It was over as fast as it started. The wraiths moved back to circle the Dominae. A silver wisp rose from Zadkiel’s decimated body to join the others, his mouth open in a silent scream of apparent agony.
The Dominae retrieved the sword.
I shot him too. Maybe it was delayed reaction, but the only justice I could fathom for Zadkiel was exchanging the closest thing to an eye-for-an-eye as I could.
The Dominae collapsed near his brethren.
“Holy shit,” Bahlin said, the awe in his voice unmistakable.
I lowered my gun and looked over to find him standing naked beside me. “What?” I averted my eyes.
“You shot both of them without flinching.”
“Yeah, well, I didn’t know what else to do.”
“Clearly.”
“Shift back so we can get back to Hellion’s before the police are called about the bodies.”
“Body,” Hellion corrected.
I looked back to find both Dominae dissolving into black sludge that seeped into the ground like an oil spill. The smell of decaying flesh and hot asphalt hit me with prejudice. “I think I just threw up in my mouth a little bit.”
“Let’s go.” Bahlin’s voice was already warping, changing as he did.
In that moment between his shift from human to other, a blinding light seared my eyes. Blinking, I reached out blindly to find Hellion reaching back. Bahlin nosed me hard enough I stumbled forward. As the world came back into focus and the stars in my eyes burned out, I realized the Nephilim’s body was gone.
Bahlin snorted into my back and nosed me again.
“Right. We should go.”
Hellion gave me a leg up before climbing on behind me.
We returned to the house, the only sound the beating of Bahlin’s wings—soft, powerful, unseen.
When he set down in front of the house, we slipped off his back. Bahlin shifted and started for his clothes.
Hellion laid an arm around me and turned me toward the door. “We’ll be in the library. Gather everyone if you would and meet us up there, yeah?”
We headed up the stairs hand in hand. Silence hung between us like a shroud, obscuring things so effectively that every breath Hellion took sounded to me like censure.
“Do you think I was wrong to shoot them?”
His hand clenched mine tight before relaxing. “No. I just wish I’d been the one to pull the trigger.”
“This is an equal opportunity partnership. I just took the opportunity sooner.” That earned me a quick smile. I’d have been happier if it had reached his eyes.
We reached the library and sank down onto the sofa in the same spot we’d been in before. Forty-five minutes. It had only been forty-five minutes since we’d left. Hellion dropped his arm over my shoulder and I curled up next to him, unable to shake the nagging feeling that something big was coming. We sat that way until the first knock on the library door sounded.
Time to get started.
Chapter Five
As everyone trickled into the room, I realized I was exhausted. My side ached, I hadn’t eaten in who knew how long and while the sexiest thought on my mind involved a bed, the only activity that interested me was sleep. I slumped into Hellion and whispered, “I don’t want to do this. Not right now.”
Hellion looked down at me, and I could see him weigh and measure how much more he thought I could stand. He curled a finger under my chin and leaned in, kissing me gently. “One try. If it doesn’t work, I’ll take you to bed.”
He stroked my head and was just about to address the group when Bahlin bit out, “If this is for my benefit, I get it. She picked you, Hellion. No need to put on a show.”
Hellion was about to snap back when I put a hand on his thigh and looked up at him, pleading.
“Gentlemen,” Hellion said, never taking his eyes off mine, “I think Maddy and I need to speak to Bahlin alone. Darius, would you be so kind as to stay on the first floor and watch over Micah?”
Darius gave a small smile. “Sure.”
“Micah, until we know why you’ve come and what it is Maddy can do to help, I suggest you stay here where we can best work together for your safety.”
“Agreed.” Micah inclined his head slightly and left the room, Darius close behind.
That left Bahlin.
I could feel the tension in my body nearing explosive levels, and I was afraid I was going to lose it and commit lizard-cide, which wouldn’t have been beneficial to anyone. Bahlin sank down in a club chair and stared at the two of us indifferently.
“What mess have you conjured up now?” he asked, and I was unsure to whom he spoke.
