Angel of Darkness (15 page)

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Authors: Cynthia Eden

Tags: #General, #Fiction, #Romance, #Paranormal

BOOK: Angel of Darkness
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The voices were louder. The whispers in Elijah’s mind were seductive calls now, tempting him.
Stop them from seeing.
Elijah knew the humans could see right through his mask. They saw the monster inside, and they were mocking him.
He pushed through the crowd at the bar, snarling.
They can see.
His head throbbed, his heart raced, and still that voice in his mind taunted.
He needed the drugs. Needed them to quiet the voice so that he could breathe again—and hunt like he wanted. Hunt and kill without the eyes on him.
See.
He shoved open the door and the hot night air hit him in the face. He sucked in a breath, another, and stumbled away. His body shook and every step was pain.
That voice ... so loud now ...
They see.
He doubled over as the pain sliced right through him.
“Hey, wait ... are you okay?”
A woman’s voice. High. Worried.
Footsteps raced toward him. He opened his eyes and saw small feet. White sandals. Tanned legs.
“You sick?” The owner of those legs asked. “Want me to call someone for you?”
He glanced up, slowly, and looked straight into her dark eyes.
She can see you.
The voice taunted.
Those eyes of hers widened, and he smiled. Then he lunged for her.
The bitch ran, screaming, as she jumped away from him. But he had his knife out and he was gonna make sure that she didn’t see him again. That she didn’t see anything.
Then the voice would stop.
Can’t see now.
He grabbed her hair and shoved her down.
“
Hey, demon
...”
Elijah’s gaze whipped up in time to see a board come swinging at his face. He tried to stumble back, but the wood slammed right into his head.
Then he didn’t see anything at all.
C
HAPTER
E
IGHT
 
