by Siobhan Muir
“He is. But he was so badly abused, I don’t know if he can stand to be around anyone who gives off the sexual vibe.” He’d been seduced, held hostage by an abusive sexual predator, and I’d had to kidnap him to safety. He was the whole reason I volunteered at the shelter.
She smiled with satisfaction. “Come on. It’s just a tiny meet and greet. Promise me you’ll call and set up a time for us to meet him for lunch or something, and the list is yours.”
I bit my bottom lip. I really wanted that list of names because I could start looking into the backgrounds of the people on it. But could I set my cousin up with Tori? Granted, he felt more comfortable with women after his ordeal, but that didn’t mean he was ready for anyone sexually interested in him.
Jeff was beautiful, devastatingly handsome with clear light-brown eyes, golden brown skin, dark hair and a sensual mouth that brought out dimples when he smiled. He stood close to six-five with broad shoulders, narrow waist, and a physique most men paid trainers thousands of dollars for. But he was only now venturing out in public again after his sexual incarceration. I hadn’t been able to help him during his ordeal so I put my time in at the shelter for sexual abuse survivors, helping others to make up for it. The shelter had helped rehabilitate him enough to start life over again.
“Tell you what, the best I can do is have you meet us for coffee this coming week. I’ll see him Saturday and you can come along.” I held up my hand at her enthusiastic look. “Keep in mind he’s just now regaining his confidence being in public and you need to be cognizant of that. Don’t push him for something he doesn’t want, Tori. I mean it.”
She gave me a winning smile. “I promise to be on my best behavior.”
She handed me the list of names and I wondered if I’d made a huge mistake. Yeah, I wanted this story, but I also wanted to protect my cousin. Jeff had experienced the worst of human behaviors and he didn’t need my overenthusiastic best friend pushing him for something he couldn’t give. I thanked Tori for the list but kept my worries to myself.
Chapter Two
Michael
“What the hell are you doing, Michael?”
Luke’s voice intruded on my thoughts as I viciously scrubbed the kitchenette in my cabin. I resisted the urge to snap at him as I threw down the sponge and turned to face him.
“What the fuck are you doing in my cabin?” Okay, so I sucked at resistance.
“Damn, who pissed in your Cheerios?” My older brother raised a golden blond eyebrow as he tipped his head. “I mean, I’m not expecting rainbows and unicorns, but usually you’re usually a lot more mellow. Someone piss you off?”
He could say that. After we took the victims of sexual assault and forced prostitution to the shelter, the fury over their hurts hit me at odd moments. Like now. I stared hard at the bubbles in sink, trying to find beauty and peace in their iridescent marbled surfaces as I strove to calm down.
“What do you want, Luke?”
He tried to look innocent. Heh, the devil innocent? Not likely.
“Can’t I stop by to see my younger brother?”
“Seriously, I don’t need your poking. What do you want?”
Luke sighed as he ran his hand over the angel wing tattoo on the back of his bald head. “I just wanted to check on you. You haven’t been yourself since you raided that make-shift brothel. I half expected to come in here and find everything painted black. What’s going on?”
I sighed. Anger was exhausting, but I couldn’t seem to shake it. “Nothing.”
“Come on. We’re not teenagers anymore.” He smirked. “Come to think of it, we never were teenagers. That would’ve been fun. Can you imagine cruising the streets, lookin’ at hot chicks?”
I snorted. “I suspect you’ve done that thousands of times already.”
“Hey, no one ever told those kids to do shit like that, I just never bothered to rein ’em in.”
I rubbed my forehead and reached for what was left of my legendary patience. “Why are you really here, Luke?”
He lost his smirk. “I really am worried about you. I’ve never seen you like this. You always bounce back. What happened?”
I dropped the sponge and turned on the water to wash my hands and rinse the sink. “I seem to have lost my faith in humanity.” As his smirk widened, I held up my hand. “Don’t. I don’t need to hear it. I just don’t understand how humans could do such horrible things to each other for the simple gain of money.”
