Angel in Chains (4 page)

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Authors: Cynthia Eden

Tags: #Romance, #Fiction, #Paranormal, #General

BOOK: Angel in Chains
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“I’m going to shower,” she said. “You should—you should be gone when I come out.”
If that was the way the little mortal wanted things . . .
She headed for the bathroom. Didn’t look back at him. Why did that fact anger him? And why did he feel like he had to ask, “Why do the panthers want you?”
She paused with one hand on the door frame. “I guess I did something to make them angry.”
It would seem so.
“Now, they aren’t going to stop. Not until they kill me.”
A human against a pack of panthers. Hardly seemed like fair odds to him. A human against just one shifter wasn’t a fair fight.
“But this isn’t your battle.” She still didn’t look back.
Why not?
“You should leave while you have the chance. And don’t just leave my apartment. Get out of New Orleans. If you don’t, they’ll pick up your scent. They’ll hunt you down. They’ll rip you apart.”
Highly doubtful. “I’d like to see them try.”
She swung around in an instant. “I wouldn’t.” Soft. Wait, were those tears glittering in her eyes?
A mortal, crying over
him?
“You helped me. You didn’t know me. But you . . . you saved my life.” She gave a fast, negative shake of her head. “Now let me save yours. Az,
get the hell out of here, and don’t ever come back.
”
She sounded like she meant those words.
Jade spun around and slammed the door behind her. A few seconds later, the water flooded on with a roar of sound.
Az stared at the closed door. After a moment, he waved his hand and instantly clothed his body in fresh clothes. He hadn’t needed her to wash the others. Working magic was easy for him. Always had been. Magic was one of his gifts.
The water continued to pour in the bathroom.
The mortal wanted him to leave her alone . . .
But sometimes, mortals didn’t always get what they wanted. Especially not when they tempted him so much.
 
He’d left.
As she tiptoed out of the bathroom, Jade’s hands tightened around the towel that covered her body. It was good that he’d left.
So why did her chest ache?
She took a deep breath. For once, she’d done the right thing. She hadn’t dragged Az into her hell.
She could handle this nightmare, and he—he’d be much better off the farther away he got from her. For his sake, Jade hoped the guy hightailed it far and fast.
Besides, she was used to being on her own. It was the way she wanted to be. Az would have just complicated things for her. Distracted her.
And . . . and she could still taste him on her lips.
Dammit.
Az waited until the sun fell, then he sought out his brother Sammael at the Fallen’s favorite club.
Brother.
He and Sammael—or, rather, Sam, since his brother preferred that version of his name—weren’t exactly close, especially since Az had spent an inordinate amount of time attempting to kill Sam over the centuries.
But, well,
bygones.
That was all in the past. He hoped. As long as Sam didn’t come looking for some payback anytime soon.
A long line of humans waited outside the doors of Sunrise. Humans were always trying to play on the dark side. Maybe they sensed that the club catered to a wilder clientele. Maybe they wanted the rush that came from risking death.
Fools.
He shoved past the paranormal bouncer and headed inside. Sam was at the bar, looking bored as he talked to one of his demons. Sam spent too much time with the demons. And with hellhounds. But, luckily, Sam’s hound wasn’t in Sunrise right then. Perhaps later the beast would make his appearance.
Sam gave an exaggerated sigh when he caught sight of Az in the bar’s mirror. He spun on the stool to face him. “Visiting again?” Sam waved toward the stage. “And the entertainment hasn’t even started yet. My, you are out prowling the streets early tonight.”
Az’s back teeth ground together. “I want to talk to Seline.”
Sam raised a brow. “Now what would you want with
my
Seline?” Possessive steel had entered his voice.
Because Seline was his. A woman who’d traded heaven to live with Sam in this hell. Az still didn’t get quite why she’d made that particular choice. For love, or so she said.
“Ah . . .” Sam nodded and his gaze sharpened as he snapped his fingers. “You want to grill her on how to get back upstairs, right? Because that’s always what you fucking want to do . . . go back.
