The Unforgiven (22 page)

The presence of the relic was sure to complicate Maddie’s transition, too. It was vital that Cade establish absolute control of both Maddie and her magic. No matter how repulsive slave-making was to Cade, he recognized that his dominance of Maddie was required to give Clan Samyaza control of her
magic. Cade didn’t want to contemplate a scenario where Maddie came into her power freely. She might very well choose to stand with her kin. With Vaclav Dusek and his sons. Cade couldn’t imagine a worse disaster. Free and aligned with Dusek, Maddie would be the final nail in Clan Samyaza’s coffin.

Atop the hill, illumed by the night sky, he turned to face her. The colors on her skin were kaleidoscopic. Her eyes had begun to change as well, taking on a soft reddish tint. He was very glad she hadn’t seen that in the cracked hotel mirror.

Though, really, what would it have mattered? It was time. Time for her to know what she was. Truly.

Apprehension festered in his gut like rotted meat. How would she react? She picked up on his unease; her mind released tendrils of curling fear. The acrid odor pinched Cade’s nostrils. He could delay no longer.

“Maddie.”

Though her eyes reflected fear, she met his gaze calmly. Something in the vicinity of his heart lurched.

“I’ll take care of you, Maddie.” His voice was low and fervent. “I give you my promise. I’ll see you through this. I’m here to protect you, not to hurt you. Never that. Whatever happens, whatever you see, think, feel, no matter how frightened you are, just trust me. Will you?”

She stared at him a long while. He held his breath.

At last she nodded. “Yes.”

She could not disguise her terror. His attempt at reassurance had only frightened her further. Why had he even attempted consolation? He knew it was impossible.

It was time. Capturing Maddie’s glowing red eyes with his, he made sure she watched as he willed his human facade to fade away.

His own eyes heated and became demonic red like hers. Maddie’s breath hissed out. Horror distorted her features, and her jaw worked reflexively. Her hand crept to her throat as
darkness poured from Cade’s being to sparkle on the surface of his skin, opalescent light, shifting charcoal with hints of pearl and indigo.

Maddie swallowed, wet her dry lips with her tongue. She looked down at her hands, her forearms. Then back at Cade. “Your skin . . . it’s like mine.”

“That’s because we’re the same, Maddie.”

“My eyes. Are they—?”

“Yes. They’re red like mine.”

Choking revulsion rushed from her mind to his. Her scent turned turbulent, a churning river of mud and fear and denial.

“No,” she whispered, staring at her hands. “No. Not this. This can’t be happen—”

“There’s more,” he told her.

I’m sorry,
he wanted to add.
I’m sorry I’m the one who must show you.

The sound of ripping fabric told him he’d forgotten to strip off his shirt. Shredded cotton fell away as the muscles in his back contracted. The odor of hot sulfur tinged the air. Pain knifed through him. He gritted his teeth and braced for what came next. His demon essence, rising to the surface. Skin darkening, glowing. Dark wings, unfurling. A rush of blistering wind.

Maddie began to scream.

“
Fire, Lilith, is creation’s purifier. As is pain. Feel the fire, Daughter. Feel the pain. Pass through it to power. Open your heart and you will be rewarded. The pain will vanish into your magic.
”

Lilith closed her eyes and did her best to obey. It was hard. So very hard. When she’d first touched the fire, aided by her father’s power, the sensation had been exhilarating. Now it was nothing but agony. That sensation, he had told her, was a sign of her lack of faith.

Aware of her father’s harsh gaze upon her, she bit her lip to keep from crying out. She tasted blood on her tongue. Tears gathered in her eyes. Azazel’s voice turned harsh.

“
Life begins in pain and ends in pain. How will you master the secrets of life, Lilith, if you cannot master pain?
”

The fire seared her skin. Tears leaked through her eyes; her breath came in spurts. But she did not flinch. No sound passed her lips. She was determined to prove her worth. She would show her father how much she loved him. She would learn what he wanted so much to teach her.

The agony multiplied. Tenfold. A hundredfold. Into infinity. Panic scraped sharp claws inside her chest. Her flesh would be charred; it would peel from her bones and crumble into ash. She would be crippled. Useless. Pitied. Lost in shame forever. A scream tore from her throat at last.

