Lost In Time: A Fallen Novel

by Palmer, Christie

  “She needs to smell like a male, and then we need to cover her up. Her hair has to be pulled up, and she needs to stay close.” Victor nodded as Celeste pulled a large t-shirt over her close fitting clothing and then strapped the sword to her back, swinging her cloak around her shoulders. The handle protruded through a special opening at her left shoulder.

  “What are we going to do about your scent?” Victor asked.

  “You don’t have to worry about that,” Celeste said, not looking at Marcus.

  Marcus smiled. Damn straight he had just licked her stomach, kissed her neck. If his scent wasn’t all over her, he was doing something wrong.

  Victor looked from Marcus to Celeste and swore. He stepped forward, slamming a fist into Marcus’s face. “You bastard.”

  “Victor,” Celeste stepped in between them. “We so don’t have time for this. And for a moment just remember you forced him on me the other night so I would heal.”

  Marcus didn’t take that as a compliment, nor did he like the tone in which she had said it. She had wanted him as much as he had wanted her. Why couldn’t she have just said that?

  Victor opened and closed his mouth several times. “That was different.”

  “Get over it. I’m a big girl,” Celeste muttered. “Now let’s go see if we can avoid a riot in the living room.”

  She left the room, Kyra directly behind her.

  Victor stopped Marcus. “You hurt her, and I’ll kill you.”

  “So you’ve said.” And then he took pity on the Reaper. “Her life for mine, I will do nothing to hurt her and everything in my power to protect her.”

  “Stay close to her. And be ready to fight. I don’t care if you don’t want her, your scent is on her right now, and if that Demon decides to fight you, you better win.” Marcus nodded. He had never in his time as a Fallen worried about his ability to fight.

  They followed the girls, and Victor stopped them before they entered the room, letting Kyra go in first.

  Marcus turned to Celeste and kissed her, rubbing his hands along her cloak covered arms. He kissed her until they were both breathless. He leaned back and looked down into her lovely violet eyes. “Just making sure.”

  Celeste shook her head but there was humor in her eyes. “You have to go first.”

  Marcus smiled. “I might like this.”

  He turned, and she punched him in his right kidney. He stumbled a step before he straightened up and was able to walk into the room upright.

  “We aren’t done,” he said over his shoulder. She had pulled up her hood so he couldn’t see her face.

  “We’ll see.” Her voice drifted from the darkness of her hood.

  He stumbled, and flashes of times he had spent in the Infernos assailed him: a slight figure leaning over him with bright kind and loving eyes. That figure had him going back over and over for punishment just to feel that soft touch. It was the only touch he allowed himself. Was that who Victor had been talking about? He smiled. She felt something for him, Otherwise she wouldn’t have been his caretaker all these years.

  ****

  Celeste could smell the flood of testosterone in the room as she entered. She kept her head down, but looked around. The Demon stood in the corner next to a vampire with dark brown hair and rugged looks. The Demon was large and his eyes locked on her and his nostrils flared, his eyes taking on a red glow, he rumbled deep in his throat.

  His Vampire friend put a hand on his arm. The Demon turned to the vampire. Celeste knew if something was going to happen, it would be now and every muscle in her body tensed for the fight. But then the vampire whispered something to the Demon that seemed to calm him he nodded and turned away from her and back toward the vampire.

  Celeste stumbled into Marcus when he stopped she was so shocked. She had never met a Demon with control enough to not even approach her.

  Marcus stepped back to steady her. “I think it worked,” he whispered and winked at her.

  Celeste didn’t believe it, but was keeping it to herself. That Demon was either already mated or had control she had never witnessed exhibited by a Demon before.

  “Now that we are all here, I will need a blood sample from each of the Reapers,” Kyra said, standing next to Eric, her brother.

  “Why?” Christian asked, stepping forward he opened his palm and cut his palm.

