A Gathering of Angels (7 page)

Eric felt her kiss all the way to his toes, a slow, spreading warmth that thawed the icy grip of grief. He would miss his sister Katelyn every day for the rest of his life, but Annie made carrying that grief easier. Gave him the possibility of joy, laughter, healing.

She let out a low moan when he deepened the kiss, plastered herself against him, hands finding their way under his shirt to bare skin—

“Congratulations all around, Eric.” Jeff’s voice jerked them apart. Annie stifled a laugh, tugged down her shirt. “I’ll be the first to buy the champagne—after we land. Now get your ass up here and buckle in so I can do just that.”

“Yes, Captain.” He brushed his lips over her scarred ear. “Remember where we left off.” He grabbed the top of the front seat, pulled himself forward.

“I’ll just admire the view,” she said. Eric glanced over his shoulder, laughed at the wicked smile on her face. Then watched it fade as the news that they were landing sank in. “I need to call Marcus—”

He dropped into the seat, reached back to touch her wrist. “No phones while we’re in the air. You can call the minute we touch down. A car is already waiting for us. Hey—we’ll get to him, Annie. He doesn’t have that much of a head start, and we already know where he headed first. We won’t leave without him, and whoever he came to rescue.”

Annie swallowed, stared out the window. “What if it’s—”

“She’s dead, Annie.” Her head snapped around, anger and grief in those beautiful eyes. “I know it hurts you to hear that, but we saw it happen.” He kept his voice low, sure that Jeff couldn’t hear them over the engine noise, not with headphones on. “Natasha stabbed her; they fell through a gate to Hell. There’s no coming back from that. Even for a demon.”

For the first time, Annie didn’t flinch when he spoke the word in connection with Claire. Instead she looked away, and the sapphire flashed on her finger, blue fire sparking across the surface. Startled, she clapped her hand over the ring. Before she could withdraw Eric caught her wrist and gently pulled her hand away. The ring still glowed, the amethysts on either side of the teardrop sapphire sparkling.

“I don’t—”

The plane tilted, knocked them into the side of the cabin.

“Damn it, Eric.” Jeff’s voice blasted across her denial. “Whatever power she’s throwing around, get her to stop—she’s screwing with my instruments.”

Her gaze flew to his face, brown eyes narrowed. “You
told
him about me?”

“You can shout at me later. Take it off. Now, Annie—we’ll figure out the what and why after we’re safe on the ground.”

She yanked the ring off. The glow died instantly. Jeff let out a curse, and the small plane dropped, lifting them out of their seats. It leveled out before Eric had a chance to panic. He met Jeff’s gaze; sweat trickled down his friend’s face. Instrument flying was tricky under the best conditions. Throw in a witch who unintentionally blasted her power and it could test even the most skilled pilot.

Neither of them spoke as Jeff contacted the tower of the small commuter field, gave his heading, and received landing instructions. After a smooth touchdown on the narrow runway, and a bumpy ride over ridged ground to the hangar, Annie said three words.

“Explain yourself. Now.”

EIGHT

I
nstead of the expected bullet, a voice shot out of the darkness.

“Get in.” Marcus’ finger froze on the trigger. The voice was female, which ruled out the chief. Regardless, she could be one of the poor townspeople who were under the witch’s influence— “Damn it—get in before one of those deadheads shows up!”

“Mindy Kay?” Lea moved past Marcus, avoiding his outstretched hand. “How did you—”

“We can talk later. I need you to get in—now.”

“It’s okay.” Lea closed her fingers over Marcus’ wrist, eased his hand down. “She’s a witch, so she wasn’t there when Jane threw her mojo on the town. Marcus—we have to trust her. Jane won’t stay down for long.”

“She hasn’t been touched, Marcus,” Claire said, her voice edged with pain. “And we really have no other choice.”

Hating that he had to give over control, Marcus helped Claire to the van, keeping the revolver close. Just in case. Handing her over to the lanky redhead, he climbed in, pulled Lea up behind him and slid the door closed.

The driver gunned the gas, knocking them all into the nearest hard surface. No heat surrounded their would-be savior; he would have felt it, with her sprawled on top of him.

“Sorry.” She flashed a smile, clear eyes the color of the Mediterranean meeting his gaze.

