Dark Angel's Ward

by Nia Shay

  "What?" I blinked, nonplussed. "Sara went somewhere without you?"

  "We're not conjoined," she snapped.

  "All right, sorry. Listen, why don't you tell me everything from the beginning?"

  "Okay." Her breath hitched, a sad, childlike sound that made my heart ache. "She got a call last night around seven. She went outside to take it, and I knew it then. I should have stopped her. She told me she was going to the library, but she went to meet that rat bastard ex-boyfriend of hers. I know it!"

  "Calm down, sweetie, you're shouting. Let's think this through." I chewed my lip for a moment. "Now I'm not blaming you or anything, but knowing you, I assume you argued with her."

  She choked out a strangled laugh. "Maybe just a little."

  "Right. So she went away mad, regardless of where she went. Is there anyone she might have spent the night with? One of your friends, maybe?"

  "Maybe, but I've called everyone I could think of. No one's seen her, or Kevin either. And her phone is off. It goes straight to voicemail every time I call. I...I just didn't know who else to turn to."

  So she'd prayed. Not to God, but to me and my half-angel lover. I fought back a shudder at the very notion. At least it had worked. "Don't worry," I told her. "You did exactly right."

  "Where are you guys? I went by your house and it was all dark."

  "We had to go out of town, but we'll head back right now." I consulted the clock on the phone's base--just past midnight. "I'll wake Zeph and we'll be there before morning. In the meantime, do you have Jordan Radcliff's number?"

  "Yeah. He was one of the first people I called. He doesn't know where she is."

  "Never mind that. I want you to call him back and ask him to come right over and pick you up. You stay at his place until you hear from either Zeph or I. All right?"

  "Why?" Suspicion sharpened her watery tone.

  My grip tightened on the handset as I offered her the least likely of my fears. "Kevin's not especially fond of you, either. If he's done something to hurt Sara, there's no saying he won't try to come after you next. I don't want you to be alone."

  "But what if Sara comes home and I'm not here?"

  "Then she'll call you, and you'll tell her to get her butt over to Jordan's too. Listen, let me hang up and get going now, okay?"

  "All right. How do I get in touch with you if she comes back?"

  "When she comes back," I corrected firmly. "And you can't. My phone's dead, remember? I'll call you again as soon as we're back in town. Promise."

  "Okay. And, Jade?"

  "Yeah?"

  "Thanks."

  My breath left me in a rush. If Sara was in as much trouble as I suspected, she shouldn't be thanking me for anything. "It's all good," I said around the sudden lump in my throat. "I want you to call Jordan the second you hang up with me, all right?"

  "What am I supposed to tell him?" she asked.

  "That you need a friend right now." I wiped an errant tear from my cheek with the back of my hand. "Hold on, Care. We'll be there soon."

  "Hurry."

  "We will." I hung up the phone, dropped it into its cradle, and charged up the stairs at a dead run. To hell with stealth. I no longer cared how much noise I made, and I certainly didn't want to overhear anything else.

  Zeph didn't stir when I crashed through the door to our borrowed room, so I seized one long bare foot and shook it. "Wake up," I said, pitching my voice loud. "We have to go back."

  "Jandra?" He rose up on one elbow, blinking. "What's the matter?"

  "I said, we have to go back to Weston. Right now. Where are my keys?"

  "In my pocket, I believe."

  "Great." I slung the overnight bag onto my shoulder, then picked up his jeans and rifled through the pockets. I extracted the keychain and tossed the pants in his lap. "Get dressed and meet me in the car. Hurry."

  "Jandra." He sat up and caught my forearm as I tried to hustle past. "What's going on?"

  My tears spilled over, the tears I'd only been holding at bay because I'd been moving too fast for them to catch up with me. "Sara's gone missing."

  "Oh, no." His face took on a distant, listening expression. A long moment later he confirmed my worst fears-- "The Society has her."

  "I know that." I jerked my arm away. "That's why they didn't bother to track us. They already had their insurance policy in hand." The way I figured it, they'd been grabbing her right about the time we'd left Ciao Bella. "Damn it!" I swung a kick at the bed frame. "This is all my fault!"

