“Now, what was that about counting chickens, asshole?”
Degnan remained stubbornly silent except for the heaving gurgle of his labored breathing.
“Where is he?” Kassian roughly grasped the neck of the Fallen’s jacket and heaved his upper body from the pavement, leaning forward until they were almost nose to nose. He knew the bastard was bleeding out fast; he didn’t have much time.
“I said, where is he?”
Degnan spat a mouthful of blood in the general direction of Kassian’s face, but he didn’t have the strength left to do more than produce a fine spray while the rest dribbled from the side of his mouth. His voice was weak and reedy, but no less malicious as he hissed something unintelligible through the blood bubbling up to choke him.
“What did you say to me?”
Degnan began to cough and choke, fighting for air as he drew in a harsh, wet breath.
“You won’t save her...”
Something in Kassian snapped and he became a rabid animal. Using his fist like a battering ram he pounded Degnan’s face over and over. He first felt the nose and eye sockets give way, and then the wicked satisfaction of the cheekbones crumbling beneath the assault. With the crack of every impact, the Fallen’s blood spewed from the pulp of his face. The gore from the gut wound continued to pool around Kassian’s boots and at some point he knew he was battering a corpse. He didn’t care. With every strike, he felt the blood soaking him and still he wanted more. His hands were raw and swollen when Luca finally put an end to the gory rampage by grabbing and pinning Kassian’s arms from behind. The body that he dropped back to the wet and bloody pavement was unrecognizable.
Kassian’s breathing was the heavy snort of a charging bull as he regarded the mess he’d made and struggled to regain his control. His gut clenched and shook in anger and frustration. Luca simply held him, arms locked around his friend’s chest, and waited until the breathing became less ragged.
“You good?”
“Yeah, I’m good,” he lied. The tragedy was that he didn’t feel any better and was no closer to an answer. Luca tugged on his sleeve and nodded toward the freight elevator.
“C’mon, let’s see what’s down there.”
Dimitri yanked on the handle of the elevator door. The steel slab gave way with a rusty scream that echoed through the alley and the chamber below as they peered cautiously into the yawning black pit. There was no urgent sense of danger, no pin pricks racing along their nerves. Whatever or whoever the Fallen had been guarding was long gone, probably alerted by the sounds of the battle. Dimitri was about to release the door and let it fall back into place when the sweet metallic tang of fresh blood caught their attention and brought Luca’s head up.
“Wait.”
Kassian quickly rubbed his palms together and directed a blue glow into the darkness below. In the far corner, a body slumped against a pile of unpacked freight. Her throat was slit nearly to the spine, her lifeblood pooled beneath a mop of matted blonde hair, soaking into the cardboard cartons against which her small frame rested. Kassian guessed their arrival had interrupted Jacques’ work and he’d decided to go for a quick kill and retreat. He tried to take comfort in the fact that though they hadn’t saved her, at least her death had been relatively quick compared to other victims they’d seen. They all knew the degeneracy that Jacques was capable of descending to. She couldn’t have been any older than Kat. Dimitri fished an untraceable pay-as-you-go cell from inside his jacket and called the body’s location in to the police. He pulled the bandana from his head, carefully wiped down the phone for prints, and shoved it haphazardly in a nearby Dumpster under some rotting cabbage and the used coffee grounds that had spilled from a plastic bag. Then he buffed his palms together until they glowed and vaporized the bodies of the Fallen.
“I think we’re done here for tonight,” Luca said, clapping Dimitri on the back. “Thanks for your help, brother.”
“We’ll get the bastard, bro.” Dimitri punched Kassian’s shoulder affectionately and faded out.
“Let’s go home, my brother…you could use a shower. All that Fallen blood...you smell like rotten eggs.” Luca tugged Kassian away from the pit.
“Yeah,” Kassian agreed wearily, “I am so rocking this Eau de Sulfur. What time is it, anyway?”
Luca squinted at his gold Movado. “A little after three, why?”
“Alec should be up by now…I don’t think I have the energy to kick his ass tonight, though.”
“Don’t be too hard on him…he lost her too, you know. He wants to help.”
