by Nina Bangs
Not an angel.
The whisper in her mind had no question mark at the end this time. But if she wasn’t an angel, then what was she? Panic pushed at her. She had to be something, somebody. Her uncertainty had her teetering on the edge of a yawning abyss. She closed her eyes and stepped back from the chasm. She didn’t have time for an identity crisis tonight. Passion glanced at the clock.
Time to go. She’d spent the day in her own room, away from the distractions of the others. Okay, away from the distraction of Edge. Besides, if she wasn’t an angel, then she didn’t have an obligation to trail around behind him and the others. Sure, she was being selfish, but logical thought escaped her when he was near, and she really needed to get her head together. But there was just so long she could hold her conscience at bay, so she’d agreed to meet everyone in the hotel’s restaurant.
Passion took a last look at herself in the mirror. Each day she changed a little more. She wore Sparkle’s makeup and clothes. She cared about how she looked. Hello, vanity. Fine, so she cared what Edge thought about the way she looked.
What will you do when Ted calls you back to heaven? Will you leave Edge? Will he care if you leave? And how could she return to a place that didn’t feel like home anymore? All questions with no answers at the moment. Sighing, she headed for the door.
She was the last one to sit down, or almost the last. “Where’s Hope and Ganymede?”
Sparkle shrugged. “She said Archangel Ted told her that since she wasn’t doing a great job helping people in the castle, she needed to go out into the streets and see what she could do there. She wanted to hit Baybrook Mall on the mainland first because it would have lots of people all in one place.” She looked puzzled. “Who goes to the mall and doesn’t shop? She took Murmur with her to give her courage.”
Sparkle narrowed her eyes. “Oh, and Mede isn’t here because he was too lazy to take human form. I told him he couldn’t set one paw in the restaurant if he stayed a cat. Cat hair in the soup doesn’t amuse the Department of Health.”
Passion decided not to comment on Ganymede. She frowned. “Hope took a demon with her?” Okay, that was bizarre.
Sparkle’s laughter was low and sexy. “Far be it from me to discourage her efforts, but if some stranger interrupted me while I was shopping for shoes…” She seemed to think about that possibility. “I’d hammer their heads into mush with the heel of the absolutely stunning stiletto I was holding. And I’m not a violent person.” She thought some more. “Most of the time.”
Unease touched Passion. Why would Ted contact Hope when Passion wasn’t around? And why hadn’t he included her in his go–forth-and-save message? Because he knows you don’t trust him anymore? The thought startled her. Could he know how she felt about him? She relaxed a little. He couldn’t know. Ted wasn’t subtle, and if he suspected she had doubts, he’d be busy threatening her with more punishments.
But if she wasn’t an angel, then that meant Ted was a big fat liar. She didn’t need to move closer to the abyss because the edge was already crumbling beneath her feet. And speaking of Edge…
She looked across the table at Death. Or maybe she should call him Finis, since that was his real name. Unfortunately, changing his name didn’t change her reaction to him.
Her heart did that strange ker-thump it only did when he got close. “So what do we think about what’s not been happening?”
Edge shrugged. “Maybe the whole thing was an anomaly. Maybe no one caused what happened to Ganymede and me.” His expression said he didn’t believe that at all.
Holgarth tapped one long, thin finger on the table. “I tend to believe you might be right. After all, both of you have exhibited unstable tendencies in the past. Perhaps you both need counseling.”
“And perhaps Wacky Wizard needs a kick in the butt.”
Ganymede? Passion looked around.
A warning paw batted her ankle. “Shh. Under the table. Don’t look down. Don’t want Sparkle to know I’m here.”
What the…? Okay, so if the cat was in her mind, he’d be able to hear her thoughts. “Why are you here?” She waited for his answer.
Bain seemed bored. “Personally, I think the solution is simple. We have three prime suspects. We take them down to the dungeon and torture them until one of them confesses.” He shook his head. “Nah, that wouldn’t work, at least not with Murmur. He’d sic his legions of demons on us and we’d be toast. At least you would. Me, I can take care of myself.”
