Page 65 of Reapers Don’t Ride

“You should leave,” I said, grabbing his arm.

“You mean you’d like me to watch from the top of that building while you do reconnaissance?” He shook his head. “Too risky. After the last time you were attacked, I’m not giving you an inch. If you’d like to watch from the top of the apartment building…”

I gripped his shirt and stared up into those glorious, glimmering pools of beautiful death. “You have a life to live.”

“Yes. Since I met you, I’ve felt like I have a life to live. Duty isn’t life, and without you, that’s all I have. Purpose and duty aren’t enough, not after I’ve tasted happiness and love.” He cupped my face and gazed into my eyes, his own gleaming with fervency. “I love you.”

I blinked at him, while my body went through a variety of sensations, from burning hot to icy cold. Then my heart, my poor dead heart, beat. Not once, but twice. It beat for him.

“I can’t let you die,” I whispered, my eyes burning with tears I shouldn’t have.

He gathered me close to his heart and kissed my hair. “I know, because I can’t let you die either. But that’s not your choice, like it’s not my choice. The most we can do is try to protect each other. Dying together is on my list of goals.”

I pulled away, horrified. “We aren’t dying together,” I spat.

He grinned at me. “You want me to die first?”

“Of course not. That’s impossible because I’m already dead.”

“Ah. That sounds like cheating. Tell me you love me.”

I stared at him while my heart struggled in my chest to reach out and hold him forever. “Why would I do that?”

“Well, I might die. And I want to hear that you love me. I know that you do. I ate your cake and have your card tucked in my shirt over my heart, but I want to hear it.”

I stared at him, horrified and embarrassed but unable to look away from the sincerity in his eyes. “I…” My heart leapt into my throat, like a hand had reached up and was squeezing the love out of me. “I love you,” I whispered. My heart beat again, sending a flush of agony through my veins as I turned and scrambled up the fence, throwing myself off the top and into the overgrown yard as far as possible.

Enough talking. Anything would be better than that, particularly hearing him casually say that he might die. Yes, of course he might die, because that was the price of being alive, but to just say it so casually… And I’d confessed my love? What happened to protecting his heart? I was too selfish. How had that happened? I used to be too selfless. Why couldn’t I just be somewhere in the middle where I could keep myself and those I loved out of trouble?

I’d had such a quiet, dull, uneventful life until I’d met David. Had I been happy? I couldn’t tell. I’d known so much misery which should theoretically give me the ability to contain as much happiness, but the best I’d had was peace, locked in prison with nothing to kill but time. And then Gavriel started bringing me to life, filling me with all of those feelings that I’d buried in years of numbness. My heart had beat three times. How was that possible? Because he loved me?

It only took me a moment to get from the fence to the front porch. It looked like it would collapse at any moment. I glanced back at Gavriel who was directly behind my shoulder, looking innocent and sweet, also giving me a look with love in his eyes that sent a dart of agony through my chest. Love was pain. Why did he want my love? He should cling to his duty, his purpose, and leave me to my peace and solitude.

I took a moment to soak in that look because I was weak and foolish before I turned and leapt across the porch, hitting the door with my feet and exploding it inside as the hinges gave way. I landed in a cloud of dust that I didn’t inhale, eyes searching the dark interior.

The scent of angelic blood was too strong for me to sense anything else. There against the floral wallpaper from hundreds of years ago, Lorien dangled from chains attached to his wrists. His blood was smeared across the floor, the walls, even the ceiling. Someone didn’t want me to smell anything else.

I leapt to the wall to my right, opposite the angel, hit the wall and then leapt off that surface, grabbing those chains and snapping them with my jaws. I tasted the demon blood in them and tasted Tralcon. Lorien fell to the ground while I leapt from that wall to the stairs. I stayed outside the railing, moving as fast as I could, blurring until I was on the top floor, but it wasn’t high enough, not if Tralcon stood on the widow’s walk, gazing over his desolate domain.

The trapdoor was locked. I grabbed the frame and swung up, kicking it open. It took three tries for it to burst, and then I flew up with it, landing lightly on the spire that would cut anyone else’s hands. A figure stood where Tralcon had always stood, but he was thinner, with a posture that was slightly slouched, apologetic, like the first time David had asked me if I had poetry.

“It took you so long to find me,” he said, his thin voice cutting me into a million pieces. The wind blew around me, and I felt it like ice picks to the bone. David turned around slowly until he met my gaze.

I dropped to the roof and stumbled until I landed at his feet. It was him, but with a film of demonic over his eyes. I scrambled away from him, but came up against the solid form of Gavriel at my back.

I grasped his hand, squeezing it too tight, but the sight of David hurt so much. “How are you still alive? When I killed Tralcon, you should have died.”

He gave me an apologetic, closed-mouth smile and nodded, looking so human, except for the eyes. “Yes, I probably should have, but staying alive gets to be a habit.”

I stared at him while I shivered, harder and harder. I inhaled and, in spite of all the angel blood that still wrapped around me, I smelled him, just enough to know his corruption. Not even Tralcon had been so cankered with evil intent and twisted desires.

“Tralcon corrupted you.”

He smiled, showing fangs. “Sweet Louisa. Your love was so sweet and pure, it was almost enough to save me. My soul, not my life. No, saving my life ruined my soul. This is what happens when you fight against the will of God. You did this to me.”

Gavriel growled. “Your fall has nothing to do with her. The next time you blaspheme, it will be the last thing you do.”

David flashed those fangs at Gavriel. “Yes, we both know that she is innocent, but she’ll still feel guilty and responsible in spite of the fact that I betrayed her. She’s like that. So stupid. Even now, she loves me. Who can love a demon? Only an angel. Tralcon hoped that she’d love him. The power that comes from that sort of love is practically limitless, but she killed him first. She couldn’t kill me, and she couldn’t love him because she still loved me.”