by Cynthia Eden
She stared at Malik a moment longer. Then her gaze slid to Leo. “Know what I’d like for you to do?”
His eyes widened expectantly.
“Screw off,” Josephine told him flatly. With that, she walked around Malik, giving him a wide berth as she headed for the bedroom door. Her fingers closed around the door knob and— “Don’t touch me,” Josephine said without glancing back. She could feel Malik behind her.
“We…you have to let me explain.”
She stared down at her wrist. At the tally mark there. His mark. “We were supposed to kill each other, huh? That was our big destiny?” Hardly very romantic or awe-inspiring. Definitely not some happily-ever-after fairy tale. She should have known someone like her would never have been given a guardian angel.
“Josephine—”
“How about you stay the hell away from me…and I’ll stay away from you.” She yanked open the bedroom door and stormed into the small den. A few moments later, she was out of the suite or penthouse or whatever the hell it was and in the hallway. Then she was inside the elevator. She turned around and punched the button for the ground floor. Going out this way had seemed better than taking another plunge down to the pavement. But when she looked up, Malik was there. He stood just beyond the elevator doors.
Not a surprise. She’d felt him following her. “Death angel, huh?”
“Josephine—”
“That is absolutely my luck.”
The doors closed.
And the ice around her heart just got thicker.
***
“You’re better off without her.”
Malik stared at the elevator doors, seeing his own reflection staring back at him.
Leo slapped his hand on Malik’s shoulder. “You’ll thank me—”
Malik grabbed the jerk’s hand and twisted.
Leo let out a surprised grunt. “Ow! Why in the hell are you—”
“I’m the oldest death angel there is.” His hold on Leo tightened. “You can’t tell me that you haven’t wondered…am I strong enough to kill even you?”
Sweat appeared on Leo’s forehead. “You are my friend.”
“No, I’m not. You don’t have friends. And I don’t have friends.” He shoved Leo away from him before he gave in to the temptation to finally find out—once and for all—if he could kill the guy. “Why did you tell her?”
Leo’s mouth gaped. After a moment, he snapped his lips shut.
“Why?”
“I came here and found you nearly dead! She’d poisoned you! She drank from you—”
“I offered my blood to her. She needed it. So I gave it.” Just as he’d always give Josephine what she needed or wanted.
Unfortunately, she’d wanted to leave him. She’d stared at him with pain and fury in her dark eyes. Because it was what she’d wanted, he’d had no choice but to let her walk away.
Even though it felt as if he’d just been gutted.
His words had Leo staring at Malik in dismay. “Why? Why in the world would you ever give her your blood?”
“Because…she’s mine.” Something he’d realized long ago.
“No, no, she’s a vampire. And didn’t you hear the whole poison part? As soon as she bit you, the woman was sentencing you to death. Bites between vamps and angels are forbidden for a reason—because born vampires like her are poison to our kind.”
“She saved me.”
Leo shook his head. “She infected you. Now, you poor bastard, it’s only going to get worse. Just like it did for the one her father infected.” He scraped his hand over his jaw. “But if you go back upstairs, maybe Luke can help you. Maybe he can—”
“I am never going back.” Infected? Bull.
Leo’s hand dropped. “You don’t understand what I’m saying.” He nodded, and said, as if to himself, “Okay, I can break this down.” He stared into Malik’s eyes. “She’s got you now. The instant she bit you, it’s like she put her venom in your body. That’s why you were seizing and nearly dying. Your body was trying to fight off the infection.”
No, no, he—
“You’ll crave her. Want her constantly.”
“I just let her walk away.”
“And every muscle in your body is tight. Every bit of you wants to run after her, isn’t that so?”
