“I hate that I can’t help in some way,” added Ella.
“Thankfully, we won’t need your help,” said Keenan, crossing to the sofa. He looked down at Khloé, his eyes gleaming. “We have ourselves an angel.”
*
Anticipation riding every muscle in his body, Keenan strode inside Knox’s office with Khloé just a step behind him. He inclined his head at Larkin, who was lounging on the sofa, but most of Keenan’s attention was on the tall, ethereal male in the center of the room who was glaring at the Prime.
Keenan’s entity watched the angel very closely, like a predator focused on potential prey—it would pounce for sure if the angel refused to help them, but Keenan didn’t believe it would come to that. The angel would bluster and frown at the prospect of working with demons, but he’d be attracted by the promise of payment—mostly because having money allowed them to give more help and support to charities. Although they were stationed on Earth, they could earn a permanent place up above if they did enough good deeds, but that could take eons.
Personally, Keenan doubted that they always donated their wages and lived a total frugal lifestyle. Angels were no more perfect than anyone else.
“I don’t appreciate being kept somewhere against my will,” said the angel, his body rigid.
Knox shrugged. “You’re free to walk out at any time.”
“I did,” the male bit out. He pointed at Larkin. “She keeps bringing me back.”
“Because it’s necessary that we speak with you,” said Keenan, planting his feet.
The angel spun and gave him a quick head-to-toe inspection. He sniffed, all ego and superiority. “And just who are you?”
Well, wasn’t he an arrogant fucker. Keenan didn’t give a shit—the guy could be as much of an asshole as he wanted so long as he healed Khloé. That was all Keenan and his demon cared about. “I’m the person who had you brought here.”
The moment Keenan’s source contacted him with the angel’s details and location, Keenan had sent a teleporting member of his Force to pick up the angel and bring him to Knox’s Underground office. “It’s Eric, right?”
The angel lifted his chin. “What do you want?”
“You can heal illnesses.”
“Of course,” said Eric, arrogance dripping from his tone. “It’s a standard ability for my kind.”
“I need you to heal two people. You’ll be paid for your services.”
Eric flicked a dismissive hand. “I don’t work for or with demons.”
“You do now,” said Keenan, his tone non-negotiable.
Eric narrowed his eyes. “You think I’m afraid of you?”
Keenan stalked toward him. “No. I think you’re kicking up a fuss because you think it’s the best way to make us offer you more money to do our bidding.”
“We don’t have time to sit down and go back and forth while we settle on a price with you,” said Khloé, speaking for the first time. “Two people have been hit with death essence, and they need your aid.”
“Impossible,” scoffed Eric. “If they’d been hit by death essence, they’d be dead.”
“Obviously that’s not always the case or I wouldn’t be standing here right now,” she said. “Both my brother and I were able to drive the death essence from our bodies, but small particles of it remained, and those particles are slowly killing us. See for yourself.”
Eric lifted his hand and waved it, shining a beam of light at Khloé. Keenan frowned. It was no different than someone aiming a torch at her, but that divine light must have enabled the angel to see something he didn’t, because Eric’s face paled. “How is it that your organs haven’t failed?”
“They’re currently protected by magick, but those protections won’t last forever. My brother and I need your help, and we need it now. So let’s stop pussyfooting around—name your price so that I can contact my Prime and we can all move forward with the situation.”
“If Knox Thorne is not your Prime, who is?”
“Jolene Wallis.”
His upper lip curled. “I’ve heard of her.”
Khloé’s lips twitch. “I take it you don’t like imps much.”
“The last time I refused to assist an imp, they emptied my bank accounts, stole the contents from my home-safe, took out bank loans in my name, and posted my address on a BDSM online forum declaring I was having a party and that all were invited. I lost my teaching job after that fiasco.”
Keenan’s demon chuckled, despite its dark mood.
Khloé shrugged. “Sounds pretty tame to me. My grandmother will go to any measure to ensure that my brother and I are healed—I’m not saying she’ll physically harm you, but she has ways of making your life an endless cycle of hell.”
