Dream Angel (Angel #1)

by Jane West

  “Aw, Cous! We’re family. Where’s the love?” Sam smiled, nervously.

  “It left when you kidnapped, Stevie! You crossed a line, dear cousin, and now you have to pay!” Bane promised, gravely.

  “I’ve been paying all my life!” Sam’s mad laughter bounced around my brain. He’d fallen into the pool of hysteria. “My wonderful father has made me into the creature I am today, a psychopath." he paused. "And for something that wasn’t my fault, you punish me by taking my life?”

  Bane’s voice, though powerful filled with despair. “Do you think being in this family has been easy for me, for any of us?” he shouted. “Your father has been blackmailing me for a long while now. My beloved cousin, we both have our story to tell.”

  “How about we sit down and break bread, Cous?” I pictured Sam smiling as he extended an olive branch.

  “Nah, I think we’ve said enough. I have to stop you from hurting any more women. It has to end here.”

  “So, it’s just like that? No second chances!” Sam growled. “I remember you made a grave error, and my father took you under his wing. He hid the truth from the Family to save your pathetic ass!” Sam bit out in anger. “I get caught with my pants down over who… some inept girl, and now your hell bent on killing me?”

  “Enough is enough, Sam! You’re damaged goods. No one can control you. If the Order doesn’t take action and stop your madness, you’re going to blow our cover. Your conspicuous behavior has gone beyond reason. You must be dealt with.”

  “Oh, and you, my cousin, an assassin, have never harmed a soul or taken a woman against her will?” Sam argued.

  “For the record, I’ve never forced my affections on any woman, and as for my murders, it was justice!”

  “Of course, you claim justice!” Sam’s mad laughter echoed. “Your blood is tainted, Princes of Darkness.”

  “My cousin, I wish I could say I’m going to miss you, but I’d be lying.”

  “If you kill me, my father will come for you!” Sam threatened, grasping at straws.

  Bane scoffed. “So be it. Let your father come. I am following direct orders from the council. They asked me to handle you. Sorry, Cous.”

  Out from nowhere an explosion erupted that was so blustery, it fueled everything in its wake. From the trees snapping, to the leaves and branches falling like bricks, reigning from the heavens to crashing to the ground, the atmosphere rumbled ferociously.

  I laid helplessly as I feared the outcome. I listened, though I slipped back and forth from unconsciousness. Silence swallowed the field of lilies. I opened my eyes for a second as I spotted a thin wafer of what appeared to be burning, wafting into the dark, hue sky, drifting high above the towering trees until it dissolved.

  My eyes closed as peace engulfed my thoughts. I drifted afloat into nothingness. My lungs opened, no pain, no sadness, fear had gone. Only sleep. Dark sleep.

  ***

  Unaware of my surroundings, I felt warm arms embrace me. I heard a deep throaty voice filled with worry. “Princess, this is my fault.” Bane? “All mine!” did I hear a sob? Nestled against his chest, he confessed. “I should’ve stopped him before it came to this. I’m so sorry.” His heart thundered violently, beating as fast as mine. “I’m going to make you better.” He whispered, shooting chills through me.

  When my eyes fluttered open, I gasped, my mind muffled. I didn’t know if I was dead or alive. I began to wiggle until I heard a gruff voice.

  “Lie still. I’m trying to heal you.” I glimpsed up at Aidan’s face, brows knitted tight, face strained with concentration.

  I gasped, taken aback. “What are you doing?” my eyes filled with fright as I jerked away, confused and terrified.

  “It’s okay! Lie still.”

  I recoiled, remembering Sam’s vicious charade. A minute passed before I could apprehend that the man before me was, in fact, the true Aidan Bane. Finally, I relaxed, trusting him.

  A golden swirl of magick engulfed me, penetrating its warmth down to the bone. My eyes dropped to my arm. Bane’s hands flushed against my skin as a bright light spilled from underneath his touch. Somehow, my body began to ease from the pain and strangely mend.

  “Sam looked identical to you. How is that possible?” My head ached, and my mind fought through the cloud of confusion. Had I’d been dreaming?

