The Devil's Angel (Devil Series Book 2) (9 page)

He hopped in his car and drove away from the city, not stopping until he parked his Hummer in front of his home by the coast. He couldn’t actually call it a home. That was something you lived in day to day, a sanctuary to run to. No, this was just a house—a very strange house.

It had three towers encased in grey stucco that reached into the sky like deformed fingers. They were an ugly obstruction to the rest of the house, which had smooth, architectural curves. Windows appeared where one wouldn’t expect, and the front door was almost entirely hidden by a curved stone wall.

By merely glancing at the eccentric home, onlookers often assumed the home had no door, but if they were to approach by way of a stone path, the front door seemed to materialize out of nowhere. A clever optical illusion.

The house had been on the market for over three years until Lucien had bought it, paying full price. Scott tried to convince him that it was worth only half that, but Lucien felt strongly that this house had been built for him. He would not pay less than what the builder wanted. It had been months since he’d come here, and as he walked to the front door, he wished he had never left.

Lucien stepped outside onto the deck overlooking the beach. There was just enough light in the early morning sky to watch the tide recede. A hundred yards from shore, black rocks stood as if a city floating on the water. Waves crashed against their jagged surface, spraying water in all directions.

The sea had always been an important part of his life, as it was a constant reminder of his insignificance in the world. If ever he felt greater than others because of his heightened abilities, he only had to look at the ocean. It had more power than he could ever achieve.

Four days passed. Four days of pacing and mindless reading. The odd house he normally loved felt more like a prison, but he couldn’t trust himself to go back to Seattle without seeing Eve. He hoped with enough time away from her, his strange attraction to her would wane. And maybe Eve, too, given enough time, would realize how ridiculous her feelings for him were.

It was almost two in the morning when his cell phone buzzed. Not recognizing the number , he almost didn’t answer, but at the last second, he turned it on and listened without saying a word.

“Lucien?” Eve whispered into the phone. Her voice was full of fear and panic.

“Eve? What’s wrong?” As he said the words, he was already racing to his car.

“They’ve found me again. Please, I need help.”

Lucien closed the door and revved the engine to life. “Who’s found you?”

“Vampires. I’ve killed two, but there are two more, and I’m too weak to fight them,” she breathed through great gulps of air.

“Where are you?” He pressed on the gas, forcing the car to 120 mph.

“I’m in an airplane museum somewhere on Tukwila road where they forced me off.”

“I know the location. Stay on the phone with me. Are you in a safe place?”

“I’m hiding in a Ford Trimotor, but they’re out there looking for me.”

“It’s best if you talk as little as possible. I don’t want them to hear you.”

It was a long time before he asked, “Are you hurt?”

“Not anymore.”

Lucien punched at the steering wheel.

“I think they’re gone,” she said, her voice barely above a whisper. “How have you been?”

“Fine. And stay where you are and keep your voice down. They might come back.”

“I’ve missed you.”

He wanted to say it back, but couldn’t. Instead he said, “Tell me about the lady in the restaurant.”

“What lady?”

“The one you slapped.”

For a second, she was quiet, then said, “It wasn’t one of my greatest moments. I sensed that the man next to her was getting ready to call her a horrible name. Because I didn’t have time to react and since she was closer, I slapped her. The man ended up calling me the horrible name instead.”

“You were helping her,” Lucien said more to himself than Eve.

“Not really. I should have hit the man, but everything happened so fast.” She paused. “How often did you spy on me?”

“You didn’t know?”

“There were a couple of times I sensed you, and Charlie, too, but not all of the time. Did you follow me a lot?”

“I never left you.” The words were out his mouth before the logical part of his mind could stop them.

“I wish I would’ve known, maybe—”

She went silent.

“Eve?”

Her quiet breathing quickened.

Metal twisting against metal echoed into the phone. Eve screamed, and then the phone went dead.

Lucien was still several minutes out. He slammed on the brakes and parked the car on the curb. He burst free from the vehicle and used his vampire speed to cut through parking lots, back yards of a neighborhood, and across a canal until he came to a screeching halt in the parking lot of the museum.

