When he woke up, he saw Allison’s smiling face bending over him.
“Good morning, Angel,” he whispered, his voice filled with desire.
“Your eyes aren’t even open yet and you’re already chatting up the girls,” she laughed. “Let’s go, sleepyhead! Flint’s waiting for us.”
She was already dressed in a tank top and high-cut shorts that showed off her long legs. She handed him a larger pair of shorts and a T-shirt. Both were black.
“Flint gave me these clothes for you. He didn’t think you’d want to put your suit back on.”
The new clothes brought Jeremy completely awake.
“Flint made us clothes?” he frowned. “How long have you been awake, anyway? Why didn’t you wake me up?”
Allison’s face clouded.
“I’m not really sure. I got up because I wanted to take another look at my bedroom and see if I could get a clearer picture of what happened last night with the killer. The evening dress that Flint made for me was still there, so I put it on, but it wasn’t very practical. Then Flint came in. He transformed the dress right on my body, and then used a cushion to make your shorts and T-shirt.”
A pensive look came over her face.
“I can’t wait until I can finally use these powers on my own, because it’s kind of annoying to have to depend on other people. Anyway, then Flint and I talked while he was preparing breakfast. I kind of lost track of time. Then Lili came. She said she was going to come and wake you up, but I told her I would do it, and here I am.”
She didn’t mention that she had quickly volunteered to come get him because she knew exactly how Lili would have woken him up, and she had decided (strangely enough, since she had pushed him away last night) that Jeremy was all hers. End of story.
But Allison didn’t want to think about her feelings for Jeremy just then. With all the disarray she couldn’t help but feel every time Flint gave her one of his smoldering looks, and the passion she could clearly see burning in Jeremy’s eyes, Allison probably should have been flattered. So why did she feel so miserable then? Well, the fact that she’d been murdered just a day earlier might have something to do with it. She banished all these thoughts from her mind. For the time being, she and Jeremy had to survive. They would have time to figure out who was in love with who later … if ever.
Allison set the clothes on the bed while Jeremy mulled over what she’d told him. He didn’t like it at all when she said she’d “lost track of time.” Had Flint clouded Allison’s mind again? Jeremy didn’t share his suspicions with her. He climbed out of bed, forgetting once again that he was naked, and a mortified Allison quickly scampered out of the room. He rolled his eyes. She was going to have to drop her Miss Manners routine at some point. Millions of Angels went about their business without any clothes on in the afterlife. And even more than that, he was hoping she would let him give her a kiss.
Then, just as he was about to pull the perfectly tailored black T-shirt over his head, he froze.
A golden light was gleaming on his body. For a second, he thought it must be a reflection from something in the room, but it wasn’t. It was coming from his body. From his navel, actually.
It was shining like a gold nugget.
Jeremy swallowed with difficulty, terrified by this new discovery. What now? Was he going to turn into a golden statue? He touched the spot, but it felt the same as always, soft and warm. He breathed in and out tentatively. No, the spot didn’t grow; nothing happened. Good. Actually … not so good, but he decided to keep this strange new development to himself. He still had the impression that Flint wanted something from him, and seeing the way the old Angel had been acting around Allison, it certainly wasn’t to seduce him. Until he could figure out exactly what it was Flint wanted from him—or from them—he couldn’t completely trust him.
He finished dressing with a heavy heart. When he walked into the luxurious dining room, he was almost knocked flat by Lili’s radiant beauty. It was a bit hard for a guy to take before he even had his morning coffee. The Angel’s beautiful breasts were enough to make him forget all about his belly button. But it was more than just her perfectly sculpted body, or her dazzling face with those pouting lips that would damn a saint. It was her overpowering personality. Just like with Flint, the charisma she emanated grabbed him by the throat and made it difficult for him to think straight. And yet, after the night he’d spent with Allison, he thought he’d been cured.
Not at all.
