The species of demon was still unknown, but given how impossibly handsome he was, she’d guess he was a breed of incubus.
Lunging, she sliced at him again, but in a cat-quick move, he flattened himself on the ground. He’d saved himself from a nasty cut, but his position gave her the opportunity to leap to her feet and smash one heel into his rib cage. Bone gave way beneath her boot, and he grunted as he grabbed her ankle with both hands.
“What is it with females trying to kill me lately?”
“Says a lot about you, don’t you think?” Feeling a twinge of regret for having to destroy such a fine male specimen, she thrust the dagger down.
A sense of foreboding prickled her skin a split second before the distinct click of a firing crossbow pierced the air. Idess jerked under the force of what felt like a cannonball punching into her spine. Blood exploded in a puff of fine mist from her chest, and steam hissed from the hole just below her breastbone where the bolt had gone through.
Agony lanced her, rending and unique in its intensity. She tasted bile. Blood. What could have done this? Gasping for breath, Idess staggered around to the female holding the crossbow. Dressed in blood-red leather that clashed with her merlot hair, she stood protectively over Kynan’s prone form. Another Guardian.
Realization and horror cut through the fog of pain. The bolt had been coated in qeres, an ancient Egyptian mummification perfume used by The Aegis to combat fallen angels. It wouldn’t kill them, but the poison could cripple and incapacitate for years.
It could, however, kill pre-Ascension Memitim.
The demon male rolled away from Idess and crawled toward Kynan.
Idess’s muscles turned rubbery, but spurred by a desperate need to keep the demon away from Kynan, she gathered the last of her strength and yanked the male to his feet. She flashed them to the most remote place she could think of—a forest deep in the Ukraine. A lot of demons died in the cold. She hoped he’d be one of them.
As they materialized in two feet of snow, it became obvious that he wasn’t one of them, and if he was surprised by their sudden wilderness adventure, he didn’t show it. But then, her vision had begun to blur, and even the pristine white landscape took on a fuzzy, gray cast. Her fingers went numb, and the dagger disappeared as her ability to maintain the conjured weapon failed. A tremor of dread ran through her soul. This was it. The end. She’d survived the fall of Rome. The Inquisition. World War II. And some little slayer who played for the same side, Team Good and Holy, had just killed her.
Blackness swirled in her vision, overtaking her senses, and she went down. A voice rang in her ears, muted and distant, and then she was being lifted, yet somehow she doubted that the arms around her were those of a savior.
Three
What. The. Fuck.
Lore stood like a dope, knee-deep in snow in the middle of some godforsaken forest, cradling his would-be killer to his chest and wondering how everything had gone to hell so fast. He’d been a heartbeat away from completing his assignment, and now he was in the middle of nowhere, confused, and in a shitload of pain.
Agony screamed through his chest with every breath. Damned ribs were broken. A raspy moan reminded him that the female in his arms was far worse off. Whatever Tayla had shot her with had done some serious damage. Obviously, his Guardian sister-in-law had believed the female to be the threat to Kynan, rather than Lore.
He still wasn’t sure why he was holding the little troublemaker instead of killing her. The bitch was mouthy, she’d tried to kill him, and her heavy ass was hell on his ribs.
Though to be fair, she wasn’t that heavy. Just… tall. And curvy. And athletically solid. Hell, she looked like she worked out with some serious weights.
As far as mouthy… damn, she had a nice one. Wide, with full lips made to make a male beg. Her features were perfect—finely wrought, delicate, feminine in a way that was utterly out of sync with the dangerous power she wielded. And she smelled as if she’d bathed in cinnamon sugar. Exotic. Sexy. Edible.
But what the hell was she, why was she after him, and why the fuck did he suddenly crave cookies in bed?
The need to get the answers to his questions had him putting out feelers for the nearest Harrowgate. His demon senses picked up on one nearby, which was good, because carrying her was going to hurt. As much as he hated to do it, he’d have to get her to Underworld General so his brothers could patch her up well enough for interrogation. If someone had put out a hit on him, he needed to know.
Who sent you?
