The Protect Her Box Set: Parts 7-9 (25 page)

He stroked my hair and kissed my temple. “You are safe, Paige. You are always safe with me.”

Riley Stone loved me, and he would take care of me. He was my family now. Those were the thoughts that curled around me as I finally found sleep.

CHAPTER NINE –
RILEY

Paige was more precious to me than anything in the world. She brought me back to myself. If she hadn’t been there to take charge after I killed Proctor, I think I could have easily given over to every dark instinct I had inside of me. And I would have enjoyed exploring each and every one to its fullest.

That was what kept me awake after Paige fell into a fast sleep. I didn’t blame her for being exhausted. She’d literally been to Hell and back. She never faltered in her convictions, and somehow, she still loved me despite all of my flaws. I stroked her hair and face and wondered how the hell I’d gotten so lucky. Somebody like me wasn’t meant to be with a woman like her, and yet I was. She had given herself to me body and soul, and the mark on her collarbone proved it. I wouldn’t take that for granted. Not now, not ever. As long as I didn’t lose myself.

I slowly untangled my limbs from hers as I slid out of the bed. I had no idea how I recreated my bedroom in the back of Slinky Pete’s dingy bathroom, but I had. All I had been thinking was once I started kissing Paige was that I wanted to make love to her in a bed, not some slimy bar bathroom. And then there it was. I wasn’t going to question it.

I pulled my clothes back on and looked behind me at the lovely woman in my bed. She was out cold, but there was a small smile on her face. I hoped that she was having happy dreams. Dreams of a normal life with me and our two point five kids. That’s what I wanted to have with her.

I frowned. Now that I was an angel though, that kind of future was going to be a problem. And there was still one very big unanswered question that I had yet to ask. I was going to go find out that answer now. I tucked the covers up around Paige’s chin and kissed her on the forehead.

“I’ll be right back, babe. You sleep,” I whispered in her ear. She murmured something indecipherable and then settled back into her deep slumber.

I walked through the room to the bathroom door that led out to the bar. Then I gently pulled it open and stepped outside.

The bar was darker than I remembered. I saw Klein at the other end of the bar slumped over. I was alarmed until I heard the distinct sound of a snore.

“Why do mortals drink to the point of unconsciousness?” Samuel appeared at my shoulder following my stare in Klein’s direction. “And it seemed to happen so quickly. One moment he was babbling something about needing a raise, and the next minute he was like that.”

“We…they…drink to forget,” I said correcting myself. I wasn’t part of the mortal ‘we’ collective anymore. “Most of the time though, it’s just for fun. Alcohol takes away inhibitions and allows people to let loose and do they normally wouldn’t do. There is something infinitely appealing about that.”

“Interesting,” Samuel said. “We are unable to mimic those sensations. I have tried on several occasions.”

“Good to know,” I said. I stepped behind the bar and searched for a bottle of expensive bourbon. Slinky Pete always kept a couple of bottles buried behind the bar for when the college kids came in during spring break. Those were the weeks he upped his prices and probably made enough to pay the mortgage for the rest of the year. I found what I was looking for and pulled it out to set it on the bar. “I’d like to test the theory for myself though, considering I’m practically one of a kind and all.”

Samuel settled himself on a bar stool across from me. It was almost comical how stiff and uncertain he appeared to be in when he tried to play human. I pulled two glasses out and put one on the bar in front of him.

“Oh, no, I’m fine,” he said trying to wave the glass away.

“I insist,” I said, filling both glasses. “Where are your brothers?”

“They are investigating outside and cleaning up the mess,” Samuel said. “I’m sure they’ll be back in shortly. It will be time for us to plan our next move. Things seem to be progressing more rapidly than I expected.”

“Proctor always seemed to be one step ahead of us,” I said. “I should have expected him to find us here. It’s like he’s got a tail on us everywhere we go.”

“He would have been able to track us through the mark on Paige’s hand. We didn’t remove it in time,” Samuel said.

