“Ah, shit.”
“Yeah.” Then Abby frowned. “But the thing is, although I felt betrayed and hurt, ‘cause yeah, it fucking hurts, I didn’t mind that much. It had me wondering. A lot.” She was silent for a moment, as if searching for the right words. “I realized that I hadn’t loved him as much as I had always thought. As a lover, that is. I felt more betrayed by my best friend, than by my boyfriend. Does that make sense?”
“It does.” Lillian assured softly. “So how did it go? Did you say good bye?”
“As much as I could. But what was there to say? I didn’t want to lie to him but couldn’t tell him the truth either. In the end I told him I was going to travel. It’s weird and hurts not to be able to talk to him suddenly, not to be able to tell him about all of this.”
Lillian rolled onto her back and stared up at the ceiling. “Yeah. I’m sorry. I know I can’t compete with what you two had, but whenever you need to talk, or just someone who listens?” She turned her head to look at Abby. “I’m here.”
“I know. And same here.” When Abby moved to brace herself on her elbows, Lillian somehow knew she was in trouble. “And that’s why I think you really should talk to me. You know, for your own emotional well-being.”
“Uhu. Right.”
Abby laughed. “Oh, come on. I think I showed some freaking amazing self-control this last week and earned some major points for not having brought this up earlier, but now the gloves are off, girl. So…what’s up between you and Raz?”
Breathe. Casual face. “Not a thing.”
“Liar.”
That girl was entirely too good with the reading between lines and Lillian hadn’t even offered her that many. Damn, was she that obvious?
When she didn’t answer Abby simply said, “He calls you Stargazer.”
Lillian frowned. “There’s a reason for it. He found me staring off into the sky one night, so lost in thought that any enemy could have cleared my head right of my neck. It’s his way of reminding me to focus. Besides, he’s done so before so what makes you think there’s more to it all of a sudden?”
“Uh-uh. Not out on the porch today, after training. I heard you guys, but don’t worry, that’s all I heard. I didn’t hang out or anything.” She looked directly at Lillian, a small smile curving her lush lips. “Today, that wasn’t his usual silk-wrapped rebuke. That was just silk. The kind that gives you pleasant shivers. The kind that sent shivers down my spine which wasn’t even targeted…so yours must be dust. I’m actually surprised you can still move.”
Lillian chuckled but as soon as she let herself remember she had to swallow as her mouth went dry and a real shiver ran down her spine. Yeah, his voice had been dark and deep and soft like silk alright. And then dull sadness smothered her, knowing that that beautiful promise of something more between them could be his downfall.
She was about to tell Abby, to lay bare her pain, when her body went on full alert.
Something felt off.
Peeling herself out of her sleeping bag as silently as possible she motioned for Abby to do the same. No time to put on clothes, the panties and large shirts they both were dressed in would have to be enough.
Since her sword wouldn’t do her any good in the close confines of the house, Lillian grabbed the dagger she had stashed beside her bag and was comforted by its weight as she closed her fist around the leather-bound hilt. Abby summoned her crossbow. Lillian knew she would have her back.
Slowly, quietly she tiptoed to the doorway planning to get a glimpse of the hallway and then to warn the guys. Before she could get a look, a demon appeared right in front of her blocking her view and pushing her back into the room as she took a step back. The guy leered at her. In a swift move Lillian’s dagger sneaked between ribs to find the soft heart hidden behind them. The demon fell to the ground, the hint of an evil grin still there. As another one showed up in the doorway Lillian ducked, and satisfaction mingled with adrenaline when she heard the wet gasp that said Abby’s arrow hit home. That girl was incredible with a crossbow.
Noises, grunts and the sound of clashing metal, reached her ears. It came from the room down the hallway that Matt and Joshua occupied. Lillian and Abby were running towards it when suddenly a bundle of flying limbs practically flew out of the boys’ room and crashed into the wall facing it. Dust exploded in the air around them, mingling with the scents of blood and sulfur.
