“I’m fine,” he insisted as he expertly slid his sword into the sheath on his back. “Look.” He lifted the hem of his shirt to show off a slice on his left side which explained why he hadn’t been using that arm. I stepped forward to get a good look at it and realized that it was in the process of healing. The amount of blood that stained his shirt indicated that it had been pretty deep. The pale edges of the gash where it had already healed showed how long it had been. What hadn’t completely healed was closed. The skin around it was still a lurid red, but nothing was seeping, and it wasn’t hot to the touch. I had to be satisfied with that.
I sighed as I straightened up. “Fast healer, huh?” I let out with an amused but derisive snort when he just shrugged. “Alright, fine.” A smile formed on my face as I felt myself relax off my guard even more. “I’m just glad you’re in one piece.”
“We do need to go,” March said. A note of urgency had returned to his tone, but it wasn’t the same as when danger was nearby. His attention turned to the doorway that led back to the access hall. “I heard sirens earlier. The trail of dead fallen should slow them down some, but we need to be gone before they work their way through the museum.”
I bit my lip as I nodded. I was an international jewel thief now. Getting arrested was not something I wanted to happen. “There will be an employee entrance around here. We can use that, but there’s no guarantee we won’t walk out into a group of cops.”
March looked back to me as he shook his head. “They’ll have everything they have out front or inside. They’re looking for—”
“Me,” I interjected.
March sighed. “Regretfully, yes. But they’ll also be looking for me. Sorry, love, but there is no way you could kill those guys, and I’ll be on camera, too.”
Love? He called me love.
He might not have meant it in the big L kind of way, but it was definitely a term of endearment. I smiled as I looked up at him, but a giggle escaped me as he looked a little uncomfortable and rolled his eyes.
“Let’s get out of here,” I said as I reached out to take his hand in mine.
FOURTEEN
MARCH
We sat in an old local café in Cairo. I knew the family that owned it for generations. They knew what I was, but their outlook on demons was vastly different from most other people’s. I did them some favors over the years, and they gave me safe haven from time to time. I didn’t know what they thought of me bringing Brenna in with me this time, but they hadn’t asked any questions.
The matron of the house took her aside to get her cleaned up, and into different clothes. I never liked burkas but, in this instance, it served to hide Brenna’s identity. She didn’t seem to mind so I didn’t say anything.
She sat at a table with one of the owner’s daughters. They were around the same age. The daughter spoke English, so they were chatting away quietly over a cup of the rocket fuel that passed for coffee in Egypt. I hated the fact that Brenna was a wanted person. Since the crime was now international, her face would be with every agency in the world, and some of them were a lot less scrupulous than others. I wanted her cleared, but that was going to be impossible without a black diamond to hand over. The best I could do would be the solution I was talking about with the owner of the café.
We came to an agreement. I nodded as I thanked him. We shook hands then I went to join Brenna at the table. The daughter gave me a smile, wished Brenna well then excused herself to go back to work.
“Making friends?” I asked her as I poured myself a cup of coffee.
“Jomana is sweet,” Brenna said with a smile. Inside, she didn’t need to wear the veil part of the burka. I liked seeing her face. “She wants to work in the museum when it’s finished. I gave her some tips.”
It was good to see Brenna rested and relaxed. This was a part of her I hadn’t actually seen yet. Her beauty was magnified without stress pinching the corners of her eyes. I also found it amazing that she could be this calm while being a wanted criminal. Maybe a life with me wouldn’t be such a bad thing. I had to admit, I wanted her by my side, but there were things she needed to know.
First things first, though.
“Jabari has a plan,” I said after I took a sip of coffee. Bitter. Not my favorite, but it was polite to drink it as a guest. “Some people he knows owe him some favors. He’s going to cash them in on our account.” More for Brenna, really, but Jabari owed me, too. “Are you absolutely certain that—”
She cut me off. I knew she would.
“Yep.” Her tone said she was tired of repeating herself. “Don’t care. Continue.” There was a spark in her eyes. She was amused.
Stubborn woman.
I sighed, but I couldn’t help but smile in return. I was glad she was sure about this. “Fine,” I said then rolled my eyes. “At this time tomorrow you will be declared dead. They’ll need you to give a dental impression.” I chuckled as she made a face.
“Those things taste like crap.” She accompanied her complaint by sticking her tongue out, and I laughed again.
“Maybe, but necessary crap.” I reached out to put my hand over hers on the mosaic decorated tabletop. “You’ll be supplied with a new identity including paperwork.” She smiled as she looked at our hands then turned her own over so she could give mine a squeeze. “You’ll be able to do whatever you want.”
“I told you—” she began but this time I cut her off.
“You want to stay with me.” I lifted her hand so I could place a kiss to her fingers. “Brenna, I want you to stay with me. We make a good team, and I can teach you things to help you protect yourself. We’re probably public enemy number one in Hell right now. They will come after us.”
After they get done licking their wounds and answering to the boss for not getting The Ingress, that is. The diamond was out of their reach completely, now. They screwed up, and they were going to have to account for that.
