Sins of the Angels (30 page)

So close.

He breathed in her scent, warm, clean, with a hint of vanilla. He could take her now, but he wanted more. Much, much more. He wanted Aramael to witness his success, and to feel firsthand the agony of his own defeat, of loss. Wanted him to live an eternity with that loss.

The woman snapped the phone shut and moved close. “I have to go,” she said, her voice low. “That was my sister. Something's happened to my niece.”

Sister? She had a sister and a niece? Caim's heart raced and his mind followed suit. Any blood relation to the woman would be Nephilim, too, which meant three within his reach. Could he really be that fortunate?

He tried to still his thoughts, to sort out the possibilities. He had three, but needed only one. Wanted only one. One whose demise would inflict on his brother the kind of damage he'd endured himself. He mustn't lose sight of that.

Neither, however, should he assume that want would guarantee success. Despite Aramael's erratic behavior, the Power could still outmaneuver him without warning. A backup plan wouldn't be at all amiss.

“Let me take you,” he said quickly, trying to temper his eagerness with the appropriate concern.

“As if you'd let me out of your sight,” she muttered, but the look she flashed him was one of gratitude.

And something more.

Caim's heart thudded in his chest. So he hadn't been mistaken on the phone. She really did have feelings for his brother.
Oh please, please let Aramael return those sentiments the way I think he does.

He cleared his throat. “Give me the keys,” he suggested gruffly. “I'll drive.”

“I'm okay, and it will be faster if I do the driving. I know the shortcuts.” She looked over her shoulder, away from the irritation surging within him. “I'll just let Roberts know what's up and—”

“Give me the keys.”

The woman blinked at the command. “Excuse me?”

Caim forced his shoulders down, his arms to relax. He stared at her, formulating the thoughts he needed to back up his words, the ideas he wanted her to accept. “I will get you there. You can call whoever you need to from the road while I drive.”

Still she hesitated. Annoyance reared in him. He was so close.
So
close. He gathered himself to press in on her mind a little harder. Without a Guardian to interfere with him, it shouldn't be this difficult to influence her. Was it because she was Nephilim? Or because of her relationship with Aramael?

Sudden warning prickled along his spine and he jerked his head up, away from the woman, and stared across the street. Someone watched him.

His gaze passed over a tall man standing beside the doorway to the mission, hesitated, moved back, and met brooding black eyes. Caim inhaled slowly, studying the man, sensing his curiosity. His puzzlement. The man's scrutiny intensified. Caim's palms grew damp as foreboding teased at the edges of his mind. The man wasn't mortal. But he wasn't an angel, either. He was something else entirely. Something—

Abrupt recognition flared in the other's face, along with an ugliness Caim had only ever seen in one other being, a being who had dared to defy the One herself.

For an instant, shock paralyzed Caim. Then, as the other's black brows slammed together, desperation struggled to his rescue. He would
not
lose. Not now. He reached for the woman in front of him.

“Alex!” the other shouted, running toward them.

As if privy to some secret signal, the woman dropped to the pavement, out of Caim's reach. Caim hesitated, gauged the other's proximity, and, with a snarl, shifted his energy and left the scene.

Alex stared at Seth's outstretched hand, noting the squared fingertips and lean strength. Her gaze traveled up his arm, across his leather-clad shoulder, and settled on his eyes. Calm eyes. Concerned eyes. Eyes that looked nothing like the fierce, infinitely powerful ones that had commanded her to fling herself away from Trent. Eyes she had obeyed without question.

She knocked the hand aside. Levered herself off the sidewalk. “What the
fuck
was that about?”

Seth hesitated and she glowered at him. She didn't have time for this; she'd get her answers from Trent on her way to—She scanned the area in disgust. Great. He'd disappeared again.

“God damn it to hell,” she muttered. “
Now
where did he go?”

“That wasn't Jacob.”

Alex paused in her check to make sure she still had cell phone, badge, and gun in place after her concrete-dive. “Of course it was.”

“No.” Seth shook his head, his voice oddly compelling. “It wasn't.”

“Then who—” The words stilled in her throat. In the space of a heartbeat, she went over the few minutes she'd spent with Trent on the sidewalk. Recalled his wary surprise at her approach, her own unease at his reaction to her sister's phone call. Felt bile rise into her chest at the realization he had somehow changed his appearance to that of her partner . . . and then remembered.

Sweet Jesus, he knew about Jen.

 

“SOULMATES?” ARAMAEL ECHOED.
He ceased pacing the gravel path and frowned down at Verchiel, seated on the stone wall surrounding the fountain.

“You're familiar with the concept.”

“Passingly.” He waited, but Verchiel remained silent, rearranging the folds of her robe across her lap. Aramael's temper edged upward. “I am in no mood for guessing games, Dominion. Tell me what you need to and be done with it.”

Verchiel folded her hands together. “You and Alex.”

“Me and Alex what? Damn it, Verchiel—” Aramael stopped. Stared. Felt his jaw go slack. “Soulmates? She and I are—But angels don't have soulmates.”

“Not now, no. But they did once. Along with free will.” Verchiel held up a hand to forestall another outburst. “Surely you remember the stories, what it was like before the mortals.”

“My purpose is not to listen to stories.”

“No. No, I don't suppose it is.” The Dominion sighed. “Before the One created the mortals, we existed much as they do. Well, without the famines and wars and such. But we had free will and a full range of emotions, and we had soulmates. When Lucifer left and took the others with him, we went to war. The agony of having to fight our loved ones nearly tore us apart and, to make it easier on us, the One took away our free will and the capacity to feel love for those near to us.”

Aramael frowned. “Why don't I remember any of this?”

“You never had a soulmate to remember.”

“If all this was taken from us, how can I have one now?”

