Ardeur (Abbey of Angels)

by Danielle Gavan

  The twins had begun to fuss when Brody's angry energy had lashed out and they refused to nurse anymore. “It's okay.” I passed him Cadhla and adjusted my nightgown before putting Brandon to my shoulder and soothing him as best I could. “This is what they've been training me for all these months. I'll go, on one condition.”

  Kezef gave me a blank expression. Only a quirked eyebrow gave any sign of her interest in what I had to say. “What is it?”

  “I do this and you leave me alone for the next six months. You take me off the active roster for that length of time and I'll go track whatever it is you came here for that was so urgent you had to pull me from my newborn babies.”

  “As you wish.” Kezef waited long enough for me to pass Brandon to his father and then came to my side. “Lie still for a moment while I heal you and then we'll get you dressed as befits an Angel of Wrath.”

  I waited while she returned my body to its pre-twins condition and then dressed me in an outfit very much like the one she wore. She handed me a packet, which I discovered contained several strands of dark red hair when I looked inside.

  “That is the target. You will know what to do when you locate them.” Kezzie wished me luck and disappeared before I could ask any questions.

  Brody rose from putting our newborns into their bassinet and came over to pull me into his arms. He hugged me tight and kissed the top of my head. “I hate this.”

  “I know.” I turned my face up to his for a kiss and rested my hand on his cheek. “I'll be back before you know it. Promise.”

  “I love you.” He stepped back and dropped his arms to his sides. A wry grin spread over his lips and I knew a smartass comment about my outfit was coming. “You need to wear that outfit for me someday. We'll get you that cape I mentioned before and we can play Little Red Riding Hood.”

  I sighed and shook my head while I tried not to laugh. “Goof.” I whispered my own words of love and promptly disappeared.

  Thirty One

  How I'd come to be standing in the middle of a field in a remote part of Ireland in the middle of the night was still a mystery to me as I stared down my prey. I'd given birth to twins three hours earlier and been immediately yanked from my bed. Kezef, the Angel of Wrath who'd come to deliver the mission had healed my body, dressed me in the most badass red leather outfit I'd ever seen and sent me out on a track and kill mission. What had been waiting for me in the tall grass was not what I had expected. It did, however, explain why they'd sent me and not another more experienced angel. When it came to this prey, I was the one and only expert. There were days where being an Angel of Anger and Wrath sucked. Today topped the list, hands down.

  “You missed me. Admit it, Blondie.”

  My ears confirmed for my brain what my eyes refused to believe. The petite redheaded teenager standing in front of me, in all too familiar leather pants, barely there camisole and thin jacket, had spoken in a voice I knew all too well. Shadekar. The bastard demon that had lived inside of me for thirteen years was free and it was clear he had found a new host. What wasn't obvious, was how he'd gotten free from the prison the dhampyre, Valencia, had guaranteed would hold him for as long as she lived. Last I'd heard Val was living happily in Bora Bora with an immortal she'd fallen for in a bad way.

  I pulled the throwing dagger at my waist and flipped the wicked weapon into the air. The move betrayed none of the emotion I felt. Shade and his newest acquisition would see nothing but calm and casual Ardy. The knife flew end over end. Moonlight glinted off the silver blade that landed safely with the handle in my palm. What I had planned for him didn't require any weapons other than the most important one in my angelic arsenal. Myself. “Missed? About as much as I'd miss a bullet to the brain. How the hell did you get free? Where's Val?”

  The demon sent a shudder through me with the sound of his laughter. I'd forgotten how irritating his laugh was – fingernails-on-chalkboard irritating. My angelic power flowed out to taste that of Shade's new host and I sighed internally with relief. The girl had less than a quarter of the power I'd had even as an infant. Taking them down should be easy enough, I thought to myself. She's no match for an angel, demon pilot or not.

  “The feisty bitch with the dagger?” The demon chuckled and moved to circle around me. I wasn't having any of that and countered his every movement. “She's dead. Stupid idiot got herself shot in the heart.” Of course, Shade would think that was funny and he laughed some more at Val's expense. “Whatever they did to her, or put on her had silver nitrate in it. Silver touch vamp and vamp go poof.”

  I groaned, the full realization of what Valencia's death meant and how the demon had come to be free came crashing down on me. Val's life force had been tied to that dagger and her death would have freed Shade the moment her life ceased.

  “Shit.” My already long day had just gotten longer.

  A strong breeze blew in from behind me and pushed the long strands of my hair forward over my shoulders and into my face. I hadn't had time to bind it before leaving and pushing it out of my field of vision caused me to miss the look of shock on the redhead's face when she, and Shade, caught a whiff of me.

  “You're an angel?” There was no missing the surprised tone in Shade's voice at the discovery. “When did that happen?”

  Shade's host had gone pale at the mention of me being an angel - which meant the freak had told her to steer clear of our kind. Interesting, I thought and flipped my dagger again.

