When
Marcus had mentioned that his wings had failed to appear, his
superior had sent him to report to the medical staff and undergo an
examination. The results were inconclusive and they had suggested
again that it was a psychological problem now rather than the
curse.
He didn’t
believe that for one second. Not this time. All his focus had been
on flying and taking Amelia somewhere safe, far away from London.
When his wings hadn’t materialised, and he had plummeted onto the
roof of the next building, he had changed his plans and decided to
go to see Einar instead. Why would he subconsciously stop his wings
from appearing when in doing so he placed Amelia in more danger?
She would have been safer away from this city with only him. The
demons after her would have found it difficult to track them. Now
he had to rely on Einar to protect them too. He wasn’t sure how
long it would be before the demons found them but there had to be
something he could do to buy himself more time. Could he take
Amelia away now? His wings were working again after all.
He furled
them against his back and ascended the pale stone steps to the
porch of the townhouse. Einar was quicker to answer the door this
time. He must have sensed Marcus’s presence and heard the message
he had sent to him while en route from Heaven. At least being
fallen didn’t strip Einar of his powers.
Marcus
glanced down at the cut across his thigh. He had forgotten to
mention it during his medical examination so it had gone unhealed
and now it was starting to bother him again.
He
stepped into the marble foyer of the house and silently followed
Einar up the staircase, focusing to put his wings away at the same
time. He frowned when he entered the dark red drawing room and
Amelia wasn’t there.
“Where is
she?” Marcus noted that Taylor wasn’t present either. Had the two
women gone somewhere? Had something happened? A spark of panic set
his heart racing again. If someone had come after her, Einar and
Taylor would have protected her. There was no reason for him to
fear but he couldn’t stop himself. Whenever he thought about what
had happened and how Amelia might have been hurt, an urge to see
her flooded him and he couldn’t ignore it.
“Asleep.”
Einar motioned for Marcus to follow him and sat down on one of the
two dark antique sofas that faced each other across a rectangular
wooden coffee table. “Sit.”
Marcus
did, choosing to seat himself on the sofa opposite Einar, and
frowned. He had the strangest feeling that Einar was about to pull
rank on certain matters and a desire to remind him that they were
almost the same age eclipsed his need to see Amelia.
“Don’t
look at me like that.” Einar casually leaned back into the corner
of the sofa, his black t-shirt blending into the dark material
covering it. “You seem terribly in a hurry to see Amelia… concerned
about her?”
Marcus’s
face darkened. “Of course I am. It is my mission to protect
her.”
Einar
smiled knowingly. “Just a mission?”
“What
else would she be?”
“You
might be fooling yourself, but you are far from fooling me, my old
friend.”
Marcus
wasn’t fooling himself at all, and he had wanted to ask Einar for
advice, but not face-to-face. It was embarrassing. He couldn’t
detach himself from the situation as easily as he could have if
they had been talking on the phone or messaging each other through
telepathy.
He
exhaled and slouched into the sofa, grimacing when his armour
pressed against his back in a painful way.
“What am
I supposed to do?” he whispered, more to himself than his
friend.
Einar
leaned forwards, his elbows resting on his jean-clad knees, and
smiled. “You do whatever comes naturally. It is not rocket science,
Marcus. It must feel as though it is right now, but if you follow
your feelings, I promise you it will be worth it.”
Marcus
closed his eyes, unsure what it felt like at the moment. Something
far more difficult to comprehend than mere science, that was for
sure. Amelia wanted him and he wanted her with all of his heart, he
just wasn’t sure how to proceed without making a complete fool of
himself. She was expecting something that he couldn’t guarantee,
and while his passion for her burned like an inferno within him,
fuelling the desire he felt for her and the feelings that just the
sight or smell of her evoked in him, he was afraid that he wouldn’t
live up to that expectation. If he screwed things up, would she
want nothing to do with him?
A small
recess of his heart wished that he had followed his fellow warriors
lead in all the times they had been on Earth together, celebrating
a moment of freedom at the end of laborious missions, and had spent
time with some females so he would know how to please
Amelia.
“Do not
think such things, Marcus.”
Marcus
looked up, meeting Einar’s deep brown eyes, and then looked away
towards the dark fireplace at the other end of the room. He hadn’t
said anything out loud so Einar must have read his fear in his
expression.
“Would it
make you feel better if I told you that she likes you?”
It did,
although Marcus didn’t want to know how Einar knew. What had they
talked about since he had left them to report in? He had a sneaking
suspicion that he had become the topic of conversation and looked
back at Einar, trying to see if he had mentioned anything that he
shouldn’t have. Einar smiled warmly at him.
“Amelia
likes you. She looked ready to fight Taylor when she was inspecting
your curse.”
She had?
His eyebrows rose and he couldn’t remain casual any longer. He
leaned forwards, mirroring Einar by resting his elbows on his bare
knees, closing the distance between them.
“Jealousy
is one emotion that is not difficult to detect in a woman. They
tend to wear it on the outside for all to see when it surfaces
within them. Amelia did not like Taylor touching you, and the anger
and hurt in her face confirmed her feelings to me. She likes you,
my friend, although I cannot understand why.” Einar’s smile became
a grin. “You have probably done nothing but distance yourself from
her.”
Marcus
shook his head at how well Einar knew him. He had struggled with
his feelings for Amelia, conflicted by them and his duty, and had
tried to maintain a suitable distance from her. It had been
slipping little by little, with each moment they spent together,
and now it felt as though he couldn’t continue that way. He needed
to be close to her and not only so he could protect her.
“What
does Heaven know about what happened?” Einar said and Marcus was
thankful for the change in topic.
