Redemption 4

The Half-Breed Angel

John has been brought back to life, not as an angel, but as a

helpless mortal. To make matters worse, because of this new
mortal state, and the fact that he had been socializing with

demons, he now has some demon blood within him, making him a
candidate for one of the fabled generals capable of bringing down

Heaven itself.

Kale Oak had to watch his commander die once, and he has no
intention of allowing that to happen again, or to let the demons

take him, not after they finally confessed their love to each other.
Now John is being stubborn, however, and is pulling away from

Kale, ashamed of the things he had been forced to do while he
was a demon's servant. Kale is not willing to give up on them, and

they must both find a way to bring out John's new holy power
before another former angel takes her revenge on them both.

Genre: Alternative (M/M or F/F), Contemporary, Fantasy
Length: 40,174 words

THE HALF-BREED ANGEL

Redemption 4

Marcy Jacks

EVERLASTING CLASSIC

MANLOVE

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THE HALF-BREED ANGEL
Copyright © 2013 by Marcy Jacks
E-book ISBN: 978-1-62242-458-0

First E-book Publication: March 2013

Cover design by Harris Channing
All art and logo copyright © 2013 by Siren Publishing, Inc.

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THE HALF-BREED ANGEL

Redemption 4

MARCY JACKS

Copyright © 2013

Chapter One

Everything on John hurt. He had trouble breathing but tried not to

cough because every hack that he made tore at his throat. He could
barely move, and his eyelids felt heavy and swollen. He managed to
force them open anyway.

His vision was blurry, and he could barely see. This could not be

the light, the place where all angels went after they were killed in
battle. John was much too hurt for that to be possible. Maybe he was
in Hell. He had made a deal with a demon, after all, and turned his
back on his duty. So it only made sense.

Someone was touching him, moving him around and picking

through his…pockets? He had pockets?

“Kale,” he said, but the sound of his voice was wrong. It was

small and weak, barely more than a wheeze of breath out of his
mouth.

His vision finally righted itself, and the man above him was not

Kale. It was some human John did not recognize in a fake-leather
jacket. He scowled down at John, who was wearing normal mortal
clothing instead of his regular armor for some reason.

“Nothing on you, prick.”
When the man punched him, John actually saw stars. The strike

8 Marcy

Jacks

against his cheek hurt when it shouldn’t have. The pain lingered when
it should have faded. Something was very wrong here.

When he cleared the tears from his eyes and looked up, the man

who had been attempting to rob him was long gone.

The night was cold, and so was the pavement he lay on. John

lifted himself up and found that he was most definitely not in Hell.

A park. He was in a human park. Somehow he’d come here and

had been left on the trail. Who left him here? Where was his armor?
Where were Luke and Derek? Most importantly, where was Kale?

His memories were as foggy as his vision had been seconds ago,

and John tried to shake the mist out of his head.

Mistake. A pulsing pain flared to life behind his temples and his

eyes. He clutched at his head and focused, trying to will away the
pain.

It went away, eventually, and not because he’d used his energy to

heal himself. There was no energy within him. He felt cut off
somehow. That was not right. He would be cut off if he was dead, he
suspected that much, but clearly he was alive and on Earth.

There was a bench just over to his right, and no one slept on it or

was near it that he could see. John gingerly picked himself up and
moved to it. Every joint in his body, every muscle, everything, hurt
like he’d just come back from battle with a fire troll or two.
Especially the place where he’d been punched. It was a relief to
finally put himself on the bench and simply relax.

He looked down, trying to examine himself.
The clothes he wore were definitely mortal in nature. Jeans, as he

believed the dark pants he wore were called, and the simple T-shirt
that clung tightly to his chest did nothing to protect him from the
elements.

It was wet from having lain on hard, damp pavement, and there

were now small rocks on him and bits of mud. He smelled.

That thought particularly caught him off guard. He smelled. John

lifted his arm, feeling foolish as he did, and took an experimental

The Half-Breed Angel

9

sniff.

He lowered it down and turned away from the smell. Yes, it was

definitely coming from him. That should not be. He was an angel.
Even after the harshest of battles, his body should not be releasing an
odor like that.

Unless he was no longer an angel.
A tiny, mischievous laugh sounded from the spot just beside him.

John turned his head down to see the little, orange, fist-sized demon,
almost perfectly round in shape with wide snake eyes and a long
smile that showed off many razor-sharp teeth. It pointed its tiny
pitchfork at him and laughed, nearly doubling over as it did.

John reached out to smack it, to knock it off of its stick-thin legs

and put it on its back so he could watch as it scrambled for balance.

His hand went straight through it, and the little creature laughed

harder, taunting him. He glared at it. “Away with you. You will get
nothing from me.”

Of course, the little pestering demon did not go. More arrived, of

varying colors, to help it make John’s misery complete. Some had
little bat-like wings on their backs. Others held more pitchforks, or
even small scythes. They continued to make faces at him, to laugh,
and some even pricked at his hands with their weapons, though barely
hard enough to draw blood.

Their very presence annoyed him. He wanted to lash out at them,

to shout at them to leave him alone to his sulking, and to stop making
those wretched sounds and attacking him with their pathetic weapons.

He did not move. He took a calming breath and allowed them to

go about their small mission, doing his best to ignore them.

He knew what this was. John was human now. Perhaps this was

his punishment for turning his back on the council. He’d been right.
There had been half-breed demons born on Earth, and Hell had sent
full-fledged demons here to tempt them into giving over their souls,
either by killing innocent people or by killing themselves.

There had been three of them that John knew about, and he’d sent

10 Marcy

Jacks

three of his most loyal soldiers out to find them while he worked in
Purgatory trying to free the souls the demons had collected to be their
power supply.

The first two he’d sent had succeeded in their missions. He did not

know about the third. He’d been trying to heal Luke from the wound
John had given him, pouring all of his energy into the man, trying to
ward off the corruption in his body that had been quickly killing him.

John expected to die by giving so much of himself. He’d been

ready for it if it meant making amends for his actions, yet here he
was.

He clenched his eyes shut and made fists out of his hands until his

fingernails dug so deeply into his skin that a warm wetness splashed
between his fingers.

He’d drawn blood.
He had no idea what he was supposed to do now, nor why these

little demons were bothering him. It wasn’t as if there was something
he could give them. He had nothing left.

“John?”
A light flashed over his face and disappeared. The little demons

scattered, releasing shrill and fearful screams as they fled for their
lives.

John stood abruptly, the yellow light from the lamp above his

head hardly making it easy to see, and the flashlight that put stars in
his eyes did not do much to help with that.

Still, he recognized the voice and the shape of the body.

“Mathias?”

“God, John.” Mathias rushed forward, and in a show of emotion

John had never seen out of any of his soldiers, save for Kale, he was
enveloped into a pair of strong arms and pulled against the man’s
chest.

It was hardly a show of his training, but he hugged the man back,

grateful for being saved from the tiny demons that had been bothering
him, as well as happy to see a face he knew.

The Half-Breed Angel

11

Mathias squeezed him just a little bit tighter. “Fuck, we’ve been

looking for you for days. I was just about to go home. Where’ve you
been?” Mathias demanded.

John laughed a little and pulled away from the warmth of the

man’s arms. He wanted to crack a joke, say something about how if
Mathias held onto him any longer, he would start to get ideas.

In his mind, Mathias would laugh away John’s mocking

accusation and remind him that he had a partner waiting for him. John
had not had the chance to meet with any of his three soldiers since
they had left him to go on their missions, save for Luke, but John had
been keeping track of their progress. He knew that Mathias and
Taylor, the second general, had something.

Of course, he did not make the joke and did not mention it. He

was no longer the man’s superior, but that did not mean he felt at ease
enough around him to be speaking like that.

“I don’t know where I’ve been,” John admitted. “You mean to tell

me that I’ve been gone for days? How many days?”

“Five. Jeremy, Samael, Kale, and I were all told that you were on

Earth somewhere, here in the city. We’ve been looking for you ever
since then. Kale hasn’t stopped. He barely goes back home to eat. He
flies over the city looking for you.”

John held back a wince. He’d been a commander long enough to

know how to keep his emotions from his face, but he still felt the
inward sting of guilt. Part of him wished that Kale hadn’t bothered.
John had made a bargain with a demon. He was not fit to be around a
man as noble as Kale. He was not worth the man’s tears or his kisses,
both of which Kale had given him when John had been forced to
confess what he’d done.

“Sir?” Mathias asked, pulling him out of his thoughts.
John blinked. Perhaps he was not as good at keeping alert as he’d

once thought. “Do not call me that. I am no longer your commanding
officer.”

Mathias’s lips thinned, but he did not agree to do as John said. “I

12 Marcy

Jacks

know you’re human now. We all do. Dante and Jeremy’s house is
closest to here, and they offered you and Kale a room to stay in.”

Both him and Kale? He was going to have to set the other man

right on some things, it seemed.

Still, he could not argue about it too much. The wound on his face

was growing hot and pulsing, and John was willing to bet that the
only reason why Mathias did not point it out was to not offend him.

Then his stomach rumbled in hunger.
“He offered food as well,” Mathias said, shifting on his feet and

pointedly looking at John’s face. “He said he wanted to meet you. I
guess he feels that he owes you.”

“For what? Jeremy was the one assigned to him.”
“Yeah, but you sent Jeremy. You sent all of us. The knights are

grateful, that’s all.”

Knights. The men John had wanted to protect were now knights of

Heaven, and not generals of Hell. He felt a swelling of pride at the
thought that, even though he’d ruined everything so spectacularly, at
least the men he’d sent to Earth were faring better with their new
lives.

“Very well, take me to him. I could use a bath.”
“Kale will be glad to see you’re safe, sir.”
He wouldn’t be after John explained to him that they were over.

The Half-Breed Angel

13

Chapter Two

John was happy to have a roof over his head and a warm bath to

sink into and clean clothes to put on. The sight of Luke, alive and
well, also brought him joy, especially under the circumstances in
which they had parted. The news that Derek was now one of the
knights of Heaven and not simply dead made him sigh with relief, but
because of his spirit form, he would not be able to come to Earth
without turning himself into a ghost that John could not see, so there
was hardly any point to that.

Still, Luke passed on the message that Derek was grateful for his

help and wished for a speedy recovery. John in turn thanked Luke and
offered his gratitude to Derek for saving his life, even if his new life
would be in this weak mortal form.

Even had that not been the case, he knew better than to relax. He

was still waiting for Kale to arrive, and he was not foolish enough to
think that his trials were over. That demon bitch Annabel would be
wishing to settle her score with him now that he was at a
disadvantage.

That was for a later time, however. She would not attack, not with

one angel in this house, a former angel, and two of the knights of
Heaven offering John protection.

He wished he did not need it, but with no other option available to

him, he accepted and sat quietly in the room he’d been offered.
Dante’s house was a large one, and his furniture comfortable, but it
made John itch to sit on it.

He sensed it the second Kale entered the house, which was odd,

because John had thought he lost his ability to sense the energy of

14 Marcy

Jacks

angels and demons alike, yet there it was. The man’s presence was
impossible to ignore, as was the fact that Kale was not coming up to
see him. He remained downstairs with the others for what seemed like
hours while John waited for him to come to him.

John’s body pulsed and ached for him, which he suspected was

mostly a product of his new mortal body, but he could not allow what
they had started to continue. Not after what he had done and what he
had almost become. He would not allow Kale to fall from Grace for
him, and he would not forgive himself for making that bargain with
Annabel, or for dying in Kale’s arms.

Despite that, he’d still expected the other man to come to him, to

attempt to speak with him. He did not. He remained downstairs, and
then his energy signature vanished from the house, and a deep
lingering heartache struck him.

John rubbed the sore spot on his chest and told himself to not be

so bitter and pathetic about it. He’d wanted this. Kale was a soldier,
and his duty was to Heaven. John could not have the man throw
himself away for him. Not after they had risked everything and
broken all the rules together. It was too much. John would never
forgive himself if he caused Kale to fall after he had been forgiven by
the council for everything else.

Perhaps Kale already understood what John wanted from him. Did

he realize that distance was the best? Or was he angry?

For the first time in what seemed like years, John felt himself

grow tired. This was not the sort of sleepiness that came to him when
he’d served in Heaven. Eating the fruit of the trees back home that
were filled with the sweet juices of ambrosia would not reenergize
him. Sleeping would. That was how the mortals did it.

Yes, that was what it was. He wanted the sleep because he was

tired, not because he wanted to hide from the painful pulsing in his
chest.

He shifted farther up onto the bed where he’d been sitting, waiting

for what seemed like forever. He did not slip under the covers or turn

The Half-Breed Angel

15

out the lamp. He enjoyed the sight of the soft light behind his eyelids.
It reminded him of the constant light back in Heaven.

When that familiar presence returned, in the room he was staying

in no less, John breathed deeply and pretended to not notice that Kale
was standing above him, watching him.

* * * *

Kale wanted to hit the man, but because John was now a mortal,

doing something like that would only result in hurting him more than
Kale intended to.

He had died in Kale’s arms. Kale had seen it. He’d been there

when John confessed to what he’d done, what he’d been forced to do
with Annabel, and then he arrived too late to find him pouring all of
his energy into Luke.

Luke should not have been able to survive the corruption by

simply receiving angelic energy, but John had kept him alive long
enough for Derek, one of the powerful knights of Heaven, to finish
the process.

Kale could still feel the horrible sensation of his hammering heart

as he burst into the room just as John fell back, completely spent.
Kale had caught him before he could hit the floor, but then his body
had vanished in a bright show of light.

That was how angels died. It was how Daren had died when he

had fallen in battle whilst they had all been in Purgatory.

No one knew where angels went when they died. Kale had

thought he had lost the man he loved forever, and he’d mourned him.

Then the news came of his return, and Kale searched for him. He

flew over the city of Haven, keeping his eyes peeled for the man, but
had been unable to find him.

He’d gotten frightened then. Images of Annabel finding John first

and dragging him into Hell forced Kale to fly on, even when his body
ached to return to Heaven and eat something with ambrosia in it to

16 Marcy

Jacks

regain his strength. He did not stop searching.

Finally, Mathias contacted him, and his happiness was complete.

John was alive and well, and he showed no signs of demonic
possession.

He did not allow himself to return to the house where John was

being kept right away. Kale was still a soldier, and he was aware of
the dangers. He made absolutely sure that no dark forces were
following him as he flew back to Dante’s home. If the demons wanted
John, they would find him eventually, but Kale was not about to be
the reason why they had found him to begin with.

He took his time on the flight back, and then Kale had finally

managed to drag himself into the house. Mathias insisted he eat an
apple with ambrosia in it, claiming he looked as though he was about
to fall over, so he’d done as the man asked. He’d all but swallowed
the thing whole, eager to find his commander, to kiss him, and to
strangle him.

Only for Mathias to tell him that John wished to be alone, and he

hadn’t so much as asked after Kale.

That was fine. He was sleeping now, and Kale could look his fill.

He contemplated moving closer and kneeling down, pressing his lips
to John’s full ones. The fact that he was a mortal man did not
diminish Kale’s desire for him or the beauty of his body. He looked as
he always had, only without the powerful and impressive aura of
energy that followed him around.

Without realizing he’d done so, Kale reached down and took

John’s hand. When he noted the warmth of John’s skin, he decided to
not let go just yet. “I still want to strangle you, bastard,” Kale said
through his teeth.

John shifted a bit in his sleep, and Kale thought that now would be

the perfect time for him to make his grand escape. He squeezed
John’s hand just a bit, not enough to disturb a resting mortal, and was
about to make his escape when, to Kale’s complete and utter shock, a
small demon hoisted itself onto the bed.

The Half-Breed Angel

17

Kale watched it, unable to believe the gall of the little thing as it

smiled at him and danced around, celebrating its arrival into the
mortal realm.

That was one of the pestering demons that had been preying on

Dante, Taylor, and Derek. They were lower-level demons, small, but
fat and round. They were about the shape of a closed fist, and their
purpose was specifically to annoy those around them and attempt to
induce sour moods.

What in the devil was such a beast doing here?
Kale swatted at the thing. His hand smacked loudly over the

naked flesh of its leathery hide. It squawked and sailed across the
room, skinny arms waving helplessly before it crashed into the wall
and fell onto the floor.

Kale stood up and moved around the bed, but it was gone from the

place where it should have landed.

A sharp prick against his ankle made him look down. The demon

was right there, staring up at him and waving around the little spear it
held. Its angry language was that of the demons and not something
that Kale understood.

The body language was enough for him to know that he’d

offended the thing.

“What do you think I care for you? What are you even doing

here? You cannot tempt the knights anymore. Hell cannot take them.”

The little demon continued to speak quickly, as though Kale

hadn’t said anything at all.

Well, Kale could not understand its language, maybe it could not

understand his.

He had no patience for the foul mood of the thing either. He

conjured a ball of hot energy. The small demon squeaked and tried to
flee, but it was slow and Kale was quick.

The fireball did not so much as harm the carpet, but on impact the

demon did make a tiny explosion of black dust and orange sparks.

Perhaps they were still coming around here hoping for the chance

18 Marcy

Jacks

to continue to tempt Dante? Those little demons were hardly
intelligent, and sometimes Kale had to wonder about the size of their
brains or whether or not they even had any.

“I’ll have to tell the others about this,” he said, to himself since

there was no one listening to him at the moment.

“It was not here for Dante. Or Taylor.”
The voice, strong, familiar, and welcome, actually made Kale

jump in surprise. John’s eyes were open, and he stared up at the
ceiling, as though resigned to a fate he did not want.

Kale felt anger stirring within him, the same anger he felt when

John left him in Samael’s home to go and fulfill his bargain with
Annabel, right after the man had finally decided to give in to what
they had both known was there all along and finally kiss him. “How
long have you been awake?”

“Since you came in,” John admitted, shifting to sit up. At least he

had the courage to look Kale in the face. “To be fair, I was trying to
sleep, at first. You were simply distracting me.”

Kale clenched his fists. “What did you mean the demon was not

here for Dante or Taylor? It couldn’t have come for Derek. He’s in
Heaven and cannot return to the mortal world.”

“I know. I was given a proper update whilst you were away, and I

do not appreciate threats whilst I am supposedly sleeping.”

Kale could hardly be angry with him about that, but he refused to

let it show. He refused to go over there and put his lips over every
exposed bit of flesh on the man, confirming that he was both alive and
not corrupted.

“So what was it looking for, sir?” Kale asked, briefly looking

down at the fading black dust that formerly belonged to the small
demon.

“Don’t call me that. I’m no longer your superior,” John said.
Ah, yes. Force of habit. Kale would not apologize for it either.

“But what did it want?”

“Me. There were others near me on the park bench where Mathias

The Half-Breed Angel

19

found me. I at first thought that I was simply noticed as an easy target,
considering the state I was in, but if they’re searching me out, then it
can only mean that the demons desire something from me.”

“Indeed,” Kale said, his throat feeling strangely dry and tight. “I

will still have to tell the others about this.”

John nodded. “Good.”
“Who would you have lead us, sir?” Kale asked, again calling him

sir purely by reflex.

John glared at him a little but let it slide.
“You will.”
Kale stepped back. “Me?”
“You were my second-in-command. Now that I am no longer able

to lead, until you are called back to serve in Heaven, I will place you
in charge, if you and the others still believe a leader is required in this
situation.”

“The demons are searching for you, of course it’s required.”

Another thing occurred to Kale about this whole mess, and he did his
absolute best to keep his face and voice neutral. “If you think for one
moment that putting me in this position will prevent us from speaking
about what happened, you’re dead wrong.”

Kale could still feel the tingle on his lips from when John kissed

him in Samael’s house. He could recall with absolute clarity the
strength of his muscles as Kale gripped his arms and neck, and the
softness of his hair when he put his hands behind John’s head, holding
him close.

It hadn’t been their first kiss, but it seemed like it, for all the time

they’d spent dancing around each other. Then Kale had discovered
exactly what John had done to cure Kale of the corruption that had
been poisoning his body, and the two had held each other. When John
had left him, Kale had been certain he would never see the man again.

Now here they both were, and yet this was hardly the sort of

reunion that Kale had imagined.

John returned his glare, and he clenched his fists. “No, we are

20 Marcy

Jacks

going to talk, but that’s as far as it will go. Am I clear?”

He was perfectly clear, and the fact that John was having a sudden

change of heart turned Kale’s insides into stone. The only thing that
kept him from glaring at the man was years of training and respect.

John wanted to end things before they even had the chance to

really begin. They were certainly going to see about that.

The Half-Breed Angel

21

Chapter Three

The first act as commander that Kale put into action was to assign

himself as John’s guardian. He simply would not tell the man about it,
but it was John’s own fault for not thinking through his actions before
he gave Kale such power.

He decided to tell him in the morning, after he’d gotten some

sleep. John had said he was ready to speak and to tell Kale whatever
he wished to know, but Kale could see the fatigue in his eyes. John
was human now. He had to constantly remind himself of that. He
needed sleep and food if he was to survive, and Kale wanted to
prepare.

He went downstairs to where his hosts were still lounging about in

the sitting room. Dante had his arm around Jeremy’s shoulder, and the
former angel leaned into his lover as they sat on the leather sofa,
staring at the large television that was not on.

They were about to fall asleep themselves, Kale realized. He

supposed it was late, and now that Jeremy was also a mortal, he
would need rest just as much as Dante and John did.

Still, the sight of them together, fighting to keep their eyes open

while Dante rubbed small circles on Jeremy’s shoulder brought, a
pang of envy to Kale’s chest.

He was quick to tell them of what he had learned upstairs. The

little demons that had once pestered Dante were back, and some of
them were even brave enough to enter the house to attempt to get at
John.

Kale assured them both that he would use his energy to keep them

at bay, but then he also told Jeremy of his new status as commander

22 Marcy

Jacks

of their team.

“That makes sense,” Jeremy said with a wide and gaping yawn.

“He always did favor you.”

Kale knew better than to take the comment as anything other than

praise. To gain John’s favor was a sign. He did not offer his respect or
affection lightly, on the battlefield or off.

It was the main reason why Kale refused to give up, even when

John was giving him every signal to forget about him. He would not
allow that, and he would stay until the man saw reason.

