Page 35 of The Bell’s Toll (Wanderlust Emporium Presents, Season One)

Suddenly, his body goes slack against mine, and he falls. I try to hold him up, but he’s too heavy. I fall to the ground with him.

“Era,” I call out his name.

His gaze slips to me. He tries to speak, but nothing comes out. Thick black lines form under his skin. Slowly, the black lines spread until everything on him is black. His body hardens and turns to ash before crumbling in my hands.

My chest hurts. The giant demon had become my friend. And oh my goodness, poor Tanisha.

“He took my weapon with him, so I’ll have to do this the long way.” The guy grabs me off the floor and backhands me across the face so hard I crash into the wall behind me. He then yanks me off the ground and hits me again. This time he splits my lip, causing me to bleed.

“Hurry,” my mother says. “The angel said you had to kill her in order for me to get Romeo back.”

Lifting my head off the ground, I glare at my mother.

“It was you.”

When Raziel first told me about the death mark and how a human needed to order it, it never crossed my mind that it was my mother. Even hearing her say she never wanted me would never have made me believe she would do something like this.

“Yes, mother dearest wants you dead,” the man sneers. He grabs my hair and yanks me to my feet.

“But not as much as I want your mate’s head.” He wraps his hand around my neck and chokes me.

My breathing is immediately cut off. I gasp for air, but none comes. Everything grows blurry. However, when I look over the man’s shoulder, I can see the glee in my mother’s eyes. Witnessing how much my mother hated me will be the last thing I see before I die.

Suddenly, the man loosens his hold, but instead of letting me go, he brings me to his chest, holding me hostage. Raziel appears in his true form. Wings spread out, dark charred skin on display, those large, clawed feet, and his prominent horns. He looks mesmerizing and pissed the fuck off.

“Rojun,” he growls.

The man holding me chuckles. “Well, if it isn’t the former dominus. Come to claim your mate?” His hand around my neck expands, and a sharp talon digs into my flesh, breaking the skin. I whimper.

Raziel’s eyes flash to mine before going back to Rojun.

“Let her go,” he demands. “You’ve got me. Let her go.”

Again, Rojun chuckles. “Now why would I do that? We both know killing your mate would do more harm than killing you.”

That claw in my neck digs a little deeper. I grit my teeth but remain quiet.

“Isn’t this about me?” Raziel asks, keeping his attention on Rojun. “All the plotting to ruin my portals. Sending in your little mate spy to monitor me? Clearly, you wanted my downfall.” He holds out his hands at his sides. “You have your opportunity.”

A low growl comes from the man behind me. “It won’t be that quick.” He sneers.

“Why?” Razzy asks. “Why go through all this? What did I do to you?”

“You don’t remember?”

Raziel’s gaze narrows.

“You were a servant. A nobody,” Rojun spits out. “I’d put in hours studying under Khalid. I trained day in and day out to be a part of his army. And you come in one day and take it all from me.”

Razzy’s brow lifts, and he turns his head to the side. “You were one of the three soldiers.”

I remember the story Raziel told me about his beginnings the night we made love in the sky. He said that he had gone to the general’s home to pass a message and three young soldiers had bullied him. He said the soldiers had been punished for their actions.

Raziel chuckles. “So this is your revenge for Khalid getting in your ass?”

“No,” Rojun shouts.

“He didn’t just get in my ass; he kicked me out of the fucking program. He sent us all back home. Told us we were cowards for picking on those weaker and less fortunate, and he didn’t associate with cowards. I had to go home to my parents and explain that I’d been demoted. They disowned me.

“I did everything I could to get back in his good graces. I thought I had finally made my way back when he gave me this position. Then he told me he was putting you in my territory so I could prove to be more than a coward. I did my part by keeping the others from killing you and ostracizing you.

“I sang your praises whenever you did right. And then, at this last meeting, Khalid had the audacity to look me in the face and tell me he was thinking of promoting you. He wanted to make you a fucking count, equal to me. I refused to allow it.”