He said good morning and sat down, feeling a bit wobbly. To contemplate Lili was like drinking in beauty directly from its source. Her perfection was like the Mist: It was as if it could nourish you, fill you up inside. Allison saw the dreamy look in his eyes and elbowed him in the ribs. He snapped out of his trance and looked over at Allison, but there wasn’t the slightest hint of reproach in her eyes. Only complete understanding.
Flint had put together something that looked an awful lot like croissants for breakfast, but this time there was nothing for them to drink. Jeremy tried one and let the Mist melt in his mouth. First came the feelings of ecstasy and joy, and then the explosion of tastes. Yes, it tasted like a croissant, but with the tastiest, creamiest butter ever, accompanied by the most perfect honey, and a slight taste of coffee that was so delicious it made him shiver. He wondered how Flint had managed to make such a mixture. Had he been collecting Mist from a baker?
When the first feelings of ecstasy passed, he started eating hungrily along with Allison. The two old Angels had already talked about yesterday’s attack, but refused to say another word about it to Allison and Jeremy until they had finished their breakfast.
Once she had eaten her fill, Lili spoke first.
“What happened last night was quite out of the ordinary,” she said, laughing softly when she saw the ironic smiles on the two young Angels’ faces. “Or should I say, even more out of the ordinary than what usually happens in our world. This red Angel would appear to be on a personal vendetta, and is so obsessed with killing you that he would even dare to enter the home of an Ancient to find you—something that is absolutely forbidden here. We are therefore going to track down your little red friend and make him regret his impudence,” she said, before adding softly: “Bitterly regret it.”
Her smile became hard and cruel, and the two young Angels swallowed hard in unison.
“That won’t be necessary,” Jeremy said, looking over at Allison. “We’re going to disappear.”
Lili and Flint froze. It was incredible to behold, as if they had stopped breathing, stopped existing even, and had turned into marble statues. Their charisma was gone. Was this the way the Ancients reacted when they were surprised?
Flint quickly came to his senses, and Lili set her hand down on the table. Jeremy was almost surprised that the two of them hadn’t started crumbling.
“Disappear?”
“Yes. Your hospitality has been fantastic, but the killer knows where you live, and I don’t want to put you in any more danger. If Allison and I disappear in the crowd, or even if we go live in another city, he’ll never be able to find us. There must be thousands of places where we can live in peace. When I was alive, I had been so busy trying to be a financial wizard that I didn’t get to travel much, but I would really like to see the world now that I don’t actually inhabit it anymore.”
Although it was only a pretext to get away from Flint and Lili, Jeremy really did want to lay low for a while. And make some progress in his relationship with Allison. He had never found love when he’d been alive, and he’d be damned if he was going to let it slip away from him here in the afterlife. He had never felt what he did for Allison. He wanted to make her happy, protect her, and make love to her for all eternity, in some private place for just the two of them. He realized that he was becoming just as obsessed with Allison as he had been by his quest for power when he’d been alive, but he didn’t care. And for that matter, conquering love seemed to be just as noble a pursuit as trying to earn tons of
money. There was only one problem with his plan: He had forgotten to tell Allison about it before announcing it to Flint and Lili. Not too bright of him.
The Allison in question was now crossing her arms, and looked a tad upset. Who did Jeremy think he was, speaking on her behalf?
“I don’t want to just disappear!” she snapped angrily. “I have a mission to accomplish. I have to make Ventousi put that drug on the market, to save millions of lives, and I need Flint to help me do it!” The old Angel looked pleased with himself.
“I don’t even know how to make clothes for myself!” she continued. “I’ll be one hell of an avenging Angel, running around stark naked!”
She was throwing a tantrum. Sometime later, Jeremy would realize that he had mistaken his own desire for reality.
“All that I meant,” he added, trying to make up for what he said, “was that we could always come back here or meet at Rose’s & Blues. That way, our friends will be safe.”
