Angel Fire: Angel Fire, Book 1

by Johnston, Marie

  Um…no. The panels melded seamlessly into the walls and only Cal had used them. Her stupidity almost got both her and Bryant killed.

  “Cal’s dead.” She said it like it explained everything. Of course, now she saw how wrong she’d been to assume no one could inhabit a dead man’s office. An office that had no less than eleven other entry points.

  Dionna stifled a curse and she couldn’t blame the female. Though to be fair, they hadn’t asked about additional entry points.

  “Cal’s dead?” Magan’s mate paled.

  “Has it not been announced?” Odessa asked.

  “Not to me!” He gaped at the three of them. “And Magan’s missing.” His voice cracked. “I’ve talked to an enforcer both yesterday and today. They mentioned nothing.”

  Odessa wanted to say something, but she caught the warning in Bryant’s look. The less the distraught male knew, the safer he’d be. But there had to be something they could do to help him with his mate.

  Chapter 14

  Jagger glared furiously at the leggy female leisurely packing her bag. “It’s none of your business whether I live alone or not.”

  Felicia didn’t look away from the shirt she was holding up, like she was deciding, do I take it with? Don’t I? Do I take it with? Don’t I? He wanted to scream. Her apartment in the human world was as bright and colorful as the clothing she wore. And, admittedly, nothing he pictured a rich female to settle for. When Felicia had caught him gawking at her eclectic furnishings, she’d jabbered about flea markets and the “steals” she’d found.

  “You see, it is. Because we can’t stay at Odessa’s place. You refuse to stay in the human realm, so…”

  “Why can’t we stay at Odessa’s? Is the mansion too small for your taste?” he asked snidely.

  Nonplussed, Felicia chucked the skimpy top and pulled out an even more revealing one to evaluate. Other members of his team might think he’d gotten a pretty sweet gig—watch over the gorgeous daughter of a powerful senator. Emphasis on the watch, Bronx had teased. Not even Jagger could argue with the statement. Her long, curvy figure was on display in the hideously bright human clothing. Anyone would get an eyeful.

  But not him. She signified everything he didn’t want. He had no patience with liars or with angels possessing few morals. The angels of Numen were tasked with guarding over humans, a prestigious position given to them by the Almighty. He refused to tolerate those who gave little regard to all the good they could do in the world.

  “We can’t stay with Odessa and Bryant.” Felicia tucked the poor excuse of a shirt into her bag and picked up a lacy bra. Jagger seethed at the mischievous glint in her eye and remained impassive to the thought of how the scrap of lace would be tucked in close to those beautiful mounds that revealed themselves all too often in her tank top. “They haven’t consummated yet.”

  “And?” He’d heard that rumor being discussed in hushed tones among the warriors. Unless Odessa was like her sister, and Jagger didn’t think she was, he had no idea why Vale would hesitate. Didn’t mean there wasn’t a reason, and Vale always had a reason.

  “Aaannd, they won’t if we’re hanging around.”

  Jagger scoffed. “Why? Did you try to sleep with him, too?”

  Felicia stiffened, her face drawn tight before she adopted a casual stance. “Don’t be silly.”

  Jagger’s jaw went slack. “You did! Have you no shame? At least respect your sister. Oh, wait, we all know how her last relationship ended.”

  She rounded on him, the rage of a little sister in her face. “You, of all people, should know not to believe everything you hear. Those little gossipmongers in the clouds go around thinking the wings on their backs mean they don’t have to adhere to the rules of common decency.”

  Jagger was unaffected. “You mean like females who won’t say ‘no, I didn’t have sex with your boyfriend,’ even though the rumor destroyed a relationship? Wouldn’t that have been decent?”

  “It’s not my fault she didn’t believe you.”

  “Uh, yeah, it is!” Jagger sputtered. His face flushed with heat and he clenched his hands to keep from throttling her. “No one believed me!”

  No one had believed him. And wasn’t that the real issue? No matter what he did, public opinion where he was concerned was at the mercy of his philandering father’s actions. Even his mother had glared at him in contempt. Jagger despised Felicia for it.

