She glanced once more at the others. The men were gorgeous. What was it with supernatural beings? Did they get access to good genes or what? The woman, undoubtedly the angel, was almost luminescent. It was hard for Marduk to drag her eyes away from her. But she did when Decatur’s hands slipped into hers. She liked that in the midst of what was going to be a pissing contest, Decatur cared only about her. “We have business to discuss with you, Archimedes. We need to speak alone.”
Sumerian moved toward Marduk. “We’re all friends here.”
“From my understanding you could be but some of you choose not to be,” Marduk responded without malice. It was pure fact. “You will understand that I, as a mere mortal, cannot trust you.” This was all about her and Decatur. While it would be nice to have allies, Marduk could not allow any weakness to show if an ally turned on them. Besides, she suspected each of these beings would have to fight the battle in their own way—as would she and Decatur.
“I am an angel, Marduk.” Sumerian’s eyes were gentle on her.
“You’re a fallen angel Sumerian,” Archimedes clarified. “And I agree, none of this lot is trustworthy.” He looked at the others in contempt.
Marduk smiled. “Least of all you, Archimedes.” Gorgeous but an arrogant prick.
Archimedes arched his eyebrow in amusement. “She has quite a mouth on her. Don’t you try to keep her in line, vampire?”
Decatur smiled an icy smile. “I have no need to control people.”
“Ah yes, vampires are too laissez faire.” Archimedes turned to the others. “Leave us.”
Sumerian looked like she was about to argue.
“You cannot help everyone, Sumerian.” Archimedes waited as they disappeared one after the other. “Of course you know they’ll eavesdrop.”
Whatever. Marduk got straight to the point. “Here’s the deal, we know what you’re doing and it will not work.” There was no need for preliminaries.
“You’re smart, Miss Howell.”
“Yes.” Though how smart she was to take on a demon who could kill her she wasn’t so sure. The fact that he needed her was the only comfort.
“We know about your plans, Archimedes,” Decatur told him. “And we will not comply with your needs.”
Archimedes’ eyes were focused on the mortal woman. “If you will not help me I’ll have to use your beloved’s weakness against him.”
Marduk tried to think of an answer to that. Problem was she was pretty sure he wasn’t bluffing and it was hard to out-bluff the demonic. “So you would kill Decatur in spite? Not much of a plan there.” The thought of Decatur destroyed was too much to bear.
“I will kill you then.” Archimedes didn’t seem perturbed either way.
Absolute bastard. “So what happens to your plan if we both die?”
“I have the others to use.”
Marduk hated people who had an answer for everything. “What if they get all pissy like us?”
Archimedes smiled at her words. “I only need one to see sense.”
“Kill me instead, Archimedes.” Decatur’s eyes were hard on his. “You know you want to.”
That was the last thing Marduk wanted to hear. She had a pretty good idea what it took for him to stand there as calmly as he was. Only she knew the strain he was under due to the increasing pressure of his hand on hers.
“There’s only one way to do that, vampire.”
Marduk confused. Was it the old stake in the heart thing? Was that Decatur’s weakness?
“Haven’t you worked it out yet, Marduk? A vampire’s greatest weakness is to fall in love.” Archimedes sounded quite pleased at the fact. “If a vampire never falls in love then he is no threat to another. If he does—well, kill his lover and you main him for life. He is so wounded that he is no longer immortal and those enemies he has will kill him in the slow, malicious way that our kind do so enjoy.”
Crap. Marduk looked at Decatur.
“I’m sorry.” His eyes were soft on hers. “I could not help but fall love with you.”
“Oh Dec…”
“So, you see you are screwed.” Archimedes had the look of one who enjoyed the heartache he created. “Help me or you both die. It’s a plan I’m extremely fond of.”
“Manipulative, skanky, pus-filled, pukeable bastard.” Marduk was sure there were other words she could use but those were the first ones that came to her mind. It had taken all her strength to walk sedately from the room without turning around and going for Archimedes’ throat. While it would have done her absolutely no good, at least Marduk knew she would have felt better for it.
