ANGEL'S KISS (A Dark Angel's Novel) (37 page)

“I thought you took care of that thing!” Alan screamed at the woman as he backed away.

“Yes, well, he seems to be more resourceful than you imagined. No?” She tapped Alan on the head as she passed him stumbling away from the door as she went to open it. Alan looked horrified, but she still had the same beauty-pageant smile on her flawless face.

“No! Don’t let that thing in. He’ll kill us.” Alan took a few more steps back as she turned the handle.

“What are you doing?” Alan’s voice was almost a cry. “I did everything you asked. What more do you want from me?”

She smiled at Alan as she opened the door and waved Zeke in with a flourish. With her beautiful pale skin and flowing grace, she reminded me of a gothic Vanna White.

Zeke burst through the open door, snarling and growling, slobber and spit flying. His deep voice penetrated the room and vibrated through the wood floor straight up my body. Alan looked like one of the Three Stooges as he stumbled back from the door, scrambling to get behind me.

I reached out and touched Zeke, and he stopped his charge. He continued to growl and spit, but he stayed by my side. I backed us farther away from Alan. The woman was on my left blocking the front door, and Alan was now on my right, blocking the plastic opening to the sunroom. As I rubbed Zeke’s head a thought occurred to me.

“Alan, how did you remember the Janecks? I mean about their murder. You mentioned it earlier tonight, and, well, not many people have a memory of that except Ottie and Maloran.”

Just saying Maloran’s name hurt. Alan’s face fell again. He wouldn’t meet my gaze.

“Alan! What have you done?” My hands opened and closed, fisting tightly as my palms ached for my dagger. I couldn’t speak for a moment as reality slipped over me like a wave.

“You hired the Janecks to take me! They would have killed me, Alan! One of their men tried. If not for Zeke,” I rubbed his ear, “I’d be dead.”

I didn’t wait for an answer.

“What are they are giving you, Alan? What’s my asking price?”

He turned to the woman. “Look, I’ve delivered her. Here she is. I’ve done what you asked. Now give me what I want!”

He was frantic and his eyes were open too wide. I was intensely aware of my blood pumping through me, rushing to my face. It seemed to create a fire behind my eyes. How could I have been so blind?

“Not just yet, my pet,” she answered casually. “Not to worry, though, my master has a verrry special ceremony planned to give you everything you’ve earned.” Her voice felt as soft to my ears as the creamy leather she wore. Like the caress of a boa constrictor before it squeezed you to death.

The woman approached Zeke and me. I stood my ground. I wasn’t really all that brave—I was stuck in a corner and couldn’t have backed up if I’d wanted to. But I held my head up and met her gaze until she dropped her eyes to Zeke and rubbed his head.

“Ooh, you are a big bad boy, aren’t you?” she cooed.

Zeke snapped at her, his teeth sharp in his wide-open jaws, but he was only warning her. If he’d really wanted to take her hand off, he could have.

“Now, now, Guardian, I’m not here to harm her. Behave yourself.” She shook her finger at him like a teacher to a student. Zeke backed her up a little by stepping in front of me and letting a low growl rumble in his chest. She put her hands on her hips as if waiting for him to behave.

“Ah, ah, ah!” She called to Alan without turning away from Zeke. Somehow she’d noticed Alan working his way around the island, trying for a straight shot at the front door.

“Alan, darling, what’s wrong?” She walked back to block the path to the front door. “You look positively ghostly. Where do you think you’re going at this hour?”

She was right. Alan looked pale as he stumbled back toward the dining room.

“Are you surprised that her guardian does not attack me, but would happily have you for dinner?”

“Yes.” Alan was folding in on himself. His face seemed to have aged by ten years. His shoulders slumped; he looked all used up. All the anger and rage seemed to have sucked the light from him.

“Zeke, as she refers to him, will attack only if provoked. He knows that neither I nor my master is a threat to her.” She placed an ivory hand on Alan’s cheek. I could see him tremble.

“Mmm, we’ll have so much fun tonight. Don’t worry, Guardian,” she called over her shoulder. “I will take care of him for you.” She released his face and turned back to me.

