishment to put on her résumé. Even if she’d failed by the Big Boss and Bigger Boss’s standards, she’d found her own redemption and she’d forgiven herself. Who were they to judge her?

They were human or had been once and were fallible. Only The Great Wheel could judge her guilty or innocent and mete out her punishment. Not these small, yet eternal creatures.

But that didn’t mean she thought she was any better than they were. She was simply Tally.

She didn’t wait for them to call her, to invite her to address them. Tally had done this thing, this service, and she wouldn’t wait on their pleasure. She walked into the large meeting hall, the Hall of Gods, with her head held high and her spine straight as a broom handle.

Tally saw many unfamiliar faces, strange and alien faces, but those were the most comforting to her, proof that there were others like herself in the world. The red-tinged woman with all the arms appealed to her the most. Her jet-black hair hung straight and perfect, but when she smiled at Tally, her sharp fangs were revealed and her many arms moved in a graceful dance. Tally had read about the legends and myths of many cultures and it occurred to her the woman must be Kali and the man next to her Lord Krishna.

Then she saw the goddess with the hair that was like the night sky and she felt the first stirrings of awe. She saw Odin and Freya, and the Valkyries the guys were always on about, but she kept her eyes away from Falcon. She wasn’t ready to look at him, to meet his eyes, but she would be.

“So this is your great werewolf slayer? The girl doesn’t look any bigger than a minute,” Odin said.

“I daresay we need proof,” a male version of the pretty-haired goddess put in.

Tally recognized a few others in the room. She spotted the Greek and Roman gods, but they weren’t allowed to talk while the adults were talking. At least, that’s what it looked like with them all crammed together at the kiddie table. Tally wondered if they got to use big forks or if they had to have finger foods.

Upon further consideration, she recognized the Morrigan, too. Her hair was blue-black and she wore a dress that was spun of dark cobwebs and peat moss. The raven combing her hair with its beak was a nice touch and the woman gave her a kind smile.

The most brutal of the goddesses were the ones who had the softest smiles. Perhaps in Tally they saw one of their own?

“What proof do you have to offer the Powers, young woman?” Kali asked kindly.

“We’re all still here.” Tally realized it sounded smug, but she didn’t know what else to say.

“I see. Tell us how you defeated him,” Odin prodded. “I find it hard to believe a mere slip of a girl bested the wolf that was supposed to be
my
undoing.”

“So, what, you think the beast let me go out of the goodness of his black little heart? Hmm?” Tally tossed back.

“Perhaps you’re the precursor to whatever he has planned. Yes, the thought crossed my mind,” he said.

“You’ve been the most vocal, Odin. Perhaps it’s time to let someone else speak. Enki, you’ve been quiet,” directed the guy at the head of the table

“It’s something that comes with age, son. I have nothing to say on the matter just yet,” Enki replied. “That and living with Inanna since the first granule slipped through the hourglass. When she wants my opinion, she gives it to me.” He winked at Tally.

The lamia stirred and stretched. It liked this god; it could sense his power. A wink meant to soothe and comfort was like a match to kindling. Tally felt heat curl around her spine until she heard Falcon’s voice in the background. It was like tossing that ember out into the snow, where it was kindled again by everything she felt for him.

“Well, will you look at that,” Enki replied. “It likes me.” The swarthy god smirked.

“Everything with a vagina likes you,” Inanna sighed. “The lamia can taste your power and she probably wants to eat it.” Inanna turned her head to address Tally. “It’s okay, honey. If he’s stupid enough to fall for it, you have my permission to eat him.”

The lamia purred with the anticipation of pleasure, but was again slapped on the nose like a naughty puppy by Tally’s conscience.

“See? She doesn’t love me,” Enki said as if he didn’t care one way or another, but the look he and Inanna shared said it all. They were madly in love.

Tally thought it was lovely to see a couple who’d been together so many years and were still in love. It warmed her heart and the lamia purred again. It liked it when Tally was warm.

“Drusilla, if you don’t mind, the Powers would like you to recount how you defeated the beast and what your assurances are to this council that the creature inside of you can be controlled,” someone asked.

“I do mind, actually. It was horrible and after this moment, I never want to think of it again. Suffice it to say, he put a magickal cuff on my wrist that controlled the lamia and then the idiot took it off. I absorbed his life force.” Tally was proud her voice only shook a little as she finished what she had to say.

“I know this is hard, but it’s important we understand what happened. Please tell us how the lamia came to be in your body,” someone else asked.

“Which time?” Tally asked and lifted her chin a notch.

“Both,” he supplied.

“The first time it was forced on me by nefarious parties who wanted to raise a lamia to destroy the warlockian world. This time, I invited her in to fight the beast. I knew it was the only thing that could defeat him.”

“What guarantees will you give the Pantheon?” Odin said. “Will you wear the cuff the beast used to bind you?”

“She will not,” Falcon said for her. “This has gone on long enough. You will not bind Tally, or cage her in any way. After all she’s done? Why would you ask her to put that back on when it represents something so horrible, something she doesn’t want to remember?”

“It’s okay.” Tally smiled at her white knight. He wanted to rescue her, but she could do this herself. “No, I won’t wear the cuff.”

“Then will you take steps to banish the lamia again?” It was Freya who asked this time. “I like my way of life and I don’t want to worry you’re going to change it.”

