The Devil's Angel: A Paranormal Vampire Romance Novel (Devil Series Book 2)

by Raven Steele

  “I see,” Charlie said, unmistakable hurt in his voice. “You need to bring Lucien in. It’s time we all had a chat.”

  “I agree. But I don’t think I can get him to come there. How about the coffee shop across the street?”

  “Is he really that much of a baby that he can’t come meet with the grown-ups?”

  Lucien’s fingers curled into fists.

  “Be nice, Charlie. You don’t know him.”

  “Neither do you.”

  “That’s not true. Trust me. I couldn’t be in better hands.”

  “Uh huh. And what exactly have these hands been doing for you?”

  “That’s not what I mean! I’ll see you in one hour.”

  Eve said nothing else. Lucien hurried and moved back into the living room.

  She walked back to him, her brows furrowed. He pretended not to notice her long legs, pretended his fingers hadn’t been about to touch her—

  He cleared his throat and mind. “What’s with Captain America?”

  “You mean Charlie? He’s worried about me is all. We’re supposed to meet him in one hour across the street from the Deific.”

  “Why?”

  “To decide what to do. I’m not going to hide.” She paused. “Do you have a long jacket I can wear out of here?”

  He moved to a front closet and pulled out one of many. “Sometimes one has to hide to survive. There will be a time to fight, but you can’t do that until you know who you’re up against.”

  “Maybe…” She crossed the room to him and let him help her slip on the jacket. It was the most natural movement in the world.

  Lucien took a moment to admire who good it looked on her, then narrowed his eyes.

  “What is it?” Eve asked.

  “Do you eat breakfast?”

  “No, I’m sort of like you. I don’t need to eat that often.”

  “You’re not like me.”

  She flinched as if he’d offended her.

  “You’re much better than me,” he corrected.

  The lines in her face softened, and she smiled. “Would you mind taking me to my place before we meet Charlie?”

  “I don’t think that’s a good idea.”

  She lowered her gaze. “Oh, right. I can get my own ride.”

  “That’s not what I meant. I don’t think going to your house is a good idea because they might be watching it. I’m not letting you out of my sight until I know you’re safe.”

  Her smile returned; it was brighter than the sun filling his living room. “Can you keep me safe while I grab just a few things? Please?”

  He sighed, unable to tell her no. “Let’s go then. We’ll stop by your house but just for a minute. And by the way,” he said as he opened the door, “you owe me a chair.”

  “Just as soon as you fix the hole on my front porch.”

  A block before Eve’s house, Lucien knew it was empty, but when he stepped through the front door, he had no doubts vampires had been in it recently. They left behind a distinct smell. According to Scott, vampires smelled like black licorice. To him, however, they smelled like wet pine needles.

  Lucien examined every room in her house, looking for anything out of the ordinary. The cabinets and countertops in her kitchen had already been replaced. The company he’d hired on short notice had done an excellent job.

  “The house is empty,” Eve said. “What are you looking for?”

  He opened her kitchen cupboards; most of them were bare. “You’ve had visitors.”

  He bounded up the stairs, taking three steps at a time.

  “Look for anything that doesn’t belong,” he called down to her and then inspected her room thoroughly.

  After several minutes, Eve appeared in the doorway to her room. “Nothing’s out of the ordinary.”

  He glanced around one more time. A vampire wouldn’t waste his time coming in here without a purpose. His eyes moved up to the last place he hadn’t looked. Eve’s light fixture was trimmed with a circular decorated silver border; in the center was etched ivory glass.

  He grabbed a chair and moved it directly beneath the light. Standing upon it, he reached his hand inside until his fingers found what he was looking for. He withdrew a small white plastic square. On its side flashed a green light the size of a pinhead.

  “They know we’re here. Grab your things.”

  She moved quickly, stuffing a duffel bag with whatever clothes she could find.

  “What is that?” she asked while throwing a toothbrush into the bag.

  “It’s a remote motion sensor.”

  After only thirty seconds, he picked up the bag. “Time’s up. Let’s go.”

