Fire of a Demon's Heart by Shawnta Christensen (libby ebook reader .txt) 📕

Calamity. One angel took a step forward and clenched his teeth. Demetri gripped Selene’s hand and looked at her as she growled.
“Your highness, what are you doing! You have to kill this last demon so the world can be at peace. So that this war can be-“ he started to say.
“I will abide to these duties no longer!” she shouted as she glared at the angel in fury. “I will not kill the man I love. If the higher power kills me for it, then so be it!”
The angels rushed at her and she held up her sword. Demetri suddenly appeared in front of her and sent them flying back. He picked Selene in his arms and rushed toward the forest as fast as he could. Two of the elders came after her and she growled as she got out of Demetri’s arms.
“Selene! What are you doing!” Demetri shouted at her.
“You’re in no shape to be fighting them Demetri. I will handle them, just go!” She shouted as she pulled Armageddon out.
“No! You can’t take them on by yourself!” he protested.
“GO NOW!” she growled at him as she let Armageddon take over her body.
Demetri nodded and ran off toward a temple. Selene turned toward the elders and growled angrily. The elders rushed at her and she blocked one as the other went behind her. She forced the other one back and spun around, cutting the other elder in the shoulder.
The elder screamed as Selene disappeared and reappeared behind the other elder. The elder turned around and Selene slashed down his chest. He screamed fell back beside the elder who had gotten slashed in the shoulder. Selene put Armageddon back in its sheath as he let go of his control over her body.
“I will spare both of your lives, but be warned,” she glared at them both as her eyes turned hazy. “You try to hurt or kill Demetri and I will make sure to execute you both.”
She rushed off toward where Demetri headed toward as her eyes went back to normal. The elder helped the other elder up and they looked after Selene as rain clouds moved in overhead.
“I fear that our highness is becoming more demon than a fallen angel more than she realizes” one of them said as rain started to fall.
Selene reached the temple in an hour’s time and sighed. Demetri appeared behind her and draped his cape around her shoulders as she jumped.
“Thank you Demetri,” she whispered as she smiled.
They went over by the fire and sat down as silence followed between them. The fire crackled before either one of them spoke.
“Selene I’m sorry,” Demetri said as he looked at the fire.
“Why?” she asked as she looked at him.
He looked away as he stood and walked toward the temple entrance.
“If it wasn’t for me… your kind would not be after you now.” He whispered sadly as his hand clenched tight and she walked behind him.
“Demetri…” she said sadly as she held her hand to her chest.
He noticed some black marks on her arm and took her arm in his hand.
“What are these marks?” he asked her as he looked at her.
“They make me queen of heaven, but they will disappear soon” she said smiling.
They went by the fire to sleep and Selene clutched her arm.
“I can not tell him about these,” she closed her eyes. ”They are not what they appear to be or they are not what I just told him.”

