Okay, so like, it's been a LONG time since I revisited this story and if I have tears in my eyes, then that is my business...
~~~
Andras looked at Eloa. "Do you think you can tell me what is going on?"
Valafar turned to look at her for the first time since he dropped his bombshell.
Keeping her eyes on Valafar's, she gave a slight smile. "I could. But I won't. While I gave my promise under... extenuating circumstances, it still holds me. This is between you and your brother."
Her demon's mouth twitched at the corners.
"Does it have anything to do with the voice of another coming from you?" Andras asked.
Valafar's head whipped around. "What do you mean?"
"You don't hear it?" He frowned. "Of course you wouldn't hear it. He would have made sure of it."
Valafar couldn't believe he was hearing right. The voices. They weren't his? "I was cursed?" Valafar asked more to himself. He knew it could be done, but had never experienced it, nor ever seen it done. It was more fiction than fact. Until now...
"Cursed?" Eloa shook her head, thinking she had to be hearing wrong.
"Yeah, cursed." Andras turned green eyes toward her. "I don't expect you to be able to tell one voice from another, but if you knew something of our language, you could've picked up on what he was saying." He gave a slight smile. "Surely understanding us would help you guys kill us more efficiently."
"I've never harmed a demon, much less killed one." She shivered as a chill ran down her spine.
"Easy brother." Valafar said with a warning in his voice. "You don't know Eloa. She doesn't kill." He glanced at Eloa. "I don't think she can. I think bad things would happen if she did."
Was that true? As she thought back over her life, she realized he might be right. She had never harmed so much as a fly.
Valafar continued. "She is the one that lets me speak, so watch your step. And besides, you know Irin and Vangelis. Angels doing the opposite of killing demons."
"Two, out of how many?" Green eyes met Eloa's and she flushed at the look in them. "Make that three."
"Can we get back to Valafar being cursed?" she asked, not sure she liked Andras knowing anything about her relationship with the volatile demon. "Is there a way to get rid of it?"
"The caster has to reverse it." Valafar answered. "You say it's Urian?" At his brother's nod, Valafar frowned. "Why? We've never had a quarrel."
"It's hell." Andras shrugged. "You know as well as I, he didn't have to have a reason."
"How could he have done it?" Eloa asked.
"Several different ways," Valafar said. "It could be anything from carving the spell on a body to a simple etching on a blade..."
Studying her lover, Eloa couldn't miss the way his eyes widened.
His scars. A knife. Heavenly steel. The fight that was supposed to be for Andras. Whoever did this to Valafar meant for it to be his brother, if not dead, then definitely lost inside his own head.
"How do we get this Urian?" she asked, fury for the unfairness dealt to her demon mounting.
Valafar looked up, the silver of his eyes molten in his rage. A rage that matched hers. "You don't."
Andras spoke up. "Angels don't fare well in hell. And Valafar shouldn't go either. If, and we must assume it is a certainty, Urian knows about you, he will come after you."
"Andras, you can't go alone."
"I'm not stupid, brother. Urian can end me in a second. I'll convince Elathan to help me."
"Elathan?" Eloa asked. There was something about that name that made her shiver, though she was certain she had never heard it before.
"Lath Ane, to you angels," Andras said.
With a jerk, she stumbled, backing away from the brothers. "Killer of Angels." She looked around, expecting her people's very own boogie man to pop in at any moment. "You know him?"
"Easy, Eloa." Valafar took a step toward her. Did he dare touch her? After what he did to her? What he said to her? But the panicked look in her eyes took the decision from him. "He is not who you think he is. Not anymore."
He took slow steps toward her, not wanting to frighten her. When he reached her, he pulled her into his arms. "He loves an angel, birdy. And he defied hell to be with her." He stroked his hand down her back. "There is nothing to fear from him."
"How can an angel be with him?" Her breathing calmed under the stroke of his hand. "How could she forgive the blood spilled."
