Uncomfortable though he may have been, Rae was not the type of person to watch anyone suffer needlessly and I knew he could see the torture that Shade was inflicting as he rolled around inside me. Rae pulled out the switchblade he always carried in his pocket and sliced, quick and efficient, into the vein at his wrist. He hissed at the sting and held his wrist, cut side up, out to me.
“Drink before it seals.”
I blinked at him for a moment and then locked onto his arm faster than a heartbeat. My mouth sealed over the gash in Rae's wrist and the moment his blood hit my tongue Shade freaked like nobody's business. Never in my life had I tasted anything as wonderful as I did when Azrael's blood slid over my taste buds and down my throat. I couldn't put a finger on what the taste was, but it was good-to-the-last-drop fantastic.
Rae pried my mouth from his arm and stepped back to watch his blood course through my veins like quicksilver. I stood between the two of them and grinned like a slap-happy fool when I felt the beginnings of Shadekar's end as a resident in my body.
Shade screamed inside my head as he was forced out of all the nooks and crannies that the bastard had found over the years. He knew he was losing the ball game and threw out one last parting shot as he was catapulted out. “He'll never truly love you, Ardeur. Never.”
The little beast finally popped free of me and flew straight out of my solar plexus. I screamed, “Son of a bitch.” as my resident pain-in-the-ass was evicted. He tapped all of my strength on the way out, leaving me powerless to stop him when Shade made a beeline for Valencia as he looked for a new home - the dhampyre looked mighty tasty to the freak.
“No. Val.” My eyes widened in horror as the blade sank into the half-pyre's chest on demon impact. She hadn't said anything about that part and I'd have never made the deal if it meant her life for mine.
I crumpled to the ground in a heap at Rae's feet and heard Val stifle a scream before the blackness swallowed and pulled me down into unconscious oblivion. It would have been awesome to see Shade get rice krispied by Valencia's dagger and to know whether she was okay, but my body was having none of that funny business. My bell had been rung and I was down for the count.
Fifteen
Rae checked to make sure Ardeur was alright. His hand lovingly brushed back the golden strands of hair from her face. He felt along the newly formed connection between them, satisfied to find that she was just unconscious and not damaged. A sense of triumph surged through his veins at finally being linked to her. He rose and stepped over her prostrate form and crossed over to where Val sat slumped against the wall they'd been sharing earlier.
“Crazy shits those demons, hmm? Brace yourself; I'm going to pull that thing out.” He crouched down and pulled the candescent blade from Valencia's chest.
Val took the hand he offered to her and slowly rose to her feet before sitting down, hard, on the garden's half wall. She held her hand out and grinned at the angry carmine glow of the dagger that was now home to Ardeur's former demon, Shadekar.
“That - hurt like bloody hell. Is Ardy okay?”
“Yeah, she's fine. Will you be alright while I take her back inside to rest?” Rae returned to where Ardeur lay and picked up the unconscious woman from the gravel pathway. He hefted her against his broad chest and grinned at Valencia. “For all the bluster and bravado in there, she weighs next to nothing.”
“I’ll be fine.” Val waved him away and tucked the blade back inside her boot. “Take her inside. I’m heading in just as soon as the adrenaline rush wears off.”
Rae nodded before striding off toward the wing of the abbey that housed everyone's private rooms.
The door to the western stairwell opened as he reached it. Rae started and tightened his grip on the bundle in his arms until he saw his sister, Remiele, standing in the shadows holding it open. Remi's face softened into her mother hen look when Rae passed by her with his blonde obsession in his arms. “I've always wanted a sister.”
Azrael laughed and held Ardy closer while he strode down the hall toward her room. “Yeah, you did, but this one isn't the sort to be wearing dresses and let you put ribbons in her hair.”
Remiele opened the door to the necromancer's suite, flipped on the light and gasped at the barrenness of the interior. Her blue eyes, an exact match to Rae's, looked over the rooms with an air of sadness. “Where are all of her things, Rae?”