“More
than they are telling me, that’s for sure.” He clasped his hands
together in front of him and frowned at them. “They reiterated that
I had to be on my guard and that my final task is not yet done. I
have to continue to protect Amelia from the demons.”
“You
believe they’re withholding information from you. Understandable. I
have completed several missions in my years where they have
intentionally kept things they have seen from me. We must remember
that it is not our duty to question why they do such things, but to
obey the orders they give to us.”
Marcus
wasn’t sure that he could obey some of the orders they had given
him recently. Seduce Amelia? At least they had acknowledged that it
was beyond the time for that now. Amelia knew what he was and knew
that she was in danger. He had gained her trust without resorting
to using her feelings against her, and he was glad of it because it
meant that whatever happened between them now, it was because of
his feelings for her and hers for him, not because he was under
orders.
“Where is
she?” he said again and Taylor walked into the room, tying her long
black hair up into a ponytail.
“She’s
sleeping.” Taylor walked over to Einar and slumped onto the couch
beside him with a weary sigh. “She’s been through a lot. You’ve got
to give the girl credit for not collapsing or having a meltdown. It
must be hard for a human to take in all our crazy shit and come out
the other end a sane person. She’s strong.”
“I know.”
Marcus focused, wanting to sense where she was, but the only people
he could pinpoint were Einar and Taylor. He turned a questioning
frown on Einar. “What room is she in?”
“If the
reason for your frown is a lack of Amelia on your senses, then fear
not. She is safe.” Einar rose from the sofa and held his hand out
to Taylor. “Taylor has sent her to sleep. She will be off the radar
of any creature, no matter how powerful, until she
wakes.”
Taylor
stood with Einar’s assistance and Marcus followed suit.
“A
power?” Marcus looked to Taylor for confirmation. She
nodded.
“I can
create spaces in people’s minds, a world where they can hide. It
drops you off this realm and into another personal to you, leaving
you literally out of this world.” Taylor smiled at him. “I’ll send
you deep into sleep too so they can’t find you either. When you’re
both out for the count, we’ll go and see what information we can
beat out of the local lowlifes for you.”
Marcus
nodded his thanks and followed her out of the room. When they
entered a large pale green bedroom on the next floor up, he paused.
A single lamp on the bedside table illuminated the room and Amelia
where she lay under the dark covers of a double bed. The only
bed.
Einar
clapped a hand down on his shoulder. “She’s out for the count. No
need to worry.”
Marcus
brushed his hand away and frowned at him. He wasn’t worried. He
just hadn’t expected that he would be sharing a bed when Taylor
sent him to sleep. What if Amelia woke and he was lying next to
her? What would she do then?
A
gut-tugging jolt inside him said that she could do anything she
pleased and he wouldn’t care as long as he got to kiss her again,
or maybe more. He craved the contact with her more than he hungered
for anything else. He could forgo food and even flying if it meant
he could touch her.
“Strip,”
Taylor said, matter of fact, snapping Marcus out of his
thoughts.
“Is that
necessary?” He looked at them both.
Einar
glanced at Taylor and something unspoken passed between them and
then he nodded. “Not down to nothing, but you would hardly be
comfortable sleeping in your armour.”
Marcus
could see where this was going and would be having words if his
suspicions were confirmed, but reasoned that armour was
uncomfortable to sleep in and removed it, placing it down on a
chair in the corner of the pale room. When he was down to his dark
blue loincloth, he turned back to face Einar.
Who
frowned at his legs, crossed the room, and held his hand out over
the cut on his thigh. Marcus gritted his teeth against the pain as
warm golden light shone down from Einar’s palm, caressing his skin,
and the wound there slowly closed, leaving nothing
behind.
“Thanks,”
he said and then eyed the bed, and then Taylor and
Einar.
There was
mischief on their faces but he went to the bed, lay on top of the
covers on his back next to Amelia and settled his head on the
pillows. He could smell her. Her soft fragrance filled his head,
soothing his tension away and relaxing him. It felt good being so
close to her, so good that he wanted to reach under the covers and
take hold of her hand. Instead, he placed his hands on his stomach
and waited.
Taylor
appeared above him and rested her hand on his forehead. A part of
him expected it to turn out to be a strange sort of joke and that
Amelia was just asleep because of the late hour and everything that
she had been through today, but as he stared into Taylor’s blue
eyes, his head started to feel heavy and foggy.
“Go to
sleep, Marcus,” she whispered and he fought the rising desire to
drift away, trying to focus on her and his mission. He should be
out there searching for the demons with Taylor and Einar, not
hiding away in some other world. His eyelids slipped shut and he
didn’t have the energy to lift them again.
A chasm
opened below him and he fell into it, spiralling down into the dark
towards a shimmering light far below. He tried to resist it but the
heat washing over him was too comforting and relaxing, subduing him
and making him feel heavy.
Taylor’s
voice rang softly through the darkness, warm with a hint of
amusement.
“Sweet
dreams, Romeo.”
***
Chapter 10
It was
the location that alerted Marcus to the fact that this wasn’t his
world.
A golden
sunset filled the sky directly before him, the sun slowly sinking
into the infinite ocean, its light rippling on the water and
sparkling like diamonds. The soft sound of waves gently breaking
against the pristine white sandy shore filled the silence along
with the rustling of the swaying palm trees in the light refreshing
breeze that came from the sea, carrying a salty tang and her
fragrance.
Amelia.
She sat
on a chipped white metal pole that created a railing along the
seafront, separating the sun-bleached wooden boardwalk from the
sand, her back to him and shoulder-length dark hair dancing as the
breeze caught it.