The Human Side (The Demon Side Series) Read online

  “She is showering, so John came up and got me. He asked that I find you and bring you back to the house under the pretense of us helping him with yard work. I brought you a change of clothes so we can keep up appearances.”

  “I can’t go back.”

  “And why not? Rene is making sausage gravy and biscuits, and it smells delicious.”

  “Etta’s asking a lot of questions.”

  “So, answer them.”

  “And lie?”

  “We are supposed to be living a sinful life, Rahovart. Lying is a part of that. If she truly loves you, she will understand your plight and forgive you. Now we must go. I don’t want to miss breakfast.” Gabriel tossed me a bundle of clothing.

  After changing, we walked back to the Divad home. As we approached the front door, we heard a fight going on in the house. Gabriel and I exchanged a look before barging in. On the upper landing of the stairs stood an angry Etta, in nothing more than a towel, yelling at John, who yelled right back. By his side, Rene remained silent.

  “I’m not taking them!”

  “You are taking them, even I have to shove them down your throat myself!”

  “I’m not twelve anymore. You can’t boss me around like one of your Marines, Dad.”

  “I’m not playing games here with you, missy. Take them!”

  “No!” Etta smacked John’s hand, hurling four pills on to the floor.

  “Pick them up right now!”

  “I don’t have to take them!”

  John pulled a pill bottle from his pocket. As he opened it, Etta slapped his hand again, scattering the bottle’s contents. A small pink pellet came to a stop at the toe of my boot.

  “I am not crazy! Ask him. He saw it, too! Ramen, tell him what we saw.”

  I picked up the pill. “Huh?” I asked, trying to buy time to think. Getting caught between father and daughter is never a good way to start the day. Make that father a High Templar and that daughter the woman I want to spend all eternity with, it made it worse. John had good reasons for wanting to keep her on her pills. They numbed her to the world beyond the veil, blocking out the Demons that tormented her.

  If I agreed with her, it would convince Etta she no longer needed her medication. Lie, and who knows what would happen. Etta might turn away from me permanently, leaving me no chance to gain her love and return home.

  “Tell him, Ramen! Tell him what we saw.”

  Gabriel leaned over and whispered, “Crush her and get the hard part over with

  “I don’t know what you’re talking about,” I said, turning my gaze to Etta. The color drained from her skin, and if I didn’t know better, I’d swear I saw her soul shatter in her eyes as tears welled up inside. Unable to bear it, I shifted my gaze back to John and tried to leave.

  “Why are you doing this? Tell him. Please. You have to tell him the truth. You saw it. I know you did.” Etta sobbed as she tugged at my arm. The scene seemed all too familiar. The memory of when I left her to save my position in Lucifer’s ranks played in mind. I hurt her then just as I was now. Maybe that would be the Demon I needed to be to keep my end of the deal with Father.

  “Let go of me! I saw nothing. It’s all in your head, you psycho bitch!” I roared as I ripped my arm from her. Instead of turning into a ball of tears, Etta pulled back, delivering a right hook to my jaw hard enough to rattle my teeth. John came up behind her, putting her in a full nelson and dragged her kicking up the stairs.

  “C’mon.” Gabriel slung his arm around me, leading me into the backyard. After what I had just said, I knew Etta would never love me. I had gone too far, just as I knew I would. By the time I reached the bottom step, my legs gave way. My chest tightened as I fought for a breath. Knots the size of softballs formed in my abdomen. Collapsing onto my hands and knees as streams of tears ran down my cheeks, I wanted nothing more than to not be me. With that thought, I sat on my heels and began hitting my head with the palm of my hands. Gabriel gripped my wrists, further angering me. Jerking my hands away, I shoved him back.

  “Stay away from me,” I warned as I stumbled to my feet

  “Rahovart, calm yourself, Brother. All will be well.”

  “Calm myself? Calm myself? You saw her face. You cannot tell me all will be well. You know the deal—she must fall in love with a ‘Demon’ as she has before. You think she will after that? I failed! She’ll never speak to me again!” Releasing a scream as loud as my lungs would provide, I fell to my knees again.

