The tabby strolled out onto the grey, sagging porch. “Don’t touch it,” Rex warned me. “Or let it brush against you.” He reached out and tugged at the sleeve of my jacket. “We shouldn’t linger.”
I let him lead me from the porch, away from the weirdness and the hand and the transforming house, only pausing when my feet hit the sidewalk again. Whatever line of demarcation separated the hell house from the rest of this neighborhood, I didn’t know. All I knew was what I was in my gut. I was safer on this side.
“Take care of it,” Rex ordered his friends. The tall guy with the beard interlaced his fingers, then cracked his knuckles as Rex instructed, “Make it thorough, Ambrose. Don’t leave that piece of shit anything to regenerate.” Ambrose approached the decaying house, rolling his huge shoulders.
From where I stood, I thought I saw a finger twitch on the amputated hand.
Then my vision was completely obscured by the flash of light and heat that scorched my eyebrows. Instinctively I threw up a hand to protect myself, but when I opened my eyes, the house was nothing but a smoking pile of rubble. I looked for any sign of a lighter—or a flamethrower—as Ambrose stalked back to us, noting how big he was.
“Done.” Ambrose inclined his head to me. “You’ll never see that Death Devourer again.” When he raised his head, I caught the flash of laughter in his dark green eyes, took in the sheer breadth of his shoulders. “I’m only sorry we didn’t get here sooner. You were spooked, so we dropped back. I apologize for failing you.”
“I told you not to let her out of your sight.”
“Whoa,” I said, my voice finally deciding to make an appearance. “What the hell just happened?” Not my finest moment, but what can I say? Magic like this is something that happens in books and movies, not in reality, and especially not in my life.
“Should you tell her, or me?” By now I knew the blond guy’s voice, but my rescuer was the one who answered.
“Long story short?” Rex’s gaze grew uneasy. “That creature is called an Amenta. A Death Devourer, for the uninitiated. A monster who draws in unsuspecting victims and consumes their life force—their soul. If these assholes”—he cast a hard look at his compatriots—“had stuck with you, this mess would have been avoided.”
I shook my head, feeling completely out of my depth. “I don’t know…” My voice tapered off, buried under the layers of everything that was wrong with this situation. “I don’t even know what happened here. I don’t understand who you are. Or…her.” I waved a trembling hand at the smoking crater where the house once stood.
In the distance, I heard sirens.
“The apartment you called about? Doesn’t exist. But downtown Asheville is over that hill.” I followed his pointing finger to the steep slope of the sidewalk. “You can leave right now, find an apartment and a job, if that’s what you want.” He sucked in a small breath. “Or you can stop running away from what you are and come with us. It’s your choice, Catherine.”
“Why would I even consider coming with you?” The words flew out of my mouth faster than my brain could keep up. “You killed that woman, burned her house down, and you expect me to trust you?”
“Sam Smith doesn’t have cancer anymore.”
My brain struggling with the sudden pivot, I couldn’t catch my breath as Rex explained, “I healed him. Right now, he and Marsha are sitting down at their TV trays in front of the big screen, and he’s wondering why he feels so good.” By the time he stopped talking, I was shaking all over. “I didn’t want his death on your head, Catherine,” he said, in a way he probably thought would be calming. “None of this is your fault. You can’t help what you are. Aren’t you ready to get some answers?”
I didn’t know when I started running, maybe before his last words, but my calves burned as I raced up that hill, away from this madness. At the crest of the hill, I turned to look back. The group hadn’t moved, and one by one, they raised their hands, as if wishing me well.
I halted, clutching my backpack. If they wanted me dead, I had no doubts that I’d be dead.
To my right was Asheville. An unfamiliar city full of unknowns. To my left was a group of strangers, waiting for me to make up my mind. While I watched, Rex shoved his hands into his pockets and hunched his shoulders forward, looking like he’d just lost his best friend.
I didn’t know what I was, or why I was like this. But replaying Rex’s speech made one thing clear: he did know.
