The men rose and quickly left the place. Ray handed Devlin his set of keys and told him he’d met him at the car. The room cleared of everyone but Ray, Samuel, Thalya and Karl.
Ray came around to stand in front of Samuel. “Samuel, I—I’m sorry. But Devlin showed up and Chris came by last night and started telling Dev and me about what’s been happening in LA. Then Eric reported in and told me what had gone down in the park.” He pushed his hand through his short-cropped blond hair. “Chris started talking a bunch of stuff about having to take a firmer stance and hell, with what’s been happening around here lately, I guess I just panicked.”
“Don’t let it happen again,” Samuel said.
“I’m sorry I didn’t trust your judgment,” Ray confessed. “I should have known better. Would you like me to come with you?”
“If you need help,” Karl spoke up too. “I’ll come along for backup.”
“What? Don’t you guys trust me to take care of him?” Thalya smiled, so the men would know not to take offense.
“I can take care of myself.”
She grinned. Her words right back at her. Her kind of man. The more time she spent in his company, the more she wanted to do so. It seemed wrong on so many levels, but she couldn’t help herself, she couldn’t stay away. She should never have followed him tonight. He had already proven himself quite capable of taking on a soulless, so he could certainly handle a bunch of human hunters. Still, her concern appeared unusual. An instinctual response, she assured herself…not an emotional one.
All things considered, she thought it went well. He had his hunters under control with the exception of one. Chris bore watching. She sensed his hatred for her kind as well as Samuel, and that he thought Samuel no better than the soulless. If fact, he detested Samuel more. His kind of hate acted like a cancer on his soul. Of course, Samuel would sense his loathing, just not how deep. She wondered what had happened between the men.
“Karl, why don’t you and Ray take off?” Samuel urged. “I appreciate the offer, but I know this is not for you. Get back to your wife, and Ray, spend time with your girlfriend. One of these days she’s either going to give up on you or follow you to find out exactly what it is you do.”
“Yeah, I know,” Ray replied. “You’re right. I either have to tell her or cut her loose. I better go. Karl, do you need a lift?”
“Yes, thanks. I don’t envy you, man. At least I don’t have to worry any more about my wife knowing. I told her everything last night after I got home. No more lies and you know what, she loves me no matter what. I’m not quite sure she believed me, but she’s glad I’m out.” He turned to Thalya. ”Whatever you did showed me the only way for me to clear my conscious and keep my marriage strong was to come clean about everything with my wife. So, for what it’s worth, last night you were my angel. Thank you.”
Like a queen granting a benediction, she inclined her head. “You’re welcome.”
Karl turned to Samuel. “And one more thing, Brenda’s two and a half months pregnant.”
Samuel smiled and pulled Karl into a hug, while Ray patted him on the back. “Congratulations, Karl,” Samuel said, standing back and squeezing his arm. “That’s great news. I’m going to be a great uncle several greats removed.”
They all laughed.
After all the congratulations, Thalya watched the two men walk out of the empty room and take the elevator, leaving her alone with Samuel.
Even though they didn’t touch, his gaze roved over her like a lovers caress.
She turned to him, knowing he had been patiently waiting for everyone to leave. “At least one person believes I can do good. Before you go all macho arrogant on me, sorry I followed you. I know you can take care of yourself. Remember I watched you take on a soulless.” She shrugged, unsure herself really why she’d care one way or another. “I just wanted to make sure your people didn’t give you a hard time for—well…me.”
Samuel crossed his arms over his solid chest.
She wanted to sigh just staring at it. Better yet, she wanted to touch, but instead raised her eyes to his face, so she could pay attention to what he had to say. But his beauty made it difficult to concentrate on much else, even if he frowned at her.
“As you can see, I didn’t need your help. But it was a nice thought.”
“I thought so. I can do nice. I’m an angel, after all.” She grinned.
He couldn’t hold a frown against her for long.
Moving even too fast for him to see, she stood in his arms. She wrapped her hands in all of his soft silky hair, pulling off the band holding it in a ponytail so she could run her fingers through it as he drew her up full-length against him. His heart thudded against her chest. She stared up at him and said softly. “Tell me about Chris.”
At first, he hesitated. “What’s there to tell? You already know he hates me.”
“That’s a non-answer and there’s clearly more. Why?”
He stepped away from her embrace.
For a minute, she didn’t think he would tell her.
Finally, he began to talk. “Chris was married to someone I had been involved with. It was over between us long before she married Chris. I’ve never allowed myself to get close to human women, to have to explain to them what I did, what I am. That I wouldn’t grow old.” Samuel shook his head. “It wouldn’t have been fair to either one of us.”
“Did you love her?”
He glanced at her, then away. “I thought I did.”
“And she loved you. So, what happened?”
“She thought she did.” He shrugged and folded his arms across his chest. “But then she met Chris. Chris never told Tammy about being a hunter, what he did, what we did.” He sat on the edge of the table. “I think for the same reason I didn’t. We both understood she would have a hard time dealing with that kind of truth. Most humans would, which is why we take such pains to hide your existence from the general population. I wasn’t kidding when I warned Ray his girlfriend might follow him one night to see where he disappeared too. Tammy did.”
