Redemption: A Realm of Flame and Shadow Novel
Page 3
She’d keeled over—and then Gabe had landed.
Which had stopped Mephisto in his tracks. He didn’t believe in coincidence, but it was hard to imagine a possible connection between the two events. And much as he wanted to hang around and see Gabe’s response when he discovered he was trying to charm not merely a human from Earth, but one who had metaphorically jumped on the Guardians’ hot button, he had shit to sort.
Sometimes, being the Immortals’ undisclosed peacekeeper was a fucking pain in the ass.
Chapter 3
Gabe
I’ve no idea where I am.
Something dark and primeval gnawed the outer edges of his subconscious, like an elusive warning for his blackened soul. But an alcoholic hum vibrated through his mind, dulling the primitive imperative for answers, and with every passing second, the eerie sense of an unknown terror receded.
Did that demon drink knock me out?
The last thing he remembered was being manhandled by a couple of mesmerized women. The chestnut-haired siren beside him, who possessed a smattering of irresistible freckles across her nose, hadn’t been one of them.
She hadn’t been in that human-infested club at all.
He needed to find out what had happened, but his usual ironclad logic drifted just out of reach. There was no rush. Something about this woman intrigued him, and not just because it was the first time in too long that he wanted to get naked, with her.
It was because she’d pushed him away.
Without a glamour, it was the curse of an archangel to bedazzle unsuspecting mortals. His unscheduled side trip had shattered his protective shield, and while this tempting creature appeared shaken, she was far from dazzled.
Her reluctance to melt beneath his archangelic radiance was intoxicating.
“I didn’t hurt you, did I?” His full weight had pinned her to the ground. It was a minor miracle he hadn’t crushed her ribs when he’d smashed into her. At least, he assumed that was how he’d landed on top of her. Why can’t I remember how I got here? Wherever here was. Not that she appeared injured as she sat up and brushed nonexistent grass from her thighs. Her hair tumbled over her shoulders, and copper highlights glinted in the sun.
She was fucking gorgeous.
“No.” She glanced at him, and their gazes locked. She had the prettiest blue eyes he’d ever seen. For an eternity, time stood still as her breathing became uneven and an enticing blush suffused her cheeks. Arousal thrummed in the heated space between them, and the scent of grass and the salty tang of the sea drifted in the warm, early-morning air.
He smiled, aware of the effect it would have on her. Her jagged intake of breath and the way her kissable lips parted, begging for his possession, was everything he expected. He brushed errant strands of her silky hair from her cheek, and primitive need streaked through his blood, straight to his cock.
He leaned closer. It was insane how badly he needed this kiss. Thank fuck no one was around to witness it.
And then she raised her hand between them, her fingers all but grazing his chest, in the universal sign of stop.
She’s telling me to stop?
Incredulity crawled across his lust-soaked brain. Was this some demon-induced hallucination?
“What happened? How did you get here?” Her voice was breathless, as though she were recovering from a dozen mind-shattering orgasms. He blinked, trying to dislodge the graphic image scorching his reason, but it didn’t help.
“I was at a club … and then—” With more reluctance than he’d ever admit, he straightened. “Then I turned up here. What the hell were you doing?”
“I was ascending into trance, in the astral planes.”
This was getting more warped by the second. If this was Mephisto’s idea of a joke … He left the thought hanging, but only because his brain hurt too much to conjure up suitable retribution.
“The astral planes. Right.” It wasn’t his area of expertise, but he wasn’t about to tell her that. Why was he even having this conversation? If sex was off the agenda, he needed to find his bearings and teleport back to civilization. But something, damned if he knew what, compelled him to remain where he was.
“Yes.” Her gaze dropped to his throat, and she gripped her fingers together on her lap.
He narrowed his eyes. Guilt dripped from her, although she was trying hard to hide it. What aren’t you telling me?
“I can sort of remember this crushing feeling of dread. Like the world was ending or collapsing in on me. It’s hard to explain. You didn’t get any of that?” she said.
Echoes of an ancient horror skittered across his skull. Except they weren’t memories he’d buried so many millennia ago. They were fresh. Recent.
The club.
His phantom feathers burned, an acidic, soul-deep anguish, and he gritted his teeth. Not now. Whatever had transported him from the club had nothing to do with the events that had cost him his wings.
And he wasn’t about to discuss any of it with this mortal, no matter how intriguing she was. He’d keep the focus on her. Get her to tell him where he was, without having to ask. Although the effects from the demon drink had dimmed, it had screwed with his internal compass, and he didn’t have a clue where in the universe he’d landed. “That’s never happened to you before while you were in the astral planes?”
“No. The astral planes are tranquil. I can’t understand why this was different.”
A shadow passed over her face, and the same certainty as a moment ago stabbed through him. What’s she hiding?
“Can’t you?” He meant it as an accusation. It sounded like an invitation to sin. What could he accuse her of, anyway? He didn’t care what secrets she kept. She didn’t possess the power to render him unconscious or mess with his mind.
No mortal did.
“I don’t understand how you can be so calm about all of this,” she said.
