Underworld Lover (A Guardian Angel Romance #2) (30 page)

Melanie felt her chest muscles constrict. She was suddenly out of air. Her vision began to go dark, with black blotches passing across her view like she was going to pass out. Was the pain tainting her judgment? She knew she couldn’t trust Peter, but the alternative was even worse.
Joshua? Dead? No, my love. I cannot live without you.

Peter held up a small black box. “Consider it like an engagement gift. In this box is the only solution to your problem,
if
you truly want to spare his life.”

Melanie took hold of the box. With shaking fingers, she removed the top and found a small black pill, looking like a black pearl, resting on a piece of fluffy white cotton.

“This is what Felix took, isn’t it?” she whispered.

Peter nodded, his eyes eager and hungry. “With an
extra
dose of Sexual Apricot, just to help you through the jitters. Once we get started, I’m thinking you’ll enjoy the whole experience.”

“I don’t trust you.” Melanie was staring down at the pill, not into Peter’s eyes.

“Good. You shouldn’t. But consider your options, my dear.”

“Options? What options?”

“You think I would stop with Joshua? How about Daniel and Claire? James and Angela? The little spitfire Doris? You think I would spare them?” His gleeful grin, exposing his red teeth and awful breath, made her stomach lurch. “I could make a picnic of destroying all your little friends and their pathetic lives.”

“How do I know you’ll keep your part of the bargain?”

“You don’t. But, isn’t it worth the risk—the price of your own pathetic life? You want to live knowing you caused the death of all these people you call friends? Are you that dark you could live with that?”

Melanie looked at the pill. One of her tears fell onto it and she noted the purplish-black stain in the cotton.

“So, how is this supposed to work?” She raised her tired eyes to his.

“You make the deal with me. I make sure you come through the Readers and are mine. I will protect you for all eternity. And Melanie,” he said as he touched her chin delicately with his thumb and forefinger, “you will get to see your angel alive and thriving in our world. You will see that I keep my promises. Unless of course, you start pouting around and refuse me. That isn’t part of the deal.” He shrugged his shoulders. “Who knows, perhaps in time we will find we are not enough for each other. Perhaps then I’ll let you have your angel. But your primary job in the Underworld will be to convince me how utterly devoted you are to me. Isn’t this a fair trade to keep him safe and alive? To keep them all safe from harm’s way?”

As much as she hated to admit it, he was right.

“Come, my pet.” He removed the pill from the box in her hand, holding it up to her face.

“I am not your pet.”

“I concede.” He was staring at her lips. “Put this in your mouth and you and your angel will live forever.” He blew on her eyes as she inhaled, opened her mouth, and waited for him to insert the pill. “Very clever, my dear, but it must be by your hand,” he said softly.

She used the wrist that hurt so painfully, as a last act of defiance. The black splotches were coming back. But the pain in her wrist wasn’t nearly as strong as the desire to save her angel.

I love you, Joshua. Goodbye for now.

She tossed the pill through her lips and felt herself become lighter than air, falling back onto Peter’s bed. The last thing she saw was a gleeful dance from the man she would spend eternity trying to murder.

Somehow.

Chapter 41

The first of Melanie’s frantic thoughts hit Josh like a spear through his chest. He arched up suddenly. Daniel noticed his reaction first and alerted James and Angela, who were talking quietly by the fireplace in Daniel’s living room.

“Fuck! I knew it was a mistake to send her to the shop,” Joshua shouted. Just then, another bolt hit him. He grabbed his car keys. “I can’t wait any longer. She’s trapped. Peter has her!” His stomach lurched and his mouth went dry. A vein at the side of his neck felt like it was going to burst. He could feel the muscles of his shoulder clamping down tight.

“Stop, Josh,” James blurted out. “Doris said we had to wait for Father. His instructions were to wait here.” James crossed the room to cut Josh off at the door.

“No. No. I’m done waiting. She’s dying. She’s dying for me, because I couldn’t save her. She thinks she’s saving me, and I have failed her.”

“But don’t you think Father knows how to handle it? Don’t you think he has a plan?” Daniel asked.

