A Mermaid's Ransom

by Joey W. Hill

  He dwelled on that one. Her father was obviously stronger, more powerful. But he'd allowed it. He'd respected her decision. This was a world full of peculiarities. A powerful angel who let his daughter make a decision he did not believe was wise, rather than forcing her to obedience, was just one of them. Power was handled differently here, like the varying direction of the wind, rather than a mallet that kept others hammered into their place.

  He looked at the woman sleeping in his arms. She'd ignored or disobeyed him several times now, and it wasn't because of the despised metal collar around his throat that he hadn't punished her as he would a Dark One who disregarded his commands. The Dark Ones were always seeking ways to take his power away, claim it for themselves. Their lives were a struggle for dominion. Alexis's motives were different. He remembered her hurt when he implied her fate was of no concern to him.

  That was no longer true, if it had ever been true. He'd been prepared to battle the vampire, prove his strength was greater, and then allow the creature the opportunity to submit or die. But the way his gaze had crawled over Alexis's flesh, and then his fist striking her, sending her hurtling back into a tree, had sealed the vampire's fate. The red rage that had covered Dante's mind tolerated only one outcome. Death to the one who dared touch her, cause her pain.

  But what did that make him? Who would punish him for harming her, for planting the fear that was still making her cry out in her sleep? Disturbed by his thoughts, he pushed them away as her fingers tightened on his thigh, her face pressing into his neck.

  Resuming his stroking, he stumbled through the lullaby once more.

  Twenty-three

  MARCELLUS settled on the roof of Alexis's town house and folded his wings, glancing at Jonah and David as they came in next to him. "Cleanup wasn't too difficult," he reported. "They'll think it was a cigarette fire that burned itself out on the trail. I scattered the ashes so the bone shards wouldn't catch a park ranger's eye. Vampire and definitely Dark One energy readings. Dante was involved, whatever happened."

  David looked toward Jonah. "Alexis?"

  "Is fine, as far as I know," her father answered. "She sent me the message that a vampire attacked her and Dante. Dante handled it, which explains the Dark One fire."

  "It took out a hundred-foot swath, very uniform," Marcellus supplied. "He had to have doused it himself, else it would have had a more erratic pattern. Did the vampire queen not honor her promise?"

  "She confirmed Jacob talked to the territory overlord shortly after we left," David explained. "So this appears to be a matter of timing only. The attacking vampire hadn't been informed Dante wasn't an unprotected loner in the territory. There should be no other aggressive moves toward him, at least not during his thirty days. Hopefully he'll be intelligent enough to accept her offer for guidance after that," he added. "If nothing else, it will spread the word among the vampires here that he can hold his own."

  "That won't matter," Jonah said flatly. "He'll be back in his own world then."

  "It's not his world, Jonah," David responded. "It was where he was born when his abducted mother was raped there."

  Jonah's mouth tightened. "You were there, David, when Lex came back through, bruised and covered with blood. You've seen the way he looks at all of us. He's more Dark One than anything else."

  "Marcellus once said the same thing about Mina." A hardness entered David's voice. "You weren't so ready to agree with him then."

  Marcellus shifted uncomfortably, readjusting his wings, but Jonah held his lieutenant's gaze. "I had some evidence that Mina's fate was undecided. I haven't seen that in Dante."

  "Perhaps because you don't want to see it."

  Jonah's dark eyes sparked. "You don't have a child. You don't understand."

  "No, I don't have a child. Which is why I'm seeing this from a different perspective." David shook his head. "Jonah, every one of us wanted to take him apart limb from limb when they came back through that portal. But you can't miss how she looks at him. She sees something no one else sees. I do understand that, quite well."

  "Which may mean both of your perspectives are distorted," Marcellus ventured, hoping to defuse the sizzling tension. Sometimes he thought the two were more like father and son than they realized. "One of you sees him as evil, the other as misunderstood good. Perhaps I should go check on her and report a balanced perspective?"

  "I will look in on my own daughter," Jonah said. "But thank you, Marcellus, for offering."

  "It's late." David's tone was now neutral, though Marcellus noted the tension hadn't left his shoulders. "Since she indicated she was all right, wouldn't tomorrow be soon enough?"

