Messenger's Angel: A Novel of the Lost Angels (27 page)

She’s dead,
he told himself.
I’m dead now, too.
He looked back up at the stranger who waited so patiently, so silent and still, that gleaming empty pen aloft in his hand.
It’s over,
he thought.

Slowly he stood, his eyes now trained on the pen. “It’s a diamond, isn’t it?” he whispered, tasting tears on his lips. Sam didn’t answer. But he didn’t need to. Daniel knew it was true. “What does it use?”

The stranger’s mesmerizing gaze hardened, going from deep charcoal to nearly black as his pupils expanded and the corners of his mouth turned up slightly. Without speaking a word, he reached out for Daniel’s wrist and held it up between them. Daniel felt frozen to the spot, unable—or perhaps
unwilling
—to pull away.

With the hand that still held the pen, Sam pushed back Daniel’s sleeve, exposing an expanse of skin on the wrist above the ridge of his palm. He then took the shining metal tip of the fountain pen and placed it to Daniel’s prominent blue vein.

There was a sharp, deep pain and Daniel winced, gritting his teeth. Fire raced up from the entry point, subjugating his arm, then his shoulder, and then his chest—until his heart felt as though it had burst into flame. He couldn’t make a single sound. The pain was immense and all-encompassing. And all the while, the stranger simply gazed steadily at him as his beautiful, vile pen sucked up Daniel’s blood, filling its compartment with ruby red liquid.

When the pen was filled, Sam removed the tip from Daniel’s arm and released him. Daniel fell backward, barely managing to keep from falling as relief flooded over him, a cessation to the agony. Only his wrist continued to throb. He placed his other hand over the wound and watched the stranger with a new and wary respect.

“What now?” he gritted out, feeling hoarse from the pain.

Sam took a single step to the side and back, revealing behind him a tall wooden table. It was narrow and intricately carved, etched with symbols and lettering that made Daniel feel funny inside. On its small surface sat a single parchment. It was raining all around them—but the table and its document remained untouched by the wetness.

Daniel straightened and stepped around Juliette’s body to come closer to the table. The paper that lay atop it was blank. He frowned in confusion.

“What is that?” he asked.

“Your contract,” Sam replied. The stranger waved his right hand over the document, the expensive watch on his wrist shimmering in the car’s headlights. On the paper, black scrolling letters appeared, writing themselves across the page in perfect straight lines. Daniel barely recognized some of the words—and he wasn’t really certain about any of them.

He was sweating a cold sweat now, drenching himself as surely as the rain was.

The stranger held up the pen. It gleamed, ruby and wicked in the light. Daniel’s gaze cut to the man who held it.
Sam,
he thought.
What is that short for?
Had he heard the name before? Something niggled at his memory, squirming under the sand. But it was as yet unrecognizable—and fear was making Daniel fuzzy. One thing was certain, however. The power he felt coming off the stranger was unlike any he’d ever experienced. If anyone could keep him safe from the General, it was Sam.

I have no choice.
He took the pen with shaking fingers, the wound in his wrist throbbing painfully. And then, as two thick black lines appeared at the bottom of the parchment, Daniel bent over the table, placed the pen’s tip to the first line—and signed his name.

CHAPTER TWENTY-NINE

J
uliette couldn’t have moved if she’d wanted to. Her body was wrapped in a cocoon of warmth and comfort that both paralyzed and soothed her. She knew the gun had gone off, but she’d felt no pain. She’d felt only a sense of calm pour over and through her, as if she were high on morphine.

Samael,
she thought now, as she listened to the exchange between the two men who stood over her.

Everything had happened so quickly. Daniel had put her in the car and told her he was going to take her blood. And then—
Juliette,
a voice had spoken in her head. She would recognize it anywhere. It was deep and strong and laced with the kind of effortless sensuality that left a woman breathless. Sam was sheer potency in human form, and from the moment he brushed her mind, she’d instantly become hyperaware of him all around her.

