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Power Struggle
AGONY CLENCHES MY stomach. It hurts to breathe. It hurts to move. It even hurts to just exist. I fear that whatever the angelic army is doing will hurt the precious beings growing inside me. I don’t know what they are doing to Elias, but I fear the worst. It is hard when angels and demons can’t be destroyed. That is how the devils ended up creating Hell. They moved to their own plane, but they don’t have access to what they once did before. And now? The angels are seriously screwing shit up with the balance. Not only has their righteousness got to their heads, but I’m also nearly certain that they have lost themselves to who they were as mortals. It’s funny in the worst way possible to think that these soldiers of Heaven were once the purest of souls. Too pure. They can’t even see what is before them. They will be the ones to destroy the universe in the end.
Unless we can stop them.
How did my life turn into this? I was supposed to just make a couple of angels jump from Heaven to bring balance. Now, I am pregnant with twins. My soulmate is being held captive. One prideful angel swears that he will never join us. And then a legion of angels are now purposely falling from grace in an attempt to steal Hell from us.
It makes me want to fuck some shit up. If I weren’t in so much pain, I would summon a fire chain and show them exactly what they are dealing with by trying to stand in my way from taking Purgatory. They will regret everything they have done. I will not stand for this much longer. I have more to lose. My devils have a lot to lose as well. But even so, we are stronger. We have more power. We have each other, and no one can ruin that for us.
“Take slow breaths, pretty soul. I know it hurts.” Dante rubs his big hand between my shoulder blades as we stand in front of the Hell portal that will take us into the Mortal Realm. Beside it, brilliant light shines from an angelic portal that Cassius summons. It will be him and I going through that one while Kase and Dante take the other. We won’t be ending up in the same location. But we will be nearby. It’s the only way I will be able to escape from Hell without the angelic army getting to me. They will be too distracted by sensing the devils. They won’t suspect them of having allowed Cassius to take me.
“They will be surrounding all of the demonic hotspots. We are going to go directly to the Demon’s Den where Gia and Tamia are currently holed up. They said that some of the local demons have teamed up with the angelic army. That’s how they are managing to navigate Hell.” Kase rubs his hands together, shooting red sparks through the air. “I think that Vincent might be a part of it. He wouldn’t come when summoned. Gia hasn’t heard from him. He is the only one that might be able to stabilize at least one kingdom with his power, considering how old he is and how Lucian had given him part of his power to overlook the Mortal Realm when he was being a dickhead and trying to piss us off.”
Just hearing Vincent’s name stabs me in my heart, and I cry out in pain. This is worse than pain. This is torturous and all-consuming despair.
“This is his doing. I know it.” I clutch my knees and try to push the pain away, but it feels as if my soul is being torn in half. I can feel the disgusting darkness of the demon now that I know he is a part of things. I wish that they had never allowed him to remain on Earth. But they had a lot more things to deal with because of the angelic army and Elias’s sickness.
“And when we find him, he will pay. I will destroy him completely. There will be nothing left of his being to even scatter through Hell.” Dante flicks out his forked tongue, the barbells of his piercings catching the firelight and glittering at me.
“We must hurry. They will start regrouping now that their surprise attack isn’t going to get them anywhere.” Cassius holds his hand out, his fingers glowing with his heavenly light and coaxing me to grab on to him.
My body refuses to do anything but remain bent over as tears sheen in my eyes. Instead of waiting for me to get my shit together, Cassius comes up behind me and slides his arm around my back and my knees, lifting me off my feet. I expect to cry out, but it’s as if he manages to steal the pain. Whatever he is doing helps me breathe. I can think more clearly now.
“I got you, Raven. Just stay open to me, and I will continue to flood you with my light the best I can. It should help you get through this.” Cassius adjusts me in his arms and meets my gaze. “I will try to hold onto your soul for as long as I can, but it does weaken me, and I don’t want to risk you getting hurt because of my shortcomings.”
I lick my lips and swallow, shivering at the thought of him releasing me back to the unbearable pain shredding at my being. I need to be stronger than this. The angels can’t win. “I need you to be able to kick fucking ass, even if it means that I have to suffer for you to do so.”