“Where are Taylor and Mathias? They should hear of this,” Kale

said, unable to feel Mathias’s energy nearby. With another angel in
the house, Kale would have an easier time of keeping the house
cleansed of any and all demonic influences, and it certainly would not
hurt to have the extra man if Annabel decided to make an appearance.
After what she had done to John, he did not doubt that she would
come.

The thought made him want to return to John’s side immediately.
“They went out to let Taylor’s wolf run around,” Dante said then

shook his head with a small smile on his face. “Still getting used to
the idea of werewolves and vampires.”

“But it’s good to have friends, yes?” Jeremy asked, ever the

optimist.

“Yeah,” Dante replied, touching the other man’s cheek.
Kale had to look away from the open affection, feeling somewhat

out of place. He had someone he would like to give similar touches to,
but he was simply going to have to wait until John was ready for
them.

“When they arrive, tell them what I have just told you. They are

out together, and Taylor has managed to transform into one of the
holy knights, so they should be safe out on their own, so long as they
are together.”

“Mathias wouldn’t leave Taylor alone, sir,” Jeremy said.
He was hardly standing at attention, but it was strange hearing the

The Half-Breed Angel

23

other man calling him sir. He was the new commander, but that part
was going to take some getting used to, especially since Jeremy was
much older than Kale was.

He nodded anyway, pretending that he hadn’t been thrown off by

the sign of respect, and then he half turned to leave the sitting room.
He had been a mortal man not very many years ago, well, teenager,
but pretty close. He knew well enough when a couple was about to
snuggle up and fall asleep on their couch instead of in their bed, and
he wanted to give them some privacy for that.

“Good night. I will remain aware for the night in case the little

demons return.”

Dante appeared the most relieved about that as he rubbed one of

his eyes with the heel of his palm. “Thank you.”

Kale nodded and then went back upstairs. A quick check into

John’s room and Kale could hear the snoring. It was hardly loud, but
there was no way his commander, or rather former commander, was
faking such a noise.

There was no sign of the demons, and Kale could not feel their

presence. He took his time to smile at John’s sleeping form and then
noticed the tiny goose bumps that were rising all up and down his
arms.

It was hardly cold in here, but John was not used to being a

mortal, and he was not aware that the blankets were there for him for
a reason.

Kale shook his head and moved to the side of the bed. He pulled

up the quilt from where it had been tucked under the mattress and
draped it over the other man. He would not turn out the lights,
however, knowing perfectly well why John had left them on.

He wanted to stay, to perhaps sit on the side of the bed and allow

himself to be as close as possible now that John was not awake and
able to cast him from the room.

Kale might be the commander now, but he would still respect the

other man’s wishes if he did not want Kale in the room.

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Jacks

Then he caught sight of a dark figure standing in the driveway

through John’s window.

His hand immediately went to the sword at his hip, but he didn’t

draw it. He looked over at John, who still slept soundly as though
there was not some strange individual standing out there, watching
them.

Kale’s first thought was to imagine some kind of spell had been

cast to keep John asleep, but then he reminded himself that the man
was mortal. Most mortals would still be able to sense the danger of
evil eyes watching them, but the figure outside was hardly standing
over his bed.

Maybe whoever it was meant no harm as well.
It took only the smallest amount of energy for Kale to bring

himself onto the other side of the wall and land quietly on his feet on
the paved driveway. The second his feet touched the ground, he
smiled with relief as his senses picked up on the identity of the
stranger.

“Lana, what are you…Where have you been?” Kale asked,

walking forward and holding his arms out to embrace the woman.

She allowed herself to be enveloped into Kale’s arms without

fuss, but her returning squeeze was hardly noticeable.

Kale could not recall much of what had happened after he had

been poisoned with demon corruption, but he knew that she had
vanished shortly after the team had left Purgatory without Daren.

“Are you well?” he asked, pulling away to better see her in the

darkness but keeping his hands on her shoulders lest she disappear
once more. “We’ve all been worried for you.”

“I doubt that very much,” Lana said.
Kale sighed. He barely knew her. She was a recent addition to the

team, but it was clear to him now that, in the short time she had been
with them, there were some feelings for Daren that he as well as the
others had missed. She was clearly in mourning now that the man was
dead, and Kale did not dare ask her if Daren had ever returned her

The Half-Breed Angel

25

affections. That was not his business.

“You should come inside. Despite what you think, we have been

worried. Luke asked for you, as did John.”

In the darkness, even Kale could see the way her dark eyes

flashed. She actually bared her teeth to him, like she might bite him.
“What do I care for either of them? Luke should have been the one to
die, not Daren. If Daren hadn’t taken that hit for him…And you! You
nearly ended up the same way, sacrificing yourself for a man who led
us all into Purgatory to die.”

Kale was so taken aback by the sharpness of her voice and words

that he actually fell back a step. “We went there for a reason, Lana.
You saw what was there. Annabel could have used all those souls to
feed her generals.”

“But the generals are now knights, so there was no purpose for

any of us to be there.”

Kale felt his sympathy for her pain draining out of him at a quick

rate. He was a soldier, and a loyal one. John might no longer be his
commanding officer, but he would never think of speaking about him
with a tenth of the venom that Lana was using, even if she felt she had
the right.

“Even without the generals, those souls could have been brought

into Hell instead of being put in their proper place. We had to free
them. You are a soldier. You know that.”

“It’s all well and good for you to defend him, but John is not dead,

Daren is.”

Kale crossed his arms, if only to keep himself from putting his

hand back on the handle of his sword on reflex. He was suddenly
sensing a greater danger here than he originally thought there was, but
he wanted to give her the benefit of the doubt. He did not want it to be
true, and he did not want to alert her that he was suspicious of her.

“Daren was not killed for nothing. We succeeded, the generals are

of no threat and are now knights who will fight with us when Hell
launches another attack.”

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Jacks

“Which they have not done in hundreds of years.”
“It will come eventually. It always does,” Kale said flatly. It was

true, he hadn’t been around during the last great battle between
Heaven and Hell, which apparently was the cause for the Great
Plague on Earth, and there was the chance that he could be killed in
some smaller battle before another war like that could break out, but
that did not matter.

Keep vigilant. Those were the words that John had drilled into

him when Kale first came to Heaven and decided to be a soldier. They
might very well have prevented the next great war with what they had
done. He only wished that Lana was not grieving so much that she
wasn’t able to see that.

“Come inside. John is mortal now and has been punished enough.

You may speak with him when he wakes. I myself plan on having a
conversation with him.”

“He is mortal now because one of the knights made a favorite out

of him and brought him back, yet Daren remains dead.”

“Lana, Derek was only able to save John because he had just

vanished into the light. Derek had to catch his soul before it could
disappear forever. It’s too late for anything to be done for Daren, and
there would have been no telling if something like that would have
worked on him at the time anyway.”

When Lana put her hand on her sword and drew it, Kale had his in

his hands even before he noticed that there was no fire on her blade.

His burned as it always did in his grasp, but the fact that her sword

was bare of any light was almost as bright a beacon as any holy fire in
Heaven.

There was only one reason why an angelic sword would not burn.

“What have you done?” he demanded, his eyes popping wide as he
really looked at her for the first time.

“The knights won’t bring Daren back, so I spoke with someone

who was more willing to help.”

With that Lana lifted her sword and charged for him.

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27

Chapter Four

John woke from his sleep fully alert and shot up from his bed. He

had the sensation of hands holding him back, and he struggled and fell
over the side of the bed and onto the floor before he realized that there
were no hands and no ties keeping him down. The blanket was on
him. He didn’t recall pulling it over himself, but he pushed it away in
disgust.

Then he felt it again, that surge in energy that had woken him

from his sleep. Kale was outside. His energy was spiking, and the
sound of clanging metal and grunting made it through his window.

John ran over to see what, or who, he was fighting.
Lana. Though he was not used to seeing in the dark anymore, he

recognized her petite frame and black hair tied back in that tight
ponytail immediately. He would have thought she and Kale were
simply sparring. Lana always was a powerful soldier, despite her size,
and there was nothing friendly in the way they threw their swords at
each other. They were being downright loud about their fight. The
blast from Kale’s sword directed at Lana brought up a chunk of the
pavement in the street after she leaped out of the way.

She came back down onto him, her wings spread out and her

sword pointed down. Kale dodged the attack, leaving Lana’s sword
stuck in the paved driveway.

John had no doubt that she could pull it out on her own, but when

Kale tackled her, it left her without her weapon.

He ran from the room and down the stairs. A soldier he might no

longer be, but the instinct to be near the battle was still strong.

He ran into the sitting room first. Jeremy and Dante were there,

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Jacks

sleeping as peacefully as though there was not a small war happening
just outside of their door.

Jeremy was a former angel, but he had no power and could not

help, and John would not risk that the man be put in danger. He shook
on Dante’s shoulder instead. He was still learning his new powers, but
the demons feared him as though he had full control.

“Wake up! Knight, you are needed.” There was no response out of

him. John was not foolish enough to assume that he was simply a
heavy sleeper. He decided to take the risk and attempt to wake Jeremy
this time, and like before, there was no reaction out of either of them.

He quickly checked their breathing, assuring himself that they still

lived. It had taken some powerful demonic spell to do this to a knight
and a former angel, but that did not explain how John had woken up.

He would be taking the risk of distracting Kale when he needed to

focus the most on his battle, but John told himself that he was not
going to fight and endanger the both of them. Lana used to serve
under him. Perhaps he could get her to explain herself.

He stepped outside. The two battling angels did not even notice

his presence as they were so caught up in their brawl. Kale had Lana
pinned down, but she had her hands on his wings, and John could see
the blood that trickled through their white feathers as she dug her
fingernails in deep.

There were more craters in the street and the driveway than John

had been able to see just from his window, and yet every light in the
street was out as the residents of the area slept peacefully.

He’d had enough of this. “Lana, explain yourself!”
He stayed well within range of the door, should he need to make

an escape. He wanted to fight her, to defend Kale, but his new limits
would not allow him to, and he would not put Kale in danger to
satisfy his own ego.

They both whipped their heads over in his direction at the sudden

sound of his voice.

“Sir!” Kale yelled.

The Half-Breed Angel

29

Likely he would have made a command for John to get back in the

house had Lana not kicked him off of her.

The way she lurched to her feet, ran to her sword, and yanked it

from the ground, pulling out more concrete that fell heavily and
crumbled at her feet, told him many things about her purpose.

How she stood before him, her knees bent as though ready to

spring and her sword poised to strike, confirmed his suspicions.

“You want to kill me. May I ask why?” John asked, folding his

arms and relaxing his stance. He was hardly backed into a corner, and
he was going to remain calm if it meant discovering what brought this
on and possibly deflecting it.

“I was promised Daren’s life if I took yours.”
He was stunned, and he could not keep the emotion from showing

on his face.

Lana sneered at him. “You did not think he was worth the effort,

did you? You thought Kale was more important, more worthy to save,
so you let a good man die.”

Kale stepped closer to her, but she noticed his approach and

created some more distance. His sword was still in hand and burning
brightly, but he was not standing as though he meant to strike her
down. “Daren protected his brother with his life. There was nothing
the commander could have done to save him, even if I had not been
injured.”

“That’s a lie!” Lana snapped. “Kale could have survived the

corruption without you putting so much energy into him. You were
stronger than the lot of us. You could have saved Daren before the
light took him.”

John found himself losing patience with the woman, and he

regarded her in a different light. “You are not the strong warrior I
once thought you to be if you allowed yourself to be taken in by a
demon based on what might have been different if I had only done
something else.”

“Says the man who bargained with the same demon I did to save

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Jacks

Kale!”

“Be quiet, Lana!” Kale snapped.
She was not wrong, so Kale could only be defending John because

of the affection he held for him.

He could not allow that. “You are right, I did make a bargain, but

it was not to bring Kale back to life, and I knew well enough that such
a deal meant I was no longer fit to lead. You, on the other hand, seem
to believe that if you manage to bring Daren back, he will be the same
as he was before. Do you think he will welcome you with open arms,
knowing what you have done? Or that you will be able to return to
Heaven and your duties after this? At least I knew better than to make
those assumptions.”

Lana shrieked at him and charged. John expected it, but even then

he was almost too slow to dodge the swipe of her blade.

He still knew how to duck and roll, and he was on the grass just in

front of Dante’s house and well out of the way of her blade.

“John!” Kale was at his side in an instant and then must have

recalled that John could not be his ally in his battle and stood in front
of him.

“You will not get past me, Lana. Give up, and we’ll speak to the

council together. They can help you.”

Lana’s dark eyes actually started to glow a bright red. Her sword

burst into flame, but not in any of the pure colors that were known
throughout Heaven. It was a dark-red flame, the same color as blood,
and bright and hot as all hell, but different than the fire that came
from Taylor’s sword. It was a demonic flame. “Unless they want to
give back Daren, I don’t want to speak with them.”

“Fine,” Kale said, his voice as hard as John had ever heard it. He

stepped forward and brought his flaming sword down hard into the
grass, and the earth began to shake.

“Kale, what are you doing?” John demanded. His new mortal

body could not stand the shock waves that were passing through his
feet, and he fell onto his side. He still had the presence of mind to

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31

note that, oddly, Lana was in a similar state. She could not hold her
balance, and something was preventing her from flying away.

The earth split down from where Kale had sliced into it with his

sword, red fissures cracking toward Lana. Kale’s body glowed the
bright white color of purity, and he did not stop.

Lana screamed when she realized what was happening, but she

could not escape the banishment spell before the earth opened up
around her. John had never had to perform this task whilst on Earth,
but he’d seen other commanders doing it, back when he was still
young and did not have the power to do such things.

He never would have thought Kale would be strong enough to do

this.

Lana caught herself on the edges of the endless pit that Kale

created around her, but she was no match for the long, skinny hands
of the dead that reached for her. They grabbed at her hair, her armor,
and her wings, pulling out feathers until they had a firm enough grip
on her to bring her down with them.

Her scream was long as it diminished within the pit before

eventually it vanished. The ground continued to rumble and shake,
and several car horns blasted as they were disturbed by the
commotion, but now the earth was coming together again, the hole
closing up around the former angel it had just swallowed before it was
shut completely.

The only evidence that it had ever been there was the uneven scar

in the grass and pavement it had left behind.

Kale stopped glowing, but he did not move from his kneeling

position, and he did not rise to his feet. His body trembled with the
effort of what he’d done, and his breathing was heavy.

John rushed to him. He put his hands on the other man’s shoulders

and felt the tremors as they wracked his body.

The sirens from the cars were still sounding. Dogs were barking,

and lights in the other houses were beginning to turn on, including the
lights from Dante’s.

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Jacks

Whatever spell Lana had used was now over.
“Kale, I need to bring you inside. Come with me.”
Kale hardly seemed to hear him. John had to yank him to his feet.

Kale did not let go of the sword, and in his hands, it came easily from
the ground, its blue flame glowing brightly as John struggled to bring
them back inside. Kale was much heavier this time around than he
had been when John had carried him last.

He made it up the few steps there were and just reached the door

when it opened and Dante and Jeremy rushed out.

“Sir! John, what happened?” Jeremy asked, taking in the look of

them both, as well as the carnage that had been done to the street as
and their driveway.

“Lana. I’ll explain later. Help me before the mortals see.”

The Half-Breed Angel

33

Chapter Five

John barely managed to sleep at all that night and had only been

able to do so when exhaustion finally took him and he dozed off in
the chair next to Kale’s bed.

Thankfully, his time spent as a commanding soldier in Heaven

seemed to mean that he did not require much sleep at all, as he woke
fully rested at dawn the next morning.

By then, Mathias and Taylor had returned, and Mathias had with

him an apple from one of the trees in Heaven. Apparently he’d snuck
back in and taken it before he could be seen. The ambrosia inside of
the juice should be more than enough to wake Kale from the coma
that he seemed to have fallen into, as well as recharge his energy.

John promptly seized the thing and explained that, since he had

been the one responsible for Kale’s condition, he would be the one to
feed him.

His former men looked at him with some confusion, but he did not

care. The strange, possessive need to keep others from nursing Kale
back to health was on him, and he was not at all willing to fight it.

Oddly enough, the wish to harm Kale for what he’d done, using

up so much energy like that to banish a fallen angel straight to Hell,
conflicted with his other emotions. The latter one he understood. He
often felt the need to conk foolish soldiers on the head when they
were too brave for their own good, but never this urge to stay close
when he knew he should go away.

Well, he was unconscious, so it wasn’t like he would know that

John had been doing this.

Samael arrived in the house as John was cutting the apple into

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Jacks

small slices and feeding them to Kale, watching him carefully to
ensure that he did not choke.

“Should you be doing that?” asked the other angel.
John glared at him. “When he wakes, we will tell him it was you

feeding him the ambrosia so he does not get any ideas.”

“If such ideas give him cause to live, perhaps he should have

them,” Samael said, putting his hands behind his back and observing
John where he sat.

The only reason why John did not tell the man to go away and

mind his own affairs was because he knew his history. He knew that
Samael had lost a loved one, and even though John hadn’t been there
to see it, he could just imagine the toll it had taken on the other man
just to return to active duty without his lover.

“You are here for a reason. What do you want?” John asked.

Since, for whatever reason, the angels in this house still seemed to
look at him and refer to him with the signs of respect befitting a
commander, he would speak as one, but only until Kale woke up.

“Just to let you know that the council felt that pulse of energy that

Kale released, and they want a report on Lana.”

“They will have to wait for Kale to wake up for that last one. I’m

in no position to make any reports for them anymore.”

“No, but you should also know that they want Kale to return to

Heaven.”

“I expected as much,” John said, taking another minuscule piece

of apple and putting it between Kale’s lips.

“They wish him to remain there permanently.”
John stopped what he was doing, and he did not dare take his eyes

away from Kale’s face to look back at Samael.

He had the sudden feeling of déjà vu. He’d been in a position like

this not very long ago, feeding Kale ambrosia in bed whilst Samael
spoke to him and gave him dour news.

He told himself that his sudden fear was ridiculous. This was what

he’d wanted. “When do they expect him to return?” John put another

The Half-Breed Angel

35

bit of apple at Kale’s lips, allowing his fingers to linger there for only
a second.

“The moment he is able. Now that they believe in your story of

the generals of Hell, and the knights, they want him to return. He is
the only member of your team who has not been compromised in any
way, aside from Luke, but he refuses to leave Derek’s side. They
would prefer you, but since you are hardly able to go back without
dying, they will take him and use him for his expertise on the subject.

John snorted. Kale had no expertise on the subject. Neither did

John. None of them did. The only people who could say for certain
what the knights could and could not do with their new powers were
the knights themselves, and they hadn’t even fully come into their
abilities yet.

Still, if it was an order, it was an order. “Why not have Derek with

them to answer their questions? He is a knight. It makes no sense for
Luke to not cooperate with the council.”

“That’s why I’m telling you this. Luke suspects something. He

will not go to the council, and he will not allow Derek to go to them
either. I have been to the palace, and I can’t say I blame him. There
are more guards than ever before at the golden gates and guarding the
palace itself. From now on, I should be the one to bring Mathias any
fruits he requires from the trees as well, unless he wishes to be seen
and taken in.”

“You believe the council fears the knights?” John asked.
“Yes. They’ve always feared what they could not control.”
Like the Morning Star, which was why he’d been cast out all

those years ago, along with Samael’s lover. John could still hardly
believe the other man had told him all of that, considering how
personal it was.

The news of this certainly gave John all sorts of things to think

about. “Thank you for keeping me informed. You didn’t have to.”

“But I did. Someone needs to tell him when he wakes up,” Samael

said, looking down at Kale.

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Jacks

Kale was not in the same condition he’d been in when John had

been hiding at Samael’s house. The ambrosia was doing wonders for
him, and he would wake up soon enough.

“You can brief him yourself. He won’t be unconscious for much

longer,” John said, which was a reminder that he should probably get
to his feet and leave the room before Kale did wake up and started to
get some ideas.

“No, I’m telling you so that you can tell him, and before you get

any ideas, I’ve already instructed the others downstairs to not reveal
anything to him that you might wish to pass on.”

John glowered at the man. “Samael.”
“Do not look at me like that. You still command a great deal of

respect in this house, but I never served under you, and you are no
longer a commander. The others have no reason to obey you if you
decide to give them orders.”

“What is the purpose of this? You just told me that the council

wanted him back. What would be the reason for me to be near him
now when he will soon be taken away?”

Samael did not so much as blink. His face remained completely

neutral. “To make your peace with him before you are both lost to
each other forever.”

John flinched, but he did not look away from the other man. How

could he? “I take it you speak from experience?”

“Eric was taken so suddenly there was no time for good-byes. He

was gone before I knew there had been a sentence on him, so yes,
speaking from experience, there are things I would have liked to ask
him, or say to him, before he fell and the chance was lost to me
forever.”

John wanted to know what sort of thing Eric had done to give

cause for banishment, but considering it had been at the same time
when Lucifer had been cast out, he could only guess the worst.

Also, it was not his place to open Samael’s wounds, not when he

was doing that on his own to try to give John some measure of peace.

The Half-Breed Angel

37

“I will…take what you say into consideration,” John said, looking

back down at Kale, and was shocked to see that the man’s dark-brown
eyes were open and staring at him.

John was not looking at Samael, but he could practically hear the

smile in his voice. The dirty swine.

“Tell him yourself. I will take my leave and return with news as it

comes.”

* * * *

The sight of John above him, with the fruit of the Heavens in his

hand, obviously having been feeding it to Kale while he lay in bed,
should not have brought this swell of happiness inside of his chest.

Or within his breeches, but he would not dwell on that at the

moment. “What was Samael talking about?”

John cleared his throat and shifted, putting the small plate with the

apple slices away as Kale sat up. “He has news from the council.
They want you to return as soon as you are able.”

“Well, it’s a good thing I was injured then,” Kale said, stretching

out his back and testing the limits of his injuries. He felt completely
fine. There was no soreness from when he and Lana had been
battling. The only thing he felt was a little drained of energy.

“Kale,” John said, using that warning tone of voice that he rarely

needed since there were so few people under his command who dared
to make jokes like that around him.

“All right, all right, I’m sorry, but I won’t be leaving any time

soon. What do they want?”

John then proceeded to tell him about their fear of the knights and

how they had felt the shock of all the energy Kale had summoned just
to banish Lana.