He mentally scanned the area, but it was half-hearted. Sure, he needed to find out where he was, but there was no sense of danger, and damn if he didn’t still want her.
To hell with it. It had been too long since a woman had roused his interest. A leisurely fuck and then he’d be ready to leave. He gave her a lethal smile, infused with an additional glimmer of archangelic radiance, and her soft sigh drifted like gossamer on the breeze.
She swayed toward him, and her fingertips brushed his biceps. Such a featherlight touch, and yet even through his shirt sleeve his skin burned at the contact.
This was going to be fucking spectacular. He leaned in for the kiss.
And the unmistakable ring of a phone from behind him splintered the moment.
Fuck that. He sent a blast of physic energy, and the phone went silent.
“Was that my phone?” She sounded dazed and blinked a couple of times. He traced his finger along the curve of her cheek, and she gave a delicate shiver.
“You don’t need your phone.”
“Yes, I do. It might be my dad.”
It was the third time she’d refused him. Even demigoddesses, minor deities in their own right despite their diluted immortal blood, found it hard to resist an archangel. He was so staggered by the phenomenon, he reached for her phone without further protest.
As his fingers touched the device, a distorted, ephemeral image of Mephisto burned through his brain. Mephisto was behind this. Had he ever doubted?
No, but the knowledge that this woman was a creature of Meph’s, that willingly or not, she’d agreed to fuck with Gabe’s mind, pissed him off more than it should. I’m only pissed because I still want her.
He tossed her the phone and she caught it one-handed.
This was his cue to leave. For all he knew, Mephisto had rigged up a remote recording and was watching this whole thing unfold. No way was he hanging around as the main entertainment while the other archangel got his rocks off.
She checked her messages and frowned, and for some reason he couldn’t stop himself. “No further orders from Mephisto?”
“Big guy. Arrogant as fuck. Hard to forget.” Even if he concealed his wings with a glamour.
“Should I know him?” She tilted her head, and a thoughtful expression crossed her face. Now they were getting somewhere. Shame it didn’t improve his mood. “Did we all collide on the astral planes, do you think?”
Her obsession with the astral planes grated on his nerves. It had nothing to do with the fact she appeared unmoved their kiss had been interrupted.
“I don’t visit the astral planes.” He hadn’t for years. And he was done playing their games. His navigation system was still out of alignment, but all he needed was a reference point so he could get out of here. “Which planet is this?”
She stared at him as if he’d just spoken in ancient Sumerian. Belatedly it occurred to him she might not have a clue that Mephisto wasn’t indigenous to her home world. Fucking great.
“I’m sorry. Did you say planet?”
“Or the name of the local star system?” He was never touching that fucking drink again.
“I think I should take you to the hospital. Just so they can check you over, make sure you haven’t hit your head or something.”
Why couldn’t she give him a straight answer? It wasn’t that hard. “No.”
“It’s no trouble. Or I could call for an ambulance.” She gripped her phone as though it was a weapon more than a tool of communication. “Why don’t you come back to my house? It’s not far. I’ll make you a cup of tea.”
A cup of tea wasn’t high on his list of priorities at any time, but for some reason he was tempted by her guileless offer. You’re fucking losing it.
It appeared that agreeing to her terms was the only way to get her to talk. If not for Mephisto’s connection to the whole thing, Gabe might have found the incongruity of the situation funny. Seriously losing it. “Okay. But first you tell me where I am.”
There was no mistaking the alarm that flashed over her face, and he had the crazy urge to reassure her that he hadn’t lost his mind. It had been a long time since such a benevolent thought had occurred to him when it came to mortals.
“We’re in Cornwall,” she said in a soothing tone, and offered him a wary smile. “You really have no idea how you got here?”
His navigation system, that was hardwired into his DNA, kicked into gear, and star systems flooded through his mind like a celestial kaleidoscope. But he didn’t need maps of constellations to figure out where he was.
“Earth?” His voice was raw. He should have known from the second she spoke. But the ability to understand any language he encountered was as natural as breathing. He rarely gave it a second thought.
“Uh, yes.”
He barely heard her reluctant response. Blood pounded through his brain as fury seared his reason. For the first time in centuries, a woman had sparked his impassive libido. He’d been tempted.
By a woman from Earth.
Set up by Mephisto.
And Gabe had almost fallen for it.
Once, he’d loved the humans of Earth. But that had died millennia ago, and even the ashes that had remained in his heart had long since dissipated to the outer edges of the universe.
Get out of here now. There was no reason to stay. Except for the destructive need to know if this woman was as innocent as she seemed.
There was only one way to learn the depths of Mephisto’s manipulation, and if he discovered this blue-eyed mortal was knowingly deceiving him, the Archangel Gabriel, he’d make her remaining, fleeting, years of life a living hell.
With minimal effort, as befit her lowly perch on the evolutionary clusterfuck, he scanned the surface of her mind. Looking for answers that weren’t turned into riddles. Looking for signs Mephisto had been playing him.
