Hellsbane Hereafter (13 page)

I glanced behind me to the short orange-haired illorum suddenly standing next to Abram. “Liam.”

Abram jumped, noticing the frizzy-haired man. “Where’d you come from?”

I’d known Liam for a few years. The little Irishman had always reminded me of a horny leprechaun. And then I found out he was gay. He was still horny, just not for women. Oddly, he’d become a trusted friend. Mostly because, despite loving a demon, Liam had never killed another illorum, a magister, or seraphim. He was still an illorum, but he was the only open-minded illorum I knew. I liked that about him.

Liam reached up and smacked my half brother on the shoulder. “Best to ask yer ma those questions, little lad.”

“What are you doing here?” I asked him. “You can’t fight seraphim without becoming gibborim.”

“Bah. I can fight them. Just won’t kill the sneaky bastards. Besides, I heard you were in need of some swords.” He tipped his chin to the landing opposite ours. “Brought a few.”

I looked across to the dark-haired angel then past him to the chiseled blond demon who appeared behind him. “Amon,” I said on an exhale.

Amon, Liam’s demon lover, winked, a bright smile flashing across his delicately featured face. The seraph in front of him turned to face him. And the battle was on.

Liam charged up the stairs to Azazel, and I raced down to the lower landing, sword up, a crazed battle cry screeching out of me. “Arrrrr!”

Did I move in slow motion? Felt like it. The golden-haired angel swatted my sword away like it was no more bothersome than a gnat. I recovered quickly, though, using the momentum to spin me back around. The angel blocked my sword and, shifting fast to counterattack, sliced across my stomach.

The wound was quick and, for a moment, painless. But the shock of it made me hesitate and left me open for another strike. Luckily, my sword was already up, and I weakly blocked his blade. He hit hard, slamming me with such strength I stumbled back. Sweat trickled down my back, wetting the ends of my hair. My head swam from the loss of blood, muscles aching. I was tired and shaken, and when I shuffled to catch my footing, my heel tipped over the edge of the top step. I couldn’t recover.

Before I knew it, I slid and staggered backward, slipping off one step and then the next. I hit the sidewalk off-balance, hands flailing. My angelic-infused agility just couldn’t fight the pull of gravity anymore.

My knees buckled, and the world tilted, but before the hot, concrete sidewalk came up to meet me, two strong hands scooped around me and cradled me against a solid male chest.

“What are you doing?” Eli looked down at me in his arms.

“Falling. Where have you been?”

His gaze dropped to my neck, the blood soaking my T-shirt, then lower to my belly. He pressed a hand to my wound then glanced up the stairs, his brows knitted with worry. “We have to get the two of you out of here.”

My breath caught, and I looked back to where I’d left my half brother. “Abram—”

I shouldn’t have worried. Before I could say another word, Jukar popped in on the landing next to his son. An instant later, they were both gone.

In the next instant, so was I.

Chapter Ten

I’d live.

Wounds made with an angelic sword seemed to take longer to heal now that Jukar had changed something inside me and made me different from other illorum. I allowed Eli to teleport me home. Okay, it wasn’t so much that I allowed him as I struggled to stay conscious. He picked me up and took me home.
Same difference.

My strength was zapped from the fight and my body’s focus on healing my wounds. I remembered Eli laying me on the bed then vanishing for a few minutes. I’d dozed off while he was gone to gather a basin of water and supplies to wash and bandage me.

When he’d popped back into my room next to me, I woke up long enough to tell him I was fine. I wasn’t. Then I proved it by promptly passing out again.

By the time I opened my eyes again, I’d stopped bleeding, and the cut on my neck had already healed. Sort of. It was still red, the skin puckered and gross, but it would eventually fade like the rest of my scars.

Until it did, though, it was too creepy to look at. Walking around in public with a giant gash across my neck would probably freak people out. Maybe I could learn to enjoy wearing turtlenecks.

“You’re awake.” Eli peered up from his magazine. He’d stationed himself in my vanity chair, his feet crossed and perched on the corner of my bed.

“Feels like it.” I pushed up to sit, stretching a little to test my pain level. I could manage. I scooted out of bed, ignoring the achy twinges from my muscles, and grabbed a fresh shirt from my closet, one with a buttoned collar.

The sleeveless, mint green summer shirt sported a wide, loose hem which flared out when I moved quickly. Normally I’d wear a tank top underneath and leave the top three or four buttons open. But I closed it this time to hide the gross-looking neck wound.

The stomach wound was actually healing faster than my neck. I had a feeling it had something to do with the location on my body and how lethal each could’ve been. Lucky for me, the golden-haired angel had only cut me deep enough to nick the artery. It still bled a lot and totally ruined my Doctor Who T-shirt, but thanks to my superduper, half-angel healing power it closed up fast enough I didn’t bleed out. If I had to pick between death and a pristine Doctor Who shirt… Yeah, okay, I’d have to think about that one.

“You’re not completely healed,” he said.

“Almost. It’ll have to do. Sleep helped. What time is it?”

He shrugged, closing the magazine and dropping his feet to the floor. “Evening. After six I think.”

