Belial grinned. “Still stubborn, I see. I’ll let you in on a little secret.”
He leaned down until his lips were level with my ear, making me shudder as his hot breath touched my skin. “There is a part of you that wants to give in to me. It was there when we first met in your dream, and it is still there even now. You may think me a monster, but if you were honest with yourself you would realize that my monstrosity just might be that thing you have been searching for. How long do you think you can hide the darkness of your soul from the archangel? How long before he realizes the sin you carry in your heart is not worthy of his love?”
The weight of his words made me feel raw and empty inside. In his own sick way, he was telling the truth. Just hearing it made me feel ashamed of myself. I shook my head, trying to free my arms from his vise-like grip, but it was useless. “And I suppose you’re any better? I’ve read the Bible, Belial. Spoiler alert: you lose. So I’d rather let you beat the crap out of me than give you my soul.”
His voice came out a whisper. “Even if I could help you find out about your mother?”
I froze. Belial lifted his face mere inches above mine, waiting for me to react.
“What about my mother?”
“You have spent your whole life loving her, and yet you know nothing about the last days of her life. If you agree to be mine, I will help you find out the truth about her and about the unfortunate man who saved your life. Isn’t that what you want, Jordan?”
He sounded so terribly convincing. I slowly realized that I actually wanted to believe him. I knew that Michael and Gabriel had orders not to tell me about Mr. N, but maybe, just maybe, this demon knew about the both of them. Was the truth about my mother worth my soul?
I took a deep, slow breath and met those pale blue eyes. “What exactly would happen if I agreed to this ceremony?”
Something inhuman slid across his face. I’d seen desire before, and this seemed like a dark cousin of the feeling. For the first time, I truly noticed the demon beneath the handsome exterior, and it frightened me down to my core. His hands relaxed on my arms a bit, signaling the fact that he thought he’d finally gotten to me.
“It’s quite simple. Just as your Michael can mark things, so can I. We would exchange blood and you would pledge your soul to mine. You will be my servant and I will be your master.”
Belial lifted one hand and cupped my chin in a surprisingly tender gesture, his voice dropping to a seductive tone. “And believe me, it does not come without certain pleasures.”
He kissed me and I let him. His mouth was hot and tasted faintly of blood, both mine and his—somehow just like I thought a demon would taste. After a moment or two, I broke from his rose-petal-soft lips enough to speak.
“If I do this, will you let Michael go?”
He dropped his mouth to my throat, kissing the skin as he began to unbutton my blouse. “The archangel is no concern of mine. He and Mulciber are on the basement floor where there are no cameras. It seems we both got what we wanted.”
“Seems so,” I murmured, shivering as he spread the cloth away from my chest. He tore off the bandages one by one, leaving little stinging patches on my chest. His eyes found the mound of scar tissue where the spear had stabbed me. Belial ran his fingertips over the stitches, tracing them down my bare stomach. He lowered his face and then his lips followed the line his fingers made while he unbuttoned his own shirt, exposing more ivory skin. He licked my navel slowly and then rose up enough to look me in the eye again.
“Is this everything you wanted?”
“Not quite,” I whispered, trailing one hand down to the clasp of the bra. He watched hungrily. My fingers closed around the item tucked within the cup. I withdrew Gabriel’s feather from the inside of my bra and stabbed Belial in the chest.
He screamed as it seared his skin, burning as if I’d placed a red-hot poker against him. I slammed my knee into his side so that he rolled off the bed and fell with him, landing on the floor astride his waist. He convulsed below me, writhing with pain and cursing me with every breath he could draw.
“Tell me how to get out of this room or I’ll burn you alive,” I demanded, shoving the feather in deeper for emphasis.
He cried out, gasping for air. “Lying bitch!”
I spared him a mean little smile. “I learned from the best. You weren’t going to hold up your end of the bargain anyway, right?”
He glared up at me, his large hands closing around my waist and squeezing to the point of bruising. “I should kill you.”
I jabbed him in the chest again. He growled in pain, letting me go. “Likewise. Now tell me.”
“Keycard…in my left pocket…” he ground out.
“Move one inch and I’ll shove this thing right out the other side of you.”