by Tamela Miles
Elle could see that the angel had Patrick’s full attention now, as he surely had hers. “How can this have happened, Tagas? You told me that the probability of this ever happening was slim.” She looked over at a shaken Patrick.
“Pyro’s been trying to do that for years but…I never thought…” Patrick’s voice trailed off. He rubbed his face with one slightly trembling hand. “How can you be sure?”
Tagas voice was low. “He left your angelic mark carved into his latest victim. He’s deliberately baiting us to react instead of us using a careful plan of attack to stop him and send this demon he’s made to Hell.”
Elle was rattled but thinking clearly. She turned to Patrick. “Surely you and I can end Pyro’s reign of terror if you tap into your power again. We both know exactly what he’s capable of doing if we don’t end this now. Ultimately, it’s your call, Patrick, but regaining your holy light could make the difference in this fight.”
Patrick’s face shuttered and his eyes narrowed. “I don’t give a damn. I’m not doing it. I walked away from all the holy wars ten years ago because all it does is keep you running like a hamster on a wheel, winning the battle but never really winning the war. You know why? Because evil is pervasive, Elle. You can never really eradicate it. I chose my humanity, and that’s still my choice.” He took a deep breath, glaring at Tagas. “Sure, I’ll fight Pyro and his bastard demon with her. I’m now a little personally invested since he stole some of my life force to create the thing, and I’m going to take Pyro down and send him back to Hell, completely powerless, for a few decades. This, in no way, means that I’m tapping my energy and fitting back into the flock.”
Tagas’s face was blank. “As Elle said, it’s your call, Patrick.”
Elle shook her head slowly. “I get it—you want nothing to do with God and his endless battles. I get it more than you think, believe me. Fine. We’ll fight them on your terms. But I do think you’re making a serious mistake. You’re a hybrid angel with at least ten times my strength when you’re connected to your life energy. We may not be strong enough, even together, to fight them, without your full strength. You want to bitch and whine about how God has wronged you? You want to embrace your human side while you find the meaning of your existence? Great. Do it after we fight Pyro and his monster. Right now, I need you to focus and be ready for this. There. I’ve preached enough.” She fell silent, her eyes narrowed in anger.
Patrick turned his glare from Tagas to her. His words were slow and deliberate. “Fine. We’ll do this, and then I’m out of this mess. Forever.” He left the barstool and grabbed up her bow and satchel of arrows, throwing them at her feet. “It’s almost dusk. We’ll leave then to hunt this thing down.”
Tagas wore a small smile. “God has specified that this is your fight. I’m not permitted to interfere for His own reasons. I’ll be in the background to help.”
Patrick gritted his teeth. “Fantastic, Tagas. That’s just fantastic.”
Elle picked up an arrow with a wintry smile of her own. “If we lose, that’s the end of me, I guess. But I don’t plan to lose. Pyro and Cascadia, when I find her, have so much to answer for.”
****
Elle and Patrick sat side by side in the back seat of her SUV, parked in the same Pasadena area where the latest body had been found. They were at the base of the foothills, not far from the twin trails that led into woods. The moon and a few visible stars shone bright outside, but the dark tint on her windows only allowed a fraction of the light in, making the night seem even more ominous.
She looked at the cell phone in his hands and heaved a deep sigh. “You hold grudges, don’t you? You’re still pissed about what I said earlier.”
Patrick’s eyes never left his phone. “I don’t hold grudges. Besides, there’s truth in what you said. I have zero desire to be a part of the avenging flock of other hybrids still fighting God’s holy wars.”
“If you agree with me, why have you been lost in the game on your phone since we’ve been here? You’re supposed to be on the lookout with me.”
“I have been on the lookout, and I’m seeing exactly what you see—a big load of nothing.” He kept tapping on his phone. “This, my dear Elle, is a dead end lead, for the moment, anyway. We’ve searched the area and waited here for two hours with no luck, which is not surprising to me. I’ve known Pyro a lot longer than you, and he’ll bring the fight to us when he’s done playing the game.”
