All for You

by Dana Marie Bell

  Abby nodded to Diana as she walked into the salon later that morning.

  “Hey, Diana. Glad to see you’re feeling better.” Nancy waved her over to her station, and Diana began to put it in order.

  Diana sniffed and dabbed at her red nose with a tissue. “Thanks, Nancy. Today is the first day I’ve felt good enough to come in. Sorry to leave you in the lurch like that.” Her eyes were red rimmed, too. “I hate spring flu.”

  Nancy shrugged. “It happens.” She turned toward the door as Lisa walked in. “Well. It looks like I’ve got all my prodigal children in today. How are you feeling, Lisa?”

  “A little bit better. At least I’m not throwing up right now, so that’s an improvement.” Lisa’s eyes were red, her complexion pale, and her short blond hair was limp and lifeless.

  Abby’s eyes went wide. Lisa had looked exactly the same way the last time she’d been— “Are you pregnant?”

  Lisa’s happy expression and soft blush said it all. Lisa smiled shyly as everyone who wasn’t up to their elbows in chemicals surrounded her, patting her on the back and congratulating her on her third pregnancy. She answered all of their questions with a soft smile on her face, and her hand cradled protectively over her belly.

  Abby turned to say something to her customer and noticed that Diana, sniffling into a tissue, had remained at her station. “Congratulations, Lisa.” Her chair was empty, and she was clenching something around her neck fiercely. When she noticed Abby staring, she smiled slightly. “Don’t want to get the pregnant lady sick.” She turned back to her station, blowing her nose noisily into the tissue.

  * * *

  Seth promised to have dinner ready before he picked her up, and he delivered. Sort of.

  He ordered Chinese.

  Abby was amused when she opened her container of pork lo mein. He must have asked Nancy what her favorite was. She picked up her chopsticks and began to eat. She’d barely managed to grab an energy bar for lunch. Nancy hadn’t lied. The shop had been hopping. “Mmm. I was hungrier than I thought. Thanks for this.”

  “I figured you would be.” Seth dipped his chicken in the sweet-and-sour sauce, catching a drop on his tongue just before it fell off.

  “Philistine. Don’t you know you’re supposed to eat Chinese with chopsticks?” Abby asked with a grin.

  “You eat with your pointy sticks. I’m going to eat like a civilized human being.” Seth scooped up some rice and popped it into his mouth with a triumphant smirk. His expression only deepened when she dropped her own rice.

  “You ate sushi with chopsticks. How come you’re eating sweet-and-sour chicken with a fork?” Abby sipped her iced tea and tried to ignore the starchy pile of failure beside her dish.

  “Because it’s easier to pick up sushi with chopsticks than a fork, and I’m not crazy enough to try and eat fried rice with chopsticks.”

  “Really? Because I thought the sushi tried to leap off the chopsticks and dive into the soy sauce.”

  He chuckled, but his happy expression didn’t last long. “Before you ran from Piotr’s, Andi sent me some information. You’ll want to look at it.”

  There went her appetite. She put her chopsticks down and took a deep breath, feeling like a prisoner on the way to the gallows. “Okay. Let me have it.”

  Seth got up and got the report out of his briefcase. He handed it to Abby, who began reading it avidly. “Beth e-mailed this to Andi, who e-mailed it to me. By the way, no matter what Dante says, she’s good. She found things out that no one else knew about Doug.”

  “Like what?” She began flipping through the papers, not really seeing what was there.

  “Doug was in a series of relationships that lasted anywhere from three weeks to years. He had a few steady girls, but he always had something going on the side. One name, though, stuck out. Megan Carlisle. Tall, blonde, gorgeous—just the type Doug was reputed to favor. And she was an electrician.”

  “What?”

  Seth nodded. “Yup. And the icing on the cake?”

  “Let me guess.” Abby put the report down and folded her hands on top of it. This just kept getting better and better. “She disappeared soon after Doug went to jail.”

  Seth nodded. “Beth couldn’t dig up a picture of her, so all we have to go on is the description Beth was able to cobble together. Convenient, isn’t it?”

  “Very.” Abby’s smile was sour. “Bingo. We have a winner.”