Her father’s frown silenced her. She was better than this. True, she was a daughter of the earth, but she was also a daughter of Heaven. Heaven’s magic lived inside her, was a part of her very being! That stunning knowledge vibrated in her bones, in her flesh, in her
consciousness, and it demolished at last the barrier of her mind. The pain vanished.

Her eyes flew open. She looked down at her hands. Blue flame leaped from her palm, snapped the length of her fingers. Yet there was no heat. No pain. Her skin remained unmarred.

She met her father’s gaze. She saw his pride, his immense satisfaction.

“
You have gone beyond, Lilith. To a place few have the courage to enter.
”

He smiled and lifted the fire from her hands. Joy welled in her breast. She’d pleased him! For her, there could be no greater pleasure.

Azazel placed the fire in the forge and leaned forward to press his lips to her forehead. “Well done, Daughter.
”

The glittering monster, standing where Cade had been moments before, rose. Its charcoal wings swept forward. In another second it would catch Maddie, utterly and completely, in its embrace.

The screams piercing her ears were her own. She stumbled backward and fell, arms flailing. The impact with the sharp stony ground drove daggers of pain into her hands and buttocks, and she scrambled to her knees. She had to run. Had to escape. Somehow, her limbs wouldn’t move.

“Maddie.”

Cade’s voice came from the monster’s mouth. He sounded so normal. So human. And yet red eyes shone from a face of sparkling darkness. His torso and arms were shining, too. His fingernails had curved into claws. And his wings . . . She shuddered. They were dark and charcoal-feathered. The gleaming edges looked razor-sharp.

Dear God. Everything he’d told her was true. He was an archdemon. A Nephilim. And so was she. She screamed and screamed and screamed.

She couldn’t move. Couldn’t run. His presence was in her mind, overriding the commands her brain sent to her limbs. With dawning horror, she realized the bond enabled him to control her.

He stalked toward her slowly. Inexorably. All she could do was stare at the ground in front of her feet and tremble.

His wings settled around her, sheltering, imprisoning, but not touching. “Maddie,” he said. “Look at me.”

“No,” she croaked. “No. I can’t.” Shudders racked her body. “Oh, God. I can’t.”

“I told you what I was. What you are.”

“I . . . I didn’t believe you. Not really. Or, maybe I did but I didn’t really
know
—” Another tremor rippled through her. “Oh, God. Am I . . . am I going to look like you? Like this?”

“Yes,” he said. “I’m sorry.”

Maddie had thought she knew what fear was. She’d thought she was as scared as a person could be when her doctors told her, without a shred of doubt among them, that she was dying. She’d thought she’d known what despair was. She’d been wrong. What she’d felt then was only a shadow of the terror that consumed her now. She was a
monster
. A cursed atrocity. She squeezed her eyes shut. “Maybe . . . maybe I should just give up. Just die.”

“You don’t believe that.” Cade’s voice was too close to her ear. It almost sounded like it was inside her head. His breath rasped. “You’re a fighter, Maddie. Brave.”

“Brave enough to kill myself.”

She’d been living under the specter of death for more than a year. Living with dread. Denying and preparing for the end. Fighting to make every second count. But for what? Death
would come in the end. She was as ready as she would ever be. And accustomed to the idea by now. Surely it wouldn’t be so difficult to take the plunge.

“But you won’t,” he said. “You’ll do as I say. You’ve only just begun the third wave. There’s much more to come. You won’t run from it, Maddie. You
will
face it. With me.”

Her panic was all consuming. “No. Go away. Please. Leave me alone. Maybe . . . Maybe I’d rather die than become what you are.” But her voice lacked conviction. She wanted to live. At any price.

And Cade surely knew it. His arm snaked around her waist. “You’d rather fight. And you will.”

She opened her eyes to find her face just inches from his chest. The shifting colors on his skin—dark shadows of crimson, indigo, jade, and amber—filled her with violent terror. Something inside her snapped. Fight? Yes, she’d fight! But, not the way he envisioned. Instead she assaulted him, clawing, punching, slapping. She tried to wrench her body out of his grasp.

He lifted her easily, imprisoning her against his torso as she kicked and scratched. She sank her teeth into his arm and was rewarded with his grunting curse. His stiff arousal prodded her stomach. His palm found her ass and squeezed. A wave of hot lust careened through her body. The will to resist drained from her mind and her limbs. As quickly as the battle lust came over her, it evaporated. She sagged against his unyielding hardness. She was sick of this roller coaster of emotion. She wanted nothing more than to steady herself in the safety of his strength. Even if his strength was that of a monster.

