by Stacy Gail
“Mrs. Denton.” Scrambling to her feet, Kendall winced when her slashed leg screamed at her. “You’ve got to throw that knife away before you kill someone.” Like me.
She looked from the knife to Kendall, whose chin and neck were now awash with blood. She gasped, and the knife tumbled from her arthritic fingers to the rocky ground on which Kendall stood. “I don’t...understand...” She grabbed at her chest a moment before her head jerked to the side in an all-too familiar gesture, and with a curse Kendall plucked up the knife and tossed it out to sea. This was seriously not going to plan.
Damn it, Zeke, get to James Denton already.
“Wow, almost lost it there.” The white veil was back, stronger than ever, and her expression sharpened with cruel pleasure. “You know, I think I might be spreading myself too thin. Sucking out your boyfriend’s soul while still trying to keep my puppet in this disintegrating old body is putting a much bigger strain on me than I thought it would. My mom never did take care of herself.”
The blood in Kendall’s veins iced over, and the world suddenly stilled. It wasn’t possible, what James had just said. It couldn’t be. “Zeke!”
“I’ve never done so much all at once before, and I gotta admit I’m feeling the strain. I didn’t expect you guys to try the old divide-and-conquer thing, so hat’s off to you. Too bad for you that I’m better than even I thought.” With a grace that Abigail Denton never could have pulled off, her body was made to vault over the handrail. A sharp snap like a twig breaking sounded when she landed, and her left side seemed to crumple. “Whoopsie. Guess Mom needs to take more calcium. Oh, well. Since I think she’s having a heart attack anyway, I doubt a busted ankle matters at this point.”
“You sick bastard. This ends now.” Anguish mingled with rage until it was all she knew, and with a scream borne from of the depths of desperation, Kendall launched herself at James Denton’s puppet.
* * *
Kendall.
Somewhere, Kendall was screaming.
On one knee and with vision fading, Zeke focused on that shivery sound until it became his world. Kendall needed him. She was fighting that bloodthirsty geist all on her own, with its superhuman strength that would do more than just tear her apart. It would tear her from him. He’d just found her, this courageous, magnificent woman who accepted him without question and gave him a peace he had never known.
Kendall.
She was his reason for being. She was both his secret fantasy and breathtaking reality. She was his only thought, his only need. For the first time in his life, he looked forward to the future, because she was going to be a part of it.
She was everything.
And oh God, he was losing her.
“No!” With the last of his strength, Zeke pushed to his feet. His moves were painfully sluggish, like he was moving through water. But he had to move. He had to get to the puppet master. He had to save Kendall. And not just to keep his city or himself off of heaven’s radar.
He had to, because that’s what he was born to do.
His ability to blur was nowhere to be found, but he could still move, and that was enough. Through the warping haze, he saw his attacker’s eyes widen before he took a step back.
“Damn, dude, how the hell are you—”
Zeke didn’t give him time to finish. His arm felt like it weighed a ton as he threw a fist. A satisfying spurt of blood geysered from Denton’s shattered nose as he sprawled like a ragdoll to the safety railing overlooking the Pacific, and suddenly Zeke’s vision cleared. The visual distortion vanished as his strength came back in a euphoric rush, and it was his turn to close the distance while James staggered.
“You...you hit me.” Leaning hard against the railing, he cupped a hand over his pulverized nose and blinked dazedly. “You asshole, you broke my nose!”
“I’m about to break a lot more. That’s what happens in a fight to the death, you idiot.” The words came out as bleak and desolate as Zeke felt, but there was no turning from the truth now. “When I first learned a human might be behind the geist attacks, I didn’t want to hear it. Because deep down I knew the only way to stop you would be to...” His jaw knotted on words that tore a hole right through the center of his soul. “Would be to end you, or die trying. You’ve already proven that no one—especially Kendall—will be safe as long as you’re alive. I can’t allow that.”
