The Lost Soul Trilogy (Primani Book 5) (45 page)

“There’s no help for it. We’re going to need to take that sample to our lab rats. We don’t know if it’s blood or if it’s his blood or someone else’s. For all we know, it could be his.” With this statement, he stood up and stretched. “Let’s eat and then we’ll go.”

“We’re going to The City? Now? We can’t leave Domino here alone.”

“We’ll travel in and out in an hour or so. I’m not leaving you here alone, and it’ll take too long to drive.” Frowning slightly, he rubbed Domino’s silky ears and she licked his hand. “I’m sorry, girl, we can’t take you this time.” She looked disappointed.

A bit later, we rematerialized in a side lobby of what smelled like an old hotel. My nose twitched in protest as soon as I took my first breath. It was musty and stale. The walls were covered with ugly beige wallpaper that was plastered all over old hotels. The floor was tattered and stained linoleum the color of split pea soup. This place was nasty. This was our lab? Yuck. You’d think we could do better than this.

Sean read the disgust on my face and gestured to an elevator further down. We got in and he pushed the fifth floor button. Ah, the penthouse suite. Curious, I looked around and waited quietly until the doors opened with a squeal. The hallway we landed on was also non-descript and worn. Sean led the way down the corridor. Stopping at an unmarked door, he placed his hand against a black glass pad and a buzzer sounded from inside. With a click, the door swung open.

Oh! Much better! The room was brightly lit and thoroughly modern with bright blue walls. The chairs and couches were white leather and the tiny tables were chrome and glass. The artwork in the waiting room was modern and vivid. The paintings captured the warrior angels in battles and tender moments alike. They were breathtaking. Now
this
was more like it! The small reception window was covered in smoke-colored glass. Sean waved me to one of the lush chairs scattered around and headed to the window. I didn’t want to miss a thing, so I ignored his gesture and followed him to the window. He announced us through a small opening and a woman asked us to please sit and wait for a lab technician.

I couldn’t contain my excitement any longer. “Wow! This place is so awesome! And there’s a woman here? I didn’t think Primani had women. That’s so cool.”

I was gushing. It didn’t take much to impress me.

Archly, he said, “Why wouldn’t we have women? There are a lot of female angels. They aren’t Primani though. Most female Primani were killed a long time ago. The receptionist isn't Primani; she's just a regular angel.”

“I just haven’t seen any women since we’ve been together.” That brought up an interesting thought. “Sean, have you had any, uh, more supernatural girlfriends before me? Did you ever date another angel?”

Nearly swallowing his tongue, he burst out laughing. “You want to talk about ex’s now? After all this time?” He was still laughing as he said that.

“You’re avoiding the question. So yes, I do want to talk about ex’s.” I was serious now. “So spill it, Secret Agent Man.”

Looking at his watch, he shook his head and laughed some more. Seeing my look of determination, he finally said, “Okay, but you’re not going to like it. Where do you want me to start?”

Totally intending to mean it when I said it, I promised, “I totally understand you had a life before me. I won’t get mad.” Warming to the subject, I foolishly suggested he start with his first girlfriend.

He began with 130 A.D. “Mata was my first. She was a serving girl in the Great Hall. Then there was another girl, well, two more, that I spent time with that summer. Let’s see, then I went on the road with…” Scratching his head, he paused to collect his thoughts. It was a lot to remember. Twenty minutes later, he had made it through 1000 A.D. when I finally threw up a hand and told him to stop.

Lost in his memories, he was confused by my interruption. “I thought you wanted a list? I wasn’t finished yet.”

Steaming at my own stupidity, I snapped at him instead. “You’re a slut! I can’t believe you!” I had to ask, didn’t I? Of course he had women! What was I thinking? I had no idea he was such a slut, pure and simple, or maybe, not-so-pure and simple. Why did I assume he was angelic just because he’s some kind of angel?
Clearly
, there are codes of conduct that don’t apply to Primani. I smacked myself in the forehead with my hand. Ugh. I was an idiot to ask. Simmering and refusing to speak to him, I tapped my fingers on my leg counting the minutes.