  "No, Jandra. The fault is mine. The twins wouldn't be involved in any of this if not for me. But laying blame won't help Sara." He pinned me with a somber look. "You're right, we must go back. I'll turn myself in so they'll release her."

  "That's not going to happen, either," I shot back fiercely. "I'm not into trading lives. We'll get Sara back and make them leave you alone."

  "How do you plan to do that?"

  "I don't know yet." I hitched the bag higher on my shoulder. "Come on, get dressed. We'll figure something out on the way."

  "Very well." His expression still doubtful, he picked up his jeans and began to turn them right side out.

  I didn't wait around to argue with him any further. I hurried down the hall again, the overnight bag pounding a sullen rhythm against the small of my back as I ran. The door to the master suite had been pulled shut. Scowling, I flipped it off as I stepped onto the stairs.

  It turned out I needn't have wasted the effort. As I made my way into the living room, a tall white shape rose from the chair nearest the front door. "Stop where you are, Warden." Ryphan's voice chimed like an iron bell. "I'm afraid I can't allow you to leave."

  Twenty-Two

  "Oh, there you are. Good." I grinned savagely at him, raising my middle finger again. "This is for you and your hospitality. I'm so glad I got to deliver it in person after all. Now get the hell out of my way."

  "I think not." He levered an eyebrow at me. "I sensed your presence earlier, you know. I didn't feel it necessary to rouse myself and deal with you at the time."

  "And?" I prompted when he fell silent. "This is where you say, 'You've seen too much,' or 'You'll never leave this place alive.' Some kind of cheesy villain line. Oh, and don't forget to rub your hands together in fiendish glee."

  His eyes blazed to life again. "Foolish woman!"

  "Ooh," I mocked. "Scary, scary." What a pity those eyes were one of the loveliest shades of blue I'd ever seen in my life. If I'd had a fork in my hand, they'd have been rolling across the floor.

  "Do you think to threaten me?" he spat, an equal amount of mockery coloring what should have been a barren nephilim tone.

  "You know, I really don't have time for this." I moved to shoulder past him and out the door, but he stood his ground, crossing his arms over his bare chest.

  "What will you do, now that you've seen? Will you run and cry foul to your precious masters?"

  I sighed my impatience. "Listen, you sick fuck. Believe it or not, I'm not real fond of the Society either, and I've got much bigger fish than you to fry right now. Okay, so I caught you breaking about a zillion laws just now, but Zeph and I screwed on your silk sheets, so let's just call it even, shall we?"

  Footsteps sounded on the stairs behind me. Ryphan's bright eyes shifted, dimming for a barely perceptible instant. Then he turned his attention back to me, scowling openly now. "I don't fear you," he sneered. "Neither one of you."

  "Oh, no?" I couldn't hold back a chortle as the pieces of the puzzle fell together in my mind. "Better watch it, Ryphan. You're telling on yourself."

  "I don't know what you mean. And I told you not to call me by that name."

  I shrugged. "Whatever you say, Asshole."

  "Jandra?" Zeph's hand closed over my shoulder from behind. "What's going on here?"

  "Oh, nothing much." I shrugged him off, advancing a step on the bristling Ryphan. "But I think I just figured out why Asshole here says I'm not his type." I poked him hard in the center of his ch
est. "Because I'm not afraid of him." Another poke. "And I never will be." Poke. "And you like your women cowed and helpless. Don't you, Asshole?"

  I'm sure it looked ridiculous--the guy had more than a foot of height on me, and his eyes still blazed like hellfire. But not, I'd realized, with anger. He fell back from my taunting because he was afraid. Fear may have been his aphrodisiac, but siphoning was a double-edged blade. And right now he had a bellyful of that poor girl's mindless terror, amplifying his own fear of being caught and executed for his perversion. So much so that he hadn't even come up with a decent threat to throw at me.

  "You are pathetic and loathsome and vile," I went on, punctuating each insult with a jab, until I had him backed up into the entryway. "Now move."

  He didn't, but Zeph, who'd been following behind us in quiet amazement, echoed my command in his most musical voice. "Move from the doorway, Belleryphan."