Chapter 18

Marks of a traitor

Selene woke up several hours later and looked at her arm. The marks were gone as she sighed and walked toward the entrance of the temple. She watched the rain pour as she looked at Armageddon. She sat down and closed her eyes as she went to talk to Armageddon.
She was in a place with a bunch of trees and a purple and red lake. She saw Armageddon in its dragon form as it looked at her.
“Armageddon I need to ask you something,” she asked as she sat down.
Armageddon looked at her and sighed as it looked at her arm. Selene looked at him and looked at her arm. She closed her eyes as she pulled her knees to her chest.
“What is happening to me?” she whispered fearfully.
Armageddon looked at her arm and sniffed it as his eyes widened. He looked at her and she looked back fearfully.
“Do you remember when Gail was making you drink that black stuff?” he asked.
“Yes, but that was only to make me evil and turn dark. The moment I died was when it disappeared from my body,” she told him.
Armageddon shook his head and sighed as he closed his eyes. Selene clutched her arm and saw the mark spread.
“Did you forget the rule that you angels have. What it does to you if you break it?” he asked practically growling.
Selene tried to remember, but couldn’t and shook her head. He sighed and touched her head with his tail. She gasped as her vision went white and she blacked out. He set her down gently with his tail
Selene was walking down a white hall in her past. This was when she got her first mission as an angel to go to the human world. She knelt down in front of a throne and the queen smiled at her gently.
“Selene you know all of the rules that angels must follow. I am going to tell you the most important one, one that you must never break,” the queen said.
Selene looked up at her and nodded as the queen touched her shoulder. A black mark appeared for a second on her skin, but disappeared.
“You must never kill humans. If you do the angels will be after you and you will turn into a fallen angel,” the queen said sadly.
Selene sprang up as the memory faded and looked at her sword. He growled and she silenced him by putting her hand on the sword.
“What have I done, Armageddon?” she whispered shakily.
She heard Demetri stir and looked toward him. Armageddon growled and she looked at it. Demetri opened his eyes and sat up as Selene gripped another black mark that appeared on her arm. Armageddon hid the marks and she smiled at her sword.
“Thank you, Armageddon,” she muttered under her breath as Demetri walked up behind her.
“What are you doing out here?” he asked as he sat by her. “You’ll catch a cold.”
She looked at him and put her head on his shoulder.
“Just enjoying the rain” she whispered.
She looked at the rain as it poured down outside. Demetri wrapped his arms around her as she shivered. She snuggled into him as his grip tightened around her.
“How long will this last? This peace with him” she asked herself as she closed her eyes.
She looked at Armageddon and it growled gently as she put her hand on it. Calamity growled and Demetri put his hand on it.
“Armageddon you knew what Gail’s intentions were before me,” she closed her eyes as she thought to him. “Will you tell me what they were? What was that black stuff going to do to me if I had kept taking it?”
Her sword glowed a little and then faded away. Demetri and Selene went back to the fire to get warm.
“Demetri I love you,” she whispered as they laid by the fire.
“I love you too Selene,” he replied as he dozed off.
Selene gripped her arm as another mark appeared on her arm and Armageddon hid it. Selene closed her eyes and met with him as he saw her walking toward him.
“I want you to tell me what Gail’s plan was,” she demanded him.
In heaven the two elders who were attacked by Selene were walking in a long, white hallway with gold trimmings on it. Golden chandeliers hung from the ceiling, lighting their pathway.
“Why are we going to see him?! We can take Selene by ourselves and the others!” The elder, Chastity growled.
“Would you want to risk the other angels’ lives to just kill Selene? She’s much too strong and dangerous of what she’s becoming!” the other elder, Rian shouted.
“I know that! But I refuse to seek any aid from that thing,” Chastity looked away and toward two stone columns. “Besides the highest power isn’t completely an angel, nor completely a demon.”
Rian knew that Chastity was right. The highest power, the one that governed the angels, wasn’t completely an angel, nor a half angel. They walked into a white room and it was dark. They saw a man with one angel wing and one bat like wing with glowing green cat eyes.
Rian and Chastity knelt down as the man approached them. They noticed he had scales on his body as he stopped in front of them.
“Why did you disturb me?” he asked in a low growl.
“We need your help,” Rian pleaded.
“My help?” he lifted Rian with his tail by his throat. He brought him to his face as he growled a little. “Why?”
“W-with Selene,” Rian gasped and chocked.
The man dropped him to the ground as it glanced at Chastity. Rian gripped his throat, coughing and gasping for air. Chastity shivered with fear as the man looked at him.
“His pressure is amazing. I cannot even breathe. It’s like he’s going to kill me!” Chastity thought fearfully.
Rian looked at the man and Chastity looked down at the floor. The man closed his eyes and opened them a moment later, his tail swishing.
“Alright, but you have to find her first,” he said calmly.
“Yes sire,” Rian bowed as he trembled.
The elder’s left the room and Chastity fell to the floor on his hands and knees. Rian looked at him and knelt down in front of him.
“That monster can’t be the one that governs the angels!” he looked up at Rian. “It can’t! That man is not pure! Its desires are heartless and evil!”
Rian struck his cheek with his fist and Chastity fell to the ground in shock. Rian stood up and sighed as Chastity looked at him.
“He was once pure, but the war changed him,” Rian said.
Chastity stood up and they walked to Rian’s room. Rian lit the fireplace as Chastity sat down.
“How though,” Chastity looked at Rian. “How did the war change him?”
Rian sat in the chair opposite of Chastity and looked at him as the light lit up half the room.
“Not precisely the war. It was a sword that had poison on it,” Rian closed his eyes, remembering what happened.
“Poison? Poison doesn’t affect angels, not any kind of it does!” Chastity stood up as his fists shook. “We already-“
“WE DIDN’T KNOW ABOUT THIS ONE!” Rian shouted at Chastity angrily.
Chastity growled and left the room as Rian looked after him. His door slammed and Rian slumped back into the chair.
“We didn’t know,” he whispered quietly as he closed his eyes.
“Prepare yourselves angels! We will win this war!” the man said triumphantly.
“Your Majesty look out!” Rian shouted as he raced toward him.
The man turned around, but only in time to see the sword pierce his chest. He gasped in pain as he reached for the sword’s handle. He fell back as he saw purple, blackish liquid seep into his wound from the sword’s tip.
“Your majesty!” Rian shouted as he lifted the man’s head up.
The king looked at him and coughed as Rain looked at him helplessly. The king pulled out the sword with a sharp gasp and dropped it beside