“She doesn't have any.” He growled at his sister to keep her voice down while he tucked his armload into bed and tenderly wrapped the blankets around her. Rae turned back for the door and flipped the light off before hauling his disbelieving sister out into the hall.
“The tattered duffel bag you saw on her chair is all Ardy has in the world. That's it. A few pairs of shorts, two pairs of jeans, a bunch of camisoles and the rudimentary toiletries are all she owns.”
Rae's long strides ate up the hallway and in less than a dozen steps, the two of them were in the main foyer as they crossed to their own private library. “Your new sister as you call her, has had a very rough life. Try not to overwhelm her with your exuberance, Remi?”
“You're in love with her, aren't you?” Remiele stopped and watched her brother's back as he took a few steps away and stopped.
His head hung forward for a moment before he lifted it and looked at her over his shoulder. The malignant blue glow of his eyes washed over her and made Remiele shiver with the coldness of it.
“Yes, and if you breathe a word of it to her, I'll kill you. You know I can.”
I woke up the next morning with a sense of peace that was completely foreign to me. For once in my life it felt like I was completely, utterly alone. It was damn fantastic and I lay in bed staring at the blue of the sky outside my window for a moment while the quiet wrapped itself around me like a calm cocoon.
The slug-a-bed routine lasted for five minutes and then I kicked the sheets off. My feet hit the floor; I bounced off to the bathroom and stopped short when I caught sight of myself in the mirror.
“Oh, wow. Now that I wasn't expecting.”
A soft, translucent glow lit my skin from beneath. My hair was shinier and curled softly around my face in huge golden coils.
“You're one of us now, Ardy. You are an Angel.” Remiele stood in my doorway with a smile on her face when I turned around.
“Oh no, that wasn't the plan, Remi.” My knees threatened to give out on me and I sat down quickly on the end of my bed. “How? I read the book. It said I'd become Nephilim not Angel.”
Remiele joined me on my bed and put her hand on my knee. “You were already Nephilim, sweetheart. Rae realized it when you showed him your power in the kitchen.”
I let the information sink for a moment and then turned confused eyes up to look at her. “How could I have been Nephilim? My parents were human.”
“Ask Azrael. I think that story is one best told by him.” Remiele rose from my bed and crossed to the door. She stopped on the threshold and turned back to me. “You'll find that if you think about something you want and wave your hand, it will appear.” A small smile quirked her lips. “Try whipping up some clothes and then come downstairs. The boys are in the kitchen.”
Rae and Brody were seated at the counter, their heads tilted together as they talked over steaming cups of coffee. I stood in the kitchen doorway and watched the morning sunlight glint off their hair, highlighting the differences between the two men.
A small smile lifted the corners of my mouth and I lifted my hand to wiggle my fingers at Brody as his eyes turned toward me. “Hey, Puppy. Sleep well?”
His warm hazel gaze swept over the new me from head to toe. It felt like being dipped in a pool of warm and fuzzies. Brody was up and out of his chair, arms wrapped around my waist and lifting me up for a kiss before I had time to register that he'd moved away from the counter.
“You don't smell like death anymore.” He buried his face in the shining coils of my hair and laughed. “Gods, you smell fantastic.”
A discreet cough
from behind us drew my attention to Azrael. I looked at him over Brody's shoulder and wiggled to be put down. Rae's midnight hair hung over his stormy eyes even more than usual today. The set of his shoulders, equally as wide as Brody's, was tight with what looked like a massive amount of tension.
“Good morning, Ardy. How're you feeling?”
“A hell of a lot better than I expected to feel.” I tilted my head and propped my right hand on my hip. “Care to explain that?”
Rae shook his head and rose from his stool until all six foot four inches of him towered over me. “Not here. Come outside and walk with me?” He gave Brody a malevolent look and glanced at the protective hand on my shoulder. “Alone.”
I didn't need to see him to know that Brody's head shook with refusal. The low growl that rumbled from his chest was clue enough.
