She rolled her eyes again, this time saying it was his turn to be the idiot. “Why, because Dante and the Reapers are such a wealth of information? Strike up a lot of conversations with Reapers on your visits?”
“Celeste, I have been in and out of the Infernos for several centuries. I think I would have remembered seeing you.”
“Five hundred years,” she offered.
Marcus just sat there. That was impossible. He would have noticed her. How could he have missed her? She was a wet dream waiting to happen, and he was damn sure he would remember her. Then he shook his head, where the hell had that thought come from? Not that it wasn’t true but damn, he would have liked to think he had remembered meeting her.
“That’s not possible.”
She leaned forward, her breath whispering against his face. He drew in her smell, and something clicked in the back of his brain. It was gone just as fast. She smelled like clean sheets just pulled from the line. He had never thought that smell was erotic, but with her braid slipping from her lap and landing against his thigh, he went hot all over. Between her smell and that damn hair, all he wanted was to push her back against the seat and kiss her, which shocked the hell out of him. He thought he had grown past those types of physical emotions. Then her words brushed against him like a caress. Whispered so quietly, Marcus had to lean in a little farther in order to hear them.
“That would be, because it was a secret.” She barely breathed the last word, and then leaned back, placing her index finger against her full lips and winked at him.
Marcus fell back in his seat and just glared at her, fighting with himself. One side wanted to push her back into the cushions and press himself against her sweet body. The other side of him, the celibate side, wanted to get as far away from her as possible. However, at the moment, he was trapped in the car with her. She was doing something to him that he couldn’t explain, and it was turning him on and pissing him off at the same time.
Finally, she broke the silence. “The black robs, Fallen. They hide a lot.”
“Marcus,” he said.
“Excuse me?”
“My name is Marcus.”
She turned to look out the window dismissing him. “If you say so, Fallen.”
He was going to strangle her, that was all there was to it. He was going to wrap his hands around her beautiful throat and strangle her.
Again.
His fingers actually itched to do just that. It was either that, or jump from the moving vehicle, but he didn’t particularly want to sustain the injuries that would cause.
“What are you?” he couldn’t stop himself from asking.
She turned innocent violet and blue tinged eyes at him. “I’m a Demon and a Reaper. What are you?”
“What kind of question is that?” he barked.
She smiled again. “That is a question only you can answer.”
He growled. “Again, this is something that you are very good at.”
She laughed. It wasn’t one of the irritating laughs that made you want to cover the woman’s mouth. It wasn’t shrill or high pitched or annoying. It was a throaty sound, and the way she did it made him wonder how often she laughed.
“You could have chosen any path in the world. You could have chosen to do anything you wanted; be invisible to the mortal and Other world by blending in, but you chose to be a Fallen. Wear the mantra and burden of a Fallen.” She looked back out the window. “Could have done and been anyone, but you chose Fallen.” She turned back and the blue was now missing from her violet eyes. “Always remember that, Fallen. By your choices, therefore you are.”
Marcus leaned back and crossed his arms over his chest, unable to argue with what she had said. He had worn the mantra of a Fallen like a cloak that shielded him from the world and human emotion. That she had been able to discern this about him in just a few short days, vexed him.
“And what about you?” he asked.
Celeste shrugged. “I am a product of my mother and father, something that should never have been. I therefore die or disappear in the almanac of time as something that never was.”
“And you’re okay with that?” Marcus couldn’t imagine not leaving his mark on this world. After centuries, he wanted to go out with a bang, wanted to feel more alive than dead, which he hadn’t felt for so many years he had lost count.
She gave him a sad smile. “We must all live with the cards we are dealt, Fallen.”
He didn’t know why, but the fact she wouldn’t say his name was starting to frustrate the hell out of him. He was about to say something when she screamed for the driver to stop the car.
They both flew forward as the car pulled to the side and stopped on a dime. Celeste gave Marcus a strange look. “Can you smell that?”
