Domiel (14 page)

She could have checked into any hotel, found any alley, gone any goddamn place in Paris to connect with the incubus. Agitation left him cold. He’d kill her when he found her.

If
he found her.

For a few hours he simply walked the crowded streets of Paris, dipping inside a few hotels to ask if anyone had seen her. It was risky, considering the police were likely looking for them. He didn’t have much of a choice.

Time went by slowly, ratcheting up his unease. He’d checked every damned hotel and raunchy alley that existed. It wasn’t until he walked by an antique shop and saw pamphlets on the catacombs that a spark of hope hit him.

The catacombs were familiar to her, a place that was quiet, and where she could do what she needed to do and remain undisturbed. But would she go back to the place that held so many bad memories for her? Could she face her demons and have the strength to clear her name in the process?

The catacombs would be perfect to connect with the incubus and remain undisturbed.

That she could take off like this, when he’d given his word to help her, told him all he needed to know. An unfamiliar pain settled in his chest.

Without another thought he dematerialized to the underground caves, not giving a damn if anyone saw him dematerialize or not. Miles upon miles of them, and she could be down any one of the dark corridors if this was the spot she’d chosen. He closed his eyes in the darkness, focused on feeling her energy within the dank corridors. The lingering energy of other immortals tainted his search. Immortals had been here recently.

His boots ate up ground as he followed the deep hollows of the caves, his only company the thoughts of what had transpired in the last twenty-four hours. The highs and lows, the questions and desires. Kels had surprised the shit out of him, jumping his ass like she had. Not that he was complaining. It was the best sex he’d had since he’d fallen, bar none. Add that to the raw feeling he experienced when he was around her, and he’d be damned again if he would allow her to get away. Not to mention he’d put his job on the line for her.

Hell, he was putting his soul on the line for her.

A faint echo of immortal energy surfaced, then ripped through the air like heat lightning—eerily quiet but deadly. The energy grew stronger, familiar and unwelcome, with each approaching footfall.

“Where the hell is Kelsey?”

He pivoted back in the direction he’d just come. Alexia stood ten feet away, feet braced apart. In leather from head to toe, she was a striking vision of the reputation she’d garnered at Headquarters. The assassin to beat all assassins. He bet her numerous weapons weighed more than she did. “What are you doing here?”

“I had a vision. I saw Kels here—alone.”

Vampires had some serious powers. “She took off on me.”

Alexia smiled, kept her hands on the hilts of her daggers strapped to her waist. “What did you do to make her take off? She needs all the allies she can get. Did she have one in you?”

The soft-spoken question belied the deadly intent in her eyes. If she thought he was out to harm Kelsey, Lexie would try to kill him, and the last thing he wanted to do was spar with her when they shared the same goal. “What do you think?”

She sauntered up to him, all leather and confidence. “I think we need to find her. Fast. I’ve seen things in the past few hours, and I’m not quite sure what to make of them. Do you think she’s here?”

Alexia’s powers were legend. Even without paying much attention to the training, he’d heard of her psychic ability. “I’m not sure. Didn’t you just say you saw her alone? What else have you seen?”

Moving past him, she shook her head. “I’m not even going to set words to them. Words are power. Before I had the vision I was under the impression she was holed up in some hotel with you. But lives come full circle, don’t they?”

He walked beside her in silent agreement. Words did contain power—although Alexia was pulling his leg. She always spoke of her visions—even if they involved the death of a friend. She’d told Jade about her own death after a vision, so it went without saying that she just didn’t want to tell
him
anything. “Give me a clue, then.”

“After my vision of seeing her here, I saw her with Samael. The vision was cloudy, as though they were in the dream realm.”

He got a sick feeling in his gut. So the Alliance would reach her before he did? “Did Samael try to assassinate her?”

“Oh yeah.”

After he’d given his grace for Samael and Jade? “I’ll kill him.”

Alexia stopped and faced him, for once showing fear in her eyes. “That’s the problem. Kelsey might have beaten you to it.”

Chapter Nine

Jade held onto the contents of her stomach out of sheer force of will. She shouldn’t have gone so far with the self-inflicted wounds on her body. Dumb mistake on her part.