Go back
. Sometimes, Az, you can be such a whiny bitch.” He grabbed a shot glass and drained the contents in a quick gulp. “You screwed up, you got tossed here, now deal with it.”
But he didn’t want to deal with it. Az was tired of the emotions that were growing stronger every day.
Ripping me apart.
And since he’d met Jade, the lust inside had been growing—
all day.
He couldn’t stop thinking about her. Couldn’t stop wanting her.
He could still smell the scent of strawberries.
Az exhaled on a heavy breath. “This world isn’t for me.” He’d ruled over an army of angels, and now he was reduced to fighting shifters in a dirty alley in order to get his kicks. “I’m going back.”
“Not unless you get redemption,” a soft, feminine voice told him.
Seline.
He glanced into the mirror and saw that Sam’s mate stood just behind him. Seline’s warm, brown gaze met his in the mirror. “If you really hate it here so much,” she continued, shrugging her slender shoulders and sending her blond hair sliding back, “then prove that you should get the free pass back upstairs.”
Upstairs
. Where there were no pesky emotions to plague him. No feelings to tie him into knots. No needs that made him ache. Only duty and death.
“
If
that’s what you want . . .” Sam interrupted, voice taunting as he offered his hand to Seline. She stepped toward him and their fingers locked. “But something tells me that the longer you’re down here,” Sam said, amusement flickering in his eyes, “the more you’re gonna like it.”
Az’s gaze drifted around the bar. Couples were dancing, their bodies too close together. Nearly screwing right there in public. Drinks poured and were guzzled instantly. Magic drifted in the air.
Booze. Alcohol. Sex.
Jade.
He blinked, wondering for a moment if he’d imagined her. But, no, this wasn’t another fantasy.
She was there. Standing just inside the doorway with her eyes narrowed as she scanned the bar.
“See something you like?” Sam taunted. “Because I sure think you must.”
Az realized his whole body had stiffened. He’d even taken a step toward her without realizing it.
Sam’s left hand slapped onto Az’s shoulder, and it felt like a burning poker had been laid against his skin. Probably because Sam was still pissed at him and wanted the touch to hurt. Sam was as powerful as Az, and the other Fallen knew how to control fire and magic just as easily—if not
more
easily—than Az did.
“Go ahead,” Sam told him. “Go find a human. Screw yourself silly.
Live a little.
”
But with every moment that he spent on earth, Az felt like he slipped farther away from his past. From his real life.
Not meant for earth. Too much pain.
It ate at him here.
“Redemption,” Seline said softly as she pressed against Sam’s side. “It’s your only way.”
It was his only way. Because if he stayed here, well, a very long, long time ago, a certain powerful prophet had predicted that Az might just bring about the end of the world . . . when he killed his own brother.
He’d had the chance to kill Sam before. He’d passed. End of the world apocalypse averted.
For the moment. But every day, Az could feel a darkness stirring inside him. If the emotions just kept growing stronger, what would happen?
Could he keep holding on to his control?
Or what if that old prediction finally came true? If the darkness inside of him grew too strong, Az wasn’t sure what would happen or what he might do.
His gaze returned to Jade. He could barely see the top of her dark hair now. She’d slipped to the side, moving almost stealthily as she turned toward the hallway that led to the darker part of Sunrise.
The part humans weren’t meant to see.
She was a human. Lost. Alone. Hunted by the
Other.
Weak.
Sam began to laugh behind him.
Humans were weak, but they were also favored.
“You’re going to regret so many things,” Sam murmured to Az as he pulled Seline closer. “So many . . .”
Az turned his head and offered a tight smile to his brother, the only angel who’d ever been able to equal him in power. The angel who’d fallen when he’d slaughtered dozens of humans. “Fuck off,” Az told him.
But Sam’s grin didn’t fade. It only stretched wider as he said, “Now that’s the spirit, brother.”
Az left him. Intent on finding Jade, he pushed his way through the crowd. She shouldn’t be there. It was far too dangerous for her to be in that wild crowd.
Redemption.
