Protect Her: Part 11 Read online

  I swept her up into my arms and kissed her. She squirmed against me at first as if she still wanted to have her say, but as I rained kisses over her cheeks and hair and finally her lips, they parted in welcome for me. I kissed her with a fierceness born out of love and possessiveness and gratitude for bringing her into my life. I wouldn’t ever take her for granted. She was right. I had a second chance. A second chance with her, and a second chance to right the wrongs that haunted me.

  As I finally released my hold on her waist, I saw her cheeks were flushed, and she was breathing a bit heavier than normal. I grinned at her. “I love it when you give me a swift kick in the ass.”

  “God knows you need it more often then you should,” she whispered. Then she smiled back at me. She held up her hand and put up one finger. “First, we’re going to find Bruno Proctor and get control of your little army back.” She flipped up another finger. “Then, you’re going to send them all packing.” She flipped up her middle finger. “Last, but not least, we’re going to give the archangel squad the ol’ heave ho and send them packing too.”

  I laughed at her understated innuendo. I would be more than happy to give them the old ‘fuck you’ salute as well. “Anything else on the to-do list?” I landed a butterfly kiss on her nose.

  “Well, there is the matter of that other original angel who has been sulking about for the last thousand years. I haven’t had the pleasure of meeting him yet, but Viho and Klein said he was pretty badass and damn near indestructible,” she said.

  “I’ve been thinking a lot about that,” I said. “Even in my crazy, madness filled brain I had Adam in mind. He might be nearly indestructible, but I have a plan for him.”

  “You are finally going to be useful then? No more Mr. Mopeyhead?” She pulled a long face and looked forlorn clearly making fun of me.

  I started to tickle her, and she let out a short screech. “Shhhh,” I warned. “We’re in a graveyard. You’re going to wake the dead.”

  She wrapped her arms around my neck and rocked back on her heels as she gazed up at me. “I think I already did.”

  CHAPTER EIGHT – PAIGE

  I was happier than I could remember being in quite a while, and that was despite the fact that there was still the rather insurmountable task of stopping an angel-demon war in front of us. Riley wrapped his wings around us again, and this time I heard him whisper words that I thought must be his way of guiding us to the right time and place.

  I felt safe inside the small cocoon created by his arms and wings. It was as if, for a short amount of time, we could forget that the rest of the world existed. It was just the two of us. I liked that.

  When his wings unwound from around my body, I blinked at the sun high overhead. We were in the middle of a deserted street. I saw the van parked next to the curb, though, and realized that we were back in Kansas City. I just didn’t know when.

  “So what’s the plan?” I asked.

  Riley strode to the van and slid the door open. Klein sat inside, and an arrow shot into the air square at Riley’s chest. My breath caught in my throat, but Riley caught the arrow in mid-flight and rolled his eyes. “It’s not exactly easy to come by Plythen steel, Klein. Plus, that doesn’t stop an angel.”

  “I wasn’t looking to kill anything. Just give me time to get the hell out of here,” Klein said. He squinted at me over Riley’s shoulder. “Next time, I’m driving. You have the keys, so I couldn’t leave.”

  I pulled them out of my pocket and dangled them at him. “Well, in that case, I’m glad I did. We might need your help.”

  Klein threw up his hands. “Klein, go find out what you can about tracking down dark angels. Klein, bring the weapons. Klein, kill a demon and cut off its head.”

  “Did you happen to do that one last one?” Riley asked. He grabbed Klein by the front of his shirt and pulled the sputtering man out of the van.

  Klein glared at him. “If you must know, Viho hightailed it out of there before I could do anything. Then all hell broke loose in the church. Alice grabbed me and took me through the tunnels with the rest of the nuns.”

  “Klein and the women, out safely. Thank God,” Riley said with a slight shake of his head.

  Klein puffed up his chest. “I’ll have you know that it was a good thing I was with those nuns. When we popped out of the tunnel, there was a demon there, and I killed it so that the nuns could get away.”

