by Brianna West
“Why the hell did you do that?! Now I'll have to sleep on the floor,” I stated in a huff.
“You will not,” Lucas denied seriously, despite the smile permanently plastered on his face since our leaving the lobby. “I shall sleep on the floor while you take the bed. I require very little sleep and have no complaints with the floor.”
“Speaking of which,” I said as I slid the key through the slider. The door clicked. I jerked it open and stalked inside. “Don't vampires burn in the sun? Why is it that you don't?”
“Full-blooded vampires cannot walk in pure sunlight, that is correct,” he agreed as he followed me inside.
I threw his coat off of me and onto the bed, hating that it now drew my attention to the only bed in the room.
Like I was an ass enough to make my boss sleep on the floor.
Lucas continued as he sat upon the bed as if we hadn't been discussing it just moments before. “However, I am part angel and do not burn with the sun. While most of my characteristics suggest otherwise: my need of blood, speed, strength, and lack of magical abilities. I do harbor some of my angelic father's characteristics.”
The conversation had instantly veered from informative to awkward all in one sentence. I remembered that Lucas' parents were a sore subject. I did my best to derail from that.
“So what angelic abilities do you have?” I asked.
“I can heal minor wounds,” he replied nonchalantly as he discarded his shoes.
I was momentarily stunned by his statement as he went about removing his shirt. And just as suddenly, I was unable to gather my thoughts as the muscles that I had been, until now denied the view of, rippled and clenched before me.
The sheer definition was astounding. How did he not go to the gym every hour of the day with definition like that?!
I watched his torso like a fat man watched a seven-layer cake.
Holy hell, I was definitely in trouble.
“What about the wound from earlier?” I was referring to the one that the scaly bastard gave to me at the bar.
“I healed it for you when I dressed the wound,” he replied nonchalantly. “It was why you did not notice it much afterward.”
Now that he mentioned it...
“Sneaky bastard,” I whispered accusingly.
He smiled at me but said nothing to his defense. I guess he just rolled that way—or rather, healed that way.
Ignoring the glorious muscles now in front of me, I continued my interrogation and did my best to sound unaffected by his half naked form.
“Can angels heal?” I pried.
“Angels can do much more than heal. They can resurrect,” he responded, causing my eyes to go wide and my speech to halt.
He laughed before continuing. “At a cost, Izzy. Resurrection is a last resort for an angel. It could very well erase them from existence. It requires nearly all of their essence to accomplish it. Most angels will not resurrect unless they are prepared to offer their life in return.
"Angels are ageless. They do not grow old and cannot die. When they die in our world, they are merely taken back to Heaven. However, a resurrection requires them to offer their entire being which means they will never exist again at its conclusion.”
The ultimate sacrifice.
“The ultimate sacrifice,” Lucas voiced my internal thought. “I have never seen it in my time, but it has been done before.”
“So do you...?” I asked hesitantly.
Lucas seemed to gather what I meant to ask because he answered without my having voiced it. “I do not know if I have this capability. Victor has said I may possess it. But because I have never have felt the need to use it, I do not know for sure.”
He must keep love at a distance.
“Your parents,” I began without thinking.
Lucas' jaw went taut, and I almost regretted having even directed the conversation to them.
But to my surprise, he responded, “My father gave my mother the ultimate gift of life. He sacrificed himself to save her.”
“Oh,” I breathed.
“And she betrayed him,” he continued, causing my heart to lurch into my throat. “She sided with the Dark, and left me for dead. I was found by Victor, a friend to my father, and he raised me as his own.”
Holy hell. Talk about sordid past.
I was speechless because what the hell did you say to something like that? No wonder he thought love was a curse. I probably would feel the same considering that it caused both the ultimate sacrifice from one parent, and the ultimate betrayal from the other.
Not wanting to reopen old wounds, I sat beside him and changed the subject to something safe.
“So, I've been thinking that I don't mind the floor so much,” I said with a smirk. “You are paying for the room, so I can take the floor.”
He was laughing, and my shoulders dropped with relief. I didn't realize I had been stiff with worry of how he might take my change in topic. It wasn't like I didn't want to hear more; it was quite the opposite, in fact. Instead, it was the look on his face that betrayed his inner thoughts of a vulnerability I would have never thought possible.
His emotional scars ran deep. There was a betrayal in his past that no child should have to face. Not only had his mother betrayed his father, but she had betrayed him—her own son. Being abandoned by the one person that you should always be able to count on in the darkest days, well, that wasn't something that anyone could easily recover from.
So instead, I offered comfort of another sort. Humor with a steamy side of redirection.
My anger had been long since forgotten as I sat beside him, smiling and offering what little I could to ease his emotional wounds.
“We will fight of this all evening if you had your way,” Lucas said in the midst of his chuckles.
I was laughing in response, liking the way his face had smoothed with comfort and good humor. “I did remind you that I was a nuisance. I stated it very clearly today,” I stated objectively.
“You did indeed,” he agreed with a small smile before stretching himself out over the bed.