Luke frowned. “Come on. You’ve seen this for millennia. The powerful hurting and killing others for gold, land, hell, even water. They create wars just to make a buck. What makes this time any different?”
I shook my head. “I dunno. I guess I’m tired. Tired of battling the same shit, different century. Tired of comforting the victims of all these atrocities brought on by their own people. I’m tired of the love of money decimating everything around us.”
“Are you listening to yourself, Michael? You’re part of the Concrete Angels MC, a group that runs drugs and weapons to make money. Drugs and weapons hurt people every day. Isn’t this a bit hypocritical?”
I scowled. “I joined Loki’s crew to keep him in balance with you. We’re two sides of the same coin and we balance out Loki’s chaotic neutral. We balance the scales of action and consequence”
“Right, and without us, Karma wouldn’t have anything to do. None of this has changed, but you’re still pissed off. What gives?”
I sighed again and slumped into a chair, rubbing my face. “I don’t know if I can keep doing this. It’s all the same shit, day after day, year after year, without getting any better and nothing to look forward to. I think I’m losing faith in the world. Why defend people who seek destruction, pain, sickness, and the very atrocities they claim to abhor? What the hell am I doing here?”
For the first time, Luke wore real concern on his face. “Michael, you’re the one who told me to look for the good things in times of darkness, and glory knows, I’m supposed to be the harbinger of darkness. But one thing my millennia of being the Devil has taught me is people only let the darkness rule for so long, then they rise up with light bright enough to blind. There’s an ebb and flow to their love of light or dark. It’s a cycle they have to learn from. Without the dark, they can’t appreciate the light. And they totally need us both.”
He reached out to grip my shoulder. “They need me to be the Dark One, the one they revile and blame for all the wrongs in the world, including their own choices. And they need you to be the bright, shining example of love, compassion, and determination that allows them to swing back the other way. You’re not really fighting for them, Michael. It’s more that you’re fighting to show them the very best they can be and how to vanquish their own inner demons.”
I considered what he’d said, wondering who would fight my inner demons. No one knew my brother very well, though they claimed they had an insight into him. But only myself and a few others knew his secret. He’d been asked to take this role rather than “fell from Heaven” as the humans told it. And he’d accepted, with far greater grace than even I possessed. He’d become the Dark One everyone blamed, because he had the most compassion of all of us.
He tilted his head and narrowed his eyes. “I can’t believe I’m asking you this, but isn’t there some brightness you’ve seen that helps you find the good again?”
I opened my mouth to deny it when the face of the woman who’d taken the kids filled my mind. Her name was Haley. Like my big brother, she’d shown nothing but compassion to the child victims, listening to them as she led them through the shelter. She had a strength in her kindness and presence that called to me with a yearning I’d forgotten in all my millennia with humans.
“Ah ha, what just went through your mind?”
Damn Luke’s sharp perception.
“Nothing.”
Luke snorted. “Don’t hand me that. I can tell when you’re thinking of something good. You actually glow, you know that? Might want to tone down your grace a litt
le when you think of…them. It’s a them, isn’t it?” He batted his eyes with excited delight. “Oooh, tell me about them. Tell me everything!”
I rolled my eyes and pushed him away. “Sod off, you wanker.”
“Oh, no. Not after that reaction. I told you all about Angelina, now you have to tell me who it is that makes you find the light in the dark.”
I didn’t want to tell him about Haley, not until I knew her better myself. But Luke had a way of pestering people until they either threatened to kill him—which was never a good idea—or they gave in. I was stronger than most, but it was usually easier just to give him what he wanted.
I’d only met her once—and stole a kiss from her—but she’d seen my wings, which weren’t normally visible. Except to those who are our true mates. True, other angels could see our wings, and sometimes the other Elder Races could as well, but humans were usually oblivious. I’d originally blamed her momentary vision on my distraction.
