Eve of Chaos

by S. J. Day

  “It was either that or this—” He waved one of her Ginsu knives.

  “Thanks for showing a little restraint with your testosterone.” Pushing to her bare feet, she set her hands on her hips. “Now knock it off.”

  “You can’t expect us to like this situation,” Alec said.

  “I’m not liking it either.”

  When she was alone and contemplative, Eve acknowledged that her feelings of loneliness and separation were goading her to accept a situation she never would have in her normal life. Technically, she wasn’t doing anything more than spending private time with both of them, but technicalities weren’t much of a buffer against hurt feelings and possessiveness. She felt disloyal to Alec—even though he couldn’t return her affections—and she was concerned for Reed, who was so edgy about the whole thing.

  “Maybe sticking strictly to business is the only option,” she said.

  Both men quieted, their jaws taking on stubborn cants. Montevista and Sydney looked at each other with raised brows.

  “This isn’t working,” Eve persisted, her foot tapping on the hardwood.

  Reed went back to chopping vegetables.

  Alec leaned forward again. “Are you going to stay put like I’m ordering you to?”

  Eve crossed her arms. “What do you think?”

  “Right.” He stood. “So, starting with breakfast tomorrow, you’re back to having a full-time mentor. No more of this shifting in only when you need me.”

  “You’re going to be my baby-sitter?”

  His dark gaze raked her from head to toe. “Only if I can take you over my knee when you’re naughty.”

  I’m still holding the knife, dickhead, Reed bit out.

  Eve dropped back onto the couch with a silent groan. The two brothers were going to be the death of her.

  If the demons didn’t kill her first.

  Eve held a protein shake aloft. “Want one?”

  Alec eyed the green beverage with obvious wariness. Dressed in long shorts and a white sleeveless T-shirt with steel-toed boots, he had the bad-boy look down to a science. His shades were hung backward and rested against his nape, tangling with the overlong mane of dark hair that she loved to run her fingers through.

  Behind him, early morning sunlight filtered into her living room. Sydney was asleep in the guest room after an all-night watch, and Montevista was outside getting reports from the guards on the street. Beyond her balcony, surfers called out to each other as they hit the waves before the workday.

  “You’ve got that look in your eyes,” Alec said, grinning. “You want me.”

  She turned her back to him. “I’ll take that as a no.”

  “Yes. I want it.” He approached. “I want whatever you’re dishing out. Enough that if you don’t hurry up and give it to me, I just might have to take it.”

  CHAPTER 3

  Eve held a protein shake aloft. “Want one?”

  Alec eyed the green beverage with obvious wariness. Dressed in long shorts and a white sleeveless T-shirt with steel-toed boots, he had the bad-boy look down to a science. His shades were hung backward and rested against his nape, tangling with the overlong mane of dark hair that she loved to run her fingers through.

  Behind him, early morning sunlight filtered into her living room. Sydney was asleep in the guest room after an all-night watch, and Montevista was outside getting reports from the guards on the street. Beyond her balcony, surfers called out to each other as they hit the waves before the workday.

  “You’ve got that look in your eyes,” Alec said, grinning. “You want me.”

  She turned her back to him. “I’ll take that as a no.”

  “Yes. I want it.” He approached. “I want whatever you’re dishing out. Enough that if you don’t hurry up and give it to me, I just might have to take it.”

  There was a dark undertone to his voice that set off alarms. The old, prearchangel Alec would never say such a threat to her, but the new Alec. . . Not only did he say things that were out of character, she half feared he wasn’t entirely kidding when he said them.

  Eve reached behind her and proffered the glass. His fingers curled around hers, warm compared to the chill of the shake. He kept coming until his every exhale disturbed the loose tendrils of hair that always escaped her ponytail. Through their connection, she sensed his pleasure in the smell of her shampoo and the way their bodies fit so well together. The sharing of information worked in reverse, too, so he knew damn well what he was doing to her. When he stepped back, she missed his body heat, but she didn’t miss the darkness in him that chilled her.

