“Long enough for you to have pulled out that fancy Sword and kill him. But what did you do? You decided to have a little conversation with him? Pass on information on what our plans are?” Marcus was working himself up again.
She only shook her head. “Surprised me.” The water hadn’t really helped her scratchy voice.
“Gods, STOP talking,” he bellowed. Every time she got a word out, it ripped at him for acting before thinking. He had been hanging out with the Trackers for too long.
She launched from the bed as if it were on fire. Her cloak flew off. He got his first real look at her. She wore blood red leather pants that hung low on lean hips, a matching mid-drift leather vest barely covered her full breasts. She had bright red hair pulled into a tight ponytail at the crown of her head. It hung in a thick braid down to just below her knees. A gold chain wound around and around her mid-drift, the chain linking to a stud in her bellybutton.
She was so stunning he just stood there staring at her. When she pulled a gun from a holster under her arm he came to his senses.
“What?” he barked, throwing his hands up.
She had opened the door between their rooms and was now pointing to him with her gun and then to the open door. Marcus sighed. He was doing a brilliant job. First he strangles her, and then ogles her. He should slap himself.
Nodding to her, he walked through the door, but turned to say they would be talking about what had happened later, when she felt better, but the door was already slammed and he heard the lock click into place.
Swearing to himself, he stood by the door until he heard room service come and leave. When he heard the clink of utensils he moved away. If she was eating then he knew that she was going to heal.
Marcus headed for the shower wishing he understood woman just a little bit.
****
“He tried to kill me,” Celeste muttered to herself for the hundredth time. At least her voice was back and her throat didn’t feel as if she had sucked down lava. She wandered to the mirror and looked at the fading bruises.
She had to admit to herself he hadn’t actually tried to kill her, but he had certainly tried to hurt her, and regardless of how fast she may heal, it still hurt like hell. Beyond all that, why had Calliope come to her? Why had he made her the offer he had?
She wasn’t about to turn her back on her father and brothers, but what was the Reaper trying to accomplish by getting her to trade sides?
There were so many questions and little time. Celeste stood at the window watching the sunrise. It was an amazing and wonderful thing to watch. Anyone who lived on this plane should never take it for granted. Nothing in the Infernos came close to the beauty she saw whenever she was on the mortal plane and was blessed to watch a sunrise she took advantage of it and gloried in the sunrise. She placed her hand on the cool glass watching the dark colors of night bleed into bright oranges and reds, purples and then blue. It took her breath away every time, bringing with it a calm she hadn’t had several moments before. She had a job to do and regardless of what Marcus thought of her, she wasn’t working with Calliope. The only way she knew how to convince Marcus of that was to prove it. She added proving she wasn’t a traitor to the list she had going for showing Marcus her worthiness. With that in her mind, she headed for the shower, a new day was beginning, and with it a new resolve to make today better than yesterday.
****
“Did you get any sleep?” Marcus accused the moment he set eyes on her. “You look terrible. Don’t forget your cloak.”
Celeste smiled. “Actually I didn’t. I was cowering in the corner of my hotel room in fear of my life from my own partner,” she said with as much sarcasm as she could. “And don’t you think wearing a cloak around Sydney is going to draw more attention to us then me walking around in normal clothing?”
“I don’t know where you got your definition of normal.” He looked her up and down, his green eyes finally coming back to hers. He gave her a look like he had been forced to eat something he thought horrible distasteful. “But that is not normal.” The last part he barked. Celeste looked down at what she was wearing. Trendy combat boots, with flared distressed jeans, a wide belt, and a white v-neck t-shirt. “Excuse me, but this is the most normal outfit in the world.”
“Where are your weapons?” Marcus asked.
Celeste rolled her eyes and lifted her shirt. Marcus jumped back as if a viper was going to jump out of her belly button. She showed him the holster she was wearing. “See? You can’t even see it.” But all he saw was the silver chain around her midsection. “And I have a knife in each boot. Do I need anything else?”
