by Marie Harte
Sweat beaded his brow as his body readied for another go, and he forcibly thought of anything guaranteed to kill his erection. His sister, his father, Uriel…ah, there. Standing outside the door to the sway’s condo, he took a deep breath.
“Are we going in, or are we going to wait because you’re making some stupid point?”
He noted the dismay on her features, the twist of irritation on those pouty lips, and again he forced himself to see Uriel in his mind’s eye. Because if he kept staring at her mouth, he’d imagine her pleasing him the way Sarah had begged to not so long ago. He turned his body toward the door.
“My point?”
“That you’re in charge.” She closed the distance between them and swung him around to face her. By hell’s fires, her brown eyes lit with an inner anger that made her entire body burn. He could literally see wisps of rage smoking off her, something he’d never considered possible from the holy half of the Ethereal. “Look, buddy. I may be younger than you, okay, a lot younger than you. And I may be a fairly new angel, but that doesn’t give you the right to take charge at a whim. Uriel put me in the lead. And I do my job proudly, with honor.”
Duncan couldn’t take his eyes from hers. Amber? Whiskey? The chocolaty-brown color lightened considerably. No, honey. That was it. He was drowning in a large pool of syrupy sweetness he wanted to devour.
“Are you even listening to me?” Her voice rose, breaking his concentration.
“Ah, right. You’re in charge. Fine.” Duncan bowed and stepped back, but the scowl still plastered to her face told him she didn’t appreciate his abdication.
“Good.”
He said nothing, merely stared at her, wondering what it would be like to be inside her when he came. Lust, his constant companion around Sapphira, swelled again, and he said to hell with any notion of distancing himself from her. Time to go with what felt right and use it to his advantage.
“Well?” He leaned on the guy’s doorjamb. At her blank look, he grinned. “You have no idea what to do now, do you? Just how many souls have you swayed, sweetheart?”
Her lips thinned in displeasure. “The name is Sapphira.” She blushed furiously. “And just because I let you take pleasure back there, don’t assume it means you can take anything else.”
“Okay.” He wanted to laugh. The mutiny in her face only accentuated her beauty, that even in a pique this particular angel shone with a magnificence equaled only by hellfire. “What would you have me do, great leader?”
“Ass,” she muttered under her breath. “Knock on the door, what do you think?”
He knocked and they waited. Moments later, a trim, middle-aged man smiled at them.
“Can I help you?”
“Ah, actually…” Sapphira blinked, and Duncan could almost hear her trying to come up with something plausible.
“We just moved into 529B downstairs, and my wife swears you’ve got a leaky pipe dripping onto our ceiling. We just wanted to see if you noticed any problems with your plumbing.”
Nathan frowned. “Not that I know of, but I’ve been out of town a few days. My wife might know. Come in, come in.” He closed the door behind them and introduced himself.
“I’m Duncan, and this is Sapphira.”
“What a lovely name,” Nathan said with a warm smile. Yet underneath his welcome, Duncan sensed the lusty fury twisting his gut into a haze of gluttonous desire. Nathan, apparently, had hungers well beyond the norm. A twist to Duncan’s energy and the room darkened in his gaze. Ah, there it was. Duncan peered deeper and saw that Nathan had acted upon his urges when he shouldn’t have, with women and boys a lot less willing than Nathan liked to pretend. And heaven wanted his soul? No fucking way.
Sapphira, however, didn’t seem to find anything odd about Nathan, or his biddable wife, Colleen. They made small talk as his angel lied through her teeth.
“We just love living here,” Sapphira gushed. “Duncan and I like to walk in the park and feed the deer.”
“Yeah,” Duncan agreed, bemused by how easily she told untruths.
“Colleen and I love the park. It’s especially a great place for kids. You two have any?” Nathan’s interest zeroed in on Sapphira.
Sapphira blushed. “No. My sister has twins, and boys seem to run in the family.”
“We don’t have kids yet, but not for lack of trying,” Duncan added with a grin. “Sapphira wants a bunch, right, honey?”
“Four boys who look like you, sweetheart,” she teased, batting her eyes at Duncan.