“Relax the big bad wolf routine.” Rae brushed past the two of us and looked back over his shoulder at Brody from the doorway. “I only want to talk to her, not mark my territory.”
Brody stepped between Rae and me, the rumble of his growl like thunder in the sunlit room. “I think you've already marked her enough.”
“Oh for the love of - Brody, it'll be fine.” I stepped out from behind him, an exasperated sigh punching through the silence and gave Rae a small nod of the head.
“Go on out and I'll meet you by the Sycamores.”
The big, dark angel left us standing in the quiet of the kitchen with the morning sunlight streaming through the windows around us. I could feel Brody's eyes on me, taking in the dark red of the tight fitting crop top, the snug fit of my jeans and the black leather boots that covered me from toe tip to knees. The heat of his gaze flushed my cheeks.
“Why does Rae think you're marking territory, Brody?”
I turned to face him and gasped in surprise at the golden glow of his eyes. The air crackled with energy, fizzed up my arms and sent a shiver down my spine. “Shit.”
Brody closed the distance between us. His hands roughly grasped my waist and hauled me against the rigid front of him. Warm fingers, heat seeping through the thin cotton of my shirt, lifted me off my feet so that our lips collided in a hungry kiss that had my toes curling inside my boots.
His tongue swept between my teeth, teased my own to come and meet it as it had before. My hands gripped the soft material of his shirt in surprise as a thick thigh wedged between my own. Brody captured the tip of my tongue and suckled it gently.
The tone of the kiss changed from hungry to fiery when a subtle shift of my hips and a nudge of Brody's thigh in response hit just the right place. A soft sigh of pleasure from me between kisses snapped Brody's attention back into focus.
One second I was quite happy to be wrapped up in him and the next I was sitting on the edge of the counter with him across the room panting. Guilt and apprehension shone from his eyes along with the golden glow of his wolf.
“I'm sorry, Goldie.” The wolf in him wanted to mark me as his so bad I could almost feel his teeth in my skin. He watched me slide from the counter and step forward before raising a trembling hand to stop my progress. “Go, talk to Rae. I need a minute to myself. Please?”
I took another step forward and came up short when he growled as if in pain. “Okay. I'll go but we're not done here, Puppy. Not by a long shot.”
I turned with reluctance and walked outside to where Rae waited for me under the trees where I meditated. I could feel him taking in the flush of my cheeks, the kiss swollen red lips and the slight full body tremor of lust that I didn't want to shake off, ever.
He pushed off from the rough bark of the tree trunk when I was a foot away. I looked up at him.
“So, wanna tell me how I can be a full angel when, up until yesterday, I was human?”
Rae's big hand plowed nervously through the dark mass of his hair before coming back down to rest on the bare skin at the small of my back while we strolled. “You weren't human, not fully.”
“Wait. What?” My eyes were wide with shock and disbelief. I stopped our progress around the yard and turned to look up at him.
He refused to meet my eyes with his own and that alone spoke volumes.
“You did something, didn't you?” I turned my back on him, took a few steps away and spun back toward him, eyes full of accusation. “Was it when you brought me here from the hospital? Did you do something to me then?”
Azrael shook his head. “No. You were only human when in your mother's womb. Even then, human was a relative term when it came to you. The power you carried, even unborn, was awesome.” He cursed with more ferocity than I'd ever seen and finally met my eyes across the expanse between us. “You're alive because I gave you a part of myself to make it so. I was there when you were born, Ardeur. The grief and anguish your parents experienced at the loss of you touched something in me. Something I'd long thought dead and it made me decide to give you a second chance.”
Realization dawned for me then. I knew what he was and everything in my life made sense for me in that flash of recognition. “You're an angel of death, Azrael. You don't give life.”
He actually had the audacity to look ashamed, or maybe it was regret. At the moment I didn't care much what he was feeling.
“Ardy, please.” Azrael held his hand up to stop whatever I was going to say or do next. “Let me show you why I did it? Maybe you'll understand better. I couldn’t let you die. Not with that kind of power. It would have been a waste to let you go.”
