“Why?”
Because? You can’t be here. Ever. “I don’t want you here.”
She leaned close, her peridot eyes glowing from anger. “You lie.”
“Damn it, Dina! You don’t belong here.”
Her glance encompassed his room, completely ignoring him, as she walked around touching his things. “You live here?”
He gave in and nodded.
She went to his door and crossed the hallway to the opposite door, faster than Gideon could stop her. She barged into Chay’s messy bedroom. Then she spun and faced him. “How many UnHallowed reside here?”
He folded his arms and glared at her. “None of your damn business.”
Her eyes narrowed, but then sparked with an internal light as her lips thinned like it did when she was trying to hide her anger. He really knew how to bring out the best in her. Bone weary, he scrubbed a hand down his face. “Dina—”
“All this time you were an UnHallowed and never thought to let me know you were…alive.” Though whispered, each pain filled word screamed at him.
I’m sorry, singed his tongue, but he had enough sense and self-preservation not to say those two worthless words. Yet that’s exactly what he was, a sorry asshole. Should he tell her that he watched her from the shadows on a handful of occasions, then stopped when it became too painful to continue? How every day started and ended with her image tattooed behind his eyelids.
What the fuck good would it do to tell her he loved her? Millennia had passed with only her memory to sustain him, yet it was enough. So what if she stood in front of him, inches away from his bed, touchable, kissable…fuckable. Dina may as well be in another galaxy because he couldn’t have her. Ever.
“I’m not alive, Dina.”
Her eyes blazed. “I’ve killed hundreds of thousands of Darklings. And after each battle…I wonder if you were amongst that number.”
He had to swallow down the sudden lump in his throat to say her name, only to have her cut him off again.
“Or worse, if you were now a Demoni Lord I would one day have to face. Each time, Gideon.” The light in her eyes dimmed. “At night, I lay imagining what had become of you, and you ask me why I wear your armor?” She gritted through clenched teeth. “All these millennia and not once did you think—”
“No…I didn’t think. I didn’t miss you. I didn’t see your first battle repelling the Darklings feeding on the souls of the dying Huns and Romans. And after the Vikings raided Lindisfarne, and the Darklings closed in on the dying monks, I wasn’t in the shadows, proud of the warrior you’d become. I didn’t slink away like the disgrace that I am before you sensed me and attacked.”
Her eyes widened and her lips parted for another biting retort, he thought and waited. Nothing came out of her mouth.
Surprise! He’d actually managed to silence a female. If the situation weren’t so dire, he’d pat himself on the back and post the news on Facebook.
“I didn’t watch for long. I stopped soon after.”
Her gaze dropped and she studied the floor. “I wouldn’t have attacked you.”
And that’s exactly why she had to go. “You don’t belong here. I don’t want you here. Go back to Heaven, Dina. Never return.”
“That’s not what I wa—”
“I don’t care what you want. You’re fucking outta here.”
Her face clouded with fury. She swept past him and strolled down the hallway with him following like a lap dog yipping at her heels. Together, they barged into the living room where Chay and Scarla argued.
“I’m not leaving and I’m damn sure not hiding. This is my business, my home, and a sanctuary for you guys.” Scarla had her hands on her hips and she went toe to toe with Chay. “Besides, she’s a freaking angel. Where can I hide from her?”
“I’ll take you into the shadows until it’s safe,” Chay said.
“The Shadows? No way!”
The conversation died when they spotted Dina and Gideon.
Dina’s gaze darted between Scarla and Chay, then narrowed on Scarla. “So, this is a sanctuary?”
Scarla folded her arms and shrugged. “Yeah. It is.”
“For only the UnHallowed?” Dina moved closer to Scarla. Gideon moved in too, not sure about Dina’s motives. Chay eased closer to Scarla.
A bedroom door opened and Sophie stepped into the room. Freshly showered and dressed in clean clothing, her bangs covered most of her face.
“Sophie just moved in yesterday,” Scarla said.
Chay held up a hand and Sophie halted in mid step.
Dina eyed Sophie with interest.
Gideon could almost see all the questions firing behind her brilliant eyes.