"Because she is Irin. Demon's Bane to us. She has killed far more of our kind than he has yours. She understands."
She was quite at this. Her feelings for Valafar made more sense now. Angels and demons could love. Would wonders never cease?
"Okay. I'm going to go and speak with Elathan. We've stuck our necks out for them twice now. He can help us," Andras said.
Keeping Eloa in his arms, when he knew he should have Andras take her to the island, he turned them. Meeting his brother's gaze over Eloa's head, he smiled at him. "If you can get Irin to let him go."
Tuning out his words, she lay her head on his shoulder. He wanted her gone, but he was in for a big surprise. Had he not said anything of his love, she would have left. Despite the feeling in her heart, she would have left him, given him the aloneness he wanted. But he did and she couldn't.
Cursed. He could be free. The thought was thrilling. While she had no fear of him now, well, not as much, it would be nice to not have to worry about the red in his eyes. The color of the blood lust that took him from her. It could be gone.
His arms tightened around her and she lifted her head. "Did you mean it, birdy?"
"Mean what? You are so vague." She grinned.
"When you said you loved me." His voice was so unsure.
"Did you mean it when you said it?"
"Demons don't lie." His smile was gentle.
"Neither do angels."
His lips touched hers, soft as a feather.
"I offered you freedom." His forehead touched hers. "I tried to push you away, for your own protection."
"I know."
"Well, I take it back. You will be in danger, possibly, until Urian is found and made to correct his mistake. But I can't let you go now."
"That's fine by me." Cupping the back of his neck, she closed the distance between their lips.
His arms pulled her tight against him, bodies touching, hearts mirrored.
"I love you, Eloa." he whispered against her lips.
"And I love you, Valafar."
Eyes closed, she was surprised to find cold porcelain under her feet. Opening them, she found herself bare in the shower with an equally bare Valafar.
"You still have blood in your hair."
"Oh." She smiled. "I suppose I need to let you take care of that."
"Well, since I am the reason it is there, I guess it's only fair."
She watched as a flicker of guilt passed through his eyes. That was a first. Taking his hand, she held it to her heart. "No, Valafar, it wasn't you. It is whoever is pulling your strings."
"We'll see, my lovely captive bird." He turned to start the water and she gasped.
He had forgotten. His back. Scars she had yet to see.
He shuddered as her fingers moved softly over his back. The gentleness of her fingers almost washed away the memory of the pain of receiving them.
~
The look in the other demon's eyes should have told him that something wasn't right. But he was caught up in being the cocky older brother. Protect Andras. That was what was going through his mind as he waited in the Square for the one who thought to take his brother from him.
His opponent popped in with a smile on his face.
He was larger than Valafar, but that meant nothing. The bigger they were and all that. He had taken down giants. This one would be no different.
And for a few minutes, it wasn't. Valafar was legendary for his savagery and he got in a few good blows, just warming to the fight.
Focalor never lost the grin on his face, however, even with blood that ran down his arm. And with first slice of Focalor's blade down his chest, Valafar knew this was different. The searing agony of that first stroke left him shaken. It shouldn't have, it was hardly more than a scratch, for a demon. Something was wrong. Very wrong. Distracted by the overwhelming, burning pain, he could barely defend himself, much less attack. A lunge from Focalor almost took his eye.
That was the worst one. That cut brought him to his knees and the other ripped into his back, slicing through skin, cutting into muscle.
He was going to lose this. He was going to fall into the void and leave his brother defenseless. That couldn't happen.
Focalor had kicked him in the stomach, flipping Valafar onto his back, and drove the blade into his stomach. Valafar screamed with the agony filling him. His strength failing, he turned his head and found Andras watching him with look of stunned horror upon his young face.
No. He wouldn't go down like that. Not in front of the one who looked up to him.
