Summon Dorn (Archangels Creed) (5 page)

One of his thick, perfectly shaped brows rose in an elegant arch as he glanced at her.
"I'm not actually. I came here five years ago. From Romania."

"
Romania. Wow, neat. I knew you weren't from here."

He shrugged, flicking his gaze at her.
"The accent usually gives me away."

"
That and your looks."

"
Uh-oh," was all he muttered, staring at his feet.

Uh-oh? What did that mean? Did she offend him? Was that an anti-Romanian comment?
"Is it bad that you're prettier than any woman I know? Are you gay? I did not just say that, I definitely did not just say that." She watched the hustle of work around her, wishing her sister would appear at the door. Or the floor would open and swallow her stupid butt. His lack of comment confirmed he was gay and only added to her humiliation. Gay guys usually didn't like when other people noticed, did they? It must be worse in other countries, from his reaction.

Keeping her eyes trained on the door, her mouth proceeded to have severe diarrhea.
"I'm a motor mouth, sorry, I say the stupidest things. Put my foot in my mouth twenty-four seven, seven days a week. Look, see? I just did it again. It's because I get nervous in social situations. Especially around guys. Even more so with gorgeous guys?" She gave yet another gaspy laugh combined with a groan, one more nail in the social coffin then finally chanced a look at him, half expecting, half wishing to find him gone.

Hardly. His green gaze was severe, his lids slightly lowered, brows pulled into a scowl.
"I don't think I've ever been called…that."

Shoot, that didn
't sound good. But which? A woman? Or gay? "I'm sorry if it was an insult, I meant it as a compliment. The woman part. Not sure what it means in Rome—ania—Romania." She consciously bit her lip to force the disaster to stop pouring out.

He laughed.

Jessie knew all about ridicule first hand, and there it was, in his sexy tone. She was such a loser. The only compensation was the dimple showing in his left cheek.

Sally
finally came through the entrance doors. "My sister, thank goodness." Jessie waved to her and Sally hurried over.. Before Sally could say too much, Jessie introduced her. "Sally, this is Lucian, Lucian, my sister."

Sally
reached out to shake his hand. Surprisingly he shook it. No, not surprisingly. Sally always got the guys.

Jessie couldn
't resist adding, "She's a nun."

She
'd intended that bit of info to dissuade, but the odd fact seemed to only further his interest in Sally. He spoke softly in another language, clearly amazed, and Jessie became captive to his beautiful face and the way he sounded in a foreign tongue.

"
Not a nun yet," Sally admonished sweetly with a speculative look at Jessie.

Jessie quirked a brow at
the
I haven't signed on the dotted line and I may not, after meeting him
tone.

"
I think that is a very noble thing to be." Lucian nodded, hands back in his pockets.

"
Why thank you."

Why on earth did
Sally pretend to have a southern belle accent? Kind of sickening. "Can I talk to you Sally?"

"
Sure. It was nice to meet you Lucian." She held her hand out again. This time, Lucian seemed honored and captured it in both of his as he nodded and smiled at her.

Jessie froze again, mesmerized. That smile. No, his entire face
with
that smile. The man/ god was sinfully beautiful, that's what he was. And it looked like her nun sister was all into bringing his salvation.

"
Oh!" Sally dug through her purse and pulled out a wad of scapulars. "A gift. They're all blessed, pick one." She untangled the rat's nests of strings, each holding a cloth saint, flipping through them like a deck of playing cards, reciting the power-ups each offered or evil they protected you from.
Sickness. Depression. Joy. Prosperity. Anger.
The list went on and on, with some saints able to kill a few naughty birds with one holy stone.

More shocking than her sister
's spiritual-casino-in-a-purse was how many Lucian actually took! One of each? Maybe he
was
like his brother.

"
And they're all blessed!" Sally reiterated, clearly ecstatic over her willing…victim errr…customer. "Oh, what am I thinking? Take all of them, your brother could stand a few as well. You can never have too much holiness surrounding you."

Lucian accepted enthusiastically, nodding with foreign syllables. Jessie watched his lips, not hearing a word. Astonishing mouth. Truly. She traced the edge in her mind then snapped her gaze up in mortified horror when those lips turned to her with a little sexy half smile, as if he knew her thoughts.

Jessie swallowed hard when she bumped into his direct green gaze while she tucked her naturally unruly hair behind an ear. "All fixed up?"

"
Thank you again. For helping my brother." The politely distant tone served to remind her there was nothing personal between them. Even if she might wish with all her might there was.

Jessie wagged her hand with
a
pfft.
"It was nothing. I'd have done the same for a dog." Oh no. Before her mouth could take off in a marathon session of disaster, Jessie reached out to shake his hand. "So nice to meet you, Lucian. Very sorry for all of this."

****

"Plan B." Dorn nodded at Lucian in answer to Kassern's perturbed look.

Kassern scratched the bridge of his nose and nodded at the young girl named
Sally. "That must be your wife?"

Dorn resisted the urge to grind his jaw at that surprisingly annoying term. He wasn
't about to give Kassern the satisfaction. "Yes."

"
She's quite a bargain. And seems…smitten with plan B. Trouble in paradise already," he sighed.

"
That will change when we meet and she knows the mission. Her dedication to God will enable her to overcome her human emotions." Dorn glanced at Kassern. "Rather than allowing her human emotions to lessen it. Brother."

"
Ohhhh, ouch." Kassern jutted his chin at the human named Jessie. "She's original at least."

