FORBIDDEN - PART TWO

                                                      Read Part 1 - HERE  

Thousands of years leaned on Dagon’s shoulders as the female Witness leaned against him. Her heartbeat echoed through his mind. Her fear tasted like rain on his tongue. Her pain was a balm to his sordid soul. If he even had one.

Dagon couldn’t see the angel the Witness saw, but he could feel the presence of good like needles under his flesh. The woman shook against him and for a moment, brief and fleeting, he felt sorry for her.

She wasn’t like the others that were led to the hunt. As far as Sammuel, Dagon’s keeper, could tell there was no one in her life to take away. Which is why Dagon’s team had been sent to watch her.

“Why do you want me?” Eyes the color of heaven’s sky met his defiantly even though a tremor edged her voice. A strand of fiery red hair clung to her forehead.

He reached up. She flinched as he gently pushed the hair back. Her eyes widened. He’d even surprised himself. He was not a gentle being by nature. He’d given that up when he’d followed Sammuel into the War, known it was lost to him forever when he fell.

Angry at himself and at her for making him feel something besides the hatred and anger that burned within, he jerked on her wrist to led her to the waiting car.

There was no going back now. Xaphan had exposed the Witness to their world.

The stubborn little mule planted her feet in the ground.

“You must come with me.” Dagon couldn’t afford a scene which might lead the police to this alley. “I’d prefer to bring you in with a pulse.”

Her arm shook under his fingers, but she tossed her head and tugged against his hold. “I’m not going anywhere with you. You aren’t real. This night isn’t real. I’m back at home in bed, and as soon as I realize I’m asleep, I can wake up.”

“You aren’t asleep, little one. Even if this is a nightmare.” He relaxed his hold slightly on her wrist.

She stopped struggling. “Why? Why is this happening to me?”

“You are a Witness. As soon as the Fallen realize what you are, you won’t be safe. Your powers have been triggered.” He stepped in close to her and looked around as if Fallen angels lurked in the windows and rooftops surrounding them.

She followed his gaze and stepped toward him, unconsciously, but it was a start.

“They will be unable to risk the lure and will descend upon you if you are not protected.” He drew her back against his front.

She was too occupied searching to notice.

“They lust for your life.”

She jumped at his whispered words and jerked away from him. “No one lusts for me. No one wants me. Let me go.”

She struggled hard against his hold. He knew her wrist would be bruised where he held in the morning, but he couldn’t leave her to face what he knew waited for her in the darkness.

A Witness unprotected became a dead Witness very quickly. He hadn’t wanted to scare her, but maybe it was the only way. Ignoring the car waiting at the end of the alley and the woman struggling against his hold, he moved quickly. She barely had the chance to gasp as he pulled her into his arms and launched them both up into the air.

Instead of trying to get away, she clung to him. Even though it was mostly fear binding her to him, she trusted him on some level. That would have to be enough. He banded his arms around her and headed to the loft Sammuel had prepared.

As he rounded the corner of the building, he felt the wetness soak through his shirt where her cheek lay. A protective instinct he had never felt before swelled within him. He’d never had a charge before. He’d been higher in rank than the Guardians before the Fall.

Though his wings had been singed, the Fall had left them intact. Fortunate for Dagon, Sammuel had chosen a place with a balcony. Dagon landed gently but didn’t release his burden.

When her feet touched the ground, her body shook, but she didn’t release her hold on him. As a daemon, he’d done many things to women over the years, but holding one had not been one of them. Female humans were playthings to the Fallen. Dagon had stopped being amused with them centuries ago.

He’d also stopped asking to be freed. Sammuel had coaxed him out of his cage with the promise of something more. Revenge against an old enemy. His back still ached from the Holy blade that had pierced it during the War. This Witness’s angel was the cause of his pain.

“Where are we?” Her voice was small and resigned.

He glanced over her head into the loft behind her. Sammuel waited within to give her a choice. Tonight she would become a soldier of their battle or die.

He closed his eyes and savored for a moment the beat of her heart against him. She would make the right decision. He could not bear to kill her if she made the wrong one.

She leaned back, and he gazed down into her eyes knowing she was searching for an answer.

“Home.”

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