“Make no mistake, Maddie. You are mine.”

The whispered words sounded inside her head as well as in her ear. She experienced a shudder of understanding. It was true. She was his. Utterly, completely.

He held her body. He spoke in her mind. He’d all but claimed control of her life essence. She suspected that last would come, very soon. There would be no escape. No death. No end to the nightmare. She was Nephilim. And if she wanted to survive her transition, she was going to have to do it with Cade as her anchor.

His arm shifted. His muscles banded like iron around her torso. “I’m sorry,” he said again.

Dark-feathered limbs filled her vision. The desert dropped away with dizzying speed, and the steady beat of his wings matched the rush of her heart. They were airborne, gliding toward the black expanse of sea. Emotions churned, and Maddie struggled to put a name to them. Fear? Despair? Terror? Anticipation? Wonder? Awe?

All of these.

The sparkling lights on the shores of the Mediterranean merged with the night sky. Cade set a course over open water. As she felt his whisper in her mind, Maddie closed her eyes and let him take her.

A jagged line appeared on the horizon: rocky cliffs, rising from the sea, far away but sharp to Cade’s enhanced vision.

The Mediterranean crossing had been uneventful. The weather had been calm, and Maddie remained quiet in his arms. The unfolding of his wings and the long flight had exacerbated the wound he’d taken during the massacre. His shoulder hadn’t fully healed, he realized. The pain was worsening, throbbing with each sweep of his wing. But it didn’t slow his progress. He made sure of that. He scanned the dark sea below. He’d passed a spattering of Greek islands and the larger bulk of Sicily advanced. He was close enough to
see breakers pounding against the shore. Another few hours would see him across Europe and into England. With luck, they would make London in time.

The sudden slash of a flaming golden sword less than a meter from his face nearly caused him to drop Maddie. Raphael, all bright wings and righteousness, hovered before him. Bloody, bloody hell. Cade tucked his wings and dove, narrowly missing a second slash of the archangel’s sword.

“Cade Leucetius,” Raphael roared. “My brother brought you my command. You did not obey.”

“No shit,” Cade shouted up at him. Maddie stirred, groaning. Cursing under his breath, he tightened his grip around her waist. “I don’t take orders from self-important prigs.”

Except Artur, he amended.

The angel flared. “Take care, Nephilim. Defy me at your own peril. Oblivion awaits.”

“And I suppose you think you’ll be the one to send me there.”

Cade maneuvered into a more defensible position, soaring up on Raphael’s left side, angling to position his body between the angel and Maddie. Her muscles stiffened and her eyelids fluttered.

Raphael circled, yellow flames trailing his celestial blade. “It would be my greatest pleasure to fling you and your whore into the void.”

Cade laughed. “In your dreams, Rafe.”

Maddie clutched at him. “Cade? What’s . . . what’s going on? Who—?”

He couldn’t risk taking his eyes from Raphael. “No one important,
caraid
. We’ll be on our way in a moment.”

Or so he hoped. But he wasn’t a fool; an angry archangel was a formidable foe. Unburdened, he might make a good showing. With Maddie in his arms? How was he going to fight?

The angel’s flaming sword slashed forward. Maddie
screamed. Cade lurched back, but not before a line of fire burst along his wing. Blast it all to Oblivion! Rafe had sliced the shoulder that had been injured in the massacre, reopening the badly healed wound. Cade gritted his teeth against the searing pain. He’d be damned twice over before he’d give Raphael the satisfaction of hearing him groan.

The archangel’s expression turned smug; his teeth flashed. “You want to keep your precious damned life? And your whore? Maybe I’ll let you. Once Azazel’s amulet is destroyed.”

“Fuck off,” Cade growled.

He dove. The black waters of the Mediterranean hurtled toward him. Maddie whimpered, her arm hooked in a death grip around his neck. Raphael hurtled in their wake, golden hair streaming, his wings a bright smear against the starry sky.

Cade reversed position and soared upward. The maneuver did nothing; the archangel streaked after him. The heat of his fiery sword licked the soles of Cade’s boots.