ANGEL'S KISS (A Dark Angel's Novel) (33 page)

“
Alexandria
, I love you, you’re my child. Everything I’ve done has been for us.” She moved to stand outside the doorway, the distance obviously helped her. “This immortal has marked you; your blood stinks of him.” She spat.

I wasn’t surprised; I knew somehow that she spoke the truth about my blood. I remembered those dreams of lazy afternoons, and my mouth watered at the thought of drinking lemonade from the metallic-tasting cups.

“You didn’t know, did you?” She sounded confident now.

“No.” I felt like I was in a long tunnel. I could see the light at the end, but I couldn’t run fast enough to get out.

“Baby, you won’t be able to resist him without my help. Put down that knife, we must leave.”

A small part of me realized I needed to make a choice. No one could save me or decide for me. I looked at my mother; the longing in my heart was almost unbearable. Almost.

“
Alexandria
.” Her expression softened. She held out her arms and welcomed me.

I looked at the dagger burning in my hand. Its glow brightened, I heard Ottie cough, and I felt my father’s love surround me. In my ear he whispered, “Family and your own reflection in the mirror. Nothing else matters, baby.” That was his answer to every question I’d ever asked him. It used to infuriate me.

I felt sure that had my mother been there when I was young, she would have given me much better advice, not philosophical bullshit. But now I understood what Dad was telling me. I’d made my choice; I didn’t feel any conflict. Tomorrow, I’d mourn the loss of my mother again.

“No. I won’t come with you.” I knelt beside Ottie. “If you love me, tell me how to save him.” I touched his face to see if he was still conscious.

“Ottie, can you hear me?” I laid the dagger in my lap and felt for a pulse. The light from the dagger faded.

“I’ve risked everything to help you into this life, and you will obey me!” Angelina pulled me away from Ottie, and the dagger fell out of my lap. I tried to scramble back or reach it with my foot, but she was too strong.

“NO! I won’t go with you! I’m staying!” I kicked and fought, but I couldn’t stand up, and she dragged me like a sack. I couldn’t get ahold of anything and the floor was too slippery to get any leverage.

“I have to help them!” I screamed. We were at the doorway now, and I used all my strength to hold onto the door frame and keep Angelina from dragging me out of the room.

“
Alexandria
, stop fighting me!” She stopped pulling and instead hefted me up so I stood face to face with her. She slapped me. Stars sprang into my vision and my brain rattled in my head. I would have fallen, but she held me up.

“Trust me, darling, you will get over this irrational attachment to these mortals. Now, stop fighting and—”

Angelina was thrown down the hall and my body slammed into the door frame, knocking the breath out of me. I was stunned for a moment, but Zeke’s growl and Angelina’s hiss brought me out of my haze. She and Zeke were halfway down the hall lunging at each other. I couldn’t see them clearly in the dark, but the screams and the growls were deafening.

“Alex, are you injured?” Ben’s strong hands turned me like a rag doll, checking for any signs of injury.

“Stop it!” I pushed his hands away. “I’m fine. We have to help Zeke and Ottie.”

“Zeke can handle himself; we need to get you out of here.” He grabbed my arm and pulled me toward the window. When my foot touched the dagger, its light flickered in the dark room.

“The dagger!” I picked it up.

“Alex!”

The handle felt hot in my hand. An electric current started at my Angel’s Kiss and ran through me, shaking my entire body, and ended with the dagger bursting to life.

Ben had stopped trying to pull me out of the house. He was on his knees staring at the dagger.

“Ben!” I yelled to get his attention. “Help Ottie!”

As I turned toward the hall, I heard a strangled protest of pain. I wasn’t sure if it was animal or human. I ran toward it, letting all my doubts fall away.

Tethered For Life

I ran through the door without looking and right into the fight. Tangled together, Zeke, Angelina, and I hit the wall with such force that the plaster cracked, leaving an odd indent that looked like an octopus. Plaster? Who uses plaster anymore? How old is this weird house?