“How did you do that, by the way?” John asked. “I don’t think

even I had the energy to open the Earth’s crust like that.”

Kale frowned, and he seemed to think about the question. “I don’t

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Jacks

know. I didn’t even realize I was doing that. I wanted to open a portal
and send her through it, but she was resisting me. So I just put more
effort into it.”

“More effort?”
“It’s the only way I can describe it,” Kale said, and then they both

got silent.

Opening portals was one thing, but to do what Kale had done

required immense strength. The Creator could do it, and so could the
original angels of Heaven. Gabriel, Michael, all of them, but for little
old him…that was something else entirely.

Kale and John knew each other well, and John knew Kale’s story.

Kale had been seventeen, and barely that, the night his father killed
him. Kale hadn’t met John when he crossed into Heaven. That hadn’t
happened until he discovered the possibility of becoming an angel and
demanded to be given the chance. He’d arrived in the training camps
with the other souls who showed potential to become more than what
they were, and John had been overseeing the new recruits. That was
where Kale first laid eyes on him.

It hadn’t been love at first sight, but Kale had been drawn to his

strength. John did not treat him like an abused teenager. None of the
instructors had, really, but everyone save for John had expected him
to fail his training and go back to the slice of Heaven that had been
given to him.

John did not. He demanded the best from Kale and was patient

when he fumbled and hard when Kale had struggled with his anger.
John taught Kale how to defend himself, and others, so that Kale
would never be a victim ever again.

He was the big brother Kale had always wanted.
Kale wasn’t entirely certain when his perception of the man had

started to change, but when he fully realized it, he decided to change
his appearance.

Kale looked different now, compared to then. As an angel, he

didn’t have to age, but as the years passed, Kale had wanted to look

The Half-Breed Angel

39

more like an adult and not like a skinny teenage boy. He’d made the
switch when he turned twenty, making himself look older than what
he was. Now he looked his age, which, if anyone was counting, was
only thirty-two.

That was nowhere near old enough for him to have learned how to

command the sort of power he did early last night. No wonder the
council wanted to speak with him.

And then they would never allow Kale to leave Heaven, at least

not for a very long time. Angels did not bother with time the way the
mortals did. John could grow old and die before Kale was given leave
to return to active duty. The thought of never being able to come
down and see his commander again put a lance in his heart.

“All I could think about was you,” he confessed. He had not

meant for his voice to sound so small and unsure, but it still caught
John’s attention.

“Me?”
“Of course you,” Kale said, looking at him and wondering why

that would be such a shock to the other man. “You’re the only reason
why I want to be here.”

“Those are not the words of a commander. You still have a

mission.”

“The three knights that we are aware of have been saved. For the

most part,” Kale added, thinking of Derek’s death. “The council
wants me to stop searching for any possible others and educate them
on what you have been saying all along. I don’t think I’m out of order
in admitting that I would prefer to be here.”

John seemed to be biting the inside of his cheek. He was clearly

struggling with something, and Kale knew what it was. He sighed and
stood up, in front of John, close enough to feel his body heat.

“You said you weren’t going to deny me. Was that a lie?”
“Of course not. Not at the time,” John confessed, then he

hardened his eyes. “I cannot have you fall from Grace for me. You are
needed, my time has come and gone. I cannot follow you into

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Heaven, and you cannot stay on Earth forever.”

“Mathias does pretty well, and he still has his wings,” Kale

pointed out. He was in no mood to be encouraging this new attitude of
John’s. He did not want the other man to avoid him.

“Mathias has the protection of one of the knights. You do not.”
“John.”
“I fucked Annabel.”
The harsh words out of John’s mouth startled Kale so much that

he stepped back and nearly fell on his ass on the bed. “You…”

“Yes. That was part of the bargain we had made. She did not

merely want me for her servant, she wanted me as her lover. That was
the price I had to pay to cure you of the corruption.”

The idea that John had been forced to do something like that with

a demon he hated made Kale want to be sick. The fact that he’d done
it for Kale heaped guilt on him that he knew he shouldn’t feel.

And that John obviously thought Kale should hate him for his

actions grated on Kale’s nerves.

“There,” John said, nodding as though he’d proved his point. The

stupid idiot. “Now you understand. You should return to the others.
Tell them about the council and make your preparations to go.”

Kale’s first instinct was to hit the man for being a complete fool,

but he had to remind himself to hold back. Not only had John been
born an angel and was completely unaware of how relationships
worked, but if Kale struck him, he might very well kill him in his new
mortal form.

Kale did the only thing he could think of doing. He reached out

and wrapped his fingers around John’s throat, quickly before he could
cry out for help, and then he spun him around and pinned him against
the wall.

He had to soften his grip just enough to allow the man to breathe.
“Want to kill me now? For betraying your love?”
Kale wished he knew what to do. For all of John’s inexperience

with relationships, Kale wasn’t much better. He’d died at seventeen,

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41

for God’s sake, and it wasn’t exactly easy to date considering his
home life.

Still, he knew better, and he was going to make sure that John did,

too. “That bitch has nothing to do with us,” Kale said through his
teeth. “And if you think for one second that something she made you
do to try to save me will make me love you any less, you’re out of
your fucking mind.”

They were so close to each other now that their noses were

touching, but there weren’t any of the signs from romance novels that
one would tend to expect at this point. They were both angry and
sneering at each other.

“I betrayed you. I can no longer give you all of myself.”
“Give me…? You think I want you to be a virgin?”
“Is this not preferred to mortals? You were once a mortal,” John

said, sounding less angry but still very defensive.

“A hundred years ago it might’ve been preferred, not now, and

definitely not in my time. John.” Kale removed his hands from John’s
throat and let them slide up his jaw and behind his head. Kale loved
the feel of the short yet soft hairs that John never let grow out too
long. “She can only take from you what you let her. You’re still
whole. There’s nothing wrong with you just because you―”

“Made a bargain with a demon?”
“I don’t care what you did. I would bargain with her in a second if

she was able to give you back to me,” Kale said, pressing his lips to
John’s, and then he put one arm around his shoulders, pulling him
closer. “I don’t care.”

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Chapter Six

John told himself that Kale was only doing these things because

he didn’t know any better. He was still young, for an angel and in the
mortal sense, he supposed, what with how long they tended to live
these days.

Kale was still clinging to the hope that somehow he would be able

to keep them together and that nothing could tear them apart. He was
in love and in lust, and he did not know how to resist either of them.

To be perfectly fair, John didn’t either, but he didn’t want Kale

knowing that. He was going to have to sit him down with Samael so
that they could talk about the impossibility of what they were doing.
If anyone could get Kale to see reason, it was Samael. Jeremy,
Mathias, and Luke had somehow come out lucky, but those situations
were practically miraculous. Not everyone got a happy ending,
especially not when the council had made up their mind about
something.

Despite those grim thoughts, John could not bring himself to pull

away from the soft lips that kissed and caressed his mouth, slowly and
carefully. Gently. These were not the kisses that Annabel had given
him, if those rough, biting things could even be called kisses.

There was no tongue, no demanding or taking, just this easy and

wonderful experience that he never wanted to end. He was completely
caught off guard by the romance of it. He hadn’t been expecting this
at all.

Maybe, for that reason alone, he would allow himself this. Just for

a moment. He would not give Kale false hopes, however.

“This does not mean we can stay together,” John said, oddly out

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43

of breath. He was suddenly aware of the sound of his heart thumping
in his ear.

Kale nodded. “I know,” he said, and he pressed his lips to John’s

once more, and this time he did use his teeth.

Once again John found himself comparing Kale’s nips to

Annabel’s. She had bitten him with the intent of causing pain and
breaking the skin. Kale’s teeth pressed down on John’s bottom lip, but
he did not bite down hard. If anything, his teeth only stimulated
John’s experience when he suckled on his lip, and John felt the fires
inside of him building higher with each new touch. For that, John
started to think of them as love bites, rather than attacking bites.

He must have learned how to do these things whilst he’d been a

mortal. John would have known if Kale had been doing this with any
of the other angels back in Heaven.

Kale grabbed him by the hips and pulled him close. The shock of

pleasure when their cocks rubbed together made him gasp, and Kale
thrust his tongue into John’s mouth.

John stopped resisting and used his tongue as well.
He put his hands into Kale’s hair and pulled him as close as he

could. He could not resist. Not now. Let him at least have this before
they were separated forever. Those few kisses they had shared at
Samael’s house were nowhere near enough to satisfy him.

John wanted to take some of the control in this kiss, and when he

pushed his tongue back against Kale’s, he was somewhat surprised
when the other man relented almost immediately.

His moan of approval when John put his hands on Kale’s ass only

served to jolt his cock within his jeans, and he nearly came.

This was nice. He would do this with Kale. He wanted the other

man, he’d desired him for so long, and now he was going to have him.

He pushed Kale down on the bed, and John fell on top of him.

They barely took the time to separate their mouths when their teeth
came together, but their hips remained firmly in place as they moved
against each other, grinding and humping quickly, trying to bring

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each other to the pinnacle of pleasure.

Kale thrashed beneath him, and he squeezed his eyes shut as he

gripped John’s waist and pulled him closer. “Fuck. John, oh!”

John wanted to say something to him. He wanted to tell Kale how

handsome he was like this, how he had longed for him for what
seemed like a small eternity, and how he yearned for him now.

He said none of those things and instead watched as Kale’s face

twisted in pleasure, his mouth opening just enough for John to catch
sight of his pink tongue as he gasped and grunted.

John wanted to be inside of him. He did not want either of them to

come like this, not until they had the chance to really come together.
He abruptly stopped moving his hips and lifted himself off of the
other man.

“What are you doing?” Kale asked, his voice stricken and nearly

panicked until he saw the way John was pulling at his clothing.

“I cannot use my energy to get these off. Take your clothes off,”

he ordered.

Kale, used to following John’s commands instead of giving them,

did as he was told immediately, and in a brief flash, he was naked.

Then he put his hands on John’s, stalling him as he struggled with

his belt.

Kale smiled at him. “It’s better if you let someone help you with

this.”

Again, John had to assume that Kale knew such things from his

time as a mortal. He’d been young when he had died, but he had also
gone through his fair share of experiences.

John trusted him and removed his trembling hands from his belt to

put himself into Kale’s more capable ones.

The other man kept a steady grip on him, but his deep brown eyes

continued to look up at John, as though searching for approval as he
undid the belt and popped open the button beneath it.

It was only when he pulled down the zipper and heard the sound

of the metal teeth slowly pulling apart that John’s heart rate started to

The Half-Breed Angel

45

go up, and with the extra space his swelling cock suddenly had, his
face became warm. Almost unbearably so.

Kale was at eye level with his aching prick, or he would be when

he pulled it out of his pants. At the moment, they were bulging, giving
proof to the other man of his arousal for him, and John felt oddly
embarrassed.

He had become aroused for Annabel, but that had only been

because he had to if he wanted their bargain to take effect. This was
entirely different. It was of his own doing. There was nothing here for
him to blame for his body’s reaction. He wanted Kale, and now the
other man knew it without any doubts.

“I’m going to touch you now. Can I?” Kale asked, his fingers

dipping under the waist of John’s jeans.

He had to swallow hard at those words, and it was nearly painful

for him to do so. “Yes.”

Kale pulled his jeans down, along with the boxers he’d been

given, and John was exposed to him.

Kale looked down at his prick, and John noted the way his eyes

seemed to light up at the sight of him. He was eager, and John had no
idea of what was expected of him.

Kale eased his mind of that worry when he placed his warm hand

around the base of his dick. John’s hips jumped, almost as if they had
a mind of their own, and he released a breathy gasp.

“You’re going to feel so good after this,” Kale promised, then he

opened his mouth and placed his lips around the head of his cock.

John would have told him not to do that, had the sudden moan

forcing its way out of his throat not take control of him.

Annabel had done this to him, and at the time he thought it a filthy

sort of act and had been disgusted with her for doing it and with
himself for enjoying it.

Again, it was different because it was Kale. He was taking his

time, keeping his eyes on John’s face, and despite the similar position,
there was something not quite as lewd about this while Kale did it.

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Jacks

He’d wanted to be inside of the other man but hadn’t thought it

would be like this, and he found himself reaching down to take Kale’s
black hair into his fists, not to pull him away, but to keep him close.

“Don’t stop doing that,” John said when he finally regained

control of his voice. He had to reach one hand out behind him to take
hold of the bedsheets and grip them tightly, keeping himself from
falling to his back. He wanted to watch Kale bob up and down on his
cock for as long as he could. “Don’t you dare stop doing that.”

He was able to see the little satisfied smile the man managed to

make, though how he was able to do that with his swollen lips
otherwise occupied, John did not know. He hardly cared either as his
balls became tight and the sudden surging of his orgasm passed
through him.

“Kale, stop! I’m―!”
His warning came much too late as he was already spilling

himself between Kale’s lips and into his mouth. He was shocked
when Kale did not attempt to pull away or act disgusted when John
came into his mouth. He swallowed it down and continued to suckle
on him, taking every drop of him until there was nothing John could
give anymore.

Kale pulled his mouth away, and that bright smile that John

adored so well was on his mouth. His lips were dark with what he had
just done, and John wanted to kiss him all over again.

“Good Lord, that was…” John trailed off as he tried to think of a

suitable word to describe what Kale had just done to him.

“Utterly fantastic is a good way to put it if you want,” Kale said,

wiggling his eyebrows as he attempted to help John choose his words.

John had seen Kale acting playful with the other recruits back at

camp, but he had never been this way with him. John liked it. There
was a certain intimacy to smiling and joking after being pleasured.

He swatted the man on the shoulder for having such an ego,

though he continued to smile about it so that Kale would know that
he, too, was having fun. “Do not get so full of yourself. I will have to

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47

take some time to recover from that, however.”

“I know,” Kale said, resting his chin in John’s lap, that same smile

on his face as he stared up at him.

“Do you not want me to return the favor?” John asked when Kale

didn’t make any other move.

“Not if you don’t want to. I can wait until you’re ready.”
It occurred to John just why Kale was being so patient with him,

even when he must be suffering from the same need that John had
been only seconds ago.

He shook his head, reached down, and pulled Kale to sit on the

bed. John valued himself as a quick learner. He had to be to get to the
position of commander, and so he placed himself on his knees before
Kale and settled himself between the man’s legs, keeping the position
similar to what Kale had done.

“You don’t have to if you don’t want to,” Kale said.
Now that John was at eye level with his swollen prick, the head

leaking small drops of cum and the base a painful color, John thought
it would only be cruel of him to deny the man this.

“I want to. I am curious about it.”
“Curious?”
“Yes,” John said, and he put his hand around the base of Kale’s

prick, exactly as Kale had done to him.

Kale bit his lips together, and his eyes fell to half-mast. A shudder

passed through him, and John would be lying if he did not admit that
he delighted in the reaction. It spurred him on, made him eager to put
his mouth around Kale’s prick the way Kale had done to him.

He was also eager to taste the small white drop that was forming

within the slit of his dick. He reached his tongue out to do just that.
He didn’t particularly like the taste, but he definitely enjoyed the way
Kale fell back on the bed and smothered his face with a pillow to hold
back his moaning.

John smiled, and he took in a deep breath, since he was fairly

certain he would have trouble breathing when he did this. He wet his

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Jacks

lips and placed them around the head of Kale’s prick and then sank
down.

“Oh, God!” Kale said. He must have removed the pillow for his

voice to be so clear.

John looked up at him, noting the blush on his face, the way his

mouth was still swollen and a little parted as he panted. John was
doing this to him. He now understood what the appeal was to this. It
was empowering, knowing that, despite his weak new mortal body, he
could still do this to the other man, make him melt and tremble.

He thought back to what Kale had been doing to him, and John

tightened his lips, moving up to the head, paying special attention to
the strip of flesh just on the underside of it, and then he moved back
down. He bobbed his head back and forth like that and found that he
could breathe just fine so long as he remained in control of himself
and focused on his task.

“John, fuck, I love you,” Kale said, and he ran his fingers through

John’s hair. And I you, John thought, but he could never voice those
words. It would only make it harder for the other man when he finally
decided to answer the council’s summons and go back to Heaven,
where he belonged.

John sucked him harder, and he recalled how pleasant it felt to

have his balls touched and fondled during this activity, so he reached
down and found Kale’s, making sure to be gentle with them as he
massaged them.

That was enough for the other man as he gasped and arched his

back, coming into John’s mouth.

The sudden shooting of thick, creamy liquid into his mouth had

been a shock, and John was stupidly proud of himself that he’d
managed to swallow it all without choking. He licked Kale clean, just
as Kale had done to him, before he pulled his mouth away from
Kale’s wet and limp dick.

The sight of him, pliant and gasping for breath on the bed, brought

pleasurable sizzles to John’s cock, and he was half-hard again

The Half-Breed Angel

49

already.

Good. This was good. He was glad to be able to do this with Kale,

and glad that Annabel hadn’t managed to break him or ruin this for
him.

He put his knee up onto the bed and climbed up Kale’s body, one

leg on either side of him. Kale smiled at him as he lazily ran his
fingers down John’s ribs.

He had to clear his throat here. “I hate to confess that I don’t know

what to do, now.”

“I can help with that,” Kale said. Though John should not have

been able to feel it, he again sensed when Kale summoned some of
his energy, and then it vanished. He stared at the man for a few
seconds, noting that there was no change in him. He hadn’t
summoned his armor or clothing back on, and his sword was nowhere
that he could see within the room.

“What did you do?” John asked.
Kale turned his head up and reached for something near the

pillows. He brought his hand down and held a small clay jar. He
pulled the lid off, and John saw the thick cream inside.

“We’re going to use this. You’re going to have to prepare me and

then put it on your cock.”

John took hold of the jar and sniffed the contents. It was

unscented, and when he dipped his fingers inside it left them slick. “I
would have thought it would be better for you to use your energy to
put this on yourself,” he said, having an idea of what Kale meant by
preparation, and not altogether certain he would like it.

“Trust me on this,” Kale said, that same smile on his face that

made John want to obey his every command. “It’s more personal.
You’ll like doing it this way.”

John smiled back at him, eager to take up the challenge that Kale

had given. “Very well, then. Tell me what to do.”

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Chapter Seven

Nothing pleased Kale more than the eager way John followed his

orders. He coated his fingers in the cream Kale had summoned, and
now he was busy fucking Kale’s ass with his fingers. It was like when
he’d blown him all over again. He was eager to watch Kale’s face and
see every reaction that he managed to pull out of him.

He really was a fast learner, and despite being a commander for so

long, he was excellent at taking Kale’s orders and suggestions.

Kale knew what John was doing. John meant for this to be their

good-bye, something for the both of them to hold close when Kale
was finally summoned back to Heaven. Even now he could feel the
orders of the council pressing down on him, urging him to abandon
what he was doing and return to his post.

No. He would stay here. He’d decided he would become John’s

guardian, and he meant it. Even if the council banished him, he would
not leave the man’s side. This was not to be their last time together.

Kale would not be able to handle it if he could never feel those

talented fingers playing with his prostate ever again. Even so soon
after John had brought him off with his mouth, Kale already felt
himself on the brink, but if he came one more time he was not
confident in his ability to become hard again.

Kale hadn’t had sex with anyone since before he’d been killed,

which was a long time, but as an angel he’d never had a sex drive.
Not until after he’d kissed John for the first time and realized that he
felt more than just romantic love for him.

Despite all of those years of going without, and then the rest of the

years he’d spent yearning for the man above him, he didn’t want to

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51

take any chances that his body would no longer be able to perform.

“John, I’m ready. Do it,” he said, reaching down and grabbing at

the base of his cock, trying his best to ward off his approaching
orgasm for just a little while longer.

John was careful when he pulled his fingers from Kale’s asshole,

and he nudged Kale’s legs apart just a little more so that he could
kneel between them.

“This looks like it will hurt,” John said.
Kale snorted a laugh. John was big, but he knew better than to

think the man was stroking his own ego, even if it did sound kind of
funny. “Just go slow at first and put a little more of the cream on your
cock to help ease the way.”

John did as he was told, applying more of the cream Kale had

summoned onto his prick, and then for good measure, massaged a
little more around the ring of Kale’s hole.

Kale thought he might die from that stimulation alone. The cream

was cold, but then the head of John’s prick was nudging into him,
popping past Kale’s asshole and sliding inside.

It burned. Kale was kind of hoping that being an angel would

allow his body to go without the pain of it, but it was manageable.
He’d almost forgotten about how this felt, and it was definitely never
as good as this. He liked to think that was just because he was with
John.

“Does it hurt?” John asked, looking for all the world like he would

break if Kale told him that it did.

It made him wonder just what he and Annabel had been doing for

him to be so frightened of hurting Kale in bed. He put the thought out
of his mind for the moment and decided to keep his focus on what
was happening right here and now.

“It feels nice. You’re doing great,” Kale said, reaching his hands

up and touching John’s taut nipples and then tracing along the firm
lines of his chest. “You feel so good inside of me,” Kale said, and
John hadn’t even touched his prostate yet.

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Jacks

Then he did, and Kale’s entire body reacted. He bent his legs and

hooked his feet around John’s thighs just as he reached down and
gripped his ass, pulling him closer and encouraging him to move
harder.

“Like that,” Kale moaned, and then he threw his head back and

could say nothing else as he felt John’s cock pushing and pulling in
and out of him. The feel of John moving against him, his cock trapped
between them and the sheets against his bare skin beneath him, was
nearly too much.

He waited as patiently as he could before he finally released his

dick and pulled John’s face down for another long and desperate kiss.
The touch of the man’s tongue against his lips was the thing that sent
Kale over the edge, and he thrust his hips against John’s as hard and
fast as he could as he cried out loud and came. His warm cum shot
over the both of their stomachs and reached almost up to their chests.
John groaned as Kale’s ass tightened around him, and then he felt the
warmth of the other man’s orgasm spurting inside of him.

John was as heavy as he looked once he stopped holding himself

up and just collapsed on top of Kale. His breath was warm against
Kale’s neck, and his skin was hot and a little wet with sweat.

Kale wouldn’t have had it any other way.
He was still in the right frame of mind to notice the way John

pressed his lips against the hollow of Kale’s neck, right before he
lifted himself up enough to look down at him. “I take it that was to
your satisfaction?”