“There’s more, though.” Brenna gave me a worried look, but I kissed her hand again in an attempt to calm her. “Remember when I told you I was trying to earn my way back into the Dominion?” Now she looked puzzled as she nodded. “Something changed to make me believe that might be possible.”
I set my coffee down as I considered, not for the first time, how to explain this so she could understand. She must have seen my hesitation because she put her hand to my cheek to encourage me to look at her. I didn’t fight her touch. I turned my attention to her to see her gentle smile. There was more there to see than just those beautiful lips. She trusted me. Believed in me. Seeing all that in her face put me at ease.
“You, Brenna.” I put my fingers under her chin. “I don’t know what it is, but I have a connection with you. I can feel you.” I tapped my chest. “In here. I want to protect you. I want to keep you all to myself. I was able to find you in the museum because I followed that connection.”
Her brows came down as she shook her head a little. “I don’t understand.”
I knew I wasn’t making myself clear. I was going to have to just spit it out.
“The fallen aren’t capable of love, but I am.” I looked her right in the eyes. “I do. I love you, Brenna. I don’t know how it happened, or when, but it’s true. It’s the first step in my redemption, and if you can inspire that in me then there’s hope that I can achieve total deliverance.”
I was practically holding my breath as I waited to hear how she responded. For all that mortals’ lives were brief by comparison, they preferred to take their time when it came to love. As if they had all the time in the world to share or find it. If they knew the truth, they would experience love every chance they got.
It was a rare thing that only they could have outside of angelic celestials. It had been God’s gift to them along with free will. And yet, they seemed to take it for granted all the time, as if it would always be there.
I supposed, for them, that was true. Everyone, even the loneliest of hermits, had love in some form or another. Humans didn’t
realize how unique it was. How could they, really? They weren’t even aware of how many types of beings were out there, and that none of them could experience love like they could. So, they waited. Held onto their love for who they felt was worth it. I wasn’t asking for hers. That would be for her to decide. I simply wanted her to accept mine.
Brenna leaned toward me to press a kiss to my cheek. She had to stand up a bit from her chair to reach it.
“I love you, too,” she said in a matter-of-fact tone, then plopped back down in her chair.
I blinked. “Just like that?”
“Just like that.” Brenna picked up her coffee for a drink. She regarded me over the rim of her cup. I stared back at her. “What?”
I chuckled a little as I shook my head. “You’re weird.”
“Pot and kettle, darling.”
AFTERWORD
MARCH
Four months later found Brenna and me in Austria. We traveled from one place to another at her insistence. She hadn’t ever been out of the states and wanted to see as much as she could. That worked out fine since I wanted to avoid the U.S. for a while.
Brenna’s “death” was still fresh on the news, but the focus was more on the loss of the Black Orlov. The Metropolitan Museum of Art put up a substantial reward for the return of the black diamond, no questions asked. They only wanted the significant find back.
If the curators of the Grand Egyptian Museum found it among their antiquities they would never let on, not since it would have been found in a canopic jar of one of their most famous pharaohs. The diamond would be safely kept away from Hellish hands.
So, I indulged Brenna’s wish to travel. I had the means. Over the centuries I acquired and hoarded wealth in various forms. Once society worldwide changed from barter to payment it became necessary whenever I needed to move around.
I could teleport, but that would mean using my court in Hell as a steppingstone. No, thanks. And definitely not now. I would never take Brenna anywhere near there. And credit cards were far easier to obtain and use. It was easy enough to access corporate accounts if you knew the right people, and I did.
Currently, Apple was paying for our rental cabin with all the amenities.
We bounced around from one place to the next, wherever Brenna’s whim would take us.
It was getting close to Christmas, and she wanted to celebrate the holiday in a real, old world village. Or in this case, a cabin near a real, old world village. I had insisted on solitude for a variety of reasons. I hated crowds, but mostly it was because I wanted to spend time alone with her. In that, I got my way.
Yes, I was smug about it.
That morning she was sitting on the balcony watching the snow fall. There had already been a layer on the ground since winter started early in the mountains, but she loved to watch it. She had told me autumn and winter were her favorite seasons. If I had to grab the sky and shake it like a snow globe Brenna would have a white Christmas.
She was wrapped up in a thick quilt, but I brought her another blanket anyway. I didn’t feel the cold, but I knew she would. It had become a running joke between us that I was convinced she was always freezing. I also brought out a pot of fresh coffee. She already had a mug and all the sugar she could handle. I liked mine black, so I was all set.
I set the pot down on the table between our chairs then kissed her cheek as I tucked the blanket around her. She laughed. I grinned.
“Good morning,” I said as I took a seat. “Safe to assume you’ll want to go to town for the first day of their Christmas market?”
“Yes.” Brenna’s eyes lit up with excitement. “I want to get decorations. A tree. Garland. Lights. Everything to turn this place into a winter wonderland!”
I grumbled a little then mumbled into my coffee cup. “It’s going to look like Santa threw up.”
“What was that?” She gave me a suspicious look. I smiled in return.
