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“I’m totally jaded, Nova. No two ways about it. I spent my entire life being suspicious of every person I met, and I’ve gotten good at sussing out someone’s intentions. Call it a gift or curse, but I read bullshit from a mile away. It’s plain as day you were blinded by your feelings for her. Anyone would draw that conclusion based on…well, everything,” I explained, not pulling any punches.
The demon’s smile disappeared for a second, and then something in the air around him changed. “I was blinded. I’ve spent centuries recalling every moment, every bad decision, every lie, every misdeed, and I still can’t fathom how I fell into the trap so easily and never saw Lucifer for what she was.”
His honest admission hit weird, and I struggled to keep my usual apathetic air.
It wasn’t really surprising that he’d fallen in love; it was more that he clearly trusted what they had together and still couldn’t fathom how it all went wrong. That was my impression of it, anyway. Nova was truly blindsided by her betrayal, and I couldn’t find it in me to taunt him like I normally would.
“So, this angel…?” I said, pivoting the conversation’s direction.
“Fable,” Nova supplied, snapping out of whatever stupor his recollection had put him into.
My face scrunched up with distaste. “Fable? Really? What, did they name you all weird or were you two just special cases? Are those even your real names?”
His smile was back, and I’d never admit to a single fucking person how much it relieved me to see it. “What makes anything real in this life? But yes, those are the names we were given.”
“My condolences,” I sassed, smirking.
The beautiful demon’s eyes glimmered with mirth before he continued, “He and the team were sent to recover me. They’d been under the impression I was taken as a hostage, and I…”
“Hadn’t been?”
“Not at all,” he replied with a poignant smile.
I sighed loudly and teased my wet hair with idle fingers. “So they found you guys, and then I assume Lucifer wanted them all dead?”
Nodding, the man’s fingers danced along my arm, caressing me absently as he continued to recount everything that led to the favor Fable owed him. “She did. I convinced her to spare them. He and the others were like family, and it was enough that I betrayed them. I didn’t want their deaths on my hands, too.”
“That’d be in poor taste,” I agreed, odd weight in my stomach. There was more to it, I was sure of it, but it felt pointless to coax it out of him. “So you betray them, save their lives, and now you’re asking for a favor to dethrone the same woman you ran off with, which started this whole mess. Wow, that’s pure fucking poetry, Nova.”
The fallen angel’s smile was gone, and his eyes stared at a place far away again. “Yes, yes it is…”
I ADJUSTED MY CROP TOP, waist entirely exposed. A few tattoos I got for shits and giggles, and the belly piercing I’d gotten done soon after I left my shitty, trauma-addled life in foster care were on full display. Chewing a stick of fresh mint gum, I tossed a glance to my left and right and absently gripped my favorite trusty bat, which was propped up on my shoulder.
After weeks of night, it was weird to be standing in the bright of day, wearing my usual fishnets and a worn-in pair of Converse that’d seen more action than the car I owned, back before Nova stole me away to a rich-person’s paradise.
I’d put my pink hair up in a messy, fuck-off bun and opted for a dark-and-depressing shade of sangria to color my lips.
Channeling my inner punk rock chick, you could say.
I probably looked like I’d key your car and burn all your shit to teach you a lesson—which wasn’t far off from the usual Lady vibe, I guess.
I eyed a few assholes passing by, their slimy eyes glued to my body like I didn’t see them right in fucking front of me. But each one picked up the pace when they finally caught sight of what I held in my hand. It never failed to amuse how their eyes would go wide, then they’d stumble all over themselves or walk headlong into something to get away from the crazy bitch with a bat. Bastards never looked at me again after that.
Classic.
“He’s late. Thought angels were supposed to be perfect beings or something. Does that not include being on time?” I complained angrily, dead-eyeing another sleaze ball checking me out.
Nova didn’t appear surprised we were still waiting for his old buddy. “He’ll be here.”
I huffed with annoyance and watched another asshole walk straight into the metal trashcan directly across from me when he caught sight of the swinging bat in my hand. The demon beside me chuckled to himself before his smile wavered.
In seconds, the air around us grew static and sizzling hot. It crackled against my exposed skin, a tantalizing sensation I’d never experienced before today. When it felt like the sensation might explode, giving life to a full electric shock, a man dressed in all white crossed the street.
Wait, seriously? White?
“Whoever’s writing this story has no fucking imagination. An angel in white? What an overdone trope,” I mumbled sarcastically.
The dude might be wearing an all-white outfit, but it’d be a lie if I said he wasn’t drop-dead gorgeous enough to pull it off. I barely paid the ensemble another thought when his ethereal amber eyes beamed at me from across the street.
