Eve of Destruction

by S. J. Day

  “Right here.” A dark shape appeared from around the corner, his stride surefooted and confident. Eve recognized the voice as belonging to Diego Montevista, Gadara’s chief of security and one badass Mark. “Chasing down some delinquent teenagers. But there should be two guards here.”

  “On point, sir,” Mira Sydney replied from her position on the stoop. As large and forbidding as Montevista was, Sydney was the polar opposite. Fair to his dark, petite to his bulk. But she was his lieutenant, and it was clear they had developed a strong affinity. “When you went after the trespassers, we closed ranks and moved inside.”

  Gadara stepped closer to Eve. He pressed his wrist to her forehead and his gaze narrowed. She looked back at him with a challenging tilt to her chin. She felt as if she was burning up and knew he had to feel it, too.

  “Well done,” he said. Nothing more.

  “Excuse me?” Molenaar protested. “She almost killed me!”

  “You should not have been tardy this morning, Mr. Molenaar,” Gadara dismissed. “Then this misunderstanding would not have happened.”

  Laurel spun on her heel and stomped away. “This is ridiculous,” she tossed over her shoulder, “and I’m tired. Good night.”

  “I will walk with you, bella,” Romeo offered, jogging after her.

  Richens snorted in disgust. “That’s devotion if he can still shag her with that shit on her face.”

  “Mr. Richens.” Gadara’s voice was disapproving, as was his frown. “You will keep such vulgar thoughts to yourself. Please show Mr. Molenaar into the house and help him settle in.”

  “I’m hungry,” Molenaar said, shrugging off his rucksack.

  “You’re always hungry,” Ken scoffed.

  Claire yawned. “I am returning to my bed.” Her gaze settled on Eve. “Please do not wake me when you come in.”

  Eve’s return smile was forced.

  A cell phone with a Handel’s Messiah ringtone rang inside the men’s quarters. Her brows rose.

  Gadara smiled. “That would be mine, of course.”

  “Of course.” Archangels with cell phones, such was her life. Ready to crawl under a rock, Eve offered a brief wave, then moved around him. “I’m calling it a night.”

  “You should wait a moment, Ms. Hollis,” he suggested. “Cain will insist on speaking with you.”

  “How do you know—” Eve stopped. Of course he would know, he was an archangel.

  “Because I ceased communicating with him when we heard the disturbance out here.” His dark eyes were bright with amusement. “And I told him to call.”

  “Oh. Right.” As if Alec took orders well.

  “Come in where it is warm.”

  “I’m not cold. I told you that.” And the fact that he wouldn’t acknowledge her condition made it even more suspect.

  Still, Eve followed Gadara to the men’s side of the duplex. Edwards was pouring himself a glass of milk in the kitchen. Richens was leaning against the counter and speaking in rapid, heavily accented British English that was unintelligible to her. He acknowledged her with a jerk of his chin, then looked back at Edwards, who was examining her with an assessing glance.

  She fought the urge to flip them the bird.

  “Everything is as it should be,” Gadara said into the phone. “Yes, there was a disturbance . . . Fine. In fact, she is extraordinary. I am quite impressed . . . Yes, I told her you would. Just a moment.”

  The archangel held the phone out to her. Accepting it, Eve moved to the far corner of the living room where a massive spider web occupied much of the space.

  “Hi,” she said in a subdued tone that made her feel better but wouldn’t prevent mark-enhanced eavesdropping.

  “Hey.” The sound of Alec’s gruff, purring voice filled her with relief. “You’re not answering your phone.”

  “I had to turn it off so it didn’t disturb my roommate.”

  He growled. “Put it on vibrate and keep it on you.”

  “I tried that, but then I left the damn thing under my pillow when I couldn’t sleep.”

  “What’s going on, angel? Are you hurt?”

  “I’m fine.”

  “Raguel cut me off, and you weren’t answering. Scared the shit out of me.”

  “It was a stupid misunderstanding.”

  “Couldn’t have been that stupid. You impressed Raguel.”