“Very much so,” Kale said, and because he couldn’t resist, he

reached up and let his fingers pass through John’s short hair. He was
growing some beard stubble out now, too. He looked rather dashing
like that, and Kale hoped he would keep his face trimmed to stay like
that, but without actually shaving it off completely.

“There’s something I should tell you,” Kale said, thinking now

was the best time to confess to the personal mission he’d signed
himself up for, and just why that meant he would not be answering

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53

the summons from the council.

A familiar and feminine voice answered him back from across the

room. “Oh yes, I would like to hear of this thing you wish to tell as
well.”

Kale and John both sat up quickly and separated from each other

as they stood, naked, their training coming back to them in this time
of need, even to John, who could no longer fight the demons.

It was not Lana. There was no way she would have been able to

get out of Hell so soon on her own after Kale had banished her.
Annabel stood in their bedroom, her arms folded over her large chest,
and she glared down at the both of them, as though she’d been
wronged somehow.

He supposed she had, in some roundabout way, but she was a

demon and an absolute bitch that Kale had no sympathy for, so he did
not mind it in the least if he’d stolen her prize away from her.

“What do you want, Annabel?” John demanded, quickly finding

the jeans that had been discarded on the floor and shrugging into
them. Kale only had to will his armor back on, which was slightly
uncomfortable now that he had lube and other fluids still between his
legs, but he stood in front of John whilst the man quickly made
himself decent, wiping down his chest with a bit of tissue from the
nightstand. Kale wished he’d thought to do that but decided to not use
any more energy, even for that small task, just in case he would need
it.

When John finished dressing, Kale still did not move out of the

way. He didn’t want Annabel looking at him at all.

“I came back to take what’s mine,” Annabel said, glaring at John.
Now Kale summoned his sword, and the blue flame blared bright

and hot as he stepped forward. “I hope you came ready to fight for
him. I won’t let you take him.”

“No fighting,” Annabel said, her eyes still narrowed and angry.
“Why? Because I already sent Lana running back to you?” Kale

asked, glaring back at her.

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Jacks

“And you have proven that you have a lot of power in doing so,

but don’t preen too much, sweetheart. There’s no way you have
enough energy left after doing something like that to deal with me.”

“I have enough left to make your life miserable,” Kale promised,

and the flames of his sword blazed brighter in his hand.

Only the first grasp of John’s hand on his shoulder pulled him out

of his thoughts of revenge and battle.

He looked over his shoulder at the other man. John was no longer

his commander, but years of taking orders, and of silently
understanding each and every look that had to be passed between
them when stealth was key, let Kale know exactly what the other man
wanted.

He sheathed his sword and let John stand beside him, as though

they were still equals on the battlefield.

“Annabel, we have been through this. You were the one to break

our bargain when my sword struck down on Luke. I am free from my
obligation. The corruption would still be within me if I wasn’t.”

“I don’t care. You cheated somehow,” Annabel said, her long,

ropelike tail swishing angrily behind her.

Kale knew perfectly well that the arrowhead spike at the end of

that tail was as good a weapon as any sword or whip, and he watched
its movements carefully should she attempt to attack them with it.

“Regardless, your contract does not think so,” Kale said, unable to

resist putting in his two cents. “John is free, and he’s a mortal. You
can’t take him.”

“You can’t protect him forever,” Annabel snapped.
Did she somehow know about the summons he’d received from

the council?

Kale quickly decided that it didn’t matter what she knew. He was

going to protect John from her for as long as was needed. “I will
protect him until he dies of old age if that’s what it takes.”

“Kale,” John said, a question and a warning in his voice.
“No, John,” Kale said. “I’m taking the position as your guardian. I

The Half-Breed Angel

55

won’t return to Heaven.”

Even from his peripheral vision, he noted the way John’s body

went tight and the way his fists clenched.

Kale expected the reaction would not be positive, but not

something so negative as that.

Even Annabel laughed at him, and her red tail stopped swishing

around behind her. “An angel bending the rules to serve his own
purpose? This just keeps on happening. I must be the luckiest girl in
the world.” Annabel went so far as to clap her hands and rub them
together, like she was hatching a devious plot of some kind.

“I’m not selling my soul, and I’m not bargaining with you,

Annabel,” Kale snapped, conscious of the fact that John had done one
of those things, and Lana the other.

Which reminded him. “What did you do with Lana?”
She waved her hand, as though they were speaking of nothing of

much importance. “She failed her mission, and you sent her to Hell.
There was hardly anything I could have done for her.”

Kale’s face felt suddenly cold. “You let the demons take her?”
“No, you sent her to the demons,” Annabel said, pointing one of

her long red fingernails at him. “I made a bargain with her that I
intended to keep once she brought John back to me. The fact that she
failed means that I no longer have to stick my neck out for her.”

“Not that you ever did anyway,” John said, his voice grim, fists

still clenched.

“Well, not the point. The demons found their chew toy in a former

angel, and they’re having too much fun to give her up to me just
because I ask them to.”

“You never even tried!” Kale yelled.
“She sealed her fate. It’s not my fault she was dumb enough to

take a chance like that.”

“And yet here you are, in this house, demanding that I return to

you,” John said, crossing his arms and getting into the stance that
Kale knew only too well. He was sizing her up, trying to determine

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what her possible motive for being here could be. “Is your plan to
have me return to you in exchange for Lana?”

Kale tensed. He wanted to reach his hand out and take hold of

John’s. He wanted to thread their fingers together and squeeze tightly
to let the man know that he had no intention of letting him go through
with a trade like that.

Selfish, yes, but perhaps Annabel was right in this one instance.

Lana had made her choice. Kale was going to make sure she lived
with it instead of allowing John to take her punishment.

“No. I already told you that the demons won’t let me take away

their new pet. She’s probably not even anything resembling what she
used to be at this point.”

Kale’s gut clenched at that, and he had to fight to keep from biting

the inside of his cheek or his lower lip. He didn’t want to show her
that he felt guilty.

“What do you want then?” John asked.
“I want you, of course, but I would also like to make a bargain if

that won’t be possible.”

“We’ll not bargain with you,” Kale said.
Annabel opened her mouth as though to reply to his snappish

response when the sound of hard footsteps sounded on the other side
of the door. It was thrown open, revealing Dante, Jeremy, Taylor, and
Mathias.

The four of them stumbled into the room. Likely they were only

so clumsy because none of them bothered to take their eyes away
from Annabel.

“What’s she doing here? I didn’t feel her come in,” Mathias said,

watching Annabel with narrowed eyes.

No one glared at her harder than Dante, who looked as though he

was about to shift into the holy form of his knight right then and there.
It would be impressive to see, considering he hadn’t yet learned how
to do it.

Kale recalled the way Annabel had tortured Jeremy until Dante

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57

went into Hell with her. It would be a struggle to convince him not to
attack her just yet.

“We didn’t feel her come in either,” Kale said and then looked

back at Annabel. “Why not?”

Annabel actually appeared insulted that Kale would question her

on this. “I can get in and out of places without you knowing it. I’m
not some clunky demon that doesn’t know how to control itself.”

“Kale has just suffered from a loss of energy, but I would have

sensed it when you arrived,” Mathias said. His hand rested on the
handle of his sword, but he did not draw it from its sheath.

“You didn’t notice it the last time I got into that little house of

yours and watched Taylor bend you over the kitchen table.”

A splash of red colored Mathias’s face. Whether it was from rage

or humiliation, Kale couldn’t say by his expression.

“Invisibility spells are easy enough to use, and then it’s just a

matter of getting into the house when all the nice little knights and
angels are distracted. The only thing you all don’t understand is that
the reason why I rank so much higher than other demons in Hell isn’t
necessarily because I’m more powerful than they are. I’m just a lot
smarter.”

“Noted. Get out,” Kale said.
“Here’s what I propose to the lot of you,” Annabel said, sending

Kale a glare but otherwise ignoring him. “I have lost the chance to
bring in three of the four knights that we are aware of. Lucifer is
pissed off at me, and there’s no way I want to be leashed to his throne
and made into a footstool again.”

“So what do you want?” Jeremy asked.
Kale wished he wasn’t in the room. Like John, he was now a

mortal and held no power to fight back with should Annabel attack
him or try to have him possessed. The only reason why he did not
order the man gone was because he did not want to seem like his team
was divided in front of the enemy, even though it was as divided as it
could get.

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“I want for someone to go to the council and grant me immunity. I

want my freedom from Hell without worry that some heroic angel is
going to see me on Earth and try to smite me or something.”

“The council would never offer you that,” Kale said. “They’ve

never offered it to anyone.”

Immunity to a demon? It was absolute troll shit. The very thing

didn’t exist as far as Kale was aware. Some demons made bargains
with the angels, for information, services, or items, but that was only
after they had been captured and questioned, and in return the only
thing they gained was their freedom from the angels who held them,
with the added threat of being attacked by their own kind for turning
traitor.

“You said three of the four knights. What do you know?” John

asked.

Kale clenched his fists and noted the confusion in the eyes of the

others as well. He couldn’t believe this. He didn’t want to think that
John of all people would consider something like this.

“That’s right, the demon you took and tortured only knew about

three of them, so that’s what he told you.”

“But there’s four?” Kale asked.
They had all suspected there would be more than three, and Luke

had later confirmed there would be others after he’d spoken to a
demon, but to know there was another one out there right now…

No, he would treat this information suspiciously. Annabel wanted

something, but she was still a demon, and her information could not
be trusted.

“She could be lying to get us to do her dirty work,” Jeremy said,

his back straight as he looked over Annabel, as though trying to
determine whether or not she was hiding daggers in that skintight,
one-piece red costume she seemed to like so much.

Annabel stuck her tongue out at him and then put her nose in the

air. “You’re just biased because I ripped your wings out of your
back.”

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59

Dante stepped forward at that. Kale thrust his arm out to keep the

stupid man from charging at a powerful demon.

Dante was not a soldier, but he recognized the order to stop,

thankfully.

“The information I have is accurate. I was given the job of

watching the three generals after Lucifer discovered them. I was
supposed to supervise their decent into our side, but because of you
all, that didn’t exactly work out. Lucifer had the same idea that you all
had, that there could be more. Possibly. So he’s been searching for
other mortals who fit the criteria.”

“A mortal with half-demon blood,” Mathias said.
“Exactly.”
“But, wait, aren’t you a werewolf? And that other guy, Derek, he

was a vampire. You’re still considered mortal?” Dante asked, looking
at Taylor.

Taylor only shrugged. “Me for sure, finding this out for vampires

is new for me, too, though.”

“Vampires and werewolves have souls and can still grow old and

die,” John said without looking back at them. He would not take his
eyes away from Annabel. “They walk only on Earth, and in death
they are not restricted by the rules they had to follow in life. That is
enough to consider them mortal. What do you know about this
supposed fourth general, Annabel?”

She narrowed her eyes at him. “That if I do not bring this one in,

Lucifer will take my head off and use it as a goblet for his wine for
the rest of eternity, and I don’t want that.”

“Have no more faith in yourself that you’ll be able to bring the

man in?” Kale teased. “Who is it?”

Annabel tapped her fingers on her folded arms as she surveyed the

lot of them. “I want a guarantee, a real one, that if I hand this
information over you can’t simply take it and use it however you see
fit without giving me something in return. Something valuable,” she
added, as though expecting that one of them might try to scam her.

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Kale certainly wouldn’t have felt any guilt for taking advantage of

her or her information, regardless of the code of conduct he was
expected to abide by.

Still, it was smart of her to cover her bases like that, even if it was

annoying.

“Tell us who the next general is, and we will see what can be

done,” John said.

Kale wanted to punch him. He was no longer a commander and

should not be offering to make deals with demons. He shouldn’t have
been offering even if he was still the commander.

Kale would take what he could work with and have a private word

with John later. “We will attempt to satisfy your demands without
giving you John,” he said. “What do you know?”

Annabel shook her head, as though she was disappointed with the

lot of them. “You really are all stupid if you can’t figure out that John
is the next general.”

“Which is just one more reason why I won’t be going with you,”

John said. “And don’t think for one second that, that information will
be enough to grant you immunity on Earth.”

Annabel lifted one shoulder. “Fine, I’ll take a replacement. If you

won’t come with me, then I’ll take your lover. I will need a guardian
to keep the other angels off my back.”

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61

Chapter Eight

John saw red. Literally. He’d never felt a rage so powerful that it

affected his vision before, but it was there. If he still had access to his
sword, he would have summoned it and beheaded the wench.

“Begone from here. Now, before I end you,” John said.
His former team had the decency to not point out that John no

longer had the power to do that.

Annabel didn’t either. Maybe it was because she still wanted

something from him. “I’ll go, but I won’t be far away. You still owe
me something for that information, and I’m holding you to the
bargain.”

Annabel vanished, but the house didn’t shake. John knew well

enough to know that she was still in the house. It was a simple
invisibility spell. John could no longer sense when she was in and out
of the house, but he was able to tell when they were alone again when
both Kale’s and Mathias’s shoulders relaxed.

Kale rounded on John about the same time he did. “What in the

hell was that about being my guardian?”

“You’re going to need one after what she just said about you.

What do you think you’re doing making deals with her again?”

“We needed the information!”
“We don’t make deals with demons! You should know better!”
Those words shouldn’t have made John feel like he was being

punched in the stomach, considering they were true. Perhaps it was
just because they had come from Kale. Kale had been the reason, the
only reason, why John had made such a deal the first time. John had
lost everything for the sake of this mission. If helping Annabel only a

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little would end all of this, then he would do it, without sacrificing
himself or Kale.

He knew the man well enough to read that he regretted his words

by his eyes and his expression, but John did not want his regret. He
was still angry.

“John.”
“Forget it. We need to figure out how to deal with this, so just…”

John clenched his teeth, not knowing how he wanted to tell the man
that he didn’t want him to apologize. He didn’t want to have a
conversation like this in front of his former squad.

“Maybe we should take this downstairs,” Dante said, and again,

John was able to tell quite easily by the way the man shifted his feet
and looked around the room that he was uncomfortable being in here.

It was his house, but he clearly could tell what John had been

doing in here with Kale only moments ago, and he didn’t wish to
remain.

John decided to put him out of his misery and followed him out of

the room. Kale used some of his energy to finish cleaning himself
now that Annabel was no longer in the house, and soon they were all
downstairs, discussing what needed to be done.

John hated it. He did not enjoy being the odd man out, being

talked about because he could no longer defend himself and was
currently the item that Annabel wanted.

More than Kale wanted him.
Kale barely looked at him the entire time they made their plans

and discussed the best way to get this new information to Samael,
Luke, and Derek.

John’s only concern was finding something to give to Annabel

that did not involve handing himself or Kale over to her to be her
personal servant.

He waited until the others dispersed and then took Kale into the

garden in the back. Dante hired someone to keep his grass green and
flowers in bloom, but that person was not here now, and so he and

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63

Kale had the place entirely to themselves.

The sun had come up long ago and was now high in the sky,

warming them. John would have liked to appreciate the sensation of
warm sun and cool breeze on his mortal skin, but there was clearly
more to be discussed here before he and Kale could continue
with…whatever strange arrangement this was.

“Talk to me. Tell me what you’re thinking about,” John said,

turning and looking at the other man as he came to stand behind him
on the deck. Kale appeared the unhappiest John had ever seen him in
the many years they had worked together.

“All right, here’s my problem. I feel like the only reason why you

made me commander was to get rid of me. I feel like you still want to
get rid of me, and clearly you don’t take me as seriously as you led
on, otherwise you would stop trying to make decisions like you were
still in charge of the team.”

John blinked. He needed a moment to take all that in. “I

apologize. I had not realized you felt so strongly about this.”

Kale’s angry expression didn’t change. “You didn’t think I

wouldn’t care when the man I love starts making deals with the
demon that nearly took you away from me to begin with?”

John took in a deep breath and struggled for patience. “I do not

want to cause you any further heartache on this subject, Kale, but you
have to know that there can be nothing more between us.”

“Stop giving me that shit!” Kale yelled.
John’s instinct to defend himself, and to not put up with that kind

of talk and tone from his soldiers, rose up within him.

He had to remind himself that Kale was no longer his soldier

before he spoke and said something that he would come to regret.
“It’s the truth, Kale. I…I love you, too. I should not admit to
something like that, but―”

“But you know that I know anyway,” Kale finished for him.
John bit the inside of his cheek. “Yes. I know that you know.”
“Then stop fighting me, John,” Kale said.

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John hardly understood how now was the time when his anger

seemed to melt away to be replaced by this desperation that was now
in his eyes.

“You were my commander. You didn’t get to that position by

sitting back and letting things happen, I get that, but you put me in
charge, and my decision is to stay, regardless of what the council says
or does. I will be your guardian.”

“And if they decide to throw you out of Heaven? Would your

decision to stay with me still be worth it then?”

Kale sized him up for what seemed like only a few seconds before

he responded. “Was your decision to sell yourself to Annabel worth
it?”

That question made John feel as though all the air had been

sucked out of his lungs, and he actually sputtered. “Of course it was. I
would do it again if it meant saving your life.”

“And that’s exactly how I feel about you. I will do whatever I

have to do to keep her from getting her hands on you, and I’m not
going to let her have me so easily just so she can get back at you for a
wrong she thinks happened to her. She’s a demon. She’s where she is
for a reason.”

“I know.”
Kale nodded. He had his hands behind his back and legs spread

just enough for him to be at ease, a position that John thought he had
only gone into out of habit, considering it was John who should be
standing that way for him.

“I want to work with you on this, John. Annabel said you’re the

next general, and maybe she’s telling the truth, or she thinks she is.
Those little demons were following you around, but you’re way past
thirty. You have to be,” he said, almost as an afterthought.

It occurred to John that Kale did not know how old he was. “I am

over thirty. I was not one of the first angels to be created, but I am
significantly older than you are.”

Kale hardly seemed to blink at that knowledge. He nodded

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65

instead. “I don’t suppose you can give me an exact number?
Something to work with?”

“I’ve never had to keep track before, so no, I have no number to

give. Just know that it is a lot.”

“Well, we can work with that then. You are definitely older than

thirty.”

“You can still go home, Kale. I appreciate your loyalty, but that

will hardly matter to you when you are no longer welcome back into
Heaven for turning your back on the council.”

“We’re done discussing this, John. I’m staying, and it’s not

entirely for you either, so don’t even think about blaming yourself for
this.”

“Oh? And what else are you staying for?” John asked, forcing

himself to not respond to the defensive tone in Kale’s voice.

“So I can finish the mission. You put everything into this, John. If

you can’t see it through, then I want to. The council—” Kale blew out
a long breath and looked away from him for a second. “This is
probably grounds to get me banished, but I have no respect for the
council, not after the way they treated you and the information you
gave to them. If it weren’t for you, then Dante, Taylor, and Derek
would all be powerful demons right now, and Hell would have a huge
advantage over us. You prevented that. Not them.”

John was horrified that such things had left Kale’s mouth, and he

was horrified with himself for liking the fact that Kale was so eager to
follow in John’s footsteps, to prove that what he’d done had meant
something.

Still, his appreciation did not sound in his voice. “Kale, take that

back right now. Say you didn’t mean it.”

“No.”
John grabbed him by the arms. He tried to shake him, but Kale

was stronger than he was now, and John could no more shake some
sense into him than he could into a brick building. “I mean it, Kale!
Take back your words!”

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“Why? Because the council might hear me and banish me?” Kale

said, his mouth twisting a little. “Good. Let them, at least then it’ll
mean I won’t have to go back.”

“You’ll die without ambrosia, you idiot!” John screamed.
He watched the way Kale’s neck seemed to go tight and how his

brown eyes shined. His voice was calm and collected, despite his
outward appearance. “I’ll die without you.”

Everything inside of John stopped. His heart squeezed, and his

lungs could no longer take in any air. His head felt thick, and his
vision blurred. “Kale.”

Kale did not let him say whatever it was he was going to say. John

didn’t even know what that was. Kale brought his face forward and
quickly kissed him three times on the mouth. The rest felt natural.
John hooked his arms over Kale’s shoulders, and Kale did the same,
and for several minutes, they stood there, holding each other.

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67

Chapter Nine

The moment was broken by the arrival of more of the little

demons that annoyed and pestered their victims. John wouldn’t have
noticed their presence had Kale not hissed and jerked, and the both of
them looked down to see the little creatures glaring up at them, and
one of them had stuck its tiny pitchfork into Kale’s ankle.

“Damned pests. They’re like biting rats,” Kale said, and then his

body glowed only slightly as he conjured up just enough energy to
destroy the demons in small puffs of black smog and orange sparks.
John wished he could still banish the things. Being stuck in this
mortal body and helpless against even the weakest of demons was
tiring, but he still took comfort in the sounds of their shrill little
screams as they died.

“We should get back in the house, before more of them come,”

John said, and because he was weak and could no longer fight it, or
hide from it, he took Kale’s hand firmly in his when the other man
nodded, and they walked side by side back indoors.

He was going to stake his claim on Kale. For however long the

man was here and his to hold, he was going to hold him. They would
both suffer for it when Kale was either forced back into Heaven or
punished and sent to the prisons that Heaven kept for just this sort of
thing.

Not all angels were banished to Earth. Kale might wish to stay

here, but that did not mean he would have the choice later on.

“What should we tell the others?” Kale asked just before entering

the sitting room where the rest of the men were waiting to be filled in.

“You are the commander. What do you suggest?” John asked.

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He noted the gleam in Kale’s eyes and was glad he’d done the

right thing at least here. He’d put Kale in charge, and it was time he
started following the man’s suggestions instead of just making some
of his own.

“Let’s go talk to them,” Kale said, squeezing his hand and leading

the way inside to where everyone else was sitting around a
rectangular coffee table with drinks on it. Many of the coffee mugs
appeared untouched and cold.

“Thought I felt a presence outside,” Mathias said, looking at Kale.

“But then it was gone. You took care of it?”

Mathias knew, it seemed.
Kale nodded. “Yeah, I banished them, but they’ll be back.”
“So how is this going to work?” Dante asked. “He’s older than

thirty. That’s what Jeremy said, so when will the demons leave him
alone if that rule doesn’t apply?”

“We’ll have to assume that they will not stop until John assumes

the form of the knight. Until then, we will have to make sure that they
do not go near him and are unable to tempt him,” Mathias added.

