Blood Lust (Fallen Angels Book 3)

by Judith Post

  Chapter 5

  Angel couldn't stop looking at her surroundings. She'd never seen anything like this except in movies. Her mom watched TV shows where hosts visited rich peoples' houses. This place made her think of the fancy stuff in kings' palaces, all brought to one, big, sprawling apartment. The paintings on the walls had to cost more than the Thomas Kincaid prints her mom wanted. She squinted to see the name Picasso on the picture over the fireplace. He was famous, wasn't he? Even the colors on the walls looked rich. What the hell color were they anyway? Not brown. Not orange. Spice? Her dad's new wife always made a spice cake for her dad's birthday. That was the only time Angel and Crystal were ever invited to Dad's house. The walls sort of looked like the color of that cake. Heavy wood trim, painted butter yellow, separated the walls from the white ceiling. The fancy pieces over the doorways had carvings on them. Some kind of patterned rug covered the entire floor. It made Angel think of Aladdin's carpet—with swirls and patterns.

  The living room was so big, it had three couches in it. Not the kind you sat on. The kind for looks, but Danny grabbed his beer and left the island that overlooked the kitchen and headed toward an armchair. It was covered in some kind of black-and- silver-striped, shiny material, and he sat on it anyway. Then he leaned forward and put his beer on a coaster on the fancy, coffee table. Angel counted. There were three coffee tables in the room, three areas to sit. How many people visited this place?

  She bit her bottom lip. Mom never invited people to their house. Well, no one except men, and they weren't company. They were customers. A bookcase lined one wall, and Angel didn't see one paperback on any of the shelves. A heavy desk sat in front of them with a computer on top. Papers were piled on one of the desk's corners. Did angels work? Write reports to send to Heaven?

  Enoch motioned for the others to join Danny and him in the living room. Angel stuck close to his heels. When he settled on the sofa near Danny's chair, she sat across from him. The other women settled in another grouping with Voronika and Maggie. Voronika had stuck up for them, and Angel appreciated that, but eventually, Enoch seemed like the one who'd decide what would happen to them, so she wanted to know him better.

  She'd learned to listen. If she could just shut-up and stay still, grown-ups forgot about kids after a while and said things they usually wouldn't. This guy didn't really want to keep her and Crystal, she could tell, but he could help her sister. And she was going to figure out a way to make him want them. Her mom didn't want them, but that didn't matter. She had to put up with them. Her dad didn't really want them either, but he sort of liked them. None of that mattered. Enoch wasn't thrilled with getting stuck with kids, but if he learned to like Crystal and her, he'd always be there for them. Some people were like that, and he struck Angel as one of them.

  Danny took a sip of his beer and said, "I'll let the girls' parents know that we found them and they're safe."

  "Can their mother demand to have them back?" Enoch asked.

  "It doesn't matter what she wants. She sold Crystal. If she makes a fuss, I'll arrest her, and she knows it." Danny's gaze settled on Angel. "That little girl has some balls. Not many kids would try to rescue their sister from vampires."

  Enoch turned to study her, too. She squirmed, uncomfortable. "What grade of school are you in?" he asked, surprising her.

  "Fifth grade."

  "Are you a good student?"

  Oh, shit. If she admitted that she barely passed, would he be done with her? When she didn't answer right away, Danny grinned. "I take that as a no."

  Enoch didn't look bothered. "She's smart enough, that's for sure."

  "Crystal was a straight-A student," she said. Maybe that would impress him.

  "And she's beautiful."

  Enoch smiled. He was the most handsome man she'd ever seen with raven-black hair and coal-black eyes, but he usually looked forbidding. When he smiled, it made her heart feel good. "You're pretty protective of your sister," he said.

  She felt flustered, and she wasn't used to it. "She's always there for me, takes care of me and does without sometimes so I can have more."

  Enoch's dark eyebrows drew together and he glanced Crystal's way. "She's all you have?" It was a question, not a statement.

  Angel nodded. This wasn't going according to plan. She was supposed to be learning about him, not talking about herself.

  The eyebrow rose. "While you stay with us, I drive you to and from school everyday, and you make it worth my while. Your grades go up."

