He wasn’t embarrassed by the insult. Nothing had ever or would ever embarrass him. He was...overheated. Yes. That’s why his cheeks suddenly felt as though they were on fire. “And how do you know what a brothel smells like?”
“Fine. You smell like what I assume a brothel smells like. Cigarettes and alcohol and conflicting perfumes.”
“My apologies.” The first part of what she’d said at last penetrated. Before, she’d thought he’d smelled wonderful.
His body tensed, just as before. But there was no urge to inflict pain...he wanted only to touch her, to offer comfort and—he wasn’t sure.
The beeping from the monitor sped up.
Nicola traced her fingers over her sister’s hand, then stopped, just stopped, as if the action were too much for her.
How much strength had she lost since his last visit?
No matter the amount, the answer was the same. Too much.
“What are you, anyway?” she asked almost absently.
“You haven’t figured it out on your own?”
“No. How could I?”
“There are many ways.”
“Name one.”
“Easy. A sensitive spirit.”
She expelled a weary breath. “All I know is you aren’t human.”
“Correct.”
“So why don’t you just tell me?”
“Would you believe me?” If he admitted he was a Sent One, she would, perhaps, have no idea what that was. If he used the word angel, she might have certain expectations he would be unable to meet. “We can discuss it later. Right now, why don’t I help your sister?”
Immediately he wished he could snatch the words back, but did he? No. He’d said them. He would deal with the fallout.
Eyes as wild and turbulent as a winter storm widened. “How?”
“I...can buy her a little time. She’ll strengthen and she’ll awaken, but I don’t think she’ll live more than a few weeks,” he rushed to add. She had to be swimming with toxins. Not only that, she would still have no internal or external barriers against the demons. Barriers she would have to learn how to erect. Barriers she might not have time to learn how to erect.
“A few weeks,” Nicola parroted.
“Not long, I know, but—”
“I’ll take it!” she shouted, as though she feared he would change his mind.
So eager for so little. “But you haven’t yet heard my terms.”
Her beautiful mouth edged into a frown. “You want something from me?”
Many things. “I’ll buy your sister a few weeks, and in exchange you’ll do what I tell you, when I tell you, until the day I release you from my charge.” He had no idea how long it would take him to rid her of the toxins and teach her enough to survive on her own.
“That sounds like something I’ve heard on the late-night news. Are you expecting me to become your sex slave?” Her tone wasn’t scandalized, but curious.
“No,” he replied with a frown of his own. “I don’t want you in that way.” He didn’t, did he? He hadn’t lied to Thane and the others. He was a virgin. Desire wasn’t something he was familiar with, and he wasn’t sure he would recognize it.
He knew he admired Nicola’s loyalty to her sister. He knew he wished he had someone who loved him half as much. But seeing her naked was...intriguing, he realized, the blood heating in his veins, becoming molten, scorching him. A heat that had nothing to do with rage. It bubbled up, washing away the cold man he knew himself to be.
Perhaps he did want her in that way.
The very idea nearly sent him stumbling backward. His mind reeled. But...but...but she was so dainty, so fragile. He dwarfed her. Could crush her. Why her? Why now? Desire for her was implausible. Impractical.
“No,” he croaked. He couldn’t.
“Oh,” she said, her shoulders slumping. “So, you want me to obey you when you tell me to...what?”
“Stay calm. Embrace peace. Sow joy.”
“Sow?”
“There is an irrefutable spiritual law that states a person reaps what they sow. Therefore, if you sow joy into others, you will reap joy for yourself. Right now, you need joy.”
“Calm, peace, joy,” she echoed hollowly. As if he were insane.
Maybe he was. “Yes.”
“Why do you want me to feel those things?”
If you don’t, the toxins will build up, and eventually you’ll die, just like your sister. They weren’t exactly calming, peaceful, joyous words, so he remained quiet.
“Wouldn’t you rather have me, I don’t know, grow a beard, get taller and play the part of Koldo in a little production called What You’re Asking Is Impossible? Because that I think I can do.”
Silly human. For the first time in his life, he wanted to smile. “No.”
Desperate, she said, “How about the number of the coffee shop girl? I could give you that, and we could call it even.”
Coffee shop girl? “Remember when I told you I could help you heal?”
“As if I could ever forget.”
“This is the way.”
A moment passed. A moment she spent blinking at him. “Calm, peace, joy,” she repeated. “Tell me my sister will live longer than a few weeks, and it’s done.”
As if he was in control of how long her sister survived. But she didn’t know that, and she was trying to buy more time. “I’m sorry I wasn’t clear. I gave you my top offer. There’s nothing more I can do on your sister’s behalf. Therefore, there will be no negotiating of my terms.”
“I figured, but I had to try.” She offered the same bright smile she’d given him in the elevator, and he had the foresight to capture a mental picture this time. One he would remember on the worst of nights, when the past threatened to rise up and swallow him. She was proof there was more in the world than darkness and pain.
“Do we have a deal?” he asked.
“We do.”
He nodded. “Very well. Don’t allow the doctors to take her off life support. I’ll return shortly.”
“But—”
He left before she could finish her sentence. Right now, every moment counted.