Yes, but not because of some infection. “She gave me her blood to save me, and I gave her mine—”
“You are so fucked. You drank her blood? Talk about a drug. The craving is going to get worse. So much worse. Because I’ve seen this before.” What could have been sorrow flashed in Leo’s eyes. “Humans want her like fucking mad during the bite, but most of them forget her by the next day. Probably because they have no magic to fight off her compulsions. Luckily, I don’t think she ever gives humans her blood these days. They couldn’t handle it. Paranormals have different reactions. Some are pretty mild, but others are severe. All paranormals can get hooked on her blood. Angels, in particular, have a severe reaction to the bite of a born vampire.” He let out a frustrated sigh. “I should have known that when Merius stayed sane, she hadn’t bitten him. Not the real Josephine. The stories always said her sister was much weaker than Josephine. Celeste is not a born vampire, but one that had to be made by Vlad when she reached maturity.”
Vlad had transformed Josephine’s sister?
Leo was still talking. He groused, “I was just hoping he was lucky. I mean, I saw what happened when her father bit his angel—”
Malik wasn’t following this story. “Josephine said he went wild. That Vlad drained the angel.”
“No, he didn’t. The angel went wild. After she survived the initial poison of his bite, she fell. Went dark. Went mad. She wanted him. Anyone who got in her path, she destroyed. She couldn’t be stopped because she was so completely addicted—to him.”
None of this was making sense. “Josephine said—”
“Maybe she doesn’t know the truth. Maybe Luke told her a different story. He does know how to lie well.”
Something the twins had in common.
“Vlad killed the angel because she came after the ones he did care about. He took her blood until nothing was left, but in the end, killing her—it broke something in him.”
“He was broken long ago,” Malik snapped back. “I know what he did. I saw his kills. I was there.” His breath heaved. “Josephine said she killed him.”
“Yes, she did.”
“She stopped him. She was the one who finally stood up to that bastard.”
But Leo shook his head. “She didn’t kill Vlad to stop him. Is that what she told you? Trying to put a noble spin on it, was she?” He gave a little whistle. “Smart of her, I suppose.”
Malik growled.
Leo stopped whistling. “You weren’t there for his murder. I didn’t have you watching her then, so you can’t know for sure what happened.”
He was supposed to buy the story Leo was selling?
“She killed her father because he’d murdered her mother. Savaged her right in front of Josephine. She wanted vengeance, and she got it. Her mother wasn’t strong enough to fight Vlad. On her own, Josephine was afraid she wouldn’t be strong enough, either, so she made a deal with Luke. He amped up her power, and she promised him death.”
He’d murdered her mother.
“Josephine Saint is a born vampire. Her father was a vampire, and she has all of his powers.” Leo swallowed. “But her mother wasn’t a vamp. She was an all-together different being.”
He’d watched Josephine for so long. He would have known—
“Small, delicate. Deceptively fragile in appearance. But so strong. So fast.” Leo’s lips thinned. “Come on, Malik, think this through. Seductive. Her kind is always seductive. Why do you think you wanted her so badly? Her charm even worked on an angel.”
His heart thundered in his ears.
“She’s not full-blooded,” Leo continued doggedly, “just a halfling, so she doesn’t have the wings. And if you ask me, that
particular part has always really pissed her off. She hates that she can’t fly.”
“No.”
“You don’t think it made her mad?” Leo’s brows rose. “Oh, I do. I think—”
“You are wrong.”
But a smug smile lifted Leo’s lips. “Now, come on, it doesn’t even sound like you believe your own denial. Think about this. She’s got the seductive charm, she’s got the body type that’s dominant with their females, and…well, I’m betting in all those years you watched her, you saw Josephine drain the power of her enemies. You had all the information all along, but maybe you just didn’t want to put the pieces together.” His voice dropped. “Denial, you know. Because you liked to imagine Josephine was something she really, truly wasn’t.”
He needed to get to her. His gaze jerked around the hallway.
“Vlad kept Josephine’s mother in the mortal realm. He knew if she ever crossed the Veil, he’d lose her. But his own madness is what finally took her away. He was beyond control, beyond saving, and he destroyed her when he should have cherished her.”
