“Theresa! Wait! The Men in White are coming after you guys, and Dani and Becca and Nick to set an example for other people planning to kill angels.”
“Zeke says they’re here now. Gotta run. We’ll find Dani, and no one knows where Becca is, so she’s safe.” There was a crash and the sound of wind rushing, as if Theresa had taken to the air. “You have a meeting with Justine and Derek in two hours. They’ll call you to tell you where to meet, and Zeke found the scientist. She’s located in the basement of the Lamborghini dealership in Midtown. Gotta run. We’ll talk later. Zeke, stop complaining. I’m a perfectly safe flier—” And then the phone clicked off.
Paige looked at Jed in shock. “What did she just say?” She grabbed his shirt. “Did you hear what I just heard? Tell me I’m not delusional. Tell me!”
“You’re not delusional.” He grinned and covered her fists with his hands. “Zeke found the scientist. He found her.”
“Oh, God.” Tears filled her eyes and she sat heavily on the ground, her legs suddenly giving out. “He found the scientist.”
Jed grabbed her arms, pulled her to her feet, and gave her a big hug. Then he kissed her hair, tucked her under his arm, and waved for a cab. “No time for curb-sitting, sweetheart. Let’s go find her.” The cab sailed past and he scowled.
“Find her. Find the scientist. How awesome does that sound?” She sighed and leaned against him as he unsuccessfully tried to flag down another cab, blinking at him when he cursed.
His face was tense, and she suddenly remembered that even if she’d finally gotten a break on her issue, he was still dealing with the fact that his brother had turned into a murderer. She immediately pulled out her phone and dialed her old cell phone number.
Bandit answered on the sixth ring. “Bandit? Hi, this is Paige.”
There was the roar of loud music over the phone. “Rock on, girlfriend! I’m free! Time for retirement!”
“What happened?” She could barely hear him over the noise of a crowd. “Do you know?”
“No idea! All of a sudden, everything clicked and I was free. Thanks for the clothes, though. The chicks are digging them. Do you still need me to testify?”
“No. No vortex issue. Have fun.”
“Will do, babe!” He howled like a wolf, then hung up.
Paige shut the phone just as Jed stepped in front of a cab, which screeched to a halt. He walked to the passenger door and yanked it open, glowering at the occupants. “You were getting out here?”
A man in a suit leapt out. “Absolutely. Your cab.”
Jed held the door open for Paige. “Coming?”
“Well, yeah.” She ducked past the displaced man. “Sorry about this. We’re in kind of a rush.”
She told the driver to take them to the Lamborghini dealership, then flopped next to Jed, who had his arms folded across his chest. He was staring out the window, his jaw tense, his face impassive.
“Jed? You okay?”
“My brother hated what I became to keep him safe from Junior, and now he’s become worse than I ever was. Something happened to him to turn him into his worst nightmare, and he’s still going to get sucked back into Junior’s hell if I don’t turn you by tomorrow.” He slammed his fist against the cushions. “This is my fault, and I can’t fix it. It just keeps getting worse.”
She put her hand on his, and he flipped his hand over and tangled his fingers with hers. “You keep saying it’s your fault, but you haven’t convinced me of it. What aren’t you telling me?”
He ground his jaw, leaned back against the seat, and wrapped his hands around her right hand, his thumbs rubbing against the underside of her wrist. Then, to her surprise, he started to talk. “My dad died when I was little, and my mom got remarried to some asshole who liked to practice his kicking techniques on the family. On me, specifically, because I stepped up when he used to turn on Rafi and my mom.”
“Oh, Jed. I’m so sorry.”
He fiddled with her gold bracelet “I hated him, and plotted how to destroy him. He was a huge guy, bigger than Rafi and I together, so I knew I couldn’t beat him.” He managed a small grin. “I tried, though.”
She smiled. “I can imagine.”
“Anyway, I learned about Satan’s disenfranchised son, and figured he’d want to make a deal. So, I found him and told him that if he’d kill my stepdad, then I’d work for him when I came into my powers. He was pumped.”