  Riley crossed his arms over his chest. I suppressed a chuckle. It seemed that Riley and Klein had fallen back into their normal roles with little effort. “Where’s the dead demon now, Klein?”

  “Oh, it’s over on Kemp Street,” Klein said, cocking a thumb back over his shoulder. “It was too heavy to carry. But you don’t want the body.” He turned and dug in the van. Then he pulled a burlap sack out. I could see that the bottom was stained a dark red. “You said you just needed the head.” He gave Riley a triumphant smile.

  “You are infuriating,” Riley said.

  “But I’m good,” Klein said with an awkward dance shuffle. “Right, Paige? I’m awesome.”

  “You’re awesome, Klein,” I said giving him the two thumbs up signal.

  Riley took the bag from Klein, and I moved to his side. “So you really think you can pull this off? Convincing Bruno that you are still…dark?”

  “We’ll see,” Riley said. “I need you to stay here with Klein. I know where to find Proctor. “

  “No way,” I said shaking my head. “We’re in this together. If you’re going after him, you’re taking me with you.”

  “Paige, the only magical abilities you appear to still possess are healing. Which is quite handy when we’re injured, but it won’t help you in the slightest against a demon.”

  I raised my chin stubbornly. “I still know how to fight, Riley. I’m good with a gun, a knife, and a crossbow. I’m better back-up than just about anyone else.”

  “If I fail, I’m not going to need back-up,” Riley said. He pulled me off to the side. “There is no plausible reason for you to be with me.”

  “Unless…” Klein said thoughtfully.

  “Unless what?” Klein was the creative genius on the crew. I hoped that he was going to have an idea that would help me, though, and not hinder my argument.

  “What if you were bringing Paige to Proctor so he could kill her?” Klein said. “You know, all this business of him losing everything ultimately had to do with him getting tangled up with Paige. He thought that he was going to take over Hell, and instead he got shut down because of you. So you’re offering him a way to take out some revenge.”

  “Bruno won’t buy that,” I said.

  “He might,” Riley said. He looked at me. “You being there as my prisoner might be exactly what it takes to convince him that I haven’t turned back to the light. But the thing is, you look far too intact for the man that I was with him.”

  “So bloody me up a bit,” I said. “I can take one for the team if I have to.”

  “She looks pretty messed up,” Klein said looking me up and down. “I don’t think you need to do too much. She’s got blood on her clothes, and her hair is really more of a rat’s nest right now.”

  “Thanks, Klein,” I said with a long sigh. I couldn’t help my run my hands through my hair. Rat’s nest? I looked down at myself. The blood on my jacket was from my earlier battles getting to the convent. The blood around the tears in my jeans was from the shards of broken china. Taking all of that into consideration, I guess I did look pretty rough.

  I saw Riley’s face. He wasn’t convinced, though. I pulled one of my knives out of my belt. Before Riley could stop me, I slid it across the lower part of my collarbone. I winced even as he wrestled the knife from my hand.

  “What the fuck are you doing?”

  “It’s shallow, and this way the blood is fresh,” I said. “I’ve had worse. It’s fine.”

  “Whoa, that was crazy,” Klein said, but he had a goofy grin on his face. I looked down and saw the blood oozing from th
e cut. It didn’t look that wicked since Riley had stopped me, but it was something.

  “Let’s go,” I said to Riley before he could change his mind. “I’ll keep quiet. You want to put some invisible bindings around my wrists?” I held out my hands in front of me. I could tell he didn’t want to, but then I felt the pinch of invisible rope on my skin. “Now, give me the bag.”

  Riley silently handed the bag to me. I cast my eyes downward and let myself settle into my role. I was a beaten shell of a woman who had been betrayed by her lover. Bruno thought that I was weak, and that was exactly how I would appear to be.

  I felt the heavy hand on my shoulder, and then the whisk of the wind as the scenery around us changed.

  “Whatever happens, whatever I say, know that it isn’t me. It’s a part that I’m playing,” he said low against my ear.