God.
Yeah, right. How many assassin masters did he know who insisted upon being called God? This chick could be working for any of a dozen assholes.
He weaved through the trees, leaving a trail of blood—both his and hers—in the snow as he limped toward the gate. Twice he had to stop to gather her waist-length pony-tail so he didn’t step on it. At least it was tightly bound, the thick brown rope secured every six inches or so by elaborately jeweled gold bands. The effect, combined with her smooth, porcelain skin and honey-colored, almond eyes, made her one of the most striking females he’d ever seen.
But hey, if someone was going to try to kill him, he’d rather it be a hot, bloodthirsty chick than some ugly-ass dude. He hefted her higher to avoid impaling her on a tree branch, and yep, definitely better that his would-be killer was a feather-light female.
The Harrowgate loomed ahead, a vertical, shimmering curtain of light, visible only to demons. God, he hated those things. Every time he stepped into one, he felt as if his humanity was being leached out. He was always a little more raw, a little more on edge when he came out on the other side, and he wondered when the day would come that he arrived at his destination as nothing but a monster.
He hoped it wouldn’t be this day.
He limped inside and was immediately swallowed by almost complete darkness as the gate closed. Obsidian walls etched with crude maps that represented Earth and Sheoul surrounded him on all sides, the thin lines that made up the maps glowing in a painter’s palette of colors.
In his arms, the female spasmed, the force of her seizure knocking him hard into the wall. Pain tore through his upper body and his arm went limp, and motherfuck, his left shoulder had wrenched from the socket. Sucking air between his teeth, he gently lowered the female to the floor and used his good hand to tap out the map—North America, the United States, New York state, New York City—until he found the medical emblem that would take him to Underworld General Hospital, which existed beneath the streets of the Big Apple, right under unsuspecting human noses.
The gate opened into an emergency room illuminated by red bulbs caged in rows on the ceiling. A tremor of unease tripped through him, which wasn’t a surprise, given that the last time he was here, he’d come to kill his brothers.
Talk about awkward.
Cookie was still lying motionless on the floor of the Harrowgate, and she was going to stay there unless Lore got his act together. He cradled his useless arm and eye-balled one of the stone columns supporting the Harrow-gate entrance. Shit. This was gonna hurt like a mother.
Bracing himself, he jammed his shoulder into the pillar. Pain cluster-bombed his arm as it popped back into the socket. A wave of nausea rolled over him, but he gathered up the female and limped toward the triage desk.
The nurse manning the station, a dark-skinned, humanoid Bedim demon, looked up from a stack of paperwork. An extremely sensual species whose females were usually kept in a harem, the Bedim rarely ventured into the world outside whatever Sheoulin palace they lived in. Lore might have appreciated her bid for independence, had he not been bleeding to death.
“You are both injured,” she said.
“You think?”
She jabbed her pen at him. “An attitude like that will get you nothing but an ass-kicking, mister.”
Jesus. Bedim were usually a peaceful, friendly people, but give demons some power, and they turned into… well, demons. “Whatever. Just get us some help.”
> The Bedim sniffed haughtily, but already medical staff were surrounding them. A guy in scrubs gestured for Lore to follow. Lore did, to a trauma room where he laid out Cookie on the examination table. A female Trillah nurse put her fingers to the female’s wrist.
“What are you doing?” Scrubs Guy shouted at the Trillah, startling Lore. “ABCs, you idiot! Airway, breathing, circulation… in that order. You’ve been a nurse for how long?”
Snarling, whiskers twitching, the nurse bit out some choice curses, and Lore swore Scrubs Guy was going to go right over the exam table at her.
“Hey,” Lore snapped. “Is this a hospital or not?”
Scrubs Guy and the Trillah uttered more obscenities, but at least they got back to the crisis at hand.
“What happened?” Scrubs Guy had a star-shaped mole behind his ear, which meant he was some sort of shape-shifter. He cut Cookie’s shirt up the middle with shears and peeled the flaps of fabric away from her skin.
“Shot with a crossbow.” Ooh, black bra. “I don’t know what kind of bolt.”
