Taken by Sin

CHAPTER EIGHTEEN

Isabelle sat back and patiently watched while Dalton explained everything to the wide-eyed group. They too, had a difficult time believing that he was a fallen angel, especially since they hadn’t been around during the episodes she had witnessed. They didn’t have proof, and it wasn’t like Dalton could sprout white wings and hover near the ceiling.

Her lips lifted. She’d kind of like to see that. Dalton would look sexy with wings. With his face and body … yeah, he could be art on the wall of any chapel.

She was probably going to hell just for thinking that.

Bad Isabelle.

“Did Lou know about this?” Michael finally asked.

Dalton shook his head. “No one knew. It wasn’t necessary for anyone to know.”

Michael arched a brow. “Any one of our hunters who possesses otherworldly skills is kind of an important information tool, Dalton. You should have reported it.”

Dalton shrugged. “It was personal, and it’s not like I can levitate. I’m not psychic. I’m basically human in all respects, so I have no advantage over any of the rest of you, other than the immortal thing.”

“That is kind of cool,” Gina said.

“Handy when fighting demons,” Derek added with a quirk of his lips. “You go into a fight knowing you can’t die. If we’d known that, we’d have made sure you were always in the front.”

Dalton snorted. “Sorry. Maybe I should have told you.”

“Does the fact that you’re an angel come into play where Isabelle is concerned?” Michael asked.

Dalton nodded.

“Okay.” Michael turned to Isabelle. “We’re here and we’ll see this through. You may think the Realm wants to do you harm, but we want the same thing you and Dalton do: to make sure that the Sons of Darkness don’t get their claws in you again.”

Dalton tugged Isabelle’s hand and drew her up alongside him. “We’re not going to let that happen.”

“Care to share the plan with us?” Derek asked.

“Yeah. It requires Georgie’s skills as a voodoo priestess. She’s going to merge Isabelle’s darkness with my light.”

“How?”

“Georgie will conduct a ceremony, drawing our souls together via blood and a sword that I once held when I was a Guardian. She’ll bring out Isabelle’s demon side, and the angel within me. The two will do battle.”

“So you’re saying she’s going to tap into your angel side, and it’s going to somehow fight her demon?”

“More like a merger.”

“That should be interesting. And dangerous. What happens to you when this … merger occurs?” Angelique asked, concern evident on her face.

Dalton started to answer, but Isabelle moved in. “If all goes well and the strength of the demon within me vanishes, Dalton will be redeemed and become a full-fledged angel again.”

Michael whipped his gaze from Isabelle to Dalton. “Are you serious?”

“Pretty much, yeah.”

“And you really think this is going to work?”

Dalton shrugged. “Yeah, I do.”

Michael inhaled and blew it out. “This is pretty unorthodox.”

Dalton cocked his head to the side. “Michael. Every thing we do is unorthodox.”

“True enough. So when are you planning to do this?”

Dalton slanted his gaze to Isabelle. “Soon.”

Isabelle wanted to know the answer to that question, too. “When is soon, Dalton? Are we putting it off for any specific reason? I know you wanted to wait for the Realm to get here, but they’re here now. Shouldn’t we get started?”

There was a sadness in his smile that pained her. “Eager to get rid of me?”

Oh, God. If this worked, Dalton would leave her. She kept conveniently pushing that oh-so-important part of the equation right out of her head, refusing to face it. She leaned into him, whispering in his ear, her palms warm against his chest. “No. Not eager at all.” She tilted her head back to search his face. “We don’t have to do this.”

He grasped her hands in his. “Yeah, we do. You know we do. There’s no other choice. Sooner or later the Sons of Darkness will come for you. They’ll take you over and you won’t be able to fight them-we won’t be able to fight them.”

She laid her head on his shoulder, feeling the clock ticking. Too fast. Way too fast. She wasn’t ready to let him go.

Dalton kissed the top of her head. “It’s going to be all right, Isabelle.”

No, it wouldn’t. She could already feel him slipping away. Either way this went down, she was going to lose him. If they were unsuccessful, it would only be a matter of time until the Sons of Darkness broke through Isabelle’s defenses and came for her, returning her to the awful demon she had been in Sicily. She couldn’t-wouldn’t-live like that, and if the Realm didn’t destroy her of their own accord, she’d beg them to. Or she’d make sure to ask Angelique to see that it was done. The thought of living as a demon repulsed her.

And if it did work, Dalton would disappear from her life forever.

This sucked. She wanted to grab Dalton and run away, refuse to face it.

Was this her punishment for all her years of being bad? To find the man of her dreams, the one person who accepted her with all her flaws, who loved her unconditionally, only to realize he could never be hers?

It wasn’t until Michael cleared his throat that Dalton gently pulled away. Isabelle sucked in a breath and turned to her sister, who held out her hand and squeezed Isabelle’s.

“Are you all right?” Angelique asked.

Isabelle nodded, hated seeing the worry in her sister’s face. Angelique had always watched over her. Maybe soon she wouldn’t have to anymore. “I’m going to be fine. Everything’s going to be fine. I promise.”

“The Realm will allow you and Isabelle to attempt this transformation,” Michael said. “But if it fails, we’re going to take over.”

Isabelle looked up at Dalton. “What does that mean?”

“It means if it fails and your demon comes up, the Realm will deal with it.”

“Deal with me, you mean.”

“I don’t think I like that,” Angelique interrupted. “You can’t just make a decision about my sister’s life without knowing what’s going to happen.”

“That’s not what I meant, Angelique,” Michael said.

“It’s what you implied.” For the first time in a long time, Mandy had actually spoken. She seemed angry. “It’s just like the last time. You think you already know what’s going to happen. Look at Isabelle. You ordered her death, and look at her. She’s human now, not demon. Maybe if we’d waited, Lou would still be alive. Maybe he could have fought the demon inside him, too.”

“Mandy,” Derek warned. “There was nothing we could do.”

“Wasn’t there? We don’t know that. We had to make a judgment just like that,” she said, snapping her fingers. “What if we’d waited? Maybe we could have gotten the demon out of him somehow.”

“Mandy,” Michael said, his voice soft as he looked at her.

Mandy stared at him, anger lacing her features at first, then Isabelle saw tears well in her eyes. She turned and walked out of the room, Michael watching her.

Georgie cleared her throat. “We can begin tonight, if you’re ready.”

Dalton focused only on Isabelle. “Are you ready?”

No. She’d never be ready. But she could no longer put it off. She could already feel herself weakening. The Sons of Darkness were knocking on the door, and soon she’d be too tired to keep them from busting through it.

“As ready as I’ll ever be. Let’s do it.”