“I don't know.” Verchiel shifted her seat on the stones. “Perhaps the woman's Nephilim bloodline has something to do with it. If she retained enough of the divine, maybe it triggered your recognition of one another.”

Aramael thought back to the first time he met Alex, the first time he touched her and felt the explosion of energy between them that had rocked his entire universe. That had been one hell of a recognition. It made him wonder: if she really was his soulmate and they were to come together—

Heat engulfed him with a ferocity that shocked him, setting his body aflame. He turned away from Verchiel and gritted his teeth.

“Why are you telling me this?” he asked, struggling for control, knowing the hoarseness of his voice gave him away.

“You need to understand the seriousness of your situation.”

He laughed, a short, bitter bark. “Believe me, Dominion, no one understands better.”

“And you need to leave her.”

Fury surged. Aramael whirled. “No.”

“Aramael, listen to me. You cannot hunt Caim like this. Your feelings for the woman, for Alex, interfere with everything that you are, everything you need to be. You must put distance between you. You have no choice.”

“I will not leave her alone while he stalks her.”

“I'm not asking you to. Seth has agreed to remain with her until your hunt is complete. She will be safe with him, you know that.”

Aramael tipped back his head and stared at the sky, bearing witness to the debate raging in his heart. The two hungers warring within him: the hunt, and what he felt for Alex. For a moment, he thought he might physically rip in half under the strain—and then a cleared throat, not Verchiel's, claimed his attention. He looked over to see another angel, a Virtue, standing a few feet away.

“Pardon the interruption,” the tiny female said. “But Seth requests that you return to the woman at once. He says it is urgent.”

As acute as the heat had been a moment before, the cold that ran through Aramael now was a thousand times more intense, freezing every cell in his body. Holding him prisoner in a grip of ice.

“Aramael?” Alarm pitched Verchiel's voice higher than normal. Broke through his imagined shackles.

He spun around, found she had stood up from the fountain wall. He towered over her. “Why could he not reach me directly? What did you do?”

“I needed to be certain our conversation remained private. There are things I haven't told you, things—”

“If anything has happened to her—” Aramael broke off, leaving the unfinished threat hanging between them. The muscles in his arms and shoulders knotted with his efforts to control his anger.

No wonder love had created such chaos on the heels of Lucifer's departure. And no wonder the One had chosen to remove it from those who remained at her side.

With a last snarl, Aramael pulled back from Verchiel, gathered himself, and stepped out of the heavenly realm.

 

Alex squared off against Seth, who leaned against the driver's door of her car. She wanted to throw herself at him, to pound on that implacable face and demand to know how the killer could look like Father McIntyre yesterday and her partner today; wanted to give in to the terror rising in her chest, a terror so huge she didn't dare acknowledge it for fear it might paralyze her.

The knowledge that she had put Nina and Jen at risk held her back. Held her upright.

She pushed back her jacket to expose her gun. “Move out of my way or, so help me God, I will shoot you.”

Seth settled more firmly against the car and folded his arms across his chest. “You know that won't work.”

Alex bit down on the inside of her lip. There was so much more in that statement than she could deal with right now. She lifted her chin. “Maybe not. But it will draw a lot of attention you don't want and I'll get away in the confusion. Your choice.”

“I'm just asking you to wait for a few seconds until Ara—until Jacob gets here.”

“No.”

“Be reasonable, Alexandra Jarvis. You can't just disappear without telling him where you'll be. A moment or two won't make a difference.”

Two strides took her to within inches of him. Anger rolled through her in waves. Her hand settled on her weapon.

“That murdering son of a bitch knows I have a sister,” she grated through clenched teeth, “and a niece. And I don't care how livid Trent will be, I'll be damned if I stand here while a monster goes after them. So get the
fuck
out of my way, Benjamin. Now.”

Black eyes studied her calmly and it took all her strength not to back down from them, not to hide from their toocanny perception. “If he does find them, you can't stop him. Not alone.”

“Yes,” she said. “I can.”

Something dark crossed Seth's features and she knew he understood her meaning. What she intended. Long seconds ticked by before he spoke again. “I cannot let you sacrifice yourself.”

“Damn it, Benjamin—”

He shook his head, cutting her off. “My job is to keep you safe when Jacob cannot. No more, no less.”

Alex whirled away. She released her grip on the gun and raked hands through hair before settling them on her hips. She stared at the scene she had walked away from and thought about her fellow cops still dealing with the insanity behind the brick walls and plate glass, clinging to the belief that they could find the killer. That they could catch him. Stop him.

The belief that he was human.

Her fingers dug painfully into her hip bones. She turned back to Seth, her terror now a quiet desperation. If she couldn't save Jen and Nina, at least she could be there for them. “They're the only family I have, Seth. Come with me if you want, but let me go to them. Please.”

Seth looked away. Hope struggled to life in Alex's chest. Had she found a chink in that damnably impenetrable armor? She crossed the sidewalk and placed her hand on her bodyguard's forearm. “Please,” she said again.

Seth stared down at her hand and a sudden tingle crawled along her skin. A frisson of awareness. Alex felt him tense beneath her touch and she drew back, flustered by his response. Shocked at her own. Heat rose in her cheeks.

Seth stood without moving for a moment, then shoved his hands into his pockets. Shook his head. “We wait.”

Her shoulders slumped. Hell. That put her back to shooting him, then.

Even as the thought crossed her mind, however, Seth looked past her and relief flashed across his face. “Took you long enough,” he said.

Alex glanced around to see Trent step out from a recessed doorway behind her. He swept a narrow look over both her and Seth and she wondered what he'd heard. How much he'd seen.

Why it should matter.

She looked to Seth. “You're sure it's him this time?”