  “Shush!” Bane coaxed, faintly smiling with weary lines coating his forehead. “I can’t heal you if you keep fidgeting.”

  I nodded. Astounded that my voice had returned and the burn in my throat dissipated, though parched. Even the back of my head no longer carried a gash, Grand Canyon size. I flopped my head back to the cushion of what felt like cloth, closing my eyes, letting the warmth soak into the pores of my body, knitting all the broken pieces.

  As though Lazarus rose from the dead, life spread through every cell of my body as my senses began to process. The pain had taken absence, but I remained light headed and weak.

  After a few moments, the warmth stopped, and my strength had returned. I heard Bane shuffle, sitting back on his heels. I opened my eyes and saw how drained his face looked. Taken aback, my eyes drew in his taunt features. His lips a light blue and his skin almost gray, “Are you okay?” my breath stalled in my throat.

  “I’m fine.” His breath short like he’d been running the marathon. “Just give me a minute. Healing is quite taxing.” A weak smile appeared on his pale skin.

  “I’m sorry!” I reached out and touched his cheek. “I should’ve listened to you.” Guilt swelled inside me.

  “No need to apologize. How could you have known?” Though his smile was faint, the color in his face was returning, and his breathing eased. I gave a sigh of relief.

  “Where are we?” I mumbled. My eyes raked over the forest. “We’re back with the fireflies, the altered reality. Just a moment ago there was a field of lilies and dead people, skull-bones everywhere.”

  “The field was an illusion, Sam created. It’s not real like dimensions.”

  I glimpsed around at my surroundings. I was laying on the same picnic blanket and the basket and wine bottles still in tack. “Did you change the scenery or did we pop here?”

  Bane stifled a laugh. “You watch too much Bewitched.” He grinned. “I don’t recall ever popping anywhere. I fade. It is similar to time travel. Creatures like us have the gift.”

  “I get it. Fading in and out of different dimensions.” I burrowed my brows, baffled. “How did Sam fade?”

  “Sam is fey. Part fey and part human. Similar to you.” Bane grimaced. “Sam isn’t capable of creating dimensions. His father clipped his wings for a better term.”

  “How can Sam be your cousin and Van your uncle since you are centuries older?”

  “If we give each other titles, it makes us appear less conspicuous to outsiders.” Bane smiled.

  “Are you blood kin to them?"

  “No. They are part of the thirteen bloodlines. I am the last of mine.”

  “What did Sam mean by Van taking you under his wing?”

  “Because I appear young, I must get the appearance as such to outsiders. Van acted as a guardian over me. It was only in pretense. Nothing more.”

  “He was blackmailing you. There has to be more to the story.” I pushed.

  “My love," Bane paused. "Will you allow me to handle Van?"

  I gazed into his tender blues, and I decided to let it go for now. “Okay.” I bit my bottom lip. “Can I ask you something else?”

  Bane blew out an exhausting sigh. "Go ahead. Something tells me you’ll ask even under protest.”

  “Sam came with Jen to Ms. Noel’s house and claimed he and Jen were guardians. I believed him.”

  “Sam most likely alluded both your neighbor and Jen. Fey are known for such trickery. It was an enchantment.”

  “So the lilies and bones are make-believe too?”

  “Yes, it came from his heart. That’s why it reeked. Sam’s heart was foul. The Family had no founded evidence until re
cently, but we discovered that Sam is a serial rapist and murder.” Bane paused. “I'd suspected his criminal behavior for some time, and that's why I didn't want you around him.”

  I rose to my elbows. “With a father like Van Dunn, I understand why Sam was so damaged.”

  Bane’s face tensed with sorrow. “Not everyone turns evil over a bad parent. Take you for example.”

  I laughed. “I'm not perfect. I lie sometimes.” I bit my bottom lip.

  “Yes, I know, and you have an annoying, stubborn streak.” He smiled.

  I smiled. “With Sam, wasn't it different?”

  “It was more than nurturing. His fey nature overrode his human side. He was void, no conscious. Fey are unpredictable, none are good.” Bane sighed. “Sam really couldn’t help himself, though his death was righteous.” He looked away, breaking our eye contact. His jaw worked for a brief moment as he cut his eyes back to me. “We need to get you out of here. I don’t want anyone to find us.”