Paige raised her brows. “Really? You contacted him?”
Jed snorted. “Oh, I had no intention of working for him. I didn’t let Junior rope me into a contract, so he came by and killed my stepdad for me, and then I bailed. Took off to where he’d never find me. Stayed gone for twenty-five years.”
“And your stepdad?”
“Junior paid him a visit in hell, and he told Junior that Rafi was my weakness, and to use Rafi to get to me.”
“Ah . . .”
“So, Junior took Rafi and tortured him until I got back.” He stared out the window. “I was gone for twenty-five years, having a blast, not worrying about home or anything. Just causing trouble and using my powers to impress women into my bed.”
She frowned. “So, you were a player?”
He looked at her. “Oh, yeah. Big time.” He went back to staring out the window. “Then when I realized what had happened to Rafi, I . . .” He balled his fist and gently punched the door. “All I want is to free him. That’s it. Then I’m going after Junior. One of us will die, probably both of us. As long as I take Junior out, I don’t care what else happens. I owe Rafi that much.”
“Wow.” She sat back in her seat.
He raised his eyebrows at her.
“What?” she asked.
“Aren’t you going to tell me it’s not my fault? That I’m being a martyr? That I shouldn’t give up my life for him? Something positive like that?”
“Hell, no. It is your fault. Of course, you were trying to save the family in the beginning, so that’s admirable, and I’d probably run away from a deal with Junior too, but yeah, all that bad stuff that’s happened to Rafi is your fault.”
He frowned. “But—”
“And I totally agree that Junior should die for what he did to Rafi, and I think it’s so awesome that you can love Rafi so much that you’d give your life for him.” She sighed. “Love like that is so amazing. It makes the world a place I want to be.”
He was still scowling at her.
“Oh . . .” She understood his cranky expression. “You wanted someone to tell you that you’re an okay guy, right? That all the guilt you’ve been living with for so long isn’t right?” She sighed. “I hear you, Jed. You’re in a sucky position. You did what you thought was right, and it all turned out badly and keeps getting worse. And you feel bad, rightfully, because it is your fault he’s in this position. If you’d stayed around the family until you came into your powers, you could have just killed your stepdad yourself and saved everyone a lot of grief.”
He gave her a long look and turned to stare out the window again.
“But everything you did was out of love, to protect your brother, and I just think that’s the most awesome thing ever. I’d love to love someone so much that I’d forfeit my eternal soul to save them. That’s . . . it’s . . .” She pressed her hand to her chest. “It makes me feel whole right here. In my heart.”
He was watching her again, his eyes intent.
“See, when I killed the assassins who were after Becca, I did it to save her, yeah, but I also did it because I wanted to kill them. Because it was fun to harvest their evil souls.” She sighed. “I did it for the wrong reasons.” She pulled her knees up to her chest. “Listening to your story . . . it’s clear that I never really did love Becca. I mean, I thought I did, but would I give my entire soul up for her?”
She paused to imagine accepting her future as an inner wraith in order to save Becca, and shook her head. “No, I’d try to find a way to save myself and her. But you didn’t. You gave yourself over
to Junior one hundred percent for your brother, and that’s just the most amazing thing ever. You’re still not trying to find a way to save yourself. Just him. And me. You don’t want to kill me either.” She looked at him, realizing he was still staring at her. “I wish I was like you. I wish I could love like you do. I know it sucks, but I want my life to suck like that. I really do.” She snorted. “See? You keep saying I’m all sunshine. I’m not. You are. You’re the sunshine around here. Yeah, you’re damned, but you’re also sunshine. Damned sunshine, I guess.”
For a long time, he said nothing.
And she didn’t expect him to. She hadn’t exactly comforted him. Hadn’t comforted herself either.
After a while he lifted his arm, set it around her shoulders, and pulled her up against him. “Thank you,” he whispered.
Then he kissed the top of her head, leaned his head back, and closed his eyes.
Twenty-three
Jed woke up when Paige’s phone rang. She was nestled against him in the backseat of the cab, gripping his shirt even in her sleep.
