Ruby Shadows (Born to Darkness #3)(132)

She blushed, her pale cheeks turning a sweet, innocent pink.

“Well, not all of us are. Some have urges and…and cravings. But just because one has urges does not mean one has to act on them.” She cleared her throat. “And as I said, we are not attracted to each other. But then the Creator made man and some of the male angels, well, they found the daughters of Eve lovely to behold. And they…” She blushed again, even harder. “They wanted to lie with them,” she almost whispered.

I almost laughed—no wonder Laish had become a demon of lust!

“So you’re saying that Laish got kicked out of Heaven because he wanted to get some from a mortal girl? Who did he fall for? What was her name?”

“Oh no, you have mistaken my meaning.” She shook her head quickly, her wings rustling. “Some of the other angels did have relationships with mortal females. But Lord Laish did not. He only wanted the right to have such a relationship. But the Creator would not consent to it. It was and is still forbidden for an angel to have relations with a mortal being.”

“Is that right?” I frowned. “And I’m guessing that an angel and a demon doing the nasty is off the table too, right?”

She shuddered delicately. “As if anyone would want to lie with a demon! Well—not Lord Laish, I mean,” she said hastily. “I could understand that—even as a demon he was magnificent. But that beast, Druaga…”

“It’s okay, you don’t have to explain—I understand,” I said. “And I completely agree with you—he’s disgusting.”

Her purple eyes widened again.

“If I hadn’t left just when I did he would have despoiled me and I would have been stuck here forever. Once an angel has been well, penetrated, she can no longer return to the Heavenly Realm and resume her duties as an angel.”

“Well, Druaga’s not going to get a chance to despoil you,” I said firmly. “I promise you that…uh…You know, I’ve been calling you Eryn all this time but I just realized I don’t know your real name,” I said.

She smiled sadly.

“Neither do I. I believe I spent too much time in my moth form because I cannot now recall it. I do like the name you gave me, though. Eryn is a lovely name—you may keep calling me that if you like.”

“All right. Well, Eryn…” I squeezed her hand. “I promise you’re not going back to that…that pig. We’ll find some way to keep you safe.”

“Maybe another spell from your book,” she suggested eagerly.

I thought of the spell I’d seen to protect the innocent.

“Maybe,” I said cautiously. “But I’ve only got half my power now—I gave up half when Laish and I…when we, uh, lay together.” Was that the right way to say it? I didn’t want to offend her delicate angel sensibilities but she only nodded.

“I understand. But maybe you could just try? In fact, maybe you could find a way for both of us to escape from here and go home.”

“Open a door to another realm we could both go through on only half power?” I gave a short laugh. “Hardly. That would take two or three times the power I used to have. In fact, I don’t even know how I got the spell that turned you back to your normal self to work.” I frowned. “It’s weird—I wasn’t even trying.”

“Maybe you have more power than you think.” Eryn looked at me hopefully. “Please, Gwendolyn?”

“Well, there’s no harm in trying, I guess,” I said. Picking up the ancient spell book, I began paging through it again until I got to the spell for protecting the innocent. I read through it twice, very carefully.

“Well?” Eryn asked eagerly, her face shining. And I mean that—she was literally shining with purity and light. I was guessing that angels never needed flashlights or light bulbs since they were their own light source.

“It might work,” I said slowly. “If only I had the right materials to set it up. But I don’t have…” I stopped myself. “Wait a minute—let me look.”


I dived for the voluminous saddle bags and started digging through them again. Sure enough, I found all the spell casting equipment Laish had brought with us for the summoning spell tucked neatly away in one of the large pockets. Okay, so I did have the necessary equipment—but did I have the power?

I looked at the spell again and my heart sank as a detail I hadn’t noticed before caught my eye. This spell was meant to be worked by an entire coven—three or more witches at least—at once. Even a witch with Grams’ power and experience would have had difficulty getting results flying solo. And I was not Grams—even on my best day I didn’t have her level of control and skill. Not to mention that now I only had half as much power as I’d had before.

“Well?” Eryn asked again and this time there was a note of worry in her voice.

I opened my mouth to tell her there was no hope but I couldn’t do it. She and I were facing the same awful fate at the hands of Druaga. I couldn’t just sit there like a lump moaning about how awful it was without even trying to do something about it. Even a failed attempt was better than giving up.

“I’ll try,” I told her at last. “I’m afraid I can’t promise anything but I will try.”