She flipped open Azazel’s cell and scrolled down until Samael’s name came up. Fucking do or die right here. She’d taken on Azazel’s appearance, shoved aside every moral code she’d had to take his blood, and used the side of a brick building to smash up her right arm and left side of her face. She couldn’t sport a wound unless she had inflicted it on herself. If the pain was there, and she focused on the mirage of Azazel, the wounds would appear. Without the pain to direct, she didn’t have the energy to portray a wounded male.

Which brought to mind the couple she’d left behind. Azazel wouldn’t easily forgive Lexie for what she’d allowed to happen. What she’d
instigated
. Lexie had said they hadn’t much choice in taking his blood, but there were always choices when it came to one’s own actions.

And Jade was about to make a choice of her own, this time with her own husband. She highlighted Samael’s name in the cell and hit the call button. Samael picked up on the first ring. She closed her eyes when she heard his voice. Deep and sexy. She hated lying to him, but there was no other way. “Where are you?”

“At the Hyatt. Where are the women? Is Jade safe?”

God, she loved him. Even when she’d pushed him to the edge he still inquired about her safety. “Don’t mention her name to me right now. What room are you in? I’m going to flash to the hotel.” Thankfully she had the powers of an angel. A few months ago she wouldn’t have been able to pull off such a stunt.

“Seven-sixty-two. What happened?”

“They got away. Lexie used that fucking demonic command on me again.” Azazel’s rich, deep baritone ejected from her appearance easily. “I need a shower. I’ll fill you in later.”

“I’ll see you when you get here.”

Jade snapped the phone shut. Moment of truth. If that witch lied to her, Jade was going to be in some serious shit, and she’d be facing two heads of the Alliance while she was knee-deep in it, and worst of all, her husband.

By the time she materialized to the hotel, and then to the seventh floor, her nerves were a bunch of pansy-assed pussies. The hotel carpet was a nineteen seventies nightmare, all plaids and tacky as hell, which didn’t help her stomach in the least. Now that she was only a couple of dozen feet from Samael, she could feel his energy. His strength usually calmed her, but right now it only raised her blood pressure.

She thought of Kelsey and how the Alliance had turned their backs on her, and that gave her added strength. Before Jade could regain her composure, one of the doors opened from down the hall. Samael and Sven emerged.

“Holy Christ, what did they do to you?” Sven asked, wearing one of his famous T-shirts. This one read,
Rehab is for quitters.
His blond hair was loose and wild, and she could clearly see the Viking raider in the ancient vampire.

Samael’s face was a mask of doubt, his pupils tinged with red. She didn’t focus long on him, or his sexy sleeve of tattoos. Their last words had been spoken in anger, and no make-up sex had followed. Fights sucked ass unless you got a hardcore shagging afterward.

She kept up with the angry façade. “Jade and I went toe-to-toe. I couldn’t bring myself to hurt her, though she had no problem hurting me.” And wouldn’t that have been the truth. “Then to stop the fight, Lexie used that damned spell on me. I couldn’t move.”

Shouldering past him, she could actually see the proverbial light at the end of the tunnel. Samael hadn’t suspected her treachery yet. Looked like that damn witch might have told the truth.

Samael stopped her from going inside the room with a big palm to her shoulder. She didn’t allow her nerves free reign to go haywire. Azazel would merely have stood before him with an easy stance, a killer glint in his eye. So hard to do when Samael was touching her. Even though the touch wasn’t sexual in nature, anytime they touched it affected her.
Don’t look at his lips.

“You fought my wife?”

The softly spoken question raised the hair on the back of her neck. The energy emanating from her husband carried a deadly warning.
Don’t touch my wife.
She imagined what he’d do if she acted on the impulse to kiss him. Man, he’d lose his fucking mind, and she’d lose her life.

Jade gritted her teeth, made the muscle in her jaw twitch as she’d seen Azazel do before. “You know me better than that. I did everything in my power not to hurt her, but I couldn’t allow her to carve out her initials in my chest, you understand? She’s no worse for wear.”

Samael’s anger remained evident in the set of his jaw. “How did you release yourself? Only the person who says the incantation can release you.”

