Angel in Waiting

by Sharon Saracino

  To the right was the door behind which was the steep, metal staircase leading down to her father’s laboratory. A red light blinked on the ceiling mounted camera over the entrance. She hoped Galen knew what he was doing so anyone who happened to be watching the monitors would see nothing but a continuous loop of an empty vestibule. She knew the lab was where they would be holding Dimitri, and she moved toward the door while examining the area around it for any type of electronic device. Her heart sank when she noticed nothing out of the ordinary, but then as she looked more closely, she noticed the small black strip running along the doorframe next to the latch. Hardly daring to hope, she reached for the handle and grasped it, which placed the chip in her wrist right near the strip. She gasped aloud as she detected a faint series of clicks followed by a muted beep. Holding her breath, she gave the handle a tentative tug, amazed and relieved as the latch gave way and the door opened easily.

  According to the plan, Elle was supposed to leave the door slightly ajar, rejoin Alec in the lobby, and beat a hasty retreat. McAllister and Galen, and anyone else they’d been able to round up, were on stand-by less than a hundred yards away awaiting the signal to move in. That was the plan. She knew it was the plan. But all good intentions of sticking to the plan evaporated when she felt Dimitri’s presence like the gentle brush of a spring breeze invading her consciousness. He was alive and he was close. To hell with the plan. What if someone discovered the door unlatched before the Defensori ever arrived? They might never get another chance. She was here now and though she hadn’t often been allowed access to her father’s lab, she still knew the layout better than anyone else. It was up to her. She would find Dimitri on her own before the others even realized she’d deviated from the plan. And if Gatewick or anyone else tried to stop her, well… she’d worry about that if and when the time came. Slipping her expensive stilettos off, she gripped them like a weapon in one hand and grasped the cold iron handrail with the other. Drawing and holding a deep breath, she glance up at the surveillance camera one last time before creeping forward and soundlessly descending the poorly illuminated metal stairs on trembling legs and stocking feet into her own personal hell.

  Illuminated by the soft blue glow of the computer monitors standing sentinel along the black counter on the far wall, the microscopes, centrifuges, and steadily humming freezers and refrigeration units were unattended. Having half expected to come face to face with Gatewick, Elle breathed a quick sigh of relief upon finding the lab empty.

  She’d just reached the bottom of the stairs and placed one nylon clad foot on the cold floor when Alec’s voice shouted in her head before being abruptly cut off as the door clicked shut above her. A strange prickling sensation crept up her spine from her tailbone to the nape of her neck, an odd, uncomfortable feeling unlike anything she’d ever experienced before. She closed her eyes and swallowed the bile scalding the back of her throat while her legs began to shake in earnest. Her heart plummeted to her feet as she suddenly remembered that girl. That girl in every romantic suspense she’d ever written. That girl who made horror movie fans scream a warning from the comfort of their theater seat as she foolishly ventured into the basement or the attic or the darkened bedroom, never bothering to turn on a light. Good Lord, she was that girl! That stupid, stupid girl who dove in first and checked the depth of the water later. That girl who usually wound up dead. Curling her fingers even more tightly into the toes of her pumps, she grimly put one foot in front of the other and started across the polished concrete floor of the lab, ignoring the little voice screaming a warning in her head that someone or something was coming down the stairs behind her.

  “You’re safer in here. Just stay put and stay quiet until I come back for you,” Dimitri told Jim, stepping out into the hallway with Gatewick.

  “Look, Doc… I know I don’t look very strong, but I like to think I’m fairly intelligent. Maybe there’s something I can do to help.” Jim braced his back against the wall and pushed himself to his feet. With a pained expression, he carefully used his good arm to guide his opposite hand in hooking his thumb in his belt loop to support his injured shoulder as Dimitri had directed. While Dimitri admired the guy’s pluck, if his pasty complexion and the rivulets of sweat pouring down his face were any indication, he was far more likely to pass out cold and simply get underfoot than provide any real assistance no matter how noble his intentions.

  “Appreciate it, buddy, but I think you’d better stay here. I’ll call you if I need you, okay?”

  “What if I don’t hear you?”