  “Why does it matter if anyone believes you?” Felicia straightened from her luggage and flung her ponytail over a bare shoulder. “You know the truth.”

  He would’ve had another angry reply, but he couldn’t think of one. “You know what? Just forget about it. Pack your shit, and we’re heading back.”

  “We’ll have to go back to your place because I’m not interfering with Odessa’s sync.”

  If he screamed in outrage, how many humans would rush to Felicia’s apartment door? “You’re not staying at my place. Besides, I’ve been living in the barracks.”

  “Fine.” Felicia upended her luggage back onto her bed. “We’ll have to stay here, then.”

  That spoiled. Little. Brat. If she stayed at his house in Numen, then everyone would think that he was a worthless, weak-willed male like his father. Staying in the human realm with her might invoke the same talk—if anyone other than his team found out. No one had to see them in her apartment, and he could unfurl his wings within its walls. He hated having them morphed into his back for so long. It made his shoulder blades ache. Felicia hadn’t once let hers out of their morph. How could she stand it?

  Still, he didn’t like being played, and he didn’t like the way this female manipulated him to get her way.

  Jagger stalked Felicia until he loomed over her, forcing her to look up at him. Her eyes widened, and her breath hitched.

  “You want to play that game?” he asked silkily. “Okay. I will stay here with you, watching everything you do. I’ll be with you everywhere you go. Every conversation. Every moment. Of every day. You wanted me to watch over you. Here I am.”

  * * *

  Leo Richter resisted the urge to flare his wings in irritation. But it was his office, and he refused to allow anyone to see they’d ruffled his feathers. He was the leader of all the Numen warriors. His daily duties, aside from keeping the human realm safe from Daemon influence, was dealing with attitudes from his warriors, who all at one time or another challenged his authority, his decisions, his competence. He’d been director for decades, doing a fine job.

  So why in the world did these two enforcers think they could intimidate him?

  “It’s an enforcer’s duty to protect Numen citizens. The protection of the Montclaire sisters will be handed over to us,” said the one playing the role of good cop. He was the smaller of the two, obviously used to using his brain more than his brawn. “Vale’s team would then be free to continue their duties.”

  Leo gave a long-suffering mental sigh. “Enforcer Stede, Bryant Vale is Odessa’s mate.” A snort from the bad cop enforcer tested his self-containment. “He has the right to protect her. As for Felicia Montclaire, she personally requested a member of Vale’s choir.” He held up his hands in a mock helpless gesture, as if to say whaddaya do, friggin’ elite.

  “Can we really trust the duty of protecting Odessa Montclaire to a mate that refuses to fully sync with her?” Enforcer Jackson sneered his question.

  “I didn’t realize you were on intercourse patrol.” Leo smiled at their reaction. Stede sputtered in shock and Jackson’s expression flushed a ruddy red. They weren’t used to dealing with an angel of equal rank. “What goes on between Bryant and Odessa Vale is their business. She wants his protection. He wants to give it. Same with Miss Montclaire and Warrior Hancock.” Not nearly, but Jagger would remain loyal even if an enforcer cornered him, trying to get him to admit otherwise.

  Stede’s shoulders eased as he visibly relaxed, but Leo didn’t trust that he relented.

  “That still leaves the problem of the rest
of your team,” Stede said.

  Leo raised an eyebrow, waiting for the enforcer’s argument. “I don’t see how they would be of any concern to the enforcers.”

  “Because,” Stede drawled, “it’s leaving one less team out there protecting our realm from Daemon invasion, and that is a threat to our citizens. A team of enforcers can watch over her dwelling.” Damn. Score one for Stede. “Vale’s team will be short two warriors until the threat to Odessa and Felicia is eliminated.”

  Stede spread his hands as if in offering. “Perhaps they could be tasked to aid the other warrior teams, compensating for the shortage of warriors protecting our realm. Their skills are wasted here in Numen.”

  Stede thought he was crafty. Warriors often split up on Earth to search and hunt demon possessions. But if Leo pushed too much for having his warriors, and his warriors only, protect Odessa and Felicia, then it’d alert the corrupt senator or senators that he knew something was going on.