“I know that, but I won’t lose him, too. Callista was my responsibility and I’m the one who failed her. I’ll take the risks and I’ll be the one to take the bastard out.” Luca was silent for a minute, regarding McAllister through narrowed eyes.
“Okay, you know what? I’ve kept my mouth shut for years and I have to say something whether it pisses you off or not. You’ll get over it. Probably.” Luca shrugged. “Look, Mac, we’ve been friends a long time and I’m going to speak frankly. You may not like what I have to say, but someone needs to say it and more importantly, you need to hear it. I loved Calli, too. I will stand beside you in any battle, do whatever it takes to get Rapier…you know that.” Kassian kept his expression guarded, but he nodded shortly as Luca continued. “I’ve watched you beat the hell out of yourself for over a century because you think you failed your sister, because you think you didn’t protect her. That’s bullshit, Mac. Callista wasn’t a child and she wasn’t stupid. She was an intelligent, headstrong, fully grown woman who made her own choices. She was going to do what she wanted no matter what you said. She felt a responsibility to protect those women exactly like you felt a responsibility to protect her. That was Callista. Do you blame me for her death? I knew what she was like as well as you did. No? Then why are you any more responsible than you think I am? What happened isn’t on you, Mac…and you’re the only one who believes it is.”
“I could have stopped her,” Kassian argued.
“You couldn’t…because she never intended you to. She always did exactly what she wanted, and your father, in his own misguided way, encouraged it. She didn’t take his orders, and she didn’t take yours. It still sucks, but what happened is on her, not you. And somewhere deep down, you know it.”
“I know this isn’t your fight, Luca,” Kassian acknowledged stiffly. His jaw was clenched so tightly with emotion that it ached. Luca was as close as any blood brother. He had always stood beside Kassian, even through this last century of his all-consuming need for vengeance; all of the Defensori had. It was understandable if they were tired of putting aside their own lives in pursuit of his objective. “I understand if you’ve had enough. No worries, no hard feelings.”
“Don’t be an ass, Mac,” Luca frowned, replacing his dagger against his forearm with an angry slap. “And don’t deliberately misunderstand me, either. The bastard will pay no matter how long it takes, for Callista, and for all of the others who didn’t have anyone to avenge them, and I’ll be right there with you… that’s not what I’m talking about and you know it. You need to step back, you know? Get over yourself. This thing has eaten you alive to the point where I feel like I spend my time with a walking corpse.” He jabbed a finger in Kassian’s chest near the region of his heart. “There’s nothing in there anymore, Mac. Today was the first glimpse I’ve had of the real you in years. Maybe you should think about that. Letting go of the guilt and letting yourself in on some happiness doesn’t mean you give up the goal. Give yourself a break, my brother…it’s time.”
Was it time? Could he shed the mantle of responsibility he’d worn all these years and place it squarely where Luca thought it belonged, on Callista? Did it mean he loved her less? Or did it mean that he saw her clearly for the first time? All these years he thought if he could avenge his sister he could… what? Forgive himself? He didn’t know what to think anymore. But Luca was right about one thing; he’d only been half alive for a long time. It
hadn’t seemed to matter so much until he’d found Kat.
“I’ll give it some thought, okay?” he conceded wearily. “Let’s go home.”
“You look like hell…Kat sees you like that you are going to have some ’splaining to do,” Luca pronounced in his best Cuban bandleader voice.
Kassian sent his mind out into the night. His place was only a few blocks south, close enough to touch Alec’s mind.
“She’s asleep. Alec is waiting up, though.”
“Okay, let’s go.” Luca started to fade.
“Luca…” Luca solidified and stood waiting with one brow raised quizzically. “Um…thanks, brother.”
Luca offered his characteristic shrug, but he couldn’t hide the faint smile curving his lips as he faded out.