  In answer, Jonah gave him another searing look. He left the town house roof in one easy leap, which they knew would land him on the ground before the front door. When Marcellus raised a brow, David shrugged. "Where do you think Dante is sleeping, if he sleeps? And do you think Lex is wearing flannel footie pajamas?"

  "Goddess save us." Marcellus shuddered. "I don't have a child or a female, and I'm beginning to think an angel's mind stays clearer without either one."

  "Perhaps." A smile crossed David's face, easing it. "But a smooth journey is rarely an exciting one, Marcellus."

  "Yes, my life is full of boredom," he snorted. "Since I fight for . . ."

  "You fight for the Goddess," David finished firmly when he stopped. "You protect her world, as all of us do."

  "Just not on the front lines of the Legion any more." Marcellus gave his scar a disgusted look.

  "Would you get over it? I swear, you're worse than an old woman."

  "An old woman who can whip your subordinate lily-white buttocks halfway across the galaxy."

  David's smile spread into a grin. "There's the captain I know. Sir."

  Marcellus snorted and went to a squat, his wings holding him in that position. Though David said nothing, he did notice the strain to the effort in Marcellus's left wing. Thank the Goddess, when Mina shut down the rifts from the Dark One world, the need for large scale actions or fierce fighting had been curtailed for a while. But battle practice continued, and in competitions where Marcellus had excelled, he'd now fallen into the middle of the pack. Despite David's teasing, he knew it weighed on Marcellus's mind, as it would any of them. The angels of the Legion lived for their service to the Goddess.

  David tactfully turned the topic in a different direction, looking down toward the parking lot. "I admit, I expected you to be more of Jonah's opinion on all this. Since it's Dark One blood that has kept you from fully healing."

  Marcellus didn't immediately answer. Instead, he watched the cat crossing the quiet parking area. He'd returned Timeshare Cat, or T, to Lex, but while she was chaperoning Dante, she'd given his care over to Clara. The cat, despite Lex having responsibly neutered him, lived up to his name and tomcat nature. He seemed to have no problem sauntering up to Clara's town house instead of Lex's. Marcellus couldn't blame the cat.

  Goddess, he was being an idiot. The girl was a child, and Lex's friend. Feeling David's regard, he switched his mind to the topic at hand. It was time to give the young angel the answer he deserved. Marcellus reflected that he'd probably withheld it for far too long.

  "In centuries past, I watched angels fall in the face of greater numbers of Dark Ones. They could have retreated, perhaps, and fought another day, but they held the line so other angels could have that honor. They fought darkness despite the weakness of their bodies, and knowing the consequences of doing so. But they also knew they had the reward of serving the Goddess, and that their life energy would rejoin hers."

  He met David's gaze. "Your witch fought the darkness inside of her for years, with no justification other than her own stubbornness. She stood strong, even when we reviled her. No one promised her any reward for her courage and endurance. No one championed her. Not until you. When she eventually did what she did, closing down the Dark One world, she did it believing she would lose you, the only thing she'd ever needed or valued, or that had n
eeded or valued her. I was ashamed."

  David's brow creased. "Marcellus."

  "She didn't lose you, though it was a near thing." He cleared his throat, lifting a hand so David would let him finish. "And I realized then there can be a spark of light in the darkest night, but we can be too blind to see it if we cling to what we've always known and believed. On better, less selfish days"--his hand went to his chest, brushed the scar--"I think this is a reminder of that. Dante may be the evil he seems to be, a lost soul who cannot be saved. Or, like your witch, he may be something different. I will not make the same mistake again."

  "You know, you guys keep coming around, they're going to cite you for loitering."

  Glancing left, they found Clara leaning on the low wall running the roof perimeter of the adjacent town house. She cocked her head, her bright eyes focused on Marcellus. "Nice evening to take a girl out for a flight, don't you think?"

  David coughed over a chuckle as Marcellus scowled. "Your ability to see us is irritating," he informed her.

  "You're not really irritated. You're mad because you almost smiled when you saw me. I know these things. I'm clairvoyant. Hence the name Clara." At their expressions, she laughed. "You guys are too easy. My mom had no clue, she just liked the name. It's a little annoying though."

  "You should be asleep," Marcellus grated.

