Dangerous Things - Amy Blankenship 4 стр.

Kriss sighed and lay down in bed beside her, curling around her like a security blanket. No sooner had he done so, Tabatha snuggled back against him.

“Did you find Dean?” she asked softly.

*****

Kane had managed to slip away; glad Warren had taken Michael’s attention long enough for him to do so. Whatever Michael and Dean had done to fix what Misery did to him had given him the mother of all adrenalin rushes. He was antsy now and he wasn’t going to work it off sitting in Warren’s office reminiscing about the soul-sucking demon who was sure to give him a few wiggly-boo’s in his nightmares for a while to come.

He glanced up at the overwhelming darkness in the sky and knew the first streaks of dawn weren’t far away. Wanting away from the heart of the city, he moved through the streets so fast that if anyone had been watching, they wouldn’t have noticed him among them. The down side of that was that he was now miles from Michael’s home.

He wanted to see Scrappy and curl up with the dog on the sofa with a nice bottle of wine, a ludicrously sized bowl of popcorn, and… a disaster movie? Kane shook his head… what in the hell was he thinking about? Scrappy would most likely pick the movie, which could or couldn’t be a bad thing at the moment. They both liked the movies where the animals could talk.

Kane slowed down and took in his surroundings when he realized something had drawn him in this direction. At first he thought it was Misery who had drawn him here. He shook his head again and discarded the idea when the image of Tabatha at the church flashed through his mind. He could feel her presence and, for the first time all night, Kane forgot about the monsters fornicating under the bed and humping in the closet.

Tabatha was his soul mate and, now that he’d taken her blood, it only amplified the connection. The only reason he hadn’t noticed it this last week was because the fallen… Kriss... had taken her so far away from him, stingy bastard. He was starting to wonder if he was suffering from separation anxiety.

Moving through this part of town, he found himself at her home within minutes. Landing silently on the roof of a neighbor’s house, he settled down to watch her through the bedroom window. His sharp eyesight took in the way her hair fell across the pillow and how her lips were slightly parted as she breathed deeply. He had never known such peace as he did right now… just watching her sleep.

Kane wondered what he looked like through her eyes. Did he resemble the other monsters she’d encountered or dreamed of? Did she even realize how deep his emotions for her went?

He almost rose from his crouch on the roof, ready to go to her when he heard her cry out in his mind. The sound had come from her dreams but the mental sound made him stop as it reminded him of the way she’d cried out as a child so many years ago. To date, all he’d ever done was cause her pain… cause her to bleed for him.

Kane turned to leave when he saw Tabatha’s bedroom door swing open. His muscles tensed up ready to attack the intruder when he saw the fallen, Kriss, come into Tabatha’s bedroom and crawl into the bed with her. Kane could tell the fallen was upset but he felt the rage well up inside of him when Kriss put his arm around her, holding her close in a very lover-like fashion.

He felt his peace shatter and more anger rush in to fill him up as he watched. Concentrating hard, his enhanced hearing started to pick up their whispered conversation. He frowned for a moment as he realized his power was stronger than before. He was surprised and his frowned deepened when he heard their heartbeats even at this distance.

“Dean doesn’t want me to find him,” Kriss sighed wondering if it was the demon Dean was stalking or if it was the fallen that had been down there with it. He wished Dean had waited. There was something about the aura of the other fallen that Kriss didn’t completely trust. He secretly hoped Dean would fail in his search for either of them.

“I wonder what happened,” Tabby whispered, “From what Envy and Devon said, Dean had been trapped down there most of the day.” She couldn’t help but envision Kane knowing he’d also been down there with the demon and almost not survived it.

“I’ll be sure to ask him as soon as I find him,” Kriss answered unable to keep the worry out of his voice.

“Dean loves you… he won't stay away long.” Tabatha closed her eyes hoping for Kriss’s sake that she was right.

“Sleep now,” Kriss whispered back hoping she was right about Dean returning soon. He hadn’t seen what the other fallen had looked like because he’d been moving too fast, but he’d felt him for a moment before the aura of the demon overpowered it. If just the fleeting feeling was haunting him, then he could imagine what Dean was going through.

