Marcella didn’t care. She saw food before fear of what those horns could possibly do. Leaping the distance, she used her teeth to tear into the foul-smelling flesh. A high pitch squeal combined with what sounded like grunting fueled her impatience.
Blood hit her hard, bringing out the raging beast inside. Nothing she did was enough. She consumed more than what she thought she could handle, and still it wasn’t sating her. The wolf wanted more. Just imagining the feeling of tearing flesh caused the void to grow wildly. The words repeated continuously in her head.
More, more, more.
“Do not run from me again. You have no fucking clue what you’re doing.”
Marcella looked toward a black and white wolf which towered over her. She knew it was Luis. What shocked her more was the communication in her mind.
“
I’m fine. I need more.”
“No, you don’t. You just think you do. And it’s natural for you to feel that way at first. Shit, you ate more just now than I’d have been able to. Take it slow. You have all night. You probably won’t change back until four, at least.”
“Where’s…Arizona?”
“Right behind you, Marcy.”
She spun around and looked at the tan wolf behind her.
“Why did you call me that?”
“It’s short for Marcella?”
He sounded confused, and she let it drop. Focusing was impossible with her mind going crazy like it was. How could she do this all night? The only thing consuming her was meat. And then out of nowhere, words entered her mind.
I’ll call when I get into town.
Fuck. She forgot to call.
Chapter 5
Dominic paced the great hall in a fury. “What in the hell is taking so long, Jason? I mean, fuck, she said she was going to call. Why hasn’t she? I swear, I’m about to go there right now and see how she is.”
“Don’t do it, Dom. I’m telling you, she’s fine. I can feel it. She probably got sidetracked. If we don’t hear from her by tomorrow night, we’ll go.”
“I can’t believe this. That woman drives me crazy sometimes.”
Jason laughed and looked at him, amused. Dominic rolled his eyes and made an apple appear. He bit into it furiously. “So where in the hell did you go whenever you took off?”
“I was going to leave town. If Marcella wouldn’t have hit rock bottom, I don’t think I would have come back. You don’t understand how sick I feel from what I did to her.”
“Truthfully, loverboy, I don’t care how confused you are. If you abandon our queen, I’ll kill you. It’ll be better than you running off and playing the coward. You hurt her. Get over it. It wasn’t your fault.”
Jason glared and stalked toward him. “You don’t know shit, Dom! It had nothing to do with being a coward. You don’t know how much I like the thought of her blood and flesh going into my mouth. I think I wanted more, wanted to take her into my body forever. At least, that’s the way I feel now. I crave to taste her again. What the fuck does that sound like to you? I wanted to leave to protect her.”
“Damn. That dragon really fucked you up, didn’t it?”
“Drop it, Dom. I don’t want to talk about it. I’m not going to be tasting her anymore, so don’t worry about me hurting her in the future.”
“What are you saying, Jason? You’re not going to kiss her, or anything?”
“I can’t.” Jason took a shuttering breath and walked to the table, placing his head in his hands.
Dominic studied him, feeling something settle heavily in his chest. This wasn’t going to be good. How was he going to get Jason to get over this and move on? Marcella wouldn’t take to him not wanting to touch her. She’d feel rejected, and he couldn’t let her go through that kind of pain.
Ambrose walked into the room, followed by a group of vampires. “Hey, I thought we’d start training since it’s night. They’ll be their best in the dark. Dom, you’re in charge, but I thought we could do this in the bailey.”
“Sounds good to me. Do any of you have any skills with weapons?”
A male, looking no older than twenty, pulled a Beretta from the back of his pants. “I’m a damn good shot.”
“Nice.” Dominic smiled. Although he felt more comfortable with a sword, guns could possibly come in handy, but he needed them skilled at everything. Training was his calling, what he was born to do. Feeling a surge of empowerment, he grabbed Jason’s shoulder.
“It’s time to train. You have people to lead.”
The collector nodded and rose from the chair. “Let’s do this.”
Dominic made his favorite weapon appear and led them all out of the door. Another group already stood, waiting. Every vampire looked excited and ready to go. Waving his hand, he made a pile of swords appear in front of them.
“Everyone pick one of these up. There’ll be no fighting today. First, you get to test the weapon in your hands, learn the correct stance, and we’ll go from there.”
Jason didn’t need to be told what to do. He manifested a sword in his hands, almost identical to Dom’s, and pulled a few of the vampires off to the side. Watching him, he started showing the correct way to stand while preparing to receive an attack. Dominic smiled. This was the way it was meant to be. He’d never felt more at home.
* * * *
The smell of smoke and alcohol clung to the air of the club. Nemmy took another drink of his soda as he scanned the massive crowd of college kids doing the bump and grind on the dance floor. Tonight was typical. He and Caspius had been hitting the downtown nightclubs for a while now.
Demons were thick in this area for some reason, and he wasn’t exactly sure why. For cities in Texas, Corpus Christi was one of the smallest. So why all the evil?
A brunette walked over, blocking his view. Smiling, he took in her lustful expression. Even though his cock hardened, he wasn’t about to go there. Celibacy was something he prided himself on. Plus, human women were off limits for angels.