“Excuse me?”
Hellion patted my leg before he got up and closed the library door. He turned to the dragon and said, “I think what Maddy means to ask is what the ever loving hell gave you the right to fuck her over like you did?”
“Look, I show up here and find you with a fallen angel. Then I’m ‘summoned’ to deliver you to creatures who clearly kill them, though those two you capped won’t be doing much more killing tonight. What I actually came for was to find out how the three of us are going to work together, because I’m tied to you for twelve years whether I like it or not, love,” he snarked, arching a brow at me.
The familiar gesture did nothing to move me.
“Really? ‘Twelve years,’ is it?” I asked, fighting for control of both my voice and my emotions. No such luck. I exploded out of the chair and headed for him for the second time in less than an hour, fists clenched and murder on my mind.
Caught off guard, Bahlin scrambled over the back of the chair and landed flat on his ass as I was once again intercepted, this time by Hellion. I fought and kicked, trying to get closer to the damn traitor who was getting up off the floor. Hellion mashed his hand into my side and I arched away from him, hissing at the pain.
“You’d better get a hold of yourself, anamchara, or I’m going to have real issues healing this later tonight.”
I relaxed a little, breathing heavily and still eyeing Bahlin as I tried to decide if it was worth trying for him one last time.
Hellion pressed again.
“Ouch! Okay, okay. Enough. I give.”
Whether as a precautionary measure or as a means of support I wasn’t sure, he took my hand in his and pulled me down next to him on the sofa.
Bahlin stood and brushed away the imaginary dust and lint before turning to me, his eyes that familiar icy blue of his beast. “What…the…fuck, Madeleine?” he ground out.
“Consider that he doesn’t know,” Hellion said to me. I looked at him in disbelief and he repeated himself, adding, “He’s of two minds.”
Bahlin watched us with such clear confusion that I relaxed a little before asking, “Do you remember what happened in the park? I mean everything, Bahlin.”
Pain flashed across his face so quickly it was there and gone before I could blink. “If you brought me up here just to be cruel, then I’ve got to object as it’s entirely uncalled for.” He turned for the door.
I stood. “You killed me,” I called out across the large room.
He stumbled. Then he froze.
That got his damned attention. I would wager a guess that not even the moth fluttering around the lamp breathed in that moment.
“Come again, love?” he said, finally turning back to face me, though he did it ever so slowly. “What exactly have I done, because you look right as rain to me.”
“You took to the air as we left the park,” Hellion said, joining me to stand near the end of the sofa. “For two days she slept and I watched over her carefully. On the morning of the third day, she awoke. We redressed her wounds and she slept a bit more. I was watching the news when they showed the devastation that had occurred at Pickledean Henge.”
Bahlin visibly paled and shook his head, whispering, “No. I don’t believe it.”
I felt a strange compassion for him that I didn’t want to feel, so I clung more tenaciously to my anger.
After all, I theoretically had a very, very long time to get over being mad. Indulging my temper—just a bit—seemed reasonable. “You remember Pickledean Henge? The place my Evolution occurred?” I walked slowly around the end of the sofa table and stood across from him. “It’s been destroyed—stones ripped up, the altar stone cracked, the point stone in several pieces. Talon marks were shown in the stones. The mundanes had no idea what they were looking at, but speculation ran the gamut.” Turning away, I fought to keep my voice steady. “You stole my mortality, effectively killing any chance I had of getting out of this alive.”
I got a little choked up and cursed myself for my tendency to cry when angry. Why couldn’t I have become wittier? Snarkier? Developed a kick-assitude that was unstoppable? Nope, not me. I was stuck with tears. I slowly wiped away a couple that broke free, closing my eyes as I struggled to regain control.
Tentative footsteps sounded and his voice was closer when he spoke. “Maddy?”
“Why, Bay?”
