Good Intentions (52 page)

“Wow…hhh…I love you,” Alex gasped. “Tel me again,” Rachel grinned, looking down at him. She glistened with sweat and beamed in the afterglow of another successfully completed round of intercourse. “I love you,” he repeated breathlessly. “But I need…I need…” “I know what you need,” the angel straddling his hips said enticingly. “…water.” “Water? Bah. You don’t need water. You need more of me.” “I need that, too. But no. Need water.” He reached up to gesture randomly with one hand. “It’s this whole cel ular respiration thing that we mere mortals have to do.” “Pff. That sounds like more of your silly science.” “Can’t have sex without it.” “Oh. That’s a problem,” Rachel conceded. She pul ed off of him, then pushed him back down as he tried to rise. “Stay. I’l get it for you.” “Oh my God,” Alex said as she stepped toward the refrigerator. “What?” Rachel asked, looking back over her shoulder. It required her to turn one of her wings down. “That ass,” he answered, looking amazed. The angel giggled. She made sure her wings weren’t blocking his view as she posed a bit to show off her backside.

“You like?” Alex smiled back at her. “It’s amazing.” She sauntered over to the refrigerator, making sure to sway for him as she walked. She posed and tossed him a sultry glance as she opened the refrigerator, posed again to pul out a water bottle, and then came strutting back. To her delight, he was plainly more fascinated by the view of her from the front. Rachel twisted the cap off of the bottle. “No one’s ever made me feel this beautif—” She vanished in a puff of scented smoke. The water bottle fell to the floor where she had stood. Alex was bolt upright in an instant. “Rachel!?” He quickly slipped out of bed, looking around frantical y. The scent of the smoke instantly made him think of the cemetery chapel and their first, terrifying meeting. He rushed over to his leather jacket on the chair near the door. Alex tore out his cel phone, dialed Lorelei’s number, waited with his eyes wide in near panic. He heard no answer. * Rachel stood in a small room lit up by candles. It looked like someone’s apartment. To one side of her was a lovely young woman in a black dress and tal Doc Marten boots. Her hair was black and curled, her skin pale and smooth. On the other side of her was a pretty woman of similar age, but in torn black jeans, a dark t-shirt promoting a band with a logo Rachel didn’t recognize, and jewelry with a consistent theme of leather and metal studs. Her short red hair clearly wasn’t natural. Neither of them looked terribly friendly.

“Hel o, nurse,” the redhead breathed. “Oh fucking hell ,” Rachel sighed, “not this shit again.” The other woman frowned. “Yeah, I don’t think I’m buying the whole ‘angel’ look with the swearing and the lapdancing in class thing. Lemme guess, you were just getting nasty with a nice guy, about six feet tal , boy scout personality, should probably just now be getting out of his Monday night Intro to Lit class rather than shagging otherworldly trol ops?” Rachel blinked. “The fuck are you supposed to be, the truancy police? I thought they didn’t do that shit in college!” “I’l go get her some clothes,” the redhead mumbled. “She keeps talking dirty like that while she’s naked, I’m gonna be really distracted.” * He didn’t park in the garage. Not with the outside window broken. Alex parked his motorcycle outside, jumped off, and ran up to the gate entrance to his home while fighting to get his helmet off. Along the way, he couldn’t help but notice that the walkway was littered with a thick white spray, shel casings and blood. He stopped. Alex had made it through two sessions of first aid since signing up for it last week. The one thing that the instructor for first aid said over and over again was that a first responder has to be careful on coming upon a scene, lest the responder become another victim. Alex took a deep breath. He forced himself to slow down. Lorelei was either fine, or she wasn’t, but odds were that two seconds weren’t going to make a difference on that either way. Not after he’d had to ride home from downtown, dodging traffic al the way.