A glance and she took it all in. Joshua, only in his boxers, was fighting an Ebony in the bathroom, his daggers faster than her eyes could see, while Matt was wearing the same attire and very busy with a demon in their room. Since he couldn’t shoot arrows in the confines of the house he improvised by using his bow as a staff, and Lillian imagined the more flexible curved ends of it to be a real pain in the ass. A smile lit up her face while she made way for Abby to do her job. Matt’s demon had trouble breathing through the arrow suddenly piercing his neck.
Three down. One to go.
A triumphant cry from Joshua and they all looked in time to see the Ebony’s head topple of the shoulders.
Make that four down.
Her guard cheered. And yet something made the hairs on her neck stand up.
Someone clapped.
Oh no.
Taking a deep breath to brace herself against her worst suspicion, Lillian turned around. Sexy, evil Ebony.
The Incubus, who had attacked her in her house, was leaning against the wall of the hallway. The bastard that had killed Amber, had taken everything from her parents. Anger flooded her.
He looked the same. Black clothes, dark hair and flickering eyes. Those eyes were locked on her and smiling in a way that had ice cold fingers racing down her spine.
“Bravo.”
Abby, Matt and Joshua stayed silent but moved to stand closer to Lillian. They were a team now, as one standing together against the enemy. Lillian felt the questions whirling around but they didn’t stop her friends from recognizing the threat in front of them.
“I have to say I’m glad you’re in one piece.” The Ebony pushed himself off the wall and flashed that smile again that had her skin crawling. “I’ll enjoy breaking you.”
“Would be nice if you introduced yourself first. I mean, come on, show at least a little common courtesy here if you insist on talking about killing me.”
“I’ll break you slowly.”
“No? Still no name?”
“So slowly you won’t realize it until it’s too late.”
The thing was he really looked like he could do it. That guy was scary, alright, but Lillian would never admit it and rolled her eyes instead. “You go on like this and the only thing you’ll manage is to bore me to death. You know how many comebacks are itching inside of me to get out right now?”
“You can talk the talk, but can you walk the walk?” Joshua immediately prompted.
The Incubus’ face darkened.
“Talk to the hand.” Lillian could imagine Abby gesturing towards her face, “’Cause the face isn’t listening.”
Lillian didn’t take her eyes off the demon but put a smile in her voice. “Exactly, that’s two of them right there. My favorite here would be more along the lines of you’re all talk, where the hell’s the action?”
The next happened in a blink of an eye. The Incubus flew at her, rage burning in his eyes, flickering like a living flame. Lillian hoped to God they wouldn’t be the last she would ever see.
He slammed into her, the weight of him like a freight train. Wrapping his arms around her like a vise, they went airborne. Looking over his shoulder she could see his dark-gray wings spreading from his back. Suddenly he plummeted and he smashed them through the ground. Together they crashed into the living room.
Their improvised table of cardboard boxes didn’t do a damn thing to soften her fall. Her breath left her body in a whoosh and she couldn’t get any new in. God, her back hurt. Something had cut her side.
But the Ebony didn’t give Lillian the time to discover what it was
. He was pulling himself up, getting off of her. That sardonic smile again.
One day she would wipe it off him, she swore to herself. One day.
He summoned his Shade, the dagger a swirling, hypnotizing mess of shadows.
Lillian stayed on the floor.
He laughed as he saw her lying there on the floor, unable to get up. Leaning over her, he winked and nearly sang in a low, menacing voice. “Slowly, oh so slowly.”
Lillian’s upper body shot up and she sank her sword into his side, making him cry out. “We’ll see about that.”
She heard footsteps pounding on the ground, heard Abby’s crossbow go off.
He ducked. Blood was quickly wetting his shirt and yet he didn’t fall. After a glance over his shoulder the Ebony promised, “This isn’t over, Ivory. It has only just begun.”
Then he jumped over her and threw himself at the window, crashing through it in a rain of sparkling glass. Lillian heard him spread his wings and knew he was gone.
Abby, Joshua and Matt came running, crouching beside her. “You okay?”
