Page 52 of Guarded (Hopeless Blessed #3)

Jeremiah

W hen I reincarnated, I immediately wished I hadn’t. Death would be preferable to being back here.

The room was as familiar to me as my own body. There were no windows and just a single door. Stone floors and walls made the sounds echo, while the torches along the walls cast ominous shadows.

Those things didn’t tend to bother the beings who found themselves in this room though. There was no point worrying about what was lurking in the darkness in here.

Not when the face of their nightmares was in the process of torturing them.

The key difference between being here now versus before was that I wasn’t busy sorting through the weapons, choosing my tools.

No, I was strapped to the table, waiting to learn my fate.

Talk about karma catching up with me.

“Ah, you’re awake. Marvellous.”

Many would think this voice a charming one. Attractive, even. It was rich, deep, seeming to wash over your skin like music .

It didn’t sound like that to me. It couldn’t, not when it was the voice from my nightmares.

Lucifer stepped into my eyeline. Bile filled my mouth when I spotted that he’d tied his hair back.

He only did that when he planned to make a real mess.

I didn’t bother to try and escape. These restraints were spelled to prevent that very thing. All I could do was wipe my expression clean.

I might have been fucking terrified, but I’d be damned if I let Lucifer see it.

“Here you are at last.” He hummed, trailing a finger along my face. I fought not to cringe. He could get fucked if he thought he could break me. “Back home, where you belong.”

“This isn’t my home,” I spat. “My home is on earth.”

Maybe if I pissed him off enough, he’d go ahead and execute me. I’d rather that than have him torture me.

It wasn’t that I couldn’t take it. With any other demon I probably would’ve gritted my teeth and coped. But this was Lucifer. His cruelty had no limits, nor did his creativity. Even his wife and children hadn’t been able to escape his hatred.

Unfortunately for me, Lucifer just smirked. “Don’t worry, I’ll remind you of your true place. I’ve cleared my schedule for the near future so you can have my undivided attention.”

Fucking fabulous.

“Are you forgetting that I successfully bartered my way out of here?” That’s right, I wasn’t giving up that easily. Lucifer’s temper was easily provoked. All I had to do was find the right string to pull. “Your own sons agreed to a deal to let me go topside. ”

The flames in the room flickered, but Lucifer’s expression didn’t change.

“Even your own children can’t stand to be around you,” I continued, disgust coating my words like venom. “Can’t blame them, really. You call this place ‘home,’ but there isn’t a single being here who wouldn’t choose to go somewhere else. You’re alone, Lucifer. Completely and utterly alone.”

“I know what you’re doing,” Lucifer drawled. “Sadly, it’s because of said deal that it’s not going to work.”

I froze. What did he mean?

He tutted. “Don’t tell me you’ve forgotten the exact wording. I thought I’d raised you better than that.”

“If by ‘raised me’ you mean dragged me from childhood kicking and screaming, then sure, you raised me.”

The blow was swift and hard, sending several of my teeth flying. It wasn’t like I could’ve blocked it with my arms strapped to the table like this, but I hadn’t been able to brace myself either.

I turned my head to the side to spit blood out. My teeth were already regrowing. Not that it mattered.

He’d likely knock the new ones out too.

“You should be grateful, boy,” he hissed. His pleasant facade was gone now. Lucifer was done pretending. I’d never understood why he bothered at all. “Abandoned by your parents and family. If I hadn’t taken you in, who knows what would’ve become of you.”

“I was handed into your care. Don’t sugarcoat the facts, Lucifer. No demon is born free.”

“No,” he conceded. “But at least most of them aren’t stupid enough to think they can trick or manipulate their way out of here. We’re all trapped down here, Jeremiah. None of us can change that. ”

“Your sons did.”

“My sons,” he hissed in disgust. “My biggest disappointments. But at least they didn’t rely on anyone other than themselves to protect them.”

It hit me then, what I was forgetting. The part of the deal Lucifer was alluding to.