  Chapter Ten

  Resting my head in my hands, I caught a glimpse of John marching toward me seconds before he clocked me.

  “You ever talk to my daughter like that again, and I will tear you limb from limb.”

  “There is nothing you can do to me that would be worse than what I have done to myself.”

  His threat meant nothing to me. I had destroyed the only person who cared enough and was strong enough to save me. Etta said she knew I’d come back for her. Little did she know, it would be to tear her soul to shreds. Who better for the job though? I seemed to have the knack for destroying the women who truly loved me despite the monster I’d become.

  Maybe that had been the plan from the beginning. How stupid I was for believing a villain might have a happily ever after. Rolling onto my back, I laughed at myself for thinking I ever had a snowball’s chance in Hell for anything beyond what I deserved.

  “I believe he’s snapped,” Gabriel said to John.

  “You son of a…,” Lifting me by the collar of my shirt, John shoved me into the wooden fence.

  “You want a piece of me? C’mon.” Tired of his attitude and needing to get some aggression out, I smacked him with my fist.

  “Oh, you done messed up now, boy.” John tackled me. Unfortunately for him, I wouldn’t go down so easy. Much to my surprise, John didn’t seem as strong as I had been led to believe a High Knight should be. Matching blow for blow, we pummeled each other for a few minutes until Gabriel stood between us.

  “Enough! You’re acting like children.”

  “Don’t look at me. He started it,” I replied, even though I knew it further proved my brother’s point.

  “I started it? You’re the one who won’t stay away from my daughter.”

  “And what does that matter to you, John? Why does it bother you so much that I love her and want to be in her life?”

  “Why? I’ll tell you why. You’re nothing but a whiny, sniveling spoiled Arch who feels he deserves my baby girl just because he fought in Hell for her and his own agenda. All it has proved is you’re easily impressionable. You flip like a switch. And if you fall again, where will that leave my baby? Huh? Are you going to do what’s best for her or drag her down like you did your first wife? Oh yeah, I know all about her.”

  “Abihail was an accident. I never intended for her to go to Purgatory. I have been forgiven for that.”

  “I don’t care what Father has forgiven you for. If it were my girl, do you think I would forgive you so easily?”

  “I would never hurt Etta.”

  “Damn right you won’t. I won’t give you that chance.”

  “You can’t keep me from her.”

  “You think so? Watch me. Have fun being human, boy.” John turned to walk toward the house. I understood his natural fear of my past. It scared me at times as well, but I would never do to Etta what I had done to Abihail.

  “No, John. You don’t understand. You cannot keep her from me.” My pleas for Etta stopped John’s march inside. He stormed toward me, pointing his finger in my face.

  “You made a bet with my daughter’s life as the prize! That’s all this is to you…a bet for you to win so you can have your shiny wings, your cushiony job, and a highly coveted woman again.” Having said his piece, John returned inside.

  Dejected, I stormed off through the back gate and away from the Divad home. I stopped at the Amtrak train station that divided Quantico Marine Corps Base from Quantico Town. Sitting on a wooden bench, I tried to collect my tho
ughts. The more I thought about what John said to me, the harder it became not to go back and bash his face in.

  As much pleasure as it would give me, I knew it would fix nothing. I needed to think. But my mind faded into an unwanted memory of a time Abihail needed me, and I turned my back on her. I found myself reliving the painful memory as if it were happening in real time.

  Sitting in the war room, I listened as Abihail pleaded for Father to dismiss her from her duties as Lucifer’s assistant, claiming his tactics were deceitful, unethical, and malicious. After speaking with her brother, Father dismissed from her duties temporarily, stating she was tired and overworked.

  At home she would beg me to speak with Father on her behalf. She would tell me stories of Lucifer’s dealings that took place behind closed doors and how he boasted about figuring out how to deceive Father. Trusting Father in his decisions, I shrugged off her claims as nothing more than the ramblings of an exhausted woman.

