TORN BETWEEN TWO BROTHERS_Angel vs. Demon Read online

  Table of Contents

  Prologue

  Chapter One

  Chapter Two

  Chapter Three

  Chapter Four

  Chapter Five

  Chapter Six

  Chapter Eight

  Chapter Nine

  Chapter Ten

  Chapter Eleven

  Chapter Twelve

  Chapter Thirteen

  Chapter Fourteen

  Chapter Fifteen

  Chapter One

  Chapter Two

  Chapter Three

  Chapter Four

  Chapter Five

  Chapter Six

  Chapter Seven

  Chapter Eight

  Chapter Nine

  Chapter Ten

  Chapter One: Something in the Shadows…

  Chapter Two: The Girl in the Gutter…

  Chapter Three: The Mate

  Chapter Four: An Undeniable Attraction

  Chapter Five: A Night at the Bar

  Chapter Six: A Killer is Free

  Chapter Seven: A Night at the Fair

  Chapter Eight: All the Walls Come Down

  Chapter Nine: Broken Hearts and Hard Truths

  Chapter Ten: The Testing of Boundaries

  Chapter Eleven: The “Sacred Sixth”

  Chapter Twelve: The Ritual

  Prologue

  Prologue

  Chapter One

  Chapter Two

  Chapter Three

  Chapter Four

  Chapter Five

  Chapter Six

  Chapter Eight

  Chapter Nine

  Chapter Ten

  Chapter Eleven

  Chapter Twelve

  Chapter Thirteen

  Chapter Fourteen

  Chapter Fifteen

  Chapter One

  Chapter Two

  Chapter Three

  Chapter Four

  Chapter Five

  Chapter Six

  Chapter Seven

  Chapter Eight

  Chapter Nine

  Chapter Ten

  Chapter One: Something in the Shadows…

  Chapter Two: The Girl in the Gutter…

  Chapter Three: The Mate

  Chapter Four: An Undeniable Attraction

  Chapter Five: A Night at the Bar

  Chapter Six: A Killer is Free

  Chapter Seven: A Night at the Fair

  Chapter Eight: All the Walls Come Down

  Chapter Nine: Broken Hearts and Hard Truths

  Chapter Ten: The Testing of Boundaries

  Chapter Eleven: The “Sacred Sixth”

  Chapter Twelve: The Ritual

  Prologue

  TORN BETWEEN

  TWO

  BROTHERS:

  Angel vs. Demon

  JACEY WARD

  Copyright © 2018 Jacey Ward

  All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, distributed or transmitted in any form or by any means, including photocopying, recording, or other electronic or mechanical methods, without the prior written consent of the publisher. Thank you for buying an authorized copy of this book and complying with copyright laws.

  This is a work of fiction. Resemblance to actual persons, things, living or dead, locales or events is entirely coincidental.

  Torn Between

  Two Brothers:

  ***

  Angel vs. Demon

  Prologue

  Nathaniel

  Sun flittered through the bountiful clouds, the serene light casting a sweet glow about the kingdom.

  The gentlest breeze blew, filling the air with the scent of vanilla and incense.

  The angels were filled with happiness, pious but frolicking, humble but happy, modest but jesting.

  Cherubs and archangels ran among the messengers, darting in and out of the buildings of marble, donning crosses and laughing among the animals who roamed freely.

  It was Heaven, in all its perfection.

  Nathaniel was oblivious to the glory of the day.

  Why should he notice? Every day was the same, ad infinitum.

  His brothers nodded as he passed, and Nathaniel kept a smile plastered on his face, bobbing his head like a trained monkey, inwardly gritting his teeth.

  This never gets tiresome for them, he thought, swiftly moving through the gold-paved streets, his pristine white robes swirling about his feet effortlessly in the perfect breeze. They are a brainwashed bunch of sheep who know only one shepherd. And that shepherd may as well be in a coma or drunk for all he knows about the goings on around here.