“Have you forgotten how many of his angels I have turned? You think he really cares about me? A grand scheme to get rid of me once and for all—that could be his plan. But Melanie shouldn’t have to pay the price for this.”

“I’ll go with you,” James said.

Josh shook his head. “No, James. You need to stay and protect Daniel until Claire comes back. Stay with Angie and Daniel, my friend.”

“Josh, please, let me help you,” James pleaded.

“Don’t let him come, Angie,” Josh said to her. He addressed Daniel, who had put on his jacket. “You can’t help, Daniel. This is not your fight. You need to live for Claire and the baby. What I do now is pure suicide.”

“Then don’t go!” Angela called out. “James, listen to me. If she’s already gone, why does he have to sacrifice himself?” She turned and faced Joshua. “Stay and fight on with us.”

Josh rolled his shoulders and turned his head from side to side, a loud crack emanating from his neck. “Because, Angie, I cannot live with myself for letting her walk straight into his trap. Without her, there is no life, no battle to be won. I have lost everything.” He walked over to James. “My friend. I have asked you for nothing before. Stay and guard them here. Wait for Father. Please protect them.”

Solemnly, James nodded and stepped back as Josh tore out of the room and jumped into his car.

In of his rearview window, Josh saw a pair of dark angels take flight from the rooftop of Daniel’s house and follow along behind the black Hummer. Their gangly dark bodies swooped and rose in uneven bursts of flapping wings. Covered in ashen, dark rags, they looked more like killer kites who had survived one hundred years in the Heavens without a tether. Josh wondered if he would even make it to Melanie’s, if they wouldn’t snatch him for a quick meal. He concentrated on his driving and honed in on the direction of her thoughts.

His cell rang.

“Yes?”

“Jonas here. I have bad news.”

Josh took in a deep breath. “Yes, I can see things have taken a turn for the worse.” One dark claw scraped across his windshield and Josh overcorrected, practically running a car off the road. It wouldn’t do any good, but he ducked down in his seat anyway. The creatures soared almost vertically above him. They didn’t appear to be revving up for another fireball, but Josh wasn’t going to slow down even if he caused a crash. Another near sideswipe earned him a flurry of honking horns by enraged motorists.

“You okay, sir?”

“Yeah, I’m fucking great. Playing dodge ball with these black bastards on the freeway.”

“I’m close. Want a hand?”

“Jonas, gotta concentrate. I’m looking for Melanie.”

“Lose the car. You might make it faster.”

“Can’t. I need the car for her, if I’m not too late…”

“I’m at the flower shop. Felix is dead. Looks like Peter’s work. Door’s wide open, cops coming any minute.”

“And Melanie?” Josh held his breath.

“No sign of her. He’d take her to his house by the transport station, I’m guessing.”

“Yes, that seems to be where her thoughts are coming from.” Josh was hit with another of Melanie’s waves of sadness, this one much stronger than the last.

“I love you, Joshua. Goodbye for now.”

“Oh God. Oh God. I’m too late, Jonas! I’m losing her.”

“Meet you there,” Jonas said and disconnected.

Josh’s gripped the steering wheel so hard it almost snapped. His eyes watered and he could hardly see, but he arrived at the transport station. The warehouse district looked more gray and abandoned than ever.

The winged creatures above joined a line already gathered on the roof ridgeline. From the way they jockeyed for position, Josh saw they had a pecking order, just like chickens on a roost, more bird-like than human. He realized this group could do a quick number on a town, terrorizing the population with their killing and maiming. They screeched like huge dinosaur parrots.

 Josh guessed this tall structure was the Director’s house. He pulled up to the front door and the creatures let him exit the car. He heard the distinctive sputter of Jonas’ chopper as it arrived behind him.

Peter’s voice pierced the gray air of morning as Josh opened the front door and waited. “Oh, perfect timing, Josh. Come on up and see what Melanie and I have been up to.”

Cursing under his breath, Josh lamented the lack of surprise. Jonas had turned off the bike and Josh saw him standing in the perimeter, behind a pile of scrap metal.

The director had been waiting for him, possibly going to make him watch as he claimed her.

Or perhaps he’s done it already.

