“I heard from someone that a small number of archangels fell from heaven a long, long, long time ago,” replied Raini. “I heard that they fell and copulated with demons, much like normal angels did, and that they produced children. Those children grew up among the Nephilim, but they were different; stronger; more dangerous.”
Khloé felt her brow furrow. She hadn’t heard of that.
Raini went on, “I thought that maybe Maddox might know someone who descended from archangels—it seemed a slight chance that they’d have the power to heal or fight the essence of death, but I figured it was worth asking.”
“And it turns out that Maddox has that power,” said Jolene, her eyes narrowed.
Raini swallowed. “It would seem so.”
Harper sidled up to the succubus. “You know what that means, don’t you?”
Raini nodded. “He just said that he could heal Khloé; he didn’t explain why. But it can only mean that he’s the descendant of an archangel.”
“A very, very powerful one,” said Levi. “Add in all the demonic blood that flows through his system, and it makes him seriously fucking dangerous.”
“More dangerous than we’d previously imagined,” added Tanner.
He wasn’t wrong there. What had surged through Khloé was archangelic power with a dark twist. “He didn’t fight the death essence with pure life. He fought it with something else. It had life—so much life—but it wasn’t pure. And it was so much more potent than the death orbs that Enoch hit me with. I could never have expelled out of my system whatever Maddox just sent into me.” Not with Ciaran’s aid, not with anyone’s.
Keenan looked down at her, his brow creased in concern. “But you’re okay?”
“I’m fine,” she assured him. “His power didn’t harm me in the slightest.”
Folding her arms, Devon looked at Raini. “He didn’t help her out of the goodness of his heart. What did you agree to do? Tell me you’re now not officially his sex slave or something.”
Raini rolled her eyes. “Of course not. You come out with the weirdest stuff.”
“It was a valid question,” insisted Devon. “Right, Tanner?”
The hound’s mouth bopped open and closed. “I wouldn’t know.” He let out an oof when Devon jabbed his ribs with her elbow.
“He’s not a guy who’d want an unwilling female in his bed. He said so himself the first time I met him,” said Raini.
Khloé remembered that. Looking up at Raini, she gave her a faint smile and swallowed. “Thank you for what you did. I know that going to Maddox for something couldn’t have been easy for you.”
“No thanks needed,” said Raini. “There’s nothing I wouldn’t do for my girls.”
Yeah, that was kind of what worried Khloé.
CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO
Sitting on the small, plastic slide, Khloé shifted slightly to get comfier and then took another swig of her pink gin. “I wonder if Little Bo Peep ever found her sheep. Or maybe she got new ones. Like for her birthday or something.”
“If I lost some, I’d put ‘new sheep’ on my birthday gift list,” said Raini, using her heel to gently rock the swing backward and forward. “And a sheepdog because, you know, it would just make things a whole lot easier.”
On the other swing, Devon pointed a finger at the succubus. “Bo Peep should’ve thought of that. She was such a disappointment, as shepherdesses go.” The hellcat flicked her hair over her shoulder. “I’d have been so much better at that job. I should totally try it.”
Sitting cross-legged on the lawn, Harper frowned. “But we need you to pierce people and help with tattoos.”
Devon sighed, disappointed. “Life always gets in the way.” She sipped from her red plastic cup. “We might need to head back inside soon; I’m almost out of gin.”
They’d come out to Jolene’s backyard to get a little fresh air. The air inside was hot and stuffy, since the living room, dining room, kitchen, hallway, and backyard were packed with people who’d come to celebrate Martina’s birthday.
Music blasted out of the open window, along with the sounds of people laughing, singing, and yelling to be heard. The birthday girl was currently in the dining room, killing Gloria Gaynor’s “I Will Survive” on the karaoke. The imps on the outdoor deck were doing the Conga dance while singing along. Another was using the green hose as a microphone while dramatically mouthing the lyrics.
Khloé figured it was a good thing that the neighbors were lair members or Jolene would be getting a high number of complaints about the noise. Especially since their family parties could go on all night and might even bleed into the late morning hours.
