Rahmiel lost his smile and looked at her with a surprised expression. “What’s wrong, little one?”
“You lied to me. You said you wouldn’t hurt me but you did. I’m still sore.”
“I’m sorry sweets. You were a virgin. The first time usually does hurt. But I can make it better.”
Kari took a deep breath to calm down. If she didn’t say this right, he’d be giving her another foggy kiss.
“I know it hurts the first time. What I’m mad about is the kiss you gave me. The kiss that made things foggy. It was manipulative. Like, you could say anything you wanted, then make me all foggy, and do anything you wanted, because I wouldn’t notice or care. And you didn’t even try to be gentle. You said you would be. I think you did that foggy kiss and did exactly what you wanted. So you lied to me. Then I was still foggy when I woke up. I didn’t like it.”
Rahmiel frowned at her.
“Tell me what you remember.”
“What?”
“Details of the night. I want to hear what you remember.”
“Well, I remember kissing on the beach, and more than kissing. Then you gave me a hard kiss that made everything blurry and pleasant. Even when you were hurting me I still thought it was pleasant. It was some kind of mind control, wasn’t it?”
“I did use an Angelic power, to make it not painful for you. I wasn’t trying to manipulate you, but I can see why it seems that way to you. You were so tight. I knew it would hurt.”
She nodded. “But still, you could have told me you have some type of power over me, couldn’t you? That would have been only fair.”
“You are right,” Rahmiel said, following a pause. I should have told you more before entering into the binding. But it was one way to make you safer from Kaphawn…And it has been a very long time. I guess I didn’t have the self control I thought I did.”
“So you haven’t been with anyone for a long time?”
“I was in an ice prison. For a very long time.” He stroked a hand down her hair.
“But why don’t we just get into bed and get comfortable. We can talk about this later.”
He raised her hand to his lips and kissed it with just a touch of tongue.
She snatched her hand away and leaped up. “I don’t think so, Rahmiel. At least, not yet. We really don’t know each other that well. And I didn’t appreciate waking up this morning and not being able to remember things. I’m glad we did that binding and all, but I don’t think I’m ready for an affair.”
Rahmiel stared at her, mouth open. “An affair? We’re bound,” he finally said in an outraged tone.
Kari decided this conversation could go on for a long time.
“I’m going back to bed. With Amber, not you. We can talk some more when I wake up.” Kari left the room.
A few moments later, Rahmiel burst into Amber’s bedroom, where both girls were settling down to sleep for a few more hours.
“Come back and sleep in our bed, Kari. I promise I won’t touch you.”
Kari ran her eyes over him. He was wearing just a white cloth wound around his groin, and his wings were raised a little and quivering. His eyes were stormy, cheekbones red. He looked absolutely edible. But not edible enough to make her want to sleep with him. She felt grumpy and tired.
“I don’t think that would be a good idea, Rahmiel. We’ll talk in a few hours.”
He stormed out of the room.
Amber raised an eyebrow in disbelief. “Wow, you’d rather sleep with me than him?”
“Well, not really. But I told him no sex until we know each other better, and if I sleep with him I’ll probably jump him.”
“No doubt,” Amber said in a faint voice. Then she frowned. “Was he pouting? Was his bottom lip sticking out? Can Angels pout?”
“I’m pretty sure they can. He didn’t like the no sex idea.” Kari buried her face in her pillow, embarrassed.
Amber started to giggle. “An Angel pouting.”
Kari joined her. Suddenly, everything seemed hilarious.
“There is no way I’m going to be able to sleep now, Amber said, climbing out of bed. “Plus, Tressa might feel a little uncomfortable with those Angels. I’m going to help her cook.”
“All right. I don’t know if I can sleep, either, but I think I’ll try.”
Rahmiel could hear the girls giggling as he stomped down the stairway to join his friends.
The older woman, Tressa, was busy cooking, and Tehmuel was helping her by cracking eggs into a bowl. Rahmiel snorted. He could probably win a bet that Tehmuel hadn’t cracked an egg in five thousand years or more. These guys must be bored to the point of insanity in Angel land.
