I cried out in victory, but the celebration turned to sheer petrification as I started falling, plummeting through the air.
The ground was an alarming distance away. I’d probably break my back or my neck with the angle I was at. Then I’d die and the blood oak would eat me anyway. How was that for bitter fucking irony?
I closed my eyes, waiting for impact.
Instead, strong arms caught me and pulled me close to a hard, warm chest.
I knew who it was before opening my eyes. His scent of pine and strawberries chased away the rot and decay of the carnivorous tree.
“You called me?” He sounded mildly amused.
I looked up to see Belial’s storm gray eyes peering at me through the holes of that dark, faceless mask.
“On accident. I had things covered,” I snapped, unable to keep the relief out of my voice.
Several vines whipped in our direction but Belial held up his hand, a wall of blue magic shielding us against the blood oak’s attack. All the while the demon’s eyes never left mine.
“Covered?” His voice lifted, and I could picture his brows arching. “Let me get this straight. You were about to get devoured by a carnivorous tree, and instead of using the three-inch decorative blade I gave you to summon me, you decided it was better used as a weapon.”
“Pretty much.”
“Your survival skills are shit.”
“I was trying to avoid you. So they’re pretty good, if you ask me,” I said through a smirk.
Christ. I’d just come awfully close to dying in the most horrific way possible, and here I was. Smiling.
I felt so safe in his arms.Like he hadn’t been that far off all this time.
I allowed him to carry me away from the blood oak. The only thing filling the silence was the rapid pound of his heart against my cheek.
So he did have a heart. And a functioning one at that. I guess that made sense. It’s not like he was a dead soul. He was a demon. Maybe not like the Lord of Bones—definitely not like the Lord–but he wasn’t human.
I peered up at him, the questions mounting in my mind easily making up for the silence between us. My eyes followed the edge of the mask to where it sat on his chiseled jawline. What horrors was he hiding beneath? Would he ever show me?
Where was he taking me?
And the biggest question of them all, what was he going to ask of me in payment for saving my life… again?
Chapter19
RAYVEN
Belial carriedme to a clearing where the hedges weren’t so close together. I looked up, my gaze flicking between all the stone markers and the few decorative plants that actually had flowers on them instead of dead body parts.
We were in a graveyard. The moss covered stones looked ancient, with engravings that had faded over time.
It had obviously been a long time since anyone had been buried here. “What is this place?”
Belial snorted. “You’d think the grave robber would know a cemetery when she sees one.”
“I know it’s a cemetery. But why is it here? What’s the point when bodies are just strewn all over the place?”
“The body parts you’ve seen belong to lost souls who never went through Judgement. If they wait too long, they go crazy and wander off. They usually get eaten by other corrupted souls. The blood oak tree was once a roman blacksmith, if you can believe it. So the smart souls seek refuge outside of their bodies.”
“The haunted furniture around the castle are souls waiting to be judged?”
He nodded, the silver chains jingling against his horns.
