He held
her close, his hands rubbing her back, easing away her sobs as she
pieced herself back together and slowly found her strength and her
resolve to face whatever madness had descended on her
world.
“Shh,
Amelia. We will be somewhere safe soon enough. It is not far now.”
His words were pure comfort to her soul, chasing away the darkness,
and she wrapped her arms around him, nestled with her back against
his inner thigh, and hooked her fingers into the slots on the back
plate of his armour. His arms tightened around her, drawing her
deliciously closer to him, and she breathed him in. He smelt of the
tinny odour of blood and dirt but underneath it all she could still
smell the aftershave he wore and it transported her back to their
moment in his apartment, filling her with warmth and happiness
until she was no longer afraid. “I will keep you safe. I
promise.”
He had
said that so many times now and she believed him with all of her
heart. Here in his arms was the only place she felt
safe.
Marcus
helped her to her feet and she cleared her throat, sniffing back
her tears. Her eyes widened when he slipped her shoe back on, his
actions gentle and careful, and then rose to his feet. He smiled
and she was glad that it was a real one this time, and then waved
his hand a produced a handkerchief out of thin air.
Magic.
He held
it out to her and she took it, using it to clear her tears away and
dry her nose so she didn’t look like a complete mess. Her stomach
flipped when it came away bloodied and she touched her nose,
fearing it was bleeding.
Marcus
took the cloth from her and wiped her cheek and around her nose. “I
am sorry. I will do a better job next time.”
Next
time? She had hoped this was a one time deal but Marcus made it
sound as though it wasn’t over yet. Would the man from the alley
come after her? Would Marcus protect her if he did?
She
touched her cheek.
Marcus
had brushed her face back on the rooftop too. Had some of the blood
sprayed onto her during the battle? Her stomach twisted and her
hands shook as she looked down at her chest, afraid that she would
see streaks of blood marking her as they marked him.
Nothing.
“We
should keep moving. Are you able to walk?”
Amelia
wriggled her feet. They did feel a little better for their rest but
she wasn’t sure she would be able to walk far before they started
to hurt again. She slipped her shoes off and held them in her left
hand. The pavement carried the heat of the day and looked clean
enough, and it was better than hobbling to their
destination.
She
nodded.
Marcus
took hold of her hand again, slipping his fingers between hers, the
straps of his forearm guard brushing her skin, and started walking
with her past the elegant Georgian townhouses.
He hadn’t
been lying about the distance. They had barely walked a hundred
metres before he stopped in front of one of the beautiful four
storey stone buildings and looked up the height of it. He opened
the black metal gate for her and led the way up the path to the
stone steps and the porch.
He
knocked three times on the wide black door and then moved into line
with her.
No one
answered.
Amelia
cast a glance around the street and told herself that the monsters
weren’t coming when her nerves spiked. They were safe. Marcus
knocked again. After a minute had passed and she had come close to
knocking too, a shadow appeared on the etched glass beside the
door. The black door opened to reveal a handsome tawny haired man
on the other side. His broad build almost filled the doorway as he
stepped forwards and looked both ways up the street before his rich
brown eyes settled on Marcus.
“I
received your message.” He stepped back into the bright marble
foyer of the house, his boots heavy on the chequered black and
white floor. “Come in.”
Marcus
nodded and entered, bringing her with him, and stepped to one side
to allow the man to close the door behind them. Amelia remained
tucked behind Marcus, unsure of the newcomer. He looked stronger
than Marcus and she wasn’t going to let the normalness of his
appearance fool her into relaxing. Marcus had looked normal once
too.
The man’s
faded black t-shirt hugged his bulky muscles, drawn tight across
his thick arms, and his deep blue jeans were taut over his muscular
thighs. If he was different, like Marcus, could Marcus protect her
from this man if he needed to?
“Is this
the female?” The man peered around Marcus to catch a glimpse of
her.
Amelia
backed behind Marcus, evading him. When had Marcus told him that
they were coming? He hadn’t called anyone since the attack. Had he
known this would happen and had warned this man in
advance?
She
wanted to see his face so she could read it and know whether he
had, but that meant moving out into the open. If she did that, the
other man would stare at her, and she wasn’t in the mood to be
stared at.
“Timid
creature, isn’t she?” the man said and defiance curled through
her.
Amelia
stepped out of Marcus’s shadow and glared at the man. Marcus put
his hand on her shoulder, steering her into his embrace and then
sliding his arm around her waist. The feel of it around her
bolstered her courage.
“She has
been through a lot, Einar. Leave her be. I know I am asking much of
you, and it had not been my intention to bring her here after the
attack. I had no other choice.”
“It
happened again?” the man named Einar said with a quick glance over
him.
Marcus
nodded.
Amelia
frowned. What had happened again? The attack or something else? She
looked to Marcus for an explanation but he looked away from her,
focusing on the other man.
“Come
upstairs and we can have Taylor have a look.” Einar’s deep voice
echoed around the hall.
Marcus
followed him towards the elegant wooden staircase opposite the door
in the foyer. Amelia trailed behind them, her focus on her bare
feet and the treads as she followed them around the tight
rectangular turns of the staircase. Taylor? Did the man have a male
partner? There had been warmth in his eyes when he had said that
name, deep affection that he hadn’t tried to hide. She stared at
his back as she trudged up the stairs. Strands of his mousy hair
had fallen out of the short ponytail at the nape of his neck,
curling around his ears. Marcus’s black unruly hair grazed the nape
of his neck too, not long enough to tie back into a ponytail, but
she could imagine it longer and worn that way, and she liked it. It
took her mind off the situation and the strange new environment
around her.