Chapter 8
Kat awoke to the sound of subdued voices beyond the bedroom door. She squinted at the digital clock glowing four thirty-two in eerie, neon green. The last thing she remembered was watching something on the Sci-Fi channel with Alec, which struck her as ironic, really, considering she felt as though she was starring in her own little drama of good and evil, murder and magic, a supernatural world whose existence she could never have imagined. Alec had been less than forthcoming after his initial confidences, perhaps fearing he’d already said too much. She’d nuked the remaining Chinese, and he’d spent the rest of the evening pretending to be completely absorbed in the poorly done B movie after he chowed down every scrap of the leftovers. She guessed she’d dozed off and he carried her into the bedroom. She sure didn’t remember navigating here on her own. She sat up slowly, disoriented in the dark, and fumbled around on the bedside table for the lamp switch. Was McAllister back yet? She literally slipped from the bed and padded barefoot to the door. Before she could reach for the knob, the door flew open. The sight that met her eyes stopped her in her tracks and sent her heart leaping into her throat. Oh my God, so much blood! She began to shake so hard her teeth chattered. She felt the color drain from her face and her knees buckled, pain shooting up her spine as her butt hit the floor, hard, fully waking her as nothing else could have. She recovered quickly, scrambled to her feet, and took charge, tugging at Kassian’s sleeves to get the blood soaked clothes off of him and pushing him toward the bed so that she could assess the damage.
“How bad is it? Damn you, McAllister, you promised! Get those clothes off and get in that bed…where the hell is Luca?”
She realized he must be blocking his feelings exceedingly well; she couldn’t detect even a whisper of pain or distress coming from him.
“Alec! Get in here and help me…” Her hands trembled and her teeth locked into her lower lip hard enough to draw blood to keep from bursting into tears, but it didn’t impede her determination. The leather was stiff and sticky, and refused to cooperate with her desperate attempts to remove it. She had to find the source of the bleeding and stop it; she didn’t care what he was, angel or demon, no one could lose this much blood and live. She prayed the quick healing thing ran in the family. If something happened to him…sonofabitch! How dare he barrel-ass his way into her life and then go out and get himself killed?
****
“Kat…” Kassian had expected to find Kat sleeping and so was totally unprepared to deal with her reaction. She shrank back a bit and it was then he realized that not only was he a gory mess, he stank to high hell. No wonder she looked sick. He reached for her and realized that given the condition of his knuckles, maybe that wasn’t such a hot idea either.
He grabbed her hands and tried to hold her still. “Kat, listen to me…” as she continued her fight with his duster. “It’s not my blood.”
It was a few seconds before his words seemed to penetrate her galloping fear and her breathing gradually slowed and became more regular.
“It’s not?” Her breath left her in a great rush.
“No, it’s not.” He released her hands and ran his palms soothingly up and down her arms. “We ran into…a little trouble. You should see the other guy.” She didn’t look amused by his lame joke, and he realized that it was probably much better if she didn’t see the other guy. In fact, she probably didn’t ever need to know he was even capable of such brutality. His first instinct was to kiss away the worried pucker between her eyes, but he could see by the way she’d wrinkled her nose and started to frown that the smell had finally penetrated her panic.
“God, you are foul!” She held a hand to her nose and waved the other one in front of her to disperse the odor. “Where’s your trusty sidekick, by the way?”
“Yeah, Fallen blood…a little dab’ll do ya!” he smiled in relief. She didn’t seem nearly as upset by the gallons of blood now that she knew it wasn’t his. “Luca is fine…he’s gone back to his place, and Alec went to bed. Let me get out of these things and hop in the shower. Is there any of that Chinese left?”
“Whew! I think you’ll have to burn those clothes. And no, your brother polished it off earlier.”
“Figures…”
“I could throw together an omelet or something if you’re hungry?”
“You can cook?”
“Well, you don’t have to sound so surprised! I’m no domestic goddess, but I think I can manage to keep you from starving.”
“Oh, I’m sure you can,” he grinned in a way that let her know he wasn’t talking about food. He gave her arms a squeeze and stepped back. He peeled the long duster off and tossed it in the corner, then followed it with the black tee.
****
Kat’s mouth went dry at the sight of him, broad, smooth, and shirtless, his tight, leather pants hugging him like a second skin and leaving very little to her rapidly overheating imagination. He pulled the slide from his hair and shook the dark mass loose around his shoulders.