“What species is she?”
Satin, not lace. “No clue.” And front closure. Nice.
Eidolon, dressed in green scrubs and black boots, stalked into the room with the authority of a king entering his castle. “She’s a fallen angel.”
At once, in a move so coordinated it seemed rehearsed and almost comical, everyone backed away from her, hands up.
Lore turned to Eidolon. “How do you know?”
“Tayla called. Is this the female who injured you and Kynan?”
“The very cookie.”
Eidolon lowered his voice so no one but Lore could hear. “Ky can only be injured by angels, and only fallen ones would want to harm him.”
What? Eidolon had better be wrong about that, or Lore’s job just took a turn down the Royally Fucked Highway, and there were no exits on that road to hell. “Are you sure?”
“There’s a way to confirm it.”
Eidolon went to the female’s side and touched her arm. His dermoire lit up, and she moaned. “Female? What’s your name?”
She moaned again, and Eidolon leaned close. She whispered something, and Eidolon nodded as he straightened to his full height. Concentration put lines in his brow as he channeled power into her through his hand. Eidolon’s Seminus gift allowed him to probe deep inside a body for injury and heal wounds, but when his mouth tightened into a grim slash, Lore knew the news was not good.
“What’s wrong with her?”
“Poisoned. Spine’s broken and she’s got massive internal injuries.” Eidolon barked some orders to the nearby staff, and when no one moved, Eidolon snapped, “Now! It’s safe to touch her. You never had a problem with Reaver.”
Reaver… right. The fallen angel who had helped in the big battle last month. Except, apparently, he was no longer fallen. Still, what did any of this have to do with Kynan?
Carefully, the medical team turned the angel chick onto her stomach. Eidolon’s fingertips feathered over two scarlike slashes between her shoulder blades. “Definitely angel.” He glanced over at Lore. “These are wing anchors.” He continued, smoothing his long fingers down her spine to probe the bolt’s entrance wound. Before Lore’s eyes, flesh and bone began to mend. “Page Doctor Shakvhan. We need to get her into a healing bath.”
A healing bath sounded great to Lore, what with the way his gut was doing gymnastics and the room was spinning. “Hey, uh… could I get a little help here? Snicker-doodle isn’t the only one bleeding to death.”
Eidolon caught Lore by the arm and guided him into the room next to the female’s. “What happened?”
“Stabbed. My arm and leg.” Lore tugged off his jacket. “Pretty sure I’ve got some broken ribs, too.”
“Gods, you’re as bad as Wraith.” Eidolon jerked his chin toward the bed as he washed his hands in the sink. “Sit. And if you can take off your clothes, do.”
While E gloved up, Lore stripped, wincing at the tug of his muscles against his ribs and around the stab wounds. Eidolon arched an eyebrow at the pile of weapons Lore had placed next to his clothes, but he didn’t say anything.
Naked except for his boxer briefs, Lore eased onto the bed and killed time by studying a crack that snaked several feet along one gray wall, bisecting the protective symbols and letters written in blood. “Thought you guys fixed the place after all that shit last month.”
“We did,” Eidolon said, as he grabbed a towel. “But we’re still having a few issues. I’ve got contractors looking into it. The integrity of the building might have been compromised.”
Lore eyed the ceiling. “So you’re saying the building could come down on top of us?”
“Do you really think I’d keep the hospital operating if it wasn’t safe?” Eidolon wrapped the towel around Lore’s right arm, covering the tattoo that, with the exception of the lack of a personal symbol, was nearly identical to his brothers’. They’d discovered that Lore’s death touch didn’t affect Eidolon, Shade, or Wraith, but all other staff would be exposed. And since the exposure would be accidental, the Haven spell, which prevented violence and intentional injury inside the hospital, wouldn’t offer any protection.
“I dunno,” Lore said, which earned him a dirty look. Touchy. “So, aren’t angels, even fallen ones, sort of immortal?”
“Yes.”
“Why did you bother fixing her, then? She’ll heal on her own.”