“Nothing.” A quiet chuckle followed as I took a drink. “Good thing we have a Land Rover.” Also rented. “This looks like it’ll last for a while, and those roads aren’t fun normally.”
There were a few moments of silence as we enjoyed our coffee and watched the snow. “Is it weird that you’ll be celebrating Christmas?” she asked. Brenna did this from time to time. Some question would come to mind, and she’d just blurt it out. Regardless of where we were or what we were doing. Sometimes that became very inconvenient.
“No,” I answered. I tried before to give succinct answers and had learned my lesson. Brenna would just follow up with more questions until she was satisfied. It was easier to just volunteer more details. “No more than it would be to celebrate Hannukah, or Kwanza, or Yule. It is what it is. I never celebrated before so this should be fun.” That made her smile, and I hoped that ended her questions about religious holidays.
“Will you show me your true form?”
That caught me off guard and I choked on my coffee. I had to set the cup on the table and stand up as I coughed. A glance her way showed that she was waiting patiently and drinking her coffee. Minx. She did that on purpose. It was a new tactic to get information from me. One I would have to be on the lookout for. Not that I wanted to keep anything from Brenna. I just liked breathing.
“Brenna…” I coughed a final, few times. “What do you think I normally look like?” I was interested in where this line of questioning came from.
“Well,” she began as she looked up at me with innocent curiosity on her face. “The Goetia said you look like a wolf with griffon wings, but that fallen in the storage room said you looked like him.”
My brows shot straight up. I hadn’t known that the fallen had spoken to her. Now I wanted to know everything he’d said then kill him all over again for speaking to her. That was pointless right now. It seemed I had to set a few things straight.
“Okay, first?” I began with a grimace of a smile tightening my lips. “The author of the Goetia lost a bet with a high ranking fallen. The book was dictated to him and was embellished to a ridiculous degree. There’re more lies than truth in there so don’t pay any attention to it. Please.”
I gave a heavy sigh as I crossed my arms and leaned against the railing of the balcony. I would have liked to have sat back down, but I felt that I should let her see all of me as I answered her questions. “This is my true form. Mostly. I do have wings, but they’re pretty much useless and can’t be seen except in shadow.” I wrinkled my nose as I frowned. “The wolf thing is a dumb joke. So, whatever that fallen told you? A lie. That form you saw was his true form. Not mine or anyone else’s.”
Brenna listened attentively, and I could imagine her writing notes in her mind. She tilted her head as I explained. That was one thing I loved about her. She thought everything through. I supposed it was the scientist in her.
“I saw them, you know,” she finally said. “Your wings. Back in Canada when you fought off the wolves. I saw them for just a moment.” A smile graced her face. “They were beautiful. I wish I could see them all the time.”
Relieved, I smiled in return then retook my seat. “I wish I could show you all the time if you like them that much.” But my smile didn’t remain. “After I fell with the others, I lost the use of them. I can’t do anything with them. I feel lucky they’re even just shadows.”
Brenna reached over to place her hand on my arm and offered me one of those sweet smiles that never failed to turn me into mush.
“Maybe they’ll come back,” she suggested. “You know. That redemption thing we’re working on. Maybe they’ll come back as that continues.”
I couldn’t allow myself to hope for that. The loss of my wings was one of the things that made me regret the side that I had chosen in the war. But all of the decisions I had made over the course of millenniums led me to her. I couldn’t regret any of them if it meant never meeting Brenna. Besides, I liked to think I was doing some good in the world of mortals, protecting them from Hell’s machinations.
She meant well so
I gave her a smile as I reached over in a silent bid to take her hand.
“Maybe,” I said as she took my hand. It was a pleasant moment of peace we’d found here. I wanted to hold onto it for as long as possible. For her sake. We would stay here for the holidays, then figure out where to go next. Maybe Monaco. I thought she’d like it there.
“So what do you want for Christmas?” She’d told me what she wanted to buy. Deck the halls within an inch of their lives. But she hadn’t told me what she’d like as a gift. I looked over to her expectantly.
She took a long drink of her coffee then turned an innocent looking smile to me. “Jewelry.”
EPILOGUE
DUKE VALEFAR
It wasn’t the first time I’d been summoned into a king’s presence. As a Duke of Hell, I got called into a court whenever one of their majesties got a bur stuck in their ass. Then it was up to whichever one of us got summoned to fix whatever put their nose out of joint. Their majesties couldn’t be bothered to get off their collective thrones to do their own dirty work, and Lucifer help us if things didn’t turn out the way they wanted. It was always our fault. Our failure. Our punishment. Fuckers.
This was how hierarchy worked in Hell, and apparently my number came up.
The Infernal landscape was fluid. It changed for an endless list of reasons. Who was looking at it. What mood the ruler of the plot was in. The current era. Someone sneezed. Pick one.
If you observed the landscape, you could get an idea of the general atmosphere of the territory, but you couldn’t trust it. The influence should never be assumed. As I appeared on the flagstones outside King Purson’s place, I noted that his mood had definitely colored the territory. Why that was remained to be seen, and no doubt I would find out soon enough.
Demons Are a Girl's Best Friend (Good Girls & Demons) Page 13