Chapter 17
Chapter Seventeen
Midnight. That, of course, meant that Sunrise was packed. The line to get inside the club stretched for several blocks.
Az wasn’t exactly the standing-in-line type.
Jade’s gaze was on the pack of human and Other waiting for eager entrance. “Uh, do the humans even realize what’s going on in there?”
Because most of the folks waiting to get in were human. Scantily clad women. Swaggering men. If they weren’t careful, they’d wind up being prey for the Other tonight. But perhaps that was what some wanted.
“They think they’re getting excitement. They don’t realize the guy who’ll be waiting at the bar actually is a vampire looking for a bite.” Humans could find an excuse to explain away just about everything. And for those who saw beneath the masks and into the true hearts of the monsters, there were ways to make them forget what they’d seen.
All it took was a little magic.
There was plenty of magic and Other things for sale in Sunrise.
“Come on.” He caught her hand and threaded his fingers through hers. The bouncer at the door was a demon, one of the demons that Sam usually kept very close. Az knew this particular demon was even considered to be a friend of his brother’s.
When Cole saw him coming, he arched a dark brow and snapped his fingers. Instantly, a big, no-neck, bulging muscled mass of a demon took Cole’s place at the door.
“I was told you’d be coming by.” Cole unhooked the silken rope that blocked the line from rushing up those infamous steps that led to Sunrise. “Right this way.”
Az let Jade go in before him. He saw the assessing gaze that Cole slid over her. The demon’s eyes lingered a bit too long on her ass.
“Don’t.” Terse. The only warning he’d give the demon.
Cole smiled. “A man can look, right? What’s the harm in that?” Then he hurried forward and opened the door. The pounding beat of music spilled outside even as they swept into the club. Alcohol. Sex. Perfume. The smells swirled in the air as the bodies danced and gyrated on the small floor.
There were women up in the golden cage that swung lightly from the ceiling. A band screaming on the small stage.
“That way…” Cole pointed to the left. “Your…um…friends have already been shown to a private room.”
Good. “The woman was with them?”
Cole laughed with real appreciation. “Yeah, she was.” He leaned toward Az. “Kind of hard to miss a handcuffed, pissed-off angel.”
Az saw Jade’s shoulders relax. “She’s alive.”
Cole glanced toward her and nodded. “But I doubt those guys with her will be once she breaks loose.” He shrugged. “So they’d better hope those cuffs keep holding her in check.” Cole turned to stride back outside. “Fucking angels,” he muttered.
Az waved his hand, and the crowd parted before him. The dancers didn’t even realize they were moving back. It was as if a light wind blew right by them, ushering them subtly to the side, but he and Jade could now slide through the crush of bodies without any problem.
They avoided the once-again-bolted metal doors, though Az was sure that the hellhound had been relocated. Instead, they took the winding hallway that led away from the crowd. When he arrived before the reserved room—the room that Sam kept especially for occasions when some of the Other needed a private place to meet—Az didn’t bother to knock. He waved his hand and the door flew open.
Marna’s blue eyes widened with fear when she saw him. She was seated in a wooden chair, with her hands cuffed behind her. Tanner stood on one side of her while Cody paced near the back of the room.
The door slammed against the wall, jerking everyone’s attention toward him and Jade.
“Azrael.” Marna’s sharp voice.
“Why is she still cuffed?” Jade demanded as she pushed forward. “She should be taking it easy, not?—”
“Her wounds have healed,” Cody told her as he stepped toward her. Then he stopped and glanced over at Marna. “As much as they can heal.”
Marna laughed. A bitter, tight laugh that Az had never expected to hear from the angel who cared too much. “He means the blood’s stopped, but my wings are long gone.” Tears glittered in her eyes, shining like jagged diamonds.
“Uncuff her,” Jade snapped.
Tanner’s body stiffened. “I’m not real sure that’s a good plan, there, Jade.” His faint drawl had thickened. “One touch and?—”
“She’s been hurt enough.” Jade strode closer to her. Az made sure he shadowed her moves. “Just let her go,” Jade said.
