Martinis with the Devil, Part One

CHAPTER SEVEN

  “I need the two of you to check back with Donovan and make sure his crew is behaving,” I told Quinn and Riley after we’d picked them up and were heading back out of HR headquarters. “No one is to move on Alexander until I get there.”

  “No worries,” Riley scoffed. “We aren’t gonna confront a two thousand year old vamp on our own.”

  I headed down the stairs towards the Porsche, but Eli shook his head. “No time for normal modes of transportation.”

  I grimaced. “Alright. Quinn, take care of my baby.” I tossed her the keys.

  “What?!” Riley’s outraged cry echoed through the parking lot, causing a couple angels to look our way. “You’ve got to be kidding me!”

  I grinned. “Good luck with the shifters, guys.” I turned to Eli. “Where’s your ride?”

  “Right here,” he said, flexing his wings.

  Let me clarify something and say that an angelic warrior’s wings are not the fluffy, white cherubic things one usually sees in the movies and stuff. They range in color from light to dark gray, and there’s nothing soft about them. It’s almost like each feather is coated in some sort of flexible metal. Pretty badass.

  “Grab ahold of me,” Eli instructed.

  I managed to avoid making a face at his bossiness and stepped into the semi-circle of his pewter wings. I snaked one arm around his back, and he did the same to me. That same delicious manly smell wafted around me as our torsos pressed together. And something else that I hadn’t noticed before. His life force. It sang a silver song as it coursed through him. I could sense it and almost smell it, simultaneously clean like an autumn wind, and sweet, like I imagined ambrosia must smell. I gulped and held my breath as an intense wave of hunger passed over me again.

  A moment later I was blessedly distracted as Eli launched into the night air. I expected him to soar out over the city towards the portal, but he flew straight up like an arrow. A pulse of light flashed around us, lavender like Eli’s eyes. Then the sky was gone, and we were whisking through something blacker than the night. Here and there in the distance I saw something white and glowing like vines or spider webs or lace. But before I could get a grasp on what I saw, we were landing on asphalt somewhere, with all hell broke loose around us. Literally.

  Eli spun around, squeezing me tightly against his body as his wings cut a path through the chaos. I pulled my blade, careful not to nick him, and jumped into the melee. I quickly assessed in less than a second what it would have taken a human ten times as long to absorb. There were a dozen or so ninth level demons, which are pretty high up on the demon chain of command. Basically huge hunks of bright red muscle, about eight feet tall and equipped with a mouthful of jagged teeth, talons like a mutant eagle, and a long tail with a nasty barb at the end. However, their largeness is not an oafish largeness. They’re super smart, and can cast spells, too. In other words, they’re hella trouble. Pun intended.

  The portal police were already on the scene, about two dozen in total, though that included about four that were already dead. Judging by the large pile of ash in the midst of the fight, they’d only brought down one demon so far. You’d think after more than a decade, the government would’ve realized they needed more supes on their SWAT team. They’d added a few witches to defend them against the spell-casting demons, but that was it. Of course, usually it was just demon spawn and lower level demons that tried to bust through, the ones that were too stupid to obey commands from their master. This new rash of invasions was something else. Something premeditated.

  The ground shook beneath my feet as something lumbered up behind me. I spun and leaped into the air, whirling my sword around. With a guttural laugh, the demon blasted a spell at me, and I hit the ground ten feet away. He leaped forward to splatter me like a cantaloupe on the pavement. I catapulted my blade into his chest. That broke his stride long enough for me to roll to my feet and jump onto one of his shoulders.

  He swatted at me with his massive talons as I ducked down to yank my sword out, ripping half his heart out in the process. I felt a searing, burning, tearing down my back as he raked his claws through my flesh. Biting back a scream, I arced my blade around in one swift movement. His head wobbled on his neck, then fell to the ground. I did a tidy back flip off of him as his body crumbled into black ash. Seeping blood, I charged back into the fray.