“Exactly,” Kale said. “Since we don’t know when that will be,

I’ve assigned myself as his guardian, but I’m sure you already know
that,” he added, and John caught the way he blushed a little when he
said it. The others had been there when Annabel made her offer.

“What do we do about Annabel?” Taylor asked. Out of everyone

in the room, he was the only one who had so far been able to make the
transformation into his knight form, and he still could not do it a
second time.

“I―we will think of something,” Kale said, catching himself.

“Until then I don’t think she will be happy to sit back and do nothing
whilst we make the plans. She will be coming back, and at the
moment, I wouldn’t mind.”

“No?” John asked, curious and wanting to hear just why Kale was

so eager to speak with the demon.

“No,” Kale said. “We need to know what it is that makes you a

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69

general. Up until now we all assumed that only people born on Earth
with demon blood had that ability. You were never a mortal until
recently. This could help us figure out what it is that makes the
generals real.”

John bit the inside of his cheek, but he had to admit that Kale was

right. They would need to call to Annabel. Lucifer might have told
her something that could help them.

He looked at the other four men in the room, and they were all

looking at him, as though he was still in charge and had a say in what
Kale did next.

He nodded, supporting Kale’s decision. “Very well. Let’s

summon her.”

* * * *

It didn’t take much to summon Annabel. Both Kale and Mathias

had been careful to make sure she wasn’t in the house after she’d
snuck in the last time, but clearly she hadn’t gone very far either. Kale
had only called out her name, said that he wanted to speak with her,
and no less than three seconds later, she appeared in the middle of the
sitting room.

She stood on top of Dante’s coffee table in her high heels and

looked down on the lot of them, her arms folded over her large breasts
and a smile on her face that suggested she was about to get a treat.

“I take it you thought about my offer? That’s very nice. I was

starting to get worried.”

“Will you get off that?” Dante snapped. “That coffee table

belonged to my grandmother.”

Fire glowed behind Annabel’s eyes, and Kale knew she would

destroy the thing in a burning mini-inferno if he didn’t step in and say
something. “Annabel, we wish to speak with you as…equals. At least
sit down on the spare chair over there.”

It was plush and leather, so she could hardly complain that they

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were mistreating her somehow.

She stuck her nose in the air and flipped her blonde hair over her

shoulders, doing as she was told and bouncing off the coffee table,
though not without dragging her heels and leaving a long scratch
down the wood.

Dante clenched his fists as Annabel then made herself comfortable

in his leather chair. She sat on it sideways, letting her knees hook over
the arm as she lounged. “Now, sweethearts, tell me what I want to
hear. I don’t have all the time in the world, despite what you all might
think.”

No, Kale imagined that she didn’t, now that she was officially

wanted dead by both the demons of Hell and the soldiers of Heaven.

Kale was going to have to set some things straight with her right

away. “You must know that we have no intention of handing John
over to you, regardless of what deal he made, which is now null and
void,” he said quickly when she opened her mouth to argue. “Or the
information you gave us. That is off the table. Also, I have pledged
myself as his guardian, so I will not be able to defend you from any
demons that attempt to take your life.”

Annabel was now sitting straight on the leather seat she had been

offered, and her red fingernails were puncturing the leather as she
glared at the lot of them. “Let me guess, you have no intention of
getting your council to offer me immunity either.”

“Why would you even want that? Even if we got the council to

give you immunity, that wouldn’t stop the demons from hunting you.”

“I’ve always been hunted whenever I came to Earth. There were

always angelic soldiers out there who wanted to put my head on a
pike. That was fine, so long as the demons were on my side. I didn’t
have to watch my back from two different angles. This will lessen the
load, which is the least you can do for me after what I’ve done for
you,” she said, glaring sharply at him.

It occurred to Kale that, out of everyone sitting in this room,

Annabel had reason to distrust and hate him the most. He had stolen

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71

something from her that she had wanted for an awfully long time. She
thought he had, anyway. John was never hers to lose.

Kale decided he had to work with her. A deal had still been made,

and the spell of making a deal with a demon, regardless of how vague
Annabel had left the terms, would not allow him to go back on his
word. He had to do something. He didn’t know what would happen to
him if he went back on his word, if he would die, forget the
information that Annabel had offered, or just feel an incessant
gnawing inside of him until he did as he promised he would do, but he
would make sure he never found out.

“I can’t be your guardian, but all of us collectively can aid you.”
“What?” Dante and Taylor snapped at the same time. Now they

were both looking at Kale as though he was the new enemy to be
dealt with. John, Mathias, and Jeremy simply appeared resigned.

“It’s the only thing we can do,” Jeremy said, putting his hand on

Dante’s arm, but that didn’t seem to calm the other man as much as
Kale would have liked.

“Jeremy is not protecting her after she ripped his wings out of his

back and threw them beside my face,” Dante said through his teeth.
He looked between Annabel and Kale, as though torn between who he
should be glaring at the most.

Annabel barely paid him any attention. “Not that I’m not grateful

for the offer,” she drawled. “But Dante is right. I made your little
soldier boy over there into a mortal. There isn’t a whole lot he could
do for me to prevent any attacking angels or demons from killing me.
Same goes for John, but I still wouldn’t mind it if you put him in
uniform and decided to make him into one of my guards,” she said
with a smile.

Kale wanted to destroy her. “No, and Jeremy won’t be able to

protect you in the traditional sense. Mathias will be able to help you
with that, and so will Taylor. Mathias still has access to his powers,
and Taylor is feared by angels and demons right now. Jeremy can try
to talk down any angels who come looking for you, hopefully to

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prevent a fight before one can get started.”

That was Kale’s hope, anyway. Jeremy had always been well

liked in all the groups he’d served with, and he was good with words
when he needed to be. He could be the diplomatic one, and the angels
would listen to him, at least out of pity for the fact that he’d had his
wings forcefully removed.

Kale just didn’t want to mention those last qualities. He didn’t

want to draw attention to them in front of Annabel, and he didn’t want
to make Jeremy feel any less like a soldier because of them.

Jeremy seemed to understand this, even without words, and he

nodded his thanks to Kale.

His soldier’s instinct hadn’t left him, it seemed.
“Does that sound acceptable to the lot of you?” Kale asked,

turning his attention back to the men in the room.

Of course, John simply had to add in his own thoughts. “Mathias,

you still have your wings and access to ambrosia. If you and Taylor
would rather not be involved in this, then there will be no hard
feelings. The same goes for you and Dante, Jeremy.”

Kale struggled for patience, took in three calming breaths, and his

anger left him.

This trust that John offered to his soldiers was exactly the reason

why his men always respected him. It was how he’d managed to get
one of his squads to follow him into Purgatory and break the orders of
the council.

John was no longer a commanding soldier, or even a soldier, but

he could still lift the spirits of the men and make them believe in a
cause, it seemed.

“I’ll do it,” Mathias said first then took the hand of his lover, and

the both of them looked each other in the eye.

Taylor sighed and sent one more distrustful glare at Annabel. “I’m

in, too,” he said.

“We’ll help whatever way we can,” Jeremy said. He and Dante

were also holding hands.

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73

Dante’s snarl toward Annabel was just as fierce as Taylor’s glare.

“If she tries anything, I’ll swear I’ll rip her apart.”

Annabel waved away his threat. “I know better than to do

anything cute, don’t you worry, sweetheart. You might still be eating
at the kiddy table as far as power goes, but you’ve still got it in there,
somewhere, and I don’t want to be the one you unleash it on once you
learn how to control it.”

Dante snorted at her, but Kale thought it was a sound plan on her

part. Kale certainly did not want to be in the path of one of the knights
should they ever lose control of themselves.

“Tell me how I came to be a candidate for a general, Annabel?”

John said. “We can work out the details later.”

Annabel smiled at him, and her smile made Kale want to step in

front of John once more and hide him from her view.

“You sure you want me telling you about this in front of your

boyfriend? He might get jealous.”

“Boyfriend?” John asked.
“She means me,” Kale said. “It’s what some people here call a

lover. What are you talking about, Annabel?” Kale asked. He really
didn’t have the patience for this.

“The reason why he fits the bill is because he’s now half demon

and half mortal.”

“That’s impossible!” Kale snapped. “Derek brought John back

himself. He wouldn’t have done that to him.”

“No, but I did. Not on purpose,” she added, putting her hands up

when Kale and Mathias reached for their swords.

“How?” Kale demanded.
John put his hand on his shoulder, but Kale barely felt it or heard

his desperate voice as he tried to convince Kale not to ask any more
questions.

“I guess it happened when I fucked and corrupted him,” Annabel

said, still smiling that evilly sweet smile at Kale. “Bet you never made
him as hard as I did.”

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It took more than three breaths before Kale was able to bring

himself under control. He wanted to kill her. He wanted the blue
flames of his sword to take her entire body and incinerate it, sending
her back to Hell to deal with the consequences of her betrayal all on
her own.

The only thing that stopped him from reacting was John’s hand.

He never moved it from Kale’s shoulder.

“Kale, she is jealous of you. That is all. Do not listen to her or her

taunts. You are the only one for me.”

John really thought Kale was worried that he might want Annabel

over him? They were going to have to talk about that, but at the
moment, his words were enough to keep Kale from killing her right
then and there.

“So, your corruption is still within him?”
“No, my control left him when he stupidly stabbed that other

angel, and I still think you did that on purpose, by the way.”

“Why would I wish to kill one of my own men?” John asked, and

for the first time, his professional mask of calm slipped away as he
narrowed his eyes at her.

“That hardly matters now, since I can’t get either of you to give

me what I want.”

“We all offered to protect you, and you agreed, Annabel,” Jeremy

said. “Now tell us what you did.”

“Well, I’m not pregnant, that’s for sure,” Annabel said, sounding

like she was really displeased about that. “But it was something that
stayed with him even after my spell was broken. Maybe you’re just
tainted because you fucked a demon, or maybe those scratches I gave
you that you healed up so nicely were already infected.”

Kale tensed up, and he felt John do the same beside him. His hand

was being held so tightly in John’s that Kale lost all feeling in it.

John had told him of the things he’d had to do with Annabel, and

of the bites and scratches he’d healed before coming to see him at
Samael’s house. Never had Kale thought that her bites or nails would

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75

contain some kind of infectious poison.

Annabel hardly seemed to mind that she was causing the both of

them a great deal of discomfort with her new revelations. “Either way,
it was enough to make you partly a demon, and I guess that was
enough. You don’t have to be born a mortal to be a general.
Apparently, generals can be made, and now you’re next in line to be
one if you don’t take my help.”

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Chapter Ten

This was going to end in disaster, John was certain of it, but what

choice did they have? He was apparently one of the fabled generals,
on the same page as Dante, Taylor, and Derek. The only difference
was that he did not follow the same rules they did. The demons could
come after him for years and years, slowly working down his resolve,
driving him mad, and waiting for the opportunity when his patience
and morals were stretched so thin that he might attack a house of
orphans and kill everyone inside before his senses returned to him,
and by then it would be too late.

“I don’t want her help any more than you do,” Kale assured him,

taking his hand and squeezing it tightly. John found he liked the
comforting act and was always more than willing to let Kale do it.
“We’ll protect her for as long as we need to, and when this is over, I’ll
speak with the council. If they say no to offering her immunity, then
it’ll hardly be our fault. We’ll have genuinely tried to keep our
bargain.”

Kale would be sincere about it, too. His deal with a demon would

not allow him to be anything but when it came time for him to speak
with the council on Annabel’s behalf. There would be no shirking of
his duties in this.

John allowed himself to tighten his fist around Kale’s hand, but he

did not look at the other man as they strolled casually through the
park that was only a few minutes’ walk from Dante’s house. They
were attempting to lure some of the stronger demons out, but that was
not his cause for worry.

“And what will you do when the council will not allow you to

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77

come back to Earth?”

He heard the sound Kale made deep in his throat. Kale also

refused to look at him. They were both pretending that this was not a
serious conversation and that the things they both feared were simply
part of an uncomfortable conversation.

“I don’t know,” Kale said, being honest with his chances at acting

out this forbidden romance of theirs for the first time since it had
started.

John was actually a little proud of him.
“Just remember that they want something from you. Likely they

will overlook this…this sudden lack of common sense once you have
fulfilled your mission and returned to them.”

“Great,” Kale said, and then he looked up at John for the first time

since they had started walking. Twenty minutes, and so far there had
been no attack from the little pestering demons or anything more
powerful.

“You know I would stay if I could, right? I’ll do everything I can

do to get back down here to you. I won’t give up until they let me
come back.”

This had been another of those things they had discussed. Kale

would have to go back, eventually. The entire purpose of making
himself John’s guardian was to defend him and defeat the forces that
wished to transform him into one of their own. Defeating the enemy
meant that John would no longer require a guardian. Kale would be
forced to go back eventually. He could not rely on others to bring him
his ambrosia for the rest of John’s life, and when that ended, well,
angels were not allowed to be in contact with the souls of Heaven
without just cause.

“I know you will, and I adore you for it. Just do not make the

same mistakes that I did. Don’t sell your soul.”

“You didn’t sell your soul to her, you made a deal. There’s a

difference,” Kale said, that stubborn frown returning to his lips.

“Well, do not do that either. I wouldn’t take back my actions, and

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this new deal we made with Annabel is bad enough, but I doubt very
much that we could be as lucky as to have you escape from a bargain
like that the same way I did.”

Kale sighed and then nodded, and John’s fears were put at ease.

Kale was intelligent and loyal. He would learn from John’s actions,
and John was confident that Kale wouldn’t be repeating them anytime
soon either.

They walked hand in hand for another five minutes. Twilight had

since vanished in favor of the darkness and stars, and the long, watery
light from the setting sun had vanished, the air becoming slightly
more chilled without its warmth, even though it was still summer.

Mathias, Dante, Taylor, and Annabel eventually came out from

within the trees where they had been following. Annabel floated in a
sitting position, her legs crossed and keeping her high heels off of the
ground with an unimpressed look on her face while the others walked
and brushed leaves and small twigs from their clothing.

“That was a waste of time,” Annabel said, and as per usual, she

looked at John and Kale, her eyes moving down to their joined hands,
and she glared before turning her eyes away, nose rising up into the
air.

“It was your idea, wench,” Mathias said, glaring back at her.
“And it was a brilliant idea,” she countered. “It’s hardly my fault

if every demon in the city can smell the angel stink of you all. They’re
just keeping away for self-preservation.”

John doubted that. Even those little round annoying demons

followed John into Dante’s house.

“Remind me again about how this is supposed to help?” Dante

asked, sending a glare of his own at Annabel. “Where the hell did you
even go?”

“Go?” Kale asked, turning his own dark, suspicious gaze onto her.
“I was searching for them. They weren’t coming out on their own,

so I thought that if I wandered a little, made my demonic presence
known, then they would feel safer to come out and confront you.”

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79

“I thought you were in hiding from the demons?” Taylor asked.
“Well, not all of them know about that yet, and the ones who do

would still show up to try to pick a fight with me. Either way, it
would bring them out.”

Annabel smiled as she finished speaking, as though her plan was

the most brilliant piece of work in the world, and they were all fools
for not having thought about it before.

When John, Kale, and the others continued to stare at her

suspiciously, she snorted and crossed her arms. “You all really need
to relax a little.”

“Leave their side again, Annabel…” Kale warned, his voice low

and commanding. It actually made John shiver. “And I will kill you,”
he finished.

“Fine,” she spat, putting her feet down on the ground and walking

away. She vanished into a cloud of smoke, but John could not tell
where she went.

“Is she still here?” he asked.
“I don’t sense her,” Kale admitted. “Let’s just get out of here. I’m

done using you for bait today.”

“Us, too,” Mathias said. “We’ve got to be able to think of

something better than using any help from her.”

John only wished there was something better, but the only people

who existed with more knowledge of the generals than him were
Annabel and Lucifer himself, and he doubted they would get the
Morning Star to cooperate.

* * * *

“She never told us where she went,” Kale said as John pulled the

T-shirt he’d been given over his head.

When John managed to get his head out of the thing, it left his

short hair a little messy. It was growing oddly long at an alarming
rate. Whereas before there was nowhere near enough to grab, now

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Kale could easily run his finger through it. It would still be some time
before he needed a cut, however.

“What was that?” John asked.
“Annabel. She never said where precisely she went aside from the

fact that she wanted to draw out some demons, which I still don’t
like.”

“I don’t either,” John said and then started to unclasp his belt and

lower the zipper of his jeans, stepping out of them. “But if the sight of
an attacking demon that is much more powerful than those little pests
that have been coming will aid me in transforming into a knight, then
we should at least try.”

The only thing Kale was trying not to do right now was stare too

long at John’s ass as he walked into the adjoining bathroom. Kale
heard the hot water running in the tub. John had only recently gotten
used to the idea that he needed to wash his own clothes and bathe now
instead of letting his armor clean itself and energy clean him. Kale
still hadn’t gotten him used to the idea of a shower, but he seemed
most comfortable in a bath.

“If none arrive tomorrow, then we should get Annabel to do it,

and I don’t care about her excuses of drawing attention to herself. At
least if she uses her energy I know that Mathias and I would be able to
handle whatever attacks she sent our way.”

“Yes, that does seem like a sound plan,” John said from the

bathroom. He puttered around in there for some minutes before the
water tap turned off. Kale heard the small dip and splash of a body
entering the water. He didn’t leave. He just continued to lean against
the wall.

Earlier, when he and John had been out walking, Kale had to

cloak himself, using his energy to make anyone who passed by see
him as just another man, wearing normal clothing instead of the armor
he fought demons in. He’d hoped that it would also keep the demons
themselves from knowing what he was and come at them both. At
least Kale would have been there to offer his immediate protection.

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81

Nothing had come, and now Kale was forced to wait this out,

worrying that the next attack might arrive when Kale was not there to
defend his lover.

“Kale? Are you still out there?” John’s voice called.
Kale cleared his throat and shifted. “I am.”
He’d begun to think of this room as belonging to the both of them.

Since they were now sharing pleasure, he didn’t see why such a thing
would not make sense, but the reality was that he and John could not
always be together if Kale was meant to go back. Even if John
transformed into one of the holy knights this minute, would he have
the power to make Kale stay on Earth?

“Hey, I just thought of something,” Kale called.
“Well, get in here and tell me about it. I don’t like speaking with

you through a wall.”

Kale swallowed and did as he was told. Right. He should have

known better.

He stepped through the bathroom, the damp heat hitting him.

Even though the door had been left open, it was still much warmer in
here than it had been in John’s…their bedroom.

The sight of the man in the tub in front of him made him stop. He

didn’t know why, but Kale had thought, for whatever reason, that
John had been drawing himself a bubble bath. There was not a bubble
in sight, which meant that through the clear water Kale got an eyeful
of John’s naked body as he surveyed Kale in the doorway.

“You wanted to tell me something?” John asked.
Kale swallowed hard and nodded. The bathroom was large

enough, and there was a small foldable stool by the door. He took it
and set it up beside the tub and took a seat. He forced his eyes to
remain on John’s, and it nearly killed him to not be able to look down
and see what the man had between his legs. He’d already felt it, in
many ways, but sitting so close while John was in the bath, entirely
exposed to him like this…There was something more intimate and
erotic about that than the sex they’d had not too long ago.

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“When you transform into the knight,” Kale said. “Perhaps you

can convince the council to allow me to stay on Earth. Taylor does it,
and in Heaven Luke will not allow the council anywhere near Derek,
and the only reason why they allow that, I think, is because they fear
what Derek would do if they attempted to force them back to the
palace.”

John’s eyes widened a little. “Samael did mention something

about the council fearing Derek and the other knights, but they hardly
fear Dante, yet. The only reason why Jeremy is given permission to
stay was because his wings were torn out.”

Kale winced at that. He did every time someone brought up the

subject of Jeremy’s lost wings. Kale never wanted that to happen to
him. He definitely wouldn’t have the balls to allow someone else to
take his wings out just for the sake of being left in peace on Earth.
He’d rather hide on Earth and take his chances of being found than let
anyone tear his wings out. He certainly wouldn’t trade places with
Jeremy, if he had the choice.

“Kale?”
Kale blinked and looked at his former commander. He was still

sitting so casually in the bathtub, with his elbows on the rim and his
fingertips barely touching the water.

“Yes?” he asked.
“You’re doing it again.”
“Doing what?”
“Thinking. This is not a bad thing, but the way you’re doing it has

been. It’s been happening a lot lately, and I must say I am concerned.
If you are to be the commander, then you must learn to think without
that faraway look in your eyes.”

Kale’s face became incredibly hot, but he blamed that on the

temperature of the bathroom. “Yes, sir. Uh, John. Sorry.”

He certainly wasn’t acting as though he was worthy of the title of

commander at the moment, that was for certain. The thought only
made him want to disappear.

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83

John did not point out this fault, even though he must have noticed

it. Instead, he just watched Kale silently from his place inside of the
tub before he spoke.

“I would like it if you came in here with me.”
Kale blinked at him, feeling shocked, but he didn’t know why.

“What?”

Kale thought that John’s face must be coloring because of all the

heat. That made sense. Commander John never blushed.

“This bath is relaxing. Dante told me so, and he was right. You

and I are lovers now, and it was my understanding that lovers shared
these things.”

He spoke so formally. Sometimes Kale forgot that John had no

clue how all of this was supposed to work.

Really, he wasn’t much better, but there was something sweet

about watching John stumble as he tried to ease Kale’s pain and be
romantic with him.

“Well, not all the time, but we can, if you want,” Kale said.
John nodded. “I would like that very much.”
The thought of sharing a hot bath with John, well, it made Kale’s

skin tingle pleasurably. John might be mostly innocent now, but he
must know better when it came to this. He knew what he was offering
to Kale.

Kale didn’t use his energy to simply will away his armor. He took

it off, piece by piece, taking his time with the buckles and leather
straps. He didn’t want to seem like an overeager teenager or
something. That phase of his life was long gone. The fact that he
could feel John’s eyes on him the entire time he undressed made it
difficult, however. He wanted to will everything away and get into the
bath with him in a hurry.

When he was finally naked, he didn’t shift around or turn at a

slight angle or make any attempt to hide his erection. He let John see
it when he stood up, and Kale lifted his leg and stepped easily into the
bath.

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John shifted as though to make room for him, though he really

didn’t need to. The bathtub was surprisingly large, considering it was
in the bathroom that was connected to a guest room.

