15. Talon
Chapter 15
Talon
Talon was pulled from sleep by the cheerful jingling of his phone. Groaning, he rolled over and answered blindly.
“Talon,” he rasped.
Silence.
“Hello?”
“ Talon .”
Heat pooled in Talon’s gut at the soft sound of his name from Alex’s mouth. He hadn’t expected to hear from him quite so soon.
“ Sorry, did I wake you? ” There was a strange tension in his voice. Had something happened?
“Yes, but that’s okay. Are your drills done already? What time is it?” He rolled over, staring up at the dark ceiling.
“ Eleven. I’m sorry. I can ? — ”
“Nonsense, little bird. What’s going on? Your voice sounds weird.”
“ I… I’ve got a lead on the mozgoran. ”
There was a brief silence, and Talon suspected there was more to it than that. “Okay. That’s good.”
“ Can I see you? ”
He stretched one hand across the empty side of the bed, curling his fingers in the black silk and wondering what it would feel like to have him there. “You can come to my apartment. I’ll text you the address.” He could just as easily meet Alex at his place, but something in him preened at the prospect of having Alex in his space.
“ Um. Yeah, okay. That might be for the best. ”
Something had definitely happened.
They hung up, and as promised, Talon texted him his address and apartment number. Feeling giddy, he peeled back the black sheets and swanned downstairs for coffee. Halfway through making it, he remembered that he would probably need pants—although not for long, if he had his way—so he ventured back up to the loft for a pair of soft black sweatpants.
The scent of coffee filled the apartment by the time the elevator dinged outside the door. Talon stilled, waiting for a knock. His was the only door, because he owned the whole floor. It came a moment later, with no hesitation, and Talon smiled to himself.
He opened the door. Their eyes met, and Alex’s gaze fell instantly to Talon’s naked chest.
“Uh.”
“Hello, little bird.”
Alex smiled, and Talon felt as though a piece that had been missing from his chest had finally slotted back into place.
Talon snagged his wrist and pulled him in for a deep kiss. “You were gone for far too long. Would you like some coffee?”
“Sure.”
Talon led him inside and let the heavy door fall shut behind them. Alex’s gaze trailed around the penthouse, and Talon tried to see it as he did.
Everything was black and chrome and glass. The long, open kitchen had black marble counters and stainless steel appliances. A black fireplace sat below the loft, black brick obscuring part of the upstairs from view. Most of the walls were glass, though he had automatic blinds that he could bring down with a push of a button, which he often utilized on sunny days. The furniture was black leather, the rug black and pale gray. It was all very monochrome, which he’d never thought twice about, but would Alex like being in a space devoid of color? Maybe he wouldn’t be comfortable here. The thought was an unsettling one.
“This is somehow exactly what I expected. Although there are more windows,” Alex mused, turning to give Talon an easy smile.
Relief warmed him. “Penthouses usually have a lot of windows to make use of the view. It’s beautiful at night,” Talon said, pushing him to a stool at the island. “I’ll get you a cup of coffee.”
He went to the very expensive, stainless steel machine and made two cappuccinos. When he slid one across the island to Alex, he let his hand linger until their fingers brushed. Alex cast him a shy smile, pulling the cup closer and hunching over it, inhaling the smell.
“So, what happened?” he asked, sipping his own while it was still scalding hot. Being from Hell, heat wasn’t usually an issue for him.
Alex, blowing on his coffee to cool it, glanced up at him. “Well, somebody saw me going into In Extremis the other night. They reported me to Commander Sloan.”
Talon went still. He didn’t know what the guild’s protocol was for something like that, but he recalled how worried Alex had gotten when the paladins came into the club to question Wolf. Alex was clearly worried about getting in trouble.
“It’s forbidden for paladins to go to the club without backup. They think it’s too dangerous.”
“Of course they do,” Talon said, leaning on the island across from Alex. “What’d they say?”
“I’m suspended from duty for two weeks. I’m not objective enough to hunt the mozgoran, because I disobeyed their orders and endangered myself to hunt it alone.”
But he wasn’t alone, though they couldn’t know that. He had Talon, who would cut his own arm off before he let something happen to Alex. And no matter what he did, they would only suspect him of treachery, anyway.
“I didn’t mention that I was really there to see you, of course,” Alex added. “Sloan didn’t give me a chance to argue. The answer was no, and he wouldn’t hear anything but agreement. And then…” His expression changed, becoming thoughtful. “I was intercepted by a prophet.”
“A prophet,” Talon repeated.
“Mm-hm.”
“Like an actual—an actual prophet.”
“Yeah. You know, they fast and receive visions of the Lord.”
