Page 153 of Nightshade

Head tipped back, he banged his crown against the cottage wall. “Of course they’d wipe out everything except the bit about me torturing you. How convenient that you’d remember your revenge and nothing else.” He tipped his head forward again. “The girl. Your girl. You really don’t remember her.”

“I’m losing interest.”

“How do you think you injured your eye?” Holding up a finger, he shook his head. “Scratch that--it’s an emotional question, I know. Wouldn’t want you to fire off your sword prematurely, so I’ll just tell you. The arrow was aimed at her. I had every intention of shooting the girl after you betrayed me.”

None of what he’d said in the last ten minutes had made any sense. “How exactly did I betray you?”

“About a quarter-century ago, you came to me, asking for a way out of Nightshade. We made a deal. You provide souls, I provide a means of escape.” His hands waved impatiently as he spoke. “A way back to the earthly realm. I helped you go AWOL after the heavens banished you to Nightshade. And I delivered. That’s a very important part to remember, because it seems that you’ve forgotten that I personally escorted you back. It wasn’t until you failed to uphold your end of the deal that I learned what occupied your time. A girl. The girl. Such a pretty little thing, you used to stalk her like a lion on a baby gazelle. I couldn’t figure out your fascination, at first. Why you would’ve made a deal with me, risked the consequences, to pursue a mere child.” He sneered, picking at one of his fingernails. “Didn’t seem to be your thing, but hey, everyone has their kink.”

Stare locked on him, I watched carefully. Could’ve killed him right then and ended all the noise, but he’d admittedly piqued my curiosity.

“Didn’t take long before I came to understand who she was to you. The lion wasn’t just stalking his next meal. He intended to feast on the carrion he’d already ravaged once before.” At what must have been a look of sheer absurdity on my face, he grinned. “Your soulmate. How utterly nauseating. But to me? The perfect pawn. I just didn’t know you had something bigger on your side at the time. The Sentinels. Who would’ve thought you carried angels’ blood and demons’?” Waving his hand dismissively, he shook his head. “But I digress. Back to the story. So, I sought her out, yada, yada, yada.” Again, he waved his hand impatiently. “You came to her rescue, as I anticipated. You weren’t even within arm’s reach of her, and yet, the arrow I’d aimed at her pierced your eye instead.”

“You’re a horrible shot, then.”

“Hardly. What’s even more unusual is that I felt the compelling urge to walk away from her. To let her live. Why?” Tapping his temple, he shook his head, while I attempted to process what the hell he was saying. For a distraction, he’d certainly made it elaborate. “It’s a question I pondered long after that encounter. I could’ve gone back while you were subsequently imprisoned here in Nightshade. Swiped her up and stole her from her father. But I didn’t. And now, she has returned to you.”

“Who?”

“The girl. Your beloved twin flame. And she is as lovely as I remember.”

Still watchful and wary, I flexed my fingers around the hilt of the heavy sword in my hand, a movement which seemed to catch his eye.

Groaning, he slouched further in his chair and rubbed a hand down his face. “Any other time, I’d find your lack of memory both amusing and opportunistic. Given the circumstances, it’s rather irritating and inconvenient.”

“Who is the girl”

“There was a time she went by another name, but these days, she goes by Farryn.”

My muscles steeled at the sound of her name.

I trusted the Fallen about as much as I trusted Lucifer himself, but a part of me was admittedly intrigued. Unfortunately, I didn’t have a whole lot of time to entertain his theories.

“That’s an interesting story. But story time is over.”

I lurched toward him, but halted mid-step, frowning when he placed his own dagger at his throat. No self-absorbed fallen angel would be so inclined to take his own life. Color me surprised.

“Remember her.”

“Why do you care?”

He rolled his eyes and shook his head. “I don’t give a good goddamn about your boring romance with a human girl. It’s the prophecy that interests me. The blood moon.”

“A fairytale.”

“Is it? Did you forget that, too? How you destroyed an entire city and all its people for her?”

“I destroyed the Pentacrux. For what they did to me. The same reason I intend to destroy you.”

“She will die. On the night of the blood moon. And just as before, you will take vengeance on those responsible. The Pentacrux. And from my own place in hell, I will rejoice in the splendor of watching them burn for what they took from me.”

“What did they take?”

The tears in his eyes belied a snort of laughter. “Everything,” he hissed through yellow crooked teeth, before slicing the blade across his throat. Black, tarry blood oozed from the wound, and he slapped a hand over it, choking for breath. “Remember. Her,” he rasped.

The blade fell from his hand, as he gripped his throat with both palms and slumped further into his chair. Gasping and choking, he seized and twitched in the most dramatic spectacle of death I’d ever witnessed.

Bored, I rammed my sword into his skull, and his body stiffened before going completely slack in the chair. He burst into flames, his flesh charring and crackling on the chair that failed to catch fire, and after another minute, the only evidence left was the black pile of ash on the cushion and his blade still lying on the floor.