  “Good morrow, Nathaniel,” Bria sang, dancing around him in her teasing fashion, scarves whirling over her head as she winked at him with crystalline eyes. “I hear you are on a mission from God this morning!”

  Nathaniel swallowed his displeasure and lowered his grey eyes stoically, clasping his hands before him as if to praise her words.

  “I haven’t confirmed word, but yes, I am meeting with Michael.”

  “I had a vision in the night,” Bria chirped. “You are going to deliver the kingdom of heaven from evil, protect us and go forth to become an archangel.”

  Under normal circumstances, Nathaniel would be hard pressed to resist the urge to snap her annoying, fluttering wings and bid her good day, but that morning, her prophecy stirred something in the depths of his chest.

  It was a rare occurrence for Bria to call upon him with a sight.

  “Go on,” he demurred, eyeing her carefully. “Tell me of this vision.”

  Bria laughed, a sound the others agreed was lyrical but made Nathaniel cringe inwardly. The sound reminds me of fingernails on a blackboard, he thought but he quickly shoved the bitterness from his mind. He wanted to hear her words for once.

  She was a prophet angel after all, and no matter how he felt about her, she knew more than most.

  “You will learn all you must from Michael,” she assured him, whirling to leave, casting him a coy look as she did. When she winked, fury exploded inside him, stirring his loins.

  Lust is a sin, lust is a sin. He chanted to himself. It seemed that lately, whenever his anger was stimulated, lust came with it. He needed an outlet. Badly. Bria licked her lips suggestively and spread her wings to soar away, her laughter taunting him in her wake.

  Perhaps that was the issue; he had always wanted to take Bria savagely and without mercy, but if anyone was to learn about his innermost thoughts…

  But he needn’t be concerned that anyone here would be able to discern his innermost thoughts, Nathaniel knew that now. But there had been a time when he had been fraught with worry that his darkest secrets would be exposed.

  As it turned out, Heaven worked more on an honor system than any true monitoring.

  They don’t know a damned thing up here, for all their infinite wisdom, he thought, scowling inwardly. But still, he forced himself not to react…just in case. He was sometimes worried that if he gave himself just a little free license to act on his violent urges, the two-centuries old boiling mass within him would erupt and he would have a heyday the likes of which the residents of Heaven had never seen. No, it was better to hold on to his urges with an iron fist.

  It was not a risk he was willing to take, not when he had already come so close to ruining everything for himself all those years ago.

  “Nathaniel, Michael awaits!” Josiel appeared at his side, a slight scowl on his face as he watched the younger angel.

  “I am journeying to him,” Nathaniel sighed, trying to keep the annoyance from his voice.

  Josiel was his counsellor, and if possible, even more irritating than Bria.

  Of course he is; he is at my side constantly, like a wet nurse. At least Bria keeps her distance most of the time. And she is much easier on the eyes, he thought with a smirk. Oh, what I could do with her with five minutes of alone time…

  “You appear to be staring after the angel Bria,” Josiel growled, startling him from his reverie.

  Nathaniel did not respond, knowing whatever denials he offered would be dismissed.

  Because this bloody bastard is always correct. How am I to survive in eternity with this man as my wife?

  Instead, he turned and moved away to save himself from answering.

  “Nathaniel, one moment!” Josiel called, hurrying after him, but Nathaniel did not slow his gait, eager to be rid of his tedious tail.

  “What is it, Josiel? As you have mentioned, I have an appointment with Michael.”

  “You must wait a moment,” Josiel gasped, as he reached Nathaniel’s side.

  The younger, ruggedly good-looking angel swallowed a groan and paused to face his advisor with cold, grey eyes.

  “What is it, Josiel? I do not wish to keep Michael waiting.”

  Josiel nodded and lowered his gaze.

  “I know what it is Michael will ask of you…, and I fear you may not like it.”

  Nathaniel became statue still but spoke not a word, waiting.

