"She is lethal." Francis paused to stare at the girl. "She's the leader of the female counterpart of the gang, and the secret protector of our primary target. His dead mother was her best friend and she swore to look out for him. Another reason he's the perfect choice."
"How do you…plan to go about this?" Robert shifted his limbs, the sound of twenty crystal chandeliers blowing in the wind. "Ask her on a date?"
Snickers erupted, but the idea of them dating was delectable to Peggy. "Surely she's taken as beautiful as she is."
"Nobody owns that one." Francis had that faraway look again. "She doesn't seem to be into the opposite sex."
"Don't tell me she's into…"
"No. Neither sex. She's a loner. And a total bad ass."
Bad ass? Peggy wondered over the term.
"Bad…ass?" Robert tapped his claw idly on the floor.
"It means she's a formidable enemy," Tyler said.
Peggy glanced at the human boy and smiled when he looked at her even though it was barely a glance.
"Yes, formidable." Francis walked up to the screen and pointed to one of her tattoos. "These are not art, but seals and badges, signifying what she is and what she's capable of, as well as what she's done. She's twenty-four years old and has trained in several martial arts from childhood, learning from some of the deadliest fighters in the world. She's a Picasso in that she mixes her gifts into lethal abstract fighting styles. The demon muses she's adopted aid her in seeing beyond the natural. It's cost her any semblance of a normal life, setting her apart from the rest of humanity. She was raised to be a leader, fortified from the fires of hate and despair. She's never been normal, and has submitted to her fate as a machine of wrath. A dark warrior."
"You seem to know an awful lot about her, brother." Humor lit Maxwell's innocent words.
"It's my job to know everything about her. As well as the rest of them." Francis went on to demonstrate he'd not played favorites in his research and recited every fact about each member that stood motionless on the screen. But Peggy had caught something in his tone when he was describing the girl. The emotion was familiar to her. She was sure it was sadness. Maybe. It would be understandable. They all knew what it was like to not fit in. To not belong.
No. That wasn't true. They belonged. The problem was, they didn't remember where. Or why.
****
Tyler had prayed away his urge to vomit for the moment. Peggy kept hold of his hand as though she didn't realize what the gesture meant in his world. He tried really hard not to let it mean more than it ever should but was failing big time. The way she stroked the skin on the top of his hand, lightly and methodically tracing the veins, had him completely useless.
If he could just pretend he wasn't as affected as he was, maybe he could fake being normal. Unfortunately, that meant paying attention and participating in the conversation. Nothing had ever been so difficult. She smelled amazing. She looked even more amazing and for some crazy reason he didn't want to think long about, she liked him.
"Maybe we should shoot higher little brother." Maxwell's words sounded charged with energy and Peggy squeezed his hand. Maybe it was more charged than Tyler realized.
"Explain." Francis angled his head at the screen as though contemplating another angle.
Maxwell sat forward. "I mean why not get both of them."
"Both of who?" Francis turned to him, officially puzzled.
"The boy and the bad ass girl." Maxwell sat back again.
"Don't be foolish." Robert glared at Maxwell, then Francis. "This isn't the time or scenario to frolic."
"It's not frolicking!" Maxwell, in the midst of trying out a new leg-crossing configuration, wagged his foot on his knee. "If taking him will shake their core, getting her would decimate them."
Francis glanced back at the screen. "These are humans, that means they're—"
"In need of salvation," Maxwell finished. "Especially her."
"Yes, but she will likely need years to break through." Francis stared at her image on the screen.
"Or days." Robert kept his voice gentle. Sensing Victory?
"Or minutes." Maxwell grinned. "Given the right scenario."
Francis faced his brother fully now and gestured toward him. "You got a grand scheme? I'm all ears."
"Grand scheme?" Maxwell chuckled and sat back with his arm on the back of the couch again. "I bet if she met her match, it would certainly get her attention."