  * * *

  Seth flew over the alleyway, flashing in and out of sight when he had a visual on the Shem. The sucker was fast, forcing Seth to push himself. He hadn’t flown this hard in years. Dante and Damien couldn’t keep up. They were sticking to the main roads, watching for Seth when he made an appearance overhead. Gabriel had announced he would personally watch over Abby when Seth hunted, leaving Seth no reason to worry over her.

  He did anyway, but he wasn’t going to tell Gabriel that.

  There. The Shem had run down a blind alley, and it looked like they’d finally cornered him. The Shem was now backed against a wall, staring around wildly. The sickly green aura that surrounded him made Seth want to puke. Seth landed—his wings scraping the sides of the building in the tight alley—and pulled his blades.

  “This one’s pretty fucking sick, man.” Damien climbed out of the car and sounded pretty sick himself as he stared at the Shem. They had the son of a bitch cornered. “I want him dead.”

  Shit. Seth wouldn’t want Damien’s powers on a good day, let alone a bad one. “Kids?”

  “Yeah.” Damien walked around the trunk of the car, already lit with power. His eyes were glowing so brightly, they hurt Seth to look at.

  “Fuck you, Neph.” The Shem’s voice was young. If Seth didn’t know better, he’d think the Shem was scared. He wore the guise of a teenage boy, complete with baggy jeans, T-shirt and artfully messy hair. But Seth knew the truth. Inside that innocent seeming boy was a monster that plagued the innocent.

  “He hunts in middle schools.” Damien’s voice began to echo with power as he read the Shem’s crimes from his aura, a gift only the strongest Malachi held. “He especially likes the special-needs kids.”

  Dante cursed roundly in Italian, lighting the night sky in more ways than one. Flames danced across the detective’s skin as he approached the Shem. Thank goodness his clothing was immune to his fire, or they’d all be seeing more of Dante than they ever wanted to.

  Dante was still hampered by the cast on his arm. Seth didn’t know what fast talking he’d done for Gabriel to allow him out, but Seth wasn’t going to argue.

  Seth furled his wings. He wouldn’t need them here. In fact, in the tight quarters they’d be a hindrance not only to him but to Damien and Dante. “Want to dance, asshole?”

  The Shem pulled out a gun and fired. Seth barely managed to dodge in time, the bullet gliding through the light of his left wing, the sensation odd but hardly damaging.

  “Shit.” Dante’s flames swept past Seth, engulfing the Shem. He screamed, dropping the now white-hot gun, the human guise dropped in favor of his real appearance.

  The Shem had once been partly human, like Seth and his brothers. But they’d chosen a different path, and their monstrous actions were reflected in their appearance. Like Seth, they could disguise themselves, hide their inhuman sides. But unlike Seth, when that disguise was dropped, what the Neph were faced with was a horror out of the worst imaginings.

  Ooze dripped from black lips, the same vile green that filled the Shem’s aura. His skin was blotched, bruised and diseased, pale yet darkened from his own evil. His hands were tipped with black, jagged claws. Rotted, fanged teeth filled its mouth to overflowing, stretching his jaw obscenely. It was like staring at the worst combination of vampire and zombie, except the Shem didn’t hunger for flesh and blood. Like the Fallen they were named for, the Shem hungered for souls. And each one had different tastes. Some liked the vilest of the vile. Others preferred the sweetness of pure innocence, like the one they were dealing with now. />
  “Do you kiss your mother with that mouth?” Seth danced out of the way of the Shem’s claws. The damn thing was constantly moving, using hyperspeed to stay out of the line of fire. Dante and Seth were flailing around, trying to land a blow on him.

  They looked like they were doing the Muppet wave. He prayed that Damien wasn’t filming this. The last time he’d filmed Dante looking stupid, he hadn’t spoken to them for a week. Of course, it might have been playing it on Gabriel’s big-screen TV, and the huge bowl of popcorn Damien passed around to their brothers, that had really pissed him off.

  “Stop playing and kill him already. I left a perfectly good pan of lasagna to deal with this asshole.” Dante shot a fire bolt at the Shem. He dodged Dante with ease.