I’d only been at the museum because we’d been tracking one of the cops on our erstwhile member Roy’s list of Backlog members. He’d quit the Fort Collins PD and hired on as a security guard at the Denver Museum of Nature & Science. I’d managed to get one of Viper’s little spy gadgets onto his phone, but he thought I was trying to pick-pocket him when I put the phone back and that engendered the chase through the museum.
I don’t know what made me kiss her. Maybe it was because I knew the goodness of her heart after I’d seen her take in those kids at the shelter. Whatever the reason, once I’d kissed her, I couldn’t get her off my mind, and it worried me. She’d been there with the press, which meant she was a reporter of some kind. Not a good combination with a biker with dubious humanity.
“I don’t really have someone.” I shook my head and he dropped his chin with a dry look. “Seriously. I’ve never actually met her.”
Luke laughed. “You know, your shoulders twitch when you lie. You should really try to curb that tell.”
I scowled. “I’m not lying. I’ve spoken maybe three words to her.”
“And?”
“What and? How do you know there’s an and?”
“Because I know you. Have your doubts about your worthiness of love totally derailed you?”
“What the hell has love got to do with it?”
“Hey, hell is my bailiwick, so let’s just leave that out of it.” Luke grinned and thumped my shoulder. “Love has everything to do with it. Well, at least to do with you.”
My scowl deepened. “I’m the Archangel Michael, for glory’s sake. I’m a warrior not a lover. The lover is Gabriel’s role.”
“And I’m known as the Devil in most circles, but we both know the truth. Or at least I do.” Luke squeezed my shoulder. “It’s okay to fall in love. Anyone would be lucky to win your heart.”
I shrugged him off. “She didn’t win my heart and I didn’t win hers. She doesn’t even know me.”
“Well then.” He gave me his best wicked grin. “That’s the first thing we need to change.”
I swallowed hard. When Luke wore that look, it usually meant things didn’t go as expected or remotely well. At least, not for me, or the person he had in mind. I just hoped the woman I’d kissed wouldn’t hate me for it in the end.
****
Haley
Tori had given me the list and I was all set to start researching the backgrounds of the people on it, but Carl had called and reminded me I’d promised to go with him to this Valentine’s Day party filled with newsie movers-and-shakers. I hadn’t wanted to go and I wasn’t sure I wanted to be with Carl anymore, but I’d promised and despite being a hardnosed reporter, I stood by my word. There wasn’t much integrity in reporters these days and I had to find something that made me stand out from my colleagues. So I picked truth and honesty. Not exactly the best qualities for a reporter who didn’t want to be stuck writing fluff pieces.
So now I was alone at a Valentine’s Day party, trying to avoid a predacious drunk guy and wishing I could just get home. At least I had the list of names of the crooked cops in this vast network in law enforcement. I damn near salivated with the idea of being home with my computer and my search engines.
Yeah, while I get to stand here and look like a stupid wallflower.
I stared at Carl, my soon-to-be-ex boyfriend as he cozied up to two women who had bigger boobs and more makeup than I did. He hadn’t bothered to introduce me so I wasn’t sure if they were the movers and shakers to whom he’d promised to introduce me, or just their main squeezes, but after his hands wandered to their asses, I didn’t really want to meet them at all.
They might be high-priced hookers too.
Yeah, that wouldn’t surprise me. Inching my way toward the buffet to escape the drunk guy who’d zeroed in on me, I tried to find a quiet corner. Or a phone. Or locate someone who might help my career if I talked to them. I slid past some women who gave me a once-over that said they didn’t see much worth value and checked my phone. Maybe I can call Tori to come pick me up.
Except the phone sat dead in my hand like a little sparkly paperweight. No, no, no. My phone couldn’t be dead. I’d just charged it that afternoon, and I needed it to get out of this place. Carl was my ride and I couldn’t rely on him. I glanced in his direction and grimaced. He was getting handsy with a redhead. I looked around for a phone in the room, but the drunk guy was still lurching after me like a bad B-rate movie zombie and I needed an escape fast.