"Go on." Francis put a bare foot on the coffee table and Tyler noticed his toenails looked painted red. No doubt they were actual ruby.
Maxwell grinned. "Well, we challenge them to fight."
Chapter Twenty-Two
Robert rolled his eyes at his sister's petulant whine. Really. Must he be required to endure her this way? "Fine, anything to eliminate that screechy voice you've taken to using." He thought of his Father's human form, and made himself similar.
Peggy giggled.
"What?" Robert looked down at himself, making sure all his parts had changed.
"Don't you have your own look?" she asked.
"What do you mean? This is my own look."
"You look like Lyght's twin only smaller."
"And what is wrong with looking moderately fantastic?"
"Nothing." Francis grinned and winked. "If you don't mind all the women touching you."
"Touching?" Good God. Unacceptable. "What do you propose? Different hair color?"
"Hold on!" Peggy raised a finger, only to disappear. She reappeared in two seconds and rushed to Robert with an open magazine. "How about him?" She shoved the page under his nose, tapping a specific image with a pale pink nail. "He's dashing but not so brilliant?"
Robert stared at the fellow, not impressed. "He looks pathetic."
"Well, hiding your strength will help you blend in." Peggy angled a pleading look at him.
Blending was good. "And less touched?"
"Definitely," Peggy insisted.
Robert sighed, eager to become good at being inconspicuous. He branded the image of the gent on the page into his mind. At hearing Peggy's gleeful clapping and laughter, he guessed he'd succeeded. "Better?"
"Much, much!" She hugged him.
"I thought it would cause less touching." Robert worked her arms off of him.
"Right! Sorry." She jerked back and hurried to Tyler's side and tormented him with the touching thing, bringing his hand to her lips and giggling while watching her very own human fashion show. Poor little guy.
Peggy shook her head. "Okay, if we're going to succeed in pulling this off, you all need to study human male mannerisms. So." She turned to the big screen contraption on the wall and started pushing buttons on the handheld device that controlled it. When she reached a series of male images, she froze the screen. "I want you all to take fifteen minutes to study the groove of the current culture. Ready? Go."
They all watched the images flickering across the screen far too quickly for the eye to distinguish and embedded the pertinent information required to master the silliness. Honestly, Robert failed to see what was so fabulous about the groove of those louts. He hoped they weren't all picking the same mannerisms. At the end of precisely fifteen minutes, sister shut it off.
"Five minutes to ingrain." She raised her hand then dropped it. "Go."
Robert tapped into the prefrontal cortex of his brain and routed all of the information he'd just gathered directly into his posterior parietal cortex and let it process. Almost immediately he felt the difference, his entire musculature and frame slowly moving to adapt to the impulses and nuances he'd just assimilated.
"Time's up!" She glided up to Robert and took his hand.
Robert spun her around, a brand new impulse. Peggy giggled and followed him in what resembled a choreographed set of movements. Dancing. That's what it was. "How did you know?" Even he hadn't realized he might enjoy dancing.
"I cheated." Her eyes sparkled with mischief.
"Of course you did." Robert drew
her up from a dip, unable to decide whether to be annoyed or pleased. He could well imagine taking great pleasure in the skill, but Peggy should not have taken upon herself to decide which skills to give them all. That was something they should choose individually.
"I thought it necessary." She grinned mischievously. "So we look like we know each other."
"Of course you did." Maxwell grinned, obviously not worried what other information their sister had deemed necessary.
"Oh stop. It's just mannerisms and a couple of simple skills, not your masculine inadequacies." Judging by Peggy's huge smile, she knew all about those too. Wench.
Robert surveyed his body, searching for anything he'd need to be concerned about. His muscles were thin and taut, not bulging. Inconspicuous. Even his male member seemed to match. Not that it mattered, he didn't plan on using it for anything besides disposing of his body's wastes. A light shudder rolled through him as knowledge of what it could be used for stood on the screen in his mind. He quickly wiped it away, glad he'd never need to know such things. At least they hadn't been asked to demonstrate understanding of that particular set of skills.