“Master was overjoyed to learn about you,
Alexandria
. We had no idea that you even existed until Beatrix contacted us. What a joy to see her again and to learn of your growing powers.”

As she spoke, I was trying to work my way around Zeke and angle myself closer to where I’d hidden my dagger.

A new—deep—voice caught me mid-stride.

“I think the saying is that he helped me ‘kill two birds with one stick.’”

Startled, I turned to see who had joined the party. B was coming through the front door with the most unusual-looking man I’d ever seen. He was at least 6’4”, thin and gangly, with dazzling, light green eyes. His hair hung to his bare shoulders and a scraggly goatee hung down to his chest. He wore an old fashioned fedora and a black tank top with a thick gold chain around his neck. He wasn’t handsome in the classical sense, but something about his natural confidence made him memorable. He had that thing—charisma or personality. I couldn’t take my eyes off him. I was momentarily mesmerized.

“Stone,” B said, correcting him. “Kill two birds with one stone, that’s the saying.”

“Да , yes you’re right. Thank you, Beatrix.” He caressed her hand where it lay on his arm, like he was petting an animal and closed his eyes as if he was letting a piece of chocolate melt in his mouth. “I love the way your name feels on my tongue.”

He ope
ned his eyes and looked at B as if she were the chocolate of his dreams. “It is good to have you next to me again, if only for a little while.” His sorrow lingered in the air like a cloud. B squirmed under his gaze. I recognized her expression; she was fighting her attraction to him—just like I’d fought my attraction to Ellasar.

“Aleksandr, shall we get back to the matter at hand?” She deftly refocused his attention on me. She seemed in control of herself, which was lucky for me, because I felt like I was on a merry-go-round that was spinning around too fast.

“Yes, you are quite right, my sweet.” He squeezed B’s hand and turned back to the woman in white. “Ivanka, be a dear and introduce us to
Alexandria
. I assume she doesn’t know who I am.”

Ivanka. The immortal’s name suited her: strong and sexy. She could carry off the one-name thing like
Cher
or Madonna if she wanted to.

“Of course, sir, it would be my pleasure.” Ivanka turned toward me. “Miss Alexandria, I am Ivanka Voronova. And this is Aleksandr Sokolov, your grandfather.” The merry-go-round I was on stopped abruptly, jarring me out of mid-whirl. I think I actually wobbled a bit, but Zeke was beside me to steady me.

I turned to Alan. “Did you know he was my grandfather?” Please, Alan could not have offered me as a gift to earn himself immortality. Alan turned away from me, and his expression squashed my hope.

If Alan wouldn’t answer, maybe B would. I turned to her.

“B, what’s going on?” I saw shock on her face. She opened her mouth to speak, but before she could say anything, a noise to my right caught my attention. I whirled around to see Alan rushing at me with my dagger in his hand. Only it was still in its simple garden dobber disguise. He wanted to hurt me with it! Zeke gathered himself to intercept the blow, but I held fast to his collar and let instinct take over. I closed my eyes, put my free hand up, and shouted.

“Annot!”

I heard a collective gasp and opened my eyes. I was clutching Annot to my chest and standing over Alan. The dagger had turned back into my beautiful weapon and was glowing fiercely bright. Aleksandr and Ivanka both had backed up and were sheltering their eyes. B, on the other hand, seemed to be enthralled by its beauty as much as I was.

Alan’s whimpering brought my focus back to what I was doing. Upon changing, the dagger had burned into his hand so deeply that it had liquefied his skin. He was holding his hand and writhing in pain on the floor, unable to open his eyes. Rage rushed through me as the situation became clear to me. I wanted to see his eyes and I wanted him to see mine. The dagger understood and dimmed.

“Open your eyes and look at me.” I didn’t recognize my own voice, but I felt the words leaving my mouth so it had be me who spoke. He didn’t open his eyes.

“Look at me!” Alan’s eye lids flickered, testing the burning light. Then something in my face caught and held his attention. His fear washed over me, and—God help me—I wanted to drink it in. I blinked to clear my thoughts and before I knew it, the dagger was piercing the soft skin of Alan’s neck just under his chin.