As his opponent pulled the blade down through his stomach, Valafar twisted to the side, feeling the blade skitter down over his hip before falling off the side of his leg. With everything left inside, he grabbed Focalor by the throat and shoved his hand into and up through the gut of the surprised demon. His searching hand found the beating heart of the demon killing him and after closing his fingers around it, pulled it from his body.
Falling back, he again met brother's eyes and found the pride he always wanted to see. As the darkness closed in, the sound of the other demon's screams filled his ears. Or were the screams his own? Because he was dying. He had never been more certain of anything. He may have won the fight, but by the burning of his flesh, he was right behind Focalor.
~
"Come back, my love."
Eloa's voice brought him back from his moment of dying. Kind fingers touched him in places that before only held pain. Those scars would never go away. He knew this, logically, but if asked, he would swear she healed them. Taking a moment to compose himself, he got the water running.
"I almost died that day." he said, turning and meeting the sorrow of her eyes. "Only Andras, watching me, kept me alive long enough to rip Focalor's heart from his chest. I passed out from shock and blood loss. When I came to, well, I was different."
"I would give anything to take this from you."
"At least we know why you can't." He touched her fingers, the ones that stroked his scarred back, to his lips.
"That's something." She pulled her hand free and reached up, running fingers through his black hair.
Tilting his head back, he swallowed at the wave of emotion that threatened to drown him. After everything he had done to the angel that touched him, loved him, bled for him, how could she stand to be on the same earth with him? Much less here, standing in front of him, love in her violet eyes, and caring in her touch.
The fingers in his hair pressed against his head and he followed her unspoken command.
Her lips touched his, no hesitating, sure in the knowledge that she wanted him, his lips, his tongue. She chose him.
She kissed him, demanding that he gave her what she felt to be hers. She was the one who led this, who steered him, who drove him crazy with love.
But he was never a follower.
Sliding his hands under her arms, he lifted her and spun, setting her under the running water. So caught up in the magic of loving and being loved, even his beast didn't notice the water, running pink, washing down the drain.
Wrapping his arms around her waist, he pulled her close, taking control of the kiss.
Tightening her fingers in Valafar's hair, she breathed into him all her love, all her desire, all her longing for him. For the devastated soul. For the even now honorable demon. The one that fought for his brother. The one who tried so hard to be gentle with her.
The one that loved her.
His hand trailed down her back, fingers stroking her flesh the way she touched him, with the lightest of caresses, and he chuckled at the shiver that ran through her. His other hand tangled in the ends of her hair, capturing them, and pulled softly, tilting her head back. Gentle. Who knew.
Eloa sighed as his mouth left a burning trail down her wet skin, the water only heightening the sensation of his lips on her. She cupped his face as he continued lower, down her throat, across her collarbone.
His hand cupped the swell of her bottom, and she gasped, letting her head fall back. Pulling her against his growing erection, a liquid warmth pooled in her womb, low and throbbing, burning her from the inside.
With a sudden movement, he turned them, pressing her back against the cold tile of the shower. She arched away from cold and opened her eyes to find Valafar on his knees, looking up at her with hunger in his eyes.
Hooking her leg over his shoulder he nipped the inside of her thigh and she laughed at the shudder that ran though her.
"Something funny, angel?" He nipped her other leg.
"Not at all, demon. Just thinking how right you are, once again."
He rose higher and nipped her again. "About what?"
"How I can never get tired of this."
"Told you so." He grinned before licking her with a long slow stroke that left her gasping for air.
A purely masculine growl washed over her and she gripped his hair in clenched fists. He slowly devoured her, the languid strokes of his tongue that only flamed the desire rushing through her veins. As he flicked that talented tongue over the nerves that controlled her, she jerked, twitching with every whisper of a touch. Then he slid two fingers deep inside her, before curving them, slowly stroking the secret spot with the same laziness as his tongue.
This slow conflagration was going to be the death of her.
His free hand pressed her hip against the wall, keeping her from moving against him, finding a faster release. "No angel, I want this to last."
