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Finally Shawn answered. “Hey, you.”
“Thomas was hurt,” I said, cutting right to the point.
“What happened?” Shawn snapped.
“He was attacked. Took a pretty bad hit to the chest.”
“Is he…?” Shawn’s voice faltered, and I could hear his pain. If I were less of an asshole, I would have led with the fact that he was going to be fine, but I wanted to test Thomas’s new boyfriend, see how much he really cared and if he could handle the life Thomas led.
“He’s going to be fine. We’re taking him to his place now. He’s asleep at the moment. I’ll let him explain the rest to you, but I thought you should know.”
“I’m on my way,” Shawn said without hesitation, and then the line went dead.
Joriel had gotten Thomas in bed by the time I reached his apartment a few floors above Youngblood. We didn’t say anything as we waited around for Shawn to arrive or Thomas to wake up.
Shawn burst into the room thirty minutes later. I guess Thomas had already given him a key. He didn’t even look at me or Joriel as he moved to Thomas’s side. Dropping to the mattress, he took Thomas’s hand and raised it to his lips.
I jerked my chin in the direction of the door, indicating to Joriel that we should leave. Thomas wouldn’t wake up alone, and we had some things to talk about.
When we were in my kitchen, I spun on Joriel. “What is going on?”
Slowly he peeled the tan gloves off and dumped them in my trash. “I need to show you something.” He reached for the hem of his shirt and yanked it over his head so I could see the full extent of the blackness that didn’t just cover his hands but crept up his arms too, stopping just below his elbows.
In the fifty-plus years of my existence, I’d never seen anything like this.
“It’s even worse on my legs,” Joriel said. “Stops about here now.” He indicated a spot high on his thigh.
“What is it?”
Joriel laughed without a trace of amusement. “I’m not really sure. It started in November. One day my toes were black. Then it started spreading up my feet and legs. It was easy to hide until this summer, when it started on my fingertips too. It’s been spreading faster lately. It’s like every week it’s another inch or two higher.”
I shook my head. This didn’t make sense. “Have you talked to Micah—?”
“No. I haven’t talked to anyone. Except you.”
“Why not?” Micah had a thousand years on me. He knew shit I couldn’t even begin to understand.
“Sam, I can’t go back to Heaven. Not at all.”
“Stop beating around the bush and spit it out. What is going on?”
His blue eyes connected with mine. “I sold my soul.”
“You didwhat?” I roared.
“I promised Lucifer my soul in exchange for him withdrawing his protection on Dantalion.” He lifted his darkened hands in front of him. “I can only assume this means he’s collecting soon.”
No. I couldn’t lose Jor. This wasn’t happening. I stared at the black that already covered his forearms and, according to him, most of his legs. “It’s a countdown,” I whispered. Like the rose inBeauty and the Beast. Only there was no way to break the curse in this story.
Joriel’s expression was grim as he nodded. “I’m not sure if he’s taking bits of my soul now or if the ink is just a warning that it’s coming.”
“How could you?” Anger burned through my veins, hot and consuming.
Joriel didn’t react to my outburst. He never did. He was the calm one, the voice of reason in the secret order. “Because if I didn’t, Nathaniel would have started a war between Heaven and Hell. You know that as well as I do. What good would my soul be then?”
“There has to be something we can do. I’ll talk to Micah. We’ll figure out something.” Because I was going to fall apart if he was gone.
“No, you won’t. I made a deal, and I have to hold up my end of the bargain. The only thing you can do is promise me that you won’t let me hurt anyone, that you’ll chain me up, do whatever it takes to stop me when I lose myself.”