Marna’s gaze darted to him. The fear was still there. Fear and fury and…hope?
“There’s some kind of spell on the cuffs,” Marna said, her voice soft now, almost broken. “I can’t get out of them, no matter what I do.”
Jade’s attention jumped back to Tanner. “Get the key and get her out.”
But Tanner stood his ground. “You really that eager for her to kill you? The wings might be gone, but her powers aren’t. One touch, and you aren’t coming back.”
“The touch doesn’t work on me anymore. At least, Bastion said it didn’t.”
Marna’s eyes widened, and Az saw the hope die in her gaze.
He realized that she’d been planning to finish her mission. To kill Jade.
The hell she would.
Az strode forward. He crouched in front of Marna and made sure that their gazes held. “We found you in those woods. The two men behind you?—”
“They aren’t men!” Her voice was stronger now, more caked with fury than fear. “One’s an animal, one’s a demon, and they’re both linked to the bastard who did this to me!”
“A bastard who’s got angel blood.” This came from the demon doc who Az knew must have spent hours trying to help Marna. “He’s like you, so before you start looking down that perfect nose of yours at us animals, remember that. Angels can go bad, too.”
She never looked away from Az. “I know that. I’ve seen bad angels with my own eyes.”
He refused to feel shame. “Bastion is looking for you.”
Her lashes lowered to conceal her gaze. “He can’t take me home.”
No, the rules didn’t work that way. You had to fly into heaven on your own steam.
“He can take care of you, though. He can help you.” Az exhaled. “So can I. You aren’t going to be alone down here.” He’d make sure of it.
A tear leaked from her eye. “He-he liked hurting me.” She took a deep breath. “He was laughing while he cut me.”
Tanner backed away from her, fast. Az looked up and realized that the shifter’s claws had burst from his skin. Rage drew deep lines on his face, and Az knew that fury was directed right at Brandt.
“We’re going to stop him,” Jade promised her. Her hand lifted, as if she’d touch Marna’s shoulder, but she hesitated. “He won’t hurt anyone else.”
Marna’s head rose as she focused on Jade. “If he’s really like us…” Her gaze swung to Az, “Then how can you kill him?”
The small bag tied to his waist felt too heavy, and so did the gun he’d tucked into the side of his belt. “Even angels can die. He’ll go down. Trust me.”
She swallowed, and Az knew Marna was trying to hold on to her control. Without the magical protection of her wings, she’d be feeling the full brunt of human emotions. The angel probably felt as if she were breaking apart from the inside.
He’d felt that way. Still did.
Jade’s hand touched Marna’s shoulder. The scent of flowers flooded the room then. Az rose to his feet. He didn’t need to glance back to know that Bastion had joined them.
The tears trickled down Marna’s cheeks faster. “Don’t…look at me.” Her stark whisper.
Az knew that she was ashamed for Bastion to see her this way.
In the next moment, Bastion couldn’t see her at all. Tanner had stepped in front of Marna, and shielded her. “Who the fuck are you?” His gaze slanted accusingly to Az. “Don’t remember you saying that anyone else would be joining this little party.”
No, he hadn’t said that. “Bastion is here for Marna.”
Tanner glanced over his shoulder at the sobbing angel. “Maybe Marna doesn’t want to go with him.” His claws were still out, but Az noticed the shifter carefully kept them from Marna’s line of sight.
“I can’t go!” Marna bit out the words. “Bastion, it’s too late.”
In a flash, Bastion was standing toe-to-toe with Tanner. “You don’t want to come between us,” he told the shifter. His wings brushed the top of the room. He was letting all of them see him—just as he was. A feat that should have been impossible…unless some powerful magic was involved.
Had Bastion been dipping into dark magic? Mateo .
Tanner didn’t look particularly intimidated as he glared back at Bastion. “I know how this works.” Tanner flashed his sharp canines. “Unless my name turned up in that fancy book upstairs that used to belong to Azrael here, you can’t touch me.” He smiled. “Otherwise, you’ll risk having those wings of yours burn right off. Because killing someone not marked for death, that’s a falling offense, isn’t it?”