  There’s something... in me, he’d told her recently, and she believed him. She sometimes felt it. It was ruthless and cold, and it took every opportunity to slither against her.

  She poured another glass from the remains in the blender. Her hands shook slightly in response to his proximity. Desire—for sex and/or violence—was the only emotion that affected a Mark’s nervous system. “Let’s go back to the construction site where we first learned about Gehenna Masonry.”

  There was a pause, then he said, “Shit. I forgot about the tengu.”

  “Me, too, until last night.” In the process of hunting down the initial masked tengu, she and Alec had ended up at a construction site for a new Gadara Enterprises building—Olivet Place. They’d killed the two tengu they found there, but. . . “The building has four corners. Since they like to pack together, I figure they’d want to regroup.”

  “Why not go back to Upland where they were created?”

  Facing him, Eve leaned back into the edge of the counter. “Because we blew it up?”

  “You know what I mean. Why Raguel’s building? Why not one of the others on Gehenna Masonry’s list?”

  “Because I was invited to this one. Remember?”

  “Right,” he murmured. “The invitation.”

  “One of many dangling threads in my life.”

  She’d stumbled upon the building by accident in her search for the tengu, but later found an opening- day invite in her mailbox. It had been a mock-up of the final invitation and not yet ready for publication, but someone had addressed it to her and mailed it. Someone had wanted her to check it out.

  “I looked into it,” he told her. “You were invited because all local interior designers and architects were. I checked it out myself. Your name was definitely on the list. All of your old colleagues at the Weisenberg Group were.”

  “Were the other invitations going to be shipped to home addresses?”

  He leaned into the island. The casual pose did nothing to hide his alertness. “Good point. It should have been mailed to your office.”

  “At the time, I asked you what the chances were that I would be lured to a demon-infested building at the exact same time I was marked. And you said—”

  “—slim to none.”

  Eve nodded. “So what changed your mind?”

  “My thoughts went along these lines: the invitations were ordered by Raguel, the infestation was in one of his buildings, and we eradicated the two tengu we found when we got here.”

  “So you thought it was the work of a divine hand?”

  “Could be. The good guys benefited. Anyway, why would an Infernal deliberately set up something that could potentially expose the mask? Makes no sense.”

  “Is it possible that Gadara set it all up?” She wouldn’t put it past him. The archangel had been making her job as difficult as possible from the very beginning. As a mentor and Mark pair, Alec and she were a package deal. Gadara was relishing the novel opportunity to have Cain—and Cain’s prestige— attached to his firm. However, his coup didn’t stop him from using Eve to assert his authority over Alec. By moving her around like a pawn, he forced Alec to toe the line or risk her paying the consequences.

  “He’s more direct, you know that.”

  “But if you believe the invitation was celestially motivated, someone had to know about the tengu. Who?”

  “Angel, it could
go as high as the seraphim.”

  “Why not use the established chain of command? Send the order to Gadara, he would assign it to a handler, a handler would assign it to a trained and capable Mark. Bringing it straight to me is ridiculous.”

  “Is it? You got the job done.”

  “Flattery will get you nowhere in this. Other times, maybe. But not this time.”

  He gave her an exasperated look. “I take it you’re thinking this is part of a plot of some sort?”

  “I don’t know. That’s why we’re heading over there.”

  His dark eyes were amused. “You know, your brain turns me on.”

  “Everything turns you on.”

  “Everything about you.”

  “You’re feeling punchy this morning.”

  “I like being out in the field. Especially with you. Your ability to attract disasters definitely keeps things interesting.”

  “Not funny.” Eve drank deeply and tried to picture him at a desk job. After a minute, she gave up.

  “This shake isn’t bad,” Alec noted, licking his lips.

  “What a compliment.” The shake was orange juice and banana with green tea protein powder. She thought it was delicious, plus it would keep her fueled for a few hours at least. Marks burned calories like mad. As Reed said, Highly efficient machines use superior fuel. Translation: she ate like a sumo wrestler.

