It didn’t stop the male.
He launched at the demons, targeting the smaller of the two first, and grunted as they collided hard, the sound loud in the still air. He was swift as he blocked every blow the demons aimed at him, each slash of their tails and snap of their fangs, and managed to land a few of his own, clawing at the creatures and leaving long grooves in their black skin.
Einar increased his speed, clinging to Taylor so he wouldn’t drop her, because there was no way Villandry could hold them off for long, let alone defeat them without a weapon.
She drew her short blade and twisted out of his arms the moment they were above the roof, landed on her feet in a crouch and sprinted towards the vampire.
“Villandry,” she hollered as she reached down to her side.
The vampire turned and caught the blade she tossed to him, nodding as he gripped it and spun to face his opponents again.
The demons swiped at him, claws long and slashing, but Villandry dodged or blocked every attempt, and lashed out with the short blade gripped fiercely in his hand. The smaller demon hissed as it made contact and recoiled, beating its shadowy wings to gain some space.
Another blessed blade?
Taylor came up beside the vampire, her sword a bright silver arc in the darkness as she kept the smaller demon on the back foot, forcing him further away from his companion.
Einar drew his own sword, pinned his wings back and dropped hard, landing before the second demon. He pressed his left boot into the tar roof and lunged, swiping his blade up in a fast arc. The demon hissed and leaned backwards, and wind battered Einar as it beat its wings.
When the demon rallied and attacked, Einar kicked backwards, using his wings to propel him and luring the demon with him, leaving Taylor and Villandry to deal with the other.
The warm glow from the skylight chased over the demon, revealing it to him. It was almost human in form, but where a nose should have been there was nothing but two holes flat against its scaly skin. A wide mouth cut across the oval of its face, almost reaching from ear to ear, and a pair of large almond-shaped vivid yellow eyes focused on him with deadly intent.
The demon snarled, exposing pointed teeth that were almost as black as its skin, and lunged at him. Einar dodged its hand talons. Fighting in mid-air was never easy. In fact, he hated it. Battles were best fought on the ground, where he could easily avoid his enemy’s attacks and defeat him.
It was difficult to keep his focus on his opponent as the sound of fighting rang up from below, a masculine grunt mingling with the softer sounds of Taylor as she battled the smaller demon.
He beat his wings to place some more distance between him and his own demon. It studied him as it flew around, prowling the night sky, its huge dragon-like wings beating the chilly air.
It made another sharp lunge, swiping at him with the claws on its feet. Einar avoided the blow and swept left, keeping the distance between them steady as he assessed the demon. It moved with him, keeping the gap between them steady, and then attacked again, twice in a row, little jabs with its hands that carried an air of indifference, as though it was merely testing him.
They were both looking for an opening.
The demon shifted backwards in the sky and its thin pupils darted to the fight happening below them.
Einar beat his wings and shot towards the demon. He brought his sword back, close to his side, and then thrust the blade forwards as he reached the demon. The demon turned in the air, avoiding the attack but not completely. The tip of Einar’s sword caught its left wing, slicing through the black membrane, and the demon cried out.
The screech pierced Einar’s ears and he flinched as they rang.
He attacked again, feinting right and then going left to sweep around behind the demon. He kicked the creature in the back, sending it tumbling forwards in the air, and swept down towards it as it struggled to right itself. The demon evaded the blow he aimed at its back, twisted in the air as it dropped beyond his reach and stretched its talons out and slashed at him.
Einar dodged right with a hard beat of his wings, narrowly missing the demon’s claws. He wasn’t immune to the toxin that demons produced. If it caught him, he would suffer worse than a human. His angel blood saw to that.
The other demon screeched and someone yelled at the same time.
His heart froze in his chest.
His eyes leaped down to the roof below him.
CHAPTER 11
Relief beat through Einar as he saw Taylor was fine. She knelt on the roof, supporting Villandry, fear written on every beautiful line of her face as she tried to rouse the vampire. The demon he had been fighting dived towards them. Einar clutched his sword and swooped, his focus locked on the wretch.
He had to stop it from attacking Taylor.
He had to protect her.
She picked up her sword from the roof beside her, a grim look of determination on her face as she rose onto her feet and stared the demon down.
It grinned.
Einar threw his hand out and three narrow shafts of white light shot towards the demon. It snarled and dodged the first two but the third impaled its right thigh and its snarl became a shriek as it ground to a halt and turned on him.
He didn’t hesitate. He saw his chance and took it.
Raising his hand towards the sky, he used all the strength he could spare to call on Heaven.
A bright beam shot down, capturing two thirds of the demon.
His aim was off.
He moved his hand to one side to shift the beam and incarcerate the rest of the demon to stop it from escaping.
White-hot pain exploded in his side.
Einar swallowed and looked down, staring in disbelief at the three black spikes sticking out of his skin above his right hip.
“Die,” the demon behind him hissed as it twisted its hand and yanked its talons out of Einar’s side.