  “What can I say?” She shrugged. “He’s easily amused.”

  “Does he have you training already? It’s after two in the morning.”

  “I told you, I couldn’t sleep.”

  “You miss me.” There was a smile in his voice.

  “That, and it’s too hot to nod off.”

  “Hot? In Monterey at night?”

  Eve rubbed at the space between her brows. “I think I’m coming down with something. I’m pretty sure I have a fever.”

  There was a long pause. “You can’t get sick.”

  “You have to believe me, I’m not giving you a choice. Gadara won’t listen to me and—”

  “I’m going to take a shower.”

  She stiffened at the sound of a woman’s voice in the background on the other end of the phone. It was throaty and seductive, as if the speaker had just woken up . . . or just had a screaming orgasm. “Who is that?”

  Alec groaned. “A mess.”

  “Sounds like a woman.”

  “She’s a Mare.”

  Eve’s foot tapped against the hardwood, her earlier feelings rushing to the fore. “She doesn’t sound like a horse to me. I bet she doesn’t look like one either. Where are you?”

  He laughed, the low rumble as enticing when she was mad as when she was completely besotted. “She’s a Mare, as in nightmare. And I’m in my room. It’s the middle of the night, where else would I be?”

  “You have a naked woman in your room in the middle of the night.”

  Edwards gave a low whistle. Eve turned around and flipped him the bird.

  “She’s not naked yet,” Alec said calmly.

  “Well, I don’t want to hold you up so I’ll let you go.”

  There was a pregnant pause, then, “Tell me you’re kidding.”

  “Sounds as if the joke’s on me.”

  “Give me a fucking break.”

  Eve pinched the bridge of her nose. “Ignore me. I’m not feeling well.”

  “She’s an Infernal.”

  “I’m not rational.”

  “She’s not you.”

  “Got it.”

  “Nothing to worry about. Understand? And anyway, you don’t strike me as the jealous type.”

  “I’m not jealous of you, I’m jealous of her. She’s naked with you. Call me back when I’m shacked up in a motel with a naked guy and see how you feel about it.”

  “I’m not shacked up, and she’s not naked within eyesight. But . . . point taken.”

  A reluctant smile curved her mouth. “Why do you have an Infernal taking a shower in your room?”

  “Bad luck?” He exhaled his frustration. “Something is really screwed up around here. She offered information if I’d get her out of the area.”

  “Like Hank?”

  The Exceptional Projects Department—located in the subterranean floors of Gadara Tower—housed Infernals who worked for the good guys. Some did so by force, others were defectors from Hell. They all used their various talents to further the Mark cause.

  “Yes. Like Hank and the others.”

  “How will creating nightmares be helpful?”

  “Mares see into dreams. Sometimes that helps in learning what Infernals have planned.”

  “Subconscious eavesdropping?”

  “Exactly. They can also make subliminal suggestions.”

  “What about the Alpha?”

  “Giselle will have to tag along.” Alec’s tone was blunt and uncompromising. “I’m not interrupting my hunt, it’s keeping me away from you.”

  Eve forced herself to ignore his use of the Mare’s first name. She knew it was no
thing. Knew it. But her agitated emotions were seeking any outlet. “Can you trust her?”

  “You worried about me, angel?” he asked softly.

  “You know it.”

  “I’ll make you a deal: I keep myself in one piece and you do the same.”

  “You’re on.” She yawned against her will.

  “Go to bed,” he ordered. “I need to finish talking to Raguel, then I’m crashing, too. I want an early start.”

  “Listen,” she looked over her shoulder at the rest of the room’s occupants, then lowered her voice, “a dog tried to talk to me earlier.”

  “Oh?” The rise in his interest was palpable. “About what?”

  “That’s the thing, I don’t know. She said something was fishy around me, then Izzie shot her.”

  “Shot her?”

  “Yeah, for no other reason than she felt like it, as far as I can tell.”

  “The dog is dead?”

  Eve winced. “Yes.”

  “How do these things happen around you? I’ve only been gone a few hours!”

