Renegade (Heven and Hell #4)(74)
Author: Cambria Hebert

In that moment he was the only one I would have chosen to be there.

“I am happy to let her go, just as soon as you agree to join me.”

Join him? Clearly while my brain was joggled, I missed an important conversation. I glanced at Riley, lifting a brow.

“He think’s we’re renegades. He wants us to join his team.”

“Aligning myself with you would be like sealing my own death,” I replied, looking back at Lucifer. I may not be completely dead, but all the parts of me that were worth anything would be.

“Perhaps.” He shrugged. “But it’s your death or hers.” He allowed the bubble to lower, bringing Heven into my line of sight. She had tears on her face, dirt on her clothes, and anger in her eyes. She looked at me and began to yell, but I couldn’t make out her words.

I still couldn’t hear her.

I looked back at Lucifer. “So you’re saying if I agree to join you, you’ll let her go and never try to kill her again?”

“You have my word.”

I stood there weighing my options.

I didn’t have any.

I could make a deal with the Devil and sacrifice the soul I worked so hard to maintain and save Heven, or I could refuse and die anyway, taking Heven with me.

There was no choice.

I knew what I had to do.

I glanced back at Heven who was shaking her head no, crying, trying to get my attention. Then I looked back at Lucifer, who was calm, cool, and collected. I would be too if I knew I was going to get my way.

Then I opened my mouth to say yes.

I opened my mouth to make a deal with the Devil.

Heven

He couldn’t hear me.

I could hear everything they were saying, I could see the torment Sam had been through, and I could see the steely acceptance, the determination to save me while sacrificing everything he worked so hard to be.

I banged on the bubble, crying out in frustration because it muted my words, made me stand by helpless and watch the horrific scene unfold before me.

No.

Fight.

This isn’t over.

Memories flooded through me, memories of the night I was attacked, of waking up in the hospital disfigured and scared. Visions of walking through the halls at school, hiding under a hoodie while people whispered, while they pointed. I saw my mother telling me I was evil, her lying in a coma, and I remembered standing in the heavy rain at her funeral. I thought about Cole, his grinning face and the love he felt for Gemma, love he would never be allowed to share. Finally, I remembered Sam, the night he told me the truth, changed before me, scaring me so bad thought left my brain. I felt his lips upon mine, the fast rhythm of his heart against my skin, and I remembered the night he first told me he loved me.

We hadn’t come this far… we hadn’t lost this much to give in now.

I stopped banging on the bubble, the thin veil between me and everyone else, and I stared at it. I reached down inside myself, holding on to the memories that fueled me, and I used them to stoke the fire that always burned within, and then I shot it out of me. I used every last bit of strength I could muster and blasted flames so hot and so intense even the Devil’s magic, the power of the enclosure around me yielded.

It started as a hole the size of a quarter and it grew. It spread like a disease, taking over inch by inch until I was able to push past it and jump free, landing on the ground between Sam, the man in which my heart resided, and Lucifer, the man who was trying to take away everything I had left.

Wait! I screamed inside my head, so loud every bone in my body trembled, and I focused inward knowing our Mindbond hadn’t been destroyed, knowing it was the one thing strong enough that not even the Devil himself could take away.

Even if Sam had lost faith, I hadn’t and I would believe enough for both of us.

A sound behind me had me turning. Sam had fallen to his knees, but he was staring at me with recognition in his eyes.

Listen for me. I’m still here. I won’t ever leave you.

Heven. His voice was felt like a single star on a cloudy night. It was the fire within that would never go out and the answer to a dying man’s prayer.

I know exactly what you’re about to do. I absolutely forbid it.

His eyes narrowed as I watched him. You will not stop me from keeping you alive.

No, but I will stop you from killing yourself in the process.

“It appears that maybe I should have spent more time watching you as well,” Lucifer said, drawing my attention away from Sam. “That’s quite a power you have there.”

I looked up as the last of the bubble burned away and then disappeared.

“You might be interested in a deal as well,” he said, spearing me with his dark, all-encompassing gaze.

I blinked, clearing myself of the sticky, spidery web he was trying to weave. “What if we make you a deal instead?”

“Heven,” Riley cautioned from behind and I glanced at him, really seeing him for the first time since being pulled out of the dark sludge. For once he looked ruffled.

“Trust me,” I told him and turned back. Sam was at my side, his fingers slipping into mine and squeezing.

Everything was going to be okay.

“Why would I make a deal with you when I’m the one holding all the cards?” Lucifer asked.

“Are you forgetting your little problem?” I asked.

“I have no problems.”

“So you banished Beelzebub to Earth for fun?”

“I would hardly call that fool a problem,” Lucifer snapped.

“Really?” I said boldly. “How many souls have you managed to collect since he arrived on Earth? How much chaos have you managed to reign?”

“I don’t need to reign chaos because he’s doing it for me.”

“How many souls?” I persisted. I was aware that Riley had made his way to my other side, so I was flanked by the two men I trusted most. Behind me I heard someone move closer and noted that Sam was suddenly fully dressed, but I didn’t turn. I didn’t acknowledge her presence.

“I admit, collecting has been down.”

There it was—the opening I was waiting for. It was small, a crack even, but sometimes even the finest cracks gave way to crumbling.

“I would imagine having someone as immature, ruthless, and cruel as him up on your hunting grounds makes things more difficult than needed. What if I had a way to rid you of that problem?”

“Rid me of an immortal Prince?” Lucifer scoffed. “You might be powerful, but not even I am that powerful.”

“I’m not talking about killing him,” I said. “Just… putting him out of commission.”