  Kyra gave him an endearing smile, and Celeste knew that Kyra had just earned herself a friend for life. “The protection around the house can’t be completed until I add the blood of the Reapers. That way, you can cross it, but Calliope can’t, and neither will any other Reaper that isn’t in the room here tonight.”

  Garrett and Victor stepped forward also cutting their palms with a knife they pulled from their cloaks. Celeste stepped up and nudged Marcus. “You must do it,” she whispered.

  Marcus gave her a strange look. “Give my blood?” he asked.

  She wanted to hit him. “No you must be the one to bleed me.”

  “Dammit,” Marcus growled, stepping forward with her, she offered her hand over the bowl like each of her brothers had made and pulled a knife from her sleeve handing it to him.

  He held it for a moment. “I’m sorry,” he whispered so that only she could hear, then sliced into her palm. She forced herself to not make a sound as her blood dripped into the bowl.

  Once that was done Eric, picked up the bowl, Celeste turned to Victor who took her hand and healed her. Marcus felt helpless. He had injured her, and he couldn’t even heal her.

  “Everyone needs to pair up. As many with a Reaper as possible,” Kyra said. She handed out small bags to each person, except the Reapers.

  “This concoction will simulate a Reaper Flashing, even the opening of a portal,” Kyra explained. “You need to be prepared to get out of the area as quickly as possible. From the contact we have had with Calliope, it is obvious he is sitting on a precarious line between sanity and complete madness. So don’t hang around. Trust me when I say that in the small groups you will be in you will not be able to defend against him. He will kill you, regardless of being immortal or not. Does everyone understand?”

  When everyone agreed, Victor and Garrett pulled out the map. They worked on showing everyone where they needed to be and each destination. “Six hours. That is all the time we are allowing, and then everyone must be back here.”

  Everyone nodded and then left. It would take a half hour to get everyone where they needed to be besides the Reapers.

  When they were ready, Celeste offered her hand to Marcus. “Ready?” she had pulled her hood down so he could look into her eyes.

  He placed his hand in hers. “Yes.” He sucked in a breath and blew it out as she Flashed him. They ended up in a dark park where swings hung fluttering in the wind. The darkness oppressive and thick.

  “Who did you think you were in love with?” Marcus asked as soon as he had his breath back.

  Celeste just looked at him for a moment. “Seriously?”

  Instead of answering, she Flashed them again, this time Marcus reappeared and fell to his knees, sucking in cool air. “God Dammit, Celeste.”

  He swept her legs out from beneath her so she landed on her butt next to him.

  “Do you enjoy picking on woman?” she asked.

  Marcus growled, and Celeste growled back. “Just stop doing that.”

  “You know, you ask me that a lot. But never once, have you explained exactly what it is I do that you want me to stop doing.” He looked up into the night sky trying to figure this woman out.

  “Ready?” she asked, irritation lacing her words. It was the only warning she gave before they Flashed and landed in a cemetery.

  “You know this Flashing thing isn’t getting any easier. In fact, I feel sick.”

  “Oh, I’m sorry,” Celeste said with little emotion.

  Marcus pulled himself to a standing position. “Sometimes I wonder if you even have a heart.”

  She grabbed him, not warning him at all as they Flashed aga
in, ending up in an alley. He knew where each Flash would lead them and where they would end up. He stumbled out of arm’s reach. She wasn’t going to pull another Flash out without him knowing it.

  “STOP.” He was done, and they were going to have it out whether she wanted to or not.

  “What do I have to do to get past that damn wall you have built between you and the world?” he demanded.

  “I have no idea what you’re talking about.” She reached for him, but he side stepped her.

  “Celeste, talk to me.”

  “I have nothing to say, Fallen.”

  Marcus wanted to shake her, but knew that if he did, she would Flash them somewhere, and he wasn’t ready for that. His ability to shift was a much more comfortable way to travel. “Who were you in love with?”

