Summon Lyght (9 page)

"
NO!" His roar rattled the entire room.

Kassie froze in her tracks as fear surged through her. He lowered his gaze to her chest and she immediately covered her breasts even as he clenched his eyes tight, growling.
"What's wrong?" she whispered, her heart hammering wildly. Had she done something to hurt him?

"I might hurt you." H
e gasped. "I want you in a way…that you're not ready for."

What?
"But…I am ready." More than ready.

Like the words spoke directly to his body, he growled and pulled against invisible restraints. He shook his head.
"I'm not ready. Even if you are. I need…" he gritted his teeth, keeping his eyes closed. "I need to tell you why I'm here."

She stared at him, suddenly worried.
"What-what do you mean? Is it…is it something bad? Bad news? Is…Sam okay? My daughter?"

His wind rushed out, a sound of relief.
"Your daughter is fine. Toren, my Brother, is taking care of her."

"
Your
brother?
Mr. Toren? He's…he's an…"

He opened his eyes and nodded.
"An archangel, yes. The Mercury Warrior. I am Lyght, the Diamond Warrior."

Kassie put a hand over her mouth, accidentally revealing one of her breasts and Lyght thrashed against the restraints again, making her cover it back and wonder.
"My breasts…repulse you?"

He didn
't open his eyes, but an incredulous laugh spilled forth. "Kassie, sweetheart…" He finally gazed at her, chest heaving. "You are…more beautiful than I can stand. That is why I am holding myself back."

"
You?" She pointed at him, then jerked her forearm back over her breast. "You're doing that?" He whispered his
yes
harshly and Kassie was suddenly stunned. Confused. Was he blind?

"
You're the blind one sweetheart, I promise you this. And I don't ever promise
.
"

She swallowed down the bubbly feeling threatening to make her laugh. She couldn
't stop the smile though.

"
Now, if you'll just please get dressed, and leave the room, I will be able to unpin myself from this wall."

She angled her head, looking.
"How are you doing that, anyway?"

"
I promise to explain it later, in great detail, if you do as I ask
now."

She turned and quickly made her way to the bed. Apparently he liked her backside, judging by the loud growling that ensued. She peeked over her shoulder.
"Stop looking then!"

"
I'm bloody trying! You're asking me to stop smelling you and tasting you. I cannot, you're all over inside me and I want to devour you. I want to take you right here and now and make you mine in the most animalistic and dangerous way. I'm extremely unstable, an angel with infinite powers, and you, sweetheart, are merely a fragile human. So, help me and get. Dressed. Now."

The urgency in his tone hurried her up.

"Oh God, you're aroused again," he whispered.

She trembled as she put her clothes back on.
"It's your fault," she whispered, incredulous. "You're doing this to me, I've never had a man say those things, want those things with me." Her heart pounded with a mixture of fear and exhilaration.

His thrashing grew more violent, his growls more ferocious.

"Now what did I do!" Just the thought that she, plain little old Kassie, could affect any man so much, let alone an angel, was just laughable.

"
You're bloody
needing me.
I can't stand not answering your needs. Go!"

She flew to the door with her shirt in hand, heading for the bathroom, not caring if anyone saw her half naked. She had to do whatever he needed to help him.

"Don't!" His angry command cut through the air with physical force, stopping her in her tracks.

She jerked around.
"What now?"

"
Do
not
show another man what is
mine!"
Every delicious word reverberated through his chest and throat as a growl.

His possessive command took her breath away in another first. No man had ever considered her
his
except as something to control. Breathless, she put the shirt on, realizing she forgot to hide by the way he jerked his head away. "I'm done." She opened the door.

"
Gather the others into the room near the kitchen. The living room? Please."

He sounded weak and worn. She wanted to go to him and kiss him, to take care of him. Would she ever be able to do that?

"Yes, love. You will. Soon."

He said that without turning to her. She nodded and shut the door, hurrying to gather the others as he said, while wondering what he was going to tell them. She
'd thought he was there just to save her, with no idea there might be something beyond that. She scolded herself for the little jab of disappointment over the new development.

Chapter Eight

Miya stood at the counter with her plate while Lesedi sat at the table with the boy. He
'd insisted she take the chair, but she'd managed to overrule him on that, at least. She occupied herself with a slice of bacon while she tried not to be too annoyed that the man who'd demanded they meet him was already fifteen minutes late and Kassie was nowhere to be found either. Besides that, Lesedi obviously knew at least some of what the man wanted to say but refused to even give a hint.

Fine then. She
'd wait. But whatever kind of scam the guy was running wouldn't work on her. She wasn't one to fall for just any handsome face that showed up with a hard luck story. In fact, she looked forward to hearing his tale. She loved using logic to refute the lies those con artists came up with. This one would be no different from the dozens of others who'd showed up at the diner since she started working there, all wanting something from her or the other servers, or worse, Craig. That man didn't have the sense to say no in most cases and usually ended up giving them a free meal at the very least.

