Whiskey and Angelfire

by A. A. Chamberlynn

  “Good night,” I said breathlessly, darting for the door. I pulled it shut behind me and headed for room number three.

  In the light of the moon, I could see the silhouette of someone sitting on the bed. His scent washed into me; leather and whiskey and the faint tang of his shifter magic. I closed the distance between us in two big strides, climbing onto his lap and crushing him into me. Donovan let out a sound more panther than human, running his hands under my shirt and peeling it off with practiced ease. I wasn’t quite so nice. I grabbed the bottom of his and ripped it in half, flinging away the pieces onto the floor. My mouth hungrily traced the sides of his neck and the contours of his chest as my hands worked the zipper of his pants.

  Donovan unbuttoned my jeans and with a quick flick of his wrists ripped apart the inseam. And just like that we were together. I gasped as I wrapped my legs around him and pulled him closer, my fingernails digging into his back. His shifter energy burned white hot around us, and my own magic intertwined within and around it. All thought left my head, and there was only color and magic and music.

  It was worth the wait. Oh, was it ever worth the wait.

  Donovan lay next to me sleeping, but I couldn’t drift off, despite the amazing sex we’d had. In the quiet, alone with my thoughts, everything caught up to me. It’d been a whirlwind since we’d arrived, what with that bitch at the angelic compound, then catching up with Gus, then the fight, then hanging with everyone downstairs. Plus hooking up with D finally. I hadn’t had time to process being back here, and now, lying in bed, I realized how incredibly uneasy I felt in this place…not Gus’s tavern, but my homeland.

  Where I’d been born. Where I’d met Alexander, and he’d broken my heart. Where Olga had come to me, in my heartbrokenness, and turned me into an Anam Gatai, soulless and with more power than I could handle. Where she’d taught me to hunt, to call souls to me like a siren, to take innocent lives.

  I had changed, though. I only ate the souls of evil people now. So why did this place still affect me this way? Why was my whole body tense, as if I were perched at the edge of some enormous cliff? I could never be forgiven for what I’d done, I knew that. I just thought I’d come to terms with my past somewhat. Even more so now that Riley and Quinn had been teaching me to use my long-suppressed magic again, for good this time. So it wasn’t like I thought returning here would be a walk in the park, but I hadn’t expected it to be quite this bad. To feel as if I couldn’t breathe. To have the faces of my past victims flashing behind my eyelids every time I closed them.

  It certainly wasn’t helping things that Eli was being such a dick, either. Well, aside, from him getting drunk tonight. He was treating me like a total stranger, like that night back at Noir when we first met. I’d had no interest in working with him then, until I found out that the HR was trying to hunt down Alexander. Our goals had aligned. We’d found Alexander, working with Lucifer, trying to take over the world. And we’d banished them all back to Hell, not permanently, but it had foiled their immediate plans. Since then, total radio silence. Not a peep from Lucifer, Alexander, or my sister Anna. Maybe it was time I moved on from hanging out with Eli. I liked the HR, but I couldn’t keep working like this, as if I was some sort of pariah. With a sigh, I rolled over for about the tenth time, pulling my pillow up under my chin and burying my face in it.

  Eli’s face played over and over in my mind. A face of sharp angles and unearthly beauty. Those lavender eyes, and full, pink lips. But I didn’t want to think about him. I was in bed with someone else. Someone that cared about me. The image changed, to another who looked so similar, but felt so different. Lucifer. He stood at the end of a long row of trees, dappled in sunshine and shadow. With long white fingers he beckoned me. His lips curled into a smile. A knowing smile, a waiting smile. It’s only a matter of time, that smile said. Might as well give in now. We’ll be together, you and I. Soon.

  I took a step toward him.

  Falling, I was falling, and then I jerked awake. A strange buzz rolled through my body, akin to floating in an electrical current. Had I been dreaming? I rarely ever dreamed. I literally couldn’t remember the last time.

  I lay there and stared at the ceiling until sleep took me a second time.