“I—” Whatever Denton was going to say vanished as something caught his attention at the other end of the lighthouse’s platform. A stabbing throb behind Zeke’s eyes was the only warning he had.
* * *
Abigail Denton’s eyes cleared a heartbeat before she fell, her eyes open and staring blankly up at the gray sky. Torn between horror and relief, Kendall realized Denton’s mother was no more, and the geist had vacated a now-lifeless shell to merge with the dissipating fog. Its apparent vanishing was fine with her...unless Denton was using it to attack Zeke.
“Oh, God.” Her heart lurched at the thought of Zeke being double-teamed, and it got her running as fast as she could toward the stairs. Vaulting up onto the Stairway to Heaven made her sliced calf spasm in protest but she ignored it as she sprinted down the remainder of the steps. Pain could wait until later—if there was a later. If the geist and its master were tearing Zeke apart, she couldn’t imagine what sort of future there could be, and not just because there would be no stopping that unholy duo if Zeke was defeated. She knew without being told that defeat equaled death in Zeke’s mind, and that was something she point-blank refused to face. Zeke couldn’t die. He couldn’t.
The fog was getting serious about lifting as she made it to the landing. Jagged gasps tore from her throat as sounds of a scuffle on the far side drew her past the tower’s white base. She got a fleeting glimpse of a dazed and bleeding James, a vision more satisfying than she could have imagined, and Zeke—strong and unharmed—standing over him with eyes glowing with a power that came not just from his lineage, but from the ferocious strength of a man hell-bent on doing what was right, no matter the cost.
All that, and a great lover to boot. No wonder she loved him.
Before she could do little more than collapse against the side of the lighthouse in relief, a nebulous cloud of what her brain told her was fog abruptly engulfed Denton.
Her throat closed on a gasp. “What—”
James Denton’s thin face blanched with terror as his sneakered feet left terra firma, and in a move that defied gravity he was flung by an invisible hand out to sea. In a flash that blurred his movements around the edges, Zeke dived after him.
“Zeke!” Staggering to the railing, Kendall watched the two plunge downward, all the while expecting Zeke’s wings to unfurl and carry him to safety. Any minute now it would happen. Any second...
The massive splash as they hit the rock-strewn waters below tore a scream from her that she never heard, a devastated wail of horror and anguish and an awful, never-ending despair. Disbelief ripped through her like shrapnel as she stared at the spot where they had entered the water a hundred feet below. Waiting for him to appear.
Waiting in vain.
No. God, please, no.
This couldn’t be. Zeke couldn’t just...cease to be. She screamed his name again, in desperation. In denial. He was so strong, so good. He was too good to die.
This couldn’t possibly be.
She stood for what seemed like eons, until she no longer had the breath to scream, until she no longer had the strength to stand. Until there was no life left in her. How could there be? Zeke wasn’t coming back to her the way he was supposed to. Zeke was...was...
Gone.
Kendall shuddered and pulled her knees up to her chest, huddled on the ground without remembering how she got there. Gulls cried and wheeled overhead, the restless pulse of the surf pounded against the cliffs below, but otherwise there was silence. The world would always be silent now in her ears, because the one voice she wanted to hear was gone. Forever gone.
“Kendall.�
��
Her heart stilled. Which was odd, because she’d thought it had already died. With the last of her strength, she blinked eyes blinded with tears she didn’t know she was crying, and lifted her head.
Zeke.
Dripping wet, he hunkered down and pulled her onto his lap, the black curtain of his wings drawing close around them to form a protective bubble. “Damn, you’re one bloody mess. Can you hear me, sweetheart?”
“Zeke?” Afraid to believe her own eyes, she touched his adored face in tremulous wonder. Then slapped the crap out of it. “Don’t you ever scare me like that again, you bastard.” And she kissed him before she could pass out from sheer, unadulterated relief.
When at last he pulled back, they were both breathless and there was a red hand-shaped welt on his cheek. “You have every right to beat the crap out of me, Kendall. The last thing I wanted was for you to be injured.”