  Her hands balled into fists. Who was he to tell her what to do? But she bit back the words. He was their protector, and she wanted him to keep them. She sighed. "I'll try."

  His dark eyes glittered with humor. Maybe he could be fun sometimes. Probably not around kids. "Do your best. We'll go from there." He looked at the gleaming watch on his wrist. "This is a weekend, but you've had a big day. What's your usual bedtime?"

  Angel blinked. "Whenever I get tired."

  He shook his head. "What about school nights?"

  "What about them?"

  He sighed. "We'll worry about that tomorrow."

  Danny pushed to his feet. "I have to work tomorrow. We'd better get going. Maggie's had a big enough day, too. She still gets tired fast."

  "She doesn't work on Sundays, does she?" Enoch asked.

  "No, she's cut down to two days a week."

  Angel frowned. The girl with the short, curly hair and heart-shaped face couldn't be a cop, like Danny. She looked too nice. "What is she?" She pressed her lips together the minute the question popped out. Shut up! she told herself. She didn't want Enoch to pay any more attention to her.

  "She's a nurse." Danny looked at his wife, and the softest expression flitted across his face. Angel felt a pang of envy. Is this how other families lived? Did men look at their wives that way? Her dad never looked at his second wife like that. Usually, they argued.

  Angel couldn't stay quiet. She was too curious. "Doesn't she mind hanging out with a vampire and an angel?"

  Danny laughed. "Not after they rescued her from a serial killer. That's how all of us met. Made us pretty tight."

  She squinted her eyes at him. "You use kid-talk."

  "I have two nieces and two nephews." Danny shrugged. "I learned their language."

  Angel leaned back in her chair. She didn't understand these people. Were they normal, or were they the odd ones and her family fit the norm? "You visit them?"

  "Yeah, I like 'em." Danny studied her. When he focused, he really focused. Maybe part of being a cop? "Do you have aunts or uncles?"

  "My mom has a brother, but he's in prison."

  Enoch leaned forward. "For how long?"

  "Don't know, don't care." She'd never met him, and Mom had nothing good to say about him. Come to think of it, though, her mom didn't have anything good to say about anyone.

  Enoch reached to pat her hand. "We'll do all we can to help you and Crystal. You don't have to worry about that."

  Tears misted her eyes. Why did he do that? She hadn't figured him out yet. Why was he being nice to her when she hadn't done anything?

  He withdrew quickly and rose to walk Danny to the door. He helped Maggie with her coat and waved his friends goodbye. Then he went to join Voronika and her group. Angel took a deep breath. She took a minute before she got up to join them. Staying here was going to be harder than she thought. Being around these people made her feel off kilter, not in control. She didn't understand them, so how could she trick them into liking her?

  Chapter 6

  A worry niggled inside Enoch. Voronika almost glowed—or as much as a pale-skinned vampire could glow—while she talked to Scarlet, Lucinda, Crystal, and Angel. Angel stayed pretty quiet. He had a feeling the girl felt overwhelmed. He didn't blame her. She'd watched a vampire attack her sister, drain her almost dry, and then the sister she put on a pedestal looked at her like a tasty morsel. Voronika had been struggling to find something to give her long life purpose. The way she looked at these girl
s, she thought she'd found it. Voronika had changed his life. Kids would make it unrecognizable, but if it made Voronika happy….

  Voronika's tone grew worried at something one of the girls said, and Enoch tried to concentrate on the conversation. She turned and gave him a level look. "Were you listening at all?"

  He shook his head. "I am now."

  "We're past girl talk. This is serious." Voronika nodded to Lucinda. "Tell him what you just told me."

  "Feral's never going to forgive Crystal for making her kill Desya."

  Crystal stared. "It wasn't my fault. Desya snuck into my room. He wouldn't stop drinking."

  Lucinda's copper hair swished around her shoulders. "Feral already hated you. She told Scarlet that you were trying to entice Desya with your scent of mortality, that you played coy with him to keep his interest."

  "Jealous?" Voronika asked.

  "Oh, yeah." Lucinda glanced at Crystal. "It doesn't take much with Feral. I was surprised she didn't kill you herself."

  "She can't. Caleb's promise," Voronika said.

  "What exactly is Caleb's promise?" Scarlet asked.