He had chuckled, and the deep, utterly beguiling sound had echoed off the walls of her mind. She had closed her eyes, only for a moment, and when she’d opened them again, Sam was standing in the road ahead of them.

Daniel had swerved to miss him, and everything had turned to chaos around her. But Juliette felt no fear. From the moment he’d telepathically spoken her name into her mind, she’d been draped in tranquillity. Daniel jerked her through the car and out the other side and she found the will to try to pull away. But it was a halfhearted attempt and she knew it was useless—and she didn’t really care. Sam was inside of her, his charcoal gray eyes mesmerizing her, his essence filling her like a drug.

The barrel of Daniel’s gun fought for room between her ribs, etching at a sharp pain. Offhandedly, she imagined the bullet chambered behind it. What would it feel like going in? It was, perhaps, the single way in which she had yet to die. Not in all her many lifetimes had Juliette Anderson ever been shot.

She had her answer then, though it hadn’t been at all what she’d expected. The gun went off, but there was no pain. None at all. She wasn’t in control of her own body. She hit the ground and closed her eyes before wetness spread across her side, drenching her clothes and the ground beneath her. It was Sam manipulating her. She knew it, and though it should have scared her that there existed a being who could so fully control her every action, it somehow didn’t.

Everything is going to be okay,
he told her.

Above her, a deal was being made. They moved away and there was a moment of silence. Then lightning flashed somewhere very close by. She wanted to cover her ears, knowing the thunder would be right on top of it, but she couldn’t move. The thunder came, crashing over the road and rolling across her body, quaking the ground beneath her as it went.

It passed and Juliette lay there, her eyes closed, waiting.

There was a footfall beside her. Juliette opened her eyes to see Samael kneeling at her side. She blinked up at him, at once lost in his stormy gaze.
He’s so beautiful.

He smiled at her, using gentle fingers to brush her hair out of her face. “How do you feel?”

“Fine,” she replied softly, feeling as if the world had melted into surrealism. She blinked and frowned and Sam laughed. He offered her his hand, helping her to sit up. Juliette looked down at her clothes, expecting to see them drenched in red, but they were untouched by anything other than a bit of rain.

No blood. No holes in the fabric—or in her flesh. Juliette ran her hand over her stomach, searching for the wound. It wasn’t there. She exhaled a little shakily and looked back up at Sam. She didn’t flinch or try to pull away when his warm hand cupped her cheek. “Did he hurt you?” he asked.

Juliette looked around at the mention of the Adarian—but she and Sam appeared to be alone beside the two cars on the deserted road. There was no sign of Daniel. She looked back at Sam and thought of Daniel and all he had done. The Adarian had set fire to an orphanage and trapped children inside, but he had never outwardly harmed her. He had given her sugar water and restored a little of her strength—quite the opposite of harming her. Apparently he hadn’t even shot her, as she’d thought he had.

She shook her head. “No,” she said.

“Then I will allow him to live,” he said softly, his eyes flashing with some untold, very serious emotion. He once more offered her his hand and began to rise, taking her with him. She came easily to her feet, not feeling any of the weakness she had felt before. Samael had restored her strength. She didn’t know how. She couldn’t comprehend the last ten minutes of her life at all—but there it was.

Sam towered over her, tall and strong and draped in power. She caught a faint whiff of cologne and it reinforced the effect of his nearness, making her feel strange. He was somehow forcing other thoughts from her mind, hiding her worry from her, drowning her fears.

She gazed up at him, unsure of what it was he wanted. “Why are you here?” she found herself asking. She was just so confused.

“That’s a very good question, Juliette,” Samael whispered, once more cupping her cheek. “And a very big one. But if you mean why am I here on this road with you right now—let’s just say that I’ve had my eye on a certain Adarian’s abilities for a while now.”