And that’s why they call them ‘fire escapes.’ I ducked out the emergency exit and closed the door, hoping zombie-guy wouldn’t follow. Hopefully, I would be safe to find a quiet and calm place to think. Since my phone’s dead and I’m stuck here for a while.
I sat down on the cool concrete steps of the back stairs and rubbed my face with my hands. I swore I’d never put myself in this position again, but here I was, sitting on some back staircase with nothing but my dress, my high heels, my phone, and what little privacy I’d found. You’re so dumb and trusting, Haley. Which was pretty stupid considering I was supposed to be an investigative journalist.
Thank glory I didn’t have my ID on me. Of course, when they find your body, that’ll make it harder to identify you. Oh yeah, I was full of those cheerful thoughts. So much for getting into the holiday spirit.
I wrapped my arms around my chest and leaned my elbows on my thighs. I was safe at the moment. Despite the pounding bass coming through the emergency exit doors, the stairwell was relatively quiet. A little light filtered through the dingy windows from the street lights outside, but otherwise, it was dark. So far, no one else had found this little oasis of calm to have a quickie or a good cry. Although I’m getting close to the second one.
I’d come here with the guy I’d thought was my boyfriend. Carl had sworn it was going to be a fun holiday party with the YouPros—Young Professionals, the new millennium’s Yuppies—of Fort Collins. In Denver. He’d said it was where anyone who was anyone would be at this time of year. For Valentine’s Day? I hadn’t really wanted to go, but he said I’d make contacts with the news corp. He played you, Haley. Yeah, it wasn’t the first time. Eventually, I’d get wise.
I shoved the unhappy thoughts of the past away and scrubbed my face. I should’ve known there was something going on. Carl seemed to be getting twitchy, like a guy who’d been using something addictive. He’d also had the look of frenzied desperation, the kind of look on people jonesing for the next best thing, and I totally bought into it. Right up until he started playing tonsil hockey with not one, not two, but three of the partygoers, one of them a guy. Yeah, can’t compete with that. Now I was in the position of no ride, not enough money for a taxi to Fort Collins, and no understanding of where the hell I actually was. Yeah, I had my phone, but I couldn’t tell anyone where to come get me.
I’m so fucked.
I needed to find a way home from here, but that meant going back through the party to get out of the building. This staircase led to the basement, and there was no way in hel
l I was going down there. Hello, serial killerville. I pulled out my phone to check what time it was and remembered it was deader than a door nail. Shit. So much for GPS or calling the cavalry.
I bit my lip and considered the door I’d come through. I might be able to find a phone if I went back to the party. Hell, I could probably lift one off one of the guests and they’d never notice. Those old pickpocketing skills came in handy in the oddest times.
Sighing, I stood up and pulled my skirt back down to the proper length. Yeah, I’d be getting rid of this dress as soon as I got home. I hated when the fitted skirts rode up. All right, Michaels. Let’s do this. I grasped the door handle and pulled.
Nothing happened.
“Are you fucking kidding me?”
I yanked on the door, but the latch held despite using all of my hundred and sixty-five plus pounds of weight. The door was locked and no one could hear me in the party. And my phone was dead.
“Oh my GLORY!” I slammed my hand against the door, hoping someone might actually hear me over the damn music, but no one came to check it out. “Fuck!”
Biting my bottom lip, I looked up the staircase. Maybe one of the other doors were unlocked and I could at least get back into the building. I memorized the floor number on the party’s door and climbed the stairs to the next floor.
I was about to bang on it, but I paused when I heard what sounded like voices coming from the other side. Logically, it would’ve made sense to thump on the door and have them open it for me. But something made me pause. The voices weren’t loud, but they didn’t sound happy or particularly friendly. Maybe I didn’t want them to know I was there.
This was confirmed a moment later when someone said, “You shoulda thought of that before you went up against Backlog. You was warned. Now you’re gonna pay.”
What the hell is Backlog?
Before I could peer up the stairs, I heard someone shout what sounded like, “No, wait! Don’t!” Just before two gun shots rang out.