K
eenan and Nicole made it to New Orleans a few hours after dawn. Nicole hadn’t slept during the drive. She’d been too scared to let down her guard for sleep.
After all, it wasn’t every day that an angel said you were marked for death.
And she’d
heard
him. His dark, deep voice had filled her ears as he’d asked Keenan to kill her.
Her eyes squeezed shut. If Keenan killed her, he’d rise
.
Okay, she figured that meant he’d get a free ride back up to the clouds.
But what happened to her? After what she’d done over the last few months, there’d be no comfy cloud ride waiting on her.
I don’t want to die.
“I can’t go back to the Quarter,” she told him as she felt her nails bite into her palms. “I can’t go back to my place.” The cops might be watching.
“You don’t have a place there anymore.”
That had her eyes opening.
The vehicle slowed. “Someone else lives in your apartment. He took it over about a month ago.”
Right. Of course. She cleared her throat. “Then where are we going?” He’d been adamant that they travel back to New Orleans, but New Orleans was not the place she wanted to see again. Too much pain waited in the city.
“I’ve got a place just outside of town.”
Keenan had a place? How did he even have money?
He glanced toward her and his lips kicked up a bit. He must have read the thoughts on her face. “You keep forgetting, sweet ... I know just about every secret the humans and the
Other
have. I know where all the bodies are buried.”
Yes, she bet he did.
“And I had some
Other
who owed me. The house was payment.”
“Payment for what, exactly?”
“You don’t want to know.”
Probably not.
Her heart squeezed as they drove past the city she’d loved so much. They rode in a different car now, a nondescript Ford. They’d switched vehicles just outside of Texas, the better to keep the vampire-killing cops off their backs.
Soon the streets thinned. Oak trees and moss swept past her.
Then ...
“Here we are,” Keenan said quietly as he pulled to a stop.
She gazed out the window and saw an old antebellum. The place had been fixed up, but it wasn’t one of the too-fancy, too-rich houses she’d seen before. This house was half-hidden by the trees, yet standing strong against the swamp.
Waiting.
“Will we be safe here?” Nicole asked as she climbed out of the car.
He didn’t answer.
She guessed that was a no. The sun beat down on her as she walked toward the house, and she felt its pull on her strength.
Keenan opened the doors and the smell of the house hit her. Not the closed-in, old smell that some places could get when they were left alone too long. Instead, the scent was light, soft, welcoming.
The furniture was sparse, but after six months of cheap motels, who was she to complain? The place looked like the Ritz to her.
“You should sleep.” Keenan’s deep voice rumbled from behind her. He locked the door. “Go get some rest. Get your strength back.”
Her hand curved around the banister. Her palm was sweating. “What did the angel mean about trading one soul for another?” She hadn’t asked her questions during the car ride. Hell, for most of that ride, she’d just been numb with fear.
Ten days left to live.
She’d been on a countdown before, and she’d never wanted to be on one again.
Ten days.
A deep furrow appeared between Keenan’s brows. “You heard that part?”
“I heard every part.”
Including the part where he asked you to kill me.
He shook his head. “You shouldn’t have. Most folks can’t ever see or hear angels, all they can do is just catch their scents every now and then.”
Flowers.
Goose bumps rose on her arms. Six months ago, she’d caught that sweet scent a few times in her classroom and in her home. The scent—she realized now it had been Keenan. Watching.
But they’d get to that soon enough. First ... “You didn’t answer me, Keenan.” She’d noticed he was very good at avoiding answers to her questions.
The furrow smoothed away. “Instead of you dying that night, the vampire died.”
“You went against orders.” Now she could think past the rage and pain that had consumed her at the motel.
He gave a slight inclination of his head.
Nicole swiped her tongue over her lower lip. “The vamp was supposed to walk away, but he was the one who bit the dust.”
Help me.
She hadn’t realized it but ... he had.
In the only way he could.
Keenan stared back at her.
“Thank you,” she told him softly.
Now he blinked. “Nicole ...”
“This whole thing—it’s a little much for me, okay?” She let go of the banister and faced him. “I mean, you’re an
angel
. I’ve heard stories about angels all my life, but—” Her laugh sounded broken even to her ears, “I never thought I’d actually meet one.”
“Most people don’t think they’ll ever meet vampires, either.”
Right.
“You killed him ...” Her focus centered totally on Keenan. “You killed that vampire so I’d live.”
“Yes.”
She stalked toward him and pressed her hands on his chest. “Thank you for saving me.” He hadn’t just stood by. No matter what he’d said—she was alive because of him.
But he pulled away. “I didn’t save you.”
She was there, breathing, fighting bloodlust, because he had.
“The angels are coming after you. Azrael—Az, he’s coming. Nothing will stop him.”
Don’t think about that. Don’t.
“Then let him come.”
Don’t think about what happens after death.
“Right now, I don’t care about him or what might happen in ten days.”
You’re lying.” His head cocked. “Humans lie so much, and usually so easily.”