"What do I do?"
They all turned to Tyler.
He shrugged a little. "I was thinking you might need human bait. Authentic."
Francis snapped. "Great idea. Definitely."
The idea of Tyler going into that scenario didn't feel right to Robert. "How unsafe is that?"
"Nothing will happen to him. I can insure this." Peggy lowered her lashes the looked up to meet all their gazes, perfectly and absolutely positive of her statement.
One thing was certain. Tyler couldn't be safer than with Peggy as his body guard. And judging by the possessive way she behaved around him, he was definitely stuck with her protection.
"So all we have to do is learn their schedule, and determine the best time to intervene."
"Done." Francis dropped into a chair with a conspiratorial smile. "Tomorrow night they're having a Welcome Home party for one of their members getting out of prison. I was thinking we could happen by and join in the fun. Cause just enough disturbance to gain the attention we need but stay under the radar too."
"What do you need me to do?"
"We'll figure that out," Francis said. "But first, we need to go meet with our Fathers. Nothing is set until we get their clearance."
"Who's going to tell them?" Maxwell sauntered forward in his fancy new self.
It was going to take time to get used to seeing Maxwell so….masculine. He'd chosen nearly the opposite of what Robert had, muscles pushing at the fibers of his long sleeved aqua dress shirt. Matching blue green eyes below jet black brows and hair made him the perfect human pawing distraction. Robert hid a little smile. He would keep close to Maxwell in the human world to ensure his own invisibility.
Francis shrugged. "How about all of us?"
"In our human form?" Peggy looked cheerfully hopeful.
Silence fell as they all contemplated that. There was nothing wrong with their forms, they were just… different. How would the Archangels react? Robert wished he knew in advance. "May as well get it over with."
"Get what over with?" Max chuckled. "We're more than adults you know and it's not like we're doing anything wrong."
Robert shrugged. "I know. It's just…"
"Weird?" Francis offered.
"I do believe that is the perfect expression."
Peggy sighed and cocked her hip with a hand on it, staring at Robert. "Couldn't you have picked a different accent? And vocabulary?"
"What's wrong with my accent and vocabulary?"
"You sound like a…."
When she struggled for several seconds, Tyler generously offered up the word. "Snob?"
She pointed at Robert. "Yes! A snob." She looked at Tyler. "That means one who thinks they are smarter than most?" Tyler nodded.
Robert held up his hands. "Too bloody bad. I'm not giving up intellect. Sorry.
Peggy rolled her eyes. "You're supposed to play the part. Now you'll need to keep quiet. You can't go around sounding like you're from another planet."
"Not a problem there. I have nothing to say unless it's necessary. And I am certainly capable of discerning the variables in any given scenario, sister. I am the Diamond prince."
"I know, I know." She rolled her eyes. "But why not explore other themes while you have the opportunity, have fun, live a little?"
The female was annoyingly ridiculous. "This is plenty exploratory for me, thank you."
****
Francis used his cell phone to call his father. They all had one now and had orders to get used to communicating by human means in order to keep a low profile. At the compound there was no one else to keep a low profile from, but the idea was to get in the habit of using the cell phones so when they were out in the world, they didn't look technologically challenged. "Dad?"
"Yes, you've reached your dad, and I hate these damn things. What's up? You okay?"
Francis couldn't agree more about the cell phones. Confounding pain in the ass. "Yeah, I just wondered if we could call a meeting." He held his breath.
"Everything okay?"
"Um, yes. Me and the others have something we wanted to run by the Brotherhood." Francis tried not to hold his breath again since it made him sound odd, and kind of guilty.
"Oh, yes, sure." Kassern sounded relieved. "Now?"
"If that's possible."
"Okay. I'll contact the Brothers and let you know when." His father sounded a little distracted, as if his thoughts were already elsewhere. Hopefully things were okay with Karly.
