Hadrian kept his expression guarded. If she wanted him to forgive her, she
had to work for it. He wouldn’t allow her the luxury of thinking it
was a done deal, even if the potent bouquet of her blood on his
tongue had sealed that eventuality already.
“Come downstairs.”
She didn’t say anything as she followed him down the darkened back
staircase. He crossed to the wardrobe in the corner and opened it.
“You can hang your things inside here.”
“Thank you.”
He went to the leather chair and sank into it to watch her flit about
the wardrobe as she unpacked the bag. The corsets were strapless much
like the one he’d discovered under her dress the previous night,
except these were higher in the back and in darker colors. She took
great care to hang them with the laces draped over the hangers. Then
she hung her cloak and slipped her bag inside.
“Really, Angeline?” Did she think he only wanted her to bring them, not wear
them? She was far too old to be that naïve, though she did have a
strange innocence that seemed to cling to her as a result of her new
species. But he knew she remembered their last time together.
He joined her at the wardrobe to admire the corsets. “These are
extremely nice. Angels don’t use money. How did you get these?”
They surely couldn’t just be lying around Heaven in the mystical
corset cave.
She looked at the ground as if she’d been caught at something. He
adjusted his pants before she could catch her affect on him. His body
may want her, but he wasn’t about to fall for her tricks again. She
was a food source, there to take a little pain and burn out the bits
of rage he still felt toward her. There would be no candy hearts and
kittens between them.
“Well? How did you get them?”
“I’m s-sorry.”
He chuckled. He couldn’t help it. Why should she apologize to him for
this? Who cared where she’d gotten them? He was merely curious. But
he pushed her further anyway. “And what are you sorry for?”
“I stole them from a high-end lingerie shop.”
He shook his head.
Tsk tsk.
“What will I do with you little
angel? Should we add to your sentence for that? Come here.”
She was only a few steps away, so close he could have reached out and
pulled her to him, but he waited for her to take the steps herself.
When she reached him, he turned her around and began on the laborious
task of unbuttoning what felt like hundreds of buttons going down her
back. Her breath turned shaky as each button came undone.
“Why did you return here?” he asked.
“You told me to.”
“And do you always do what the devil says? Not very angelic of you.”
“You’re not the devil.”
“Aren’t I? Wasn’t that what you wanted when you turned me?”
“I wanted a mate who could understand me. I was lonely. I told you we
were the same.”
He pushed the dress off her shoulders and down past her hips until it
fell in a pool around her feet. “Yes, I remember that little
speech. Step out.” He took her hand and helped her extricate
herself from the pile of fabric, then he started on the laces of the
corset. “And do you still believe we are the same?” Instead of
loosening them, he pulled the laces tighter.
She gasped. “Y-yes.”
What
would
he do with her? Just her being here to let him feed from
her as if he had any right to angel blood at all was a small miracle
in itself. But now that he’d tasted her, he intended to never stop
feeding from her. Human blood would always be a weak and watered-down
replacement for the prize he now held in his arms.
Hadrian loosened the laces and removed the corset. He pawed through the
darker ones in the closet until he found a red one he liked. When he
turned back, Angeline’s arms were crossed over her chest.
“Where did you acquire this sudden sense of modesty? You were nothing like
this the last time.”
“It’s just been a long time. I-it’s very strange for me. Are you going
to…?”
“Throw you down on the altar and desecrate my church again? Doubtful.”
Hadrian helped her into the red corset without further comment. He wanted to
drink. He wanted to watch her blood trail down her smooth, pale skin.
He pulled the laces tight until she gasped again.
His mouth was next to her ear when he said in a low rumble, “With this
on, do you think you could get your wings out in time to protect
yourself from me?”
“You won’t hurt me.”
Such confidence, this one.
“Sweetheart,that’s all I’ll do.” She cried out when his fangs struck
at her throat. He pulled away and dragged his tongue over the trail
that ran down her skin. “I love that sound. Make it for me again.”