“It was the fear I’d lost you that killed me, you idiot.” A storm of love raged within her as she locked her arms around his neck. “What the hell were you thinking, diving after Denton like that?”
He rested his brow against hers. “I acted on instinct.”
“Instinct?”
“Don’t get me wrong. I knew I had to finish Denton in order to make the world a safer place. But when the geist threw him over the railing all I could think was that it wasn’t fair—Denton didn’t even have a fighting chance. I couldn’t stop myself from trying to save him.”
“Zeke—”
“I know, okay? I get it.” He pulled back far enough to give her a hard look that dared her to bitch at him. “Putting myself at risk while trying to save the guy who’s doing his best to kill me probably doesn’t make a hell of a lot of sense, but I never claimed anything in my crazy life makes sense, including me. This is just who I am.”
Her throat tightened until it was hard to breathe. Whether he knew it or not, he was exactly the kind of man she needed him to be. “Fair enough. Just promise me that next time I call your name you answer me double-quick, or I swear I’ll kill you myself. Got it?”
“Got it.” His arms wrapped around her as if he feared she’d slip away. “I’ll always be there when you call. Always.”
“I’ll hold you to that.”
“I mean it, Kendall.” He gave her hair a gentle tug so he could look into her eyes. “I’m talking long-term here, and I need to know if you can handle being with me. You know my lifestyle is...unconventional.”
“You’re a hero.” She shrugged, because it really was that simple. “Complete with super powers, a hidden fortress, a kinky mask I can’t get enough of, and every now and again, a crazy-powered nemesis no one but you can handle. Aren’t I a lucky girl?”
“I’m the lucky one.” He kissed her again, and it was a kiss filled with burgeoning promise. “You won’t have to worry about this latest nemesis, at least. Along with poor Abigail Denton, James didn’t survive his puppet’s attack, and I’ve already passed on all three souls. As of now, we’re free to get on with the rest of our lives.”
“Together.” Her arms tightened around him and she sent up a silent prayer of thanks that Zeke was, if only for the moment, safe. “The one question I have now is whether or not I can talk you into wearing the mask while I have my wicked way with you. What do you think my chances are?”
A laugh escaped him as he stood with her in his arms, his wings spreading out wide behind him. “Pretty damn good,” he promised, and they shot off into the air.
* * * * *
If you’re looking for more stories by Stacy Gail, then don’t miss the next installment of her Earth Angels series.
Savage Angel
Feel nothing. Sara Savitch’s personal mantra has been hard to live by ever since her torrid one-night stand with Army doctor Gideon Mandeville. Descended from the Seraphim, angels known as heaven’s soldiers, Sara may be an expert fighter, but she’s an amateur when it comes to relationships.
Physically unharmed, but still battle-scarred, Gideon has returned to Dallas in the hopes of regaining his faith in humanity—and in himself. Instead he’s walked into a nightmare. His father is on a serial killer’s hit list, and has hired a personal bodyguard—the very woman who has haunted Gideon’s dreams for a year. As Sara works to build an impenetrable fortress around her client, she yearns to tear down the one around Gideon’s heart. With his bitter rejection of warriors, will he ever be able to accept her true nature?
Find out February 4, 2013.
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About the Author
A competitive figure skater from the age of eight, Stacy Gail began writing stories in between events to pass the time. By the age of fourteen, she told her parents she was either going to be a figure skating coach who was also a published romance writer, or a romance writer who was also a skating pro. Now with a day job of playing on the ice with her students, and writing everything from steampunk to cyberpunk, contemporary to paranormal at night, both dreams have come true.
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ISBN: 978-14268-9496-1
Copyright © 2013 by Stacy Gail Shoeman
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All characters in this book have no existence outside the imagination of the author and have no relation whatsoever to anyone bearing the same name or names. They are not even distantly inspired by any individual known or unknown to the author, and all incidents are pure invention.
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