Chapter 9 #2
My fists clenched behind my back, and the screen came back on.
No one said anything and for a good reason.
The primitive part of their brain in charge of their survival told them to stay very still and quiet.
I was not a hundred percent certain I would not incinerate them by mistake.
I have not wanted nor craved anyone for over a thousand years, but Dianna woke some long-dead part of me.
The emptiness and loneliness that had become a reality of my existence faded when I was in her presence.
Now she was gone. She had shown me what it meant to feel at peace and then ripped it away.
On the screen, the man lifted Dianna. She wrapped her legs around his waist before they disappeared behind the door. “Why are we playing this?” Logan asked, coming to my defense after a quick glance at me.
“I-I’m sorry.” The celestial pressed another button, the small white numbers on the edge of the screen fast-forwarding through hours.
They had been in there for hours. Anger rippled off me as I struggled not to imagine all the things they could have done.
Had he taken her in every part of this place?
Had she liked it? Had she made the same noises she’d once made for me?
I bit back a groan, feeling as if I were being eviscerated.
“See, this part?” the celestial said, thankfully pulling me from my thoughts.
He slowed the video, the seconds clicking by.
The door opened, and an orange glow lit the dark hall.
Dianna stepped out in her true form, her beautiful dark hair cascading down her back in waves.
She turned and strode down the hall without a backward glance, ignoring the flames that followed her from the room.
“She left without the suitcase. The man she came with had a suitcase, and she left without it, which means it is still here.”
“You made me watch that for a suitcase you could have merely mentioned?” I asked, barely keeping the snarl from my voice.
The celestial swallowed, glancing toward Vincent before he stammered, “I-I…”
“Your position is terminated,” I said. Vincent plucked the tablet from his hands, and the celestial hurried away. I turned, fighting the urge to go after him and strangle him.
“Samkiel, think clearly.” Logan stepped closer, his voice barely above a whisper.
“Why would she allow herself to be caught on camera? She knew it was there. That whole display. This? She wants to send a message. She is unhappy with your decision to close Onuna. Think reasonably, and with all due respect, don’t fire anyone else. ”
I ignored Logan, unable to process what he was saying, even as he tried to make sense of the situation.
The other celestials avoided my gaze, returning to work.
I moved further into the room, aiming for the center.
Logan and Vincent followed me but stopped short when I rolled up my sleeves.
They reversed direction, waving the celestials back to the edges of the room.
Focusing on the growing knot of pain in my chest, I pulled on my power.
The skin along my arms lit with the intricate design of my people, the tattoos burning with molten silver.
I knew they matched the lines on my face and the irises of my eyes.
The room vibrated as items, charred and damaged, began to mend.
Celestials clung to the walls, trying to stay upright.
I lifted my hands, returning the room to what had been only hours prior.
Chairs, tables, and couches reformed from the destruction.
Several celestials jumped back and out of the way as the room became what it had been before the fire.
“Oh, gods.”
I didn’t need to look to know what was there. I could smell the blood and death. It was no longer a lingering scent but fresh and without the underlying stench of burnt meat.
“Samkiel.” I saw Logan’s face, terror and pain filling his eyes. It wasn’t compassion for what remained of the man on the bed, nor the other bodies that littered the room, but fear for his missing wife. If Dianna could do this, what could Kaden do?
“We will find her. I promise.” I reached out, placing a hand on his shoulder and squeezing lightly. He nodded and forced a brief smile. I looked past him. A young woman who worked for Vincent leaned down and picked up a pair of lacy red underwear.
My heart froze.
I lifted a handful of thin fabric held together by crisscrossing strings. If these were restraints, they didn’t look suitable. Maybe they were a weapon I wasn’t familiar with.
“What is this?” I asked, turning toward Dianna. She had left some drawers open in her room, and curiosity had gotten the best of me.
Dianna left the large closet wearing a baggy shirt and loose-fitting gray pants. She’d showered and changed out of the gown I had made for her after we’d returned from the garden. Her eyes widened when she saw what I held, and she rushed over to me.
