Chapter 10

Chapter

Ten

DASH

“Hey,we need to plan a bachelor party for Trent. What should we do?”

I sat on the concrete floor of Clegg Cycles tightening the lug nuts on a new Metzeler Marathon Ultra tire for a customer who’d run over a nail near a construction site. The guy was sitting in the office with Georgia, who was trying to go home because it was date night for Rena and her.

I turned to see Lilith, Trent’s best woman, staring at me. “Why are we worrying about that now? The wedding isn’t until the fall. What I wanna know is, where the hell is Nyx? Why the fuck can’t you guys find her?”

“Someone’s in a pissy mood. What’s wrong? You don’t like doing manual labor anymore?”

“Got nothin’ to do with manual labor. I’m worried about my husband’s safety. What if I can’t keep him safe against whatever this threat is?”

I glanced up at Lilith, who was wearing a pair of Quinn’s coveralls and six-inch heels. Her auburn hair was piled up on her head, and she had a red bandanna tied around her forehead. She’d been tuning up a Trailmaster mini bike a guy brought in. He was giving it to his five-year-old son to piss off the kid’s mother—they were newly divorced. Lilith thought it was hilarious.

“We can’t. We’ve talked about it. We can’t provoke her. Nyx has to be the one to start the war, Dash.”

I rolled my eyes, but she was right. It had been explained to me before by Michael and Jo, so I had to go with it, but the waiting was killing me.

“Jo said she wanted me to work with Jonas to learn how to defend Keir. Can you tell me if I need to do that now or if it can wait—?” My skin felt as though it was on fire when I thought about something happening to my husband. I’d never survive it.

Lilith chuckled, her voice deeper than mine.” “Why play with a substitute demon when you can have the real thing?”

I stared at her, seeing her eyes flash the way Beelz’s did on occasion when he was in the mood to fuck around with humans. “You’d teach me to fight one of your own?”

Lilith cackled, bringing a stop to all the work in the shop. “Come at me.”

I snapped my fingers to keep things from getting out of hand. “Why would you do that?”

The Mistress of Hell stepped closer and leaned into my ear. “I’m a demon, no doubt, but I’m in love with a human, and if we lose the Human Realm, I lose the human I love. I have a vested interest in seeing that humans survive and don’t become toys for Nyx and Erebus. They were never supposed to come into the mix between Heaven and Hell. While we may not always see eye to eye with the white lighters, we have a vested interest in protecting the Human Realm. I’ll show you how ruthless demons can fight so you can protect him. Lucifer wants to be certain you and Keir succeed.”

Her comment about Lucifer wanting us to succeed shocked me. I would have thought he’d be less than thrilled about anyone’s success other than his own.

Lilith stared at me for a moment before she smiled. “Dash, you know, don’t you, that you’re one of us now?”

I chuckled. “One of what?” What was she getting at?

“A dark lighter.”

Say what now?“What do you mean a dark lighter?”

Lilith stepped closer. “Did you think you just developed all these new skills by chance? Part of the negotiations with the white lighters was about what we’d get out of the deal. You and Keir will fight Nyx once she begins her attack, and you’ll be on our side. When the smoke clears, you’ll be a warrior in Lucifer’s Army.”

“Wait! I’ll be a what?”

Nobody had ever mentioned any of that shit to me. I met a handsome mortician when my brother was murdered, which set off a chain of events that led me to being married to the man who not only spoke with the dead but had the ability to channel spirits and send demons back to Hell. I’d adjusted to all that, hadn’t I? Wasn’t that enough?

“Am I going to be possessed? Am I already?” If I was, I’d get Keir to put his hands on me and get that thing out.

Lilith shook her head. “You’re evolving, not possessed. When you gave me permission to drink from you to help me heal, you received some of my powers in return. Each bite from me gives you additional gifts. When Lucifer fell from Heaven and brought his followers with him, the Creator, who is not a thuggish brute as some religions portray, allowed him to have the dark equivalent of the powers the Archs hold in the Celestial Realm. We can convey those gifts to others as we see fit. That’s the premise for the struggle between the Realms, and humans are caught in the middle.”

“I need to talk to somebody about this shit. I didn’t sign up for that!” By now, I was shouting, but come the fuck on! Seriously, what the hell?

Josephine entered through the open bay, knitting bag in hand. “You wanted to see me?”

Hell yeah, I wanted to see her.

I glanced at Lilith. “Say it again. Tell Jo what you told me about me being a warrior in Lucifer’s Army.”

Jo shook her head and turned to Lilith. “You had to bring this up now?”

Lilith shrugged. “He asked. You didn’t tell him? That seems a little unfair.”

“It wasn’t for me to tell. That decision was made at levels much higher than mine.”

Lilith emitted an evil growl. “What happened to that whole free-will premise you white lighters spout. You didn’t allow Dash to decide whether he wanted to take on this burden. You all made the decision for him, is that right?”

“Release them, and let’s go.” Jo motioned her hand in a circle with a very impatient expression, so I snapped my fingers to release those in the garage. They went about their business as though nothing had happened.

Jo stepped closer and took my hand, and in an instant, we were in a brightly lit room I’d never seen. Jo was also not the little old woman I’d been talking to a moment earlier.

“Wait here.” Jo approached a huge golden gate and was allowed inside while I remained outside. A small being stared at me, which was unnerving.

“How are you doing?” It nodded but didn’t respond.