Eve’s car was parked out front with the front door wide open, her purse lying on the ground and her keys on the driver’s side floor mat where she must’ve dropped them in haste. There were no other vehicles around.

In a flash, Lucien was inside the building, standing still, listening to the sounds of the massive room. All kinds of airplanes hung above him, most of which he recognized. He’d been to this museum many times as planes were just as interesting to him as rare cars, but he didn’t stop to admire any of them now. Across the room, he spotted the airplane Eve must’ve been hiding in; the side had been torn off.

Lucien tilted his head, focusing his hearing. Someone was being dragged across the floor in the back. He sped to the rear of the building and peeked around a corner. A vampire with spiked hair was holding a door open while another vampire dressed in all black dragged Eve by her hair through the opening. Her body was limp, and the smell of her blood was strong.

Anger, intense and powerful, drove him forward. Lucien attacked the spiked-haired vampire first. After punching him in the jaw, Lucien tossed him into the air and into the side of an Air Force One. He turned to face the All-black vampire who looked like he was trying to decide between fighting Lucien or running away. Lucien decided for him and rushed him, fangs extended to their full length.

Lucien swung his fist, but the vampire ducked and kicked back at him hard in the stomach, knocking Lucien to the ground. Before he could get up, All-black jumped on top of him and slashed at his face with long fingernails. Lucien managed to block many of the blows, but the first several claws cut deep into his cheek. He punched All-black in the throat, collapsing his larynx. The vampire fell off him, temporarily stunned from the lack of air to his lungs.

Lucien rolled away and jumped to his feet, quickly withdrawing a wooden dagger from within his jacket. All-black growled and rushed him, his face contorting into sharp lines and angles. Just as he reached him, Lucien dropped to the floor on his back and jabbed the dagger upwards, slicing clear through All-black’s kneecap. All-black screamed and fell forward, but before he hit the concrete floor, Lucien was on top of him and shoving the dagger into his heart. The vampire burst into a million pieces, coating the ground with his ash.

Lucien scrambled to his feet and glanced around for the other vampire. When he couldn’t hear or see him, he knelt at Eve’s side. Her blood stained the floor in a long crimson trail leading back inside the museum. He held his breath, fear clenching his chest.

Lucien quickly inspected her body. There had to be a wound here somewhere! There was simply too much blood.

When he couldn’t find anything on the front of her, he carefully rolled her body over. Directly under her arm, on the left side, a metal blade with no handle was embedded deep into her chest. It must have been what was preventing her from healing. Lucien tried to grip the blade, but her blood made it too slippery. He cried out in frustration.

Lucien stood and looked around the giant room, trying to see past the many planes. Using his vampire vision, he located a janitor’s closet on the opposite wall and sped to it. In one fluid motion he ripped the door from the hinges and took mere seconds to find a pair of pliers inside of a toolbox.

He returned to Eve, heart pounding and sweat dotting his forehead. Very carefully, he clamped down on the blade and pulled, sliding the deeply embedded blade from her flesh. Blood gushed from the wound, drenching her already blood-stained white shirt. Lucien pressed his hand to the wound to slow the bleeding.

“She can heal,” he said over and over again, his eyes closed tight.

After a few minutes, she sat up straight, eyes wide, and sucked in air as if taking her first breath. On the exhale, she yelled, “Lucien!”

Lucien cradled her face with his palms. “I’m here. I’m right here. No one’s going to hurt you.”

She frantically searched his face until finally there was recognition. Tears filled her eyes, and she threw her arms around him and buried her head to his shoulder. It startled him briefly, but then he wrapped his arms around her until she stopped shaking and her breathing returned to normal.

It took a little longer for his own breathing to regulate and fear to release its grip around his chest—a sensation he wasn’t used to feeling.

“We should go,” he said finally, gathering her in his arms.

“I can walk,” she mumbled.

“I would rather carry you, if that’s all right.”

She nodded weakly and slumped her head to his shoulder.

