Moonlight and Diamonds & The Vampire's Fall (36 page)

Chapter 16

Z
en's scream startled him so thoroughly Blade slammed his foot on the brake.

Before the truck stood a man, who wasn't a human, but an angel. Blade knew that because the creature's wings stretched out twenty feet or more on either side of his shoulders. They weren't the standard feathered wings, either. These were fashioned from ice. And they weren't melting in the eighty-degree summer heat.

The angel heaved out a breath of frost that iced over the truck's windshield. Blade felt the chill enter his veins. He'd not felt so cold since the polar vortex had dropped temps below negative thirty degrees this past winter.

He heard Zen audibly shiver.

“Stay here,” he said to her.

She slapped the halo into his hand. “You'll need this.”

Right. His dad still had the one he'd claimed.

The angel slammed a fist onto the hood, denting the metal surface into the engine a good eight inches.

“Beating on inanimate objects isn't impressive,” he muttered. “How about you try me?” To Zen he said, “Keep the engine running.”

He kicked open the door and hopped out. He lunged for the angel, but got caught by an icy wing that thwapped him across the chest and flung him away from the truck. His spine landed against a street pole, the overhead light flickering from the impact.

The angel grasped the front of the truck and lifted. The front tires left the ground.

“Why are you after her?” Blade yelled as he pushed from the pole and charged the angel.

He jumped onto the hood, which didn't stop the angel from lifting it, and reached down to grip the bastard by its thick white hair. Ice flowed up Blade's fingers and hardened the veins in his wrist. “Why?”

The angel roared in a deafening blend of animal sounds and screams. Blade gritted his teeth as he struggled to maintain hold on the creature while his fingers felt as if they'd snap off from frostbite. Out of the corner of his eye he saw the clear ice wing sweep toward him. He slashed the angel's hand with the halo and on the follow-through managed to slice the wing in half. Ice shattered onto the pavement and the truck hood. The truck wheels dropped to the ground, toppling Blade off-balance.

To his advantage, the wings did not bleed.

Going with the momentum, Blade flipped over the top of the angel's head, slicing the halo over its shoulder and down the back as he did so. He landed the ground behind him and twisted to see the blue blood spill from the cavernous icy wound.

The undamaged wing collided with Blade's back. The force expelled the halo from his grip and pushed him forward to catch his palms against the angel's chest. The creature's skin was like dry ice. His flesh stuck to the thing. So he shifted. The subtle changes to his musculature and body were enough to free him from the icy opponent.

With wings out and in full faery form, Blade pranced around the angel, turning it away from the vehicle and Zen. “What do you want from her?”

Nothing but brain-shattering cacophony spilled from the creature's mouth. Either it hadn't mastered the human tongue or it was focused on annoying the hell out of Blade. The sound was louder than standing next to a stack of speakers at a heavy metal concert—turned up to eleven.

Holding his hands out in placation, Blade walked farther backward, luring the creature forward. Its wounded shoulder spilled copious blood that he kept an eye on. If it touched his skin he'd live, but the instant it permeated his bloodstream he was a goner.

Spying the halo on the tarmac, he swept down a hand and snagged it. A wing whooshed toward him, lifting his hair but not cutting him. Rolling up to stand, Blade eyed the truck. Zen sat inside. Safe.

“You're the second one,” he said to the angel, guessing the thing understood him, no matter his language skills. “I will protect her with my life.” He stretched his wings out behind him then arrowed backward, making him a narrow target. “Time for you to return to where you came from. But this time? I'm sending you to St. Peter's gate.”

The angel lunged for him. An icy wing tip cut through Blade's jeans. Heat seared his skin. Slashing an arm down, he drew the halo upward, cutting the angel's leg and across his chest. The angel's body opened up, blood spilling and a bright light emitting. Blade dodged the gush of blue blood. A wicked growl preceded a brilliant flash. The angel dispersed in a scatter of crystal dust and settled like winter snow upon the ground.

“Yes!” carried out from inside the truck.

