Greyson, almost seven feet tall, blocked what little light the screens threw off in the office. His shoulders were wide enough to cast their own shadows. Shoulder length charcoal hair that sometimes looked silver at night settled in what women called silky waves around his head. It was the collar that drew your attention though. A metal not found of this world, with the power to make the wearer bow to your commands. Greyson and his brothers had managed to kill the original owner, but not before learning that the slave collar came with a curse. Only their mates could remove it, and their mates were a race of warrior women called the Nubi, killed by the mother of all demons, Lilith.
Females still fell at Grey’s feet, and who was he to offer warning? It was their funeral. Gabe on the other hand wasn’t afforded the luxury of a woman’s touch. Most of his time was spent in the computer room, operating the controls, making sure security was tight. There wasn’t time for frolicking.
Frolicking?
Damn his age was showing.
“Do I ever interfere?” Gabe said as an afterthought.
Greyson eyed him skeptically, his frown evident around the corners of his mouth. He knew the angel wondered if he really was expected to answer Gabe’s question.
“You are not to interfere.” The seraph repeated crossing his arms over his chest. He was standing at his full height, the top of his head almost touching the ceiling and for a moment Gabe envied him. He’d volunteered for Earth duty as a way of getting out of spending what equated to a millennium in hell. A small price to pay for the crime he committed. That was until he sought out Dravaggio. Now, he was soaked in his sin on a daily basis, confronted with the truth of his crime at every turn. A huge part of him missed his true nature. He was meant to be free of pain and free from emotions, but as the years went on, he’d grown accustomed to this form. To things his current body needed, longed for. The basic hungers of any man. Sleep, food, and sex. He’d been waking up with the hard on from hell, six weeks running. It wasn’t for anyone in particular, just something his body craved. He craved the taste of a woman’s kiss. To be able to sink into her flesh, enjoy her warmth while his tongue explored all her supple features. Gabe’s body went taught with lust, and Greyson huffed in exasperation.
“I never want to feel as you feel right now Gabriel.”
Yeah, well the Seraph had the curse going for him to prevent that.
“Your point?”
“Emotions are for the weak. They hinder the bearer their lucidity.”
He was entitled to his opinion, but Gabe new that the Warrior Angels had outlets.
“What about the Pleasure Angels?”
“They are used for the edge that builds up due to battle. I don’t coddle those females, and unlike my brothers, I don’t visit the same one twice.”
Greyson turned his head from left to right, cracking his neck and looking at his surroundings. He returned his black gaze to Gabe. It was said that his eyes hadn’t always been black, but a shade of purple even deeper than Dravaggio’s. Compliments of his mother who was a Valkyria. A female of Nordic descent who decided the fate of Vikings on the battlefield. Greyson’s father had captured and kept her for hundreds of years until she bore him a son. Grey, the product of their union had his father’s looks, but his mother’s black heart. He had four other brothers who all had different mothers and all of them were mean bastards just like the one who stood before him now. Passing judgment, doing what they were called to do. His would-be jailers, if he stepped over the line.
“Regardless, you still make use of your body’s needs.”
“You should have joined us when you had the chance, Death Bringer.”
“Wrong Angel, that’s Azrael’s job.”
His brother Azrael was death in all its true forms. He was the youngest of Gabe’s siblings and was truly death incarnate.
“For now.”
Yeah, Azrael was up there bringing in the souls, and not in the cleanest of ways either. Nevertheless, the fates had done nothing to stop him. Gabe on the other hand was punished the first time he’d ever stepped out of line. Each of his brother’s played a different part in death’s plan. Gabe meted out the punishment and most often than not, was responsible for some of the most heinous of wars. Michael escorted lost souls, guiding them towards the light. Abaddon dealt with the suicides and attempted suicides, making deals or breaking them.
Then there was their brother Azrael, more demon than angel. He dealt with the blackest, most vile of souls escorting them to the gates of hell.
“I am not here to go over the semantics of who does what. I’ll be back in four weeks. Don’t make me chase you Gabriel, Harbinger of Death.”
Greyson stepped closer and looked down at Gabe.
“Four weeks.”
He understood. In four weeks he’d be relinquishing his post, leaving the Shadow Unit, and ascending back to the Black Veil. He’d return to his true self. He’d be a collector of souls. Business as always was booming.
