“I forgot you could do that.” Remy mumbled at the spark of blue fire in Eli’s eyes. That fire immediately went out, as Eli met Remy’s suspicious gaze. Shaking off his anger he snorted.
“It’s something she’ll have to tell you. And she’ll tell you about it when she’s ready. Don’t push; you push and she pushes back. Sometimes she’ll push you completely out of her life.” He stared into his plate; Eli could feel the pain coming from Remy in waves. It didn’t take a telepath to see that something had broken between the two of them; something Remy had tried to repair. The wound had been repaired, but some sort of scar remained, a barrier that had taken Celeste away from him, something from which he could never, ever recover.
“What did you push her about?” Eli asked. Remy shrugged, a sad smile curving his syrup covered lips.
“What I did? As you’ve probably noticed, Celeste has trust issues.”
It was Eli’s turn to give a derisive snort. “Oh, I’ve noticed.”
“Well, she has good reason. Her life, her family, her birth family are a bunch a fucknuts. Each and every one of them, lunatics. Her mother, sister, aunts...all bat shit fucking bonkers. Her father was never around when she needed him, the classic fairytale nightmare of a life complete with a murderous mother and sister.”
“Murderous?” Eli echoed.
“Yep. Murderous. Like I said, bat shit fucking bonkers. But Celeste lucked up with her grandmother who, though not able to raise her herself, made sure she was safe and protected, until she wasn’t. And when she wasn’t, things happened to her. People used-hurt her.” He trailed off, lost in memory.
“Until you found her.” Eli’s voice was low and heavy, the tightness in his chest making it hard to breathe as he walked through Remy’s memories.
Remy let out a shaky breath, but kept his head down, not wanting Eli to see the tears, the sadness in his eyes. “Her grandmother arranged for that as well. She made Jonas promise to find her and care for her, and keep her safe. And he has. We all have for the most part. You can’t help but want to protect her. To love her.” He shoved a fork full of pancake into his mouth.
“So you carried her from the-dungeon was it?” Remy gave Eli a goofy pancake laden grin.
“You could make millions with that little trick,” Remy said.
“Sorry. It comes and goes sometimes. You have a very odd thought pattern.” Eli mumbled as he stared at Remy. His thought pattern wasn’t like a normal human; it wasn’t clouded like Celeste’s either. It was scattered and random, distracting. Almost like an animal.
“Yea well, I fall on my head a lot.” Remy laughed it off. “Do you do that to Celeste? Because it would really piss her off. She’s used to people falling at her feet and doing what she wants. She’s special. You have no idea how irritating it is to be attracted to someone who’s fucking perfect,” Remy said giving Eli a once over and shook his head. He openly admired Eli’s bare chest sprinkled with soft dark hair, his chiseled face and ass. Remy had to admit that Eli was gorgeous. He moved with a decidedly sexy swagger that he hadn’t really noticed before, but now watching, it kind of hypnotized him. That deep chocolate skin rippled over rock hard abs and toned biceps. Remy’s eyes wandered down the expanse of bare chest to the jeans that hung dangerously low on slim hips. His own body reacted to the man in a way he hadn’t expected. Remy stared at Eli’s mouth, that devilishly sexy smirk and hint of a dimple that appeared sometimes when he spoke. When he finally decided to speak, his voice was low and thick.
“Of course you don’t, because you’re fucking perfect. You are beautiful, and sexy as hell. Can’t say that I would kick you out of bed either.” His eyes darkened as he absently licked his lips. Eli stared at him and lifted on brow in question.
“Does that work often?” He asked.
“What?” Remy gave him a practiced angelic smile.
“The flirting. I mean, is this your way of trying to scare me away? Of course, by being a cop, I have to be homophobic, right? Since your veiled threats didn’t work, you move into seduction mode? Is that it? I’m supposed to be terrified by your coming on to me?”
Remy laughed and shrugged. “It was worth a try. Am I making you uncomfortable, detective?”
Eli leaned forward, his palms flat on the marble counter-top as he looked into Remy’s eyes.
