by Michele Hauf
“She landed here in Tangle Lake,” Blade said.
Maybe. If she’d walked the world, as he suspected, then she could have landed anywhere. Tangle Lake may have just been a spot on her route to consume knowledge.
He wasn’t trying to fill in details for the demon. He was attempting to piece this together for himself. He didn’t trust the demon Kesabel as far as he could spit, but he’d listen. Until the urge struck to slice him in two.
“If you’re so keen on welcoming her into your folds as queen,” Blade said, “then, why the death threats?”
“Oh, we haven’t laid a hand on her. Think about it.”
He wasn’t going to—but, really? The demons in the house hadn’t gone near Zen. Because he had stopped them before they could leave the house. The demons in the club hadn’t touched her, either. They had tried to lure her into the portal, though. Beyond that, it had only been angels who had attempted to physically harm Zen.
“You were the one who thought it would be a good idea to slay my minions in the house by the field,” Kesabel said. “And you and that damned werewolf brother of yours thought it would be fun to slay an entire club filled with my kind. You get some kind of sexual thrill from that, buddy? Taking the lives of innocents?”
Demons were never innocent. But Blade wouldn’t give the man the challenge of a protest.
“Right. You’re not going to speak when you know I’m in the right,” Kesabel said. “You, vampire, like the taste of demon blood. That is known.”
Blade flinched at that statement. So his faery half craved demon blood. But it was known? Of course, Sim had said as much to him, as well. What was it with all the riffraff knowing so much about him and what it was that got him off?
“The only time I’m aware that Zenia has ever been in danger is when those damned angels landed,” Kesabel provided. “They want to take her out before we can lure her to Daemonia. Or so it appears. Those holier-than-thou assholes are possessive. Even though she’s no longer of their lofty caliber, they’d rather kill her than see we Casipheans gain our queen.”
“Lure her to Daemonia?”
“Yes. You see, it’s not as if we can tie her up and take her there. She has to sit on the throne voluntarily. Thus, the portal in the club. It’s a straight shot to Daemonia from there. If you’ll just allow her to return to the nightclub, that’ll take care of matters nicely.”
That was going to happen never. Unless Zen wanted to be queen. The woman did have amnesia.
“What if she doesn’t want to be your queen?”
“Oh, she does. That’s the very reason she fell.”
“But she doesn’t remember that.”
“She—what?”
“So you don’t know everything.” Blade crossed his arms and spread his feet for a commanding stance. “Zen has amnesia. She doesn’t know who or what she was or where she came from. You might believe she’s your queen, but she doesn’t know that.”
“Well, that’s a bit of tough balls.” The demon’s temples flared and the tips of the horn nubs briefly glowed red. “I sense we won’t have any luck luring her to the throne until she gets her memory back.”
“Why would you crown an angel your queen anyway?”
“She is no longer angel. The moment she landed on earth her angelic nature vaporized, so to speak. Though I’ve never heard of an angel losing their memory from landing in the mortal realm. Most arrive without memory of their angelic rank, but they walk the world to gain knowledge so they can insinuate into this realm.”
“She was hit by a bus.”
“Is that so?” Kesabel noticeably shuddered. “So she’s in memory limbo.”
“So is Zen demon?” Blade had to ask.
“She’ll not become completely demon until she takes the throne.”
Blade hissed. Hell, she was demon. Or would be soon enough.
And he had sworn to slay any demon that crossed his path. This was not good. Worse than not good. It sucked fifty ways to Beneath. But just because the demon talked a feasible story didn’t mean he was speaking the truth.
“But until that occurs,” Kesabel continued, “she is a sort of nothing, if you will. Much closer to faery, actually, than angel or demon. That’s what happens when an angel doesn’t quite make it to demon. They become sidhe. Curse those bastard angels! There is a time frame we are working with. Not sure how long it’ll require for her faery to completely settle in. I’m pleased you let me in on the amnesia issue, despite the new challenge this presents.”
