by Jenny McKane
“Do they not shine for Lady Hunter?” Plaxo looked confused.
“Not as far as I know,” she said, thinking. “They look pretty much the same.”
Plaxo simply shrugged and looked out the window as the city passed by. The sun had gone down now, and it was growing dark. She felt a pang of regret when she thought about leaving Liam in such a hurry. She hadn’t meant to be rude, but the pull to spring into action had been too hard to ignore.
Sunny had a question. “Are there different castes of angels like there are demons?”
Plaxo looked over to her and raised a gray little eyebrow. He looked at Sunny like she’d grown a second head. What was it? What had she said?
“Of course, Lady Hunter,” he said slowly, like he was dealing with an imbecile. “There are just as many angel races as there are demon races.”
Huh. Why hadn’t she thought to ask that question sooner?
“Are they on Earth? Do they walk among the humans like some of the demons do?”
Again, it looked like Plaxo was about to feel her head for a temperature.
“They are everywhere,” he said. “Countless. Did they truly not teach Lady Hunter?”
Well, she suddenly felt sheepish.
“I didn’t have much time for training,” she said, a little too defensively. “I’m kind of learning as I go.”
Whatever she said, it made Plaxo grin from ear to ear.
“Another job for Plaxo,” he said with gusto. He even pumped one of his claws in the air in victory. “Plaxo will not only be a guardian of Lady Hunter, but also her teacher.”
He was so pleased with himself. Sunny just shook her head and laughed at the thought, but it was true. Whatever she’d never learned from the archangels, she hadn’t been able to find in books. Maybe working with an annoying little dream demon who liked to pop in and out of her life randomly wouldn’t hurt. Hell, any advantage she could gain at this point would help.
“You’re not going to hurt me, are you, Plaxo?”
It wasn’t that she necessarily thought he would, it was just that having him around to answer her questions and to alert her to danger seemed a little deus ex machina--a little too hand of god, as you would say. She was wary of being led into a trap that belonged to Seumat, or worse yet, Azriel.
Plaxo looked absolutely horrified at her question.
“Excusing Plaxo’s boldness, but Lady Hunter has so much to learn,” he said solemnly. “Plaxo will show the Lady Hunter that there is honor on the demon side as much as there is dishonor among the angels. It is not so cut and dry, as you will learn.”
She wasn’t sure she believed it wholeheartedly, seeing it was a new development in her training, but Sunny knew better than to make decisions and opinions before having any, if not all, the facts. She’d give Plaxo the benefit of the doubt and at least keep her mind open.
Sunny wondered what Plaxo would make of Michael and vice versa.
“Do you know the angel I work for?” If what he had said earlier about names being used to trace conversations and locations, Sunny wasn’t going to take chances. She didn’t need Michael tapping into her conversation somehow.
“Yes,” Plaxo said. “The weapon of God. Plaxo knows him.”
“Is he a good angel?” It was a bit of a loaded question, but Sunny was not only curious about the answer, but about how Plaxo would answer it.
Plaxo seemed to consider the question before answering. He was quiet when he spoke.
“His type has a single mission and they take it very seriously,” he said, his tone suddenly contemplative. “They are very good at what they are assigned to do because they are not above using tactics to get the mission complete. And that is all Plaxo will say about it.”
True to his word, he folded his arms across his chest and looked out the window. Had archangels mistreated Plaxo and his kind? Used them to achieve their ends? It seemed like everyone on both sides of the line with any power used those below them to get what they wanted in the end.
“Thank you, Plaxo,” Sunny said suddenly. “For the help. I appreciate it.”
Plaxo gave a happy little chuff before turning invisible for the rest of the ride.
When they neared Gideon’s neighborhood, Sunny picked up her backpack and strapped it on. She heard Plaxo jump from his seat and move toward the door. The bus rolled to a stop and Sunny waved her thanks to the driver before disembarking. As the bus rolled away, Sunny turned in the direction of Gideon’s loft and started walking a little faster than normal.
