Archangel of Mercy (4 page)

Ancient horror hammered through his heart and spilled into his bloodstream. A jagged, violet fracture, like static lightning, split the room from ceiling to floor.

The Guardians were coming for Aurora.
And she was standing in front of the violet fracture as if mesmerized.

“Aurora.” His voice was harsh. “Get away from there.” Even as he spoke the imperative to leave thundered through his brain. What was happening here had nothing to do with him. It was none of his concern.

It didn’t matter if Aurora ran. The Guardians had singled her out. She would be captured. She would be taken.

He couldn’t interfere. It was against ancient protocols. But still he couldn’t leave.

She looked at him, and he saw raw terror clouding her eyes. “Keep back.” Her voice cracked with fear and her arm swung out, hitting his chest, an unmistakable gesture of protection.

For a second his entire focus zeroed in on her. He forgot about the dark energy seeping from the fracture, forgot about its implications, forgot everything but the fact Aurora had just attempted to push him away from the face of danger.

No one pushed him from the face of danger.
No one imagined, let alone put into practice, the outrageous assumption they had the ability to protect him.

She didn’t know who he was. Equally, she could have no idea what nightmare waited for her once she entered the Guardians domain. Revulsion curdled his gut and he gripped her arm and pulled her around to face him.

“Don’t.” She pushed against him, eyes wild, breath erratic. “Let me go.”

In his peripheral vision he saw the loathsome figures appear within the glowing violet cloud. He knew the kind of things the Guardians would do to her to satisfy their sick craving to soak in a mortal’s terror. Their species went back a billion years, to the sunrise of time itself, and their hatred of any other form of life that had evolved after them was absolute. Two million years ago the Alpha Immortals, ancestors of every immortal alive today, had emerged from the fallout of a supernova. Within a million years they had banished the marauding Guardians to the outer edges of creation, but still the creatures abducted innocent victims to feed their perverted addiction. Disgust gripped his stomach, and an ancient, long-buried instinct rose.

He wrapped his arms around her, held her head securely against his shoulder so she couldn’t move a muscle, and without even a second’s hesitation took her to the safest place on Earth.

His sanctuary.

Chapter Six

W
HAT
was he doing?
Aurora tried to move her head, tried to see what had happened to that terrifying streak of lightning. But his fingers bit into her skull, keeping her plastered against his shoulder and not only could she not move, she could hardly breathe.

Then she forgot about breathing, forgot about the violet lightning as a whiplash of white fire streaked through her brain, her lungs, her heart. Instinctively she tried to curl into a ball but still he held her in an iron grip, even as a scream of primal terror locked in her throat.

And as suddenly as it began, the horrifying sensation of her every atom flying apart ceased.

She realized her nails were digging into his naked flesh, that her mouth was squashed against his shoulder. The entire length of her body molded his and the crazy thought drifted through her mind that she should stay here, trapped in his arms, because only here was she . . . safe.

Gingerly she unhooked her nails and saw the crescents gouged into his flesh. She pushed at his chest and lifted her head. He didn’t try and stop her and as she stumbled backward, nausea churned and sweat beaded her skin.

No way was she going to throw up in front of him.
She swallowed, tried to focus on his face but everything was blurred as if she’d been plunged under murky water.

“Are you okay?” He didn’t sound concerned. He sounded irritated. She let out a shaky breath, tried to focus once again. It was the eeriest sensation but she could’ve sworn they were no longer in her parents’ living room.

“I don’t feel so good.” A sluggish recollection crawled across her mind of violet lightning that had suddenly appeared in front of her.

He muttered under his breath in that same strange language he’d used before. “You’d better sit down.” He took her arm and propelled her sideways and her brain finally reconnected with her vision.

“What the
fuck
?” Her heart kicked against her ribs in sudden panic as she stared, uncomprehending, at the smooth stone floor. Where were the faded, antiquated rugs that had been in her family for countless generations?

“Just sit down before you fall down.” He pushed her, none too gently, onto a timber chair.

She sat, but only because her legs threatened to buckle. She gripped the sides of the chair and risked glancing up. They were in a kitchen, but it wasn’t her kitchen. It was large, square and constructed of polished stone, and through the vast expanse of glass windows was a lush forest.

Her stomach heaved and she clamped her teeth together before finally looking in
his
direction.

His arms were folded and he was glaring at her as if this was all her fault. A shiver raced over her arms, cooling the sweat, increasing the nausea.
Was this all her fault?
And what, in any case,
was
all this?

Her chest tightened and it became hard to draw in a breath. She knew on some fundamental level she was in danger of tumbling into severe shock but couldn’t seem to get a grip. Because there was nothing to grip on to. Because none of this made sense.