She reached for the door handle, but Marcus stopped her. “What?”
“Death. You can’t smell it?” Marcus closed his eyes and focused but he didn’t smell anything.
“Celeste, this is a very old city with a strange and varied past. Death is part of New Orleans.”
She snorted, and raised an eyebrow. “Not that type of death. Do you think Calliope could have beaten us here?”
Marcus doubted it. He looked pretty bad the last time they had seen the Reaper, and it would have taken him at least a day to heal. Then he would have had to find transportation to New Orleans, unless he was capable of Flashing or flying all the way.
“Can Calliope Flash?”
“Not that I am aware of. Mortals view him as one of them. They have no idea that standing in front of them is a Reaper able to take taking their life without them even knowing it. He wasn’t capable of flying all the way from Australia to here, but something is going on here.” She pulled her hand free and threw the door open. “And it isn’t good.”
Marcus climbed from the car, following her, telling the driver they would be right back. “Unless it has something to do with Calliope or Lordus, then I don’t give a shit what it is Celeste. Now get back in the car. Cameron is waiting for us.”
She turned to him, her violet eyes taking on a slight red glow. “You can be really bossy, you know that?”
Marcus swore. “And you can really irritate me by not listening.”
****
Celeste smiled to herself, he was a frustrated man. She could smell it from the Infernos, but it was a choice he had made for himself. Still, this had nothing to do with him. She smelled a Demon. Actually, she smelled a Troup of Demons, and they were feeding. If she wasn’t mistaken, they were feeding on mortals, and as far as she knew, it was against the rules for Demons to feed on mortals.
Following the smell, she ignored Marcus’s grumbles behind her. They were in an old part of the city, and the alleys were dark, little things scurrying in the shadows. She almost laughed. It was like being home.
Rounding a corner, she stopped dead in her tracks and swore under her breath. Six very large Demons stood at the end of the alley gorging themselves on the remains of a mortal. Piles of bloody clothes, and remains of other mortals were scattered around the dirty dead-end alley. Blood splattered on the brick walls formed a morbid sort of collage of death.
Celeste stepped back before they could see her, and put her hand out to stop Marcus. She turned to him, her finger on her lips again.
“What is it?” he said.
Celeste could feel the blood lust from the Demons and Marcus was doing his damdest to draw attention to them.
“Shut up,” Celeste said under her breath. She let him pass her so he could see what was at the other end of the alley.
He jerked his head back. “Get back to the car,” he growled in a whisper.
Celeste thought she might have heard him wrong. “Excuse me?”
“I said to get your ass back to the car.” Marcus pushed her to emphasize his words.
“And just what do you plan on doing?” she whispered.
Marcus growled again. She grabbed him by the shirt front and shook him, shocking them both.
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“You need to stop doing that.” She raised her voice slightly. She knew this was neither the time nor the place, but for all the Gods, when he made that sound all she could think of was jumping his bones.
He pried his fingers from her shirt. “What the hell is your problem?”
Celeste needed to kill something. “You are. Stay here.” Pushing past him she walked into the alley.
“Morning, boys.” She let her sex pheromone radiate out while they all looked up and stared at her. She picked out the one she wanted to keep alive for questioning.
Ignoring Marcus’s swearing behind her, she moved forward. “I thought killing mortals was forbidden.” She licked her lips giving them the impression she wanted to share the food with them.
The largest of the six sniffed and then took an involuntary step forward. Typically, female Demons were submissive creatures, but female Sex Demons were a totally different ball of wax. They liked the challenge, and would only mate with the strongest male. To get a Sex Demon to mate with you was a crowing point for that male.