  “Hey,” she said defensively, “I didn’t do anything.”

  Molenaar yelled from the kitchen, “You attacked me, krankzinnige vrouw!”

  “Why is he calling you a crazy woman?” Alec asked. “And why did you attack him?”

  “Ignore him.” She crossed the living room and exited the house for privacy. Due to lack of heating, the house wasn’t much warmer than the outside, but the addition of a breeze helped cool her overheated skin.

  “Shit.”

  “Not my fault. Besides, you’re supposed to take my side. You’re my mentor.”

  “Okay.” He exhaled with deliberation. “Let’s take it from the top. The feverish feeling is probably just your body’s adjustment to the changes it’s going through. You remember how it was when you went through the first part of it.”

  Oh yeah, she would never forget. She had felt as if she was on fire from the inside out and the need for sex had nearly driven her insane. Who would have thought God would tie two such disparate concepts as killing and loving into the same event? Then again, Eve had always thought the Almighty had a sick sense of humor.

  “Probably?” she persisted, picking up on his slight hesitation. “What else could it be?”

  “Well . . . there is the Novium.”

  “The Novium?”

  “It hits Marks right before their mentoring ends and they’ve achieved some autonomy.”

  “So it can’t be that.”

  “Right. It’s way too soon. So you’re adjusting, that’s all.”

  She kicked at the ground. “Sucks.”

  “I bet. As for you jumping your classmate . . . He apparently didn’t like what you did, so it’s not sexual. Since that’s the only thing I would give a shit about—aside from you hurting yourself—we’ll just chalk that up to you being you.”

  “I hope you’re not expecting a warm welcome when you get back,” she muttered.

  “Hot and sweaty, actually. Can’t wait.” A seductive purr rumbled across the cellular waves.

  Eve’s mood changed from hot and irritable to hot and bothered. “Better be nice to me, then.”

  “I’ll be very nice to you, angel. You’ve never had any complaints. Now about the dog incident . . . I admit, that bothers me. What is Raguel doing about it?”

  “Nothing that I can see. He told me to let him handle it.”

  “There must be a reason why he’s not pressing the issue.”

  “Apathy?”

  “I know you don’t trust him, so trust me. He’s got it covered.”

  Eve’s free hand went to her hip. “You aren’t here, Alec. He didn’t even blink when Izzie killed that poor dog.”

  “As an archangel, he’s closer to God. I’m guessing the connection is similar to trying to watch television and carry on a conversation at the same time. He’s distracted, not careless.”

  “So you say.”

  “When I’m called to stand before Jehovah, I lose all sense of everything—time, feelings, reality. It’s very . . . serene. I can’t imagine how the archangels make it through their days with that connection open all the time.”

  “Regardless, I’m watching my own back.” She looked around, making sure she was still alone. “I can’t help but think that it’s a little too convenient that Izzie acted when she did.”

  “I know you can’t stay out of trouble, but can you please keep yourself safe?”

  “Ha. So says the man with a naked demon in his shower.”

  The door opened behind her. Eve faced it. Montevista gestured her back with a jerk of his chin.

  “I’m being summoned,” she said, as she moved toward the house.

  “Phone on you at all times. Got it?”

  “Hey, I tried to call you earlier and you didn’t answer.”

  “Won’t happen again.” Alec’s voice softened and filled with warmth. “I am here for you, angel, even though I’m not there.”

  “I know.”

  “Try and get some sleep. It’ll help you with the side effects of the transition.”

  “Will do.” She passed Montevista, who held the door open for her, and entered the house. “Stay safe.”

  “Back at ya.”

  Gadara leaned elegantly against the old kitchen countertop, his appearance flawless despite the late hour. She held out the phone to him.

  He traversed the distance between them in the blink of an eye. His fingers wrapped around hers, cooling her temperature with a single touch.

  “Thank you,” he murmured, his dark eyes filled with an age’s worth of knowledge. “Your concern on my behalf pleases me greatly.”

  Although it was contrary to her desire to get her old life back, Eve appreciated the archangel’s praise. “You’re welcome.”