I took the hint and grabbed a pillow for myself to take to the floor. I'm sure they kept extra blankets around here somewhere.
Before I could go in search of one, I was jerked backwards and gently maneuvered back onto the bed. Lucas laid on his side, his arm serving as a platform for his head. He regarded me with a small smile.
I could feel the coolness of his body, the thrumming of his essence as it bathed me in good intentions that were laced with something that I could only attribute to the close proximity of our bodies.
Licking my lips, I tried to keep my wayward thoughts, currently focused on the masculine power definition in the naked torso in front of me, from straying too far. The last thing we needed was my naughty urges to transition into outright requests.
“What are you doing, Captain Lucas?” I inquired, smirking.
I had resolved to keep my tone light and humor intact. I didn't want him to think that this was all affecting me.
Lucas responded with sliding his body towards me and resting one large, heavy arm on my middle. “The only way to come to any sort of arrangement that suits both of us is to share the bed,” he answered judiciously.
Nope, that was definitely not going to work.
“I think I'd rather just sleep on the floor,” I declared.
As if to prove he was unmovable on the subject, his arm tightened around me and pulled me flush against him.
Oh, dear lord. I was already having a hard enough time with keeping my eyes to myself.
I pressed my hands against the coolness of his chest, relishing the feel of hard and soft, and pushed as arduously as I could muster. It was fruitless. He would not budge despite putting every bit of strength I had in my five-foot-five frame into the effort.
“Jesus...what are you...the bionic man?” I managed between heavy pants, finally ceasing my struggles and relaxing against him.
I told myself that I
was tired, and it would be worthless to try to get out otherwise. But I knew that the bigger part of me wanted to be held by him. I wanted to feel his hard body against my soft one. I wanted to discover every ridge, every smooth curve of flesh beneath my questing fingertips. But for now, I settled for just feeling his body against mine.
Lucas was smiling, his face having relaxed from its earlier grief and upsetting recollection. After concluding I would no longer fight him—I was just too damn tired—he let me go and covered us both with the duvet.
“I am a vampire seven-hundred and six years older than you. I doubt you could do anything to me that I did not already want,” he teased.
“Says the vampire that had his ass kicked and thrown into a wall just a few days—“ A hand covered my mouth before I could finish.
“That was an occurrence that will not be repeated now that I am better informed of the strength of your power,” he declared.
I pulled away from the hand with a laugh. “Sure it won’t.”
“Just go to sleep,” he demanded as he turned his back towards me and made his point very clear.
Playful banter time was over.
I turned over, keeping my back to him. It was hard enough that we had to share the bed. I wasn't going to let him catch sight of my drooling face.
I realized belatedly that I still had the tight black dress on, but I was too tired to care as I slipped easily into dreamland.
Chapter Five
Morning—I still hated it.
I was still half asleep when I felt the body against my own, cold where I was warm. I attempted to turn, but a large arm imprisoned my body and made movement impossible. I wracked my brain for an explanation.
Did I get down and dirty with someone last night? I only had one whiskey sour, but let's just say, I'm a cheap date.
Let's see.
Last night, I went to the bar looking like a hoochie with Lucas. I noted that I was still in said hoochie dress. We got our information from the Pervert Twins before coming to the hotel. Or was it motel? I was still unsure what the place coded as. Then, I got into bed with a delicious Guardian after a small window into his sordid past.
Which meant this was...
“Captain Lucas,” I whispered.
Mumbling, Lucas pulled me flush against him, my body now spooned entirely with his own.
Oh, dear lord. I could not start my day on max!
I attempted to escape the vice-like hold he had on me. First, I pulled the arm about my waist that was probably as heavy as one of my legs.
No good. Moving on...
I pushed myself back against him, ignoring the hardness I felt in my larger-than-I-would-care-to-admit buns, and attempted to dislodge myself that way.
Dear lord, this bastard slept like the dead—pun fully intended. I laughed minutely at my humorous thoughts, fully aware of how crazed I might look should anyone be unfortunate enough to stumble in upon this ridiculous scene, before putting the full weight of me into the fetal attempt to escape my current imprisonment.
A hot breath against my neck caused my body to be wracked with delicious shivers. The small thrusting of his hips against my backside was just as delicious but caused a series of curses from my mouth at the situation I now found myself.
Don't get me wrong. I wanted to jump Lucas' bones and would have if I were not thinking about the inevitable repercussions.
Lucas was not only my boss and the most brooding half-vampire, half-angel I knew—honestly, he was the only one I knew—but he also had a little bit of past when it came to love.
His parents were on opposing teams, and let's just say, it didn't end well.
“For the love of god,” I growled as my attempts led only to my being completely out of breath. “Lucas!” I shouted. “Get the hell up!”
His responding groan and shift of weight caused my nether regions to respond in betrayal. I was definitely all hot and bothered, especially after the dry humping which nearly caused me to abandon my conscience and let the good ol' Captain have his way with me.
