“Holy Mary will you stop it, you great muppets,” Rebel said softly. At last, he raised his head. His eyes were red-rimmed; the kohl had smudged. “You’re treating me like I’m the lion about to eat off your idiot heads. We’re all prisoners, and after how I was treated in Angel World: Addict, Imperfect, Marked…” I pinked. “I understand between bad choices and worse. You both…tried. Now we have to get ourselves out of this trident bollocks. Human hunters are vigilante gits.”
Rebel was courageous even in how he chose to forgive. Hell, I loved him.
Ash swung himself up with a grin. He gripped Rebel’s shoulders, before kissing him loudly on the cheek.
Rebel flailed his arms, rubbing at his face. “I’ll boot your Fallen arse, Brigadier.”
“How about a pole dance first, retro angel?” Ash ducked Rebel’s clout. “Although…” Ash raised his eyebrow at me.
“If the next words out of your mouth have Violet in them, I’ll be the lion ripping off your head,” I snarled.
Both familiars balefully glared at Ash on my behalf.
Ash slid up and down the pole with a smirk. “I’m the sexy dancer who’s trained, Violet.”
When he twisted sinuous and sinful up the pole, I held my breath, as suddenly I was too hot and panting.
No time for the happy tingles, Feathery-dark, even if that vampire could ride my pole any day.
Give me a moment, J, I’m concentrating.
The hot Seducer is distracting you. Because this test? It’s not just about flaying your humanity. It’s about the Seducer’s for the gods ass.
I hated it when J was right.
‘It’s a trick,’ I blurted. Ash stilled, upside down on the pole, before slowly sliding down and facing me. “What did you mean?”
Ash sighed. “Lucifer was tricking you. The hunters who play at Supernatural are vicious gang members, but it’s all a game. No human hunter has ever caught a Fallen.”
The familiars whined, as I pushed them to the floor. I paced, whilst they wound around my ankles. “Why set an impossible test?”
“It’s more like a no-win, Kobayashi Maru type situation. This is about sacrifice. Allow one of us to be caught by the humans. Then you’ll have a Fallen to be rescued.”
I wrinkled my nose. “The cold bastard.”
Ash shrugged. “Lucifer is hot, in all senses. The question is, whether we can hack the situation beforehand. Stop it being no-win.”
Rebel looked away, hunching his shoulders. “Who’s the sacrifice?”
I studied him — my Blood Lover — his blood still sweet as it tangled with my own.
Look at me.
The thought blasted through our Blood Bond, even though I didn’t know that I had the new power.
Rebel’s head shot round. His eyes widened as they met mine.
He’d obeyed.
I thrilled at the connection. With the Mark, I could force emotions but now I could also force thoughts.
Yet a wave of despair washed over me from Rebel, and suddenly I was aware of the darkening horror in his gaze.
If he’d become my Blood Lover willingly, would he have been free? Equal?
I drew back within myself, sensing the moment our connection snapped. Rebel staggered, and his hand pressed to his forehead as if it ached. It was forced submission like the Mark, and I craved the true kind.
I touched the tender skin on the back of my neck.
…Screaming…held down in the skeleton chair as the bone needle tattooed the feather-shaped blood ward to protect me and all those who were mine from the angels’ sight.
The Devil’s Mark.
Ash took a brisk step forward, back to army mode. “Volunteer Brigadier at your command.”
My pulse quickened, as my breath became ragged. “Hold up, soldier, who says that running into the fire — twice — will make everything—”
“I won’t ever be clean, you mean?” Ash caught me by the arm, crushing me against the window’s shattered glass. His lips grazed against mine. “Reminder not necessary. Anyone here with gray wings flap them.” His wings beat; their breath spectered across my cheeks. “Only me then? We plan, sacrifice, and rescue. Just don’t forget the rescue.”
I forced myself to nod. “I can’t wait to see what type of bastard becomes a human hunter. Although, don’t you think that makes it sound like they should be hanging up human pelts? But I won’t let these thug Batmans hurt you.”
“They’ll hurt me.” Ash’s smile was tight. “You only need the wankers not to have worked out how to kill me.”