“Believe it or not, your being gay doesn’t bother me. What does bother me is the fact that you would get in the way of the possible happiness of someone you claim to love.”
“I don’t see it that way. I see it as protecting her.” Remy met Eli’s gaze and spoke in a low, measured tone. “I have picked up the pieces after men have used her. She looks tough, but she’s not. If you hurt her-it will destroy her, man. She has never- she’s never given herself over to someone. Not like she has with you. If you’re just in it for sex, it’s going to break her. If that happens, I’m going to have to break you.”
Eli stared at Remy for a long time before exhaling and running a hand over his face.
“I won’t hurt her.”
“I pray to God that’s true. I would really hate to have to fuck up your issue,” Remy grumbled.
TWELVE
He was so tired that he was seeing double as he poured through the Occult and Mythology section of the library and had come up empty. Now he was working his way through Demonology and Urban Myths. When the picture first crossed the screen, he had to blink, thinking his eyes were playing tricks on him. After all, he had been at this since early that morning after a paltry three hours of sleep. He’d left Gracie’s house after searching for Eli and Celeste, who’d mysteriously disappeared without a trace. They had missed the stomping temper tantrum Hannah had treated them to when she’d been told by another party-goer that Eli had left hours ago, “with the chick in the gold dress. They tore outta here about an hour ago. Not that I blame him.”
Hannah had a meltdown of spectacular proportions. He’d never in his life seen someone actually seethe with anger. Hannah had seethed and blustered and cried, her face puffy and red with fury. She had been a terror to behold, until her father had to practically sedate her. It was a beautiful disaster, and he and Boogie had relished every second of it.
After a quick nap, he was back at work. Some administrator from Tulane University had been at the party telling him all about the special Occult section in the library and he’d come in as soon as the doors opened. Flashing his badge and his smile, he’d been allowed into the special collections. Now, close to noon, he’d gone over everything he could think of, looking for that little monster Eli had described. Something about the entire case was starting to nag at him. Not just the case, Celeste herself. After watching her last night, watching her interaction with Grace and Hannah, there was something about her that was just wrong. Instead, he’d found this. He stared at the 15th Century artist rendering that had been discovered in the South of France nearly one hundred years ago. He rubbed his eyes and enlarged the picture, and the breath left him.
“No fucking way,” he breathed.
The drawing was a perfect rendering, so much so that he couldn’t take his eyes off of it. He looked closer before zooming out so that he could read the story that accompanied the photo, before clicking the print button. “Caelestis filia Nemesis et Anhur”, he read and repeatedly mumbled. He’d clicked on so many photos and stories that he was sure they would either eject him from the library or charge him for all of the paper and ink he was using.
“Caelestis,” He’d heard that name before; he’d heard it from Grace just last night. Shaking his head, he plugged the name into a search engine and was amazed at the number of articles that popped up; thousands of sightings and stories going back as far at the 5th Century. The one image that felt as if he’d been gut checked was a marble statue that had been uncovered in 1745 and was dated back to about 900B.C. as far as anyone could tell. It was one of the oldest art works ever discovered in such pristine condition. What made this particular sculpture noteworthy was the fact of
it being a statue of a presumed Egyptian that had been sculpted from Greek marble and unearthed with Amazonian artwork near Turkey. The woman was tall, standing in a warrior’s pose with a quiver of arrows thrown over one shoulder and a bow in her hand. She wore the draped garb of the Greeks, and the distinctive armor of the Amazons, but the necklace and cuffs at her wrists were truly Egyptian, as was her bone straight hair and facial features. She looked like a very powerful and formidable warrior, one that he wouldn’t want to meet in a dark alley. Even in stone she looked decidedly dangerous. What made a chill run down his spine was the accuracy, the perfect beauty of the likeness. He read and re-read the caption and exhaled. “Caelestis filia Nemesis et Anhur, Dea regina Amazonum”, which had been translated into English as Caelestis, daughter of Nemesis and Anhur, Amazonian Queen , Primordial Goddess of Justice.” Riley stared slacked jawed at the perfectly preserved sculpted face of Celeste.