  “You are free to refuse but I believe you are the best angel for the task,” Josiel continued, staring nervously at his hands as if the answer lay in his palms.

  “What is it, Josiel?” Nathaniel asked tightly, but there was a foreign feeling growing in the pit of his stomach.

  The feeling was fear.

  “Now, before you refuse, Nathaniel, you must know that Michael and God would never put you to a task of which they did not believe you could conque
r. You have proven your strength and loyalty to Him and our kingdom through the most devastating choice all those years ago.”

  Nathaniel exhaled haltingly, and he knew he was right to feel terror.

  “It is Cassiel, is it not?”

  Josiel cleared his throat.

  “He has been permitted to leave the underworld to perform Lucifer’s bidding.”

  “For what purpose?” Nathaniel demanded. “Why is he on Earth?”

  “We are not clear, but he has been seen in the Americas. He must be stopped.”

  The last sentence was unnecessary. Nathaniel did not need to be told that Cassiel was a danger to everything he had worked for.

  “Will you do it?” Josiel pressed. “Will you send him back to Hell where he belongs?”

  The angel stared at the old one with piercing gray eyes, his mind awhirl.

  “I cannot,” he whispered.

  “You must,” Josiel agreed. “It can only be you. Who knows him better than his own brother?”

  “Stepbrother,” Nathaniel corrected shortly.

  They must never mistake us for more than stepbrothers. I would never have done what I did if Cassiel was my blooded brother, he tried to tell himself, over and over, attempting to appease the guilt that sometimes plagued him.

  “Still, you must agree that you are our best hope for peace. He is a menace to both the earthly world and ours.”

  Nathaniel stared at the glittering bricks of gold beneath his bare feet, closing his eyes.

  Why did you have to return, Cass? Why did you not stay cast out and in Hell where I sent you? He wondered mournfully.

  Nathaniel could think of only one reason why his brother had returned from the underworld.

  He was seeking revenge.

  “Nathaniel – “

  “I will do it,” Nathaniel interrupted, his strong jawline raised defiantly toward the old soul, his full lips pursing into a fine line.

  Josiel’s face exploded into an expression of great relief.

  “Michael will reward you greatly for your trial,” he assured him, but Nathaniel was not so certain.

  Reward will be the last thing Michael is thinking of if he should ever learn the truth of Cassiel’s banishment from Heaven.

  Nathaniel knew that Cassiel had to be stopped.

  “You are a brave soul, Nathaniel,” Josiel continued, linking his arm through Nathaniel’s to escort him toward Michael’s glass palace. “I understand how this must conflict you, but you are a righteous being, and we are all proud of you.”

  Do not be so certain of that, old man, Nathaniel thought grimly as they approached the gates of the palace.

  “You are doing the godly thing,” Josiel assured him.

  Nathaniel smiled.

  I will do the godly thing, he agreed. I will cast my brother back to Hell where he should have stayed.

  Chapter One

  Cassiel

  The weather made him feel slightly less melancholy, but no matter how hard the rain pelted against the grey, filthy streets, the sensation never quite left him.

  How could it? He was living the wrong life and definitely in the wrong place.

  But Cassiel had a purpose that day, the same one which had followed him from the depths of the Hell and into this new unspeakable nightmare; Detroit, Michigan.

  It had not been Cass’ first choice of locations, of course.

  Initially, he had been dropped in the underbelly of Rio, but slowly he had made his way north, trying to win his wager with Lucifer as he went.

  The streets here reek of despair and desperation, he thought. But hopefully this is the place where I will find what I need to regain my freedom and make peace with what I have become.

  In his head, Lucifer howled, cackling maniacally.

  “Time is running out, friend,” the Lord of the Underworld cooed in his ear. “I would say that you are no closer to finding your way than you were three weeks ago.”

  Cass loathed to admit that the demon was right, but he dared not battle with Satan. It would only be an exercise in futility.