Shit. No points for helping the enemy.
“So,” Kesabel said, “I’ll be needing you to, A, stop slaying my Casiphean denizen. Our race is dying out. It’s why we need the queen in the first place, to repopulate our numbers. And, B, take the girl out for a night of dancing at the club and then ditch her and leave her to bigger and better things.”
Repopulate their numbers? Blade didn’t want to consider how that one would go down. No matter what Zen remembered, or wanted to do, he could not allow her to be used in such a manner.
Fingers curling into fists at his sides, Blade said, “How about C? None of the above.”
The demon thrust Blade against the wall with but a flick of his wrist. “Don’t make me call in the big guns, vampire.”
Blade smirked. He liked a challenge. “The bigger the better. Now fuck off. And stay away from Zen. If I see one of you sulfurheads near her, I will slay you.”
The demon exhaled heavily and shook his head. “You don’t want this war, Saint-Pierre. And yet, it seems you invite trouble around every corner. Perhaps it is your nature. You cannot exist without strife?”
He’d love to live a peaceful life without war. Or demons.
“Bring it,” Blade muttered. He wandered off, leaving the demon lurking in the shadows.
* * *
“Help!”
Zen looked up from the coffee she was stirring. Outside the café window a woman whose arms were loaded with two toddlers was trying to catch the handle of a stroller, in which lay a baby, as it rolled toward the street. A big black car veered near the curb.
Dashing out from the table and through the café doors, Zen yelled at the driver, but knew that he wouldn’t hear her through the car’s rolled-up windows. She dodged the mother who was crying and—why didn’t she set the kids down?
Without thinking Zen lunged toward the stroller. Its front wheels rolled off the curb. The stroller tilted forward. The sun glinted on the car’s chrome bumper, but a foot away from the infant carrier.
She felt the warm body under her palm and curled her fingers about an arm or leg, grasping more baby with her other hand, and snatched it just as the bumper hit the stroller and sent it soaring through the air.
The mother screamed.
Zen tilted her body backward, landing on the concrete sidewalk, the infant clutched against her chest. She fell to her back and pulled up her legs from the street.
“She’s got the baby!” someone said.
Above her, two faces appeared. Zen handed up the infant and it was delivered to the distraught mother. Heartbeats thundered. Adrenaline raced. And in the moment the sun flickered in her eyes, Zen’s memory burst with a familiar reckoning.
You came here with a purpose. You are from Above.
And she knew what she was.
A hand lifted her by the arm and asked if she was all right. Zen nodded. “Yes, okay.” She walked away, even as someone followed her, asking her to stay because she was a hero.
“Anyone would have done it,” she muttered and quickened her steps away from the growing crowd around the mother and her children.
“I...” She pressed fingers to her temples. “I remember.”
Chapter 20
Blade grabbed the newly purchased tools out of the truck bed and carried them up to Stryke’s work shed. His brother wasn’t around, which was a good thing. Blade’s mind was anywhere but in the moment. It was still back in the alleyway, shoved up against the wall by that arrog
ant demon.
Kesabel? Did he know someone, anyone, who had knowledge of demons and who might tell him something about the pale intruder? Maybe Dez, who studied diabology, could help him?
None of that mattered right now. Zen was destined to become a demon queen? That was twenty ways wrong. She’d fallen from Above with the intention of being crowned queen.
So why was he trying to stop that from happening?
Because until now he hadn’t known it was supposed to go down that way. And now that he did, what would he do? Would it be fair to Zen to force her to become something she had no knowledge of agreeing to? Maybe being crowned the Casiphean queen would bring back her memory?
Only one thing mattered. Zen was destined to become demon. And that trumped all.
He’d opened his home and his life to a woman who was demon. Or who was supposed to become demon. But according to Kesabel, if she remained in this realm for much longer she could instead become faery.