“Change happens to us all, goddess. Even you are not immune. No, I will not banish it. I gave my word. It lives in submission to my will, my conscience, and it may stay inside of me, here on this plane,” Tally confessed and the howling inside her head quieted.

“Soon, neither of you will be aware of the line between you,” Hades warned.

“I don’t care. I paid my price for what I had to do. I’m not going to go back on my word. She’s lived up to her end and it was a deal sealed in blood,” Tally said quietly.

“Then we have no choice,” Freya said. “I’ve heard enough. I’m ready to vote.”

“What is there to vote on?” asked the handsome man who appeared to be running things at the head of the table.

“She has to go to the Abyss with the lamia, if she won’t banish it,” Freya proclaimed.

“No. There will be no vote. You all know what I did. You’re all still here because of me. I’m explaining my actions to you as a courtesy. You have no power over me,” Tally said calmly.

And it was her undoing.

She’d been winning them over slowly with her casual manner and honest explanations. It was that last sentence that did her in, because it was what they feared. They feared the loss of power, the loss of control, the loss of their place in the world. If humans were shrugging off their yoke, their power would fade into nothing.

“I don’t need your forgiveness or your permission. I’ve forgiven myself.”

Her open defiance and bone-deep belief that they didn’t have any power over her shattered something that seemed to bind them together. They all spun their magick, shooting power at her to force her compliance, but nothing touched her.

Except for the men who sat at each end of the table. Both of them had nothing but kind smiles for her. The one with the goatee even had a wink.

She couldn’t help smiling back. She turned to leave, but the way was blocked by a long shadow that bloomed into a wall of flame. The flame re-formed into a body—Ethelred. The whole plane shook with his fury.

Tally was again reminded that Luminista was the other half of Emilian’s soul. When Emilian had died, he must have taken Luminista with him.

Great chunks of the hall crumbled into dust and columns cracked as it became clear the Powers That Be had been dismissed by Fate herself. Tally had never had a kind word to say about her, but she thought perhaps that had changed.

It was pandemonium, gods and goddesses and their entourages all scrambling to flee the disintegrating hall with their powers intact. She couldn’t bring herself to fight Ethelred or the destruction he brought because she imagined she knew his pain well. Falcon wasn’t dead, but he was still just as lost to her.

Falcon fought his way through the debris and dust until finally he flew across a terrible crack in the floor that pushed the rock up at a vertical angle. Tally was unafraid. She knew she’d be safe—she was a Crown Princess of Hell now. But she’d let Falcon save her one last time.

He took her in his arms and carried her from the wreckage of the hall. The scent of him was so pure; it was home, not just for her, but the being inside her, too. She wanted to touch her lips to his, but she knew down that path lay only more pain. She loved the feel of his arms around her, the way she fit against his chest.

Tally memorized every second of what it was like to be held by him, to be close enough to touch him since it could never happen again. It was all so bittersweet.

It seemed so long ago that he’d come through the door with a case of beer and a pizza. It was only Falcon, only her best friend’s older brother and her parole officer. What was between them had become something else so very fast, neither of them had had time to breathe. Well, she was breathing now and she was thankful for every breath she took.

She hadn’t even realized they were flying. They were in Captiva again, her toes were scrunched into the warm sand, and Falcon was holding her in his arms. If only this were the end of her story. If only this was where she could say they did live happily ever after.

“Tally, thank Heaven and Fate you’re safe.” He clutched her to him.

She wondered if he’d still be thankful she was safe when she told him what she’d done. When she confessed the price she’d paid for her victory.

He touched the side of her face and kissed her reverently. Tally melted under his kiss, opened her mouth for him, and sighed, breaking the kiss, turning away from him before she could hurt him. Falcon touched his forehead to hers. “I’m so sorry I failed you.”

“What do you mean?” Tally asked, not wanting to talk. She knew when they started talking, it would end with one of them walking away. If Falcon was too noble to end it, even after what she’d done, she would have to be strong enough to do it.

“What happened with Emilian. If I’d been stronger, he never would have been able to take you.”

“Oh, Falcon.” Tally sighed. “No, you didn’t fail me. I chose this. Merlin told me if I took the curse, I could save you.”

“You shouldn’t have had to,” Falcon replied.

“No one should have to, but I owed a debt and I paid it,” Tally said.

“Did he hurt you?” Falcon asked, almost so softly she couldn’t hear.

“No,” she said.

He kissed her again. “I love you, Drusilla.”

The lamia sang inside her. It urged her to touch him, to taste him, to be with him in all ways. It could feel his power through his kiss; his touch and his warmth were like a drug to it.

She pulled away from him. “I’m sorry, Falcon.”

“For what?”

“I can’t do this.” For all of her bravado and newfound strength, she couldn’t look at him. She didn’t want to see the pain in his eyes.

“What do you mean?” he asked.

“I have to tell you things, things I’d rather forget. But if I don’t tell you, it’s the same as a lie.”

“Then tell me.” Falcon sat down in the sand and pulled Tally down next to him.

“You might not want to touch me after I tell you.” Tally tried to pull her hand away from his.

“Don’t be stupid.”

“Look, this isn’t easy for me.”

“I never said it was. If you don’t want me to touch you, fine. But there’s nothing you could tell me that would make me push you away.”

“Never say never,” Tally said, looking down at her feet.