A breeze brushed over her skin and ruffled the grass and leaves. Khloé lifted her plastic cup to her mouth and took another sip of her pink gin. The sweet taste exploded on her tongue.
Raini leaned the side of her face against one swing chain. “You know, it kind of amazes me that Keenan left your side, Khlo. He’s been your shadow for weeks now.”
He had indeed. And he hadn’t once snapped at her mother for turning up at the house on a daily basis just to faff around Khloé. She suspected that was partly because he was glad Penelope had tossed out her useless boyfriend and was back on the sobriety wagon. Hopefully she didn’t fall off it again.
Keenan often watched Khloé like a hawk, as if searching for signs that the infection might have returned. It hadn’t. Maddox had definitely either neutralized or overpowered it, because even Vivian had confirmed that there wasn’t so much as a dot of death essence in Khloé’s system.
“He seems to have calmed a little since he slid this on my finger,” said Khloé, smiling down at the black diamond ring, just as she did many times a day. Such jewelry was a symbol of the ultimate commitment, so demons only ever exchanged them with partners they were utterly certain of.
Keenan had given Khloé hers the day after Maddox had healed her, saying that watching her almost die had made him realize that he never wanted to be without her. Since she felt the same, she’d asked him to wear the masculine matching ring. It had settled something in him.
“I wouldn’t say he’s calmed,” objected Devon. “Every time he has to leave you at the studio, he looks like he might spontaneously combust.”
“She almost died; the guy got a scare,” said Harper.
“We all got a scare.” Devon squinted at Khloé. “Don’t ever almost-die again.”
“Why, did you cry?” asked Khloé.
The hellcat sniffed. “No.”
“You lie, Pinocchio.”
“God, that puppet was such a whiner,” said Devon. “‘Poor me, poor me, I’m made of wood.’ A lot of women would be happy with a guy whose nose grew like that. We’d always know when he was lying, and it would make sitting on his face a lot more fun if he whispered some fibs at the same time.”
Harper snickered. “Only you, Dev. Only you would think this shit. Ooh, here comes Teague.”
Careful not to stand on the people who were sitting on the doorstep, he stepped onto the deck. A beer bottle in hand, the male shouldered his way through the Conga dancers and crossed the gravel pathway that cut through the lawn. He nodded at the other women and then smiled at Khloé. “Hey, gorgeous.”
She returned his smile. “Hey, stallion.”
He took a swig from his bottle. “What are you ladies talking about?”
“Naughty wooden boys,” replied Devon, a twinkle in her eye.
The hellhorse frowned. “I don’t know how to contribute to that conversation.” He shifted his gaze to Khloé. “How’s life at Keenan’s lair treating you?”
“Fine,” said Khloé. “Honestly, things don’t feel much different than they did before.”
“Probably because you didn’t move out of your house. I like that Keenan didn’t ask you to. It shows he knows what you need and, more importantly, cares what you need. As mates go, you could have done worse.”
Khloé snorted. “Don’t think I don’t know that you like him.” He and Keenan actual
ly got along pretty well these days.
Teague shrugged. “He’s not the world’s worst guy. I am surprised he’s left your side, although we both know he’ll follow you out here in about, oh, two minutes.” The hellhorse sipped his beer again. “Ciaran looks comfortable.”
Khloé glanced at her brother, who’d passed out in the nearby hammock, cuddling a garden gnome. One minute he’d been talking to them. The next thing, he’d been snoring softly.
“I noticed he spent most of the night glaring at you,” Teague added.
Khloé sighed. “He’s still mad that I nearly died. Like it was my fault.”
“It probably eats at him that his attempt to save you didn’t work—you know how he is for taking on burdens that aren’t his.” Raini pushed off the swing. “I need to go pee.”
“Me too,” said Harper, standing. Her nose wrinkled. “I think my ass is wet. Oh, please tell me I didn’t piss my pants.”
“You have a wet patch on your butt,” said Raini. “But I think it’s from the grass. Don’t quote me on that, though.”