He pushed back two demons who’d blocked his path. Demons . . . they looked just like humans, unless you were powerful enough to see through the glamour that they used. Usually, only other demons could read past the illusion. A demon’s true gaze was pitch black. Darker than the worst night in hell.
The demons didn’t bother with glamour when they glared at him. Az shoved a burst of his power at them and sent the demons stumbling back. In this town, he was used to enemies being near. He was used to enemies being everywhere.
The dark corridor on the left snaked away from the main bar. A few more steps down that corridor, and Az found himself in front of a barred door. A seven-foot-tall bear shifter blocked his way—and there was no sign of Jade.
“Where is she?” Az demanded.
The shifter smiled.
Fine. Az grabbed him and slammed the shifter’s head against the door. Once. Twice. The third slam broke the door.
He tossed the shifter aside and peered through the shattered remains of the door. Another hallway waited.
But voices reached his ears. Men. Probably more demons or shifters. And then, he heard her.
Az entered a cavernous room and, even with the cluster of bodies, he caught the scent of strawberries. He focused on that scent. Followed it.
There she was. Jade was leaning over an old wooden table. Two demons sat at the table, with their eyes too intent on her body. She slapped a wad of cash down on the table’s scarred surface. “Here’s the money, now
do it
.”
One demon jumped up. Grabbed her. And put a knife to her throat.
In that instant, the dumb-ass demon begged for death.
And Death heard his plea.
C
HAPTER
T
HREE
T
he blade slipped down her throat, slicing the skin—then the demon was yanked away and tossed across the room.
What the hell?
Jade covered her throat even as she scrambled for the knife that had fallen to the floor. She needed that knife, she needed—
“Get out of here.”
Oh, hell. She knew that deep, rumbling voice. Az was there. He grabbed her before her searching fingers could close over the knife’s handle. “Run,” he told her. “I’ll take care of them.”
Run?
No, thank you
. Her throat stung, but, luckily, the blade hadn’t sliced her too deeply. “What are you doing here?” Had the guy totally not listened to her at all? She’d tried to do the right thing, but, no, here he was, looking all tall, strong, and avenging, and—
And he’d been the one to toss the demon across the room.
So screwing up my plan.
“Go.” Az pushed her toward the door. Jade guessed that he didn’t realize the door was now blocked by two really pissed-off looking demons. “I’ll handle them.”
She didn’t go.
The demon he’d hurled across the room had now risen to his feet. His eyes—no longer a warm green but instead a cold, pitch black—locked on her. “You set me up, bitch.”
Well, no, she hadn’t. She’d come in, intending to do this deal right. Couldn’t a girl hire a paranormal hit squad anymore without issues coming up? No deal was ever simple these days.
“I didn’t set you up,” she told the demon. William. A hard-hitter with a reputation for taking care of business. She’d worked for weeks arranging this meeting. Jade tried to step around Az. He glared at her and blocked her path.
Wrong time, hero.
“There’s just a—a misunderstanding going on here.”
She needed these demons. If they went after the panthers, they could take out the whole pack.
“He had a
knife
at your throat,” Az snarled. “You’re bleeding because of him.”
“The lady wanted a close look at my silver blade.” William shrugged and offered a smile that was icy. “She wanted to see how I’d killed the last two shifters who were dumb enough to cross my path.”
No matter what the stories said, silver didn’t just work on werewolves. It was an all-purpose weapon against most shifters.
But in order to take down Brandt and his panther buddies, they’d need a whole lot more than just a few silver tricks.
Been there, done that.
Az turned his head, and she saw his gaze searching the room. Scanning all the demons who now wore kick-ass expressions.
Her master plan was so screwed. “We can still make this work,” Jade said, fighting to keep her voice calm, but the desperation she felt wanted to leak into her words “You can take the money, take the hit—”
“Oh, I’ll be taking the money.” William snapped his fingers, and one of his freaking minions swiped up the money in an instant. “As far as the hit goes . . .”
Take it. Take out Brandt. Do it.
