Bound by Time (24 page)

He stood and locked eyes with Lucian. “Keep her safe, or I’ll rip your wings off and stuff them down your throat.”

Lucian chuckled. “It will take Xapar a while to gather more demons. We should have a break.” He leveled a look at Damien when he didn’t move. “You know she will be safe with me. Go away, Damien.”

Damien strode through the French doors in the dining room and out onto the large back deck. The rain had stopped sometime during the attack. Thunder still rumbled across the sky. Not that he worried. The storm wouldn’t affect him. He spread his wings wide and brought them down in a rush launching himself into the sky.

I
sobel climbed through layers of mental fog as she clawed her way to wakefulness. She opened her eyes and rolled onto her back with a groan staring through blurry eyes at the ceiling. Her head felt like the top was coming off and the side her face ached like someone had thrown a brick at it.

Lucian’s tawny eyes came into view. “And she wakes.” He held out his hand to her. “Come on. Sit up so you can take something for your head.”

Isobel reached for his hand wondering where Damien was. Sitting up pulled another groan from her. Maybe her head really was coming apart. It didn’t help that her joints and muscles were stiff and sore like she had pushed herself through a workout. After she was reasonably steady Lucian held a cup of water in one hand and two ibuprofens in the other.

Her lip stung when she brushed it with her hand. She dropped the pills into her mouth and washed them down with the water. Lucian nodded as if pleased she had taken them. “You sit here and sip on that. I’ll get you some toast; you’re going to need to eat something with those.”

“Where…” Her voice cracked in her sore throat. “Where is everyone?”

“Isaac is out on the back deck with Amelia and Rose enjoying the fresh air.”

“Damien?”

Lucian walked toward the kitchen. “Gone.”

Isobel’s heart stopped. “Gone? What do you mean gone? He didn’t die.”

Lucian turned back to her, a startled look on his face. “No, he didn’t die. I didn’t mean gone like that, Isobel.”

Relief washed through her. “Where then?”

“He went to find the vial.”

“But…I was going to go with him.” Isobel blinked, wondering why Damien had left without her.

Lucian shrugged as if it were no big deal. “He’ll be able to get to both cities and search much faster on his own.”

Isobel stared at him trying to understand why the motorcycle would be so much quicker than her car. “Why will it be faster?”

Lucian grinned. “Isobel, our wings are more than decoration.”

“You mean…” His words sent her aching brain into overdrive as she realized what he was saying. “He
flew
?” Isobel was terrified of heights and the thought of flying. It was one reason she hadn’t wanted to go with her parents to Dubai.

“It really is much faster.” Lucian shrugged again.

Memories from the fight filled her mind. “Did I manage to banish that demon?”

“You did more than banish him. You killed him outright. Although you should know that much power is extremely dangerous.” A small smile crossed his face. “I’m going to get you something to eat now.”

He was back shortly with two pieces of buttered toast. Isobel ate them slowly, wishing the pills would hurry up and kick in. She closed her eyes for a moment. When she reopened them Eusebia sat next to her.

Isobel stared into the ancient eyes as Eusebia smiled and nodded slightly. Isobel sensed approval from the spirit. Eusebia reached out and touched her arm, leaving a chill on her skin, and then she was gone.

Would she see Eusebia again? Somehow, Isobel doubted it. The spirit had accomplished what she came here for. Isobel stared at the spot where Eusebia had been as words from her memories came into her mind. She whispered them to the empty room.
“Usque ad proximum tempus.”
Until next time.

A quiet whisper floated on the air.
“Proximum semper est tempus.”
There is always a next time.

A faint smile touched Isobel’s lips. She finished her toast and water and stood, needing to get to the bathroom and then find a soda. The room tilted at an interesting angle, and she braced herself against the wall.

She made it to the bathroom off the foyer and flipped on the light. Maria stood shrieking in the middle of it again. The sound ground against the dull ache in her head. Isobel glared. “Really?” She embraced the sweet energy that was hers to wield and watched Maria dissolve into a smaller demon. Obviously the one who had terrorized her that morning in the bathroom only this time without the power of Xapar behind it.

Isobel raised a circle around the demon and then sidestepped it to the toilet, drawing the shower curtain around her for some privacy. She really had to go. She glanced at the demon around the edge of the curtain. “You can just stand there and wait.”

Lucian burst through the door as she was fastening her pants. He stared from her to the circled demon, then immediately relaxed against the doorway with a raised eyebrow.

Isobel shrugged. “I had to pee so bad I couldn’t have concentrated on banishing it. So I made it wait.” She rubbed her forehead. “However, my head is killing me so if you could get rid of him my brain would be forever thankful.”