  Eli had just brought down one of the demons with a pulse of light, and one of the portal police witches got another with some sort of vanquishing spell. Great. Only nine to go. Time to quit playing around. I became the blade, darting in and out amongst the demons, a blur of movement. More than once I caught the astonished expression of one of the portal police as I flashed by, hacking at demon parts, blood and ash flying in all directions. Even my pain aided me, forcing me to focus and be efficient in my movements. It was times like these, when I felt I had become the battle itself, that I felt closest to any sort of divinity or higher power.

  My peaceful moment was interrupted by a high-pitched scream of agony. It came from one of the witches on the outer fringes of the battle. Two of the demons had broken through the line of human portal police and were in the process of playing a game of tug-of-war with her body. In one heartbeat I closed the distance between us. In two I removed the arms of both demons with my blade. In three one of the demons plunged his barbed tail through my calf. And in four I was dangling three meters above the ground.

  The two demons began to buffet me with spells. Being non-human it didn’t kill me, but it felt like getting suckerpunched in the gut. Blood, my own blood, was dripping down into my eyes. With a gasp of pain, I twisted up, slicing through the demon’s tail. I fell hard on my back, which felt really good considering the gashes. A huge demon foot pressed down on my chest. The demon leaned over me, it’s breath a cloud of sulfur that burned the flesh inside my throat. His yellow eyes bored into mine and he smiled. “You’re fighting on the wrong side, you know,” he growled.

  “No. I’m. Not!” I yelled. I swung my sword into his leg, which didn’t sever it completely, but made him shift his weight enough for me to wiggle out from underneath his foot. I sprung straight into the air, plunging my blade in and back out of his heart, then spun and threw my blade sideways at the other demon, decapitating him. I landed in a crouch, calling my blade back to me with a small pull of power. Ash swirled around me as I reached up and caught it in one bloody palm.

  Surveying the scene, I saw Eli and the portal police battling the last two demons. I reached down and yanked out the demon’s barb, pulling a chunk of flesh with it. I bit my lip to keep a shriek from leaving my mouth, then ran forward, ignoring the pain shooting up my leg. Adrenaline was my friend in these instances. As I approached, Eli sent a blast of light into the one demon, sizzling him into dust. The other demon turned, as if sensing he was the last one standing, and landed a bone-crunching punch right in the center of Eli’s chest, sending him sprawling backwards. It held a wicked curved black blade, which it twisted in its hands and swung towards Eli’s chest.

  I put on a final burst of speed and launched into the air, kicking the demon in the side of the neck with my good leg. He stumbled, and Eli sent a blast of white energy right at the demon’s heart. The demon burst into ash, the blade clattering to the pavement before melting into black goo.

  “Thanks,” Eli said breathlessly.

  “Anytime,” I responded, sheathing my blade.

  The demons were gone, but it came at a steep price—another eight or so of the black clad humans lay dead amidst the piles of ash. I finally realized where we were now, somewhere in Georgetown judging by the sports stadiums a few blocks away.

  One of the portal police approached Eli. “I’m Commander Hunter. We’re grateful for your assistance.” She saluted Eli, who quickly returned the gesture.

  “Commander, I’m Eli Whitesong, HR Special Security, and this is Zyan Star, a freelance agent of the HR.” I stepped forward and shook hands with the woman. “We’re looking into these dime
nsional breaches at the request of the HR. This is the third one this week, correct?”

  “That’s right. And all with higher level demons than we’ve ever experienced before. It seems something has changed down below.” Hunter wiped a sooty hand over her black hair, which was pulled back into a loose ponytail.

  “That’s what we’d like to find out about,” Eli said. “Did any of the demons say anything about why they were breaching?”

  “Not that I heard. But after I debrief my team I can let you know if anyone has more information.”

  “Thanks.” Eli gave her a warm smile. More than warm. Was he flirting with her? “If you can alert me of any other breaches, I’d appreciate it. I’ll be reviewing the reports from the last two incidents, and I may call you if I have questions.”

  “Sure, that’d be fine.” Hunter returned his smile, batting her eyelashes a bit.

  Really? Weren’t we all on the job here?

  My lip curled in irritation as I turned to observe the cleanup process. Two portal police lifted someone on a gurney into a small hovercraft, which a moment later blinked out of sight. The PP got all the good technology. Which was probably why there was a huge waiting list to join their ranks. Although now that higher level demons had started showing up to the party, that list could lessen quite a bit.

