Summon Lyght (30 page)

Shit.
"I…I really…" Tyler shook his head, fighting embarrassment. "Don't know to tell you the truth. I'm afraid I'm as clueless as you."

Francis flopped back in the chair.
"Oh thank God."

"
Thank God?" That was unexpected.

"
I thought there might be something wrong with not knowing. I thought that meant I couldn't…couldn't be a
real
man."

"
Oh." Tyler hadn't thought of that. "Yeah. That would suck."

"
No shoot."

Tyler nodded a little.
"Shit. You say it, no shit."

"
No shit?"

"
No shit."

They burst out laughing and Francis ruffled Tyler
's hair, his red eyes twinkling with mirth. It felt good to have a friend like that. Tyler realized Francis was his first real guy friend. "So what is the actual plan tonight?"

Francis grabbed his coke from the side table and rotated it in his hands.
"I meet her at her apartment to discuss the particulars."

"
I see."

Francis eyed him, catching his tone.
"I'm not doing anything more with her until I know for sure."

"
Know for sure what?"

"
That she feels the same as I do. Once I give myself to her…" Francis looked down, thinking. "…Who am I kidding? I am already hers. Whether she would have me or not. That's what I'm most terrified about. How will I survive is she doesn't feel the same? If tasting her has done this to me, I don't want to think what actually making love will do."

Wow. He really was in love. Bad. Horrifically bad as he said.
"When will you know?"

"
I…was sort of playing it by ear as they say. But hoping to be closer to knowing after tonight."

"
How dangerous will this operation be?"

"
We don't expect confrontation. She's delivering him to us." Francis dug in his jean pocket and pulled out a cell phone. "She called me on this." He held it up before him as though it were a thing of salvation. "I thought she'd never talk to me again after our…" He shrugged. "But she called. And said she arranged it. Talked sense into the boy and he'll be with her tonight. We're simply picking him up."

Tyler frowned.
"You…trust her?"

"
I used my powers to tell if she were lying. She wasn't."

"
Can I go?"

Francis appeared surprised with the question.
"My dad would shit."

"
But it doesn't even sound like this is a mission, more like a casual date."

He shook his head and downed his coke then crushed it like paper in one hand.
"I can't bring you there."

"
Then I'll stay somewhere nearby."

A knock sounded at the door and Francis put his finger to his mouth in
a shush. Tyler nodded.

"
It's open."

It was Peggy. Dear God. Dressed in a perfectly fitted knee-length red dress, and red heels. Looking just like…a woman.

Francis whistled. "Where you going sis?"

"
Looking for Tyler." She stopped before the couch where Tyler sat gawking up at her. She smiled at him with her hands on her hips, looking like a model that stepped off the cover of a magazine. "I had this…crazy dream and wanted to make sure he was…okay."

Tyler
's cheeks erupted in flames and he stole a glance at Francis to see an ohhhhhh
her
quirk in his brow. Shit. Was that bad? Now he knew his erection was for his
sister.

Francis patted his leg.
"It's all good little brother. Very good."

Relief flooded Tyler.

"What's all good?"

Tyler panicked.
"I was just thinking it'd be nice to go with you guys tonight. Just to learn the ropes."

"
No, we can't." Francis stood. "My dad, remember."

"
I'll take him then. You don't really need us." Peggy sat next to Tyler and put her hand on his leg. The innocent gesture exploded his pulse like the birth of a galaxy. And not showing how it rocked him was so very hard. Harder than remaining absolutely still when that snake had found its way into his sleeping bag that one time.

Francis sighed.
"You're right. I can handle this, really. I'll take Max and Robert just to play it safe."

"
Yes. And I'll be a thought away from you if you need." She looked at Tyler. "I think this guy can handle being alone for a few minutes.
If
it should be necessary. Otherwise, we can think of it like a date." She giggled.

Francis dug through the fridge.
"Where will you be?"

She grinned with excitement, holding pearly long nails toward Francis.
"I saw the perfect little ice-cream parlor when scouting the neighborhood. Not too close but not too far." She hit Tyler with a direct gaze and he felt it melting the common sense right from him.

He gave this weird swirl of his head, trying to say yes while not appear too eager.

"Are you okay?" She tilted her head at him with a half-smile.

"
He's ecstatic. I think he'd love nothing more than to go on…" Francis looked at Tyler's wide eyes. "A mission. And this can be considered his first." He raised his brows looking for approval.

"
Absolutely. I'm ecstatic. To go on even a kind of mission."

"
With me." Peggy tacked that on like he'd left it out.

"
Yes." He couldn't meet her gaze. "With you. And the guys." Why couldn't he just leave it at her?

"
Good, then let's get this show on the road. You two can go now if you like. Keep your telephones on you though. I don't want to have to use any powers, remember."

"
Yes, yes." Peggy sighed. "I remember. And it's called a cell sweetie."

Francis rolled his eyes.
"I keep forgetting. It's just difficult to reconcile such a simple contraption to the vast complexity of a cell."

Tyler laughed a little.
"I never thought of it that way."

Peggy stood and pulled Tyler up with her.
"Are you ready?"