Larkin crossed one leg over the other and said, “The big G can’t help you—he and Lucifer made an agreement not to personally interfere in fights between angels and demons, since past attempts almost resulted in the two deities going to war. Neither likes war, and the Earth would never survive such a battle intact. In other words, you can’t rely on divine help. Be smart, cooperate, and name your price.”
Eric tightened his mouth, staring at Khloé hard. Finally, he jutted out his chin and said, “Twenty thousand dollars each. And before you tell me that’s extortionate, remember that you can’t put a true price on life.”
Thinking he was something of a greedy fucker but relieved that he’d agreed to help, Khloé telepathically reached out to Jolene. Grams, we got an angel here. He says he’ll heal Ciaran and me, but he wants to charge you twenty grand per person.
Jolene’s mind practically leapt at hers. An angel? Where?
Knox’s office. Will you agree to his price?
Of course, her grandmother replied without hesitation. I would have expected him to demand more.
I think he’s too afraid of you and imps in general to test our patience.
So he should be. I’ll contact Ciaran and be with you shortly.
Khloé switched her focus back to Eric. “Jolene has agreed to your price.”
Eric nodded. “When will she get here?”
“Soon.”
It couldn’t have been more than a minute later that Ciaran, Jolene, Orrin, and Vivian abruptly appeared in the middle of the office. Khloé frowned. Why had she brought along Vivian?
Ciaran sidled up to Khloé and gave her a nod, fairly vibrating with optimism. “You okay?”
“Hopefully both of us will be in, say, five minutes’ time,” she replied.
As regal as ever, Jolene fixed her attention on the angel. “I am Jolene Wallis. And you are?”
He licked his lips. “Eric Carlton.”
“Eric Carlton,” she echoed, flashing him a courteous smile. “I will agree to your price, Eric. But only if my grandchildren are fully healed. A member of my lair here can see illness in a person. She will tell me if you failed.”
Ah, that explained Vivian’s presence.
Eric gave Jolene a look that was all haughty. “I am an angel; we do not fail when it comes to healing.” His eyes turned wary. “How do I know you’ll stick to your end of the bargain and actually pay me?”
“My word would mean nothing as a Prime if I went back on it whenever I pleased. It is a weakness that can lead to people losing their position. I would much prefer to keep mine. Let us get this done, shall we?”
Ciaran nudged Khloé. “You first, sis.”
Khloé frowned at him. “I was going to say the same to you.”
“You’re sicker than I am,” he pointed out.
“He’s right, Khloé,” said Jolene. “You should go first.”
“Fine.” Khloé rolled back her shoulders and crossed to Eric. Keenan stood behind her like a sentry, so damn tense that his muscles probably hurt. And she knew he’d pounce on the angel in a flash if the guy made a wrong move. Eric saw that easily enough, because he cast Keenan a nervous glance.
“What do I need to do?” she asked the angel.
Eric held up h
is hand. “Just place your palm flat against mine.”
Wary of feeling a perfect stranger’s power course through her, she hesitated. But this had to be done, didn’t it? Khloé followed his directive and waited. Her breath caught when his entire palm glowed. A gentle wind drifted through her, warm and comforting. She felt flares of heat here and there, felt—
Her body pitched forward as the wind disappeared in a rush, as if sucked out of her by a hoover or something. The only reason she didn’t fall was that Keenan caught her by her waist. Her demon rushed close to the surface, bracing itself to attack.
“What the fuck just happened?” the incubus demanded, a growl rumbling in his chest.
Eric looked at his palm, his lips parted. “I-I don’t know. My power … it was as if your system regurgitated it,” he told Khloé.
Jolene stepped toward him. “Try again.” It was an order.
The angel obeyed, and the same damn thing happened.
Stiff, Jolene turned to the incantor. “Vivian, check her.”
Vivian weaved a pattern in the air with her hands, staring at Khloé’s body. She bit her lip. “She’s still infected, Jolene. It doesn’t look as if his power did anything to help her.”