  Another of the PP held a metallic wand out in front of him, waving it back and forth. It was covered with buttons and a small display screen, which gave out readings on temperature, sulfur levels and interdimensional balance. I’d been told the temperature flare that accompanied any breach from a Hell dimension to Earth was what alerted the portal police. Since Evo, the government had spent major bucks setting up special towers all over the world to sense the breaches. I had no doubt the HRs had chipped into that little venture.

  “You ready?” Eli called. As if I had been the one chatting it up with Commander Hunter.

  “Yeah,” I said, turning back around.

  Eli frowned. “Your back looks awful.”

  I noticed he had barely a nick on him. I felt another surge of irritation. “Usually stuff like this regenerates on its own, but I’ll get Quinn to look at it.”

  “Your leg looks pretty nasty, too.”

  I looked down in disinterest. “Yeah. I’ve had a lot worse.”

  “I’ll get you home,” he said.

  “Okay.” I gave him directions, then we did the flying thing again.

  This time he kept to the skies. I realized that what we’d done before is blip through the interdimensional pathways. I’d never known anyone who could do that without a special hovercraft or something. Evo had brought not only the knowledge of supernatural races but the realization that there were different dimensions: Earth, Heaven, Hell and countless others. In just the last couple years, people (well, uber rich people) had even begun vacationing in other dimensions, the ones that were habitable by humans and had nice features like purple sand beaches and sunsets that lasted for hours. Apparently the angels could zip in and out whenever they wanted. Nice perk.

  My apartment was dark and empty when we got there. “Looks like Quinn and Riley haven’t made it back yet,” Eli said. “Maybe you should let me take a look at those wounds.”

  I flipped on a light, illuminating the living room. “I’m sure Quinn will be here soon.”

  “But if she’s not, and you go to sleep with those cuts… demon venom is serious.”

  I sighed and opened my mouth to protest. Malakai ambled out of my bedroom and started licking Eli’s hand. Of course dogs loved him.

  “Seriously, Zyan. The HR’s not going to be happy with me if you die the first night on the job.” He was getting a stubborn set to his jaw.

  “Last time I checked I was immortal.” And I was getting really tired. Like, deliriously so.

  “You know what I mean. Quit being so difficult and just let me examine you.” He actually took me by the shoulders and sat me down on the couch. Which tells you just how tired I was.

  “Whoa, not on the suede,” I mumbled, grabbing a pillow from the nearby chair and positioning it under me to catch blood.

  Eli’s lips turned up in a slight smile. He sat down behind me. “Okay, I need to take your shirt off.”

  “Smooth line,” I said. My words sounded almost slurred now. This was more than just being tired…

  I felt his hands at my back. “This might hurt a little.” He didn’t try to pull the shirt off, he just ripped it up by the collar and started peeling it away from my skin. It was caked in blood at this point. He laid the bright red shreds on the coffee table. They looked like the curling petals of some sort of exotic flower.

  The front of my shirt fell off, so I threw it on the floor and wrapped an arm over my chest. My eyes were starting to feel really heavy now, and I felt a strange buzzing sensation creeping up my back. Was it poison? Or something Eli was doing? My eyelids flickered closed, and images flashed behind them. Flames, leathery wings, clouds of sulfur. I shuddered and opened them again.

  “Almost done,” Eli said. But his voice came as if from far away. Somewhere above me. I turned my head up to try to see where I was. But a moment later a sensation at my feet brought my head back down. A burning sensation. I was standing in lava. Sinking, actually. I tried to cry for help, but no sound came out. Flames of pain licked up my body as molten heat enveloped me…

  I jerked upright, the scent of sulfur tingeing my nostrils. “That was some nasty stuff,” Eli was saying.

  “You’re telling me,” I said. “I was totally tripping out for a second there.” I shivered again. A quick glance at my leg showed it was completely healed.

  “See, all the marks are gone,” Eli said, tracing a finger down my back where the demon had sliced it up.

  It was at that moment that Riley, Quinn and Donovan walked into the apartment. “Are we interrupting something?” Donovan asked, raising a devilish eyebrow.