He slipped the phone out of her purse and answered it. “Paige’s phone.”
“Is this Jed?” a woman’s voice asked.
“Yeah. Who’s this?”
Paige mumbled something and shifted, and he stroked her hair.
“Justine Bennett. Theresa said you needed help. What’s up?”
He let his head drop back against the seat, willing himself not to get excited as he detailed the situation.
When he finished explaining that they needed to find a way out of the contract so Junior wouldn’t be able to recall Rafi to his torture chamber if Jed failed to convert Paige, Justine got off the phone and he could hear her consulting with two male voices. Then she came back on. “E-mail the contract over. We’ll look at it, but quite honestly, it doesn’t sound like anything we’ll be able to help with. But you never know.” She rattled off her e-mail address, gave him directions to her condo, and then hung up.
Jed pulled out his own phone and e-mailed the contract, then set his phone on his lap, just breathing in the scent that was Paige. “I’m not sunshine,” he whispered. “If I was, you wouldn’t be able to touch me.”
But damn, she made him want to be.
He sighed and dialed Rafi’s cell phone.
As he suspected, it went right into voice mail. Phones didn’t work when warriors were in shadow form, and he had a feeling Rafi wasn’t going to reform anytime soon. Too much time spent in shadow form changed a man. He became the evil that the shadow had to be. “Rafi. It’s Jed. Call me.”
He snapped his phone shut and ground his teeth. How had Rafi gotten mixed up with the Men in White? Paige’s phone rang and he answered it. “Paige’s phone.”
“This is Jerome, returning her call. Who’s this?”
“Jed Buchanan. What happened to Rafi? How’d he get out? What did you guys do to him?”
Silence.
There was a rustle, and then Jerome came back on, his voice a whisper. “I can’t talk here. We’ll meet somewhere else.”
“My place.” Jed gave the address. “Ten minutes.”
“Three hours. It’s the best I can do.” Then he hung up.
Jed cursed and snapped the phone shut. Three hours?
“Jerome?” Paige mumbled against his chest as the cab rolled to a stop.
“Yeah.” Jed handed Paige’s phone back to her as she sat up and rubbed her eyes. “I know it’ll endanger you to be near him, so I’ll go by myself. I need to find out what happened to Rafi, and see if Jerome can leverage the Council into breaking our three-way contract with Junior.”
She snorted, tossed some money at the cabbie, then shoved the door open. “Yeah, right, you’ll leave me behind. I need to have a word with him as well. Sending a shadow warrior after me. Stalking my friends. Reprehensible behavior for a man who purports to love my best friend. That man does not know the meaning of love. Unlike you. As long as the Men in White aren’t with him, we can deal with him.”
Unlike you. Her words reverberating in his mind, Jed followed her out of the car, standing on the street next to the Lamborghini dealership. The sun was just starting to come out, and the dawn light was turning the puddles on the street orange.
Orange like hell.
Or orange like the sunrise.
He was picking sunrise.
Five minutes and a few blown-up doors later, Paige was standing over the bed of a woman who looked like she was in her late twenties. She had dark brown hair spread out over her pillow, and her cheeks were pale. Too pale.
Paige reached out and let her hand hover over the woman’s chest. “She still has a soul.” Paige squatted next to the cot. It was stashed in the corner of a huge basement filled with more lab equipment than she’d ever seen. Paige had no idea what any of it was for, but it looked impressive. “Hello? Beatrice? Wake up?”
The woman didn’t even shift.
“Beatrice. Your lab is on fire.”
Still nothing.
She looked up at Jed. “I can’t touch her.”
He kneeled next to Paige and lifted the woman’s hand. “Bea—”
“I’m working! I’m working!” She leapt out of bed, shot over their heads, and landed without a flicker of sound in front of the computer, where she yanked a set of noise reduction headphones onto her head, shoved a pair of blue-rimmed glasses on her face, and started pounding away at the keys. “I’m on it!”
Paige frowned. “Was it just me, or did she actually vault over our heads?”
“She did.” Jed was frowning too. “Not human.”