“It was for me,” Sam said from the doorway, his voice lazy but lethal.
Bastion stiffened. “Sammael.”
“Long time no see huh, Bastion?”
Jade’s gaze swept the room. “Well, isn’t this just the big old angelic reunion.” She shoved Tanner. Her elbow caught him off guard and made the shifter stagger. Or maybe he wasn’t caught off guard. Maybe that blood was still making her stronger than she should be. “Give me the keys to the cuffs.”
Tanner’s eyes narrowed on her. “Don’t have them.”
“I do.” Cody lifted a small, golden ring from his pocket. “But I want her promise first.” It wasn’t surprising that the demon would be the less trusting one. “No one dies by her touch tonight.”
Sam strolled forward. “Seems like a fair enough trade for your freedom, Marna.”
Bastion didn’t speak.
“I-I promise,” Marna spoke softly.
Tanner turned. Cody tossed him the key. Az thought the shifter’s eyes softened when he glanced back at Marna. A mistake, that. Marna might seem weak now, but she wouldn’t be that way for long.
Tanner reached behind her and a moment later, Az heard the soft snick as the handcuffs released.
Just that fast, Marna was up, out of the chair—and she had her right hand punched into Cody’s chest as she slammed him into the nearest wall.
“I thought we had a deal!” Tanner shouted as he lunged forward to help his brother.
“We do.” Marna didn’t spare him a glance. “I’m not killing him. I never said anything about not hurting him.” A pause. “Or you.” Her smile held a cruel edge.
An eye for an eye. Angels were too acquainted with the old ways.
“They helped you,” Jade reminded her. “They’re the reason you’re not still lying in a pool of your own blood in the woods. And by the way, Brandt was hunting out in those woods. If he’d found you—instead of them—what do you think would have happened?”
Marna frowned and took a step away from Cody. That small movement was all Tanner needed. He grabbed her hand, twisted her, and then trapped Marna within his embrace.
She screamed.
“Easy,” he said, holding her carefully. “I’m not gonna hurt you, but that’s the brother I actually like.”
She shuddered in his arms.
Az caught Bastion’s hand when the angel tried to step by him. “You don’t want to do that.” Az glanced deliberately at Bastion’s dark wings. “Killing a shifter will cost you too much.”
Bastion managed a nod, and Az could see him trying to pull his control back. Az didn’t move, though, not until he was sure no one in that room was about to die.
It took them all a few moments to calm back down. Az did think it was interesting, though, that Marna didn’t once try to use her death touch on the shifter. Seemed like a good sign. She bit him, she scratched him, but she didn’t kill him.
Sam shut the door and secured them all in the room.
“Looks like the team’s all here,” Jade murmured. “Well, most of the team. Where’s Seline?”
“Somewhere safe, with a hellhound making sure she stays away from Sunrise.” Sam’s answer was instant. His gaze cut to Bastion. “I wasn’t about to let a death angel near her.”
Bastion’s gaze narrowed.
“And I can’t help but wonder…” Sam sauntered closer to them. Knowing his brother, Az suspected that Cole was now standing guard outside of the closed door. “Just how many angels does it take in order to stop one hybrid shifter?”
“It only takes one,” Az replied as he met his brother’s gaze. “Because this fight is mine.”
“It never hurts to have backup.”
And it never hurt to protect the brother you’d already wronged too many times before. “Brandt is mine. I know how to take him down.”
The others weren’t speaking. It was Jade who cleared her throat. “I just need to know.” She looked at Tanner—who was still holding tight to Marna—and Cody. “How’d he wind up being the son of an angel?”
Cody’s lips tightened, then he answered, “Our father wanted an unstoppable son. The bastard liked to experiment.”
“No,” Tanner cut through his words, “he liked to think he was God.”
The silence beat heavily in the room.
“What kind of angel was she?” Sam finally asked as his head tilted to the left. Ah, Sam would be the one to ask that question. Since Seline had been a hybrid, too, one with a powerful angel side, it made sense that Sam would want to know about the angel type that had created Brandt.