The fallen were so rare that it took their breath away when they were anywhere near each other. Most thought they were the fallen angels of legend that had been cast to earth to help protect it… but legends are often only half truths that are molded by the words of men who crave a hero or sometimes an enemy.

The fallen had come to earth from another dimension… same as the demons. The legends called that dimension Heaven but they were wrong.

The myths said they destroy demons… again it was only a half truth. The Bible had said the fallen had mated with the beautiful women of earth and been punished for it… and that was the closest thing to the truth that the prophets had ever gotten.

The reason the remaining fallen kept themselves from mating with the females of earth… was because the product of those matings were the birth of a demons. It was the fallen that created demons.

When the first fallen had appeared, there were many but as the demons were born and began destroying what the fallen loved, they turned on their own children and fought. The numbers on both sides had diminished and the seal between dimensions was slowly closing.

Some of the original fallen had disappeared, thought to have lost their lives to the demons they’d spawned. Most of the survivors chose to go back home so they wouldn’t be tempted by the seduction of the human females. It was those few whom had sent the young warriors back into this world to watch over it… protect the humans from the monsters.

There was only one rule… they could not mate with the females of this world lest they kill them. One child of the true breed had been placed on each energy spot of earth and only a few of them had survived this long. Legends said they were immortal… legends were wrong.

The fallen were not immortal, they only lived for very long periods of time… millenniums would come closer to their lifespan. They could also be killed by human and demon alike… though for a human to succeed would be extremely difficult.

Syn had known the true legends and passed them down to his ‘children’. Remembering those lessons, Kane now understood how much Kriss loved Tabatha… enough not to take her as a mate… and enough not to let someone he thought wasn’t much more than a demon have her. It seemed he wasn’t the only one with dark secrets. The corner of Kane's lips hinted at a knowing smile as he turned and walked away.

*****

Envy and Devon were waiting at the bar when the first people started trickling in for the meeting. She and Kat were busy talking and trying to finish catching up on everything that happened while Devon and Quinn merely stood back and stared at them with a quirked eyebrow.

*****

Envy and Devon were waiting at the bar when the first people started trickling in for the meeting. She and Kat were busy talking and trying to finish catching up on everything that happened while Devon and Quinn merely stood back and stared at them with a quirked eyebrow.

“What language are they speaking again?” Devon asked.

“There isn’t a name for it,” Quinn stated. “It is a ritual females partake in quite regularly. It starts out innocent then, before we know it, they’re out shopping and we’re stuck outside the changing rooms holding their purses.”

“You’re also stuck holding the bag while she goes inside girly stores and buys lingerie that you’re not allowed to see until your anniversary,” Nick chimed in with a smirk.

Warren clapped his hand on Nick’s shoulder. “Trust me little bro, you’ll happily hold those bags when the time comes.”

A pair of arms wrapped around Warren’s neck from behind and Michael’s face popped in between them. “Does that mean you’re taking me shopping?”

“Of course,” Warren said with a smirk. “I’ll take you to that bondage shop you like so much.”

Michael’s expression became dreamy. “Oh yes, whips, chains, stirrups, riding crops… leather.”

“What the…” Nick suddenly stood up and moved away from them making Devon snort.

“Homophobe,” Devon muttered.

“Shut up!” Nick growled, “They’re either very good liars or it’s disturbingly true.”

The door opened and Steven stepped in with Alicia and Jewel. Alicia had gone through her closet and found a nice purple sundress for Jewel to wear until she could get some more clothes. Luckily, they were roughly the same size and height so Jewel would be able to make due for now. Alicia had also told Steven that until he could get Jewel more clothing, Jewel was welcome to raid her closet as much as she liked.

Steven immediately stepped over to where Quinn and Devon were sitting with Nick at a table directly across from Kat’s bartending area.

“We’re not late I see.” Steven said smiling inwardly when he saw Jewel smile at Alicia. He realized he hadn’t seen her smile until now and he instantly felt a loss when it slid from her lips.

Warren looked around, “Actually I think everyone is here.”

“Not quite,” Envy said. “We’re still waiting on Chad.”

At that exact moment the doors swung open and Chad walked in with Trevor and Zachary behind him.