“Do you know what they are?” Dina asked the human.
Sophie nodded and cleared her throat before saying, “Yeah. Scarla’s been my best friend for years. This place is a second home to me.”
Dina whipped around to Scarla. “Do you give sanctuary to anyone?”
Scarla’s eyes narrowed, wary. “I would if they needed it,” she said, her words measured.
“Including Darklings?” Dina’s voice dropped low.
“We don’t shelter Darklings.” Chay growled.
That took some of the starch out of Dina’s spine. “Do you ever refuse?”
“Enough of this. You have your answers. Now leave the same way you came.” Gideon said. Time to rip the Band-Aid off and get her the hell out of here. Dina’s head cranked around and she nailed him with a glare that had his balls shivering.
“What is your name, Halfling?” She tossed over her shoulder while keeping their gazes locked.
“Scarla. And yours?”
“I am Dina, captain in the Celestial Army, and I request Sanctuary.”
7
What now?
Dina paced the length of the bedroom Chayyliél had escorted her to. What was I thinking asking for sanctuary from an UnHallowed Halfling! And for what? That was the true irony. She couldn’t fathom why the need to stay near Gideon outweighed her need to go. The Cruor had vanished. Waiting around for it to appear was pointless when the next time and location were unknown. Gideon had provided the answers she sought to the UnHallowed. The reason to remain was...gone.
Dina plopped onto the bed and sunk into the plush comforter. The armor pinched her side. Annoyed, she ripped off the chest plate and didn’t stop until all the pieces were piled at her feet, then she kicked each piece away.
Stupid to be so attached to an inanimate object. Petulant, she spun away from the armor, her fists curling and uncurling. The need to destroy something burned bright which was totally uncharacteristic. She wasn’t a human accustomed to suffering irrational outbursts, or worse a Darkling or Demoni Lord raging through the centuries. Though …the UnHallowed she’d met hadn’t raged. They seemed quite in control of themselves.
Her aura pulsed, rattling the furniture and overturning a chair. She must calm. She drew on her training, closing her eyes and focusing on the well of determination at her core. It helped slow her ragged emotions. Next, she stretched and reveled in the ripple of muscles and the pull and give of tendons. The feel of her skin unencumbered of the armor gave a false sense of freedom. Why should I feel freer here than any place else—
“So that’s how you look without all that clunky metal?”
Dina spun, her palm open, ready to call her sword.
The blond leaned against the door frame, arms folded, legs crossed. “Oh! Is that myst?” She swiped a strand of hair out of her face and crossed the room. She stopped much closer than Dina would have liked and took the cloth between her thumb and forefinger. “Lord, it’s so soft. Softer than I could imagine. It’s like holding onto a cloud.” Scarla stepped back and scanned Dina like a lioness sizing up a wounded gazelle. Then, with a tentative finger, she reached out and touched Dina’s arm.
“I’ve never seen an angel.” She captured a lock of Dina’s hair and twirled it around her finger.
The awe in Scar
la’s voice made Dina uncomfortable, along with all the touching. Few were allowed the privilege. Scarla should count herself lucky. “I’ve never seen a Halfling.”
Scarla stepped back and scowled. “Not very fashionable though. Good thing I have credit cards.” She took Dina by the hand. “Okay, I’m ready.”
The contact startled Dina. It had been centuries since anyone had held her hand. Not since—immediately she locked down that train of thought and extracted herself. “Ready? Please explain what you are ready for?”
“Shopping. You need some new threads?”
“Threads?” Why do I need thread?
“Clothes.” Scarla whipped out her phone from her pocket. “I’m texting Sophie to meet us. Maybe I can convince her to let me change her wardrobe too while I’m taking care of you. She needs just as much help as you do...” Scarla spared Dina a glance. “No, you need more.”
Slightly dazed by the rapid speech and certainly confused by the direction this relationship had taken—Dina had planned to kill the girl—she stepped back and said, “You speak as though we are friends.”
“Keep your enemies close they say. Though...I really don’t think you’re my enemy. And after today, we definitely won’t be. Are you ready?” Scarla smiled and took Dina’s hand again.