He set the skill saw on a workbench and decided against leaving Stryke a note. His brother would figure things out when he saw the tools. Hopping back into the rusty old white Ford he’d driven because his usual ride did indeed need a new radiator, Blade shifted into gear, but didn’t take his foot off the brake pedal. “Ah, hell, I forgot.”
He was supposed to meet Zen at Panera. And... He glanced at the dashboard clock. He was an hour late.
He tugged out his cell phone, then remembered she didn’t have a phone. Nor did she know her real name. Neither did she know her wicked destiny.
Gripping the steering wheel he squeezed.
Could he tell her? Had he a right to tell her? What if he kept this information to himself? He could continue to slay any demon that went near Zen and take out the occasional angel, as well. She’d never have to know.
As long as she never got back her memory.
“Stupid,” he muttered, and shifted into gear, letting the truck roll down the gravel road. The two of them had started something. A relationship of sorts. Maybe? He’d been firm about not being friends with her. Look what had come of that.
It was a relationship. And that bond demanded truth and trust. “I have to tell her.”
And then it would be up to Zen to decide which direction her future would move—toward continuing the relationship with him, or toward Daemonia.
Blade knew what he wanted her to decide. He didn’t want to hope, either, but somewhere along the line he’d fallen for the woman. Fangs, wings and heart.
* * *
Pulling into the garage beneath the loft, Blade was relieved to see Zen’s Mini parked outside. Of course, he had invited her to stay with him. She had nowhere else to go.
He’d invited a demon queen to stay with him. What. The. Hell?
And she would probably be angry. He had stood her up for lunch.
So the best way to do this, he decided as he strode up the stairs, was to blurt out everything he had to say right away. Distract her from his mistake of being late. Make it all about her. Because it was.
This situation had become all about her in all the wrong ways.
He couldn’t think about it that way. She deserved compassion and understanding. And probably a place to sit and a shoulder to cry on after he revealed her truth. He could do that. He wanted to do that. Because Zen meant something to him. And yet the thought to push her away was strong.
He smelled something savory as he topped the stairs and Oogie scampered up to curl about his ankle. She was cooking again? This could not end well.
Bending to give the attention-starved feline a scratch at the base of his spine, Blade scooped up the purring cat and wandered toward the kitchen. Zen pulled a couple bowls out of the microwave oven. Oogie didn’t even flinch when he entered the kitchen. Had the two come to some kind of understanding?
She spied him. “Oh, hi! I’m so sorry, but I missed our date.”
“Uh, you did?”
Oogie squirmed in his grasp so he let the now-nervous cat drop to the floor to race out of the room. Did the cat know what she really was? Oogie liked demons less than Blade did. Hell, Oogie had known all along. What an idiot he had been not to pay more attention to his pet’s discomfort around her.
“So we missed our date. But you brought home supper?” he asked.
“As an apology. I was so busy shopping—I really like shopping. And I got this!” She shifted her hip forward to display the rhinestone-encrusted belt wrapped around her pink sundress. The woman did love to sparkle. “Anyway, the time slipped away from me. It’s baked potato soup with bacon and cheese. Doesn’t that sound delicious? And I didn’t cook it. It’s from the restaurant, so it’s safe. Oh! Guess what?”
“I, uh...”
She wasn’t angry. She was just her usual, gorgeous, bright self. Completely unaware. And always trying to please him, of all things.
“Zen, we need to talk. I learned something today—”
“So did I.” She set the bowls on the counter and took his hand. “I rescued a baby.”
“You—what?” This conversation was all over the place. Blade needed to give her the truth about herself. Before he chickened out and decided to keep it to himself. “Listen, Zen, there’s something you should know.”
“Exactly.” She beamed up at him, her eyes as bright as rhinestones. “I do know. Blade, after I rescued the baby, I experienced this weird zinging jolt to my head. And then...”
“And then?”
“I remembered.” She grabbed his hands and bounced with giddy glee. “I know who I am.”
