Chapter 28

Shit. I should have said it. I’ve, of course, never said it to another being and I didn’t plan on falling for him like this. I was sure that I loved him though. We compliment each other perfectly. Some of it I knew was fate, but he was so perfect in ways that the fates couldn’t have predicted. He seems to know what I need, sometimes before I do. Then there was that orgasm. I haven’t felt something like that in all of my existence. My angel gave in to him more than ever before and my body reacted in kind. No one has seen my cry. Not even the angels that took me. I didn’t cry or scream, I just took it. Reliving it through Adan’s mind was something different. It has terrorized me for centuries but I was finally coming out of my dreams easier and finding some happiness. For the first time, I let myself break and I didn’t even care if Devland saw. I thought that he might leave me alone or try to talk about it, but he was more than perfect. Somehow, he turned the most mentally and emotionally exhausting day, into a perfect night. I didn’t want a love story, I just wanted to live my life and protect my humans, yet here he was. I tried my best to find something to say, I was pretty sure that he didn’t expect me to say it back. Hell, I think he’s trying to suffocate me into sleeping so that I don’t have to. Which just makes me want to say it more. I was getting closer to sleep now and I could feel him fading too. I’ll say it soon. As he rubbed circles on my back I started drifting closer and closer to sleep, I’m not even sure he heard it but I had to tell him “I think I love you too.”

The next morning was the same as always and I was genuinely surprised that it wasn’t worse after yesterday. My angel side didn’t seem to be hiding as much in the mornings and today it felt as though it wasn’t hiding at all. Devland was grinning ear to ear once again, looking like he was just happy to be here. “Your angel likes me now! Usually your eyes are gold in the morning and they’re my other favorite color this morning” he said as he kissed my nose. I could feel my demon getting restless but before I could warn him he kissed my neck and whispered “Non essere geloso. Sei ancora il mio favorita demone” and I felt my body purr. He laughed and kissed me before pulling me up towards him “come on, my love, let's shower and get out of this country.” “You don’t have to tell me twice,” I said, bounding out of the bed towards the shower.

We went downstairs so that I could sign some papers and put the fear back into my bar managers. We threw the rest of our things into our bags and headed to the roof. We were spending a week and a half in Africa talking to as many of our connections as we could before our next “council meeting.” As we boarded the plane, we talked about our plan for the next stops. We were landing at the top and going to make our way down, never spending more than a day and a night in each territory. The plan now was simply to let everyone know that we formed the counsel and remind them that the gods were never coming back. Devland was convinced that I needed to make the kind of entrance that I made with Adan everytime and I wasn’t going to complain. I did enjoy the terrified look on his face when he saw my wings. Hois and Mois were both excited to be here and are doing some heavy lifting of their own, making sure the lower ranks knew everything.

The week flew by and we had no incidents. The mornings were amazing with Devland and then we would go and scare the shit out of some demons. We would finish off the night talking, laughing and having more sex than I would think possible if we were humans. He was definitely not as boring as I thought and he was surprisingly easy to talk to, but it was just as easy to sit with him in silence. If it weren’t for the dozens of meetings everyday I would think that we were on vacation. We were finally on the last day of our tour in Cape Town, settled in for the night. Tomorrow we will head to France to wait for the rest of the group to join us and have a “counsel meeting.” I couldn’t help but feel a little silly every time I said “Council meeting,” it felt too professional for me. I was excited to hear of any news from the others though, we haven’t been having any luck finding out who wants to start the damn apocalypse. I was receiving daily notifications from Adan, always encrypted. I tried to tell him that daily notifications weren’t necessary but I could only convince him of every other day updates. If someone was trying to start another apocalypse, he would be the prime angel to take or try to get him to flip.