  “All right,” he said reluctantly. “But I’d like to meet with the enforcers assigned to Lady Vale.” When Stede opened his mouth to argue, already shaking his head, Leo pressed. “I’m sure she’d like to have some say over who watches her house.”

  Stede’s lips flattened—his hands were tied. The senator’s daughter would get her way. Odessa outranked them both, or at least her father did, and it was in both Stede’s and Leo’s best interest to have fewer people involved. Odessa needed to be comfortable with all the candidates, but more importantly, Vale had to screen them.

  “There’s also the matter of Vale’s team helping the allegedly missing watcher’s mate search for her.” Stede’s congenial smile was empty.

  Another mental sigh. The watcher’s mate had been in contact with the enforcers, making them privy to the business of Vale’s team and their plans to search the Mist for her.

  “I’m sure your enforcers are fully engaged”—doubt it—“in the search for Watcher Magan.” Leo used her name on purpose, gauging Stede’s reaction—or lack of. “Her mate would like to feel useful. We are only protecting him in the Mist, as that’s our territory.”

  Score three for him.

  “Perhaps one my enforcers could join in on the search, be kept in the loop.”

  “Of course. I’ll contact them and let them know of your offer,” Leo said without hesitation. He didn’t promise when he’d contact Vale and his team to arrange for an enforcer to join them.

  Leo ushered the two males out, commenting that’d he’d have Odessa arrange a time that suited her best to meet with the team of enforcers.

  With the way Stede pushed for authority in this matter, even bringing muscle to their meeting, Leo now had an idea who to monitor. Whom did Stede work closely with? It had to be a senator, and one who was growing increasingly nervous the more Vale was involved.

  Things were going to get worse before they got better. For many, many years, Leo had protected the realm from outside infiltration. Protecting the realm from corruption might prove to be a harder mission.

  Chapter 15

  Odessa shuddered, wrapping her long robe around herself. Maybe she should have worn human clothing. While she occasionally enjoyed human fashion, she was more comfortable in her robes. Bryant had told her that if they were spending any amount of time in the Mist, it might feel unnaturally chilly.

  She hadn’t known what he meant then, but it was crystal clear now. It wasn’t necessarily a temperature-related coolness, but a chill that settled deep into her bones and filled her with foreboding.

  “It’s the spirits.” Bryant’s gravelly voice whispered into her ear, making her shiver again, and not from any spirits.

  “I didn’t think they lingered in the Mist.” Odessa couldn’t help but search around her, as if she’d suddenly find apparitions flitting about.

  They were following Harlowe, Urban, and Bronx, and Magan’s mate, Phillip. Sierra and Dionna stayed behind to watch over her home. To Odessa, it felt like they were wandering in circles in the haze. Everything looked the same. Harlowe’s light gray wings blended seamlessly in the like-colored Mist. The endless grass on which they walked, a muted green, was barely discernible underfoot.

  “That’s what we’re taught.” Bryant strode next to her like a brick wall, dressed in his black warrior garb. “Warriors learn differently. The human realm has hauntings, likewise not every being that loses its life in the Mist crosses over. In fact, we believe it can be harder to cross over.”

  “Because no Numen chaperone can sense a spirit that needs escorting to Heaven in the Mist?” Chaperones guided souls to Heaven so they didn’t become ghosts haunting old houses and museums—but only in the earthly realm, where no beings had the power to do it themselves.

  “Exactly. And no Daemon reaper is allowed here. Since some of the evil creatures destroyed in the Mist don’t want to go to Hell, they resist the path. Likewise, some of the good spirits don’t want to leave their loved ones behind, even to go to Heaven. There’s no guide here to force them, and they remain lost in the Mist.”

  Odessa frowned. “Will they ever be able to finish the journey?”

  Bryant lifted one heavily muscled shoulder, drawing her attention to the harness that held several blades of varying lengths. “We don’t know. According to our scholars, it’s not possible that spirits are roaming the Mist.” His eyes twinkled, giving him a rogue appeal that spiked her pulse. “Yet all the scholars keep declining our offers to bring them here.”