“What the hell is he doing here?” Devon demanded as he stood up.

“Chad’s a cop,” Envy reminded him. “He already knows some of what’s going on and he saw the tail end of what happened at the cemetery. He’s in whether he wanted to be or not. Besides,” she continued, “he’ll be able to keep the cops off your back for a while.”

“I wasn’t referring to your brother,” Devon’s voice had taken on a dangerous edge.

Kat nodded, seeing that Envy was getting ready to mistakenly take up for Trevor as well. Not wanting a full out battle royale to take place, she stepped away from the bar to put herself in their path.

“Trevor can stay too,” she said firmly and crossed her arms over her chest. “After all… he does play well with others.” Kat finished with a wink to the blonde man who gave her a mock salute.

Quinn stood up from his chair and walked over to Kat, putting his arm around her waist to pull her closer. “I’m going to have to keep an eye on you… aren’t I?” he murmured playfully, but the look in his eyes told a different story.

“Can we just get on with it?” Kane asked from the shadows.

Everyone except Michael jumped at the voice. He’d been so quiet no one knew he was there.

“Agreed,” Warren stated. “I think everyone knows why we’re here.” He looked at Chad who nodded once to indicate he understood before moving his gaze to Trevor and Zachary. “Before we go into what happened at the cemetery, I have a question for Trevor.”

Trevor narrowed his eyes, “Like what?”

“What the hell are you?” Devon asked interrupting Warren.

“I’m a shifter just like most of the people here,” Trevor answered.

Kane snorted in the shadows making everyone look his way.

“Do you know something about him?” Envy demanded. It wasn’t like she would take Trevor's word for anything… he’d already proven what a great liar he was.

“I might, but you’ll have to be really nice to me if you want to know,” Kane said with amusement in his voice. He would have blamed his moodiness on getting up on the wrong side of the bed, but hell… he hadn’t been asleep.

Devon was on his feet and had Kane hoisted into the air by the lapels of his jacket. “I think we’re done with being nice,” the jaguar growled.

Kane smirked down at the shifter, “Aw, that’s too bad. I already told my puppy what a sweetheart you were and he was so happy about meeting a new playmate.” They both knew who the loser would be if they decided to tangle… and it wasn’t the kitty cat.

“Your puppy?” Jewel asked, her eyes lighting up at the prospect of something cute and cuddly. Her lip twitched at the thought of a dog among all the cats in the room.

“It’s an oversized dust bunny,” Michael grumbled.

Warren pinched the bridge of his nose and Quinn had to fight to keep from laughing at his jaguar brother-in-law.

“Devon, put Kane down and get your ass in a chair,” Warren rumbled. “We’ll finish the discussion about Trevor later.”

Nick, Devon, and Kat all looked at Warren with wide eyes. If the average person didn’t know Warren, they would have missed it. Warren was excited about the prospect of a new shifter in the area and he wanted to learn more about the unknown breed.

Devon put Kane back on his feet and stomped back over to his chair next to Warren. The doors opened and Kriss walked in with Tabatha latched onto his arm. Devon let a slow smile grace his lips as he glared toward the blond vampire. He might not be able to put Kane in his place, but the man that just walked in could and he knew Kriss had no love for the reformed vampire.

“Are we late?” Tabatha asked happy that she’d won the argument with Kriss to come to the meeting. Some times Kriss could be just a touch over protective… a hard touch.

“No, you’re right on time,” Envy said. “We haven’t even really started yet.”

Tabatha joined the women at the bar and took a seat while Kriss stopped near Chad.

Kane’s heart leapt into his throat when Tabatha walked in and he had to fight the urge to grab her up in his arms and take her away from here. He stepped back further into the shadows so that only his silhouette could barely be seen. His eyes drifted toward the fallen and he inwardly cringed at the glare he was getting from the man.

“We need to learn more about this demon that’s been trapped in the cemetery,” Warren continued. “We need to know what it looks like and since Dean’s absent, Kane is the only one here who's seen it.”

Kane had taken out a cigarette and flipped open his lighter. The light illuminated his face for a moment so they could see how troubled his eyes were.