Devland and I had just christened another city and I was still draped over him as he rubbed my back. “Can we make a stop before France, my love? I want to stop by my place in Italy, but we can still stay in your bar.” I hadn’t gone back to Italy for so long, I used to love it there before I accidentally tried to kill Aella in my room. “We can go, but I don’t want to stay in my bar.” He squeezed me against his chest happily and that was enough to send me towards sleep. After our normal morning routine we headed to the plane with Mois and Hois right behind. They had done exceedingly well this trip. They went to settle in for the 13 hour flight to Italy, and Devland and I did the same. I didn’t dare sleep, but I let Devland rest on the way. We arrived at Devalands landing pad late that night and went to settle into a room. I was surprised at the look of his hotel. It was a fairly modern building but it was one with trees and plant life running up the sides and it was gorgeous. It was one of the tallest modern buildings in Italy and I couldn’t help but to be impressed. I haven’t visited the city since I heard that he made a residence here. I had always felt a strange pull to the city, so I avoided it like the plague was still there. Now I understand why.

“This place is gorgeous” I said as we walked in the front doors. We were only staying a day so there wasn’t a need to bring all of our things. We sent the plane ahead since it was a short enough distance that we could fly to France ourselves as long as we didn’t have suitcases in tow. We headed up to his suite and I was even more impressed by his decorating. “This is definitely not what I would have expected if you asked me a month ago” I laughed. He dropped his bag in the closet and came over to me. “And what would you have expected a month ago?” I blushed a little. “A stone palace with bare walls and people waiting on your every whim.” I said with a sheepish smile. He let out my favorite booming laugh. “No wonder you never came to visit” he laughed even more. “I had felt like I was chasing something for so long, when I found this place, I renovated it and just decided to stay. Then I heard about the damage done to your suite but by the time I made it over to check and maybe introduce myself you were gone. So was the pull to the city but I figured that I might as well stay, so I made it my home.” He said, ending with a shrug.

“That damage is why I haven’t been back. I would prefer not to. I check on the car once in a while but I never stay.” I said looking away. “I can imagine what happened there… who was it?” He asked, rubbing my arms, sending fire up them where he touched. “Aella.” He leaned down to press his forehead against mine. “I’m sorry my love.” He pulled me into a hug and lifted me up to wrap my legs around him. He took me into his bathroom and I was surprised to see an absolutely massive shower with even more shower heads than mine. “Oh hell yes.” I said, giving him a kiss and hopping out of his arms. We both stripped and hopped into the shower. “I take it you like it” Devland laughed as I closed my eyes and leaned a shoulder against one of the jets. “If heaven had showers like these, I would visit more.” He let out another booming laugh and pulled me against him. He took my curly hair in his hands and started massaging my head, pulling once in a while just to get a reaction. Before I knew it, I had my legs wrapped around his massive waist again.

After a near perfect shower, he asked if I would like to see his club, to which the answer was an obvious yes. Apparently, there was an elevator in his hotel lobby that went to the club and nowhere else and the other elevators needed a key card. It was extremely clever and he was apparently very successful with it. As we walked in, my jaw dropped again. “Damn baby” I muttered under my breath. His club was shaped similarly to mine with 3 floors, the second two giving a perfect view of the first but the third having another view of the second. It was black and white tiled with a hint of red accents whereas mine was marbled and had purple accents. It was absolutely beautiful, and somehow reminded me of my wings, even though he definitely hadn’t seen them when he made this bar. I was impressed. We made our way to the third floor to his booth that seemed vacant except for a little blonde angel sitting there. I raised my eyebrow at him and he gave an exasperated sigh and shook his head.

“Devland! I heard a rumor that you were back! I wanted to be the first to welcome you back!” she said in a sickly sweet voice. So this is the kind of woman he went for before. I took the time before she noticed me to give her a once over. She was tallish, but still a touch shorter than me, perfectly straight blonde hair and had curves in all the right places with a skin tight black dress to show them off. A damn supermodel. If I hadn’t met Devland, I would certainly be hitting on her, but the thought of her touching him had me feeling some type of way. I was definitely not a jealous being at any point in my existence but I would probably have to kill someone if they touched him. I was still coming to terms with my newfound jealousy when she turned her attention to me. “Do I know you?”