  “None of your business, Fallen. He wasn’t the man I thought he was, and what I thought I felt for him is gone.” He could tell it hurt her to just say it, which could only mean she still had feelings for him. Rage surged through him, and he felt as if he was going to internally combust.

  “He was an idiot.” Marcus couldn’t imagine a man walking away from her. She was beautiful strong and took joy in things people took for granted.

  “I agree completely. We need to move.” She reached out a hand, and he took it.

  They Flashed to a business district. Empty buildings stood like avenging Angels in the dark with sad windows that were broken out, and black shadows hid behind them. The mortal world was falling to darkness, and the mortals didn’t even know it. He wondered briefly how many would care?

  “How did you fall?” Celeste asked, shocking Marcus back to the here and now.

  He looked at her. Her violet eyes glowed in the darkness. He could brush her off, refuse to answer, but he didn’t. He wasn’t going to hide from her. He hoped his honesty would help to draw her out.

  “Have you heard of Pompeii?”

  She nodded, and laughed. “You fell because of Pompeii?”

  He turned away from her; he still felt the pain of those souls. “You may laugh all you like, but it was something that should have been avoided. Men, women and children were killed. Innocence was burned and wiped from the earth that horrible day. I gave everything I was and more in protest.” Turning back to her, he let her see his emotion. He had never spoken to anyone about how he had Fallen, not even Jessica. But he wasn’t going to hide this from her. “The Elysian Fields are full of love and kindness. Angels should guide and show mercy. That day none was to be had. So I chose to be exiled rather than not give mercy where it was deserved.”

  Celeste just looked at him not speaking. The humor from a moment before was gone. She held out her hand, and they Flashed into a side street off of Bourbon Street. They could hear the merriment of the city just beyond the shadows were they stood.

  “It doesn’t matter,” Celeste said, looking down the street at the brightly lit bars and tourist attractions. “But I think you did the right thing.”

  He touched her shoulder, turning her around. He pressed her against the brick wall of the alley. “It does matter very much. Thank you, Celeste.” And then he kissed her. It was a gentle kiss, one of gratitude, one of caring and kindness. But he felt the power of his need and lust just under the surface, desperate to be released.

  When he pulled back, she smiled at him, taking his breath away. “Gods, Celeste, I wish you would do that more often.”

  Her smile faltered. “What?”

  He rubbed his thumb along her full bottom lip. “Smile at me.”

  “That’s all you want from me? A smile?” she asked, laughing.

  Marcus moaned and leaned against her, pressing his proof of his need for her against her belly. “No that is not all I want from you, but it’s a good start.”

  “Ready?” she asked. He nodded, and they Flashed back to the deserted business district.

  “Why did you never reveal yourself in the Infernos?”

  She looked at him hard. “By the time I was born, Mother was already starting to lose it. Dante had pulled away from her, she got pregnant on purpose. She stole his blood and bonded herself to him. She knew she was losing him, and did everything possible to stop it.”

  She shrugged but he could tell what she was saying was hard for her. “I am an abomination, something that should have never been. When I was born, Dante took me to the river of souls to get rid of me. But he says I looked up at him with my violet eyes, and he couldn’t do it. He fell in love with me, regardless of the fact I should never have been born; that he should have never been capable of love after descending from the heavens.”

  Those words stabbed at Marcus like nothing ever had before. “You feel like you’re an abomination?” he asked.

  She nodded with complete honesty. “Of course, it’s what I am.”

  Marcus took her in his arms. “Every soul has meaning and purpose, Celeste. You are the furthest thing from an abomination that I could think of.”

  “Marcus, you say that as if I should be ashamed or hurt by what I am. I am neither. It is just the way things are. We need to move.” He nodded, not letting go of her as they Flashed into an open field.

  “You are not an abomination,” he whispered into her ear and held her, partly because she was allowing him to and partly because he wanted her to know that he really didn’t think she was what she thought. “You’re one of the most amazing women I have ever had the pleasure of meeting.” He leaned back and looked into her face; her eyes glowed in the darkness. “So you hide from the world because of being told you are an abomination?”