  To my surprise, that did the trick. His words echoed in the narrow space, driven by the force of his will. Hell, even I felt compelled to step aside. And Ryphan actually whimpered, his expression finally reflecting the panic he'd worked so hard to conceal. It struck me as odd that he'd managed to keep it hidden at all--his own physiology should have made it impossible. We were dealing with one seriously weird dark angel here.

  Now wasn't the time to ponder it, though. With a mental note to mention my concerns to Zeph later, I shoved past Ryphan as he shuffled aside. "Live in fear," I added, glaring. At least one of us knew how to do this villainous threatening crap the right way.

  "Let us go now, Jandra," Zeph chided. "Time is of the essence."

  "I know. I'm going. And the next time we travel, I'm picking the accommodations." I cackled as he slammed the door in Ryphan's ashen face. "Now that was cathartic."

  "Agreed." Zeph lifted the overnight bag from my shoulder as we hustled down the front steps. "But the situation hasn't changed."

  "Jeez, I know that, all right?" It was just a hell of a lot more fun to crow over my little victory than to contemplate how screwed we were going to be once we got back to town.

  I tossed him the keys and slid into the passenger's seat without complaint. We didn't have time to argue over who took the wheel this time. Besides, I hadn't really slept. At least he'd gotten a power nap.

  As we rolled back down the driveway, my eyes sought the upper-level windows. I said a silent prayer for Ryphan's poor Siphon, my guts twisting with guilt at leaving her there in torment. How many others had he victimized? Hell, his entire staff might be on the menu. No wonder they all hid in their rooms like mice in between summons.

  "Jandra?" Zeph glanced over at me as if sensing my inner turmoil. "What is it?"

  For a long moment I debated telling him--I knew what his reaction would be--but he did need to know. "That bastard is siphoning from his servants. I caught him red-handed."

  "What?" He slammed on the brakes, sending us skidding to a stop on the gravel drive.

  "Whoa, watch it! There's nothing we can do about it right now, okay? Especially not if you flip the damn car and kill us both." I pried my fingers loose from their death grip on the armrest and touched his shoulder. "Listen, what Ryphan's doing to those people is awful, but they'll survive the night. If we don't get to Sara, she might not."

  He closed his eyes and put the car in park, reaching up to lace his fingers through mine. "You're right, of course."

  "I'm sorry. I wish I wasn't." I squeezed his hand. "But hey, it did work to our advantage just now. We might've had to fight our way out of there, but Asshole just happens to be a fear junkie. That's the only reason I was able to psyche him out like that."

  "Not the only reason," he muttered.

  When he didn't elaborate, I asked, "What do you mean?"

  He stared off out the windshield. "There was an odd light in your eyes. I've never seen anything quite like it before."

  "Scarier than usual, huh?"

  "No. More fierce, perhaps. Which I wouldn't have thought possible."

  I chuckled at the backhanded compliment, but he didn't say anything more. He reached for the gear shift again, reluctance showing in his every move. "I'm not happy about leaving them either," I said. "Damn. I am so sorry I ever accused you of siphoning. I didn't even know until tonight how awful it really is. That poor girl...she looked like a mummy."

  Zeph froze for an instant, then turned burning eyes on me. "So you understand now? You believe I would never do that to you?"

  I nodded, shrinking back a little in my seat, unnerved by the intensity of his reaction. He followed me, leaning in to press an ardent kiss to my lips.

  "Good." He all but growled the word.

  "Put your seat belt on," I scolded breathlessly. "Let's get going."

  *****

  The drive from my home to Ryphan's had taken us almost four hours. He made the return trip in less than three, pushing the speed limit as far as I'd allow without complaint. Along the way, we agreed to return and deal with Ryphan as soon as possible.

  We didn't, however, come to an agreement on how to proceed against the Society. Zeph had once again fixated on noble self-sacrifice, and I wouldn't hear it. I wouldn't lose him now, not when I'd only just let him back into my heart. There had to be a way to save everyone. Unfortunately, I had no idea how.

  We couldn't exactly strategize, since we had no idea what we'd be up against. Zeph couldn't say for sure where Sara might be, or who had her. That suggested her captor wasn't entirely human, either. Maybe another dark angel, still under Society control, had taken her, one with the ability to mask his psychic presence. Or perhaps Briggs, with his apparent resistance to nephilim power.