“We’ll get through this.” Decatur was tense and angry looking.
There was a sudden flash of light and Sumerian appeared. “I know how to weaken Archimedes.”
Decatur moved to pass her by. “We do not need your help, angel.”
Marduk pulled on his hand, making him stop. “Now wait a second. How can you help us? And why not help yourself if you know? You’re in the same situation.”
“I am but I’m not. As a woman my weakness is different from a man’s.”
“Rampant PMS?” Did angels get feral every month?
“No,” Sumerian replied in amusement. “But Archimedes has a weakness.”
Decatur looked at her in suspicion. “And what is that?”
“Archimedes loves me.”
This surprised Marduk. She had seen the way he spoke to her. “He has a funny way of showing it then.”
The angel sighed. “It’s a long story but the bottom line is he cannot kill me but I can, if I choose to, weaken him.”
Okay, this we can use. “What’s your weakness?” What did angels fear?
“That is not something I can trust anyone with,” Sumerian responded calmly.
“Angels don’t trust?” The seemed strange to Marduk. Weren’t they working on behalf of humankind?
“I have fallen, Marduk. The fall changed me.”
“Yet you are helping us? I have to wonder why?” Decatur stared at her as if trying to see through Sumerian.
“Old habits die hard, vampire. You know that.”
“What do you think, Dec?” Marduk would happily use any offer of help at this stage.
Decatur thought for a moment and then sighed. “What’s your plan, angel?”
“I need something from you.” Sumerian looked at him significantly.
He shook his head. “I cannot give you that.”
The angel was undeterred. “Out of free will you can.”
“It is not mine to give.”
“Knowledge is for all,” the angel persisted.
“Sumerian, some knowledge, as you know, can destroy you.”
“Only if it’s used for purposes of evil,” she countered back.
Marduk was dying of curiosity. “The suspense is killing me. What are you two talking about?”
Decatur looked at his lover. “It’s a long-held secret of vampirekind.”
That confused Marduk. What could an angel, who was technically pure and good, want from a vampire who had been around the block several times and not in a good way? It was not like they were simpatico. That they both had an agenda, Marduk didn’t doubt. Anyone with breath in their body had plans that others were not always privy to.
“Sumerian wants the knowledge to redeem lost souls.” Decatur’s eyes were fixed on the angel.
“Huh?” Redeem lost souls? How? What? Who? This was sounding suspiciously like what Archimedes planned to do.
“Everyone, Marduk, immortals included, although they choose to deny it, has a soul. Vampires have only been among us for two thousand years.”
“Only two thousand?” Marduk looked at her skeptically. These immortal types had a weird way of looking at things.
“Yes, vampires are relatively new,” Sumerian explained. “They acquired the knowledge of the souls two centuries ago through one of their deals with Lucifer.”
“The devil?” Marduk was agog.
“He’
s not such a bad fellow when you get to know him,” Decatur quipped, pulling Marduk closer to his side. “And we vampires are very good at building up caches of knowledge to use for our own purposes.”
“So—what? You swapped stuff with Satan?”
Decatur winked. “Even the devil has needs.”
Bizarro world. “So why do you want this knowledge, Sumerian?” If not for the solid warmth of Decatur’s body against her, Marduk would have thought she was dreaming all this.
“I plan to use it.”
Of course. She was an angel. That made sense. “So, you’re using it for good.”
“Some of it. Some souls need to find their way home.”
Some? “And others?”
“Others need to be set free to do as their character intended.”
Marduk understood instantly. “This is a revenge thing.”
Sumerian nodded with a small smile. “You’re smart.”
“This doesn’t sound like a very angelic thing to do.” It sounded like the sort of revenge that would happen at Danby if another office worker used up the last of the milk for coffee.
“Angels are not all that they seem, darling.” Decatur did not appear to be the slightest bit surprised in what the angel said.
