Her Guardian Angel 4-Her Angel Series (43 page)

Amelia
was in command in this world. She had total control over him
here.

Apollyon
had told him that Heaven wasn’t easy to leave and neither was his
duty. When they left this world, would Heaven call him again or
come for him? Would they try to make him kill Amelia?

“You’re
worried,” Amelia said and placed a soft kiss against the corner of
his mouth. “I can feel it.”

It wasn’t
just because this was her world. It was because she was like him in
some ways now and could sense a sliver of people’s emotions when
she was close to them.

“I was
wondering how long Taylor can keep us hidden.”

“Not
forever, that’s for sure. When we go out there, the angels will be
waiting, if they haven’t found us and taken our bodies already.”
There was such a solemn edge to her tone and Marcus hated to hear
it and to feel that she had given up already. He could give her
courage at least and a reason to hold on to hope.

“We only
need to remain hidden until the end of the planetary
alignment.”

Her
silvery eyebrows rose. “The one I told you about?”

Marcus
recalled now that she had tried to speak to him at the café in
London about a programme she had watched on the subject. At the
time, he had been so lost in her beauty and in battling his growing
feelings for her that he hadn’t been able to focus on their
conversation. He nodded.

“Seven
days. If we can remain here or out of their grasp for seven days,
then your blood will no longer be of use to them.”

“What
does it do?” She looked down at her hands where they rested on his
chest. “What is it they wanted me for?”

They
hadn’t told her? She had her memories back, which meant that if she
didn’t know now why Heaven had captured her and had wanted to spill
her blood then she had never known. She had died each time without
ever knowing what they had wanted from her.

Marcus
gathered her closer to him when the ground trembled again and tried
to bring her focus back to him rather than on the attack taking
place where their bodies were. He had faith in his friends that
they would all survive this. Heaven wasn’t foolish enough to start
an all out war on Earth. It went against its principles and creed,
against its purpose.

It was
difficult to bring his own focus away from the attack when the
desire to return to the real world and join the fight beat deep in
his heart. He wasn’t convinced that Heaven would leave them alone
once the planetary alignment ended and he still hungered for
revenge for his sake and Amelia’s. He wanted to settle everything
once and for all, to return to Heaven and somehow ensure they would
never come after Amelia again.

How could
he fight them now though? He had no wings to reach Heaven and no
power to use once he got there. It was impossible.

Amelia
moved in his arms, her heart beating against his chest. He stroked
her cheek to soothe her fears and pushed away his impotent desire
for vengeance, focusing on her instead.

“Your
blood could activate a seal that would close Heaven if it was spilt
in the right place in Hell, and Hell if it was spilt in the right
place in Heaven… but only if the blood touched the marks at the
right time, and it would only last until the moment the last of
your blood dried out and left the seal.” He grazed the backs of his
fingers along the soft line of her jaw and kept her attention on
him, his eyes locked with hers. “If we can keep you safe until that
time has passed, then they would have no reason to come after you
anymore.”

Unless
they wanted to kill her so she would start the cycle of rebirth
again. Marcus would never allow that to happen. They would keep
moving, remaining out of sight and free of both Heaven’s and Hell’s
angels. He would protect her forever if he had to.

That was,
if forever was still within his grasp.

“They
will always be after me, won’t they?” she whispered and he couldn’t
lie to her.

“I will
protect you, Amelia. I promised you that, remember?”

Her smile
said that she did. He slowly caressed her cheek, absorbing the
softness of her skin and her warmth. The sea rolled over his bare
feet and up his shins, and it dawned on him that he was nude and
had been from the moment he had shunned Heaven.

Amelia
didn’t seem to notice. She lay on him wearing a beautiful smile and
her ruined dress, her wings grazing his thighs and the sand by her
feet.

“I do not
know what will happen when we leave this place.” He ran his right
hand over her bare thigh down to her knee. “Heaven might still have
the power to command me.”

A frown
flitted across her face and then melted away. “Serenity commanded
Apollyon when he wanted to kill me… if I do the same, would it
work?”

He wasn’t
sure. She had reached him once and given him the strength to fight
Heaven’s orders, and she had power beyond the grasp of most. There
was a chance that if she formed a contract with him, that it would
overrule any orders that Heaven might send him, even those attached
to his eternal duty.

“It
might. If you call to me and bind us by contract, it might
work.”

“Contract?”

“Serenity
called to Apollyon, requesting something of him, and he agreed to
it. That’s how they can be together and how Serenity can command
him. If you do the same, then there is a chance that it will forge
a bond between us… or perhaps something stronger.”

“Stronger?”

She had
power beyond an angel’s reckoning. Was it possible that she could
call him to her and bind them as master and servant? Marcus’s heart
raced at the prospect. It was worth a shot.

“You
could call me over to your side. You are powerful, Amelia. You
could do more than place a contract between us. You could bring me
over, as the Devil can to an angel.”

“You
mean… make you like me?” The tremble in her voice betrayed her
nerves.

Marcus
nodded. “It is what I want, Amelia. I wish to be like you… I wish
for the strength to protect you. You can give that to
me.”

She
pushed away from him and rose to her knees and then onto her feet,
a vision with her half-angel, half-demonic wings and her long
silver hair shining in the moonlight.

Amelia
held her hand out to him. He slipped his into it and she surprised
him by hauling him easily onto his feet and then casting a shy
glance at his groin.

