Chapter Fourteen
Zavier loved flying…unless he was being chased. Hell, even then it was fun, because he could out-fly just about anything in the skies. But he hadn’t discovered, until just a few months ago, that what made flying even better? Was flying with a woman in your arms.
Or, at least, one particular woman.
“I see you’ve finally stopped shutting your eyes when we use a waterfall portal,” he teased. Liss’s head was cranked around to look over his shoulders at the combination of rocks, scrub pine, olive trees, and the cascading zigzag of the falls. Most of it was barely visible in the purple light of not-yet-dawn.
“I don’t want to miss anything. I realized my fear was getting in the way of enjoying remarkable experiences. What’s this one called?”
“Selinara Falls. On the south slope of Mount Kedros on Crete. Which happens to be full of waterfalls.”
“Is that a coincidence?”
“That I chose this one? The mountain’s really steep—discourages random hikers. Less chance of us being spotted.” And he enjoyed its stark beauty. Thought Liss might appreciate it, too.
She scowled at him. Her dark hair was pulled back into a braid, but little wisps fluttered in the wind around her face. Paired with the scowl, she wasn’t at all threatening. All he saw was beauty. “That, and it’s the ass crack of pre-dawn. You people are massively messing with my REM sleep.”
“Sorry. Time zone hopping’s a way of life for us.”
Liss’s response was to stick out her tongue. “Like many other things about Nephilim , it isn’t what I’d call a perk.”
Zavier agreed. Although things had gotten better with the invention of extra-caffeinated sodas. “I’ll buy you a Greek coffee when we’re done. Uber rich and creamy. Guaranteed you’ll love it.”
“I’ll hold you to that. But I meant is there a reason why the Nephilim stronghold is near so many waterfalls? You only need one to portal through.”
He’d answer. But he knew Liss well enough to see it for a stalling tactic. From the moment he’d suggested coming out here for the final checkbox of proof that she was a Nereid, Liss had resisted. Come up with excuses. Ridiculous ones like how it was Occult Day (he blamed Aradia for that one) so it was inviting trouble to go anywhere and do anything.
“Um, cradle of civilization? No idea why they built it here instead of Asia. That’s a question you can save for Caraxis. He loves lecturing on ancient history like that.”
She swung her feet, legs dangling from his arm beneath her thighs. “Or…we could go for that coffee now…”
“Nice try. No way. We came all this way—”
“Nice try,” Liss echoed mockingly. “All this way, from Buffalo to Crete, ended up being a whopping seven minutes of flight time.”
He glanced at his Apple Watch. Handier when flying than his favorite Chopard dual time zone watch. Texts and emails that provided intel on the way to a mission were more important than knowing the time.
“More like twenty-seven minutes. Time flies when you fly.”
“And when you’re holding me…” Liss nuzzled her head into the spot between his neck and his collarbone. And the hand draped loosely across his shoulders made a decisive move to the underside of his wing.
“No. I’m shutting that down right now. First of all, no wing play unless you want to end up in a nose dive plummeting into the ocean.”
“Got it. Just like no blow jobs while driving.”
There she went again. “Secondly, no flirting. No trying to change our plan with the lure of sex.”
“A girl can try.”
“A half-angel can resist.”
She swatted her braid over her shoulder. “Great, then, Mr. Self-Control. Tell me how to resist these new powers.”
“You can’t, Liss.” The sooner she came to accept it, the better. “That answer’s never going to change. I’m sorry.”
“It’s not your fault.”
Nice of her, but… “It is. One hundred percent directly my fault.”
“No. Fault requires intent. You never intended to rouse my ancient DNA.”
“I did not.”
“Although we could try a second infusion of your blood and see if that reverses it?”
Holy fuck. “Right. Because if you took cyanide, a second dose would cure you, instead of just making you more dead?”
The smile lit her face as much as the first lavender hues of the sun creeping up from the ocean. “You were paying attention to the movie last night. I thought you fell asleep.”
“Faked it, hoping you’d give up, turn it off, and then I could go watch something with a million times more action.” Zavier had actually pretended to be asleep so he could watch Liss from beneath his slitted lids.
“There’s no escaping movie night.”
“And there’s no escaping your powers.”
“What do you think would happen with a second dose of your silver blood?”