His angel lied like a champ. Damn, he liked her more and more.
“So, Sapphira.” Nathan seated her next to him on the couch. “How long have you and Duncan been married?” He brushed her ass, as if by accident, and Sapphira smoothed a frown and answered.
Duncan narrowed his gaze, noting that Colleen followed the motion but ignored it. Her overly bright smile and stained soul said much for her state of mind and marriage. Apparently, her lack of ignorance was indeed a bliss of sorts. The woman was well aware of what her husband had done.
With an idea in mind, Duncan remained by the doorway. “Colleen, would you mind terribly if I had something to drink? My throat has been scratchy all day.” He smiled gently, and she rose and approached him, bemused by his Ethereal charm.
“Oh, I’m so sorry. Don’t know where my manners are.” She touched the faded blonde hair now streaked with darker roots, and Duncan imagined she’d once been a pretty woman. But age and an ugly reality had worn her down. Her designer clothes couldn’t mask her unhappiness.
Duncan took her by the arm and felt her body quiver. “Thanks so much.” He ignored the worried glance Sapphira shot him and nodded subtly to the husband. He’d see how well she held her own. Then he followed Colleen Shepherd into the kitchen.
He took the glass of juice she handed him but didn’t drink. Instead, he let his eyes fill with the joy of the Abyss, blue flames overtaking his sight and turning the world into a realm of infinite possibilities. As he’d thought. Colleen was no victim of her husband’s infidelities, but a bitter woman convinced of her own importance.
“So, how long have you known of Nathan’s conquests?” he asked, his voice unfathomably deep.
She blinked, startled into the truth. Her gaze glued to his, she spoke as if she recounted a dream. “Almost since the beginning.” She gave him a hazy smile. “I was Miss Junior Oceana, you know. The prettiest girl in the Shore League. And Nathan was my Prince Charming. We made the most handsome couple. Everyone said so.” Her sing-songy voice changed. “Until I had my first baby. Then he started wandering.”
“So you knew he was raping victims, what, twenty years ago?” He estimated the length of time she’d been married.
“What you call rape, I call persuasion. I never could say no to Nathan. And neither could our first babysitter,” she said bitterly.
Duncan nodded, pleased with her honest hate, and at how easy she was making it for him to guide her to hell. “The fact that the girl was only fourteen didn’t matter to you at all, did it? Nor did the next innocent, or the next victim Nathan preyed upon.”
She shrugged. “They had it coming. He’s my husband. Mine,” she growled, pointing at her chest. “Let me tell you about the bagger at the grocery store who hit on Nathan a few years back.”
As she launched into a disgustingly detailed story about the abuse she could have stopped, Duncan reached out and gave her a slight push, not that she needed much more to start her journey to hell. He fought a grimace, wishing he didn’t have deal with so much filth. Just because he was a demon didn’t mean he liked those he had to sway. Frankly, he despised most of them. The killers of innocence more than the others. But he’d been born for a reason, and with a renewed sense of purpose, he sent Colleen on her right and true path to the Abyss.
As she blathered on, he wondered how his angel was doing with the sway in the other room. Because if Sapphira felt that jerk belonged in heaven, he was going to lose some serious respect for he
r. Of course, that didn’t mean he wouldn’t screw her, just that she’d have to work that much harder to win his favor. A sly smile creased his face, and he nodded absently at Colleen as he fantasized about what he’d have Sapphira do to him first…
Sapphira stared at Nathan Shepherd, confused and agitated that the man didn’t seem to be taking the hint. More than once she’d politely put his hands back on his side of the couch. She’d even subtly moved away from him. But for an apparently mild-mannered man, he moved incredibly fast.
And this lecher was a person Uriel believed belonged in heaven?
“You know, Sapphira, Colleen and I have spent many years together, happily married.”
“That’s nice.” And in his favor. Matrimony was a bond the upper realm held sacred.