  CHAPTER FIVE

  I hadn’t woken up in bed next to someone in a long time. Like, a long time. Actually, maybe since the last time D and I had been a couple. I had my various sex buddies, but I didn’t stay overnight with any of them. So, as I woke up with the sun slanting over me, disoriented by the rough cotton sheets so unlike the satiny ones I had at home, I made a grab for my katana when I realized another body lay in such close proximity. Just for a second, before I remembered where the hell I was and who the hell I was sleeping with.

  It wasn’t altogether unpleasant, waking up next to a dead-sexy Irishman. Stubble shadowed Donovan’s jaw, and the lean lines of his muscles made me shiver. He stirred as I sat up, rolling over and pulling me against his chest. His lips found my bare shoulder and he began to kiss and nibble along it. “Good morning,” I murmured. He responded wordlessly as his hand moved along my hip and down…

  Someone knocked on the door. It had a certain imperious impatience that told me exactly who it was. “Ignore it,” Donovan mumbled into my chest.

  “I can’t. I’m here to work.”

  He groaned as I slid off the bed.

  “Hello, sunshine,” I said as I opened the door, a sheet wrapped around me. “Feeling alright this morning?”

  Eli wore his classic scowl, which deepened at my appearance and my implication that he might be ever so slightly hungover. “I’m fine. Why wouldn’t I be? You ready to get to work?”

  “You had a tad to drink last night, Wings. That’s why I’m asking.” I rolled my eyes.

  Donovan walked up behind me. “And Zy has already reminded me that she has to get to work, so you’ll have her shortly,” he said.

  I didn’t really care for how he phrased that, as if passing along a prized possession or something. “Give me five and I’ll meet you downstairs. Are Riley and Quinn up?”

  “Riley already went on a five mile run this morning,” Eli said, his tone a mix of admiration and envy.

  I grinned. “That’s my wolf boy.”

  Five minutes later I had donned jeans, boots, and a sweater. My katana was of course strapped in its shoulder sheath. I could’ve probably used a soul for breakfast, but Eli had reeked of impatience so I knew I’d better wait.

  Gus motioned to me as soon as I got downstairs, Donovan on my tail. Eli sat up at the bar next to the dragon shifter. The bar remained otherwise empty, as was appropriate for nine in the morning.

  “What’s up?” I asked, sliding into the seat next to Eli.

  Gus looked back and forth between Eli and I. “I heard something this morning when I went out to get tea that I thought might interest you two. The owner of a farm in Kildare was here getting some supplies. He said the property next to him, an old estate called Aisling House that’s been abandoned for years, had lights going on and off the last two nights. He called the cops but they couldn’t find anybody when they got there. A long shot, but I figured I’d tell you.”

  “Probably just squatters, but I’m not sure we have anything else to go on at the moment,” I said.

  Eli looked dubious, but nodded after a moment. “We have no other leads. A long shot is better than nothing.”

  “Can you give us directions to this place?” I asked Gus. I pulled up the holographic map device on my phone and entered in details as he spouted them off.

  Quinn and Riley had come down the stairs while we finished up. “Where are we going?” Quinn asked.

  “A little jaunt to the countryside,” I responded.

  “I think we’re going to have to travel the old-fashioned way,” Eli said. “I can’t travel there by the pathways since I’ve never been to the place.”

  “I have an old truck you can borrow,” Gus said. “Might be too cozy to fit five, though.” />
  “I think we should split up anyway,” Eli said, his tone authoritative. “Riley, Donovan, since Commander Juno wants us to interview supes, and Gus says the horse shifters have a missing person, do you mind doing some interviews? See what you can find out?”

  Riley nodded and Donovan said, “Sure. Anything for my angelic buddy.” He clapped Eli on the back, hard.

  “Good, then let’s get going,” Eli said.

  “Truck’s out back,” Gus said, turning to lead the way.

  As the others followed Gus, Donovan pulled me into a kiss, running his hands through my hair, pressing the line of his body against mine.

  “I’ll be back soon,” I said, pulling away after a moment during which he gave no indication he planned on stopping anytime in the next hour.

  “You better be,” he said, his voice husky.