Ready or not, here he went.
"Ready."

Chapter Thirty-Three

Francis knocked on Abigail
's apartment door like a normal human would. He was early. But he'd called ahead. She'd sounded glad. "Good. That'll give us a chance to talk."

Those words had done horrific things to Francis. What did she want to talk about?

The sound of locks disengaging began. He liked that she had a lot of them. Smart and beautiful. And dangerous. If he weren't what he was, he'd definitely have to be more on guard.

As he stood, he contemplated ten things at once. What was she wearing? How did she feel about him today? What did she want to talk about? Was her hair down? The door opened without hesitation and Francis
' train of thought had a virtual wreck. Dear God. She wore a fitted thin white shirt with no bra and white lacey panties. Francis couldn't take his eyes from her chest. His brain insisted he take notes and confirm they were indeed as perfect as he'd recalled. Realizing how horrible his reactions was, he clenched his eyes shut. "I'm…sorry, I didn't mean to stare."

She gave a sultry low laugh that made his manhood triple in size.
"You were supposed to stare, silly. That's why I wore it."

Francis was fully aware of what a slut was. And she was behaving a lot like one. He had to remember he couldn
't be foolish and let his guard down no matter what his body said. He couldn't give himself to a woman who wasn't prepared to give herself entirely to him. Utterly and without repent.

"
It still isn't right to stare." He walked in and turned to watch her lock the many locks on the door and went back to doing what was wrong. He stared. Ruby gaze riveted to her perfect ass with the many tattoos covering her skin. More earth moving perfection. She looked over her shoulder and he jerked his head down, feeling like such a pathetic failure.

"
I'm glad you like what you see."

"
What do you want to talk about?" He kept his eyes to the floor, an uneasy feeling overtaking him. This wasn't going to end well. He didn't want to fight with her but she seemed bent on forcing him to prove himself.

He didn
't have to look to know she walked toward him with grace and dangerous purpose. "Us." She placed her hands on his abs and there was no helping it. He met her gaze.

"
What about us?"

"
Well…" She worked his red t-shirt up and stroked his waist. "Finishing what you started, for one."

"
Don't do that." Francis voice cracked with needs about to go virile.

"
Do what?" She raked her nails softly over the rough ruby cross embedded in his skin and he wondered when it had become attached to his male organ so intimately.

He shook his head.
"You know the deal."

"
I do know the deal. I dirty you. I fuck you. Remember? You fulfill your part of the deal and maybe I'll consider this
love
notion."

She was lying.

Pain sliced through Francis.

Wait. Not entirely lying. She was deceiving him. That was a tad different.
"I'm sorry. I can't."

She snorted.
"Why would I ever give my heart to a man that so easily reneges on his word?"

He swallowed and grabbed her wrists, unable to stand her touch without tearing into her
with his tongue and lips and…  "Sorry sweetheart. When I agreed to fuck you, I'd assumed you weren't a slut."

Her eyes widened but her smile said she wasn
't offended at all. "That's not my fault. You should have done your homework better, baby."

"
I did my homework. And you're no slut. So, until you pay up…" He moved her hands so they brushed over his erection. "No fucking deal."

Francis watched those pretty blue eyes fill with calculations and the air around her spike with anger. And arousal. She broke out of his hold with an easy twist of her arms, reminding him of her fighting skills.

She yanked his shirt up and kissed the center of his chest. His air left him and she gave a soft eager moan. "You want it. So do I."

He grabbed her hands before he succumbed to the animal taking over his cells.
"Stop it. Don't make me use force."

She looked at him, her gaze lit with desire.
"Please." The word was whispered, breathless. "Make me. Touch me. I don't care how you do it or why, just touch me."

The desperate and sincere words came with the brush of her breasts, stabbing into his will. He closed his eyes, his fingers tightening on her wrists.

She finally jerked away and he let go of her. "So why the fuck did you even come early?"

Francis worked to put the fires out in his pathetic body, feeling like an ant spitting on an inferno.
"You said you wanted to talk."

She looked at him like he were the dumbest person on the planet.
"What is wrong with you? There's a woman wearing panties and no bra, you're not supposed to be
resisting
me, stupid."

"
I can't."

"
Right, right, unless I'm all yours, forever and fucking ever. I get it."

"
And marry me." He might as well get down to the gritty about it.

She stared at him with raised brows before laughter exploded out of her mouth. She laughed and howled and laughed. Then she tried to catch her breath only to double over with laughter again. She apologized a few times but that ended in hysterics as well. The pain in Francis said this was not a good reaction.

"When will the boy be here? I'll get him and go. I don't want to waste any more of your time."

He wasn
't sure if she even heard him with the racket she was making. "Oh my God, I'm sorry, it's just…your boy-scout personality is so cute and priceless. And fucking hilarious."

Boy-scout?
"If you knew the things I planned, you wouldn't be calling me a boy."

Her laughter stopped dry and she hit him with a burning gaze.
"Now you're teasing me."

"
I'm merely telling you the truth."

"
Oh right. You don't lie."

"
Never."

