Marcus
nodded, a glimmer of relief swelling inside his chest as he
considered his mission. Einar was right. Heaven wanted him to
protect Amelia and he wasn’t going to fail her. They would find out
what Veiron had seen in Hell, even if he had to find a way down
there so he could confront the man himself.
His eyes
widened.
Hell.
“Apollyon.” Marcus’s eyes darted to meet Einar’s. “Veiron saw
what happened to Amelia when he was in Hell. Apollyon used to guard
the pool there that records history for Heaven, didn’t he? What if
that pool could be used to see the future?”
“Yes, but
Apollyon gave up his duty a few years ago in order to be with
Serenity.” Einar didn’t look sure now. “I doubt he would
help.”
“It’s
worth a try. I have to try, Einar… I only need him to gain me
access to Hell. I can handle the rest myself. Do you know where he
lives?”
Einar
still looked uncertain but nodded. “He lives in Paris. I think it’s
best if I go with you. I have seen him recently, plus I only know
the way to his home, not the address. It will take some time to
arrange the travel details.”
Marcus
had forgotten that Einar couldn’t fly. It would slow them down but
he was thankful for Einar’s support. He couldn’t do this without
him. There was strength in numbers and he needed to protect Amelia.
Einar and Taylor could prove crucial in any fight that might arise
if Veiron or more Hell’s angels came after them. They could at
least protect Amelia while he fought.
“Arrange
travel for yourself and Taylor. I’ll handle getting Amelia there
and we will meet you at the tower.”
“I’ll let
Taylor know the plan and we’ll get on it.” Einar looked out of the
corner of his eye and Marcus followed his gaze.
Amelia
stood in the doorway, her hands twisted in front of her.
The dark
jeans and dark jumper she wore suited her, although both were a
little tight and she’d had to turn up the bottom of the jeans. His
destination for some quiet time with her changed. She would need
clothes for their trip and so would he. The danger of returning
somewhere so familiar was present in the back of his mind, but
taking her home for a few hours before they departed for Paris
would alleviate her tension and go some way towards making her feel
safe with him again.
Marcus
stretched his silvery wings and then beat them a few times, not
enough to lift him off the ground but enough that he felt
comfortable with them and his flight feathers realigned. He frowned
at each of his wings in turn and ran a hand along their length,
preening them.
“Something wrong?” Amelia said and he shook his
head.
“Just
wanted to be sure they weren’t going to act up before we got
going.”
“Going
where?” She stopped in front of him.
He
answered her by scooping her into his arms, cradling her like a
princess, and giving one single hard beat of his wings. She
shrieked as they shot into the air and then gripped his neck for
dear life when he beat his wings again and they were suddenly high
above London.
***
Chapter 13
Amelia
stared at the distant world below her and then at the horizon. The
sun broke it, bathing the world in warm golden light, sending a
shiver over her skin. Now the warmer clothing made sense but she
still wasn’t sure what Marcus had planned. Was he going to just
hover here, slowly beating his wings to keep them still in the
chill air?
She
looked up at his face and found him watching her, his pale blue
eyes warm in the sunlight and a faint smile on his lips. She wanted
to kiss him when he looked at her like that, with affection
brightening his eyes and turning him even more handsome than
usual.
Marcus
beat his wings again, harder this time, as though he was going to
fly off somewhere and she tensed.
“Wait.”
He
stopped dead in the air and cast a quizzical look her way before
adjusting her in his arms, tightening his grip on her ribs and her
knees. “As interesting as London is from up here, I doubt you had
this in mind and the flight path over the city can make it
treacherous.”
Amelia
looked around again, taking everything in. She just wanted a few
more seconds to bathe in the sunrise and soak up the fact that she
was hovering in mid-air in the arms of a gorgeous angel.
When she
had said about wanting to get away, she hadn’t considered that he
would fly her somewhere. She had thought they would walk a while or
maybe get the Tube to a nearby park. Now the choices seemed
infinite and she found the fear that had been gnawing away at her
insides since Veiron’s appearance starting to drift to the back of
her mind.
Amelia
met Marcus’s icy blue gaze. “How far can you travel?”
“On an
empty stomach?” He smiled and then turned thoughtful. “I could
probably reach France.”
Her
eyebrows shot up. “That’s quite a way… on an empty
stomach?”
He
nodded. “I need to eat if we are going to reach our destination and
we need to pack some clothes, so I thought we could return home for
a few hours before heading off.”
“Heading
off where?” Her eyebrows fell into a frown. He was being mysterious
and she didn’t really need any more mystery in her life right
now.
“Paris.”
Paris?
Amelia
looked around her in all directions, trying to figure out which way
Paris lay, and gave up when she couldn’t get her bearings. They
were going to Paris.
“Why?”
she said.
“To meet
a fellow angel and ask for his assistance. Apollyon can gain me
access to Hell and I need to go there in order to find out what
Veiron saw.”
Amelia
didn’t like the idea of going to Hell. She backtracked and frowned
again when she realised that Marcus was talking about himself and
not them. He was going to go to Hell without her. This was her
fight too, and as much as it was frightening the living daylights
out of her, she wanted in on it all. She wouldn’t let him go
without her. When they met this Apollyon, she was going to insist
on going with them. It was her future they were talking about and
her life on the line. She had a right to go with them.
