The Protect Her Box Set: Parts 7-9 (21 page)

“You mean kill me,” I said.

I heard the growl from across the room. Riley was wound tight.

“One problem at a time,” Viho said. “For now, I am extricating you from your very poorly designed blood pact.”

“Bruno Proctor doesn’t have the answer,” I said slowly. I opened my hand and stared at the healing wound on my palm. “Our deal no longer applies because there is no saving me from Eva. And that is the truth.” I gasped as I felt the sensation of pain pass through my arm. I blinked, and the wound was gone. My palm appeared entirely healed.

“I don’t believe it,” I said in awe.

“Ah, crap. Nobody told me this was a party. Was I supposed to bring a dish to pass?” A familiar voice rang out in the air.

Riley whirled around even as Viho cut the bindings that secured my legs. He helped me stand up, even as I smiled.

“It’s about time you got here,” I said. “We’ve been waiting for you.”

As I watched Riley embrace Klein, I felt like everything was finally going to be okay.

CHAPTER FIVE –
RILEY

“Seriously, you are an angel?” I could see Klein still wasn’t wrapping his brain around what was happening. “I think you should show me your wings again, just to be sure.”

I shook my head with a wry grin. I had been about to make a big mess of things, but it was understandable. I still didn’t trust Samuel or Viho, but I was willing to listen now that I was sure they weren’t going to try to hurt Paige. Or at least they weren’t going to try to hurt Paige yet. On the topic of the Eva possession, we appeared to be back at square one, but at least Proctor’s hold over her head was gone.

I managed to get the archangels and my father to leave me, Klein, and Paige alone for a short bit of time so that I could catch Klein up. I also wanted to make sure that Paige was okay. Other than a slight rope burn on her wrists and ankles, she appeared okay. But before I got too deep on any topic, I needed to try something.

“Hang on a sec,” I said in a low voice. I closed my eyes and thought about keeping the room around us quiet. I wasn’t sure how to make sure our conversation couldn’t be eavesdropped on, but I had to try. I heard Paige suck in a breath, and I opened my eyes. “What is it?”

“You did something,” she said. “I’m not sure what, but I felt it.”

I wondered if it had anything to do with the bond between us. “I attempted to make sure that we could speak candidly without any ears. Well, let’s try it out. Who should we kill first? Josiah or Tobias?”

Paige glanced over her shoulder. She chuckled. “Considering they aren’t barreling over here yet, I’d say it’s working.”

I followed her gaze and saw the three archangels frowning in our direction. I waved at them with a smirk and turned back to Paige. First things first. “Did they hurt you?”

“It’s fine, Riley,” she said. “We have to look at the upside here. They got me out of my blood pact. I was stupid to have believed that there was anything else out there anyway. I searched high and low with mystics and psychics and demons all over the world. Nobody knew of any way to get out of a goddess possession. I was desperate, and I bought the story about the relic hook, line, and sinker.”

“But the relic helped you gain access to Eva’s magic,” I said. “So it couldn’t have been a complete myth. If we were able to get it back, we could investigate it further.”

“We are talking about the relic that brings death and destruction wherever it goes? Can’t wait to get our hands on that,” Klein said. He poured himself a shot of tequila and knocked it back. “Have I mentioned lately that I am still waiting for that raise?”

I shook my head. “The pact with Proctor. What did he want?”

Paige rubbed a hand over her eyes. “He wanted me to find out about your father. I thought it was odd considering Joanna was his prisoner for five years. He could have asked her whatever he wanted to know. Now it makes more sense.”

We both looked across the room. Viho had returned to his seat at the table and appeared to be writing in a small journal. He seemed unperturbed by the fact that I wanted space from him. I had no idea how to deal with the feelings that I felt bubbling inside me about the fact that my father was alive.

“He was looking for Viho,” I said. “Why wouldn’t he have gone after Alice?”

“Alice thinks he’s dead,” Paige said. “Plus, she’s a nun and lives on consecrated ground.”

“Obviously, he found a way around that one,” I said with a frown. “What happened at the church proved that.”

