I was half listening to him, and half wondering if he was going to take off his pants next. But then his words registered, jarring me.

“You need full battle armor for that?” He remained silent. “Lincoln,” I pressed, as we neared the checkpoint.

He threw a long-sleeved T-shirt over the armor, so it couldn’t be seen. “I’m going to fight your boss. Winner gets you.” He revealed it like it was no big deal.

My eyes bugged out of my head. “You? You’re going to fight Master Burdock?”

He glared at me. “I happen to know a thing or two about fighting.”

I hadn’t meant it like that.

The border demon stopped us, and I flashed my card, showing my work hours and allotted travel access.

“And him?” the demon asked.

Lincoln pulled out some laminated card. “Fallen Academy business.”

The demon furrowed his brow at the card, holding it to the light. A holographic image reflected on it, and he handed it back. “You’re not permitted to stay the night.”

Lincoln nodded. “Of course not.”

The demon slapped the side of the car twice, hard, and I drove through.

“So you fight Burdock and he just, what, lets me go?” I asked him incredulously.

Lincoln winced, as if he were in pain. “Look, I can spend the next ten minutes explaining this whole thing to you, as I grow weaker and weaker, or you can take this time to tell me all about your boss. What kind of demon he is, what his weaknesses are, things like that.”

Oh shit. This was real. It was really happening.

“Is this a fight to the death?” I asked him in shock.

Lincoln looked sideways at me. “Yes. Now unless you want it to be mine, start talking.”

Oh my God.

“Burdock is a Brimstone demon. He can spew black smoke and fire out of his mouth and horns.”

He nodded. “Okay. What else?”

“I’ve heard that he can create direct portals to Lucifer, and that he’s impossible to kill unless you cut off his horns first. They carry some regenerative power or something. But those are all rumors.”

“Worth trying.”

We were one block away from the clinic. I wanted to circle for a few minutes just to process everything.

“Can’t Michael or one of the archangels fight? I mean… why you?” I didn’t want him to think I didn’t have confidence in him, but… I didn’t. I was scared for him. Yeah, he was a Celestial, but he was twenty-two going against a demon who was hundreds of years old.

“The archangels can’t intervene in certain human matters. This is one of them. You signed that contract with your own free will.”

Damn.

“And I have all the archangels’ blessing to do this. They chose me, and I’m honored,” he told me defiantly.

Well, okay then.

I pulled into the parking lot of the reanimation clinic, parked the car, took a deep breath, facing him.

“Why are you doing this? I mean, why fight for me?” He could be killed. This is stupid. “Just let me be sold to the Abrus demon, and go on about your life,” I told him grumpily.

He turned to face me, his piercing blue eyes practically glowing. “Because you’re special.”

My entire body melted, warmth spreading throughout my gut.

His eyes widened a little. “I mean to the war and to the fallen angels. You’re special to them, and I work for them, so that makes you special to me.” He cleared his throat, and looked anywhere but at me.

“Right,” I said, as the fire he’d lit inside of me completely died.

He shrugged. “And I might’ve read your file today, and discovered you may not be as bad as I thought you were. It’s really admirable what you and your mom did to try and save your dad.”

And just like that the tears threatened to fall, my throat throbbing as I tried to swallow my emotions. “There’s a file on me? Where is it, and how do I destroy it?”

He smirked, but then the smile faded. “There’s something I want to tell you.”

Everything felt so serious, I was scared of what he was going to say. “Okay….”

He swallowed hard. “The reason I hated you when I first saw you is because my parents and little sister were killed in an attack, and you reminded me of it.”

It was like all of the air was sucked out of the car and into a black hole. That was the trauma he’d been through. My entire body froze. Why would I remind him of his parents’ death?

“We’d gone to a café near the border to celebrate my graduation from the academy. I was running late, goofing off with Noah and the boys,” he continued, staring at his hands.

I rested my hand on his arm, and he didn’t pull away. My breath was starting to come out in ragged gasps as I fought to keep calm. He’d lost his entire family, I couldn’t imagine.

“I was two blocks away when the bomb went off. My mother, father and little sister were gone, just like that.” His voice cracked, and I couldn’t hold back the tears before they ran down my face.

“Lincoln… I’m so sorry.” I tried to hold my shit together, biting the inside of my cheek.