“You all coming back inside?” the sphinx asked.
“Sure thing, pissy pants.” Devon stood. “I gotta get more gin.”
Harper scowled. “It’s not piss.”
“It looks like piss,” said Devon.
“You look like piss.”
“How can a person possibly look like piss?”
The two women continued to argue as they made their way up the path—Raini played peacemaker, but it didn’t work so well.
Teague helped Khloé off the slide. “I noticed there’s still some tension between your incubus and Knox,” he said quietly. “Keenan was so pissed at him that day we all thought you’d die—I don’t know why, and I’m not asking. But, yeah, I really thought Keenan was going to try to take him out.”
Khloé had heard as much from her twin. “He didn’t speak to Knox for, like, two weeks. I asked why. He just said he felt that Knox could have done more to save me. I think Keenan just felt guilty for not getting to me earlier and he needed someone else to blame.”
“I don’t know. Your incubus doesn’t seem like the kind of person who’d point the finger at someone else if he knew the guilt belonged to him.”
True, but it was the explanation she gave to anyone who questioned her about it. Truly, she wasn’t entirely sure why Keenan felt the Prime could have done “more,” but she hadn’t pushed him on it, sensing there were certain things the sentinels were forbidden to share with anyone—even their mates.
Khloé wasn’t mad about it. She understood that some secrets just weren’t his to share, and she liked that he had such integrity. His loyalty was still primarily to her, and that was what counted.
Besides, she’d be a damn hypocrite to whine at him for keeping secrets when she, too, was required to keep secrets from people she cared for and trusted. Not from Keenan, though—he knew all about little Asher and what he’d done to Lane. Of course, Harper and Knox had spun the story and claimed to others that Enoch had purged Lane of his powers—something people had bought, considering Lazarus demons specialized in death and destruction.
Harper and Knox had been shocked to hear how Asher and his demon had come to Khloé’s aid. If she wasn’t mistaken, it scared the couple that he was so powerful—especially since people would seek to destroy him while he was young and vulnerable if they considered him enough of a threat.
Understanding why they were so intent on protecting Asher’s secrets, Khloé, Ciaran, and Jolene had consented to having the memories of what he’d done erased or adjusted. It hadn’t worked on Khloé, though. Probably because it was difficult to manipulate the minds of those who specialized in mind control themselves.
Neither Knox nor Harper had panicked about that, though—they trusted that she’d never betray her little dude. They only worried that someone could pluck Asher’s secrets from her brain.
At this point, Khloé was pretty sure the kid was no sphinx, but she hadn’t asked for confirmation of that, just as she hadn’t pushed to find out what breed of demon Knox was. There were some things a person was simply better off not knowing.
As for little Lane, Knox’s Force had found and returned him to the Prime. Despite that his anger with Thea was still fresh, Keenan had ensured that Lane wouldn’t pay for her sins and had placed the boy with a good foster family within their lair, refusing to put him in a home for demonic children.
Lane seemed to be doing as well as could be expected. His gifts hadn’t returned, which meant that Asher truly had extinguished Lane’s personal stock of power. And that was just damn frightening.
“Careful you don’t trip,” Teague said to her when her heel sank into the soil.
“Fuck off, Batman,” Ciaran muttered, still sleeping.
“Should we wake him?” asked Teague.
She flapped a hand. “Nah, he’s fine there.”
“What about Beck? I don’t know how someone can fall asleep in a sandbox, but it can’t be a good thing.”
“He’ll be okay.”
The tall, prickly grass brushed her ankles as they crossed the yard and headed inside. The scents of alcohol, perfume, pizza and other various foods hit her hard. She’d only taken two steps when she noticed Keenan edging his way through the traffic of people near the fridge. His expression softened when he spotted her, and she couldn’t help but smile at that.
Stalking toward her, he exchanged a brief greeting with Teague, who then walked away and left them alone. Keenan pulled her close, his mouth twitching. “Are you blitzed?”
“Nope, I’m Khloé. You should know this already.”
“Did you know that you have a piece of popcorn stuck to your forehead?”