Psychic fire jabbed into his brain and he recoiled, shock reverberating through him.
She had rebuffed him.
How? Only the most advanced, primarily telepathic races should have been aware of such a mild scan.
Her shielding was delicate, beautiful, and would have taken years to perfect. He’d glimpsed it for less than a nanosecond, but its construct was unique.
“What the hell?” She glared at him, which was almost as intriguing as her impressive mental barriers. “Did you just try and get inside my mind?”
He’d never been confronted by an irate victim before. They were either oblivious or, in cases where he really dug in deep, they were in no state to confront anything by the time he’d finished with them. Who could have taught her such a thing? No one native to Earth, that was for sure. Hell, he couldn’t think of a species with such a sophisticated defense system. He was astounded the under-developed human brain could even master such a thing.
“Well?” Her sharp tone held no trace of the reverence he was used to when dealing with mortals. Nothing about her was what he expected. Even the knowledge that Mephisto’s machinations were behind this encounter failed to deaden his twisted fascination with her.
“Are you a telepath?” It was rare for a human, but not unheard of.
“Is that your idea of an apology?”
Was she for real? No one, unless they harbored a death wish, spoke to him like this. One quelling glower from him and they were a quivering mess at his feet.
Then again, he wasn’t glowering at her, was he?
“I don’t do apologies.” He gave her a mirthless grin, the one that could fell intergalactic gladiators to their knees. She didn’t even twitch. “What’s your name?”
She blinked a couple of times, and for an incredulous second, he thought she wasn’t going to answer him. “Aurora Robinson.”
Silence spun between them. It was obvious she was waiting for him to reciprocate, in which case she could wait forever. He wasn’t in the habit of introducing himself.
She slung him a dark frown and snatched up a silver photo frame from the ground.
“It’s been very strange meeting you.” She stood and brushed grass from her jeans. “If you’re sure you’re okay, then goodbye and good luck.”
With that, she turned her back on him and stalked off.
Chapter 4
Aurora
Do not look back at him.
He was watching her. She knew it. The urge to glance over her shoulder consumed every thought, but she wasn’t about to give him the satisfaction.
He’s telepathic.
She stumbled on a hidden rock embedded in the grass. She’d inherited the gift from her mum and had never met anyone else with that talent.
Not that it was something she’d ever asked anyone. The last thing she’d wanted as a kid was to draw any more unwanted attention to herself. It was hard enough being known as the daughter of the village’s eccentric environmentalists without her classmates accusing her of being a witch and reading their minds. Or an alien. She’d always known of her unique heritage and that she could never share her secret with anyone. And yet she’d always craved to find someone who understood.
Like that would ever happen.
Her obsession with genetics had been the driving force for the last four years while she’d been at Uni studying for her BSc in interdisciplinary physics and biochemistry. The lectures analyzing quantum mechanics had been fascinating but ultimately frustrating, since they offered no concrete answers.
But none of her research, either academic or personal, had concluded telepathy actually existed in humans on this Earth.
Her mum used to love telling her stories about her own home. A world that seemed so similar to this, and yet at some point during their evolution, their DNA had gone in a different direction. People communicated telepathically as easily as they spoke aloud, and her mum found it strange that on Earth nobody ever did.
It was just one of the many
reasons why she’d desperately wanted to find her mother’s people. After all, it wasn’t as though she was attempting to access a purely theoretical world. Half of her DNA originated from that world. Her fingers tightened around the silver photo frame she’d hoped—unscientifically—would be a talisman in her quest today.
Could it really be coincidence that the day she put her years of research into practice, she finally met someone who was telepathic? Shouldn’t she at least ask him about it, instead of backing off because he was so damn hot and out of her league?
That’s not why I left him. Anyone who thought it perfectly acceptable to invade a mind without asking first was a total wanker. She was probably the first person who’d ever called him on it.
Slowly, she turned, and he was still sprawled on the grass, watching her. The sunlight dazzled her, and for an eternal second, she could have sworn he was surrounded by a glowing aura.
Her breath caught in her throat, and she blinked a couple of times to clear her vision. His gaze remained fixed on her, and there was a satisfied smile on his face, as if he’d never doubted she would retrace her steps.
Ego, much? She had the ridiculous urge to turn her back on him again, to prove she wasn’t spellbound by his magical eyes, breathtaking body, or lethal sexual magnetism.
Good plan. That would show him.
She took a couple of steps toward him before she even realized.
Whether he was telepathic or not was a side issue. She still had no idea how he’d suddenly appeared from nowhere. But what was more baffling was the fact he didn’t seem at all fazed by it.
Any of it.
An uneasy shiver snaked along her arms. Maybe her experiment had somehow dragged him here. The question was—from where?
Was that terrifying shaking on the astral planes my fault?
“Did you forget something?” he said, mockery dripping from each word.
She was standing right next to him. When had that happened? His mesmeric eyes ensnared her, and her knees had the alarming urge to wobble. Maybe she’d just sit down beside him and forget about his annoying arrogance. All she really wanted to do was wrap her arms around him and kiss his beautiful mouth.