  “How did that saying go? Angel blood touch Nephilim and Nephilim go poof into a full blown, kick-your-demon-ass-back-to-hell Angel of Anger and Wrath.”

  “Wrath? Oh, shit.”

  I cocked an eyebrow and tapped the dagger against my leather clad thigh. “Mhmm… Oh, shit about sums it up for you and what's about to happen next. Doesn't it, Shade?”

  “Please, Ardy?” The shit knew what was coming next and had the gall to beg for mercy when he'd given me none over the years.

  A fiery glow engulfed me from head to toe and lit up the night so brightly that Shade's host had to shield her eyes. I reached out my hand and called on a power I hadn't used in over seven years. Demon and host screamed into the night air as my fingers closed around the fiend and pulled him out through her chest. Avoiding the girl's soul in the process made the task of shredding the demon from her difficult but I managed - barely.

  The business of birthing babies is a bloody, messy thing. Shredding a demon from its host was even messier in a metaphysical sort of way. By the time I'd pulled the bastard free, a ten foot radius was covered in so much demonic debris a hazmat team would have been at a loss what to do to clean it up. I sneered at the wriggling black mass that was Shadekar as it writhed and tried to escape my grasp. “Oh no, you aren't going anywhere but back to Hell where you belong. You're done, Shade and trust me when I say - if you ever crawl back out of the pit I'll be on your ass, and you'll be right back where you belong before you can blink.”

  My lips began to move, to form the words I'd spent the last four months memorizing for just this moment. A howling wind rose up at my bidding to cover the demon's shrieks while I banished him back to the pit he belonged in, hopefully for the rest of eternity.

  By the time I was done getting rid of the biggest mistake of her life, the teenage necromancer was rising to her knees. Wide-eyed and frightened, she blinked up at me with eyes the color of emeralds that reflected back the blaze of my angelic glory. “Please, don't hurt me.”

  I sighed with impatience and held my hand out to her. “I'm not here to hurt you. Take my hand and close your eyes. I have a mess to clean up here and then I'll send you home so I can get back to my own.”

  Her chilled fingers settled in my palm and I gripped them tight. I braced myself against the wind as my wings deployed and caught the strong currents of air. My arms wrapped around the young girl and I held her tight against my leather-clad front.

  “Hold on tight, and whatever you do, don’t look down.”

  I pushed off the ground
and launched into the air with a whoosh as my wings beat behind us. The wind howled and whipped our hair around us.

  “How long have you been an angel?”

  “Just about six months.” The chattering of her teeth caught my attention and I adjusted my body temperature to warm her. “Why?”

  Long moments passed while she warmed up enough to stop the shivering. “He seemed surprised. Is he – Is the demon gone forever?”

  “Yep. Where can I drop you off? I’ve got newborns I need to get home to and a husband who’s going to be pissed that I had to deal with Shade again.”

  She gave me directions to a town nearby and I dropped her off down the street from the address provided. I waved as she disappeared inside, and then launched into the air again. I turned toward home, smiling as the wind rushed through my hair and over my wings as they beat behind me.

  The leather kept me warm as I lowered my body temperature back to normal and soared higher toward the cloud cover that constantly hung over our part of Ireland in the winter time. My lungs filled with the crisp, clean air and I laughed happily at the freedom that came with flying through the air. I’d only done it once before my body grew too swollen with pregnancy to fly properly and it felt damn good to be in the air again.

  The sight that greeted me when I reappeared in the bedroom I shared with my husband was one that warmed the heart. Brody lay sound asleep in our bed, the big bad alpha wolf wrapped protectively around the small bundles of our infant son and daughter. Other than his love, Brandon and Cadhla were the best gifts that Brody had ever given me. I'd gone from having nothing six months ago to angel, wife and mother thanks to the return of that man into my life.

  I picked up my newborn children, careful not to wake their sleeping father, and went to sit in the rocker to nurse them. A few uncertain moments later, we were settled and I let my mind wander over my life and all of the things I had to look forward to in a future that wasn’t so uncertain anymore. I was happy, but most important of all, loved. Whatever Heaven, Hell or the world threw at us, Brody and I would weather it – together.

  ~*~

  Danielle Gavan lives in Ontario, Canada with her husband, and their two sons. She writes urban fantasy and erotica, while brushing up her editing and cover design skills. Ardeur is the first book in the Abbey of Angels series and there are currently five books planned.

  Please stop by the author’s website (http://daniellegavan.net) or on Facebook (http://www.facebook.com/danielle.gavan).

  Do you like to read original fiction daily for free? Stop by the Everything Erotic site (http://everythingerotic.blogspot.com) for super steamy reads, and Digital Digest (http://thedigitaldigest.blogspot.com) for fantasy, horror, sci-fi, romance, paranormal serials, flash fiction, and short stories (non-erotic work).