“ Not only will our mates not harm you, but they will put out an order that you’re under their direct protection. ”

With Nox, that protection hadn’t kicked in until his immortality had been under threat. Given how the wolf shifters had ambushed me earlier, I was going to assume there was a lot that Lucifer could do to me before it’d be enacted.

The good news keeps rolling in.

“There won’t be any permanent death for you.” He leered into my face. “You’ll just wish for it instead.”

He picked up a roller covered in thick, sharp spikes. It was a device we reserved for supes. It was coated in a venom that stifled our healing abilities. So, not only did it painfully and slowly tear your flesh apart, it made it so that it took forever for it to knit back together too.

I turned my head to look at the other items he’d assembled for today’s session.

None of it was a surprise. The bubbling tar to pour over my skin before he ripped it off.

The tweezers to pluck out my feathers one at a time.

The syringe filled with a powerful mix of Adamanthea and vampire venom.

Not enough to execute me, but enough to induce powerful and terrifying hallucinations.

I’d both used and experienced all of them before. Either when punishing or being punished. But I’d never used or experienced more than one of these techniques during a session before. It was considered a cruelty beyond what we were supposed to deliver .

I should’ve known that rule wouldn’t apply to Lucifer. I’d betrayed him using his own children. Thanks to the deal we’d made, his torture roster would be almost empty. We’d left a massive gap in his infrastructure that he would’ve struggled to fill.

See? Even in Hell it all boiled down to what was and wasn’t convenient for the big boss. Lucifer rarely dirtied his hands himself, letting his minions do it for him.

Really, I should’ve been flattered that he’d deemed me worthy of his attention.

Lucifer began to whistle a cheery tune. Another classic technique. He wouldn’t start immediately, letting the tension build until I was going crazy with it. Until I was begging and pleading, offering him whatever I could to escape what was coming.

Well, fuck that. Lucifer might get to do what he wanted, but he couldn’t touch my heart and soul. They already belonged to Noah.

Noah.

Tears pricked at my eyes as sorrow washed over me. He’d said he’d come for me, but fuck, I hoped he didn’t. There was no way they’d get me out of here. I was nine circles deep and being guarded by Lucifer himself.

The Seraphim wouldn’t risk themselves by challenging Satan directly. Gloria was already gunning for them. This would give her an excuse to strip them of their rank. Micah wouldn’t risk it.

And I wouldn’t want them to.

It’s going to be okay, I told myself. Micah and the others will talk sense into Noah. They won’t let him do anything stupid.

It was the only thing giving me any comfort. That, and knowing we weren’t bonded. I might know what was coming, but I didn’t want Noah to experience it. He’d have no idea what I was feeling or going through. It was unlikely that he even knew where I was.

Maybe he thinks you’ve run away again.

Fuck, that was a depressing thought. But maybe it’d be better if he thought I’d betrayed him. Noah hating me would be better than him coming down here to try and save me.

If I thought there was a chance he could do it, maybe I’d allow myself some hope, but as much as I loathed it, this place had been my home once upon a time.

I knew all too well how protected it was.

The variety of powers and abilities the demons who lived here had.

How they’d all fight to their immortal deaths to protect the circles.

It just wasn’t possible. Even with the Seraphim at his back, it would be too difficult.

All that would happen would be Noah’s execution. Lucifer would make me watch, too.

It’d be the best way to torture me.

Fortunately, Lucifer seemed to be in the dark about my connection to Noah. If he knew I’d found my mate, and that he was an archangel, he would’ve thrown it in my face by now. His silence on the topic meant he had no idea.

Thank fuck for small mercies.

Since going topside, being trapped back in this room again had been my biggest fear. But now I was living it, I knew how wrong I’d been.

My biggest fear was losing Noah. Knowing that he’d given up his immortality for me. Because of my past actions.

I forced my mind away from that and back to how I’d got here. Curiosity got the better of me. “What happened to the wolf shifters? ”

Lucifer smirked over his shoulder. “They joined their kin in the endless nothing.”

I shouldn’t have been surprised, but somehow, I was. “What, you hired them to kidnap me, then executed them for their efforts?”