He flashed her a grin. “I’m afraid you’re not the first one to come at me with a deal, honey.”
Crap.
“Your boyfriend came to me first. And he paid more.”
Now Jade took a step back and wished,
really, really wished,
that she’d run as soon as Az appeared. But when you couldn’t run—
You fought as hard as you could.
“He’s put a price on your pretty head.” William smirked at her as he sidled closer. With the back of his hand, he swiped away the blood that trickled from his busted lip. Az had made the demon bleed nicely when he’d tossed his sorry assassin butt across the room.
“He wants me dead?” Jade asked, but she wasn’t really surprised. It had only been a matter of time before Brandt grew tired of the game and decided killing her was the best option.
“No, he wants you very much alive.” William’s gaze darted to Azrael. “But he didn’t say a fucking thing about me not getting to kill any assholes who were with you.”
Az straightened his shoulders and he just—smiled. The smile made him look all the more gorgeous, but, um, did the guy get that he was surrounded by some cutthroat supernatural killers?
Az’s gaze raked over the demon. “You don’t know who I am, do you?”
“A dick who’s about to die?”
The other demons snickered.
Jade saw the glint of the knife. It had fallen under the table. Not too far away. If she moved fast enough, she might be able to grab it.
“I guess I don’t come in here often enough for folks to know me,” Az said slowly, speaking in a thoughtful tone. He paused, “But I bet you know my brother.”
William lifted his hands, and a ball of fire appeared between his palms. Demons and fire. Such a deadly mix. “Do I look like I give a shit whose brother you are?”
Az didn’t look particularly scared of those flames. “Since you’re in his bar, you should.”
For some reason, that statement made some of the demons blanch. And she caught the whisper of. . .
“Fuck, Sammael!”
Then Az just walked toward that demon and his ball of fire. “Tell you what,” Az said, “to be fair, I’ll even let you take the first shot.”
What?
“No!”
Jade screamed, but it was too late. William had already thrown his ball of fire right at Az.
She dove for the knife. Her fingers wrapped tightly around the hilt. Jade leapt up.
Don’t burn, don’t!
She spun as fast as she could—and buried the knife into William’s side.
“Get away from him!”
The demon shuddered and stumbled back.
“Az?” She barely breathed his name. Her gaze swept over his chest, but—but there was no sign of any burns. Not even a wisp of smoke.
His eyes were on the demon. “My turn.”
Then he reached out and pressed his hand against William’s chest.
The demon’s eyes widened. His lips opened as if he were trying to speak, but then his body tumbled back, and he hit the floor with a hard thud.
Dead
.
Jade glanced down at him. Then she looked back up at Az. “What did you do?” Her voice was hushed. But . . . this was just like in the alley. He’d touched, and he’d killed.
His gaze met hers. Az didn’t speak.
“What are you?” Her stark whisper. She had to know.
Now his lips turned up in a smile that chilled her. “I’m Death.”
Like he was the first man to tell her that line.
“I’m death.”
Brandt’s yell echoed in her ears.
“Wherever you go, whoever you turn to—I’ll know. And I’ll fucking kill them all.”
She bent down and yanked the knife from William’s body. Then she held up the knife because it was the only weapon she had. “Stay away from me.”
A line edged between Az’s blond brows. “I helped you.”
Where was the demon who’d taken her cash? She’d be needing that back. But it looked like those guys had scrambled. They probably had been racing out of that place even as William’s body hit the floor. “Did you follow me here?” Her heart pounded so fast that Jade was worried it might break right out of her chest.
Az shook his head. “I was already at Sunrise when you came in.”
Lie or truth? But, wait, he’d said his brother owned the place. Maybe his words were true.
Maybe not.
She began to back away from him. Jade kept the bloody knife up. She wasn’t dumb enough to drop her guard with him, not when she knew how easily he could kill. “Just stay there, okay?” Stay where she could see him as she fled.
“You’re afraid of me.”
Yeah, because she wasn’t an idiot. Men who could kill with a touch—any sane person would fear those guys. “Keep your hands to yourself, big guy, and we won’t be having a problem.”
