Chapter 6
Chapter
Six
Vampires are supposed to be tough, and I was the toughest of them all, but the flight was so fast and so dizzying that I passed out and didn’t come to until we were on a ship’s deck in the middle of a dark, undulating sea.
Gavriel was sitting on the deck, a lamp beside him, eating with a great deal of focus, while I lay on a pile of tarps next to him, my shoulders covered by his tuxedo jacket.
I was still handcuffed and wearing the ridiculous silver gown.
I slowly sat up, still slightly dizzy. “Where are we?”
“An angelic vessel. I can’t fly over the entire ocean without resting while carrying extra weight. Not that you aren’t a delightfully light burden that it is my pleasure to hold.”
I should have scoffed at his words or hissed at him, but instead, I just reveled in him saying that he liked holding me. I shouldn’t like it, but I did. I cleared my throat and tugged on my cuffs. “Are you going to keep me tied up forever?”
“You’re on an angelic vessel. It’s best if you stayed secured, for your own safety.”
I looked around in the shadows but didn’t see anyone. They were there, though. Watching. If I threatened Gavriel, they would finish me. I shrugged and shifted so I was sitting more comfortably in the ridiculous dress. “We left the trunk at the hotel.”
“I’ve already sent for it. Do you think that the Vampire King gave us anything useful after he stole your will? I was very strongly tempted to kill him for that. If the team leader hadn’t specifically told me not to kill him…”
I put my hands together on his arm. Cuffs were so awkward. “I also want to kill him. Song’s Lament? That’s the where, right? I know a place by that name. At least the bar is called Lament, and it’s in Song, the undercity of Singsong.”
His brows rose. “I’ve never heard of it.”
“Bar might be too generous a term. It’s a very seedy establishment run by a gang of outcasts from various guilds and races. I had to kill someone there once. It would be a good place for Tralcon to find new supporters.”
“Excellent work.”
“Yes, well, it’s not somewhere an angel and a vampire can go and ask questions. Murdering someone is in and out, but waiting around until we can make contact…”
“Actually, it’s exactly where an angel and a vampire would go if they were together in defiance of the rest of the world.”
I stared at him, absently tugging on my cuffs to see how readily they would give. “Defiance? What does the world care if a vampire took an angel for feeding?” The idea of taking his blood was more tempting than ever.
He gave me a slight smile, which made him far too handsome. “Not feeding, but for romance.”
I stared at him while my undead heart panged. “Romance? I don’t understand.”
He looked down at his fork before stabbing a potato. “People run away together all the time.”
“There’s nothing illegal about angels and vampires marrying. Why run away?” Was he actually suggesting that we marry? Surely he had more sense than that. And yet…
He gave me a sharp smile with a hint of mischief. “Because I helped you get away from the angels after you tried to kill one of them, betraying my own.”
I squinted at his beautiful face, eyes alight with mischief. No, he was not talking about marrying me. Why did that hurt? Probably a flashback to my human spinsterhood. “You’ve got a wild imagination. I thought angels didn’t do well lying for a cover.”
“Some angels have difficulty lying. I’m not one of them. It’s the streak of goblin blood. I have a friend who is very into the drama. He’d love to help us play the part.”
I was supposed to play the part of lover with an angel?
That didn’t sound like a disaster waiting to happen.
“You think that this gang would take us in, help us, if it seemed like we were running away from the angels? Sounds risky. The outcasts might pretend to take us in and then slit our throats while we were sleeping.” Or I’d bite his throat while he was sleeping close to me.
He shrugged his strong, beautiful shoulders. “It’s possible.”
“But the Vampire King might mean an entirely different Song’s Lament. And what about the Cupid? Isn’t that a small, pudgy angel?”
His eyes tightened. “Cupid is a kind of angel, but there’s nothing small about Lorien.”
“Lorien? You think you know this angel?”
“There are several angels who have fallen from the ranks of respectability to a less wholesome situation.” He glanced down, sadness reflected in his posture.
“You know this angel personally? Then we can track him without using the sketchy cover of being runaway lovers.” I regretted saying lovers the moment the word was out of my mouth.
“No. He’d disappear as soon as he caught scent of me. He’s very fast.”
“Cupids are faster than Reapers?”
“Yes.”
“Does he actually shoot arrows of love at people?” And why did I say ‘love?’ It was almost as bad as ‘lovers.’ And why wasn’t I saying, ‘No. Absolutely not’?
