Dark Wings Descending

by Lesley Davis

  “Don’t hide them on my account,” Ashley said as she slipped into the room and headed straight into Rafe’s arms. “God, it feels good to be near you again.” She buried her face in Rafe’s neck. “I woke up to a furry alarm clock purring in my face. I’d have rather had you to wake up to.”

  “I got called out by Dean bright and early. I didn’t want to wake you. How are you doing?” Rafe held her and became aware of just how slight Ashley was in her arms. She nuzzled her face in Ashley’s hair, delighting in the familiar scent.

  “I’ve had better lifetimes, but finding that the killer I was brought in to take down was my own brother was a bit of a shock.”

  “I can’t imagine what you’re feeling.” Rafe deliberately kept Ashley turned away from the screen. Ashley gazed up at her with a knowing look.

  “You can’t hide the screen from me forever. I need to know the last scene so I can put it all to rest.”

  Rafe loosened her hold and let Ashley turn around.

  “So, officially, you caught the guy?”

  “The reports read that he killed himself at the scene of his last crime because we were closing in on him.”

  Ashley took a step toward the screen. She was silent for a moment, then peered over her shoulder at Rafe. “Who says angels don’t have a sense of humor?” She studied the photo again. “I did wonder at the early snowfall we experienced this morning. I didn’t expect it to be for artistic license courtesy of Eli.”

  “I’m finding it hard to get my head around the fact I saw Lucas dragged off by two guys with wings and yet I’m also seeing him here obviously dead.”

  “Have you been down to the morgue?”

  Rafe shook her head. “I sent Dean. I was honestly too creeped out by it. I keep expecting his eyes to pop open or something.”

  “You’ve watched too many scary movies.”

  “I just never realized they could come true.” Rafe handed Ashley the suicide note in its plastic evidence bag. “Signed, sealed, and stuck to a tree with the murder weapon. Eli left nothing to chance.”

  “He’s thorough.” Ashley read the note. “Case closed, Detective?”

  “Thankfully, yes, but I can’t help but wonder what comes next.” She sat back against the desk and her restless hands caught at the silver pen she had kept beside her all day. She didn’t want to acknowledge its presence, but she couldn’t let it out of her sight either. It was a dilemma that tore at her.

  Ashley’s eyes fell on the pen. “Next?”

  “There’s suddenly more to my policing than just humans out to do wrong. I’ve got demons invading our territory and the occasional half blood to make matters even more precarious.” Rafe brandished the seemingly innocuous pen at Ashley. “And then there’s the little matter of this thing.”

  “It’s just a pen.”

  “You and I both know it’s a whole lot more than that.”

  “Only if you want it to be.”

  Rafe whispered even though she didn’t need to. “It’s an angel’s weapon, and I’m not an angel. Why would Eli entrust it to me?”

  “Maybe because he sees in you something that goes beyond your innate sense of justice and right.”

  “So I’m supposed to do what? Go out at night and ram it through every person I see glittering?”

  Ashley laughed. “Not all of us. Some of us aren’t meant to be banished. Myself included, I hope.”

  “See? How could I ever know?” Rafe shoved the pen into Ashley’s hands.

  “You’ll know because you’ll see the demon in the shimmering, like you’re able to.”

  “It’s a responsibility I can’t handle.”

  “And I think it’s a responsibility you’ve been chosen for.”

  “Don’t I get any say in it?” Not for the first time did Rafe wish her hair was grown back in so she could have something to tug at in frustration. The soft bristles of her crew cut just tickled her palm.

  “Of course you do. It all comes down to free will, remember? You reminded me of that. We are free to make our own choices in life.”

  After a quiet moment, Rafe gently plucked the pen out of Ashley’s fingers. “And this is what? My agreement with a higher power that I’ll help chase down the bad guys who escape hell?”

  “Look at it this way; you’re just expanding your jurisdiction,” Ashley replied with a grin.

  Rafe stared at the floor as if searching for the answers she needed there. “And what does this mean for us?”

  Ashley’s finger caught Rafe under her chin and lifted her head up. “It means we start our own family business, if you want to.”