The lie fell easily from her lips, desperation giving her creative leeway. “They left me in an alley. A few hours later I was able to move. Now get the fuck out of my way, I’m getting in a shower, and then I’m going to get some sleep.”

A man of few words, that was Azazel. Hopefully she was doing his personality justice.

Samael hesitated, but eventually stepped aside. “We’re heading out.”

The spell was working, because he would have sensed her energy by now.
Ah, the small things in life
. “Good for you. I haven’t had any sleep since we left Scotland.”

Samael didn’t stop her. She glanced at Roger, decked out in one of his usual expensive suits, but said nothing to him before she disappeared into the bathroom. Isn’t that what men did? Few words, more action. She felt like passing out from the stress of it all. Infiltrating demons’ hideouts was one thing, but these were men she worked with, loved, and respected.

Oh, what the hell. A mission was a mission, wasn’t it?

Round one over. Round two was going to be a bit trickier. She had to get the scoop on what was going down, but she had to do it in a way that wouldn’t bring attention to her in lieu of questions. Azazel would want to know what was new, so that’s how she was going to play it. Then all she had to do was relay the information to Lexie, who would relay it to Kels, keeping her a step ahead of the Alliance.

She prayed the spell remained energy-tight throughout her stay.

* * * *

Kelsey broke down and used a fraction of the money Lexie had given her and secured a hotel room for the night. Normally when on a mission, she’d have set her carry-on suitcase next to the bed, taken out her folder, and read every detail of her mission. Learning names and faces of her hits, the weaknesses of her prey, and their backgrounds made her feel as though she were in control. Then she’d have strapped on her weapons and gone out for the night.

Procrastination was not part of her being.

This night was different on so many levels. She didn’t want to face anyone or anything, and the last thing she felt she had was control. She didn’t want to think of what she’d find when she closed her eyes to sleep. Eventually her body would demand rest. It had been centuries since she’d run from anything in abject fear. If something needed to be done, she did so with everything she had.

Instead of fighting for the Alliance, her situation was reversed. She was a hit, not an assassin. Running from the Alliance, running from the incubus, and avoiding Domiel—
damn.
Being a coward was exhausting.

As she sat on the edge of the tub, trailing her fingers through the bubbles floating on the warm water, she thought about Lexie and Jade, and what they were willing to give up to help her—for what they’d already sacrificed. If she’d just faced Ambrose that morning at the Alliance Headquarters, maybe all of this would have been cleared up by now. Would he have listened to her, or would he have gone with the concrete evidence he had on her?

Stupid things to ponder, since the past couldn’t be changed. She knew that better than anyone.

Shrugging out of her clothes, she slipped into the steaming water and let out a pent-up breath.

Leaving Domiel had proved harder than she’d originally thought. She’d fed off demons before, and yeah, she’d gotten turned on, but
nothing
like her experience with Domiel. Maybe his appeal was in the fact that no one could pin him down. A challenge always sweetened the catch.

Christ, she was no better than all the women at Headquarters.

Domiel’s sexual appetite both intrigued and repelled her. His casualness wasn’t born of necessity, while hers was. She’d cared and loved and lost. She didn’t want to go through that again. But at that first taste of Domiel’s blood, the word casual had been ripped from her core, replaced with something far more permanent. She hadn’t felt this way about a man in … well, ever.

There was no way to build a relationship with him, not that she was actually considering it. She’d never be a part of the Alliance again. Even if everything worked out, how could she trust them again? And if things didn’t work out, she’d be dead.

Scooting down until the water lapped her shoulders, she went completely still. Familiar demonic and vampire energy grew stronger with every second that passed, as if it were getting closer and closer. She shot from the bath, her slick feet slipping over the tiles of the bathroom. Water droplets flew in every direction as she snatched up a towel to wrap around her body.

Samael and Roger burst through the door just as she reached the main room.

She faced off with them in the middle of the sparse room, weaponless. She could only take one of them out with her powers, but that would leave her open season for the other. Roger stood side by side with Samael, both with their game faces on, Roger in a black suit, Samael in his basic grey T-shirt that showed off his sleeve of tattoos.