They all stared at Bain, and he stared back. “What?”
“I’m here because I sense someone powerful in the castle.” Ganymede sounded impatient with the dinner conversation. “Jeez. Demons never get that sometimes things need a little finesse.”
“And you’re the king of finesse?” Passion almost said it out loud.
“Respect your elders, angel wannabe.”
Bain evidently decided to change the subject. “Too bad Dacian couldn’t join us. But Cinn just got back from her trip. Guess he has a lot of welcoming to do.” He slanted a slow and sensual smile Passion’s way.
Passion caught Edge’s scowl out of the corner of her eye. Why was he mad? Bain’s expression turned sly as he glanced toward Edge. What was that about?
“So do you think this powerful someone is to blame for what happened to you and Edge?” Passion tried to concentrate on Ganymede.
The waitress came to take their orders.
“Order two steaks. One rare. I like French fries. No veggies. I hate veggies. And, no, I don’t think this person is connected to all the recent weirdness. Whoever I’m feeling has power like I’ve never felt before, and he or she is new to the castle. Makes me mad thinking about a stranger sneaking around. And I eat more when I’m mad, so get a double order of fries.”
Passion avoided the puzzled stares as she ordered. “Why me? Why aren’t you bothering anyone else at the table?”
“Because you’re the biggest soft touch here.” Ganymede made it sound like that was a good thing. “And all the others would freak out. Sparkle would yammer on about the stupid board of health, Edge and Bain would insist on going with me, and Holgarth would piss me off with his snarky comments.”
“Going with you where? Explain.” Thinking about another powerful being in the castle made her nervous.
“After you feed me some, okay, most of your meal—gotta keep up my strength—I’m going to search every room in the hotel. I can skip our three suspects. I already did them. This is a sneaky, one-cat job. Don’t need any helpers. I’ll check in with you every five minutes. If you don’t hear from me, tell the others, because that means I’m in trouble. Not that I’m worried.”
He was worried, and that upped Passion’s unease. “Sure.” She breathed deeply and tried to convince herself that this was a false alarm. “They’ll notice me feeding you.”
“No, they won’t.” Ganymede sounded amused. “Trust me.”
Their food came and the tension lifted for a while. The first time Passion reached down with a piece of steak, she expected everyone to stop eating and peer under the table. No one did. Evidently, Holgarth wasn’t the only magic maker at the table.
Everyone seemed to be relaxing…until Zane appeared at the table. Passion blinked. Where had he come from?
The sorcerer pulled out a chair and sat down. “Thought I’d check to see if you’d found whoever put the whammy on the cat.”
“The cat has a name. Pass down some more fries. Easy on the salt. Got to watch my sodium intake.” Ganymede sounded pretty mellow.
Edge narrowed his gaze. “What makes you think someone did?”
Zane raised one brow. “Oh, does he always stand naked in the courtyard spewing power to the universe? This place gets more entertaining every time I stay here.”
“Smart-ass.” Ganymede burped. “Another piece of steak. Bigger this time.”
Holgarth glared at Zane. “I realize someone of your immense power must feel that actually asking politely if you may join us is b
eneath you, but it would make all of us lesser beings happy. So why not try it just to humor us?” Every sarcastic word oozed contempt.
“See, this is how Holgarth pisses off everyone. You’re a little slow with the steak. Hungry cat down here.”
Zane looked puzzled. “Why would I do that? You might say no.” As if that settled everything, he leaned back to study them. “So which one of you searched my room?”
Silence.
“Come on, I know it must’ve been one of you. And whoever it was, you owe me a new carton of ice cream.”
Passion controlled her impulse to glance under the table.
Zane stood. “Just so you know, I’m upping the power on my wards. Evidently, singed whiskers weren’t enough to keep someone out.” His lips quirked up in a smile.
Passion thought he should smile more often. It took him from scary magic maker to gorgeous guy who just happened to be a little terrifying.
“Don’t send anyone to clean my room. I’ll pick up my own towels from now on.” He glanced at Holgarth. “And running a search on me won’t do any good. Google doesn’t know everything.” He turned and walked away.
