Angel Ink

by Siobhan Muir

  “She witnessed one of their murders and now they’re looking for her. They ransacked her place which is why she was staying with m– us.”

  If Viper caught my slip, she didn’t acknowledge it. “Holy fuck. Why didn’t you tell us, Schnoz?”

  “I didn’t think they’d come for her in broad daylight with you ladies around her.”

  “Yeah, well, you were wrong about that. Okay, Calhoun said they’re heading into the warehouse district off of Saddleback. We’re gonna try to slow them down or head them off.”

  “Right. I’ll be there.” Damn straight, I’d be there. No one took my woman without severe consequences.

  Weaving through traffic, I heard Mom laugh. Good for you, my Dear One. Find your lady and love her well. I’m very happy for you.

  I swallowed hard and focused on the scents of Haley, sunrise and magic. I didn’t need any electronic gadgets to follow her. Her scent flowed down our connection—We have a connection?—and led me like a trail of breadcrumbs through the city. I’d come by my roadname honestly and I used my schnoz to find Haley. She was mine and they’d messed with the wrong angel.

  Chapter Sixteen

  Haley

  I’d seen enough car chases on TV to recognize when I was in one, but they always showed them from the perspective of the good guys. That’s not where I was and not how it went. The men around me yelled and pointed while the driver tried to keep up with the SUV in front of us and not hit anything while charging between buildings at top speed.

  Then there was the shooting.

  Gunfire rattled around as the assholes beside me fired out the windows toward whoever followed behind us. The driver took a turn fast and I was pressed up against a sweaty male body despite my efforts to avoid it.

  “Get the fuck away from me, bitch!”

  Oh yeah, I so want to be snuggled up to your nasty ass. He tried to shove me away, but the momentum of the vehicle made it impossible. If I’d been more like those TV heroines I could’ve wrestled with him for the weapon like that assassin with the smart mouth in a red outfit did when stuck in a truck full of bad guys. But I was so out of my element, I just sat there and tried not to get in anyone’s way. They were already kidnapping me. I didn’t need to get shot too.

  The rumble of motorcycles bounced off the warehouses and it took me a few moments to realize the thugs were shooting at members of the Concrete Angels. It would’ve been exciting to see them come after me if I wasn’t in one of the SUVs. It would make a great story. Hell yeah, it would. Car chase—Motorcycle?—in the middle of southern Fort Collins’ warehouse district with speeding SUVs and a fleet of bikes. I bet the photos would’ve been spectacular.

  Get your damn head in the game, Michaels.

  Michael. So weird that we shared a name. In all the hoopla, I’d forgotten I was supposed to meet him at Jitters. I shot looks at the men around me and used my hands to grip the seats in front to keep from hitting them. I wanted to lean forward to see what the hell was going on, but the guys kept flailing their arms as they argued and shot out the windows. I turned my body to look through the rear door over a bag of discarded weapons and ammunition, spying a pistol fallen to the side.

  Biting my lip, I considered grabbing it and shooting someone, but I had no skill and I didn’t even know if it was loaded. I’d only succeed in getting myself dead that much faster. The flash of something out the window made me look up.

  And then things got really weird.

  Someone ran across the building on the right side of the vehicle, leaping off the three story roof. At first, I thought the guy had a parachute—is there a paramilitary group after us?—but then I realized the huge silver-black thing behind him came in two pieces and had a distinct wing shape. What is this, a Marvel movie?

  Bullets peppered the buildings around us but never hit the winged man. Winged man? I must be going crazy. At the last moment, I recognized Michael’s face and cut, and all coherent thought left my brain.

  Michael has wings. Michael has wings. Michael has wings.

  Movement to my left made me shift my attention just as we roared past Torch dismounting his bike. He threw his arms out and changed from a big, burly biker into something a lot more strange. Something long, scaly and iridescent green with purple spines that looked remarkably like a dragon. When it reared back and belched fire from its gaping maw, I shrieked.