“Oh, my gods, Liam, give me those,” Dianna hissed, grabbing the bundle of material from my hand and pushing me away. She closed the drawer and scowled at me. “Stay out of my dresser, please, and thanks.”
I shrugged as nonchalantly as I could. “You are the one that left it open. I was just curious about what your friend had bought for you.”
She shook her head and smirked at me before padding to the bed.
“What is that? Is that something you wear?” I asked, my curiosity still roused.
She hopped on the bed and crawled to the center. I would be a liar if I said the sight didn’t affect me. She was pleasing in a lot of areas.
She yanked the covers down. “They’re panties, Liam.”
That word seemed foreign to me, or maybe I had not been paying attention to the videos Logan had supplied.
My brows furrowed as I walked to the other side of the bed. “What’s that?”
A smile curved her lips. “You’re joking, right?”
I sat on my side of the bed and shook my head. I didn’t understand why she would assume I would joke about a question.
“Rule number one of our friendship is that you won’t lie to me. I have literally, and against my will, seen you take them off of women with your teeth.”
Realization hit me like a meteor. I felt my face go slack and my body run hot.
“Those are undergarments?” I pointed toward the drawer.
She laughed, genuinely laughed. “Yes. What did you think they were? Torture devices?”
I didn’t respond.
“Oh, my gods, you really did.” She laughed harder, nestling into the bed and grabbing the thick comforter to pull around her. I slid into bed and rested an arm underneath my head. Another thought gnawed at me like a feral beast, and before I could stop it, the question erupted from my lips.
“Why does Drake know what you wear beneath your clothes? Has he pulled your undergarments off with his teeth?”
Her hand reached out, and she playfully slapped at my chest. I reacted like I always did because it made her smile. Not her normal smile, but a brief one that made her nose wrinkle.
“Ow.” I flinched, rubbing the spot where she’d popped me.
“Oh, that didn’t hurt, you big baby.” There it was, that smile. I needed a name for it. “And no. He was just with me when I took Gabby shopping in Ruuman years ago. Now go to sleep and stop thinking about my underwear.”
“I promise that is not what I am thinking about.”
Dianna laughed and closed her eyes, snuggling further into the bed. “Sure you’re not.”
“I swear it.” And it was a complete and utter lie.
The memory faded as I watched the woman put that scrap of red lace into a clear bag and seal it. My hand fell to my side, and Logan turned to see what had caught my attention.
My jaw clenched, and I turned away. “I need you and the team to find out who this man was and what he was into. I need names, next of kin, anything you can find.”
“Samkiel.”
“What?” I snapped, turning toward Vincent.
“I don’t think you’ll need it,” he said, scanning some pages he’d picked up. “Looks like his name was Webster Malone, and these records show transactions from an account tied to Donvirr Edge.”
“What’s that?”
“Let’s find out.” Vincent handed the papers to the celestial hovering at his elbow.
The man grabbed them and quickly scanned them.
His fingers flew over the thin tablet he held, and a few minutes later, he turned the device to show us an image of a dock.
Ropes hung from a wooden bridge, and a large ship took up the background.
“It’s a shipping dock. Transportation of goods, mostly foods. There have been a few arrests for illegal activity and gambling in the last couple of years.”
“Okay, a shipping dock. I’ll go there.”
“Sounds good. Let’s go,” Logan said, striding toward the door.
“No, Logan. I want all of you to stay here and see what else you can find. See who he worked for and what else he might have known.”
Vincent put his hands on his hips and frowned. “You’ll need a ride. We can get a convoy—”
“I do not.”
I didn’t know if it was the rage that bubbled inside me or that the room now smelled of arousal and death, but I had to leave.
I had to get away from it and all of them.
Tendrils of electricity danced around me, and the room shook from the pent-up rage inside me.
One minute I was in the room, and the next, in the clouds.
A booming echo followed in my wake. Lightning struck, and rain poured from the sky as I turned toward Donvirr Edge.