Kale couldn’t help the sigh that escaped him when his body was

submerged in the warm water. John’s knees were up a little as he sat,
but Kale stretched his legs out a little, putting his feet on either side of
John’s thighs.

“You were right, this is very nice,” Kale said then leaned his head

back against the edge of the tub and let his eyes slide shut as he
breathed in the steam.

“Did you used to bathe like this? When you were mortal?” John

asked.

Kale opened his eyes and looked at him. John had asked him some

questions of his life, years ago, when they had first met in the training
camps. Nothing overly personal. He’d simply been trying to act as a
good mentor, and whenever Kale was in a particularly foul mood,
John would ask him of the things he’d done while on Earth to distract
himself when things had gotten hard at home.

Ever since then, the questions had stopped, not that there had been

many to begin with, but it was strange, hearing John ask him about
something like that after so long of simply pretending that Kale had
always been an angel.

“I think I must have. Everyone has baths at some time or another,

but not like this,” he said. “I can’t remember ever sinking into a tub
just to enjoy the water.”

John nodded. “Well, I am very glad you are enjoying this with me,

then.”

“John, I was serious about before. I’m not giving up on trying to

make this work. I won’t sell my soul or make any more demon deals,
but I won’t give you up either. You have to promise me that when you
make the transformation, and it will eventually happen, you will do
whatever you can to keep me. I don’t want to go back.”

“Because you said you would die?”

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85

Kale nodded, knowing John well enough to know that he wasn’t

being made fun of. “Yeah.”

John didn’t say anything. Kale hated it how the man was so sure

they wouldn’t get the same happy ending that Jeremy, Luke, and
Mathias all got, even if Derek had to die so that Luke could be with
him. He just wished he could really show the man that he was serious.
John meant more to him than everything in the universe, even
Heaven.

Perhaps that was the thing that John feared about them. That Kale

might believe he was worth more than Heaven and Earth combined.

“Come here,” John said.
Kale could do little else but obey. On John’s end of the tub was

the tap, but it arched high above his head, leaving the both of them
with plenty of room to sit, or for Kale to lean his body over John’s,
without either of them smacking their heads.

John’s calloused hands slid down Kale’s back and over the curve

of his ass, his fingers dipping into his crack as John kissed his neck.
The small prickles of his beard had grown just a little longer, and they
scratched and tickled Kale at the same time.

Now that John had his hands on him, Kale noticed that there was

something slick in the water. Oil, perhaps, or something else to soothe
tired skin.

“Did you plan this?” Kale asked, smiling against John’s throat as

he began to return the advances.

“I had hopes, I will admit to that much.”
Kale chuckled, and as much as he enjoyed the feel of his chest

against John’s and of their cocks touching each other, he had to pull
away. He had to look at him.

John’s eyes were the same as they always were. Deep blue,

sincere, full of want. Kale wondered if he looked the same way. He
definitely felt the same, looking at something he was told over and
over again he could never have.

“John.”

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“No more talking,” John said, and he put his hand behind Kale’s

head and pulled him forward until their lips met.

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Chapter Eleven

Like before, John was certain that this would only end in disaster,

but he could not go on without it. Kale’s lips were so soft and
welcoming, how could he not kiss them?

If only he hadn’t kissed the man that day so many years ago, and

if only he hadn’t kissed him in Samael’s house.

He might’ve been able to better resist this pull now, and Kale

might not be so caught up in it that he was willing to forsake Heaven
itself just to be with him. Kale had worked hard to become an angel of
the heavenly guard, and John was a monster for seducing him like
this, making him question his beliefs.

But then he moaned so prettily when John thrust his hips up, and

their half-hard cocks seemed to grow entirely stiff at the same time as
they began humping and thrusting against each other in the bath
water.

“Had I known I could have this much pleasure with my body, I

might have tried this sooner,” John said, gripping the swells of Kale’s
ass and pulling him harder against him.

“Not like this all the time,” Kale said, his brown eyes clouded

with lust, and there was a small smile on his pink lips. Their faces
were so close that their noses were touching. “You only like it so
much because it’s me you’re with.”

John wondered if that was true. He didn’t know much about

relations, but some of the souls he had come into contact with, before
they had been properly sorted, had spoken of such things. Not to him,
but he had heard them talking. Sharing their horror stories. He could
recall that fornicating had definitely been one of the top reasons the

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souls were having troubling finding peace. Apparently it could be
downright brutal.

Yes, it really was because Kale was here with him. He wouldn’t

say it out loud for fear of destroying the moment, but John would be
saddened when the time came for Kale to return to Heaven. John
would never be able to share this with anyone else, he was certain.

“Still with me?” Kale asked.
Now it was John’s turn to blink out of his thoughts. “Always,” he

said, not wanting to admit that he’d allowed his mind to wander
whilst Kale had been doing these wonderful things to him.

“Good,” Kale said, grinning pleasantly as he pulled their hips

away from each other and got to his knees.

“What are you doing?” John asked, feeling a slight panic at the

thought of Kale exiting their warm bath.

Kale reached behind himself and put one hand over John’s. He

was still gripping Kale’s ass in an attempt to keep the man in place,
but Kale did not remove the hand. He guided it back to his crack. “Put
your fingers in me. Stretch me.”

John let the tips of his fingers touch and trace along Kale’s

pucker, and when Kale shivered, he felt it. “Will the water be
enough?” He’d added the oil to the bath because the bottle had said it
would soothe his tired muscles, but he wasn’t sure if that alone would
be enough to prevent pain.

“If it’s not, then I’ll use some of my energy to ease the way.”
“Kale,” John warned. He was torn between not liking the thought

of Kale wasting his powers for sex and loving the thought that Kale
could do such a thing. John only wished he’d known that spells like
that existed. Perhaps one had to be a former mortal to even think up
something like that.

“It won’t take a lot of energy, and I’ve still got lots left. Don’t

worry.”

John wanted to worry, and he knew that he should, but he couldn’t

bring himself to care as he watched the pleasure pass over Kale’s

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handsome face.

He wanted this. It was like a demon he couldn’t resist, and

without a second thought, he stopped resisting.

He felt the cool tingle of Kale’s energy pass through his fingers as

John touched him and pressed his fingertips inside of his asshole. The
oil in the water helped, but Kale had been right to use his energy. This
was better to be sure. It eased the way, and John was in almost to the
last knuckle before he pulled back and added a second finger.

“Love you so much,” Kale said as he kissed the side of John’s

mouth, and his heart ached to hear those words spoken like that.

“I love you, too,” he said, pressing both fingers up and forward,

toward Kale’s prostate.

Kale’s eyes slid shut when John made contact with the little

walnut-sized shape. His back arched as he threw his head back and
opened his mouth, but no long and loud moan erupted from him as he
struggled for control. He panted heavily, however, and John wanted to
see him lose control. He wanted to be inside of him and force those
sounds out of him that Kale had been making before.

His cock throbbed at the thought, and even the slightest shift on

his part was enough to send jolts of pleasure through him.

“Kale, come here. Ride me,” he said, pulling Kale forward and

unable to really say what he wanted to say.

Kale looked down at him and smiled, even as John withdrew his

fingers and put his hands on Kale’s hips, pulling him closer. The
water seemed so much warmer with Kale on top of him.

Kale reached into the water and wrapped his hand around John’s

dick. He inhaled a trembling breath, but Kale did not stroke him to
completion. He pulled back the layer of foreskin and positioned
himself over top of him until John felt the head of his prick touching
Kale’s recently stretched pucker.

He was never going to forget this. John was going to keep this

memory with him until the day he died.

Kale squeezed his eyes shut as he sank down. John could feel that

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cooling tingling pass through his skin as Kale used more of his energy
to conjure some of that slickness he’d felt earlier. It eased the way,
and Kale kept going until John was completely submerged within
him.

“Don’t move. If you move, I’ll come,” John said. He hardly had

any control over the sound of his voice, and he was certain that he
was leaving bruises on Kale’s hips as he tightly gripped the other
man.

Kale’s hands came up and out of the water. They were warm and

comfortable around the back of John’s neck, and he was being kissed
once more, gently and softly.

Why had he resisted this for all those years? He and Kale could

have shared so many more memories together if only John had
ignored the rules for once and been with him.

At this point in time, jeopardizing his former position as

commander for the sake of a relationship with a squad mate seemed
like it would have been a good idea. He didn’t know why he didn’t
just say to hell with the rule and take what they had both wanted.

By the time Kale finished massaging the back of John’s head with

his fingers, and his mouth with his lips, John was no longer in any
danger of spilling himself prematurely. His cock ached with how hard
he was, however, and he was the first to start thrusting.

Kale moaned when John’s cock touched his prostate again. He

gripped John’s shoulder and clutched at the back of his head as he
shifted in up-and-down motions, back and forth, until his cock rubbed
against the muscles on John’s stomach.

The water surged and splashed like the sea during a storm, and

some of it went over the rim of the tub and landed on the floor, but by
now John was past caring, lost in the sensation of the man above him.
He wound his arms around Kale’s waist and held onto him tightly. He
never wanted to release him.

The bottom of the tub was still slippery from the oil John had put

into the water, so he had to catch himself when all their thrusting and

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91

shifting nearly made John slip and submerge the both of them.

Kale laughed at the close call, and John smiled, for once feeling in

good spirits as his lover looked so happy while John was still inside of
him.

“Are you good?” Kale asked.
John kept one arm wrapped around Kale’s middle and brought the

other out of the water. He grabbed the rim of the tub, which was still
slippery, but at least it gave him something else to grip.

“Perfect. Keep moving, I want to see you pleasure yourself.”
“I think that’s the naughtiest thing I’ve ever heard you say,” Kale

said with a grin, but he was already moving again, and his face was
twisting once more with that lovely pleasure that John would never
tire of seeing.

Kale reached his hand under the water, and even with all the

splashing and light reflecting off the uneven surface, he was still able
to watch as Kale stroked himself.

John moaned at the sight. He threw his head back and banged it

against the wall. He saw a flash of white, but that pain didn’t take
away from his pleasure at all, and he continued to moan and thrust
against the angel on top of him until his felt his balls rise up and cock
become even harder as the surging pleasure passed through him and
into Kale. It was an unstoppable force, like an arrow charged with
holy light.

Kale continued to move and shift on top of him until John moaned

loudly and was completely spent, but he was not yet finished. Kale’s
arm still moved, and his eyes were still shut tight as he stroked
himself, all the while moaning John’s name.

“Oh, fuck. John, fuck,” Kale said.
John actually liked the way Kale’s lips looked when the man

cursed. He reached down and put his hands over Kale’s, using one to
help him stroke himself, and with the other he trailed his fingertips on
the underside of the head of Kale’s cock, until he found the bit of
flesh he was searching for, and he teased it mercilessly until Kale

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stiffened and came with a shout.

That shout satisfied John more than anything.
He kissed Kale’s throat, feeling with his lips the way the man

breathed and swallowed. “You are beautiful in the throes of pleasure.”

“Same to you, but I think we’re going to need another bath,” Kale

said, that same lazy smile still on his face.

John reached for him, unable to keep himself from touching and

kissing him. He clutched Kale tightly to him, and Kale did the same,
refusing to let him go.

“Promise me you’ll try,” Kale said between heated kisses, and

then he gently bit down on John’s bottom lip. “When you change, you
have to promise you’ll try to stay with me.”

“I promise,” John said. He meant it, too, and he knew perfectly

well that, if he was unable to keep his promise, so long as he did his
best to honor it, Kale would not hate him for his failure.

Kale kissed him again, as frantically as he’d done when they were

making love, but then the house trembled and shook in the usual
fashion that happened when a strong presence had entered uninvited.

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93

Chapter Twelve

They flew apart and out of the tub, but even his former training as

a soldier for the heavenly guard could not prepare John for the
sensation of his slippery feet against an equally slippery tiled floor.

He would have gone down had Kale not grabbed his hand, and

even then he nearly took the angel down with him. Kale had been
forced to use his energy to keep him on steady feet, and then more
energy still to dry them of the water and oil on their skin. John
insisted on getting dressed on his own, however, and he was
struggling into the pair of jeans he wore before the bath on the way
out the door while Kale was in full gear.

Mathias, Taylor, Dante, and Jeremy were also running out of their

rooms in various states of undress. It seemed that John and Kale
hadn’t been the only ones to take advantage of their privacy, but this
was unfortunate as it now left the lot of them caught under the
element of surprise.

He reminded himself that he was no longer the commander and

that he should not be the one to admonish the lot of them for the
mistake, especially considering he had been taking part in such
distractions as well.

“Is it a demon?” Mathias asked as they all ran down the stairs.
“Definitely,” Kale said. He was leading the charge and summoned

his blade to his hand, and it glowed a bright blue as he held it. He
suddenly stopped and put his hand out, stalling John from moving any
farther toward what could possibly be in the sitting room.

“You both need to get back upstairs. Stay there until we come

back for you.”

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“What?” Jeremy demanded, his face falling at the thought of

being sent away.

John did not like it either, but he knew better than to voice his

displeasure to the commander.

“He’s right. We have no power against any demons who might

wish to use us against them. You and I shall return,” he said, though
the words tasted foul on his tongue.

The look in Kale’s brown eyes, one that spoke of gratitude for his

understanding, made it worth it, however.

“You and I must go, leave the others to their business,” John said,

putting his hand on Jeremy’s shoulder and attempting to lead him
away.

Jeremy’s eyes remained on Dante, and it was clear he didn’t wish

to leave. “What about―?”

The look on John’s face must have silenced whatever argument

Jeremy was about to come up with. He would not have any of his men
showing distrust of their commander’s orders. They had already
discussed what would be done with the generals should any demons
come, and he was going to take Jeremy out of here!

“Sorry, sir,” Jeremy said, his face bowing a little at the shame of

disobeying.

“I’ll be fine, babe. Go,” Dante said.
Annabel’s voice came from the bottom of the landing. “You

know, considering a demon just entered your house, you’re all talking
way too much.”

“Annabel! That was you?” Kale asked, taking the last few steps to

the bottom of the stairs and confronting the woman.

For the scare she had put them all through, John would not have

minded it at all if Kale suddenly decided to impale her with his sword.

Judging by the looks on everyone’s faces, they were all thinking

pretty much the same thing.

“Get upstairs, babe,” Dante commanded, his eyes focused solely

on the woman in front of Kale.

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95

Dante would have no trouble at all attacking her for any kind of

offense, real or imagined. John certainly wouldn’t stop him if that was
what he wanted.

“Why make the house rattle like that?” Kale demanded. “Why not

just come in like you’ve been doing before?”

“It’s an attention grab, fool,” Annabel said, flipping her long

golden hair over her shoulder. “Didn’t want you all to be in the
middle of screwing when I showed up.”

John noted the way Kale brought his hand up to scratch at his

face, attempting to hide his blush.

There were similar acts and coughs from the other men as well.
Great.
Annabel laughed at the lot of them. “There, see? Better you all be

warned instead of getting attacked while you’re in each other’s
pants.”

“Are you planning on attacking us, Annabel?” Kale asked, and his

sword blazed brighter. Mathias put his hand on the hilt of his sword,
but he did not draw it yet.

“Not me, but I found someone who will.”
The meaning of her words hit John full force. “What?”
The house rattled again, and this time, instead of a graceful

entrance into the house, a glowing black portal, small in size, opened
up onto the floor, and heavy black smog began pouring out of the
hole.

Kale grabbed Annabel by the throat and pointed the tip of his

sword at her. “Close it this instant!” he demanded.

“Can’t. I’m not summoning her here, I just showed her the way.”
“Who?” Taylor asked, but John already knew who it would be,

and he grabbed Jeremy by the shoulder and began pulling him up the
stairs.

“Commander! John, what are you doing?” Jeremy yelled just as

the dark figure floated up from the portal on the floor and began to
take shape.

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John wasn’t about to stop and explain. Lana was coming, and

she’d spent enough time with the demons for them to have done some
irreparable damage to her. She would no longer be so much as a half
angel. She was one of them now, and with both him and Jeremy
completely mortal, there would be nothing either of them could do to
fight her off.

The generals were one thing. If attacked, their instincts would rise

up and defend them, John was sure of it, but his and Jeremy’s
presence would only distract any battle that was to be had down there.

“Move! Now!” John commanded.
His command seemed to be enough to get Jeremy to react, but by

then it was too late. They had made it back to the top of the stairs
when the floor caved in on them, as though a giant hand came down
and smashed the whole thing into pieces, and he and Jeremy were
helpless to do anything but fall.

John heard shouting. There was debris all around him, and the

first voice he heard was Dante’s, calling out to Jeremy as he threw
away planks of wood and stumbled through the dust to try to find
them.

He found John first, but that was likely because his eyes were

open and he’d called out to him. Jeremy was easy enough to find after
that. He was beneath a small section of the stairs that hadn’t
completely broken apart, but he was unconscious, and Dante and John
had to pull off the heavy bit of stairs from him.

There was a shallow cut on his forehead that was covered in dust

and blood, but when Dante touched him, pulled him into his arms and
felt his neck, he seemed confident that Jeremy was going to live as he
kissed his grimy face and wiped the blood away with his sleeve.

A loud boom sounded above them. For the first time, John took

note of the concrete floors and damp atmosphere. They were in the
basement.

“What’s going on?” he demanded. Dante would officially be

useless to aid the men upstairs now that he was taking command of

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97

protecting his lover.

“They’re fighting that thing that came through the portal. Friend

of yours,” Dante said. “She’s focusing on Kale, mostly. Annabel’s
just standing around.”

“Treacherous wench,” John muttered as he turned away. They had

all known this would happen. They’d seen the betrayal coming from a
mile away. Why hadn’t they been prepared for it?

John looked above him at the large hole that was now in the

house. He could hear the fighting, the familiar clang of metal on metal
and the grunting and shouting of his squad. He could also hear the
loud shriek of the demon that they were battling. John had once heard
what fingernails on a chalkboard sounded like, and only because he’d
overheard the expression and wanted to find out what the fuss was
about.

It was exactly that sound, only coming from a living thing, and

magnified. Worse still was the sound of Kale’s enraged scream,
which quickly became pained as he struggled against whatever it was
Lana had become.

He had to get up there. He couldn’t stay down here whilst Kale

was being tortured. It was him that the demon wanted, and he was
going to confront Annabel.

“Where is the door out?” John asked.
Dante pointed, and John ran, ignoring the man as he called after

him to come back. It was darker over in the direction of the door, but
only because the lights were out. Once he felt the stairs, he could see
up them to the closed door and the crack of light that came beneath it
from the kitchen.

He burst through the door easily and was confronted by just what

it was that was attacking them.

It was definitely Lana. The shape of the face was the same, and

she even still had the blackest hair John had ever seen, but that was
where the similarities stopped. That same long black hair that she
used to tie back in a tight ponytail was now shaped behind her head in

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dozens of horns, like someone had taken some sort of glue to it and
formed it that way.

John doubted it would be as soft as hair was meant to be,

however, and the pink liquid that dripped from the very tips suggested
a severe poisoning to anyone who attempted to attack her from
behind. The skin of her face was still pale and fair, but her eyes were
a bright red, and the rest of the skin on her naked body gave John the
impression of charred meat.

She had been severely burned. Tortured until she had become the

thing that he saw before him now. The melted skin on her fingers had
stretched into long black claws with a similar pink poison dripping
from them. John wanted to look away from the ugliness of it, but
didn’t dare as he searched for Kale and the others. They were
nowhere in sight.

It was just standing there, its back to him as it surveyed the

destroyed sitting room.

“Not pretty, right?”
The sound of Annabel’s voice so close to his ear was startling, but

even with all the shit going on around him, John was able to keep
himself from showing any outward signs that she’d snuck up on him.

Somehow, she knew about that, however, and laughed at him.

“Come on! Not even a tiny reaction? I know I scared you a little.”

“Where are Kale and the others?” John asked, forcing himself to

keep still as she circled him, so close that he could feel the heat of her
body. It reminded him of a time when he’d invited her even closer
than this, and he hated that memory. “If it’s me you want, don’t bet on
getting it. I won’t sell myself to you again.”

Annabel pouted at him, crossed her arms, and then shrugged. “I

don’t care anymore anyway,” she lied. The fact that she didn’t move
away from him was proof enough of that. He’d insulted her by
escaping her, and she was a vengeful demon. She would never let him
go, not really.

“What did you do with Kale?” John asked, his hands becoming

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99

fists as he yearned to hold his sword one more time.

“I didn’t do anything. You asked for my help, and I brought it.”
“What?”
Annabel jerked her thumb over her shoulder. “Her, your old

friend. I had to wait for the demons to finally finish with her before I
could lure her up here. They weren’t taking their eyes off of her when
they were burning her.”

Lana may have become a traitor, but hearing Annabel speak so

coldly about the horrors that had been done to her was enough for
John to see red.

“You will be silent about that, wench. You were the one who

made a deal with her.”

“And she accepted. If she looks like this now, then that is a

consequence she needs to face for an action she made.”

God, John fucking hated demons and their “nothing is ever my

fault” logic.

“How does bringing her here help us? What did you―she―do

with Kale?”

“You forget about your other friends really quick,” Annabel said,

tsking at him and shaking her head. “I sent the others away so they
wouldn’t get hurt. Kale is still here, though,” she admitted under her
breath.

“What? Where is he?” John was already moving into the sitting

room, searching around the upturned furniture and keeping one eye on
the monster that used to be a part of his team in case she suddenly
woke up from whatever trance she was in and decided to attack.

He saw no sign of Kale, and the gentle lifting and falling of

Lana’s mangled shoulders as she stood there, doing nothing but
breathing, caused gooseflesh to rise all over John’s skin.

He’d pulled up another piece of broken flooring and searched

beneath, and when he saw nothing but blood, he slammed it down and
rounded on Annabel, who was still within his personal space. “Where
is he?” he demanded.

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Annabel smiled at him, a nervous little thing that John had seen on

the faces of many demons when they knew they were about to face
his wrath.

“Here’s the thing. He’s here, but he’s not here. Get it?”
“I warn you.” John stepped forward.
Annabel’s face became suddenly dark. “What? You’ll what? You

don’t have any power anymore, and I’m the only one here, aside from
your friends downstairs, but I can get rid of them as easily as I did the
others. I could take you right now if I wanted, sweetheart, but I’m not.
Don’t you ever forget it.”

