Angel of Darkness (32 page)

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Authors: Cynthia Eden

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

BOOK: Angel of Darkness
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Dammit. Could they not get a break?
They turned, slowly, and Nicole was all too aware of the carnage around them.
Her gaze met the cop’s. The first responder on the scene, and, oh, no ... his face that was familiar to her.
Greg Hatten.
The cop who’d come to rescue her six months ago. The cop who now bore deep scars on his throat.
His eyes widened and she knew he recognized her, too. Some nights, you just had bad luck.
He fired the gun without another word. The bullet plowed into her chest. Right into her heart.
“I know what you are!” He screamed. “You won’t hurt me again, vampire!”
Her chest was smoking. Why was her chest smoking?
“Holy water,” Keenan yelled. “Sam, take care of the cops!”
Then Keenan lifted her into his arms, held her tightly, and ran as more bullets blasted around them. One bullet hit her leg and burned like a bitch. Other bullets flew right for Keenan but never broke his skin.
Over the gunfire, she heard the sounds of screams. “Don’t ... kill ...” It was so hard to speak, but she had to try since they were cops. Scared cops who thought they were fighting monsters.
Because they were.
Her chest
hurt.
A stake and now a holy water bullet—
too much.
Nicole’s eyes sagged closed. She wasn’t real sure she’d make it through much more.
The sun hit her when they broke clear of the buildings. Bright, strong rays of sunlight poured on her. The weakness instantly weighed down her limbs, but she held on to Keenan.
She wasn’t letting him go.
She ignored the fire that burned through her heart. “I love you.” She wanted him to know that, always.
His head jerked, and he gazed down at her with wild eyes.
She tried to smile.
His hold tightened. “You’re not dying.”
She didn’t want to die. He might have fallen for her, but she was living for him.
“We have to get the bullet out!” He rounded another corner and sat her down on the ground. Keenan ripped open her shirt and stared at her chest. She didn’t want to look at the wound so she just watched him.
His eyes widened, and then all emotion vanished from his face.
Still trying to protect me.
“I know,” she whispered. The stake might have missed, but that cop had great aim.
Keenan shook his head.
“Just get it out,” she told him. “Get it out ... before it kills me.”
But she knew, even as she said the words, just how dangerous such an act would be. The knowledge was there in Keenan’s eyes, too. In the daylight, she wouldn’t heal. And if he dug into her heart and the bleeding couldn’t be stopped—she could die while he tried to save her.
Dying by Keenan’s hand would be just what Az had wanted.
Keenan shook his head.
She grabbed his hand. “I trust you.” Nicole wet her lips. “And I love you,” she said again.
His fingers were trembling.
“If you love me, save me.” She knew she was asking a lot, but there was no choice.
I’m dying.
“Save me.”
He touched her heart.
But then, he’d done that from the beginning. Touched her heart, touched her soul, and marked her as his.
The pain blasted through her. The agony stole her breath and the last sound she made was the whisper of his name.
Then she saw paradise.
 