Dina didn’t need a new friend and definitely not one who was half UnHallowed. “I am not going anywhere with you, Halfling.”
Scarla’s grin faded, replaced with narrowed eyes and thinned lips. “Fine. Stay here and deal with Gideon. Are those his footsteps I hear?” She cupped her ear and leaned toward the open bedroom door.
True enough, the heavy thud of determined footsteps bearing in their direction, grew. For the first time in her long life, Dina chose cowardice over valor. She wasn’t up to another confrontation that would end with angry words and bitter stares.
She took Scarla’s hand, wrapped the Halfling in her aura, and fled through the granite, concrete, iron, brick, mortar, and plaster to emerge in an alley on a bright sunny day.
“Well that was more fun than traveling through shadows.” Scarla squinted at the sky. “Oh good. The rain stopped. Though I do prefer a cloudy day to sunny, we will make this work.”
Dina took in the sun bathing Scarla’s pale face. “How is it you don’t burn when touched by sunlight as all Darklings and UnHallowed?”
Scarla slipped on a pair of shades. “Fifty percent of me is human and that part likes the sun.” Her phone chimed and she glanced at the screen. “All right. Sophie’s ditching work and she’s on her way too. Let’s get moving. Good thing it’s Saturday and the stores open early.”
Dina shook her head. “Thank you for the invitation and the warning about Gideon, but I must decline your—”
Scarla cut her off with a slice of her hand. “Look, I know you think I’m some annoying Halfling you’d really like to kill, but can’t—”
“We are no longer in Sanctuary. I can kill now, not that I couldn’t kill you there if I chose too.” It was time the girl learned her place in the world. She was the UnHallowed’s pet, not Dina’s.
The Halfling sighed. “Let me make my point. You asked me for sanctuary for a reason. That reason is there.” She pointed to the outer wall of the training center.
“I see the way you look at him. More important, I see the way he looks at you.”
Warmth flooded Dina and she couldn’t keep the grin off her face. The Halfling smiled with her.
“Gideon is hot. Shit, all of the UnHallowed are smoking—”
Smoking? What did that mean?
“And guess what smoking hot men attract? Women. Lots of women. Now, I try to keep the skanks away, but on a good day, the guys listen to me twenty percent of the time. When their dicks are involved, that percentage drops to zero.” She made an O with her hand. “I have very little to say who Gideon plays hide the salami with…but I suspect you may have more sway…and that’s why we have got to get you out of this sackcloth.” She waved a hand at Dina. “Capisce?”
Dina had a pretty good idea about the connotation of Capisce, and she definitely knew what sackcloth meant. “Halfling—”
“The name is Scarla. And I’m trying to help.” She snapped.
A kernel of respect took root. “Why?”
Scarla shrugged. “I’m having a Disney moment.”
Another thing Dina didn’t understand. She sighed, “Who is Disney?”
“Damn, you angels are really sheltered if you don’t know who Disney is. Come on.” She took Dina’s hand again. “I’ll tell you all about my favorite Disney movie, Beauty and the Beast, while we get some grub and coffee to go. And hide the wings, we’re going out in public.”
The second stop they made after waiting in line for food was a place Scarla called ‘The Mall’. Scarla’s heart rate increased to a dangerous level when she said the words. “This is my favorite place for one stop shopping. They have everything here you need. I wish I could show you everything, but I don’t want to haul you all over the mall, and wear you out on your first day in the real world.”
Wisely, Dina held her tongue and didn’t tell Scarla she couldn’t wear out an angel. Dina could battle for centuries and not tire. Eight dresses, ten shirts, six pairs of jeans, four slacks, and three pairs of shoes later, her thinking had adjusted. A Halfling on a shopping binge may just be Dina’s undoing.
“How does the bra feel?” Scarla yelled through the fitting room door.
“Not natural,” was her reply as she adjusted the straps and her breasts in the cup for the fourth time.
“Does it fit? I can send Sophie for another style if it doesn’t.”
Why did women harness themselves into a contraption trying to strangle them? Plus, she had to be careful of her wings. She had to maneuver the bra around them. A strap caught her wing and bent it at an odd angle.