She began walking around him, slowly.
"Tell me."

"
Tell you what?"

"
Your plans for me."

It
's all he'd been thinking about. He'd gotten books when he realized he had no clue how to please a woman. But speed reading thirty books in three hours gave him more knowledge than he'd ever need. "No deal."

"
Why not?" Still slowly circling.

"
That is for the woman I marry."

She bit back a smile, no doubt finding that cute. Or funny. Either didn
't appeal to him at the moment. "You are dead serious, aren't you?" The observation came with her steady slow circling.

"
Are you planning to attack me?"

"
Maybe." She licked her lower lip, temptingly red. "Would you stop me?"

"
Yes."

She snickered and kept walking, but Francis felt the air thicken with the unspoken threat. And lust. And passion. He loved all of it, sorry to say.

"You must be out of your fucking mind to think I'd
marry
you. What planet do you hail from? Not this one, that's for damn sure." She snorted, seeming to get more pissed by the second. "The last time a man who tried to
make
me do anything for what I wanted lost quite a few limbs. And all the blood in his body." She stopped a few feet from him. "After I took his heart."

Ruby flooded Francis
' muscles at the look in her eyes. She launched at him and there was two options. Jump out of the way, or catch her. He caught her.

Tragic mistake.

Her legs wrapped him hard and her lips were on his with
say no and I'll bite it off
persuasion. Desire and shock hit him in lethal amounts and his hands set out to remove her but ended up devouring her instead.

"
Francis." She moaned. "I need you."

Francis was doomed. Lost in the feel of muscle and soft skin, in the feel of her aggressive tongue along his, in the firm grip of her fingers along his face. Those ideas he
'd burned with lit him on fire and his body began to engage, fingers latching into her hair tight.

When she gasped into his mouth, he knew his studies were on target. He pulled her head back and opened his mouth to devour that lovely neck.

His salvation came with the soft knock at the door. His body swore and his mind rejoiced as he helped her down.

Winded, she grabbed his painful erection and stroked him. The groan he heard didn
't sound anything like him. "You are so easy," she whispered.

Francis suddenly felt like the most incompetent, depraved being alive. He
'd just done exactly as she was accustomed to men doing. Way to show her he was different and that she was special to him. That was the whole problem. She was
everything
to him. "It won't happen again."

"
Yes it will." She glided toward the door.

"
Aren't you getting dressed?" The idea of another male seeing her turned his ruby up to an eye gouging volume.

Her hand on the first lock, she stared at him over her shoulder like he were out of his mind. Then she gave a slight smile.
"You're right. This isn't very modest." She slid her finger along the back edge of her lace panties and tugged a little. "There."

Francis muscles tensed as she unlocked the door. It wasn
't until she was on the last lock that he sensed it.

So did Abigail. She spun with wide eyes and ran toward him, horror in her face. Time seemed to slow to a third its speed as the air rocked with an explosion, sending Abigail slamming into his body and throwing both of them.

Oh God. She lay limp on top of him against the far wall, the weight of a dead doll. Gunfire erupted and he threw up a ruby wall and encased her with a protective covering of it. He quickly checked for life at her vital points. None. 

Panic exploded through him, sending his sanity through the roof along with his ruby power.
Max, Max! Robert! Peggy!

Francis didn
't think about the racket created in the spiritual realm as he stood and slammed his palms together. A wave of ruby power shot forth and obliterated the wall where the danger originated.

The innocent.

He threw up his hands and froze the explosion at the adjoining walls then spun for Abigail. He scooped her up, flashed her to the compound and gave the order for Max and Robert to clean his mess.

The second he landed, he yelled like a mad man.
"Farechtera! Farechtera!"

The doctor appeared and rushed to him.
"A human? Status."

"
She's-she's not breathing. I can't find a pulse. She's not breathing."

The doctor slid his hands over her body rapidly.
"Primary, secondary, tertiary, quaternary injuries." He looked at Francis. "What did this?"

"
Gunpowder. Explosive forms, can you help her?"

"
I can. But the question is, am I
supposed
to? Where is her angel?"

Francis drew a solid blank.

"He's outside the compound perimeters." Maxwell appeared and knelt at his side. "Following the no entry rules."

Francis shook his head staring at Abigail
's soft skin that seemed to be turning paler. Dead. She was dead.

"
I need to act quickly if I am going to resuscitate." The doc's movements over her continued, swift and terse. "Find him. Find out what her spiritual status is, how much mercy is left, faith levels, family, every detail. Now."

Maxwell flashed out without a word and Francis pulled her into his arms and held her while praying.
Please hurry.

When his brother returned, Francis stomach tightened at the grave twist in his handsome face.
"She's running on fumes. But the last good deed she did saved her ass."

Hope filled him. That
's right. "She saved the boy."

"
No." Maxwell shook his head. "The boy helped but it still wasn't enough. The blast. Her intention was to protect you. She shielded you with her own life."

Tears filled his eyes and he gasped, pulling her face to his.
"Then you can help her," he whispered to the doc.

"
The second you give me space to work."

Francis couldn
't lay her on the floor fast enough.

Thank you God.