He flashed to Thane, who paced in the hospital hallway, and told him where he was going. Then he flashed to Zacharel’s cloud in the lower level of the skies. He had no wings and couldn’t hover outside the entrance to await permission, which was why Zacharel had given him an open invitation to enter—as long as he remained in the foyer.
“Zacharel,” he called. Walls of swirling mist surrounded him, obscuring his vision of the rest of the home. But that’s the way clouds worked. They opened only as you moved through them.
His commander stepped through the haze, his black hair askew, his robe dirty, torn and speckled with blood. Solid gold wings arched from his back, patches of the feathers missing.
Protective instincts rose. “What happened to you?” Koldo demanded. “Do you require aid?”
Zacharel’s dark head tilted to the side, his emerald eyes glassy, as if he’d...cried. “No aid is currently needed. You’ll find out what happened with the rest of the Sent Ones. A meeting will be called very soon, and every army will be there. Until then...what are you doing here, Koldo?” The last was said on a weary sigh.
Koldo liked and respected Zacharel. The warrior had taken responsibility of the most unruly army in the skies, and wasn’t afraid to get his hands dirty to help each and every one of his men out of trouble.
“I gave Annabelle a vial of the Water of Life and I need what remains.”
Zacharel stared at him for a long while before saying, “Why do you want it?”
“Is there any left?” he asked, refusing to state his reason when he wasn’t yet sure there was a prize to be had.
Ignoring his question, Zacharel turned and motioned for Koldo to follow.
After only a few steps, the cloud opened up, revealing a living room suited for the richest of humans, with a velvet-lined couch, one half of it backed and the other half open
. It was ideal for any Sent One and human pairing. There was a matching recliner, an intricately carved coffee table made of crystals from all over the world. A tapestry hung on the far wall, the words Perfect Love Casts Out Fear scripted in Greek in the center.
Clearly Annabelle had decorated—Annabelle, who sat in front of the coffee table, poring through books, furiously writing passages down in a notebook.
“Hey, Koldo,” she said when she glanced up. She had a fall of straight, blue-black hair and rich amber eyes. Her Japanese mother and American father had certainly shared the perfect blend of DNA to create her, he thought, for there wasn’t a single flaw to her exquisite features. And yet, she couldn’t compare with Nicola. A fact that delighted him. Why?
He inclined his head in greeting.
Zacharel eased onto the couch behind her, enfolding her between his legs. Refusing to give precedence to the urgency inside him, Koldo claimed the recliner across from them. He had no wings, so the back of the chair offered no restriction to his movements.
A white-hot pang blistered through his chest.
“You asked if there was any left. There is,” Zacharel said.
“Oh, what are we talking about?” Annabelle asked, dropping her pen.
“How much?” Koldo insisted, ignoring her.
“A single drop.”
Annabelle grinned with delight. “The Water of Life, then.”
A drop. That was enough for what Koldo planned. “I wish to purchase it from you.” The words seemed to be pushed through a tunnel of broken glass. He’d shed blood for this liquid. Had lost his hair for it. And now he had to give something else?
Annabelle had kept her end of the bargain, he reminded himself. She had kept Zacharel out of the heavens while Koldo searched for his mother. The Water was hers. Not his. So yes, he had to give something else.
“Again, why?” Zacharel asked.
“I hope to save a female.” At least for a little while.
Annabelle tapped a finger against her chin. “Human?”
He offered no more. That information wasn’t necessary.
“The female you have locked away?” Zacharel asked tightly.
He knew Koldo had a Sent One trapped somewhere because Koldo had rescued two females from hell, all those weeks ago. His mother, and one of Zacharel’s soldiers. That soldier had been lost to the pain of her injuries and should not have been aware of Koldo’s actions. But aware she had been. And she’d told Zacharel everything she’d witnessed.
Zacharel had no idea Cornelia was Koldo’s mother, and he had yet to demand Koldo free her. Maybe because he knew Koldo would simply hunt her down again. Instead, he’d kept him busy with all those missions and now the babysitter, hoping to restrain him from any further wrongdoing.
One day Zacharel might realize nothing could restrain Koldo.
“No,” he said. “Not the one I have locked away.” Again, he offered nothing more.
“She is—”
“Not up for discussion.”
Zacharel popped his jaw, the very picture of a commander who’d had too much lip from his subordinate. “You’re supposed to be with Thane, watching him. What are you doing with a human female?”
So Koldo was to keep Thane from committing a crime, not the other way around? “I’ll return to Thane. You have my word. Now, will you sell the Water to me or not?”
Emerald eyes crackled with angry flames. “Not.”
Koldo looked to Annabelle.
Seemingly delicate shoulders lifted in a shrug. “Sorry, but I know better than to tango with Zachy when he’s gone stubborn.”
No, she didn’t. She tangoed with “Zachy” no matter his moods. Koldo had seen her—and he’d seen her win.
Teeth grinding, Koldo popped to his feet. “Very well.” He would try and purchase a drop of the Water from someone else. If he failed, if he had to approach the Heavenly High Council, he...would not, he thought. He could endure a whipping, no problem, but he still wasn’t sure what sacrifice they would next require.