She didn’t disappoint him when he pierced her flesh again. She
whimpered and mewled against him, a frantic sound that didn’t
subside until he’d had his fill of her.
Hadrian held her tight against him as he sealed the puncture marks. “Now go
get in the bed, just like last night. I don’t want you to wear
anything.”
She didn’t ask why. It would be a perfectly normal question. If he
didn’t plan to fuck her, why did he want her naked in his bed? He
watched her this time to see if she’d still do what he asked if he
refused to turn away. Her face and body flushed pink under the
scrutiny of his stare, but she still did as he requested.
When she was underneath the blankets, he settled in the chair beside the
bed and watched her.
“Father Hadrian?”
She hadn’t presumed to call him by his first name, and he couldn’t
yet bring himself to ask her to. To allow it would be to admit his
anger with her was already melting, that this might be something more
than a desire to dole out perfunctory punishment to someone he cared
nothing about.
“Yes?”
Her glittering blue eyes met his. “I have to tell you something
important.”
She seemed to need encouragement to continue. “Well?”
“Today I overheard a couple of higher-level angels discussing a war.”
“That’s the word on the street,” Hadrian said.
“N-no, I mean, they want to join it. And not on your side. They want to take
down every demon and part demon to bring on the final apocalyptic
fight. I-I think you know what I’m talking about.”
Interesting. The angels wouldn’t be looking for an opportunistic moment if they
were confident in their success, no matter how much they liked to
boast about their assured victory. If it was so assured, why were
they waiting until the moment when their enemy would be most
distracted and weak?
“I-I think we need to warn someone.”
“And why would we want to do that? Don’t you want your team to win?”
Her eyes rose to his. “No.”
His little angel was full of surprises. But then, he’d never bought
that she could ever be truly innocent again, not after the side of
her he’d already seen.
“Care to enlighten me as to why?”
She closed her eyes, and a tear slid down her cheek. “I hate it there.
It’s warm… but it’s cold. Emotionally cold. Everyone is
distant. No one… no one touches anyone, and they aren’t allowed
to. I don’t feel… c-connected to anything. And it’s all about
following orders without question.”
“You’ve followed
my
orders without question.”
“That’s different.”
“Why?”
“It just is.”
He watched the struggle flit over her face as she tried to sort through
her motives.
“Rest. I’ll wake you in time so you aren’t late for prayers.” He tried
not to think about why he went over and brushed the hair from her
face and pressed a kiss against her forehead.
Chapter Four
Angeline woke abruptly. Another dream stealing her breath in the night. It was
Linus again. She’d been locked underneath the opera house until
she’d agreed to kill a meal like a
real vampire
. Why hadn’t
they erased those memories when they’d elevated her? They could
have taken them all… Linus, her history as a vampire, turning
Hadrian… but the memories had remained intact, as well as the
dreams that often came with them.
Though she’d woken with a start, she hadn’t screamed or shot up in bed,
or anything dramatic that would draw the vampire’s attention.
Father Hadrian was engrossed in a novel in his black chair in the
main part of the basement. She expected him to read the classics or a
book of a spiritual nature, but he was reading a murder mystery that
involved baked pastries.
She was glad she hadn’t called his attention. She couldn’t imagine he
would care or come comfort her. Angeline didn’t have illusions any
longer. She didn’t expect him to wake up one night and realize they
were meant to be. She wasn’t sure when he’d tire of his game,
punishing and feeding from her. Angel blood was such a rare thing for
a vampire that of course he’d do anything to get some. No vampire
would refuse it, if any angel was ever demented enough to offer it.
With Hadrian sitting just feet away, she felt safe to close her eyes
again.
Linus is dead. He’s not coming for you.
She’d
watched him die in the vampire tournament when Anthony had become
king. He’d already come back to the human plane, as a precocious
and rather evil little girl, hardly a threat to Angeline. And yet,
without Hadrian so nearby, she wasn’t sure she would be able to
even try to go back to sleep.