He was trying to protect Allison from Flint’s influence, but she certainly wasn’t making it easy for him!
Flint gave Jeremy a sarcastic grin, as if he could read his thoughts.
“My home is your home,” he said serenely. “If you want to stay, you’re more than welcome. I’m going to help Allison in her noble quest. And if you would rather live somewhere else, I’ll still help her. You don’t have to stay here in order for me to help you. I want to make that perfectly clear.”
He paused to let his words sink in. Jeremy didn’t know how to react now that Flint was being so magnanimous.
That was when Lili interrupted him, saying something very strange.
“Flint, if they leave, we must tell them about the Chimeras!”
“No,” Flint grimaced. “What’s the use? They have about one chance in a million of running into a Chimera.”
He didn’t look too thrilled that Lili had brought up the subject. Jeremy had read about Chimeras, mythological creatures with the body of a goat, the head of a lion, and a snake’s tail. But he couldn’t imagine for the life of him what a Chimera could possibly have to do with the afterlife. Especially since there were no animals here.
“A what?” he asked, none too politely.
Flint sighed.
“It’s another aspect of our world that remains … a mystery. Humans spend enough of their lives having to deal with fear, death, illness, the loss of a loved one, and who knows what else without having to keep on fretting in the afterlife.”
But Lili interjected: “It’s out of the question that you let them leave without telling them about it, Flint,” she said firmly. “If you don’t, then I will!”
Flint scowled with resignation and threw up his hands.
“All right then. You’re quite right, Lili. Well then … If one day you have the misfortune of running into a Chimera, you’ll of course have to know how to protect yourselves. We’re going to tell you how—no, better yet, we’ll show you. A combat is going to be held tonight!”
Jeremy and Allison exchanged a glance, both completely lost. All of a sudden, Jeremy got the feeling they were in Fight Club. But despite their pleading, Flint wouldn’t say another word about it. He told them he couldn’t go along on their quest to hunt down Ventousi, as he had some business to take care of, but they all agreed to meet at the “combat” later that evening.
Flint was still troubled by the attack of the previous evening, and only gave the two young Angels permission to leave under escort from Lili, who seemed amused by the idea of acting as their bodyguard. She made herself two long swords, a set of knives, a tight pair of shorts just like Lara Croft’s that took Jeremy’s breath away for a full minute, and a pair of black, low-cut boots with steel toes. She wove her thick hair into a heavy braid and declared that she was ready to go. A biker’s fantasy come true.
Lili seemed to be thoroughly enjoying herself, which really irked Allison because, as far as she was concerned, this was an important mission and not some joyride. She was excited to get going, convinced that she was finally taking her life by the horns again (or her afterlife, anyway). The trio set off in pursuit of their prey: one Arthur Ventousi. Allison had found his home address during one of her Internet searches, but she wanted to spy on him while he was at work. She was hoping they would overhear him talking about his miracle drug again.
Lili offered to fly them to his office, but Allison adamantly refused. She didn’t want anyone carrying her, nor did she like flying. At all. That being said, getting around town in human vehicles was no piece of cake either. Allison was having a lot of trouble dematerializing. At one point, after she watched Jeremy hop into a car without the slightest problem, Allison complained to Lili when she slammed into the door. Lili took the occasion to heap praise on Jeremy, saying it was remarkable how quickly he had adapted. He really was exceptional, she repeated. Her words made Jeremy uneasy. He didn’t want to be exceptional. He just wanted Allison to fall in love with him! Oh yeah, and for the two of them to live happily ever after together.
In phase one of their plan, the “Ventousi trackers” passed through the wall of a pharmacy to find the address of the company that bore his name. Then they went to the research center and found the scientist at his lab on the sixth floor.
Allison froze when she found herself face-to-face with the man behind her murder. At first glance, Arthur Ventousi hardly looked like an egotistical monster. He actually looked rather elegant in his white laboratory jacket—nothing like the mad scientist you see in the movies. But there was an unhealthy gleam in his brown eyes that quickly gave him away. You could tell the man had made a major discovery, that he was burning with impatience to announce it to the entire world. In exchange for heaps of money.