“Fine, I think, but I could use a hand. Back hurts, but nothing’s broken.”
They pulled her to her feet and she took stock. The white-hot pain in her side came from a green shard of glass embedded there. Huh. A curious glance revealed more green shards covering the ground at the floor. Beer bottle. She must have smashed a beer bottle that had been standing on the table - before she fell onto it that was. At least it wasn’t death by beer bottle; that would have been too embarrassing.
For a moment the four of them just stood amongst the debris, in the middle of their battlefield - the boys in boxers and the girls in shirts - absorbing the sudden quiet and peace of the night. It was this in-between moment when the mind struggled. What was real, the fight or the sudden peace? But there was the dust that hadn’t settled yet, the blood on Lillian’s side that hadn’t dried yet. This was real. And so, while Joshua fixed her wound, Abby and Matt started with the clean up. When her side was taken care of, she and Joshua helped.
The house was a mess. Now it had even more holes in the walls, which wasn’t very comforting. The house had been a damn Swiss cheese before they moved in, and now Lillian wondered how it could still stand. Plaster, chunks of wood and shards of glass covered the floors, mixing with the black blood of the fallen demons. Old dust, the coppery scent of blood and sulfur saturated the air, making it hard to breath.
They found an open window and the disturbed line of salt beneath it and knew how the demons had come inside. A draft could have been their downfall. Really not cool at all.
It took them a while to take care of the worst of the mess, to cover the broken window and the hole in the bathroom, and Lillian used that time to tell them more about the Incubus and about the attack on her parents. Once again it galled her that she knew so little about the Ebony and silently wondered why he seemed to have it in for her.
They were just closing the last trash bag when Raz showed up.
He looked around, took in the damage, the repairs and the four of them. Arching an eyebrow, he smiled. “Sure looks like I missed all the fun.”
Lillian stood hands on her hips, panting and more exhausted from the clean up than she had been from the fight. “Now that’s what I’d call suspiciously perfect timing. Clean up just finished.”
He heard the accusation in her voice and shrugged, trying for innocent. “Well, you didn’t call me for help. How could I know?” He looked from one Ivory to the other, his gaze lingering on Lillian’s legs, and didn’t manage to stifle a laugh. “Nice outfits by the way.”
In a movement so fast it was just a blur Lillian threw her damp cloth at him. “Ass.”
The dirty rag slid off his face – priceless! – and they all burst out laughing, nearly rolling on the floor.
“Ouch!” Abby suddenly cried out.
And then Lillian felt it too. A searing pain on the inside of her wrist.
Glancing down she saw the outline of a cross appear, as if getting inked by invisible hands, and a pair of wings soon spread from it. At last the words IVORY GUARD were carved into the cross.
Before she had time to look more closely the house groaned, and one wall started to glow. As one, closely followed by Raz they ran outside and halted, staring with their mouths open wide in shock
Their coat of arms blazed white-golden on the wall outside before darkening to resemble graffiti.
THIRTEEN
They had proven themselves, had stood together and fought together, and now it needed to be celebrated.
During the last few weeks the four of them had bought some new clothes, but mostly they still lived out of their duffel bags, so it wasn’t exactly an easy feat to find something appropriate to wear for they had planned to hit the closest town and bar to properly commemorate their victory.
In the end Lillian settled for her tight black jeans and a silky, sleeveless tunic top with a halterneck that left half of her back bare. It would be maroon outside of purgatory and its hem was embroidered in black. She had packed it because she had bought it on a shopping trip with her mother not long ago and simply because she loved the top for how incredible soft and comfortable it was. The fact that she looked sexy in it didn’t hurt, of course. Paired with her low heel ankle boots and leather jacket she was good to go.
Abby’s outfit was similar but Lillian was surprised to discover the probably sexiest peeptoes ever on her friend’s feet.
“Why would you bring those to the demonic boot camp from heaven?”
Abby arched an eyebrow. “Would you have been able to leave those at home to rot in a closet, never to see the light of day again?”