“I’m familiar with the term, yes. I had no idea the guild had one, though.” Honestly, he didn’t know there were any prophets alive today. They were mentioned in biblical times, of course, but superstitions ran rampant back then anyway. He’d half-believed ‘prophets’ were just people with vivid imaginations or, at best, very good guessers. He wasn’t convinced they actually received messages from anyone.
Alex squinted at him. “They don’t have just one. There’s a whole prophecy department. Their visions are how we do most of our work. They tell us where to go, what to hunt.”
“You’re shitting me.”
“I would not,” Alex promised.
Talon fought back a smile. Alex’s forthright nature was far more endearing than it had any right to be. “All right then, what did this mysterious prophet have to say?”
Alex smiled patiently. “Well, prophets and paladins aren’t really supposed to mingle. There’s a specific chain of command. Prophets take their visions to the head of their division, Diviner Rousseau, who, along with the rest of the council, determines which visions are priority. Since there’s concern that prophets will tell paladins things they shouldn’t be privy to, interaction is discouraged.”
That made it sound like the paladins themselves were low in the pecking order. He’d thought everyone in the guild was a ‘paladin,’ but apparently there were more divisions of labor than he could’ve guessed. There was a lot about the inner workings of the guild Talon didn’t know about.
“Prophets,” he said under his breath. “Wow. Wait, how many prophets are we talking about?”
Alex shrugged. “I don’t know how many there are in the whole division. They work on a separate floor. I hear they have quiet rooms where they meditate until they have visions they can give the council, but paladins don’t have access to the floor.”
“Huh. We demons just thought all of you were called paladins.”
Alex bobbed his head. “A fair assumption. We are called the Paladin Guild. Everybody gets the rings, too,” he said, laying his left hand flat on the counter so the ruby-and-pearl signet ring was visible.
“And one of these prophets intercepted you, you said?”
“Yeah. He gave me this.” He slid a piece of paper across the counter. Written in hasty script was an Irvine address. “He told me I’d be the one to bring him down and save them, and I should be there by sundown tonight.”
Talon leaned in avidly. “Really? He broke the rules by doing that, didn’t he?”
“He did. We both knew it.”
“Hm. Wonder why.”
Alex shook his head. “Prophets know things the rest of us don’t. But if he’s right, it means this is the only way to stop the mozgoran.”
It could be, yes, but Talon wasn’t so quick to trust. “What if he was lying?”
Alex’s face fell, and a flash of guilt cut Talon to the quick. “You think?”
“I don’t know, little bird. I’m just wary of paladins in general—present company excluded. Why would this guy go out of his way to give you this? Isn’t he risking retribution, too? He broke the rules to do this. What’s in it for him?”
Alex’s mouth twisted in thought. “I think he just doesn’t want anyone else to die. If I don’t go, this family will be killed.”
“What if he gave that vision to the guild’s council? Wouldn’t they send a squad?”
Alex frowned. “I don’t know. Ira must think not, if he came straight to me.”
Talon tilted his head. “Don’t misunderstand me. If you trust him, I trust you . I just wonder why he went to these lengths. Is your guild not to be trusted? Would they not take his vision to heart and rush to save that family?”
Alex met his gaze, his expression grim. “They must not.”
“Why not?” Talon asked. Alex couldn’t answer that question, but someone needed to say it aloud. “I thought their purpose was to protect people.”
Alex swallowed hard. “I thought so, too. Ira said I’m the one who will save this family. For some reason, it has to be me. If it went to anyone else, the family would die.”
“And you trust this prophet to be truthful.”
Alex nodded. “I do.”
Talon inclined his head. “Good enough for me. I’ll go with you, and together, we’ll get your revenge.”
Relief lightened Alex’s expression. He reached across the island and tangled his fingers with Talon’s. “Thank you.”
A glance at the clock reminded him that it wasn’t quite noon yet. They had a lot of time to kill before they had to be in Irvine.
Abandoning his coffee, he drifted closer, around the island, and Alex turned bodily to watch him, his eyes twinkling with anticipation.
When he pressed closer, Alex’s legs widened to make room for him. “I believe we have some time to ourselves now, don’t you? Sundown isn’t for seven more hours.”
Alex braced his elbows on the counter behind him. Talon gave into the urge to touch, slipping his hands under Alex’s T-shirt and smoothing his palms up his sides, pushing the fabric up to expose his abdomen, his ribs. His thumbs teased the dark, beaded nipples, and Alex hummed, closing his legs as though to draw Talon closer.
He leaned in, brushing their mouths together. “Kiss me, little bird. Let me show you how good you can feel.”
With a quiet whimper, Alex closed the distance between them, meeting Talon’s mouth with his own.