Shadow Kissed 03 - Shadowman

scoffed. “I let it into the world.”
    Custo shook his head. “If the angels of our Order have difficulty resisting the gate, it was impossible for you to resist its pull.”
    â€œEven I heard its call,” Shadowman said, finally ripping his gaze from her to regard Custo. “And I am Death.”
    Layla held her breath. There. He’d said it. He might even do what was right.
    â€œYou don’t have to worry about the devil,” Adam said. “She’s tricky, but destroying her is a question of firepower, which Segue can handle. Her husband, Mickey Petty, is arriving shortly. We’ll use him to draw her out.”
    That was Adam, trying to work the problem. And everyone else, absolving her of her culpability. She didn’t deserve it but couldn’t do anything regardless.
    â€œWhich leaves the gate,” Custo said. “I have to warn you: The Order won’t let you pass into Twilight with Shadowman before we attempt to destroy it. If you die before it is destroyed, then it may never be destroyed. Eventually, someone else will be compelled to open it.”
    The Shadow on her skin turned rough.
    â€œYou can look at her,” Shadowman interrupted, “and plan her murder?”
    â€œYou’ve made no progress,” Custo argued, his mouth drawn into a bitter line. “The devil just took more lives. The Order is going to act, and soon.”
    â€œEnough!” Shadowman said, standing. He loomed over her, a dark shadow splitting the room. Darkness smudged out from his skin into smoky wisps in the air. “This talk is futile. I won’t comply. Layla, you will come with me, and we will be happy.”
    This just wasn’t going to be a happy day.
    Layla stood slowly. It hurt to move with the fire inside and the bell in her head. She was more than a foot shorter than he, but she wasn’t scared. Of course he would fight this. He would fight and fight until she gave him no other choice. Her throat was already raw from containing her own screams of denial. She tried for a little lightheartedness. “I warned you about the imperious thing.”
    â€œI can’t lose you again,” he said. His voice had lost all human tone, rumbling low, from a deep storm within him.
    She reached to brush his cheek, so beautiful, so severe. “That part you can’t control.”
    â€œWatch me. I won’t let you go.”
    â€œYou will, or I’ll fade like all the rest.”
    â€œNot if I can keep you alive.”
    â€œDon’t you understand?” Layla said. “This is my destiny.”
    Layla saw Talia duck into the bedroom, but the soft cries from within came from the mother, not a child. The fire in Layla’s chest flared. The sooner this was over, the better.
    She turned to Custo. “I’ll want the rest of the day to be miserable, if that’s okay with you.”
    â€œLayla, I—”
    â€œCusto, it’s fine. I’m fine. At last things make sense, which is a huge relief.” And here she’d found Talia, a friend, after all this time. Adam should go to her. Why was he still here in this awful room?
    Custo frowned. “That’s not what you’re thinking. At least don’t lie to me.”
    â€œWhat do you want me to say?” Layla snapped. “The bell in my head says this is no-win. I get it. At least let me put on a good face while I try to do the right thing.”
    Shadowman sent his darkness coursing around her. “I won’t let this happen.”
    Brick wall, and her head was already bloody.
    Shadowman pulled her into his arms. “I could keep you safe.”
    Layla felt a strange stirring of air, and then she was struck by an invisible fist. She cried out, then bit her lip too late for quiet. The sound of metal against metal rang throughout the room. Her weight collapsed into Shadowman’s arms and she got a crazy vantage of the room.
    â€œLayla?” He gripped her.
    Layla marveled as the gray veins under Custo’s skin grew darker. “Fuckers started on the gate without me.”
    Suddenly Adam was beside her. “They knew you couldn’t do it.”
    â€œRose Petty took lives today,” Custo said. “The Order won’t risk letting in more devils like her.”
    â€œGo!” Adam shouted. “Stop them. Buy us more time. Tell them she’s willing.”
    Another blow assailed Layla’s senses. Stars sprang into her