“So this is the creep that had us killed,” Jeremy growled.
He remembered the time back at Allison’s apartment, when she told Clark she had overheard Ventousi talking to someone. Now Jeremy was curious to learn more about how she had discovered Ventousi’s scheme.
“I never asked you, Allison,” he said. “How did you ever find out what Ventousi was up to?”
“I gave private lessons to his son, Peter. One day, I was waiting for the boy in the library next to his father’s office. The door wasn’t closed, but he couldn’t see me from the next room, and I didn’t make any noise when I walked in because I didn’t want to disturb him. After a few minutes, I heard him talking on the telephone about his miracle drug to cure cancer, and how he didn’t want to reveal the formula because it wasn’t the right moment yet. I was petrified, horrified by what he was saying. I told myself that I must have misunderstood. When Peter finally came into the room, he was happy to see me and started talking excitedly. I tried to hush him up, but it was too late. Ventousi must have realized that I had heard the entire conversation, and it didn’t take long for him to take action. A few days later, he had one of his colleagues killed. I guess she probably knew about his discovery. Then you.” Allison took a deep breath. “Then me.”
Jeremy tried to console her: “The police will catch up with him; I’m sure they will. Ventousi probably thought he was being clever by having us murdered in such a spectacular way, because it would make the investigators think they were dealing with a serial killer. But they’ll quickly make the connection between his son, Peter, who’s in the same class as my little sister, you, me, and his colleague!”
“No, they won’t!” Allison replied firmly. “They’ll make the connection between you and his colleague, obviously, because you were both killed in the same way. But when the police investigate my death, they won’t find any transactions between me and Ventousi: He paid me in cash. Plus I only gave Peter a couple of private lessons, and I never told anyone about it. Even Mrs. March, Peter’s teacher at school, didn’t know about it. And they won’t question the kids anyway. The cops will just ask the routine questions: ‘Did you see anything out of the ordinary? Any strangers in the neighborhood?’ And I’ll bet you a million dollars that Ventousi told his son not to
tell anyone about our lessons. They won’t find anything.”
While they were talking, Arthur Ventousi pulled his cell phone from beneath his white laboratory coat and made a call, complaining the whole time: “Shit, Khan, pick up! What the hell’s going on? You said you’d take care of all the dirty work without any hassles, and then all of a sudden you drop off the face of the Earth!”
Jeremy, Allison, and Lili were all taken aback by his words. Then the gorgeous redhead lightly touched Allison’s hand and giggled.
“My dear Cherubs, the murderer is now in your hands! With my help, you’re going to make him pay for what he’s done!”
13
The Taste of Blood
Jeremy’s blood was boiling over, but he somehow managed to keep in check a ferocious desire to wring Ventousi’s neck. Allison, on the other hand, walked slowly around the man, like a shark waiting to pounce on its prey, and without warning suddenly lunged at the murderer and began pummeling him, screaming out insults while her fists passed through him. Jeremy felt the same sickening feelings as when he had seen his father at his funeral. It was the same uncontrollable fury. He hurried over to Allison and grabbed her arms.
“Hey, hey,” he said softly, surprised by how forcefully she resisted. “Calm down, take a deep breath. It’s no use!”
For just a moment, he got the impression that her eyes had turned red. She finally went limp in his arms and began sobbing. Moved by her distress, Jeremy held her in his arms. Lili came over and wrapped her arms around the two of them, giving them a maternal hug. For the first time, Jeremy wasn’t overcome with desire for the red-haired Angel, as he was too worried about Allison.
After a few minutes, she freed herself from his grasp, accepted a handkerchief from Lili, and wiped away her tears. She turned her back on Ventousi to avoid the temptation of attacking him again.
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