We all staggered and broke free of each other. Zeke and Angelina picked opposite ends of the hall and paced like boxers waiting for the bell to ring. I stood in the middle and surveyed the damage. The hallway was so spattered and dripping in blood that it reminded me of a Jackson Pollack painting. Angelina’s arm hung at an odd angle and Zeke had a slight limp, but neither showed any sign of giving up.

“
Alexandria
! Darling, call off that beast and drop that…thing.” She shielded her eyes from the glow of my dagger with her good arm.

Zeke’s bark said bring it on as he paced behind me.

The dagger was becoming such a part of me that I’d forgotten I was holding it. But it hadn’t forgotten what we came out here to do. The dagger’s golden glow had taken on a powerful red tint and pulsed in time with my own heartbeat. I crouched in front of Zeke, ready to defend my “family.”

“What are you doing?” She stepped forward and, for the first time, sounded unsure of her hold on me. “
Alexandria
, I am your mother.”

Zeke growled, his voice vibrating through the dagger’s golden-reddish glow like a ripple on a lake.

I stood between the two and kept my eyes on Angelina. “Enough! I don’t belong to you.” Anger flared in me, and mahogany streaks ran through the glow of the dagger. The fury had always been there waiting for someone to drill deep enough and let it out. Now that Angelina had hit the reserve, like an oil well, I exploded with it.

“How dare you come into my life after all these years, telling me that you love me? RAAAA,” I screamed. My anger was almost blinding.

“First you tell me that you love me, and then you say that you’ll be more powerful with me at your side. Which is it, mother? Do you love me, or do you just want me to be your battery?”

“How dare you talk to me this way?” She stood her ground, indignant, even though the dagger’s glow was obviously hurting her eyes. “Everything I have done, I have done for you. I love you.”

“You’re no different than Ellasar or the shithead that Zeke and I killed. Sorry to mess up your plans! I’m not a pawn you can move around the board.”

“Ellasar?” Her whole body tensed and she staggered back. She was afraid.

“Don’t be a fool,
Alexandria
, he’ll use you up and then—” She turned toward the living room.

“And then what, Angelina?” Why did she react to his name? Did she know him?

“Don’t do this, darling. Please, I’m begging you.” She held out her arms to me—I noticed that her arm had healed while we were talking—yet her body backed down the hall.

“Don’t do what?” Curiosity had replaced my anger. Angelina was immortal. Why would she be afraid of Ellasar? Better yet, maybe she knew how I could get rid of him!

“Alex!” Ben yelled from the bedroom.

“What?” I asked, turning toward the room. “At least Ellasar hasn’t tried to kill—” When I turned back, she was gone.

Zeke walked around me, sniffing the air. Then he snorted and shook his head, cleaning his nose, I guess. As he trotted through the bedroom door, I realized he no longer had a limp. Man, they can heal fast.

The thought of healing brought my mind back to Ottie.

“Ottie!” I was thankful to see that the dagger had dimmed now, because in this shiny gold room, the glare was blinding even to me.

“He’s been asking for you.” Ben’s voice was clinical and cold. “He’s not going to make it.” Ben joined Zeke in the doorway, but they both looked relaxed. The danger must be gone.

“Ben, have you called for help?”

“William will be here soon.” Ben moved toward the window and looked outside.

“No! Call an ambulance…something!” I was frantic to get help for Ottie. No way would I let him die. I gently touched his cheek. I wanted to pick up his head and put it in my lap, but I was afraid to move him, even a little.

“Alex, we can’t call in the police. William will be here in a few minutes and he’ll know what to do.” I followed Ben’s eyes. Officer Maloran’s body was slumped in a pool of blood along the far wall. No movement at all from his body.

I reached for my cell phone as Ottie spoke.

“Lexie.” His voice sounded breathless, hollow. Maybe he had a punctured lung? I’d never thought of Ottie as fragile. To me, he’d always been invincible. I started to cry as I looked down at his battered face and tentatively touched his cheek.