  “Is that the best you’ve got, Neph?” The Shem lashed out at Dante with his claws, drawing blood. In the confines of the alleyway Dante couldn’t use his full power without risking Seth’s wings, the power of a Seris being one of the few things that could. The Shem barely got burned by Dante’s fire.

  Seth lunged, but the Shem danced out of the way of his sword.

  There were two popping sounds in quick succession. Damien had pulled his gun and was firing at the Shem. The bullets missed, taking out chunks of brick, but it startled the Shem into moving closer to Dante. Dante, his fist flaming white-hot, punched the Shem dead in the face.

  The Shem screeched as he reeled back, his flesh bubbling from the heat of Dante’s fire. With another pop, Damien’s bullet hit its mark. The Shem stared at his arm, horrified as the flesh slowly dissolved.

  “And this, children, is why I quench my handmade bullets in holy water.” Damien grinned. “Night night, dickhead.” Damien took one more shot, the bullet hitting the Shem right between the eyes.

  The Shem’s head flew back. His body expanded like that kid’s from the chocolate movie. “Aw, shit.” Seth tried to get his wings up in time to protect himself, but he was too late. The Shem exploded, showering them in goo.

  “Well. That was disgusting.” Dante shook his hands, his flame dying away.

  “I hate it when they explode.” Damien wiped off his face with a disgruntled look. “I need to shower for about three years.”

  “I’m going to have a hard time explaining this to Abby.” Seth tried to find a clean space on his clothing to clean his blades off, but couldn’t find one. Shit, Shem was all over him. It was in his hair, up his nose. He could even taste the bastard. Seth spit, and sure enough, green goop hit the ground. “Ugh. There is not enough mouthwash in the world.”

  Damien shot him an unreadable look. “We could always do what we used to do.”

  Seth grimaced. What they used to do was go to Gabriel’s to clean off. “Abby knows what I am. I’m not going to hide this from her.”

  “Better you than me.” Dante shuddered. “I can just hear it now. ‘Wipe your feet. Don’t get blood on my floor. Stop bringing work home. Were you out playing with the boys again?’” He flicked goo at the alley wall. No one would notice, as filthy as the alleyway was. “Shoot me if I ever fall in love, guys. The regular sex just ain’t worth it.”

  Seth chuckled. It would take a hell of a woman to tie Dante down. Xena the warrior princess was a fictional character, so she didn’t count, no matter what Dante said.

  Damien rolled his eyes. “Tell me about it.”

  “Says the other man standing here who is regularly gettin’ some.”

  Damien eyed them both and curled his lip. “You two realize you’re not getting in my car like that, right?”

  Seth grinned at Dante. “At least we now know who the woman in this relationship is.”

  “What can I say? His ass looks really great in those jeans.”

  Damien flung goop at Dante, hitting him in the chin.

  “Testa di cazzo.” Dante muttered under his breath, glaring at Damien.

  Seth laughed as they stepped out of the alleyway. “Did he just call you a dickhead again?”

  Dante smirked.

  “See if it’s funny when your gooped-up ass is taking the high-speed line home.” Damien hopped in his car, and locked the doors before they could get in. “Later.”

  Dante sighed, no longer smiling. “Well, shit.” He eyed Seth.

  Seth was willing to give Dante a ride home. It wasn’t the first time he’d given one of his brothers a flight. He spread his wings, startled when puree of Shem fell from them with a wet plop.

  “Nope. Not worth it.” Dante shoved his hands in his pockets. “Say hi to Abby for me.” Dante took off, no doubt making his way to the high-speed line and eventually home.

  Seth spread his wings and began the long flight home. He sensed more than saw Gabriel hovering over the house, gaze watchful as he guarded Seth’s woman.

  Gabriel offered him a strained smile. “All quiet, Seth. Not so much as a whiff of a Shem nearby.”

  Seth nodded. “This one’s good.”

  Gabriel started to fade from sight. “I’m better.”

  “Wait. Before you go, is there any word on Rafe?”

  Gabriel flinched. “No.” The angel flared brightly before disappearing.

  “Damn it. Rafe, you’d better be okay.” It would kill something in all of them if the gentle healer was hurt somewhere. At twenty-three, Rafe was the youngest of his brothers. They all watched out for him.