For years, I’d lived by one mantra: Keep moving.
In all that time, I’d never given a thought to what might happen if I’d stop.
Chapter Seven
Rex
I couldn’t fucking believe my angel was walking away from me. Well, running away. All these years of searching for her and this was how it ended. With me losing.
I don’t like to lose. In fact, I hate it so much that I never lose.
But never in my wildest dreams had I thought she’d walk away. From the time I was created, I knew I had a soul-bound mate. All I had to do was find her. I thought we’d see each other and just…know. Like a Hollywood fall-in-love-at-first-sight epic. Just like reality to completely fuck you over.
“She has no idea of anything,” Jonas said calmly, shaking his head, blond hair falling everywhere. Jonas was my general, my cool head when things went to hell, but right now, I didn’t need to hear his Zen bullshit. I wanted to punch something.
Catherine paused at the top of the hill, turning to make sure we hadn’t followed her. Jonas smiled, then raised his hand. “Wave to her, asshole,” he said, elbowing me. “She’s scared, confused and pissed off right now. I say we try again in a few weeks, after she’s had time to digest this.”
I watched her crest the hill. “We don’t have a week. We have a day. If she doesn’t bond with us by then, this has all been for nothing. We all die.” The trio of assholes waved like lunatics. I jammed my hands in my pockets, too rattled to do anything else. But when she didn’t immediately disappear over the hill, I felt a small surge of hope.
“She’s not moving, boss,” Ambrose muttered out of the side of his mouth. “This could still work out.”
“I see that.” I wasn’t about to let on how high the stakes were right now. This would either work or not. But like I said before, I really hate losing.
Chapter Eight
Catherine
“What am I doing?” I asked myself as I descended the hill.
The guy knew Sam and Marsha’s names. He knew Sam was sick.
Except…nothing else he said could possibly be true. How did Rex know about my curse? How could he possibly know so many details about my life? And his final crack about getting some answers? Hell yeah, I wanted answers.
But the idea of knowing the truth—my truth—glued my feet to the pavement, every bit as effectively as what had happened on that porch. In retrospect, maybe I’d never wanted the truth, not when running away was so much easier.
If they’d pursued me, I would have fled. If they had engaged me, I might have fought. By just waiting, they were letting me make the decision. Which, apparently, was heading back down this steep-ass hill to see who they were and what they wanted.
I stopped a few paces away. “Sorry about that. My instincts took over, I guess.”
“Don’t apologize,” Rex said kindly. “We get it.”
As if they understood just how spooked I was, they remained perfectly still, a solid wall of muscle, but not one of them so much as scratched an itch as they watched me expectantly.
“As you’ve probably figured out by now, I’m Rex.” He turned the X into a rough growl, then pointed at the bearded guy. “The torch here is Ambrose.” Ambrose nodded to me, hiding a small smile. “And Jonas is my right-hand man.” Jonas—the blondie—didn’t bother hiding anything as he flashed me a big, sloppy grin.
“And finally, this is Titus.” In my mind, the fourth member had wings, but when he came forward, extending a hand, I knew I’d been imagining things. He was extra
ordinarily handsome, with a rugged face and pale grey eyes rimmed by curling eyelashes. His skin was dark, exactly like a shadow, I realized.
“I’m Catherine Mortimer. But you already knew that.” My suspicion shifted back to Rex. “You’ve been following me since Amblin. I’d like to know why.”
His face grew serious and he crossed his arms. Classic self-defense move.
“Is that really what you want, Catherine?” Just the way he said it made me wish I could take it back. But I’d asked, and I wanted an answer. Not a bunch of patronizing lies, either.
“You are the Angel of Death. We are kind of like…your knights,” Rex explained, no humor in his face. He took a step forward, hands still in his pockets. “For lack of a better explanation, we belong to you.”
