“I’ll be waiting.” She leaned against the doorframe and sighed dreamily. No matter what, she couldn’t help but think of that offer of lunch as a date. She picked up the envelope from the flowers and tapped it against her cheek, the scent of lilies filling her senses. She opened the envelope and read the simple words written inside. Please forgive me.
She couldn’t wait until he called.
Chapter 4
“Think you can show me how to make those?” Beth was watching Damien refill his magazine with his specially prepared ammo. Those curious, sharp gray eyes followed his every move.
“Nope.” He double-checked to make sure everything was seated correctly. The last thing he wanted was his gun jamming in a fight with a Shem. As a Malachi, his powers were pretty weak compared to Dante and Seth’s. He could sense other angel-born within a certain area, sure, but being able to speak any language he saw or heard was pretty useless in a fight. He could teleport in a pinch, but only within five miles of where he was and only if he’d been to where he was going before.
At least he could take his friends with him if things got dicey in a fight. He was their out, their backup plan if things went to shit.
As lame as he sometimes considered his powers to be, at least he had them. Beth was fully human. Giving her bullets doused in holy water wouldn’t save her from a determined Shem.
“Party pooper.” She stuck her tongue out.
“Big time.” He grinned and slapped the magazine into his gun. He’d already filled spares and put them in his jacket, ready to be used as the first magazine emptied. “Seth and Dante ready?” They’d gone into the kitchen to grab something to drink and the snacks Dante had prepared. Sometimes patrolling could take until the wee hours of the morning. Dante, as a cop, was more used to the unusual hours than either Damien or Seth. It was his job to ensure they had coffee and fuel for the long night ahead.
“Just about.” She pushed her glasses up her nose. “Did you make up with Sam yet?”
“Nosy.” He glanced up at her as he holstered his weapon. “Yes, we talked. I’m going to take her to lunch soon.”
Her eyes went wide with glee. “A date?”
He scoffed. No way was he letting Beth in on his relationship with Sam, not until he actually had one. “We’re going to try being friends first.”
Her brows shot up. “Friends, huh?”
He stood and stretched. “She could barely talk to me, so yeah, I think starting as friends is good.” He wanted it to develop into more, but that would be up to Sam. After all, she was the wronged party. If she decided not to accept him then he’d have no choice but to accede to her wishes.
God, please let her want him as much as he wanted her.
“Sam’s shy. I mean, super shy. If you want to go out with her, you’ll not only have to make it clear but get past that shyness somehow.”
Damien smiled tightly. Dante entered the room, Seth right behind him. They were the perfect reason to get Beth to back off, at least temporarily. “Let’s go hunt Shem.”
Beth waved good-bye, accepting a kiss from Dante before settling down with a book and what looked like a cup of tea.
“Who’s driving?” Seth was holding his jacket. He’d be flying once they got to their designated patrol area. At least it wasn’t the dead of winter anymore. The nights were still cold, but not nearly as bitter as earlier in the year. Now one of Seth’s biggest pains was rain, drenching them all and opening them up to colds. Without Rafe, their healer, a bad case of the flu could knock one of them out for days.
“I am.” Dante glared at Damien. “Last time you drove I nearly shit my shorts.”
“I drive just fine. You’re just a weenie when it comes to offensive driving.” All the same, he slid into the passenger seat of Dante’s ugly car. The damn thing screamed cop to anyone who even glanced at it, but it was Dante’s baby. He’d never give it up without a fight.
“Your driving is certainly offensive.” Dante got into the driver’s seat, leaving the back for Seth.
Seth snickered as he slid in. “I’d rather fly through a snowstorm than be in the car with Damien driving.”
“I’m not treating either of you to Starbucks anymore.” Damien made sure his silencer was attached to his gun. The sound of gunfire was sure to bring humans running.
Dante chuckled. “You haven’t done that since Seth got married.”
Seth shook his head sadly. “Then you shouted Mazel Tov and tried to get me to stomp on the takeout cup.”