  “You’ll hear me.” Dimitri sent the thought into the other man’s mind and Jim’s eyes widened.

  “You weren’t kidding!” Jim gulped audibly.

  “About?”

  “The risk of seeing or hearing things that might seem far-fetched.”

  “Kid, you ain’t seen nothing yet.” Dimitri grinned and started to swing the door closed. Suddenly he froze as shocks raced up and down his spine. He’d been expecting that. What was completely unexpected, what stopped him in his tracks and sent his heart racing into a full out gallop, was the warm sensation of awareness brushing his consciousness almost simultaneously. What the hell? “Elle?”

  Chapter Twenty

  Elle dropped her shoes with a clatter and grabbed for the nearest countertop, sending a rack of empty test tubes to the floor with a crash, as her knees buckled in relief at the sound of Dimitri’s voice in her head. So much for stealth, she thought ruefully as she carefully picked her way around the shattered shards of glass and bent to retrieve her shoes. She still wasn’t sure how the whole telepathy thing worked, so she simply opened her mind and hoped her thoughts somehow reached him.

  “Dimitri? Oh thank God! Where are you? I’m here!”

  “GET OUT!” He roared in her head. Elle gasped aloud and forcibly swallowed down a knot of hurt. Well, of course she’d known he was mad as hell when he stormed out, but surely, he must have some idea of what coming here had cost her? Staying angry when she was here facing down her most hellacious demons to save his sorry ass was just plain rude! She barely had time to consider a scathing response designed to guilt the big lug into an appropriately apologetic state when she felt a whisper of hot breath on the back of her neck right before an arm snaked around her chest. Well, shit! Maybe Dimitri hadn’t been angry with her after all. Maybe he’d been trying to warn her.

  “Um, help?” Elle sent the thought instinctively, though she knew Dimitri was unable to come to her aid. She remembered feeling the strange prickling sensation and attributing it to nerves. Hmm, maybe not. Then again, she’d never had it before so how was she supposed to recognize it? She really needed to have to have a long talk with her Earthbound friends about what to expect moving forward since her genetically engineered DNA was clearly evolving. Of course, in order to have that conversation, first she needed to survive. Elle forced herself to focus on the immediate problem. She’d gotten herself into this mess and it was increasingly apparent she was going to have to figure out a way to get herself out of it. And then she would rescue Dimitri.

  “Well, well, well. Who do we have here?” Elle stiffened against the arm holding her in place, immediately recognizing the silky, well-modulated voice of Justin Chen. The hollow, measured echo of footsteps on metal indicated he was descending the stairwell behind her. She realized he must have been somewhere in the compound all along, because Alec and the others would never have allowed him to get past them if he’d simply walked in the front door. Damn, damn, and double damn! She tentatively arched against the man holding her, and was rewarded by the tightening of his forearm and a rough and painful squeeze of her breast.

  “Hey, no touchy-feely, asshole!” Vaguely aware of heavy footsteps pounding in her direction from the maze of hallways and storerooms through the doorway at the back of the lab, Elle knew it had to be Gatewick. Well, she wasn’t going down without a fight. Using her free hand to pry her captor’s fingers loose, she flexed her knee and brought the heel o
f her foot down on his instep with as much force as she could muster. He grunted in pain and his arm loosened just enough for Elle to bring her arm up and launch an elbow backwards into his gut. As he doubled over and his arm fell away completely, Elle spun on her heel and swung her shoes directly at his head. One wickedly sharp stiletto heel caught him squarely in the temple and sank in with a sickening thwack. With a wide-eyed look of horror, the animorti exploded, spattering Elle and anything within a three-foot range, with a fine spray of stinking black goo, before settling into a slimy puddle at her feet.

  Well, that was…unexpected. And gross. Elle had simply been hoping to knock the guy off balance long enough to scoot behind the nearest counter and put some distance between herself and Chen. She glanced down at her clothes. The white silk blouse she’d borrowed from Kat dripped with the slime, and the navy suit was trashed. Perhaps she could claim it as payback for the Louboutins? Distracted by the astonishing demise of the animorti, Elle never saw Chen move. Her heart dropped to her feet as he hooked an arm around her neck and tangled his other hand in her hair. Her shoes clattered to the floor as her hands flew to the top of her head to hold the wig in place, hoping he hadn’t yet recognized her. Holding her in front of him like a shield, he whipped around to face the back of the lab as the door crashed open with a force that tore it from its hinges.

