Nathanial traced his thumb over her lip and then straightened, turning back to James.
For a fleeting second, the softest of invisible caresses kissed Billie’s face. An unseen touch of something soft and delicate.
His wings?
Her heart soared. Her soul did the same. She closed her eyes, at once calm and serene yet aching for more…
And then, like a wave ebbing away from the sand, the sensation faded, leaving a sense of contentment and hope.
Opening her eyes, she frowned up at Nathanial’s back. With one touch, he could make her the horniest person on the planet, and with another the most at peace. How did she align the two responses?
She tugged at her thumbnail, watching him move back to where James leaned against the kitchen counter.
Was it possible to be in love with someone so quickly? Or was she truly going in—
“Hey?” she burst out, scrambling to her feet. “You still haven’t told me what’s going on.”
James snorted.
Nathanial’s shoulders slumped. “Damn it,” he muttered.
She glared at him. “So the kiss just now, the stroking from the wings, that was just to try to sidetrack me?”
“Wings?” He spun back to her, his gaze finding hers. “What do you mean, the stroking from the wings?”
“Just now, when you turned back to genie-boy over there. I felt something soft, like feathers, brush against my face.”
“That’s not possible. My wings exists in a different realm when I’m concealing them from humans. They have no substance in this realm. They can’t be felt by anyone.”
Heart smashing fast in her chest, she deepened her glare at him. “Well, as you keep pointing out, I’m not just anyone, ’cause I felt them.”
“Is this a lovers’ spat?” James called from the kitchen. “I’m feeling like this is a lovers’ spat. Do you want me to leave?”
“No,” Billie growled.
“No,” Nathanial ground out.
“Okay, okay.” James raised his hands.
“I want answers,” Billie said, stomping toward Nathanial. “All the answers. I want to know why I can feel your wings when apparently I’m not meant to, why I can hear you speak Enochian when I shouldn’t be able to, but more importantly right now, I want to know what’s going on. What’s ‘happened again’? Three times? What’s the ‘situation’ you two talked about earlier?”
“Billie,” Nathanial said. “I don’t want you to be upset by what Gilbert—”
“I’m way past upset on that front, Nathanial. And I’m only going to get worse with you treating me like a delicate little flower that can’t handle the shit going down.”
A muscle ticked in his jaw.
James cleared his throat. “Not to tell you how to angel, Nath, but she’s got a point. I don’t know what’s going on between you two, obviously something fairly intense—I’m getting the feeling Billie here is in some way related to your fall from High—but keeping her in the dark about the threat somehow connected to her?” He shook his head at Nathanial. “That’s not right. Or smart. And this is coming from me.”
“Listen to the genie.” Billie pulled an apologetic face. “I mean James.”
Nathanial studied her, expression closed, and then swung back to James. “I’m going to make your life a living hell after this, you know that, right?”
James grinned. “Yep.”
“Just so you know. And are prepared.” With a ragged sigh, Nathanial turned back to Billie. “Remember when I told you the sale of Gilbert’s soul was unlike any I’d seen before?”
She straightened her spine and gave him an impatient expression. Better to show him she wasn’t freaking out than to admit she was freaking out. Just when she thought she’d gotten her head around this unexpected insight into a whole other world she’d previously believed fictional, her angel protector/abductor goes and pulls the serious card and her heart turns into a sledgehammer.
“Yes,” she said. Damn it, her voice was croaky again. And why the hell was her heart trying to thump its way out of her chest?
Nathanial rubbed at the back of his neck, searching her eyes.
“Just tell me,” she whispered. “Please? I think you owe me that, given I’ve been a pretty good abductee.”
A small smile curled at the edge of his mouth and he dropped his hand with another sigh. “Given how completely I’ve upturned your life, you have been…amazing.”
The compliment sent a little lick of surreal delight through her. After all this, she’d need a shrink. “Thank you. Now, tell me.”
Behind him, James levered himself from the counter and made his way into the living room to perch on the edge of the coffee table next to where they stood.