  She laughed. “I was kept safe, Marcus. My brothers and father deal with the worst of the world both in mortal and Other. They did what they had to do in order to keep me from being hurt. And I left the Infernos and came to the mortal plane all the time.”

  Marcus stepped back. “Why?”

  “Sex,” she said honestly. Marcus let his arms fall to his side, and he fisted and released his hands several times. The thought of her coming here just to seek out sex with nameless and faceless men made him want to kill every single one of them.

  He turned away from her and took several steps trying to control his temper. With one word she had pushed him from zero to a hundred on a scale of angry.

  “Marcus I need sex. I’m a sex Demon, it’s a fact.” The way she said it made it so he didn’t have an argument against it. Not without sounding like a total fool.

  “What happened to this man you fell in love with?” he demanded, angry at a man who could have stopped the nameless sex, but was too stupid to know what he had. If she had fallen for someone she would have been kept safe in the Infernos.

  Her face fell. “I explained, Marcus he wasn’t the man I thought he was and therefore my feelings for him have changed.”

  She didn’t want to talk about it, he could tell. “But the thought of you with nameless men—”

  She put her hand on his mouth stopping his words. “Don’t think about it. You didn’t know me, didn’t know I existed. It is the past.”

  He grabbed her by the shoulders, feeling as if he needed to place a mark on her, mark her as his so she would never need to have sex with nameless men again while he was here. As far as he was concerned the vow was broken. She was his, and he was going to do whatever he needed to do in order to keep her.

  He pressed his lips to hers urgently. She didn’t fight him, kissing him back. For the first time they were on the same page.

  He finally pulled his lips away, and looked around. “What I wouldn’t give for a bed.” His hands roamed all over her body.

  “Breathe,” she warned, Flashing them back to the cemetery. Monoliths and slabs of granite lay out around them.

  He leaned back. “Not exactly what I had in mind but—”and kissed her, his hand sliding down to cup her butt. His fingers slipped inside the seam of her legs, and he pulled her up so she wrapped her legs around his waist. He backed her up against a large slab of granite.

  “Marcus I
need you so bad, I can’t think,” she growled into his ear as she pulled his shirt from his pants. Celeste ran her hands up his ribs. She could feel his muscles twitch and jump as her fingers ran along him.

  “Does it help that I feel the same way?” he moaned in her ear. She melted against him as he said it, giving into him.

  Celeste pulled away, pinning him with her violet eyes. “Are you sure?” the question held so many different questions: his vow, his life, what he had fought for and believed in.

  He answered her by kissing her and pulling her into his arms.

  ****

  She had never felt so safe and so cared for in all her life. She was with the one man she had dreamt about for over two hundred years. He touched her like he worshiped her. He made her feel like she was the most important thing in the world, and that was a new feeling to her.

  Cool hands touched her lower back, and she arched forward, gasping.

  He chuckled. “Sorry, it’s a chilly night.”

  “Then why am I burning up?” she asked. She cupped his face and pulled him down to kiss. She never wanted this moment to end.

  His hands moved to the front, and she pulled her cloak off, tossing it over her shoulder. Marcus pushed her down so she lay flat on the granite. He pushed her top over her breasts and stood staring at her for a long moment.

  “You’re so beautiful,” he said. Leaning down, he took one nipple into his mouth.

  Celeste had to bite her lip in ecstasy. She arched up into his mouth, wanting to be as close as she could to him. She felt like no matter how close they got, it would never be close enough.

  “Damn, Celeste.” He lapped at her body. His free hand pinched her other nipple, and he switched sides as he rubbed his erection against her. “I need you.”

  She laughed. “Yes, I can feel that.”

  He moved so that he could look into her face. “You think this is funny?” he asked with mock indignation.

  Celeste rotated her hips in a way that would drive him crazy, and he closed his eyes tight, not breathing.