“I’m good for now. You need me, and I am here for you.” His voice softens with his words, and I can feel the truth to them. He has gone from being an asshole to someone who actually cares for me. I almost don’t believe it. Of course, angels have decided to try to take Hell. That’s basically the same as if it is freezing over.
“Thank you, Cassius. I know this is a weird way for us to come together, but I am glad that you are on my side right now. I don’t know what I would do without you.” I smile the best I can, though I’m not into it. I don’t want to smile. I want to cry my eyes out because we shouldn’t be in this position in the first place.
A hot hand touches my cheek, drawing my attention from Cassius and to Dante and Kase. “Be a pain in Heaven’s fucking ass. You will be fine, okay? You are the strongest soul we have ever met in this entire existence, and we know that you can handle anything. If you can handle all of the devils and even that bastard angel, you can handle what the angelic army has in store. Prove to them that you cannot be messed with. We can’t be messed with. And get Elias back. We will have a killer celebration, maybe even some dick cutting of these mutated angels. We’ll take their wings too.” Kase kisses me softly, his lips like a breath of air that I had no idea I needed.
“See you soon, pretty soul.” Dante leans forward and presses his face to my belly. “Take care of Mama, our little spawns. She needs you. So does Elias.”
My heart swells with his words, and he kisses my stomach before kissing me on the forehead and then on my lips.
Kase and Dante go through the Hell portal, and it closes behind them, leaving me with Cassius. He stares at the heavenly light portal for a moment and takes a couple of deep breaths. He’s nervous, but he doesn’t want to show it. He thinks he has to be the toughest badass in all of existence.
“We got this. You have me to destroy all these bastards. If there’s something that you feel you can’t do, I’ll do it. I do things that I have to.” I pat his cheek and surprise him with a kiss.
It’s enough to get him to relax, and he softens his features. In this moment, he’s so incredibly handsome that all of the disdain I’ve had for him melts away into just a faint memory. I know I shouldn’t let my guard down so much. He made it clear that he will not join Hell. But a part of me knows that I will be his undoing, and he knows it. Until then, I know that I will probably suffer from his rejection and his inability to just give in to what is right.
“Brace yourself, Raven. This might hurt your darkness because the light will try to consume it.” Cassius unfurls his wings and straightens his back, tightening his hold around me.
“Just get it over with. I don’t need to brace myself. I’m used to feeling the pain that comes with Heaven.” I blink a few times, trying to keep my voice even.
Cassius frowns, and I swear that his eyes sheen over with tears. “I wish that were never the case. I know you feel as if Heaven is against you, but it’s not. It’s against the evil in the world. It wants things to be balanced and right and good. It hurts because I’ve failed you. But I will make it right again. I will do it for you and the devils and for those precious beings growing inside you.”
Cassius steps forward without another word and enters through the portal to Heaven. I gasp at the shock of an electrifying pain that quickly fades as my body absorbs it, and I begin to glow as my spirit tries to leave my body even though I know it’s just my angelic spawn.
“That is the purity of your soul realizing that you are where you’re intended to be. I know you don’t think so, but you have an angel-kissed soul so it would recognize where it came into existence.” Cassius adjusts me in his arms so that I hug him with my arms and legs, allowing him to free his hands. “At least, it is where you would have gone had the devils not found you.”
“You don’t know that. You can’t predict that sort of thing, which is obvious because of where we are currently at now.” I don’t mean to snap at him, but he needs to realize that he can’t just say whatever the fuck crosses his mind without me putting in my two cents. Because if I belonged in Heaven because of Elias, I think we would already be there. Instead, we chose another soul cycle together. There was a reason. I’m not sure exactly what it was because Elias hasn’t had a chance to tell me. All I know is it had to be a good one.
He wanted me so far away from the angels and the angelic army that he even tried to make a deal with Lucian. It’s why Lucian acted like such a dick, thinking that he could still claim me as his and no one else’s. He was pissed off because Elias didn’t see good to his word.
I won’t lie. I’m glad for it. I can’t imagine what my life would be like if I was never reborn as Raven Rose and remained Grace. I don’t know what she was like, and I’m not sure I truly want to know. Just because it was my past life doesn’t mean that it was me. It is a soul, and I am what my circumstances have molded me into, which would be far different from Grace.
