Steal the Day (Thieves #2)(107)

“Louis, she is dying,” Marcus said with something akin to desperation.

“And her master can save her or not,” Marini stated flatly. “I’m sure if he survives the battle with the demon, he will try to heal her. I, for one, am interested to see if he can take out the demon with his bare hands. Leave her. Do I have to remind you who your master is, Marcus?”

“Dev,” I insisted because time was marching on and he was getting farther away from me.

Marcus cursed in Italian. “I should let him die, cara. It would solve many problems. I’m far too old to fall into this trap, yet I am going to try to save that idiot because I cannot bear to see you cry.”

He gently lowered my head down to the floor. I turned though it took every bit of energy I had left. I watched as Marcus turned my lover’s body over and saw his face fall at the damage he saw there. He felt for a pulse, and it didn’t look like he found one.

Marcus tore Dev’s shirt open to expose the wounds. He held his wrist to his mouth and spat out a hunk of flesh. He let the blood drip directly over Dev’s wounds. He had to open his wrist several times because he healed so quickly. Kimberly’s husband, Henri Jacobs, joined Marcus. He, too, offered his own blood. Henri put his open wrist to Dev’s mouth and after the longest time Henri jerked slightly as Dev began to drink that precious, healing blood. Marcus looked at me and nodded.

“Thank you.” I mouthed the words because no sound would come out.

I let my head fall back and started to float above my body.

I could see Daniel shoving his clawed fists into Halfer’s chest. He seemed to be trying to pull out his heart. He was so savage, and yet I only saw my first love. The boy I learned about life with. I saw him at eight, already so handsome I dreamed about marrying him. I saw him at thirteen, filled with the loss of his father and clinging to my hand. I saw him at seventeen, teaching me how to love. God, I didn’t want to leave him, but I didn’t seem to have much of a choice.

I was above my body watching Daniel fight Halfer and Dev fight for life. I feared my fight was over.

Then I was in a large chamber. It was slightly cold and dimly lit. There was a man sitting on a throne. He was of medium build and nothing extraordinary to look at. Then I saw his eyes, and they were the oldest things I’ve ever seen. I stepped back from those eyes and realized that I was not alone.

Lucas Halfer stood beside me, and he looked pissed to be in this place. We were both back to our former complete bodies. I could breathe again, and it looked like Halfer had the majority of his chest back. Halfer took a deep breath and made an impossibly low bow.

“My Lord, Lucifer, please tell me how I have offended you,” he said in a big old kiss-ass voice.

My eyes widened because it wasn’t every day I got called to this particular principal’s office. My reaction was the very same as in grade school, though. I pointed straight at the bastard demon who killed me and announced my position loudly.

“He did it!”





Chapter Twenty-Six





“Very mature, Zoey,” Halfer huffed under his breath.

He was likely right, but I’d just gotten gutted and wasn’t in the mood to be overly mature. “It’s true.”

“I left you alone,” Halfer spat. “I was a very good boy, but no, you just had to push it. You f*cked everything up. How can I let that go unanswered?”

“How am I supposed to let you torture my friend for the rest of eternity?” I answered his dumb question with a question of my own. “And you cheated. We weren’t allowed to carry weapons. If I’d had my guns, you would never have been able to kill me.”

He loomed over me, invading my space. “Oh, I’d have killed you, bitch.”

“Shut up, both of you,” the Dark Lord of Hell said. Though his voice was quiet, it seemed to reverberate along the floors and across my skin, creeping like an army of insects. “You’re acting like five-year-olds fighting over a toy. Brixalnax, it has been brought to my attention that you had an angel captured and tortured on this plane. Is this true?”

Halfer straightened up and got his pride on. “Yes, My Lord Lucifer. It’s true. I captured the angel myself. I brought him to my palace and had him on the rack. He’s been screaming for me, My Lord. I bound his magic and have taken sustenance from his blood.”

“Ewww,” I muttered under my breath.

“This one thought to steal the angel from our plane,” Halfer accused. “She thought to take what belongs to Hell.”

“I didn’t ‘think it,’ Halfer. Do you see your angel?” I asked sarcastically, looking around. “I don’t think so. Angel boy has left the building, and I held the door open for him.” I laid it on thick because if I was spending the rest of eternity in this place, I wanted to get my bile and vitriol out before I was too tortured to be me anymore.

“Mrs. Donovan,” Lucifer said through clenched fangs. “You are exceedingly annoying.”

I shrugged because it wasn’t the first time I’d heard that.

Halfer bowed again. “She is that, My Lord. I shall handle her. Allow me to take her back to my palace, and I assure you she’ll pay for her crimes on this plane.”

I was about to say something really brave with my trademark sarcastic zing when Lucifer turned those ancient eyes on the demon. “And who is going to make you pay for your crimes, Lord Brixalnax?”