Of course, he and the guys had talked through the option. For about ten seconds, before discarding it as far too dangerous—unless another near-death scare occurred. Even then, Rhys and Gideon had voted hell, no to the possibility.
“It might awaken some other latent power.”
Liss shuddered. “No, thank you.”
“Or kill you.”
“You’re not a morning person, are you?”
Mornings, post-nap—time of day didn’t change his daily reality. “There’s no sugarcoating these facts. Nephilim don’t sit around on fluffy marshmallow clouds. We’re engaged in a brutal daily war to safeguard humanity against demons. Death is the consequence of a lot of things.”
“New topic. Something hopefully more cheerful. Eva told me that when she met the alicorn, she could talk to him. Because of the whole Nephilim -speaking-every-language-in-the-world thing.”
“Correct.”
“I can’t do that.”
“Probably not? We’re not sure.”
“Then if I can’t speak its language, I probably shouldn’t try to call one. You know, it’s just rude.”
She was making yet another excuse to put off the test. The power of a Nereid could call a Hippocamp . It was the power infusing the song that mattered, not whether it was in English or Greek.
“Gideon wanted to do more research. I vetoed that as dumb. We can solve the whole thing without any extra book time with this trip.” Zavier flew in large, lazy circles as he descended. Liss was overthinking. As usual. “I can translate.”
“If I’m going to use my power to summon something—already pushy—the least I can do is speak its language.”
“I’ll explain that you’re brand new to all this. Don’t be nervous.”
“Don’t be stupid. Of course I’m nervous.”
Zavier didn’t bother to hold in his sigh. The wind would mask it. Reason number fifty-eight why he could never be in a relationship. With everything he’d gone through, everything he’d seen, it was just too big a lift to couch every little thought in careful terms. He was too hardened to think that way.
“See what happens when I try to be sensitive? It pisses you off.”
Her nose crinkled like he’d just burped in her face. “I don’t need you to be sensitive . I’m not fragile. Just be yourself. You’re much better at that. Play to your strengths.”
It was as if she forgot that he was almost three times her age. Fearlessly, Liss bossed him around. Snarked at him. Zavier enjoyed it. Relaxed into it. And then, invariably, caught himself. Because getting too comfortable, too used to her attention, would just make it harder in the end.
There would be an end. To the flirtation. To her finding him a good foil. To her putting up with his moods and darkness. No woman would be willing to put up with that for the long haul. Not to mention the risk of her going anywhere alone with Aamon’s threat out there. She’d bristled at having a bodyguard from the jump.
Which was why he’d gotten her comfortable in the hot tub last night—and then immediately made an excuse to be anythefuckwhere else. Sinking into those bubbles, feeling her warm, wet skin…that would’ve led to sex. Guaranteed.
Liss didn’t need him all over her right after barely coming back from the brink of death. Zavier doubted he could be gentle enough for her current condition. She’d looked confused when he all but ran out of the room.
He thanked every god, past, present, and future in all pantheons, that she hadn’t asked him about it on this short flight.
Zavier landed them on a small cluster of rocks just off the coast of Crete. They’d stay on the side away from land. The beach in the area was more of a nature preserve. The chance of anyone spotting them when the sun wasn’t even up yet was slim. Slim enough, anyway.
They both wore wetsuits. No telling how much water would slosh over them once the Hippocamp appeared. Liss’s curvy figure was made to fill out the latex suit. She looked like the sexy evil spy in an action thriller.
Zavier looked purposefully away. A hard-on in a wetsuit wouldn’t be comfortable.
“What do I do?” she asked in a small, quiet voice.
For the millionth time since the fateful day Maisy and Liss entered their lives, Zavier didn’t know the answer. It turned out that their supposedly extensive training with the Order had been on more of a “need-to-know” basis.
And then Evangeline came along and revealed more gaping holes in their knowledge.
Zavier had no fucking idea how a Nereid called for a Hippocamp . Mostly because there weren’t instruction books on it because Nereids were born into their race. Their parents taught them. Their watery Nereid village taught them.
But Liss’s cobbled-together paranormal village of Nephilim, a Dark Nephilim , and a witch didn’t know jack shit about it.
Admitting that wouldn’t help Liss. Who had already been forced to be braver than any human should be expected to. So he channeled Gideon’s breeziness and faked it.