His claw goes a little deeper, and this time a small cry comes out. Raziel’s eyes flip to me, and even though he doesn’t speak a word, I can almost hear his voice in my head.

“I got you. Trust me.”

I mouthed the word “Okay” and his gaze went back to Rojun.

“So instead of taking your dispute up with Khalid, you fuck up my work. Sounds like you’re still learning your lesson about being a coward.”

Plumes of black smoke bellow from Rojun. I’ve realized the smoke means they’re pissed.

“I guess the angel was wrong,” Rojun says. “You don’t care about your mate.”

He raises his other clawed hand out in front of me.

“Now,” Raziel shouts.

As Rojun brings the claw down to where it would have gone directly into my chest, Conah appears with a smile. One minute I’m standing in front of Rojun on one side of the room and the next I’m up against the wall on the opposite side.

“Noooo,” Rojun shouts.

But he doesn’t have time to focus on me. Raziel leaps through the air and onto Rojun. Their bodies move in blurs as they fight and slice into each other. Conah keeps me back. His body in front of mine.

At one point, Raziel slams into the wall to my right. His body drops to the ground.

“Razzy,” I cry out, trying to go to him.

“No,” Conah pulls me back. “He’s got this.”

Rojun runs toward him, but Raziel leaps to his feet and right into Rojun. They both crash into the wall making a hole. Rojun is on top of Razzy, raining down blows.

“You are nothing more than a low-life servant,” he shouts.

Razzy uses his legs and kicks Rojun off him. He goes flying into the opposite wall, taking half of my mother’s furniture with him.

Raziel flies over to him, lifts him off the ground and pins him to the wall using the talons on the ends of his wings. He rains down blow after blow on Rojun’s face. Rojun’s body slumps forward, his head down between his shoulder blades. For a second, I think it’s over, but he laughs.

“All of this for nothing,” Rojun says with a snort. He lifts his bloody head. “You have no authority to kill me. If you do, you sentence yourself back to the underworld where you belong.”

The air in the room grows warmer. Suddenly, a dark slit appears in the middle of the room. A tall, dark-skinned man steps out. Right after him is a guy with short dark brown hair and light eyes.

And finally, out steps a man who gives me Middle Eastern vibes in a well-tailored dark suit. I don’t know these people, but I can tell without any doubt that the last guy is the king.

Raziel

The moment Khalid steps out of the void, I can feel his heavy presence. I didn’t even have to turn around to see him.

When I realized who was behind all this, I knew I had to take this to Khalid. Not only because I didn’t have authority, but I was going to need his help. I sent Conah to Khalid to give him the information. Which is why I had to stall Rojun.

I wasn’t making any moves against him while my baby was in danger. However, the moment Conah let me know he was in place, it was go time.

“Kha….Khalid,” Rojun whimpers. His eyes focused over my shoulder.

Khalid walks over to my right. During our fight, the couch that was once in the middle of the room got shoved against the wall. As if he’s on a leisurely scroll, Khalid undoes his suit jacket and sits down on the arm of the couch.

“I don’t enjoy having to step away from my work for bullshit, Rojun. Yet I find myself here with this.”

“I can…”

Khalid holds up his hand, cutting Rojun off. “Raziel.” His dark brown eyes cut to me. “Congratulations, you’ve just been promoted to count. Do I have any objections, Roth?”

“Nope,” Roth says from somewhere behind me.

When I went to Khalid with this, I had no intention of it resulting in me getting a promotion. I was content to be a dominus. I’ve held the job for centuries with pride. Having the king give me the honor of being a count means everything.

“As of today,” Khalid continues. “You are now over all fifty US states and a few islands. Do you accept this position?”

“Before you overthink this,” Khalid’s voice appears in my head. “I’m giving you this position because you deserve it. I was always going to give you this role.”