“Shit. I slept the whole day. Why didn’t you wake me?” I jerked my jean shorts up my thighs, fastened them, then perched on the edge of my bed to slip on my no-show socks and blue canvas boat sneakers.

“You needed to rest. You still do,” he said like the answer should’ve been obvious. My handsome angel got to his feet and moved to the bedroom door, seeming to brood over my refusal to play the frail invalid any longer.

“Right. Where’d Jukar take Abram?” I hid my grimace when I spoke. My throat felt like…well, like it’d been sliced open with a sword. I kept that to myself.

“To the New York office.” He knotted his arms over his chest. He was cute all pouty and mad like that. “The building is a virtual fortress. The boy will be safe there.”

“Good,” I said, a little softer than normal. I pushed to my feet and smoothed my blouse.

“Where are you going?”

I swallowed, willing my throat to heal faster. “Dan’s.” One-word answers. That worked. I noted the quick snap of tension in Eli’s body.

“Why?”

Crap.
“I want him to use his police connections to find out what, or who, brought those guys at the nephilim house together.” I winced and couldn’t stop my hand from going to my throat.

Eli pushed off from the doorjamb and strode toward me. “You’re not healed. You should be resting. Besides, I doubt Daniel will be eager to help you.”

“Me, too, but I’m going to ask him anyway.” I knew Eli worried about me, but I also knew how much it bothered him that he couldn’t heal me.

Before his fall, Eli wasn’t allowed to interfere, to heal fatal wounds or sustain my life if I’d been injured in battle. Now that those rules didn’t apply, he still couldn’t heal me. But not because he wasn’t allowed. He couldn’t heal me because he didn’t have the power. I’d been wounded by an angelic sword. Eli was Fallen. He no longer had the ability to counteract a seraph’s sword.

“Emma Jane.” He held my arms, his thumbs stroking my skin. I closed my eyes and indulged my body’s quick response—the rush of heat, the clench of muscles low inside me—then I turned my thoughts from the things I wanted to do back to the things I had to do.

“Something is going on at that house.” I rested my hands on his stomach and felt the hard planes of his abs. I swallowed and kept my brain focused. “They sent six seraphim after Abram this morning. And those guys at the house look at him as some sort of leader, like he’s been chosen.”

“For what?”

“I don’t know. That’s what I have to find out.” I stepped back, putting more distance between us, helping me focus. “The first step is to figure out who brought them together. If I can prove that, then the reasons for doing it narrow.”

Eli allowed me the space, his hands going into his pockets. The angel sighed, looked away, and then nodded. “All right. Would you like me to come with you?”

“No. Uh, Dan isn’t your biggest fan.” I thought it best not to mention again the threat he’d made toward Eli the last time we’d seen him. “I’m not even sure he’ll speak to me.”

“Which is why I think it might be wise that you have backup.”

I shook my head. “I can handle it. But maybe you could check on Abram? I don’t know what Jukar has planned for him, but I’m pretty sure the kid doesn’t have a clue how dangerous it is to play with angels.”

Eli nodded. “Call if you need me.”

“Always do.” I smiled then stepped closer to press a quick good-bye kiss to his lips.

But like an invisible lasso, the scent of fresh-cut grass bathed in a spring shower swirled around me, pulling me into him. Eli’s firm hands slipped over my hips and pulled our bodies together so I could feel his excitement growing thick and hard against my belly. The heat of his kiss seeped through me like warm brandy, soothing everything inside me, stroking under my skin. I pulled back, my eyes still closed, and licked the taste of him from my lips.

“I can’t do that.” I breathed the words against his mouth, talking more to myself than him. I couldn’t allow my body to answer his so easily. If Eli was ever going to earn back his grace I had to keep myself in check. I had to be strong for both of us, even though Eli didn’t even know to try. I felt sick for my part in his fall, and maybe easing my own guilt had a lot to do with why I wanted to set things right, but in my heart, I was doing this for him. I owed him.

“Why not?” he asked, and I could almost hear the sexy smile blooming across his face. The low angelic rumble of his voice queued my feminine instinct in a way that was beyond the control of intelligent thought, and I had to fight my way free of that tempting call.

I swallowed and opened my eyes. “I, uh, because I have to go. I’ll, um, I’ll see you later.”

I was out of there before he could say another word.

…

I found Dan at Kennywood, a small amusement park outside of Pittsburgh. I’d used my powers to locate him in the din of human thought that hovered like a thick invisible cloud over the world. The ability was just one of the many perks of being the daughter of a fallen archangel. I’d tried doing the same thing to peek in on Mihir, who still hadn’t returned my calls, but it’d been too long since we talked, too much of his life must have changed. I just couldn’t feel him.

But Dan was easy. I recognized the colorful iron archway into kiddy-land in his thoughts and the goofy trash cans topped with clown heads with their mouths gaping open. They actually looked kind of creepy, now that I thought about it.

With my next step, I stood beside the blue-haired garbage can, scanning the crowd of parents and squealing kids scrambling from one miniature ride to the next. I spotted Dan with Crissy and his two little ones, Kenny and Abby.