I frowned. “How do you know…?”
“They’ll want to experiment. I’ll be the rat.” Ash sauntered to his sisters, pulling them closer to kiss their heads.
Rebel assessed him for a moment. “We can’t balls this up. So, what aren’t you telling us, Brigadier?”
Ash stiffened, before slinking to Rebel. He trailed his hand down his chest. “Bet: Violet, for your account of blood, I bet…my kiss rates higher out of ten right now than Leprechaun Angel’s.”
“Cop on!” Rebel growled, although his shoulders slumped. “She wouldn’t even want to kiss a filthy thing like you.”
Ash flinched, but his gaze never left mine.
Why the hell did he want to bet? Didn’t he still trust me?
My lips thinned. “I’m not in the gambling mood, Addict-5000.”
“Do you think I am?” Ash burst out, before striding to the carriage door and swinging it open. The rumble of a train approaching vibrated through the dusty air. “Then I’ll have to fight in the Cage before we leave.”
My eyes widened. “No way in Psychoville.”
The windows rattled; the carriage lurched. My head pounded.
“There’s something worse than being a Shadow, Seducer, or a Blood.” Ash’s eyes sparked fallen stars, as he stalked towards me. I fell back on the chair. “The Bones.” I shivered at the tremble in his voice. “Anything you’ve ever feared: the dark, pain, starvation, or loneliness… That’s what it means. Being trapped. You’re the future Queen of Chaos, the Champion, and the king’s daughter: you think this is losing your freedom?”
I huddled, drawing up my knees. I turned away my head, but Ash grabbed my chin, forcing me to look at him.
Sobs caught in my throat. “I didn’t know—”
“What about those you beat? Who couldn’t earn enough blood? Or didn’t pass the tests? They’re the ones who suffer in the Bones. Like…Anarchy’s little brother, Key.” I gasped, squirming to escape Ash’s intent gaze, but he didn’t let go. Anarchy was a Fallen who’d been captured by the Pure: fanatical vampires. He was also Ash’s best mate and a decent kid who’d helped me. And who I’d failed to rescue. The thought of his brother suffering here in the Under World shanked me. “Everything that I earn goes to Key. Towards buying his freedom. If I hadn’t betrayed you, then I wouldn’t have been able to…”
This time, it was Ash who looked away. At last, I understood why he’d handed me over to the vampires. Rebel had said that there were only bad choices and worse. How could I begrudge Ash trying to save his best mate’s kid brother from the horror of the Bones?
I brushed Ash’s cheek, and he reluctantly raised his gaze. “My blood is your blood. And we’ll bastard save the Bones, all of them, the same as I’ll save you.”
“Pinkie promise?” Ash grinned.
“Geek,” I sniggered.
Except, my mouth was dry at the thought: I’d have to gift-wrap Ash for brutal human hunters, when I was myself just another monster that they’d love to bag for their collection.
To win the test, Ash and I would have to become the hunted.
A satin blue top, which rode up Ash’s hips over jeans that were tight enough not to leave anything to the imagination, was trapped beneath a black military jacket: a slutty toy soldier.
Ash completed the impression by lounging against the brick wall with one arm slung behind his head and the other smartly behind his back.
I crouch
ed at the end of the alley behind the burger bar on the Utopia Estate in the shadow of the tower blocks that had dominated my human life, in the cover of the stinking bins.
My fists clenched on my knees, which were dampened by the fat summer drizzle, as I watched Ash: Our bait.
I choked on the greasy clouds from the burger bar, which warred with spicy ones from the kebab shop opposite. My eyes watered. Grime music pounded across the evening estate.
To hell with adding hunters into the mix: hanging around alleys at night in Hackney, you were either shanked or the bastard with the shank. And Lucifer had made one rule before he’d allowed Trick to lead Ash and me — blindfolded — from the Under World.
This was a game played without fangs. If Ash was a sacrifice, he was a lamb, not a wolf.
Although, I’d always reckoned him more of a panther.
Mischief had come up with the hack to put us one ahead of the no-win game. He’d airily waved a hand and informed us that humans’ technology was little different to magic. Then he’d burrowed a tracker under the skin of Ash’s neck. As he hadn’t warned him, Ash had howled, before shoving Mischief away and swinging for him.
