Demon King (Claimed By Lucifer Book 1)(42)

He slashed forward, on the offensive, and I blocked him with my glowing sword. We weren’t fully fighting, not yet. He wanted to feel me out. Probably checking to see if I had enough fight in me in this body. Asshole, I had plenty.

“You know why,” he said, his voice cold. All traces of fun-loving Gadreel were gone, leaving a stranger in his place. “Deep down, you’ve always known my true identity. Haven’t you?”

I nearly dropped the sword as clarity swept through me. My hands trembled and I stepped back, but I managed to whisper his name. “Adam.”

A cruel smile spread across his handsome face. “I’ve come for you, my wife. As I always do.”

I leveled the glowing sword at him. “Stay away from me!”

His face darkened, and he attacked again. I had to dance and move quickly to block him. As we fought, we dodged upended furniture and broken glass, unintentionally moving back toward the library. The battle was balanced, and somehow I knew in my bones that this was a fight we’d fought a hundred times before. An exhausting thought that lent a feeling of inevitability to all of it. Was it even possible for me to win against him? Or would he strike me down just as Lucifer returned?

“Jophiel thought she could hide you, but I always find you,” Gadreel snapped. “You belong to me, Eve, not Lucifer.”

He found me… My jaw dropped, though I kept my sword raised. “Did you have Brandy kidnapped?”

He inclined his head slightly, with pride shining in his eyes. “I knew it would bring you to me.”

“Why not just kill me in Vista? That seems a lot easier.”

“Where’s the fun in that?” He gave me a maniacal grin as he advanced, making me step back. “No, it’s much more satisfying to bring you to Lucifer and give you some time to fall in love again, so it hurts him even more when I take you away. Like he stole you from me.”

“Lucifer is my mate, not you,” I shot back at him, as I stepped into the library. “I don’t even know you!”

He looked oddly hurt at that. “How do you not remember me? Me? After everything I’ve done to you?”

The way he said it made me want to vomit, but I had an idea. “What if I left Lucifer for you? Would that make you stop?”

He let out a horrible, menacing laugh as he came toward me. “Oh, Eve, you’re the same in every life. You think you haven’t tried that before?”

Damn. I was out of moves. Except as he drew closer, I grabbed the vase of Hades and Persephone, silently saying an apology to the long-dead artist, and threw it at Gadreel’s head. It hit him perfectly, using precise aim I didn’t know I possessed, shattering into a hundred pieces. Giving me just enough time to stab him in the shoulder with the light blade. He screamed and stumbled back, like he was on fire. I already knew from the gargoyle attack that the blade seemed to do extra damage to demons—and Fallen too, apparently.

His dark blade glanced downward as he cradled the wound, and I used the second of vulnerability to my advantage. Darting forward, I sank my blade into Gadreel’s chest, driving it into his heart as his eyes widened with shock. The sword’s white light increased, shining between us.

I gave him a triumphant smile. “Never expected me to kill you for once, did you?”

I yanked out the sword with a twist and stepped back. He rocked forward, clutching at his heart as he sank to his knees. He hit the floor hard, and I pressed a hand to my chest, sucking in a deep breath and trying to calm my racing heart.

Holy shit. I’d killed Gadreel.

Adam was dead. Was the curse broken?

Then a horrible laugh came from his body, even as his blood spread across the floor. Like some kind of zombie, he forced himself up off the floor with a groan. Ripping his shirt apart, Gadreel proudly displayed his chest, and I watched in confusion as the torn flesh and skin knitted back together.

I stumbled back, shaking my head, fear gripping my throat. “How?”

“Oh, Eve, don’t you remember? Thanks to the curse, I can’t be killed as long as you’re alive. We’re a pair in life and death.” He stepped forward again, shadowy blade in hand. His eyes had changed. They were wild before, but now they were six steps past that. He’d gone totally dark. Pure evil.

“Together forever,” he whispered, and terror rushed through me.

I tried to move, but I wasn’t quick enough. I lifted my blade, but the dark swinging sword came at me so fast, with so much fury, all I could do was surrender to the inevitable. At least I would be reborn again.

