Wicked Edge (8 page)

Passion sucked in a startled breath. It was Ganymede’s voice in her head.

Ganymede’s glare said he wasn’t forgetting about the ruined door and his interrupted moment with Sparkle, but he was putting it aside while he dealt with the Edge thing. “Look around. No Edge. Nothing to worry about. He might not like me, but he knows the
rules. He kills me—not that it could ever happen—and the Big Boss destroys him. Edge has scary control; don’t know how he does it. Anyway, he’ll get over what’s bugging him.” Ganymede’s expression hinted that maybe they should leave before he crushed them like the squashed gummy bears beneath his feet. “When you leave, Dacian, prop that door up so we’ll have some privacy.”

No, he couldn’t just dismiss the danger. Passion spoke up. “Edge is coming. I know he is. And he’s not in his right mind. Don’t be stupid.”

“Stupid?” Ganymede skewered her with a piercing glare. “Be careful, angel wannabe.” He took a step toward her to emphasize his threat.

God, he must be at least six feet five.

“Leave. Now. It takes time for me to shift to human form. I made the effort tonight so my cupcake and I could lower our stress levels.” He turned to Dacian. “Make me lose any quality time with her tonight, and I might do something. Bad.” He lifted his hands and made an exaggerated sweep of the store. “And see, Edge isn’t here.”

“Yes, he is.” The whisper came from a shadowed corner of the store.

Passion along with everyone else turned to stare as Edge glided forward. He made no sound as he moved, darkness and earthly endings trailing behind him. Power flowed from him, pushing at her, and she wanted to wrap her arms around herself to keep from shivering. At this moment, Passion didn’t doubt for a moment that Death was among them.

No explanations were needed. Edge stared at Ganymede, his amber eyes shining with…nothing. Nobody was home in those eyes.

“Shit.” Ganymede sounded more annoyed than terrified.

That was okay, because Passion was terrified enough for both of them. She’d witnessed more violence in her short time at the castle
than she had during her entire existence as an angel. Of course, she couldn’t quite remember how long that existence had been, but it was certainly longer than one night.

Dacian moved forward. “This isn’t just a random attack of bad temper.” He waved Sparkle off the counter.

She slid down and sidled away from Edge. “You don’t want to do this, sweetie.”

Edge didn’t acknowledge either of them.

“Hate to admit I’m wrong, because being wrong doesn’t happen to me, but I think Edge was right. Someone’s messing with our heads. And I’m really pissed at whoever it is because they broke my string of a million years without making a mistake.”

Ganymede’s tone was the same snarky one Passion remembered from the seawall, but as she stared into his eyes, she saw a transformation that iced the blood in her veins.

His eyes darkened and became the eyes of the chaos bringer—ancient, timeless. Passion knew if she stared too long, they’d drag her into their depths where memories of screaming horrors lived. She jerked her gaze away. She wasn’t ready for that.

“Time to die.” Edge’s voice was a monotone, no excitement, no emotion, just Death delivering his message.

“You can’t fight him, Mede.” Sparkle moved behind Ganymede and rested her hand against his back. “He doesn’t know what he’s doing. Besides, if you two get into it, humans will die. The Big Boss will come calling.” She paused. “And I might lose you.” The last was said so softly that Passion almost didn’t hear her.

“Then they’ll die. And if the Big Boss comes, he comes. I have the right to defend myself.”

Silence fell. Energy built, expanding, pushing at the limits of the room, flowing out through the open door. The walls made creaking sounds, the storefront window shattered.

You’re an angel, for God’s sake, do something.
But Passion had no
communication lines to home, no way of summoning help. Punishment meant she couldn’t contact Ted. Anything she had to say got said during Hope’s nightly reports. She glanced at the other angel. “You’re not being punished. Call Ted.” Her order was a frantic hiss.

Hope looked at her from glazed eyes. “I can’t focus. I have to concentrate. Passion, they’re going to destroy everything.”

Well, maybe not everything, but since she and Hope were standing about five feet away from Edge and Ganymede, she was pretty sure she’d be history. She might technically be an angel, but she was in human form. Hope would survive, though. She was still an angel in good standing.

“Damn, someone needs to do something.”