The arm that had been imprisoning me lifted, and I all but scurried out of the bed like a frightened animal. I pulled down the length of my dress, as it had all but exposed my bottom half, and pulled up the collar in attempts of hiding the cleavage that had turned into full breast exposure during my efforts this morning.
“Izzy,” Lucas whispered huskily, causing my body to react with renewed lust.
No! Bad girl.
I did my best to appear put out and glared at the man causing my body to shake with need. I needed to jump him, but I wouldn't even if he begged me. Okay, maybe if he begged me since I'm pretty sure even I didn't have that much willpower.
Lucas sat upright, the bedding pooling around him and exposing his bare torso. I eyed him hungrily, watching every tremble of his flesh as he stretched in the morning light.
Dammit, why did my boss have to be so goddamn delectable?! I was a starved woman.
“Did you sleep well?” he asked when he finally stretched out all the kinks.
It had been a very difficult few minutes for me. I was nearly quaking with unresolved lust and in desperate need of a bathroom and cold shower. I wasn't even sure cold showers worked the same way for women, but I was damn well going to try!
I swallowed around my dry throat, readjusting to hide my weak knees. “Good, I guess,” I offered lamely. “Though, this morning proved a bit challenging.”
“My sincerest apologies,” he replied sheepishly. “I am unused to the company of another in my bed. I have a tendency to seek the comfort of a pillow or two during the night. You were quite soft and warm so—“
“Whatever,” I interrupted angrily. I was trying to ignore the elation I felt with his disclosure. “Let's just forget it ever happened,” I demanded before escaping to the bathroom with the training clothes I had worn the day before.
After a very long, very cold shower and a bit of makeup application, I resurfaced to find Lucas on a laptop with a small cup of what I only assumed was blood beside him.
He had thankfully put on a shirt and new pair of pants, but it did little to hide the muscles I had been ogling all morning. The dark red shirt hugged his body, as did most of his clothes, and denim jeans tightly bound his massive thighs and pert backside. Not that I was looking. He had his hair styled to perfection about his face as he typed with a speed no person could obtain without some sort of super power.
His head jerked towards me as soon as I entered, sapphire-blue eyes lighting with silent interest. I know he was wondering why I would bother myself with makeup today, but I was damn well not going to tell him.
Sometimes a girl wanted to be pretty. It had absolutely nothing to do with him and his man-muscles.
I sat beside him, relishing the deep musk and mint mix that wafted from him. There was a very faint shadow of a beard that curved around his strong jaw. I had an urge to run my fingers over it, testing to see how it might feel. Instead, I turned my gaze towards the laptop he was busying himself with.
“What are you looking at?” I inquired curiously.
Lucas glanced towards me before returning his eyes to the screen. “I am searching the police records in the area for Robert Jones. It would seem they have located no one by the name or description in the area. I've been going through the government database, but I have found nothing that would clue me to his whereabouts. It would seem he is using an alias.”
“You can do that?” I asked incredulously. “I thought those files were confidential.”
“I can do much more than just this,” he responded with a small, sexy grin. “We are much more informed and creative than any government on this earth. We have no restrictions when it comes to receiving information. I will have to email Victor to see if one of our informants may have heard his name in the Underworld.”
“Underworld...” I repeated softly.
Lucas stopped and turned towards me. “The Underworld harbors all of the Dark. Demons rule the Under
world while those that fall under their command can both enter and leave at will; although, it is under orders from the demons that command it. It is similar to a military base of sorts. You have rankings and levels of command.”
Well, I guess that made sense.
Images of demons wearing official uniforms, weapons, and medals of ranking and honor appeared in my head. I laughed as half of them just looked outright ridiculous.
“So Robert Jones would be a lower ranking demon then?” I concluded.
Lucas smiled and nodded. “Correct. He would be similar to a private or officer ranking. Most demons sent to retrieve are merely low demons that are commanded by an arch-demon.”
I had heard about arch-demons before, but I was still unsure what they were. So I asked, “What ranking would an arch-demon be?”
“They would be similar to a General,” Lucas responded as he returned to his previous activity. “Each arch-demon commands a variant amount of lower demons. Most do not interact with each other as they do not take orders from others and care only for their own self-interests, but in the overall mix of it, there are also levels of arch-demons. Some are stronger and more powerful than others.”
Well, that's nice to know. I had one of those nasty things after me.
“Did Blondie discover anything over in Eureka?” I asked as I thought back to the dirty Russian who had stolen a kiss before I left yesterday.
Lucas closed his laptop and placed it into the luggage he had retrieved, probably while I was in the shower, from the car.
“He was able to locate the missing person. Her memories had been erased from her kidnapping, but at least she was found alive. We are not sure if her disappearance is connected. He will be joining us at the end of the day once he had resolved there is nothing more to learn,” he informed me.
At least one of them had made it out alive.
“He'll be coming here?” I asked, hopeful.
I was glad to have my Lucas buffer back, but I refused to share a room with both of them. Maybe we could all get separate rooms this time around.
“His abilities will help us track this Robert Jones,” Lucas informed as he stood from the bed and lugged the packed items over his shoulder.