“I want answers, and I don’t want to wait. The weapon Tayla used could put an angel on her ass for years.”
Lore frowned. “Why did Tayla just happen to be in possession of something that can take down a fallen angel?”
“Because she’s one of Kynan’s bodyguards.”
Bodyguards? What a pussy. “And Kynan needs protection, why?”
“Because The Aegis are a bunch of paranoid drama queens.” Eidolon tore open a packet of gauze. “Except in this case, it looks like their paranoia was justified.”
“Why would fallen angels be a threat to him?” When Eidolon said nothing, Lore cursed. “Can you at least tell me why it is that only angels can harm him?”
“And fallen angels,” Eidolon said, which wasn’t the answer to his question, but Lore had a feeling it was all he was going to get from his brother. Eidolon wheeled a tray containing various medical tools to the side of the bed. “So what were you doing with Kynan, anyway?”
“Just trying to make amends.”
Eidolon let out a dubious snort, and inside, Lore tensed. He needed his brother to buy his innocence.
“I’m serious.”
“So you’re saying this has nothing to do with Gem.” Eidolon pinched Lore’s flesh near his shoulder blade. “Hold still. This is going to hurt.”
Relieved that Eidolon’s suspicions were misplaced, Lore relaxed. “Yeah, I’m saying—ouch! Fuck!”
“I warned you.”
“You’re an asshole.”
“Do you want me to patch you up, or not?”
“Are you this rude to all your patients? Or just long-lost brothers?”
Eidolon cleared his throat. “Who called who an asshole?”
If the shoe fits… “Whatever. Do I need surgery?”
“Nope. The lacerations are shallow, and nothing was hit that I can’t fix right here.” He picked up an evil-looking instrument off the tray. “A little sting….”
Lore nearly came off the damned table. Little sting, his ass. “Why aren’t you just doing the heal thing with your gift?”
“I used a lot of power on the fallen angel. Had a busy day and I was already nearly tapped before I worked on her. I don’t want to waste too much of what’s left on nonlife-threatening injuries like this. Hold still.”
Lore gnashed his teeth as Eidolon went to work, mending his flesh with a combination of manual tools and, toward the end, a little of his gift, a process that burned and was almost as painful as the initial injuries. When he was done, Lore had to admit—grudgingly—that the guy had done a go
od job, and his efficiency and professionalism had been downright surprising.
He was still an asshole.
“Thanks,” Lore muttered, and Eidolon gave a brief nod before calling in a nurse to clean Lore up.
The nurse lumbered in, and didn’t it just figure that it would be male. And Slogthu, which meant furry and fugly.
Lore waited to do any more probing until the nurse had finished sponging blood off him and left. When he and Eidolon were alone, Lore played casual. “So… how’s Kynan?” With any luck, dead.
A low growl rumbled up from Eidolon’s chest. “I don’t know. Shade and Tay are bringing him in. They should be here any second. What happened with Idess?”
“Idess? That’s the angel’s name?” Pretty. Idess. Eye-dess. Idess, Idess, Idess. He liked the way it rolled off his tongue. “Idess.”
Eidolon looked at Lore as if he was nuts. “Ah, yeah. Idess. What happened?”
“She popped out of thin air and attacked us.”
Eidolon frowned. “Why did she disappear from the mansion with you? Where did she take you?”
The scent of cinnamon sugar came back to Lore, hitch-hiking on the memory of Idess’s tall, slinky body clad in low-riding cammy pants and a matching olive-drab and pink tank top that had revealed a long expanse of toned, flat belly.
“She took me to some bumfuck forest, and I have no idea why she did it,” Lore said, now more confused than ever. He’d figured she was after him, but if what E had said about angels being the only creatures who could hurt Kynan was true, then maybe Lore was merely collateral damage. “I thought I was the target. She said she was going to kill me. That’s why I brought her here instead of finishing her off. I need to know if some ass-wipe put out a hit on me.” Eidolon laughed, which was pretty damned rude. “What’s so fucking funny?”
“You’re an assassin, but you’re indignant about the fact that someone might be trying to assassinate you?”