He went in the living room. The boy was playing with a small house cat. Rahmiel looked at the cat with interest. The last pet cats he’d seen on Earth had been quite a bit larger than this long haired fluff ball.
“So, why aren’t you asleep with your girl?” The boy’s tone was only a little mocking.
“She said that we don’t know each other well enough and we have to wait until we know each other better, talk and stuff. She went to sleep in the other girl’s room.”
Auriel grinned. “Hmm. I thought you said she was just crazy about you.”
Rahmiel frowned. Boys his age could be so obnoxious. He remembered that now.
“She’s been through a lot. She’s tired and needs her sleep.”
“Maybe she doesn’t know human women are supposed to be subservient to their Angel lovers? Wasn’t that part of that oath you all made human women take years ago?”
“I never made any woman take that idiotic oath. That came from one of those tribes of Angel worshipers.” Rahmiel shuddered. “I avoided those women. How would you know about that, lad? You weren’t even a babe in arms back in those days.”
Auriel shrugged. “I was tutored at the Grand Library. My tutor would fall asleep, and I would wander around, reading stuff.”
Rahmiel snorted. “You sure didn’t have our tutor, old Samuel. He had a way with electrical zaps. He’d rub his fingers together, and man, you’d get it.”
“Actually, I do have Samuel. He’s just really old now,” the boy said politely.
“Right.” Rahmiel had studied under him. He’d probably be decrepit by now. “Well, I’ve missed a lot, no doubt.” He slumped onto the couch, aware that delicious smells were now wafting from the kitchen. He could hear Tehmuel’s delighted voice.
“What are you watching?” he asked the boy.
“I can’t remember. I don’t read this language. Lady Tressa said I would look just like this one character if I grew my hair and braided it and dyed it yellow.”
“Lady Tressa, who do I look like again?” he called.
“Just call me Tressa. And the character is called Legolas.”
“Ahh, the elf,” Rahmiel said. “I heard about this movie when I was in prison.”
“Breakfast is ready. Come help yourselves.”
Amber came into the kitchen and started putting food on plates. “I can’t sleep with all this going on. Let me help.”
The women served the Angels coffee, pancakes with butter and syrup, and bacon.
The Angels crowded around Tressa’s large table and Amber showed them how to use the flatware.
“Well, this is delicious,” Tehmuel said. “I forgot how much I missed human food.
Why don’t we have food like this in the Overland?”
“Because it’s full of fat and refined carbs,” Kari said from the doorway in a waspish voice. Her pretty face had a frown.
“Couldn’t you sleep little one?” Rahmiel asked Kari, who remained in the doorway.
She gave him a dirty look. “Don’t call me that. And no, I couldn’t sleep. I’m hungry.”
“I’ll get you a plate,” Tressa said, hopping up from the table.
Kari stared at her with a horrified expression on her face. “Pancakes with butter and syrup? And eggs with cheese? Bacon? No thanks. I’m trying not to turn into lard.”
&nbs
p; Rahmiel looked closer at Kari. Her hair was wild and uncombed, and she was wearing a baggy sleep garment that concealed her lovely body. She looked tired and unhappy, and suddenly he was flooded with remorse. He had worn the poor girl out.
He should be doing a better job of taking care of her.
“Kari, you need to eat. You need some protein. I know you don’t want to gain weight, but you are going to have to eat. Last night you had two bites of your cheeseburger and a couple diet cokes,” Amber spoke softly but there was a hint of a scold in her voice.
Kari pouted. “Well, I can’t eat that.” She waved a hand over the table.
“Sure you can. Just a little.” Amber started fixing a plate, with a dab of eggs, one strip of bacon and a small pancake. “Look, no butter. And you can drink water. Or black coffee. Later, you can have some fruit for a snack.”
Kari snatched the plate and sat down on the chair next to Rahmiel. She didn’t look at him at all as she lifted her bacon to her mouth and chewed, still frowning.
“So, Rahmiel, this is your sweet girl?” Tehmuel asked with a smirk.
Kari gave him a scowl.
Auriel snorted, and stuffed half a pancake into his mouth. “So, she would be a human who hasn’t taken that oath, right?”
