Dark Angel's Ward (24 page)

"What are you talking about?"

"Really, sweetness." His brows drew together in a frown. "Do you think I
wanted
to fall in love with you, knowing this day would come eventually?"

My mouth fell open. "You are
not
in love with me. Stop saying things like that!"

He sighed and hung his head, leaning his forehead against mine as if talking to me was wearisome. "Have I lied to you yet, Jandra?"

"I wouldn't know. You've said a lot of things that can't be proven one way or the other."

"Ah, but this one's easy to prove." He traced my lower lip with a fingertip, the feather-light touch making me quiver. His mouth had just found mine again when the front door burst open with a crash.

"Jandra!" Zeph's shout rang from the rafters. I jumped back, mortified.

"Will you be careful?" Brax hissed, keeping hold of me as I nearly lost my footing again.

"We must leave, and now!" Zeph called out. "Something's happening!"

From his tone, I assumed he hadn't seen us yet and thought I was still in the bedroom. "Zeph!" I cried out, straining in Brax's grip. "Help me!"

A sigh grated in my ear. "Was that really necessary?" Brax let go of me abruptly and I stumbled, falling back against the wall. I let myself slide down it. By the time Zeph crested the stairs I sat on the floor at Brax's feet, one trembling hand pressed to my lips.

"What did you do to her?" he snapped.

Brax smiled his most insufferable smile. "Nothing she wasn't enjoying until you showed up."

Zeph bared his teeth in a snarl and leapt at him. They crashed to the floor beside me in a tangle of flying fists.

Twenty-Five

"Oh my God, you guys! Stop it!" I scrambled up onto my knees, watching for a chance to reach in and intervene. They struck and tumbled so fast my eyes could hardly make sense of it. Finally Zeph came out on top, pinning Brax by the shoulders.

Despite the blood trickling from one corner of his mouth, Brax's fierce grin never wavered. "Don't try my patience, nephilim. Besides, you haven't got time for this."

"Off!" I commanded, tugging at Zeph's shoulders.

"Keep out of this, Jandra," he replied through clenched teeth. "It doesn't concern you."

"Well, she
did
start it." Brax glanced at me and winked.

Zeph shook him, snapping his head against the floor. "Don't even look at her!"

"You stop
now.
" I seized his arm and leaned backward, but for all my effort I barely budged him. He finally sat back of his own accord, turning uncomprehending eyes at me. Hell, I didn't know why I was defending the asshole, either.

"You have ten minutes at the most to get her out of here before the shit hits the fan," Brax informed us pleasantly as we stared at each other.

Zeph bared his teeth again. "I can kill you in five."

"Better than you have tried, nephilim. Anyway, don't let it be said I didn't warn you."

"Come on, Zeph," I pleaded. "We did what we came to do, didn't we? Sara's safe, and nobody had to get hurt in the process." Well, except for Wiener Boy, but since he was beyond help....

"No use crying over spilt blood," Brax appended to my unspoken thought.

"Will you
please
shut up?" Sighing, I curved my fingers around Zeph's cheek, drawing his blazing eyes away from Brax and back onto me. "Just get up, and ignore him. You said something's happening? What did you mean?"

"I don't know." He finally shifted his weight, allowing Brax to slither out from underneath him. "I have an odd pain in my stomach," he continued, frowning. "It grows worse by the second."

"Hmm." Brax looked up from a critical examination of his knuckles. "Perhaps you have even less time than I thought."

"All right, it doesn't matter. We're out of here." I stood, offering Zeph my hand even though he came practically to my shoulder even on his knees. He took it and kept it after he rose, kneading my fingers in his.

"Out the bedroom window would be your best bet." Brax had begun straightening his clothes, not looking at either of us. "It's a bit of a drop, but you shouldn't bruise too easily."

"And what about you?" I asked.

"What about me, dear heart?"

"Well, aren't you going to be in trouble when your boss gets here and finds out you let everyone escape?"

"Jandra, what bearing could that possibly have...?"

"Hush." I spared a glance for Zeph, then went back to studying Brax. Something in his demeanor had changed in the last few minutes. I captured his wandering gaze and held it. "I get it, okay? I can see that in your own weird way, you're trying to help us...."