Dacian’s voice startled Passion. She looked at him just as he drew back his upper lip to expose impressive fangs. She gasped. His eyes shone completely black, no pupils, no white, just…black.

“Vampire.” She was too numb to feel shocked.

He leaped at Edge, just a blur of movement. Edge didn’t even look at him. He simply held up his hand and Dacian slammed into an invisible wall.

Ganymede glanced at Sparkle. “Get everyone out of here. Fast.” Then he focused on Edge.

“It won’t do any good, Mede.” Sparkle sounded scared. “You might be able to control
your
damage, but Edge isn’t thinking, doesn’t know or care what he’s doing. Death running free will destroy the whole island, maybe more.” She took a deep breath. “Please. Disappear until he calms down.”

Passion sensed that Sparkle didn’t get scared often, a testament to the seriousness of the situation. And she’d bet the other woman didn’t beg often either.

“What happens, happens.” Ganymede didn’t look at her.

Passion saw no regret in his eyes for the woman who seemed to mean a lot to him, saw no emotion at all, just a cold focus on Edge.

Sparkle backed away from Ganymede, her body stiff. She blinked rapidly. “It’s always about you and your damn pride.”

Passion thought that watching Sparkle fight back tears raised the terror factor a thousandfold.

And then it began.

Cold darkness seemed to flow from Edge’s fingertips, roiling blackness that coiled and crept along the floor bringing with it an overpowering sense of heaviness. It bubbled as though something living breathed just below its surface, and Passion thought she wouldn’t be able to hold herself upright, wouldn’t be able to resist the power drawing her down, down, into the grave.

Ganymede wasn’t wasting any time either. Wind whipped into the room from the shattered window and door. It circled him, lifting his hair, even as flames leaped up around him. Passion blinked to make sure she wasn’t seeing things, but yes, the ends of his hair were glowing flame.

She was rooted to the spot. Not a good place to be now. Even if everyone else made the decision to stay and watch the disaster unfold, she should be outta here. She was the only human, the most vulnerable of them. Still she stayed. There was no logical reason, but there was a darn good illogical one. She remembered the virgin on the landing. If Ganymede killed Edge, maybe she could…
Give it up. By the time one of them is dead, this store and possibly all of Galveston will be in pieces and drifting out into the Gulf.
Still, she stayed.

Passion was vaguely aware of the wind outside. It had risen to gale force, and she could hear waves crashing onto the shore. The floor shook, and a display of chocolate creams fell to the floor.

Edge crouched and Ganymede did the same. Passion pressed her hands against her temples, trying to relieve the immense pressure from the buildup of power. Any minute her head would explode.

And right at the very moment the two cosmic troublemakers would have leaped at each other, Hope ran between them.

Passion made a grab for her as she raced past, but missed. Ohmigod, they’d kill Hope. Passion started to run after her.

“Wait, wait, wait!” Hope held up her hands, as though that would stop the apocalypse about to rain down on them. “Let’s talk this out.”

Then something weird happened. Hope started speaking. Passion could hear her, but the words didn’t make any sense. They seemed to flow together, creating a rhythm that somehow soothed Passion, made her feel almost relaxed and…happy. She wondered how that could be, because something bad was about to happen, and it should worry her.

But Passion couldn’t seem to remember what the bad thing was. She started to smile. She even decided to hum a tune she’d heard…somewhere.

It might have been seconds, minutes, or even hours, but suddenly Passion blinked and looked around.

Dacian sat on the floor carefully placing the spilled chocolate creams back in their box. He was smiling. Sparkle leaned against the wall examining her nails. She seemed happy with them. Ganymede wasn’t smiling, but he’d shed the flames and just stared at Edge.

Edge lay curled up on the floor, his eyes tightly shut and his breaths coming in gasps.

Hope had stopped talking and had started to back toward the door. “I don’t know what happened.” Her voice shook. “I’m going up to my room.” With no further explanation, she ran from the store.

Passion didn’t care what had happened. Hope had somehow stopped Edge and Ganymede. But something was wrong with Edge. She pushed past Ganymede and fell to her knees beside Edge. “Are you okay?”

“No.” His answer was pushed through clenched teeth.

“Try to relax.” She placed her hand on his shoulder in an attempt to comfort Edge while she looked around for someone to help him.