The tone of her voice was patronizing, but her words were true.

However it was that she’d banished the others, whether by some
portal or other spell that he didn’t know about, he was entirely at her
mercy and the mercy of the monster in the room that she seemed to be
controlling.

“What do you want in exchange for him?” John asked. He didn’t

want Kale making deals with demons, and he would have been
disappointed if the man had, but John had already done it more than
enough that he somehow felt none of the disgust he should have at the
thought of bargaining with her once more. This was proof that he was
never a capable commander. He was too willing to throw his soul
away for the sake of getting what he wanted.

He would be able to live with Kale’s disappointment. He couldn’t

live without him alive somewhere in the world.

He glanced over at Lana and felt another shiver pass through him

at the sight of her. That could be him.

Annabel put her hands over her heart and swooned. “I thought you

would never ask me. What I want is you, sweetness.”

John’s first instinct was to immediately agree, but he knew better

than to do something like that. When bargaining with a demon, one
had to make certain that all the bases were covered. “On the condition
that Kale is returned alive, unharmed, uncorrupted, and you will
not―”

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101

“Not so fast, not so fast,” Annabel said, putting her hands up. She

clenched them into fists when John stopped talking, and she looked
very much like she wanted to hit him with them.

She made a low shrieking down in the back of her throat. Her skin

even became a shade darker as she struggled with the anger inside of
her.

It made John wonder what it was that she had to feel angry about,

considering he was about to give her what she wanted.

“What are you doing?” he demanded. “I have no time for this.”
“I know, but I said I wanted you, not that I would take you.”
John punched the wall beside him, sending his fist through the

drywall. “Then what the hell do you want?” he yelled.

Annabel gave him a look so dirty that, for the moment, she was

ugly. “Immunity, which, believe it or not, is something I want more
than you, but not by much, so don’t get too jealous.”

“We said we would do our best,” John said, turning to look back

at Lana, who’d started walking around the destroyed sitting room
aimlessly. The door to the basement opened up, and Dante came out,
carrying Jeremy in his arms. His eyes widened at the sight of the
monster in his house, and he turned a bright shade of angry red at the
sight of Annabel, but with a gesture from John, he said nothing.

He motioned with his hand for Dante to hurry and leave the

premises before the thing that Lana had become woke up and attacked
him. Hell, for all John knew, the monster was only avoiding Annabel
and John specifically, and the sight of two more people around could
make it battle ready.

Dante quickly did as he was told, carrying Jeremy to safety out the

back door. John only allowed himself to relax a little when he heard
the door slam. It was times like this when he dearly wished that Dante
had control over his holy form. They really could have used it by
now, and if John really was one of the knights, he wished he would
feel something inside of him that would acknowledge it. He needed to
let it out.

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“You’re human now, and your friends are gone. I already told you

that if I wanted you, I could take you, but I won’t because I want that
to show when your council makes their decision regarding my
immunity. I’m trying to be fair about this.”

“You’re hardly being fair when you won’t tell me where Kale is.

No more of your riddles. What did you do to him?”

If Annabel harmed Kale out of some lover’s jealousy, John would

never forgive himself.

Annabel looked at him, and then she pointed at Lana, who was

still standing around in a daze.

“What?” John asked.
“Lana. She’s eating his soul. Isn’t it cool? She hardly spent any

time in Hell at all, and they managed to shape her into a soul eater.”

“What?”
Annabel sighed. “Do I really have to repeat myself?”
John didn’t know the first thing about soul eaters other than they

were among the most feared of all demons in Hell. They were also
incredibly rare.

Could that be the reason why? Soul eaters could only be created

from tainted angels?

John decided he didn’t care about that. He only wanted to free

Kale from wherever it was that Lana had taken him.

God, he missed his sword. His hand was cold without it, and he

felt naked.

He forced himself to take in a deep breath. John had never

encountered a soul eater before. For all he knew, attacking it would
only kill Kale, if he wasn’t dead already.

“How do I get him out? Where is he?”
He would take the time to ask Annabel how she thought a trick

like this would win the favor of the council, or him, later.

“Soul eaters are tricky. Angels aren’t exactly souls, but they aren’t

alive in the same way mortals are either. She sucked him up, body and
all, the second she started playing around with his head. He charged at

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her, practically offered himself on a silver platter and then”—she
snapped her fingers and made a slurping and gulping sound—“gone.”

“I get it. How do I get him out?”
“Just let her suck you up the same way. You’re mortal now, so

I’m pretty sure your body will be left behind.”

“And you think I can rescue Kale, a soldier of Heaven, when I

have no powers of my own?”

“You can if you let your inner goody-two-shoes knight out.”
John wanted to yell at her. The tone of his voice was almost that,

but he held himself in check as much as he was able, under the
circumstances. “I have no idea how to do that! Kale could be dying in
there, and I can’t change myself into something I barely understand!
Just get him out!”

Annabel promptly stepped back and raised her hands a little.

“Yeah right. I brought that thing here, and that was disgusting
enough. She tried to suck me up a couple of times. No way am I
risking that for the man you’re cheating on me with.”

She was such a bitch. John was going to kill her for this.
“Then give me a sword, and I’ll cut her head off and put her out of

her misery.”

“Mmhm, and you’re not worried that something like that won’t

kill your lover?”

John’s heart seized up. “Will it?”
“Don’t know, but I’m betting you’re not willing to risk it,”

Annabel said with a sweet smile. “You’d better hurry. He’s been in
there for a couple of minutes now, and I don’t know if he can hold out
much longer.”

Annabel made a shooing motion at him, but John didn’t move.

“What if I can’t pull him out? What if I can’t do it?”

He hoped she would offer her aid at that point, considering she

wanted her immunity so badly. The answer he received instead was
completely unexpected.

“If you can’t summon your knightly self, then you’ll both die in

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there, trapped eternally together like tragic romantic lovers. Sounds
nice, right?”

No. He wanted Kale to be able to come out unharmed, but again,

this was a demon he was speaking with. Annabel didn’t know what
real love or romance was.

He shook his head at her.
“Don’t give me that. This is perfect. If I help you summon your

other powerful form, then there’s no way your uptight council can
deny me my immunity. Now get in there and break a leg.”

So that was the reason behind all of this. John wasn’t entirely

certain what the council would do with her if this worked, but he was
done standing here, contemplating everything that could or could not
go wrong while Kale was inside the mind of that thing.

“How do I do it?” he asked, walking over to the grotesque form

that used to be Lana. “Does she recognize him? Will she recognize
me?”

“Hard to say, considering she was so determined to kill you all the

last time you saw her.”

“Which you set her up for,” John said as he stood in front of Lana.

Her whole body seemed to have warped and stretched so that she was
now taller than he was. At least six and a half feet.

“Yeah, and you ruined that for me, so now I have to work with

you,” Annabel said. “Besides, it’s probably better this way. At least
now you can put her out of her misery when you’re done. Or keep
her. You might even be able to sic her on some of your enemies.”

She smiled when she said it, completely oblivious to the fact that,

if John were to send Lana after anyone, it would be Annabel.

He wouldn’t do that anyway. The second he got Kale out of there,

he was going to kill Lana. He wouldn’t let her exist like this. He
doubted she would want it.

“How do I get inside?”
Just standing this close to the monster, he was actually able to feel

Kale’s energy. He really was within the body of this creature,

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105

somewhere, his very soul being eaten while he was alive.

“I had to use a spell to put her out, and I’m surprised it’s worked

for this long. Just keep standing where you are, and I’ll try to wake
her up.”

John clenched his fists while Annabel got out of range of the

creature she was about to unleash. She jumped behind the leather sofa
that had been turned on its side and hid there, peeking over the top.
She sent John an evil smile and a thumbs-up.

Only because he’d seen the gesture being used so often in the

short amount of time he’d been on Earth, from movies or magazines,
or even from Dante and Taylor, John flipped his middle finger back at
her, knowing it was something rude that she wouldn’t appreciate.

She growled at him, and suddenly the creature he stood in front of

growled as well.

John looked into Lana’s face. Her red eyes were wide open and

aware once more as she stared down at John. When she opened her
mouth, she revealed several rows of bloody, pointed teeth.

She lunged for him, and again, John was faced with the

knowledge that he did not have the speed he used to have as those
sharp teeth clamped down onto the side of his neck. Her claws came
up and grabbed him by the shoulders, piercing his skin, and he felt the
burn of the pink poison enter his system.

It not only burned from her claws, but also her teeth. Lana was

dripping with the stuff, and now that he could feel the effects of it, he
knew that it wasn’t simply a poison she was injecting him with. It was
something to paralyze him. The burning became pleasant, and he felt
the urge to sleep. He stared into her red eyes and fell into them, and
he wondered if this was it, if she was going to eat his soul or simply
kill him outright right then and there.

It would certainly be his own fault for allowing himself to put any

small amount of trust into Annabel again.

He didn’t fight the toxin that was making his body go to sleep.

The more sluggish he became, the stronger Kale’s energy felt to him,

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until it was so strong that they were practically joined once more.

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Chapter Thirteen

When John opened his eyes next, there were several images

flashing across his vision. It was like watching the television in
Dante’s sitting room. None of them were actually happening. He
knew this because he could see himself, taking Jeremy by the arm and
running with him up the stairs before the floor gave out and they
vanished.

Kale watched helplessly as they fell, and he screamed for John

before charging at Lana with his bright-blue sword, the fire licking at
the demon’s skin before she managed to teleport out of the way and
into safety. She did this again and again as Kale attacked her with an
animal fury that John had never seen on him before.

Memories, John realized. He was within Lana’s subconscious as

she feasted on his soul, and he was looking at Kale’s memories as he
attacked Lana, and as Annabel appeared, snapped her fingers, and
made Taylor and Mathias vanish to some unknown place before they
could offer any help, while Dante ran to the hole and jumped within it
to search for his lover.

Kale’s memories would only be in here because Lana had

succeeded, at least in part, to eat some of Kale’s soul. She was
absorbing him, his thoughts and memories included.

An invisible hand seized John’s heart at the thought that he could

only feel so much of Kale’s energy in here because he was already
completely absorbed. Dead.

No. He would have felt it if he was. Kale was a soldier. He was

still fighting somewhere to survive.

He watched as Lana taunted Kale, hissing and laughing at him.

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There was no recognition in her eyes that John could see, but she still
carried that look of hate on her face that had been present the last time
they had confronted her.

She did something then, something that made her eyes glow an

even brighter color of red, and Kale’s did the same. John didn’t know
what she was showing him, but whatever it was made Kale lose all his
control as he charged at her, releasing that same battle cry John had
heard earlier when he’d been trapped in the basement.

Then she grabbed him. She used his anger against him and batted

his sword out of his hand and took Kale by the throat.

John watched helplessly, knowing there was nothing he could do,

as Lana lifted Kale off of his feet, opened her mouth impossibly wide
and inhaled long and loud.

The very air around the sitting room was disturbed as books and

other small debris were caught in the wind tunnel she created. Kale’s
body was pulled within until he was there no more, and Lana closed
her mouth.

John had arrived just after Annabel cast some kind of spell on the

monster to make her complacent. He could watch no more.

“Where are you?” he shouted into the dark void of the horrible

space he was in. He walked through the images that were being
flashed in front of him, and they scattered until there was nothing but
darkness.

“Kale! Lana!” John called. His voice echoed back to him

unhelpfully.

He took two more steps before he could start to feel his energy

being sucked clean out of him, and his legs became heavy, and his
muscles were suddenly sluggish and tired.

He was being put to sleep. It was easier for most predators to lull

their victims into this false sense of security before attacking. John
knew without a doubt that if he fell asleep, he was going to die.

He forced himself to go on, even when his limbs felt like they

were being weighed down with boulders, and his equilibrium spun,

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and the ground shifted beneath him.

He yelled Kale’s name several more times as he continued to

walk. The only thing that kept him on his feet was the feel of the
man’s energy. He may have just been imagining it, but he could have
sworn that it was growing stronger the more that he walked. He was
getting closer.

Then he was there. He saw his lover lying sprawled on the black

floor of this place. His body was transparent, as though he was caught
between worlds and was being pulled away.

John ran to him, a sudden burst of energy giving him strength as

he fell to his knees in front of Kale and lifted him up by the shoulders.

He looked just as he did when Annabel had infected him with the

corruption. John shook him a little. “Kale, I am here.”

He did not move or respond. John cupped his cheek and noted the

warm temperature. Breath wheezed in and out of his mouth, his chest
rose and fell, and there was no blood that John could see. Whether
that was possible or not in a place such as this, he could not be
certain. “Kale?”

This time there was a response. Kale moaned and opened his eyes,

but they were foggy at best. Still, there was recognition in his dark
eyes, and he smiled before he frowned. “What are you doing here?”

“Trying to save your ass.”
“Get out of here. It’ll kill you.”
John was not about to point out the fact that the monster was

killing Kale, too, or that he didn’t know how to get out of here even if
he wanted to.

“I think we are trapped together for the moment, my friend,” he

said with a smile, attempting to lighten the mood.

Kale did not return it. “John.”
Whatever he’d been about to say was cut off with another loud

shriek. Lana appeared. The screech she let out was the same as it had
been when they were in the real world, but her body was different.
She looked exactly the same as she had before Kale had banished her

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into Hell.

“Get away from him,” she said, stepping forward with her sword

drawn. Like before, it didn’t burst into flame as she approached them.

John got to his feet. Kale struggled just to sit up. “Shouldn’t I be

saying that to you?” John asked.

He had no weapon to fight her with, and no power of his own to

call on now that he was a mortal. He was completely at her mercy, but
perhaps she didn’t know that, judging by the way she stopped five
feet or so away from him.

Lana’s body shook with badly suppressed rage as she glared down

at Kale. Her eyes glowed that same horrible red, and John felt Kale
shiver at his feet. He looked down at his lover and noted the way thin
tendrils of what could almost be a pale smoke or heavy steam snaked
from the pores in his skin. His body became more transparent, if
anything.

His own rage nearly blinded him as he realized that she was

feeding on his soul. She was making him weak, and she was going to
kill him.

“Stop that!” he yelled.
“John, get out of here,” Kale said, and now he was completely

leaning against John’s legs as he was unable to hold his own weight.

That was the only thing that prevented John from charging at her

as he suddenly felt some of his strength return. “I said stop that!”

Lana did stop, and she even took a step away from him as her eyes

returned to their normal dark color. She shook her head. “It’s not fair.
He sent me to Hell. Do you have any idea what they did to me?” She
was crying now. John felt a small measure of sympathy for her plight,
but not enough to allow her to do this to them.

“You didn’t exactly give me a choice, Lana,” Kale said. “Daren is

dead. I’m sorry, but you made a deal with a demon.”

“So did he!” she shrieked, that same fingernails-on-a-chalkboard

sound escaping her throat as she pointed a finger at John.

“And I was willing to spend the rest of eternity paying for that.

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111

You, on the other hand, were not. You should have known this was
coming the moment you shook her hand.”

“I would have been fine if he hadn’t banished me. Daren would be

alive!”

Kale was wheezing at his feet at her words, struggling for breath.

John reached down and put his hand on the man’s shoulder, more to
offer comfort than to give any of his energy, which he could not since
he no longer had that power.

When Kale reached up to take his hand, he was relieved that the

man still had enough strength to do that. “Yes, you were perfectly
innocent in all of this. You only wanted to kill me, and now you want
to kill Kale to get your revenge. There’s nothing altogether evil about
that.”

“You dare to judge me?” Lana screamed, and then she clutched at

her hair as though she were going mad. “After what you did? Lying
with a demon?”

Her words were enough to make John wince, but he held steady

and gripped Kale’s shoulder tighter. So long as he could feel the man,
he was less and less afraid that his body would simply vanish into
nothingness.

“Yes, I did that, and if any of the angels had hunted me down for

it, I would have welcomed death and not held any ill will against
them.”

He would have been forced to fight back to defend both himself

and Annabel, as he’d done when he’d attacked Luke and Derek, but
the point remained the same. If it had been Luke’s sword to pierce
through John’s chest and not the other way around, he would have
gone into the afterlife perfectly content.

Lana clearly was not willing to make that same choice. She

wanted to kill them for the wrong she believed had been done to her.

Her sword did not burst into flames, but as her anger rose, it did

glow a strange sort of blue-black color that made John’s skin crawl to
see.

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He narrowed his eyes at her as she lifted the blade. “Think

carefully about this, Lana,” he said, hardly knowing where his
bravado was coming from.

“I will kill him, and then I’ll leave you here. I’ll eat your soul for

the rest of eternity for what you both did to me.”

She charged, and the dark little world around him slowed to a

crawl as her body twisted and became ugly once more.

John’s anger soared. He had trusted her, brought her on an

important mission to find and protect the men who were capable of
bringing down Heaven itself. It was a task that he knew he could lose
people on, and she knew it, too, yet she dared to do this? She was
going to try to kill Kale, and he would never allow her to do that.

From far away, he heard his name being shouted and was certain

that the voice belonged to Kale, but Kale was still beneath him. Too
close for that to have been his voice.

Lana raised the sword high above her head, and John let it come

down. Kale gripped his legs, and the only act John did to defend
himself was raise his hand.

When the black blade came down on his palm, it shattered. The

tip of the blade broke off and soared past his head, and he held the
other broken piece in his hand whilst Lana kept a firm grip on the
handle of her now-broken sword.

Everything sped up again, and she was breathing with an intensity

that came only from a long battle.

Her eyes darted down to Kale, and she lifted the broken half of

her weapon above her head, intending to bring it down on him.

She was determined. He remembered liking that about her when

they fought together.

John threw his fist out and caught her in the jaw. Her body flew

back and skidded to a halt, and Lana screamed for the entire journey.

“John.”
John hardly paid any attention to Lana, and he barely heard the

voice that spoke beneath him. He could only stare at the silver

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113

gauntlet that was on his fist. It gleamed brighter than any of his
previous armor, even as a commander.

He looked down at himself and was stunned to see that he was

wearing more armor, also silver, yet fitting so well to his body that it
replicated the muscles on his stomach and chest, almost like a second
skin. He could not see his legs very well since Kale was still leaning
against them, but he could tell there was something similar on them as
well. He inhaled sharply at the shock of it and felt the wings on his
back flex.

He nearly fell backward and let Kale fall back to the floor in his

haste to see what was behind him.

Wings. He had wings again. He wanted to weep at the sight of

them. They were larger than his previous wings had been, and judging
by the size, they were stronger as well. They glimmered in what little
light this place had to offer like millions of tiny diamonds.

“You did it,” Kale said.
“I―” John had no words to describe how he felt. He looked back

down at Kale and felt a measure of peace at his calm smile. “I don’t
know what I did. I did not even feel the change.”

“I did,” Kale said, reaching up for John’s hand and squeezing it

again.

Only then did John notice that Kale no longer appeared in any

danger of wasting away. He was completely whole once more, and his
eyes were bright and aware, his body radiating strength.

Perhaps John really had been giving the man his energy without

even realizing it. Lana, however, was not in the mood for allowing
them to have their moment together. She was a skilled warrior but had
no respect for what surprising her enemies could do for her in battle.
She released another long and loud battle shriek as she charged them
once more, broken-but-still-deadly-sword in hand.

John was not entirely certain if a sword in this place could be used

to kill either of them, especially because she was a soul eater. Perhaps
it could because this was her realm.

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Kale got to his feet, legs braced and bent, ready to attack and

defend when John put his arm out to stop him. “Let me,” he said.

John stepped forward, thrust his hand out and allowed the raw

energy he felt inside of him to come out.

It was blue fire. Exactly the same as what was on Kale’s sword.

Lana was engulfed by it. It surrounded her like a bubble, and she
could not escape it.

John’s heart tugged at the sound of her screams as she was killed.

He’d never before thought about where the soul of a demon would go
after it died. Maybe she would go back to Hell and be reborn into
another demon someday, similar to what happened when souls in
Purgatory were reborn on Earth.

If that was the case, he was going to make sure to keep an eye out

for if she ever came back, looking for revenge again.

“John,” Kale said, looking him up and down. His eyes brightened,

and he smiled, but John could tell that it was not an altogether happy
one, and he knew why.

“Kale, I―Kale!”
He was vanishing again, his body becoming transparent, only

faster than before. Kale barely had any time to look down at himself,
confusion passing over his features, before he was gone entirely.

John roared out his name and rushed to the spot where his lover

once stood, but there was no sign of him. Looking down at himself,
he noted the exact same thing was happening to him as well, only just
a little slower.

He relaxed then and breathed an easy sigh. Of course. Lana was

dead now, so he and Kale would be sent back to the real world, since
this place no longer existed.

A light surrounded him, and John stopped fighting against it and

let himself slip into it, knowing it would lead him back to the mortal
world.

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Chapter Fourteen

Samael stood over him. John was shocked to see the man and

annoyed to feel his cheek was stinging. Apparently he’d been trying
to slap him awake while he’d been down.

He pushed the man away and sat up, groaning as his bones

protested the movement. He looked down at his hands. He was no
longer in his holy form.

“You were glowing. You let off an incredible amount of energy,”

Samael said.

“Are you all right?”
That question came from Dante. John looked up. Jeremy was

there as well, and awake. He was sitting with his back to the far wall
and holding an ice pack to the side of his head and wearing a
disgruntled expression. Taylor and Mathias were also back from
wherever they had been, and both were staring down at him with
worried expressions.

That did not sit well with him. “I am well,” he said and then rose

to his feet, ignoring the way his head swam slightly. He blinked a few
times to clear it.

There was always a certain danger to a leader ignoring his

injuries, but he was no longer a leader, and he was fairly positive that
a little dizziness would not harm him in the longer run. He would be
fine.

There was one presence in the room, two really, that were

missing, and only one of which he really wanted to see. “Where is
Kale? He came back out before me.”

The look in Samael’s eyes, and the way his men all turned away

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from him, was very telling indeed.

His heart sank, and he found he could hardly breathe. “He’s

gone?”

“I arrived when he did, with some men. They apprehended

Annabel, and because Kale’s promise to you has been kept, there was
nothing to keep him here any longer. The angels took him. I spoke on
your behalf, to try to allow him to stay for a few minutes, long enough
so that you could say good-bye.”