“Yes, she lives her life and I live mine.” Nathan smiled, a show of greed that didn’t mesh with the warmth in his gaze. “I have time tomorrow if you’d like me to take a look at your leaky ceiling. What with Duncan probably having to work, I’m sure I could convince the maintenance department of the seriousness of your situation with a quick onceover. I’m friends with the supervisor, you know.”
He reached for her knee and gave it a squeeze that lingered a few seconds too long.
Nothing he said had been inappropriate, but the looks, the accidental touches, smacked of corruption. And, blast it all, she had no sense of that Ethereal sight. Oh, she could tell this individual needed guidance, was on the brink of Decision, but she couldn’t feel what else she needed to do. Perhaps she’d never been meant to sway him. Not every angel was a Decision maker, as Uriel liked to call them. Not like Duncan and his kin.
Duncan, his brother James, and his sister Eve were all Decision makers, and very good ones, according to Uriel. Which was why turning Duncan back toward the true light was so very important. Uriel believed that, with Duncan’s help, the upper realm would finally hold a slight advantage over the lower realm. Not enough to upset the balance, but enough to ensure victory in time for the next battle assumedly brewing between realms. Every hundred years or so the Ethereals took to one realm or the other and fought. And home-court advantage, as Uriel called it, was everything.
Personally, Sapphira didn’t understand why the realms had to fight at all. Keeping the balance and humanity should have occupied them more than thoughts of battle and advantage. Yet, when she’d tried to question Uriel, he’d reminded her of her last punishment for being overly inquisitive. Angered but not letting it show, she’d let the matter drop.
And now she sat across from Mr. Feel Good, trying to convince herself he was just a touchy male and not the monster she could sense pulsing behind placid green eyes. She smiled up at him, and a flash of fear wafted through her. Another’s emotions, a brutal rape of mind and body that passed in a second.
Dizziness assailed her, and to her horror, Nathan comforted her by taking her in his arms.
“Hell. Colleen,” he yelled, even as he rubbed his slimy hand over her back and lower, over the top of her ass. “Bring Sapphira some water. Something’s wrong with her.”
When she collected herself a moment later, she noted Duncan staring down at her in Nathan’s arms, a stoic expression on his face. Nathan didn’t take the hint to release her until she jerked herself out of his embrace. Flushed, she stood, still shaky, but Duncan didn’t step forward one iota to help.
Ticked, she glared at him, but he glanced knowingly at Nathan. “Well?”
“I don’t know.” She crossed her arms, wishing she knew what the hell to do. That’s right, she thought with all her might. I said hell.
“Might I offer some assistance?” His polite tone and laughing eyes irritated her all the more, and she curtly agreed. “Take my hand.”
“Sapphira?” Colleen said as she joined them with a cup in hand.
Took her long enough. But Sapphira’s next thought died as the world took on a hazy, bluish light.
“Look at Nathan, Sapphira.”
She did as Duncan said and saw more than that brief flash of abuse—a lifetime of violence against innocence that made her feel sick. Duncan’s hand tightened over her own.
“Do we offer redemption?”
“What’s wrong with you two?” Nathan frowned. “Colleen, what took you so long?”
“Do we, Sapphira?” Duncan broke the connection between them and took her face in his hands. “He’s yours to sway. The list?” He nodded to the paper she didn’t remember taking from her pocket.
“Forgiveness?” she asked hoarsely, her mind still filled with the vile things Nathan Shepherd had done. “For that?”
Anger filled her, that Uriel made her take this job. That she had to witness such depravity. That Duncan didn’t simply make the choice he knew to be the right one.
The upper realm is filled with forgiveness, child, she’d heard her mother say time and time again. With love and patience, all creatures may flourish and find the Light to sustain us even in the worst of times. Yeah, like when a young girl’s starry-eyed innocence is ripped away by a monster disguised as a soccer coach.
“Screw that.” At Duncan’s questioning look, she shook her head. “He’s all yours.”
With a grin that lit the room, Duncan muttered under his breath. Both Colleen and Nathan went slack, their eyes wide and unseeing. Duncan’s body locked up and seemed to almost grow in size. His eyes burned a sexy wash of demonic blue flame, a sight she’d never before seen and would never forget. She listened as he spoke calmly with Nathan, and before she knew it the process was over before it had begun.