“Ah, she followed Chris.”
“Yes. He’d been out on patrol with another hunter and they cornered a soulless woman who had just killed a young couple. Tammy didn’t see that part. She’d caught up with them in time to watch her husband behead a defenseless woman, or so she thought.” Samuel got up and paced back and forth in front of her, his hand shifting through his hair. “Tammy ran off and called me, in a panic, hysterical. Screaming about how she just saw her husband kill a woman and didn’t know what to do. She hid out at some hotel, refusing to go home and wanted to call the police. I managed to talk her out of calling the cops. I tried to get her to call Chris instead and she refused.”
“I don’t blame her.”
“She begged me to meet her and not to say anything to Chris if he called me looking for her. I agreed, but of course, I planned on calling Chris and let him know what had happened. As soon as I’d hung up the phone with her, Chris called me, frantic. He’d been looking for her. He didn’t realize his wife had been there, had witnessed him cut off a soulless’ head, blood spilling all over the place until afterward. Tammy had disappeared before he could explain the situation to her, revealing his true identity as a hunter. He wanted me to help him find her. I told Chris she’d fled to a hotel and I was on my way there. I made the mistake of telling him the name of the hotel, but I did tell the stubborn SOB to wait for me and not to see her. How she’d been too upset and to let me talk to her first. Then we would talk to her together.”
Thalya shook her head, suspecting the rest.
He stopped pacing, his gaze focused on the table before him. “But Chris had always been hardheaded and jealous of my past relationship with his wife, even though he knew damn well she loved him. He got to the hotel first and didn’t wait for me. Tammy must have seen him coming and ran away from him—again. She dashed into the street, right in front of an oncoming truck. If he had just waited another minute—I’d parked j
ust yards away when I saw her running down the road past the hotel entrance.” He punched the table and it cracked.
Without even flinching, Thalya simply listened as he continued.
“Thirty-some years later and I can still see the details like it happened in slow motion five minutes ago. And still, no matter how fast I move I’m still too late. Tammy ran across the road right in front of an oncoming truck. I ran out of my car and got to her broken body on the side of the road first. Her torso lay twisted in a peculiar angle and she was bleeding from her mouth. Internal injures, the paramedic said later. All Chris could concentrate on then was she took her last breath while I held her in my arms. By the time he made his way over to her, a crowd had gathered on the already busy street, but she was dead. He pushed me away from her and cradled her. To this day, Chris blames me for what happened, believing I turned her against him. He’d rather blame me than himself for his part in her death.”
“And you blame yourself.” She touched his arm before hugging him. “This was not your fault. You played no part in her death.”
“Thank you. I know.”
“Yet you don’t. But it’s true.”
“Still, I needed to hear it. I’ve never told anyone the history between Chris and me. I’m not even sure why I told you. What am I going to do with you?” His voice came out husky, letting her hear his need for her.
Thalya smiled. She’d helped relieve him of some of his guilt and had done so by merely listening. “I have some ideas. But first, I thought we were going to go and see my friend.”
He pulled her closer and lowered his head to rest it against her forehead. The strands of their loose hair, straight and curly, entwined together to create something new, something different. Something better. “You know we can never be, don’t you?” he admitted.
“Yes. I know. But still.”
“I know.”
He kissed her. His mouth covered hers.
She responded to him by allowing it. His tongue entered her mouth and filled it. Thalya used her own to taste him. Something about Samuel fed the emptiness inside without her having to take her emotion of choice from him. She didn’t feed off him; yet she felt sated, as she’d never been filled before. She didn’t understand the explosion of emotion happening between them, what was happening to her. But in his presence, she felt. Lowering her arms, she stepped out of his embrace, and he let her. She held up the elastic brown band for him.
He took it from her and pulled his hair back, replacing it once more in the tidy ponytail he usually wore.
“Pity,” she said. “I like it free.”
He grinned. “Only when I’m relaxed.”
“You mean you’re not relaxed right now?”
“Anything but.” He took a deep breath. “Come on, let’s go. Is this place far?”
“Distance is relative for us, you know that.”
His mouth twisted up at one end in a half smile.
Unable to help herself, she leaned forward and pecked the smiling side. “He lives out in one of those old rambling estates on Long Island’s Gold Coast.”
“Of course, he does. Your kind tend to live well. Let’s go.”
She shrugged. “Just because we have no emotion doesn’t mean we can’t tell the difference between the finer things among humanity and acquire them.”
Samuel took her hand and led the way downstairs to an empty underground parking lot.
“Sweet.” She walked over to the brushed nickel colored Harley with black flaming trim parked right in front of them. “Me like.”
“I thought you might,” he said grinning.
“Softail, right?”
“Yes. Do you know bikes?”
“Not really, but speed appeals to me.”
“I figured it would appeal to you. I had this custom built and I’ve tinkered with it.” He grabbed the extra helmet he kept under the seat and handed it to her.
Placing her hands on her slim hips in an act of defiance, she stared at the helmet. “You’ve got to be kidding?”