“It’s a spell,” Klein said as he downed another shot. He grimaced this time. “A really bad one.” He saw my look before he shrugged. “You guys have been gone for a couple of days. I got bored. Those are the kinds of loose ends that bother me. Trust me, there’s a spell for practically everything out there.” He let his hand slide across the bar in dramatic effect. “Everything. Want to unconsecrate consecrated ground? You need a few things, but primarily a whole lot of blood of innocents.” He looked a little green at his words. “There were about twenty kids who disappeared around Kansas City that night. I wasn’t going to bring it up, but yeah. I think that’s what got the ball rolling.”

Paige held her hand up. “I don’t want to know anymore.”

“He took Paige that night though,” I said. “He didn’t bother with me. He hasn’t bothered with me for five years. If he wanted something from me, why didn’t he just come after me?”

“My guess is that it was going to take something pretty extraordinary to bring your dad out of hiding, especially if it was the archangels who hid him in the first place,” Klein said. “You becoming a dark angel definitely qualifies.”

“Bruno just needed to keep close to you,” Paige said. She had a faraway tone in her voice. “It was like the perfect storm of events that brought both of us to him, and as soon as he understood that we were going to stay together, he used that against us. He didn’t need both of us.”

“He always just needed one,” I finished. It made sense. I reached out and took her hand. “I’m glad that we’re done with that. Let’s make an agreement now though. No more blood pacts.”

“You would think that’d be a fairly easy thing to agree to,” Klein said. He downed another shot and then belched. “But the two of you seem to fall over yourselves making those pacts all the time.”

I gave him a withering look. “Who invited you here again?”

“I did,” Paige said. “Before Samuel left, I asked him to allow Klein to come as well. I told him that we’d need him. Besides, I was worried about him. All of those demons going to Calamata Island means anyone hanging out anywhere close to that place would possibly be in trouble.”

“I am touched,” Klein said. He started to lean over the bar toward Paige to touch Paige’s hand but caught my warning look. He took a step back. “Geez, Riley. No need to go all alpha angel on me. I know she’s with you.”

Paige put her hand on my shoulder. “We need Klein here because we need everyone that we trust in this with us. Together, we are stronger.” She was right. I wasn’t sure what had come over me, but I didn’t like the idea of any man touching Paige. Ever.

“So it’s three against three right now,” I said. “I guess that makes my old man the swing vote on anything we talk about.”

“You should at least give him a chance to explain,” Paige said. “He was the one who distracted Samuel long enough to give me a chance to figure out what to say so they wouldn’t kill me.”

I felt my muscles tense up again as I thought about the fact that I had been duped. I wasn’t going to let the archangels one up me again. I would be ready.

“So they still don’t know about your magic?”

“I don’t know,” Paige replied. She cast a look over her shoulder again. The angels were in a small, tight circle of their own now. “I was only going to use it as a last resort. I wasn’t even sure it would be enough to cause a dent in theirs, but I thought it would give me enough of an advantage to maybe get us both free.”

“Okay, so we’re going to keep that under wraps for now,” I said. “And just so you know, I don’t believe for a second that there isn’t a way out of this mess with Eva.”

Paige held up her hand with her healed palm facing me. “This isn’t proof enough for you?”

I shook my head. “All that means is that Proctor lied. He doesn’t know another way. That doesn’t mean it doesn’t exist.”

She gave me a small smile. “Always the optimist.”

I pulled on her hand so that her body closed the gap between us. I loved the feel of her body close to mine. “When it comes to you, I believe anything is possible.”

“Oh, barf. Why can’t the parents ever remember the kid is still in the room?” Klein started making gagging noises. I was ready to hit him with his tequila bottle, but Paige laughed.

“Someday you are going to have to tell me the whole story about how the two of you met,” Paige said. “I have a feeling it’s fascinating.”

Klein grimaced. “It’s a boring story really.”

I smiled down at her and again appreciated the balance that she brought into my chaotic life. “Not that boring. A computer geek, three demons, and a case of AAA batteries go into a bar. I’ll leave it at that for now for you to figure out the punchline.”

Paige lifted up on her toes, and I kissed her softly. It wasn’t nearly the kind of connection that I craved, but it would do for now. I closed my eyes and let whatever shield I had created around us fall. The archangels immediately turned in our direction. I saw Samuel step forward.

I motioned to Klein, and he handed me another bottle of whiskey. I had a feeling that I was going to need it. I shot a look at him as I saw him reach for the tequila bottle. “No more of that for you. I think you’re good and loosened up now.” Klein looked positively miserable at the idea, but he listened.