“Hey, I was happy for you.” Damien shrugged. “Just like I’ll be happy for Dante when he ties the knot.” Dante grumbled and turned down a street Damien was familiar with. They didn’t patrol here often, but something about the area tugged at his memory. “Why are we patrolling here?”
“Remember that Angelus who told us to watch out for our females?” Seth shrugged and began stretching out his arms. “Gabriel says he’s been seen in this area.”
“Fuck.” Damien opened his senses, searching for any signs of angel-born in the area. The car lit with his aura as his senses extended beyond his body. He glanced down so that anyone looking in would think he was lit by an overly bright cell phone.
Malachi like Damien had the ability to speak any language they saw or read, making them incredibly effective interpreters and computer programmers. They could sense angel-born within a few miles of their location, using a unique wave of energy that pinged back to them almost like radar. It gave Damien’s team enhanced tracking abilities that worked well with Seth’s ability to fly.
The strongest Malachi could see the sins in the auras of the ones they hunted, a gift Damien would love to give back. He’d never had the privilege of seeing the purities in Shem that some Malachi had reported seeing over the centuries. He wished he could. He longed to erase the stain on his soul of viewing so many horrible acts of savagery, but he couldn’t. Only Gabriel understood what Damien had seen, the nightmares he lived with every day. He kept a brave face, but sometimes he yearned for someone he to come home to, someone like Seth’s sweet wife, Abby, or even Dante’s fiery fiancée, Beth.
Someday. Someday he’d have that, and if God was with him it would be Samantha Brody, the one woman he could never forget.
The ripples came back to him, telling him where angel-born might be found. “I’m sensing something to the north of us.”
“Then that’s a go for you, Seth.” Dante pulled over to allow Seth out of the car.
Seth pulled off his shirt and spread his wings. Made of turquoise light, they were beautiful to behold. Damien would never tell him, but he envied Seth’s wings more than any other power the Nephilim had.
Seth took off, turning invisible. They’d follow him by the occasional flash of his wings, just as always. While Damien could get a general direction, Seth would get them a visual confirmation.
“Let’s get this party started.” Dante followed the flashes of turquoise light. “Did you remember to play that video game Beth told you about?”
Damien rolled his eyes. “You mean Bioshock Infinite? The one where the guy uses short-range teleports to make his ass more difficult to hit? Yeah, I watched a play-through.” He loved video games, but his down time was limited. He chose to watch play-through’s more often than not. There were any number of them on YouTube, some live streaming, some previously taped. He preferred the latter, as he could watch them at his leisure.
Dante shot him an odd look. “You should know, Sam was the one who recommended you play that. She also recommended you try Dishonored and Dishonored 2, for the same reasons.”
“Oh?” Why would she do that? She had no idea what his powers were or how they worked.
“She did.” Dante squirmed, making Damien wonder if the worst had happened. “I think Beth told her about us, and not just the basics.”
“Fuck.” Yup. The absolute worst. He couldn’t think of anything more dangerous than Sam knowing more about his powers. “We need to let Gabriel know as soon as possible
.”
“Agreed. If it helps, I think Beth had the best intentions.”
“How so?” Dante should be more pissed at his fiancée. God knew Damien was.
Dante grunted as he turned down a side street. “Sam’s got a crush on you, and you’ve had the hots for her for how long now? Hell, Gabriel’s oblivious and even he noticed. So Beth might have assumed that the two of you are going to get together even if she has to superglue you to each other.”
“Still, it should have been my choice to tell or not. None of us told your ex-wife anything, did we?” Not that Damien would have. Lillian had been bad news from day one, but Dante had loved her so Damien had tolerated her. Thank God she’d run off with that private investigator and divorced Dante, because Beth was ten times the woman Lillian was.
“No, but—” Dante cut off abruptly. “Looks like our angel is landing.”
Damien tried to focus on where Seth must be, but he couldn’t see anything. “Where?”
Dante pulled over, climbing out of the car. “Follow me.”