"You," he cut in pointedly, scowling. "I am trying to help
you
."

"Whatever. My point being, since I'm on the Society's shit list now, I don't think anything you've done tonight is going to make you too popular around the water cooler. Am I right?" When he didn't answer, I offered him my other hand. "Come on."

Now he flashed me a quick, savage grin. "You can't be serious."

Was I? I reached again for anger, for hatred, and once again they slipped away before I could grasp them. He was a demon and a killer, but God help me, I couldn't bring myself to despise him. "Don't take this the wrong way," I muttered. "I still have a lot I need to ask you. Come now, and we'll work out the particulars later, all right?"

He looked from my face to my outstretched hand and back. Then, holding my gaze as he had before, he brought my knuckles to his lips. "I'm touched that you care, dear heart." He kissed them and let me go.

"Jandra...."

"Shut
up,
Zeph."

"Get out of here," Brax concluded, getting to his feet smoothly and without my aid. "Now."

"But...!"

"I'll slow them down for you." He met my gaze significantly. "Otherwise you won't make it half a block. Go on."

Damn it, I'd just had this same conversation with Zeph, only in reverse. I shook off a wave of deja vu and forced a grudging smile. "Thank you."

He echoed it with a ghostly one of his own. "It's what I do."

I still couldn't quite believe that, but he hadn't given me any reason to distrust him. At least not where my personal safety was concerned. With a sigh, I turned back toward the bedroom doorway. I started forward, but Zeph seemed rooted to the spot all of a sudden. I frowned over my shoulder at him. "Come on, let's get...."

My words trailed off as I noticed the frantic rise and fall of his chest. And our psychic link had gone blank again.
Shit!
I'd been so preoccupied with Brax, I hadn't noticed anything awry. "Zeph? Zeph, can you hear me?" I tugged on his hand again. But to no avail, as I'd feared. All the signs were there, right down to the trembling limbs and dilated pupils. Zeph was experiencing his second-ever panic attack.

"Son of a bitch!" I groaned, wrapping my arms around his waist. "Come on, baby. I need you to hear me. Please!" I aimed warmth and calming thoughts at him, but it all seemed to be swallowed up in a fog.

"What the hell are you doing?" Brax hissed, pulling at my shoulders. "Leave him behind! Just go!"

"No! I'm going to leave without him."

"Damn it, Jandra, it's you they want. Run! Get out of here!"

"What are you talking about?" I shook off his grip and looked back at him. "They're after Zeph, not me."

Brax's eyes were huge in his pale face. "That's what I thought, too, but I was wrong."

"You
are
wrong. They want him, he foresaw it."

"Well, yes, they'll take him too, but
him
they'll just kill. If they get hold of you...you don't even want to know. Just run. Please, run!"

His fear stabbed at me, raw and sincere, a stunning contrast to the nothingness I felt from Zeph. Understanding came in a flash. "Quit blocking my link with him!" I spat.

"No. He'll only slow you down!"

"Well I'm not leaving him, so right now
you're
the only one slowing me down." With that, I turned my back on him again and grabbed both of Zeph's clammy hands in mine. "Come on, Zephyrus-Stratocaster, whatever the hell your name is!"

"Zephylostravakanastraeanemius." A new voice echoed from the open front doorway. "The last of impure blood."

Brax hissed softly. I glanced back at him to see his bleak expression smooth away, melting into a pleasant mask. "There you are, Markus," he called, making his way to the stairs and starting down. "What took you so long? I was starting to worry."

Markus? Why did that name sound familiar?

"I'm afraid Ms. Wheeler had to leave the ball a bit early," Brax prattled on cheerfully. "Seems she was afraid she'd turn into a pumpkin. I've no idea why, it's well past midnight already."

"Do you mean to say...?"

"Wait.
You're
Father Markus?" I interrupted, squinting at the shadowy figure in the doorway. His head tilted upward, following the sound of my voice.

Zeph finally stirred, clutching weakly at me. "Jandra, don't...."

"Oh, hell no! He's just the man I've been wanting to see." I stomped down the stairs, dimly aware of Zeph trailing behind me. "I've been meaning to speak to you about your employee disfigurement policy."