  After returning from her mandatory vacation, she began accusing him of plotting and speaking against Father. Again, she had been dismissed from her duties, only this time, permanently. Once the news spread, Abihail found herself being ridiculed from all sides. Rumors ran full circle that she lost her mind, and it had been her plotting against Father. Tired of the stares and whispers, Abihail refused to leave the house.

  Though the people mocked her, she never gave up her campaign against Lucifer, making home life taxing on me. The moment I would walk through the door after work, she would begin grilling me about her brother. Had I seen him? Who did I see him with? Did he say anything to me?

  I’d try to talk to her about life outside of our four walls, but she would always find a way to turn the topic back to him. At night, she would pace the living room until the early hours of morning. Whenever I tried to lie with her, my attempts were met with a rebuff. With my patience tried, sexually frustrated, unsure how to fix my marriage, mixed with my wife’s lack of sleep, and paranoia taking its toll, small squabbles between us turned into fiery, violent arguments. I’d punch a wall; she’d throw a vase. I’d restrain her from hitting me; she’d bite me. I’d slam a door; she’d scream at the top of her lungs.

  To avoid any more clashes with her, I began working long days, only going home to shower every other day. When that failed to stop the clashes, I took to sleeping at Michael’s and stopping by to check on her once a week, until I simply stopped going home.

  It had been weeks since I’d seen her, when Abihail barged into the War Room during our morning meeting. Embarrassed by her sickly, frumpy, and filthy appearance, I snatched her by the arm and dragged her out of the room. Digging in her heels and pulling from me, she begged for me to prepare the troops for Lucifer’s attack.

  Though I didn’t believe Lucifer would lead an attack against Father, I wanted nothing more than to get her out of the War Room and stop her from further embarrassing either of us. With the agreement she would go home, eat and shower, I would call the troops to the ready. No sooner had the last of my men gathered in formation, an explosion sounded off in the distance near the gates.

  During the battle of the Great Divide, Abihail stood with the Arches, taking Lucifer and his army on. As if she had been a seasoned warrior, Abihail slew traitor after traitor until she stood face to face with her brother. Ready to kill him for his transgressions at the price of her humiliation, she raised her sword at him. Deflecting her blows, he tried coaxing his sister into joining him in ruling the Heavens and Earth.

  Infuriated with the denial of his offers, Lucifer struck back at her. Fearing for my wife’s safety, I stepped in, blocking a blow aimed at her head with my shield. As I did so, Abihail came under my arm, slicing Lucifer. As the blade grazed across his skin, a wound not only opened on his chest, but hers as well. Assuming he struck her, I went berserk. I flailed my sword in a blind rage, but my strikes barely grazed him as he danced around each swing.

  Tired of playing games, Michael had snuck up behind him and pierced his back when Abihail’s blood-curdling scream echoed over the clash of metal on metal. Spinning on my heels, I turned expecting to find her in the clutches of a traitor. Instead I found her alone on the ground, wounded and crying out in pain. I flashed to her side, pulling her into my lap to inspect her injuries, when again she cried out in agony. Terrified, I looked to Michael when it dawned on me. Every strike Lucifer received manifested on his twin sister, Abihail. To kill him would mean killing her.

  As much as I wanted him dead for what he had done, I wouldn’t risk Abihail’s life for the notch on my belt. Flashing to Michael, I stopped his blade from further penetrating Lucifer’s back as I called out for a stand down. My order to retreat may have saved my wife, but it allowed Lucifer, and a third of our ranks, to flee.

  We had lost many in the fight, but if it had not been for Abihail seeing Lucifer’s fall long before the rest of us, we might have lost more. For her perseverance despite meeting diversity, she had been given the job of her choosing. Her reputation restored, she took charge of a choir of Seraphim, whose sole purpose was to ensure fertility among humans.

  For listening to her and calling the troops, I’d been made a hero and the first leader of the Arches, which came with not only an impressive wing span, but the benefits beyond those of any Earthly king or queen.