The library door blasted open, breaking off its hinges, and a shield of darkness flew up around me, blocking Gadreel’s attack. Lucifer strode through, his eyes blazing red, his shadowy wings fully extended. He crossed the room to me in a blur of darkness and threw me behind him, protecting me from any further attacks with his own body.

Gadreel took one look at Lucifer and paled, the color draining from his face. He turned and sprinted toward the broken library door, sweeping Lucifer’s old book from the desk as he darted by—the one Lucifer had been reading when I’d found him earlier.

In the living room, glass shattered and fell toward The Strip below as Gadreel launched through the last remaining windows with a burst of energy and force I hadn’t expected. His pale gray wings carried him into the night, and I almost expected Lucifer to go after him, but he turned to me instead.

His red eyes faded back to green as he held my shoulders and scanned me from head to toe. Probably searching for signs of blood or other injuries. “Are you hurt?”

“No, I’m fine.” I threw myself into Lucifer’s strong arms. “I’m so glad you’re okay. When I saw you out there fighting a dragon, I feared the worst.”

He held me close against him, running his hand up and down my back. “It was Mammon. He and some of the other Archdemons have been plotting against me, and they’re working with Gadreel. He’s Adam, you know.”

“Yeah, I figured that part out,” I said with a slight shudder.

“I was about to tell you when we were attacked.” He looked in the direction of the library and his frown deepened. “And now he has Samael’s journals. This is bad. Very bad.”

With a ripple of magic, Lucifer’s darkness snaked out and flipped over one of the leather couches. It had large gashes in it, like it had been shredded with huge claws, but he sat on it anyway. Then he sighed before rubbing his hands over his face—the most defeated I’d seen him.

I sank down beside him. “Why is that bad? What was in that book?”

“It’s an account of what happened long ago, written by Samael. I was going through it to see if there was a way to break the curse. But there’s more in that book. A lot more.” Lucifer turned his gaze toward the window, looking in the direction Gadreel had flown off in. “And now Adam has it.”

“I killed him.” The fight played over in my head, and fear gripped my throat again. “But he didn’t die. He said he can’t die while I’m alive. Why didn’t you tell me that part of the curse?”

Lucifer took my hand, turning it over as he looked at my skin, as if committing me to memory. “I assumed Jophiel told you about it.”

“She must have left that part out.” I had a feeling she’d left a lot of things out.

He wrapped an arm around me and held me close, and I leaned against him until the shock of the attack slowly receded. But when it did, I was left with a horrible dread for the next time it would happen. And the next, and the next…

“We have to end the curse,” I said quietly. “I can’t keep doing this. Living and dying, over and over. Finding you and losing you again and again. Living in fear of the day Adam would end my life once more.” I turned toward him, but he was staring off into space, his brow furrowed. “Did you find a way to break the curse in Samael’s notes?”

“Yes, there is a way.” His dark gaze lifted and his eyes met mine, but now they were hard. Cold. A little terrifying. “But there’s a price. There’s always a price.”

“Whatever it is, I’ll pay it,” I said, though a flicker of doubt lodged in my chest.

“Will you?” He let out a haunting laugh, as darkness began to gather around him. “Or am I the one who will suffer for all eternity for the crime?”

I stood up and backed away, my skin suddenly cold. “I don’t know what you’re talking about. How do we break the curse?”

He stood and stalked toward me like a predator, backing me against the wall. “Do you trust me, Hannah?”

Words failed me for a moment, as the darkness seemed to close in around us like a cage. Was he trying to scare me? If so, it was working. But I knew in my heart he would never hurt me. He was my mate, the other half of my soul, and he loved me.

“Yes, I trust you.” I reached up and stroked his face softly as I looked into his eyes. “I love you.”

Pain crossed his face just before the darkness turned the room pitch black around me. All I could see were his red eyes, glowing like brimstone, and then the shadows wrapped around my body like shackles, holding me tight.

“Lucifer… What are you doing?” I struggled against the bonds he’d twined around me, but there was no resisting the devil.