“Drink.” It was a harsh command and she was aware of a strong hand holding the back of her head and a crystal glass pushed against her lips. Sparkling cold water trickled down her throat and she saw rainbows dance across the ceiling as sunlight caught the crystal facets of the glass.

She choked, pushed his arm away and wiped her mouth with the back of her hand. Either she was in the middle of the most lucid dream she’d ever experienced or this was really happening. And although she much preferred the dream scenario she had a terrible feeling this was anything but.

“What did you do?” She wanted to sound tough, but her voice wobbled. “How did I get here? Did you pull me through the astral planes?” He must have done. Although how he’d managed such a thing she couldn’t imagine. Besides, why couldn’t she remember the journey? And why had she felt as if every atom of her body had shivered on the edge of destruction?

He placed the glass on the stone workbench with great precision, and she got the impression that in reality he would love nothing better than to shatter both. Then he looked at her as if he’d never even heard of the astral planes, much less actually ascended to them.

“The astral planes?” His tone confirmed his expression. “Of course I didn’t. This is where I live.”

Aurora risked another glance around the kitchen and the forest skimmed her peripheral vision. Should she assume they were now in America? If so, they certainly weren’t in Manhattan.

She wasn’t going to panic. There was probably a very simple explanation for her current situation and it had nothing to do with her having lost her mind.

So he hadn’t pulled her through the astral planes. But somehow he had transported her from Ireland. She knew it wasn’t impossible. Her own mother had once done a similar thing on the night she’d walked into her father’s arms. But they’d had a prior psychic connection, years of shared dreams and linked visions. They were already, in many ways, irrevocably entwined together.

And, of course, her mother hadn’t physically traveled miles across the world. She had merely taken one step that had propelled her from her own dimension into this one.

Aurora had grown up with that knowledge. It was familiar, no matter how improbable anyone else might think it. But the thought of being catapulted halfway around the world within a couple of seconds was seriously . . . terrifying.

She struggled against the overwhelming urge to curl into a ball and close her eyes. Denial wasn’t going to make any of this go away. Information, after all, was power.

“Yes, but how did we actually
get
here?”
Did she really want to know?

For a moment she didn’t think he was going to answer her. Then he exhaled an impatient breath. Anyone would think he found her questions completely unnecessary.

“Teleportation.” He sounded deadly serious and her instinctive response to scoff shriveled in her throat. “Your body dematerialized in Ireland and instantaneously rematerialized here. But don’t worry. It’s unlikely you mislaid any vital fragments en route.”

Teleportation?
Was
that
how he’d landed on top of her today?

“And where exactly is your home?” Was that really her voice? She sounded eerily calm. He’d never guess how close she was to sliding off the chair and hiding under the table.

“Somewhere you’d have no hope of finding on any godsforsaken maps of your world.” He sounded like that fact gave him a great deal of grim pleasure.

She wiped her sweaty palms on her shorts and tried to ignore the erratic pounding of her heart. She wasn’t going to fall apart. That wouldn’t clarify her current situation or help her get back home.

“And why,” she said, as if she was perfectly used to teleporting as a means of transportation, “did you do that?”

Gabe stared at Aurora as disbelief crawled along his spine. Why wasn’t she incoherent with fear? He’d just teleported her thousands of miles across the ocean and she was acting as if they’d just strolled across the street.

He wasn’t sure why her serene attitude irked him, but it did.

“Because.” His voice was savage. “I had the crazy urge to save your ass.”

Her eyes glazed as if she was trying to make sense of his remark. “Save my ass?” She sounded confused but before he could enlighten her any further, her eyes widened in sudden recollection. “From that violet lightning, you mean?”

And still she kept on with the questions. He couldn’t recall the last time a mortal had fired so many questions at him without his express permission. Did she
still
have no idea with whom she was dealing?

“From the Guardians.” His revulsion for the creatures soaked every word, but Aurora’s expression didn’t alter. She clearly didn’t have a clue who the Guardians were. “That
violet lightning
as you call it is their method of transportation between their world and this.”

By rights Aurora should now gasp in shock and perhaps collapse onto her knees and grovel at his feet. He’d know what to do with her then. Sweep her into his arms, comfort her and screw her senseless.

And once that was done the burn in his blood would subside and he could work out, in a cold, logical manner, what he was going to do with her. Instead of which every time he looked at her all he could imagine was how she would feel and how she would taste as she wrapped her legs around him.

Her lips parted in obvious shock. She was in the perfect position to take him into her mouth. The realization he couldn’t stop thinking about sex, even when he’d just broken one of the oldest protocols by rescuing her, caused his mood to degenerate further.