And Josephine had in turn destroyed her father.
I’m so sorry, my Josephine.
“Jonesing for her already?” Leo let out a disgruntled sigh. “Told you, it’s just going to get worse. You are done for now.”
No, he’d been done for the instant he first saw her. “I’m not addicted to her bite or her blood. I just want her.”
Leo studied him with narrow eyes. “There’s no point in you staying here. You have to go back upstairs.” There was no more mockery or smugness in Leo’s voice now. Only grim determination. “If you become fallen, I’ll be the one who has to stop you. I don’t want to do that. I considered you my friend once—I still do. You were one of the most trusted angels I had.”
An angel he’d still deceived.
“Go back. She’s not worth your soul.”
Now, Malik smiled. “I know the truth.”
Leo tensed.
“You’re afraid.”
“Malik—”
“I know all about the last fallen who frightened you. Because…maybe…you and Luke aren’t as all-powerful as you think. And maybe you don’t know all of the rules for angels and vampires. Maybe you don’t know what is poison and what is paradise.”
The faint lines near Leo’s mouth deepened. “Malik, I’m trying to help—”
“You’re trying to save yourself.”
The air in the hallway seemed to heat. Not surprising, really, considering the beast that Leo carried. “Maybe you should focus on saving yourself, angel.”
He’d rather save Josephine.
Malik turned and headed for the elevator. He would have flown out of the building, but Josephine had warned him before to not be so obvious. It was during the day, after all. If humans saw his wings, they might freak out. Besides, he wanted to show her that he could change, maybe.
He reached for the elevator button, but Leo grabbed his hand. “Don’t make this mistake.”
The guy was getting on his nerves. A low snarl built in Malik’s throat. “I don’t take orders from you any longer.”
“She’s one of the Fey! They’re deceitful, treacherous—you can’t ever trust them!”
Only he’d been the one keeping secrets from Josephine. He’d been the one twisting the truth. So what did that say about his kind?
“I can already feel a difference in you.” Leo’s gaze slid over him. “The darkness is growing. An angel like you has never fallen. You led the death angels. They still take orders from you. What do you think will happen if you—”
“I guess we’re going to find out.”
Leo backed up a step. “I can stop this. You think I don’t know? You think I don’t understand why you fell? It’s so obvious you did it for her.”
Things weren’t always as they appeared.
“If I take her out of the equation, then why would you stay in this realm?”
The space around them seemed to darken. Malik looked down and saw deep, twisting shadows sliding from his body—shadows that were going straight for Leo. “I’d stay to kill you.” Flat. Certain.
What could have been fear flashed on Leo’s face. In the next instant, the Lord of the Dark was gone. He’d just vanished.
The shadows receded, but Malik’s fury remained. A cold, dark fury. No one would hurt Josephine.
But…
I hurt her.
He stepped into the elevator. Her scent lingered in the air there. A mix of vanilla and lavender. He pulled it in even as he reached out and punched the button that would take him to the ground floor. He had her scent, so he could track Josephine. He could find her. He would find her.
A few moments later, the elevator doors slid open. Malik strode forward, and as he walked, he was aware that the light around him seemed to dim.
The shadows were taking over.
Josephine.
They were taking over because he’d fucking lost his light.
Chapter Twelve
The cops were milling around the scene—the giant insanity that Josephine and Malik had left in their wake when they’d fled the posh penthouse the night before and left wreckage, tons of shattered glass, and a severely broken elevator in their wake. Josephine tilted her head as she stared up at the gaping holes in the side of the building—places were glass should have been. It almost looked as if a bomb had gone off in there.
Basically, one had.
Uniformed cops were coming and going from the casino-slash-hotel. She wasn’t particularly interested in those cops. They wouldn’t give her good intel. No, she wanted bigger game. So she waited, hanging out on the corner, acting as if she were drinking some kind of triple giant latte thing. And then—
I see you.