Mischief, however, had blocked Ash’s hook, holding up an earpiece instead. “Since I’ve been dragged into this travesty, I find myself intrigued as to what the beast…” Ash had snarled and this time had managed to split Mischief’s lip. “…What the princess will pay for the pretty three-pronged bauble.”
“Ash,” I whispered into the earpiece, suddenly frozen with the need to hear him because something wasn’t right.
Ash’s gaze flicked to the bins, before his voice murmured through the earpiece, “I’m not the stealthiest, but I thought the point of this undercover was…I was undercover?”
“It can wait. Why’d you pick this alley?”
Ash tensed. He wasn’t as practiced a liar as Rebel. His top rippled snake-like, as he shrugged.
Then realization hit me…and I wanted to hurl. “This is where you seduce them. Trap the humans, before you take them back to your flat…and the same bed as you slept in with me…”
“No.” Ash straightened, before closing his eyes. “Yes. Not always…? It’s my job, Violet, my punishment. It’s not like I… And I don’t sleep with them, not most of them, I just introduce them to this world. They’re not forced, they choose—”
“The Fang idea of choice is as messed up as the angels’.”
Ash opened his eyes, crossing his arms. “I don’t make the rules.”
“But you’re legendary at following them, aren’t you, soldier?”
“Not recently, Violet, not since I met you.”
I shuddered, taking a deep breath. I didn’t want to know the answer to my next question, yet I also needed to know the truth. “My sister…?”
Ash broke position, reaching out to me as he strode towards the end of the alley. “I never touched your sister. I didn’t even know that she was in the Blood Lovers. On my anime collectible collection, I swear: I didn’t seduce her.”
I dived out from behind the bins, ramming Ash against the wall, and he let me. My fingers bunched in his shirt; I hated that I leaned into his aromatic fragrance. “On your Lara Croft poster: how did you know that the hunters would even come sniffing down this alley?”
Ash squirmed, booting against the wall. “Because they always do. It’s part of the Paranormal Slayers’ patrol.”
The sneaky bastard.
I said that this was about that sweet slice of ass.
I’ll buy you an I told You So t-shirt in sequins.
I shook Ash. “You know them? These wannabe slayers have hunted you before?”
“Look at me.” Ash shoved me away at last, wiping his hand down his slut soldier outfit in disgust. “The Para Gang heard the whispers about the whore vampire on the Estate. I’m the only Fallen out amongst the humans long enough to be targeted and I’m meant to be making soft and cuddly with the natives, rather than ripping out their throats. So, what do I say to them? Please stop spitting on me, kicking my head in, and trying to out me…?”
My stare was hard. “They’ve been beating on you for years? I never thought—”
“What?” Ash’s voice was deceptively calm. “I was weak like your angel?” His glower was as hard as mine; I shrank back. “I obey orders. This was part of my punishment. The hunters wanted proof, and I was strong enough never to give them the satisfaction. Except, tonight I will, for you.” He gave a sad smile. “Hasn’t everything been for you?”
I slammed my fist against the wall; drizzle streaked down my cheeks, warm and suffocating. “I didn’t ask you to…”
“Love you?” Ash wound his arm around my waist, pulling me close. He ran his fangs up my neck, pressing kisses in their wake; I trembled. “It’s not something that you ask. You just have to accept it, gorgeous, and don’t…forget.”
Then he pushed me away, and I stumbled, tripping into the pile of black bins.
What the hell…?
Three large blokes in hoodies with orange stripes on their sleeves, hollered and dashed towards Ash down the alley: Humans. But Ash shrank back like they were an orc horde.
I was going to kill those bastards for making Ash look like that.
“Where have you been, pansy boy?” The tallest Para Number One jeered, grabbing Ash by the scruff of the neck, before kneeing him in the balls.
I sprawled in the shadows, whilst tears pricked my eyes, and waited. The moment that the Paranormal Slayers hauled Ash to their hunter hideout, I’d kick their arses. I just had to push down on the violet that swirled in furious eddies.