Lucifer tutted as he picked up some pliers. “All of these impertinent questions, Jeremiah. Have you really been topside for so long that you’ve forgotten how this works?”

He drew closer, his thumb biting into my chin as he forced my mouth open. “I’ll answer, but only because you won’t have a tongue to ask any more questions. Your screams are all I want to hear going forward.”

The cool metal of the pliers fixed around my tongue. I braced myself, waiting for the excruciating pain that was about to flood through me.

“I didn’t hire them,” Lucifer said, drawing out the moment. Fucker. “Someone else did.”

What the fuck? If it hadn’t been Lucifer, then who?

“You were simply dropped on my doorstep as a gift. But naturally, I couldn’t let the shifters live. Not after they thought perhaps I owed them something in return.”

A shiver went through me. This right here was why I didn’t want Noah coming down here. Those eight shifters weren’t weak. They’d taken me down almost effortlessly.

But Lucifer had executed them all single-handedly. Likely at the same time, knowing him.

He always did love the dramatics.

“Deep breath,” he crooned, a cruel grin playing on his lips. “I’ve been told this hurts a touch.”

Cunt. I understood why his sons hadn’t executed him. Someone had to be the figurehead down here, and it wasn’t a role any of them wanted. But right now, I really wished they had .

Before he could do more than tighten his grip, there was a huge explosion.

Lucifer’s head snapped up. His hand went slack, the pliers falling from my mouth. “What the?—”

Several more blasts sounded in quick succession. The table beneath me vibrated as the whole room shook. Dirt fell from the ceiling, lightly covering Lucifer’s raven hair.

“We’re under attack,” he bellowed, striding for the door and throwing it open. “Demons to your battle stations. Now!”

Chaos was breaking out in the halls around us. Screams from the outer ramparts suggested there were at least a few who’d been caught up in the explosions.

Please don’t be Noah. Please. Anyone else. Not him.

Lucifer had disappeared from the room now, buying me a few minutes’ reprieve. He likely didn’t think I was connected—there was no way he would’ve left otherwise.

Hopefully I wasn’t. Lucifer had countless enemies. It came with the territory of being the leader of Hell. It could be anyone. Anyone at all.

But just then, a voice bled through the walls. Even magically enhanced, I recognised it. How could I not?

Noah was here.

Noah had come.

And, with the first words he spoke, he ensured Lucifer knew exactly what a prize he had on his hands.

“ This is Noah, archangel of the Seraphim. You are currently holding my mate, Jeremiah, hostage. ”

Fuck. I closed my eyes. My heart was so full because he’d come for me. He hadn’t broken his vow. But terror was threatening to overwhelm that feeling. He had no idea what he was up against.

“ He is not only my mate, but a demon protected by the sons of Lucifer. They are aware of what is happening here and will unleash their wrath if Jeremiah is harmed. ”

A spark of hope ignited inside me. Noah might not be enough to get Lucifer to submit, but his sons could.

Sadly though, Noah wasn’t done.

“ You have five minutes to bring him to me, or it won’t just be the ramparts feeling the brunt of my power. ”

Fear filled me, so thick I worried I might choke on it. Noah had given Lucifer an ultimatum. A deadline.

Lucifer wouldn’t take either lying down.

His shadow filled the doorway, the torches throwing his gleeful grin into sharp relief. “A mate? An angelic mate? Why, Jeremiah, you should’ve told me!”

He clicked his fingers and the restraints fell away. Grabbing me by the throat, he lifted me from the table. I gasped, unable to stop myself clawing at the back of his hand as oxygen eluded me.

“I simply must introduce myself,” he said as my legs kicked uselessly in the air. “An angelic mate. I can’t believe it. This day just keeps getting better and better.”

He let go and I fell to the ground in a heap. I thought a bone or two in my ankle might’ve broken.

“Get up,” he said harshly. “You heard your mate. We can’t leave him waiting.”

He didn’t give me a chance to stand. That wasn’t his style. Instead, he grabbed the back of my neck and stalked for the door.

Dragging me along the floor behind him.