Two hours later they had moved towards the pool tables. Joshua was winning and Matt grimaced with pain.
Lillian was leaning against a wall, watching them, as Raz came with another soda for her.
“Thanks. And not only for the drink.”
“The Challenger suits you.” They had to lean in close so they could hear each other over the ruckus. Something Lillian didn’t mind at all. His warm breath trickled her ear and a shiver ran down her spine. “How are you doing? Your arm, your side?”
A hand lightly brushed the places he mentioned, so lightly it wasn’t a touch at all and yet Lillian’s throat went dry at the sudden heat flooding her.
She barely managed to reply, “Fine. I think the accelerated healing is kicking in. Will come in quite handy when I’ll be kicking some more demon ass.”
Raz’s mouth twitched. “You’re quite good at what you do.”
“I had a good teacher.”
They stared at each other and she drowned in his silvery eyes that spoke of secret kisses they both remembered and still yearned for. She missed the days when it had been just the two of them, and sucked in a breath as the world around them faded away.
Unfortunately a rather tipsy Abby chose that moment to bump into them, oblivious to the heated bubble bursting around her. “I’m not feeling so good.”
Lillian frowned at her friend, wondering how many drinks Abby had had.
As if reading her mind Raz said, “She only had two rum and coke.”
Wow, apparently Abby was kind of a lightweight. Gently peeling the drink out of Abby’s fingers Lillian put her soda in its place instead. “Drink this. Slowly!”
Then, putting an arm around her friend’s waist to steady her, Lillian’s gaze flicked to Raz, shooting him an apologetically smile before steering Abby towards the restrooms.
He shrugged. “Have to go anyway.” He gestured his fingers skywards.
Lillian nodded in understanding. He had been summoned.
Raz followed her with his eyes. She looked beautiful tonight, relaxed and happy. Her hair free, falling over her shoulders in a gentle wave, and her light green eyes, a green he had been looking forward to seeing again, were sparkling. The ringing had started while they had been talking and he hadn’t wanted to leave. Abby bumping into them had been like a not so subtle nudge from above. So when Lillian reached a short hallway and turned right, disappearing from his view, he couldn’t ignore the crescendo of bells ringing inside of his head any longer.
Micah’s office was blindingly white this time, even the chair and desk. Raz inwardly sighed. He hated this immaculate setting the most – and not only because his gray wings stood out like a sore thumb. No, this all-white coziness often meant that Micah was keeping his cards even more closely to his chest than usual.
The angel of the divine plan stood leaning back against the front of his desk, in his usual black suit and white button down with his arms crossed over his chest. Though tightly controlled, Raz sensed impatience in those hard, dark eyes staring at him and Raz was surprised by the smug, nearly evil joy budding inside his chest at the idea of making the angel wait for him. It was another new sensation for him, a mean one maybe, but one he enjoyed nevertheless.
“Raziel, how nice of you to stop by. I take it you were delayed.”
“Yes, I was. Humans,” he added that last word in way that said it all.
“Ah.” Micah stood up straight and looked at papers lying on his desk, shuffling through them. “A shame what happened to Ambriel, but I take it you handled the situation?”
Raz nodded. He wanted this to be over.
“The Guard has proven worthy.”
Another nod. “There were attacked during the night. In the house. The leader was the same Incubus Ebony that had attacked Lillian at her parents’ house.”
Looking up at Raz, Micah’s brow furrowed in honest puzzlement. “Lillian?”
Shit. Raz wanted to slap himself. Such a damn slip, and in front of Micah of all angels. Names weren’t allowed, since they furthered unnecessary attachment. “My trainee. Since there is another girl in the group I used her name for sake of clarity.”
“Of course.” The words basically dripped with fake understanding. Micah frowned, then picked up his thought again. “Well, obviously he tracked her down. It happens.”
Just like that the matter was off the table for the angel. Or not.
His voice a little too casual, he asked, “Or where there any problems? Anything in particular that I should know of? Did the fight give them any trouble?”