“I’m still hoping that the language thing isn’t an issue. Can you just try it, like Ariel?”
“The little mermaid?” Liss laughed so hard it came out like a wheeze. “From Disney?”
“It’s classic literature. Hans Christian Andersen.” Shouldn’t she be impressed that he liked things besides action movies?
“Mmm-hmm.” Then she crossed her arms. Clearly intent on not doing anything more until he explained.
Zavier had no choice. If she stayed like that much longer, her zipper would pop right off of those beautiful, perfect breasts.
“Fine. We saw the Broadway musical back in the day.” Opening night, but Liss didn’t need to know the whole story. Which was that they’d intended to each pick an ensemble starfish and party the night away. Gideon’s idea, in an attempt to pull him out of his perpetual black mood. “Catchy tunes. And she just sort of sings wordlessly when she gives her voice to the sea witch. Try that, while thinking as hard as you can that you want the Hippocamp to come to you.”
Liss crouched down to touch the water. She drew a pattern along the foam that sat along the rocks. “This is weird.”
“Yeah.” There was a lot of that going around. An attempted joint coup on Heaven and Hell while bringing back the Titans evidently caused an epic shit ton of trickle-down weirdness.
She clutched his forearm. “What if all the ones in this area are mean? What if they’ve never met a Nereid and don’t know that they’re supposed to respond?”
“What if you try it and it works?”
“Fine.”
Liss closed her eyes. Straightened her body as if she were under a spotlight at Lincoln Center. Zavier swore the zipper rode down a few prongs when she inhaled deeply. Then this beautiful tone rolled out of her.
It was high and pure, but with a richness as well. Hypnotically beautiful.
And all of seven seconds later, a Hippocamp appeared.
The front half was a horse, but as blue as the sea around it. Except for the flowing red mane. That gave it the appearance of a betta fish, the ones who had to have their own solo bowl or they’d attack any fish put in with them.
Zavier had only seen them in books. And a YouTube video, but he’d been certain it was a fake for a film school thesis.
As it approached, the receding waves revealed the bottom half of the Hippocamp . A powerful forked tail—similar to a swordfish’s—propelled it through the water.
It was huge.
Clydesdale big. Teeth as big as Liss’s head. For a split second, Zavier got worried. He was about to reach for the knife in his ankle sheath when the creature pushed itself out of the water. Sort of like a dolphin.
Straight up. Ah—it was rearing like a horse. Then it stopped directly in front of Liss and…smiled?
Bared its teeth? The intent wasn’t entirely clear.
Zavier hurried to make their intent clear. “Greetings, honored sea dweller.” He gave a slight bow. When in doubt, always lead with respect with another race.
Unless they were trying to kill you.
“You did not call me, Nephilim .” The Hippocamp’s voice was deeply resonant. It was always interesting how Zavier could both hear the whinny or caw, the way a human would, but also clearly understand the message from an animal. “I come for the one who is with you.”
“Understood. I’m Zavier Carranza. This is Liss Jemison.” Zavier encircled her waist with his arm. Best that the creature know they were truly together. “But she doesn’t know how to talk to you. She’s new at this.”
“His name’s Dakarai.” Liss’s hands flew to her mouth. “I heard him. In my head.”
That was cool. And unexpected. “Can you talk back to him?”
Water flew as Dakarai shook his mane. “If she sings, it will be easier, at first. Once she gets used to my voice in her head, then Lady Liss can try speaking to me herself. Otherwise, there would be much pain. I think.”
Liss put a hand over her heart. “Thank him for that warning.”
It was going well. No guarantee that’d last, though. Better to get straight to it. “Dakarai, we are grateful for your instruction.” Here was the part where Zavier fifty percent expected a hoof to take aim at his head. “Please know this is not an insult or a trick. Would you tell Liss if she is at least part Nereid ?”
It did paw at the water for a second. Confused? Offended? Then its tail slapped a vee of spray into the air. “I tell you both. I only respond to the call of a sweet sea nymph. I hear none other. I obey no others.”
Liss gasped. “Oh, no. I don’t want him to obey me. I want us to be friends. He shouldn’t feel compelled by me at all.”