Moving toward the table, I thought for a moment about where I was going to sit. Did I sit next to Viho, or did I sit next to Samuel? I really didn’t want to leave a flank open by allowing any of the angels to sit next to Paige. Or Klein for that matter.

Ultimately, the decision was made for me. Viho saw us coming and moved to his feet. “No, no. Please. All of you can sit. I am an old man, and it does me good to stand every now and then.” He tucked his journal into his pocket.

Samuel took the center chair on the other side of the table. Josiah and Tobias flanked him on either side. I moved to the center chair on our side of the table. “Keep an eye on Viho,” I said in a low voice to Klein. He didn’t respond, but I caught the quick jerk of his head that told me that he heard me. I needed eyes and ears everywhere.

We all sat down at the same time. I put the bottle on the table in front me. “Anyone else care for a drink?”

The archangels looked at me as if I had grown a second head. Paige shook her head. Klein opened his mouth, but shut it again at the glare that I gave him.

“I wouldn’t mind a dash of something that burns,” Viho said.

I put two glasses on the table and thought about how I never expected to be pouring a drink for me and my old man. It was more than a little surreal. I handed the drink to him, and he smiled at me. He brought the glass up in the air, and then stepped backward again as if trying to blend into the shadows.

“Let’s get this show on the road,” I said as I took another sip of the whiskey. “For the record, let’s just agree to cut through the bullshit. We’re here because you brought us here, so clearly you want something from us. Why don’t you just tell me what that is, and we’ll go from there.” I wasn’t about to let Samuel dictate the direction of the conversation. It was time that these three motherfuckers coughed up what I wanted to know.

“You know why we brought you here. You are a threat to yourself and to others,” Samuel said.

“Yeah, yeah. Tell me a new story,” I said. “That’s the same song and dance that I’ve heard since I was thirteen years old. It’s the reason I got sent to a convent when I was eighteen. I’m not unfamiliar with being a so-called menace to society. So if that was the case, you should have killed me.”

“That is what Benjamin and our brothers will do if they find you,” Samuel said. “They will enlist help from the demon officials to have more eyes and ears. No one wants to have another immortal entity with questionable morals and alliances running amuck.”

“I’m flattered you think I have any morals at all,” I said in a mocking tone. “So why did you make the decision to come and take me away? Why not side with your brothers?”

“I think that I would have,” Samuel said thoughtfully. “But you demonstrated great courage on Calamata Island. You berated us for not protecting the innocents who were being caught in the crossfire. You chose action over waiting to see what was going to happen next. I admired that, which was why I joined you.”

It felt odd to receive what sounded like a compliment from the angel. “I didn’t do anything that anyone else wouldn’t have done. Well, except for all of you.” I pointed at each of them in turn. “It seems like when shit hits the fan for humans, the angels constantly sit around twirling their thumbs. Unless, like with your big brother Benjamin, the threat becomes a threat to him. Then you have a Seattle situation. Who lost in that scenario again? It sure as shit wasn’t Benjamin.”

Samuel had the grace to look embarrassed. “We are not all like Benjamin, Riley. The situation in Seattle was…unfortunate. If I had learned of it in time, or any of my other brothers, I believe that we would have been able to convince him that there was another way to resolve the problem without human casualties.”

“I don’t care what you say. Benjamin is a sick motherfucker,” I said. “He’s got about ten screws loose, and he’s on a rampage. And from what I saw on Calamata Island, he’s not listening to anybody. Not you. Not even Paige.” I glanced at the woman at my side. She thought that she held sway over Benjamin still, and it had almost cost her my life.

“Which brings us full circle back to your original question,” Samuel said. “I agree with you. Benjamin needs to be taken care of, but not in the way that I think you would prefer to do it.”

“Banish his soul to the ether forever?” I said. “No, I think that’s still too good for him. He needs to go down so that he never has the chance to come back. We see how well it works out when you give a pissed off, manipulative entity a thousand years to sit back and plan their escape.”

“I believe that Benjamin has been affected by his proximity to the relic for so many years,” Samuel said. “Benjamin has done more good for humankind than bad, despite his recent issues. He deserves a chance at salvation, which is what I want to offer to him when we capture him.”