  They shared a brief smile. Gadara took the phone and resumed his conversation with Alec. Eve stepped into the kitchen for a bottle of water before she headed back to the girls’ side of the duplex.

  “Stick close tomorrow,” Richens said, watching her from his position by the sink.

  “Okay.” The whole covert association thing was weird to Eve, but she’d play along at least until she figured out what was going on.

  Edwards grunted. “And try not to be all over the place.”

  “I hope I’m not the only one of us who would have acted first and asked questions later,” she shot back. “With that backpack and shawl over his head, Molenaar didn’t look human. And he was heading toward Gadara.”

  “I am touched,” Gadara called out.

  “Stop eavesdropping.” She glared at him, peeved to find him grinning. It made him look boyish and almost . . . cute. And Gadara wasn’t cute. He was ambitious and blessed with celestial gifts she could only wonder at. He was also on a power trip where Alec was concerned, and she bore the brunt of his machinations. Eve didn’t want to like him. She certainly didn’t want to like his adorable grin.

  “I think your superpowers are messed up,” Edwards muttered.

  Eve grabbed a water bottle from the stash on the counter and headed out. “See you guys in a few hours.”

  Leaving the house with Sydney in tow, Eve headed back to the girls’ side. They rounded the corner and found Izzie waiting in the driveway at the front of the duplex. Without her usual cosmetics, the blonde looked startlingly young and delicate. Her skin was as pale as cream, her features finely wrought. She was as short of stature as Eve, but much less curvy. It looked good on her, as did her rainbow-striped knee-highs and black baby-doll pajamas. Izzie had the appearance of a pixie with a Goth edge.

  Eve eyed her warily. Her inner warning bells went off whenever Izzie was near.

  “Hello.” Izzie straightened from her leaning position against the front of the Suburban.

  “What are you doing out here, Seiler?” Sydney asked.

  “Waiting for Hollis.”

  Both of Eve’s brows rose. Two overtures in one day? After three weeks of cold shoulders? �
��Did you need something?”

  “Can we talk?”

  “I’m listening.”

  They continued forward. Sydney deliberately fell behind.

  “He asked me, too, you should know,” Izzie said.

  “Who asked you what?”

  “Richens.”

  Eve’s steps faltered, then she realized she wasn’t all that surprised. “Really.”

  “He did not tell you?” Izzie sighed dramatically. “He said I was the only female in our class worthy of asking.”

  Ignoring the dig, Eve asked, “Do you know what he’s thinking?”

  Izzie shook her head. “I do not care. There is something wrong with him.”

  There was something wrong with all of them as far as Eve was concerned. And the fate of the world rested, in part, in their hands. How scary was that? “Why are you telling me this?”

  “I thought you would wish to know.”

  “You haven’t told me much of anything yet.”

  The blonde sighed. “Also, I thought perhaps we should join forces, too.”

  “We? As in you and me?”

  “Yes.” The word was said with exasperation, as if Eve was slow to catch on. “Richens has a purpose for why he wants his own group. If we could understand, it would be of use to us.”

  “ ‘We’ as in me, right,” Eve murmured wryly, “since you turned him down?”

  Izzie smiled, but it didn’t reach her blue eyes. “Right.”

  “If you want to know what he’s up to, why didn’t you play along and find out?”

  “Patience is difficult for me.” Izzie glanced aside with a slight smile, her short pigtails swaying in the damp evening air.

  Eve wished she’d been a fan of the reality show Survivor. She might have picked up some tips about how to backstab, a skill she suspected her classmates had long ago mastered. “How old are you, Izzie?”

  “Thirty. Why does that matter?”

  Eve would have guessed that she was younger. She shrugged. “Just curious.”

  “You don’t wish to know why I was marked?”

  “Sure. Are you going to tell me?”

  “No.” Izzie climbed the short steps to the front door and opened it. Her loosely laced Dr. Martens thudded onto the hardwood of the living room. Sydney brought up the rear, locking them inside the house while another guard kept watch outside. Four guards, two for each duplex.