Micah didn’t look at him, but Raz still felt as if he was pinned to the wall. “No. Normal fight. Every demon killed, except for the leader.”
“Good. So I take it, everything’s going as it’s supposed to?”
“Of course.”
“Will she make a good leader, you think?”
“Yes, she will.” Raz didn’t know whether to elaborate but in the end he did. “They form a good team and will be an excellent Guard.”
“Great.”
Raz was about to fly away when Micah’s sweet and cold voice rang out. “And Raziel? I know working this Ivory Duty alone made it more stressful, but you did a good job, keep doing it.” Raz couldn’t help but hear a silent or else floating on the air. “However…” Yup, here it was. “Sentiments are a sign of weakness, Raziel. A weakness we cannot accept. Don’t forget that, or you’ll have to pay for it.” This time dark, hard eyes pinned him. “No refunds.”
Back in the bar, Raz stayed within the shadows, invisible to all. Shit, he had hoped that asshole Micah wouldn’t see it, wouldn’t notice that Raz had indeed started to feel more than he should.
Out of their own accord his eyes went to Lillian. She was playing pool; the girls against the boys apparently. Abby was laughing at something Lillian had said, and Raz was glad to see her feeling better again.
Lillian was a light in the darkness that was eternity to him. He had never met someone like her. Once again he wondered about this odd, tugging and sometimes painful feeling Lillian caused inside him. Sometimes he would blame her, curse her for making him feel, and at other times he was grateful for it. She was an intriguing puzzle to him and he just couldn’t get her out of his head. This bookworm who had spent most of the time he had followed her hidden behind books; this young woman who could wield a sword as efficiently as her sharp tongue. He was aware of her every move, her scent. Her presence had become a drug he feared he couldn’t live without.
She hadn’t called out to him when the Ebony had found her. In the middle of the night, pulled out of her sleep, and slammed through a goddamn ceiling…she still hadn’t called out to him. Lillian didn’t need him anymore. That realization caused a sharp pain to burn through him, as if he’d been cut on the inside. Sadness, maybe. Longing. She had her guard, her new-found friends. They would protect each other, would sacrifice themselves for each other. They didn’t know it yet, but they had become a family.
Whatever was happening to him, Micah was right in one thing. It either needed to stop right now or he would have to pay. With his wings. Not to mention what Lillian would have to face.
He allowed himself one glance, to drink her in, to see her smile, and then he disappeared, heading for the safe house.
Clouds shrouded the stars, would soon swallow the moon, and lightning flashed on the horizon every now and again. Lillian had always liked to drive during the night, when the dark world beyond the headlights stretched into infinity while her own was suddenly limited to a patch of illuminated asphalt rolling by. And Lillian especially loved driving their new Dodge Challenger through the night.
“I can’t believe they beat us, man,” Joshua muttered in the back, but his partner wasn’t listening since he had already drifted off to sleep.
Abby snickered beside her. “He-he.” Then shot an evil smile at Joshua over her shoulder. “Skill, my friend. Skill.”
Winning the game of pool against the boys was mostly Abby’s cred
it. Lillian glanced at her. “Now really, you were scary to watch. How did you do it?”
“Got two brothers who like to play. Impossible to grow up with them and not learn a trick or two.”
“Nice.”
“Yup.”
“Well, the next time we’ll choose another game. Maybe poker,” Joshua mumbled.
Abby grinned at Lillian, biting her lip. Her eyes and the mischievous glint in them said it all. She’d learned a few tricks.
Lillian smiled back at her. The four of them were a weird bunch. Whether thrown together by fate, God or coincidence, it didn’t really matter to her. She had a feeling life would be fun. Maybe not always, but probably when she least expected it.
They reached the safe house, which lay abandoned in the darkness of the night, with a feeling of satisfaction cushioning their souls and lifting their spirits. The quiet around them was deafening and Lillian was thankful for the roll of thunder in the distance. She was grateful for the thrill of a storm charging the air and buzzing in her blood. Purgatory’s calm still gave her the creeps and yet she almost felt like coming home. What did that say about her? She preferred not knowing.
