A Touch of Crimson (23 page)
“I believe you will find,” the archangel called after him, “that I am a friend worth having in your corner.”
“Unlike you, I don’t have a corner.” Adrian stepped into the elevator and faced Raguel, baring his teeth in a feral smile. The archangel’s territory extended only across North America; Adrian had no such limits.
The elevator doors closed, shutting out the look of sharp consideration on Raguel’s face.
Shadoe had never run from Adrian before. From the first time she’d seduced him past all restraint, rules, and better sense, she had been ferociously determined to keep him enthralled. It had taken her a long time to break him down initially, a relentless and passionate assault on his senses that led to him falling on her in a mindless rut, driven past all reason. Since then, her incarnations had been consummate seducers and she’d relished his every surrender.
Until now.
Now he was alone, stripped of the people he’d relied on for support. First Phineas. Then Simone. Lindsay’s departure was equally hard to take. He’d found comfort in her presence and he missed her already. But Adrian refused to allow his losses to impact his ability to carry out his mission.
He did concede, however, that they were likely the first of many signs that his retribution was nigh.
Lindsay was still kicking herself when her plane landed at John Wayne Airport. It wasn’t like her to run. She was a doer. A woman who faced things head-on. She didn’t like leaving things to chance or not knowing the score.
Yet the minute an escape route had been opened to her, she’d bolted. Not because she was frightened. No—that was a lie. Everything about Adrian Mitchell scared the shit out of her. The way he affected her was damn scary. She was so used to making do by herself, keeping to herself, and he got under her skin so deeply, she was already beginning to forget what it felt like without him there. She couldn’t forget, however, what it felt like to be herself. The experience had been freeing, and now she was returning to the cage of the “real” world.
The sense of loss was almost like grief.
But she would learn to deal with it. Having Adrian’s soul on the line was powerful motivation. He was too valuable to waste on her.
The wind, that fickle bitch, taunted her with soft whispers.
Adrian . . . Go back to Adrian . . .
Adrian . . . Go back to Adrian . . .
“Fuck you.” She exited the terminal with no more than the designer clothes on her back, her cell phone and emergency charger she’d bought at McCarran Airport, and a ridiculous amount of cash in her messenger bag. She intended to pay back every penny she spent, but she hadn’t had the luxury of leaving the money behind. Not while Adrian had her suitcase at his house. Which made it inevitable that she’d see him again. At the very least she had to retrieve her luggage. She could ask him to send someone down the hill with it and spare them both the awkwardness, but she wouldn’t. They had unfinished business, and he deserved the courtesy of hashing it out in person.
She headed to the nearest taxi stand. For a single surreal day, Adrian’s life had felt like it could be her life. But that was a ridiculous fantasy. His existence was filled with private jets, presidential suites, Maybachs, a home that was showcased on television, dragons, demons, vampires that foamed at the mouth, skies filled with angels, guys that turned into wolves, and regenerating limbs. Meanwhile, she was a mentally scarred, slightly crazy, middle-class mortal with a death wish. Nary the twain shall meet.
Downtime to get her head on straight and catch her bearings—that’s what she needed. Then she could plan her next steps. Steps that would lead her away from Adrian. The temptation he presented was too great. She couldn’t trust herself around him.
Sliding into the backseat of a cab, Lindsay directed the driver to take her to the Belladonna hotel. Mr. Gadara had offered her one of the finished suites until he could make arrangements for her to move into one of his residential properties. She’d been surprised by how sweet he was. For such a powerful and well-known public figure, he seemed remarkably down-to-earth and approachable.
She pointedly ignored the fact that whatever sort of being was driving the cab was sending out the kind of malevolent, inhuman vibes that would formerly have put him on her hit list.
“It’s your lucky day,” she murmured, meeting the curious glance the driver shot her through the rearview mirror.
Lindsay pulled her phone out of her pocket and turned it back on. She wasn’t surprised when it chirped a multitude of voice mail and text message alerts. Steeling herself against a suddenly knotted gut, she read the text messages first.
No trouble til I get there, pls (this is Elijah BTW)
“Aw, fuck,” she muttered, feeling like an asshole for leaving him holding the bag. If he got in trouble because of her . . . Well, he just better not or she’d be pissed at Adrian for not being fair.
Then Adrian.
Call me.
Call me.
She dialed his number.
“Lindsay.” His voice, modulated and smooth, made her grip tighten on her phone. “Are you in Anaheim?”
“Not yet. I just landed.”
“You shouldn’t have left,” he said with the arrogance she was beginning to adore. “That said, it’s best that you did. Something’s come up. It’ll be a day or two before I can get to you. Elijah will join you until then. Don’t ditch him again.”
Even across the cellular waves and despite his steady tone, which gave nothing away, she knew he was troubled. She could feel it. “What’s going on? Are you okay?”
“I’m . . .” His voice trailed off. “No. I’m not okay.”
Her spine straightened. “What’s wrong?”
“I’m not in a place where it would be safe to discuss it.” He exhaled audibly. “I wish I could speak freely. There are things I want to get off my chest that only you would understand.”
“Adrian.” She leaned forward, prepared to tell the driver to turn around. “I’ll come back if you need me.”
“Always,” he said, so simply, as if it wasn’t deeply profound that a being of his power was reliant on her for anything. “But not now. You’ll be safest at Angels’ Point.”
“Actually . . .” Lindsay found herself hesitating to put the necessary distance between them. It didn’t seem like the time—not while he needed her. But she couldn’t lie to him or hold off the inevitable, either. Whatever it was they had between them, it was based on baring sides of themselves they exposed to no one else. “I’m on my way to the Belladonna. I’m going to stay there until I can find a place of my own. You said I’d be safe with Gadara.”