Laughter bubbled up out of my throat before I could stop it. “I guess of all the bullshit answers I expected, that was the last.” I looked between their grave faces. “Now who wants to tell me what’s really going on? Am I being punked?”
“None of this is funny, unfortunately,” Rex told me, his grim tone in direct opposition to my sarcastic one. “This is literally a matter of life or death. If you come with us, we can explain everything. But I can’t make your mind up for you, Catherine, not when…”
“Boss.” Titus’s warning was a deep growl, his gaze over my shoulder, where the roar of sirens grew louder as the first emergency crews crested the hill.
“Yes or no, Catherine?” Rex asked, his gaze so intent that I couldn’t break away.
A loud crunch of tires on the broken asphalt warned of the approaching vehicles. “Yes,” I said. “I’ll go with you.” Before I could even scream, Titus engulfed me in his arms and squeezed me hard against him. I half expected an explosion, since today was shock-the-shit-out-of-Cat day, but instead I felt a wind whip around me, the cold cutting straight through my clothing. In an instant, I was freezing, the only warmth where my face was pressed against Titus.
As the wind tore at my jacket, Titus wrapped his legs around mine and I slid my arms around his waist, hanging on for dear life. I screamed against his chest, the sound ripped away by the tempest around us. When his muscles torqued against me, I was suddenly aware just how tightly we were pressed together. Then everything stopped.
Titus released me, and I hurriedly stepped away, my face burning. A shadow briefly darkened the sky behind him, giving the impression of…wings. But that wasn’t my focus. Every place our bodies had touched was on fire, just from being hugged against his body, and I scolded myself for the lapse in judgment.
As quickly as I’d let go of Titus, I clapped a hand back onto his shoulder as I staggered under the shock of what I saw in front of me. All around me was the smell of cut grass, and wheat brushed against my waist. We’d appeared in a field, in the middle of nowhere, with a line of trees to my right and a long string of fence posts to my left, and I swear to Christ, in the distance, a cow mooed.
One by one the others materialized out of nothingness, Ambrose and Jonas joking, no sign we’d all just popped from one place to another in the blink of an eye. I’d have thought this a dream, but my ass was still freezing.
“Sorry about that,” Titus said, clearly blushing. My face flooded with heat, but Rex closed in and squeezed my arm. “We had to get you out of there before you attracted any more attention.” He gestured toward the line of trees. “Follow me. You’ll be safe here.”
“Don’t use me as an excuse. I’m pretty sure I wasn’t the one poofing into existence out of nowhere,” I told him, my eyes straying to Ambrose. “Nor burning down houses. Plus whatever you did to that creepy lady.”
But Rex strode away through the waist-high field, and I struggled to keep up.
Right on the heels of being transported through space, I’d come to another mind-bending realization: these were the men from my dream. I knew their individual smells, how their hands felt on me. I knew what they tasted like. And—my gaze flew to Rex’s disappearing back—I knew what Rex felt like when he was inside me. Or, at least, I knew what dream Rex felt like.
Fighting my way through the grass, I caught up with him. “A little bit of help would be great right about now. Like who the hell you guys really are, and…” I paused on the edge of the field, taking in the tiny, dilapidated hovel in front of us. “Where we are,” I finished lamely.
Even with my limited resources, I’d never seen anything quite this…pathetic.
Titus wrapped an arm around me and urged me onward. “Once we’re within the wards, we’ll tell you everything. Until then…” He did the zipped-lip pantomime and smiled, his grey eyes full of kindness.
As my shaking hands clutched my backpack, I wondered what I was doing as I allowed him to herd me toward the run-down shack.
Chapter Nine
Rex
Now that we’d found our mate, things were about to get intense. Just thinking of it, I ground my teeth. If we had the luxury of time, this would be different. If Catherine knew who she was and why she was here, this would be easier. But neither of those scenarios were happening. As she trailed behind me, I tried to figure a way to explain this impossible situation.