Together with Joshua she helped carrying Matt up the stairs and into his room. Joshua tried his best to get him into the sleeping bag, when Matt grunted and murmured in his sleep.
“Did he just ask for his Mom?” Abby exploded into giggles and slapped a hand over her mouth.
Lillian hushed her, but stifled a laugh as well. After they calmed down, the girls wished Joshua a goodnight and slipped out of the room.
While Abby hit the bathroom, Lillian made her way along the hall. Raz hadn’t returned to the bar that night and she wanted to talk to him, especially since her mind was calm and her heart was content for a change. Although said heart did speed up at the prospect of seeing Raz.
Her feet were silent on the floor since she didn’t want to wake him in case he was already sleeping. Nudging what had once been a whole door, but was now only a sad piece of compressed wood held up by invisible hands, to open a crack, Lillian peaked inside.
What she saw made her stomach clench and her heart sink, heavy.
No. He wouldn’t.
Floored she opened the door wide but didn’t step inside. For a moment, while her mind struggled to accept reality, she closed her eyes to concentrate on her breathing and her hand gripped the door frame like a lifeline. Everything inside her hurt, everything screamed.
She didn’t know how long she stood there in the door, staring, but Lillian tasted salt on her lips as she bit them and realized it was from her tears. A sad laugh escaped her as she wiped them away and something dark wrapped around her heart. A coward wasn’t worth her tears.
The room before her was empty. No sleeping bag, no clothes, no radio.
Raz was gone.
IV
TIME FLIES
“…but the heart stays in the same place.”
- Harlan Coben
FOURTEEN
Almost two years later…
“Dammit. They keep coming,” Joshua screamed beside her over the red hell that was loose around them.
Lillian looked up and saw more demons spill out of the hellhole only a few yards away from her. Shit. It had taken them over a week to find this one and the demons had taken advantage of that.
They were in the middle of a big-ass forest somewhere in the west of Oregon, and it made for a damn difficult battlefield. Thick drops were falling from the trees, remnants of the quick, heavy shower that had heralded the beginning of their battle. As if escaping demons weren’t enough of a pain in the ass, they had to watch those damned roots sticking out and the sneaky undergrowth, both of which could quickly become fatal traps for them here.
A sweeping gaze reassured her. Abby had climbed a tree and was shooting her crossbow with a grim concentration, her hair swinging in a wild array of braids that she kept in a high ponytail now dark blood-red behind the hellhole’s veil. While Matt was off to the side standing on a small rise, the two of them kept a good distance between their opponents and themselves, their arrows flying and hitting a target with a satisfying thump every time.
Her distraction cost her. The white-hot bite of a blade across her upper arm brought Lillian back to the fight she was already engaged in. The Ebony in front of her was tall and lean and looked to be more fragile than he really was. He used that willowy build of his to slither like a snake, escaping the kiss of her sword and striking fast in return. Red glowing eyes smiled triumphantly at her. Well, let’s see for how long.
Her sword clashed against his dagger, light and darkness fighting against each other as her flames danced with his shadows. Lillian clenched her jaw and spun away, retreating and letting him savor the taste of victory for a second before she charged forward with her sword a lethal, swirling and flaming eight in the air. His chest and stomach opened and shock filled his eyes as he dropped to the ground.
She was breathing hard while the fight continued around her.
Lillian knew, could sense, her Stalker was watching her every move. Wiping the beginning fatigue and any other emotion from her face she whirled around, pinning him with her deathly calm eyes. A sickly amused grin tugged at his lips and Lillian itched to wipe it off him - with her sword - as he cocked his head to look at her like one would at an exotic animal in the zoo.
He stood like a commander, apart from the battle in front of him but taking great pleasure in it. That damned incubus Ebony, whom her guard had fondly started to call her Stalker, since she still didn’t know his name after all this time or why he seemed to be gunning for her like this. He followed them. No, he followed her. And she didn’t have the slightest idea as to why or how.