  The driver jerked the wheel to one side and skidded to a stop just as the SUV in front of us exploded into a ball of fire. The men who’d gotten out of the burning wreckage scattered, firing at the bikers I could just see beyond the flames. I recognized Quan-Yin just before she shifted into a huge lion-dog thing that stood as tall as a horse. The Quan-Yin lion leaped through the flames and landed on the hapless thug with an automatic rifle and tore his head off with a spatter of blood marring her dark chocolate fur.

  “Holy fuck! What in the holy hell was that?” At least the thugs around me had started to get a clue that we weren’t dealing with run-of-the-mill badasses anymore.

  Then Samurai ran between our SUV and the one in front of us, his cut showing the gargoyle before red fir sprouted all over his body and a long tail shot out his ass. It had a white tip at the end and it waved like a banner as he disappeared into the SUV. He returned and turned his glowing golden stare our direction. He looked like a red fox with black ears and legs, but he stood the size of an English mastiff. He advanced on our SUV with a menacing snarl I could feel in my chest.

  I sat frozen in place, my breath short enough to hyperventilate. What the fuck was I seeing?

  Michael leaping off a building into a hail of bullets with a large pair of silver-black wings to slow his fall—and not getting hit by any of the projectiles.

  Torch morphing into an iridescent green dragon with purple and blue spines running down the length of his back and spouting fire at the speeding SUVs.

  Quan-Yin and Samurai shifting into fearsome beasts, one lion-like the other wolf-like, and running men down.

  Holy shit, holy shit, holy shit!

  This couldn’t be real. Seriously, it couldn’t be real. Hell, I’d been scared of the men who’d grabbed me right off the street in front of Calhoun, Viper, and Quan-Yin. But looking out the windows had been a whole other education in reality. What the hell had happened to the normal world?

  The SUV in front of us crackled in flames right there on the street and the men around me shouted expletives. I shrank back against the seat and tried to think small as the Samurai fox headed for the driver’s side. They fired their weapons out the front windshield, but the fox only ducked out of sight.

  “What the fuck was that?”

  “How the fuck should I know? Just keep firing, asshole.”

  I threw my hands up over my ears as they let loose a barrage of gunfire, squinting against the muzzle flares. Then I saw something that damn near stopped my heart.

  Michael landed directly ahead and slammed a huge fucking sword through the hood of the vehicle. The engine stopped dead and steam hissed out from under the shorn metal. His eyes blazed with white light, something I’d expect from Thor, God of Thunder, but that guy didn’t exist except in myths and movies.

  Except there’s a guy named Loki who looks like Thor, and Michael has wings, and Torch is a dragon and…

  “Oh, sweet glory…”

  I slid lower as one of the big guys pulled up his automatic rifle and pointed it out the destroyed windshield again. “Let’s smoke this asshole.”

  I closed my eyes as he fired straight at the winged image of Michael. The sound made my ears ring and I screamed as the men roared their belligerent fury at their target. Someone grabbed me by the arm and yanked me out of the SUV. I jerked my eyes open and tried to fight back, but he cuffed me across my ear and the shock stunned me enough to stop resisting. He dragged me to my knees outside of the vehicle and hauled me to my feet.

  “Run, bitch, before I kill you right fuckin’ here.”

  I didn’t doubt him, but I d
idn’t want to go anywhere. Is it better to stay here and get roasted by a fucking dragon? I wasn’t sure that was an improvement and I let him tow me a few stumbling steps to an aluminum door. He slammed it open with his shoulder and dragged me into the gloom of a nearby warehouse. It appeared abandoned and smelled like it, too. The metal door slammed shut behind us as we faced a rabbit warren of partitioned rooms resembling cubicles. He wove through them, looking for an open space and I trailed along, still trying to come to grips with what I’d seen.

  How the hell had Michael sprouted wings? What made Quan-Yin’s skin turn brown and her body shift into a lion-dog? How could Torch just become reptilian? Why did Sam look like a big fucking fox? None of it made sense or could be real. They were supposed to just be bikers, for glory’s sake. But Michael’s sword had stopped the SUV and Torch had torched the other SUV in front of us.

  At last, my personal thug dragged me into the open portion of the warehouse and pulled me across the dirty concrete floor. But I’d had enough and I tore my arm out of his grip.

  “No, let me go!” I managed to get free but he swung his rifle toward me and snarled.