"Alright. I'll wait for your call back."
Kassern sighed. "If I can remember how this contraption works."
Francis smiled. "I'm sure you'll get it."
"Thanks for the confidence."
"Duh. You're the Ruby Warrior, dad."
He laughed and the sound warmed Francis to his toes. "Duh? You're starting to sound like a real live human dude."
It was Francis' turn to laugh. "Dude. That's a good one."
"I take after my amazing son."
Francis thought his face would break with his huge smile. "And I take after my amazing father."
"Fair enough. I'll call you soon, be watching."
"Okay."
"How do you turn this thing off?" Kassern mumbled in the background.
Francis stayed on, listening, partly for his own information, and partly for entertainment. His parents had a lot of real fun together and he liked hearing them.
"The talk button." Karly's smile came through her voice.
"Talk button? Why not have a stop talking button?"
"Maybe when you're done saving the world, you can save the cell phone companies from this ruin."
"Very funny."
Francis grinned as the connection was finally cut.
Chapter Twenty-Three
Miya lay on her side watching Lesedi sleep. Her muscles ached deliciously in places she hadn't realized existed. Memory of discovering those places sent heat rushing to her cheeks. Over the past few hours, she'd done things she never believed she would personally experience.
Time with Lesedi proved the naysayers wrong. He was every inch the kind of man that her favorite authors wrote about. Pity her friends would never find out men like that really did exist. Her determination not to settle for less had paid off because now she had the man of her dreams.
She really should get up and shower and then find them something to eat. Earlier she'd attempted to, but Lesedi woke as she got out of bed and convinced her to wait. How many times had they made love? She'd lost count, but she'd learned several incredible things and Lesedi was a great teacher. He seemed to automatically know what she needed and when.
The contours of his chest tempted her mercilessly to touch and stroke when she tried to slip out of bed without waking him. Finally she succeeded in getting her feet on the floor and her body upright. She stood for a long moment watching Lesedi, tempted t
o slide back into his arms and wake him. The loud growl of her belly reminded her why she'd worked so hard to get up.
Almost regretfully, she went to the bathroom and donned the fluffy robe she'd worn after her shower. She eyed the unbelievable bathtub and her priorities nearly shifted with the promise of the best bath of her life. She could wait.
With the weight of her world-saving obligation heavy on her shoulders, she hadn't bothered to tour their quarters when they first came in. Now, with the consummation accomplished, she could slow down to enjoy.
The floor tile resembled marble, but with richer color, and the walls had slightly roughened surfaces, almost like poorly applied plaster that hadn't been sanded. Like deep jewel tones slightly muted with a sort of glazing over it. The whole place was gorgeous, and whoever put it together left possibilities for her to put her own touch.
The full gourmet kitchen had every appliance imaginable, some of which she had no clue of their function. She spied the one thing she did know. The coffee maker. Even though it was a far more sophisticated model than she was accustomed to, she recognized the pertinent parts that would give her the go-go juice she was accustomed to having.
But wow, the options. After a moment she finally found the coffee option—a selection of unground beans in various flavors and blends. Hello fancy pants. She finally selected a bean and managed to get the grinder attachment of the coffee maker to work. The coffee machine began spewing clouds of aromatic steam and Miya grinned like a teenager at graduation.
With the coffee conquered, Miya got busy searching out breakfast. The only issue was settling on one of the many available options. Omelets? Mmmm. She pulled out eggs, along with ham, cheddar, and mushrooms to add to it.
The shower came on beside the bedroom, and Miya's stomach flipped several times. He was awake. Why was she suddenly so damn nervous? She arranged the plates and dishes just so. Coffee cup. She hurried to the cabinet and found what seemed to be diamond cups and saucers that matched the plates. Gorgeous. She put the cup and saucer down. Was he left-handed or right? She tried to remember him doing stuff. Her stomach jerked when she remembered him stroking his…yeah. Left-handed. Okay.
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