  I shivered and debated sneaking into the broom closet for five minutes, but then heard Eli’s impatient call from outside. “I promise.” I threw Donovan one last burning look and walked out back.

  Next thing I knew I was crammed into a rust-covered thirty-year old truck with Quinn and a grumpy angel. The cracked vinyl seats crinkled unpleasantly against my thighs and something smelled like moldy apple. I refrained from wrinkling my nose while Gus handed Eli the keys.

  “Don’t hurt my princess,” Gus said with all seriousness.

  Eli cleared his throat, laughter hidden beneath it. “I won’t. Promise.”

  The truck cranked up in a cloud of smoke that was decidedly not healthy for the environment, and we rolled out onto the streets, supernatural hillbillies out for a Sunday drive. If only.

  Eli was indeed very cautious navigating the streets of Dublin, and soon the city gave way to emerald fields and windswept herds of sheep huddled under a dolphin-colored sky. I felt a pang of deep longing in my chest as the clean air filled my lungs. Never would I live in this place again. My memories would never allow me a moment of true peace in this place, as evidenced by my mostly sleepless night. It was my home and my prison. Plus, I knew that she still lived here on this island, my maker. And it wasn’t big enough for the two of us. Not by a long shot.

  Just shy of a couple hours outside Dublin, we arrived at Aisling House Estate. It was a melancholy place, and fittingly, a murder of crows clung to the trees lining the driveway. An overgrown shamble of greenery led up to a large stone manor house.

  “Cheerful place,” I said. “Drive on past. We’ll park somewhere secluded and walk in.”

  Eli nodded and did as instructed, parking us in a copse of trees about a half mile down the road. We got out of the ancient truck and began to walk toward the house.

  “Hold on,” Quinn said. She held her hands up before her and the air tingled with magic. A moment later we were all invisible. We could see fuzzy outlines of each other, but I knew we couldn’t be detected by outside eyes. It was like the spell she’d done at Mt. Rainier so we could sneak around a few thousand demons and avert the apocalypse. Ah, good ol’ times.

  Within a few minutes the house came back in view. It was so large as to be just short of a castle. Stately gray stone, probably two hundred years old. In remarkably good shape, with only a little crumbling of the structure here and there. Surprising no one lived here. It was quite clear however, that the place was abandoned. Ivy and moss hung thick over the house, not in a quaint way as it was oft to do in little English manors, but invasive as if trying to reclaim the stones to the earth. The gardens grew wild as well, overflowing, blackened in some places from frost. And quiet. The whole place was still and quiet, a sleeping beast.

  When we got up near the front doors, two massive oak slabs that measured twelve feet at least, I motioned for Quinn to go around back. Eli and I waited until she had jogged off, then walked a bit further down the side of the house until we found a smaller side entrance. Cobwebs covered the rusty iron door handle, so it didn’t appear anyone had been through in a while. I slowly turned the handle and we stepped into the shadows of the house.

  We were met with silence and cool, moist air. Fires hadn’t burned in these hearths for quite some time, nothing to chase away the chill. Time and memory clung to the bones of the house, I could almost taste it in the air. Who had lived here? Why was it abandoned? It seemed someone would want to make a home of this once noble dwelling. Maybe someone had, someone uninvited. We’d find out soon enough.

  Eli’s presence stayed close enough to be my own shadow as we traversed the house. I walked down a long hallway, opening doors on each side and peeking within. Storage rooms. A kitchen. Further down, a parlor, and a library, reeking of old paper. All coated in dust and old white sheets like specters. No signs of life, not even of a short vacancy.

  As I opened the door to another room, something came at me in a rush of wings. I ducked and slashed wildly in the air with my katana. It whooshed past my face and I realized it was an owl.

  “Jesus. Stupid birds.”

  “Jumpy?” Eli scoffed.

  “Shut up. When a giant feathered freak flies at your face let’s see how you react.”

  He smirked as I closed the door behind me.

  We spent another half hour scouring the hallways, rooms and closets of the house, with no luck. After a bit we heard footsteps coming toward us. Quinn. She still looked fuzzy from her spell, but as she approached she released it and we all became fully visible again.