He understood just how dangerous a hybrid like Brandt could be.
“I don’t know.” Tanner met Sam’s eyes with a level stare. “Brandt is my half-brother. His mother died before I was born.”
“Killed by our father’s tender hands—and claws,” Cody added.
“Huh.” Sam cast his assessing gaze toward Az. “I’m guessing their father’s on the hit list, too?”
“The father’s dead,” Bastion spoke without looking away from Marna. “He was dispatched years ago.”
“By my hand,” Jade told them, voice flat.
“Interesting.” Sam nodded, and Az saw the spark of admiration flare in his eyes. “Some humans can be surprisingly strong.”
“And some angels can be surprisingly weak.” It was Bastion who spoke. “And Lailyn was weak.” He offered his hand to Marna. “We need to leave here. You’re not strong enough for the battle that’s coming.”
Tanner’s arms tightened around her.
“Lailyn?” Az repeated the name. It was familiar. An image of a small, dark-haired, fair-skinned angel flashed through his mind. He hadn’t seen her too much, because she’d been a guardian.
“She was sent to watch over Vincent Dupre. To help guide and protect him.” Bastion’s lips twisted in what would have been disgust, if he’d been human. If he’d been plagued by emotions.
Of course, he wasn’t. Or so the angel pretended.
“She traded heaven for a chance to redeem him. Lailyn thought she could save him, by staying by his side and offering him a life with her.”
“But some people just can’t be saved.” Az spoke the truth that all the angels should already know. Even those blinded by human emotions. Guardians were the ones tempted the most by those emotions. They were around the humans so much that it was easy for them to be tempted and to want what was right in front of them.
So close, but so far from what they were meant to have.
“I saw what he did,” Bastion revealed. “When he drove his claws into her chest and cut out her heart, I was there, watching, and I could do nothing to help her.” His gaze fell to Tanner’s hands. No, to Tanner’s sharp claws. “All animals know is violence and pain.”
Slowly, Tanner’s arms fell away from Marna. His claws didn’t recede. But they also didn’t so much as scratch her delicate skin.
Bastion took Marna’s hand. “I’ll keep you safe,” he promised her. “Until this is over…then we’ll figure something out.”
She nodded, but Az wondered if Bastion could see the doubt in her eyes. But in the next moment, Bastion pulled her close against his chest. His wings began to wrap around her.
“I’m not like him.” The words seemed torn from Tanner.
Marna glanced back at him. Her lips trembled.
Then she and Bastion vanished.
Brandt stared at the line of humans waiting to gain entrance into the club. They were so stupid. Sheep, offering themselves to the monsters who were hungry for a bite.
He’d assembled his pack. A dozen strong shifters waited behind him. They were all ready to attack on his order.
Jade was in that building. In that club with the desperate, avid humans. He could still smell her blood. Her wound hadn’t closed completely, not yet.
You should never have hurt her.
Whenever Brandt closed his eyes, he saw the image of his claws sinking into her chest, again and again. It was an image that haunted him.
Because I saw the old bastard do the same thing to my mother.
He’d been three, and she’d smiled at him even as the blood trickled from her lips. I love you. Her last words.
And his mother had died. Left him. Left him all alone with the sick fuck of a father who liked to torture him.
He’d been seven when his father had first used his claws to strip the skin from his back.
Not even old enough to shift, much less to heal from the wounds.
“You’ll be strong, boy, you’ll be stronger than them all. Take the pain. Don’t fuckin’ cry, don’t ever fuckin’ cry.”
He hadn’t. Not since his mother’s eyes had closed. He’d cried then.
The torment from his father had been never-ending. The alpha had ruled the pack with an iron fist, and Brandt—he’d been like a whipped dog. Too afraid to move, to strike back in any way.
But Jade struck for me.
She’d killed the alpha. Given Brandt freedom.
Now Brandt wanted to give her everything. Why, why wouldn’t she let him?
He’d never meant to hurt her. Those chest wounds had been the angel’s fault, too. He hadn’t realized it in the heat of the moment, but Brandt was now sure that Azrael had deliberately used Jade as a shield to protect himself.