“I don’t know.” He sounded confused and dejected and, when I finally opened my eyes, I found he looked the same. “I have snippets of that night, but it’s all colored with rage. It’s been more than a thousand years since I lost control of my dragon that way. If what you say is true, well, I…” He took a deep breath and blew it out. “I can only say I wasn’t rational and ask you to forgive me.”
“I need more than a mediocre apology,” I snapped.
Hellion’s hand settled on my shoulder, and the two men stared at each other. Lifting his hand, Hellion smoothed it down the back of my head, encouraging me to turn to him. “Consider accepting, Maddy.”
“You aren’t serious.”
“I’ve been thinking about this. You see, a mhuirnín, had the tables been turned and the outcome of that night been other than what it was, I don’t know if my reaction would have been so different than his.” He closed his eyes and pulled me close, but I was loath to go.
“You can’t mean it,” I whispered.
“Maddy?” Bahlin stepped closer.
I pulled back from Hellion and turned to him without a word.
Bahlin raked his fingers through his hair. “You know I love you—”
“You think you love me.”
“Don’t you dare, dare trivialize what I feel for you.” His shouted command made me jump.
Hellion stroked my hair again. “He’s right, Maddy. We must both respect his feelings in this.”
I hung my head and locked my hands together behind my neck, taking a minute to regroup even though I knew they were both right. And while it pissed me off, I wasn’t so self-important that I didn’t understand it was one thing to be righteously angry and another to just be a raging bitch. The first commanded respect. The second was embarrassingly petty and shallow. “You’re right.” I lifted my head and looked at both of them. “You’re both right, and I apologize.”
Bahlin nodded tersely. “I love you. That hasn’t changed. But my dragon, he’s a part of me and separate too. It took several hundred years for me to learn to think through the shift, though every now and then I’d still lose time while I was in dragon form. Seems like it happened again, and with disastrous consequences.” He threaded his fingers through his hair and laced his hands behind his head, closing his eyes and slowing his breathing, mirroring my previous movements. When he opened his eyes, they were back to the more familiar dark blue. He turned toward the other man. “Is there no way to undo what I’ve done?” he asked quietly, chewing on the inside of his cheek as he waited for an answer.
Hellion lifted a shoulder, a small move I almost missed. “She’s immortal now.”
It was striking to watch the play between the two men who, only days ago—hell, hours ago—resented each other beyond description. The decades of camaraderie and friendship had been destroyed by the prophecy, Odin’s word and my split affections. I’d had no viable reason to believe the friendship would ever recover, but I now had a kernel of hope that the mutual respect might survive.
Something passed between the two during my internal monologue, and I found myself nudged toward Bahlin. I stepped up to him but looked over my shoulder at Hellion, who nodded once.
Bahlin said something in rapid Gaelic—I missed the specifics but gathered that it was a prayer—then he surprised me by gathering me up in his arms and holding me with a tenderness that seemed both comfortable and equally unfamiliar. “I hope you’ll find it in your heart to forgive me after a time, Maddy,” he whispered into my hair and then he bent down to kiss my cheek.
Hellion remained silent through the exchange.
“I’d ask that you let me begin to work as your familiar, that you give me the opportunity to again earn your trust.” Moving me to the side but keeping his arm around me, he held out his hand to the other man. “And yours as well, Hellion. I have a long way to go with both of you, and I know things will never be the same again, but maybe we can set aside the animosity for the good of the supernatural and mundane worlds.”
Hellion looked at me and cautiously took Bahlin’s hand as I continued to stare at them both. “Everyone’s got to start somewhere when they make amends. I respect that. But don’t be confused about where her heart belongs.”
“I never stood much of a chance, but you should know I meant every word of what I said that night. If you falter with her, I’ll always be right here.” He looked down at me, a self-deprecating smile tugging at the corners of his lips. “Waiting out the lifetime of a prophecy.”
Hellion gave a brisk nod, reaching for me without taking his eyes from the other man.
Impossibly moved and feeling like I might just stand a chance of surviving beyond the coming weekend, I moved to take Hellion’s hand and held out my other to Bahlin.