  “Okay.” I forced a faint smile. I could see that Bane wasn’t happy about taking Sam’s life. It weighed heavily on him. “Aidan, you did the right thing, taking Sam’s life.”

  His jaw twitched. “Sometimes doing the right thing isn’t the easiest.”

  “I know.” Quiet settled between us for a few seconds. “Which brings me to something that’s been weighing heavily on my mind.”

  “Which is?” A glimmer deepened his blues.

  “Don’t get mad.” I sighed. “I watched the secret meeting in the dungeon. I saw that blood beast step from the fire.” I caught his gaze and held it to mine. “I heard everything.”

  Bane’s blues darkened. His face unreadable. “Go on.”

  I licked my lips. “If we infuse our powers together, your uncle’s attempt on my life would be futile. You’d be appeasing the beast and the councilmen and we’d both be safe.”

  For a long minute, Bane stared at me blankly. I reckoned he was mulling the idea around in his head, and then he blurted it out. “Do you know what the spell entails?”

  I swallowed hard, fighting off my uneasiness. “Not entirely, but I do know it involves losing my virginity.” I shrugged, heat from my cheek deepened.

  “That’s only a mere part of it, Princess.” He searched into my eyes “If we do this spell, it will bind us together, forever. One cannot live without the other. No man or creature can separate us. Neither you nor I have the power to sever our ties.” He held his gaze to me. “Are you ready to take that plunge? There’s no going back.”

  “Will it protect us, both?” my breath stalled.

  “Yes. However are you a willing participant?”

  “Are you?” I answered with a question. No argument, I wanted to be with Bane. I just wasn’t sure he wanted the same with me. Then I thought of the other woman. “I mean, I know you have an interest in someone else. I saw you with her tonight. I don’t expect you to hang around afterward.”

  “What are you talking about, Stevie?” His brows arched.

  “I saw you dancing with a pretty blonde. Well, actually, the girl was beautiful.”

  Bane threw his head back and burst into laughter.

  I sat there as steam rolled off my shoulders. I didn’t see the humor.”

  “Silly, of course, I love her with all my heart!” his blues danced.

  A sudden stab to the heart hurt worse than anything Sam or the MIB had done to me. “Oh, I see,” I spoke, looking away.

  Bane took my chin into his fingers and forced me to look at him. “The blonde is my sister, Helen.” He smiled.

  My brows shot up. “She’s your sister?”

  “Yes,” he stared into my eyes. “I’m with you. Only you.” his whisper was soft as silk.

  “Then what are we waiting on? Let’s do this spell.”

  He drew in a sharp breath, fingers raking his coal black curls. “We have to do it tonight at the stroke of midnight for the spell to work.” He grasped my shoulders, forcing me to look directly into his face. “We won’t be using protection. It has to be completely uninhibited for the spell to work.”

  His blues were so piercing that my breath caught. This was one of my biggest decision I’d ever make in my life. It was larger than life itself and grander than Bane, and I ever imagined. Even still, I wanted to do this for so many reasons. “I understand the consequences, and I don't care. I want to do this.” I held my gaze even to his.

  A faintly eager glint flashed in his eyes. “Okay, we have work to do. We need to go.”

  All at once, Bane cuffed hand over his mouth to stifle a grin. “Hmm, as much as I love the view, Princess, I think you might want to cover yourself.” He smiled down at me.

  My gaze rolled down the length of my body, and my cheeks flushed. “Oh, geez! I forgot.” I hid my eyes under my lashes.

  “I certainly didn’t.” He flashed his sardonic smile that if it could’ve been bottled and sold, he’d make a killing.

  Without another word, very gentlemanly, he shrugged off his white, shirt and draped it over my naked body. Gathering me into his arm, he lifted me to his feet, and we faded into the bliss of another dimension.

  We twirled fiercely for only a minute, spinning and spinning, feeling sucked through a vacuum and coming to an abrupt halt. Our feet landed on solid ground, steadied inside an unfamiliar house.

  “Are you all right?” Bane held me on my feet, his face taunted with concern.