  "It's three a.m. It's hard for any clairvoyant to sleep during that time. Too many otherworldly things moving about." She lifted a Tup perware bowl. "I've got some great pound cake Mom made. If I eat it all I'll be far too heavy for you to fly around. It tastes like manna from Heaven, so honestly I think that's the recipe she uses. Want to share?"

  "We don't really eat," David explained. "Not in this form. We can, but it all tastes like sawdust."

  "This won't taste like sawdust, I promise. There's no way." When her gaze turned to him, Clara paused, studying him. Abruptly, she beamed at him. "Congratulations. You must be really excited. I didn't know angels . . . well, I guess they can, because Alexis has never said she couldn't have babies."

  David's brow creased. "Excuse me?"

  Clara blanched. "Oh, crap. She hasn't told you yet. Sometimes, when it's late or I'm flustered"--she shot a self-conscious look at Marcellus--"I get confused. I think she was getting ready to tell you pretty soon, else I wouldn't have confused it. If your wife or girlfriend is scary, don't tell her I was the one who told you."

  "You have no idea," Marcellus said dryly.

  David was staring off into space, his expression torn between shock and sudden light-headedness. "Excuse me," he said all of a sudden, and vanished.

  "Wow," Clara blinked. "Did he just--"

  "No. He flew, but faster than your eyes could follow."

  "Oh. It was still freaking impressive. Damn it, I hope I haven't caused trouble."

  "I expect you're quite practiced at that. But it will be joyous news to him." Though he privately wondered if Mina's reaction would be far different.

  "Good." Taking a step onto the ledge, she cocked her head, her gaze passing over him with a blatant appreciation that would have amused him if she didn't inexplicably get under his skin. "Well, I didn't plot it or anything, but looks like we've got the rooftop all to ourselves." She glanced at the starry sky. "Romantic night, hmm?"

  Marcellus gave her a narrow look. "I am four hundred years old."

  "Cool. I'll keep that in mind when I bake you a birthday cake. Okay, in about three seconds, I'm going to jump over there. I assume you'll grab me out of the air if I fall short."

  Marcellus straightened. "You will not. We are not circus animals, to perform for your--"

  "Three." Clara leaped into open space, the cake holder hugged against her body.

  FROM his enhanced hearing, Jonah knew both occupants of the room were sleeping. He knew David was right, that he should come back. But the explosion of energy so close to his daughter's home, the obvious use of Dark One power, had been unsettling, to say the least. He wanted to confirm she was all right, for Anna as well as himself.

  The key she kept in the planter next to the door always irritated him, but she'd rightly explained that humans held no danger to her. The cloud of tranquil energy around her neutralized any random threat of theft, rape or murder. "It's a chicken and egg thing," she'd explained to him. "There has to be a reason to want to harm me, Pyel, and most people want to be near me so they can feel good. Wanting to harm me would be because I'd made them feel bad."

  No, the type of enemy who would attack her would be otherworldly, one not deterred by locks on windows or doors. For instance, the kind who would pull her through a dream portal.

  Jonah wasn't completely oblivious to David's point, or Marcellus's. He just wasn't ready for them to be right. His daughter's heart was like her mother's, pure feeling. She had the key not just for Clara, but for all manner of people she'd befriended and granted refuge. He knew about all of them. A young, single mother who occasionally needed someplace to nap on her lunch hour, close to her office. A teenage boy who lived in a bad neighborhood and came here to study after school. There'd been a plethora of stray dogs and cats she'd placed in homes, though she'd kept the big buff-colored tomcat, saying he was meant to be here.

  Whereas Dante, her latest stray, shouldn't be in the same dimension.

  Sliding into the town house, Jonah closed the door. His nostrils flared, scenting the blood drops on the floor, but it was only a small splattering. She was fine, she'd said so. Still, he moved through the living area with silent caution, taking in the usual comfortable arrangement of sofa, easy chairs, coffee table. She liked open spaces and simple decorating, for practical as well as aesthetic reasons. Bric a-brac on tables could be swept off by a wing, the same way a golden retriever would do it with an enthusiastic plume of a tail. A faint smile touched his lips, recalling the saucy remark when she moved in, anticipating visits from him and other angels of the Legion. She was so different from him and Anna, and yet so alike as well. He marveled at the miracle of it every day.