“No broken bones, so I will forgive you.”

Laughing, she rolled off him, and crouched beside Lea.

Marcus picked himself off the floor, crawled over to Claire. “All right?”

“Better than dead.” She smiled up at him, amusement dancing in the blue eyes. He noticed, for the first time since finding her, the silver that once laced the blue was gone. Every subtle probe told him she was mortal. An echo of the power she once had laid over her soul. The soul she told him she did not have when she fell. “How about you?”

His back flared in response, the sweat stiff cotton of his shirt scraping over the burn like sandpaper.

“Nothing that will not keep.” He slipped out of his jacket, grateful to have the weight of it off his back, and draped it around Claire. “I want you to rest now.” He looked over at the redhead. Mindy Kay knelt beside Lea, a long black coat pooling around her, cursing as she examined Lea’s injuries. “Where do you plan to take us?”

“He knows.” Mindy Kay nodded toward the driver, shrouded by darkness and a hat pulled down over his face. “It’ll be safe, I promise. I’ve been planning to break Lea out since she was taken.” A smile broke across her face, warming the clear blue green eyes. “You just made it easier, walking her right out of there. How did you get past Bertram?”

Marcus looked at Claire. “With a clever woman and a three-hole punch.”

“What?”

Laughing, Lea touched Mindy Kay’s arm. “I’ll explain later. You came home early.”

“I escaped one battle, only to end up in another one. If I hadn’t run into—” She cut herself off, glancing at the front of the van. “Let’s just say I would have been right next to you in that cell, Lea. We’ll have to lay low—the chief’s got patrols crawling over the town, looking for evil. That would be anyone who doesn’t agree with him.”

Claire struggled to sit; knowing it was pointless to argue, Marcus slipped one arm around her waist. With a smile, she turned to face Mindy Kay. “Thank you for helping us.” Mindy Kay dipped her head, red hair brushing her shoulders. “I know what a risk you’re taking, putting a bulls-eye on yourself like—”

“Everybody down!”
The driver shouted as the van swerved, brakes squealing. Above it Marcus heard the first gunshot.

*

A
nnie punched the end button on the phone, letting her anger at Eric override the ratcheting fear. Marcus’ phone still went straight to voicemail. He was fanatic about answering it, considered voicemail offensive and rude.

“Annie—”

“Not yet.” She reined in the need to lash out at him, remembering what happened the last time she let her temper go. The image of Marcus, and the blood staining his chest, still haunted her. “I need—damn it.” She turned on him, grabbed the front of his shirt. “I want to ignore you until I’m over this, but we don’t have the time. Marcus isn’t answering his phone.”

Eric let out a breath. “He always—”

“Exactly. Where the hell is the car?”

Carefully, he pulled her fingers off his shirt. “On the other side of the aviation office. You can wait for me there. I want to thank Jeff for going out of his way to bring us up here.”

With that one sentence he managed to make her feel small and petty.

Annie caught up with him as he headed for the hangar, hands in her pockets to keep from touching him. Neither of them was ready yet—not without major bouts of yelling and the big chance of flying objects, aimed mainly at Eric’s thick head.

She stood to one side, uncomfortable, as he thanked Jeff. Until Jeff stepped over to her, took both her hands, and leaned in to whisper against her cheek.

“Thank you.” She jerked back, met his eyes. Clear, ice blue eyes that held no fear, no condemnation for what she was—only the gratitude that warmed his voice. “He told me because he’s damn proud of you. Now that I’ve met you, I understand his constant need to talk about you.”

Heat crept over her cheeks, embarrassing her more. “I’m sorry about what happened before—I didn’t expect a ring to amplify my power like that.”

“From what I read,” he smiled at the surprise on her face. “Yeah, I read up on witches after I learned about you. I wanted ammunition to talk him out of his obsession. It didn’t work. Now I’m glad for that. You’re good for him, Annie—and believe me, I never expected to say that about someone I thought put a spell on him when he was down for the count.”

She stiffened, tried to pull out of his grasp. “I’d never—”

Jeff merely tightened his grip. “I know that. Now. You take care of each other—he’ll always miss his sister, but you’ll help fill that hole in his heart. Hell, you already started. Now get—find your friend, kick some ass. I’m going to hunt down a nice big steak.”