  “No,” I said, glaring at him. “Eli was healing my back after a ninth level demon used it as a cutting board.”

  “Oh, so you’ve had a fun night.” Riley’s mouth turned up in a grin, which I found myself mirroring.

  Quinn was all concern. She rushed over and started checking me over, like an angel hadn’t just tended to me. The look on Eli’s face as she shoved him out of the way was pretty amusing.

  “I’m Donovan McGregor,” my ex said to Eli, offering his hand.

  “Eli Whitesong.” Eli took his hand, which Donovan proceeded to squeeze hard enough to crush a rock, but Eli just smiled.

  Boys. I rolled my eyes. “I’m gonna go get a shirt on,” I said, standing carefully so as not to flash everyone.

  “Nothing I haven’t seen before, honey,” Donovan crooned with a smirk.

  “Shut the hell up.” I stalked out of the room, returning a moment later in a white cotton tee. “Eli, Donovan is the leader of the shifter pack I contracted to help us track down Alexander. So, unfortunately, we’ll be seeing a lot of him.” I shot another glare in D’s direction, but he just grinned wolfishly.

  “Glad to have you on the team,” Eli said, though his eyes were a tad frosty.

  “Do you angels drink whiskey?” Donovan asked. Which would have been completely random, but the Irish always have to ask that question.

  Eli’s expression turned puzzled. “Sure, sometimes.”

  Gotta say, that surprised me.

  “Well anyone who can down some whiskey is good in my book. Maybe sometime we can open up a bottle of Jameson and exchange war stories.”

  Eli smiled. “Sure, sounds good.”

  Riley looked between the two of them like he was peeved to be left off the boys night invite. As if sensing this, Donovan added, “And of course Riley’ll have to join us. He can drink us all under the table.”

  “That’s ‘cause he has supersonic metabolism,” Quinn said.

  “Hey, you go running five times a week and eat all organic like I do, and your metabolism would be just as awesome,” he respond
ed smugly.

  “Yeah, and the whole werewolf thing doesn’t hurt either,” I laughed.

  Riley just shrugged and smiled.

  I abruptly felt sleep pulling on me like a pair of cement boots. “I’m going to bed,” I groaned. I caught Eli’s eyes for a moment. A new understanding had formed between us, a battle bond that eased the tension. A bit. “Thanks for fixing me up.”

  “Sure. Should I swing back by around five?”

  “Sounds like a plan.”

  I turned and trudged into the delicious darkness of my room. I fell face first on my bed, wiggled out of my jeans, and pulled the covers up to my chin. It was gross since I still had dried blood on me, but I didn’t care. Dawn was almost here. I could almost sense the sun, the first rays of it lightening the blackness to a dark, dark eggplant hue. A hue which would lighten to indigo, then cerulean, then lavender to rosebud and finally a pale turquoise.

  A soft sound; the door opening and then closing. “I’m fine, Quinn. Really,” I murmured.

  “Not Quinn,” Donovan said, his voice low and deep.

  “What do you want?” I sat up in bed, my heart thrumming, feeling instantly awake again.

  “I thought maybe you needed to feed. Since you got all banged up tonight and all.”

  In the dark, I could see the outline of him standing a couple feet away. His whiskey/leather scent washed into me. “Are you suicidal? I eat souls.”

  “Shifters are damned anyways. Might as well put my soul to good use while I have control over it.” He took a step closer.

  “I’m pretty sure you’d die. That’s what happens to my other victims,” I said sourly.

  Another step. “They’re all humans. I’m not.” He was close enough now that I could reach out and touch him. His shifter energy was merging into mine again, the air between us tight, static. “Have you ever tried it?”

  “No, tough guy, I haven’t. It’s not exactly a risk I’m comfortable with.” It certainly piqued my curiosity, however. Even as the words left my mouth, I tuned in to his soul, his life force. Some people claimed they were two separate things. Maybe they were separate, maybe they weren’t. All I knew was that when I claimed someone’s soul, they died. Donovan’s soul was certainly different than a human’s. More vibrant and strong, and instead of the usual color scale that fell anywhere between shiny and white to thick and dark, his was a light silver, pulsating with occasional flashes of color.