“Something feels funny,” she muttered under her breath. She knew she wasn’t the only one feeling it because she heard Plaxo’s breaths coming in short and fast, as he, too, ran beside her.
“Have caution, Lady Hunter,” was all he said.
Gideon’s building was suddenly in sight, and Sunny had a good pace going despite the backpack weighing her down. It was dark now, and she could only get her bearings from the fact that there were lights on upstairs in the living area. Was he home? Had he been home the entire time and just decided not to return her call?
A little self-righteous indignation began to bubble up, but immediately faded away at the sight of front of one of the closed garage bay doors. She pulled her cell phone out and switched on its flashlight mode to get a better look at the mass on the ground and gasped as she recognized it.
It was Gideon. Bloody, beaten, and an absolute mess, moaning in a heap in front of his own house.
What the hell had happened?
Without thinking, Sunny ran to him and tried to help him up, only to find the man was as big as a house and weighed twice as much. There was no way she could get him up two flights of stairs in this half-conscious state.
“Gideon,” she said, her voice strained as he slumped against her. “You have to help me. I can’t move you alone.”
He just moaned and held on to her tighter. At least that was something.
“Plaxo,” she whisper-yelled into the dark. “Can you help me somehow? I can’t get him inside, and we can’t stay out here.”
Plaxo was beside her in an instant, and she watched as he transformed himself to her height. He was now lanky and even stranger looking than before, but it appeared as though it would work. Plaxo took Gideon’s other arm and slung it over his shoulders as Sunny fumbled with the keys in the door. Once they were inside, they stumbled up the stairs and fought against a sagging Gideon until they were able to deposit him on the futon, which nearly broke when all of his weight hit it at once.
“Gideon,” Sunny called, grabbing his chin between her thumb and forefinger and making him face her. “Can you hear me? What can I do to help?”
He groaned before coughing and struggling to speak.
“Tell me,” he said before stopping. He struggled to start again. “Tell me that there is not a shapeshifting dream demon in my house, Bonnard.”
With that, Gideon passed out and couldn’t be raised for all the gold in the kingdom.
Chapter 14
Well, at least the cat-like demon was out of the proverbial bag. Having to keep Plaxo out of sight made Sunny feel like she was being dishonest. And for everything that she did, Sunny tried to be as honest as possible when it came to dealing with angels and demons. She never knew who was coming to collect.
Sunny assessed the damage. Gideon had slashes and cuts all over his chest and arms. Deep grooves were scored into his flesh, and there was blood everywhere. His hair was caked in it. His tattered t-shirt looked like some sort of surgical sponge. It was everywhere.
If there was one thing Sunny was really bad at, it was dealing with blood. She forced down an initial wave of nausea and forced herself to focus. Gideon hadn’t been speaking for the last five minutes as she pulled out his ripped clothing to try to look at the wounds. She called for Plaxo.
“Do you see these wounds?” she asked, as Plaxo appeared beside her.
“Plaxo sees them,” the demon replied solemnly. He even leaned closer and sniffed at them.
He made a face.
“What is it?” For such an insignificant little creature, his reactions seem to have an effect on Sunny lately. It seemed to Plaxo could be very serious when he needed to be.
“Venom,” he replied. “It looks like serious venom, Lady Hunter.”
“From what?” Sunny asked. She figured that at least if she knew where the venom came from, she might be able to help him.
“Plaxo cannot say,” he replied.
Sunny frowned. “Can't say, or won’t say?” Sunny felt the annoyance rising. She needed his help, and he was playing games it seemed.
“Can’t say,” Plaxo replied. “Many demons carry venom. It’s common. Plaxo cannot say which demon hurt Half Breed.”
Sunny let out a frustrated sigh and balled her hands into fists. This was going nowhere, and it seemed like Gideon’s time was running short.
“I don’t know what to do here, Plaxo,” Sunny said, knowing that she was pleading with the tiny little gargoyle of a demon. She didn’t even know if Plaxo could help, but she was desperate. These wounds seemed like the type that Neosporin and Band-Aids wouldn’t help.