  I gave a short nod. I couldn’t afford to be distracted now, and the swirl of the changing scenery made my stomach roll. I closed my eyes until I felt the swish of the air settle around me. When I opened my eyes, I wanted to close them again. The stench in the air of blood and rank filth overwhelmed my nostrils, and I started to choke.

  “The prodigal son has returned.” It was the voice that I thought I would never have to hear again. I sank lower into my haunches and tried to make myself as small as possible. I was here simply in the event that if something went wrong, I could help Riley. Otherwise, I just had to play my part until it was over.

  “That little side trip to see your mother seemed to take much longer than you told me. I got bored, so I decided to get the fun started without you. I hope you don’t mind.”

  Riley strode forward, and I realized with a start that my feet were propelled forward because there was another binding on my body, and it was around my neck. Riley had leashed me to him like a dog. I felt a wave of anger inside, and I quashed it as quickly as possible. He was playing a part, and so was I. I had to remember that.

  “It’s because I found some old friends there,” Riley said. His voice was different. Colder. Harder. Less humane.

  I forced myself to dredge up the images that Klein had put under my nose over the last week. The images of all the places where Riley had been. The blood that had been shed. The stories of the missing and abused that we were certain had been tied to him and his passing through their towns. Riley unfettered and soulless was a terrible man. While that wasn’t the man I knew him to be, that was the man I had to believe him to be now.

  “Well, look at what we have here.” Bruno’s voice was closer now. It was almost as if it was in stereo. I had to steel myself to keep my eyes fixed downward on the burlap sack in my hands. I was beaten. A prisoner. Defeated.

  “Consider it a two for one,” Riley said. “She was trying to warn Alice that I was coming for her.”

  “Your mother. A nun. Oh, the sweet irony of it all,” Bruno said. Then he was there in front of me. My view took in a pair of perfectly polished black loafers. Bruno was always impeccably dressed. “Did you miss me, Paige?”

  The finger that curled beneath my chin smelled charred and foul. I had to fight the urge to gag as my eyes were lifted to the red orbs that burned in Bruno’s face. This was his true face, not the vessel that he had inhabited before. No, Bruno Proctor was here in his skin and bones. His face was mottled and red everywhere I looked. A monstrosity that had the barest resemblance to a person dressed in a designer pinstripe suit and tie.

  It was a reflex as I gagged. Bruno laughed. “Not your kind of party? Oh, pretty Paige. How I wished that I could see you again. Deliver unto you the kind of torture that you bestowed upon me.”

  Now that my eyes were up, I could see that we were in some kind of warehouse. The ground beneath us was sawdust. Everywhere around us, though, I saw shadows with burning eyes. We were in the middle of a demon’s nest. I hoped to hell that Riley would be able to pull off what he said he could do.

  “She’s yours for the taking,” Riley said. He appeared next to me. I felt the slightest pressure of his hand against my back. Was he pushing me forward or trying to allay my sudden anxiety? Because when faced with the real situation, I was feeling less confident about my decision to tag along.

  “Well, this is a surprise,” Bruno said. His hand lifted and tangled in my hair. I felt my insides cringe as his nose fell to the fresh blood on my collarbone, and I felt the slimy touch of his tongue on my skin. “She tastes as delicious as she looks.” I spat in his face. But he did nothing but laugh. “It is good to see that she is as spirited as ever. I shall enjoy taking my time in killing her.”

  “Since you’ve already started the battle, what is the situation with the archangels?” Riley asked.

  “I think if it had been a lesser force, they would have overwhelmed us. You were wise to recruit so heavily,” Bruno said, but his eyes hadn’t left my face.

  “Then I must lead them in their charge,” Riley said. “Give control back to me.”

  Bruno finally shifted his attention to Riley. “Things are well in control. I have them on the run, and it is just a matter of time before they will be defeated.”

  “I want that to happen sooner rather than later,” Riley said. “Give control back to me so that I can finish this once and for all.”