  “I thought I was making you One-Eyed Jacks.”

  “When we get back. I’m eager to get moving.”

  “To face a possible horde of tengu? Why?”

  “Can’t you read my mind?” she challenged, even as she shut a mental door in his face.

  His gaze narrowed with concentration, then one dark brow rose. “We have to figure out how you do that.”

  “What’s to figure out? My acclimation has been out of whack from the beginning.” She rinsed her glass out in the sink. He came up beside her and shoved his under the running water. At the same moment, the thought of the Nix entered both of their heads. As one, they pushed the thought away. One demon at a time.

  “I’m serious, angel. Our connection can save your life.”

  “Not my fault. My Novium happened way too soon. Let’s face it: the mark and I don’t mesh well.”

  The Novium was a physical and mental transition Marks suffered through to progress from trainee to full-fledged. Like puberty, it altered a Mark’s physical makeup, enhancing already keen senses and instilling a devil-may-care confidence. Side effects were edginess and lowered inhibitions. It created a fever that strengthened a Mark’s tie to her handler while cauterizing the connection to her mentor. In Eve’s case, it had created a triumvirate communication pathway that she was pretty sure would drive her crazy one day.

  “Don’t blame this on the mark,” he chastised. “You’re closing me off on purpose.”

  “You don’t need to know everything.”

  He caught her around the waist when she tried to pass and tugged her close. “I want to know you, inside and out.”

  “So figure me out the old-fashioned way. It’s more interesting that way.”

  She’d been in love with him since she was eighteen years old. It sucked that while he was back in her life now, he could never stay in it permanently. Alec was a killer by nature. He didn’t just excel at it, he loved it. Not the kind of guy a woman settled down and had kids with. Of course, Marks were physically incapable of bearing children, but that wasn’t the point.

  Alec pressed a kiss to the tip of her nose. “You ready to go?”

  “Don’t shift!” she said quickly. “Let’s take the bike.”

  “Ha! Make you a moving target? No way.”

  “It’s less than ten minutes away! Besides, you don’t even know if the bounty is real.”

  “I’m not using you as bait to find out.” Eve reached around and cupped his ass, giving him a slow, firm squeeze.

  “Not fair’ he rumbled.

  “Did you forget how to ride after all that shifting around you’ve been doing?”

  “Hardly.”

  “I can drive,” she purred, looking up at him from beneath heavy-lidded eyes. “You can shield my back. No Infernal is going to mess with badass Cain of Infamy.”

  “You better not mess with me either,” he warned, his eyes dark, “unless you’re prepared to deliver.”

  “Hanging on while I drive is a guaranteed way to cop a feel.”

  “With our clothes on,” he retorted. “Not nearly as fun.”

  Despite his protests, he shifted them into the carport next to his Heritage Softail. It was a black and chrome beauty, boasting custom saddlebags and a well-worn seat.

  “Well, look at that.” Eve whistled. “I was half expecting it to be covered in dust.”

  Alec tossed her the keys. “Shut up and hop on, before I change my mind.”

  Five minutes later, they were roaring out of the subterranean garage. When the Bible-thumping Evil Santa on the corner screamed “Jezebel!” after her, she stuck her tongue out at him. Alec gave her a playful swat to the hip.

  Told you, she muttered.

  Behave.

  Taking Hamilton to Magnolia, Eve weaved confidently among the massive sport utility vehicles, sleek Porsches, and hybrids. A variety of music filled the air from open windows—thumping bass, twanging guitars, and soulful ballads. For the first time in far too long, she didn’t wonder how many of the drivers around her were lower-ranking demons. She forcibly shut out the world and concentrated on the joy of driving a Harley with the hottest man on the planet wrapped around her. As far as Heaven went, this was pretty close.