He blew against her core before driving her crazy again.
The flames built slowly, steadily until she was trembling, so close to the edge of the world and still he kept the same insanely slow pace.
"Valafar," she cried out, legs shaking, back bowed, bending over him. "Please."
He looked up, meeting her eyes, hooded with need for him. "Please what?"
He sucked in that tiny bit of flesh and her eyes closed as she shuddered.
"Please, I need..."
"Don't be vague, my love."
"I need you."
He gave her another slow lick for her efforts. "That may be so, but what you need is to come. I can feel it in you. All you have to do is ask."
Her already flushed skin turned darker. "I can't say it," she groaned, pulling harder on his hair.
"Sure you can. And if not, well, I can do this till the water runs cold," he said, increasing the pressure from his fingers, but still moving them terribly slow.
"I want..." She cried out as he pulled her back into his mouth, gently sliding his teeth over her.
"You want? What do you want?"
"Please, Valafar, please, make me come."
She opened her eyes and watched as his darkened.
"There is a good angel."
All at once, he sped up, fingers and mouth. As close to the edge as she was, she flew almost immediately, heading for the exploding stars.
The orgasm roared through her, pulling animalistic noises from a heavenly throat. There was nothing better, Valafar thought, watching her shatter under his touch. But he needed her.
Easing her leg from over his shoulder, he let it down gently before rising to his feet. Gripping his angel under her arms, he lifted her. "Wrap your legs around me, love."
Still coming down from her climax, she managed to do what he asked. As he settled her, leaving her back against the wall, she could feel his erection, nudging at her entrance.
With a groan, he slid into her warmth. Her fingers tightened on his shoulder as she moaned. "Shit, birdy, you feel so good," he said, hands gripping her bottom. Tilting her hips, he drove deeper into the angel that loved him.
With a cry of pleasure, her nails bit into his skin. His name broke from her as he moved faster. His fingers dug into the softness of her skin and with his growl, she broke. Her back arched and she fell apart in his arms. With her release, he found his own. The force of it weakened his knees. As he was about to fall over, he flashed them to his bed, where they landed on the softness of his mattress.
~
Eloa laughed as they fell onto his bed.
"That was quite the ending," she said through burning lungs.
"Not my finest moment, but hey, it's your fault." He grinned as he pulled her into his arms.
Laying her head on his shoulder, she stroked the scar over his heart. "I don't remember asking you to pick me up."
"That feels... nice," Valafar said, simply enjoying the feel of her fingers on his chest.
"You sound so unsure." She tilted her head back, looking up into his face as he met her eyes.
"It could be because I am, angel. I don't do nice. At least I never did until you. I did blood and death and sex. Intense things." He gave her a grin. "Psycho demon, remember?"
"Sometimes." She looked away. "You make it easy to forget."
He laughed. "I really don't see how. I mean, just look at me. Surely what you are touching, what you see on my face reminds you."
"I told you before, I don't see them because of violence. I see them as signs of valor. Protection." Reaching up, she traced the scar that ran from the corner of his mouth. "Love."
"See, naive."
"Says you." Laying her hand on his chest, she asked "So, what do we do now?"
"We wait for Andras. If he can convince Elathan to help us, he can bring Urian here. I can sweet talk him into reversing the curse."
"What happens if he won't?"
His laugh was not a pleasant one. "Then I know of things that will have him screaming for eternity."
"You sound as if you would enjoy it."
"I would. Greatly." He would not apologize for what he was. For what he was made into. "He did this to me, Eloa. You have no idea the things I have done, because of him. The lives I have ended, the people I have hurt. For the things that I probably will still do in the future."
"If you worry about it, then maybe you won't do those future things."
"Who said anything about worrying?"
He was slipping. Not into the killer, but the other Valafar. The one with the companions.