  Even if she hadn’t been looking, Elle would have recognized Dimitri by the feral growl rumbling up from the depths of his chest. She sagged against Chen in relief at the sight of him. He was alive, unharmed, and livid. Thankfully, it was directed at someone other than her for the moment. Her sense of relief was short-lived, however, as John Gatewick stepped up and around him.

  “Dimitri, behind you!” She cried out.

  “Let her go, Chen,” Gatewick demanded. “I have what you want.”

  “That’s where you’re wrong, John,” Chen hissed over her shoulder, so close to her ear that the uncomfortable sensation racing up and down her spine spread throughout her body, leaving her nerve endings buzzing. “I thought you had what I wanted, but I see now I’ve wasted endless years and tons of money on someone whose talents are far less extraordinary than I was led to believe. First Lawrence, and now you. The Gatewicks have been a disappointment to me on all counts.”

  “Perhaps. Perhaps not,” Gatewick responded and glanced up at Dimitri with a secretive smile while reaching a hand into his pants pocket. Elle looked away from the man who’d raised her and let her eyes roam hungrily over Dimitri. If she was about to die, she wanted her last memory to be of him. Then the corner of his lips twitched and his eyelid flicked in a quick but unmistakable wink.

  “Baby, I can’t get a clear shot with you in front of him. As soon as Gatewick tosses the vial and Chen goes for it, you’ve got to move, got it?”

  “Yes, but what…?” Clearly, Dimitri had a plan, and her father was in on it. It made no sense to her whatsoever, but if it had the potential to eliminate Chen and get Dimitri out of here in one piece, she was on board.

  “Just move. And by the way, when this is all over I am so putting you over my knee for getting yourself in the middle of this.” His tone was light, but the tight set of his jaw told Elle they weren’t out of the woods yet. He was just trying to ease her fears. Well, she could do the same for him.

  “Promise?” She waggled her brows suggestively.

  Dimitri coughed and adjusted his stance just as Gatewick pulled his hand from his pocket and raised it in the air with a triumphant expression. Clutched in his fist was a small golden vial encrusted with gemstones and Chen sucked in a breath. The arm around her neck twitched while the grip on her hair tightened and pulled. Elle held the wig in place with a death grip.

  “Where did you get that?” Chen croaked hoarsely.

  “Why, I’ve had it for years, Justin,” John Gatewick replied in a scathing tone. “If it makes you feel any better, you were on the right track. Lawrence and Penny did have the ampule, but I fear you must have tipped your hand, old friend. Before you killed them, my brother and his wife left both the ampule and their daughter with me for safekeeping.”

  “Their daughter?” Chen sputtered. “All these years…I never even suspected…she never exhibited any sign…”

  “No, I made sure of that,” Gatewick responded in a hard voice, his eyes resting briefly on Elle who stared back at him in shock. John Gatewick wasn’t her father. And she hadn’t been conceived in a test tube nor genetically engineered. Her entire life was a lie, it was true, but not the one she thought.

  “Now I guess you have a decision to make,” Gatewick continued, his gaze shifting back to Chen. “Take the ampule and let her go, or take your chances against Dr. Radchenko who has his own score to settle with you.” He jerked his head in Dimitri’s direction.

  “You? I don’t even know you!” Chen spat. “What score could you possibly have to settle with me other than the fact that I’m a Fallen?”

  “First of all, you’ve dared to put your hands on my mate. That alone is enough to earn you a death sentence. And secondly, you do know me, although I’m not surprised you don’t remember. I’m sure you thought I’d burnt to a crisp centuries ago, if you ever thought of me at all. Oh, but I’ve thought of you. Every single minute of every single day for seven hundred years, Jebe.” Dimitri’s eyes narrowed to slits and a wild and dangerous look settled over his features. It was a look unlike anything she’d ever seen and she realized this was the man he hadn’t wanted her to see, this was the venom he hadn’t wanted her to know he was capable of. But now, faced with the man who had cost him everything, he was unable to keep it hidden any longer. And she was okay with it. As far as she was concerned, he had every right to feel as he did and the good he’d done in his long lifetime far outweighed his justifiable vendetta against this one evil monster. Elle felt Chen’s whole body tremble against her. Clearly, Dimitri’s words had jogged his memory.