Damien opened his other senses. Light flared around him for a split second as he got a quick lay of the land. Seth’s warmth was accompanied by a dark, slimy sensation. “He’s got company. The nasty kind.”
Dante sprinted, Damien hot on his heels. He pulled his gun, holding it the way Dante had instructed him to do when in pursuit. Dante had run more than one session where he taught those who used guns how to hold them so they wouldn’t shoot themselves in the foot, or worse, shoot one of their brothers in the back. When Dante retired he’d make an excellent teacher for the next generation of Nephilim.
It didn’t take long to find Seth caught in battle with a Shem Angelus. Seth was a sword master, his short sword flashing in the light of his wings. He was holding his own, but the Shem was strong, getting in a couple of shots before Seth could block them.
The rotting garbage scent of Shem blood filled the alleyway. Seth had gotten his own licks in before Dante and Damien showed up. Damien lined up a shot, taking it before Seth got in his way.
The Shem screamed as the holy water burned it from the inside out. Unfortunately, it wasn’t a killing blow, so the Shem only had to deal with a bad burn. Dante followed that up with his fire, throwing fireball after fireball at the Shem.
The creature’s dark wings flared wide. “You’ll never see Rafael again.” It laughed as it took off, shooting into the sky, a single dark raincloud.
Damien fired one last time, hoping he’d get a lucky shot on the Shem, forcing it to land and face them once more. He was pretty sure he’d hit it, too, but the creature merely dipped before continuing on its way.
Seth took off after it before Damien could do more than fire a second shot, one that missed. He holstered his weapon. No use for it now, not when they had to race back to the car to follow the swiftly fleeing Shem.
“Let’s go. Maybe Seth can force it to ground.” And Dante was off again, with Damien following. They got to the car and clambered in. Damien was still putting on his seatbelt when Dante took off, his tires screeching.
“Gonna turn on the lights?” Damien wasn’t referring to his headlights, either.
“He said Rafe’s name.” Dante’s jaw was clenched, his fingers tight on the steering wheel. “He knows where Rafe is.”
“Fuck.” That hadn’t even registered. He’d been too busy concentrating on his aim. “We need to capture him alive.”
“No shit, Sherlock.” A flash of turquoise, and Dante turned so fast Damien swore they went up on two wheels.
“Two blocks ahead on the right.” Damien pointed to where he could sense the Shem Angelus. “It’s gaining a lead on us.”
Dante began swearing in Italian. Damien smiled grimly, feeling just as pissed as Dante. Rafe had been missing for months now, with nothing to say where he might be. Eli van Licht, the Oracle who’d promised to come and help them, had yet to arrive. He’d been delayed by the leader of his group of Nephilim, or cell as Gabriel called them, and there was nothing they could do about it. Seth’s brother could see past, present, and future, but it was always foggy. Still, if anyone could find Rafe it was Eli.
But until he arrived, their best bet was the Shem they were currently trying to capture.
They were driving down a straight stretch of road. Thank God it was so late at night. No one else was out, at least for now, so there should be no one around to report the sounds of a gunshot or two. Even humans could sometimes sense the stench of the Shem and would shy away from it, leaving the path clear for the Nephilim to hunt them down.
“There!” Damien rolled down the window and leaned out, steadying his gun as best he could. “Keep the ride as even as possible.”
“Gotcha.”
Damien eyed his target, barely visible in the night sky. The dark wings masked its presence, much like Seth’s invisibility, but Damien could sense it in ways not even an Angelus could hide from. He closed his eyes, refusing to use their faulty input, and focused on where the Shem was. He filtered out the fog of human souls, seeing and touching on the good and the bad in each one. Seth’s purity pulled at him, Dante’s fire energized him. His brothers gave him strength, but he pushed them out of his mind as well. Only one thing mattered, the darkness he planned on taking down. He opened his eyes, seeing things in the light of the Malachi. The sins of the Angelus pulled at him, desperately trying to show him what evils the Shem had performed, but that, too, had to be ignored until later. Now that he saw the Shem with more than human eyes, he’d be able to take him down, hopefully alive.