“I’m here, Ottie; you’re going to be fine. Help is on the way.”

“Don’t—” he winced, and a little blood leaked out of his mouth. “—Shit me. I know the score.” He waited, swallowing the pain. “I’m sorry about your mom…being a psycho bitch, I mean.”

I chuckled around the lump in my throat.

And then he closed his eyes.

“Ottie, don’t you dare say something shitty like that and then die on me. Ottie!”

I held his face and willed him to open his eyes. The blood flow from his wounds seemed to be slowing down. His heart was slowing down.

“No!” I sobbed. “Oh God, please, no, I can’t lose you, too!” I squished my hand into the worst wound on Ottie’s chest, trying to keep as much blood inside him as possible. But as I pushed on one side of his chest, the hole on the other side leaked more.

“NO! Help me, Ben, do something. Please! Ottie! Listen to me. Open your eyes, right now!”

I felt Ben’s hands take my arms. Zeke growled at Ben as he tried to pull me from Ottie.

“Get off me!” I struggled back to Ottie. “Help me plug the holes; we’ve got to stop the bleeding!” My tears blinded me, and I was covered in blood. The dagger that I’d thought only minutes ago made me invincible lay useless at my side. Zeke whimpered.

“Help! God, help me!! Please.” I sobbed.

A cold wind swept through the room. My breath turned frosty in the heavy air, and the tears froze on my cheeks. Ben swore under his breath and turned toward the door, ready to fight, but he needed a target. Zeke whined beside me. He and I both knew who had answered my prayer.

“Ellasar?” It felt as if he’d stopped time with his entrance. Zeke was no longer next to me, and the only thing I could hear was the sound of my own heart beating frantically in my ears.

“Yes, my Qadesh, it is I.”

He entered the room, dressed in white linen and looking like a god when the golden room embraced him. As he spoke, my mind focused on his lips. I wanted to go to him and be swallowed up in his arms and kiss his red lips.

I was so lost in my escape fantasy that I didn’t hear what he said. I just watched the way his mouth moved and thought about how good it would feel against my skin. He raised my face so I had to look in his eyes. He could take all this pain away.

“Focus, my Qadesh; I believe you called me here for another purpose.” He looked past me to Ottie’s bloody body.

Reality smashed back into me. Ottie.

“Please help him.” In the back of my mind I knew that I would have to pay a price for this favor, but my pain for Ottie was as sharp as my dagger. I would pay any price to save him.

“No, my Qadesh, it is not my gift to give.”

“Bullshit! Gift to give. “I know you can do this. Please help him!” 

“My Qadesh, look at me. It is not my gift but, I believe that you have the power to heal your friend.” He knelt beside me, and my tears thawed under his touch. I surfaced at the “heal your friend” part. Ottie had only minutes left.

“What? How? Tell me! He doesn’t have much time.”

I could hear Ben and Zeke; their roaring voices sounded faint, like listening to the ocean through a conch shell. They didn’t matter right now, though. Only Ottie mattered.

“He will belong to you as Ben belongs to your grandmother. Are you prepared to take on that responsibility? Is he?” He motioned to Ottie.

“He’ll be Ottie?” I asked. “Not some weird zombie or anything, right?”

“He will be as you know him, but he will be forever tied to you. I ask again. Do you want that responsibility?”

“Yes. Yes, whatever it takes! Just tell me how to save him.” I looked down and knew that I’d do anything for this big man who was like a father to me.

“As you wish. My Qadesh, pick up Annot.”

“What?”

“Your weapon.”

The dagger glowed faintly beside me, waiting. As my hand went around the hilt, I was again one with it. I hugged it to my chest.

“I am glad you like my gift.” He nodded toward the dagger and seemed to smirk, if that was possible.

“I found this at my house,” I stammered, looking at the dagger that now glowed warmly in my hand.

“Yes, and your pet understands its purpose.” He nodded toward Zeke, who was howling and bashing into the icy mist that cocooned us. “But I gave it to you, and I am thrilled to see that it recognizes you.”