“The Sword?” he croaked.
“Why don’t I stay here in the hotel, and if you need help you can give me a ring. I promise to try to get there in time to save your ass.” She crossed her arms over her chest, ignoring the fact they were standing in the hall in front of her hotel room.
He grumbled something to himself and then walked away. Celeste followed. If he was going to be grumpy, she could be just as grumpy.
They were waiting for the elevator when the stairwell door opened up and a figure stumbled through. Celeste stepped back. He was covered in sweat, dirt, and blood and looked terrified.
He looked up, his eyes blood shot. “Fallen?” he reached out to Marcus and then dropped to the floor.
“Is he dead?” Celeste asked looking at the body.
Marcus snorted. “No.” He picked the man up and tossed him over his shoulder before he carried him back to Marcus’s room. He was coming to when Marcus laid him on the bed.
“Aren’t you a little freaked he knew you were a Fallen?” Celeste asked. It didn’t seem right that a guy would just stumble out of the stairwell and right into Marcus’s lap.
“He’s a Guardian, Celeste.”
“So? Do you have some type of Guardian beacon or something?”
“Do you have some type of Calliope beacon?” he threw back. She rolled her eyes.
“So how do you know he is a Guardian?” Celeste studied the man trying to discern anything that made him stand out. She didn’t smell anything, didn’t see anything that would point him to anything other than mortal.
“Because I know, like he knew I was a Fallen. We sense each other. When you see another Demon don’t you know they are a Demon?” Marcus asked. Celeste gave him what had to be a strange look because he rolled his eyes. “You don’t get out of the Infernos much do you?”
Nothing he could have said to her could have hurt worse. The words like a stab straight into her heart and soul. She turned from him before he could see the pain his words caused.
“Celeste—”
She held up her hand, cutting off anything further he had to say. “Wake your Guardian and let’s get this taken care of, Fallen.”
****
Marcus had stuck his foot in his mouth, and he wasn’t actually sure how he had done it. But he had seen the pain in her violet eyes before she turned away from him. Every woman he came across practically fell at his feet and liked him instantly. And it wasn’t just for his looks, but he was a nice guy. But there was something about Celeste that had him on edge and he couldn’t seem to say or do the right thing when it came to her. He didn’t blame her for hating him. He hated him right then.
There wasn’t anything he could do about that now, though. Kneeling next to the bed, he shook the man. He was a nondescript man, and his brown eyes fluttered open slightly glazed, but then rounded to the size of saucers, and he backed himself up the headboard.
Marcus held up his hands. “You’re safe. What can I do for you?”
The man looked between Marcus and Celeste. “My guard, something is attacking the Guarded. We split up. Whatever it is can sense me.”
“Idiot.” Celeste swore. “He can sense you both. Where is your guard?”
The man cringed away from Celeste. “I… I haven’t been a Guardian for long. He is one of my first.”
“Seriously?” Celeste growled.
“This is what the Angels do? Assign a complete innocent and novice to guard a Touched?”
Marcus turned to Celeste. “Shut the hell up.”
Her mouth snapped shut, but her violet eyes shot fire at him. She wasn’t done. He could tell she had more to say.
“What’s your name?” Marcus asked. They didn’t know for sure he was the Guardian they were looking for.
“George, sir.”
Marcus shook his head. “No need to call me sir. My name is Marcus, and this is Celeste. We are here to help. How many Guarded are there in the city?”
He hesitated. It was strictly forbidden to speak about the special mortals that were Guarded. To speak with them to a Fallen, he would be raked over the coals. But Marcus knew that, and if he had taken the chance to come and find him, then George was already in a great deal of trouble.
“I lost contact with Charles.” He checked his watch. “Ten minutes ago. I was headed here. The other Guardians don’t think there is anything you can do.” He looked from Marcus to Celeste. “You can help, can’t you?”
Marcus stood, extending his hand to George. “Where did you last sense him?”