  “Fine, I’ll just kill you right here. They weren’t gonna let you live anyway.”

  What? Who wasn’t gonna let me live?

  He raised the muzzle and fingered the trigger. I squeaked and closed my eyes, holding my breath. But a loud thud and a pained grunt hit my ears, and the shots never came.

  I peeled my eyes open and looked toward my would-be killer. He was nothing but a crumpled mass at the foot of a very angry, winged-warrior. The winged man—angel, you moron. He’s an angel—yanked his blade free from the body and turned to face me. I swallowed hard.

  Michael as a biker was hot and sexy, powerful in an understated sort of way. I’d always felt protected when around him. This Michael stood taller, broader, with actual fucking wings and glowing white eyes, and I was afraid he’d throw lightning down on me or something. Who the hell was this guy? Apparently I didn’t know him at all.

  I took a step back and swallowed hard, my hands tightening into fists. Michael’s expression softened and he reached out toward me, but I shifted away from his hand. He frowned and dropped his arm.

  “Are you all right, Haley?”

  No, definitely not all right at all.

  I shook my head, studiously ignoring the mass of bloody flesh on the floor a few feet from me. The sounds of gunfire had stopped and an ominous silence gripped the warehouse. I couldn’t quite find my voice to express my confusion and shook my head again.

  “Talk to me, love. Are you hurt? Did they harm you?”

  I shook my head harder. “I told you I saw wings. I told you!”

  It was an inane thing to say because it referenced our first meeting, but a deep sense of betrayal sank into my chest and lodged there, making tears overflow my eyes. Anger followed and I raised my gaze to him, my lips peeling back from my teeth in a snarl.

  “You lied to me!” My voice thundered across the space between us, ricocheting around the empty warehouse.

  Michael’s eyes dimmed and his wings drooped a little. “I never lied to you, Haley—”

  “Yes, you did. At the Museum. I said I saw wings and you said they were an illusion. But they weren’t. Aren’t. You have fucking wings and you lied to me.”

  I shook my head at my own stupidity. Of course, why I was upset about this instead of the existence of mythical or magical or impossible beings in a stupid biker club didn’t make sense either, but I would run with it.

  “I didn’t know you then.”

  I barked a laugh. “You didn’t know me then? Fabulous. How about when you brought me to your place after my apartment was ransacked? How about when you shared breakfast with me? How about after you fucked me? Did you know me enough then?”

  “I know this is hard to understand—”

  “You don’t know shit!” I snarled as I turned away from him and marched through the rabbit warren of cubicles back the way we came. Back to where more mythical creatures roamed the street outside.

  I couldn’t look at Michael. I wasn’t sure I could look at any of them. And I’d left Jeff behind the gates of the menagerie without a clue. I’d trusted these people. They were my friends or so I’d thought.

  I managed to find my way back to the door and stepped out into the dim afternoon. What the hell would I do now? I couldn’t go back to my apartment and I wasn’t sure I had a place in the Concrete Angels’ compound now that their secrets had been exposed. Did I even want to go back there? Hell, would they let me leave now that I knew?

  A rustle of cloth behind me let me know I was no longer alone. I could smell Michael’s rosemary bread scent but it didn’t bring me the comfort it had before. I stepped aside and turned to keep an eye on him.

  “Haley, I’m sorry.”

  He reached for me but I wrapped my arms tight around myself and hunched my shoulders, shrinking away from him. His hands returned to his sides and his shoulders dropped with them as his face blanched with sorrow. His wings had disappeared, gone to wherever they went when he wasn’t showing his divine self.

  “Don’t touch me.”

  “I’m sorry, I won’t. I just wanted to be sure you aren’t hurt.”

  I shook my head. “No, not physically hurt other than some bruises.”

  He reacted to my choice of words, grimacing at the nature of my pain. His lips tightened when I mentioned the bruises but he didn’t make another move to touch me.

  “I can heal them for you. Just a touch of grace and you’ll be right as rain.”

  My eyes burned with tears that I refused to shed despite the anger and betrayal and fear reaction coursing through my body. I clamped my hands on the shoulders of my jacket to keep them from shaking and retreated to stand against the warehouse wall.