Lucien carried Eve to her car out front and, after reclining the chair, gently placed her in the passenger seat. Her arms hung limp in her lap, and her head dropped to the side. He closed her door, inhaled deeply, then rounded the vehicle to the driver’s side where he scooped up the keys and brought the engine to life. He would have to go back for his Hummer later.

Lucien drove into the night, choosing no particular path. He didn’t know where he was going nor did he care. He could only think of the woman sitting next to him and her delicate hand resting upon her thigh. In his imagination only, he reached for it, letting his hand move slowly over her long slender fingers. He thought it strange that her fragile hand had almost entirely disappeared beneath his. He made a promise to himself, right then and there, that he would protect her until the day he died.

“Why do they keep coming for me?” she asked, her voice full of despair.

The image of their interlocked hands disappeared. “This isn’t the first time?”

“They attacked Charlie and me in New York a couple of times.”

“Do you know who they are?”

“All we know is they came from Ireland.”

Lucien stiffened. His birthplace again.

“What is it?”

“It’s nothing. Has anyone tried to figure out who’s behind this?”

“We have a vampire undercover in Ireland now. The only thing he’s been able to discover is the location for a big meeting coming up. The gathering is for vampires only, and he plans on being there.”

“A vampire works at the Deific?”

“Three of them that I know of.”

Lucien tried to hide his surprise. He’d never met a good vampire. It was almost impossible to believe.

“What are their names?”

“Michael and Alana. I don’t know their last names, if vampires even have them. They are both in Ireland, Michael is the one undercover.”

“And the third?” Lucien finally turned the car around and headed back to Seattle, figuring he could protect her best there.

“His name is Henry. He is the founder of the Deific.”

This really surprised him. “But he’s a vampire.”

“What’s your point?”

“It doesn’t make sense.”

“Does it have to? He still has his free agency, just like you. You can ask him about it yourself. He wants to meet you.”

“How does he know me?”

“He said he met you once. That you changed history.”

A stabbing pain struck at Lucien’s head, and he fell forward into the steering wheel. The car swerved sharply to the left.

“Lucien!” Eve forced the wheel in the opposite direction, trying to straighten the vehicle onto the road.

Lucien leaned back, shaking his head as if trying to rid himself of the sudden pain. He pushed on the brake while Eve guided the car to the shoulder.

“What is it? What’s wrong?”

“I’m not sure—pain,” he stuttered. After a few deep breaths and a lot of concentration, he managed to shove it to the back of his mind.

Eve stared, eyes drawn together, lips turned down.

He squirmed under her gaze. Forcing a smile, he said, “I’m fine, really. That was strange.”

“You’re not fine.”

He pulled the car back onto the road and changed the subject, all the while pretending he didn’t have a massive headache. Something she’d said had triggered images in his mind: flashes of decayed bodies, burning corpses, and screaming humans. Lots of them. Afraid this was one of the memories from a past he had long ago buried, he used his will power to shove it back into the recesses of his mind.

“Where do you want me to take you?” he asked.

“Are you sure you’re okay?”

He nodded.

“You can take me back to my house.”

“I can’t take you there. That’s the first place they’ll look.”

“I’m not going to hide.”

“Come to my place then,” he said. “At least for tonight. In the morning we can figure out what to do.”

“You have a place?”

“Where do you think I live?”

Her eyebrows rose. “I mostly see you hanging out at the marina.”

“You must think I’m a real loser.”

“Not a loser—just homeless.”

“See that building over there?” He pointed to the approaching lights of Seattle. “The tall one, a few buildings over from the Space Needle.”

She squinted out the window. “Isn’t that a hotel?”

“Yes.”

“You live there?”

“At the top.”

“I didn’t know you could own a room there.”

“I don’t own a room. I own the whole building.” For some reason, he wanted her to be impressed.

“Then why are you always at the marina?”

He tried to think of an answer that might make sense.

“Have you ever felt that a piece of your soul was missing?” When she didn’t answer, he continued, “My missing piece is in the ocean.”