He kept moving in, but slowly. If Lorelei and Rachel were both gone, he wouldn’t be able to rest until he found them. Not that he knew where to start. He’d have looked into how they were both summoned up by that priest, but there just weren’t any leads there. It wasn’t like Alex knew any better than Lorelei or Rachel where to find crazy magic dudes. Lydia. He’d have to start there. Way out of his league, but he’d have to start there. They probably paid for dinner at the restaurant with plastic, and that would leave behind a name. Alex didn’t know how he’d get that, but he’d have to find a way. Or maybe he could go back to the church where they brought Gorge. There was an angel there. Maybe he’d help. Alex would have to cal up the guys. Jason was smart. The guys were smart. They’d help him figure this out. He opened the door to receive a punch in the face. Darkness and stars both exploded in his vision. He was rocked backward and then tripped by someone’s leg. Alex fell onto his back on the concrete in front of his building’s main door. Someone reached down to grab him by the lapels of his jacket. He was large and strong in a black trench coat. He had a blade in his hand, like one of those ones the Romans used. He brought the pommel down at Alex’s head, which the young man just narrowly turned from. Alex flung his helmet up to crack it hard against the attacker’s skul . His assailant staggered away. There was a blonde woman in a corset and black leather pants over him an instant later. She sprayed something at his face from a small plastic device in her hand. Scorching hot pain overwhelmed his eyes. He could hardly breathe. Alex grunted and growled in pain, reflexively trying to cover his face. “Pepper spray, Natalia? Real y?” someone asked. Alex tried to throw a kick at the voice. It didn’t hit anything. “As if you were doing better, Talon,” the woman responded. “A lucky shot. He won’t catch me like that again.”

“Why’s the demon just watching the sky like that?” “I watch for threats beyond your ken, corpse,” said a voice that sounded like a distant roar yet couldn’t have been too far off. “You deserve no further explanation. Is he warded from clairvoyant sights?” “Before the first blow fell ,” said a new voice. “Then finish this quickly,” the otherworldly voice ordered. “Our good timing may not hold long.” Something hard and round and painful hit Alex in the head. He reeled, turning away from it. The object came down on his head again. Unlike in the movies, it often took more than a couple of solid blows to knock someone out. Chapter 16

Friends Help You Move. Real Friends Help You Move Bodies. “Alex is so scared right now,” Rachel said with obvious worry. She tugged the black cargo pants on over her hips, having already donned the Sisters of Mercy t-shirt thrown into the warding circle by Mol y. The shirt had gone on right over and through her wings. “If you were really doing this to protect him, you could at least cal him and tel him I’m okay. He’s on his bike and he’s so fucking freaked out that he could get in a serious accident.” “We’re not going to do anything you say until we figure out for sure what you are,” Onyx said quietly but firmly. “I told you. I’m his guardian angel.” “Never heard of anyone sleeping with their guardian angel,” Molly frowned.

Rachel shot her an irritated, resentful look. “Alex is kind of a special case.” The angel made a point of holding her tongue. She had more than a few choice words for these two, but gaining release and returning to Alex as quickly as possible was the issue of overriding urgency. Rachel’s foul mouth wasn’t a symptom of thoughtlessness. “Why’s that?” Onyx asked evenly. Rachel bit back her instinctive reply. “You obviously know a good deal of magic. You read his palm. I imagine you did other things to look him over before you made love with him, too. You recognized how special he was after your first kiss. Those were the first words out of your mouth: ‘ This is really special.’ You knew you from that moment that you could trust him with every imaginable intimacy. And as much as you truly and deeply love your girlfriend here,” Rachel noted, glancing meaningfully at Mol y, “you can’t deny to yourself that making love with Alex was one of the happiest, most wonderful and fullfil ing experiences of your life. You never expected to open yourself to him the way you did, or to be let into his heart as you were. Not so quickly. But you were, and you long to resume that connection. “It’s not because he’s good in bed,” Rachel continued to her stunned listeners. “It’s because he’s a good soul, and your awareness of the universe makes you more sensitive to that than most people will ever be.” Onyx’s eyes were wide. Molly looked to her with concern. “She’l never leave you,” Rachel added calmly, looking at Mol y. “Whatever her feelings for Alex might become, you are first in her heart. Onyx loves you like no other. You define and embody love in her heart and her mind. She loves you and accepts you and would never do anything to hurt you. Much of what made her time with Alex so special was the ever-present thought that she owed al of that happiness to you and your approval. She saw him in part as if he was a gift from you. He’s not a rival. There can be no rival.” “…huh,” Molly said. Rachel looked to Onyx. “Your partner loves you every bit as much as you love her,” she said. “She doesn’t want you to worry about anything. She’s a bit shocked right now, but she doesn’t want to come between you and the intimacy you have found with my Alex. If anything, she wants to find a way to become more of a part of it, entirely because of