Still, it seemed Plaxo was hesitating.
“Is there something you have, or can do, that can help me?” Sunny said, gritting her teeth. Her patience was running thin. “I don't want him to die, and I need your help. So, if you're really here to protect me, keep him alive for me.”
She could see the war happening across the small demon’s face. It was as if he wanted to help but didn’t at the same time.
“Fine,” Plaxo finally said. “But be sure to tell Half Breed what Plaxo did. He better be nice to Plaxo after this.”
“I’ll make sure he sets you a place at the table,” Sunny said with a desperate laugh. “I’ll make him stock the cabinet under the sink with pounds of cat food, whatever you want.”
Plaxo gave Gideon one final long, hard look. Then he disappeared and did nothing, leaving Sunny hanging onto a bleeding half angel, half demon.
Just like that, he was back, and when he returned, he held a small, green vial in his claw.
“Pour this into Half Breed’s mouth, and he will not die from the scratches,” Plaxo said, a little grudgingly.
Sunny grabbed the vial and opened the stopper. Inside, the liquid swirled green and gold, as though it were alive. She didn’t hesitate long before gripping Gideon’s mouth and pouring the concoction in. He gasped and coughed, and Sunny was initially worried that she was going to end up with a face full of the stuff, but it eventually went down. She sat back and watched Gideon for what seemed like an entire hour as his breathing when from short, shallow, and rapid to longer and more relaxed.
When it was apparent that he was sleeping soundly, Sunny went to the small bathroom and gathered up soap, washcloths, and whatever other first aid supplies she could readily find. There wasn’t much. Either Gideon hadn’t had much time to go Band-Aid shopping, or he’d always just relied on his immortal heritage to provide him a little corporeal toughness.
Fat lot of good it’d done him tonight, Sunny thought as she filled a basin of warm water at the sink.
Kneeling in front of Gideon, she gingerly cut away his shirt with a pair of scissors she found in the kitchen drawer. She swallowed hard as the last of what was covering him fell away. Even battered and bloody, he was magnificent, and it took a few moments after she began to wash him to not react. In her own defense though, Sunny hadn’t spent much time around half-naked men who looked like Gideon did. Hell, Sunny hadn’t been spending time around half-naked men, period.
Four bloody washcloths later, Gideon was beginning to look a little better. He was still out cold, but at least most of the surface blood was gone from his chest and arms. The rest, well, he’d have to get that in a shower when he woke up. Sunny wasn’t about to go undressing the man.
Plaxo had remained seated beside her while she worked, never taking his slitted eyes off Gideon.
“Why were you hesitant to help him?” she asked while she worked.
Plaxo just shook his head, unwilling to answer. But Sunny wasn’t buying it.
“Why, Plaxo?”
The small demon took a deep breath and turned his big eyes on her.
“Those are succubus wounds, Lady Hunter,” he said quietly. “Half Breed seems to have been hanging out with a particularly bad brand of demon, and it made Plaxo angry that he would hurt Lady Hunter’s feelings.”
She frowned.
“What do you mean, my feelings?” It wasn’t as though she cared much what Gideon did--even if it included hanging out with a gang of hot sex demons who tried to kill him. It was Gideon’s business.
“Plaxo is old and sees everything,” he said, his eyes still on Gideon. “He knows the way you feel about Half Breed and how bad Half Breed has been treating you lately. Plaxo was angry and didn’t want to help because Half Breed was hurting Lady Hunter by visiting with succubi.”
She looked up at ceiling and sighed.
“He’s allowed to do whatever he wants, Plaxo,” she said. “I’m nothing to him.”
“Not yet,” Plaxo said.
Sunny turned to ask him what he meant by that, but the little bugger was gone. She called his name a few times in case he’d just gone invisible, but there was no response.
What the hell had he meant by that?
*****
Gideon slept off the attack and the antidote for most of the night. Sunny woke to beams of sunlight breaking through her window, and she blinked. She was exhausted and wanted nothing more than to sleep all day like Gideon, but she had a job. She had to get up and make a good impression on Kitty Carlisle for her first day at The Little Lamb.
