Page 43 of Absolved In Death

At first his lips were still, most likely because I caught him off guard. Once he yielded to me, I poured all the unsaid things I should have told him before now. The kiss wasn’t a peck, or as deep and bone shattering as I wanted it to be, but it got the message across.

I’m grateful for you, even if you interrupted my alone time with her.

I love that you need her as much as I do.

You’re mine, even if you don’t have my mark.

When I pulled away, he touched his lips, eyes wide in disbelief. He seemed softer somehow, his striking blue eyes a touch less sharp than they usually were. He glanced at Diana, and then again at me.

You’ll watch over her, in her mind?He linked me.

Of course.I’d always be there to quell her nightmares.

14

DIANA

My nightmares weren’t fictional—they were reels of today’s battle, played on a loop in grotesque details. They struck me like physical blows.

Fighting beside Lucifer,planting the bombs all over the compound. Ares flying on my back as we mowed down enemy soldiers. My flames engulfed their targets, leaving nothing but ashes and charred remains. Me ripping vampires’ throats out. Angie’s neck getting sliced open. Judas sinking his teeth into her throat, drinking her blood. Bain’s emotionless violet eyes trailing something unseen as it floated away from them…

My mind was trappedin a living nightmare that wouldn’t stop. I tried to wake up, banging on my consciousness to take over and pull me out of sleep….but some force kept me here. The imagery got worse the harder I tried to fight. Painful flashbacks of the past assaulted me, opening old wounds and bringing long forgotten pain to the surface.

Angie’s lifeless body.Running through the woods in New York to get away from my men. Azazel being shot out of the air. His wing tearing. Mal killing me. Stabbing Desmond when he attacked me. Desmond trying to choke me after he came back to life. Leaving the guys with Mal.

The pain became toomuch to bear, and I silently pleaded to the universe to make it stop. Suddenly, my psyche went dark. Black nothingness blanketed everything as a quiet, steady voice in the back of my mind took root. The voice wasn’t male or female. It didn’t sound old or young. Or familiar in any way. It echoed from every corner of my psyche, so loud yet barely a whisper. The voice’s words rattled me to my core, holding a truth I couldn’t deny.

Many will battle,but two will fight

Both are dark, and neither is light

Righteousness doesn’t always prevail

Sometimes in victory we fail

Wickedness is within us all

Sometimes the mighty must take the fall

My body feltas if it was hurtling through space and time. Images of all the people in my life flashed before my eyes, and I wondered if this was even a dream anymore. Nothing about this felt remotely like a dream, or a nightmare.

I appeared in a barren wasteland.This couldn’t have been earth. The sky was various shades of red and orange, and there was no sun. The light just…existed. There were no trees or grass. No animals or houses, or scenery. The ground resembledclay, with deep, dry cracks. It was also littered with corpses and painted in blood.

This wasn’t a wasteland…itwas a battlefield.

I walkedthrough the carnage at my feet. Some of the bodies were stabbed, lying in pools of their own blood. Others were torn apart, missing heads. Some were mauled so badly I couldn’t even tell what kind of paranormal being they were. No one was alive. The vacant eyes of both side’s soldiers stared at me as if they could see through me, to my very soul.

As if theyknew I was the reason they lost their lives.

A figure stoodin the distance, wearing a red robe. As I got closer, I saw Red’s haggard face. His olive skin was waxy and dull, the dark circles under his eyes almost black. I was taken aback by his gaunt face and sunken in eyes. He was no longer the silver fox from the club. Or even the demon who revealed himself in JFK Airport. He was…hollow looking.

Hollow but not weak.I felt his magic radiating off him like electricity crackling in the air. His anger was a simmering pot, coming to a boil so it could burn me. Something felt off. I shouldn’t be here. The feeling intensified with each step I took toward him. I tried to slow down. To stop and turn around. But that same force that kept me in my nightmare pushed me forward until we stood feet apart from one another.

“So you’ve come…”he trailed off. “Was all this death worth the fallacy of putting your father on the throne?”

I tried to answer him,but my own thoughts didn’t come out. It was as if my words were pre recorded. Like I was watching a television show.

“We settle this now,Red. You and I,” I growled with an intensity I didn’t know I had. “Enjoy your last breaths.”

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