Original. Kassern knew as well as Dorn that she was a disaster waiting to happen. Her greatest strength was knowing in a pure way how weak she was. But her greatest weakness—
which far surpassed said strength—was her uncompromising belief in her failure. She was a trouble magnet. Her negativity attracted every demon within the immediate vicinity. Only her solid faith in God prevented them gaining a foothold in her soul. She protected her faith secretly and quietly, but hidden or not, it was the one thing saving her. He'd have to babysit that one closely. Dorn bristled at the realization that soon he'd have a wife
and
two children to nurture while saving the world
.

"
At least your wife is beautiful," Kassern said.

"
Her godliness is quite lovely." Before Kassern could continue his faithful pestering, Dorn held up a silencing hand. "Give up trying to seduce me with humanity. I'm not the least tempted."

Kassern raised his brows and nodded at his two girls going at it in the corner.
"Looks like you have a cat fight on your hands."

Dorn
's frustrated sigh hissed out like a flat tire. He'd been trying not to hear but of course the deplorable angel would rub it in. "They're merely working out their differences. The sooner the better."

"
Wow, now that's what I call multi-tasking."

At hearing the humor in Kassern
's tone, Dorn looked. And was sorry he did. There was no hiding his disgust and shock. The human Sally cleaned her nails with the bottom end of her crucifix!

God. How disgusting hominids could be. And unfortunately, the multi-tasking one was about to become his bride. The only bright side was, as a nun, she would learn humility and patience, reverence and respect. Perhaps her training should be accelerated. He could certainly arrange that… 

Chapter Five

Jessie didn
't bother with using the sidewalk in front of her house. The ache of pure exhaustion took her straight across the lawn to the front door. 

The living room light glow
ed yellow through the window and sapped her
home finally
enthusiasm right from her veins. Sally was up. After today, Jessie had no energy to deal with her sister's theatrics. Sally's ever bulging drama bubble pressed unrelentingly into Jessie's personal space – not death, not tragedy, and certainly not Jessie's trauma could alleviate the pressure.

Sally's
latest theatrics with her sudden bursting need to become a nun was totally Hollywood. A
nun.
Who knew what prompted her to take such a drastic step?
There didn't seem to be a level she wouldn't stoop to in order to harvest the attention she craved—
all
of it. She especially had to have any notice headed Jessie's way. 

Jessie reached for the door knob and flashes of
the violence she'd experienced in her living room slammed into her. She gripped the cold metal and, by sheer force of will, stilled the sudden tremble overtaking her limbs.

The door swung inward and ripped the knob from her hand.
Sally snatched her arm and dragged her inside. "Where have you been? I was getting worried."

Jessie had only managed to imply foul play while talking to her sister at the hospital. But worried? That was a heavy word for her sister. Worried her head would explode if she didn
't get the details, maybe.
"Well, I wanted to wait until they had some sort of diagnosis before leaving." Plus, poor Lucian seemed so lost with his brother out of commission she'd wanted to make sure he at least ate something. And she kind of needed to make up for insulting him. Not that her sister needed to know that. She kicked her shoes off for the first time in almost twenty-four hours.

"
What is it?"

The vague question felt like the straw that broke the beaten and exhausted camel
's back.  Too bad there wasn't a scapular that would make her sister speak in complete thoughts. The soft light of the heavy lamps in the corners glowed off the dark wood wall paneling and enfolded her in a cocoon of warmth. Dropping into her favorite chair, she stared up at Sally, realizing she'd have to go the Kindergarten route. "What is what?" She'd be glad when the temporary living arrangement ended and Sally went to the convent.

Sally
rolled her eyes and bit her lower lip for a second. "Really? Jess Anna, what's the diagnosis?"

Like using Jessie
's given name would intimidate her. It was merely annoying without her dad's growl backing it up. There were a million words on her tongue, none of them nice. Jessie nailed her with a
don't push me
stare, shoving the need to yell at Sally out of her vocal cords.
"All the tests aren't back yet. Sis. But he had a massive stroke."

Sally's
eyes bugged, but her dismay was plainly forced. "Oh, my… Is he going to be okay?" She never failed to over-dramatize her reaction to Jessie's worries or concerns.

"
I'd say as okay as anyone could be after a vein burst and dumped a gallon of blood into their brain and fried all the circuits. As far as they can tell, only his autonomic systems are functioning and he might never recover voluntary control."

Sally
cocked her hip out and crossed her arms over her chest while staring into the space between them. "What a shame. Such an attractive man." She paced a moment, then stopped. "Listen, I've been thinking about what you said at the hospital, about him attacking you." She curled into her customary spot at the end of the couch. "I checked him out. He's a reputable businessman and doesn't have a record or anything. Are you sure you didn't jump to conclusions?"

Jessie froze, one foot still stretched in front of her, in the act of curling into her chair. Surely her sister hadn
't just said that. Jessie slowly tucked her leg under her, fighting back the wave of pain. Of course she'd said it. 

As if on cue, her entire body came to her defense. Instead of just her shoulders and feet hurting, her arms throbbed, the inside of her lip burned, and her jaw ached. All the testimonies combined at once and turned that wave of pain into a shield of anger.

Jessie shot up from the chair. "Does this look like I misunderstood?" Shoving the long sleeves of the shirt under her scrubs up to her elbows, she presented the livid bruises on her forearms. "How about this,
sis
?" Jessie pulled her lip down and revealed the split. "This look like a miscommunication?" She was almost pleased with the drop of her sister's jaw. Until she saw the skepticism in her eyes.

Jessie gasped on a fresh wave of pain, realizing her
should-be-beloved sister's skepticism hurt more than what Leo had done.