He threw his head back and bellowed as an inferno spread outwards from his side, swiftly engulfing him and sending his vision wobbling. The white beam flickered, stuttering as his focus shattered. The demon encased in it growled and began to break free, clawing towards the edge of the light.
No.
Einar wouldn’t allow it. He scoured the roof for Taylor, blinking as he fought the effect of the demon toxin as it swiftly entered his blood. Sweat broke out across his brow and his body, and he shivered as the fiery fever raced through him.
He blinked again, widened his eyes and growled as he struggled to regain his focus. Another shiver wracked him and his teeth chattered as he stretched his hand out and put all of his remaining strength into holding the second demon and protecting Taylor.
She wavered in and out of focus as she looked up at him, her dark eyebrows furrowing and blue eyes shimmering with tears as she shook her head. Her lips moved but he couldn’t hear her words. His vision distorted, darkness encroaching at the edges of it.
He had to hold on and finish the demon.
He couldn’t fail her.
She moved, racing towards the beam of light. The demon struggled but didn’t stand a chance. She brought her sword up in a swift arc and cut off its head.
Einar silently thanked her for ending his need to contain the demon and pressed his hand to his side. Blood pumped through his fingers, hot but swiftly chilling as it cascaded down his hip. He swallowed and turned, his head throbbing and dark waves washing over him, and looked for the other demon.
It was gone.
His sword slipped from his hand and fell into the street far below.
Einar tipped back, lost his fight to remain conscious, and followed it.
He didn’t feel the impact, or hear Taylor screaming his name. He felt nothing in the endless black, surrounded by warmth and peace.
He knew nothing.
And then a voice.
It called to him.
He heard it not in his ears but in his heart.
And he responded.
He sucked air into his bruis
ed lungs.
Obeyed that whispered demand not to leave her.
Taylor.
He lurched off the ground.
Only it wasn’t the broken asphalt of the road.
Strong hands pinned his shoulders and he fought the person seeking to restrain him. He had to move. He had to get up and move. Taylor was calling him. She was hurting and afraid. He needed to go to her.
Einar pushed the person away. There was a crash and they cursed in Taylor’s sweet voice.
Before he could move, the hands were back against him. A swirl of voices rang out in the room, incomprehensible, foreign. It was a language that he didn’t understand but one that provoked a response in him.
Strength surged through him and he knocked the person aside, driven by the fury of hearing demonic words uttered in his presence.
Demons.
He would kill them if they had hurt Taylor.
“Keep still, you big oaf!” Taylor’s sweet voice again. “Can’t you give him something to knock him out?”
“I am a little busy trying to stem the bleeding!” The vampire.
Hands pressed on his shoulders again but this time Einar remained still. He focused, bringing his senses back into order, and mentally checked himself over. His side burned as though someone had poured acid in the wound and he was weak, muscles like water beneath his skin as his strength drained from him again.
Demon toxin.
He remembered that now.
He had tried to protect Taylor and the demon had seized the opportunity to kill him.
Only he wasn’t dead.
He opened his eyes but the world remained black. Pain shot through his body when he moved, pulsing in strong waves that made him sick. He swallowed it down and tried to sit up.
“Keep still,” Taylor whispered and stroked his cheek.
Einar collapsed back, willing to do as she had said because he didn’t have the strength to move anyway.
“Dark.” He pushed the word out and swallowed again, this time trying to wet his throat so he could speak.
“Stay there a little longer.” Taylor’s fingers grazed his jaw, her touch soft and tender, soothing the pain inside him. “You can come back soon. You were supposed to stay asleep.”
Was he? What had she done to him? Was this one of her powers, or the vampire’s?
He had been out cold and not because of the fall or the toxin. It had been something else. She had sent him somewhere that had felt like death only devoid of any other souls.
“Heard you,” he muttered and fought to remain conscious when she pressed her hand to his forehead.
“I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to disturb you.” She leaned in, until he could smell her warm fragrance and feel her breath on his face.
Her damp cheek touched his and she stayed there, lingering with it pressed gently against his.
Was she crying for his sake?
He didn’t want to make her cry. He was strong enough to survive demon toxin.
For her.
“Sleep a while. Pleasant dreams, Romeo.” She brushed her lips across his cheek and the darkness swept over him again.
Was that where she had sent him? Deep into some dream world to take him away from reality and the pain?
He tried to hold on, wanted to stay with her, but the pull was too strong and he slipped into the endless black.
It was different this time.
The darkness faded to reveal a beautiful green valley stretched before him, hills rolling down towards a sparkling river and the clumps of trees that lined it. Bright sunlight beat on him from a cerulean sky that stretched on forever into the distance, beyond hazy mountains. He sighed and took it all in, studying the details that had gone into creating such a peaceful place. Sheep roamed the hill down from him and a red kite flew overhead, calling to another across the valley bottom.
Einar wasn’t sure how long he was there. Time lost meaning and he didn’t feel the minutes pass as he watched life happening. He sat on the grass, letting the scenery wash over him, studying every little detail, from the leaves on the trees to the way the river caught the light as it snaked across the valley.
