Page 86 of Lust
I had asked myself the same question and already knew what I’d do—anything to not walk this earth alone. So long as she was at my side, it didn’t matter whether Sara was miserable or happy.
Well, perhaps it mattered a little.
Sara smiling while I painted the walls of the basement. Sara giggling when I tickled her under the sheets. Sara staring at me when she thought I wasn’t looking.
Yes. I preferred a happy Sara for sure.
It just didn’t change the outcome, even if she wasn’t. There’d still be no alternatives for her other than me.
“So, what did Asmodeus choose to do in the end?” I asked, feigning the answer that didn’t matter one way or another.
Michael smiled. This time, the smile was kind, while his eyes were filled with pity.
* * *
Sarah stared out the window of her room with trepidation.
With shaky legs, she took her first step toward meeting her ultimate demise. She could no longer live in a world where she was responsible for the death of another innocent. Although she was about to commit a grave sin by taking her own life, what happened to those innocents was no less of a sin. And had it not been God who said, an eye for an eye?
Seven men had loved her, and all suffered the wrath of an unknown manifestation. Now, she had fallen for a man whom she loved more than herself. She couldn’t bear the thought of Tobias’ still body, dead at the clutches of an ominous threat, all because he made the grave mistake of loving her.
No. She had to protect Tobias even at the cost of herself.
With one forlorn look backward, Sarah jumped out of her window.
But before her body was met with the demise from the concrete below, a warm light shone from above the ground. She found herself levitating in the air instead of meeting with her untimely death.
An amber-like glow lifted her, carrying her back into the safety of her room. Even though he couldn’t physically touch her, Asmodeus used his levitation powers to save Sarah and gently placed her on the bed. He grated his jaw in anger at her attempt to release herself, for she was his. Even her life wasn’t hers to part with and only his to take.
He stared desperately at the woman he loved, inept in erasing her fear and unable to wrap her into a comforting hold. “Please, my heart,” he whispered with a tenderness he had never shown another, “please do not take your life from me. I need you.”
Sarah opened her eyes in shock, unable to understand why she couldn’t take her own life. She thought it was nothing short of a miracle that she had been spared, never knowing the hand Asmodeus’ had played.
Convinced that it was God’s doing and he wanted her to live, hope finally blossomed in Sarah’s chest. Given God’s miracle, she was convinced that the curse had been lifted.
Rushing to her table, Sarah wrote a note for her beloved, Tobias. She informed him of the happy news and agreed to marry him if he’d still have her.
Asmodeus froze.
He realized that if he harmed Tobias, Sarah would attempt to rid herself of her mortal body once more. Tobias was her last ray of hope. If he died, so would she.
Asmodeus’ rotten heart constricted against his chest, unable to comfort the woman he loved and too inadequate to let her go or be with another.
But what choice did he have?
With a heavy heart, the demon decided to let Sarah live a life with Tobias.
* * *
Iwondered if Michael had a death wish.
Did he suggest that the woman I loved was suicidal, or did he suggest that I let Sara go to be with another?
Either way, self-preservation wasn’t this man’s forte.
“Thank you for that story. You’ve known me for a long time, Michael. Tell me, what do you think I’ll do to you if any of those things were to come true?” I raised my brows.
To my annoyance, the fucker smiled. “For your sake, I hope none of those things come true.”