“Now, now, I know you have a hard head but we’ve got to obey the traffic laws. The last thing we want is to be stopped by one of New York’s finest. We’re going to be noticed as it is. No cause to give anyone reason to chase us to try to give us a ticket ‘cause you don’t want to put on a helmet.”
“Get real. No cop could catch us. And even if they did, so what? I’ll just send them on their way.”
He narrowed his eyes at her. “Put it on.”
“You’re deliberately spoiling my fun.” Thalya grabbed the helmet out of his hand and yanked it down on her hair, silently watching as he pulled sunglasses out of his pocket and put them on. Damn, he looked like a demon on wheels. “I see you wear your sunglasses at night too.” She took out the Ray Bans she carried around in her pocket in case she ever got caught out in the sun and put them on. “Now, we match.”
He got on first and turned to give her a hand.
The minute she touched his bare palm heat rushed to fill the pit of her stomach and like a rollercoaster ride, her body plummeted to earth while the rest of her remained up in the clouds. A prelude to one heck of a ride.
She rode with her arms wrapped tightly around his narrow waist, her breasts pressed firmly against his solid leather covered back. Her nipples hardened from the contact. The cool air brushing against her face as they sped down the road provided another surprise rush to her system. Thalya shivered. She could also feel the warmth at her chest from the contact with him. How can this be? She held on tighter and pressed her cheek against him. But finally, too soon, they came to the exit and she directed him to her friend’s home.
They turned off the main road onto a side street and stayed on it for about a half mile, then turned again onto a narrow graveled private road. To discourage anyone passing from using the road, a white road sign in large lettering nailed to a giant oak at the beginning of the road proclaimed it a private road. And in smaller print further informed passersby, no trespassing.
They ignored the sign. After traveling for a few more minutes, they came upon an iron gate, blocking the end of the road. Across the black iron gate were letters twined between the bars, in twisted burnt gold colored iron bars spelling the words, Angel Falls. A weathered stone wall about six feet high sprawled in either direction from the gate. The entire look screamed stay away. They stopped in front of the intercom on a pole before the gate.
“Hmm, I see your friend really likes his privacy,” Samuel observed. “Interesting name for an estate.”
“You know I never really thought about the name of this place before. And yes, he does value his privacy, but can you blame him? He only ventures out a few times every half a decade or so.”
He turned his head to look at her. “Can he go so long between feedings?”
She shrugged. “He’s older than I am. And let me tell you, that’s old.”
A slight crackling noise had them turning toward the intercom. “Thalya, babe,” a distorted voice spoke. “Is it another decade already? Who’s the easy rider with you? Not one of us, but not quite human either. Nice bike.”
Before she could respond, the gate swung open.
“I guess that means we can enter,” Samuel quipped, looking over his shoulder at her. “You have interesting friends.”
“He’s probably the oldest and strangest of us all.”
“But if he doesn’t leave this place very often, how would he be able to help us?”
“Because nothing happens among the soulless he isn’t aware of.”
Chapter Nine
The lights from the motorcycle illuminated the gray brick driveway before them. They could see where the tree lined drive ended and the shadow of a large structure lay sprawled on a rise. No lights were on either outside or inside the house, but they drove right up to the place, stopping before the fifteen-foot double doors. Samuel looked at a house the likes of which most people couldn’t imagine. Then again, this was no ordinary home.
A white brick front composed of multiple sections of various heights, covered fifty feet in either direction and several tall windows graced the first floor with darkened interiors even Samuel’s eyesight could not penetrate. Perfectly low cut hedges trimmed the structure. A true mansion built from an era long past, unless you happened to live in this part of Long Island. Or lived through the era.
Hanging their helmets on the handlebars, Thalya got off the bike first and Samuel followed, just as one side of the massive double doors opened and the interior suddenly exploded with light. The glow of which framed the soulless gliding toward them giving credence to Wilhelmina’s claim. If this man didn’t look like an angel, Samuel had no idea what one would look like.
Hair streaked with various shades of blond from burnt gold to sunflower yellow pulled back into a ponytail rested at the nape of his neck. He was not at all into men but damn, this one gave off pheromones making him aware of the male. The soulless walked barefoot across frost-strewn ground right past them, totally ignoring the couple and up to the bike, fixated on it. Passing his hand over the handlebars and sides in a lover like caress, he walked around it.
Samuel glanced at Thalya to see her reaction to the male, suddenly aware of this man in another way, as a rival.
But Thalya stared only at him.
He grinned at her before returning his attention back to the stranger, still scrutinizing his bike.
The man might look like an angel but didn’t dress like one. Even though he had glided out of the house like royalty, the clothing hinted at a contradiction. He dressed in ripped jeans seemingly to have been washed at least a thousand times. Not the artfully factory torn and worn kind, but from actual wear because nothing about its imperfections were perfect. The Henley shirt’s gray color might not have been its original one.
The male raised his head to finally look directly at Samuel. His eyes were the same deep bottomless dark pit of black, like all the others. If possible, maybe even darker than most soulless. Quite a feat to have eyes that look even deader.
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