That wasn’t what I thought, but I was willing to let it slide for now. There was something else that I wanted to know from Samuel, and I wanted to be sure that we weren’t going to be interrupted for a while. I was about to ask about Viho when I spotted the man in a booth in a far corner of the room. He was sitting up, but I saw that his eyes were closed. It seemed that the incident with Bruno and his gang had worn everyone out.

“I think it’s time we had a little heart to heart, don’t you?” I asked as I took my first sip.

“What is it that you want to know, Riley?” Samuel didn’t touch his glass.

“I think you know what I want to know. It’s the elephant in the room that to this point I’ve been willing to leave there. But now, I want to know the whole story.”

“You mean, how you became an angel,” Samuel said.

“I imagine these things don’t happen every day,” I said with a smirk. “And how I personally got so lucky is a bit of a mystery to me.”

“You want to know to attempt to find out if you can reverse the effects,” Samuel said. His face was grim. “The answer to that question is no. What is done is done. You will have to accept that this is your fate.”

“I don’t have to accept anything,” I said. “But let’s start first with how the hell this happened in the first place.”

Now Samuel picked up his glass. He studied it, and then he took a small sip. He grimaced as the liquid hit his tongue, and then he set the drink down again. “I don’t think I’ll ever understand what makes that so appealing to mortals.”

“Maybe you just don’t know a good thing even when it bites you in the ass,” I said as I took another long sip. I was starting to feel like myself again. I was eager to get back to Paige, but I needed answers first. “You can start slow. Even somebody like me can probably keep up.”

Samuel sighed. “You remember that Benjamin stabbed me in the tunnels?”

“I was there,” I drawled. “He stuck you pretty good. I know because, of course, he paid me the same favor not more than ten minutes later.”

“And that was his mistake,” Samuel said. “What happened is something that I didn’t think could ever happen, although I had heard rumors that it was possible. A predisposed individual who had certain gifts, when ingested with the blood of angel, could become an angel.”

I froze. “You’re telling me I became this way because Benjamin didn’t have the common courtesy of cleaning your blood off his knife before he stuck me with it?”

“I believe that provided the catalyst for the transformation,” Samuel said. “That combined with your exposure to the relic created the opportunity. Your bloodline is strong with supernatural talent. That has to be apparent to you now. You were predisposed to this. A magical cocktail that resulted in your death and rebirth as an angel of darkness.”

I thought about what Viho had said about the relic, that it was a living thing looking for any way to survive. “That is fucking craziness.”

Samuel’s shoulders slumped. “And yet it is the truth. I know it was my blood that made you this way because that is how I was able to find you. I am fairly certain that I will always be able to locate you, no matter where you are on this side of the veil or the other. There is a part of you that is in tune with me, and it’s because you carry my blood in your veins.”

“It’s getting goddamn crowded in here,” I said harshly as I downed the rest of the liquid in my glass. “An angel of darkness. What does that even mean?”

“Just as you are predisposed to magic and its use, your soul is predisposed to darkness. It is seductive and inviting to you, and it will be difficult for you to ignore its siren call. It will lead you into darkness and destruction. It will devour those around you, and you won’t even know it because its trance will hold you captive. You will seek power for power’s sake, and you will not grant anyone mercy as you pursue it. You will lie, cheat, steal, and worse to get what you want. The masses will fear you, and those that want to gain your favor will grovel and do the worst possible deeds to survive. That will be your legacy if you give into what you are destined to be.”

My thoughts grew darker and darker. I rolled the glass around in my hand, and then I pitched it across the bar where it shattered against the far wall. Klein shot up off his stool.

“What’d I miss?” Then he groaned and dropped his head into his hands. “Ah, crap.  I think I’m gonna be sick.” He stumbled toward the back of the bar, but I stopped him and turned him around. “There’s another bathroom through the kitchen behind the bar.”