“Cut the crap, McAllister…you scared the hell out of me. Don’t think a little come-hither look is going to make me forget that!” She knew she was staring, but she couldn’t seem to tear her gaze away, and her legs felt too rubbery to move. The smoldering look he flashed her from beneath half-closed lids told her he was well aware of the effect he was having and enjoying every minute of it. When he undid his belt and reached for the button at his waistband, she was galvanized into action.
“I’ll…uh…get started on that omelet while you get cleaned up.” She darted past him pulling the bedroom door closed behind her. His low chuckle echoed in her head as she flew to the kitchen and began to rummage around in the fridge.
“Kat? No onions.”
The response she sent back was more a growl than any comprehensible words. She felt his laughter wrap around her again and couldn’t suppress an exasperated smile.
By the time Kat found everything she needed in the unfamiliar kitchen and put together the tomato, mushroom, and cheese omelet, no onions, with toast on the side, it was almost time for breakfast anyway. She slid the fluffy creation onto a plate, grabbed two steaming mugs of coffee by the handles, and carried everything into the living room. Kassian had apparently finished his shower and turned on the gas fireplace before stretching out on the vast leather sofa in nothing but his jeans. He looked so relaxed and appealing in sleep with one arm across his taut abdomen and the other thrown casually above his head, she felt her heart skip a beat. Kat carefully set the loaded plate and the mugs on the coffee table and reached to gently brush an errant lock of dark hair away from his face. Her fingertips had barely touched him when his hand shot out to lock painfully around her wrist and his eyes flew open.
“Ouch! Jeez, McAllister, overreact much? Your omelet is done.” As soon as he realized it was her, his eyes softened and he pressed his lips to the tender skin over her pulse, causing it to quicken, before he released her. She rubbed it absently enjoying the lingering sensation of his lips and thinking his fingers were probably going to leave a mark. She’d always bruised easily.
“Sorry, force of habit.” He rubbed a hand over his face, stretched and rolled his massive shoulders, and swung his legs over the side to sit up. “
That smells great, thanks.”
She handed him the plate, sank down in the chair next to the sofa and sipped her coffee in silence while he all but inhaled the omelet. Despite the shower and the cat nap, he still looked tired.
“So, what happened?” she asked as he swallowed the last bite. “Did you find him?”
Kassian briefly recounted the events of the evening, omitting the details surrounding his uncharacteristic loss of control. He told her he planned to go to the House of Angels later in the day to ascertain whether the girl in the pit had any connections to the shelter, or whether she was simply randomly unfortunate. She could feel his frustration at the fact that Rapier seemed to always be able to stay one step ahead of them because they never knew where he was likely to strike next.
“Can I go with you?” Kat asked quietly. She’d always thought she might like to volunteer at such a place, but worried she would be overwhelmed by the emotions. If she went with McAllister, at least she could find out. She knew that he could shut her down and get her out as he had at the party if she became overwhelmed. She saw the shutter slam down on his expression as soon as she asked.
“Absolutely not,” he replied in a voice that didn’t invite discussion. “You will stay right here where you’re safe.”
Kat sighed patiently.
“McAllister,” she argued reasonably, “I get that I’m safe here, but it’s kind of like being a present in a pretty box. How long do you think this can continue?”
“As long as it takes.”
“He’s been out there for over a hundred years, Kassian…what if you don’t find him? Will you keep me here indefinitely, all tied up with a shiny bow? It may be safe, but it’s no way to live. Surely you see that?”
She watched the emotions play over his face and felt the indecision rolling off of him in waves. She was challenging every protective instinct he possessed. Sometimes she could read him so easily, using nothing more than her empathy. Trying to mentally follow the blocks that Kassian and the other Earthbounds used had helped her change and improve her own, exactly as she’d hoped, but when she opened herself she could feel his emotions swirling dangerously. He continued to wallow in guilt and it broke her heart. But surely he couldn’t fault her logic; if they never got Rapier, she had to leave the apartment sometime.
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