“I told him to hide just outside the city. There is an old estate.” George started to ramble and Marcus picked out what was needed.
“You can Shift there. Shift to the last spot you sensed him?” Marcus reassured him.
“Yes, but what about you?” he looked again at Celeste.
“We will be right behind you.” Marcus gave Celeste a hard look. “Go now.” He patted the man on the shoulder just as George nodded and disappeared.
“We can’t use the Portals, but you can Shift, yes?” he asked, advancing on her.
Celeste didn’t even take a step back. “We Flash, we do not Shift. There is a difference. And why don’t you just Shift there?”
He knew the moment she put the pieces together because light flashed through her eyes. “You don’t trust me because you think I’m working with Calliope.”
“And because of it, I’m not letting you out of my site for a moment,” Marcus said between his teeth.
Celeste narrowed her eyes and glared at Marcus. “Fine. Think about where we are going.” She reached forward and placed her palm on his chest. “Oh, and by the way. It hurts.”
Marcus sucked in a breath as fire burned through every vein in his body. And then he was on his hands and knees in a grassy plot, throwing up his breakfast and everything else he had in his stomach.
“What the fuck was that?” he growled, right before he emptied his stomach again.
“That was Flashing,” Celeste said with a small smile. “I said it might hurt a little, next time try breathing out first.”
He forced himself to his feet and grabbed her by the shoulders, shaking her. He just couldn’t stop himself.
“Why?” was all he could bring himself to ask.
She smiled, but it was a deadly look that flashed through her eyes. “Because I’m a Demoness, and paybacks are a bitch.” She brushed her fingers over the healing bruises on her neck before pulling herself away from him.
Marcus couldn’t see straight he was so upset. But he forced himself to take several deep breaths. He looked around for George. The Guardian was curled in a ball at the base of a tree. That wasn’t a good sign. Marcus rushed over to him. Blood was coming from his nose and mouth.
“Shit.” Marcus gently laid him back in the grass and looked around. “Are we in a fucking graveyard?”
“It would appear so. And I would think that a Fallen would have a more discernible and eloquent vocabulary.” Celeste looked around letting her senses spin out to take in her surroundings. It was an old graveyard with tombs and large monoliths. Then she felt it, the tickle at the base of her skull. Calliope was here, and he was doing something horrible. Fear tracked up her spine, and she desperately searched her surroundings.
There deep in the graveyard fresh death thrummed through the air like waves after a rock is thrown into a glassy pound rippling outward. Celeste turned and started to run toward the center of the disturbance. The closer she got, the more the smell of blood swamped her. She slid to a halt at the steps of a tomb. She didn’t even hesitate as she bounded down the steps.
But came to a screeching halt when she came to the bottom of the tomb a fire burned in the corner. A man was hung from the opposite wall, his body limp in death. Smoke burned her throat and made her eyes water, the smell of the disemboweled body turning her stomach.
She couldn’t see what was holding the body up and wasn’t sure she wanted to know. He had been split from chin to groin. His bowels spilled out on the cold stone floor.
Calliope hovered over the body. He reached in and grabbed the still beating heart and with it, the soul. He turned to Celeste, a smile on his lips as a portal shimmered and then opened.
“Shit.” She didn’t think; she didn’t have time. Marcus finally showed up behind her. “Attack him,” she yelled over her shoulder. As she rushed Calliope as the portal opened fully, she saw Victor on the other side.
“Close it,” she bellowed to her brother.
****
Marcus watched as Celeste leapt into the air, wrapping her body around the soul Calliope was holding up like a prize, and then was sucked into the portal which slammed closed behind her. For several seconds he just stood there, he had never seen anything like what he saw before him, and couldn’t even wrap his mind around what Celeste had just done. If she had been a millisecond slower the portal closing would have slammed close killing her.
Calliope screamed in rage, and Marcus pulled himself back to the reality of the situation and jerked out his guns he fired at the Reaper who turned his rage on him. Marcus ducked one wing but was caught in the abdomen by the other. It sent him across the small tomb.