She blinked. “It’s still there? Wow.”
He flicked it off and then pressed a kiss to her mouth. “You took too long to come back to me,” he complained, tucking her hair behind her ear.
“I was gone for, like, ten minutes.”
“You know I miss you when you’re not with me.”
She snorted. “What I know is that you like to have me in your sight at all times to reassure yourself that I’m fine.”
“That, too.” He raked his gaze over her, and his eyes grew heated. “Love this dress on you.” And the lacy bra I got a sneak peek at earlier, he added telepathically. Do your panties match?
She lifted a brow. What panties?
He groaned. Little witch. He skimmed his fingertips over the none-too-subtle brand his demon had put on the side of her neck just last night.
“You like it, don’t you?” she asked. “You like that everyone can see it?”
“Yeah, I do. It says that you’re spoken for, and that’s good. I can’t have anyone thinking they can touch my property, can I?”
“Excuse me? Property?”
He chuckled and took her mouth before she could reprimand him, licking and consuming until she was pure goo in his arms. The sound of glass breaking had them both lifting their heads. A bottle of vodka had smashed on the floor. Liquid and fragments of glass were everywhere.
“Come on,” said Keenan, tugging her out of the kitchen.
Bopping her head to the music, Khloé let him lead her into the dining room. Many stood around the buffet table, talking and munching on food. Others danced or sang along with Khloé’s brother, Robbie, who was singing on the karaoke.
“He has a good voice,” commented Larkin as she, Levi, and Knox sidled over.
“Koey!” yelled Asher, balanced on his father’s hip.
“Hey, little dude.” Khloé blew him a kiss and then smiled at her younger sister, Heidi, who was clinging to Larkin’s back. “Having fun?”
“Uh-huh,” said Heidi, beaming.
“I found her and some of the other kids jumping up and down on a passed-out imp like he was a damn trampoline,” said Larkin. “Jolene rolled the guy under the buffet table. I don’t know how he can sleep through all this noise.”
“I have a question,” Lev
i said to Khloé. “Why is that guy in the corner wearing a Predator suit?”
Khloé frowned. “You’re assuming he needs a reason.”
“Yeah, imps don’t need reasons for the things they do,” Larkin said to the reaper. “Haven’t you learned that yet?”
Everyone clapped as Robbie’s song came to an end. He took a bow and then handed the mike to the DJ, almost tripping over the lights he’d wrapped around himself like he was a damn Christmas tree.
A tall figure stalked over and planted his hands on his hips, glaring at Heidi. “Give it back.”
The little girl’s nose wrinkled as she stared back at the Devil. “What?”
“My wallet,” said Lucifer—or Lou, as he preferred to be called. “Give it back.”
“I don’t have it,” Heidi told him.
“Do I look slow to you?”
“Yup.”
Lou jerked back. “Well, that’s not nice. You imps are all the same.”
With her beautiful white-blonde hair and innocent features, the kid looked like butter wouldn’t melt in her mouth. Oh, it would. She was a master at pickpocketing, could cry on cue, and was quite the plotter. In that sense, she was pretty much a miniature but perkier version of Jolene, who was currently heading their way.
Standing behind the devil, Jolene folded her arms. “Hello, Lou.”
He jumped and mumbled something beneath his breath. Lou crossed his arms and lifted his chin, refusing to acknowledge her.
Sidling up to him, Jolene sighed. “You’re sulking because I didn’t invite you to the party, aren’t you?”
He whirled on her. “Well, would it have killed you to give me a call and say, hey, come join us? Friends don’t exclude each other like this.”
“But we’re not friends,” Jolene pointed out.
“Don’t pick at details.” Lou looked at Khloé. “So, you almost died, huh? I heard all about it. Terrible, terrible business.”
Harper snorted, appearing at Knox’s side. “Like you care what happens to anyone but yourself.”
“That’s not fair. I care about Asher.” Lou smiled at the kid. “And how is my little nephew?”
“Would you stop calling him that,” snarked Harper.
Omens (The Dark in You Book 6) Page 32