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I tensed involuntarily. It was a knee-jerk reaction to hearing Asura talk about Siren. Worse, I couldn’t get my body to relax even a millimeter.
“You can look down your nose at me, but you’re no better than I am,” Asura said with a vicious smile. “What do you think Micah’s going to do when he finds out you’ve been sleeping with one of God’s favored creatures?”
“Micah isn’t the reason youfell. He’s not the bad guy.”
Asura scoffed. “So you believe he’ll forgive your sins? Please. You’re not a human, Samuel. You’re not allowed to screw up and still be offered salvation.” And right there was the heart of why Asura had been stripped of her heavenly fire and cast from Heaven. She was hateful and full of resentment.
“It’s not Micah whose forgiveness I need,” I reminded her. Asura never was very good at seeing the bigger picture. She believed the archangels were to blame for her position because they were the enforcers of the law, but they weren’t the ones who called the shots. They didn’t make the laws.
“It doesn’t matter,” Asura said. “The law is impossible to uphold. We make one little mistake or don’t agree with one thing and we’re punished. You’ve given them fifty years of your life, and now you could lose everything just for sleeping with one human girl. How is that fair?”
“Get to the point, Mother,” I gritted out.
“You don’t have to live by their rules. You could fight back.” Asura was crazier than I’d thought. She was talking about fighting back against divine law as if that could lead anywhere other than a cell in purgatory.
“Is that all?” I asked, fingering the weapon at my hip. I could get rid of Asura once and for all. She wouldn’t be a threat to Siren or anyone else again. I wouldn’t have to worry about her popping into my life and messing things up for me.
“Do you love her?”
My hand stilled. Everything around us seemed to stop. Asura had guessed at my greatest weakness.
“The law is wrong, Samuel. You could be with your human girl, could have the freedom that we’ve always been denied simply because of what we are.”
I didn’t say anything, didn’t move a muscle.
“I’ll fight for you, son,” Asura said softly. “I’ll fight for your happiness if you give me the chance.” She took a step backward. “Think about it. If you want to join me, meet me on Castle Island Sunday night. If you don’t show up before sunrise, I’ll leave your city.”
She didn’t wait for me to respond before slipping out of the alley and blending in with the crowd out on the streets of Downtown.
Hours later, I was staring at the ceiling above my bed. I couldn’t stop hearing Asura’s words in my head. Just like I couldn’t stop seeing the look on Siren’s face during our fight this morning. She’d asked me to fight for her. But I couldn’t fight the law. I’d lose everything, including her.
I wasn’t my parents. I’d spent years proving to myself and to my brothers that I was worthy of the second chance Micah had given me. Standing with Asura, breaking the law for my own sexual desires, would be spitting in the face of everything Micah had ever done for me.
That train of thought wasn’t getting me anywhere. I dragged a shirt over my head and shoved my feet into boots before leaving my apartment and heading for the thirteenth floor.
The line of cells looked simple. Each cell had a door made of overlapping iron bars with squares of space between them. The walls and floors were reinforced with iron that kept demons from breaking through them.
Most of the time the cells were empty, but they’d proven valuable to have over the years.
I dropped to the floor in front of the only occupied cell.
Joriel’s cell had been outfitted with more than the normal bed-and-toilet setup. He had a coffee table that was piled with books, and the bed was covered with a mountain of pillows and plush comforters. Its occupant was currently beating on a dummy that had been brought up from the gym downstairs.
He’d stopped bothering to cover the black staining his skin. It was useless at this point. Every inch of his skin was black as night with the exception of a small circle of flesh in the center of his chest about five or six inches in diameter. Even his hair, eyes, and nails had turned black. I hardly recognized him as the person I’d known for the past twenty years.
Joriel sent one last vicious punch into the dummy’s gut and stepped back. He sat on the edge of the bed and started unwrapping the strip of cloth wrapped over his knuckles.
“How are you feeling?” I asked.
“Still me for the moment,” he answered without looking at me.
“How fast is it spreading now?”
He shrugged. “Faster every day. I’m guessing I have less than a week left.”
I was hit with the unfairness of it all. Joriel had made the deal with Lucifer in an effort to save Nathaniel and stop a war between Heaven and Hell. It wasn’t fair that he should have to lose his soul. There had to be some way to fix this. But Joriel wouldn’t even try. He was determined to hide the truth from Micah, refused to let me look for a way out.
“To what do I owe the pleasure of your company?” Joriel asked.