Kari put her bacon down and looked at Rahmiel. “What oath? I didn’t take any oaths, did I?” she narrowed her eyes at Rahmiel.
Rahmiel gave Amber a desperate look. “This is a lack of food, right?”
Amber nodded.
“Uh, no oaths, Kari. Nobody took oaths. Well, we did the binding, that is a little like an oath, but it’s not the oath Auriel is talking about. I would never expect you to take that oath.”
Auriel snickered. “Maybe you took the oath, Rahmiel,” he teased. Rahmiel ignored him.
“You look tired, Kari. Maybe you should go back to bed for awhile after you eat,”
Amber said. “I slept some on the way down, but you drove almost the whole way.”
“We should all get some sleep. Tonight we will need all our energy to hunt the demon,” Rahmiel said. “Are you and the boy going back to the Overland to rest? We will need to meet before sundown.”
“I don’t want to go back to the Overland. I want to take a walk and look at Earth things,” Auriel said. “I want to be outside.”
“Yes, I would like that too,” Tehmuel said. “I’ve missed Earth.”
“My property goes down to a small creek,” Tressa said. “I’ve cleared a small area, big enough for a picnic blanket and a couple of chairs. Sometimes I go down there and fish a little.”
“Fish?” Tehmuel suddenly sat up straight up in his chair. “I used to love to fish.
Auriel, come fishing with me. I’ll teach you.” He looked at Tressa with large, imploring eyes. “You have equipment? That we could borrow?”
“Sure. I expect it’s a little different than what you were used to all those thousands of years ago.”
“What about your wings?” Amber asked. “Won’t it seem pretty weird to the neighbors if guys with wings are all over the place?”
Auriel grinned at her, revealing white teeth and deep dimples. “We can phase them out.” He shrugged each shoulder, and his wings vanished.
She gaped at him in astonishment. “How’d you do that?”
“Come fishing with us and I’ll try to explain it to you, which will take a long time. It is very complicated.”
While the four discussed fishing, Rahmiel scooted his chair closer to Kari. “Come with me to my island, Kari. It will be peaceful. We can get to know each other, nap in the warmth.”
Kari looked around the dining table in shock. A horrendous demon was on the loose, and they were all talking like they were planning vacations. Rahmiel sounded like he was planning a honeymoon.
“People—did everyone go crazy here? Don’t we need to make plans and stuff? And who did the demon kill last night?” She turned to Amber. “Amber, it could be someone we know.”
Amber leapt up. “I hadn’t thought of that. Tressa, can I use your computer? I want to see the news.”
“Sure.”
Amber and Kari went to the living room and read the news on the Internet.
Rahmiel and Auriel followed. Rahmiel was trying to explain a computer to the younger man.
“There was a couple, found dead in their house. Anorexic. That would be the demon, wouldn’t it?” Amber asked.
“Do you know them?” Amber asked Kari. “I don’t.”
Kari shook her head. “They are strangers.”
“Yes, that is the demon’s work,” Rahmiel said. “And it was a kill of only two, which means he is still weak, which is to our advantage. Better to fight him now than after a thousand kills.”
“So we will all meet to make the big plan?” Kari asked.
Rahmiel shrugged and his crystal eyes roved over her face. “With this demon, there is only one plan. We know he’ll be checking your home for you. We’ll wait for him to show up, and fight him.”
“Wait a minute—I’m bait?” Kari’s irritated expression fled, and her eyes grew wide with fear.
Chapter Six
Rahmiel slid an arm around her. “Shush. The binding really did work, and will help keep you safe. I did not lie about that.”
“Help keep me safe? It’s not a hundred percent?” her voice came out squeaky.
“Nothing is completely safe, not with an ancient power like this.”
“I really have to be there?”
He nodded. “He wants you, to finish the job.”
Kari stood pressed next to him, a stunned expression on her face. “So, this is what it feels like to be one of the good guys.”
“Kari, come with me to the island. A pleasant day will help make you feel stronger.”
“I agree,” Amber said. “I think you should grab the blanket from your car and some sunscreen, and spend the day at that island. It will help you relax. Plus, you two can talk.”
