Eve of Chaos (33 page)

“What—”

“Don’t.” She
stayed Kobe Denner from turning his head with her hand atop his. “What you
don’t know can save your life.”

Kobe frowned at
her, his dark eyes concerned. One of her best Marks, he’d been with her for
years. “What can I do?”

“I think we’re
going to have to end our lunch early.”

He pushed his
half-finished meal away. “Of course. Go, if you must.”

Mariel bunched
up the napkin in her lap and set it on the table. “I’m going to shift you out
of here. I don’t want you to be seen.”

Her urgency was
conveyed in her tone. He stood quickly. She dug into her purse and left some
cash on the table. They gave a quick explanation to the startled waiter before
making their way down to the lower floor.

Ducking into the
hallway that led to the bathrooms, Mariel quickly shifted them back to the
tower.

Alec dragged Eve
down the hail and around the corner. There was an alcove with a water fountain
and he crowded her into it, pressing her into a corner and cupping her face in
his hands.

“I’m fucked up,”
he said bluntly.

“I’m not exactly
prime goods either.” Her tone was dry, but her dark eyes glistened in the
shadowy ha!!way.

“We need to talk
about the personal stuff later.” He touched his forehead to hers, feeling as
thrashed as he did after a particularly nasty vanquishing. “It’s ugly and
painful, but we have something worth fighting for, if you give me a chance to
fix this mess.”

He felt her
fingers hook into the belt loops of his jeans. “Yes. We need to talk.”

Alec sensed a
shiver of wariness move across her mind, but he couldn’t read the details.
Still, that shiver was more than he’d been able to get out of her the last
couple of days.

“Are you
blocking me?” he asked harshly. “Or is my. . .
condition
causing a poor
signal between us?”

“A little of
both, maybe,” she confessed, tucking the necklace into his shirt. “When I tell
you something, I want to do it the mortal way. You and me. Talking out loud.
Unhurried and in private.”

“Okay. As soon
as we get done here.” He tugged her out of the alcove with him.

“I have to go to
the police station after this.”

As they hurried
down the hallway, she filled him in.

“Okay.” His
fingers tightened on hers. “We’ll go together.”

“Ishamel is
going to take me. Part of his lawyer act. It might look weird if you came
along.”

“Why?”

“Uh. . .“ Eve
glanced aside at him and winced. “I kinda told them that we broke up.”

Alec was
grateful his step didn’t falter, since he felt like he’d been punched in the
gut. He exhaled harshly. “That was quick.”

“Cut me some
slack. Things are flying at me from all sides. I said what I needed to say at
the time.”

He didn’t have a
firm foundation to stand on, since he was the one who’d pushed her away. But
that didn’t make things easier. “As long as you weren’t serious.”

She squeezed his
hand back. “One thing at a time.”

His hand was on
the knob to the infirmary when he heard Eve’s name being called. He looked
around and saw Mariel approaching with an unusually brisk stride.

“Evangeline’ the
handler called out. “Can you spare a minute of your time?”

Alec released
the knob. “What do you need, Mariel?”

“Just Hollis.”
Her smile was so slight it was more of a grimace. “Girl stuff, Cain. You know?”

“No, I don’t.”
He glanced at Eve. “Come in as soon as you’re done.”

She nodded. “Of
course.”

Feeling like
something precious was slipping through his fingers, Alec left her in the
hallway.

Eve didn’t need
the ability to read minds to know that the
mal‘akh
was terribly upset.
The fact that Alec didn’t fully pick up on his handler’s agitation was further
proof that he was still seriously out of whack. Mariel knew it, too. Her gaze
remained on the door until it closed with a firm click.

“He’s not well,”
Eve said softly. “I’m guessing you feel it through the connection between
handler and firm leader.”

“I’m hoping he
adjusts soon, but right now, his inability to read us is a blessing in
disguise.” Mariel turned her attention to Eve. “We have a serious problem. I
fear for his safety and Abel’s. You’re the only one I can trust to find a
solution that keeps them both alive.”

“What’s going on?”

“Something isn’t
right with Abel. He’s not himself. You’re not going to believe it when I tell
you.”

Not himself..

Gripping
Mariel’s elbow, Eve pulled her a short distance down the hall. “Tell me
everything. . .

I don’t remember
much of anything,” Sydney said with a turned-down mouth and averted gaze. “I was
eyeing some movement under the bleachers when Montevista tackled me. I must
have been knocked out by the impact. The next thing I knew, you were waking me
up, Cain.”

Alec turned his
attention to Montevista, who looked as miserable as Sydney.

“I’ve got
nothing,” the Mark said. “I don’t even remember
that
much. I was
standing along the fence, mad dogging some Infernals. Then I was here in the
tower.”

Both guards sat
at a metal table dressed in pale blue hospital scrubs. Alec sat across from
them, hyperaware of the pendant heating the skin between his pectorals.
Something had to give, and fast. Lack of sleep was taking its toll, but he
needed to be available to help Eve during the day and he had inquiries to make
about his condition when she was sleeping at night.

He glanced at
the witch doctor who ran the infirmary. The woman was short, no more than three
feet tall, with cropped blonde curls, and a child’s features. “Any idea what
happened to those two?”