She was just finishing getting dressed and making her way to the kitchen when she found Gideon standing next to a pot of brewing coffee. Sunny wasn’t sure who she was more excited to see--an alive and kicking Gideon, or a pot of fresh caffeine.
“Was I dreaming, or do you have a pet?”
His voice was a little rough, and there were dark circles under his eyes, but Gideon was showered and dressed and looked a lot better than he had when Sunny had finally fallen asleep.
“Maybe,” was all she replied. She was going to have to get better at speaking demon--which mean half-truths and non-answers more often than not. “How are you feeling?”
“Ever had demon venom antidote?” he asked, raising his eyebrow at her. “The cure is nearly as bad as the disease.”
“Would you have died without it?” She had no idea what succubus wounds did to a man, let alone someone like Gideon.
He looked at her before answering.
“Maybe.”
Touché. He was paying her back for her refusal to talk about Plaxo.
“I hope whatever succubus gave you those wounds was worth it,” she said, as she filled up a cup.
Gideon laughed at that.
“Jealous?”
Sunny blinked at the teasing tone and stiffened when he slid closer to her, closing the distance between them.
“No,” she said, a little too indignantly. “Just curious. You keep to yourself so much lately, I just never assumed you were doing that.”
Gideon had her suddenly boxed in.
“What do you mean by that?”
She suddenly had no idea why she’d even brought it up in the first place. What had she been thinking?
“Stop,” she said as she ducked out of the way and away from Gideon. “You don’t want to tell me what’s been going on lately, and you don’t have to tell me.”
That seemed to change his tune, and he reached for Sunny’s shoulder, gently grabbing it and spinning her back around to face him.
“You know nothing about me or why I’m here.” He said it as a fact, which it was. “And I’m on a mission of my own, despite what I agreed to do for Michael, which was just a convenient launching point. What I’ve been doing has everything to do with my own personal revenge and nothing to do with you, so it was best I kept you out of it. An
d look what I got out if it, too. Imagine what would have happened to you if you’d been with me.”
She probably wouldn’t have made it home in the first place.
“How did you end up outside the building? Where is your car?”
“Back where I parked it,” he said. “I was dumped not far from here, luckily enough, and I managed to stagger home before collapsing.”
Sunny took a long sip of her coffee and considered her next words carefully before she said them. But she’d made up her mind and went with them.
“Tell me what you’re doing,” she said. “Maybe I can help.”
She was certain Gideon was going to laugh in her face at her offer, but he didn’t, he just stood there with his gorgeous hazel eyes studying her face. Was he looking for hesitation? Some sort of sign that she was joking? She wasn’t.
Suddenly, being let into Gideon’s inner world mattered to her, and she hoped he understood that.
“When I said my father was an angel, I didn’t give you the whole story,” he began and Sunny set her coffee mug down. “He’s actually an archangel, and his name is Camael.”
She let out a breath she’d been holding and processed that for a moment. An archangel had produced a baby with a demon? In the old-fashioned, body-to-body way? It seemed impossible and just a little insane. They were on such opposite sides of the line.
“My father, Camael, holds the flaming sword and was the one who cast the first humans from the Garden of Eden,” Gideon said. “From what I can find in my research, he’s always been a bit of a dick and power hungry to boot, but he’s also evil and sadistic.”
Sunny let him finish without interrupting him.
“It was my father who sold me into bondage to Seumat when he finally caught up to me and my mother,” Gideon said. “He killed her and made a bargain with Seumat. Me.”
The pain was evident on his face now, and her heart lurched in her chest for him. He’d never been so raw or exposed with Sunny before.
“To sum it up quickly, as it seems you’re on your way somewhere extra early this morning,” he said quickly, noting that she was already up and dressed, “I escaped bondage and swore revenge on him. And I’ll have it. But there’s something I need first and that was what I was after when I was attacked by Leela.”