She felt the moment his muscles relaxed and he went limp. He opened his eyes to stare at her.

“When you just touched me…it felt like…” He seemed to make an attempt to focus on her. “And that other woman, she talked and…” He raised a trembling hand to his face.

Passion could hear Ganymede’s murmur behind her.

“If it looks like a duck and quacks like a duck, is it really a duck? Or just a cheap knockoff?”

Edge tried to focus, to understand. He forced himself to remember. He’d left Passion’s room, and then wham, the need to kill Ganymede hit him. Not like before. This time it had overwhelmed him. He couldn’t resist. It had been lights out until the sound of a strange woman talking had drawn his mind back. Problem was, he couldn’t remember what she’d been saying.

He fought despair. Over the thousands of years of his existence, he’d lost what he might have been, lost the future to endless death. He couldn’t change that. But he’d managed to hang on to one thing that brought him pride—his control over his thoughts, his emotions. Now it too was gone. He took a deep breath.
Get over yourself. You can rebuild the walls in your mind higher and stronger. He won’t just stroll in next time.
Edge turned his attention to the one person able to distract him from his own dark thoughts.

Passion. His maybe-angel had knelt beside him and put her hand on him. Why the hell was she even here? Someone would pay for letting her stay to witness whatever it was that had almost happened.
He knew it was an “almost” because if he’d fought Ganymede there’d be nothing left of this store.
Or Passion
. Not something he wanted to dwell on.

Feeling protective?
The thought horrified him. He never felt emotional connections to anyone. Emotional attachments were like rubber bands. They’d stretch just so far, and then they’d snap. The sting you got from the recoil was a bitch.

He returned to the puzzle of what had happened when she touched him. It had felt as though she reached inside him and smoothed away the pounding in his brain, the knots cramping his muscles, and slowed his racing heart. All things she couldn’t possibly have done.

It took two attempts for Edge to stand. Passion didn’t try to help him. Looking around, he saw that the talking woman had left. Dacian watched him warily from his seat on the floor, and Sparkle was staring at Ganymede’s back. She didn’t look happy.

“Got it out of your system?” Ganymede clenched and unclenched his fists, his only concession to whatever was going on inside him.

“Yeah, I’m fine.” Or as fine as he could be, knowing that his control could be overridden at any moment.

Dacian stood. “Does
anyone
know what just happened?”

“No.” Edge watched Passion as she moved toward the door. “We need to have a meeting, and I think you should be part of it, Passion. This can’t happen again. Why the hell were you even here?”

“I go where I want to go. And I’m sorry if I invaded your private circle. It won’t happen again.”

Edge didn’t miss the hurt in her eyes. She’d misunderstood. But that was okay, because she didn’t need to know he’d been worried about her.

Ganymede nodded. “We need to talk. Let’s take this over to Wicked Fantasy. I need a drink.”

“I need to clean up this mess you made.” Sparkle’s expression said the mess included Ganymede.

Yep, Sparkle was mad. Edge wondered what Ganymede had done.

“I’ll take care of it. Later. You won’t be opening again tonight.” Ganymede sounded impatient.

Edge winced. Sparkle’s stare looked as though it could tear bloody furrows in him. He expected her to scoop up one of the glass shards from her broken window and begin slicing.

“You’re right.” She picked her way across the floor to retrieve her shoes. “
Nothing
will be happening here tonight.” Her narrowed eyes and thinned lips promised that Ganymede may as well change back into a cat, because the queen of sex and sin was leaving the house.

No one spoke as they walked back to Wicked Fantasy, the small club Sparkle owned in the castle. A few minutes later, they were all seated around a table in a darkened corner. Bain and Holgarth had joined them. Edge spent a few minutes running through what he remembered.

“Has anyone else had problems?” Passion had seated herself opposite Edge.

“Yeah, I’ve had a few.” Ganymede sounded reluctant to talk.

Edge knew Ganymede was
never
reluctant to talk, except when it might expose a weakness. Tough shit. At least Ganymede hadn’t misplaced his brain so far.

“A couple of times in the last few weeks I might’ve wanted to blow something up.” Ganymede shrugged. “I handled it.”

Edge smiled. Ganymede wasn’t going to mention the evaporating mountain in the Himalayas or the San Andreas Fault’s booty shaking.