Juliette frowned. Daniel? He’d been after Daniel all this time? Was
all
of this solely so that he could get his hands on
Daniel
? Was that what he meant? She was clueless as to why he would go to so much trouble to secure an Adarian who could turn invisible. Samael seemed so much more powerful than that. And that was the crux of her perplexity right there. Samael, in general, confused the hell out of her.

“Why are you . . . here?” she asked, gesturing to the whole world around them.

“Ah.” He smiled a beautiful smile. “As to that, little one, I don’t have an answer to share with you.”

His reply echoed Lily’s earlier reply and once more, Juliette wondered whether he didn’t have an answer—or simply wasn’t willing to share the one he had.

“I will tell you this, however,” he continued. “The world is a dangerous place. Especially for an archess.” He leaned over, placed a tender kiss to her forehead, and then moved his lips to her ear. She closed her eyes, at once feeling dizzy. “Keep your wits about you, Juliette. Heed the lessons history has to teach.”

With that, he pulled away, just a little, and Juliette opened her eyes once more.

“Juliette!” A man’s cry caused her to jerk in Samael’s gentle grip and she whirled around, turning her back to him in order to see Gabriel, Michael, and Uriel racing down a nearby hill. They moved with unnatural speed, covering the distance in seconds and leaving Juliette a little breathless. Any woman staring out across the moors to find three supernaturally handsome men running full tilt straight for her is going to have the wind knocked out of her.

Gabriel reached her first, and she found herself pulled tightly into his arms before she could react. His grip was strong and his body radiated heat. “Juliette, wha’ in the bloody Christ are you doin’ out here?” he asked as he took her to arm’s length again and looked her over with flashing silver eyes.

Juliette’s mouth opened. She blinked. She glanced over her shoulder at Sam—but Sam wasn’t there. She was alone with the two cars—and three archangel brothers. She turned back to Gabriel and wondered where in the world to start.

Michael and Uriel scanned the area with glowing eyes. “When did you two get here?” she asked.

“Just now,” Michael replied without looking at her. His sapphire eyes were burning a bright, beautiful blue as he searched their surroundings. “Your boyfriend left one hell of a mess in the mansion, so we came straight away and more or less followed the road.” That explained how they’d found her; they probably knew that Daniel would take a car, and since they could move fast, it wasn’t long before they’d caught up. But the mess in the mansion?

She looked at Gabriel. He shook his head. “Long story, luv,” he said, waving the issue away. “You put out the fire.”

She nodded, blushing a little. “Yeah, I guess I sort of did.”

“An’ you saved Tristan.”

Again, she nodded, averting her gaze. His praise was making her uncomfortable. Gabriel cupped her cheek, much like Sam had done, but when Gabriel did it, it went deeper. He pulled her gaze back to his, trapping it in the silver of his soul. She felt as if she were being embraced by the land, the very earth itself. “Och, lass, bu’ how?” he asked, clearly almost breathless with wonder.

“I . . . I don’t know,” she replied, feeling distinctly embarrassed. “Was Beth okay?” she asked, changing the subject. Tristan had been so worried about his sister. They both had. The fire had been so strong.

“Aye, luv, she’s fine,” he said, brushing his thumb across her cheek the way he liked to do. “Thanks to you.” He leaned in then, taking her lips in a tender kiss. His heat suffused her, causing her to shudder as all traces of chill were chased away. When he finally pulled away, she was dizzy. “They said you’d been taken,” he told her, whispering his words across her lips. “By the man who shot the vicar.”

“I was,” she told him, recalling the way Daniel had pulled his trigger on the old man. “Oh God,” she said. “Did he—was he—”

“He did no’ make it, little one.”

A numb kind of sadness threatened inside of Juliette and she shook her head. “I was taken by the Adarian Daniel. He brought me here and was going to change cars, but then Sam came and—”

“Sam?”
Uriel and Michael both stopped what they were doing and turned to face her, their attention at once focused on her.