  “I’m not quitting my day job.”

  “I’m not quitting mine either. It just means that sometimes the regular nine-to-five work will include some nighttime investigations. I doubt we’ll come across any more human-demons for a while, but we can always help out with the more common garden variety.”

  Rafe caught Ashley’s hand in her own. “Now that this case is solved, do you have to move on?” The fear of Ashley’s departure tore a gaping hole in Rafe’s chest. She was surprised Ashley couldn’t see it.

  “I’ve asked to stay. I’d like to see what Chicago has to offer a girl with a glamour.” She ran her hand through Rafe’s blunt hair, tickling her scalp. “I’m sure I can find something to keep me busy here. If nothing else, there’s the demon hub by my building.”

  “Do you have to live there in order to protect it?”

  Ashley’s face creased into a sly smile. “Why, Detective, are you proposing I rent out a U-Haul already?”

  “I’ve seen your place. Trinity could carry out what you have to live with.” Rafe tugged Ashley toward her, settling her between her legs. “If I’m to become a hunter by your side, I want you by mine.”

  “You’re a fast worker.”

  “I’ve lived a lifetime in the last few days, Ashley. I don’t intend to let time go to waste for propriety’s sake. It’s too short and unstable not to cling on to what is dear.”

  Ashley caressed Rafe’s cheek. “You’re such a romantic behind that badge. I like that a lot.” She kissed Rafe softly and tenderly until Rafe took over and the kiss became more heated and raw. Rafe tugged Ashley tight against her center. The pressure of her pants seam against her clitoris was enough to rip a moan from her throat and she quickly forgot where they were.

  “There are cameras in this room,” Ashley mumbled against Rafe’s hungry lips.

  “Let them see.” Rafe cupped Ashley’s buttocks and pulled her in even closer.

  “You keep that up and they’ll see more than either of us would wish!” Ashley placed a restraining hand on Rafe’s chest and pushed back. Rafe groaned at the loss of Ashley’s warmth against her.

  “You’re right. I know you’re right, but just once I’d like to remember something nice in this office instead of the death we’re surrounded by.”

  “You keep kissing me like that and your desk will bear witness to something you would have a hard time forgetting!” Ashley took a step back and straightened her shirt. “You do amazing things to me, Rafe.”

  “Can we continue this tonight?” Rafe couldn’t help herself. She ran her fingertips over Ashley’s swollen lips and shivered when Ashley licked at them with a quick flash of a warm tongue.

  “It’s a date.” Ashley turned to leave but halted once more at the photos displayed behind them.

  Rafe rested a hand on Ashley’s shoulder. “I’m really sorry about your brother. Truly I am.”

  “We’re in a constant fight on this planet. Good versus evil. Good won out last night where he was concerned. It’s the side I’ve chosen to fight on.”

  “It’s not that simple, though, is it?” Rafe knew how hard it must be for Ashley to live with what had transpired. Killer or not, demon or not, Lucas Thorpe had still been family. He had been the last link to a father who had already been taken away from them. And he was her brother, one whose sibling rivalry had proved deadly.

  “It wil
l take time to reconcile it. For now, a killer has been stopped in his tracks. Any comfort I need I draw from that.”

  “You really are an angel.”

  Ashley smiled wryly. “Hardly,” she drawled, placing a kiss on Rafe’s lips. “My thoughts concerning you aren’t in the slightest bit angelic.”

  “Can I thank God for that?”

  “You can thank whoever you like, my love. But I’ll expect you to thank me later when I’m done with you.”

  Epilogue

  Rafe flipped the valuable silver pen over the backs of her knuckles one way then another in a nervous gesture. She sat atop the roof of Ashley’s former building with her attention fixed firmly on the street below.

  “Are you sure we’re expecting visitors tonight?” she asked Ashley, who was sitting back in her chair ripping open a large bag of chips.

  “Yes.”

  “Shouldn’t we be down on the street?” Rafe stopped her movement with the pen and waited for an answer. “Unless you’re expecting me to throw this like a streak of lightning from up here.”