I crossed my arms under my breasts and flinched when Rae reached out and put his palm against my cheek. The action felt like more of a caress than I was willing to allow him, but then the vision started and jerked me out of my reality.
One moment I was in the abbey's yard, the next, I had no idea where I was and I was scared as hell.
Sixteen
The angel that I watched and recognized as Rae stood in the darkest corner; his glossy midnight wings tucked around his body to better blend his massive size within the shadows of the bedroom. The innocent shadows made sinister by his presence. Glowing blue eyes watched as a soft white curl of smoke rose from beneath the bedroom door. His gaze followed the vapor as it ghosted up the peeling and battered wood panel before hitting the ceiling and rolling toward the couple sleeping in the bed.
I stood apart from him, a spectator in the room - and yet I felt every emotion, registered every thought that ran through his mind while he surveyed the scene unfolding around us.
Within minutes, there was a thick, hazy layer hanging above the sleeping couple that continued to grow thicker as a raging inferno devoured their house. Death waited for them. It took a patient, sadistic being to stand by and watch a slow, torturous demise such as this one would soon be. Azrael was nothing if not the embodiment of those two qualities. It was the reason he'd been the obvious choice to collect these souls.
Silent and determined, the fumes crowded the room to overtake the bed and its slumbering occupants. A large, long fingered hand snaked from beneath the ratty coverlet to wipe a bead of sweat from the end of a straight, too-long nose. Crystal blue eyes popped open, scanned the room and widened in panicked surprise. Instantly, I recognized my father and what must have been my mother next to him.
The dark angel sank further into the shadows to watch the scene unfold. He observed as my father turned and tried to shake my mother awake but she continued to slumber and trap him in the bed between her and the wall.
“Sandrine, wake up! The house is on fire. Wake up,” he exclaimed.
No answer came from her and he grunted as he lowered my mother's small form to the flattened, ratty orange shag carpet before checking to see if she was still breathing. He scrambled down, rolled Maman to her back and checked for a pulse.
The bulk of her belly heaved as the baby, which I recognized must be myself, moved. Rae's surprise at my mother's advanced state of pregnancy piqued my curiosity. This detail was something he had apparently not been aware of and it spurred him to action. He stepped from the shad
ows, careful to remain unseen and touched long, graceful fingers to my father's shoulder. The human he'd come to watch die was filled with renewed energy as strength flowed from the angel's fingers. Go, he willed, save them.
Peter Lisle, my father, lifted my unconscious mother into his arms and carried her to their bedroom window. The night air was hot and dry. It almost matched the stifling heat inside the room he was leaning out of to deposit Maman in the bushes.
Azrael and I stood outside now; he watched to make sure the woman and the child inside of her came to no harm as they landed in the shrubbery and rolled to the wilted grass, and I watched to understand how my parents had escaped Death.
With my mother safely out, my father climbed through just in time to turn and see the roof cave in onto the bed where they had been laying minutes earlier.
He picked up his wife and unborn child to move them to a safer place farther out in the yard while the house burned and collapsed in on itself.
The sound of sirens appeared in the distance heralding the imminent arrival of those who would try, in vain, to save the ramshackle home I had only seen in photographs as a child. Their neighbors knew Sandrine, my mother, was pregnant so an ambulance would be in the train of emergency vehicles that would soon pull up to the curb .
Maman groaned in Daddy's arms drawing Azrael's attention down to her. He watched as Peter ran his hand over her middle and saw it tighten under his touch as a gush of fluid filled the air with the coppery scent of blood and other things. “Oh. No. Sandrine! Wake up!” Peter gave her a shake to wake her up, eyes wild with panic and fear.
Long minutes passed before emergency vehicles arrived and an army of men poured from the rigs. Hoses were snaked out and attached to hydrants; EMS personnel ran over to the grubby couple sitting in middle of the weed strewn yard.
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