“I thought you liked it when I touched you.”
Five feet separated them. Not nearly enough space. And now he was getting all personal and sexual on her?
Now?
She cleared her throat. “That was—”
“Your nipples were hard against me. Your hips pressed up against my cock like you were hungry for me.” Why did his words sound almost clinical? Cold words, but his gaze looked hot enough to burn.
She was feeling scorched. “Okay, look, there’s a dead demon on the floor. How about we just talk about this other stuff later?” Because she had another demon to catch. A demon who thought he was getting away with her cash. As if she’d just kiss that dough good-bye.
Her gaze darted to the distance between her and Az. Alright. That looked like enough space between them. Well, enough for a good head start anyway. Jade spun away from Az and raced for the door.
He caught her. Just
appeared
right in front of her. She screamed in surprise and then again in real fear when his hands closed around her.
“Don’t kill me!”
But his mouth pressed against hers. Stole the words. His tongue thrust into her mouth.
She had the knife in her hand. She could use it on him. Could shove it right under his ribs and twist for optimum pain.
She’d done that to a man before.
But Az hadn’t
hurt
her. He’d killed twice, both times to protect her. He could destroy with a touch, but right then, his hands were light upon her skin and his mouth was almost caressing hers.
So she didn’t shove the knife into his ribs. Instead Jade lowered the weapon.
“Good choice.” He growled the words against her mouth as his lips lifted. “You don’t kill me, and I won’t kill you.”
Fair plan. Then his mouth came back to hers. Just the touch of his lips, and dammit, she
wanted.
She’d tried to play it safe with him, tried the whole do-the-freaking-right-thing routine, but—
But Az seemed to want her just as much as she wanted him. So Jade’s mouth widened. Her tongue met his. She tasted. She took. She craved so much more.
His hands were on her ass now. Pulling her up against him. There was no missing the hard length of his arousal. Death and desire.
Some men fed on that dangerous combination.
So did some women.
Jade pushed her left hand against his chest.
The demon.
Her mouth broke from his. “I have to . . .” She shook her head, then just twisted away from him.
He watched her with an unblinking stare.
“The demon’s got my money,” she said, breath rasping.
“I’m not letting him get away.” Luckily, she’d become pretty good at tracking over the years. Good for a human, anyway.
She eased around him. Az didn’t stop her, though she expected him to.
Wanted him to?
Jade rushed forward—and nearly slammed into the chest of a tall, smiling god.
Big, dark. Features so perfect it had to be a sin.
“Is that a dead demon in my bar?” He asked, voice almost. . . amused.
His bar?
But before Jade could answer, the guy shook his head. “Really, Az, I’m beginning to think you enjoy playing down here.”
Playing?
Then the man’s eyes locked on her. His blue eyes were just like Az’s. Only one glance into this man’s eyes and her heart felt chilled.
“And what have we here?” He drawled, lifting a hand toward her. “Something tempting . . .”
“Don’t touch her.”
Az’s snarled order. Then he was there. Moving in that too-fast way of his that still freaked her out. He put his body between her and—
“Sammael, don’t ever fucking touch her.”
But this
Sammael
just laughed. “Language, language . . .” he chided. “Each day you just seem to grow more and more like the whole
fucking
rest of us.”
She peeked around Az’s shoulder and saw Sammael’s gaze rake him.
Sammael asked, “I guess you’re not so perfect anymore, are you, brother?”
Az lunged forward and grabbed Sammael. Okay. Right. Family thing. Whatever. She had her own business to take care of. So Jade took that moment to dive for the door.
There was a demon out there someplace, with her last wad of cash. She should have known five grand was too low a price to pay for death, but she’d been desperate.
Once she got hold of that thieving demon, he’d be the desperate one.
 
Surprisingly, Sam didn’t fight. Az shoved his brother to the ground and expected to feel a bolt of lightning hit his chest.
But Sam was too busy laughing. “I knew,” Sam threw out, “I
knew
the longer you were down here, the more tempted you’d become.”

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