Dina ripped the offending object from her body. The contraption had to be an additional punishment for their failing in the Garden of Eden. No one, not even a Darkling deserved this torture.
She’d never worn one before and no one seemed to notice. They wouldn’t notice now. The lacy panties felt wonderful against her skin though. She’d wear those. Next, she made her wings vanish and dragged on a green silk dress that, according to Scarla, draped just right on her and highlighted her eyes.
Dina slipped on a pair of black heels. They didn’t feel as unnatural as the bra. Ready to face her personal firing squad, she opened the fitting room door.
“And I hit a home run again!” Scarla gave a whoop and slapped palms with her quieter best friend.
Scarla took Dina by the shoulders and turned her towards a mirror. The person staring out of the mirror hanging outside the stall wasn’t a captain in the Celestial Army. With her wings invisible, she looked…human. “You were smoking before. Now, you’re too hot for Gideon to handle.”
As a smile spread across Dina’s face, she had to admit Scarla’s exuberance for all things was contagious.
“Since I’m on fire, how about we do you, Sophie?” Scarla nudged her friend’s shoulder.
Sophie shook her head, her gaze falling to the polished tile floor. Her shoulders hunched and she seemed to disappear under her layers of clothing and her long hair.
“Where are you burned?” Dina asked, diverting attention away from Sophie. There wasn’t anything wrong with Sophie’s ‘Goth’ —a new term she learned while shopping—look and would have said as much, but didn’t think the shy girl would appreciate the additional attention.
Scarla shook her head. “Angels. Always so literal and no sense of humor. So, what about it, Sophie? Will you let me?”
A vehement shake of Sophie’s head gave her answer. Scarla sighed and lowered her voice. “You can’t hide behind baggy clothes forever. And you are stronger now.”
Sophie grimaced, shook her head, and turned away, starting toward the exit. Scarla chased her saying, “Okay. Never mind. I’m sorry.”
Dina tracked them to the cashier, wo
ndering what would heal the human’s fractured soul. A Comfort might know. She was surprised one wasn’t already attached to the human. Her distress was great enough to attract a caretaker angel.
Shopping complete, they strolled across the street to a coffee shop, and sat near the window to ‘people watch’. Their purchases piled in an empty chair. Scarla placed a cup of the brew in front of Dina. “Humans tend to not drink coffee in the evening because it keeps them up all night. But you and I don’t have that problem,” she whispered, and glanced around at the half empty shop.
Dina picked up her cup and waited for Scarla to sip while Sophie drank from a bottle of water and nibbled on a donut. Two mouthfuls later, Dina had drained the cup and asked for another one.
As Dina sipped her second cup and settled in her chair, Scarla lifted her shades and balanced them on her head. The sun reflected off her caramel colored eyes, turning them molten. Not human at all in appearance. Who was this Halfling’s father?
Scarla leaned close and whispered, “That guy keeps staring at you.” She pointed over her shoulder.
Dina glanced at the man. He winked. She wasn’t amused, not by his attempt at flirtation or by his suit and tie appearance. Gideon was much better—Stop it!
“Not your cup of tea? Didn’t think so.” Scarla gave her a sly smile as she brought her cup to her lips. After a sip she said, “So what’s up with you and Gideon?”
The question caught Dina off guard with a mouthful of coffee. She swallowed slowly, buying her some time for a thoughtful response.
“Sorry. Slang probably confuses you. Were you and Gideon a couple, you know, way back when?”
Dina shook her head, the denial automatic even as all the times she and Gideon were together tripped through her mind; the awkward glances, pregnant silences filled with everything she wanted to say, and couldn’t, the brush of their bodies while sparing. It was the only time they ever interacted, ever touched her…until he broke her wings.
“Gideon is—was my mentor, instructor. Nothing more.”
Scarla shrugged. “Didn’t seem like it to me. Did it seem like it to you, Sophie?” She nudged her girlfriend who seemed more into her cell phone than the conversation.
Only the Fallen (UnHallowed Series Prequel) Page 5