“Is this why you fell from heaven?” Marduk asked Sumerian. “Because you didn’t fit in?”
Sumerian laughed. “Oh, Marduk, there are so many misfits in heaven.”
“It doesn’t sound like heaven lives up to the hype.” Not that she ever expected to go there, but Marduk was now not so worried about going to hell for her empty calorie consumption, swearing and overspending on shoes.
“Parts of heaven are as mortals believe but the leadership is another story,” the angel reported.
“Before you ask, hell is very similar,” Decatur added. “Essentially what happens in heaven and hell is exactly the sort of stuff that is played out on Earth. Neither of these factions is any better than the other.”
This had been one hell of a week. Dream sex, a vampire, an evil demon bent on acquiring more evil and now an angel scheming to piss off heaven. God damn it, I need chocolate. “So do you plan to get back into heaven using this against them?”
“I only want back in on my terms.” Sumerian appeared very definite on that. Her eyes locked on Decatur. “Now, if you give me the knowledge of how to redeem souls then I will help you destroy Archimedes.”
Decatur smiled. “Unfortunately for you, Sumerian, I am not as desperate as you may think. I have other options. Thank you for your offer.”
Sumerian did not look surprised. “I will get the knowledge with or without you, Decatur.”
“Best you look at how to free yourself from the trap Archimedes has you in. You may be his weakness, but he has the advantage of knowing yours.”
That was true. Marduk hadn’t realized it until then. How much help could Sumerian have given them? As they walked away from the angel, Marduk felt a little more positive knowing Decatur must have a plan. “I thought we were totally screwed there for a while.”
“Oh, we are.”
Marduk stopped dead and looked at him. “Huh?” This was not what she wanted to hear.
Decatur tugged on her hand. “Keep walking, darling.”
She did but it didn’t stop her questions. “But how—what—”
“There is one who will help us. One who has an agenda that may benefit us as well as himself.”
“Who?”
“Vulcan.”
“The other Smith boy?”
Decatur smiled. “Yeah, the other Smith boy.”
* * * * *
“I’m not surprised to hear Sumerian is after the knowledge of the souls you possess. She is quite obsessed by striking back at heaven. She amuses me greatly,” Vulcan remarked as he leaned urbanely against a nearby wall. “The vampire is correct. I can help you.”
“What do you want in return?” Marduk didn’t doubt for a second this demon wanted something for services rendered.
Vulcan looked her up and down in a slow, thorough way that was completely sexual and left no question as to his intention to annoy. “Now that’s a loaded question.”
“Demon—” Decatur’s voice was low and throaty and full of threat.
Marduk knew the demon was playing with her but it was nice to see the instant jealousy in Decatur’s eyes. “I can’t believe you do anything out of the goodness of your heart.” Few humans did. She could hardly expect a demon to.
“Why do you say that?”
“Gut instinct.”
Vulcan arched one eyebrow up at her. “Are you ever wrong?”
“Rarely when it comes to men.” Though Decatur was different. Seething at her side, but different. She knew he wanted to lash out at the demon but they needed him for the moment. Marduk reached over and took Decatur’s hand.
“I bet you burn like fire, Marduk.” Vulcan’s voice was teasing as if he was enjoying the moment.
“And I bet you can be a real pain in the ass.”
“Stop pissing around, Vulcan,” Decatur snapped, his patience limited. “Clearly you are not at Archimedes’ side because you believe in his cause.”
“No, as demons go he’s one of the more megalomaniacal.”
“So what do you want, demon?”
Vulcan straightened up. “Archimedes will be dead in two weeks.”
Decatur looked at him in suspicion. “How?”
“Never you mind, vampire. What I want is something only Marduk can give me.”
She stepped back on hearing that. Giving something to this man, er, demon was not anything she wanted to do. “I’m not having sex with you.”
Vulcan smiled. “I never offered.”
