Page 14 of Absolved In Death

“Unhinged. Uninhibited. Un-fucking-real. Put that on your business card. Most beings would have pissed their pants by now,” Michael said as he yanked Ares off. “Quelier, you’re my new favorite person. Everything is water under the bridge now.”

Michael helped him off the floor, and I caught a snippet of their conversation as they walked to the far end of the room.

“You know, we can have some fun torturing Lucifer…” the faerie menace said.

A grating scream sounded from the other side of the gym. The third dinosaur had one of Judas’ soldiers on the ground as it tore into his neck. Judas and Oisín ran over to help him, but they may have been too late.

You came back naked, bleeding with a tooth stuck in your back, with three fucking dino-murderers and some rando Fae who could be a fucking psychopath for all we know. What does Michael mean about water under the bridge?I asked Diana, Mal, and Az.

I promise I will explain everything later. But you all need to be nice to Quelier. If we’re going to win this war, I need help. Someone to organize the dozens of things I do in a day so I don’t burn out.

But I already do that for you…I organized Diana’s day. She seemed okay and never told me she was overwhelmed.

You really can’t. If we’re going to beat Red, we all need to be our best. Focus on your job, and I’ll employ someone to make mine easier. This isn’t a discussion, Desmond.

Diana was a stubborn woman, so I knew when to pick my battles. If she wanted a personal assistant, I’d let her have one. “Fine, but if Quelier doesn’t pass my vetting process, the guys and I will get rid of him.”

“He passed mine, and that’s what matters.” She held her chin high, giving me a final glare before striding off to her PA, who sat on the floor petting the velociraptors like they were some kind of adorable pet.

“Diana, what do you want to name your new little terrors?”

“We can keep them?” she blurted out in pure excitement.

“Of course you can, you’re the HBIC, Diana! I’m sure some training and a few enchantments can tame them.” He scratchedanother one under his chin, and it promptly tried to snap at him. “You’ll be good little beasties in no time, won’t you?” he asked them all in a baby voice.

“Hmmm…Claws,” she said pointing to the green one. “Fangs.” She pointed to the smallest one, who had freakishly long, snaggled fangs that protruded from his upper lip. “And that big boy can be Tank,” she declared, pointing to the biggest one.

“Claws, Fangs, and Tank, let’s get you cleaned up and decked out with some custom collars,” Quelier ordered with a quick clap as he and Michael left the training gym, the mini dinosaurs following them like a row of murderous ducks.

A Fae exile dino-whisperer. Actual dinosaur pets. Michael laughing like a lunatic as he conspired with his new friend.What the fuck is this compound coming to?There was no way she’d be keeping those things as pets. They were dangerous, and she had to focus on her training. It was the only way to ensure her safety. Not even I was deluded enough to think the five of us could keep her safe at all times.

“You need to trust her judgment. She’s a grown woman who can make her own decisions,” Az reminded me as he bumped his hip into mine. I threw my arm over his shoulder, bringing him in for a side hug.

“You aren’t even going to let me fuss over you and ask if you’re okay before you start lecturing me?” I half-joked, then kissed his forehead. “You asked me to be less of a robot, at least let me try to show emotion before you tell me how spectacularly I mess up with our girl.”

“I’m serious, Desmond. You need to stop being so overbearing. Haven’t you already learned this lesson? The more controlling you are, the more she’ll push. And now her power exceeds all of ours. She won’t run away from you…”

“Yeah, she’ll fight,” I finished his thought for him.

Az made a good point. But what he missed was that despite her being Diana Morningstar, she would always be my dollface. I’d protect her at all costs, even from her own poor judgment.

We all crammedinto Diana’s bed after dinner to catch up on our time apart. Ares and I told them about the attack at the compound, and how Red’s troops appeared just after they entered the portal. Bash agreed on our theory that there was a Costa coven insider giving them information. I could see the wheels turning in his eyes as he plotted a scheme to trap whoever it was.

Diana, Mal, and Az told the story of how they got home. Every detail made my stomach sour. My dollface had been in danger—trapped in a prison fit for Lucifer’s most despicable Hellions—and they recounted the adventure as if it was a fun quest.

“You just turned into a giant dinosaur and fought a T-Rex?” Ares gasped. He laid on his stomach in bed, his feet in the air with his head resting in his hand like a teen girl gossiping at a sleepover.

He was captivated by Diana’s battle with an apex predator, hanging on her every word as if she was breaking down a battle. How could he be so calm about the whole thing?

“She and Oisín brutalized it. Her scales were so glittery pink they almost blinded me,” Mal jokingly complained.

“I should have morphed into a dragon like he did, so I could have a better vantage point. But hey, you live and you learn, right?” She giggled, and I had to fight the urge to flip her over my knee and spank her ass red for joking about life and death—after she almost died how many times now?!

How could she be so blase about this? She was acting as if her life wasn’t in danger, as if she hadn’t been tortured in the deepest pit in Hell. Like she hadn’t used an unstable, unpredictable power which could have irrevocably fucked up our timeline had she overshot her return trip. She accidentally brought back fucking velociraptors, for fuck’s sake! If they were ever seen by the general public, we’d be in direct violation of the Princeps counsel.

Desmond…fix your face. You look like you’re going to rip Diana’s head off,Az nudged me. I shoved his voice to the back of my mind, because I already knew. I was well aware of my anger for her lack of concern over her and her crew’s safety.

It took every ounce of self control I had to relax. I kept reminding myself that Diana could handle herself. She had powers that most demons only dreamed of wielding. But it was difficult to ignore the anxiety knotting in my stomach and the unreasonable worries I had about something happening to her.

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