Blade shook the icicles off his wings and yowled. The angel's icy touch still hurt like a mother. He slapped a hand over his thigh. No blood. He was safe.

A police siren sounded and he guessed it was a few miles away.

The truck drove up beside him and Zen called out the driver's window, “Get in! The cops! Hurry!”

Trying to shift resulted in a vicious twinge to his system. The lingering shock of cold kept him from shifting. Folding his wings up behind him, Blade managed to fit himself inside the truck cab, but had to pull in the top of his right wing and bend it uncomfortably.

“We'll have to return for the angel dust later,” Zen said.

“Don't need it. Only a witch would have use for it.”

“Fine.” Zen pulled the vehicle out of the parking lot. The truck sputtered and clunked and with a lurching heave forward—sped out into the darkness.

“That was close,” she said. “That thing might have turned you to ice. And look at your wing! It's bleeding. I think. It's sparkly.”

He hadn't been aware he'd taken damage. Blade pulled up the peak of his right wing and examined the cut, which healed even as he ran his fingers over it. Ichor-tainted blood spilled over the dark wing fabric and dropped onto his lap, staining the denim darkly.

Had any angel blood entered his bloodstream? He didn't feel as if he would explode. Because that was what would happen. One minute the vamp was smiling and going about his business. Angel blood gets into his veins—bam!

Zen eyed him for so long the truck swerved toward the ditch. It was only then he realized his pants had split down the thigh and crotch during the shift. And he wasn't wearing anything beneath the jeans.

“Eyes on the road,” he directed her. “Don't take your foot off the gas. The engine might be damaged. The minute this truck stops, I think it'll be for good.”

“Right.” She turned sharply onto the gravel road that led toward his home.

“I'd put my wings back but I need to stretch them out to furl them back up. Gotta wait until we get home. Sorry.”

“For what? Saving my life? Again! Dude, you can put those wings anywhere you like. And uh...those pants are going to fall off when you stand up is my guess. I can't wait.”

“I just dodged death and you're excited to see me drop trou?”

She shrugged, and while she kept her eyes on the road, Blade took in her broad smile. He forgot about the danger. That smile would undo him.

Hell, it already had.

* * *

Zen handled the truck well. And as Blade had suspected, when she stepped on the brake to park, the vehicle heaved to a clattering death.

“Sorry,” she said.

“Not your fault. I think it had something to do with the angel.” He shivered. “And all that ice. I can still feel it on my skin. It's creepy.”

“I'll run inside and get you a towel.”

While Zen ran up to the house, Blade stepped out of the truck. Though it was a sultry evening, he shivered again. The angel's touch lingered on his skin, in his very veins. He clutched the jeans' waistband to his stomach, but it wasn't doing much good. The crotch was ripped open.

He smirked. Zen wasn't the sort he wanted to attract in this manner. Because those
sorts
were one-night stands. On the other hand, she'd let him know that she liked to tease him and push their intimate boundaries. And those boundaries of his were fast softening.

Striding up to the barn, he cupped a hand over his crotch when Zen reemerged with a towel. She tossed it at him and turned to face the door.

He wrapped it about his hips, dropping the tattered jeans, but suspected it wouldn't be long before his cock got the better of him and tented the towel. Zen led the way up the stairs, her hips shifting and hair spilling like a sexy veil across her shoulders. She did have some gorgeous curves, and those curves distracted. At the top of the stairs, she turned and caught him in a kiss before he could land on the top step.

“Thank you again. Ooh, you're shivering. You need to put some clothes on.”

“Here I thought you wanted to see them fall off me.”

“More than anything. But I don't want it to happen at the expense of your health.”

“I'm not shivering because I'm cold.” Clad in just the towel, Blade wandered into the kitchen, while keeping his back away from Zen's curious gaze, and ran himself a glass of water from the faucet. “The angel's touch iced under my skin.” He drank the water then shivered boldly. “You want some?”

“I do want something.” She fidgeted with the ends of her hair, then smiled as she tried to avoid looking at him. Classic subtle flirtation moves. Combined with, he suspected, a healthy dose of nerves. “So here we are.”