“You’re going to get dashed, Edward.” Para Number Two, channeling the Twilight prejudice, jumped up and down on his toes like a boxer. Then he clutched Ash, hurling him into the center of his circling mates.
I’d wanted to see human hunters.
Now I bastard had.
They had no righteousness, only a sadistic joy in the vampire’s suffering. Why had I expected humans to be different? They were protecting their own from the Big Bads in the shadows.
Would I’ve been any different, before I’d known the truth of my monster inside, when this had been my yard?
Smack, thump, whack.
I flinched at each clout to the face and each boot to the ribs and kidneys. When they took turns stamping on Ash’s face, violet burst in a spray from my fingertips, lighting up the gloomy alleyway, but the gang were too busy curb stamping the vampire to notice the monster behind them.
Breathing hard, I forced myself not to drag them off Ash. He had to be caught, fangs out, before he could be rescued.
“Oh, my days, did you see that, bro?” The scrawny runt of the pack, Para Number Three, leapt back before leaning closer again and pushing Ash onto his back.
Ash sprawled as if unconscious, but I knew better: The Brigadier was making his play. Fangs glistened in his bloodied mouth.
The gang fist pumped in jubilation at breaking and catching the monster. Only then did I notice the backpacks that they dropped with disturbing clunks next to Ash’s head.
And when they opened them…?
An Aladdin’s treasure trove of machetes, Zombie Slayer shanks, shooters, bottles of acid and bleach, garlic and crosses spilled out. These bastards didn’t know what they were playing with. Except, they weren’t playing.
Ash had known.
As soon as I saved him, I’d stomp on his anime collectibles to show him what I thought of that.
Para Number One snatched out a bottle of bleach, holding it over Ash’s eyes, laughing.
And what made my chest tighten? Ash didn’t even try to pull away, even though his jaw clenched, and he swallowed.
“Don’t want you seeing where we live,” Para Number One mocked. “It’s time to take you to your cage.”
To hell with waiting until they had Ash at their lair.
I burst out of the bins, like vengeance, fire, and death…with violet blazing on my fingertips. “Get away from him
.”
My wings spread, flaming. The tips pulsed obsidian.
I’d expected awe, unmanly squeals, maybe even puddles of piss, if I’d been lucky.
What I hadn’t expected…?
“Another monster stepping-up!” What was this, paranormal investigations Hackney style? “Roast the bitch.”
Hose, nozzle, and fuel tank… They bastard hadn’t…?
My pulse pounded; I backed up a step.
Para Number Two grinned. He hefted the DIY flamethrower onto his hip. “Burn, freak.”
Then he sparked the flamethrower, and the fire roared.
13
My singed wings trembled under the assault of silver sparks; popcorn sweetness crackled along each feather. I panted, curled up on the freezing concrete floor of Mischief’s cell, which was a scarlet bomb proof bunker from World War Two.
I was still battling a war, but this time the enemy were in my own yard. The humans from the Estate, which I’d saved from vampires at Christmas, had taken my vampire, whilst turning their fire on me.
Welcome to the Bone Carnival, bitches, the beast is about to break out of her cage.
Tune down the Revenge-O-Meter. Lucifer wants your humanity stripped to the bones. Why let your own fire do the stripping?
Do these hunters even count as humans?
Assholes may have their whole own evolutionary branch of the shady tree.
So, why are you turning Miss Judgey Girl on the rest of the species because the hunters fought dirty…like you once did?
They tried to flame me, J, and they kidnapped my fam.
Of course they did, Feathers-mine, because that was your play: Sacrifice the Geek Fang before rescuing his ass.
Did you think that any test your two horns of crazy daddy set would be a waltz in the sunshine?
When I twisted, slapping Mischief’s hands away from my wings, he tumbled backwards from his crouch over me onto his arse. His eyes were blown wide; he panted as loudly as me. I gripped his hands, dragging him closer again.
The bomb shelter was crammed floor to ceiling with gadgets: An Apple iMac had been split open like Mischief had been puzzling out its magic, and a spider drone lay next to Hermione’s Hogwarts wand.
Rebel Angels: The Complete Series Page 63