  Chapter Eleven

  At a loss for an idea on how to undo the damage already caused, I did the one thing I knew how to do properly. Clutching my hands together, I prayed.

  “Father, have I not done enough yet?”

  “No, my son,” Father’s voice whispered in my head.

  “What am I to do now? John has forbidden me from seeing her. He is trying to doom me to a life on earth.”

  “Is he?”

  “Yes. He said it himself.”

  “If memory serves me right, John did not disobey me at every turn. John did not receive a choice to give up all of his principals for a chance at love. You made that choice without a thought about the consequences.”

  “I know he didn’t but…”

  “But what, my son? You push yourself into their lives with no regard for their feelings or safety. You play with the balance of our worlds as if it were nothing more than a game to you, and for what? Your own selfish pride? Can you blame John for being upset with you?”

  “No. That’s not what I meant. All that matters to me is finding out if I should wait for her. I must know if any part of her can feel anything for me. If we are not meant to be, then I will accept it and continue on my path, never bothering her again. Please tell me, Father.”

  “I cannot give you the answers you are seeking, Rahovart. Only you can. Be well, my son.”

  “Father, wait! Father? Father?”

  With communication shut down, I had been abandoned with my thoughts and no answers.

  The days leading to my return, I fantasized about all the good that would come of it. I would prove myself to Etta, which in turn would cause her to fall madly in love with me. She would forever be mine, and I hers. I would go home to resume my duties and visit her without fear of retribution. Every free moment I had would be spent with Etta. I truly believed we would live happily ever after.

  Between John and Tristan, those fantasies had gone up in smoke. With Tristan’s connection to the Divads, his smooth skin, perfect body, great looks, and money, how could I blame Etta for wanting him over my tall, lanky, moneyless, and cruel persona? Hell, I didn’t even want to be near me right now.

  The disaster I had created seemed far from a fairytale ending. Like a fool, I jumped the gun with no thought as to what it would mean to the ones involved. Yes, Gabriel insisted he accompany me but I didn’t give him much of a fight.

  Heaven’s defenses were now short two Arches during the busiest time of year. Attacks on Etta were not only increasing in number, but had become more brazen. With the guardians pulled from her detail, John had been left to stand alone against any threats, which I’d been sure put a huge target on his back.
r />   I understood John’s anger, but for him to accuse me of only caring about my rank, wings, or an arm charm of a woman—those were the furthest thing from the truth. Etta wasn’t a prize for me to win for the sake of winning. She’d always been much more than that.

  When all seemed lost, she had seen a spark of light inside of me. With her determination, faith, and love, she had saved me from a wretched existence. Putting her life on the line, she pulled me from the depths of my inner hell, and she returned me to the path I had long strayed from. Giving her my undying affection for her sacrifices was a small price to pay in return. But that wouldn’t be enough. I needed to give her more. Then it hit me as if I had waited on the tracks for an oncoming train. Suddenly, everything Father and John said made sense. I knew where I had gone wrong, but most importantly, I realized how to clean up after my destructive storm. I would have to leave Etta…for good.

  With everything I had, I ran back to the Divads’. Bursting through the door, I found Etta, John, Rene, Tristan, and Gabriel at the dining room table.

  “What is it, Brother?” A concerned Gabriel raced from his chair to me at the foyer.

  “I know what I have done wrong. You must forgive me, Brother, for what I am doing, but it is the only way to fix what I have done.”

  “What are you talking about?”

  I slid past Gabriel to the table. Tristan pushed back in his chair as I approached. The black ring around his left eye contrasted against the white strip of bandage across his nose. I had hurt someone who looked out for Etta, as I had failed to do.

  “Tristan, I am sorry for attacking you in your home last night. I can make no excuse for my poor behavior. And though I do not expect your forgiveness, I hope you can accept my apology.”

  “Apology accepted,” Tristan stammered.

  I sensed his hesitation. I should have put him at ease a little more, but he hadn’t made it high enough on my priority list at the moment. With that being said, I turned to John.