Eve knew instantly whom he meant, the woman from the gallery.
“Why,” she asked, shocked.
A shoulder lifted in a shrug. “Because I refused to stay and become her long-term play thing.”
Jealousy ate at her to know that the woman had been his lover. And just as fast, it fizzled out; anger taking its place that she would do such a horrific thing.
“It meant nothing,” he said quietly. “It happened once, eons ago.”
“Then why won't she leave you alone?”
“Inanna doesn’t like being told no. In a rage, she cursed me to a year in Hell, hoping time there would teach me not to refuse her. In her haste to teach me a lesson, she forgot that a year outside is a damn century in Hell…” he broke off. Then a telling pause. “All that you saw when you touched me…happened. That’s when Kalinin got ahold of me.”
He turned to stare through the windshield, his jaw hardening. “Without light of any kind, I weaken. It was easy for her to take control with constant attacks from her pets. She wanted the same thing Inanna did, to own one like me. Only with Kalinin, she wanted more, an eternal supply of my blood.”
His fingers clenched the steering wheel, knuckles white. But the pain in his voice had Eve’s own heart hurting. “My blood gave her the best high she’d ever experienced. She thought feeding me hers would make me dependent. I may have lost my powers in the pits of Hell, but I refused to give in to her. Vengeance was what drove me. At the time, I’d still thought to find and make Inanna pay. It angered Kalinin that I was able to resist…”
Eve laid a hand on his, pulling him back to her when he stopped speaking. His haunted gaze met hers, cutting deep into her soul.
“How did you escape?”
“After another attack from her pets for refusing her, I lay in the filth, torn and bleeding, unable to move. A demon brought water into the cell. He said something, I didn’t respond. He probably thought I was unconscious. He opened a vein of fire in the wall—better to see the Empyrean Kalinin had imprisoned for nearly a century.” Anger darkened his voice.
Eve longed to wrap her arms around him but didn’t interrupt, let him get it all out. She realized this was probably the first time he’d ever spoken about his capture.
“The natural energy of the fire that lit the cell was all I needed. Within seconds, my strength rebuilt. The demon ran when he realized what was happening.
“I couldn’t let him get away, alert the others I had escaped. I killed him then found my way to Kalinin’s abode of orgies and sin. I grabbed a sword and slaughtered them all. She was in her chambers with her lovers. I skewered her to the bed, massacred her lovers before I decapitated and incinerated her. I brought down the place of depravity to rubble and escaped to this world…
“That’s how Michael found me, crazed and killing demoniis like the insane…” He scrubbed a hand down his face. “I'm sorry…”
Hewas apologizing for what had been done to him?
Because no words could make up for his torture, his debasement, Eve simply reached across and hugged him. If she got ahold of Inanna, she’d rip her apart for what she’d done to him. “You have nothing to apologize for.”
“Eve,”—a heartfelt whisper—“you humble me with that good, kind, and very loving heart.”
She eased back. “You endured and lived through a horrific ordeal no being could have survived. Now that I know, you think I don’t understand why it took you this long to open up to me? You don’t trust easily—no, no, let me finish,” she stopped him when he would have interrupted. “You don’t trust women. After all that’s happened, how can I blame you?”
“No, Eve. You—” His eyes filled with tenderness, with love. “I trust with my life. My heart. You demanded nothing from me.” A smile. “Well, except my unconditional love.”
“Is it so bad, then?” She pushed his unbound hair from his face so she could see him better in the streetlight. He caught her hand and pressed his lips to the ruined flesh.
“Ah,me’morae,never. You see inside me—see who I am. You are all that’s right in my life.”
“What does that mean? What you called me?”
“My love.”
Yes, his. Always.She took a deep breath. Settled.
Then she demanded, “Why do you still allow this woman to see you?”
“I don’t. Goddesses are a self-serving lot. She does whatever the hell she pleases.”
“You’re an immortal. Stop her. Why is it so difficult?” She tried to free her hand from his, but he wouldn’t let go. Eve stilled in shock. “She’s agoddess—not an Empyrean?”
“Inanna is from the Sumerian pantheon. Empyrean females would not dare do what she did.”