  “The farm boy? But…but that’s impossible!”

  Dimitri arched a dark brow. “Clearly not.”

  “So what will it be, Justin? Dr. Radchenko has given his word he won’t lay a finger on you if you choose the vial and release the girl,” Gatewick said, waving the item enticingly in the air.

  “As if he can be taken at his word,” Chen spat.

  “I tire of this, John,” Dimitri drawled, snatching the vial from the older man and tossing it in the air in Chen’s direction. Keeping his fingers tangled in her hair, Chen released Elle’s throat and lunged desperately for the prize. Taking advantage of the distraction, Elle dropped her hands, slipping free of the wig and diving for the floor. Dimitri’s knife whistled through the air over her head, striking Chen with a deadly thunk and enough force to send him staggering backwards. The metallic clink of the vial hitting the floor and rolling out of his reach was immediately followed by the heavy thud of his body becoming close personal friends with the concrete.

  Dimitri stalked across the lab and stood over Chen. For a moment, there was no sound but the heavy rasp of Chen’s breathing as his lungs filled, slowly drowning him in his own blood.

  “You gave your word you wouldn’t touch me.” Chen gurgled, then lapsed into a fit of moist coughing.

  “And I didn’t. But I never said I wouldn’t kill you.”

  “Semantics,” Chen wheezed. Then his eyes opened wide and he coughed one last time, spewing blood all over Dimitri’s leather pants as though determined to have the last word, before death took him.

  “Whatever.” Dimitri bent to retrieve his stiletto, and after wiping it clean on the hem of Chen’s jacket, he slapped it back into place against his forearm where it dissolved into his tattoo.

  Rubbing his hands together until they glowed with an unearthly blue light, he turned his palms in the direction of Chen’s body. Elle watched in awe as the remains of the Fallen simply vaporized and disappeared as though he had never been. But he had been, and what misery he’d inflicted on first Dimitri’s family, she flicked a glance at John Gatewick who�
�d remained in the doorway watching her, and then on hers.

  Dimitri completed his clean-up duty by working the same magic on the black puddle that had been the animorti and then scooped up her shoes. He turned just as Elle pulled herself up on shaking legs and dragged the skullcap from her head, freeing her hair with a sigh. He’d intended to give her a stern lecture about following directions. He’d intended to kick her ass for putting herself at risk. He’d intended to point out that by coming here she’d pretty much proven she had no faith in his ability to take care of himself. Instead, he looked at this woman, his woman, the woman who had put her life on the line and willingly swan dived into her own personal lake of fire to save him. Her clothes dripped with animorti guts, her pantyhose hung in tattered ruins, and her left eye was glued shut from the combination of make-up and tears. Frankly, she resembled a dog’s breakfast. She’d never looked more beautiful to him. All the things he intended to say evaporated into thin air as she blinked up at him through her tangled hair and one bright, mascara caked eye.

  “I told you those shoes were worth the money,” she quipped while offering him a tentative smile.

  He was across the room, pulling her into his arms, and settling his lips over hers before she’d even managed to draw another breath.

  It was several minutes before Dimitri became aware the pounding he heard wasn’t simply his own heart reacting to the woman in his arms. He opened one eye to see John Gatewick scurry across the lab and run up the stairs with more speed and agility than Dimitri would have expected from a man his age. When the sound of the door opening was followed by Gatewick’s cry of alarm and the angry voices of Alec McAllister, Mac, and Galen, it belatedly occurred to Dimitri that they still believed Elle’s uncle was her father and playing for the opposing team. He didn’t have a real problem with letting them knock the guy around a little. After all, he’d put Elle through hell even if he’d thought it was for the right reasons. And he was human, so Dimitri knew the others wouldn’t actually kill him. But Elle seemed to grasp the situation at the same moment and tore herself from his arms to limp to the foot of the stairs and call up to the others.