The largest of them knew exactly what she was. Celeste wet her lips again and let the blood red of her Demon side bleed into the irises of her eyes. She pushed her neck forward and snapped her teeth together in a show of challenge. Then all hell broke loose as the largest Demon turned to one of his companions and tore his head off. Celeste didn’t hesitate, she ran toward the group. She launched herself against the wall. Taking two sideways steps, she pivoted herself, her hair flying out as she whipped the Demon closest to her with the ends of her hair. He screamed, covering the open wounds on his neck. Landing on the balls of her feet, she pulled a short knife from her boot and finished cutting his head off.
The largest male let out a primal growl, thinking she was joining in the killing so they could mate. Celeste turned to the one she had picked out earlier, and threw him clear of the fray. He slid the entire length of the alley, knocking his head against the brick wall. He didn’t move. Damn, she hoped she hadn’t killed him.
But she didn’t have time to stop and think about it because another Demon attacked, wrapping his arms around her from behind. He sniffed her neck. “Sex Demon.”
The words brought the other two Demons to a dead halt before the fighting started in earnest. Celeste grabbed the man by the back of the neck, and tossed him over her shoulder. She drove her blade into his chest. It wouldn’t kill him, but it would slow him down. His screams of pain were cut short as she slit his head from his shoulders, throwing the head at the last two. It hit the larger of the two in the head, and they stumbled apart.
The smaller guy looked from Celeste to the other Demon, and threw his hands up. “You can have her, dude. I’m gone, like out of this city, gone. You explain it to that bitch why she’s down five guys.
He leapt to the top of the building and disappeared. Celeste turned back to the large Demon. He was covered in blood and bits of flesh, which frankly made Celeste’s stomach turn regardless of the fact she was half Demon. She liked her meat cooked, and definitely not human. It was the same for the men she slept with. She never slept with Demons. That was just asking to be taken and mated.
He grunted and took a step forward, growling in a very unsexy and dominate way. Marcus had finally joined her and was now standing several feet behind the large man. He looked so pissed she wondered if she wouldn’t be better off fighting off the huge Demon.
“Mine,” the Demon snarled leaping at Celeste.
“Not even on your luckiest day,” Marcus said. Pulling the trigger, he planted a bullet in the back of the Demon’s head. It crumpled to the ground.
Celeste stepped forward and severed his head. “And today would definitely not qualify as a lucky day,” she finished.
Celeste smiled at Marcus, still crouched over the Demon. “Don’t you have a sense of humor, Fallen?”
Marcus stormed up to her and grabbed her braid. He pulled her forward. “What the hell do you have on the ends of your hair?”
“Quills. There braided into the ends, and dipped in silver.”
Marcus shook his head and jerked on her braid. She yelped as she stumbled forward. “That’s not all their dipped in.”
Celeste shrugged. “Demon venom.”
She wasn’t sure what else to say as he opened and closed his mouth several times. “Get rid of them,” he said, reaching for the knife she held. Instead she pressed her knife against his throat.
“Don’t touch my hair,” she growled. “You have no place or right to cut my hair. And if you do it, I will never forgive you. If the weapons at the tips of my hair are so horrible to you, I will take care of them, but don’t you dare touch it to cut it off.”
Marcus froze, not sure what it was that had pissed her off so completely. He stepped back, and she lowered the knife, but her defenses were still up.
“You are wearing on your person a weapon that could cause you serious pain.” He enunciated each word. “Why in the name of all the Gods would you wear something like that?”
“Because no creature would expect it,” she said, more calmly.
“Celeste, it is utterly impossible to expect anything from you. You are a contradiction in combat boots.” He moved away from her and to the now semi-conscious Demon taking him by the throat. He lifted him off the ground, pressing him against the stone wall. “What are you doing?”
The only thing he was capable of was shaking his head.
Celeste stepped up, placing a hand on Marcus’s forearm. “I know how partial you are to choking people to death, but we need him to be able to speak.”
Marcus dropped the man, his frustration getting the better of him. “You…” he started, but he didn’t know exactly what he was going to do or say to the woman. She was making him crazy. Maybe Cameron would take her off his hands for a while because he was sure another day in her presence was going to have him leaping off a bridge.