“That went well.” Edge didn’t try to hide his disgust. “Oh, and cats are supposed to be sneaky. What happened to our furry supersleuth?”
“No opposable thumbs, dumbass. I couldn’t put all his stuff back exactly the way it was. So sue me. It was a waste of time and whiskers anyway. Nothing there.” Ganymede was silent for a moment.
Passion could feel the swish of air against her ankles as his tail whipped back and forth.
“I wonder why the Big Boss hasn’t shown up. He’s good at figuring out things like this. And he had to notice what I did. Sure, it wasn’t as big as some of my more spectacular stuff, just lots of shaking. Yeah, a few buildings fell down, but they were shitty construction to begin with. And no one died. Not that I’m complaining. I don’t want the Big Boss on my ass. But it seems strange he’s not here protecting his interests.”
Passion didn’t have any thoughts on why the Big Boss wasn’t there, but she did have a question for everyone. “I guess none of you have ever seen the Big Boss. What do you think he looks like?”
“Vin Diesel.” Bain.
“The Rock.” Edge.
“The guy that plays the vampire Eric in True Blood.” Sparkle.
Holgarth gave it a little more thought. “Assumptions can be dangerous. Some of the most deadly beings I’ve ever known didn’t look the part. That’s why they were successful.”
“Great. The Big Boss looks like Danny DeVito.” Ganymede chuckled.
“I’m tired of this. Let’s talk about something more interesting.” Sparkle stared at Passion. “Have you and Edge had sex together yet?”
“Crap. I’m outta here. Even dessert isn’t worth listening to this. I’ll contact you in five minutes.” And then Ganymede was gone.
Passion almost choked on her iced tea. “No. And I can’t believe you just asked that.”
Sparkle looked offended. “I’m the queen of sexual chaos. What did you expect me to ask you? What brand of cereal you ate this morning? I have a vested interest in your sensual well-being. I supplied the clothes, the makeup, and the opportunity.” She shrugged. “Can I help it if you don’t grab your joy where you can? From what you’ve told us about your heaven, you won’t be getting any there.”
Passion decided not to respond. That would only encourage Sparkle. And she wasn’t ready to discuss the place she’d always called home. Luckily, Edge bailed her out.
He didn’t look at Passion. “I thought we were meeting for dinner to discuss a plan. Guess not.”
“If you have a plan, we’ll discuss it.” Holgarth’s expression said that he was the only one with the brilliance to come up with a workable solution.
Bain shrugged. “We still don’t know squat. Murmur plays loud music and dances with Hope. Zane and Kemp don’t do much of anything that I can see. None of them have had any visitors. No one else in the hotel has been here long enough or has any real power.”
“Mede checked out their rooms.” Sparkle looked as though she was in a sulk about the diversion of the conversation away from sex. “Murmur has a sound system that would make even Satan run for earplugs, and Kemp has a few books. That’s all. Mede didn’t get much from their minds either. But they could’ve been planning death and destruction when he wasn’t visiting.”
Finally, Holgarth looked at his watch. “As fascinating as this conversation is, Edge, Bain, and I have to prepare for the night’s fantasies.” He scowled at Passion. “We can only hope that nothing unfortunate occurs tonight, since Hope has chosen to wander the mall in the company of a demon.”
Passion scowled right back. “Hey, that isn’t my fault. And if anything unfortunate happens, call me. I might not be able to stop it, but I can…” What? Revive the dead bodies? Maybe. “Well, I guess I can’t do anything.”
Edge stood, and Passion dared a glance at him. He was watching her. She thought she saw a flash of angry hurt in his eyes, and her conscience poked at her. Sure, what he’d done last night had shocked her, but that was no excuse for the way she’d lashed out at him. She looked away.
“I bet you could do a lot.” His voice was soft with controlled anger. “You mentioned something about bringing a woman back to life. What was that all about?”
He wasn’t the only one angry now. “Is this payback? You don’t like what I said last night so you blab what I told you to everyone?”