***
The soft drone of a melody was what brought her out of the most delicious sleep she’d had in forever. As she came awake, she realized that it wasn’t music, it was a ring-tone. As she blindly felt around the night stand, she found an iPhone and pressed it on.
“Hmmm.” She moaned as she focused on the bedside clock. It was a little just after eleven in the morning, but the room seemed surprisingly dark. Rolling over, she groaned as her tired muscles protested. She noted the drawn curtains and the shade that had been drawn over the sky light. Eli had apparently figured out her remote system for her skylight.
“Where have you been, I have been calling you for hours,” a hysterical, high pitched man yelled into her ear. She frowned, reaching for Eli who was no longer in bed. “Are you listening to me?” the man squeaked.
“Who is this?” she asked, her voice still heavy from sleep. The man was so silent for so long that, if it weren’t for his breathing, she’d thought he’d hung up.
“Well?” she asked sitting up and stretching. The smell of something delicious was wafting in through the open bedroom door, and she could hear voices droning from the kitchen. She sat up rubbing the remnants of sleep from her eyes. “Hello?” she asked. “You still there?”
“This is Det. Riley Quinn. Who the hell is this?” he came back with a sharp authoritative tone that she was sure he used as an intimidation tactic; she knew him too well to be intimidated. She smiled as she noticed her own pink covered phone resting beside the bedside clock.
“Oh, hi Riley. I must have picked up Eli’s phone by mistake. This is Celeste. Let me get him.” She yawned and rolled out of bed. As soon as her feet hit the floor, she was dressed in Eli’s discarded Supermen t-shirt. She glanced at herself in the mirror before giving her head a shake. Her hair smoothed into place and the sleep creases disappeared from her cheek. She looked and smelled as fresh as a morning daisy as she padded downstairs in her bare feet.
He turned to look at her as she descended the stairs and her heart began to flutter. The man was just so damn sexy. He was barefoot, his jeans hanging precariously on narrow hips as he flipped pancakes with a practiced ease. She looked at Remy who gave her a pancake laced smile as she approached.
“It’s Riley.” She handed the phone to Eli as she stared at her brother curiously.
“So you‘re okay with this now? After your temper tantrum last night, now you two are buddies?” She shook her head; Remy gave Eli a lascivious leer.
“What can I say,” Remy laughed his tone low and seductive. “He kind of grew on me.”
Eli winked at her, sliding steaming plate of pancakes, sausages and fresh fruit over to her before speaking into the phone. Riley’s voice was high and loud in his ear, yelling incoherently. “Well, good morning to you too, Riley.” He sat on the stool beside her, kissing her forehead, his hand resting in her thigh.
“Where have you been? I have been calling you since last night. You left me at Grace’s without a word. I had to let Boogie drive me home, and you know Boogie drives like a damned lunatic on meth. I’m lucky I made it home in one piece. Grace has been looking for you everywhere. I went by your house this morning and found that damned Hannah Freeman lurking around again. But now I see you were shacking up with the Doc.” Moving away, Eli turned his back to Remy and Celeste who were too deep in conversation and stacks of pancakes to pay attention, and he exhaled.
“Is that why you called, Riley?” He turned to look at her briefly, she was listening to Remy tell a rather animated tale, laughter lighting her eyes.
“No. I did some more searching for that- thing you saw and I found something that you need to see. It’s about the Doc. I think you’re right, E. There is something very different about her.” She absently licked syrup from a strawberry that had migrated too closely to her pancakes. The way her tongue darted out and licked the sticky sweet tip of the berry, her lips wrapping around it as she sucked, his body reacted. His own mouth went dry and his throat tight. When she bit into it, juice ran down her fingers and dripped onto her chin. She made yummy noises as she licked her fingers and smiled demurely, before returning her attention to her brother.
“Yes, there is. There is something very different about her,” he agreed.
“Eli, Are you listening to me?!” He actually started at the sound of Riley’s voice reverberating in his ear.