  Voronika nodded for Enoch to explain. "If a vampire drains a mortal from Three Rivers, Caleb will send one of his generals to kill him."

  Scarlet went to pour herself another glass of wine. "Even if the mortal wants drained?"

  Enoch pressed his lips together in disgust. "No, that's different. The mortal's not a victim."

  Scarlet returned and folded herself elegantly onto a chair, her long legs crossed at the ankles. "Can't you destroy rule breakers yourself?"

  "Now, I don't have to. I don't have to chase rogues down and dust them. Caleb or a general will do it for me."

  Scarlet tossed back her drink. She pursed her lips, studying him closely. "You and Caleb must be close."

  "We're both angels, but we don't always agree."

  Voronika hissed. "You can't trust Caleb."

  "Really?" Scarlet turned to Enoch. "Then how do you know he'll keep his promise?"

  What was up with this woman? Why all the questions? Enoch sipped his wine, watching her. "Why are you so curious about my fellow angel?"

  Scarlet stared at her empty glass and went to the kitchen for another bottle. When Enoch raised his brows, she said, "Sorry, but I drink all night at the club with my customers. I guess it's habit now."

  "Why the interest in Caleb?" he repeated.

  "I'm not really, but I am curious about you."

  "Me? Not much to tell. I was sent here to clean up Caleb's messes, but every time I killed three rogues, four new ones took their place. Caleb and I finally agreed on a truce."

  "And now you're a vampire hunter?"

  "A rogue hunter," he clarified. "I work with Caleb's generals, all good men."

  Lucinda looked surprised. "They're vampires."

  "But good ones. I like them. End of story."

  Scarlet smirked. "You're not what I expected."

  "Really? What did you expect?"

  "Some heaven-sent redneck with a big weapon who walked the streets after dark and shot anything with leather wings."

  Voronika laughed. "You've read too many comic books or watched one too many action movies."

  Lucinda wasn't laughing. She leaned forward, serious about making her point. "It might be better if you were like that. You don't know Feral. She hated Crystal the minute Desya showed any interest in her. Now, she'll blame Crystal for his death. She'll think it's Crystal's fault she had to destroy him. Feral sired Desya. She took one look at him and wanted him. She's spent decades babying him and enjoying him. When Feral hates someone, they usually die."

  Enoch glanced at the glass doors to his balcony. "She struck me as too smart to kill Crystal."

  "Oh, she won't do that," Lucinda said. She glanced outside at the dark night, too. "She'll get someone else to do it, and then she'll kill him. That woman is the coldest, most manipulative person I've ever met. I'd have been doomed if you didn't walk into her club. She'd have used me forever."

  Scarlet blinked at her, surprised. "She was always nice to me."

  Lucinda laughed. "Did you make her customers happy?"

  "That's what I hired on for."

  "Then why wouldn't she be nice to you? You were making her money."

  Enoch glanced at Angel and realized that the little girl was drinking in every word anyone said. Not a good thing. Then he looked at Lucinda and Scarlet. When he'd first met them, he'd have guessed that Scarlet was the smart one. Cool and calculating, she'd taken the wrong job and realized it. Of course, Lucinda was half-crazed with blood lust, so he couldn't make an educated opinion about her, but he didn't expect her to be as shrewd as she really was. Why any vampire thought he could turn and dominate her was beyond him. But Scarlet was more naïve than he realized, and that surprised him.

  Crystal turned to Voronika. "I'm still in danger, aren't I?"

  Voronika gave a quick nod. "But if anyone wants to get to you, they have to go through Enoch or me."

  "And me." Everyone turned to look at Angel. And no one doubted that she was a formidable, little girl. But she was eleven and mortal. She was in over her head.

  Enoch sighed and walked to the French doors and pulled down a thick, heavy grid. "This apartment is protected. No vampire can get in here. If you stay inside, you're safe. And if you have to leave, one of us will be with you."

  Crystal's shoulders relaxed. She took a deep breath. "I won't do anything I don't have to, and I'll stay inside as much as possible."

  Lucinda smiled. "Smart girl. Feral's not patient, like some vampires. She'll get tired of waiting, and maybe she'll make a mistake."