“Hey there.”
Nemmy couldn’t help but smile. “Hi. Can I help you with something?”
She bit her lip and took a step closer. “I don’t know. Can you?”
“Probably not.” He laughed and peered over her head. After a few seconds, she got the hint and disappeared, but he hardly noticed. His eyes were focused on one thing and one thing only. A demon.
Nemmy felt his blood surge. “Twelve o’clock, Cass. You ready to do this?”
“Always, my man.”
Caspius stood and they split to both sides of the room. It didn’t take the demon long to notice he was being hunted. The posing, college-aged drug dealer nodded a
what’s up
to them calmly and broke free of the crowd that had been surrounding him. He looked like any typical, rich frat boy. He wore expensive clothes, and had a nice haircut to that blond head of his. But he couldn’t hide the evil that lingered in the club, and Nemmy had smelt it the moment the demon suddenly appeared.
As frat boy drug dealer headed around the hall that led to the restrooms, Caspius broke into a fast jog. It was no surprise to Nemmy when he heard his partner groan in frustration. The demon had disappeared.
Taking down a regular demon wasn’t a simple job. The fuckers could disappear at the drop of a dime. If he didn’t catch them by surprise, he was screwed. It’s not like they could kill the demon and send him back to hell here, anyway. A gun going off in a club would only bring the police. Then, if they were caught, describing what was in the gun would be harder. Yeah, they could vanish, but they didn’t have the authority to wipe memories, which made their jobs even harder.
Nemmy slapped Caspius on the shoulder. “Let’s call it a night. It’s almost closing time. Now that he knows we’re here, I doubt he’ll be coming back for awhile.”
“IHOP?”
Nemmy laughed at Caspius’s question. His angel friend was quickly getting hooked on those strawberry pancakes. “You bet.”
Instead of flying, since they couldn’t use their wings unless there was an emergency or in private, they entered into the bathroom and dematerialized to the side of the building. Casually, they walked around and went in. For some reason, this place was fight central around the club’s closing time. Humans being out in restaurants after they’d consumed alcohol did not mix well at all. But, it was fun to watch. Too bad they couldn’t interfere.
Caspius took the lead but lowered his voice. “So what do you think about Samael? You said you felt Marcella. How?”
As the hostess led them to a table in the corner, Nemmy cleared his throat and gave her their drink orders. Turning back to Cass, he tried to replay what was going on in his mind. “I’m not sure how to explain it. I felt what Samael felt but only for the briefest moment. To me, she felt alive, but it could have been because he wants her to be. I don’t know. It was confusing. I can’t deny, though, that some part of me believes it to be true. Did you see those pictures before he willed them away? It was like he was tracking her life. Her human life.”
Caspius nodded. “I don’t care how imaginative he is. He couldn’t have thought up all of that on his own. One picture caught my attention, that’s for sure.”
Nemmy narrowed his eyes, interested, and leaned forward. “Which one?”
“The one with her at some event. I think humans call it prom. Did you see that one?”
Remembering all the pictures, he focused in on the one Caspius was referring to. “The boy in the picture. You’re referring to him, aren’t you?”
“Look familiar?”
The more Nemmy studied his face, the more he knew who he was looking at. “Amazing. That has to be Jason, her other half.” He smiled and took a sip of the soda in front of him. Damn, he really loved this stuff. “So, how do you think she’s back? Would Samael really risk bringing on the wrath of the devil himself? I can’t see that happening.”
Caspius shrugged. “Love makes us do odd things.”
“Very true. If she really is back, you know what this means.” Nemmy could feel how big his smile was. He couldn’t contain his excitement.
“I know exactly what it means. Do you think she’ll remember you?”
“I’m not sure.” The smile slowly fell from his lips, but he tried not to think about the past. “I say we start right after this. You up for it?”
“I’d enjoy nothing more.” Caspius smiled. “If Jason is back, I’m betting so are her other men. Dominic and I are ’bout to go ’round and ’round. If I wasn’t an angel…”
Nemmy laughed. “Try not to hurt him too badly.”
* * * *
Marcella could feel herself being carried. She wasn’t sure where she was or what she was doing. Becoming alert, she focused on preparing herself to assault whoever was touching her. The cool air brushing against her skin told her one thing. She wasn’t wearing any clothes.
“Don’t even think about it. I know you’re awake. Your heartbeat is racing under my fingertips. If you attack me, I’m going to purposely drop you on your ass.”
Donavon’s voice calmed her. Turning into the warmth of his skin, she could feel her muscles protest against the movement. “What happened?” Trying to open her eyes, she couldn’t against the exhaustion she felt.
“The change has passed. You ran yourself ragged last night. Luis is very proud of you. You were impressive for it being your first time.”
“I hurt. Is that normal?”
“Hell yeah. You’ll hurt for days, but, over time, it’ll get easier.”
The sound of the door opening finally gave her the motivation to crack open her eyes. With every step Donavon took, she felt like someone was kicking her.
“A hot shower should do you good. I’ll turn it on for you, and you can lie at the bottom of the tub. Don’t worry, I clean it obsessively.”