"Ah, birdy, No, I couldn't be further from worrying. But I will say this, while I can. I give you my oath that I will not hurt you." He sighed. "They are back. I knew the quiet couldn't last." He growled and the hairs on her arms raised. "It's okay." His arm around her tightened. "I made sure. You are safe from me."
Laying in the quiet, she was startled by his sudden flash from the bed. With agitated movements, he paced the floor.
"Valafar, what is it?" she asked, easing up in the bed.
Turning to face her, he cocked his head to the side and studied her. "This is the first time I can hear him. Maybe because he knows I know. He is screaming at me." He closed his eye with a groan. "What he wants me to do to you. What he is showing me. And I can't."
She wasn't afraid. He made sure she was safe. But he looked in such agony.
As he dropped to his knees, hands gripping his hair, she moved to his side. She couldn't feel pain coming from him and when he looked up at her, she knew why. He was smiling.
"Valafar?" She reached out to him.
"Can't hurt you. Made sure."
The twist of his lips looked sick on the face she had come to love.
She touched his hair and a shudder ran through him. "Come back to me, my love."
He shook his head violently. "Won't work. Not now. Losing." With a yell, he flung himself away from her. He couldn't bite her. Couldn't pull her skin from her body. Couldn't listen to her screams. Couldn't. He did one thing right.
Blood. Blood would help. Blood would make Urian happy.
No, can't make Urian happy. Why? He did this to him.
You bastard. You think you can stop me? You are not in control, boy. You gave your pathetic oath. I didn't.
A sound came from Valafar, one that covered Eloa's skin in goose flesh. Though she had never heard it, she would have imagined it being one whose soul was ripped away.
She moved closer to him, where he knelt, head down, tremors running through him. When he turned his red eyes to her, she swallowed the gasp. He spoke one word.
"Run."
~
Without thought, she did as she was told.
Of course, it was not Valafar coming after her. It was the other one. The one that cursed her demon. Urian. He was controlling Valafar. He wanted her blood, her death.
But Valafar was fighting him. That's what the sound was. The tremors that racked him. He was trying to give her time to get away.
As she made it to the living room, she pushed her wings from her back in a burst of feathers. The sliding door was open, from when she tried to leave earlier. Only a couple of hours ago, it seemed so far away now.
Almost there.
She could almost feel the wind on her face when impossibly strong hands grabbed her wings where they met her back. The fingers tightened around the spines and snapped them. Her scream was cut off as she was flung into the wall over the couch.
She had never stood a chance. Not when the demon could just pop up where ever he wanted.
Tumbling onto the couch, he was there, looming over her, sick smile still there. His eyes were redder than she had ever seen them, glowing. Her cheek throbbed in rhythm to the pain in her wings. Probably broken, but she would heal it all later. If there was a later.
With a sound bordering on pleasure, he raked his clawed fingers down her chest and a new, sharper agony filled her. The warmth of her blood rolled down her sides and soaked into the couch cushions.
Eloa tried to push the pain away. She had to get out of here. Broken wings. She couldn't fly.
Whispering frantically, she attempted to heal them, only to get the back of his hand against her mouth. Lips splitting with the force of the blow, her mouth filled with the taste of blood.
Grinning, Valafar shook his head. Then he spoke.
"That is a horrible idea, angel. Or a fantastic one, depending on what side you are on." The voice was not Valafar's. It was harsh, grating. Urian. "If you are good, I might leave you alive for this sack of angst. Let him see what he did to his lover. That anguish will be... exquisite."
Leaning down, he crushed her bleeding lips and pushed his tongue into her mouth.
She wouldn't go without a fight. With everything she had in her, she bit the tongue that brought her so much pleasure. He yanked back, but she went with him, never letting go. Not until his clawed hand drove into her stomach. Screams broke from her as overwhelming agony washed through her. Unending screams as he moved his claws through her, shredding her from the inside.
There was a sound, muffled and distant, and he fell away. This she took in as the darkness closed around her. Her last sight was white wings, tipped with green. Amber filled her vision then all was black.