The sun set and Nicole’s eyes didn’t open. Keenan sat by the bed and kept his stare trained on her. He’d been there, watching, waiting, all day.
Open your eyes. Look at me.
She still breathed. Her chest rose and fell. Her heart beat.
He glanced down at his hands. The blood was gone now. Finally washed away. He’d held her heart in his hands.
Her heart.
His fingers clenched.
“She’ll wake.” Sam’s voice sounded confident.
Keenan didn’t look at him. His gaze was back on Nicole. “I gave her my blood. She should have been up by now.”
“She will be.” Sam’s hand slapped on his shoulder. “Give her time.”
He didn’t want
time.
He wanted her.
The floor squeaked as Sam turned away.
Keenan reached for Nicole’s fingers. He smoothed his hand over her flesh. “Sam ... why did you fall?”
Things were clear to him now, and he wished he’d realized sooner ...
Keenan was the favored one.
Sam’s words echoed in his head.
He hadn’t even realized how lucky he’d been. Nicole hadn’t been his temptation. She’d been his reward. He’d just needed to be strong enough to fight for her.
“Maybe I became a power-hungry jackass like Az,” Sam said.
Maybe. But “maybe” wasn’t an answer. “The stories ... they said you killed nearly a hundred men. Men who shouldn’t have died.” So long ago ...
“Those bastards deserved death more than anyone I’ve ever seen.” From the corner of his eye, Keenan saw the ripple of Sam’s shrug. “Falling was a small price to pay in order to get them off this world.” He paused. “Wasn’t it a small price to pay for her?”
Yes.
For her, he’d burn again.
“I thought so.” He sighed. “Now I think you’re finally understanding this game.” The floor squeaked as Sam left.
Silence reigned and the minutes ticked by. The darkness grew heavier. And then ...
Nicole’s lashes began to flutter. He forgot Sam and leaned forward, holding her hand tighter. “Nicole?”
Her lips curled into a smile even before her eyes fully opened. “I was dreaming about you,” she whispered and blinked slowly.
His heart raced in his chest and he kissed her, a quick, hard kiss. “You scared me.”
She shook her head and her hair brushed over the pillow. “I wasn’t leaving you.” So simple and sure.
His gaze searched hers. “If you had, I would’ve just followed you.” The angels wouldn’t have been able to keep him away from her.
“I know.” Her grin widened a bit.
He brushed back her hair and knew that he had to tell her everything now. “I ... didn’t realize what was happening. Why I watched you so much ...”
Her eyes didn’t judge. Didn’t question.
“I should have stopped the vampire sooner.” That would haunt him. “I should have—”
“We can’t go back, and I don’t want to.”
She pushed up so that her face was only inches from his. “I meant what I said before. I love you, Keenan.”
She was ... everything to him.
“Az was right,” she said, and the words had his head jerking in immediate denial. “I’ve killed. I’ll probably kill again. And I’ll always need blood.”
She’d always have him to give that blood.
“I’m not perfect—”
To him, she was. Fangs, claws and sinful lips—
perfect.
“But I want to be with you. I just want ...
you.
”
He swallowed. “I’ve seen everything this world has to offer.” Good and bad. Nightmares, battlefields, and miracles. “And you’re the only thing in my existence that has ever made me
feel.
” That should be a warning to her, but she was looking at him with soft eyes.
She didn’t understand the danger.
He forced his hands to lift from her. “You’re all that matters to me here, Nicole. Your life, your happiness—I’ll do anything to protect you.” He’d killed for her before and would do it again because he knew those times would come. The world wasn’t an easy place. Too many hated vampires. Too many hunted.
No one will take her.
“Don’t mistake me for a normal man,” he warned her. “I’m not human, the feelings I have—” Lust, need, jealousy. “Sometimes they can make me very dangerous.”
“You’re not dangerous to me.”
One touch to kill, one touch to give pleasure.
“You’re
not
dangerous to me,” she said again. Her eyes seemed to see straight into his soul.
“No, sweet.” He’d sooner burn again than hurt her. “But I’m no angel.” Not anymore. He knew his eyes would be darkening to black.
“Neither am I,” she whispered as she twined her hands around his neck. “
Neither am I
.”
She kissed him, sliding her tongue into his mouth and giving him that perfect taste of sweet sin.
Die for her—
yes
.
Kill for her—
yes.
Love her?
Yes.
Heaven and hell could wait. He had paradise right there in his arms.
She was a temptation he’d never be able to resist. And, oh, hell, yes, she’d been worth the fall—and the burn.
For her, he’d fall again.
Any damn time.
E
PILOGUE
 