  “If you expect me to do that, supply the necessary proof that you haven’t turned over a new leaf in the light,” Bruno sneered. I took the opportunity to shove the burlap sack into his chest. Hard.

  His arms automatically closed around it, and I felt the snap of force against the leash around my neck that took me to my knees.

  “Insolence!” Riley said. There was pain around my neck as if someone was physically squeezing it, and I tried to scratch at the invisible bond. It seemed like forever before it loosened, and my hands fell to the ground in front of me as I struggled to get the air back into my lungs. “The proof you require is in the bag,” Riley said.

  I couldn’t help myself from casting my gaze upward as Bruno carefully untied the strings of the sack. Then he upended it so that the object inside fell to the ground directly in front of me.

  Alice’s face and dead eyes stared back at me. Even though in my mind I knew it wasn’t real, I couldn’t stop the scream that escaped my lips. I buried my head in my lap and tried to block it all out. What was an act and what was real was blending together. I wasn’t sure anymore if I could keep a clear head.

  “I can’t believe you did it.” Bruno’s voice was amazed and shocked.

  “I told you I would.” Riley’s voice sounded supremely confident. Practically bored.

  “Then, of course, I acquiesce the control of the army to you, dark one,” Bruno said.

  It was as if I could hear a pin drop. The silence was deafening. I cowered in my small space in the world not sure of what would happen next. And then I felt a hand on the top of my head.

  “Paige.” It was Riley. His voice was tender. Gentle. As if he was afraid.

  I took a deep breath and lowered my arms. I looked up at my dark angel. His face was filled with concern. “Is it over?” I asked.

  “Look for yourself,” he said. He hooked a hand under my arm and pulled me up. He cast his arm up and around us. Everywhere I could see, there was a body. It was as if everyone around us had been stricken by a disease that cast them dead where they stood.

  “They’re all dead?” It wasn’t supposed to be a question. That was what we had set out to do after all.

  “All of those that I re-animated, yes. I need to get Klein over here. Those that were infected with a demon will wake up soon enough and have no recollection of how they got here. I’ll set him on making sure they all get home all right. That leaves just those demons that joined the fight after hearing my call.”

  “How many of those are there?” I was stunned at how many there were in the small space. There was a room off to the side of the main area. That seemed to be the place where the strongest foul odors were emanating from. “This requires more than Klein to clean up, Riley.”


  “I know,” he said as he gathered me into his arms. “We’ll take care of it.”

  “How many are left?” I asked again.

  “Not that many. Those that still live will flee now that their companions have been decimated. They won’t want to face the archangels alone.”

  “So yay for us that we get to face them alone?” I said trying to lighten the mood. I had gone to a place that I didn’t like in the short time in Bruno’s company. “Where’s Bruno?”

  “Back in the ether where he belongs,” Riley said. “And this time, I’m pretty sure it’s permanent. It wasn’t a vessel that he was banished from. When I resurrected him, I called him forth in his demon body, although he still preferred to use glamour to look like his old vessel.”

  I shuddered as his true face was recreated in my mind. “For a minute there, I thought you had gone back to the darkness.”

  He curled a hand through my hair. “For a minute there, I did think I did,” he admitted. “If you wouldn’t have been here, I’m not sure I would have been able to abstain. The darkness in this place is…overwhelming.”

  That was a feeling I completely understood. I wrapped my arms around his waist. “Take me away from here, Riley. Please.” When his wings enveloped me, I started to think that everything would be okay.

  CHAPTER NINE – RILEY

  I couldn’t tell Paige how close I had come to succumbing to the darkness again. Its pull hadn’t been the same as when the dark voice invaded my head, but the presence of such manic violence and pain had been intoxicating. I knew then that I would forever have to be on guard. No matter how ‘cleansed’ I was, I would never be completely pure or free of those demons. It would always be my cross to bear, but I had earned it, after all. I couldn’t shirk that responsibility now.