  Donovan sat down next to me, his thigh brushing against mine. Hunger washed over me, lust and a need for energy all wrapped together in a twisted tangle of hot emotion. Slowly, he took my hand and pressed my palm against his chest. His heartbeat pounded like a symphony against my skin. He was inches away. All I had to do was lean forward, press my lips against his, and call forth all that vibrancy that ran within him…

  I shoved him away from me, hard. “Get the hell out of here,” I growled, my voice ragged.

  “I’m strong enough, Zy. I can handle it.”

  “Get. Out!”

  He got up off the bed wordlessly and slipped back out of the room.

  I lay there in the dark, shivering with the thought of how close I had come to taking Donovan’s soul. His reentry into my life caused complication I didn’t care for. I liked my exes to stay exes. And now two of them were back. One I wanted to kill, and one that was practically serving his life up on a silver platter. Donovan was almost worse, because as much as I would have liked to simply hate him, I didn’t. In fact, I wasn’t sure exactly how I felt about him, and that didn’t make me happy at all. Again, complicated.

  And thinking of the one ex made me think of the other. An image of Alexander’s blue eyes flashed through my head, and I felt a hot wave of anger. And with it came another intense pang of hunger. He was the reason my carefully cultivated control was crumbling. He reminded me of those early days as an Anam Gatai. The still-fresh pain mixed with the thrill of my new powers and the overwhelming need for revenge and the satisfaction of my hunger. When Olga had shown me every trick in her book and I’d had no control over myself. It was raw and intense, and a part of me… missed it.

  Ugh. I was definitely going to have to get a real meal tomorrow before I got back to work.

  Nighttime was usually when I fed, when I could walk the dark alleys until some sexist low life spotted me and thought he’d take advantage of the situation. So, a daytime feed required a bit more work on my end. Luckily there was a “gentleman’s” club not too far from my house, and the men there were usually easy pickings.

  I put on a pair of skin-tight jeans and a low-cut black halter top and headed on down to the fine establishment. When I entered the dim, smoke-filled room I headed straight for the bar. I hadn’t even downed my first martini before a middle-aged suit sidled up next to me.

  “You going on shift soon, honey?”

  I took a quick peek into his eyes. The old saying is right—they really are the window to the soul. And what I saw inside was dark and thick like a salted slug. It wasn’t appetizing in the least. But it kept me alive. “No, I just come for the entertainment,” I said, winking and flashing him a smile. “I party with some of the girls here.”

  “Party?” he asked, his smile broadening into a grin.

  I just smiled coyly in return and let his imagination take it to the next level. Two minutes later he was following me into the bathroom. And he wasted zero seconds in letting his true colors show.

  “I bet you’re a dirty girl,” he whispered, trying to shove me up against the wall. “You like it rough I bet. We’ll see if you can handle what I’ve got.” From within his jacket pocket he pulled a shiny knife which he caressed down my cheek.

  Yep, I knew how to pick ‘em. I spun in a tight circle around him. He blinked as he suddenly realized he was the one against the wall.

  “I’m not nearly as dirty as you.”

  I leaned forward and pressed my lips to his, my hand encircling his throat to pin him in place. Inhaling deeply, I called his life force up from within him and it coursed down my throat like a hot, silky breeze. Five seconds and it was done. His body slumped to the floor and I felt energy fill me, like charging a battery. It was impure though. Nothing like the clean souls Olga and I had fed on those centuries ago.

  After the initial buzz of energy came the inevitable unpleasant aftereffects.

  The look of terror in a young college student’s eyes. Another woman, fistful of brown hair, struggling as she’s pinned to the floor. A rush of power, a thrill of adrenaline. Blood, vivid and thick, coursing down a woman’s cheek. Screams. Someone begging…

  For about sixty seconds the memories and emotions of the person I’d drained would course through me, and I just had to grit my teeth and ride it out. It wasn’t exactly a trip to the park to have the thoughts and feelings of a rapist or murderer floating about in your body. The only thing that made it bearable was knowing I’d taken another sick lowlife off the face of the planet so he couldn’t victimize anyone else. That and knowing I was one baby-step closer to atoning for my past. If that was even possible. Of course, sometimes I wondered if the opposite happened: was I somehow being tainted by these dark souls?