Her
moment of peace shattered when they entered a large elegant drawing
room on the second floor. The dark antique furniture and the oil
paintings that adorned the deep red walls didn’t suit the man who
had led them up to this room, but the masses of weaponry that
occupied the sofas, chairs and even a large oak table certainly
did. Everywhere she looked there were guns, swords, bows and
knives.
What sort
of help did Marcus want from this man and the one he had called
Taylor?
Marcus
moved to one side.
Amelia
stopped dead.
Taylor
wasn’t a man after all.
A
beautiful lithe woman dressed head to toe in tight fitting black
clothes similar to Einar’s strode towards them, her knee-high
heeled boots heavy on the polished wooden floor. Long glossy dark
hair curled around her face, lending her skin a milky look and
brightening her blue eyes.
Amelia
set her jaw and straightened in the face of the
challenge.
“What’s
up?” Taylor said and pecked Einar’s cheek before draping her arm
over his shoulder and looking Marcus’s way. “Romeo said there was
trouble. I was getting ready to gear up.”
Romeo?
The unimpressed look on Einar’s face suggested that it was a
nickname for him that he didn’t particularly like.
Amelia
didn’t particularly like a few things about Taylor herself. Namely
the fact that she had now left Einar’s side and was stalking across
the room towards Marcus, her sultry smile directed straight at
him.
“I need
to know about any demon activity in the city. Especially about any
black skinned demons that can materialise weapons,” Marcus said and
Taylor’s pretty face turned thoughtful. Amelia looked across the
room at Marcus. Had he gone crazy at the same time as she had?
Demons? She took in all the weapons again and then Marcus and
decided that demons were actually looking like a reasonable
explanation for what had happened tonight.
She had
always been sceptical about the supernatural, but Marcus had killed
two black creatures with flame red eyes and sharp teeth right in
front of her. Demons were real. These people clearly knew about
them and Marcus had come to get more information on their enemy.
Which was insane.
Taylor
looked cagey and fiddled with one of the knives strapped to her
sides below her arms. Each knife had a ring on the end that Amelia
supposed was so the beautiful woman could quickly unleash
them.
“Taylor?”
Einar said and she closed her eyes.
“I know
them,” she whispered and a nervous edge entered her blue eyes when
she fixed them on Marcus. “Angels.”
Marcus
and Einar both stepped towards her.
“Hell’s
angels? I thought they had a human appearance?” Marcus said and
Taylor nodded.
“They do
normally… but that isn’t their true appearance. In reality, they’re
black skinned, with red eyes and sharp teeth, larger than human,
and can materialise objects in much the same way as you boys. I
guess that part is left over from being an angel.”
Amelia
found it difficult to keep up with the conversation. Angels. Hell’s
angels, but she suspected they weren’t the sort who rode
motorbikes. Materialising things like Marcus and Einar
could.
Marcus
had made a tissue appear in the street, and had changed the handle
of the blade at his waist into a staff, creating a spear.
Supernatural powers. What had she gotten herself into?
“They
came after Amelia. I need to stay here a while, not for long. Just
until I know it is safe and we can move again. I need to know that
she is safe.” Marcus’s words warmed her heart and she wanted him to
see how much they had affected her.
She
stepped forwards and all eyes were on her.
Taylor
raked a quick assessing gaze over her and then looked back at
Einar. “You didn’t mention mortal female in the
Marcus-has-a-problem report.”
“You
could consider her the source of the problem.” Einar picked up a
crossbow.
Amelia’s
eyes shot wide, locked on the weapon, and her pulse rocketed. “Now
wait a minute.”
She held
her hands up and Marcus stepped forwards, towards Taylor and Einar,
placing himself between her and them.
“No one
here will hurt you, Amelia,” he said without looking at her and
Einar eyed the crossbow, an apologetic look entering his dark brown
eyes as he lowered it.
“I wasn’t
meaning to shoot you. I was just checking it over before patrol
tonight.”
She
wasn’t sure whether to feel relieved or not. The flood of
adrenaline caused by the thought of coming under attack again swept
her along.
“What the
hell is going on?” Amelia moved further into the room, defiant of
her fear and resolved to face whatever insane suggestions they
spouted.
It was
Marcus who spoke.
“You are
in danger.” The soft tone of his voice would have soothed her if
she hadn’t been hanging on every word.
“Danger?”
She turned towards him. The warmth in his icy blue eyes calmed her
a little but not enough that the tremble running through her body
stopped. The thought that she was still in danger brought
everything back and she wasn’t sure that she was strong enough to
face more of the creatures that Marcus had fought let alone
anything worse. Would other demons be coming after her? Why? What
had she done to deserve this? Her life was bad enough
already.
Marcus
moved closer and took hold of her hand again, his fingers pressing
into her palm and his thumb resting gently across her knuckles, and
nodded.
“It is my
mission to protect you, Amelia, and has been from the moment you
were born…” His hesitation sent her blood thundering and breath
stuttering.
She
wasn’t sure what she had expected him to say but the words that
left his sensual lips dropped on her like a tonne of bricks and the
shockwave carried away her fear, leaving her empty
inside.
“I am an
angel.”
Amelia
stared at him for a few seconds, waiting for him to tell her that
it was a joke, and that none of this was real, and perhaps even
that it was just a horrible dream brought about by a fainting fit
when she had been mugged, but none of it happened.
So she
laughed.