Jaci Burton - Taken by Sin

“What is he talking about?” Isabelle asked.

“It’s a game for him. He likes to mind-fuck. Don’t pay attention.” He held Isabelle’s face in the palm of his hands. “Focus only on me. On what I say, on what I ask you to do. Trust me.”

“Dalton, they’re using you.”

“I know.”

“You know they want you.”

“Yes.”

“We have to fight this.”

He shook his head, took her hands. “We can’t. There are limited choices here and I’ve already made mine.”

“Well, I haven’t made mine. I don’t want this. I refuse to let you give up your soul to save me. I won’t be used by them that way.”

He had nothing to say to her that hadn’t already been said, refused to let her argue with him about a decision he’d already made. It had been a long damn time since he’d summoned up his power, but he concentrated, pulling it forth to grab hold of the part of Isabelle that was dark. The evil hovered over her like a protective cloak, daring anyone to come near and snatch it away.

He dared back, coming toward it with light. The darkness reared back, fearing, cowering, but angered at the audacity of anyone challenging it. Isabelle blanched.

“Dalton, what are you doing?”

He didn’t answer, his concentration pouring into the task at hand. He threw a net of light against the darkness, then held on while it tried to break free. Sweat dripped down his body from the heat and the evil battling him.

“Dalton, please, don’t do this.”

He hated that she cried for him, but it wouldn’t deter him from doing what he had to do.

She moved into him, spread her arms around him, her lips hovering at his ear. “Let me go, Dalton. This is my chance to do something right. To save you. Please, do this for me.”

The demon inside her hated the words she spoke, fought in a mad struggle against the thought of perishing with her. It was all Dalton could do to keep the net of light surrounding it. He lifted one hand to stroke the softness of her cheek. “I love you enough to die for you.”

His strength began to ebb, but he was winning. He would win. He’d pull the darkness from her and take it with him to hell.

He felt it creeping closer to him now, embracing him, thinking it was going to overpower him. It probably would. And when it did, Tase would win and take him down. The Sons of Darkness would lose Isabelle, but they’d gain an angel, a much bigger prize.

“Oh, this is so touching,” Tase said. “The two of you so willing to sacrifice for the other. It rather makes me kind of ill.”

The heat from Tase overwhelmed Dalton. He struggled against it, forcing every ounce of light he possessed around Isabelle and himself.

“But Dalton, don’t you know I can have you both?” Tase moved now. Dalton felt Tase’s presence behind him. “I’ll take you first; then, when you’re gone, Isabelle won’t have the strength left to fight, and she’ll be ours.”

Dalton’s gaze shot to Isabelle.

“I’m not going to let that happen,” he said to her.

She nodded.

“Do you trust me, Isabelle?”

“Always.”

He pulled the sword from his side and lifted it behind Isabelle.

Tase’s burning fingers pressed against Dalton’s shoulders, his fiery breath burning his neck as he leaned in and whispered in Dalton’s ear. “Kill her and you’re damned forever, Dalton.”

Tase leaned in so close now that Dalton’s clothes began to burn.

Perfect. That’s exactly where he wanted the bastard.

Dalton pressed his lips to Isabelle. “I love you.”

He lifted the sword, then sliced it into Isabelle’s back, impaling her, himself and Tase.

The pain burned more than Tase’s heat, riddling his spine with white hot fire. Isabelle jerked, then stilled, no sound coming from her open mouth, her face frozen with wide-eyed shock. The only sound came from Tase, whose unholy scream shattered the air around them, and then the demon went silent.

Then nothingness. Death, Dalton supposed. And yet his consciousness remained. Dalton felt as if he were floating, weightless … somewhere. But where?

A burst of blinding brightness hit him. Dalton shielded his hands over his eyes. And then her felt her-Isabelle-right next to him.

“Where are we?” she asked.

“I don’t know.”

“What’s the bright light?” She lifted her hand to shield her eyes.

“Not sure.”

He knew one thing, though. The heat was gone. The evil had disappeared, too. He didn’t sense Tase around them.

He felt embraced in healing power and a sense of goodness. He recognized immediately the presence of the heavens.

“Well, Dalton. That was an interesting solution to a no-win situation.”

Dalton’s lips lifted. The Archangel.

“Oh, my,” Isabelle said. “He’s beautiful.”

“Shh, don’t tell him that. He already has a huge ego.”

The Archangel laughed and Isabelle shivered.

Yeah, he had that kind of effect. Supreme angels always did.

“I haven’t seen you in a long time,” Dalton said.

“And whose fault is that?” The Archangel did, as usual, a fine job of looking imposing, towering above him all in white, his wings spread in impossible width behind him.

“It was my fault. My choice. Just like the choice I just made.”

“Dalton has not won.”

Dalton frowned. Tase’s voice. “He’s not destroyed.”

“No. But you did a fine job of banishing him back to his own realm. We’re … communicating.”

“Like a conference call?” Isabelle asked.

The Archangel’s lips quirked. “Yes.”

“Suicide makes him mine,” Tase said.

“You don’t get to make the decision here.” The Archangel’s voice boomed in anger, silencing Tase. “This is my call. Dalton used his sword. And that, my old friend, changes all the rules. As I’m sure Dalton was aware.”

Dalton couldn’t help but smile.

“What’s he talking about?” Isabelle asked. “You stabbed me. And yourself.”

“Yes.”

“Are we dead?”

“No.”

Isabelle wrinkled her nose. “I’m confused.”

“Dalton used the sword of a Guardian. Not a human,” the Archangel explained.

“And?”

“It merely brought you here.”

“Where is here, exactly?”

“The other plane.”

Isabelle turned to Dalton. “I’m still confused. We’re not dead, but we’re no longer standing in the middle of the circle on Georgie’s property. Where are we?”

“Right now we’re nowhere. Time is suspended.”

Her eyes widened. “Really?”

“Yes. Until the Archangel makes a decision.” Dalton turned back to him.

The Archangel asked, “You love this human?”

“I do.”

“It’s a limited future for you, Dalton.”

“She’s worth it.”

“The blood of the evil one runs within her.”

“I was working to rectify that. And her heart is pure. She didn’t ask to be cursed.”

“You cannot wholly remove it from her.”

“I’m aware of that.”

“I, however, can completely eliminate the demon blood from your Isabelle.”

Dalton figured there’d be a catch in this. There had to be a reason the Archangel had appeared. “Okay. And at what price?”

“You agree to trade places with her. You absorb the demon blood she’s carried within her, and you become what she has been.”

“No!”

Dalton was shocked at Isabelle’s outburst. She glared at the Archangel, who merely cocked a brow in her direction.

“You cannot sacrifice yourself for me.” She turned to the Archangel. “And you people are supposed to be kind and benevolent, yet you’re asking him to become a demon in my place? This is my curse, not his. How dare you ask him to give up his soul for me. What kind of people are you?”