The kid looked green, and his cheeks puffed out he ran past me through the kitchen doors. I felt sorry for him. I realized that Samuel was staring at me.

“He’s just a kid,” I said. “He’ll yak, and he’ll feel better. He’ll probably start drinking again right away just to prove how manly he is.”

“It is good that you have relationships like that in your life,” Samuel said. “I fear that the darkness would have already taken hold of you otherwise.”

“I don’t understand,” I said.

“My brothers and I have been waiting to see if the transformation swung to its completion or not. You cannot help us if you chose to stand against us.”

I took a step backward. “You weren’t planning on helping me, were you?”

“Yes, we were. We are,” Samuel corrected himself. “But if you prove yourself to an agent of evil like Lucifer…”

“Then you were going to put me down,” I growled.

“Then we would have dealt with it,” Samuel said. “Everything I’ve told you has been true, Riley. There are so many nuances and complexities in this game that you can’t see everything. You are missing the larger picture.”

“This isn’t a game to me. This is my life. This is Paige’s life,” I said. Then I drew a deep breath. I felt the anger building inside of me. It wanted out. It wanted blood. “You need to get out of here.”

“Excuse me?” The look of shock on Samuel’s face was priceless.

That’s when I pulled the object from my pocket that I had taken from Paige’s jeans before I left the room. I held it up. “I said, I want you to leave. Take your brothers with you. And if you are dumb enough to come back with reinforcements, we’ll be gone. But you can bet we’ll be seeing each other again real soon.”

“Riley, you need my assistance,” Samuel said. “I am your maker. There are things that I need to show you.”

“There were no other necromancers around to learn from, and I did just fine,” I said. “I’m an excellent self-study, and with this I have a head start. I know this thing scares the shit out of you guys. Don’t make me use it on you.”

Samuel started to back away. “You don’t understand what you are doing. You will regret this, Riley.”

“The only thing that I regret is that I agreed to come here with you at all,” I said. “Now get out.” He moved toward the door. I saw him glance furtively in Viho’s direction. “He stays. He, at least, might be useful.”

In a flash, Samuel was gone. I felt the pulsating motion of the relic in my hand, and I set it down on the bar top. Every moment that it touched my skin made me want to hold onto it forever. I remembered Viho’s advice. It was meant for Paige to keep and hold onto, but it was the only thing that I could think of that would get the archangels off our backs. We had to find somewhere else to hole up and plan.

I saw Viho move and then sit-up and stretch in the booth. He opened his eyes, and I saw him look across the bar at me. Then he pulled himself forward and stood up. He seemed taller and stronger than earlier. It was odd.

“I thought they’d never leave,” he said with a satisfied grin.

“What’d I miss?” Klein reappeared in the doorway from the kitchen.

“The beginning or the end. I’m not sure which yet,” I said with a thoughtful frown.

“Okay, in that case, I think I’m going to get sick again,” Klein said. He turned on his heel and dashed back into the kitchen.

Viho made his way across the bar. He pointed at the relic. “Get that back into your girl’s possession right away. You need to stay away from it. I thought I made myself clear on that point earlier.”

It was almost amusing the paternal tone that he seemed to feel he was entitled to take with me. “I appreciate the concern, Viho, but I’ve got it under control. It’s not Paige holding onto it that’s going to keep me sane.
Paige
keeps me sane.”

“Well, there is the rest of us to consider,” he said. “I haven’t kept my wits about me all these years holed up with the archangels just to lose my marbles when things start getting interesting again.”

“She’s sleeping,” I said. “I’ll give it back to her as soon as she wakes up. But first, we have to decide where we’re going to go. We can’t stay here.”

“Pour me a glass of that bourbon, and I’ll help you figure think through the options,” Viho said as he slid on to the bar stool that Samuel had exited. “Maybe when the kid gets back, we can have him cook us up some food. Considering you’re giving him a raise and all.”

I poured the old man a glass and set it in front of him. I was definitely feeling more like myself. It was time to get back to work.