A few quick flaps of his red wings and suddenly he was right in front of her. His gaze traveled the length of her body and something in his gaze made her skin crawl as his eyes settled on her chest. She knew not only her arm but also her top had been cut during the last fight, offering a glimpse of her soft flesh and bra.
“Hmm. Not bad, Ivory. I’ve got to admit you’ve grown into your skin, but it’s nice to see it’s not all hard muscle. Maybe I’ll keep you for a while before killing you. You’ve certainly become quite entertaining to watch, who knows what other surprises you hide.”
Lillian didn’t hide the disgust on her face. “I know you’re an Incubus but, God, do you have to borrow every cliché in the book? Please, is some imagination really too much to ask?”
His eyes darkened with red flames, “You want some imagination. Well, let’s see how yours will be doing when your mind replays this, over and over again.” And then he was once again up in the air…to land behind Matt, using him as a shield while drawing his shade.
Lillian screamed at the top of her lungs.
But there was nothing to be done. The noise of battle swallowed her scream as if it were nothing. Only a couple of yards separated them, but it was as effective as endlessness stretching like an abyss between them. Dozens of demons fought around her while she stood frozen, her heart being ripped out of her chest as she helplessly watched.
The shade was just about to bite Matt’s neck, when a pink flash barreled into the Ebony from the side before disappearing into the woods. Thrown off balance the Ebony stumbled, but didn’t take Matt with him and that’s when Abby’s arrow finally had something to go after. The arrow hit and burrowed deep under his collarbone, hopefully puncturing his lung.
Lillian had pushed through the demons surrounding her to get to the rise. Seeing her approach the Ebony’s furious and yet triumphant, red eyes locked with hers, “So predictable, little Ivory. Imagine how much I’m going to enjoy this when I go after your parents.”
Unfortunately the Ebony disappeared with the rest of his winged minions before she could cut him open.
To the sky she screamed, “Damn you! Just fight me!”
Her sword dropped to the side as her heart raced, helpless desperation chasing her.
Her parents.
The bastard wanted to go after her parents. And she had no idea whether they still lived in Kansas nowadays. How the hell would she be able to protect them? Lillian’s heart squeezed, her lungs burned, as she ran up the rise to where Matt got up off the ground, looking rather dazed.
“You okay?”
He rubbed his neck as if to assure himself that it was alright. “Yeah.” Then he frowned. “What the hell happened just now? I thought he had me. Shit, I thought…”
“Doesn’t matter right now.” Relief and terror were flooding her, fighting for dominance within her. Feeling herself getting lost, she threw her arms around Matt and hugged him tight. “Only that you’re alive does.”
Lillian thought back to the pink flash she had seen. Her eyes had been so focused on Matt and the Ebony, on the shade at his throat, that she had no idea who or what had intervened. Whoever it was, she was damn grateful.
“Amen to that,” Joshua said as he reached them.
Drawing away from Matt, she turned her attention towards the rest of the lingering demons who hadn’t yet noticed the sudden departure of their leader, who had left them to their own devices without so much as a backward glance or thought. Their numbers were quickly dwindling now that newcomers turned around to escape back into hell after one look at the Ivorys.
With a snap the hellhole shut down, the red swirl finally vanishing into nothingness, but satisfaction over another job accomplished didn’t last as long as it used to. Knowing that another would soon pop up somewhere else in this world, the naïve, rose-colored rush of battle had faded a few dozen fights ago.
They had been fighting about a dozen demons beside the five Ebonys her Stalker had dragged along. Lillian imagined that about as many had fled into the woods as soon as they had stepped through the hellhole. Joshua had taken care of the last remaining demons, as had Abby, and suddenly there was only one demon left. Realization hit the guy the same moment as Abby’s flaming arrow pinned him to a tree.
Shoving her worries into the back of her mind, Lillian got a grip on herself and ordered, “Let’s sweep the forest and find as many as we can,” before disappearing into the woods.
Ivory Guard Page 12