  It was the most they could hope for right now. Voronika stood and motioned for the girls to follow her. "I'll show you to your rooms. You can get comfortable. If you need anything, Enoch will shop for it tomorrow."

  He grimaced. The story of his life, going out during the day to provide for friendly vampires.

  Voronika laughed at him. "If it's cloudy enough, maybe we can go ourselves."

  A worse idea. Not if Feral was biding her time to attack them. "No, I'll go," he volunteered, like she knew he would.

  He traipsed after them and helped put up two air mattresses in Voronika's room. They'd had enough visitors drop in lately, they decided to prepare for them.

  Crystal looked at Voronika's canopy bed with heavy curtains to block out light and sighed. "I've never seen such a pretty place to live."

  "Once we get settled, if you like it here, Enoch will buy you each a canopy bed," Voronika said.

  Oh, lord. Enoch could picture Voronika decorating the spare bedroom—painting the walls pink and hanging lace curtains. He'd have to find Angel and Crystal homes fast. Once Lucinda and Scarlet found places to live, the girls could use that bedroom. It was plenty big enough. Voronika was already mentally decorating it for them, Enoch knew.

  He swallowed his groan. Voronika enjoyed the idea of two girls under his roof way too much.

  The women didn't finally go to bed until nearly three a.m. Once the apartment was quiet, Enoch went out onto his balcony and sent out a mental call for Bart. His friend's image appeared in front of him within minutes.

  "What's up?" Bart asked.

  Enoch explained about having two new vampires and a vampire on the cusp under his care, along with a little girl. "I don't know what to do with them," he said. "I've never had to worry about it."

  Bart shook his head. "If I could help you, I would, but we're so busy right now, we can't keep up with everything. Rogues keep challenging the new generals since our battle with Okon, Ragnar, and Yerik. We're training replacements as fast as we can. Caleb's in a foul mood. Everything used to run so smoothly before the big three rebelled. He has to be more involved than usual."

  How ironic, Caleb was inconvenienced with a rebellion when he's the one who had wanted to join Lucifer to overthrow the One. Enoch shook his head. "There must be somebody who can come. Most new vampires train at Caleb's fort
ress, don't they?"

  "It's full." Bart grinned. "But I can send Ulrich. He refused to be over a region of his own. He's been helping wherever anyone needs him, but it sounds like you need backup, and you've always been there for us."

  "Ulrich?" Enoch and Ulrich were close friends, but a Viking for a teacher? Worse, a Viking who'd turned Hun before he'd been changed. Ulrich was brave and funny…and bawdy. But Enoch never doubted him.

  Bart gave a quick nod. "Don't worry. He'll keep your new vampires in line and teach them anything they need to know about being good vampires, and I'll give him a lecture about not flirting. He'll be a teacher, not a Don Juan."

  Enoch couldn't picture Ulrich as a smooth charmer. He was more the "let's get drunk and get laid" type, but if he could train generals, he could train two, new girls. "Send him," he told Bart. "I'll stock up on beer."

  Bart laughed and faded from view.

  Next, Enoch called Caleb. For once, his friend didn't ignore him. Proof that times were volatile. He must think he might need Enoch some time in the future.

  "You called, brother?" Caleb glowed with beauty—with long, golden hair and brilliant-blue eyes.

  Enoch explained about the brothel. "Can you close it down?"

  "Feral hasn't broken any rules." Caleb looked genuinely disappointed. He must be stressed…or else he still felt indebted to Enoch for saving his skin. He grimaced. "I'd help you, if I could, but I can't punish someone for no reason. Rogues are challenging me in every corner of the globe. They'll use anything they can to discredit me."

  Enoch nodded. "I understand."

  "No, you don't! I'm not used to my creations pushing me, questioning me. It angers me."

  Enoch bit his tongue. What did he think he did to the One? But this wasn't the time to pursue that argument. Instead he said, "Good luck. I know everything's a mess for you right now."

  Caleb's blue eyes sparkled. "Thank you, brother, for not mentioning the obvious."

  Enoch couldn't hide his surprise. "I didn't think you'd see the similarities."

  "Oh, but I do, and let me tell you, I'm still glad I rebelled, but my creations should show me more respect."