Khloé felt the blood leave her face, along with every ounce of hope that had sat in her belly.
Keenan spat a vicious curse. “Why isn’t it working?”
Eric lifted his shoulders. “I have no idea. Perhaps the infection has had too much time to set into her cells—do not forget, it is the essence of death; it will not react like a normal virus of any sort.”
“Try to heal Ciaran,” Khloé told him, her chest tight. “He hasn’t had the infection long.”
“If it didn’t work for you, it’s not going to work for me,” said Ciaran.
“It might.” Jolene motioned him toward the angel. “Let Eric try.”
Ciaran’s lips thinned. “But—”
“I understand that you’ll feel guilty if he’s able to heal you when he wasn’t able to heal Khloé,” began Jolene, “but that’s not a reason to refuse help. Plus, we have to know if this infection can in fact be beaten. If he’s able to heal you, we know Khloé has a chance; that we just need to find someone strong enough to help her.”
Ciaran exhaled heavily. “All right. But the same thing’s going to happen to me that just happened to her.”
It didn’t happen, though. Eric’s power effortlessly flowed through Ciaran. When both males lowered their arms, Jolene quickly asked, “How do you feel?”
Ciaran’s brow knitted. “The fatigue and discomfort have gone.”
“Vivian, tell me what you see,” Jolene told her, waving her toward him.
The incantor checked him, and her face relaxed. “He’s fully healed.”
Relief surged through Khloé so fast, she was surprised her knees didn’t buckle.
Ciaran’s eyes fell shut. But he didn’t look relieved. He looked pained. “So, what, we need a more powerful angel to heal Khloé?”
“An archangel could heal her, of course,” said Eric. “But they do not come to Earth. They never leave heaven. Ever. Not for anything.”
“Well, that needs to change,” Keenan clipped, his heart pounding. He paced up and down like a caged animal. He couldn’t keep still; couldn’t find any calm, no matter how deep he dug for it. “Contact one.”
“I’m unable to,” Eric told him. “They serve heaven; they do not concern themselves with angel business or anything that happens outside of their realm. Even if I could contact one, no amount of money or threats of violence would persuade one to come here. To put it simply, they wouldn’t care, just as you probably wouldn’t care to save the life of a carpet mite. The creatures down here mean nothing to them.”
Keenan’s demon snarled, wanting to punch and smash and destroy. He grabbed Khloé’s hand and raised it. “Try again, Eric.”
The angel shook his head. “But I—”
“Just try,” insisted Keenan and his demon, battling for control of their vocal cords, making the words come out loud, deep, and mechanical.
Swallowing hard, his eyes wide with fear, Eric did as he was ordered. But, again, his attempt to heal her didn’t work.
Anger whipped through Keenan like a bolt of red-hot lightning. He swiped the office desk, sending everything on the surface crashing to the floor. No one moved, no one tried to calm or placate him. They waited, trusting him to get ahold of his temper.
His breaths coming hard and fast, he glared up at the ceiling. He’d come here expecting to have Khloé healed; to be able to take her back to the penthouse, healthy and free of what Enoch left inside her. Instead … Fuck.
A familiar female mind softly stroked his own. A touch that was meant to comfort and calm him. He swallowed around the lump in his throat. He loved that she’d try to soothe him, but he hated that she felt the need to do it. She shouldn’t have to worry about him—she was the one who was riddled with an infection. He wouldn’t be a selfish bastard and make this all about him.
Forcing himself to think past the rage clawing at his insides and the hardness that had settled in his gut, he said, “There has to be other preternatural creatures that can help her. Some shifters can heal. Even some vampires have the power to do it.”
“But none of them produce pure life like an angel,” Eric pointed out. “They wouldn’t be able to combat death essence.”
Keenan raised a brow at him. “Can you say that for certain?”
Eric faltered. “Well, no—”
“Then we don’t give up.” Keenan turned to Knox. “You once met with vampires. Can you talk to them and find out if they have one who could heal Khloé?”
Knox gave a slow nod. “I can ask them.”