  “What does that even mean, ‘right as rain’? Why is rain right about anything? It’s just a friggin’ atmospheric phenomenon when clouds get too full of moisture. How does that make it right?”

  “It’s just an expression, Haley.”

  “I fucking know that, Michael! I was looking for the etymology of it.”

  “I know you’re angry with me. I know you’re hurt. And I know you deserve answers.” Michael grimaced. “But we need to get you somewhere safe.”

  “And where is that? My home was tossed and I was a temporary guest at your cabin. Your cabin. I don’t have a safe place anymore.”

  If anything, he appeared more wounded by that than by my initial anger.

  “I never meant to make you feel unsafe. But right now the safest place for you is at the compound. We’ll get this sorted and decide from there, all right?”

  He gestured away from the burning wreckage of the other SUV. I didn’t look too closely at the ground, not ready to see bodies of the thugs who’d taken me. I moved woodenly as I passed the vehicle I’d arrived in and suddenly wondered how I’d get back to the compound. I must have stiffened because Michael swung around me and studied my face just before Viper slid between us and wrapped me in a bear hug.

  “Oh good glory, I’m so fuckin’ happy to see you.”

  I wrapped my arms around her and let loose my tears. I needed someone to lean on and the one person I’d thought was safe was something else. Sobs galloped out of me, dragging all the emotional stress with them.

  “Shh shh, I got you, sweet girl. I got you.” Viper kept murmuring gentle nonsense to me as I cried, her arms never wavering from their hold.

  After minutes passed, I finally calmed down enough to pull back and wipe my face. She gave me a goofy smile and squeezed my arms.

  “Better?”

  I shook my head with a grimace. “No, but at least I’m done crying for the moment.”

  “Good enough. Here’s your bag. I made sure everything stayed in it.”

  I took it and nodded as I threw the strap over my head. “Thanks.”

  “Let’s get you home.” She tugged on my arm.

  “I do
n’t have a home.” I shook my head as I clutched the strap against my chest.

  “Oh, that’s a load of horseshit.” Viper snorted. “Come on. I’ll give you a ride back to the compound on my bike. Just some girl time to regroup.” She turned to Michael who still hovered nearby. “I’m sure you understand, right, Schnoz?”

  Though he glared daggers after us, Viper didn’t wait for his answer and tugged me down the road between warehouses to her bike. She gave me a helmet that looked like an honest to goodness Egyptian pharaoh’s headdress. The ridiculous thing sat on my head and draped around my shoulders with a sense of power and protection. I dropped the visor down and I’m sure I looked too cool for my shoes, but I didn’t have the energy to pull it off.

  Viper started up her bike and we sailed away smoothly like we didn’t have a care in the world. But my mind kept turning over what I’d seen and what Michael appeared to be, and the tears threatened again. I swallowed hard a few times and closed my eyes as I gripped Viper’s waist on the ride home.

  By the time we arrived, I’d felt my phone buzz a couple of times with incoming texts but I couldn’t reach it in my back pocket. Viper parked her bike in the Barn and I took off the pharaoh’s helmet. Damn, I could get used to wearing that. She smiled and helped me off the bike before leading me to the clubhouse. I didn’t see Jeff or Sam or Quan-Yin, but that was probably for the best given how unsettled I was.

  “Let’s get you something hot to drink and maybe a blanket, and we’ll figure this all out. Mmkay?” Viper pushed through the doors like she owned the place and even the Scooters scrambled to get out of her way.

  I followed, wishing I had half her assurance, but any confidence I might have gained by wearing the cool helmet died at the feet of the people waiting for me inside the main room. Karma and Chem stood behind the bar where Loki, Neo, Attila, and Michael sat like a tribunal. Other members sat or stood around the common room and none of them looked friendly, either.

  I swallowed hard and followed Viper, stopping a little behind her as a shield against the lack of welcoming faces. I didn’t know how Michael had managed to beat us back to the compound, but considering I’d seen wings on him, I shouldn’t have been too surprised. There’s definitely gotta be something magic going on here. Either that or really good hallucinogenic drugs. Had someone spiked my coffee?