Hopefully Lesedi hadn
't been taken in by the weird English guy's accent and decided to invest in some hare-brained scheme or something. Lesedi was a genuinely nice guy and she'd hate to see him taken advantage of.

While she fumed, Lesedi and the boy, Tyler, ate enthusiastically and chatted. Something about the boy appealed to the instinct that made her feed the stray cat. He looked lost and alone, even while he laughed at some silly remark Lesedi made. And his eyes. They were clear and gray and should sparkle with mischief but instead they were
haunted
and fearful, as if he'd seen something
really
bad and knew for a fact that thing was coming for him. What on Earth could put that look in a person's eyes?

Even children she
'd seen who were abused didn't have quite that same look about them. Tyler looked like he'd seen the monster under the bed, up close and personal, and knew the night was coming again all too soon.

She fought the temptation to ask him about it. One class in child psychology at the community college didn
't qualify her to dig into a kid's brain and try to slay his demons. It
was
enough for her to know she didn't have what it took to do that kind of work. She settled for refilling his milk and offering him a blanket when he shuddered with a sudden chill.

Miya washed the dishes she and Lesedi and Tyler dirtied and left the rest of the food in the warmer of her cook stove. Lesedi had enticed Tyler into the living room to see if they could find anything interesting on her TV.

Drying her hands, Miya considered what to do next. She really wanted to go back to her work table and see if Lesedi followed, but common sense prevailed. Even if he came along she couldn't do that in a houseful of people liable to walk in at any moment. A walk then? No doubt Tyler could use some fresh air and exercise. And maybe Lesedi would walk with them.

In the living room, she paused to eavesdrop on Tyler speaking softly to Lesedi.
"And then we moved again, but my Grams and Paps got killed that time before I started school. I didn't have any more relatives so they put me in the system."

Lesedi ran a hand over his close-cropped black hair, pausing briefly mid-way to signal Miya to silence.
"What is that?"

"
The system? It's what they do with kids nobody wants. You move from one house to another with other kids. Sometimes it's pretty good but mostly it's just not bad. And sometimes it's
really
bad." Tyler stopped a moment and studied Lesedi as if deciding how much to trust him. "My friend James was getting sent to one of the
really, really
bad houses, where the man uses boys like those men did Kassie. So we ran away. It was going good, too. Some kids that didn't have families were showing us what to do so we didn't get caught and put back in the system. But then James got sick. I didn't know what to do. You ever have a time when you didn't know what to do and every choice was a not-good one?"

Lesedi appeared to consider a moment, brow furrowed.
"Yes, I have. I was scared." His hand on the back of the couch clenched into a fist. "What was wrong with James?"

"
He stayed really hot but said he was cold, then he started throwing up and had the runs bad. When that stopped he couldn't walk by himself anymore. Tina, our friend, said for him to drink water and he'd get better, but when he did, he started throwing up blood. I got really scared that he might die. I called nine-one-one at a shop. I was going to leave when the ambulance guys took James to the hospital, but he was afraid and I couldn't leave him."

Lesedi nodded.
"That was brave of you."

Tyler shook his head.
"Maybe, but it was stupid too. At the hospital they were really nice, but they thought I might have the same germ James did so I let them test my blood. I didn't want to get sick like that. The next day they told me I wasn't sick and I couldn't stay there. They signed me over to a man who was supposed to take me back to the foster home. Only he took me to another place where they had a lot of kids, grown-ups too, that they'd kidnapped and were going to sell."

The first disapproving expression crossed Lesedi
's face only to be quickly hidden. "What do you mean, sell? Exactly?" He glanced at Miya again and the horror and anger in his eyes froze her breath.

Tyler took a deep breath and gave Lesedi a look that said he could hardly believe anyone
could be so ignorant. "They would bring us into a room for other people to look at. They took our clothes and those people would come and look and give them money for the ones they wanted." His cheeks flushed dark. "One of the older boys told me what they were selling us for, what the people would do to us. He said if you were sick they didn't want you, or if you were stupid. I threw up on a rich man."

"
That was good thinking." Lesedi's brow was drawn to a tight line of fury but he kept his voice light and gentle.

The boy nodded.
"The day they brought Kassie they took us to be looked at again but before anyone asked to look at me, these guys came in and messed it all up and took some stuff they were selling too." He grinned broadly, eyes flashing. "I don't know what those guys did, but it really scared the ones keeping us. Some of them grabbed a few of us and ran to the truck and got away while the others stayed to fight the ones who came. Those ones never came back."

"
You know who they were? The ones who came?"

"
No, I never saw them. But there was a lot of noise and light and the ones who ran with us kept talking about men flying and monsters and angels. I think they were smoking crack."

Lesedi choked back a laugh and Kassie came out of the guest room at the same time, looking flushed and disheveled.

She paused a moment then came on into the living room. "Sorry to interrupt. Lyght asked me to apologize for keeping you waiting but he had to take care of something. He'll be here soon and said he has to talk to us all about something important."

