Chapter 10 #2
She was right. There were a lot more bodies around than expected.
Christopher was surrounded by people. Human people.
We couldn’t touch him without finesse. Our original plan to snatch and grab without stopping wouldn’t work when he was in the middle of the first floor with humans all around him.
The seconds it would take to bring our wings in would close the window of opportunity.
“We need a diversion,” Regan said in a rush.
I nodded. “Go ahead, take your top off—”
Regan smacked me in the arm. “That was not my plan.”
“It could be. Not too late. I mean, we’re in France after all.”
“This is what we’re gonna do. You are gonna walk onto that terrace big and bold, let him see you. He’s going to then make a run for it, and I'll be there waiting for him.” She cracked her knuckles. “I’ll be waiting in the shadows for him at the bottom. Especially with this fog you gave us.”
I reached up with both hands. My pink magic coiled around my pointer fingers as I pressed one to my left ear and the other to Regan’s right ear. My magic shot down my left arm, across my body, then up my right arm and into Regan’s ear.
Regan turned toward me with a grin as a gust of wind swept her long sandy-blonde hair over her shoulder. “Wait ‘til the girls come back and we teach them this new trick.”
I held both hands up. “Don’t distract me with a tease like that.”
“Sorry.” She grimaced.
“Also, we should start making a list of things to teach them.”
“Oh, like Captain America has that notebook!”
I pointed to her. “I understood that reference.”
“You’re stalling—”
“You distracted me—”
“You’re the one who whipped out our magic headphones trick without warning—”
“I got excited. We always forget to use it.”
“When we teach the girls, we use it all the time.”
“Agreed.”
“Boom.”
I nodded. “Boom.”
She nodded her head toward the Iron Lady. “Go on. Get.”
We fist-bumped, then split up. It was actually, genuinely amazing that at our ancient age we still managed to find new tricks and toys. It wasn’t until we started sharing AirPods to listen to the same thing at the same time that it occurred to us we could try that with our magic.
“Okay, boots on the ground, Nelly Furtado.”
“I’m like a bird,” I sang before I could stop myself.
“I really would’ve expected Promiscuous Boy to be the first Furtado song to come to your mind.”
Images of Kaso in those black boxer briefs and unbuttoned shirt flashed through my mind over and over until it was all I could see. My body warmed. My pulse fluttered.
“Earth to Chanel,” Regan shouted in my ear through our magical headphones.
I flinched and hissed. “Don’t give a mouse a cookie and then yell at her for eating the cookie.”
“That’s not . . .” She sighed. “Nevermind. I’m in position behind one of the Iron Lady’s legs with a perfect view of the lift doors and the staircase. Either way he comes down, I’ll grab him.”
“Got it. Here I go.” I flew straight for the tower, and not subtly.
Once humans invented photography, Zuriel knew he had a problem, so he and Araqiel took it to the man upstairs to get us some new tricks.
Since then, Virtues became invisible to the human eye if our wings were out.
This allowed us to do our job without causing mass hysteria.
In the good old days, people would see us and tell their friends, but the friends would assume they were drunk, high, or losing their minds.
So as I pumped my wings and made my dramatic entrance by landing on the edge of the railing, I knew exactly who was human and who wasn’t .
. . because every single person who reacted to my sudden presence knew what I was.
We had the same effect on supernatural civilians as cops did on humans when they suddenly drove behind them.
. . instant guilt and instant slamming on the brakes.
The Serenity flashed like a wave from left to right, further confirming the species of the people in front of me. I showed no reaction on my face as I hopped off the railing and landed on the pavement of the first-floor terrace.
“Man, you should be a pop star with all that swagger,” Regan said with a chuckle in my ear.
The corner of my mouth twitched up into a half-smile. I couldn’t respond to her, couldn’t risk Christopher knowing I wasn’t there alone. Instead, I glanced left and right with each sway of my hips as I strutted that terrace like it was a concert stage.
“Oh, look at him squirm.” Rey cackled. “No, don’t look at him. But trust me, he sees you and is assessing his situation.”
With only a subtle nod, I kept my expression neutral.
The Serenity flashed with two red spots in my peripheral vision.
Vampires. Kaso? I hated how fast my head snapped in that direction.
I hated even more that the two wide-eyed vampires staring at me weren’t Kaso.
The part I hated the most was the speed at which my pulse skyrocketed at the mere idea of him being nearby.
If their track record had proved anything, it was that Kaso and his brother were never too far from Christopher, or at least one of them was always near.
Kaso knew he told me to come here so he had to be around somewhere.
He’d want to rub it in my face that he’d kept his word.
I glanced left and right, up and down. I scanned every single pop of red on the Serenity, yet none of these faces were his.
Dammit, Kaso, where are you? I know you’re here somewhere—
“He’s gone,” Rey shouted. “Chanel, he’s gone.”
My gaze snapped in the direction of where Christopher had just been, but he was gone.
Out of sight completely. I scowled and balled my hands into fists.
His aura had not left the vicinity. I still felt the tingle of it along my spine the way I always did when a target was nearby. “How?” I asked between clenched teeth.
“No idea. The waitress walked up to him and was chatting for a few seconds. She dropped his coffee, then—” she gasped. “That coffee held his cloaking potion. Dammit.”
No, no, no. Kaso said he’d give him water.
Kaso said.
KASO said.
Dammit, Chanel. DAMMIT. Why did you trust him?
He tricked you. Lured you here then showed off by blatantly giving him the potion right in front of you.