Sapphira had been on the cusp of understanding when Duncan blinked and stepped back. “Sorry to disturb you both.” He took Sapphira’s hand in his and pulled her toward the door. “And since you apparently don’t need any new magazine subscriptions, we’ll be leaving.”
Nathan and Colleen blinked at them and slowly nodded.
“Best of luck with sales,” Nathan said slowly, rubbing his temple. “Like I said, try the floor below us. A lot of them have younger tenants, more into entertainment and gaming magazines, I’d imagine.”
Duncan waved goodbye and had them out the door before Sapphira could protest. She walked with him down the hall toward the elevators and stopped.
“Are you going to explain what just happened?” She couldn’t get the image of Nathan’s misdeeds out of her mind.
“Is it hurting?” Duncan asked softly. “First time, right?”
“Yeah.” She blew out a breath. “But not one word about my inexperience, or I swear—”
He cut her off with a gentle kiss that melted her ire and replaced the terrible images she’d seen with warm, drugging pleasure.
He broke it off and hugged her tight, tucking her chin on his shoulder. “Better?” His husky voice reminded her of just what they’d shared before the Shepherds’ house call, and she squirmed against the hardness pressing her for more.
“Ah, yeah. Thanks.” Sapphira swallowed and stepped back. “What now?”
Duncan shrugged. “Your call, fearless leader. I’m just the lackey, remember?”
He would have to remind her of that. Great. And he was right. She had decided to send Nathan Shepherd to hell. She’d been the one to deny the creep his shot at forgiveness. Oh man. Talk about a major screw up. And not only had she lost the first sway on her list, but she was no closer to convincing Duncan to join heaven’s team.
“I think I need another drink.”
Duncan laughed, and his good mood restored some of her own. “I know just the place.”
“Holy crap! Nice spread.” Sapphira glanced around at the eighteen-hundred-square-foot penthouse apartment overlooking the river. They’d left the Shepherds’ condo and taken a taxi into the city, to Duncan’s private pad.
Pleased to spend the extra time in the Ordinary while she tried to come to grips with what she’d experienced, she listened to Duncan’s soothing voice charm her into feeling the vibrancy of the world she’d missed. He tipped the cabdriver after pay
ing an enormous fee, and they took the elevator right up into his living room.
Hardwood floors were buffeted by floor-to-ceiling windows, letting in the fading light of the day. White-washed walls and patches of actual brick filled the adjoining walls, lending an age to the place she could see as well as feel. Black leather furniture, which looked as comfortable as it was stylish, sat haphazardly around the place. And far from appearing cold, this place seemed lived in and relaxed.
“I like to call it my home away from home.” Duncan’s gaze rested on her breasts before he lazily trailed it back up to her face. “It’s Old City. A lot of history. And it’s just you and me.” He disappeared into the small kitchen off the living room and returned with two glasses of wine.
“I’m not really a big drinker.” She flushed, realizing that, in the short span of time they’d spent together, she’d first taken him to a bar before the job and now demanded booze after it. “It’s just that this is a big step for me.”
Duncan handed her the wine and drank some of his own. “You don’t have to explain it to me. I remember my first sway like it was yesterday.” He sighed, and to her surprise, moved away from her to settle into a plush recliner. “I had to confront a woman who’d killed her ailing mother.”
Sapphira sat across from him on the couch, fascinated that he’d shared something of himself. “A mercy killing?”
“Not quite. The fat inheritance she received overshadowed her altruism. The Decision makes it impossible for the sway to lie or cheat. You saw what it looked like in there. Much as Shepherd tried to put on a show, you saw what he really is. And for those of us who consider ourselves purists, there can be no deceit, no judgment in what we do. The sways pretty much know where they belong, they just need a subtle push.” He quirked his lips. “When it comes down to it, we—both angels and demons—are there to guide humans along the right path. Not the one toward light, but toward what’s right. There’s a big difference, which is why when Uriel and his angels start stealing sways, they’re pushing trouble—balance-chaos trouble.”