Something was different. My eyes were no longer my eyes alone. The dagger was a separate entity, but it lived inside me too. It wasn’t just a weapon that chose me to wield it, we were two halves. When I held it we were two consciousnesses in one body. Its need for self-preservation was stronger than mine. Its rage was stronger, too.

As our rage bubbled within me, I realized if I allowed the dagger to take control, Alan would die. It hadn’t loved Alan for the past seven years. It had no compassion, no reverence for human life. With each pulse, I knew that its only desire was to kill our enemies.

“I will handle this, you need not worry,” the dagger whispered to me. “I will end him. No one will harm us.”

The voice was like cool water on a hot afternoon, inviting and soothing. I wanted to let it take control. If I did, maybe my pain would go away. Alan’s betrayal was ripping me apart. I questioned every aspect of my life, every decision. How could I have been so wrong about him? He’d offered me up so easily. I still couldn’t believe it.

I was floating, disconnected. No ties held me to this life. When I was a child, my mother had abandoned me to become a monster, and now that I was an adult, my husband wanted to trade me for his own immortality. How easy it would be just to close my mind and rest. I took a deep breath and felt the cool water lift me, letting me float with no worries.

Alan lucked out: I was my father’s daughter, a control freak by nature. I would not let the dagger control me. 

“I miss you, Daddy,” I whispered to myself as dragged myself from the tranquil oblivion that the dagger offered me and forced down its need for death. The dagger slowly came away from Alan’s throat. Although I wouldn’t admit it to anyone, I enjoyed watching his blood trail down his skin and pool in the little indent at the base of his neck.

“
Alexandria
?” B sounded worried, but I couldn’t think about her right now. I was having too much trouble concentrating. Fighting the dagger’s need for Alan’s death was costing me physically. The blackness closing in on my vision had little sparks like fireworks going off in my peripheral vision. I stumbled back and fell into a chair, my energy spent.

Zeke pushed his big head into my lap, which helped me focus. After just a moment of rest I opened my eyes to see Ben and Ivanka holding Alan. His arms were behind his back, twisted at an odd angle, but he didn’t look unconscious, just defeated.

“Hey, Ben, when did you join the party?” I rasped.

“Alex?” He started toward me, but B’s stern voice stopped him cold.

“Ben, you have a job to do.”

“Yes, ma’am.” Ben gritted his teeth and yanked Alan upright. I heard Alan’s arm break before I heard his scream. I covered my ears and wished for silence, so I almost didn’t hear B tell Ben to take care of it.

“Wait!” I said.

Ben and Ivanka had hauled Alan toward the door before my plea stopped everyone in their places.

B turned to me, confusion written all over her face. “Wait for what?”

“Don’t, B.” I managed to stand and Zeke stood beside me steadying my wavering body.

“
Alexandria
, don’t worry, dear, our people can take care of this.” She looked at Aleksandr and then back at me.

“Da, Miss Alexandria, he is a threat to you.” Aleksandr took a step toward me, and Zeke growled. Annot throbbed in my hand. I hadn’t realized I still held it. Crap. I looked for a place to set it down. The coffee table was closest, but it pulsed as I tried to release it. I knew that it needed to stay close to me, but I wanted some distance from it. I couldn’t put it in my waist band because I was wearing a dress. I sighed and tucked it under my arm.

Aleksandr bowed to Zeke. “Yes, Guardian, you have reason to fear for her, but not from me. I would never harm my own flesh and blood.” Then he addressed us both. “If word leaks from this room that Annot has come to life in your hand, your life will be at great risk.”

I laughed, and it was a good knee-slapping explosion. I couldn’t help it. When I finally ran down, I faced their collective stares. Didn’t they get how funny that was? I almost burst into laughter again.

“Irony always makes me laugh. Look. I won’t be in any more danger than I have been for the last few weeks. And now I’ll know where the danger is coming from.” I took a step toward Alan and pulled him up straighter.