Blood covered the table, papers laid across the room in a disheveled mess, and books had toppled over. I shook my head, my chest tightening and nothing but terror rushing through my thoughts.
Something happened. Something damn bad must’ve happened.
“Trevon!” I yelled, running through the office halls and thrusting open all the doors.
Where the hell was that man? And where had the doctor gone? It wasn’t like I left them alone for days without any communication, but I had left them alone for mere hours, and now they were both gone.
After hurrying back to the back office, I eyed Trevon’s blood and growled. Though I couldn’t find any more traces of it throughout the hospital, it reminded me of the one and only red-eyed woman. If she had anything to do with this, I would be devastated that I hadn’t taken care of her beforehand.
Maybe she wanted my head, now that I was Queen, and was taunting me by capturing and killing my ex-boyfriend and the greatest doctor in all of Hell. Maybe preparing for this war with Mother should be put on the back burner, so I could protect all the people that I cared about before then.
Whatever the damn reason that Trevon was gone, I would find him. I had to.
4
Slamming the doctor’s office door closed, I ran out into the blizzard outside and shielded my face from the searing cold snow. I pulled out my buzzing phone and placed it against my ear, hoping that whoever the hell was calling me knew about Trevon’s whereabouts, because I couldn’t let him tear up Hell as an angel or even let any demon in Hell figure out that he was a holy creature. They would destroy him within seconds.
“Hello?” I asked, getting a mouthful of snow.
“Dani,” Maria said on the other end, voice soft and urgent.
I sighed through my nose, both relieved to hear her voice and stressed the fuck out that Trevon was still out there. Everything had been so loud in my mind today, but listening to her voice and knowing that she was okay when everything burned around me made me relax a bit.
“Trevon is at our apartment with this… demon guy who claims to know you,” Maria said, pausing. She sucked in a breath, the sound of shuffling drifting through the phone. “Please, get down here. You know how much I can’t really do the whole demon thing. He’s freaking me out.”
“Fuck,” I whispered to myself, slapping a palm against my forehead. Out of all the places Trevon could’ve gone, why was he there? Was he holding the doctor hostage or something? Did the doctor bring him there for a reason? And where the hell was Zane when Maria needed him?
“Why is he there? I left them both in Pride.”
“The demon said that his skin was burning in hell, so he brought him here. He’s apparently part angel?” Maria said, blowing out a deep breath. “Listen, I don’t know how the hell Trevon could be half-angel, but, please, tell me that you’re on your way.”
“I’ll be there as soon as I can,” I said. After slipping my phone into my pocket, I hurried toward the portal.
Of course, Trevon’s skin was burning and his angel was suffering. I just didn’t think it’d have such an effect on him until after a day or so. It didn’t have much of an effect at all, but I also had demon blood rushing through my veins.
Before I slipped into the portal room, I glanced over at the Chains surrounded by a thickening layer of gray clouds. I should’ve told Eros that I was leaving for Maria’s, but Maria needed me now, I didn’t want to see Kasey, and I needed to get to Trevon as quickly as possible.
After walking through the black mist and pushing demons out of the way through the darkness, I hopped out of one of the many portals on Earth near the Lounge. Streets crowded with confetti, beer bottles littering the ground, and hung-over men and women staggering home, the city was covered in a layer of snow and debris from the New Year celebration.
I made a beeline for the apartment and knocked not-so-patiently on the door, tapping my foot on the ground and wondering if I should just barge into the room and give that doctor a piece of my mind. Bringing Trevon here was not the smart thing to do. This apartment building was infested with demons.
Zane opened the door, smiling when he saw me. “Dani…”
“What’s going on?” I asked, ignoring those lust filled eyes he was giving me and stepping into the room to smell… something roasting. “And where have you been? Maria called me basically crying because she was so nervous about the Pride doctor being here.”
“Recovering from the Crowning Ceremony celebration.”
“There was no celebration. It turned into a madhouse.”
“You turned it into a madhouse,” Zane said, guiding me to the living room, his scent filling my nostrils and awakening the demon inside of me.
After vowing to myself that I wouldn’t let him get to me, I walked into the living room and stopped dead in my tracks, my chest tightening at the sight of my ex-boyfriend. Trevon laid on the leather couch with his eyes closed, red and blotchy burns all over his slightly bubbling skin.
“Holy hell, what happened to him?” I asked, rushing over and doubling over beside him.
Maria stood in the corner, keeping her distance from the doctor and gnawing on the inside of her cheek. There were tears in her eyes, and she shuddered when the sound of sizzling flesh drifted through the quiet room. “He’s bad, isn’t he?”
Glancing at the doctor, I shook my head. “How did he get this way? When I left him, he wasn’t like this. Did you run any tests on him? Take any blood? Do something to ignite this… this fire inside of him?”
The doctor looked at me with icy blue eyes and shook his head. “No. At the time of your crowning ceremony, his skin started to burn because of his angelic side. Your orders were not to test him, so I didn’t touch him. Instead I brought him here, knowing that he’d be safe.”
“Safe?” I snapped through my fangs, Javier’s innate rage boiling inside of me. “This is probably the least safe place to be in all of Earth! It’s infested with demons, and Sathanus knows where this place is.” I grasped Trevon’s hand and felt his skin ooze against mine. “You know that it’s so much harder to distinguish angels from demons here on Earth.”
At least down in Hell, I knew where he was and knew how to hide him. But being on Earth, especially during the time of the crowning, was not a smart idea, because I had no idea where he was and hadn’t been informed that the doctor wanted to move him.
“It was that or he’d die in Hell. Angels alone can’t survive down there.”
“He survived down there while he was at the Chains,” I said.
Playing with the tip of his horn of ice, the doctor nodded. “He was less susceptible to demons back then. Now he’s been possessed twice. They will smell him out down there, know he’s an easy target, corrupt him, and tear him apart from the inside out. Was that what I should’ve let happen, Commander?”
After glancing back down at Trevon, I shook my head and frowned. “No, but next time, I’d like to be informed before you make any haste decisions. Trevon is one of my greatest friends.” I stood up and stalked over to the doctor, narrowing my gaze. “If he would’ve died in your care here, it would’ve been your fault.”