Page 110 of Demons & Damnation

“Only a couple of days. With everything that happened yesterday, I obviously didn’t get chance to tell you. Plus, it’s all so new with me and him, I just wanted time to process it all before I tried to make you understand the connection we have.”

Kyla sat up straight and leaned forwards. “Like he’s a magnet and you’re a helpless paperclip?”

Sam tipped her head back and laughed. A couple of seconds passed before she met Kyla’s eyes and nodded. “Exactly like that.”

Kyla let out a sigh and looked across at Azazel. “So what you’re telling me is that if I reject you, you die?”

Azazel nodded.

“Wow, no pressure or anything then,” she said, letting out a long breath.

“Ultimately,” Azazel said, biting down on a strawberry cupcake. “You hold the power as to whether you think I have a right to live any longer. If there’s something in my past you can’t deal with, that could swing your choice the wrong way. Or the right way, whatever your perspective on that is.”

Kyla shook her head. “I can’t do that. I can’t have that power of someone’s life.”

“But you do,” Dylan said. “And you need to do what feels right for you. If you don’t feel comfortable having that power, then there’s only one choice, isn’t there?”

Kyla couldn’t ignore the sadness swirling around in his chocolate eyes. She could only guess at the pain he must have been hiding in order to say those words. “But, if I see all of his wrongdoings, and think he doesn’t deserve to live any longer, that he needs stopping from being a menace to society, then there’s only one option, isn’t there?”

Lily placed a hand on Kyla’s forearm with a gentle touch. “Your grandad had some very dark secrets that I discovered when I took that rose, dear. If his soul is redeemable, so will his be,” she said, motioning her head towards Azazel.

Kyla wet her lips with her tongue. Covering her gran’s hand with her own, she then said, “It’s not just that, Gran. It’s that if I accept, what that then means from there.” She glanced at Dylan and then back at her gran. “It makes everything much more complicated.”

“Can I just say,” Azazel said, holding his hand up as he grabbed a biscuit with the other. “That neither option is good for us. We either die or become human and lose all our powers.”

Sam sucked in a sharp breath. “What?” She looked at Balthazar, her eyes filling with tears. “Is that true?”

Balthazar nodded. “Yes, it is.”

“Why? Why would you want to give up eternal life and all your power just to live a few decades of nothing and then die?”

Azazel clapped his hands together. “Thank you!” He took a bite of the biscuit and looked over at Lily. “Amazing biscuits, Lily.” Glancing back at Sam, he said, “That’s exactly what I said but that buffoon couldn’t see past his idealistic views of romance.”

“No, no, no,” Kyla said. She looked at her grandad. “You still have all your powers, right?”

Malcolm nodded. “I know where you’re going with this, Kyla, but the deal I cut with Lucifer in order to keep my powers was a one off. He won’t grant them two the same.”

“How do you know? You never know unless you ask, right? You taught me that.”

Malcolm pursed his lips and let out a sigh. “Kyla, just trust me on this one, ok?”

She narrowed her eyes. “What did you do? What was your deal?”

Lily, still with her hand on Kyla’s forearm, patted her granddaughter and said, “That doesn’t matter. What matters is now. These two don’t want either option they are left with so what can we do?”

Kyla looked over at Azazel. “What’s the lesser of two evils for you? Death? Or living as a human?”

“Death,” he replied, with no hesitation. “I would rather die than live life in any other way than what I am doing now.”

Kyla’s heart skipped several beats. The thought of Azazel being no more, and being no more at her will, sat uneasy in her chest.

“And you?” she said, looking at Balthazar.

“I’m happy to live as a human.”

“Well, you’re sorted,” she said, looking at Sam. “It’s just me left with the shit decision. Again.”

She put her elbows on the table and rested her head in her hands as she raced through options in her mind. The glaringly obvious thing to her was that she couldn’t force Azazel to live a life he didn’t want. How would that be fair to him just to save her own conscience? If he wanted to die, it’s not like he would hate her for doing it—he wanted it. Therefore, it would just be her own peace to make with his decision.

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