  I grasped my forehead. We’d stilled, but my head continued spinning. “How do you get use to that? It’s like motion sickness on warp speed.”

  Laughter burst from Bane, a rich, smooth laugh that I loved hearing. “My love, I forget you are new to my world.” He bent his head to mine. There’s a shower in the back. Go clean up and I’ll be right back with food.”

  “Wait! You’re leaving me?” fear needled my neck.

  “I have to get you something to eat.” Bane kissed my forehead.

  “Can’t you conjure it up with Druid magick?” I felt a panic attack brewing.

  “What we ate and drank at the fireflies’ nest wasn’t real substance. That’s why the alcohol didn’t have an effect on you.” He kissed my left cheek. “You need actual food in your stomach. I wouldn’t want you to go in shock.” He gathered me into his arms and hugged me tight against his bare chest. The feel against his shirtless chest and my bare breast sent a delightful wave down to my core.

  “Where are we?” I tilted my head back catching his gaze.

  “We are in a very special place. A place that only I know. We are miles away from any creature, man or beast.” He smiled.

  I shook my head and smiled back. “Aidan Bane Du Pont, you are full of mystery.”

  “That I am.”

  “Hmm, while your out will you check on Ms. Noel and Jen. I won’t relax until I know they’re safe.”

  “Consider it done.” His smiled. “Now go get a shower!” He playfully slapped my rump.

  Magick’s in the Air

  Magick sizzled in the air.

  I stood in the mirror trying to brush the tangles. After several futile attempts, I gave up and settled for bed hair. There were more important things than my wild hair.

  A wave of apprehension swept through me. I knew that after tonight, mine and Bane’s life wouldn't be the same. So much was in the balance, our lives, our futures. If Bane and I didn’t follow through with the right timing and the right spell, we'd still be vulnerable to Van. Our lives were at stake.

  On the plus side, if we infused our powers together, Van couldn't touch us. That was the theory anyway. It sounded strange saying that. But how could I deny it as well? I didn't see any other way out. If I go through with this, Bane and I would be safe.

  Another big question did I want to lose my virginity to this man? Yet it was more than just losing my virtue. Chills covered my body. To be honest, setting aside the peril we were facing, I'd still give myself to him. I loved Bane. For the first time in my life, I was utterly in love. I sighed staring at myself i
n the mirror draped in a towel.

  I needed to get my butt out there. I had no idea of the hour, and time was everything. Literally. With three brave inhales, I stepped out into the main room, shivering.

  In the corner of the cottage, the fireplace caught my eye. I watched as the flames lurched into the chute and licked in and out of the wood, crackling. Then my eyes landed on a bed, white linen, the cover turned down. Oh, my! My breath caught.

  My eyes shifted to Bane and chills rushed over me. His body rippled with muscles. Not huge like a body builder, but like a baseball player’s, lean and taut. My eyes slowly trailed down his abs, eyeing a thin line of hair passed the band of his pants, spiking my curiosity.

  Unaware, I was startled by a throat clearing, “Pardon me.” He smiled. “Come eat!” he nodded to a tray on the bed. “Oh, your friends are well. Safe in their homes.”

  I smiled back. “Thank you.” I turned toward the bed, eyeing the tray. Food was the last thing on my mind as my cheeks blazed.

  “Make sure you drink the wine. It’s loaded with sugar and it will ease your worries.” There was a hint behind his words as he tossed a towel over his shoulder, heading for the bathroom.

  “Okay.” I sat on the edge of the bed, staring down at the tray. The only thing that interested me was the dark liquid. Eating didn't appeal to me. My stomach churned with uneasiness.

  I managed to down the full glass of wine but as for the food, I mostly pushed it around on my plate. I never cared for eggs.

  I glanced over by the fireplace and noticed on the floor a white circle against the dark wood. Inside the circle, a five-point star, also white. Two points erected at the top and one at the bottom. White candles burned at each point. I slid off the bed and padded over to investigate.

  “What the hell?” I walked around the perimeter of the circle, careful not to smear it.

  At that instant, I flinched. Bane had come up behind me and goosed me. I turned to face him as our eyes collided. A smile played upon my face as I drank in the delicious view.