She trashed the untouched latte as she fell behind the familiar detective who’d just exited the building. Tall, with dark coffee skin, slightly poor fashion taste, and an expression that said he wasn’t in the mood for shit, the detective was a man she knew. Dorrin Mack. Would he remember that he owed her one? Probably not.
She followed silently, heading past the tourists who lined the main strip. Ignoring the street performers. Not even glancing up when they passed the look-alike Eiffel Tower that out-of-towners loved so much.
Dorrin skirted away from the crowds. Snaked between the buildings.
He almost ditched her. Almost.
She rounded a corner and found him waiting—with his claws out, typical.
Josephine offered him a warm smile. “Dorrin! It’s been too long.” She lifted her hands to show him that she wasn’t armed. A lie, of course, because supernatural strength always counted as a weapon, and her fangs were far better than any knife.
Dorrin growled at her.
“Really? You’re going to pull up your wolf now? When I can just scream and tourists will come running because they’ll think we’re having some kind of show for them?” Josephine shook her head and made a tut-tut sound. “I expected more from you.”
“And I expected you to stay out of Vegas! You know the coyotes have been gunning for you. You know—”
“I’m not really worried about the coyotes right now.” Mostly because so many of them were dead. Had he not found the bodies yet? She cleared her throat but kept her hands up. She was trying to play this one the right way. The non-threatening way. “From what I hear, the coyotes are going to be battling it out between each other, trying to see who will be the new leader of their rag-tag crew.”
His eyes closed. “You killed Kellan.”
Oh, maybe he had found some of the coyote bodies. But in regard to Kellan’s particular death…“Uh, actually, no, I didn’t. Someone else beat me to the punch.”
His eyes snapped open. They were a dark, unusual shade of green. “Your scent—lavender and vanilla—was all over that trashed penthouse.”
“Yes, it probably was.”
Now his nostrils flared. “I know it was. I’m a damn werewolf! I can pick up scents.”<
br />
She didn’t need the reminder. But if it made him feel better to point out the obvious, who was she to stop him? “What other scents did you get?”
“Two others were there. Both male. Both reeked of magic, but beyond that—” A grim shake of his head. “I hadn’t scented them before. They’re strangers to me.”
“Not…shifters, though, right? I mean, you can pick up a shifter’s scent—”
“Most shifters carry a wild, woodsy scent. Those two didn’t.” He glared at her. “Lower your hands, Jo. We both know you’re holding them up just for show.”
Well, as long as they both knew that…Josephine slowly lowered them.
“You were in the penthouse. Why don’t you just tell me who was there with you?”
Dorrin was a good cop. A rogue werewolf—a fellow who could not get along with a pack no matter how hard he tried, and the guy had tried plenty hard—but he was pretty steadfast when it came to upholding human laws. And to keeping the paranormals out of the human jails. He tended to dispense his own brand of justice when he realized that paranormals had crossed the line and killed humans.
Like her, he had a taste of death. He also had his own code when it came to killing. She thought he was a wee bit Dexter-like, but when she’d pointed that out to him before, he’d gotten seriously pissy. Everyone knew a pissy rogue werewolf was absolutely zero fun.
And one hundred percent dangerous.
“An angel was with me,” Josephine confessed.
“Bullshit,” Dorrin called immediately. “Look, if you’re not going to deal straight with me—”
“I am dealing straight with you,” she shot back, offended. “An angel was with me. Didn’t you find any feathers left behind?”
“No feathers.” Now he frowned. “But I did find something that looked like ash near the elevators. Smelled a lot of blood there, too.”
“I think the angel was targeted.” And why did she care? Why was she still following this case after she’d learned Malik had deceived her? Guardian, my ass.
Without another word, Dorrin spun on his heel and started marching away. His eighties jacket—because, yes, it looked like the old windbreaker he had on had been ripped right from Miami Vice—fluttered behind him. “I am not in the mood for lies, Jo! I’ve got a case to work.”