Asmodeus(26)

She let Kelly ramble on about Raum as she tried to come up with something to tell Asmodeus. He wasn't a dense man, nor was he a pushover. Her reason for coming back had to be plausible. It had to make sense.



She could tell him her house had been ransacked. That angels had been sitting on her doorstep waiting for her, armed with fiery swords.



She'd been attacked by a burning bush on her front lawn.



"Brianna, you missed my street."



Brianna looked in her rearview mirror. "Shit."



"What's wrong with you? We're out. Safe. If you were going to stress out, you should have done it back at the mansion."



She gripped the steering wheel and tried to get her nerves under control. "Oh, it's just the whole thing." Future burning, torture, dismemberment. "I'll be better in a few hours."



"Well, you pulled off a damned good spell. Too bad it turned out the way it did. Normally to summon a being you have to have something of theirs in your possession. That just goes to show you possess more power than you believe."



Brianna almost rear-ended the car in front of her as she pulled up to a red light. She looked at Kelly. "What did you say?"



Kelly stifled a yawn. "You have more powers than you realize. I've been trying to tell you that for years."



Brianna made a U-turn when the arrow turned green. What she'd heard hadn't anything to do with powers. It was about a possession. She had something in her house, near her bedroom, that had once belonged to Asmodeus. Summoning him certainly hadn't happened because of any powers she contained.



Now she was getting somewhere.



All she had to do was find out what this object was and find a reason Asmodeus would need it.



Then she would need a plausible reason she had cared enough to bring it back to him, especially after he had threatened her and kept her hostage in his friend's house.



Not only that, she would have to figure out how to stay with him, making that reason plausible as well.



Oh, then she had to come up with a way to kill him, which she was absolutely certain wouldn't be easy.

And last, but certainly not least, she would have to actually kill him, figure out a way around his friends, and find a safe place to hide out. Naberius and Raum seemed like the vengeful kind for sure. They would mutilate her in a heartbeat if she killed their friend.



This was all based on if she succeeded in killing him. If she didn't…well, she didn't want to think about that.



She peeled into Kelly's driveway, hitting the curb and nearly taking out her mailbox. She could practically hear her car's shocks moan in pain. Before she came to a full stop she slammed the car into reverse. "'Kay, talk to you later."



"Are you sure you're all right? You seem tense all of a sudden."



Brianna plastered a smile on her face a car salesman would be proud of. "I just want to get the shop opened up, grab a shower and move on. I'll call you later."



Kelly nodded, opening the door. Her friend gave her a look of disbelief, but she didn't press for more information. "Call if you need anything."



Ha. What she needed was a permanent vacation on a deserted island that boasted of demonic protection. "Will do. Thanks, Kelly. For everything."



Kelly smiled. "See you soon."



"Sure thing." She waited for Kelly to shut the door.



One week. One week from now demons would be the least of her worries.





Chapter Seven





You have no purpose in this realm…





Asmodeus threw back another shot of vodka, the liquid burning a path down his throat. As Raum and Naberius sat at the kitchen table playing cards he sat fighting his own conscience.



He was losing.



For the first time in his life he had to think of consequences.



He had led two hundred angels in a rebellion, a fall and a few years of fleeting happiness in this realm. What had come of that had been horrendous for his brethren. Imprisonment, suffering and death.



He had not considered what a fall would entail when he had been in the midst of planning it. Lucifer's followers had endured their share of setbacks and anguish. He'd witnessed their fall, and at the time couldn't fathom their reasoning behind it. He couldn't understand their push for power. There was one Supreme Being with no room for another. Power had never been one of his goals.



What he had wanted had been simple. He had witnessed what the humans were offered by the Powers. Free will. Freedom to do what they chose, freedom to act independently, and most importantly, freedom to love. It was the connection humans shared with one another. The weeping he had witnessed when a loved one passed on. The joy they experienced when they brought a child into the world.