Annie leaned up and kissed his cheek. “Thank you. For believing in Eric—for doing this for him. You’re a good man, even if you did want to shove me out of his life.”

His laughter echoed through the hangar. “He’s just lucky I didn’t meet you first.” Letting her go, he stepped to Eric. “You need anything, you call. And watch your back.” Jeff dug in his back pack, and Annie’s heart skipped when he pulled out a small pistol. “It’s close enough to the one I taught you to shoot with, but take a minute to check it out before you have to use it.”

“Eric—”

“Just a precaution,” Jeff said. He laid a hand on her shoulder. “I don’t want to be identifying either one of you at the local morgue. Now get out of here, before I do something disgusting, like hug Eric.”

“I’ll take it then.” Annie wrapped her arms around him before he had a chance to retreat. “Have a safe trip.”

“From your lips, darlin’.” Before she saw it coming he dipped her, then kissed her. Gently, but with enough heat it left her lips humming. He set her on her feet and, whistling, he strode out of the hangar. “Hey, sweetheart.” A tall, stunning redhead in a blue uniform turned at his voice, eyebrows raised. “Know anywhere a starving man can get a decent meal?”

“Come on.” Annie turned at Eric’s voice. “Jeff is well on his way to dinner and—dessert.”

She shook her head. “Are all of you so obvious?”

“No.” She let out a squeak when he pulled her in, one arm trapping her. “Some of us call it love.” He pressed a kiss to her forehead. “I’m sorry, blondie.”

“Damn.” Tears burned her eyes. She laid her head on his shoulder, let out a shaky breath. “I really wanted to stay mad at you, at least long enough for an apology gift.”

Eric rubbed her back, then took her hand and led her out of the hangar.

“Let’s go find Marcus—then you can pick it out yourself.”

*

C
laire let out a pained gasp as Marcus shoved her to the floor of the van.

Gunshots roared through the night air. Window glass shattered, raining on them as the driver spun the van, trying to escape the ambush. Claire slammed against the wall when the van skidded to a halt. Her breath froze in her throat at the voice that shouted above the rumbling engine. The chief—who should still be lying senseless on the floor of the police station.

“I only want the witches! You are free to go, if you simply turn them over to me.”

Marcus crawled over to one of the small windows, careful of the jagged glass. With a curse he backed away from the window—and the long barrel of a rifle followed him.

“You heard the chief.” A bearded face appeared behind the rifle. Claire flinched at the darkness that coiled around him, caressing his face, his hands, the trigger of the rifle. Cold iced the glass on the floor of the van. “Hand ‘em over, you all can go.”

Marcus kept himself between her and the rifle. “I am afraid we can’t do that.”

Rage flashed across the man’s face. Claire braced herself for the blast of the rifle. He trembled, obviously fighting whatever controlled him.

“You gotta do it. She don’t take no, ever.”

She
. Claire knew then the part of him that resisted understood the chief was no longer the chief.
Maybe we can get through to that part—

“Step away, Andersen!” The chief’s command destroyed that option before she could finish forming it. “I only want the condemned. But I will take all of you if you do not release them to me. Immediately.”

Mindy Kay joined Marcus in front of them, making herself a target. “We’re surrounded,” she whispered. “And the driver doesn’t want to hurt any of the townspeople—”

“He may not have the option.” Marcus turned his head, and Claire saw the sweat sliding down his jaw. The revolver in his hand was steady. She figured he knew how to use it. “Move them to the front of the van.”

Claire’s heart jumped. “Marcus—”

“No argument. I am going to provide enough of a distraction for us to escape.” He looked at Mindy Kay. “Tell your mysterious driver to make himself ready. It will be a small window.”

Kneeling, he pulled the door latch up, and slid the side door open.

“Good evening, chief. Remember me?”

The high-pitched scream barely sounded human. Marcus fired one shot and rolled across the floor.
“GO!”

The van lurched forward. Gunfire exploded behind them—through the open door Claire saw just how many victims the chief had under his control. She clutched the floor when the van swerved, smacking the wall when it veered the other direction.

Before she could tumble again Marcus fell on top of her, using his body as a shield. The van slid sideways, and she held her breath, waiting for it to roll. Marcus let out a harsh breath and curled around her, pinning her in place.