"Run NOW!"
Brax's voice echoed eerily in my mind. He'd never reached out to me telepathically before--yet another tidbit from his demonic bag of tricks that I didn't want to know about. He flinched when I shoved past him, as if he'd have liked to grab me but had forced himself to refrain.

I couldn't see what the two of them were so worked up about. The man standing by my sofa was tall and barrel-chested, not quite the wizened old cleric I'd envisioned, but obviously past his prime. His auburn hair and beard were liberally threaded with gray, and he wore a pair of smoky glasses even in the darkened room. I wasn't about to back down from a fifty-year-old blind man.

"Do you have the faintest idea what goes on in this little organization of yours?" I demanded, planting myself in front of him. "Do you have any authority, or are you just another fucking figurehead?"

"Would you be Agent Maxwell?" He cocked an ear in my direction.

"Ex
-agent," I corrected primly.

Brax chuckled beside me. "Oh, dear heart. You didn't really think you were retired, did you?"

"
You
shut up." I pointed an emphatic finger. I hadn't forgiven him yet for his interference. "So, Markus? Are you the boss around here, or what?"

"I like to think of myself as a man of no small influence," he replied, smiling.

Oh God, he sounded just like his lackey. "Good. Then why don't you explain to me how exactly you equate 'protecting the Sons of God' with 'hacking body parts off the Sons of God?'"

He inclined his head courteously, as if I'd asked him the time of day. "The procedure was a final attempt to rid the nephilim of their vanity and hubris. A failed attempt, unfortunately, but a turning point in the evolution of events nonetheless." He paused. "I must say, Abraxas didn't properly describe your beauty, Ms. Maxwell. You're quite lovely."

"How the hell would you know?" I asked, frowning toward his shaded eyes. "And what does that have to do with anything?"

"It's entirely irrelevant," Brax said, a note of anger intruding on his easygoing tone, "considering the terms of our agreement."

"Our agreement hasn't changed, Abraxas."

"Didn't I tell you to shut up?" I snarled at him. Then, to Markus, "Go on, what were you saying about evolution?"

He smiled. "A well-phrased question indeed. Consider the nephilim beside you, daughter. He has walked this earth for three thousand years, and carries the blessings of God the Father himself. He and his brothers were granted their incarnation for mankind's benefit, yet what have they done with those gifts?"

Zeph had said something similar himself, hadn't he? I shrugged. "I don't know. What are they supposed to do with them?"

I thought I heard Brax snicker under his breath, but Markus clearly wasn't amused. His expression went thunderous--and, perhaps, just a little bit intimidating. For an old guy. "They are called upon to help humanity," he declared sternly. "To preserve justice and to defend the righteous."

"Uh-huh. And Zeph does that." Maybe not on a global scale, as Markus seemed to be implying, but he'd certainly defended the twins and I. I reached back for his hand and clasped it firmly in mine.

"Jandra," he said again, his voice still faint and breathless.

"And he clings to you like a leech," Markus went on, scowling. I could've sworn his sightless eyes had zeroed in perfectly on our joined hands. "Always needing, always demanding. They're little better than invalids with all the care they require."

"Rather like old men." Brax's inflection left no doubt--he was laughing at me. Or maybe at Markus. "Fit for a nursing home, the lot of them."

"'Lot' is an overstatement," Markus corrected, "since the rest have been dealt with. All but this one, and he's been proving most stubborn."

"Dealt with?" I repeated, recalling his words as he'd walked in the door.
The last of impure blood....
My mouth fell open. "Are you saying you've killed them?
All
of them?" Had I been out of the loop for that damn long? "But wait, that's not possible. We just saw Ryphan--Belleryphan--just a few hours ago!"

"You're confusing your terms again, dearest," Brax said softly.

"Well what the hell does that mean?" When neither of them answered me, I went back to my own line of questioning. "But
why
would you kill them?"

"They are weak," Markus scoffed. "Petty, useless creatures. A poor offering."

"So what did you expect, perfection? They
are
half human too, you know."

Brax twitched at that, seemed on the verge of saying something, but Markus's voice cut him off. "Yes. That seems integral to the process."

I frowned. "What process?"