  A flash of movement at the window caught his startled gaze. Marcellus winged by in a sharp banking maneuver. He caught a glimpse of a woman's flailing arms, her body securely caught in his grasp, just before his captain's reassurance came into his mind, letting him know whatever the situation was, it was under control.

  When he stepped to the bedroom door, Jonah braced for the likelihood she was sharing her bed with the Dark Spawn. If they were in a bare, postcoital state, he might put his eyes out with a hot poker.

  His daughter was in her favorite oversized sleep shirt, her shoulders visible over the warm pile of blankets on top of her. She was curled on her side. Dante was with her, curved behind her body, his arm over her chest, large hand cupped under her upper arm as she held on to his forearm in her sleep. Fortunately, he appeared to be wearing jeans, and of course Mina's silver collar.

  Clustered around Alexis's front was a plethora of the stuffed animals normally on the floor. Plush ponies, puppies, kittens, bears and Pooh characters were grouped at her abdomen, legs and around her head. Dante's other arm was under it and she clasped his hand on that side, closing the circle between them.

  Jonah noted the split on her lip, and knew that was likely where the blood splatter had come from.

  "I didn't do that."

  He shifted his gaze to meet Dante's. The hellfire color glowed in the darkness like a demon's. He'd spoken low, so Alexis didn't stir.

  "I know." Jonah forced out the words. "She told me she got in the way."

  "Yes. And no. She was trying to help, and did not stay where I told her to."

  Yes, that happened. He didn't have to look far to know exactly where his daughter had gotten that trait from.

  Dante's watchfulness suggested he was ready to leap up if Jonah gave him cause. Lex stirred restlessly, making a questioning sound in her sleep. He murmured to her, one hand stroking her fingers, and hers tightened on him. She subsided.

  Jonah studied her. "She's all right
then? No injuries."

  "Bruised only. She said nothing was broken, and that she would know if it was. She believes that, but I do not know if it is the truth."

  A reminder that the bastard knew everything that went through Alexis's head, making her completely vulnerable to him. Jonah's jaw tightened. "She's likely right, but tell her I want her to see Raphael or one of his healers tomorrow, to be sure. I will be checking to see if she receives the message, and obeys it."

  "I will make sure she does."

  Jonah indulged the visual of twisting his perfect face into the shape of wet clay, snapping his spine like kindling. "You may have inadvertently marked her as your servant," he said, just as low, "and Lady Lyssa may have told you that meant certain things, but know this. She is not yours. She makes her own choices."

  "I know." Dante brought his attention to her face, as if she was a puzzle to him. "You give her choices, though you could easily take them away. Because she is your daughter and you . . . love her." When he looked at Jonah, something equally menacing entered his gaze. "What if that gets her killed? Is that something your love allows?"

  "Here to now, you have been the greatest threat that's ever been made against her life. You took her against her will, and out of hatred and cowardice, not love."

  Jonah cursed himself as, picking up on the rising tensions, Lex stirred, her lids opening. She took in the arrangement of animals in front of her first. With some surprise, Jonah realized she hadn't done that, for she giggled, reaching out to touch several of them. "Were you keeping me barricaded?"

  "They seem to comfort you, and make you laugh. So I put them around you, like a Protection Spell." Dante cleared his throat. "It is the same principle. Your father is here."

  "I know." She smiled sleepily, stretching out her hand. "I knew you had to come by and check on me. Worried old bird."

  "You and your mother have an equal lack of respect for my age." Jonah came to her then, taking her hand. She kept her other around Dante's forearm, holding them both connected to her.

  "It's because you get to look like you're thirty your entire life, while she and I will eventually get wrinkled and saggy. Unless my angel side is stronger than the mermaid." She winked and pushed herself up. She was stiff, he could tell by the sudden flinch. When Dante helped lift her to an upright position, Jonah dropped to a knee by the bed to accept Lex's embrace. Her arms slid around Jonah's shoulders, Dante drawing back as Jonah returned the hug. She smelled of lavender and vanilla, only a faint trace of Dark One magic fire and sulfurous smoke remaining in her hair.