She stepped forward and closed that distance again. “I’m alive right now. I might not be alive much longer, but I’m
alive
now.” Alive and with one of the sexiest men—
the
sexiest—she’d ever met.
He’d saved her. Suffered for her.
Protected her.
Definitely the sexiest.
She stretched up onto her toes and let her mouth hover near his. “Thank you.” She breathed the words against his lips and then her mouth pressed against his. A hot, openmouthed kiss. When his tongue touched hers, a lick of lust shot straight through her body.
But the fierce burn was so good.
His hands clamped around her arms, and he pushed her back.
What?
Back
?
“I won’t stop this time.” The words were a dark promise.
Oh, nice. She licked her lips and tasted him. Rich, like chocolate. Except better. So much better. “I don’t want you to.” But he needed to be warned. “Sex with me ...”
Be careful.
“It won’t be like with other women.”
His mouth claimed hers. His tongue drove deep, and she moaned. Her nipples tightened. Her legs shifted as she fought to widen her stance and
feel
him.
Just when she was getting desperate, his mouth lifted. “I don’t care about other women.”
Very good to know. “It’s just that vampires ...” She swallowed and still tasted him. “For us, sex and bloodlust ... it’s not like when you—”
“I haven’t been with another woman.”
Now that stopped her. “What?” Not like she’d had oodles of experience. A few lovers, sure, but ...
none?
And he wanted to start with her?
“Humans and most of the
Other
can’t even see us.” His lips quirked. “So sex isn’t a big option.”
But... “You’ve never—”
“I didn’t want to. Angels don’t feel emotions—no human needs.”
Like love. Lust.
But he’d lost his wings, and right then, she could sure
feel
his arousal pressing against her. “I don’t want to hurt you.” She’d try to hold on to her control. The sun was up, so she’d be weaker, but ...
“You won’t.” His lips skimmed her jaw. “You can’t.”
But he didn’t understand what it was like when a vampire’s bloodlust combined with the physical desire. Control could be so very thin. She’d learned that lesson the hard way with Connor.
“I think I wanted you,” Keenan told her as he wrapped his arms around her waist and lifted her up against him, “since the first moment I saw you.” His lips pressed against her neck.
Her fingers dug into his hair. Such thick, soft hair. “I’m not the same woman I was then.”
His tongue licked over her skin. She shivered. “You’re the woman I want.”
She’d try to stay in control, for him. Try to keep the bloodlust back and enjoy the pleasure.
Just a man and a woman. She could do that.
His first time.
She didn’t want to screw this up.
His warm hands slipped under her shirt. Inch by inch, they eased up her stomach, rising until they rested just under her bra. “You’ll have to tell me ...” His teeth grazed her throat. “What you like.”
Her breath rasped in her throat. “You’re, ah ... doing pretty good.”
But he eased away from her. “I can do better.”
Then he lifted her into his arms and carried her through the house. Not up the stairs, but down the twisting hallway. Sunlight rained through the windows, chasing out the shadows. He took her inside the last room on the right. A bedroom. No dresser. No chest. Just a bed.
He laid her down, then pulled away, his gaze watching her as he began to strip.
Oh, yes.
His shirt hit the floor and she had one awesome view of his chest. Muscled. So very muscled. Way more than a six-pack on her angel. Sun-kissed skin. Flesh that was so delectable she wanted to bite.
Then he dropped his jeans.
Her sex clenched.
Keenan’s body was perfect. Absolutely
perfect.
And she wanted to touch every inch of him. Taste every inch.
His cock, full, thick, and long, stretched toward her and she rose up, reaching for him.
“No, sweet, I want to—”
Her fingers curled around him and he stopped talking. “Let me,” she said because it was important that this be good for him.
She bent forward and nipped the hard plane of his stomach. Couldn’t help that. Sometimes a girl needed a bite, but she didn’t break the skin.
She licked the small wound, and her hair fell forward, sliding against his body. He hissed out a breath and his hands locked around her shoulders—not to push her away but to bring her closer.
“You sure?” He gritted. “Am I ... what you want?”
Her answer was to dip down and run her tongue over the top of his cock.
His fingers dug into her skin.
She opened her mouth wider, and being very, very careful with her teeth, she began to suck him. The flesh was warm beneath her tongue, the skin soft, but arousal had his cock taut and hard. Her tongue licked over the head of his erection, and she tasted the salty tang that coated him.
“
Nicole.
” No mistaking the raw hunger in that voice.
But she wasn’t done with him. Not yet.
Death was coming too close to her. Right then, she wanted to grab life.
And taste it.
So she used her mouth and her tongue, and she caressed his flesh. Nicole took him in deeper as she sucked him, and she enjoyed the rough hunger in his voice and the hard grasp of his hands on her.
But too soon, he pulled away and held her back with a steely grip. “This time, I’ll be inside you.”
That was where she wanted him.
Keeping her eyes on his, she rose onto her knees. Nicole yanked off her shirt and tossed it to the floor. Her bra followed seconds later. Her breasts pointed toward him, the peaks tight and aching.
She wanted his mouth on her.

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