Nathanial nodded, wiped at his mouth, and then fixed her with a direct, unwavering look. “Somehow, the sale of Gilbert’s soul transformed him into something no longer human.”
Billie swallowed. An icy clamminess slithered over her body. No longer human. Oh yay. “What does that mean, exactly?”
The muscle in Nathanial’s jaw bunched again. “I think he’s transmutated into something possibly demonic—or worse.”
“There’s something worse than demonic?”
His nostril flared as he dipped his head. “And I believe him to be more dangerous than I first thought.”
Damn it, where had all the warmth gone in the room? “In what way? I’m alright here, aren’t I? Safe?”
“Yes. You are. But earlier, while you were sleeping, James projected himself here to tell me about—” He stopped, swiping at his mouth again.
“Do you want me to tell her?” James asked.
“No, no.” Nathanial shook his head, gaze holding Billie’s. “This is something I must do.”
Chest tightening, she frowned. Waited. Even as a part of her wanted to run to her room and lock the door.
“I think Gilbert is burning people alive. But not naturally.”
A sickening ball of ice rolled in her gut. “There’s a natural way to burn people alive?”
Oh God, what kind of nightmare had she been thrust into?
Nathanial’s Adam’s apple slid up and down his throat.
She hugged herself. “How do you…why do you know this?”
“We have a wiccan at Guarded Souls who can detect when dark magic or power is being used. When that happens, we investigate. While we’re just a standard protection agency to the outside world, we do tend to constantly monitor the…existences we come from. When the malevolent force of the first incineration triggered Nim’s internal radar, two of our team checked it out.”
“Okay.” Her mouth tasted like old dust. “So why does this have anything to do with me? With Gilbert? Wait…” She stared at Nathanial. “Who did Gilbert kill?”
Please don’t say Adelaide. Or Riccardo. Or—
“Detective Rhames,” Nathanial answered. “The cop whose will I,” he flicked James a quick look, “influenced outside your home.”
Oh no.
“The big nice guy who tried to save me from you?”
“Yes.”
“He’s dead now? Because of me?”
“No. Not because of—”
“Did Gilbert kill the cop who was sent to protect me, Nathanial?” The ice in her veins cracked. Anger rushed through her. “Did he somehow burn him alive? Using some kind of dark…magic he got only because he sold his soul to have me?”
“Billie!”
She shook her head and took a step back. “So the nice cop who was only doing his job is dead because of me. Burned to death because of me.” She balled her fists, gritting her teeth. God, if she threw up now…
“If it helps,” Nathanial said softly, “his soul was pure. He will be going to—”
“No, it doesn’t fucking help!”
“I’m sorry.”
Grief and rage warred within her. At the pain in her heart for Detective Rhames, at the sorrow and failure in Nathanial’s eyes, at the hate overwhelming her for Gilber
t.
But mostly, at the sense of being useless now.
She dropped into the armchair, chest tight. An image of Rhames filled her head, taunted her.
“Billie—” Nathanial said again.
She snapped her glare up to him, and then locked it on James. “You said it’s happened again. Three times.”
James gave Nathanial a quick glance, and then nodded. “Yes.”
“Do you know who the…the people are? Who he killed?”
“No.”
“Why is he doing it?”
Another quick look at Nathanial. Was he scared to reveal too much? Worried for her sanity? Or his safety? “It looks like he’s feeding on their life force,” he said. “That’s what Nim is thinking.”
“Excellent.” The word tore from her, acrid with sarcasm and contempt. “He couldn’t just go through a McDonald’s drive-thru?”
Neither Nathanial nor James laughed. She would have hit them if they had.
“Do you know why he killed them, in particular?”
James shook his head. “The first two victims after the cop outside your place were a few miles apart heading east. I made the assumption he somehow knew where you and Feathers were and was heading this way. But the third was farther west again. Just outside San Merino.”
San M—
“No!” She jolted to her feet. “Adelaide!”
“What?” James frowned.