She covered his phone with one hand, forcing him to look up. Her full lips curved in a gentle smile. “I see what Tagas meant by your superior wisdom and experience. I didn’t mean to come across like a badass demon hunter who knows it all. You hunted demons long before I was even born.”
“So, now I’m old? Thanks.” He clicked off the phone and set it beside him on the seat.
Elle gave a chuckle. “Let’s just agree that you have a glorious past when it comes to slaying demons that has given you certain…um, insights into it that I don’t have.”
Elle watched his expression change, his eyes focusing intently on her as he smiled. Her heart began to beat a little faster. She wasn’t prepared to deal with this other, blatantly sensual part of Patrick in such close confines and moved to make more space between them. He moved with her until their shoulders touched.
“I have insights into many other things. Would you like to hear them, Elle?”
The heat of his glance and the softness of his tone made her hyperaware, her skin tingling. She cleared her throat nervously. “Sure, go ahead.”
Patrick’s gaze settled on her parted lips. “Most demon hunters I’ve known take sex where they can find it and never bother with love. They don’t want the responsibility that comes with loving someone else totally. I have lived like that for years, sex with no ties. You’re different from them, you have a softness. I have loved exactly one woman in my life, a human woman. She shared your same innocence of spirit, which drew me to her like a magnet.” He dragged a finger across Elle’s lips, and she let out a little gasp. Damn it, she didn’t want to be caught in his spell, but she couldn’t deny her attraction to him any longer. He leaned in closer, his lips an inch away from hers and spoke softly. “You draw me to you the same way, beautiful Elle.”
He placed his hand on the back of her neck, pulling her open mouth to his and devouring her. She didn’t stop him. He caressed her tongue with his own, tasting her for the first time. She loved the taste of him and leaned in, wanting more. She touched his face with gentle fingertips, and he covered her hand with his for a moment before cradling her head in his hands, deepening the kiss.
She sighed as his lips found the way to her neck, tilting her head back. She held on to his broad shoulders as he teased the shell of her ear with his tongue. She could hear how labored their breathing had become in the silence of their own little world in the back of the SUV. She knew that he wanted no ties and didn’t want any ties herself. She knew that the sting of his eventual rejection if they did have sex would still bother her. At the moment, she didn’t care. Regrets were for later.
Patrick pushed her back gently, stretching out on top of her. He pushed the leather jacket aside and lifted the cotton camisole to slide his hands up across her belly to the curves of her breasts, stroking the soft skin for long moments. He deftly unhooked her black satin bra, filling his hands as his thumbs teased the hard tips. He took each one in his mouth, moving his tongue in teasing circles as she gasped in pleasure. He began a sucking motion on her nipples, and her core moistened and ached.
Elle was drowning in the intense sensations that wracked her body. She looked down at his head still at her breasts and trembled. Just looking at him doing incredibly sensual things to her body made her want to come. His hands quickly undid her jeans and slid inside, his fingers teasing her soft core. She grabbed a handful of his hair, dragging his lips back to hers. She slid her hands under his t-shirt, stroking his chest and burying her face in the masculine hair. His pleasing scent was enough to drive her
mad, his cologne not too heavy.
She moved her hands lower to the hard bulge in his jeans, cupping and kneading him. She looked at his face, happy to see his eyes slitted and his lips slightly slack in wild desire as she toyed with his body. She needed to touch him, to give him back the pleasure he was giving her. She unzipped his jeans, holding his cock in her hands. He swore loudly, his whole body tensing. Just as she began to circle the tip in a light motion, he covered her hand in his, moving her hand away abruptly.
His voice was harsh with need. “Let’s not do this right now, Elle. Maybe we should never do it. God knows, you set me on fire, baby, and I want nothing more right now than to be buried deep in you. But…I don’t want to use you just to get off. I have plenty of available women to do that with. You and I are friends, kind of. Maybe we should just leave it that way.”