I swallow the lump in my throat. Since I was an orphaned angel who lacked value and real power, I have longed to be someone of importance. I wanted to be someone people respected.

When you go through your younger formative years being stepped over and looked down on, you think the only way to be loved is by being in power. I thought that becoming important would clear up all my issues.

Looking over at a teary-eyed Nasiah and a proud Conah, let me know that power meant shit if you didn’t have people that truly cared about you. What good is a title if I didn’t have the people I valued around me.

“Yes,” I reply, looking Khalid in the eyes.

Don’t get me wrong, I no longer wanted the role for the same reason I did as a child, but I wasn’t passing this shit up.

“Then it’s done,” Khalid says with a grin.

The power of the new title washes over me like warm water. It starts at the top of my head and pours down to my clawed feet. Twisting my head on my neck, I allow the new power to settle.

“This shit feels good,” I smirk down into Rojun’s face.

“You wear it well,” Khalid says. “Now get rid of that fucking coward.”

“With pleasure,” I laugh.

I pull my scythe out of the ether. The silver blade is now gold tipped proving my new status.

“Please. No. I can explain,” Rojun cries. Keeping him pinned against the wall with my wing talons, I step back, allowing a little space between us.

“Explain that shit in hell,” I sneer before slicing my scythe across his body. His body went limp, cutting off his scream. I release my talons from his shoulder. He falls to the ground at my feet.

Khalid rises and walks over to us. My body melts back into my human form.

Khalid squats down near Rojun’s dead body.

He waves his hand through the air, and a sword appears.

It’s not a normal weapon. The blade is made of pure light.

A light is so bright I have to look away from it.

The holy weapon is too powerful for my eyes.

“There will be no rebirth for you,” Khalid growls.

The light flashes, and an acidic smell fills the room. When I look back at Rojun, his body looks as if it’s been frozen into stone. Khalid rises to his full height. His sword disappears into the void.

“Raziel,” her sweet voice pulls my attention.

Nasiah has stepped out from around Conah. I hold out my hand, and she rushes into my outstretched arms. I close my eyes as I hug her to my chest. Her sweet scent fills my lungs as I bury my face at the top of her head and inhale.

Pulling back, I cup her face between my hands and look down at her. Anger flares up in me when I see the split lip and bruise on her jaw.

“It’s over,” I say, placing my lips on hers.

“Not yet,” Conah growls.

I look up at him with a raised brow. He tilts his head to the right. I follow the motion. Standing with her hands cupped to her chest and her back against the wall is Nasiah’s mother.

“She’s the one who ordered the mark,” Conah says.

Now that Rojun was dead, the death mark is void. But that didn’t mean she was innocent.

“I….I didn’t mean it,” Angelica pleads. “The angel told me to do it.”

I didn’t even have to ask her about the angel. I already know who’s truly behind this.

“What do you want to do with her, Count?” Khalid asks, turning to me. “You have sufficient reason to kill her.”

With Khalid’s blessing, I could end this bitch’s life right now and not face any consequences, but the decision wasn’t mine to make.

“I’ll allow my mate to make that decision,” I say, turning to my girl.

Nasiah’s eyes widen as she stares up at me.

“Siah,” her mother pleads. “I’m your mother. You can’t kill me.”

I watch as Nasiah turns to her mother and frowns. If she left her mother alive, I would allow it. Obviously, I’d make it so that she could never do another death mark, but I’d let her live. If she wants me to kill her, well, I’ll gladly do that too.

Nasiah turns to me. “I don’t want her to die.” Her mother visibly sighs.

“Okay,” I nod.

“However,” she continues. “I do have one request if it’s possible.”

“Whatever you want, baby.”

“My father and his wife, is there any way to make sure they reconnect and have a committed, beautiful marriage?”

Her mother screams from across the room. I grin down at my mate.

“Yes,” I chuckle. “I can absolutely make that happen.”