  He stared over the fence at West Jefferson Street, the lights of Windsor blinking indifferently across the river and as he paused to look, Cass wondered if Canada should be his next stop. Surely nothing could be worse than the city in which he found himself presently.

  “It doesn’t matter where you go,” Lucifer purred. “The result will be the same – “

  “Lucky, do you not have something else to occupy your time down there? Why are you watching me?” Cass snapped. There was a sharp intake of breath, as if Cass had hurt his feelings.

  “I am protecting my investment,” he retorted back, and Cass rolled his grey eyes heavenward.

  “Stop that!” Lucifer yelled. “God cannot help you now! It’s just you and me for eternity!”

  “You’re dreaming,” Cass replied, trying to inject as much confidence into his statement as he could. He could almost hear Lucifer’s scowl, but to his satisfaction, the demon stopped rambling.

  A car sped by, splashing him even from this distance, and Cass felt a strange pleasure as the cold, soiled droplets splashed across him.

  When he had walked the earth freely, he had loathed the cold.

  Times had been different then, of course.

  He hadn’t yet experienced the agony of burning in Hell.

  How many years had it been since I have felt the ground at my feet?

  “Two hundred twenty earthly years,” Lucifer answered in his head, and Cass stifled a groan. He had hoped he had warded him off, at least for a short time.

  “Hey man.”

  Cass looked up at the stranger approaching him and instantly he sensed trouble within the shifty eyed young man.

  He looked no more than twenty, a red bandana wrapped around his head, under a ballcap. He wore nothing more than a thin jacket over an even thinner tank top.

  He must be cold, Cass thought idly, but the boy looked anything but cold. He was jumpy as if he was trying to free himself from his own skin.

  “Hello,” he replied, eyeing the unkempt stranger.

  “You looking to buy?”

  The question puzzled Cass but he did not show his confusion.

  A peddler? Where are his wares?

  He looked about for a cart or vehicle of any sort, but he saw nothing and as the man drew closer, Cass was overwhelmed by a sense of evil.

  He was no ordinary seller.

  It would not be the first time Cass had encountered trouble, not on earth nor in the otherworld, and while he was fully prepared to contend with whatever was on the boy’s mind, he would rather not see any conflict that day.

  Not when time was running out for him.

  “I am not searching for anything to purchase,” Cass replied, turning his attention back toward the polluted river, hoping that his body language would speak for itself.

  But the boy wanted more than a simple refusal.

  “I got whatever you’re looking for,” he insisted. “Ox, Molly, weed…”

  He paused and studied Cass’ face with pale blue eyes, a contrast to the caramel of his skin. He seemed impossibly innocent looking and yet, he stood there, with definitely unpure thoughts on his mind.

  If not for the almost palpable malice emanating from the depth of the boy’s soul, Cass would have mistaken his attractiveness as angelic.

  And yet Nathaniel is an angel, he thought with some bitterness.

  “Hey! I asked you a question!” the pusher snapped, his body almost touching Cass’ as he slammed his too lean body against the fence. “What you want?”

  “I do not require anything at this time,” Cass sighed again, turning away, annoyed that his fleeting peace had been ruined.

  To his surprise, the man reached out to grab him, fist entwining through his soaked leather jacket.

  It was then that Cass felt the cold steel of a gun barrel against his ribs.

  “But I bet you got money on ya, dontcha?” he rasped. “Gimme what you got, and I won’t kill you.”

  Cass swallowed one more groan of irritation.

  “You do not wish to do this,” he explained, checking his temper as he eyed the mugger.

  “Shut the fuck up, Bambi and give me what you got,” he snarled, digging the barrel of the gun deeper into Cass’ back.

  The demon rolled his eyes, but not argue, reaching into the depths of his pocket to retrieve the wad of cash that was stowed there.

  They are ill gotten gains anyway, he thought, handing it over to the young felon. Maybe it would serve to bring some kind of goodness to the kid’s life.