Oh no. No! San Merino…
“Nathanial.” She swung to him. “Adelaide lives in San Merino.”
He jabbed a finger at James. “Don’t leave her alone.”
“Wh—”
His form shattered into a prism of shimmering light, and he vanished.
“Fuck!” James yelped, almost scurrying backward across the coffee table. “I’ve never seen the winged bastard do—Hey, where are you going?”
Sprinting for the door, any door, she didn’t slow down at James’s stunned shout. She had to get to Adelaide.
“Stop.” James materialized directly in front of her, hands out.
She careened into him, stumbled sideways, and started running again.
“Billie,” he called. “Stop.”
Where the hell was the front door? Where the fuck was the—ahh, there.
She bolted for what looked like the front entry-way foyer.
And stumbled to a halt as James once again appeared in front of her.
“I need to get to Adelaide!”
“And you’re what? Going to run to her?”
“I need to…to…” Frustration and worry ate at her.
He nodded, palms out to her. “I get it. I truly do. I have no idea who this Adelaide is you need to get to, but if Gilbert—or whatever Gilbert is now—is after you, going to where he’ll be is not a good idea. Besides, Feathers will protect her.”
“If she’s still alive.” Sucking in a choppy breath, she stared at him. Maybe if she rammed her shoulder into his—
“The last victim was male,” he said. “And no, I’d rather you didn’t try to shoulder-barge me into the wall.”
She blinked. “How did you know I was thinking of doing that?”
“I’m very good at reading people. It’s a djinn thing.” He preened a little. “Hey, apparently I’m also good at being a poet…without knowing—”
“Don’t say it,” she warned.
“It,” he finished. His smile grew gentle. He didn’t, however, drop his hands.
She let out a sigh and slumped against the wall. “Do you really think Nathanial will be able to keep Adelaide safe?”
“I do. I don’t know how much you know about him, but Feathers is one of the most formidable bastards I’ve ever known. And I’m over five thousand years old.”
Her mouth fell open. She snapped it shut, wincing when her teeth click together. “Until twenty-four hours ago, the only…paranormally, nonhumany stuff I had any knowledge of was what the writers wrote for my show. Now…” She shook her head.
James leaned his shoulder against the wall, his eyes as kind as his smile. “If it’s any consolation, most of us who don’t fall into the human category are pretty alright. And we spend a lot of our time making sure the malevolent evil pricks among us are kept in check. Nathanial? He’s one of the best.”
She swallowed and nodded. “I know. It’s stupid, but in my heart, my soul, I know. It’s just…”
“This is all still a huge shock to the system?”
“Huge.” She rubbed her face and pushed herself from the wall. “So, what do we do now? Wait? Worry? Pace the floors?”
“We could do that.” James also straightened from the wall. “Or we could eat breakfast? I’ve been working all night and I’m starving. What do you think?”
Her stomach grumbled. Loud enough that James laughed.
She rolled her eyes. “Okay, so apparently breakfast is a good idea. Although I have no idea if Nathanial has any food here. To be honest, I don’t know if angels eat.”
“Oh, angels eat. They don’t have to, but they do. At least, Feathers does. I’ve seen him demolish an upsized XXXL Fatburger meal—with added egg, bacon and chili—in three bites and complain it wasn’t enough.” He grinned. “Trust me, never let him take you to a Fatburger.”
Billie laughed, an image of walking with Nathanial into the Fatburger on 3rd and La Cienega Boulevard filling her head. His wings on full display, impressive and blindingly white, and everyone in the fast-food joint fainting at the magnificent sight.
A ribbon of warmth and delight unfurled through her at the thought, and she let out another soft chuckle.
Who would have thought she could laugh, find happiness, with everything going on?
“So, what do we do,” she asked, walking toward the kitchen, “if there’s no food here? I have no idea where we actually are, nor do I know if there’s a car we could go in. I’m going to assume you didn’t drive here, what with the way you suddenly appeared in the—”
She stumbled to a halt as James held up a large bottle of OJ and a carton of eggs.