Marcus
swooped lower, catching her off guard, and she curled up against
him, tucking in close to his chest as he flew. The world drifted by
below them, silent in the warm light of morning, and it fascinated
her when she started to recognise landmarks and then places near
their apartment building. Marcus’s firm grip on her didn’t stop her
from fearing falling from his arms. She kept her hands locked
around his neck, using her fear as an opportunity to remain close
to him.
“Won’t
Einar worry about us?” she said over the noise of the
wind.
Marcus
shook his head. “He is arranging travel for himself and Taylor
while she tries to get a message to Veiron. If you need to tell
them anything, or perhaps request something, I can send Einar a
message.”
“How?”
Amelia had the distinct impression he wasn’t talking about phoning
him.
A smile
lit his eyes. “Telepathically. I can receive orders and messages in
much the same way.”
She
stared at him, trying to telepathically order him to fly higher so
people wouldn’t spot them. A small plane drifted past them,
whirring eerily through the warming air.
“It can’t
see us,” he said, as though he had received her message, and then
she realised she had grabbed his shoulders and tried to steer him
away.
She
settled her arms around his neck again. “Can anyone see
us?”
“Not if I
don’t want them to.” Marcus’s frown hardened.
Amelia
watched the buildings gradually coming closer and then looked at
Marcus’s wings. The sunlight turned them golden and even more
beautiful than they had been in the shade. She couldn’t quite
believe that she was flying with him and she wasn’t scared. When he
had first revealed his wings, they had fascinated her and she had
tried to imagine what it would be like to fly with him, and at the
time she had decided that it would be frightening to be so high up
without being strapped safely into a seat like she would be when on
an airplane.
Would
Einar and Taylor have to fly to France in a plane or take the
train? Einar didn’t have wings, so they had to be travelling in a
human way. Marcus was going to fly her there. He had mentioned he
could only fly so far without food. Did he use it like
fuel?
She took
her eyes off the world below and watched him instead. He was
concentrating hard. Was he afraid that something would happen to
his wings whilst they were airborne?
She
wanted to ask him questions about himself and life as an angel but
was afraid to break his concentration in case it was the only thing
stopping his wings from disappearing.
“Something on your mind?” he said without looking at
her.
“Does
flying use a lot of energy?”
“Flying,
hiding my wings, using my powers, all of it drains me when I am in
the mortal realm.”
“So you
have a healthy appetite for food too then?”
His eyes
shot to meet hers and a blush burned across his cheeks. It brought
a smile to her face. There was no need for him to be embarrassed
about the voraciousness of his sexual appetite. She liked it. They
were equally matched in the passion stakes, just as she had
suspected they would be.
His
pupils widened, swallowing the silver-blue of his irises, and
something told Amelia that if she kept on the subject of sex that
he would be touching down a little quicker than anticipated and
then touching her up.
She
leaned in and pressed a kiss to his cheek.
“Devil,”
he muttered and she screamed as he plummeted towards the ground and
then beat his wings, shooting along a street only a few metres
above the cars.
He had a
vicious way of repaying her for teasing him. She had thought his
wings had disappeared and they were in trouble. While he could land
soundly from a leap like he had made the other night, she doubted
he could land so easily when dropping from the sky.
Marcus
set down in the street outside their apartment building and lowered
her to the ground. It took her a moment to find her feet again and
Marcus held her waist while her legs slowly stopped trembling and
drew her in for a kiss. She smiled against his mouth. It was handy
having an angel for a lover. It definitely beat having to ride the
Tube on what was threatening to be a scorching hot day.
Marcus
eased away from her and sniffed. “Something smells
good.”
He looked
around them and then stopped and his pupils narrowed. Amelia looked
over her shoulder at the café across the street that had a board
outside advertising bacon baps and other breakfast
goods.
His
stomach rumbled so loudly that she looked at it and her desire
flared back into life as her eyes settled on the toned ridges of
his bare stomach. If it wasn’t for the more practical matters
popping into her head, she would have run her hands over his
muscles and forgotten their surroundings.
“I think
we have a problem. Actually, two problems,” she said and then
sneakily reached out and ran her fingers over his stomach, unable
to resist. His muscles rippled and hardened beneath her touch,
deepening her ache for him. “You’re not dressed appropriately and I
have no money in my apartment or keys to get into it.”
“Neither
of which are a problem.” He took her hand from his stomach and
kissed the back of it. “To human eyes, I appear mortal, wearing a
rather fetching white shirt and cream linen trousers.”
“No
wings?” Amelia said and he shook his head. It was a relief to know
that her suspicions the night they had walked to Einar’s home had
been correct and that people couldn’t see a man wearing armour as
she could. “Why can I see you like this and they can’t?”
He
hesitated, a glimmer of awkwardness briefly flashing in his
eyes.
“I do not
want to deceive you,” he said and she couldn’t help smiling. “It is
difficult to maintain such a glamour, but if you look at me
directly, you can see through it to my true appearance. I want you
to see me as I am.”
She was
glad of that and had felt as much when he had confessed his sins to
her in that other world where Taylor had sent them. It was
beautiful of him to desire to be so open with her, to want her to
see the real him and not some false appearance.
Amelia
twisted her hand free of his and brushed the backs of her fingers
across his cheek, silently thanking him for being so honest with
her.
Marcus
smiled. “As for money, I can just compel people to give me whatever
I want.”
“Isn’t
that like stealing? I don’t think I can condone that sort of
behaviour.”
He raised
a dark eyebrow and opened his mouth, starting a new sentence
several times, and then shrugging. “I am hungry.”
“Too
hungry to last to your apartment and get your walle—what happened
to your clothes when you rescued me?”