She watched the reading vampire for a few more minutes, and then closed
her eyes. Instead of Linus in her mind’s eye, it was the earlier
feeding. She could almost feel the corset cinched so tight that she
was distracted from the sting of his bite. It had hurt, but it wasn’t
a pain she couldn’t tolerate. It was a pain that made her feel
real, grounded, anchored to this plane. The way he’d possessively
gripped her waist was more passion than she’d had in decades.
Given how she’d been as a vampire, it was so ludicrous that she should
nearly come undone from such relatively innocent touch. Hadrian
hadn’t even noticed when her fingernails had dug into his hand,
creating crescent moon slivers and tiny drops of blood that healed
when she relaxed her grip.
She felt herself blush remembering the heated look he’d given her when
she’d undressed and gotten into the bed. Why didn’t he touch her?
There had been clear desire in his eyes, but for the second night in
a row he’d resisted.
A loud bang on the door upstairs had her bolting up. Hadrian startled
as well. His eyes met hers. “Stay.”
Her gaze followed him up the stairs. At first she stayed like he’d
asked. But why should she? Was she his dog? And yet, she felt somehow
that if she could be
good
he’d forgive her. She didn’t
imagine they would live happily ever after. She’d been around long
enough to know that wouldn’t happen, but if he could just not hate
her, not look on her with contempt like he had that first night she’d
been back in his church.
When she heard yelling, she forgot everything but her protective
instincts. Her wings shot out and she scurried up the stairs, not
caring about her nudity.
Hadrian stood with the door propped open, arguing loudly with someone on the
other side. As she drew closer, she could make out their words.
“For the last time, you can’t come in. Even if I wanted to let you in,
you can’t get past the wards. How in the hell did you even find
me?”
“We figured you were holed up somewhere in the area, and Anthony thought
the place might have some history so we searched old newspapers and
discovered you’d been connected with this church as a human.” The
man, no… vampire at the door raised an eyebrow and let out a low
whistle. “You really do have an angel.”
Hadrian turned, his eyes narrowing on her. It made her pull her wings
protectively in front of her to cover her nudity, which had started
to matter again.
“I thought I told you to stay downstairs,” he growled.
“I-I heard yelling. I was worried that you…”
“That I couldn’t handle myself? I’ve been handling myself fine for
decades no thanks to you.”
She flinched. Why had she thought he was beginning to stop hating her?
He’d put the wall back up. The same wall that had been there when
she’d first come to warn him.
“If we could interrupt this lovers’ quarrel to deliver a message from
the king…”
Hadrian growled and turned back to the vampires at the door. “WHAT?”
“He’s offered a formal pardon if you’ll bring the angel tomorrow night to
a meeting at the penthouse.”
“What does he want with her? She’s
mine
.”
Not your most healthy relationship, Angeline.
Then
again, it wasn’t her most unhealthy relationship either, and it was
hard to know which realization was worse.
The other vampire looked from Hadrian to Angeline. “Anthony needs every
fighter he can get and wants to organize the factions for the coming
war. He wants extra protection for his family. He’ll put things
aside if you bring the angel to watch over them.”
Hadrian looked back at her, his gaze inscrutable. Then he turned his
attention back to the vampire outside the church. “She’s an
angel. It’s not as if I can
make
her do anything. It has to
be up to her. Angeline?”
“I-I can’t just go on rogue assignments. I have to report in or I’ll
be in trouble.” She also didn’t think she could stand to face
Anthony again, though maybe he wouldn’t remember her. He was old. A
few years association with her and Linus might not be a blip on his
radar.
“Decide by tomorrow night,” the vampire said. His attention shifted to
Hadrian. “Have you been watching the news?”
“I’m not much of a TV kind of guy.”
“You should watch the news.”
The vampires left, and Father Hadrian shut the door and put down the
heavy bar to lock it in place.
“Downstairs. Now,” he growled.
“You just told him you couldn’t make me do anything, but you sure order
me around like you think you can.”