her love and her desire to be close to you. What you feel for one another is beautiful.” “How…?” “I am an angel. There is nothing I understand as much as I understand love.” There was a long silence. Rachel sniffed. Tears well ed up in her eyes. “He’s really scared for me. He’s rushing home because he probably hopes to find help there, and he doesn’t know what else to do.” Onyx finally drew in a long, deep breath. Her back stiffened. “Well ,” she breathed, “now that we’ve established that you were watching me with Alex on Friday without my knowing it…” Rachel let out a frustrated breath, looking upward. “Oh, fucking hell ,” she groaned. “I try to say something nice to you bitches, and—” Then she Rachel gasped. She looked at the other two women in terrible fear. “Something’s wrong,” the angel declared. Her eyes darted back and forth as if she was watching something far away. “I can’t see him!” * “I’m off work and home al alone. What’re you up to?” “Just leaving my friend Drew’s house. Me an’ him an’ our friend Taylor were just hangin’ out. Playin’ Xbox. Chil in’.” Jason adjusted the cel phone earpiece as he walked down the steps from Drew’s apartment building and headed for his car. The residential street was quiet and deserted. The odd fog that had rolled in was lifting. “Taylor? That girl from the party?”

“Yeah.” “She’d better not have any designs on you.” Britney’s voice was more playful and affectionate than jealous, but Jason hadn’t known her long. He had no idea if she was psycho or not. Nor did he have any experience with psycho girls. Or sane ones, for that matter…last weekend aside, of course. “Oh, I think she’s got her plate kinda full right now,” he said. His eyes were wide at his understatement. Taylor had wandered over to Drew’s place sometime after sunset looking for someone to talk to. It was easy to forget that Drew, having been pretty popular in high school, had hung out with Taylor and her usual crowd much more than he or the other guys had…but not so much that Drew was normally (or even remotely) the first person Taylor turned to when she needed bro counseling. In fact, Jason had never imagined Taylor would need bro counseling at al , but apparently Drew had a penchant for discretion that Taylor had learned to count on. Specifical y, Taylor was looking for someone to hear her wide-eyed, breathless, can’t-believe-I-just-did-that confession of her lesbian demon sexcapades. She came over asking if she could hang out with them, looking a little tired and bewildered and hotter than hell . Then she just lied down on the couch and dropped the bombshel s about her weekend while she stared up at the ceiling as if she had completely lost control of her internal monologue. Drew’s game character died instantly as turned his head toward Taylor in shock. Jason had it worse; his game controller fell right out of his hands. It turned out that Taylor had an awful lot to say. Petty or not, Jason felt a little irked that someone had already one-upped the glory of his double-blonde loss of virginity. That was a couple of hours ago, though, and the phone cal from one of his guides into the rampant awesomeness of sex had him feeling much better already. “Wanna coming over here?” “Um. I was headed home, actual y.” “Aw. Come see me, Jason. I’m lonely and scantily clad.”

“You—um, what?” Jason blinked. He stopped in his tracks. “I already talked to Brittany. She won’t mind if I steal a little one-on-one time. I’m sure she’l want you al to herself at some point, too.” His sensibilities quickly went into al -out war. He had already caught hell over al this just yesterday from his parents. Yet Taylor’s unexpected too-much-information dump had Jason feeling more than a little anxious. He wasn’t going to cal either of the Brits tonight; he didn’t want to blow it by looking desperate, and he couldn’t figure out whether or not one would be offended if he cal ed the other first. But Britney had just resolved al that. “C’mon, Jason. I haven’t been able to think of anything but you since you went home. Get over here and unleash the beast again.” That made up his mind. He had just inserted the key into the slot on his car door, smirked at the horrible symbolism there, and then heard the thump and the curse from down the block. Jason looked over. That was Alex’s building. That was a limousine. And that was quite plainly a limp body being thrown into the trunk. He quickly crouched down. Through the windows of the parked cars, Jason made out a couple of the individuals: one in a cowboy hat and duster, another in a pin striped suit with an old Thompson machinegun in one hand and another with a longsword strapped to his back. They al got into the car. He made a point of remembering the license plate number while they got in. Jason jumped into his car, started the engine, and pul ed out with a gutsier turn than he would ever make under any other circumstances. He hauled ass after the limo, slowing only to look up at the side of Alex’s building to note that, yes, his window was smashed out. That was more than suspicious enough for him. “Britney, I gotta go,” Jason said firmly. “What? What’s wrong?”