  Ashley shook the bag vigorously and got to her feet. She tipped out a line of chips along the edge of the parapet and then trailed a line across the roof of the building, dumping the remainder of the chips in a pile. “This demon is said to have wings.”

  Rafe moved further forward in her seat. “So you’re laying a food trap for him?”

  “He’ll be drawn to the smell. Winged demons are voracious eaters. He’ll come straight to us. We grab him while he’s busy stuffing his face.”

  “And then?”

  “Then the cleanup squad comes. They can take him back to where he belongs, and you and I can go home.”

  “I like the sound of that last part. It’s the whole luring the winged demon straight to us I have a problem with.”

  “It will make for a nice change from the lesser demons that you capture.”

  Rafe made a face. “Yeah, let’s hear it for variety.” She winked at Ashley to take the sting out of her sarcasm. Rafe had never been happier since Ashley had moved in with her. It gave her a sense of peace she’d never experienced before. Ashley had brought so much into her world, not least of all love. Rafe wouldn’t swap a second of it, even the hours spent on top of a run-down building waiting for demon bait to fly by.

  “Heads up; I smell sulfur,” Ashley said.

  “I don’t know how you can smell anything over the smell coming from the chips.” Rafe strained to see if she could spot anything escaping from the sidewalk below.

  “Would you care to step back into the shadows with me and get your spear ready?” Ashley reached for Rafe’s hand and helped her up from her chair.

  “I’d feel happier with my gun.”

  “I know, sweetheart, but bullets just don’t cut it.”

  “I only need the Spear of Light,” Rafe said, reciting what was drilled into her brain. She’d heard it often enough from Ashley every time she brought up the fact that, sometimes, she’d really just like to stick a bullet in a demon and have it count. She stepped back into the shadows of the doorway and readied her weapon with a press of the button. The spear appeared with its regular speed.

  “That’s my girl.” Ashley cuddled against Rafe’s back as they waited.

  Rafe heard an ominous sound. It was the heavy, labored flap of wings unlike any bird she had ever heard fly. Accompanied by a rasping breathing noise, the air suddenly began to vibrate around them. Rafe looked over her shoulder at Ashley. “Just how big is this thing going to be?”

  “Nothing you can’t handle. I have the utmost faith in you.” Ashley smiled up at Rafe, her love shining from her eyes brighter than any glamour she could employ.

  That faith spurred Rafe forward with Ashley by her side, confident that, together, they could face anything hell threw at them.

  About the Author

  Lesley Davis lives in the West Midlands of England. She is a die-hard science fiction/fantasy fan in all its forms and an extremely passionate gamer. When her Nintendo DSi is out of her grasp, Lesley is to be found seated before the computer writing.

  Visit her online at www.lesleydavisauthor.co.uk.

  Books Available from Bold Strokes Books

  Dark Wings Descending by Lesley Davis. What if the demons you face in life are real? Chicago detective Rafe Douglas is about to find out. (978-1-60282-660-1)

  sunfall by Nell Stark and Trinity Tam. The final installment of the everafter series. Valentine Darrow and Alexa Newland work to rebuild their relationship even as they find themselves at the heart of the struggle that will determine a new world order for vampires and wereshifters. (978-1-60282-661-8)

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  Demons are Forever by Kim Baldwin and Xenia Alexiou. Elite Operative Landis “Chase” Coolidge enlists the help of high-class call girl Heather Snyder to track down a kidnapped colleague embroiled in a global black market organ-harvesting ring. (978-1-60282-648-9)

  Runaway by Anne Laughlin. When Jan Roberts is hired to find a teenager who has run away to live with a group of anti-government survivalists, she’s forced to return to the life she escaped when she was a teenager herself. (978-1-60282-649-6)

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  Nice Butt: Gay Anal Eroticism by Shane Allison. From toys to teasing, spanking to sporting, some of the best gay erotic scribes celebrate the hottest and most creative in new erotica. (978-1-60282-635-9)

  Murder in the Irish Channel by Greg Herren. Chanse MacLeod investigates the disappearance of a female activist fighting the Archdiocese of New Orleans and a powerful real estate syndicate. (978-1-60282-584-0)