Elle felt a sharp ache of disappointment at his words, her body still sensitive and ready as he pulled his hand from her jeans and began adjusting his own clothing. She wanted him so much, but she wasn’t going to beg him. She fixed her clothing. “People all over the world who are ‘just friends’ have sex all the time. It doesn’t have to lead to anything serious, Patrick. Don’t worry about me getting all clingy and expecting a commitment from you if we should happen to have sex at some point in the future.”
Patrick caught her face in his hands, staring intently at her. “How many lovers have you had? I’m very curious. Will I eventually be number two or number two hundred? I imagine there can’t be many because there’s nothing slutty about you.”
Elle raised an eyebrow. “The old double standard, of course. Four—I’ve had four lovers in my life. But, like you, I have only loved one person. And that was Brandon. Satisfied now, Patrick?”
He laughed as he ran his fingers through his dark hair. “Mostly, yes. As much as I know I should stay away from you, you’re going to get me in the end, aren’t you?” He winked.
Elle’s heart did a flip at his words, but her voice was cool and smooth, her smile mysterious. “And you’ll like it. If I decide to let it happen.” She opened the back door of the SUV, climbing out. “We should head back to my place. We need to formulate yet another new game plan.”
****
Elle had suggested they have dinner at a good Mexican place she knew in downtown L.A. before turning in for the night. They sat on the balcony, which was slightly less busy than the inside of the restaurant, decorated with vines of twinkling white lights and about a dozen potted plants.
She dipped a tortilla chip in the extra hot salsa, enjoying the slight sting on her tongue. “You speak so passionately about embracing your humanity. But what about the drudgery of the daily grind? We get up and do the same routine five days a week and spend our weekends preparing for the next week’s grind, while trying to catch up on sleep. I would think that embracing your angelic side would speak more to your creativity. Don’t the heavens inspire you to write your music?”
Patrick reached for a chip from the small wicker basket, shaking his head. “In the beginning, yes, I was driven to write about the beauty and grace of the heavens and its beings. As I drifted away from the flock, I discovered that the human struggle for love, grace, and understanding was far more beautiful than a hundred holy songs that only told half the story. The war between holy and evil is the gritty reality that no average human could possibly fully understand. Or accept.”
“So, you’re content to write songs about the dark and painful side of love and a woman who is long gone from your life?”
He rubbed his chin, drawing her attention to the bristly shadow. She remembered the feel of it from their earlier kiss. She nervously took a sip of water.
“I write what I know. That’s often the best way to tell a story. Love can be dark and painful. Sometimes, it’s even twisted.” He shrugged. “That woman I loved—she’s been gone from my life for a long time. She decided that I wasn’t a safe bet for her future, so she married some lawyer. The point is that I loved, I lost, and I now share my pain about the whole experience with words set to music.”
Elle gazed at him thoughtfully. “I suppose I expected you to be angrier about it than you are. I struggled with bitterness about Brandon’s death for a long time. I raged at God constantly because of my calling and the life I’ve been forced to live. At the start, I was reckless and impulsive when I hunted. There were times when I really didn’t care if I lived or died. I slowly got over that. No one has a perfect life, Patrick. That’s fairy tale nonsense. But I do wish you well in in finding it.”
The small mariachi trio emerged from inside the restaurant to play their music on the balcony. Patrick gestured and they approached, smiling broadly as they stood a few feet away from the table. He planted a kiss on her hand, interlocking her fingers with his. “Guys, please play the perfect song for a beautiful, intelligent, and wise woman.”
With the lively strum of the guitars, the mariachi band obliged. Surrounded by lights, with a heady view of downtown L.A., she basked in the joy of simply being with Patrick. Her head screamed out a warning to remain emotionally detached, and she dismissed the thought. She could handle herself.
****
Elle flipped on the lights as they both entered the warehouse, the winter chill following them inside before Patrick shut the heavy door. He caught her around the wrist before she could walk away, getting close. What now lay heavy between them was something he couldn’t shrug off.