He stopped himself from thinking about it. He turned one last time to look at his accomplice.
No sense Jonas has to die for my stupidity.
He stepped back outside, nodding to his new friend and motioned for him to stay put. Josh turned and entered the house, racing up the stairway to certain doom.

So be it.
He decided he would live until he got his revenge, or he would die trying. Whatever he faced, he’d make it his mission in life to deal with it. Keep her alive. Keep her safe.

Somehow.

Peter was playing Wagner, an opera in German. Josh thought this an unlikely choice for a seduction. But then, he had to remind himself, this wasn’t about seduction, it was about winning, about power, of being the strongest. Had he been like this in his dark past?
Yes, probably.
He thought about the lives he had ruined, telling himself he was doing them a favor.

At the top of the stairs, Josh saw Peter standing with his back to him, watching over the gravel of the rail yard and abandoned buildings.
His kingdom.

Peter turned slowly and smiled. “Your buddy doesn’t want to join the fray? Or is he afraid?”

“Not his fight, is it?” Josh uttered through clenched teeth. The muscles in his throat were constricted and his tongue felt swollen, constricting his air. He quickly scanned the room, looking for Melanie. He found the light to a bedroom on and the door ajar.

But no sound. “Melanie, are you there?”

There was no response.

“I presume you want to see her? To say goodbye at least to her present form?” Peter motioned to the bedroom. With dread, Josh ran through the doorway to find Melanie’s lifeless body sprawled on the bed. The wrist of her right arm was swollen, tinted purple by a bruise, and buckled from within. Josh knew there was an injury there, had felt the pain of it happening. He bent to kiss her lips, which were cool, but not the icy lips of the dead he was so familiar with. There was no pulse as he checked her neck. She was slipping away. He could not read a thought from her.

“Beautiful, isn’t she?” Josh heard Peter say behind him.

 “She’s gone, s-s-sir.” Josh hated how the words stuck in his throat.

“Already? Oh, my. The pill works faster on such a delicate creature.” He walked over to Josh. “But then you know this.”

Josh felt his eyes turn red. He was losing control over his urge to just vaporize the director, even at certain cost of his own life and everyone he cared about if he failed.

“Careful, careful.” Peter said as he answered with his own tinge of red. “I care less about her than you do, and if you attempt to stop me from taking her, I will vaporize her, Joshua. Search your soul. You know I will do it, man.”

Josh sat down next to Melanie on the bed. He held her hand, fingers moving over the injured portion, as if, in death, he could mend it.

“And she means little to me if you’re already dead. I can find another. I have the power to take whomever I want.”

Josh kept rubbing Melanie’s stiffening forearm, which was getting colder and bluer by the minute. His heart was sinking.

“You know, I like having the woman you can’t.” Peter’s evil grimace sucked the air out of the room.

You don’t have her yet, you bastard.

Still, Josh knew it was only a matter of time before the director would claim his trophy and lord it over him. It was the only good reason to endure staying alive, even if he had to look into her dark tortured eyes.

He was almost moved to tears. He felt sorry for every disappointment, every pain in her life he had caused. He grieved he was not the man to be able to save her. Just the man who could endure anything, even his own humiliation, to see that some portion of her spirit remained alive. Dark or light, any part of her was better than a life without her.

“Your strength surprises me, my Dark friend, if I can call you that. I’d have thought you would fly into a rage and I would get to burn you, send pieces of your body all over her.” Peter continued to look down at him. “But this—this display of control—is impressive, if I do say so myself.”

Josh felt the stab in his heart that Peter’s comments generated, but kept hold of Melanie’s hand, getting used to his first few moments of unbearable pain—for however long Peter would allow him to live. He was fairly certain Peter wanted to see him squirm under the torment of actually watching Melanie turn, bound to Peter forever. Josh decided he could do it. He was strong enough to show her he honored her gift, her request to save him. And that would have to be enough to show her his undying love, the only gift he could give her, for now.

Peter’s black eyes sparkled with devilish delight, looking intent on picking a fight. “What a scene! If your recruits could see you now.”

Josh glared at him and felt the molten strength of his anger pool behind his eyes. It didn’t have the desired effect.
Damn it. He loves this.