  The soul-meld passed and I let out a deep breath of relief. I stepped over the lifeless body and walked out of the club, erasing the memory of me from the minds of all within. They’d find Mr. Rough later and the coroner would find his cause of death to be a heart attack. And that was the end of the tale, a sad and depressing tale.

  I got back to the apartment just before five. Eli was quite punctual, not that I was expecting anything different from an angel. He watched me curiously as I ate my usual breakfast of Fruit Loops on the sofa. I needed to get the taste of dirty life force out of my mouth. Quinn and Riley were making a racket in the kitchen getting their breakfast, and Malakai was chowing down on her steak.

  “So, just out of curiosity, do angels sleep, or what?” I asked between mouthfuls.

  Eli laughed. “Yeah, we sleep. Though we
can go a really long time without it if we need to.”

  “Like how long?” I raised a brow.

  “Weeks.” He took a seat opposite me, sensing it was going to take the crew a while to get geared up.

  “Hey, I went skydiving with an angel once,” Riley piped in as he came around the corner from the kitchen. “No parachute.”

  “Yeah? That’s interesting.” Eli’s tone indicated he didn’t exactly think highly of his fellow heavenly bodies using their flying skills for such dangerous dare-devil stunts. He flicked his eyes back over to me. “My turn for a question. What exactly are the powers of an Anam Gatai?”

  I took a bite of cereal. “Well, immortality unless decapitated, burned or stripped of our innards. Good regenerative capabilities. Strength. A bit of magic, kind of like a witch.”

  “I’ve never met one of your kind before,” he said with a mix of curiosity and a hint of frustration. I bet he didn’t like not being an expert on things.

  “An Anam Gatai is born of pain and heart break, and the need for revenge. There are only females, no males. Our creator turns young girls who experience unrequited love or betrayal like herself.”

  “Interesting,” was all he said after a moment’s pause. “And can you turn others into Anam Gatai?”

  “I’ve never tried.” I locked gazes with him, the cereal churning in my stomach. “I wouldn’t subject anyone else to this life. Subsisting on souls is awful.”

  Eli’s face twisted in surprise. “You eat souls?”

  Somebody clearly hadn’t done their homework. “Yeah. I usually stick to the scum of society. I suppose you could call me a garbage disposal.” I was blunt intentionally—if we were going to work together, I needed him to know who and what I was and get over any sensitivities.

  “Sooo, what’s the plan for today?” Quinn called from the kitchen after a moment of awkward silence.

  “I think we need to stop by Arianna Vega’s house,” I said.

  Riley’s jaw dropped. “You are totally suicidal.”

  Quinn looked equally shocked.

  Eli looked between the two of them. “No, I actually like that idea. Be direct. If Alexander doesn’t know we’re on to him, no doubt he will soon. Let’s put a little pressure on.”

  I eyed Eli with new respect. “Exactly. Alexander’s not dumb. He knows I’m after him. No doubt it was written all over my face last night at Will’s. But if I let him know that I’ve teamed up with the HR, maybe he’ll let something slip.” I put the last spoonful of cereal in my mouth. “Though he’s such a cocky asshole, maybe not. Worth a shot though.”

  We all sat in contemplation for a moment. The doorbell rang. “Donovan probably.” I crossed to the door and opened it.

  Not Donovan.

  A man in a full tux stood before me. Like, cummerbund, lapels, white gloves, the whole nine yards. “Miss Zyan Star?” Yep, he had a British accent.

  “Ms. Zyan Star, yes,” I responded.

  “This is for you. An invitation from my mistress.” He extended a pristine hand.

  Held delicately within his fingers was a small envelope made of cream-colored paper that looked rather expensive. My name was hand written in fancy calligraphy on the front. I plucked it from his hand.

  “Madam,” the servant said, bowing and retreating back down the hall.

  I turned and shut the door, feeling the eyes of the others heavy upon me. I cut through the red wax seal with my fingernail and pulled out the card within. My eyes grew large as I read it. “No way…”

  “What is it?” asked Riley impatiently.

  I lifted the paper for them to see. “A dinner invitation. From Arianna Vega.”