Lillian resigned and sighed reverently. “I see your point.”
When the four of them stepped outside Raz was already waiting for them, dressed in jeans and a white shirt both of which he filled out nicely, the fabric stretching in all the right places and accentuating his tall and athletic frame. His hip casually leaned against the hood of a car that hadn’t been there before and instantly snatched Lillian’s attention.
Lillian’s heart sped up at the sight. A pony car. A first generation Dodge Challenger R/T Coupé to be exact. Sleek black and caressed by the setting sun.
Matt was the first who found his voice although his eyes were still glued to the Challenger, his voice low and filled with awe - which was probably because of the car and not the angel. “Man, I knew this Ivory stuff would have its ups. How the hell did you get your hands on this baby?”
Shrugging, Raz said, “Doesn’t matter. But you’ll have to be able to get from hellhole A to hellhole B somehow, so why not in a nice car.”
Joshua looked at the angel as if he’d gone insane. “Nice car? That ride’s not nice. It’s… sweet and beauty and power and....”
“Ours?” Lillian cut in, still amazed.
Raz nodded, his eyes sparkling with something warm and soft that tugged at her heart as he grinned. “Yours.”
He threw her a set of keys that Lillian easily snatched out of the air, her eyes going wide. Almost as one the boys turned and looked at her, or rather the keys in her hands.
Shaking her head and not taking her glowing eyes off the car she said, “And I knew being the leader had its perks. Sorry guys, but this baby’s mine tonight.”
They groaned and pleaded, but gave up eventually, and got inside the car. Before climbing behind the wheel Lillian locked gazes with Raz, her heart swelling, nearly bursting. He winked at her before he disappeared. Knowing that they would meet him in town she finally slipped behind the wheel, enjoying the engine’s rumble.
Night had fallen and after half an hour Lillian watched the moonlight flooded landscape glitter with the bright, colorful lights of a city. Her eyes, so used to the dull world that was purgatory, soon teared a bit at the intense stimuli flooding her.
She quickly found them a spot to park and they got out of the car, eager to let go and to celebrate. Their anticipation and pride was like a
buzzing cloud around them.
They were about to hit the sidewalk when Lillian suddenly stopped.
Abby turned around, frowning at her. “Something wrong?”
“I just realized…It’s the first time I’m seeing you guys in Technicolor. It’s weird.”
They all looked around at each other and started to laugh. “Shit, you’re right. I can’t believe I’ve actually gotten so used to the black-and-white.”
Lillian took her time. Matt had blonde hair as she had suspected, a little on the curly side. His shirt was green and added a light touch of surfer-boy style. However, Joshua’s eyes nearly took her breath away. They had always been almost black in purgatory, but were actually an amazing shade of blue-gray. And Abby? Abby was smooth, warm chocolate; her skin and eyes. She wore skinny jeans and a white top and her shoes were navy and red with white polka dots and a small red bow on top. Stunner.
“Damn girl, you’re death on heels.”
Matt looked down and agreed, “On sexy heels.”
Abby beamed at them. “Thanks. You guys aren’t bad either.”
Laughing Lillian hooked her arm with Abby’s and together they walked into the bar.
The place was crowded. Brick stone walls gave it an earthy and comfortable atmosphere, and the good old rock mixing with the laughter and chatter made it heaven. Lillian quickly found Raz and the table he occupied. When they arrived he stood, asking them what they would like to have – even if it contained alcohol – so he could get it.
Raz shrugged as he noticed Matt and Joshua’s stunned and yet relieved faces. “It’s no secret that your lives will be short given the fact that you’ll spend most of it fighting.”
It could have been a downer, but they all knew the truth and it only gave them more reason to be here. And so the girls settled for rum and coke, though Lillian wouldn’t drink all of it since she intended to drive them - and their beauty of a car - back home, and the boys wanted a beer to start.
When Raz came back with their drinks, they clanked glasses. Tonight, they celebrated. Tonight they celebrated the hope that they would continue to come out on top for a while.
Ivory Guard Page 11