Strangely enough, Marduk wasn’t sure whether to be offended or not. “What do you want then?”
“Your purity.”
Marduk snorted with laughter. “I’m nowhere near pure.”
“I’m not talking sexually. It’s about who you are in your mind and soul,” Vulcan explained. “And before you say it, all humans think they have impure thoughts but few really do, at least not the sort a demon does.”
“What is it you want from my woman?” Decatur stood squarely in from of the other man.
My woman. I like that. In turn, Marduk moved closer to Decatur.
“Her essence.”
“My what?” What the hell was that?
Decatur sighed. “Why that of all things?”
“It is one of three things I need to get what I want.”
“And what is that? Decatur growled, not in the mood to play games. “Come on, demon. If you ask something of us we have the right to know why.”
“The angel Gabriel will give me the power to go back in time.”
Marduk was impressed but confused. “I thought demons can do everything.”
“Everything but that. It is the one talent I lack and need.”
Decatur looked thoughtful. “Is this about Sumerian? It must be if Gabriel is involved.”
Vulcan declined to answer. “So can I have it?”
This was going way over Marduk’s head. They had come to Vulcan for help. She had not expected a demon to want something from her. She had no power. “If I give you my essence and I have no idea how to do it—does it hurt?” Marduk was no wuss but she wasn’t into the whole sadomasochistic thing either.
“No.”
A simple answer was a good answer. “Will it change me? Do I lose part of myself?”
Vulcan shook his head. “No and you have more essence than you will ever use.”
Okay, time to get down to tin tacks. “How do you free us from Archimedes?”
“Like most ambitious men, Archimedes has a one-track mind.”
Marduk had to agree with that. “He does appear to be hell-bent on killing one or both or us.”
“So use the angel,” Vulcan told them. “I can guess what Sumerian offered.”
Decatur pondered this for a moment. “Even if Sumerian weake
ns him for a while, he will still come after us. I’m not concerned for myself. It’s Marduk I worry about.”
She smiled softly at him. I could just eat him with a spoon.
“No, Archimedes won’t because when he is sufficiently weakened I will place a spell on both of you that will make it impossible for him to find you.”
Demons did spells? Why hadn’t Vulcan mentioned this before? “You bastard!” Marduk let fly one hand and slapped him hard in the chest. It was like slapping steel. “Why haven’t you done it before this?”
“That would be no fun for me. Besides, the more Archimedes has to occupy him the more time I have to do what I must undetected.”
“And I used to think the intrigue at work was complicated. You people—beings, whatever—are just painful to deal with.”
Vulcan did not seem the slightest bit offended. “It’s up to you, Marduk. Live or die.”
What a great choice. “How do I do this essence thing?” She could see Decatur was not happy about it but it appeared to be their only choice.
“Very simply. I kiss you.”
“Really?” Marduk looked at him in distaste. It wasn’t what he looked like. It was who he was. “I’m picky who I kiss.”
“It would take but a moment.”
Decatur’s hands were in fists at his side. “I’m not happy about this.”
“I’m not going to bed her, vampire. It’s just a kiss.”
“This kiss transfers essence or something?” Marduk asked, partly stalling, partly trying to build up courage.
“Yes.”
She turned to Decatur. “Do you feel that when you kiss me, Dec?”
Decatur’s eyes softened on hers. “Oh yes.”
“And this will save our asses?”
“Yes.”
Marduk blew out a deep breath. “Okay, as long as you save us.”
“I promise.”
“Is he good for that?” She only trusted Decatur’s word.
“Oddly enough, he is,” Decatur replied, his eyes now fixed on Vulcan. “Demons have a strange code of honor when it comes to giving a promise.”
Uh-huh, right, okay. “How do we do this?”
Vulcan moved toward her. “Just stand still.”
“No tongue.” The demon laughed at her. Before Marduk knew what was happening, she was in Vulcan’s arms and his lips were on hers. As kisses went it was pretty average especially considering the power he was supposed to draw from it.
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