A flash of light from the other side of Calliope, and the Reaper roared again. As Celeste Flashed back.
“I offered you the world, sister,” Calliope snarled.
“I’m not really interested in the world, brother,” she threw back.
Celeste rushed Calliope as Marcus pushed himself to his feet, trying to find an opening to give her some relief. Black wings swirled and mixed with the red of her hair. They exchanged bone breaking blows. That had Marcus shaking his head, she was tough but Calliope seemed to have strength over her. He proved it when he caught Celeste with a wing and flung her into the air, she bounced off a wall.
Calliope laughed.
“We could have been unstoppable.”
Marcus was amazed when Celeste rolled to her feet, staying in a crouched position. Her eyes glittered with the thrill of the fight. She smiled. “I’m already unstoppable.” She grabbed a handful of the fire that burned next to her, and flung it at Calliope. Then she vanished and reappeared seconds later with the Black Sword she sliced it through the soft flesh of Calliope’s side.
Calliope bellowed in pain and flung out his wings, knocking Celeste out of the way. Marcus rushed him, but it was too late. Calliope took to the air and flew from the tomb, scattering fire and ash everywhere, just as Victor and Christian appeared.
“YOU’RE LATE,” Celeste screamed from the corner where she still lay. She pulled herself to her feet, ignoring the fact that she had one or two broken ribs. She spat blood out and advanced on her brothers. “What part of immediately didn’t you understand?”
“You look like shit,” Christian noted.
Celeste narrowed her eyes and then turned to Marcus. “You know, I’ve heard that one too many times today.”
Christian turned on Marcus. “You told our sister she looked like shit?” he asked with what looked like horror and admiration. “You got balls Fallen. Stupid, but you do have balls.”
“Damn, he’s a sick bastard,” Victor said, looking at the disemboweled body still hanging grotesquely in the depths of the tomb. Not paying attention to a sputtering Celeste and a shocked Marcus.
“Which brings us back to the fact that you were LATE,” Celeste yelle
d garnering everyone attention.
George stumbled into the tomb; saw the body, and then wretched. Everyone moved away from the man.
“Who is that?” Victor asked in disgust.
“He would be the Guardian,” Celeste said.
Christian didn’t look away from George as he muttered, “He failed.”
Marcus had heard enough. “You have all breathed way too much sulfur, because you’re all insane.”
“We’re fighting damned souls. Our humor left a while ago,” Christian offered with a shrug.
“I’ve broken a couple of ribs,” Celeste said walking up close to Victor. Her anger obviously taking a back seat to the pain she was now in.
Victor smiled. “Would you like me to fix you, little sister?”
She smiled a real smile at her brother. It took Marcus’s breath away. “Yes, please.” Victor smiled and wrapped his arms around her. They glowed with fire for a moment, and then he released her. Celeste took a breath and then leaned up on her toes to kiss his cheek.
Marcus was stunned at the show of affection between the two. Christian ignored it as he inspected the body.
“What is that all about?” Marcus demanded.
Celeste glared at him.
“I am able to heal her,” Victor offered.
“Yeah, wish he would offer to heal the rest of us. But he keeps that ability just for the girl,” Christian said. It was obviously a source of contention between the Reapers.
“Stop bitching. You heal,” Celeste snapped.
“Yeah, so do you. But if Victor is around, you heal immediately. You should have to suffer like the rest of us.”
Celeste moved over to Christian and put a hand on his chest. “Is someone still pissed over having his ass handed to him?” she asked with mock concern.
“Shut up, Celeste.” Christian shrugged her off, Celeste laughed.
Marcus had to admit they acted like a family. And his notion that she may be working with Calliope went out the window. She loved her brothers, and they loved her. Marcus knew from past experience you didn’t turn your back on that type of love.
Lost In Time: A Fallen Novel Page 7