“They both check
out,” she said. “In Sydney’s case, I think she lost consciousness on impact, as
she suggested. In Montevista’s . . . I’m not sure. I’m inclined to think he
jumped in the way of a direct hit. Maybe an energy blast aimed at her. An
impact to the back of the head would have knocked him out and caused him to
crash into her. Something like that would explain the memory loss, especially
if Azazel was the one attacking.”

“What are the
aftereffects? Are there any?”

“Fatigue.
Otherwise, no.”

“I’d like to get
back to duty,” Montevista said.

“Me, too,”
Sydney concurred.

“Are you sure
you don’t want some time off?” Alec asked, probing their minds for any traces
of trauma.

The search was
difficult, mostly because of the suppression of the voices inside his head.
Their absence left an odd quiet within him; not a departure, more an
anticipation. He knew something wasn’t right. He was just waiting for the
explosion to prove
it.

Montevista
nodded and spoke for both of them. “We’re sure.”

A brief knock
came at the door, then it opened and Eve stepped in. She moved straight to the
two guards with arms open. They stood, hugging her in return. It was her way.
She was so open, so willing to connect to others. Eve let people in from the
get-go and hoped they would turn out to be worthy friends. So opposite from
him, who had learned to keep people at arm’s length until they proved they
deserved otherwise.

She asked about
their health and how they were feeling. When they requested to resume guarding
her, she accepted readily. No recriminations, no guilt trips. The two Marks
were clearly relieved.

Looking over her
shoulder at Alec, she said, “Is that okay?”

For a second he
tensed, expecting the compulsion to say something unkind. He’d begun to feel
the way he imagined Tourette’s syndrome patients felt, spewing out words before
his brain registered them. When the voices remained silent, he grinned.

“Whoa,” Sydney
murmured.

“Yeah, sucker
punches me, too,” Eve muttered.

As long as he
could still get to her, all wasn’t lost.

“I have no
objections, if you’re all okay with it,” he said. “But I want to keep you two
out of the field for a couple days, at least.”

“Works for me,”
Eve agreed. “After I hit the police station, I’m going home and staying there.
How about they head over there with you now? They can rest in my place while
you catch up on some downtime with your folks.”

“My folks?” He
rose to his feet.

The knowing look
in her eyes answered his unspoken question.

Alec looked at
the Marks. “Get dressed. I’ll be back in a few.”

“We’ll be
ready,” Montevista said gruffly.

Heading toward
the door, Alec gestured with a jerk of his chin for Eve to come along. He
caught her elbow at the threshold and urged her out ahead of him.

They passed neat
rows of hospital beds, most of which were empty, and exited back out to the
smoky hallway.

“You met my
parents.”

“Yep. Your mom
and dad came over last night.”

His jaw
clenched. He’d known Ima wouldn’t let it go until she’d met Eve face to face.
His mother wasn’t the type to wait until he was nearby to alleviate her
curiosity. “Did you like them?”

He saw the right
corner of her mouth lift in a slight smile. “Love them.
They’re
both
very charming. I think they might like me, too. They seemed as if they did. It
was hard to read your dad. But you’ve met mine, he’s really reserved, too. I
didn’t take it personally.”

She stopped
beside the alcove he’d caught her in before, and faced him. He loved her like
this, all prim and proper in her business attire. He couldn’t help but note the
changes the years had wrought in her, turning her into a formidable woman.
Freed momentarily from his personal demons, his chest swelled with affection
and pride.

“Forgetting you
and me for the moment,” she began, knocking his ass back into the present, “you
need to decide how badly you want this archangel gig.”

She pressed her
fingers to his lips when he started to speak. “Think about it. Running with the
theory that seven archangels is the limit—what’s going to happen when we get
Gadara back? Are you going to take him on? Step aside? Take out one of the
others? How will you feel if God decides he likes things the way they were and
knocks you back down to Mark?”

The determined
glint in her dark eyes told him that he’d better keep his silence for now and
pretend that he was still undecided. He’d learned long ago that women wanted
men to overthink things like they did.

“And,” she
continued, backing up, “I don’t mean to heap added pressure on your decision,
but I won’t invest myself in a relationship with someone who can’t love me.”

“Angel—”

“Hey.” Her voice
was husky. “No hard feelings, if it works out that way. I haven’t forgotten
that we were always going to be temporary.”

As Alec started
toward her, a familiar figure rounded the corner behind her. Alec’s fists
clenched.

“Eve.”

She turned
around at the sound of Abel’s greeting. To Alec’s surprise, her fists clenched,
too. “What?”

Abel’s eyes
narrowed at her tone. “You ready to go home?”

“I have to go to
the police station and give a report.”

“Okay.” Abel’s
gaze lifted to Alec’s, but he
continued
to speak to Eve. “I’ll give you a lift.”

“That’s not necessary.
I’m riding with Ishamel.”

“Why?”

So.. . Abel
couldn’t read her either. She was like a radio station with static. A problem
they’d have to look into.

The tempo of her
walk changed, the click of her heels betraying agitation.

Go home,
she
told Alec sternly.
Park Montevista and Sidney in
front of my Wii and don’t let your parents out of your sight for even a minute
until I get there.