  “Any luck?” Eli asked.

  “They’ve definitely been here,” Quinn answered. She held something up between thumb and forefinger. A single silver feather that looked as if it’d been dipped in pewter. An angel feather.

  Eli sucked in a breath. “It can’t have been long ago.”

  “It’s possible they’ll come back. Maybe whoever has them is using this as a headquarters or something,” I said.

  “I think we should stay the night,” Eli answered. “Hope they come back and we can surprise them.”

  I groaned. “Of course. Let’s stay the night in the dank, creepy old house. How did I know you were going to say that?”

  “You’re not scared are you?” He raised a brow. “The great Zyan Star?”

  “Please.” I put a hand on my hip. “I just fancy a hot shower at the end of my evenings, and a bed not covered in mold.”

  “Woman up,” Quinn snorted.

  “Fine. But I call dibs on whatever bed is cleanest.”

  “Did you really just call dibs?” Eli asked.

  I put on my most superior expression. “Screw all of you guys.”

  “Including me? How lovely,” came a fourth voice.

  CHAPTER SIX

  We spun, attack ready. Out of the shadows on the far side of the room stepped a tall, lean figure. Copper hair hung long and straight down his back, and grasshopper green eyes sparked against the dim light.

  “Pan? What the hell are you doing here?” I wasn’t often taken by surprise, and was even less often flabbergasted. I didn’t much care for the feeling.

  “Zyan Star,” he purred, his words carrying a warm intimacy that made me shiver. “You’re quite a long way from home.”

  “Um, interesting statement considering I actually live on this planet, whereas you do not.”

  “Many worlds are my playground. Space is relative… so malleable, don’t you think?” And he was standing next to me, though I hadn’t seen him move. His scent of fresh-tilled earth and unfurling flower buds wrapped around me. Through the plunging V cut into his cream-colored tunic, I could see his muscular chest. The man was all about showing off his body.

  “Quit messing around. Why are you here?” I said, my tone borderlining on snappish.

  Pan had helped us out big time in saving Quinn, Riley and the HR a couple months ago, and Eli still owed him a favor from that little adventure, which left us in a bit of a vulnerable position. Plus, Pan was the faerie god of nature. So, I probably needed to be polite but he was testing my patience.

  “So much fire.” Pan’s eyes glittered. “I am here for probably
the same reason you are.”

  “You’re looking for an angel?” Eli asked, his expression puzzled.

  “No, I’m looking for a faerie,” Pan replied. “What use would I have for another angel? I already have you in my debt.” He cast Eli a positively carnivorous look.

  Watching Eli squirm was almost as great as seeing him so drunk the night before. Almost.

  “Wait, so there’s a missing angel, a missing dragon shifter, and a missing faerie?” Quinn asked.

  “This isn’t good,” Eli said with angry eyes. “Someone is hunting supes.”

  “Let’s not jump to conclusions,” I said, raising a hand. “We don’t know what’s happening yet.”

  “I think the evidence is stacked strongly in that direction,” Eli said, his jaw rolling. “Not to mention it was your idea in the first place.”

  I guess I just felt like being contrary all the sudden. “What evidence? We have nothing,” I retorted.

  Pan watched us all impassively, a small smile on his face. I spun to face him. “What do you know?”

  “Information is expensive, my dear.” He smiled and twirled the bottom of his silver staff around and around on the stone floor. “What are you willing to pay?”

  “Supernaturals are vanishing left and right and all you care about is payment?” Eli growled. He took a menacing step toward Pan, who only grinned broadly at the act of bravado.

  I inched my way between the two. “Settle down, Eli. He doesn’t know anything. He’s just riling us up.” Glancing back at Pan as I said it, I saw from the flicker in his eyes that he actually didn’t know anything. Shit. I’d been bluffing, hoping he’d cough something up if I injured his pride.

  “Faeries don’t give things away,” Pan said in a honeyed tone.

  “You’re full of it,” I said, stabbing my finger toward his face. “Now get off your high horse and maybe we can work together. We’ve both got people missing that we care about. Let’s not mess around, okay?”