“I think
I should start with your appearance. You’re a little distracting at
the moment.” She frowned at his body and Marcus looked down as his
feet tingled and warmed. The cuts and scratches on them
disappeared, followed by those on his legs and then his torso and
arms, and finally the heat touched his face. Amelia smiled at him.
“Much better.”

“What are
you doing?” he said, trying to grasp whether this was real or just
a flight of fancy possible in this inner world of
Amelia’s.

“Making
you mine.” Her cheeks coloured and then she straightened up and
looked deep into his eyes, her grey ones full of confidence and
strength that was so familiar to him.

That was
his Amelia. Never afraid. Always facing things head on. She had
strength like no other mortal or immortal. She had seized his heart
for herself when it had long been in Heaven’s grasp, had snatched
him from them and changed him so much.

This had
to be possible.

He wanted
it to be.

“Your
knight?” he said and she nodded.

“My
knight… should wear armour.”

Marcus
marvelled down at himself when familiar boots appeared on his feet,
followed by greaves to cover his shins. Only they were different to
the ones he was used to. Rather than being blue with raised silver
edging, they were bright silver with royal blue edging and bore a
raised form of a rampant winged horse on each greave. He was still
staring at them when he felt the matching vambraces form over his
forearms. A rearing winged horse decorated each of them too. A
royal blue loincloth covered him and then beautiful pointed
rectangles of pure silver inlaid with blue patterns appeared,
attaching themselves to a belt around his waist. His breastplate
followed it and Marcus wasn’t surprised to see a winged horse on
each pectoral of the silver armour.

What did
surprise him was what happened when Amelia looked at his
shoulders.

Wings
burst from his back.

He looked
over his shoulders at them, expecting them to look like hers. They
didn’t. They were the same wings he’d had as an angel.

Marcus
turned back to her.

“Do you
like them?” she said with a smile.

“No.”

Her smile
faded and hurt surfaced in her eyes. He stepped towards her, took
hold of her hand and looked down into her eyes.

“I mean…
give me wings like yours, Amelia… so all will know that we are one
and so that you will never feel as though your wings are something
that will come between us. They are beautiful, and I want mine to
be like them too.”

Tears
sparkled on her lashes and she nodded.

Marcus
stepped back and power washed over him when she looked at his
shoulders. He waited for it to ebb away and then looked at his
wings. They were as beautiful as hers were, pure silver feathers
catching the moonlight and giving way to reveal a dark leathery
membrane and clawed tips.

Amelia
looked nervous and then held her hands out in front of her and two
curved silver blades similar to those he had once owned appeared on
her palms. She looked down at them.

“I can’t
give you back what you sacrificed to be with me. Part of me knows
that… on some level… somehow. I’m not sure what I am yet or what
I’m going to do, but I know I want you at my side throughout the
journey that lies ahead of me. I don’t want to go on without you,
Marcus.” She closed her eyes and tears streaked down her cheeks and
fell onto the blades. They shimmered brightly and then dulled
again. “I believe you are worthy of me. You are the only knight I
need… the only man I need. I love you with all of my heart and I
want to stay with you this time… I don’t want us to suffer
anymore.”

He
smiled, eased down to his knee in front of her, and held his hands
above his head with his palms turned upwards.

She
placed the twin blades into them and he looked up at her, meeting
her gaze, and then lowered his head again and offered his blades
back to her.

He closed
his eyes when she touched them and he felt the power flow from her
through them and into him.

“Marcus,
I am offering you the eternal duty of protecting me, of becoming my
guardian and my knight, and in exchange I offer my
heart.”

Marcus’s
hands trembled and he drew in a long steadying breath as he heard
those words deep in his heart, echoing there and calling to him. He
had only ever known the call of his master’s voice. Amelia’s was
softer than it but no less powerful. It warmed him as much as her
touch did and soothed him more than it ever could.

He raised
his eyes to meet hers and the nerves in them tugged at the corners
of his lips. He suppressed his desire to smile at how unsure she
was. It had been a good speech, although all she had truly needed
to do was say his name and let her heart tell him the rest. It said
so much more than her words had. Her heart had called to his,
filling him with her feelings and her love, and it was that which
he sought in exchange for his vow of obedience.

He wanted
her heart as forever his.

“I
accept, my master.” Marcus lowered his head again and then rose to
his feet, coming to stand barely a few inches in front of her. He
looked down into her eyes and smiled at last, letting her see and
feel what this meant to him. “I love you.”

A smile
burst onto her lips and she tiptoed, threw her arms around his
shoulders, and kissed him.

Marcus
dropped his two blades onto the sand, slipped his arms around her
waist and drew her in for a long heated kiss, making the most of
this moment with her. Her tongue swept over his lips, teasing him,
and he delved his into her mouth so it tangled with hers. She
tasted as sweet as he remembered and he had been dying to do this
again with her, had thought it would never happen after she had
awoken as an angel. It seemed almost too good to be real and he
didn’t want to let her go in case it turned out to be only a dream
and not Taylor’s doing after all.

The
ground shook again and Amelia gasped and hid against his chest when
the tremor lasted longer this time.

Marcus
looked around him and frowned. The scenery had changed. In place of
the sea and the shoreline, a bright green sunlit valley filled his
vision. The hill they stood on sloped downwards into it and he
heard a river far below, and caught glimpses of it through the
trees that lined its bank in the valley bottom. The hills rolled
around them, stretching far into the distance.

“Is this
your world?” Amelia said and Marcus frowned.