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He carried me through the doors, depositing me on a leather couch. I heard rustling and talking in the distance, but my mind was a million miles away. As I ran my hand over the cool leather, I thought of Diana’s blue-gray eyes, and how I’d never gaze into them again. I’d never feel her soft skin or hear the sarcastic way she’d call mesir. A tear slid down my face as I stared off into the distance, losing myself in thoughts of the woman I’d wasted so much time resisting.
“Desmond… come on. Olga made food, and we’re going to come up with a game plan,” Bash said as he took my hand, lifting me off the couch. When we arrived at the house it was daytime, but the brilliant moon outside made me think I’d been sitting there for a while.
Bash led me through the living room and a billiards room, into the kitchen. I hadn’t been to this house in a while and almost forgot how beautiful it was. It didn’t matter though, because Diana would never see it. A couple days ago, I thought of how cool it would be to take a vacation here, the five of us. Live it up in Las Vegas. Go to a show, and eat a delicious dinner.What a fucking pipedream.
“Hey, are you paying attention?” Bash asked, snapping his fingers in my face. “Earth to Desmond. You’re missing important information.”
I felt Oscar rubbing himself against my leg, and cleared my throat to center myself.The guys need me.I couldn’t live in LaLa land while shit was blowing up around us. “Can you catch me up?”
“Bash still feels Diana. She isn’t dead,” Ares said with a gleeful hopefulness that permeated me. What did that mean?
“How do you feel her?” I asked Bash. “Explain all of this. We don’t have her body, and we saw her die. How could she possibly be alive?”
“I feel Diana through our bond,” Bash said, clapping his hand on my shoulder. “If she were dead, I wouldn’t feel the pull toward her. That’s why I was so adamant about getting out of the airport and into one of the safehouses. This fight isn’t over yet!”
“So where is she? Use the bond to find her!” Ares shouted as he jumped out of his seat. His eyes lit up, and I could already see the wheels turning in his head.
“It doesn’t work that way. The bond connects us, lets us generally know how the other feels. Over time it will get stronger. As of now, I can’t use it to find her.” Bash admitted. “Olga packed her mother’s cards, so we could possibly use those in a recall or locator spell to try and find her location. But it may not work because they weren’t an original possession.”
“How did her body disappear, and how is she alive? Mal stabbed her in the heart. There’s no way she can live through that.” As much as I wanted to believe she was still alive somewhere, the stab was a mortal injury.
Bash and Ares locked eyes over the table, probably mindlinking each other. Usually, I would find being excluded extremely rude, but something inside me was broken. I found it hard to care about anything while Diana was missing.
“I have two theories as to what happened,” Bash said as he got up and walked toward the island to refill his plate. I hadn’t even touched my food yet. “Diana either time-hopped while she was dying, or Satan somehow used a recall spell to retrieve her. As to how she’s still alive… I’m not sure. But Iknowshe is.”
“Or Azazel has her…” Ares growled. He clenched his fist so hard that his fork snapped in his hand, and his piece of steak dropped onto the floor. “That fucker is obsessed with my Little Goddess and wants her for himself. He probably pulled some magical angel-fuckery and has her captive right now.”
Bash held up a hand, shushing us as he stared at the ceiling for a few seconds. “Mal just mindlinked me. He’s awake, crying for help, freaking out over what happened. He can’t see anything or use his magic, and he’sscared…”
“I don’t think he realizes we’re the ones who detained him…” Ares commented evenly. “Do you believe he was possessed?” He directed the question at Bash.
“I one hundred percent believe he was possessed by Red, but I plan to explore his mind to make sure. That wasn’t him at the airport. He might hate Diana, but he would never do that. Desmond, what do you think?”
The way they both looked at me for guidance had anxiety clawing at my chest. I was supposed to be our leader: fearless, ruthless, strong, and cunning. But all I felt right now was a deep, aching sadness that was swallowing me whole. I wasn’t fit to lead us anymore.
“No, he wouldn’t do that. Satan controlled him somehow.” I didn’t even recognize the weak, tired sound of my own voice.
“I think the first thing we need to do is make sure Mal’s entity-free, then we get as much information as we can from him. The four of us will get a game plan together,” Bash offered. “We need to explore every avenue,” he said as he swung his head toward Ares. “Even if it means contacting Azazel. His gift could be useful in this situation, and if he’s as obsessed with her as we think he is, he’ll help us.”
“Ihatethat fuck-faced, feathered, foul-ass rockstar wannabe, and hope he chokes on his own fucking spit. And that his pillows are always warm onbothsides. May his coffee order never be right and his favorite pastry be out of stock. One day, I’m going to cut his hair off and hang it in my trophy room.” Ares' face twisted with disgust.
“Bro, you weren’t even involved in that love triangle. Calm down,” I said, astonished that he still had such negative feelings toward him. “Bash and I were the ones who got caught up with him, and we don’t even hate him that much.” I don’t hate him at all, but wish things had ended differently between us.
“You didn’t have to watch him destroy your crew with his stupid angel-dick nonsense. The way you two fought over him made me think we were done for…” Ares frowned, clearly remembering the blow-ups Bash and I had over Az.
Azazel. I couldn’t fall back into calling him that. Something in my gut told me we’d be hearing from him eventually, because for some reason he was watching over Diana. There were few reasons why someone, magical or otherwise, would have an angel assigned to them. We all needed to be on our guard. He could still hold a grudge against us, even after all this time.
“Alright,” Bash announced, clapping his hands together as a mask of determination fell over his face. “Let’s go get Mal and see what we can find out.”
We made our way up to the open door of Mal’s room. When he heard our footsteps, his head whipped around to the entryway. He was hogtied on the bed and blindfolded with golden magical bindings. Full-body shakes wracked him, making him resemble a timid mouse instead of the snarky asshole I favored. I guess Bash didn’t clue him in on what had happened.
“Mal, stop mindlinking me. You’re at the safehouse outside of Las Vegas. Desmond and Ares are here with us,” he said in a cool tone. Rolling up his sleeves, he sat on the bed next to Mal’s head. “Do you remember anything that happened between you leaving our planning session and what happened at the airport?”
His voice was a quivering mess. “I-I went to get something, and I heard Diana crying in her room. She asked me to t-take her away from us. Something inside my head told me to take her to the airport, but it wasn’t me. I don’t know how to describe it. After we got there, everything went hazy for a while, and I…I stabbed Diana.” His voice cracked as tears wet his razor-sharp cheeks. “I attacked Ares too, but don’t know how it happened. I wasn’t me; Red’s voice kept ringing throughout my head, like he controlled me.”
“Yeah, you cut me up with my own spear,asshole,” Ares spat. “You understand why I felt the need to subdue you? No hard feelings,” he barbed, rolling his eyes. He touched the magical bindings around Mal’s eyes, and they dissolved, allowing Mal to see. Then he broke the binds around his wrists and ankles so he could lay flat.
“I’m going to search your mind and confirm your version of events. Then Ares will broadcast it so we can watch them together,” Bash said. “It’s not that I don’t believe you, but I also need to confirm that you’re not currently possessed.”