Chapter 1
Xee hated crowds, but she was a sucker for coffee cake. Braving the crowded sidewalk for a chance at the cinnamon swirl confectionery delight had her hurrying through the throng of bodies. The coffee shop was located ten blocks away from her ratty-assed apartment. Micah was silent for most of their journey. Usually all h
e did was talk, well, it was more whining and complaining, but Xee was grateful for a chance to relax and listen to her iPod. As she crossed a busy intersection people moved out of her way, some even made sure she knew they were moving because of her. She knew what she looked like to them. Trouble.
What you see is what you get, bitches.
They gawked at her pink Mohawk and tattoos. Of course, her overall attitude exuded hostility. She liked it that way.
“You’re so dramatic.”
Micah whispered through her mind. So much for that silence she’d been enjoying.
There were times when being a Host sucked. Xee shook her head in thought. Being a Host sucked all the time. Her Para-housed Micah, could be a pain in the ass one hundred percent of the time. When she was little, her parents mistook the voices in her head as imaginary friends. They didn’t know she was having actual conversations with dead people, or what she now knew were mostly immortal souls lost, only a handful of them having been humans. It wasn’t until her thirteenth birthday that they started to see her for what she really was. A gateway for possession. Instead of trying to help her understand her ability, her parents treated her to her first exorcism. When that didn’t work, they had her institutionalized.
Fun times.
That had been no picnic. Xee picked up her pace as she passed body after body of, making her way through downtown Houston. Occasionally she’d see something she didn’t want to see. Like the drug dealer at the corner who was really a Croucher Demon, or Entrance Demon. Any chance they had to gain entrance to a human’s soul, they’d go after. That was the true possession. They wore their human’s skin like a thin veil. Only Hosts could see through it and what she saw wasn’t pretty. Grotesque and scaly skin, with slime oozing out of its pores and thick saliva dripping down its chin. It smiled at her. Some demons knew what she was, others didn’t.
Xee turned her music up, as she passed by. Entrance demons didn’t like music, a little tidbit she picked up during her stint in the institution. The screaming, therapy and twisted methods of doctor Mikal Sorenson had guided her to the world of music. She had an eclectic taste and one night when she realized that Mikal was possessed, she decided music would distract her from their group sessions. She’d found that most of the staff abhorred the sound. At least her parents gave her that. They wouldn’t come see her, but they’d send her music. That was how she ended up hosting Micah, a lost soul who’d been tortured and killed, at the hands of Doctor Sorenson. His soul was trapped at the institution with no chance of redemption. The two of them teamed up and struck a deal. Micah was willing to help with the demise of the good doctor, and in exchange for his help, Xee offered her body until he was ready to move on. She’d fast learned that Micah had the better end of their pact. He was annoying as hell, and there were times if she wondered what would have happened if she’d said no. That deal had been struck eight years ago, on her sixteenth birthday.
“Reminisce much.”
“Shut up Micah.”
Xee said, rounding the corner and spotting her coffee shop. One of the many setbacks to being a Host was that she found that at times she spoke to her companion out loud for all to hear. On the plus side, she didn’t have to look at his ugly face.
“Keep talking shit Xee.”
Xee reached for the door handle and walked inside the shop. Fresh ground coffee mixed with the scent of sugar and baked goods wafted around her. Dean Martin was singing about love, and save for the cashier and two other patrons, the shop was empty.
Thank God.
The cashier moved away from the counter to make her coffee. She’d been in enough times that she didn’t have to tell her what her order was unless there was someone else manning the registers. The display case was open for anyone who wished to grab their goodies and there in the display case was her guilty pleasure starring her in the face.
“I think I got all gooey inside just from your orgasmic meltdown ace.”
“Shut it Micah.”
The morning must have been extremely busy. She was expecting to at least get her hands on three cakes, but there was only one.
One will have to do.
She was just about to reach for the coffee cake when a masculine hand reached past her and grabbed it.
“What the fuck?” Xee looked over her shoulder and froze.
It was an Angel, a real live Angel and it was the first time she’d ever seen one up close. In all her twenty-four years she’d never stood anywhere near an Angel. She’d seen them from afar, had even watched one hunt down its prey, but never had she ever been this close.