After about a decade, the receptionist announced in a low throaty voice, “Sean? You may go in now.” The inner door buzzed and swung inward.

He smiled cautiously at me like he expected me to bite him. “You coming?”

Still sulking, I debated whether or not to get up. With a shrug, he walked into the open doorway ahead of me. Mumbling to myself, I jumped up and slid through the door right before it swung shut. There was no way I was going to miss this. As I rounded the corner, I stopped in surprise. My teeth clamped together as I watched the receptionist greet Sean with a totally unprofessional lingering kiss on the lips.

Her perfectly manicured nails gleamed in the subdued light as she caressed his face and exclaimed, “Oh, Sean! I thought that was you! Still gorgeous, I see.” She punctuated this with a throaty, sexy laugh. Her nails traveled down the front of his chest to hover just above the top of his jeans.

Steam had to be coming out of the top of my head as I thought of various ways to kill her. That tramp! And what was he doing? Oh, nothing. Sean was grinning like a cat about to stick his tongue in the cream. His eyes were lazy as they roved over her tight sweater and silk skirt.  Looking down at my ripped jeans and hoodie, I felt like dirt next to this beautiful polished blond. Of course he slept with her. What guy wouldn’t? Too surprised to move, I stood there like an idiot gawking at them. The blond finally noticed me and glanced curiously in my direction. I’d hesitated too long to join them now, but I didn’t want to leave him alone with her either. Kicking myself for feeling self-conscious, I willed my face to stop blushing and ground my teeth together.

Sweeping past them both, I called over my shoulder to Sean, “I’ll just be in the lab, partner. Clock’s ticking so hurry up.” I kept walking until I was out of their line of sight. Pausing to get my bearings, I noticed I was in a small hall with two windows that opened into the labs. Equipment was set up on tables, and there were computer stations and oversized flat screens for viewing images. Distracted by this cool techie stuff, I forgot all about Sean and the blond for a few minutes.

“Can I help you, miss?” a friendly voice asked.

A young man in a Rangers hockey jersey and baggy jeans came up behind me. He had a mop of red hair haphazardly shoved into a ponytail. Wire-framed glasses gave his face a definite nerdy look. His badge identified him as Chris. He seemed friendly enough so I told him I needed to drop off a sample.

“A sample? Blood, hair, fiber? Whatcha got?” he asked pleasantly. His pale blue eyes twinkled in anticipation of a new mystery. This was a guy who loved his job.

Fishing out the toilet paper, I said, “Blood, we think. We need to ID it first and then see if we can find the donor in the DNA database. Am I in the right place? I’m new…” I smiled in genuine appreciation of his helpfulness and he grinned back at me revealing a missing front tooth. Maybe the jersey wasn’t all show.

“Undercover?” He eyed my ripped up jeans.

“Yes!” I breathed with relief. “Broke crackhead.” I offered my hand for him to shake. “Nice to meet you, Chris.”

I was leaning across the lab table with my nose buried inside a centrifuge when the atmosphere got a little chilly. The jolly bantering between Chris and the other lab tech, Ben, stopped abruptly. I sensed him before he invaded my personal space.

Sean.

“I see you found the lab. Have you got any results yet?” he asked me in an even tone.

Flexing my fingers to keep from smacking him, I kept my own voice light and said, “I see you’ve finished with your reunion. Plans for later then?”

He laid his hand flatly on top of mine. “Don’t tell me you’re jealous of Lara? I’ve known her forever. It’s nothing.” He spoke in a hushed voice to keep Chris and Ben from overhearing.

I’ll bet he’s known her forever! Tugging at my hand, I glared up at him and gritted out, “Chris and Ben are working on the sample now. Chris thinks they’ll be able to have some results in a few more minutes. It’ll be longer before we get a hit in the database though.” I smiled stiffly at the two lab techs, and they both nodded their agreement. They seemed uncomfortable with Sean for some reason.

Taking my elbow, he led me farther out of earshot and said, “Oh, it’s
Ben
and
Chris
now? Since when did you become a CSI?”