“Yep.” He felt a sneaky desire to toy with her discomfort, so he leaned against the counter, hand on his hip. “Here we are. I'd say that date was a disaster, wouldn't you?”

“Not the majority of it. It was just the last part that was harrowing. And that did end well. The villain died the first time. All in all, I had a good time. And you know, I've never seen a naked man before.”

“That you know of.”

“That I remember. So, uh...could I...” She eyed his towel.

“Seriously?”

She nodded eagerly. Clasped together her beringed fingers in expectation.

“I don't—” She reached for the towel and Blade grabbed it before she could tug it from his hips. “Whoa! Boundaries, Zen.”

“Yes, but I'm curious. Your muscles are so—” she spread her hands before him, taking in his abs and pecs “—solid. You're just so strong. And perfect. And—it makes my heart flutter and other parts of me get really warm.”

He arched a brow. Did she actually not recognize when she was turned on? This chick did not cease to surprise him.

“And what is eyeing my main stick going to do for you?” he asked.

“I want to see all of you.”

“You've seen more of me than you should. Wings?”

“They are gorgeous. And besides, you saw me with my shirt off the other night.”

“And you are ogling me with my shirt off right now.”

Would she attempt to finagle him out of the towel? He wanted to see if she could.

“Looking at you makes me want to take my clothes off,” she confessed. “And press my body against yours. And kiss you. And—oh! I know that I know about this stuff, but I don't think I've experienced it. Does that make sense?”

“Nothing about you makes sense, Zen. You're weird.”

Her smile dropped.

“And I like that,” he quickly added. “So you want to get your experience with me? Is that all I am?” He crossed his arms. “A means to add a notch to your bedpost?”

“I don't understand that. Do I even own a bedpost?”

“Then, you obviously don't know as much as you think you know.”

“Apparently not. Okay, let me try a different tact.”

He smirked. Never had a woman's attempt at seduction been so awkward. And yet it was a turn-on to watch her fumble and find her way to more confident ground. Kind of like a flower opening her petals to take in the sun. And where the hell had that notion come from? He did not relate women to flowers.

Did he?

“I...admire you,” Zen said. “I mean, we've only just met. And it is apparent to both of us that whatever it is that I am is going to be dangerous to your health. And yet all you want to do is protect me. That's so noble. And sexy.”

He brushed a swish of copper hair over her shoulder and stroked his palm up her neck to cup her jaw. “I like you, Zen.”

“Even though I'm weird?”

“Especially because you're weird. And if we're going to do confessions, I admit that I struggle inside my head far more than any physical struggles I've had with angels or demons. I've got to stop that. Take life moment to moment. Like right now, I want to kiss you.”

She beamed up at him, bouncing on her toes. “Then, let's kiss.”

That was easy. He leaned down to kiss her and she sighed into his breaths. And Blade forgot to question the right or wrong of the situation and just let it happen. He wrapped a hand across her back and pulled her against his bare chest. She had kissed before, or maybe it was that they kissed so well together. This kiss felt easy. Sure. Not dangerous.

Her fingers played over his biceps, and the shivers he'd felt earlier vanquished in the warm wake of her touch. He could kiss her all evening and never come up for air.

“You're not resisting,” she whispered against his mouth. “That feels good. You're pulling me close to you. You are so strong and hard when I touch you. Your skin is...”

“Pale next to yours,” he said on a chuckle. “So pretty.” He tapped the marks on the inside of her elbow. “Take your shirt off, Zen.”

She pulled the shirt over her head so quickly he thought she might give herself whiplash. And there she stood, without a bra, her caramel breasts high and full and with darker nipples. Blade could taste them already. And he didn't think to question his tactics as he grew more aroused.

She pressed her hips closer, purring an approving noise into his mouth.

“Can angels have sex?” she asked.

“I don't know. But I thought we were going with you not being an angel. At least, not anymore. That becoming thing Dez mentioned?”

“Right. Then, maybe I should give the sex thing a try?”