Deviant Knights (25 page)

“Kissing, not so much.
 
But we have an agreement of
sorts, I believe?”
 
Michel turned a smile
to Gabriel.

“An agreement, yes.
 
Now what is it you wanted to
show
Kadence
?”

“I came to this home many years ago and there
was a spot on the south side I wanted to show you.
 
Come.”

 
Michel
reached for
Kadence’s
hand and pulled her behind
him.
 
Gabriel followed the pair down the
stairs and through the center of the home.
 
Near the back, they wended their way down a dark hallway and to a small,
wooden door.
 
Michel smiled, reaching the
door open with a flourish.

Bright light flooded the hallway and Gabriel had
to cover his eyes until he became accustomed to the illumination.
 
He followed
Kadence
into a solarium.
 
A tall, glass enclosure
gave a perfect view of the
Rhine
Valley
, the view
gorgeous.

“It’s breathtaking.”
 
Kadence’s
smile was
wide as she walked closer to the glass.

“I was thinking, with a little cleaning up, we
could ask Alain if we could bring in an easel and some paints.
 
I think this would be a view to paint to if I
ever saw one.”
 
Michel smiled, looking
more relaxed than Gabriel had ever remembered the man.

“Really?
 
That would
be—wonderful.”
 
She rushed over to Michel
and hugged him happily, but then
Kadence’s
face
fell.
 
“How long will we be here?
 
What if we have to run again?”

“This castle was built to withstand attack, and
with a little fortification, I think this to be our home for a while.
 
We don’t know what’s coming, but my instinct
tells me that if the fight comes to us, we stand and fight, right here.
 
No more running, unless there is no choice,” Michel
answered.

“I agree.
 
This home is off the Illuminati radar.
 
We can see the valley on all sides.
 
The terrain to get here is not easy, one road in and out.
 
It is a defendable position.”

“I stay here with you both, paint, and do what?”

“Tell us what you see.
 
Your dreams, and your sight, they will help
us immensely.
 
We were prepared for
Paloma
, thanks to you.
 
Next time, though, you stay away from swords,” Gabriel said.

“We have a healer, now, so we’re good.”
 
Kadence’s
irreverent smile made him shake his head.

“No, seriously, no swords,” Gabriel mocked,
knowing that the comment was far from a joke.

“Then teach me how to use one?”
 
Kadence
walked
seductively towards him, her smile widening as she stepped.

“Not happening,” Michel said from behind her.

“Oh, come on, Gabriel.”

“No!”
 
They both yelled at her at once.

“What if you aren’t around?
 
Teach me some of those swashbuckling, Errol
Flynn moves so I can be safe.”

“That man was all fluff. If I teach you
anything, I will teach you proper defensive moves,” Gabriel responded.

“Good, when do we begin?”

“I agreed to nothing.”
 
She would be the death of him, he was sure of
it.
 
“I was saying hypothetically, if I
were
to teach you, that is what I would
teach you.”

“I beg to differ, Gabriel.
 
It sounded as though you already were
planning what to show me.”

“You are the most obstinate woman I have ever
met.”

“And you love it, admit it.”

“I do.”

Her look of shock to his quiet admission quickly
softened into a smile.
 
She wrapped her
arms around him and pulled close, her face into his chest.
 
Lifting her face to him, he reached out and
tucked an errant strand of hair behind her ear.

He lowered his mouth to hers and kissed her
softly.

“We will both teach you, then, different styles,
and make sure you know how to defend yourself properly,” Michel added, closing
in behind her, his lips reaching for her neck, as he brushed her hair to one
side.

Gabriel watched her eyes close as she melted
into Michel’s touch.
 
Would they never
get enough of her?

He sure hoped not.

Epilogue

 
Thierry
looked out into the moonlit night, his nerves rubbed raw.
 
He couldn’t get the sight of brilliant blue
eyes out of his mind.
 
They’d been framed
in a face that was Asian, Hawaiian he was almost sure, which was even odder
still.
 
How many Hawaiian women had blue
eyes?
 
She’d looked like a mixture of
several races, not wholly Hawaiian, which had made her exotic beauty the harder
to place.

Face of an angel, body and mind of a killer.

She’d killed that soldier with absolutely no
qualms, kicking the dead body aside like a piece of garbage.
 
And then she’d taken in the lightning, their
lightning.
 
What did it do for her?
 
For the
Templars
,
it made them stronger.
 
It would explain
her vicious fighting style; her swords had been a blur as they’d struck.

In the heat of battle, he’d been excited by her
prowess, as well as, the fact he may have found another of the
demi
-goddesses he wanted to pull close.
 
As soon as he’d turned, she was gone, and he
had no name, no knowledge of who the hell she was or why she’d attacked
Paloma
.

Paloma
was pure evil, as she’d proven all those years ago.
 
