Redeemed In Shadows (7 page)

Dietrich stood, pulling out the chair next to him which must have been a huge faux pas because the entire room that was already quiet was now devoid of oxygen altogether.

“You assholes never see a man pull a chair out before,” Dietrich growled.

“We barely see you do shit.” A guy that looked exactly like the hulk from the elevator said. It could have been the exact same guy, only this guy’s eyes were liquid fire that burned amber.

Xee looked across the table and saw the beautiful, pregnant amazon. If she kept reminding herself of that, maybe she wouldn’t want to hit on her.
Yeah right.

“Hey there,” Xee said by way of greeting.

Belinda blushed. She knew the score.

“Hey, you enjoy your work out?”

“Would have been better if you were there darlin, but Angel boy kept us company.”

That was Micah talking. Not her.
“You sure about that?”

“Hold up. Are you seriously hitting on my woman right now?” Amber eyes said in disbelief.

“Royce, she’s just being friendly.”

“Too damn friendly if you ask me Bells,” Royce countered, his voice gruff.

Xee looked across the table at Royce and nodded in is direction.

“Invite me over to dinner, then I’ll not only hit on your girl, I’ll take her back to my place and show her what she’s been missing.”

Dietrich coughed. Dravaggio cough-laughed. Gabe glared, and some Asian guy that had been chewing gum almost choked. The others in the room just stared wide-eyed. No one said a word.

“Way to silence a room.”

“That was all you Micah.”

“You sure about that?”

Dravaggio cleared his throat and stood to address everyone.

“If you haven’t already had a chance to meet Ms. Hale, she’s definitely made an impression.”

“Newbie.” Royce spat.

The silver-eyed hulk that was his twin smirked but said nothing. She hadn’t noticed him yet, he’d been at the back of the room watching. Now he took the open seat on the other side of Belinda. She had to stand up to these guys; otherwise, they’d think she was a softie. She may not be immortal but she could go with the best of them.

“Animal.” Xee spat back. No one was going to intimidate her. She’d learned early in life that quiet wasn’t always safe. If she asserted herself, she had less chance at being hurt.

Royce eyed her skeptically and opened his mouth to say something but she cut him off.

“Instead of going back and forth about the beautiful amazon, how about we have this meeting so I can crash. Angel boy wants to start early in the a.m.” Xee smiled then turned and winked at Belinda before turning her attention back to Dravaggio.

“She’ll fit right in,” The Hollywood hottie known as Adam said.

“Hollywood hottie?”
Micah asked.

“Don’t ask. I don’t have time to explain, but you can’t lie, you know he looks like that one actor dude, Bradley Cooper.”

“Have I ever told you, you’ve got issues?”

Xee ignored Micah and focused on the Captain.

“Now that the introductions have been made, let’s talk about why I called this meeting. Gabe was able to get word to Isaiah and his brother’s at Cyrian’s request.”

Five, very tall, very built Angels appeared out of nowhere in various parts of the boardroom. They all had two things in common, metal collars around their necks and midnight black wings that looked like metal.

“Seraph’s.”
Micah whispered in her head.

“Leave now, act like you need to pee, anything. GO!”

Her Para-housed had never been wrong before. If she needed to go, well she’d best get going. She coughed and tried to excuse herself, but one of the Angels pinned her with his turquoise glare and shook his head.

“You all are searching for a relic that has been long forgotten, and it’s been that way for a reason. In doing so, you’ve raised the interest of The Red Sun Organization. They too now have the location of origin.” The Angel with black hair and steel gray eyes said this. They were more prominent in color than the hulk twins. He wasn’t dressed like his brothers either, but dressed in some sort of breastplate and leather skirt like the one the Romans wore.

“We don’t even know the location of the Sahidic and if we did, we’d have retrieved it and kept it under lock and key. Gabe has been warned not to get involved. Your threads cannot tangle with his. His path has been weaved and fabricated into what will be his new and true life in the coming weeks.”

Such ominous words. Xee thought.

“He is limited on what he can help with. If he breaks the laws he will be severely punished.”

This was said by an Angel whose skin looked ashen grey, his hair was black, but his eyes were blacker.

