Page 108 of Viper

Viper lowered himself into the armchair. He stretched out his long legs, crossing them at the ankles, and splayed his hands on the armrests. He lazily let his head loll back to hit the headrest as he weakly indicated the bed, inviting her to sit.

So nonchalant. So casual.

A ruse.She wasn’t fooled. Nor was her demon. His discomfort was evident in his unnatural stillness, the minute tightening of his jaw, the too-lazy blinks, and how deliberately slow and even his breathing was.

“I’m about to bring you fully into my world now, Ella. It’s not a pretty place. You’re going to hear things you don’t like. Things that may upset you. Scare you. Confuse you. Piss you off.” He paused. “Remember your promise.”

Ella sat on the bed. “I’ll hear you all the way out.” Growing more uneasy with each second, she watched his chest expand ashe drew in a breath. He stared back at her, seeming braced for … something.

“The rumor about me is true. I am an archangel. But I doubt that comes as much of a surprise to you.”

It didn’t.

“Archangels aren’t creations of God.”

She felt her brows knit. “Really?”

“We are the handiwork of Chaos, the Creator. God was his first creation, and we were told to serve him. So we do.”

Thatshe hadn’t expected to hear. “Are angels creations of Chaos?”

“No, they were fashioned by God. They’re essentially his own version of archangels.”

Interesting. “Is the rumor that you’re one of the Seven also true?”

He gave a slow nod.

That didn’t particularly surprise her either. “Which one of the Seven are you?”

“I went by many titles.” The words were casual, but tension crept up his arms and into his shoulders. “The Destroyer. The Chief of Tempters. The Archangel of Darkness and Death.”

Realization dawned on her fast, making her eyes widen slightly. “Samael.” A whisper.

“Samael,” he confirmed.

Well, damn. A lot was said about him. That he was the most beautiful of the archangels. That he walked among humans. That he wasn’t evil but had a backward moral code.

“For the most part, the Uppers are protective of humans.”

“For the most part?” she echoed.

“They like to tempt the inborn darkness inside humans, and they used me exclusively to do it. I’ve tricked, tempted, seduced, punished, and destroyed. I’ve sparked wars, taken souls, andengineered the falls of ‘the wicked’, as the Uppers refer to them. You’ve no doubt heard the tales of my deeds.”

She had. “You did all this at their bidding?”

Viper nodded. “Which, of course, doesn’t excuse my part in it.” He swiped his tongue over his teeth. “Killing became too easy. It stopped marking me. You get desensitized to the darkness after a while.”

Ella dragged in a breath, her mind working through all he’d revealed. She couldn’t lie—to realize he was Samael was mildly disturbing. She’d heard of his many ‘exploits’. It was really no wonder he’d been endowed with so many grim titles.

Her demon wasn’t quite so disturbed. It actually liked the idea that he knew darkness just as well as it did. Well, whatdidn’tthe entity so far like about Viper?

“I really should have guessed you were Samael. The clue is in your chosen name.” Vipers were venomous, weren’t they? And Samael went by another title: The Venom of God. “Did you choose to fall because you were tired of doing what they asked of you?”

The stiffness in his shoulders bled up to his neck, making the cords stand out. “It was part of the reason. I was … tired. Weary. A little lost. I didn’t like how my responsibilities had increasingly ate at my inner entity. But it wasn’t until a certain person came into my life that I felt truly motivated to fall. I meant to do it a long time ago, but I was betrayed by the rest of the Seven. Convinced they were saving me from myself, they took from me the certain person I mentioned before. Hid that person. Swore I’d never find them.”

Memories of their first conversation at the Red Rooms came rushing back to her. “They’re what brought you to Vegas?”

“Yes. It took me a long time, but I found them. Her.” A triumphant glint danced in his gaze. “When I did, I left the upper realm. It was the only way I could keep this one thing I needed.I wasn’t going to lose her again.” He leaned forward in his seat and rested his arms on his thighs. “The first time you and I met, I knew you by another name.”

---