He’d have to give her a remedial course in power structures in the paranormal world. There was a hierarchy. Some things did, indeed, come when others called. It could be seen as a partnership. Or it could be corrupted by evil and turned into slavery.
They might be more powerful than humans. But they weren’t any more evolved.
Z didn’t so much know how to translate Liss’s positive spin on it. “Look, Dakarai, you don’t have to come when she sings. No rules with this one. Just”—he grabbed her hand and held it out, palm up—“a hand extended in friendship.”
The Hippocamp snuffled softly at her skin with its turquoise lips. For a split second, the vertical red pupils flared a deep navy. Then it reared up again to practically stand on its forked tail before diving into the sea and disappearing.
This was a first. Zavier having to ask the human what just happened. Gideon’d be laughing his ass off if he were here to witness this U-turn of events. “Did it say goodbye? Did we piss it off?”
“No.” Liss stared out at the horizon. “He said my caring was a gift. He will always be my partner. And I should visit again soon.”
Wow. They’d barely talked. It was almost like the Hippocamp had imprinted on her. Or it was just smart enough to see all the wonderful qualities in Liss that Zavier did.
He rubbed his hands over her shoulders, in case she was cold. Or in shock. “You did it. You proved you’re a Nereid and you befriended a powerful creature.”
“Yeah.” She turned her back to the water and turned off her previously awed smile. “My parents would be so proud I did all of that with less than seven bars of singing. Or at least, they’d be proud as long as I could monetize it.”
“Doubtful. There’s no place to hide a wallet on a Hippocamp .” He joked, but he didn’t like where she was headed with this train of thought.
“If I sing again, others might be compelled to answer me, too. Right?” she prompted when Zavier didn’t answer right away.
“Yeah.”
Liss hugged her arms around herself. “That’s not fair to them. I shouldn’t have that kind of power over something else. I don’t want to use it. It’d be too easy to taint me with all that control.”
Zavier didn’t need a shrink’s accoutrement of a German accent and a leather couch and a pipe. It was easy to point to her parents for all her issues with her transformation.
Their general abandonment of their child. The way they leveraged their talent while simultaneously ignoring her. The empty, shallow world they preferred to inhabit where their happiness revolved around adulation by others.
How, though, did Liss not see the difference? How she was so involved and caring? Mostly, how turning into a Nereid could be used for good.
Zavier noted the brightening sky. He scooped Liss into his arms to start the flight back to the waterfall before they became too easily visible.
As soon as they were back over the main island, he said, “Or…you could look at it from a different angle. Yeah, you called Dakarai and he came. But then you released him. And he said he’d come again anyway. Out of friendship. Your powers can be used for good, Liss.”
“Oh. Oh!” She beat a rapid tattoo on his chest.
“You usually don’t come around to my way of thinking that fast. Aren’t we supposed to argue about it more?”
“You’re right. You’re absolutely right. You have to go after Aamon now.”
“Now? I did promise you Greek coffee.” Yeah, the need for vengeance burned in his blood every damn day for more than fifty years. If there ever arose an even halfway decent shot at killing the demon, Zavier would take it.
He just didn’t see that happening at all as dawn broke over the Mediterranean, with an armful of luscious woman.
“I can help now. If I use my lullaby power. I can knock out his bodyguards, or anyone else in your way. You can finally have your revenge.”
“You’d do that? For me?”
“I can’t think of any better use of this unwanted power than to free you from your past.”
Zavier zoomed up into the clouds. He didn’t want Liss to be able to see him. Because his face had to show that he was thunderstruck by her offer.
And that was the moment he nose-dived into love with her.
Obviously there was risk involved with the suggestion. The bodyguards of Hell’s Grand Marquis weren’t fat-ass slackers.
Yet still, it was her first thought of what she could do with her shiny new power. Nothing for herself. Nothing for Maisy. Or to try and get her old teaching job back. No, she cared enough to think of him first.
Nobody but Rhys and Gideon had ever done that. Had ever put him first.
Liss would risk her life to give him satisfaction. It was the greatest gift he’d ever been offered. It was brave.
Reckless.
Thoughtful.
Impossible.
“Can’t let you do that for me. But thanks,” he said brusquely.
“That’s hilarious. You think I’m going to just forget about this? That I won’t keep at you until you agree?”