“No.” Paige and Jed stood up and walked over to the computer.
Beatrice’s hair was going out in all directions, and she still had a line on her cheek from the sheets. Her eyes were rapidly moving over the screen, and her mouth was moving, as if she were singing along to a song, or discussing whatever it was she was typing.
Paige waved her hand in front of Beatrice’s face, and the woman’s gaze jerked up. She stared at Paige for a second, then looked at Jed. Then she turned and looked behind her, above her, and under the desk, then back at them again.
Beatrice yanked the headphones off her head. “You work for Satan?”
“Nope.”
“Satan around?”
“Nope.”
Beatrice glanced back and forth between them, searching their faces, then she sagged back in her seat, dropping her headphones on the keyboard, and pulling the glasses off her face. “You scared the hell out of me.” She picked up a pen and levered it at them. “Never, ever, sneak up on me again. Got it?”
Paige grinned. “Or you’ll what? Shoot ink all over me?”
Beatrice gave her a dangerous look that immediately wiped the grin off Paige’s face. “Yeah, okay, I give,” Paige said. “What are you?”
“Who are you, and why are you in my lab? My house, my questions.”
Paige pulled up a chair and sat next to her, very much liking Beatrice’s attitude. “I’m Paige Darlington. I’m—”
“You? You’re Paige?” Beatrice picked her glasses back up and leaned forward to inspect Paige. “How are you doing? You look all right.” She frowned. “You should be a wraith by now. Satan said you were a spineless wench who wouldn’t be able to resist more than an hour or so.”
Paige scowled. “I’m not spineless, and I’m not succumbing.” She glanced up to see that Jed was wandering around the lab, opening cabinets and peering into bubbling vats. “You’re Beatrice McFleet?”
“Beatrice?” Beatrice looked surprised. “Of course not. I’m Rita Halperston.”
“But . . . did you do the thing that’s turning me into a wraith?”
“Of course I did. Who else could do that?”
“Satan lied about her name,” Jed said as he pulled open a door to a stainless-steel freezer. “No wonder Zeke had trouble finding her.” He disappeared into what was apparently a walk-in freezer, and the door slammed shut behind him.
&nb
sp; Rita stared at him. “Who is he? Why is he in my freezer?”
“Jed Buchanan. Gorgeous, isn’t he?”
“You bet he is. Yours?”
Paige didn’t even hesitate. “Mine,” she said firmly. “But I’m here because I wanted to know how to avoid becoming a wraith. Surely you put in a back door or something.”
Rita pulled her gaze off the freezer door and gave Paige a calculating look. “Of course I did.”
Paige caught her breath and she leaned forward. “What is it? How do I stop it?”
Rita gave her a sympathetic look. “Oh, girlfriend, I’d love to help you, but you know how Satan is. I can’t mess with him.”
“Why not? He doesn’t have your soul, so why do you have to make him happy? Make me happy instead. I’m a lot nicer.”
Rita grimaced and shook her head. “I’m sorry. I really can’t. I can’t afford to.”
Paige felt herself starting to panic. “Please. What can I do to convince you to help me? You want Satan off your case? I’ll get him off your case. Anything. Please.”
Rita gave her a sharp glance. “Don’t make promises you can’t keep. The only two people who could control him at all were Becca Gibbs and the former love of his life, Iris Bennett. Now that he’s shacking up with all these women in an attempt to forget Iris, he’s out of control. Ruthless.” She looked at Paige. “He’s turning into the Satan that everyone thought he was all along. Look at you. He’s destroying you for no reason. Would the old Satan have done that? No. He would have talked about it, but he wouldn’t have. Because he was trying to be good to win Iris’s love, and because Becca kept him in line. But now . . .” She shuddered. “You’ll be lucky to be a wraith when he finally snaps. You’ll be oblivious.”
Paige suddenly got cold. “You think he’s going to snap?”
Rita gave her a look that made Paige feel really young. “Don’t you?”
“I hadn’t thought about—”
Sex & The Immortal Bad Boy Page 17