Therefore, he had to find someone willing to sell him the Water. If he failed to return and keep his part of the bargain, Nicola would never trust him. And if she never trusted him, she would never listen to him. Never find comfort with him.
Never reap the joy that she needed so badly.
He marched out of the living room.
“Koldo,” Zacharel called.
He stilled, his muscles knotting from strain. He’s your leader. Show him respect—even though you would enjoy ripping his head from his body. Slowly he turned and faced the warrior. “Yes?”
“I won’t sell it to you. I will, however, give it to you.” Zacharel reached into an air pocket and withdrew a clear vial. A single bead of Water rolled and glistened at the bottom. “The very day you gave Annabelle the vial, I poured a drop into a separate container and saved it for you, waiting for the day you would need it. I only pray you use it wisely. It’s a second chance...and I won’t be offering you a third.”
CHAPTER SEVEN
NICOLA WAS LIGHT-HEADED and close to fainting. Her nerves were frayed, her heart alternating between fluttering painfully and stopping as though squeezed by an iron-hard fist. Koldo had been gone sixteen minutes and thirty-two seconds. During that time the doctor had come back expecting to turn off Laila’s machines. Ending her. Forever.
How was Nicola to remain calm, embrace peace and sow joy like this?
She had asked for more time, and the doctor had tried to talk her into hurrying along.
Laila’s in pain.
She’s ready to go. Her body can’t endure on its own, and her mind is already gone.
She’ll never recover from this.
Nicola had refused him.
Finally, he had left the room. But he would be back. She knew he would be back.
If Koldo failed to return in time...
Laila will die today, she thought, and nearly vomited.
Her light-headedness increased, and she wasn’t sure she had the strength to remain lucid much longer. If she passed out cold...
Again, Laila would die.
If. If. If. How she hated the word! She—
Koldo stepped into view, as though he’d opened a doorway she couldn’t see.
Relief speared her, and she leaped to her feet. He was as big and strong as she remembered—maybe bigger, maybe stronger—and he was a warrior. In some kind of army, he’d said. As long as he was here, Laila would be safe.
Except, his eyes held a grim taint.
Why grim?
She looked him over, searching for a clue. He wore the same flowing white shirt and pants as before, the same combat boots, looking comfortable, stylish and ready for action. There were no specks of blood to suggest he’d had to fight his way here.
All that grim was for Laila, then.
“Koldo,” she croaked.
He nodded in acknowledgment. “Stop worrying, Nicola.”
“First tell me the bargain stands.” The words rushed out. And wow, had she really put her trust and hope in a stranger like this? A stranger of such dubious origins?
Yes, actually. She had. Laila’s survival was too important.
“It does,” he assured her.
Good. That was good. “Where have you been?” Ugh. Watch the accusation. You don’t want to send him fleeing.
“Here and there.”
A lovely nonanswer. “Well, are you sure this will work?” Whatever “this” was.
“I’m sure she’ll hurt,” Koldo said, once again ignoring her question, “and she’ll scream, but her body will heal. What happens after that will be up to her. Do you still wish me to proceed?”
Nicola had a little talent for dissecting tones and unveiling a supposition only hinted at. What had she just gotten from Koldo? He didn’t think the results would be worth the effort. Well, too bad. She did. Laila was worth anything. Her sister deserved a second chance. No matter how short.
“I do,” she finally replied.
/> “Very well.” Koldo stepped up to the bed and gently pried Laila’s lips apart. He opened his hand to reveal an empty vial...no, not empty. A single droplet of water rolled at the bottom, glistening in the light.
He placed the vial over Laila’s open mouth, paused. He inhaled sharply, as if trying to force himself to act. His hesitation caused Nicola’s worry to magnify. Maybe this wasn’t the best decision. Maybe she had made the deal with Koldo for her own selfish needs.
“Is there another—”
But she was too late. Koldo had just tipped the droplet onto Laila’s tongue.
Nicola waited, expecting something to happen right away. The screaming he’d promised, perhaps. Or maybe, miraculously, a smile.
A minute passed, then two, and nothing changed.
Koldo released a heavy sigh. “It’s done,” he said, and met her hopeful stare. “I must return to my duties or face—never mind. I shall come to you tomorrow, and your time in my care will begin.”
For the third instance in their acquaintance, he vanished.
“But—”
There was no time to lament or rage over his newest defection. Laila unleashed the promised scream. A scream that nearly busted Nicola’s eardrums. Worried all over again, she rushed to her sister’s side. “Laila, darling, what’s wrong? What do you need?”
Her sister responded with another scream.
Two nurses burst into the room, both unwinding stethoscopes from around their necks.
“What’s going on?” one demanded.
“I don’t know,” Nicola replied hoarsely. Koldo had fed her sister a drop of...what? Not water, that much she now knew. But she couldn’t mention the warrior without sounding utterly insane.
And if they doubted her sanity, they would refuse to allow her to see Laila. Laila’s fate would fall into someone else’s hands, and someone else would get to decide to turn the machines off.
“Step back,” the other said, even giving her a little push.
They checked the monitors and wheeled a machine closer to the bed. Laila’s entire body began to violently shake.
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