Dropping the man, Celeste bent down. “Hello.” He sniffed her so Marcus kicked him. Celeste rolled her eyes. “Not really necessary,” she said to him before turning back to the Demon. He was a low level Demon with little to no power. He had a master that ordered him around, and she was going to get that information from him. “What’s your name?”
“Why does it matter? You’re going to kill me,” he muttered, gasping for air.
Celeste gave him a beautiful smile and dragged a finger down the Demon’s cheek in a careful caress. “Yes, we will, but the manner in which we do so will depend on how you chose to answer our questions.”
“Sarafina”, was all he said in response. Celeste was shocked at how quickly he had sold his master out. He would take the punishment of death rather than face the woman again. Luckily, she knew exactly who Sarafina was and what she was capable of, and Celeste had to admit that she was offering him something more palatable.
Celeste stood up and looked at Marcus. “If she is involved, then it’s possible that Lordus is close.”
They both turned back to the Demon who was staring at Celeste like he wanted to swallow her whole. This only jerked Marcus’s anger up several degrees, and he stomped his boot into the other man’s groin.
“Seriously?” Celeste shook her head and rolled her eyes. “Where is she?” she asked the Demon.
“House outside city,” he gurgled between gasps of pain.
“Address,” Marcus barked. The Demon mumbled the location. “Done?” he asked Celeste.
Celeste nodded. “I’ll be right back.” She reached out and grabbed the Demon by the shirt front and Flashed out. Marcus headed back to the car, by the time he was reaching for the door, Celeste had Flashed back and was standing next to him.
“What did you do to him?” Marcus asked
“I turned him over to Dante. He will claim his soul and either recycle it or place him where he is meant to be.” She shrugged.
“It’s that easy is it?” Marcus couldn’t keep the strain from his voice. “You just turn whomever over to your father and that’s t
hat?”
Celeste gave him an incredulous look. “He knew exactly what his punishment was going to be, Fallen. If you ask me, we did him a favor. Sarafina or her brother Evan would have tortured him. This way he will pay for what he has done, which is only right.”
She climbed into the car, stopping the conversation as far as she was concerned. But for Marcus, this conversation was far from over.
“Which one of the Trackers is tracking Lordus?” she asked.
“Currently we are all working on your little issue,” Marcus said, pulling a new cell from a pocket of the vehicle. “Ryder and Kyra have been trying to track him down, but the bastard seems to stay one step ahead of everyone.”
****Celeste leaned back and listened while Marcus spoke on the phone explaining what had happened, noticing he left out her part in the action, which she didn’t understand. Was he embarrassed that she fought like a man? Or that she fought at all? Or maybe it was that she won.
When he finally hung up, she had worked herself into a lather. “What the hell is your problem?”
Marcus looked at her as if she had lost her mind. “What the hell is MY problem?” he asked both eyebrows shooting up to his hairline.
“You male chauvinistic, antiquated bastard. What part bothers you most? That I can fight? Or that I enjoy it and do a damn good job at it?” she growled.
“What the hell are you talking about?” he blustered.
“If you don’t know, then I sure as hell am not going to explain it to you.” She glared at him, waiting for him to understand he had just bypassed her and the part she had played in getting the information. He just glared at her.
“Celeste, you are one of the most complicated, unbelievably, psychotic bitches on any plane of existence. I understand why your father hid you now.” He couldn’t have said anything that could have possible hurt more.
“I hate you,” she said, then Flashed away, back to her room in the Fortress.
She plodded around looking for one of her brothers. She needed to vent, but they were all out fighting. This made her feel even worse because they were all out fighting, and she had just walked away from what her part was to be in the war. She stomped her foot and kicked a pillar, but none of it made her feel any better. Unwanted and unexpected, her lower back released a painful tingle.
Lost In Time: A Fallen Novel Page 9