“Don’t touch him!”
Micah screamed inside her head. The hairs on the back of her neck stood on end, and her legs were rooted to the spot even though her mind was telling her to run like hell. If Micah was worried, Xee knew she should fear for her life. This guy was dangerous, he exaggerated masculinity in a way that excited and scared the shit out of her. His face was harsh with an aquiline nose and naturally arched brows a shade darker than his blonde hair. He had a warrior’s body, encased in black fatigues and a gray shirt that stretched tight over an expansive, chiseled chest and very broad shoulders. Dude was stacked. None of that really phased her. Not really. It was his wings.
Not one other person in the coffee shop could see them, but she could. His wings blocked out the storefront windows, casting a shadow over the patrons. They probably thought the sun was blocked by clouds. Such was the case in Texas. But it was him, his large, imposing wings, and if she had to guess, she would say they were at least two feet taller than his six foot tall frame at the arched tips, putting them at eight or nine feet. They were a light gray that turned sooty black at the tips.
Hell no she wasn’t going to touch him! But she would give him a piece of her mind, because no one and nothing was going to scare her again. The Angel looked momentarily stunned by her, his lids closed briefly, opened again and his champagne colored eyes zeroed in on her face.
“Did you want it?” he asked looking from her to the coffee cake already in his massive hand.
“Not anymore I don’t, you no-manners having idiot.”
The cashier returned with Xee’s drink.
“Here you go.”
Xee reached into her pants to pull out some cash, but the stranger stopped her with a hand on her shoulder, and Xee jerked away almost hissing at their contact. His touch was electric and not in a good way. Well, her mind fought the reaction, her body relayed a different message. Heat gathered between her legs, and her breast felt heavy and sensitive. Deep-seated-erotic images began flashing through her mind. Her, him, tangled and panting.
Where in the hell did that come from?
She didn’t tangle with men.
“I’ll take care of it May, thanks.” The blonde Angel said putting a twenty on the table. Again he reached over Xee and she quickly backed away.
Was this dude for real? Who did he think he was, an Angel do-gooder?”
“Xee just take the coffee and go, honey bear.”
Micah only called her honey bear when he really wanted something from her and he really wanted her to leave. She wasn’t homeless, she may look raggedy to an outsider, but her clothes were clean, she had a roof over her head. She even had a job interview today. She wasn’t helpless dammit!
“Hey Ace, I don’t need your help. Take your money off the table and back your truck up.” Xee slapped a five on the counter next to his twenty and moved around him and his giant ass wings.
“Ace?”
She didn’t stop as she made her way to the door, but she did impart one last thing before stepping out into the mid-morning throng of people.
“Yeah, Ace. You know, high flyer.”
The Angel had a look of utter confusion on his face as she walked out.
“Clearly, today is going to be a fucked up day Xee, let’s just hope this was the highlight reel and it’s now over. You have an interview to prep for.”
“No shit, Sherlock.” Xee said aloud as she passed by a couple of Changelings on the street. Today must be Immortal come out and play day or something because the creepy crawlies were out in mass.
Gabe made it back to the units building with a hard on. A damn hard on! He didn’t even care for sex anymore. He had other issues on his mind, like going back to his realm and facing off with his brothers and finding a replacement that was best suited for his job here on Earth. So far no one had been able to solve the simple algorithm he’d put out as a test. He needed to try a different tactic.
“Dravaggio’s waiting for you in the War Room.”
He tried not to cringe at the sound of the Siren’s voice. He understood her purpose, but damn that voice of hers was hideous. Dravaggio placed Ellie in the front to detour humans from getting past the front desk. To humans, the Shadow Unit building looked like a professional medical building, but it wasn’t. Humans always ignored the building thanks to the magical wards put up, courtesy of the local coven. But some humans were sensitive to magic and couldn’t be clouded, like the girl from the coffee shop. She’d noticed him, really noticed him and he had the strangest impression she’d noticed his wings. He’d let them out but not so humans could see. It completely shocked the hell out of him even as he popped a boner. A boner that was still very prominent if the look of embarrassment on Ellie’s face was anything to go by. Her cheeks were red and her eyes were down cast as she abruptly swiveled in her chair when their eyes connected.