  We talked in circles, but finally concluded we'd be going in without a game plan. Again. I forced his promise to reserve suicide as a last resort, and he in turn demanded I admit that his death would be preferable to Sara's. As the Weston city limits came into view, I fought off the sinking feeling in the pit of my stomach and strove for confidence. But my hands shook, and my throat had gone bone dry. Where was the Amazing Wonder Woman when I needed her?

  "Where to?" Zeph asked softly as he exited the interstate.

  "Let's go back to the house for now. I need to call Cara and see if she's heard anything new. We'll need a base of operations anyway."

  He nodded. "And if there have been any ransom demands made, they would most likely have been left there."

  "Good point." I shot him a wry smile. "Once we have more information, maybe we can try the whole formulating-a-plan bit again."

  "Perhaps."

  We coasted to a stop at a red light, though no other cars waited at the intersection. Not a creature was stirring at this hour. He put the car in park and looked over at me. "Come here."

  Frowning, I leaned forward. "What is it?"

  He didn't answer, at least not verbally. He reached for me instead, one hand cradling the back of my head, and pulled me as close as my seatbelt would allow. He must have unfastened his own belt while I'd been brooding, because suddenly his mouth pressed mine, bruising and sweet. His tongue pierced the seam of my lips. I sucked in a startled breath, but surrendered to the urgency of his kiss.

  The light had cycled through green and back to red again by the time he pulled back, his bright eyes intent on my unfocused ones. "I love you, Jandra. Do you believe me now?"

  "Yes," I whispered. "Yes, I do."

  His hand fisted in my hair and he squeezed his eyes shut, as if feeling the relief of a weight lifted from his soul. It would've been the perfect moment for me to say those three little words back to him, but I knew what he was up to, and I wouldn't play along. I tweaked the tip of his nose so he looked at me again. "I'm still not planning on you dying tonight, Zeph."

  "Still, I wanted to tell you now. There may not be time to say it later."

  "Haven't I told you about a hundred times already? If anyone's going to kill you, it's going to be me."

  He smiled wanly. "I'll bear that in mind."

  We spent the rest of
the drive in silence. As we turned onto my street, I found myself thinking of the neighborhood kids all snug and safe in their beds. It could have been any one of them stolen away from their families tonight, had I allowed myself to get close to any of these people. A crushing wave of guilt washed over me. I'd never even liked this place, and yet I'd endangered every other person who lived here with my very presence.

  Never again, I told myself. Assuming I could get us out of this mess alive, I wouldn't put any other innocents at risk of the Society's wrath. If it meant Zeph and I had to live like nomads and die friendless, so be it. We were, as I'd told him before, dangerous creatures.

  "There's a light on in the house," Zeph said, startling me out of my wretched thoughts.

  I looked up, my eyes widening. "Shit!" It was an upstairs room--not the same one he'd been using, but the one I'd first offered to him. No one had been in there for days. No chance the light had been left on by mistake. "There's your ransom demand right there," I muttered. Why else would someone have broken in?

  "What shall we do?"

  "Drive past the house," I instructed. "Park at the other end of the street and we'll walk back. No point in giving up the element of surprise."

  He complied, but I barely waited for the car to slow at the curb before I tore my door open and leapt out at a sprint. He killed the engine and caught up with me in seconds, his long stride eating up the ground effortlessly. He tossed me the keys and asked, "What is our plan now?"

  "We're going straight in the front door to confront them," I huffed back.

  "And when will the element of surprise come into play?"

  "Hell, I don't know. They're holding all the cards, Zeph. Until we know what's going on in that room, we can't afford to do anything reckless."

  "Agreed."

  So we arrived at my doorstep sweaty and out of breath for no particular reason. I unlocked the front door as quietly as I could and held a finger to my lips, motioning Zeph to follow me. The living room was dark, but I'd never needed a light to find my way around in here.

  I crept up the stairs, keeping my eyes fixed on the rim of brightness that marked the bedroom doorway. As I got closer, I saw it had been left slightly ajar. Whoever sat inside had probably heard our every stealthy movement on the way in.