With a long sigh, he lay back and stretched out, the blades of grass tickling his arms and sides as he stared up at the sky.
The red kite flew overhead. Majestic and beautiful. Wings still as it cut through the warm air. Calling again. He stretched his hand up to it, as though he could touch it from so far away, and smiled.
It was so tranquil.
The sun warmed his skin, the sounds of the world drifted around him, and he found himself closing his eyes to savour the feel of this place that Taylor had created for him.
When he opened them again, a grotty white room had replaced the beautiful valley.
“You’re awake.” Taylor leaned over him. Her dark eyebrows furrowed as she brushed her fingers over his brow. “How are you feeling?”
He mentally checked himself over again and his eyebrows lifted when he felt no pain.
“Fine.” Einar frowned and looked down the length of his body.
His dark brown breastplate was gone but the rest of his armour remained. His wings were gone too. They must have disappeared when he had lost consciousness, so he would look human to anyone who found him. He focused to keep them away and stared at his waist. White bandages covered it, stained crimson on his right side.
Taylor lightly touched his stomach and her voice shook. “We can’t heal you like angels can. Villandry removed the poison and stitched the wounds. I bandaged you.”
“And sent me to somewhere else,” he murmured, sure he would never forget the beautiful place she had chosen for him.
She refused to look at him, kept her blue eyes fixed on her hand where it rested on his stomach.
He placed his hand over hers and she stared at them.
She was trembling.
Why?
“Do you hate me?” Tears slipped down onto her cheeks and she closed her eyes.
His heart ached at the sight of them and the feel of her in so much pain.
“Never, Taylor. Why would you think such a thing?” He squeezed her hand so she would look at him.
The ache in his chest worsened when she didn’t do as he wanted. She kept her eyes closed, screwing them shut so tightly that she was frowning, as though she couldn’t bring herself to face him.
As though she couldn’t bring herself to look at him for some reason.
“You know what I am now.” She bit her lip when a sob pushed free.
Einar pulled her to him.
She stumbled and landed heavily on him, knocking his wounds and sending pain sparking along every nerve. He didn’t care.
He wrapped her in his arms and held her head to his bare chest. She cried then, sobbing against him in a way that broke his heart as he stroked her black hair, running his fingers through her long ponytail in an attempt to soothe her. He dropped his hand to her back, rubbed it through her black camisole and just held her, sure that it would give her the comfort she needed.
She suddenly pulled back, her lashes wet with the tears that streaked her cheeks, and looked at him, a myriad of feelings dancing in her eyes as they searched his. Fear broke to the surface, together with pain that beat inside him too, because he knew what had caused her tears, and it was his fault for not telling her sooner.
He lifted his hand and gently cupped her cheek.
“Taylor.” He brushed her tears away with his thumb and she dropped her gaze to his chest. He pressed his fingers under her jaw and tilted her head back so she would look at him, because she needed to see he was telling her the truth. “I have always known.”
Her deep blue eyes widened and she blinked.
“I knew, and maybe it mattered to me at first, but not now. I do not care that it is forbidden, and I was not lying when I told you that I do not think it is wrong.” He stroked her cheek, his eyebrows furrowing as he smoothed her tears away and absorbed the feel of her beneath his finger
s, how soft and warm she was, and how she filled his heart with light. “Nothing that makes me feel this way could ever be wrong.”
Her smile started out shaky but then it curved her lips, she pressed her hands to his pectorals and leaned over him. He closed his eyes as his lips met hers and wrapped her in his arms again, keeping the kiss light.
He wanted to show her that it didn’t matter that she was a demon, not to him.
She was his beautiful Taylor.
And he was falling in love with her.
CHAPTER 12
Taylor helped Einar off the hospital bed in the small basement medical centre, caving and giving in to him. She had tried keeping him in bed, but he was a terrible patient, kept demanding she let him up and saying he had work to do. When that failed, he tried to bribe her with kisses.
Those almost worked.
Scratch that.
They had worked.
Her lips still tingled from their last round of kissing, the earthy spicy taste of him lingering on her tongue. She wanted to kiss him again, but getting fired up wasn’t going to do her or him any favours. He needed to recover from the hell he had gone through.
Hell that still tore at her heart, had her feeling weak at times, her limbs trembling as she recalled watching him plummet from the sky and everything that had happened afterwards.
His tawny wings grew out of his back and unfurled, and he leaned his ass against the edge of the gurney as he stretched them and inspected them, preening them.
She kept hold of his arm, afraid that it was too soon to move him and that he would hurt himself. She had never realised that demon toxin was certain death to angels. When Villandry had told her that, her heart had beat so hard she had felt as though it was going to stop.
It had taken all of her power to give Einar peace and comfort whilst Villandry had done his best to filter his blood and remove the toxin. She was actually glad now that the boss had chosen him as their bait. It had been too late to call the doctor in and the nurse had been useless.
Villandry’s knowledge of how blood worked and how to cleanse it of poison quickly and effectively had been the only thing that had saved Einar.
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