Lucian laughed, the rich sound of it filling the room. Isobel smiled, drawing a sharp sting from her lip. “So happy to amuse you.”

He gazed at her, a large smile still plastered on his face. “Move out of the way. I will be happy to take over.”

Isobel slipped past him and out of the bathroom as he slid the bracelet off his wrist and his face grew serious. She left him to it and walked to the kitchen. She settled into a chair at the island with a soda and sipped, needing the caffeine.

When Lucian joined her, Isobel asked, “Why didn’t Damien heal me?”

Lucian put his hands into his pockets and leaned against the counter. “We are only allowed to heal if the injury is life threatening and there is enough spiritual energy left to save. Besides, as a channel, you will heal faster. Not as fast as an angel but within a week your injuries will be gone.”

Isobel’s mind turned to that day in the bathroom when she’d nearly killed herself because of Xapar. Without Damien, Xapar would have succeeded. Isobel hadn’t realized how close she had come to death.

“So how old are you in this life, Lucian?” she asked, wanting to change the subject.

He gave her a half smile. “Twenty-one.”

His answer surprised her. Like Damien something about him seemed older. Maybe it was his tawny eyes so full of ancient knowledge. Or the hard edge that seemed characteristic of the dark angels. The edge that told of lifetime after lifetime spent fighting evil.

Isobel’s phone rang from the family room, and Lucian went to grab it for her. He had the phone to his ear as he walked back to the kitchen. “Yeah, she’s fine. She just left the phone in the other room and I answered before her voicemail could. You can calm down.” Lucian handed it to her. “Damien.”

She quickly put the phone up to her ear anxious to hear his voice. “Damien?”

“Hello,
meae deliciae
. I wanted to let you know I’m fine. Please listen to Lucian. Let him keep you safe. I can’t talk long. I will call again.”

“Thank you,” Isobel said and then the call went silent. “I wish he would have talked more.”

Lucian shrugged. “Not many of us enjoy the impersonal contact of a phone.”

Later that day another dark angel showed up. Isobel wasn’t surprised when she glanced out the front window and didn’t see a car. Lucian introduced the new angel as Elijah. Like Lucian he was twenty-one and built like all the angels. Where Lucian had golden hair and tawny eyes, Elijah’s hair was dark brown and his olive skin seemed to set off the highlights in his hazel eyes.

Isobel decided all the angels must be beautiful creatures.

She followed the two dark angels into the family room as Isaac, Rose, and Amelia came in off the deck. Amelia glanced shyly at the new dark angel. Isobel smiled to herself when she saw him staring back at her friend. Lucian paused to order pizza before they all sat down to fill Elijah in on everything that had happened.

Isobel only ate one piece before Lucian pressed more ibuprofen into her hand to take. She snuggled into a corner of the couch. Her whole body ached, and her head throbbed. The conversation moved quietly on without her as her eyes fell shut.

The next couple of weeks slipped by in a surprisingly calm manner. Isobel found herself becoming quieter as the days passed. Worry for Damien gnawed at her. He had made only one other short call to let her know he was in Denver and then nothing. Not only didn’t he call, he wasn’t answering any calls either. What if something happened to him? What if the vial was gone? Lucian and the other two angels seemed unconcerned when she first voiced her thoughts yet as each day came and went without any word, tension crept into their eyes and worry hovered at the edge of their expressions.

As her fears grew, Xapar began to whisper to her again, the evil of his voice crawling through her mind.
“Isobel. Your precious dark angel won’t return. He is dead, brought down by my demons.”

She tried to shut out the voice, but it became harder the longer it went on. Damien should have returned by now. Or at least called. When Isobel had asked if demons could kill a dark angel if there were enough of them, Lucian told her no but the tension in his eyes still spoke volumes.

Rose made another trip upstairs and came back exhausted. She sat down in the kitchen her eyes weary. “The most I can do now is keep him on the property so he can’t hurt anyone else on the island.”

Isobel gazed at her, hopelessness creeping in. “Maybe you should all get out of here.”

Five pairs of eyes fixed on her and she shifted, uncomfortable under the weight of their scrutiny. Rose was the first to respond. “I can only keep him here if I am here. As it is, he can still reach out to more demons. If we all leave, then his demons will follow us trying to get to you. His reach is powerful.”

“I didn’t mean that we should all leave.” She looked each one in the eye. “There has been no word from Damien. Any calls to his phone have gone unanswered and unreturned.” She drew her bottom lip through her teeth and gazed at the table for a moment working to control the tears that threatened.