A moment later, Michael the Archangel came out of the gate behind Jo. “Dash, my friend. Welcome. It’s not your time yet, so I’m assuming something important must be weighing on you. Let’s go chat.”

The three of us settled on a couple of benches nearby. “So, tell me, Key, what brings you by?”

I was seething by that point, and with Michael decked out in a white robe with a large set of bright sparkling-white wings behind him, I had to remember this wasn’t my friend, the beer drinking, band T-shirt wearing, affable guy I’d chatted with on a few occasions. This guy was an angel with powers I’d witnessed a time or two.

Breathe in. Breathe out. “I’ve been made aware of a few things I didn’t know were decided for me in whatever negotiations took place between Heaven and Hell. I wasn’t asked about any of them. Care to explain?”

Michael smirked. “Aw, now. Don’t get upset. There were tradeoffs. For instance, if you and Keir hadn’t had such good chemistry, we wouldn’t be having this conversation.”

I stared at him and crossed my ankle over my knee, noticing I was still wearing my coveralls from the shop. I hoped to hell someone remembered to finish tightening those lug nuts.

“Exactly what were the terms of this little bait-and-switch? Is Keir aware of any of this? Did you do something that made us fall in love with each other? You keep saying we’re destined to be the Key and the Gatekeeper, yet I wonder now if it was just a matter of convenience?”

“Who’s to say, really. All that matters is that the two of you are planning a future and ready to face the enemy together.”

I glanced at Jo to see their face completely devoid of any expression. I wasn’t book-smart, but I could see a cover-up in the making.

Crossing my arms over my chest, I glared at the two of them. “I think you’re leaving out a lot of information.”

Jo side-eyed Michael, who then turned to me, meeting my eyes. “It was a judgment call made at the time that I still stand by. It’s tricky when trying to negotiate between absolutes, Key.”

“Excuse me? This is my fucking eternity we’re talking about. I wanna have a family with Keir. Are you telling me you decided from the beginning that I wouldn’t be able to do anything of the sort? Why the fuck did you let me fall in love with him?”

Jo sighed. “Because the love you share will motivate you to defend Keir at all costs. Soulmates are bound by their passion for each other. It is unlike any other kind of love. You would die for him, wouldn’t you? The commitment you have to each other is strong, and the desire for a future together will help you fight the evil that will try to tear you apart to conquer the Human Realm.”

I shook my head. “You guys... whatevers... manipulated us to fit your needs. You don’t give a flying fuck what happens to us as long as you get to keep playing with humans as though they’re action figures. What’s the endgame here?”

Michael stepped forward and touched my forehead without a word. Suddenly, I was standing on a street in Sacramento near Danny’s old apartment where Lake and Jamie now lived. Around me, I saw death and destruction at every turn. People were slaughtering each other without regard for human life.

Every direction I turned, there was hate and cruelty in unspeakable forms, and the only thing I could hear was high-pitched, shrill laugh all around me. I was chilled to the bone at the horrors I was witnessing, and when I couldn’t take it anymore, I stepped back, hoping I could bleach those visions from my mind.

Tears were streaming down my face when I could finally focus, my eyes fixed on Michael and Jo. “That’s what will become of humankind?”

Jo glanced at their feet and nodded. I turned to Michael. “How do I know you didn’t just conjure up that scene to scare me into doing what you want?”

Michael reached out and touched my heart without saying anything yet again. I opened my eyes and found myself standing in the driveway of a house I’d never seen.

Keir was kneeling in front of a child’s play yard, his hands held out in front of him. Suddenly, a little brunette girl of about four glided down a short plastic slide, smiling as a beautiful giggle floated on the air and surrounded me, filling my heart with love.

My Keir caught the girl and hugged her tightly to his chest whispering in her ear. The sound of a Harley filled the air, and I turned to see myself stopping beside a garage and lifting my leg over the bike as I removed a black helmet and placed it on the seat.

The front door of the house opened, and Keir’s mother walked out with a beautiful little blond boy. She held his hand as they slowly made their way down the three steps from the front porch, signaling that he wasn’t comfortable with the stairs yet.

When the boy saw me standing by the bike, he pulled his hand from Lucy’s and made a dead run toward me. I picked him up and kissed his cheeks before spinning him around. His laughter danced on the breeze as my heart overflowed.

Keir and the little girl ran to where I was tickling the boy as I held him in my arms. When they arrived, Keir put the girl down so he could kiss me as the little brunette hugged me around my legs and laughed.

“How was your day, love?” Keir stared at me with so much love on his handsome face that a lump formed in my throat.

I watched myself grin as I leaned forward to kiss his cheek, then bent to kiss the little girl before kissing the boy’s temple and putting him on the ground. I knelt in front of the two children, who were carbon copies of Keir and me, and I glanced up at my husband. “Now it’s perfect.”

My eyes had closed at the beautiful scene, but when I opened them, I stood in front of Dearly & Son, crying from the loss of what I’d just seen. Jo’s voice echoed in my head. “That’s what you’re fighting for.”

I growled as I plodded up the stairs to our apartment. I wasn’t happy to be drawn from the beautiful scene I was shown, but I finally got it.

Yes, I was fighting for humanity and everyone I loved. My guys at Clegg? Yeah, they were important to me as well. But I was also fighting for the beautiful future I’d just been shown. I was now more determined than ever to win.