The angel had sacrificed her.
Now he’d hurt her again.
Azrael deserved hell, and Brandt would be the one to give it to him.
But first, he’d have to kill a few humans.
Because they were in his way.
“Someone has been visiting Mateo,” Sam murmured as he gazed at the spot where Bastion had been moments before. “I’d recognize that get-me-the-fuck-out-of-here spell anywhere. Plus, it’s not everyday that those not on the brink of death can actually see a death angel.” He fired a meaningful glance at Tanner and Cody. “Call me psychic, but I sense a whole lot of dark magic at play here.”
Az grunted. “Mateo sold me out to Bastion when we paid the witch a visit today. Mateo gave Jade to him. And she nearly died.” The thought still had his stomach clenching in remembered fear and fury.
“Really?” Sam sounded mildly curious. “Mateo doesn’t usually work with angels. He finds them annoyingly dull.”
“I guess if the price is right, he’ll work with anyone.” Az pulled out his gun and began to load in the bullets. The gold veneer on the bullets seemed to shine. From magic? Or hellfire?
Tanner whistled as he came closer for a better look at the bullets. “You actually got them.”
“Was there any doubt?” Jade asked as her brows rose.
Az almost smiled at her. Instead, he glanced at the shifter and said, “Guaranteed to stop an angel,” even an earthbound one, “in his tracks.” He closed the chamber with a snap of his wrist.
“And what if he changes?” Sam threw out the question, and Az glanced at him, struck by the odd note in his brother’s voice. But Sam’s face was perfectly blank as he continued, “Seline’s a hybrid, too, and when her human body died, the angels just took her to work upstairs.”
Az knew that had been the moment Sam’s real hell began.
He spared a glance for Jade and saw worry flicker in her emerald gaze. Can’t have that. I don’t want her to worry.
“If that happens, I guess I’ll just chase his winged ass down and make sure he stays dead.” The gun was a light weight he barely felt in his hand. “But something tells me after all the crap he’s pulled, heaven isn’t going to be real eager to welcome him past those grand gates.”
“They’d better not be,” Cody muttered.
“So what’s the plan?” Tanner wanted to know. The shifter’s body seemed to vibrate with barely leashed energy. “You want me to go out and track the bastard?”
Screams trickled through the shut door. Shouts. Pounding footsteps.
“I don’t think that tracking will be necessary,” Sam stated as he strode toward the door. His fingers curled around the doorknob, and he yanked the door open. The screams spilled into the room. “Something tells me our target has found us.”
Jade’s eyes widened as she stepped toward the door. Az blocked her. “No way.” If Brandt thought he was getting his hands on her, the bastard could think again. The hybrid shifter would have to go through Az first. His gaze flew to Tanner and Cody. “You two stay here with her. Make sure no one but me comes back in this door.”
One entrance. One exit. Two powerful Other. They’d keep her safe. Or he’d make them wish for death.
He glanced over his shoulder. Sam was already gone. His brother had disappeared into the screams and the chaos.
Jade curled her hand around his arm. “So that’s it? I just stay here while you run out and risk your life?”
That was the general plan, yes.
“Let me help you.”
Az shook his head. “I won’t risk you again. Brandt almost killed you before. He won’t have you tonight.” He could hear animalistic snarls. Brandt and his men had shifted to attack. With humans there? They really were crazy.
Bending, he kissed her. A fast, hard press of his lips. “It’ll be over soon.”
She didn’t speak, but just watched him with worried eyes.
Then it was Az’s turn to follow the screams. He raced outside of the private room and saw the stampeding mass. He’d been wrong—Brandt’s men hadn’t shifted, not all the way, but they were using their claws to slice apart anyone who got in their way. Slicing, laughing, and snarling like panthers as the blood flowed.
Sam was already running toward them. One touch, and the laughing asshole to the right of Sam went down.
His brother was fast.
Az was faster.
