Demon Marked

When Ash had left, her eyes had been glowing red, but the flat stare Lilith leveled at Khavi looked twice as demonic. “Do we? Is this what we are now, that we sacrifice one life to save another?”
    “That’s what Guardians have always been,” Khavi said. “Sacrificing our lives to save another’s is how we become Guardians.”
    That wasn’t the same at all. But Khavi had a way of twisting things about that made Taylor wonder, “Are you saying Ash will become one if she sacrifices herself like this?”
    “No,” Lilith said, and Taylor couldn’t remember hearing such cold anger from the woman before. Usually, the former demon hid it behind a razor-sharp smile and a tongue that could slice to the bone. “It would be the same situation as Rachel’s: She should become a Guardian, but the field would claim her first.”
    “She never becomes a Guardian,” Khavi confirmed. “There is no door leading in that direction.”
    Fuck. Taylor pushed her hands into her hair, tried to search her mind for any sign of Michael. Was he hearing this? What would he think of this?
    No, screw that. She didn’t need to feel his reaction. She knew what it would be.
    “He wouldn’t want this,” she said. “He wouldn’t want us to guilt or coerce someone into sacrificing herself for him, especially a woman who should have been a Guardian, and who’s literally been through Hell and torture, just because she sacrificed herself to save someone’s life . And he sure as hell wouldn’t want us to give that woman nothing at all to live for, to tear her heart out and then say, ‘But hey, now that your life is total shit, you can save someone else and make your pathetic soul worth something.’ That’s what a demon would do.”
    “Yes,” Khavi agreed. “He believes that free will should always be respected, and life protected. But he also knows that there are times when we must be more demon than man, and do what is necessary. Is that not what you did, Lilith, when you brought her here? Did you not tear her apart, so that she would willingly agree to come . . . and all because there were more lives at stake than hers?”
    “Now there is only Michael’s,” Lilith said.
    “Only Michael’s?” Khavi laughed. “Oh, you lie. You know you do. You do not even see the darkness coming as I do, but you know that having Michael here would save many, many more lives than a halfling who can’t even fly.”
    Jesus Christ. And who would be first? “Is St. Croix really going to die?”
    “Yes,” Khavi answered her, before looking to Lilith again. “If you want to help her, let her speak to him. Let the call go through to her. And maybe everything will change.”
    Change. A new door opening. Taylor latched on to that, tried to hope. “How would it change?”
    “I cannot see what I—”
    “What you don’t fucking know. Yeah, I know.” Taylor gritted her teeth and glanced at Lilith, who seemed to be making up her mind about something. Her mouth had firmed, and her gaze had slid toward the door, as if considering an object that lay beyond it. “What do you think about all this?”
    “I think that certain people have a way of twisting things—and that to save St. Croix, Ash might willingly break her bargain with Madelyn and end up in the frozen field.” She started for the door, Sir Pup at her heels. “So I think I’m going to tell her everything I know about how to get around breaking one.”
    Good. Damn good. Lilith had survived two thousand years of service to Lucifer without landing in the frozen field. If anyone had tips for the poor girl, it was her. Then Khavi murmured, “Good,” and it took everything within Taylor not to rush after Lilith and bring her back.
    Because maybe that was just what Khavi wanted.
    And, Jesus, now she was beginning to sound like St. Croix. Fucking insanity. How the hell had she gotten into all of this? She’d jumped in front of a bullet for Joe, yeah, but that should have just made her a Guardian. Not a woman with an ancient half-demon in her brain and his blood written all over hers.
    What the hell did that even mean?
    “How is this any different than me?” she asked Khavi. “I signed up to be a Guardian, but not the rest of this, but I’m doing what I can. And Ash, Rachel made all of her choices for her, but now that she’s thrown into this, she’s trying to make the best of it, doing what she can to help—and even as a demon, she’s a decent woman who hasn’t hurt a single