He grinned. “Djinn. I’m awesome at getting stuff when it’s needed. And even better at granting wishes…when the mood takes me.”
She gaped at the breakfast staples in his hands. “Um, any chance I could have…I don’t know, a pair of jeans and a T-shirt?”
“Did you rub my lamp?”
She blinked.
“Kidding. I don’t have a lamp.” He winked, and continued walking toward the kitchen, swinging the bottle of juice as he went. “But after breakfast, I’ll see what I can—”
The air splintered into a million pinpricks of iridescent light directly in front of them, and Nathanial appeared.
“Miss me?”
*
“Are you sure she’s safe?”
Returning his glass to the table, Nathanial fixed Billie with a steady gaze. “I’m sure she’s safe. She’s currently in the presidential suite at the Beverly Wilshire, enjoying an all-day, in-room spa indulgence. I’ve warded the suite and have dampened her soul’s footprint on the Order of Actuality.”
“The Order of what?”
“Actuality. The grand pattern, the scheme of all existence. I’ve made sure Adelaide’s presence in the Order of Actuality is shuttered so if anyone tries to locate her on the temporal or ethereal plane via nonhuman means, I’ll know. And then Kade will deal with them.”
“You don’t want Kade on your ass,” James said, placing a plate piled high with scrambled eggs and bacon in front of Nathanial before slipping into the seat next to him. “That vamp is a scary bastard.”
Nathanial dropped his attention to the food. With the energy he’d needed to implement the various shielding wards on Adelaide Williams, her hotel room, and Billie’s PA, Riccardo Zaicos—whose free will was the easiest to influence Nathanial had ever encountered—he should be ravenous for any form of nutrient, even non-spiritual sustenance.
But he couldn’t bring himself to pick up his fork, despite how good a cook James
was (surprisingly good, for a being who could conjure up whatever he wanted to eat with a click of his fingers).
The vile wisps of Gilbert’s corruption he’d tasted upon materializing in Adelaide’s home still sickened him. Gilbert had been close. Close enough for Nathanial to consider waiting for his arrival.
The thought however, of what it would do to Billie if somehow Gilbert overpowered him and Adelaide was hurt or killed changed his mind.
He’d warded Adelaide and got her out of there with two words. Deposited her in the hotel suite, warded it, and then influenced the staff at the desk to make sure she wasn’t allowed to leave the hotel until instructed by him to do so.
Racing against time, he’d returned to her house, ready to tear Gilbert asunder.
But Gilbert’s taint had faded.
Desperate, he’d searched for fresh wisps of the man, knowing the effect it would have on his desire for Billie.
He’d found one tenuous, fragile thread, and snagged it.
And released it instantly, Gilbert’s dark lust and ravenous obsession almost devouring him through the minute connection.
Worried, he’d translocated to the only other person Billie truly cared about in the US, Riccardo, hoping to detect the unhinged stalker there. He hadn’t. Knowing the young man could still be a target, he’d slipped his influence into the free will of Billie’s PA and did what he had to do to keep him safe.
Riccardo was now on his way to visit his mother in Canada. A long road trip, to be sure, but one that removed the possible threat to his life.
Nathanial had considered the notion of using him as bait, but to do so would destroy any trust Billie had in him.
Instead, he’d cast a shielding ward around him as well, and returned to his home in the Angeles National Forest.
And the moment he’d seen Billie, Gilbert’s lust had roared.
“Feathers?”
He jerked his stare up from his plate and frowned at James. “Sorry. What did you say?”
James arched an eyebrow. “I said, maybe we should introduce Bill here to Kade?”
Bill.
Hot jealousy flare at the friendly nickname. Cold rage surged through him. Not his rage, not his jealousy—Gilbert’s.
Control it. Expel it. Exorcize it. Now.
Grinding his teeth, he forced the unhinged need from his soul.
Destiny's Knight: A Fallen Angel Protector Paranormal Romantic Suspense Book (Guarded Souls 1) Page 12