“To fresh starts,” I murmured.
He took my hand and, with me in the middle yet again, repeated, “To fresh starts.”
I couldn’t help but wonder what we’d just set in motion.
Bahlin agreed to spend the night so we could work out the details of Micah’s predicament first thing in the morning. It was awkward for all of us, including Darius, as we discussed Bahlin’s sleeping arrangements. There were a couple of sharp words and hard looks between the men, but we ended up sorting it all out and saying goodnight before Hellion and I made our way up to the third floor master bedroom.
The room was just as we’d left it, with covers folded back, the curtains drawn and one closet light on. We moved around each other with uncommon tentativeness as we got ready for bed, and I contemplated actually wearing a T-shirt instead of sleeping in the nude, as was my norm, because of the volume of male houseguests we were hosting. I decided it wasn’t worth making a bigger deal out of than it was, so I shut off the bathroom light and walked to the bed, shedding my robe as I went.
Hellion’s eyes were fastened on me as I crawled between the sheets. He said nothing. I rolled onto my side and faced him. He lay down, propping himself up on one arm so he could look at me. He reached out and traced the shape of my face, his eyes following his fingertips as he moved around my face and over my neck, gently touching the upper curves of my breasts before coming to a stop above my heart. Without meeting my eyes, he leaned down and kissed me tenderly, his lips soft but demanding. He broke the kiss and left me breathing a little faster.
I started to smile and faltered at the look on his face. “Sweetheart? What’s wrong?”
He smiled at the endearment that was still new enough to garner his attention. “Nothing really, a mhuirnín.”
“Doesn’t look like ‘nothing’.” I gently traced the lines of tension that were more and more common on his face these days.
He kissed my forehead and slid under the covers. I scooted closer, and he glanced at me in doubt before opening his arms to me.
But I’d seen that look. “What?” It came out a bit more firmly than I’d meant so I asked again, more gently, “What?”
“I suppose with all the events of the day, I’m feeli
ng insecure. It’s an unfamiliar feeling.” A rueful smile curled his lips, and he rubbed a hand over his chest. “I’m no good at this emotional nonsense.” He reached to turn the light out, but I grabbed his arm and stopped him.
“If you’re feeling it, it’s not nonsense. Is this about Bahlin?”
“Aye, I suppose in part it is. I admit to you I was sodomized and forced to play whore as a lad, gave you cause to crack my cheek, watched something unfamiliar yet recognizable pass between you and Darius, then welcomed yer old lover and the thief of yer mortality into the hoose like it was a bluidy bed an’ breakfast, Madeleine!” he hissed. “And why would I no’ be a bit fashed in all o’ that?” He closed his eyes, his chest heaving, and shook his head, shifting so I either sat up or face-planted it into his armpit. I sat up, freeing his hands so he could press on his temples. “Lord and Lady, I’ve aboot reached me limit.” His brogue, which always thickened when he was upset, was heavy enough that he needn’t have warned me.
Flopping back on my pillow, I considered a hundred different things I might say or do to comfort him. Two options seemed most reasonable. I decided to start with one and finish with the other, putting both into play.
I flipped the covers off him and he didn’t even bother looking at me. Fine by me. I slipped down his side and sucked his limp cock straight into my mouth.
“Holy gods!” he shouted, sitting up.
I pushed on his chest blindly, encouraging him to lie back down. He did, though he stayed propped on his elbows, watching. His breathing switched from shocked gasping to deep and steady as I worked him. With two fingers, I massaged the ridge behind his testicles and was thrilled as it swelled and grew firmer. It was easy to follow the motion and trace the line from the base of his erection around his testicles and to the back of the ridge, all the while ignoring him as he tried to shift away. With my mouth, tongue and free hand I sucked and stroked his erection, working every bit of my limited skill, trying desperately not to gag and—as usual—hoping I didn’t somehow become the first woman on the face of the planet to screw up fellatio.
Vengeance: The Niteclif Evolutions, Book 3 Page 7