Kari nodded. “But I don’t want to leave you here all alone.”
“Don’t worry about me,” Amber grinned. “I’m going fishing.”
Kari smiled a little. “That Auriel is cute.”
Kari and Amber helped Tressa clean up the kitchen while Rahmiel spoke with Tehmuel about the demon kills, then Kari showered and dressed. While she was alone, Kari thought about Rahmiel. She didn’t want to fight about sex, but she wasn’t ready yet for more. Everything had happened so fast. She needed time to regroup. She had a new body, a man—an Angel, she reminded herself—in her life, and she was responsible for the deaths of her friends.
Thinking of her friends, so skeletal, she began to cry.
Rahmiel walked into the bedroom as she combed out her hair. Her eyes were still puffy from tears, and her cheeks were still wet. She tried to hide her tears, but he saw them.
“You are grieving for your friends,” he said in a soft voice.
She nodded. “Plus, I’m scared.”
He put a strong arm around her.
She snuggled into his embrace. “And I know that this is all my fault.”
“That it is not,” Rahmiel said firmly. “That ritual was written to deceive. You never would have done it if you had known it would summon a famine demon who would kill in a most hideous way.”
She was silent for a moment, her face buried against his chest. It felt good for him to hold her. Safe, warm…
“You’re right. I didn’t want to hurt anyone, especially not my friends. How did that ritual get into a book that I could read? Didn’t you defeat this demon long ago?”
“Yes. Defeated it, but I wasn’t able to destroy it. The ritual is something I plan to look into. It is possible a magician or witch has contacted demons, and the demons have used them to this end. Humans have long tried to summon demons to help them achieve power or other ends. But demons have no honor.”
There was a knock at the door. Kari let Amber in.
“I was just making sure you are all right.” Her pretty fac
e showed concern. Rahmiel left the girls alone.
“I was just thinking about the Dieter’s Delight,” Kari explained. Then she started crying again and Amber joined her.
“Listen, Amber, I’m going to go with Rahmiel to the island. I do think it will help me unwind. He can tell me more about this stuff. We can have a picnic, swim a little…”
“Good, because Tressa has already packed you a lunch. Lots of fresh fruit.” Amber hugged her. “Remember, don’t feel pressured to have sex. A lot of stuff has happened in a short while…he doesn’t really seem like a selfish guy. I was expecting him to be, well, not as nice,” she whispered.
Kari nodded.
A short while later, Kari found herself wrapped in Rahmiel’s arms flying to the island.
They didn’t land on the beach. Instead he flew halfway up the mountain and then down through the thick canopy of trees.
A small waterfall fell to a pool. The water was deep blue and clear, she could see their reflections as Rahmiel flew them over the water, but she could also see rocks and water plants, far down through the clear water.
Rahmiel landed on a large flat rock, where sunlight filtered gently down from the clearing over the pool, and an occasional breeze scattered shade over the area. The air was hot and moist, like a sauna, and even her cotton shorts and tank felt heavy and sticky. Rahmiel was only wearing the white cloth wound around his hips. Kari wished she had packed a swimsuit.
“It’s pretty here,” she said.
“Yes. I knew it was here because I flew over it when we came before. I couldn’t see it from the prison.”
They sat side by side on the flat rock gazing at the beauty of the waterfall. Sunlight hitting the mist made by the falling water created a rainbow effect. Kari had never been anywhere so lovely in her life.
“Tell me more about being in prison.”
“There’s not much to tell. I challenged a Guardian to a duel and killed him. The Angeli sentenced me to life in prison. For murder.”
Rahmiel gazed out across the pool. “He was a traitor, but he came from a powerful Angeli family. We had a girl, like you, one the demon wanted. We found her under a pile of children’s bodies, wounded but still alive. We knew the demon would not cease trying to find her, to kill her. The demon always finishes a kill he has started. We don’t know why. Pride, maybe. Or perhaps it is in the nature of a religious act. Who really knows why demons do what they do?” Rahmiel stretched out next to her and leaned on one elbow, so his face was close to her breast. He lifted a lock of hair off her shoulder and began to play with it.
Angel Magic Page 5