So that was how he was going to approach it, a huge emergency that had to be dealt with right away. And of course, he
'd need money to take care of things and save someone. Despite herself, Miya glanced at Tyler. None of them knew the boy and he certainly wasn't too young to be involved in a scam. Was his whole story cooked up, a way to get money? There had to be a catch somewhere.

Well, she, for one, wasn
't going to just sit there and blithely let some con artist take advantage of both Kassie and Lesedi. But she didn't want to say anything to them in front of the child and give him time to tip off his accomplice or mentor or whatever they called it.

Outside the window, a lean form darted across the yard, inspiring her.
"Tyler, do you like cats?"

"
Yeah, sure. Doesn't everybody?" He tilted his head a little and regarded her with those serious eyes. He might be working a con, but there was no doubt in her mind the kid had been through some bad shit.

"
I thought so, but you never know. If you look out the door there, my cat, Fluff, just came up for her breakfast. Think you could feed her for me?" She silently thanked the stray for coming early to get its daily snack. She was the perfect distraction for the boy.

"
Sure!" Tyler hopped off the couch with a huge grin. "Can I pet her?"

Miya shrugged, trying for nonchalant.
"Maybe. She's pretty shy though. Let her eat first while you stay nearby but out of reach. Let her learn to trust you just a bit before you ask, then move slowly and talk to her gently." Hopefully the skittish creature would have one of its rare social moments and keep Tyler occupied for a few minutes.

After she told him where to find the cat food, he nearly danced off to do the little chore, his excitement bringing a flush to his pale cheeks.

Miya waited until he was safely out of earshot before saying anything else. "How well do either of you know Tyler or that guy?"

Lesedi
's brow furrowed but Kassie was the one to speak. "Why? Is something wrong?"

Miya sighed. The last thing she wanted to do was mess things up for Kassie with the guy, but she couldn
't sit by and watch her be taken advantage of. She shook her head. "Nothing specific that I can point to. I just have a feeling he's up to something. Like he has some ulterior motive for showing up here."

Kassie stood, scowling.
"Honey, you better rethink that. Lyght came and carried Tyler and me out of the middle of Hell. I was gang raped, nothing fake about that, and poor little Tyler was next in line. There's things about him you don't know and it's not my place to tell, but I promise you, he couldn't be further from what you're thinking." She sat back down. "I don't want to hear any more making him seem like a criminal."

"
Thank you Kassie. I appreciate your trust." Lyght strode in from the guest room. "Miya, I understand your misgivings. You caution is wise. But I'm not what you've been thinking. Can we all sit, please, so I can explain why I'm here."

His commanding demeanor rubbed Miya the wrong way, but she nodded and sat on the couch between Lesedi and Kassie. The least she could do was listen, especially if he
'd actually saved Kassie and Tyler.

"
First of all, Kassie and Lesedi already know this part, but I need you to understand it as well. I am not a human." He paused for a second and Miya couldn't contain her snort of derision. "I am an archangel, on Earth as part of a mission of monumental importance to save mankind from evil."

Holy fuck, he wasn
't a just a con, he was a kook. Miya's blood boiled. Religious nuts were her pet peeve. "Riigghhht. You and every other crack-pot in the country."

An odd sound, like a crystal chandelier being violently shaken, erupted and blinding rays of light surrounded him as part of some massive construction just at his back. She looked closer.
Wings?
How the hell did he managed that one?

With more crystalline tinkling, he lifted the wings and spread them. Tip to tip, they spanned her entire living room in a magnificent display of what looked like crystal and refracted light.

"They're diamond." He folded the wings and turned before spreading them again for her to inspect the point of attachment to his back.

A low level of trembling set up in Miya
's frame as she studied them. They certainly seemed real. She couldn't find any signs of fakery, no matter how she looked. The oddest question found its way out. "Diamond? Why?"

The…man lowered the wings and turned back around.
"Not exactly the earthly diamond you're familiar with. My Commander, Uriel, constructed armor for all the Brothers, using supernatural gems."

She didn
't hear anything after the word 'Brothers'. "There are more like you?"

"
Yes." He grinned a little. "Twelve archangels make up the Brotherhood of War under Uriel's command." His expression went serious. "Now, the mission, and your part in it." Those massive wings lowered a little in a tinkling racket. "We've learned of a new tactic Satan is using to turn people away from God. And his demons have created genetically engineered creatures, monsters, to further his plot. I and my Brothers have been sent to deal with it."

He continued on with more fantastic details straight out of the Bible.
"And that's where you come in. Part of our plan includes using the power of a couple's passion to create a Holy Warrior capable of combating the demons in this realm."

End of Bible right there.

Miya sat shocked at the blasphemous sounding plan. "So, you're forming holy warriors via fucking?" Her blood went to boiling again as her mother's old saying came to her.
There's a demon behind every con.
And as nuts as it was, that would mean she wasn't dealing with a con, per-se, but a demon con? It explained his freaky look and his freaky plan. "You've come to the wrong house mister. There are no passionate couples in love here, and even if there were, we'd not be stupid enough to think you're from God."