  Maybe he’d call Eli, see if his brother could help them. It couldn’t hurt to see what an Oracle had to say about Rafe’s whereabouts.

  Seth landed on the deck and sighed as more Shem muck fell off of him. Gah, the stench was awful. With a disgusted grunt he stripped down to his skin. These clothes were done for, and the shoes weren’t fit for a Shem. He threw them into the back trash can before grabbing the hose and turning on the water.

  He bit back a yelp as the cold water sluiced away the goo. The last thing he wanted to do was wake up Abby.

  Okay, he might want to wake up Abby, but only after his dick decided it was once again warm enough to come out of hiding.

  Chapter Twelve

  “What the hell happened to you?”

  Seth was standing on the back deck, naked and hosing himself off. He was covered head to toe in green crap that smelled like the Philadelphia subway in hundred-degree weather, and his lips had turned blue. How long had he been out here before the sound of the hose woke her up?

  He gave her an innocent look as something plopped from his hair onto the deck. “Nothing.”

  “Seth.”

  It was freezing out, he was soaking wet and shivering, and she was glad about it. She did not want whatever the hell that funky shit was inside her house.

  He sighed wearily. “Can I tell you when I’m done?”

  “I’ll put on the hot chocolate.” It was damn cold at night. If he stayed out there much longer, he’d be an angelsicle.

  It wasn’t long before the sliding glass door opened. She’d left a bucket by the door for him to dump his clothes into. She wasn’t certain if she wanted to wash them or burn them. “Clothes in the bucket.” A few minutes later Seth ran past her and up the stairs and into the shower. She waited until she heard the water turn off before fixing his hot chocolate.

  He came down just as she finished, dressed in clean sweats and a T-shirt. “Bless you, sweetheart.” He took hold of the mug and held it close, his hands shivering, his lips blue.

  She led him over to the sofa and wrapped him in a blanket. “So, what happened?”

  He drank down all the chocolate in one go and licked his lips. “We hunted down a Shemyaza. He exploded.” Seth held out the mug and gave her his best puppy-dog eyes. “More, please?”

  “Who stood over your cradle and said, ‘May you live in interesting times’?” She took the mug from his hands.

  “I don’t know, but sometimes I want to find him and beat him with the karma stick.”

  Abby laughed and fixed him some more hot chocolate. “Tell me what happened.”

  “That was pretty much it. Gabriel got a lead on a S
hem who’s been feeding on children and sent us out to stop him. We cornered him in an alley and fought him. He got a shot in on Dante before we could take him down.”

  “Is Dante all right?” Abby settled down next to Seth with her own mug. “Does he have someone to take care of him?” She was all ready to call Dante over so she could check him out. She doubted that disgusting stuff was a good thing to have in your bloodstream.

  “He’ll be all right. If Damien doesn’t check up on him, his mother will.”

  “His Italian mother?” Abby had met a few of those in her life. If Dante was injured, he was in for some hell.

  “Yup. Both his parents are Italian.”

  She snuggled close, stealing some of the blanket for herself. “Which one of them is Neph?”

  “His mother. She’s a Legionnaire, and one of the toughest yet sweetest women I’ve ever met. Hell, I think Gabriel is half afraid of her, and she barely comes up to his chin.”

  Abby winced. “Poor guy.”

  Seth chuckled and hugged her. “Like I said, he’ll be fine.” He yawned wide enough to crack his face open.

  “You ready for bed?”

  He nodded, his eyelids drooping. “I have to coil up the hose first.”

  “I can do that. You head up. I’ll join you when I’m done.”

  “You shouldn’t be alone.”

  “You’re right inside the house, Seth. What’s going to happen?”

  He eyed her for a moment before a massive yawn cracked his jaw.

  “I’ll be fine. I promise to scream like a girl if I see even a shadow out of place, okay?”

  “You sure?” He yawned again, and this time she joined him, both laughing when she was done. “I can take care of it.”

  “Nah. My big, bad warrior needs his rest.”

  He shook his head. “You’re taking this a lot better than I ever thought someone could.”

  Abby flipped her hair over her shoulder playfully. “I’m special.”