Company of Angels 02 - The Demoness of Waking Dreams

voice said behind her.
    She jumped, the jewels spilling from her hands.
    She pivoted to see Corbin, leaning against the wall, watching her.
    “I knew it,” she said flatly. “I knew you would come. I knew you would find some way to intervene and spoil everything.”
    “But what are you talking about, Luciana? Are you planning a vacation, my dear? Perhaps you feel like you need some time away after you deliver the angel. Tonight’s the last night, you know. I would have expected you would have finished the job by now.”
    “I was simply looking through some of my things. Don’t worry, Corbin. You’ll get what’s coming to you,” she said.
    “Are you having second thoughts? From my point of view, I can’t see that you’ve made any progress toward your goal. The Guardian is still out there. I have reason to believe you’ve been meeting with him in secret.”
    “There’s no secret to the fact that I’ve been meeting with him,” Luciana scoffed, mustering as much bravado as she could, although she was shaking inside. “How else do you expect me to seduce him?”
    “Are you falling in love with him?”
    “Of course not. Not after I’ve had you, ” she simpered.
    “I’m not fooled by you, Luciana. I know you used me to get to Julian. You’re a liar and a whore. However, the fact that you’ve fallen in love with a sworn enemy is unexpectedly pathetic, even for you.”
    She raised her chin and stared back at him. And dared to say, “What would it matter to you if I was falling in love with him?”
    That was a mistake.
    Corbin grabbed the jewelry she had dropped onto the bed, hurling it on the floor. Some of the more delicate pieces smashed apart, pieces of gold and precious gems rolling across the hardwood. A lump rose in her throat.
    Do not cry, she told herself. He will destroy you if you cry.
    “You’ve got a job to do. I told you to kill that angel. Tonight, the clock runs out,” he said, his voice terrifyingly normal.
    “Brandon…he’s not nearly ready,” she protested weakly.
    “You’ve gotten into his dreams, haven’t you?”
    “Yes, but… I’m not even close. He’s strong. Too strong.”
    Corbin slammed his fist into the wall beside her ear. She froze.
    “There are rules in the interactions between angels and demons,” she said, closing her eyes, swallowing down her fear. “Rules that cannot be broken.”
    “Rules can be bent,” he said, moving to loom over her. “You’ve said so yourself. Don’t forget what you are. What you’ve always been. A demoness and a whore.”
    She opened her eyes and glared at him. “I know what I am. The task you set me hasn’t been easy, but I agreed to it, didn’t I? I will deliver the angel by the end of tonight. I hit some unexpected roadblocks, as I’m sure you know. There have been some deaths amongst the demon community here in Venice.”
    “I wouldn’t know anything about that,” he said, straightening. Completely toneless, he continued, “But let me just say that those who deserved it got their end. Don’t fret about Carlotta. She spent a long time on this earth. Longer than most ever dream of. It was time for her to go.”
    “So you did kill them,” she accused.
    He came up, grabbed her by the throat. “Why would I ever need to admit to such a thing?”
    The sensation of choking was unbearable.
    Like death all over again. His eyes, as cold and as unfeeling as a serpent’s, bore into her.
    No, she thought. A snake would have more feeling.
    She felt herself fading, her vision filling with stars, a billion dots of light.
    “I remember what it’s like to die,” she choked out, her voice barely rasping past her lips. “Just do it.” She let her eyes close, willing him to finish it. “Kill me.”
    “Kill you, my dear?” he snarled. “I would never dream of making it so easy. No, darling. I’m taking you on a tour of your own private version of hell. Just to remind you exactly what’s at stake. Open your eyes.”
    My own private version of hell. I can’t go back there. I won’t. She willed herself, Don’t…don’t…don’t open your eyes.
    He shook her just once, but so hard she thought her eyes might snap right out of her head.
    Very quietly he said, “ Open your eyes, or I will open them for you. I will rip your eyelids off, and it will be unutterably painful.”
    She had no doubt he would do it.
    When she looked around, she and Corbin were no longer in her palazzo. They stood on the steps of the Redentore