His smile was cold. “Well, I would’ve discussed it in private, but you didn’t seem to be around today.”
Passion took a deep breath to calm herself before looking at the others. They all stared back at her. “I’m not even sure if it really happened. It was the woman on the landing when Edge and Bain were fighting. I thought she was dead. I touched her and…she wasn’t dead anymore.” She shrugged. “Maybe I made a mistake. Maybe she was never dead at all. I mean, I couldn’t do anything like that before I came here.” Not that there’d been any dead bodies at home to practice on. Passion chose not to mention being able to see the colors of sin. Even Ted didn’t know about that. “Besides, I wasn’t important enough to have that kind of power.” She narrowed her eyes at Edge. “Happy now?”
No emotion shone in his eyes. “I think everyone should put their talents on the table in case we need them. I seem to remember you healing me.”
“I’m not convinced I did anything.”
Bain stopped eating for a moment. “Death dude is right. Holgarth, print out a list of everyone’s skills so we can all have a copy.”
“Perhaps you’ve forgotten my regrettable history with electronics. Magic and computers tend not to work well together. But I’ll write up a list and someone else can put it into the computer.”
“Okay, I’ll do it.” Bain didn’t sound enthusiastic. “My talents will take up lots of space, but that’s all right because some of you have a short list, so it’ll even out.” He grinned as he glanced at Edge. “I can just put ‘kills people’ next to your name.”
“Let’s expand on that a little.” Edge didn’t smile back. “Conscienceless but creative killer. Also kicks demon butt when provoked.” His gaze flicked to Passion and then away.
“Children, children.” Holgarth heaved an exaggerated sigh. “It’s fantasy time, so you’ll have to put away your squabbles for the night.”
Bain was laughing as he and Holgarth stood. They followed Edge from the restaurant.
Passion sighed.
“A sad sigh?” Sparkle looked curious.
Passion realized she wanted to talk to someone. She wouldn’t ordinarily have chosen Sparkle, but who else was there? Hope? She didn’t know Hope, never had. “Yes.”
“You know I’m here for you.” Sparkle’s eyes gleamed with avid interest.
Okay, if Passion was going to say this, she needed to get it out now before she thought too much about it. “Edge took me with him last night. I watched him kill.”
Sparkle pursed her lips. “Stupid, stupid man.”
Illogical as it might seem, Passion had the urge to defend him. “He gave me a choice.”
“Why did you go?” For just a moment, something incredibly ancient looked out of Sparkle’s eyes. Then she laughed and was once more the Sparkle that Passion knew. “I mean, if you want to sleep with him, just do it. Don’t muddle it up with all kinds of moral judgments.”
Here came the hard part. “The man’s death didn’t horrify me. It should have. He was a serial killer, but I should’ve tried harder to save him.”
“If you want me to tell you that your feelings were okay, then consider yourself told.” Sparkle smiled. “But I don’t think my opinions count for much with your boss.” Her expression turned thoughtful. “Whoever that turns out to be.”
Passion bit her lip. “You’re right. It has to be me. I have to come to terms with my feelings.” She sighed. “But there’s more. I was mad at Edge for…everything, and I said some stuff about him not caring for people and maybe enjoying his job. I mentioned how none of you guys seemed upset about the people who lost their homes when Ganymede went crazy. That wasn’t fair. I can’t look into his heart to see his emotions.”
Sparkle leaned back in her chair. She played with one glittery earring as she seemed to think about what she wanted to say. “Edge contributed a huge chunk of money for those people. Then he nagged us into doing the same thing. He even hired architects and contractors to help with the rebuilding. Of course, many of the victims had insurance, but Edge made sure any that didn’t would have new homes.” She speared Passion with her stare. “Edge cares more than he wants to. In his job, that’s a liability. So he tries to cover it up with his I’m–a–cold-bastard act. And if you ever tell him I said that, I’ll inflict female pattern baldness on you for the rest of your short life.”
“Okay, I feel so much better now.” Passion felt lousy. But she didn’t know how to make it better.
“Why did you come to me for this talk?” Sparkle sounded honestly puzzled.