In truth, I’d never planned this far ahead. Everything had been about finding her, not about the test we now faced. We’d known about the test our whole lives, had heard about it over and over until we knew it by heart.
How we’d find our angel, and fate gave us a day—twenty-four hours—to unlock her magic. If we succeeded, we’d be bonded forever—an unbreakable cadre of death-dealing immortals. If we failed, we all died.
It was worded prettier, of course, in the original telling. All flowery and shit, written in real gold on some old, faded parchment. And sure, there were those who failed, cautionary tales told to us when we were created. But you never think it’s going to be you who fucks up. It’s always the other guy.
Home had never looked as ominous as it did right now, but I pressed my hand on the door and dropped the wards, revealing a long, low sweep of stone and glass overlooking the field. I almost smiled at Catherine’s shocked gasp as the impressive structure appeared. Once we were inside, I shut out the green outdoors and locked us in.
Jonas was already teasing Catherine, trying to disarm her, and I swear, Titus was still blushing. Ambrose sprawled his huge frame across most of the couch. He was busy acting nonchalant, when, in fact, the big guy was holding his breath, waiting to see how this would play out.
“Come on, put your backpack down and let me get you something to drink,” Jonas told her. “You’re probably thirsty and you have questions. A lot of them, I’d expect.” He made no move to tug the backpack out of Cat’s hands, since she had a death grip on the thing. Jonas’s eyes swung to mine, and I knew I was up.
“Catherine.” Her name tasted like honey on my tongue, after my queen not having a name for so long. “Or would you prefer we call you something else?”
“Cat,” she told me tightly, taking in the expansive room. “You can just call me Cat.”
“All right, Cat. Why don’t you make yourself comfortable? Like Jonas said, we’re sure you have questions.” I gestured to a solitary chair, and she perched on the edge of the cushion, holding that tattered backpack in front of her like a shield. “Ask away. Unless you’d like to take Jonas up on the drink offer first?”
She shook her head, fear radiating off her.
If things weren’t so dire, I’d have given her weeks to accept her heritage. Years to come to grips with all of this. Seeing her so scared, my heart went out to her. None of this was her fault. She was supposed to be like the rest of us. Confident in her power, trained to wield it and wise enough to know when it was required. Instead, Cat had no idea who she was. And complete ignorance wasn’t a subject they covered in angel class.
“You’re wondering where you are. And who we are. Let me tell you what I know.”
Her eyes narrowed, as if she couldn’t believe it would be this easy.
I had to chuckle, sensing her
suspicion. “A little of that distrust would have gone a long way with the Death Devourer. You know what they say about things being too good to be true. But then, I’d never had the chance to save you.”
From the way she pursed her lips, I knew I’d hit a nerve. “I usually don’t need saving. Well, not normally. Whatever just happened at that house”—she waved a hand around—“was totally fucked up.”
She eased back in the chair slightly. “It’s clear from that experience that you four aren’t exactly…normal.” I didn’t so much as blink when her gaze met mine. “Which is a good thing, since I’m not exactly normal either. I’ve wondered, you know…”
“Wondered what?”
“If there was anyone else who had special powers like me.” She huffed out a laugh. “Somehow, it’s far worse knowing there’s more of us than thinking I was all alone.” Her gaze skimmed each of us in turn, finally returning to my face. “At least then the only thing I had to worry about was me accidently killing someone else. Now it seems like I have to worry about people killing me on purpose.”
She finally set the backpack carefully to the side, but still within easy reach. “Okay, I do have questions. I’m not even sure how to start.”
“I can tell you what you are.”
“Bullshit.” She snorted. “You don’t know a thing about me.”
I was struggling with how to explain all of this to her. We’d had years—centuries—to learn everything. She only had one day. “I understand your skepticism, Cath…Cat. We have similar abilities to yours, as you’ve noticed. We are here to help you. For lack of a better term, we’re here to protect you.” I decided to rip the Band-Aid off, in the interest of time management. “Have you ever heard of a pentagram?”
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