There was a short pause. “Keep Elijah with you at all times. Stay in the hotel as much as possible and
don’t hunt
.”
don’t hunt
.”
“I won’t. I know we need to discuss the logistics first.” She’d need his help to take down the vamps who had killed her mother. As reckless as she could be at times, she didn’t have a death wish, and she didn’t want to inadvertently endanger Adrian by crossing a line or breaking a rule she wasn’t aware of.
“When you left Vegas, were you leaving me as well?”
Her stomach tightened. “I felt like I had to. I . . . want you. If it was just sexually, I’d be okay. But the more I’m with you, the more I like you. I’m not as good at fighting those kinds of feelings. I can’t say no to you, and we both need me to.”
The silence stretched out this time. Long enough that Lindsay feared she’d lost him. “Adrian?”
“I’m here. You just . . . surprised me. Your decision to leave in order to protect me is unexpected.”
“I’m not worth falling over,” she muttered. “I promise you that.”
“I disagree.” Although his tone didn’t alter, she sensed a change in him. “I like you, too, Lindsay. You fascinate me. For someone of my years, that’s a rare gift. I intended to let you go, if you agreed to stop hunting. But I’ve changed my mind. We’ll pick this up when I get back and reach a compromise.”
Lindsay’s brow arched. Adrian compromising on anything wasn’t something she pictured easily. He always seemed to end up getting what he wanted. He was a favored son, this warrior angel with his bloodstained wings. And he captivated her completely.
“I have to thank you,” she said, “for calling my dad. He would’ve worried himself sick.”
“It was my pleasure.”
“It means a lot to me that you thought of it.”
“I can’t help but think of you,” he said in a low, intimate tone. “I haven’t been able to stop since we met.”
God . . . she felt the same way. They were in such deep shit with each other. “Whatever you have to do, please be careful.”
“Don’t worry,
neshama
. Nothing can stop me from finishing what we started today.”
neshama
. Nothing can stop me from finishing what we started today.”
“Are you ever going to tell me what you’re calling me?”
“Ask me again,” he purred, “the next time I’m inside you.”
Shivering against a sudden flare of sexual heat, Lindsay said a hasty good-bye and ended the call.
She knew she’d done the right thing by leaving, but that didn’t stop her from regretting it. Especially now that she knew he needed her with him to listen and offer support.
Damn it . . . she had to get a grip and think, but her lungs were constricted by a ferocious pressure to return to him. Although her mind knew the most reasonable and selfless course was to stay away, there was a driving need inside her demanding she go back and take him. Claim him. Make him irrevocably hers. The rapacious urge was so intense, it frightened her.
She’d never had trouble holding to her decisions, but with Adrian it felt like she was battling with herself . . . with a high risk of losing. He was a glorious being, proud and dangerously beautiful. His sole purpose was hunting the very creatures she hated and wished dead. If she destroyed him, if she derailed the work he did—which was so important to her—she’d destroy herself. But knowing the consequences didn’t seem to quiet the furiously whispering devil on her shoulder.
Holding to her chosen course of action by more willpower than she should have needed, she sent Elijah a text message:
c u @ the Belladonna
.
c u @ the Belladonna
.
She was glad he was going to be with her. He was a straight shooter. He’d help her keep her head out of the clouds, where angels flew and mortals had no business treading.
“This is for the best,” she told herself, earning another wary glance from the driver.
The verbal reinforcement didn’t help as much as she wished it would.
“Whatever the most disastrous thing you can imagine is, the reality is worse.” Torque shoved a pillow behind his back and leaned into the headboard attached to the wall. He was careful to keep his leg away from the slender shaft of sunlight sneaking through a tiny parting in the blackout curtains of his motel room. “Word on the street says Phineas is dead—from an unprovoked vamp attack.”
There was a long pause, filled only by his father’s deep and steady breathing. “Dead? Are you certain?”
“As certain as I can be without hearing it from Adrian himself. He’s been out of town since I arrived. My guess is that he’s hunting down those responsible.”
“Without a doubt.”
Torque allocated unlimited resources to the cabal he’d managed to infiltrate into the area, which gave him—and his father—access to fairly accurate reports of Adrian’s and the other Sentinels’ activities. Of course, Adrian kept a high profile on purpose, and Torque had long suspected that the cabal members had gone unmolested only because the Sentinel leader willingly looked the other way.
You can see me coming and I’ll still get the jump on you
seemed to be his message.
You can see me coming and I’ll still get the jump on you
seemed to be his message.
“I was hoping to meet with him,” Torque said, toying with a throwing star, “to let him know we had nothing to do with this.”
“
No.
He might see you as a fair trade for Phineas—someone he loved and relied upon for someone equally valuable to me.”
No.
He might see you as a fair trade for Phineas—someone he loved and relied upon for someone equally valuable to me.”
“A small sacrifice to keep a war from erupting.”
“That isn’t your decision to make.”
“Isn’t it?” Torque threw the hira-shuriken at the wall, absently noting the star’s position in relation to the wallpaper pattern. His father was too protective, to the point that Vash served as his second-in-command to keep Torque out of the direct line of fire. While Torque understood the motives—and the paranoia that fueled them—it didn’t make the bitter pill any easier to swallow. He wanted to serve the vampire community to the fullest extent he could. There wasn’t anything he wouldn’t do or sacrifice to see them thrive and flourish.
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