“Darts, yes, but they affect a wide range of emotions, not just love. In a fight, I would win, but I’d rather if we could save him from his entanglements with the demon instead.”
“Redemption? You feel partially responsible for his fall. What happened? Did you two fight over a woman?” I was joking. Angels weren’t jealousy or petty about women, like they were objects to be won.
He sighed. “Something like that.”
My dead heart ached for a moment for no rational reason. Hearing that this perfect angel had cared enough about someone else to fight for her was none of my business. “What happened to her?”
I shouldn’t have asked the question. Except that it might be relevant if Song’s Lament was actually this place, and Cupid was his old associate who had fallen away.
“It turned out that neither one of us was right for her. In the end, she married an ogre.”
I laughed. I couldn’t help it. It’s just the thought of two angels fighting over a woman who chose an ogre was so ludicrous. I quickly put a damper on my laughter. “Sorry. That just surprised me. Why would she choose an ogre over angels?”
He shrugged. “She always hated ogres too much. She was so contrary, she couldn’t help loving what she hated.”
“That makes no sense.”
“Mirabel is like that.”
I blinked at him. “Mirabel, you mean Singsong’s Music Master?
That’s the girl you fought over? Isn’t she the daughter of the Commander of the HOST’s?
” Stories of her music festival battle that ended in heavenly fire had traveled even to my prison.
I whistled. “Seems like you were a little out of your league there.”
He gave me a crooked smile. “I’m out of my league wherever I go. That’s why I’m the Reaper, which comes with a lifestyle only suited to the lonely and heartbroken.”
“Oh. Well, it sounds like you’re ripe for a romantic entanglement with a known murderer with that kind of angst. The thing is that I don’t know how to act like I’m in love. I’m not good at lies.” Even when I loved David, I’d been awkward about it.
“You can be using me for your own ends while I’m helplessly drawn to you.”
“But that would require that I act charming at least to you, and I don’t think I’m capable of that. It would end up a bloodbath, and we’d lose the only lead we have.” There. I’d been very clear about how bad an idea this was.
He reached over and took my hand in his. He was so warm, strong, and good. “You’re too humble.”
“Realistic.”
He cocked his head. “I’m an angel. I’m supposed to see the good in people, even vampires.
I will call it humility. I will see you as someone who is worth saving, and you will allow me to try to save your soul because you need to use me for your own self-preservation.
Like you’re putting up with all of this because you’re driven to end the threat to your own freedom that Tralcon represents. ”
I pulled my hands out of his. “I’m not using you. I’d prefer to do this on my own.”
His smile was very smug. “Exactly. You wouldn’t ever own another soul because you have experienced it and wouldn’t ever inflict such agony on anyone else.
But you will play the part of someone who is reluctantly tied to an angel who adores her, because he sees the goodness in her that she is blind to. ”
“I’m not comfortable with this, but I suppose it is a logical cover that I can probably act out. Can you pretend to be stupidly in love with me to the point that you’d betray your own to protect me?”
“Easily. Everyone knows that Reapers are the most corruptible.”
I hated that he might become corrupt, that I might be the source of his corruption. “And this Cupid will know that you’re a reaper? I thought that was classified information.”
“He’ll know the moment he sees me. And when he does see me, he has to think I’m not a threat, that I’m fallen below his level. It should be very interesting.”
I sighed heavily. “Interesting is one word for it. Do you need to sleep before we continue on?”
“No, but I might as well. I need to arrange for a chase scene, and that will require Richard, who should be here shortly.”
“The team leader’s son?
“That’s right. Do you mind if I lie next to you on the tarp? We’ll need to become accustomed to close proximity if we’re going to pull this off.
I held up my handcuffs. “Of course. I’m perfectly safe and incapable of killing you in your sleep since I have these pretty bracelets on.”
He rolled over, pinning me against the side of the ship, his body pressing against my leg.
“I know. They do nothing other than cut off the influence of those around you, which makes them very pretty indeed. You aren’t going to kill me because you never kill anyone who isn’t a threat, or someone you’re forced to execute. ”
“I…” I swallowed hard as he closed his pretty eyes and his face relaxed. He was going to sleep like this? With me in this position where I could kill him in so many ways? It wasn’t safe. It wasn’t smart. But it was extremely sweet. So sweet.