“Samael was here?” Gabriel asked, his gaze narrowing, his grip on her arms tightening.

Juliette nodded. “Yes, but—”

Before she could explain further, the group was overtaken by a blast of wind so strong, it knocked Juliette and Gabriel into the car beside them. Gabriel was reacting instantly, yanking her around behind him and shielding her between himself and the source of the powerful air burst—the handful of Adarians now coming over the rise.

Uriel swore softly under his breath as he and Michael came to stand beside Gabriel, one on either side. Juliette recognized three of the Adarians. The black man, the dark-haired man, and the blond with blue eyes were the three who had attacked them at Callanish.

But there were three others there as well. All of them looked as tall and strong as their companions and Juliette’s stomach was beginning to turn. She tasted sour in her mouth.

“Where is he?” whispered Uriel.

“Where’s who?” Juliette asked.

“Abraxos,” Michael replied, his blue eyes trained on the men staring down at them. “He’s not with them.”

“He’s here somewhere,” said Gabriel. “I can bloody well feel ’im.”

Juliette gazed up at the outline of tall, strong bodies and was reminded of that scene from
The Lost Boys
as David and his “boys” gazed down at Michael from the top of a hill. They had just finished “feeding,” on innocent prey. Was that what was about to happen now?

“I have to take your blood,”
Daniel had told her.

“Juliette, get in the car,” Gabriel commanded. Juliette frowned, but when she felt the solidity of the vehicle behind her begin to waver and warp, she understood. Gabriel was opening a portal through the car door.

Just then Gabriel swore under his breath, and the world was turned upside down.

The earth began to quake, the temperature dropped fifty degrees, and Michael was struck by a stray bolt of lightning. The cacophony ripped through the atmosphere, destroying all other sound. The ground bucked beneath Juliette, shooting her forward and onto her knees as the portal behind her swirled closed once more, blocking her only exit. She looked up, shoving the hair out of her face to see that Gabriel was wrapped in a force field like plastic wrap that picked him up off the ground and tossed him into the air. She screamed, rushing forward, but was cut off as Uriel jerked her to a halt and swung her around to face him.

“Get in the car!” he bellowed. Even without the portal, he was right. It was the safest place for her right now because as soon as any of them could manage it, they could open a portal through the doors and she could slip on through.

But before she could obey him, the world was cast into utter and complete darkness. Juliette cried out as Uriel’s body was simultaneously ripped away from hers and she wondered if she’d gone blind. She put her hands to her eyes, rubbed them, and then reached out around her, trying desperately not to panic. All she could feel was the car, and her fingers were quickly beginning to freeze in the unnaturally dropped temperature. On instinct, she slid down low against the car and shoved her hands into her pockets for whatever warmth they could afford. She was crying; she could feel the tears freezing into ice streams on her cheeks.

And then her fingers brushed something smooth and hard.
The bracelet,
she realized, as she recalled Gabriel giving it to her days ago. She had changed several times—but the bracelet had always somehow come back to her, taking up residence in her jacket pocket once more.

There were sounds everywhere, the earth was shaking, and the super-subfreezing temperature was causing her lungs to burn with each intake of breath. Her teeth hurt when she opened her mouth, and her nostrils were freezing shut. There was an explosion nearby and a grunt of pain and then there was a crackling sound, as if a column of ice was crashing to the ground.

“Heed the lessons history has to teach.”
Samael’s words echoed in her mind, somehow managing to be heard in the entropy of her thoughts even over the amazing dissonance of the crumbling, crackling world around her.
What lessons?
she thought frantically.
What lessons have I ever dealt with in any of my many lifetimes that would prepare me for battle with Adarians?

Juliette’s heart was going rapid-fire behind her lungs; terror clutched at her with fingers as cold as the air around her. She ducked her head into the car door, instinctively shielding her face, when lightning struck again somewhere nearby. She could see nothing. Her existence had gone black.