Asmodeus(48)

Mulling over the information, she twirled spaghetti onto her fork. She wasn't an angel. Every level of the Abyss was meant to teach angels, not humans. "Has a human ever been exiled there?"



He laughed, though the sound contained no humor. "Absolutely not. Humans wouldn't be able to withstand it."



She abruptly lost her appetite. "Oh."



She began thinking about all the things she'd miss. Her freedom. Her family.



Cold weather.



She leaned away from the pillows without her whole body going into pain mode, and put the plate on the nightstand.



"You don't like it?"

"It's fine, I'm just not hungry." Not when she was going to Hell and her best friend was dealing in dark magic.



"Would you like to go out for dinner later?"



His question came out of nowhere, and it rendered her speechless. Was he asking her out on a date? He still wore that white shirt, buttons undone, leaving his incredible chest open to her view. She swallowed, not knowing what to say.



"I've been to a diner named Tony's. It was pretty good." He leaned back and waited for her to answer.



She caught something more in his gaze, as if he were still assessing her. Then it hit her. This would be no ordinary date. He was searching for answers. "You're going to try and figure out what I'm hiding."



Asmodeus locked eyes with her. "Absolutely."



Her psychic gift unexpectedly flared to life. This night would pose a major change for her. Something was going down tonight, though she was unable to grasp if it would be for better or for worse.



If she were taking into account the past few days, she'd bet her life on worse.





Chapter Twelve





Kelly leaned against the back of the chaise lounge on her back porch, giving her body time to adjust so she could regain her strength. She had put up a ward over her house a few days ago, and even she couldn't transfer herself through the border.



Using the powers the Demonic Book of Spells required tapped every ounce of energy she possessed. The dark spells were taking more and more out of her, but as she'd been promised, she would gain a resistance against their need.



The chaise sat on her covered patio, but she'd swear she could still feel the sun's rays drawing the moisture from her skin. She moved around to the front of the chaise to sit down.



Thank God she had found a way to get that grounding necklace off her. She clutched the book in her right hand. Now that she had it back in her possession she could get back to studying its contents.



"Kelly?"



Kelly watched in amazement as Lev walked out of her house. At six foot eight he barely fit through her sliding glass door.



"Lev? What are you doing here?" How had he gotten in her house with the ward in place? Though she would never tell him, she'd put the ward up to keep him out specifically.



"I made coffee." He ignored her question and sat opposite her, his signature sunglasses in place. Certainly he no longer felt the need to hide his identity from her. She knew what he was. Had known from the beginning.



"What are you doing here?" she asked again. She ran an appreciative eye over his body, which he'd dripped into a pair of jeans and a black T-shirt. Though his physique was nothing to dismiss, it was his aura that had drawn her to him. Because of the powers that ran through her body, she was able to see other's auras. Human auras were sometimes difficult to perceive. Angels, from what she had heard, had warm, light auras.



Lev's aura was dark. Powerful.



She compared his aura to Raum's, surprised to find herself doing so. Raum had a powerful aura, and though he was also a demon, he didn't contain the darkness that Lev possessed.



He lit a cigarette, settling back in his chair. "I see you brought the book back. Why?"



A week ago he'd wanted her to get the book out of her house. He'd informed her that using the spells had the potential of enhancing her powers, but addiction to those spells might pose a problem. He had convinced her taking a break would clear her heart and mind. The night she had performed her locating spell on Brianna, using her hairbrush, Kelly felt it necessary to place the Demonic Book of Spells under Brianna's bed beside her sweater box.



"I had to. Brianna had taken it to Asmodeus." The pressure dropped in the air surrounding her. Leviathan hadn't physically moved, and yet Kelly had experienced the surge in his powers.



"Is Asmodeus aware of the book's location?"



She hadn't had time to think that through. Of course he would know where the book was. Asmodeus would come to her house, or send one of his Rebels in his place. The bastard would want it back. She'd healed Brianna like he'd asked, but she'd had to get out of Naberius's house before Asmodeus could put the grounding necklace back on her. She had high-end clientele to think of.