Page 62 of Midnight with the Devil

“Humming like some lovestruck fool.” Andras leaned back against the desk in Lucien’s office in the penthouse apartment and crossed his arms over his chest, scowling.

“Lovestruck fool?” Lucien raised a brow, challenging Andras. “Don’t make me assign you to the housewives’ circle of hell.”

At the stark terror on his friend’s face, Lucien chuckled. It was about time the other fallen angel gave him the respect he was due.

“I’m not lovestruck. You know that isn’t even possible. I’m just pleased, very pleased with how Diana is coming along. She lets me do the most… Well, let me put it this way, Andras—you’d be humming too if you had a woman like her in bed.” He wasn’t lying, and Andras knew it. Lucien had spent the last few weeks with Diana, spending more than simply Friday nights together. They’d spent entire days together, dinner, dancing, movies, picnics, things he would have scorned before he met her. Now they were the things that kept him smiling, kept him feeling lighthearted even when he had to return to the dark pits of hell to do his job.

“You only have a little more time with her. It’s better if you start weaning yourself off now.”

“She’s not an addiction,” Lucien snapped as he whirled to face his friend. “She’s just a bit of fun.” The lie rang in the air between them, like the ringing of a bell.

“All I’m saying is that you need to focus. You still haven’t recovered from therabishuattacks. I’m worried about you, that’s all. You can barely even jump between places these days.”

“You better make yourself scarce. She’ll be here soon.” Lucien checked his watch. It was close to eight o’clock. He couldn’t wait to show Diana what he had planned tonight. Dinner after the opera and then bed in Iceland in a special clear bubbled room that would let them make love beneath the stars for hours. He wanted to remember every single night with her, burn her into his memory so deeply that she would never leave him, even after centuries had passed.

I have to keep a part of her, always.

Lucien glanced back in the mirror and saw it, the vulnerability in his eyes. Andras was right. He had formed an attachment to Diana, one that ran far too deep to be wise, but he couldn’t seem to deny himself what he wanted, which was her. Yet when the contract ended in a month, he would have to. If he didn’t make a clean break, he would want to keep her, and then he would have to watch her age and die. He couldn’t stand the thought. He checked his watch again and smiled. Soon she would be here, soon—

Pain knifed through him, and he fell to one knee, clutching his chest.

“Ah!” he cried out as visions dashed across his closed eyes.

Rain, heavy on the roads, the car, the slick roads. Steel groaning, tires screeching, glass shattering.Blood on the windshield.

“Diana!” Lucien knew she was in danger, and his powers were nearly gone. He rushed to the glass case that held his last feather. He smashed the glass and gripped the feather, feeling the bright flood of power, the last bit of his grace. He tucked it into his coat before he summoned the last of his powers and flashed in an instant to where Diana was.

Rain fell hard and cold on his skin as he stumbled down to the ditch where the black sedan was resting. Smoke curled up from the engine, and glass littered the slick grass.

“Diana!” He called her name again as he knelt by the overturned car. The driver was coughing and winced as he fought to get free of his seat and crawl from the vehicle.

“Mr. Star…I’m so sorry…” The man collapsed onto his back and blacked out.

But Lucien wasn’t focused on him. He stared at Diana. She was lying limp on her side, blood oozing from her temple, one hand extended out the window.

Numb, Lucien reached out to touch her hand. Her fingers curled around his, like a child’s, weak and tentative. He couldfeelher lifeblood slipping away. He summoned everything inside him to heal her, but…nothing came. He withdrew his feather, putting it into her hands, hoping that if she came into contact with his grace now, it would jolt her back to life. The feather glinted and shimmered beneath the rain, but Diana remained motionless.

“You can’t save her, brother.” The familiar voice came from behind him. He didn’t need to turn to see who it was. Michael, the archangel. He hadn’t faced Michael in more than a thousand years. They’d once been brothers, but since the fall, they’d been bitter enemies. Seeing Michael here, now, when the world felt like it was ending around him seemed like a private joke between them. But Michael wasn’t laughing.

“Why can’t I save her?” Lucien asked, his voice low and rough. His throat was tight, and he felt like he couldn’t breathe. The last time he’d felt this way was when his wings had been ripped from his back, by none other than the angel standing beside him.

“Her life has had a particular purpose. Her destiny was never to be controlled by you.”

“Her destiny?” The words tasted cold and alien upon Lucien’s tongue as sorrow, an emotion he’d long forgotten how to feel, now wrapped around him like a death shroud.

“She has had a far greater purpose than you know. It’s why Jimiel had orders to protect her.”

Lucien curled his hand more tightly around Diana’s fingers as a torment he’d never known he could feel began to rip him apart.

“Go away and let me mourn,” he told Michael. “Have your fun another day. I will not let you destroy my last moments with her.” Hot tears coursed down his cheeks, and he did not wipe them away.

I am changed. She changed me. His angelic soul was wounded and crying for relief, but what could he do? His powers could not match his father’s.

“You cry for a human, Lucifer?” Michael asked, his righteous tone fading. Now he seemed only puzzled.

“She was…myeverything.” She was supposed to be the pure soul to keep hell’s gates strong, but from that first night together she’d been something infinitely more precious.

She was my heaven…and I’ve lost paradise a second time.

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