He played you so bad. I leapt behind a potted plant near one of the Iron Lady’s legs and pressed my back to it.
He was bound to make his move if he thought I’d left.
Thirty seconds later a sharp, cold blast of energy shot down my spine.
I grinned but didn’t move. Christopher fell for it, the fool he was.
I closed my eyes and focused on the Serenity.
Luckily, I didn’t need my vision to see it.
In fact, sometimes it was easier to use without my eyes because then I could focus on the colors and the movements.
It was mostly a sea of glittery gold from the humans, but I saw sparkles of color.
C’mon, Chrissy. Make your move—THERE! AHA!
He was headed in my direction. Just as I expected, he was going to make his run over the railing.
Vampire strength would allow him to land on his feet on the ground without hurting himself.
But I was going to grab him before that.
I rolled to the balls of my feet and leaned into a crouch, ready to leap out and tackle him.
“Chanel—”
“He’s coming toward me, toward the edge of the terrace,” I whispered. “He’s going over the edge. Move in—”
“On it. Headed that way now,” she whispered back. “I don’t know why I’m whispering back.”
I smirked but didn’t respond. He was close.
Just a few feet behind me. His vampire ears would’ve heard me.
The pulsing energy on my back told me he was moving in close.
My legs were ready to move, to jump. I opened my eyes and gasped.
My gaze landed on a tall, dark, and fangy vampire.
He was wearing the most sinfully delicious black suit.
He’d skipped the jacket tonight and it made me weak in the knees.
The black dress shirt was rolled up to his elbows, and the collar was unbuttoned halfway down, just enough to see the chiseled edges of his torso but not enough to see the abs.
His suspenders were dangling from his hips, taunting me. Teasing me.
KASO.
Christoper’s aura went ice-cold.
I gasped and spun to the right, to where I’d just felt his aura, just in time to feel it drop to the ground below.
DAMMIT. I clenched my teeth and exhaled through my nose, feeling like a fire-breathing dragon as rage exploded inside of me.
I needed to chase after him while I could still sense him, but Regan was down there, and she had enough rage for the both of us. She’d get him.
I had other needs. I marched across the terrace straight for Kaso—intentionally not pulling in my wings so he wouldn’t see me until I was ready.
Except those golden eyes spotted me in an instant. His gaze widened. He threw both hands up and shook his head. “Chanel, I—”
I pulled my wings in just as I shoved him into the sidewall of the food hut. “So much for you being a good guy—”
“I am!”
“Oh, you’re tricky. I’ll give you that. Really damned tricky.” I pressed up close to him, my body flush against his. I pointed my finger at his face. “It wasn’t technically a lie, was it? He was visible until I moved in, then all of a sudden, he vanishes. Poof—”
“That had to have been Andreas’s doing—”
“How convenient for you that your brother got in the way,” I said with a snarl.
His golden eyes flashed with emotion I couldn’t place. “Chanel—”
“I can’t believe I actually trusted you, actually believed you.” I pushed up on my tiptoes, needing to be closer to eye level and not at that angle that made me want to kiss him. “Shame on me, but it won’t happen again.”
His golden gaze moved from my eyes to my lips and lingered. “I swear . . . I gave him only water—”
“Yeah, yeah. Really brilliant, though. You didn’t lie to me but conveniently your brother did.”
“No, no—” he sighed and his breath smelled like hot chocolate. His gaze refocused on mine. “I mean, I didn’t exactly tell Andreas—”
With both hands pressed to his muscular chest, I shoved him hard against the wall.
One of his dark curls slipped over his forehead and the butterflies it gave me made me want to scream and rip him apart.
How dare he? “Get in my way again and I’ll escort you to Fourth Realm myself, right into the hands of Clementine. Got it?”
“Chanel—”
“Did I stutter?” I growled.
He closed his mouth and breathed through his nose.
For a moment he just stared at me, nostrils flared, eyes dilated, cheeks flushed.
Then he was moving but my brain was too foggy to realize that was his hand sliding into my hair on the back of my head until I felt his fingers on my scalp.
My body shuddered like the traitor it was.
He dragged my mouth to his and everything inside of me just snapped.
I fisted his shirt in both hands, pulling his lips to mine.
We met in the middle, crashing together in a blaze of heat and a puddle of we shouldn’t be doing this.
He slid his tongue into my mouth, and I was helpless to stop.
His grip tightened on my hair, pulling my head back to deepen our kiss at the same time his other hand gripped my throat.
His thumb pressed into my jugular like he wanted to make sure I felt every erratic beat of my own heart as he kissed me.
Wait.
He kissed me.
He KISSED me.
No, no, no. ABORT. ABORT. ABORT.
I shoved him away so hard his back slammed into the wall and cracked the wood paneling. He gave me the sexiest little smirk, glanced over my shoulder, then leapt over the edge of the railing before I could even get my first full breath in.
For a moment, all I could do was stand there. I couldn’t believe that just happened.
He kissed me.
I kissed him back.
I liked it.
With a heavy sigh, I turned around—and froze. Regan stood a few feet away with her hands on her hips and fire blazing in her blue eyes.
“Regan . . . when . . . how long were you standing there?”
She narrowed her eyes at me. “How long have you been shacking up with our nemesis?”
“I’m not—”
“Bullshit. I saw that kiss, Chanel—”
“He kissed me, not the other way around!”
“Oh yeah, I saw all the ways you pushed him off and told him no.”
“Regan—”
But she spun away and leapt into the sky, my fog hiding her from sight almost instantly.
“Shit.”