  Figured. Scholars weren’t much different than analysts. Except, while analysts studied current information, comparing them to old trends, looking for new patterns, scholars were educators, studying old text and scripture and assuming they knew everything.

  “Your observations of the Mist would turn part of those know-it-alls’ world upside down.” There was no conscript for the spirits in the Mist and instead of planning and training a new angelic section to deal with the problem, they’d rather maintain status quo than admit they were wrong. In their minds, a team would have been made to patrol the Mist if one was needed; therefore, one must not be needed. “Perhaps I can have a talk with them.”

  He cocked his head. “You’d do that?”

  “Why not?”

  He shook his head. “If you get through to them, it would be a large undertaking to learn what abilities are needed to guide spirits along their final path in the Mist. There’s also the possibility that in retaliation, they’ll put you on the team to clean the Mist. You already have a position. An admirable one.” His pride was clear, igniting a comforting glow in her belly. A mighty warrior like him respecting her profession was the highest compliment she’d ever gotten.

  “I do. I also have a conscience, and if I can help keep the Mist safe, I will.” Odessa hugged her arms tighter around herself. “An eternity here would eventually become a form of Hell.”

  “Like a purgatory,” Bryant agreed.

  “Vale.” Several yards ahead of them, Harlowe’s keen lavender gaze searched their surroundings. “Phillip’s bad feeling when it comes to Magan increases closer to the outer edge of the Mist. Should I track it?”

  Bryant dipped his head. “Take Urban.”

  The two warriors jogged away. Both sets of wings were held ready to defend themselves. Harlowe’s long dirty-blond braid swung above her wings, and Urban’s shoulders were almost as wide as his.

  Bryant had a strong team, in body and spirit. Urban was as quiet as Harlowe was outspoken. Odessa’s short time around Bronx revealed him to be the jokester of the trio that accompanied them into the Mist. Of course, here, Bronx was watchful, predatory, not at all full of mirth as she’d seen him in the barracks.

  “How can she track?” Odessa felt like she had to whisper. “And how can Phillip sense Magan but not find her?”

  Bryant spoke just as low. “Phillip and Magan have been synced for many years. He could find her via their bond in Numen or down on Earth, but the Mist warps those senses.”

  Would Bryant be able to find h
er anywhere with their bond? She couldn’t sense him, and he had only found her in the human realm by snooping. Cold fear had raced through her after their return from the earthly realm when her dresser drawers hung open like they’d been ransacked. But Bryant had admitted how he had tracked her to the store.

  To have been a fly on the wall…

  “The Mist is a veil between Numen and Earth, but it also acts like its own realm,” he continued. “There are ways to tell where beings have traveled, fought, answered the call of nature. Sometimes, an archmaster—even a lesser symaster—can escape and evade us here. We need to be able to track and terminate them.” Bryant tipped his head toward the tall, blond warrior. “Harlowe will look for signs of recent disturbance. We don’t know how big the Mist is, but we have learned that we tend to travel in the same zone. Like Numen, it’s seemingly infinite, but while the borders are hardly tangible, they are impenetrable and not nearly as expansive as a realm.”

  “She can find tracks in the grass?” Odessa could hardly make out the faint color of green under her slippers, and cool droplets swirled at her ankles with each step. How could Harlowe see anything?

  “Footprints last a few hours before the grass rights itself, but blood droplets and where it gets ground down in a fight tamp it down for days. If you look around, you’ll see how the Mist has changed where we’ve walked.”

  Odessa glanced behind them. There was a faint change in the opaqueness of the gray, as if it did indeed thin from their passing.

  This experience was unnerving, and the reason she was here heartbreaking, but learning beyond the little box that was her life was fascinating.

  A distant shout from Harlowe reached them. Their group changed direction to follow her voice. As they neared, the Mist parted around where Urban kneeled in the grass. His broad frame was hunched over one area while Harlowe crouched and crept along, inspecting a path a few yards away.