Another shifter cut a redhead, slicing her right across the stomach. Az jumped forward and ripped her away from the attacker. He pushed her behind him even as he shoved his hand against the shifter’s chest. Before that panther hit the ground, his body was stone hard and his eyes—wide and horrified—stared at nothing.
Two down. The rest of the pack to go.
Az smiled in anticipation.
No way. Jade watched Az’s powerful form rush from the room. She wasn’t just going to stand back, to hide, while Az went out there and faced her nightmare.
Az had forgotten that she wasn’t just a human anymore. As the adrenaline pumped through her, Jade’s body began to heat up with a charge she’d felt before. Burn, baby, burn.
If she had to, she could burn her way right through that panther pack.
I won’t let you take all the risks, Az.
Her lover needed to think again.
She strode forward. Tanner’s fast grip on her arm jerked her right back. “Just where do you think you’re going now, ma’am?”
Jade narrowed her eyes. “I think I’m going into the fight.”
Snick.
She glanced down at her wrist. The gleaming, gold cuff that he’d taken off Marna now locked around her wrist.
Snick.
The other cuff circled his thick wrist.
Sonofabitch. She really hadn’t seen that one coming. Sneaky shifter.
“Don’t think so,” Tanner drawled softly. “You see, despite what you may think, I don’t have a death wish, and I don’t want that Fallen boyfriend of yours coming to send my ass to hell.”
She yanked on the cuff.
His brows lowered. “Settle down. Once we hear the shots, and we know it’s all clear…” He glanced over at Cody. The demon had taken up a position blocking the now closed and barred door. “Then we’ll go out and you can take as many swings at me as you want.”
And she would. Settle down, my ass.
But then she heard a groan. A long, shuddering groan that seemed to be shaking the building itself.
“Fuck,” Tanner spat and whirled toward the right wall.
A long crevice was sliding down the white surface. Breaking it open, breaking?—
An explosion rocked right through the wall. Bricks and boards flew into the air, fire roared, and Jade and Tanner both hurtled backwards before they hit the hard floor.
The explosion froze Az. Two shifters surrounded him, each using human females as shields, and when the thundering reverberation rocked through the club, they started to laugh.
“Too late now,” one shouted, and he tossed the sobbing female at Az.
Az grabbed her, barely stopping her from crashing into the ground. She clung to him, desperate. Hysterical.
“Should’ve left the humans to rot,” the other shifter muttered as he sliced his claws down a brunette’s arm.
She shrieked in pain and fury.
Az shook off the crying human and jumped forward, but the shifter had already jerked back and tossed aside his prey like a piece of trash.
All of the shifters were pulling back now.
They dumped the wounded humans on the floor and laughed at their pain.
Az’s heart thudded in his ears. The shifters were in his way. Deliberately lining up so that they stood between him and the winding hallway that led back to Jade.
The explosion had come from that side of the building.
“Divide and fucking conquer,” Sam snarled as he maneuvered to Az’s side. “The animals are smarter than we thought.”
“Yeah,” the shifter in the front said. His green eyes almost glowed and his fangs glinted as he grinned. “We are.” Then the prick yanked open his jacket and pulled out a thin, white vial.
What the hell?—
“Oh, shit,” Sam snarled as he shoved at Az.
But that bastard wasn’t the only one with a vial. Two other shifters also pulled them out. They tossed the bottles at Az. At Sam. The glass shattered, and white powder spilled around them.
More vials hit him from the back. Other shifters who’d closed in. Others who’d been armed.
Ready. Too ready. Az wasn’t the only one who’d come packing a magical weapon.
He tried to step forward and found himself trapped. No big surprise. Because he knew by the scent that it wasn’t just powder that those bastards had tossed at him.
It was Angel Dust.
The one weapon powerful enough to hold a Fallen trapped in place—because it was a weapon forged from the wings of an angel.
“I guess the bitch’s wings didn’t go to waste after all.” The green-eyed shifter smirked. “Brandt was right. You grind them up, and they really are as good as gold.”
Az’s hands slammed into an invisible wall.
“Now …” The shifter’s fangs sharpened even more as he glanced around. “Let’s torch this place.”