“Revenge isn’t the best use of our time. We’ve got a world-ending coup to stop, remember?”
Pulling hard on his neck, Liss bounced in his arms. “That explains it!”
“I’m going to need to buy a whole bunch of vowels to make sense of that.”
“Buy a vowel? Sure, Grandpa. You’ve got to update your cultural references.”
Her mockery proved she knew it. “Some are too classic to let go.”
Liss rolled her eyes. “You said Astaroth is probably the demon in cahoots with the rogue angel.”
“Cahoots? Now who sounds ready for a hip replacement?”
She pulled her arm from around his neck to gesture. This from the woman who used to squeeze her eyes shut and choke him with her terror-induced strength when they flew. Maybe it was just familiarity. Zavier preferred to think there was some trust in there, too. “Astaroth is too high up to carry out a coup and not have his moves noticed. But Aamon’s a Grand Marquis. Right below him in rank. High up, but not top level with demons watching his every move. He’s probably in on the upcoming coup attempt.”
“That’s a…” Zavier was going to say “long shot.” Until he thought about it.
Their knowledge of Hell’s roster hadn’t been anywhere close to extensive. They hadn’t been able to make a decent list of possibles . That prevented them from doing recon, or handing out bribes for intel.
Until Evangeline joined them.
She’d filled in most of the gaps in Hell’s organizational ladder. Aamon had been on the list. They just hadn’t come up with solid pros/cons to whittle it down.
Until Liss . Her idea wasn’t a long shot. It made a hell of a lot of sense. More sense than his boss, Astaroth, did.
Rhys would be pissed that he hadn’t thought of it.
Zavier flew them lower, right over the thickening treetops. “Those demons who bagged and tagged me back in the day wouldn’t have bothered going after one of the most powerful Nephilim without a good reason. We knew it couldn’t be random—we just never figured out their motivation.”
“Same way they’ve been picking off Nephilim and Keepers one by one. You never lose battles. You’re the best fighter in or out of the Order. They couldn’t count on you and Rhys falling to a regular demon attack. They needed you off the playing field. That’s why they kidnapped you.”
“You don’t have to keep saying that I’m powerful. I get your point.”
“Do you know Mary Poppins?”
Well… “Are you going to mock me again if I say yes?”
“She’s got a song about a spoonful of sugar making the medicine go down. We’re talking about the shittiest time of your life. Take the compliments if it makes it easier to discuss.”
This was what he never wanted. To be seen as different. To be treated differently. Harshly, he said, “I’m not fragile.”
Liss didn’t even blink at his tone. “Not at all. You’re completely unbreakable. Fierce. But you still deserve flattery, flirtation, and TLC. You don’t have to need a thing to enjoy it. Like that fifty-year old, crazy expensive Scotch you drink. Because you like it, but don’t need it.”
Zavier couldn’t believe the way this was lining up. “So maybe, when it comes down to a final battle to stop this mad scheme to release the Titans, I’ll get a shot at taking revenge against Aamon after all.”
“Look at us. Getting more done before the sun rises than most people do in a day.” Liss smacked a wet kiss on his cheek.
But Zavier didn’t let her stop there.
Because his chest felt like a case of champagne had exploded in there. Excitement, pride, gratitude, and love all melded into an effervescent swirl that had to be released. He took her mouth. Swallowed her surprised gasp. Kept kissing her.
And kissing her.
He didn’t know what else to do. He couldn’t burden her with this huge realization he’d arrived at. Loving her would only complicate her life. It put her at more risk for future attacks, every time they went out in the world as a happy couple. Aamon had already leveled one threat. He wouldn’t give up looking for a chance to take Liss, take away Zavier’s happiness.
It could make her worry every time he went out on a mission.
It could taint her with the scars of darkness he’d been unable to shake since his friends had rescued him from that dungeon.
All that became infinitely worse if she loved him back . Not that Zavier thought for a moment that was possible.
Still, it tore at him to stop as they neared the waterfall.
Gideon had been attacked at a waterfall, though. Hang out long enough by a well-used portal and some Nephilim was bound to come through.
So Zavier put aside his feelings—something he’d perfected over the decades—and turned back fully into a warrior.
Because he’d never put Liss at risk.
Not again, anyway…