  With Eve following behind, he walked out of the front door and froze.

  Passing directly in front of them, drove a black Cadillac with tinted windows. The driver’s side window was rolled down, and the same spikey haired vampire Lucien had fought the night before drove behind the wheel. He pointed his long forefinger at Eve and grinned wildly.

  Despite the sun, Lucien started after him, but Eve pulled him back. “Not now. Please. We need a plan.”

  The Cadillac turned the corner and drove out of view.

  Lucien clenched his jaw. He didn’t like how brazen the vampires were being. Someone wanted Eve. Desperately.

  Chapter 15

  It was mid-morning. Most of the morning rush had left the coffee shop with only a few customers steadily moving in and out. Eve and Lucien were the only ones who stayed, sitting in a booth in the corner.

  Eve sat unusually silent. She tore a napkin into several tiny pieces, and then twisted them into long strands, which she laid side by side. Once she had twisted at least three strips, she braided them.

  He could watch her for the rest of his life.

  The door opened and Charlie entered, looking grim. Lucien glanced away. He was not looking forward to meeting him, and by Charlie’s sour expression he felt the same way.

  After ordering a coffee, Charlie slid in next to Eve and squeezed her hand. “Hey, Eve. I know you said you were okay on the phone, but are you really? I know how you like to pretend everything’s okay.”

  He cast Lucien a sideways glance as if insinuating he knew more about Eve than Lucien did, which was probably true, but the action only made him hate Charlie more.

  “I’m fine, really. Charlie, this is Lucien. Lucien, Charlie.”

  Charlie turned to him. “Valium Vampire. Nice to finally meet you.”

  “Come again?” Lucien leaned forward, arms crossed, body tense.

  “Charlie,” Eve reprimanded.

  Charlie eyed her innocently. “What?”

  “What have you learned?” Eve asked him pointedly.

  Charlie opened a folder. “Michael just sent this over. Do either of you recognize any of these men or vampires — I can’t tell what they are by the pictures.”

  Eve looked them over and shook her head. She handed it to Lucien. Three men stood against a brick building, looking as if they had nowhere to be. They had an unnatural stillness to them that even a photo could capture. They tried to appear human-like, but Lucien could tell by their stances, almost statuesque, that they were vampires. “They are definitely vampires. Who are they?”

  “Don’t you recognize any of them?” Charlie asked.

  “No, should I?”

  “I just assumed your type all knew each other.”

  “Do you know all of your type?” Lucien countered.

  “What’s that supposed to mean?”

  “What do these vampires have to do with anything?” Eve interrupted, casting them both an angry glare.

  Charlie turned his attention to her. “Michael said they were also invited to the vampire meeting. They captured one of them and forced him to tell them who was in charge." A shadow passed over his face, and he swallowed hard. "It was the Dark Prince, like we thought."

  Eve gently placed her hand on his forearm. "We'll get him, I promise."

  Lucien looked from Eve to C
harlie, at their serious expressions. Clearly there was a history between Charlie and this Dark Prince, but Lucien didn't want to know anything about it. His only concern was for Eve.

  "And what does this Dark Prince want?" Lucien asked.

  Charlie stretched his hands from their tight fists. "I guess he’s planning something big. He instructed vampires to start turning humans as quickly as possible.”

  “That’s a difficult process,” Lucien said. “How long ago was this?”

  “About ten days.”

  Lucien frowned. “And you just found out?”

  “Yes.”

  “What have you been doing about it?”

  “All of our offices are on full alert. We’ve sent out dozens of teams to track down any vampires who might be turning humans, but it’s difficult to predict where they’re going to strike.”

  “Why does the Dark Prince want more vampires?” Eve asked.

  “We’re not sure, but whatever it is, it can’t be good.”

  “When’s the meeting?” Eve asked again.

  “Michael thinks soon. He says vampires are flocking to Ireland from all over.”

  Lucien couldn’t care less about a dumb vampire convention, even if it was in Ireland. “What does any of this have to do with Eve?”