Smiling sweetly, I commented, “Well, partner, there are a lot of things you’d know about me if you’d ask. I’ve had
a lot
of experiences without you.”

“Don’t play games with me, Mica.”

“You hypocrite!” I hissed under my breath. I twitched away from him and stalked back to the lab table. Ben and Chris both turned very pale and backed away from me a little.

“What’s the matter with you two? You look like you’ve seen a ghost!”

Ben stuttered, “You…you dare talk to him that way?” He looked shocked.

Chris was watching Sean like he might explode any second and whispered to me, “Don’t you know who that is?”

“Of course I do! He’s my boyfriend, and he’s on my last nerve.” I looked between the two of them and asked, “What’s the problem?”

Ben’s voice was hushed with awe, “He’s a legend! He’s one of the greatest Primani of all time.” He shook his head at me and said, “There’s no way you’re his girlfriend. You’re human.”

With my very last scrap of patience, I said between my teeth, “And what is wrong with that?” My fingers were tingling, and I knew what that meant.

Uh-oh, too late!

With twin gasps of fear, both lab rats scuttled away from me. The glass screen magnified my reflection.

Guess I’m not so human now, now am I?

Back at the farmhouse, Sean was still chuckling at my anger, and I was about to knock him out. His condescending attitude was getting on my last nerve. As soon as my eyes had started to glow, Sean excused us, and we made a dignified exit. I was still huffing about it. Oh sure, it’s okay if your eyes glow
blue
fire, but not
white
fire. The fact that my eyes occasionally glowed with a white hot light didn’t bother Killian. He found it amusing in some probably demented kind of way. Then there was the blond…

“I have an idea,” I purred.

“I’m listening.”

“Let’s go spar. I feel like I need to work out.” I stretched nonchalantly and batted my eyelashes innocently.

He considered my idea with a huge amount of suspicion. He clearly wasn’t an idiot, but we had time to kill and nothing to do. “Uh-huh, sure you do. Do you want to go outside or to the basement?”

“Oh, definitely the basement.”

Five minutes later, I was sitting on the mats stretching out. Sean’s footsteps on the stairs alerted me and I shifted position enjoying the buzz of adrenaline singing through my veins. Sometimes when we sparred, we played music. It made it more intense. I had already loaded the music and pressed the play button. Godsmack blared out of the speakers. We’d also enjoy Disturbed, Sick Puppies, and Linkin Park before I was finished today. I had a lot of anger to work through…

He just raised an eyebrow and went to the punching bag. I watched him hit the bag and some of my anger disappeared. Just watching him move was a distraction. The loose t-shirt couldn’t hide the bunching of his muscles as he swung at the bag. The stupid blond was right; he was gorgeous. Irritated even more, I strapped on my gloves and waved him over. It was time for some sparring. We had a routine for this, and we worked through the first steps. After a few minutes of warming up, I started swinging as hard as I could. His supernatural powers made him faster than me and he always managed to block my punches with his gloves. It was pretty rare for me to land a shot on his body.

Throwing my weight into it, I pounded his gloves with a strength he’d never seen. He stood his ground and absorbed my strikes, but his eyes narrowed as he caught the new intensity. He didn’t block one of my swings and grunted with the impact on his ribs.  We switched to Krav Maga and as the lyric
I will not be ignored
screamed across the basement, I kicked him in the ribs and sent him flying across the mat. He rolled back onto his feet and looked at me warily. Reading his body language, I anticipated his move to sweep my legs. When he swung his leg towards me, I jumped up and brought the arch of my foot down on top of his knee. The resulting crack was louder than the music. He crumpled to the mat holding his knee, and I dropped to his side.

“Oh, my God! I’m so sorry!” I was trying to pry his hands away so I could see his leg. “Let me see if it’s broken.”

“It’s broken! I don’t need you to look at it.” Sucking air in between his teeth, he groaned and his face turned bone white. The last thing he said before he passed out was “women.”

“I can’t heal that,” Dec said flatly. “It’s splintered into pieces. He needs a real doctor, probably a surgeon.”