“Well, if that wasn’t a big, ‘fuck you’ I don’t know what is. Anyone else thinks Grey and his band of very grim men should kick rocks?”

This was said by Royce.

“I think that when my brother talks you should listen Feral.”

Royce turned his attention to the Angel at the back of the room and winked.

“I think Uriel, you suck way too much dick, but then again that’s my own personal opinion.”

There was entirely too much testosterone being thrown around the room and Xee couldn’t help but secretly enjoy the show. The one Royce called Uriel didn’t say a word, but her hand did move to her belt and Xee noticed the sword on the woman’s hip. A freaking sword! What century was she stuck in? No one used swords anymore, did they?

“Never did care for Ferals.” Another Angel commented. This one had brown hair with reddish and black highlights. His eyes were a vivid blue that was lighter around the edges.

The silver-eyed Feral growled and pushed his chair back to stand.

“Stand down,” Dravaggio said over the noise of the twins and the Seraph’s who were all gearing up to throw down. Ronin snarled displaying his large canines. His grey shirt stretching further to accommodate his hulkness.

“What it all boils down to is we’re running out of time.” This was said by the Asian that was sitting at the far end of the table chewing gum. Ink black hair and black eyes that seemed to glaze over with a gold shimmer eyed everyone in the room, her included.

“Water dragon and something else.”

“No shit, Sherlock. I can see.”

Iridescent blue, red, and green scales covered only his eye lids; the rest of his skin was flawlessly pale.”

“Hawke’s right. Xee and I will work out the logistics while you send in Draven and his team.” Angel boy stated.

“I won’t leave Jesminda and the baby, send someone else.”

“There is no one else.” The Captain commented as he paced the length of the room. Belinda had imparted tons of information during the brief tour of the building. One of them was that Dravaggio was undergoing anger management classes and if he was pacing, shit was about to hit the fan. Literally.

“Baby, we’ll be fine. This is important.”

For the first time the Seraph’s standing in the room looked in the direction of Draven and his mate. Xee couldn’t get a bead on Jes, but she definitely wasn’t human.

“How did she come to be here and with child?” Isaiah asked.

“Why do you care?” Draven stood blocking their view to his mate. His hands fisting at his sides.

“Because Lycan, she’s an Elder Angel,” Isaiah looked to another man in the room that was off to the right of Dravaggio. “Does the council know about her, Cyrian?”

All eyes went to the man Isaiah was addressing. His wings were black and unhealthy. The skeins of his feathers were in an unnatural state of disarray and confusion. It was as if the wings themselves didn’t know their purpose.

“Odessa is aware and I’ve been charged with standing watch until a decision has been made.”

“Justice is called for in regards to her infraction. The Elite will step in if no one else does.”

“Never a dull moment with this new job of ours. We should have brought popcorn.”
Micah said sarcastically. Xee couldn’t agree more. There was just too much drama.

“Seriously, I’m in the fucking room.” Jes said grabbing onto Draven’s arm and making him sit down beside her. He obliged her, but barely. It seemed him and Isaiah were locked in a manly stare-off.

“
If only they would just piss in the corner and mark their ground so we can get on with this meeting!”
Xee thought.

“Draven, you will lead the ground team. Gabe and Xee logistics. Dietrich, I need you here along with Adam. The rest of you put your ear to the ground and follow the smallest of leads. I don’t give a shit if you end up gathering intel from a fucking roach. I want the Sahidic found.” Dravaggio locked eyes with each of his team members before turning them on Isaiah.

“Thank you for what little help you offered. Next time you come to my house, fucking knock.”

Isaiah nodded in the Captain’s direction and disappeared. Each Seraph following suit until only the one called Grey was left.

“Clocks ticking. Death waits for no one, even you.” He was looking straight at Xee when he said it before he disappeared.

Okay.

The room was quiet for long moments. Royce was the first one to say something.

“Good thing, Death is on our side. Really, he just said, ‘Gabe waits for no one,’ this of course is true as we all know our friend Gabe is very punctual.”

Everyone in the room burst into laughter, except Xee. Grey didn’t say Gabe, he said
Death.
Two seconds later, she put two and two together. That’s why Micah didn’t like him. Gabe had the ability to collect his soul.