Thierry was sure she had pissed off the wrong
people over the years with her ruthlessness, so there was probably no end to
the potential candidates for killing the woman.
 

Was she still a woman?
 
They’d killed the immortal Illuminati for
years, and now that
Kadence
claimed their true faces
looked demonic, he wondered what they were.
 
Hell, was he even still human at this point?

He still ate.
 
He still breathed.
 
He still had
needs like any other man.

The dark warrior was small, perhaps only a few
inches over five feet, but she’d fought like a man twice her size.
 
Her lithe body had called to him.
 
His cock grew hard even now as he thought
about her.

But she’d been so bloodthirsty.
 
It had rocked him to the core.
 
Even after seven hundred years, he was not as
jaded as she appeared.

His dark warrior.

Cool breezes swept down the mountains as he
stood overlooking the
Rhine
River
.
 
This place was peaceful.

Alain stepped out onto the balcony, the
moonlight pouring over his features.
 
Of
any of the
Templars
left, Alain was probably the most
beautiful, and perhaps the most deadly.

He
kind of reminded Thierry of a male version of his dark warrior.

“The seer is healed.
 
The healer rests.
 
And we now have a warrior to find.” Alain
spoke softly as he stepped closer.
 
“You
were closer to her. Did you gather anything from her that would help us?”

“No.
 
She
gave away no clues except her possible heritage. But in these times, she could
live anywhere.
 
It helps us not.”

“How did she take our lightning?”
 
Alain rested back on the ledge, an apple and
a knife appearing in his hands.

“She’s a
demi
-goddess.
 
There is a lot we do not know about how
strong they could be.”

“She fights too well.”

“Too well?”
 
Thierry turned to look at
his normally quiet friend.

“A woman of her beauty should not be
fighting.
 
But she does it so well, how
could you keep her from it?”

“You found her—beautiful?”

“As did you.
 
I saw you staring at
her.”
 
Alain popped a piece of apple into
his mouth.

Thierry grew quiet, the breezes off the mountain
ruffling over him.
 
“Yes, she was
stunning.”

****

Kailani
McDaniel
limped into her apartment halfway around the world.
 
Pulling off her black fighting gear, she
stalked through the immaculate home, dropping her clothing and weapons as she
moved.
 
Low-lights immediately came on as
she opened the front door of the expensive home. She’d killed a lot of enemies
over the years in order to afford the luxuries around her.
 
Not that she ever appreciated any of them for
more than a few hours.

She stopped to look into the bathroom mirror
that graced one large wall, grunting as she looked over the numerous bruises
and cuts that covered her body.
 
Her
fingers checked over the meatier gashes and she determined she would heal up
just fine.

She turned on the shower and stepped inside, the
numerous heads washing away the blood and gore from the night.
 
Resting her head on the cool granite wall,
she relived the events of the evening, angered that she’d missed her target.

Her client would not be happy that
Paloma
the gypsy bitch was still breathing.
 
Had she not paused to look at that son-of-a-bitch
Templar, perhaps she wouldn’t have missed her chance.
 
His nearness had caught her off-guard.
 
She’d felt his eyes on her as she fought and
she’d not liked it one bit.

Kailani
didn’t have distractions.
 
Distractions were weaknesses.
 
Weaknesses equated to death in her line of work.

She grasped the bar of soap and a cloth from the
bar, and began to lather.
 
Gray eyes
whispered into her mind and she gnashed her teeth, kicking the image from her
mind.
 
She washed her body quickly and
efficiently and rinsed off.
 

Grabbing a bath sheet, she wrapped herself in it
and moved to the large windows, opening them to the sounds of the night.
 
The Fijian surf crashed along the shore
violently, like her mood.
 
A low-hanging
moon made the water shimmer, the illumination wavering over the surface.
 
Kailani
walked out
onto the deck, letting the sea air swell over her injured body.
 
A night of rest and she’d be back on the hunt
for the Illuminati bitch.

Visions of the Templar fighting flooded her
brain.
 
He’d been strong of body, working
his sword through his opponents with ease.
 
But it was more than that.
 
All
the
Templars
there were of equal strength, equal
experience.
 
The one they called Thierry
had a trait that the others did not seem to possess.
 
He moved with a legendary grace, as if he
expected the next move that would come.

His tight, compact body had been a finely honed
machine, and that is what drew her to him.
 
Not his gray eyes filled with wisdom, or the solid set of his jaw.
 

She had absolutely no time in her life for
romance.
 
She couldn’t even remember the
last time she’d wanted or needed sex.
 
Sex brought on strings, even when men claimed they wanted none.
 
A little use and abuse and the men acted like
chicks, asking her to stay the night and cuddle—talk about their feelings?

Big, strong warrior types, the ones she’d grown
up around on base after base after base with her family.
 
Yeah, they were supposed to be hardened
steel.
 
Yet a few hours in bed with her
and
they
turned into women.