His piercing blue eyes bored into me. “When we replayed the footage, I expected it to be a demon… but it wasn’t. It was a demon slave who waltzed into the café and ruined my life.” The anger in his voice could’ve cut glass.

Oh shit. Is that possible? I didn’t really know much about how the slave mark worked, but I’d heard the demons could control our actions with it, if they wanted. It explained everything, why he was so mean to me.

“I would never do that. I’d rather die,” I told him passionately.

He shook his head. “You’d have no choice. That’s my point. I’m here to give you the choice.” With that, he popped open the door, and turned to me. “Come on. I grow weaker and weaker every second I’m in this city.”

I just nodded. I was totally going to throw up.

When I went to open the door and Lincoln’s hand came out to stop me. “If… something happens to me, make sure my body makes it back to the academy. I don’t want to be reanimated.”

Oh. My. God. The severity of the task at hand came crashing down on me. I could only nod once again.

This gorgeous man, who apparently played guitar, and was still definitely Asshole of the Year, was going to fight a Brimstone demon for me. If he weren’t being asked by the fallen, I might’ve even said it was romantic. And now that he’d shared his parents’ story with me, I was seeing him in a whole new light. I’d be an asshole too if a demon slave blew up my family.

Please don’t die. You’re nice to look at.

And that was the last thought I had, before all hell broke loose.

Pun intended.

Chapter Nine

The moment Lincoln threw open the doors to the clinic, a dark feeling descended. Burdock appeared suddenly, smoke coming from his horns.

“What are you doing here?” he growled, pointing to Lincoln.

I just froze, flattening myself against the wall.

Lincoln pulled his sword free and pointed it at Burdock’s chest. “I challenge you to a fight to the death. If I win, Brielle Atwater is absolved of her slave contract, and becomes a free soul.”

It felt like time had stopped. There was a kind of charged electricity hanging in the air, nobody moving.

Burdock tipped his head back and roared in laughter, black smoke coming out of every orifice, and settling on the ground. My eyes flicked to movement at the back. My mother was watching everything from the open back room door, mouth agape.

“Nothing you can offer me is more valuable than her. Trust me. No deal.” He pulled a mace from his belt. “But I will kill you for trespassing.”

Lincoln didn’t look fazed, as he reached behind his back, and produced another weapon. That one was extraordinarily larger and shinier. It radiated a certain power, and when Burdock’s smoke neared it, it fled, as if in fear.

“I present Archangel Michael’s sword. Freely given to the winner of this fight.” He laid the sword on the ground, the black smoke chasing away from it.

Burdock stood there, in absolute shock, eyeing the weapon with the greediest gaze I’d ever seen. “So, I kill you, and I get the sword and the girl?”

Lincoln nodded, holding out a glowing scroll of parchment paper.

“Signed with the blessing of the fallen angels themselves. All four of them.” Lincoln tossed the scroll on the ground.

Burdock grinned then clapped, a red glowing scroll appearing in his hand. “I accept.” He tossed it to the center, where the sword and other scroll lay.

Lincoln nodded. “Brielle is my witness. Call yours.”

Burdock chortled, showing his razor-sharp blackened teeth. “He’s on his way. Outside. I’ll draw the perimeter.”

Add mental communication to his powers. Oh God.

Lincoln backed through the doors without ever turning his back to Burdock. I did the same. Michael’s sword and the two parchments remained on the floor of the reanimation clinic.

“Kate, watch the collateral. If anything happens to it, I’ll kill you,” he told my mother.

She nodded and scurried forward, picking up the three items.

My mother and I shared a look through the glass door. A look that said everything. She wanted this for me. I wanted this for me. I didn’t know what it meant for her and Mikey though, and that had me apprehensive.

Turning to face Burdock, I saw his witness had indeed arrived. He’d called Shea’s boss, Master Grim. And Shea was in the driver seat next to him. Lincoln was sweating a little, clearly weakening with each moment he spent in the city.

The second Shea’s boss exited the car, Burdock pointed to him.

“You are witness. If I die, this young man gets to leave with Brielle and the sword, and her contract is absolved.”

Grim nodded, looking Lincoln up and down like he was a meal. Then he spat on the ground, the sidewalk steaming where the spittle hit it.