Holy shit!

Holy… Shit!

Gabe was the Angel of Death.

Xee took in his broad shoulders, the roped muscles that lined his arms, legs, and torso. His strength couldn’t be contained behind the clothes he wore, and his demeanor was striking. The arrogant slash of his brows, the strong cut of his jaw and champagne eyes all spoke to a man that was well equipped at killing. Death had a name, and his name was Gabriel.

“Don’t romanticize him. He’s the same dipshit who took our coffee cake. Remember?”
Micah said cutting into her thoughts.

True, he was the same guy, but now he was also something more. Thinking on this only made her head hurt. She tried to get the thought of Gabe being the Angel of Death out of her mind, when an altogether new terror assaulted her brain and completely mortified her! She’d watched Death give himself a hand job! Her hand automatically went to her face, as it flamed red.

“My my my.” Royce said smoothly, alerting everyone to her own personal embarrassment.

Fuck! He was a mind reader.

“Yup, pegged it.” The Feral said as he smiled wide. “You want to share with the rest of the group?”

Hell no! She didn’t want to share.

“Shut up.” Xee gritted between her teeth. If he so much as said anything remotely close to hand or job in the same sentence, she was going to carve out some time in her life to personally cause Royce all kinds of misery.

“What seems to be the problem?” Dietrich asked from beside her.

“Oh, nothing. Seems the new girl is a peeping tom.”

“I am not!” Xee screeched.

Dravaggio roared. Actually roared before yelling. “Let’s stay on fucking topic.”

That definitely got everyone’s attention.

The meeting ended soon after and Xee made her way back to her room. When her head hit the pillow, she was out for what only seemed a few minutes when she was woken up by her alarm. According to her clock, she slept three hours.

Shit, she was tired.

She quickly got up, showered, and dressed in a pair of low rise, Sharkbite denim cutoff shorts, and a tank top that said bitch in bold black lettering, courtesy of Dietrich. At least he didn’t buy her girly shit. She stuck her feet into some flip-flops that showed off the two huge flower tattoos on the tops of her feet and piled her hair on top of her head in a messy bun.
“You should really think about cutting your hair Xee.”
Micah complained. He didn’t like that she kept her hair long, and the sides shaved almost bald. It was her damn head and she was going to do what she wanted with it. She checked herself in the mirror one last time before heading out the door.

Making her way to the cafeteria, she decided on coffee and a country breakfast. The chef was all too eager to please.

“So glad I can cook something that actually makes sense,” the cook commented. He wasn’t human either, but one of those Gnome demons. Small but not so small he couldn’t stand behind the counter and take her order. She got the grits, scrambled eggs, and biscuits with bacon and sausage on the side. There was hardly anyone around. She figured everyone else got to sleep in, or at the very least had decent working hours. There were a few Lycans that sat at a nearby table not paying her any sort of attention. Taking her plate from the smiling Gnome demon, she sat, eating in silence, taking everything in. A memory of her reading back when she was institutionalized popped into her head. She’d seen her first true bad demon, walking among the stacks of old books in what the hospital called a state of the art library. It wasn’t, but it did have some interesting books on demonology and possession. She’d looked up from her book and saw what could only be described as the devil. But later found it wasn’t the devil at all. It had red scaly skin, forked tongue, and one of those long tails that looked like a spike. But when she became the expert on demonology, (well expert in her opinion) she found that the demon she saw in the institutions library was actually a Spawn demon. They were creatures that could take on the form that would torment whoever was near. If a Spawn demon was in a crowd, to anyone who was looking, it would portray their greatest fear. Those were moments she referred to as snippets. When a person walked and thought, they saw something that wasn’t there, then looked again but the object was gone.
Snippets
. So when the devil-like creature had passed she’d been scared. It was her mother who used to tell her when she was a child that she was the spawn of the devil.

Xee stood and dumped her plate, quickly making her way up to her floor where she would meet Gabe to begin her first day. She still couldn’t get the fact out of her head that he was the Angle of Death. Normally, this would excite her but because he took her coffee cake, she was holding it against him. The douche.