He cleared his throat. “Um, I think you’re stunning in every way, not just physically. I really like you and I can’t say that about many people, but—”
To his surprise, she didn’t move away from him, her gaze piercing as their eyes locked. “You’re afraid to have sex with me, right? You don’t want any messy complications.” She raised her hands up, shaking her head. “Fine. I don’t want any romantic entanglements at this point in my life, either. I can’t just sling my newborn baby on my shoulders while I fight demons, with a husband waiting at home, cooking dinner. My life is far from normal and probably always will be.” She took a breath, stroking his cheek with her hand. He melted inside from her touch, his body stiffening in a heated reaction. “You want a normal life, Patrick, and you’ll do anything to have that. That just ain’t me. So, friends we will remain.” She kissed his cheek before turning away. “I’m off to bed. We should have an early start on coming up with a new plan of attack.”
Later, as he stood in the bathroom, putting on his comfy shorts and tank shirt for bed, he turned her words over in his mind. The words smarted, even delivered gently from her, because it was all true. His mind told him to him to forget about Elle and worry more about ending this fight with Pyro and his beast so that he could back to his normal human life. Maybe even a life complete with a nice human woman with a couple of kids. A human woman who didn’t slice off heads while strutting around in black leather stilettos. Shit, those mind-blowing boots on her. Maybe the heart wants what the heart wants, right? Patrick scowled. That was woman sort of bullshit. Right now, all his heart wanted was to sleep. Too bad his cock didn’t agree. He wore his frustrated scowl right out of the bathroom over to his sleeping area in the dark warehouse.
****
Elle stirred from her sleep, her chest constricted and her breathing labored. She tried to turn over and realized that she was pinned to her bed. She opened her eyes. Two bright red orbs stared back at her menacingly, a low growl coming from the open maw. She screamed, wide awake and in attack mode, using her full strength to try to push the demon off.
Patrick was up from his bed in a shot, running full speed. He leaped onto its back, wrapping one arm around the thick, muscular neck. Elle took advantage of the distraction, sliding from beneath it and rolling off the bed. She sprang to her feet and grabbed the dagger from her nightstand.
The black entity rose up, shaking Patrick off its back and whipping around to grab his throat. Its hands closed tightly, shaking him viciously as he tried to pry loose the strong grip. She plunged
the dagger deep into its back, and it roared angrily, dropping Patrick on the bed. He gasped loudly, sucking in deep gulps of air.
The demon turned its attention back to her, and she raised the dagger in a slashing motion as it moved toward her slowly. She backed away, trying to balance herself. It slapped her hard across the face, and she crumpled to the floor from the force, the dagger falling from her hand. She hurt all over, her eyelids were heavy, and she was barely aware of Patrick cradling her head in his hands.
“Elle? Are you all right? Come on, focus on me, baby. Don’t black out or we’re both dead. I can’t do this alone. I was crazy to ever think I could fight this thing with you.”
She tried to speak as she felt the familiar vibration of a portal opening. They both looked at the doorway between worlds on the far side of the warehouse, its crimson light cutting through the darkness. Pyro stepped through it, smiling. He raised one hand, summoning his demon. “Come here.” It obeyed, lumbering to the portal. It glared at them malevolently before it disappeared.
“Fortunately for you both, this is not your night to die. Patrick, I just wanted you to meet the newest member of your family. As I’m sure you know by now, he comes from your energy. Formidable, isn’t he?”
“You’re still a power-insane, twisted bastard, Pyro.” Patrick held a dazed Elle as he spoke. “No matter how many human guises you use to enjoy a weird sort of humanity, you’ll never escape Hell. It will always be one mistake away. You know, as well as I do, that’s how it works with God. He never loses.”
Pyro gave him a look. “We’re all trying to escape God, aren’t we? You’ve been away from the flock for years.” He shrugged. “No matter to me. Your desertion provided the opportunity for me to create my marvelous demon. We will destroy His pathetic little creatures by the thousands, and you will not stop me.” He grinned broadly. “You don’t have the strength anymore, old friend. And before I’m done, I’ll destroy you both, too.” He gave a careless wave, stepping back through the portal. The doorway closed, leaving a trace of heat and the stench of sulfur in the air.