Chapter 21
Her eyes were emerald, Blade realized. Not kaleidoscope, as would be an angel’s eyes. Nor were they red, as would be a demon’s eyes. Not even violet, indicative of the sidhe. And she stood...straighter. With more poise than he had noted up to this point. She exuded well-being and a certain strength. Confidence. Not to mention the effusive joy that spilled from her like sunshine.
She had come into herself. Because she had remembered. And Blade found himself walking up to her to be close, a part of her excitement, and yet, at the same time, his heart cringed and dropped.
She knew.
Would she walk away from him now? Go on to become a demon queen? The thought was revolting to him. But was it more because of the idea of losing someone who was a species he hated or whom he was starting to care about?
She took his hands and was literally bouncing on her toes. “I fell,” she said. “And I am meant to be the Casiphean queen.”
Yep, she knew it all. Damn. He’d lost this one. But had she ever been his? Did it matter to him?
Yes. Damn it, yes. She’d touched his scars. She’d kissed them. Had accepted him.
“So you know that you were once an angel?” he asked.
She nodded. “I fell with a purpose. Or so I assume. I know who I was and that I fell to become a queen, but there’s some fuzzy stuff in there, too. It’ll probably come back to me slowly. Or who knows? Maybe it’ll pop back into my head if I have another harrowing moment like the one with the baby.”
“The baby?”
“I saved a baby from being hit by a car. I think, in that moment, with my heart pumping and my body out of sorts, is when it all returned. Anyway, I know there is a denizen of demons awaiting their queen.”
“And...you’re eager to join them?”
“Well.” She squeezed his hand and settled her enthusiasm. “I know how you feel about demons. I’m so sorry to give you this news.”
“No, that’s okay.” It was far from okay, but he wasn’t going to spoil her good mood. He had no right. “My only goal was to help you get your memory back. Now you have it. What happens next...” No, he couldn’t tell her what he wanted to happen next. “You gotta do what you gotta do.”
“And so do you. Which is slaying demons. Does that mean you’re going to slay me now?”
“Don’t be ridiculous.” He crossed his arms over his chest. Yeah, put up a shield. Easier that way. “You still bleeding ichor
as well as the black stuff?”
“Not sure. Do you want to check again?”
“No, that’s uh...”
Words felt wrong. He could never harm her. But could she really walk away from him and put on a demon crown like a pretty accessory? Never looking back at what could have been?
What could have been with him. Ah, hell, he’d gone and started caring for this woman. Just like before.
And just like before, she was demon.
But at least this time he had advance warning of her nature. Not that it would do his hurting heart any good. The damage had been done.
She’d touched him.
“Blade.” She stroked his hair and caressed his cheek. He almost pulled away, but then he realized if he did, he might be pulling away from the last touch she would ever give him. “What we’ve started? I like it. The sex. The sharing and companionship. The trust.”
Trust was everything. And now he could not trust her.
Or could he?
“But I’ve always had it in the back of my mind that you would never commit to me,” she continued. “Because you couldn’t be sure what I was.”
“And now I know.”
“And it’s not your favorite species in the world. Well. I’m not demon yet. Right now I’m sort of in the middle. Becoming, like the witch said. I could become faery if I stayed here on the mortal realm.”
“But you won’t do that because you have a goal. A destiny.”
“Yes. Destiny.” She sighed. Her giddy smile did not escape his notice. But she saw him looking at her and pulled on a straight face. “You’re upset. Do you... Blade, do you care about me?”
If he lied he’d lose her. If he told the truth, his heart would break. He didn’t like either option.
She bracketed his head, slipping her fingers through his hair, and kissed him. Urgently. Deeply. Forever. And it felt as though he was falling alongside an angel swiftly plummeting from Above. Her wings enveloped him and he felt safe—yet leery. He didn’t want either of them to land. Could he stop this fall and keep her in a free fall forever?