  “Well the meeting is in Ireland,” Charlie said, “and the vampires who attacked us in Coast City were from Ireland. I don’t think that’s a coincidence.”

  “But what do they want with Eve?” he demanded, his voice louder than he intended. A couple standing in line turned his direction.

  Charlie shrugged and kept his voice low. “My only guess is they want Eve for her powerful abilities.”

  Eve rolled her eyes. “They aren’t working super well right now.”

  “They will,” Charlie encouraged.

  “But who even knows about them?” Lucien asked Eve. Something didn’t feel right, and it turned his stomach.

  Eve tied a knot into a long string of torn napkin. “I’ve been thinking about that. All I can come up with is a relative of some sort. They wanted me before, but that was a long time ago. And as far as I know, they think I’m dead.”

  “What about Boaz?” Charlie asked.

  Lucien visibly jerked. “Who?”

  “Boaz. Eve used to be with him.”

  He starred at Eve, appalled. “It was Boaz?”

  “What is it, Lucien?” Eve asked, eyebrows furrowed.

  “You were with Boaz? Of anyone to ever walk the earth, you chose to be with him?”

  Charlie leaned back, amused. “I take it you knew him.”

  Lucien shook his head in disbelief. The thought of Eve with Boaz turned his previous sick feeling into full-blown nauseating revulsion. When he tasted bile in the back of his throat, he stood. “I’ll wait for you outside.”

  “Lucien, wait!” Eve called after him.

  He was already out the door and walking down the street, keeping to the shadows. He stopped beneath an awning a few buildings down in front of a parking lot. He’d only met Boaz once and that was enough. Even as a vampire, he could sense Boaz’s evil nature. Lucien’s naïve older brother, Aiden, hadn’t been as aware.

  It was Boaz who had turned Aiden. Lucien had always wondered how Boaz had found Aiden, as his brother had no friends to speak of and rarely left his studies. In fact, most people thought their father only had one son: Lucien. Lucien always thought it wasn’t mere chance that Boaz had turned Aiden, but he could never prove it.

  After Aiden turned Lucien into a vampire, Aiden immediately introduced him to Boaz, hoping Lucien would be as enamored with Boaz as he was. Lucien could see why Aiden was drawn to him. Boaz’s commanding presence overwhelmed him, and Lucien could feel his mind cloud over as Boaz’s dark energy had reached out to him, but Lucien resisted. That meeting had been so unsettling that it was the first and last time Lucien ever saw him.

  It shocked him to think Eve could fall in love with someone like Boaz. There were so many things he didn’t know about her.

  “Hey, Valium,” Charlie called after him. “I hate to interrupt whatever inner torment you’re putting yourself through, but we need to figure out how to help Eve.”

  Lucien turned around. “What you said in there, about Boaz, could he really be the one after her?”

  Charlie shrugged. “Eve says she killed him.”

  “Did she actually see him die?”

  “Why does everyone keep asking that?”

  “Who else asked it?”

  “Henry. He thinks there’s a chance Boaz could still be alive, but I don’t see how. Eve exploded a house with him in it.”

  “Boaz was one of the first vampires, if not the first.”

  “That makes him invincible?”

  “Almost. He’s been around long enough that he’s learned to tap into dark, powerful magic. Vampires normally can’t do magic, but he figured out a way.”

  “How do you know all this?” Charlie asked.

  “I’ve been around a long time.”

  Charlie nodded his head back toward the coffee house. “If Boaz is alive, do you think he’d come after Eve?”

  “If he was with her at one point, then absolutely. He collects people, and he never lets them go. They either stay with him… or they die.”

  “So we need to capture one of these blood suckers and make them talk.”

  “I doubt they’re going to know anything. If it is Boaz, he’s extremely secretive, and he’d never call himself the Dark Prince. It’s too flamboyant.” Lucien walked back to the coffee house, thinking hard.

  Charlie moved with him. “What if we set up a trap? You take Eve, and I’ll have a team hide out in her house. We’ll activate the chip they left behind, and when they come back, thinking it’s Eve, we’ll get them.”