“What? Yes, you need to see me. Give me a couple of hours-”
“I’m Uptown right now. We can meet at Ricky’s on St. Charles in an hour.” He disconnected before Eli could reply, which was just fine by him. He had other things on his mind. He strolled to Celeste, a hungry look in his eye.
“Can I have a taste?” he asked. Before she could react, he’d kissed her.
Remy, who stood near the sink, made a low groaning noise.
“Can I have a taste, too?” he teased. Eli lifted a brow. “Are you talking to me or Celeste?”
“I’m open to either actually.” He leaned lazily against the counter, his arms folded across his chest, his slim legs crossed at the ankle. Celeste gave him a warning look, and he shrugged before strolling into the guest room.
“Oh well,” he called as he left the room. “Maybe next time.” He closed the door to the guest bedroom behind him.
“I guess you’ve figured out that Remy’s sexuality is-”
“Ambiguous?” Eli finished and she nodded, seductively licking syrup from her lips. She nodded.
“That’s a good way to put it,” she agreed before her lips touched his again. “You still hungry?” he asked.
She dropped her fork, and draped on arm around his neck.
“Not for pancakes,” she said.
***
“I don’t have my usual nightmares when you’re around,” he said against her hair. She lay draped over him, her fingers tracing little circles in his chest hair. They hadn’t managed to make it to the bedroom this time. They had made it to the deep purple sofa in front of the television. Now they lay tangled in each other’s arms underneath a bright red chenille throw that barely covered them.
“How would you know- we’ve barely slept.” she snorted. He yawned and held her closer.
“I saw it, Wednesday night,” he said, staring up at the ceiling. “It was outside of my bedroom window, turned into a cat.” She stiffened, but waited and listened as he told the story of the creature on the levee and the poor jogger who’d been carried off into the night sky. He’d watched the news and discovered her name was Amanda Seville, and she was a twenty-three year old nurse who lived alone. Her body was found by a fisherman on a river bank near Grand Isle in the early morning hours of the following morning.
“Did you file some sort of report?” She sat up, pulling his Superman t-shirt back on and hugged herself.
“What was I supposed to say? I saw a vampire demon elf thing turn into a cat on my porch, then turn into a person, hide in some trees on a levee and kill a jogger? I tried to stop it, but it flew away into the darkness, taking the woman with it into the night sky. Oh, and this was well after midnight. They would thi
nk I was drunk or crazy or both. Everyone in the department already thinks I’m some sort of psychic freak. This is strange even for me.”
“It was at Jonas’ house that night. It killed one of the guests. Remy’s –friend. Before that, it was in my room. It was watching me sleep, Eli. It could have easily killed me. Why didn’t it? ” she said, chewing her thumbnail.
“It’s watching us, Eli.” She whispered more to herself than to him. Exhaling, she shook off the chill that went down her spine.
“I need something to drink,” she muttered before heading to the kitchen. Eli slipped on his pants and watched as she grabbed a bottle of red wine from her fridge and pulled the cork out with her bare hands. She tossed the bottle back, some of the deep red, running down her chin. When she finally took a breath and placed the bottle on the counter, he noticed the smell. It didn’t have the fruity aroma of wine; it smelled metallic, like copper or-blood.
She wiped her chin with the back of her hand and looked at him. He could see the pulse in her neck speed up as she watched him move closer. “Doc, what’s going on?” He asked suddenly concerned. “You’re scaring me.”
“I came looking for you last night because there are some things I needed to tell you,” she said, as a precursor to the speech she had prepared in her mind the night before. She moved closer, taking his hands into hers. Her hands seemed so small in his, so delicate and tiny. Her scent assaulted him and he wanted to kiss her again.
“Eli, what do you remember about last night?” she asked, holding his hands in hers. She looked into his eyes and tried to see if he could read her memories as clearly as she read his, to see if he could break through the pink fog that clouded his memory. He struggled for a moment, pieces coming back vague memories that had no connection and seemed to be completely random.
“What you said about me, not being completely honest, it’s true. It’s why I keep myself isolated. I’m not what you think I am.”
The First to Fall: A Fallen Novel (The Fallen Series) Page 24