There. Right. Right. Left. Now.
He pulled the trigger.
The unholy shriek filled his senses as his bullet hit home. The Shem faltered, slamming into the side of a building before landing in a heap on the ground below.
They’d gotten him.
“Good shot.”
“Thanks.” The shadows and lights of his Malachi vision were superimposed over his regular perception, making him dizzy. The visions of evil were trying to take him over, blinding him to everything else. “Take my gun.”
Dante was already reaching for it. Both he and Seth were used to the side effects of Damien’s powers, though he’d never told them what exactly caused him to go blind. While his powers didn’t cause him the exhaustion Dante and Seth’s did, he did have to deal with the evil within each Shem.
Dante helped Damien out of the car. “Still bad?”
“Still bad.” With Damien’s powers unleashed, Dante could be speaking Swahili and Damien wouldn’t know. It was weird, and something Dante sometimes played with by speaking nothing but Italian for half an hour and waiting for Damien to notice. “Take me to the Angelus.”
Damien couldn’t quite see the buildings properly. The Shem stench was all over, fogging everything in sickly green. If not for Dante steering him, he’d be wandering in the road.
“Seth’s got him.” Dante’s tone was quiet, filled with satisfaction. “Gabriel’s going to love this.”
“Has he said anything?” Damien shook his head, hoping the encroaching visions would hold off for a little bit longer.
“He’s unconscious. And definitely a he, by the way.” Seth’s light came closer. “He’s Scott Sanders, a local banking officer.”
Dante whistled low. “He’d have access to names, addresses, phone numbers and email addresses. He’d be able to figure out when the subject was at home or out. All the things he’d need to feed without having to hunt. He could easily lure someone out or, better yet, invade their house. No one would be the wiser when the occupant died.”
“We could check and find out how many of his clients have turned up dead from seizures.” Shem Angelus used their dark wings to feed on the life force of their victims, leaving them twisted, broken husks. They killed quickly, but didn’t need to feed as often as some of the others, since they gorged on their prey rather than savoring their victim’s pain over time.
Feeding. Feeding on an old woman, her pain delicious as her bod
y twisted and writhed beneath the talons his wings had become.
“Doesn’t matter now that we have him.” Seth’s light moved, but Damien had no idea what he was doing. “Get back in the car, Damien. Let Dante and I get this guy in the trunk.”
The man screeched as the Shem landed before him. Scott smiled, showing his fangs to the terrified mortal. “Go ahead. Run. I like it when you run.”
Shit. It was starting, and there was nothing Damien could do but ride it out until the Shem was dead or out of his sight.
“Gabriel will be able to get information out of him. We’ll take him straight there.”
“What about me?” Damien allowed Dante to guide him back into the passenger seat, praying it was far enough away to keep the visions at bay. “Want to drop me off at home?”
“Hell no,” Dante laughed. “Last time we did that you broke your coffee table. If Rafe hadn’t been there to heal you…”
“Yeah.” Damien heard what Dante didn’t say. They all missed Rafe, and not just because of his healing ability. He was their brother by a bond stronger than blood, and his absence was a hole nothing and no one could ever fill.
“We’ll get him back, I promise.” Damien put his hand on Dante’s leg.
“I’d feel better about you trying to comfort me if your hand wasn’t so close to my balls,” Dante responded dryly.
Seth’s laughter was as bright as his aura.
“Asshole.” Damien removed his hand. Stupid vision. Dante was a bright red blur, barely human shaped. Dante and Damien had been working together long enough for the asshole to be aware of how Damien’s vision worked. For all Damien knew, Dante was fucking with him and he’d been touching Dante’s arm the entire time. “Take me to Gabriel’s.”
“Yes, sir.” Dante slammed the car door shut, but that didn’t mean he couldn’t hear Seth’s continuing laughter as they stuffed the unconscious Angelus in the trunk.
Speak Thy Name (The Nephilim Book 3) Page 4