  “It will never work.”

  “Why not?”

  “They will smell you a mile away," Lucien said. "And they’ll hear everyone inside. It’s got to be Eve, and she’s got to be alone, or at least someone without a beating heart.”

  “I’m not using Eve as bait.”

  “I’m not saying you should. But if you want to catch a vampire, that’s the only way.”

  Charlie looked through the glass of the coffee house, to where Eve sat alone. “I’ll think of something else.”

  Lucien opened the door and walked toward Eve. She was staring down at the table. Several of the long twisted strands of napkin had been crumpled up.

  “Are you ready to go?” he asked her.

  She looked up at him. “Why did you leave?”

  “We’ll talk about it later. Let’s go.”

  “Can’t. I need to go to work. I want to find out who’s after me.”

  “And how do you plan on doing that?”

  “I have my ways.”

  He didn’t like the gleam in her eyes. “Are any of them dangerous?”

  Her lips curled up at the sides. “They wouldn’t work if they weren’t.”

  Before the smile could spread across her face, he jerked her to a standing position and pulled her close. Her eyes grew big in surprise.

  “This isn’t a game, Eve.”

  “What’s going on?” Charlie asked behind him.

  Eve reached up and calmly placed her hands on Lucien’s chest. He relaxed his grip.

  “I made a bad joke, that’s all,” she said.

  Charlie shoved Lucien in the back. “I don’t care who you are. Don’t ever grab her like that again!”

  Lucien lunged for him, but Eve was faster and blocked his way. “I’m going to go across the street and into work. Do you want to come, Lucien?”

  "Everything okay?" an older man called from behind the counter.

  “I’ll wait for you in the car.” Lucien didn’t take his eyes off Charlie.

  "We're fine, thank you," Eve said to the man. She turned to Lucien. “It might be several hours."

  From behind her, Charlie shrugged sarcastically as if to say, “Too Bad.”

&nb
sp; “I’ll wait.”

  “Fine, but when we see each other again, we’re going to have a serious talk.”

  Charlie let out a slow whistle.

  “Shut up, Charlie,” Eve snapped and stormed past him out the door. Charlie trailed behind.

  Lucien returned to the car, his chest heaving. He forced himself not to think about killing Charlie and instead thought of everything he’d just learned. There were too many coincidences: Ireland, Boaz, Eve. They all felt connected somehow. He suddenly wished he had at least one contact in the vampire world, but he had closed that door a long time ago.

  He let his mind explore every possibility of a connection and a solution to Eve’s dilemma, but as the hours passed, he was no closer than before.

  A black SUV pulled in front of the Deific and slammed on its brakes. Lucien sat up and focused his hearing in its direction. From inside, a man announced, “We’re here. Come on out.”

  The Deific door opened. Charlie steadied Eve with an arm around her waist, her head resting on his shoulder. She was pale and shaking.

  Lucien threw open the car door, ignoring the hot sun, and rushed to her. “What happened?”

  “She found out where some vampires are hiding. We’re going there now to take them out. Stay with Eve.” Charlie smoothed back her hair. “Do you want me to stay?”

  “Go!” Eve said.

  Charlie jumped in the car. “I’ll call you soon.”

  The SUV drove away.

  Lucien didn’t say anything until Eve was safely in his car with him sitting next to her. “Are you all right?”

  “Tired.” She leaned her head against the glass and closed her eyes.

  He drove her back to the hotel and laid her down in his bed. She was asleep the moment her head hit the pillow. Since Eve broke his only chair, he slumped to the floor in the corner and waited, his pulse racing. It worried him that she didn’t seem to have a handle on her abilities. He could feel how strong she was, but at the same time she seemed so frail.

  Her breathing deepened, slow and rhythmic, like the ocean waves against a shore. He closed his eyes and imagined the sea; the effect calmed his nerves. After an hour, Eve turned over, her eyes open.

  “Are you okay?” he asked.

  “Better.” Deep lines creased her forehead in frustration. “I hate being so weak. It didn’t used to be this way.”