“I’m in contact with some practitioners,” said Vivian. “I could see if any of them could be of any aid to Khloé.”
“Do it,” Keenan told her. “I have a contact who’s a lone bear shifter. I’ll speak with him and see if he knows a shifter who’s also a powerful healer.” He looked down at his imp. “The situation isn’t hopeless, Khloé. There are millions of preternatural creatures on this Earth. At least one of them has to be able to help you. We just have to find out who they are and then get their ass here.”
CHAPTER SIXTEEN
Khloé picked up the remote and switched off the TV. She hadn’t been able to follow the movie because her mind was elsewhere. It just kept replaying those earlier moments when Eric’s attempts to heal her had failed. She hadn’t expected that. She’d taken it for granted that all she needed to do was find an angel. Any ole angel.
She’d been wrong.
The only saving grace was that her brother was no longer infected. Not that Ciaran seemed so happy about it. She’d almost slapped him across the head for stupidly feeling guilty.
Khloé hadn’t given up hope that there was a way of ridding her of the infection. Nope, not at all. She didn’t admit defeat so easily. Keenan was right—the law of probability said that at least one of the preternatural creatures out there had a gift that could help her. Khloé trusted that her loved ones would do everything in their power to find such a person, just as she would have done for them.
With both her lair and Keenan’s working together on this, it would surely only be a matter of time before she found herself standing in front of someone who could heal her. In fact, that could even happen shortly. Keenan was currently meeting with the bear shifter he’d mentioned; he might return with positive news.
In-keeping with her plan to stay in the Underground out of Enoch’s reach, she’d remained at the penthouse. And now, bored out of her mind, she wished the time would tick faster so she could head to work and do something.
Having heard from Knox that Eric’s attempt to heal Khloé came to nothing, Harper had immediately called her, offering for Khloé to take the day off. Raini and Devon—who’d also called her—thought she should stay at the penthouse and rest. Khloé didn’t think “rest” would really help much. The i
nfection didn’t work as viral infections did. Plus, she needed to distract herself from all the bullshit, so she fully intended to go to work.
Hearing the intercom system beep, Khloé headed to the entry-way and pressed the audio button. “Hello?”
“Good morning, Miss Wallis,” said the hotel’s receptionist. “You have a visitor.”
“A visitor?” echoed Khloé.
“Well, technically two. A woman wishes to speak with you. She introduced herself as Raini. She has a young boy with her.”
Khloé straightened. A boy? Raini could have brought Asher along, but surely not without an escort. “They have no one else with them?”
“No.”
“How old is the kid?”
“About four or five.”
Suspiciousness pricked at her. Keenan said that Thea could use glamor. Could she be posing as Raini, hoping that Khloé would allow her inside? Possibly. It wouldn’t take much digging to learn details about Khloé such as who her friends were and where she worked.
Not prepared to take any chances, Khloé said, “I’ll be right down.” If it was Raini, she’d invite her up. If it was Thea, well, Khloé would tell her to fuck right off. It might even be fun. If nothing else, it would be a nice distraction.
She slipped on her shoes and took the elevator down to the first floor. Raini was waiting there, her hand clenched tightly around the strap of her purse. Only it wasn’t Raini. Because Raini didn’t slouch, wear conservative clothing, or own that boring jacket.
Did Thea really think Khloé so easily fooled? It would seem so. How silly. Khloé’s inner demon sniffed in affront.
Raini’s mimic forced a smile. “Hey, girl. Can I come up?”
Hey, girl? Ugh. Stepping out of the elevator, Khloé scanned the large reception area and spotted a boy sitting on one of the sofas playing on his tablet. Keeping her voice low, she said, “I’m guessing that’s your kiddo over there, and I’m guessing you’re Thea.”
Surprise flickered across the female’s face.
“I know all about you. And no, we can’t go somewhere and talk in private, if that’s what you’re hoping. I don’t know what you want, but I’d rather you got this over with fast.” Her inner demon pushed close to the surface, intent on watching the other woman very carefully. It didn’t like her. Didn’t like that she’d hurt Keenan.
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