  They reached the Gothic-inspired office building before she was ready. Eve considered driving on and circling back later, but a Jeep Liberty was pulling away from the metered curb just as they pulled up. Recogmzing the celestial hint, Eve steered the hog into the spot and cut the engine.

  “Got you here in one piece,” she teased, pulling off her helmet.

  The heated thoughts in his mind slipped into hers, telling her bluntly that the feel of her body so close to his was something he craved to a dangerous degree. She slid off the bike and kept her gaze on the building, her breathing altered by the depths of his arousal. There was nothing tender about it. It was pure ferocious lust.

  “You can run. . .“ he warned.

  But she couldn’t hide. Her head turned, her senses perking up and searching out any possible threats. The scent of rotting soul drifted on the balmy breeze, but not in a quantity that would alarm her. Infernals were everywhere, working every sort of job, living in every community. Their presence alone wasn’t concerning, only the number, which seemed to be under control.

  Unless some were masked.

  “It wears off, remember?” Alec said, securing the helmets to the bike.

  “There could be more.”

  “Doubtful, since we killed the creators. Regardless, Hank is working on an antidote.”

  Eve looked over her shoulder at him. “Really?”

  “Would I lie to you?”

  “Are you sure you want to go there?”

  He held up both hands in a gesture of surrender, but the wicked curve of his lips ruined the image.

  Shaking her head, she started toward the front door. The building wasn’t yet fully operational, but the lobby area was completed and an office for the sales team and property manager was open for business. A perky blonde in a sleek gray suit rushed out when they entered, then laughed when Eve pulled out her Gadara Enterprises badge. “I was ready to give you my sales pitch.”

  “I’m already sold,” Eve said. “Hostile takeover.”

  Angel...

  There were two guards at the security desk, one mortal and one Mark. The mortal took her badge and ran it through a scanner to record their entry time.

  Gadara’s security measures weren’t any more rigorous than the majority of corporations, but they were certainly monitored more closely. Instead of keeping watch on things with a celestially enhanced eye,
the archangels were forced by the empathy-for-mortals rule to rely on modern mortal technology. They could choose to do otherwise, but there were consequences. That was one of many things that drove Eve nuts about the Almighty. He claimed to give people a “choice,” but usually the ramifications of making the wrong choice ensured it wasn’t much of a contest.

  “Great bike,” the mortal guard said to Eve.

  “It’s his.” She gestured toward Alec with a tilt of her head.

  “I should let my girl drive.”

  Alec raked Eve with a heated glance. “It definitely has its benefits.”

  She pushed the sign-in sheet back over. “Elevators working yet?”

  “Yes. Finally.” The relief in the guard’s voice made her smile. Patrolling the three stories without a lift would be a breeze for the Mark, but for the mortal it was probably more of a workout than he wanted from his job.

  “Thanks.”

  As Eve headed toward the elevators, she noted the limestone floors and pointed arch facades that surrounded the brass elevator doors. A rose window took prominence at the rear of the building just above the exit. She made a mental -note to look into the identity of the architect. The building’s style was incongruous among its modern glass-hulled neighbors, but not in a garish way. It provided an elegance that the surrounding area had been lacking.

  The moment the elevator doors shut, Alec’s presence overwhelmed the enclosed space. He stood opposite her• with his hands wrapped around the handrail behind him, his biceps and pectorals prominently displayed by his stance. His dark gaze was slightly mocking and more than a little insolent in his appraisal. It turned her on, and she shifted her weight from one foot to the other.

  The Novium was a pain in the ass.

  It didn’t help that sex was like breathing to Marks. The constant near-death experiences created tension that was best alleviated with extended hot sex. The need was designed to force Marks to seek out companionship and comfort from others, rather than retreating into themselves. Eve’s platonic double-dating meant she didn’t have the stress outlet she needed. Even if that wasn’t the case, Alec was different. The softer emotions he used to have in his eyes when he looked at her were gone. He wanted her, and she believed him when he said that he would always want her, but great sex wasn’t enough for her. Not after knowing what it was like to have more.