“It’s all right, Samael,” John said, feeling anything but all right as

he began walking over the rubble in the room, moving for the door
that would lead him out, anywhere but here.

Kale had vowed to protect him until he managed to unleash his

power. That had been done, and so he was forced back to answer the
call of the council.

“I am very sorry, John,” Samael said.
John looked back at him. The man appeared as heartbroken as

though it were his lover who had been taken from him. John looked at
the rest of his men, but they would not look at him. It hardly mattered.
They could not hide their pity by simply refusing to look him in the
eyes. He could sense it on them.

“I am glad you are all well and everything has turned out for the

best. I would like to be left alone for the moment,” he said.

No one followed him as he exited the house.

* * * *

Kale hated the fact that he was forced to defend Annabel to the

council. He hated the demon bitch, and if it were entirely up to him,
he would allow her to burn up here and die. She certainly did seem to
be sweating enough.

That might’ve had something to do with the fact that no demon,

aside from Lucifer himself, had ever stood in front of the council
before. The fires of their bodies, while at a safe enough distance, were

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117

clearly making her a little hot under the collar.

The council was made up of holy spirits that presented themselves

in the golden palace as burning flames. They burned tall and bright,
and it hurt even Kale’s eyes to have to look up at them.

He was sure that they would simply deny Annabel the immunity

that she wanted so badly and set her ablaze right there, either killing
her or sending her back to Hell to deal with her treachery.

Kale certainly hadn’t told the story in a very heroic way. He told

them of her actions and how she supposedly thought that putting him
in danger was the key to causing John to emerge into the new powers
he’d come into since his transformation into a mortal.

He was shocked as hell when the council decided to spare her.
“Immunity shall be granted,” they said, their few voices echoing

together until they sounded like many.

“What?”
“Yes!”
Annabel shot her fists into the air and jumped at her victory. Kale

glared at her, and she stuck her tongue out at him before waving to the
council members.

“Well, it was nice talking to fireballs and everything. Didn’t know

angels did that here, but I must be going now. Sweet freedom is
calling my name.”

She tried walking toward the long golden doors that were behind

them, but a pair of angelic guards stepped forward, planted their feet,
and angled the spears they carried to block the doorway. Their
expressions were hidden behind bronze helmets and face masks, but
that only seemed to make their sudden appearance all the more
imposing.

Annabel crossed her arms over her chest and pouted. “Will

someone get these two deaf idiots out of the way?”

Kale wanted to groan in complete humiliation. This was the being

he’d been forced to defend.

The multiple voices of each of the council members began

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speaking as one once more. “You have been granted immunity from
all previous acts of demonic terror, but not any future ones. Should
you make any attempt to return to your former ways, you will be
hunted.”

Annabel actually glared at them. Kale wanted to tell her to stop.

He tried to send her that message silently, but he supposed she was
immune to angels glaring at her by now.

“Hunted, huh? How am I supposed to have any fun?”
“That is not the problem of this council. You have been warned.”
The two guards stepped away from Annabel and returned to their

posts on either side of the tall doors that seemed to stretch up into
forever. Without a hand touching them, they parted and let in the
sunshine from outside.

“Be gone with you. Our judgement has been passed.”
Annabel sniffed and tapped one of her long red fingernails on her

folded arms. She then proceeded to stick her nose in the air, an aura of
whatever about her, and marched out of the palace.

Kale wondered where she would go, but he knew that, no matter

what the council said, she would find some way to have her sadistic
fun.

His first instinct was to ask if they really thought it wise to release

her, but his earlier outburst had been more than enough. He didn’t
dare to protest the decision.

Only when Annabel was out of the room and the doors closed

again was Kale spoken to.

“You have a request?”
Of course they knew he had a request, and they also knew what

the request would be. “I would like to return to Earth as John’s
guardian.”

“That is not possible,” they said as one, not even letting Kale

finish what he was about to say.

He hated people who questioned the decisions of the council, and

there was a time when he never would have done it. Even now he

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119

struggled with how he felt about arguing with them, but if his mission
with John had taught him anything, it was that even these very old
and wise spirits could be wrong.

Sometimes.
“May I ask why? Dante and Taylor both still have the angels who

were assigned to them, and Luke is still with Derek.”

“The soldiers are either unable to return due to their new mortal

state or refuse to return as they are now under the protection of the
holy knights they were once sworn to defend. We have looked the
other way in these matters because of their brave acts, but even we
need guidance,” the spirits said together, admitting to the very
thoughts that Kale had only a minute ago.

They didn’t know everything, and they could be wrong, were

afraid of being wrong. No one else was stepping forward, and now
that they had Kale here, they didn’t want to let him go.

“What if I told you everything I knew, everything that John told

me and the others before he took us into Purgatory. Then could I go
back? Mathias is still an angel, and he stays on Earth.”

“With aid from others who deliver his ambrosia. He has decided

to become a fallen angel, but he is not a Nephilim. We have
overlooked this one incident and have no intention of creating
another. The knights remain on Earth because they still live, with one
exception, and they refuse to cooperate.”

They were talking about Derek and Luke. They were staying away

from the council because Luke feared that he and his lover would be
separated while the council studied them. They were smart to do so.
Kale clenched his fists and looked down at his feet to keep from
scowling at the spirits before him.

“Take comfort, soldier,” the council said, but he felt no comfort in

the glow of their bodies. “John has become something more than what
he was. He will not be a true spirit at the time of his death. He will be
called to serve once more, and you will be reunited then.”

Kale looked up at them, shocked. He’d entirely forgotten about

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that. He’d been assuming that if he ever came back, he and John
would never see each other again, even after he died, because angels
were not supposed to fraternize with the souls in Heaven.

John would not be an ordinary soul. He’d completely forgotten

about that. Still, to have to wait so many years for John to either die
from old age or battle, or wait for him to learn his new powers
properly so that he could come here, and who was to say he wouldn’t
find someone else by that time? John was looking at spending many
years alone.

The council sensed his unease, and their collective fires flared a

little brighter at his lack of gratitude.

“What we have offered you is the same as what every soul in

Heaven is offered. The chance to wait for your lover. We will provide
you with no favoritism in this. The rules are clear. Go now. We will
summon you after we have conversed.”

He was being dismissed. Kale bowed to them with a stiff back and

walked out the same doors behind him that Annabel did. When they
shut behind him, there was a heavy sort of finality in the air that made
Kale want to destroy something with the rage he felt.

Now he understood why Annabel liked violence and pain so

much. It was easier to want to inflict it on everyone else when the
universe seemed to be shitting on him.

Kale was forbidden to go back to Earth. Because he’d ignored the

call of the council, being cute with his mission to John, he’d been
shackled to prevent him from going without their say-so.

There were no real chains on him, but he could feel their power

and influence over his body. He would never leave the Golden City
without their approval, not even to return to battle if he wanted, and
that bothered him just as much, because now he had all this anger and
rage inside of himself, and he couldn’t even take it out on a fire knight
or cut the head off of a demon serpent.

John was a new mortal, and perfectly healthy. Kale wanted him to

have a happy life, even if it was going to be without him.

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Kale only wished that he wasn’t so selfish that the very thought of

John moving on with his life made him miserable.

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Chapter Fifteen

Three months passed by, and John was slowly watching the

seasons change, noting the differences between looking at the change
in the color of everything from up close compared to how he used to
see it.

From above, and very far away. The air was colder now, but

Dante had since had his house repaired. Only a week ago did the last
of the construction crew stop in for the final inspection. John didn’t
understand why such a task had to take so long, but he was grateful
that the mess that had been created was done away with.

He was determined to pay Dante and Jeremy back for the damages

that had been done, even though they had both said multiple times
that there was nothing to pay back.

John did not want to start off his new mortal life like this. Jeremy

and Dante were only being so good to him because he’d been the one
to arrange the mission to rescue the other knights. Dante felt that he
owed John, because without him, he would never have met Jeremy,
and Jeremy’s loyalty stemmed from the fact that John used to be his
commander.

If John had been anyone else, he would have been a poor

houseguest. At the moment, he was thinking about trades he could
learn in order to earn an income. He had to think of these things now.
His food would not simply be provided to him by walking into the
nearest garden and plucking apples from the trees, and the clothes he
wore would eventually need mending, washing, and replacing, and he
wanted to be the one to do those things for himself.

Dante had again been generous to the point where John had felt a

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mild shame over it. He offered John a position at his company.
Something he made up, John was sure, but he was to assist Jeremy in
keeping records of clients, their names, telephone numbers, addresses,
and payments that were due.

He had faced down some of Hell’s worst demons, and he refused

to be intimidated by mortal technology, so he was determined to
learn.

He still only typed with two fingers, however, even after months

on the job.

It gave him something to think about other than what he’d lost and

the many lonely years ahead of him.

“Is Samael due for a visit?” he asked Jeremy during a break in the

work day. There were other mortals lounging around, drinking hot
beverages at the table, and John was not about to say anything that
would cause them to suspect anything.

“I don’t know,” Jeremy said. “It’s been about two weeks or so, so

he’ll probably try to come down soon.”

It had been three weeks, but John didn’t correct him. He nodded

and stared into his mug. Samael had been good at first, bringing down
news of Kale, what he was doing, what the council wanted from him,
his general health, and even messages and letters.

That had only lasted two weeks or so. Then Samael stopped

bringing the letters, and then he stopped speaking of Kale entirely.

John knew what was happening. Kale was cutting his ties from

John, believing that he would somehow be happier without him in his
life, even in this small way.

The last time Samael had come, John had ordered him, even

though he could not order the man and never could, to tell Kale that,
if he did not respond to John’s letters, he would not forgive him.

John had not seen Samael since. Either the man was checking in

on Taylor and Dante behind John’s back, or he was ignoring his duty
to the council.

John sighed and dumped the rest of his cold coffee into the sink.

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He didn’t know why he drank the stuff. It tasted awful.

Several hours passed as John puttered around, writing down notes

and numbers he barely understood, and the whole time he watched the
clock, waiting to get out of there.

They ended up staying in the office late. John had come in with

Dante and Jeremy. He was not only living with them, but Dante was
now officially driving him wherever they needed to go.

This was not the same life he’d had back as a commander. It was

slower, and though there was a time when he thought he wanted that,
now it was driving him mad.

He needed to find something else to do to occupy his time if he

was going to be forced to live on Earth for an entire mortal lifetime.
The only thing he wanted was to figure out how precisely he’d called
upon that other, more powerful part of himself so that he could go
back to Heaven and find Kale, but there had been no luck with that
either.

Perhaps it wasn’t something he could simply summon. Perhaps

there had to be a need for that kind of power before it would rise up
within him. He would have thought that his need for Kale’s presence
would be enough, but apparently not.

When they arrived back at the house, it was dark. John did not

hurry or rush to the door. He walked as normally as possible behind
Dante and Jeremy until they made it to the door, unlocked it, and let
themselves inside.

He’d hoped to see Samael, waiting for them with news from the

council, but as John was slowly becoming used to, he was not there.
John walked around the house, pretending that he was not searching
for the angel in case he was simply in another room, but again, there
was no trace of him.

Jeremy put his hand on John’s shoulder and squeezed. John had to

look away from him before the man could see his eyes. John would
never be able to hide what he felt if Jeremy saw his eyes.

“I will call Mathias,” John said.

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125

“I sent him a text,” Jeremy replied, holding up the little black

rectangle that John was slowly becoming familiar with. “He hasn’t
heard anything yet either.”

John nodded and stepped away from him. “I think I will get some

fresh air then. The nights are not yet so cold.”

Jeremy didn’t say anything. He just let him go.
John knew he was being pathetic, and he knew that the pair of

lovers he was currently living with pitied him, but at that moment, he
didn’t care. He just wanted to be by himself. It was going to be that
way for many years to come, so he might as well get used to it.

* * * *

Kale stepped into his home in the Heavens and sighed after

another long day of standing around and doing absolutely nothing
while the council spoke to their highest-ranking generals.

Kale had never been in the presence of the original angels before.

They were the oldest, the most beautiful, and until recently, they were
thought to be the most powerful.

Their heavy swords and oversized armor and wings certainly gave

off that impression, but Kale knew better. He’d been with someone
who was more powerful than the lot of them combined.

Kale hated his new role. Basically his entire job was to stand off

to the side in the councillors’ chamber while they spoke to Michael,
Gabriel, and the others. There was a time when Lucifer would have
stood there as well, but everyone knew how that turned out.

Kale dropped himself into a leather chair. Ever since coming back

from Earth, he’d willed the house he lived in to look like Dante’s. It
was weird, and Samael had given him a couple of odd looks for it, but
Kale liked it. It reminded him of when he’d been there, with John.
Sometimes if he closed his eyes, he could pretend that his former
commander was simply in another room, maybe taking a nap, and that
was why his house was so quiet.

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Jacks

“Wakey, wakey.”
Kale leaped up from his chair and had his hand on his sword,

ready to draw it and attack the woman who had come into his home
unannounced.

Annabel waved her pinky at him, and he did pull his sword from

its sheath, letting the blue fire of the blade light up. “What do you
want?”

The very sight of her made Kale want to destroy this house and

everything in it just to finally be rid of her, and he hardly cared if he
died in the process.

“Thought you’d be a little more curious as to how I got here.”
That was right. She was a demon. “All right, fine. How did you

get in here?”

“Immunity! Isn’t it great? I didn’t realize I could get in and out of

Heaven until recently, but they actually let me walk around. I kind of
want to tear down all those nice statues and maybe pick a fight with
one of those uptight soldiers, but then I’d get kicked out and they’d
never let me back in.”

“Unbelievable,” Kale said, and then he turned away from her. “So

you’re here to make my life hell, is that it?”

“Maybe,” she said, grinning.
Anyone who ever trusted a grinning demon was a fool. “What are

you planning?”

Her grin exploded. “Okay, so here’s my thing. I’m going crazy,

you know?”

“No, I don’t know. If your new restrictions bother you so much,

then by all means, go out and destroy something. Fight with the
guards or attempt to kill them.”

“Wow, you wouldn’t mind if I tried to kill someone?”
Of course he would mind. “They would fight you off and throw

you back to the demons you betrayed in an instant. I don’t need to
worry about them.”

“Yeah, well, I kind of do.”

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127

“What are you here for?” Kale asked, rubbing his eyes. He was an

angel, and it should have been impossible, but he found that just being
near her was enough to give him a headache.

“Okay, so you were there when they told me to behave myself,

right?”

“Get to the point, please, and then get out.”
“Right, so, I can’t exactly kill anyone, but I’ve discovered that I

can still hurt people.”

Kale glared at her and tightened his hand around his sword.
“Don’t look at me like that, I’m not here to fight you. If anything,

you’ll want me to hurt you.”

“What?”
“There are a lot of depraved people in the world, you know? I can

go to them, and they will ask me to hurt them, cut them, spank them
and say all kinds of nasty things. I’ve even had a few of them pay me
to do it.” Annabel reached under the stretchy red material of her
devil’s costume and pulled a heavy wad of bills out from her bra just
to show him. When she put them back, her breast size didn’t change,
so he couldn’t tell if what she’d just shown him was real or not.

Kale couldn’t keep the disgust out of his voice. “So you’ve found

a way around the council’s orders, have you?”

“Don’t give me that. Like you couldn’t tell they made up those

rules just to watch me fail. I’m a demon. I kind of like hurting people,
and if this keeps my record squeaky clean, then what does it matter?”

“You’re still hurting people. You’re causing pain to mortals who

don’t know any better.”

Annabel waved her finger at him. “Ah, but that’s the beautiful

part. I’m not hurting them enough to kill them, which is still a
bummer, but beggars and choosers and all that. Also, I’m not tricking
them into giving me their souls. You know some of these people let
me tie them up and whip them? That’s the fun part. They get off on it,
really.”

“All right, I get it. Why are you telling me this?”

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Jacks

She suddenly stopped grinning at him. Her eyes became hard, and

she gave him one of her hard glares that he didn’t trust. “Because you
took him from me. There’s no one in the world I’d like to hurt more
than you.”

“And you think I would be willing to let you do that? Get out of

here.”

He turned to walk away, but she was fast. She was in front of him

in the time it took him to blink, still grinning that evil grin.

He refused to be cowed by her. “I will never ask you to hurt me,

demon.”

“Even if I told you it can get you back to Earth?”
He blinked, and he hated himself for it, but he was curious.

“How?”

He didn’t intend for his voice to come out so croaked like that.
Annabel looked like he’d just handed her a great big birthday

present. For demons, manipulating others to do as they wanted was
always a treat. Kale only wished he could learn to stop doing it.

“I tore out Jeremy’s wings, and now he’s living as a happy mortal,

him and that new angel knight screwing like bunnies whenever they
get the chance. It sounded like it hurt a lot when I did it, too.”

Kale shivered. “You’re offering to take out my wings?”
“Don’t say the word ‘take,’ it doesn’t sound as good. Use, rip,

tear, shred, pull, snap, anything but take.”

Kale shivered again and stepped away from her.
Annabel eyed him shrewdly. “I thought you would have done

anything to get back down there? If you’re mortal, then no amount of
shackles from that bullshit council of yours can keep you here.”

“Well, yes, I know, I―”
Kale stopped struggling for words. He took in a deep breath and

eyed the woman in front of him. “What would you expect in return?”

“In return?”
“You’re still a demon, no matter what anyone says. What do you

want for me to let you hurt me?”

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129

She shrugged. “Nothing, to be honest. Listening to you scream

will be payment enough. Besides, I would also like the bonus points
for my good deed. If I ever need a favor, you and your friends can’t
tell me to fuck off.”

His desperation was proved by the fact that he believed her. She

would be willing to do this for him. Hurt him to help him, just for the
pleasure of being the one to draw out his pain.

Some angels broke under the strain of losing their wings. Jeremy

had come out lucky. He’d survived with Mathias’s help, and he was
doing well enough now.

Kale thought of Jeremy together with Dante, the both of them

happy. That could be him and John. All he had to do was let her take
out his wings.

The thought made him want to be sick, but then John’s face

flashed in front of him, and Kale’s heart ached with the need to see
him again.

He sighed. “I can’t believe I’m making a deal with a demon again.

What do you want me to do?”

Annabel was staring at him like he was a feast to be had, and she

could hardly wait to dig in.

“Stand against that wall. Spread your hands out to brace yourself

and just show me your wings. I’ll do the rest.”

He knew she would. Likely she would also go out of her way to

make it as painful as possible, but if allowing her some revenge would
put him back on Earth, and enable him to stay there, then he would do
it.

Kale positioned himself against the wall as instructed, and he used

his energy to bring out his wings. He shivered again as her hands
wrapped around the stems that were just over his shoulder blades.
They were gentle at first but then tightened.

He could picture the smile on her face as her mouth came close to

his ear. “You should’ve thought to bite down on something. This is
going to hurt.”

130 Marcy

Jacks

Chapter Sixteen

John had been sitting casually on the deck in the backyard,

watching the stars. They were not so close to the city that he could not
see them, even with the lights that were on from the backyard.

He thought he saw a shooting star as well, and he smiled,

wondering if it was Kale, flying above, checking on him as some
angels did with the mortals.

He quickly realized that it was not a shooting star as it grew

larger, but something else entirely. It was falling toward him.

John rushed up and out of his chair just as the falling fireball

crashed into Dante’s pool, sending up a small tsunami wave that he
barely managed to avoid before it came crashing down on the cold
grass and hard deck.

The lights inside of the house turned on as Dante and Jeremy

woke up from their sleep. John was already inching his way toward
the now-empty pool.

There was a hole at the bottom now, in the shape of a man. The

shadows within were nearly too dark for him to see who exactly it
was, but the groan he recognized.

“Kale!”
John jumped into the empty pool and nearly slipped over the wet

concrete as he rushed to his lover.

“John,” Kale said, his voice weak, but he managed to lift his hand

out to him, and John took hold of it as he pulled him out of the mold
he’d just made in the cement.

The first thing John took note of was the two long strips of torn

flesh at his back that ran almost all the way down to the swell of his

The Half-Breed Angel

131

buttocks. He recognized the signs of removed wings, and he was
horrified.

“Kale, what did you do?”
Kale smiled up at him. His hand was bloody, but whole, as he

reached up and cupped John’s cheek. “Thought for sure the bitch was
killing me when she let me fall. Just wanted it to hurt more I guess.”

“What?”
“Annabel. She took my wings for me.”
“She did what?” Never in all of his life did John feel anger and

happiness at the same time. He would have shaken the man in his
arms had he not had his wings torn out and fallen from the sky.

“That―that―”
John didn’t get the chance to think of anything creative to call her

as flashlights shone down on them. Dante and Jeremy were above
them.

“Jesus Christ!” Dante said. “What happened?”
“He’s had his wings taken out,” John told them in case they

couldn’t see the blood. “Call Mathias. Get him over here quickly. He
can heal him.”

Jeremy ran and did as he was told, still as capable of executing his

orders as ever.

“You’re going to be all right, Kale. I promise you, you will be all

right.” John brushed some of Kale’s dark hair out of his face. Even
though he’d crashed into a pool, the warm moisture that was clinging
to his hair gave John the impression of sweat.

Kale only smiled at him, a big stupid grin that John could hardly

understand. “I didn’t go through all that just to die. Getting my wings
removed fucking hurts. Better believe you’re stuck with me now.”

John didn’t mean to do it. Perhaps it was some of that happiness

that was swelling up within him, but even though Kale lay weak and
bleeding in his arms, he believed him. Kale was too strong to give up,
and he would certainly last long enough for Mathias to fly here and
take care of him.

132 Marcy

Jacks

He was going to live, and John was going to finally have him.
John pressed his lips to Kale’s. It was not the romantic reunion

kiss he would have preferred, and Kale was barely able to return it,
but he was more than willing to take it. “You will regret recovering so
soon, love,” John said, pressing another kiss to his pliant lips.
“Because when you are on your feet again, I will make certain you
regret scaring me like this.”

Kale smiled at him again. “Looking forward to it.”

THE END

WWW.MARCYJACKS.COM

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Marcy Jacks lives and works in Ontario, Canada, where she is

fervently pursuing the writer’s life while writing about lots of
gorgeous guys. She loves hearing from readers, and you can reach her
at [e-mail].

For all titles by Marcy Jacks, please visit

www.bookstrand.com/marcy-jacks

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