They’d grown so much since I’d last seen them. Kenny, who had to be at least twelve now, stood with his arms knotted over his chest, a scowl plastered on his face, waiting with his dad, while Abby, nine, rode in circles in a miniature boat.

I sucked a deep breath, mustered my courage, and headed toward them. Dan and I had managed to maintain civility at the nephilim house the other day. For a few minutes it was almost as friendly as it’d been before we broke up. Of course things kind of soured at the end after the demons reminded him what I was. But still, there was a chance he wouldn’t try to kill me as a gibborim when he saw me.
Fingers crossed.

“Why can’t Crissy stay with Abby so you can take me on the Thunderbolt?” Kenny didn’t lose his wrinkled pout for a second.

“Abby waited while you rode. You can wait while she rides.” Dan flashed an overly happy smile at Abby, waving as her boat rocked by. “We’re staying together. Accept it.”

“Aw, c’mon, Dad, don’t be such a control freak.” I stepped up behind them.

The hilt of Dan’s sword was already in his hand when he spun to face me. Instinct put his body between me and his son. Crissy had moved just as fast to protect Abby, snatching her from the boats faster than any nearby parents could see.

They thought I would hurt the kids? I froze, my heart crushed.

“Emma!” Kenny yelled, bouncing on his toes behind his dad trying to see me over his shoulder. “Hi, Emma.”

The blade of Dan’s sword hadn’t manifested, though it would take less than a heartbeat for it to become as real and solid as any weapon. Crissy’s sword hilt was in her hand, too, her free hand holding little Abby on her hip.

“Stay back, Emma. I’m not going to warn you twice.” He glanced over his shoulder and back to me. “I can’t risk it. Not here. Not today.”

I started to raise my hands in surrender, but stopped halfway, figuring it’d only draw attention to us. “Seriously? I’m not a threat, not to you, and definitely not to them.”

“Maybe not.” He nodded past me. “But what about them?”

I looked over my shoulder at the couple next to the kiddy Drop Zone ride heading our way and then to the left of them where a teenage park employee walked toward us. There were two more guys just coming through the archway to kiddy-land—an older man, mid-forties maybe, and a buff twenty-something guy, bald, his eyes hidden behind dark sunglasses.

“Domina? Is there a problem?” The demon disguised as a young park employee asked when he was near enough. He glanced back at the couple watching us from the mini Drop Zone ride, and both of them closed the distance.

I turned. “No. What are you all doing here? Back off. This is my private business.”

The demon kid snorted and glanced back at the couple then over his other shoulder to baldy and the older guy already within earshot. He looked back at me, smug. “You’re our Domina. Everything you do is our business.”

I spun back to Dan. “I didn’t ask them to be here. I need…I need to talk to you.”

The spontaneous demon guard closed ranks at my back in a semicircle. The stench of brimstone polluted the air, like rotten eggs on a hot day. I could almost feel the push of their heightening tension, spring-loaded, ready to pounce at one false move.

Baldy positioned himself at my right side between me and Dan. His face creased in scorn, he looked Dan up and down like Dan was a piece of meat gone bad. “What could you possibly need from this illorum?

“Crissy.” Dan said her name like cocking the hammer on a gun. At any moment he could pull the trigger and the two of them would explode into action.

“Dan, no,” I warned. “Don’t do anything.”

He ignored me and finished his order. “Take the kids.” He pushed Kenny back toward his partner, not taking his eyes off the group for a second.

The demons around me shifted like a pack of dogs sensing their prey might bolt.

“Wait.” I spoke to everyone but glanced behind me, making eye contact with the demons. “Everyone just calm down. Okay? I’m ordering all of you to calm the hell down.”

“Run,” Dan said.

And just like that, the chase was on.

Crap.
Faster than any human could move, Crissy lunged for Kenny with Abby still snug under her arm. She wasn’t fast enough. The demons masquerading as a couple, both looking like soccer parents in their mid-thirties, were on the kid in a flash. The woman grabbed him while her cohort ran interference.

A quick backhand caught Crissy across the cheek, sending the sexy blonde rocking off balance, scrambling to keep her footing. The soccer mom shot out of kiddy-land, racing across the park, down game alley, and under the archway to Lost Kennywood.

I was on her heels, Dan racing at my side. We couldn’t tackle her, or Kenny could suffer the impact. I glanced at Dan and knew he’d hate what I was about to do, but I didn’t have a choice. I opened my mind to him, pressed my thoughts into his.

I’ll go left under the Phantom coaster and get around in front of her. You herd her toward me.

Dan stumbled at the sound of my voice in his head, eyes wide, mouth sagging open just a little. I gave him one quick nod then cut off to the left, ignoring his offended and questioning eyes.

My plan worked. Demon mom, too busy holding on to the squirming Kenny and staying a step ahead of the kid’s pissed-off dad, didn’t see me loop around. She headed over the decorative bridge that edged the long pond at the bottom of the Pittsburgh Plunge ride. I came from the other side, the hilt of my sword already in hand.