Chapter 11 #2
Downstairs, it was quiet. Shane was behind the counter in front, polishing glasses.
“I have the sandwiches you asked for,” he said, looking up when he heard us.
“I had Frankie grab them from the ogre place. I hope you like mystery meat.” He pulled wrapped packages out of the counter-height fridge and then nodded at me.
“You hibernated for a long time. I started to wonder if you’d ever wake up. ”
I stopped moving, jerking Gavriel to a stop. “How long?”
“Four days, five nights. You missed a few good fights between the angels. Frankie stood guard any time Gavriel left your side to fuel up. He had to recover from how pale he was.” He raised a brow but didn’t actually say why he was pale.
We all knew why he was pale: that I’d drunk too much of his blood to get him unconscious so I didn’t have to fight against the lust.
“Who is Frankie?”
“My half-brother. The one you saved from Romi. You’re right about the contract. I have it posted, and everyone who comes in thinking about the bounty on the girl, takes one look at it and leaves.”
“Good.”
“You’re not asking why she’s so valuable.”
“I’m not. I am asking what your crew does. Do you get yourselves involved in anything that’s going to lead to discovery and mass extermination?”
He smiled broadly. “From time to time. Nothing so interesting at the moment.”
“Frankie’s been watching me hibernate?” I asked, turning to Gavriel. “He hates me.”
“Hates you? You’re his hero. You saved him, his sister, and his brother from an open war with Romi. You’re my hero too.” Gavriel kissed my hand while I sat there all tangled up and twisted by that contact.
“Keep it in the bedroom, you two lovebirds,” Lorien said, coming in jauntily. He walked right up where I could grab him and pulled up a stool at the bar. “So much kissing. Gavvy, you should turn; that way you could be immortal together. Think of the romance.”
“It’s impossible to turn angels,” I muttered.
He spun on his stool, studying me critically. “But you had angel blood.”
“Angel blood does not make me an angel, not like you two winged freaks.” I winced. I shouldn’t have called Gavriel a freak.
Lorien laughed and pointed at Gavvy. “She’s got your number. Tell me what you’ve been doing with your wings while she was unconscious. Hovering over her body like a creeper?”
Gavriel threw a handful of peanuts at Lorien, who caught two in his mouth and let the other ones bounce off him. “Don’t listen to him. I only hovered over you for a few seconds like a creeper. The rest of the time I spent lying beside you on that tiny bed, listening to you not breathe.”
Lorien winced. “Shameless.”
Gavriel grinned at his friend and helped me onto the bench before taking the one next to me so I was sandwiched between the two angels.
That was a protective maneuver. He was treating me like I was the weakest link, also like Lorien was worthy of trusting my life with.
Richard was right. Gavriel would be more interested in redeeming him than in torturing information out of him.
How could I get between him and his old friend when they had so much history?
Lorien turned, brushing my knee with his in that movement. It wasn’t much, but the next second, I had him flat on the bar, my face against his throat while I inhaled.
“Gavvy, can you get your girl off me? I get that she’s been hibernating, but I’m not into the feeding thing. Too bad Rich is being such a dick right now, or he’d be the perfect blood donor.”
I pulled away far enough to look him in the eye. I gripped his throat and bared my teeth at him. “You smell of demon.” Only a trace, the slightest trace of demon blood, but I’d had a century of feeding on demon blood in general, and Tralcon in particular. And this angel stank like Tralcon.
Lorien’s eyes narrowed. “It’s not a demon. Get off me before I hurt you. Gavvy wouldn’t like that.”
Shane thumped a dagger down into the bar close enough to Lorien’s head to nick his ear.
“You’re working with demons? My crew doesn’t mess with that.
Because it’s a mess. If you bring that mess into my bar, then this pretty little vampire isn’t the least of your concerns.
Back up, sweetheart,” he said, nodding at me.
I slowly gave him enough space that he could sit up.
Lorien shot me an irritated glance. “I’m not working with demons. I don’t care what Gavvy’s girl says.”
“You don’t care?” I hissed at him. “Ever since we met, I’ve been counting the ways to kill you.
Do you know why I count the ways to kill people?
Because for a century, I drank the blood of the demon that you contacted.
You think he’s not a demon? Then you’re a fool.
Like I was a fool. It’s the angel blood in me that he loved to see twisted.
Don’t fall for his promises. Don’t forget about the price. It’s always steeper than you can pay.”
I got up and started towards the door.
“Where are you going?” Gavriel asked, following me.
“If I stay here, I’ll kill him. I’ll burn every drop of his blood. I’ll destroy the taint he’s too blind to see spreading.”
“I’m not the one who’s blind!” Lorien shouted at me. “I heard you talking to Gavvy. A vampire who needs reading glasses? Pathetic.”
I stopped walking while this weird feeling of betrayal mixed with the sound of fist punching face. Then Gavriel was there, opening the front door for me, his eyes concerned.
“I’m sorry,” he murmured. “Lorien’s always been an idiot.”
“I’m an idiot? I’m not the one who’s in love with a corpse,” Lorien yelled after us.
That hurt all the tender places I wasn’t supposed to have anymore.
“Can you shut up!” Shane barked, but then the door was closed, and we were on the street of Song, the world rushing by us and sweeping us along with it.
We walked in silence for a few streets until the lamps started to sing the city’s theme song. I stopped at a lamp and looked at it while the blurry nimbus reminded me of my problem with words.
“At least now we know for sure that he’s working with Tralcon,” I murmured.
“Yes. I thought that maybe he wasn’t, but he’s just too stupid to know who he’s working with.”
“Everyone is stupid compared to the demon. Still, if he can appear as other than threatening, he hasn’t increased in power to the point that I was worried about. He can still be killed.”
“And you didn’t kill Lorien, and neither did I, so we can still use him to get to the demon. Well done.”
I gave him a look. “Are you applauding you or me? We’re both of us too vulnerable to his manipulation.
When he stuck you with his love dart, you were lost. And I couldn’t think of any way out other than almost bleeding you to death.
I’m not immune to your charm, Gavriel. I very nearly succumbed to temptation and ruined you. ”
He winced. “I wasn’t very charming. I apologize for making you uncomfortable.”
“Yes, do apologize for making me uncomfortable. Being uncomfortable is nothing, but we’re a team. I don’t corrupt the innocent, and I don’t betray my team. I very nearly did both.”
He smiled slowly and then took my hand carefully, like it was breakable. “Then I apologize doubly for putting your precious soul at risk. It is an honor to be on your team.”
I glanced up at him and then shrugged, tension easing in my chest where it had hurt so much earlier. “The honor is all mine. So, let’s make this team literate.”
“You want to get glasses?”
I sighed heavily and nodded. “If Lorien already knows that I can’t see well enough to read, there’s no point in pretending. Eventually, someone will use it to their advantage and put us at risk.”
“Then he’s good for something.” He gave me a sweet smile and tucked my hand in his. “Thank you for letting me help you with something. It’s an honor and a pleasure.”
I half expected him to kiss my hand, but instead he dropped it and walked beside me in comfortable silence.
Yes, Lorien was brushing up against demons, and no, I didn’t know what would happen if Gavriel got stuck with another lust dart, but we could deal with all of that later. Right now, Gavriel was going to help me read again. I loved books so much. But did I love anything as much as my angel?