“You mean,” she said, sounding torn between fascination and disbelief, “they come from another dimension?”

She was asking all the wrong questions. She was indigenous to Earth and so far they hadn’t attained the technology to do anything more than a tentative prod beyond their own solar system. They had no conception of the life that seethed in the universe and would certainly burst a collective artery if they ever discovered their world was a popular destination for degenerates who enjoyed sporting with primitives.

As a species they certainly weren’t ready to discover what archaic creatures survived in the vast expanses of space between galaxies. The merciless Guardians, who had retreated into the inhospitable Dark Matter and created their immense domains, aka
the Voids
, countless millennia ago. “Of course they don’t come from another dimension.”
What had given her that idea?
“Trust me. You don’t want to fall into their clutches.”

For a moment she looked as if she was about to finally succumb to delayed terror and pass out. But then she gripped her fingers together and although he didn’t want to feel anything but irritation at his rash rescue, reluctant admiration for her sheer force of will uncoiled in his chest.

“Don’t worry.” At least he could reassure her on one thing. “They can’t get to you here. It’s physically impossible for them to penetrate my island.”

Instead of appearing soothed, Aurora’s eyes flashed with fear and she stiffened in the chair as if he’d just delivered devastating news. “They wanted
me
?” She sounded horrified, and he realized that hadn’t occurred to her until now. Shit. By attempting to reassure her he’d only managed to panic her further. “But why?”

Ancient images flashed through his brain, meshed with ageless rumor and eternal speculation. He could tell her exactly what the Guardians wanted her for. They would drag her to their torture chambers and subject her to any number of their so-called experiments. And as for the why . . .

He discovered he couldn’t do it. Why frighten her more than she was already? Just because he didn’t normally care about shredding a mortal’s frail sensibilities when it suited him was neither here nor there.

Aurora had tried to save him from the Guardians, even though she hadn’t known what they were. Even if her attempts were feeble in the extreme and doomed to dismal failure, it didn’t change the fact she had
tried
.

Why hadn’t he left her the second he’d discovered she was indigenous to Earth? Then he wouldn’t be in the middle of this messy moral dilemma that rocked his necrotic soul.

He didn’t do soul searching. He didn’t do charity work. And he wasn’t about to start now.

But still he couldn’t tell her the full truth.

“How should I know? They enjoy abducting mortals and . . . playing with them.”

She stared at him as if he was her worst nightmare and he had the unbelievable urge to drop his gaze. As if he was somehow in the wrong. When all he’d done was save her from a fate more horrific than her mind could comprehend.

“Mortals?” There was an unmistakable wobble in her voice. “Are you trying to tell me that the Guardians aren’t even human?”

“Human?” If her question hadn’t been so naively pathetic he would have laughed. Except he couldn’t laugh, not when she continued to gaze at him with those enchantingly innocent blue eyes. Because her ignorance wasn’t amusing. It was terrifying. “No. They’re not human.”

What little color that remained in her cheeks faded. It was painfully obvious that until this moment the conception of alien life had never truly registered.

“But why did they come after
me
? Is it because of something I did?” She sounded horrified. Did she really believe she was capable of doing anything to invoke the legal strictures of the Guardians?

“Doubtful.” Make that impossible. No way could Aurora have done anything to warrant the Guardians unleashing their own brand of justice on her.

“So it was just totally random that they appeared today?” He caught a faint hint of desperation in her voice, as if despite his reassurance she still harbored the suspicion that she was responsible for the Guardians’ arrival.

“The Guardians,” he said, even as a section of his mind demanded to know why he was indulging Aurora by answering her incessant questions, “are totally random bastards. They would have turned up today whatever you were or weren’t doing.”

That was true enough. And then a thought stabbed through his brain.
Had their appearance in Aurora’s life anything to do with him and Mephisto?

The possibility gnawed. It was unlikely. Through longstanding mutual animosity and ancient protocols, archangels and the Guardians avoided each other’s presence. But if Mephisto’s interference had in some incomprehensible way exposed Aurora to the Guardians’ attention then he was doubly justified in snatching her from their fetid jaws.

“How do you know that?”

“What?” He frowned at her, his mind still working on the possibility his inexplicable arrival in Aurora’s life was somehow connected to the Guardians’ appearance. Although he was certain there was no connection, a fragment of doubt refused to die. And with the doubt came, of all things,
guilt
.

Over a human.

“How do you know so much about them? I’ve never even heard of them.”

Irritation spiked and he welcomed it, nurtured it, because it helped to slaughter the despicable tendrils of guilt that insisted on weaving through his brain. Didn’t she ever shut up? Why wasn’t his word that she needed to be saved from the Guardians enough for her?