A
z had told Nicole that she would be dead within ten days, and angels didn’t lie.
But a month had now passed and she was feeling as strong as ever.
She stared up at the St. Louis Cathedral. Her gaze drifted slowly over the thick crosses and then down to the round head of the white clock on the front of the cathedral.
Midnight.
Her gaze didn’t stray to the alley that had shown her hell and heaven. No point in going back there.
Keenan had never asked her about what happened that night when the holy-water-laced bullet had thudded into her heart. Maybe he hadn’t wanted to know.
I died.
No, angels didn’t lie. And when Az spoke of her coming death,
he
hadn’t been lying.
She didn’t worry about her soul being damned anymore. She’d seen what waited after this life. She’d heard the whispers of angels and felt the flutter of wings.
No, she didn’t fear death. She’d
chosen
to live.
And decided to come back to earth for the man she loved.
“Nicole?”
She turned at his voice and found Keenan striding from the shadows toward her. Handsome and strong.
She still saw his wings, dark shadows that stretched behind him. She loved the sight of those wings and she loved the way he trembled when she stroked them.
Loved him.
“Are you ready to leave?”
Because they were leaving New Orleans. Heading north to snow and strangers who would never recognize her. “Yes.” She wasn’t afraid anymore of what the future would hold for her.
Her future was right in front of her, and he was the best thing she’d ever seen.
She took Keenan’s hand and they walked away from the cathedral and the ghosts that haunted that old alley. She didn’t look back. She didn’t want to see the memories anymore.
She just wanted her fallen angel—good, bad, and everything in between.
Not perfect. Not pure.
Hers.
Forever
. And for a vampire and a fallen angel, forever would be one very long, hot time.
Cynthia Eden also writes nail-biting romantic suspense. Turn the page for an excerpt from
Deadly Fear
.
Available now.
 
 
“S
o ... are we gonna talk about it?”
Monica froze at the deep voice. Her notes were spread in front of her, and with only about ten minutes left on the private flight, it looked like Dante had decided to get chatty.
Great.
“I mean ... we’re gonna be working together, and we can’t pretend the past didn’t happen ...”
Sure they could. She spent most of her days shoving the memories of her past away.
Carefully, Monica sat down her pen. Then she lifted her gaze. Dante sat across from her, his long legs spread out, taking up too much room.
Over the years, she’d tried not to think about Dante. Tried to pretend the fling with him hadn’t happened.
Tried and failed really, really well.
“Like what you see?” The words came out of his mouth sounding like some kind of sensual purr.
Asshole.
And, dammit,
yes.
Luke Dante was sex, he was power, and he was
temptation.
A temptation she hadn’t been able to resist when she was twenty-two. But one she
would
ignore now.
Tall, muscled, with bright emerald eyes and sun-streaked blond hair, Dante was a southern boy with charm and a dimple in his chin.
Monica cleared her throat. “The past is over, Dante.” “We’re professionals, we can—”
“Pretend we never had sex? Pretend we didn’t nearly tear each other apart because we were so fucking hungry those nights?”
Her heart thumped hard enough to shake her chest.
He smiled at her, flashing his white teeth. “Don’t know if I’m that good at pretending,
Ice.
”
Her eyes narrowed. She
hated
that nickname. The jerks she’d been in training with had tagged her with it. No one understood.
Control
—control mattered. So, okay, maybe she’d helped a little bit with that nickname. But being cold kept the others away, and when someone got too close, it could be dangerous.
Straightening her shoulders, she said, “I’m the senior agent here, and I’m not looking to screw around.” Too dangerous. “We’re on a case. We work together because that’s what we have to do in order to get the job done.”
Dante didn’t so much as blink.
“Now are you going to have a problem with that? Because, if so, it won’t be too hard to send your butt back to Atlanta.” Total bullshit now. Like she had that kind of power.
“No problem,
ma’am
,” the title was a sardonic taunt. “I can do my job just fine.”
“Good.”
“Can you?”
Monica ground her teeth together. “Trust me, Dante, it won’t be an issue for me.”
Liar, liar ...
She could still remember all too well what the man looked like naked. And what he felt like.
“Prepare for descent.” A male voice broke over the intercom system. Monica caught the belt in her hands as the rest of the pilot’s words washed right past her.
Snap.
If Dante handled his first SSD case right, she’d be working with him, every day and all those nights, for a long time to come.

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