CADE
Being covered in burning holy oil was an unpleasant way to die, and while I’d known of it being used against demons, seeing him burn like that was the first time I had witnessed a human trying to take an angel’s life.
He is anangel. What could he possibly have done to make a human want to kill him? And to kill him in such a horrific and painful way? He’d be spending his eternity in Hell reliving the pain he had put that angel through. There was no redemption for the attempted murder of a celestial being.
Zaqiel might forgive him, but I would not.
Without my help, the ashes that were once his body would’ve blown away in the gentle breeze and consumed him entirely until there was nothing but a memory of where he used to be. To heal Zaqiel, I had to transfer my ability for expedited healing, and it was draining and dangerous to essentially transfer part of my life force to him. I gave as much as I could until I saw theburns shrinking away on his skin, and he was no longer fading away.
All I could bear to share I did. Any more, and I would have died myself. I’d recover but be weakened for a while and extremely vulnerable to injury, which would force me to be careful in a way I wasn’t used to—to act more human.
But it was worth it because this angel had cemented a promise with me—a demon—that I insisted one day I’d pay him back for. And today was that day.
With my chin resting on my chest, the woman who had been with Zaqiel was still hanging off his shoulder as he mirrored my pose, and we kneeled in front of each other as though praying together. Zaqiel reached forward and lightly slapped me on the knee, and I could feel the weakness of his movement. But he was alive, and that’s all that mattered.
“How did you know?” he mumbled.
“Hey,” my lips lifted into a slight smirk, and it was all I could manage with what little energy I had left. It would take everything I had to get up and leave this alleyway now and find a way home, then I could collapse and recoup for days, drawing my energy back until I was whole again. “You know me. Cops around, I’m not far away.” My barely-there smirk dropped as I recalled the smell of burning skin singeing the inside of my nostrils. Burning skin, blood, and holy essence. “I smelled the burning holy oil, and I came running, but I didn’t know it was you.”
I lifted a hand. Whether to take his hand or not I wasn’t sure, but moments before making contact, I stopped and simply returned the light slap on the leg that he had given me. “Got here just in time,” I muttered as I returned my hand to my lap. The gesture of taking the angel’s hand would have seemed too intimate, even for me. It was hard enough sitting here, reliving the act that he had done for me three years ago, saving my lifeand heart without even knowing he was doing so. To him, it was what angels do, but to me, it was so much more than that. I was in his debt, and demons don’t take these things lightly. A life for a life, and as I had now saved him, we were even.
With a great deal of effort, I lifted my head, studying the woman who still clung to Zaqiel. Her hair was dotted with the ash that had been his burning form. His skin continued to heal and solidify as I watched, and I sighed. He was going to be okay.
Raising his eyes to meet mine, he asked, “Are you okay?”
“Yeah,” I said, taking a moment to do a mental sweep of my body. The weakness reverberated through my muscles, and all I wanted to do was lie on the ground and let myself heal. But I’d have time to rest later. “I mean, I will be.” The angel was frowning, concern etched on his features. He had been the one who almost burned alive, andhewas worried aboutme.Typical fucking angel. I smiled. “Don’t get all emotional on me. I’ll recover.”
“Thank you.”
This whisper came from the woman, who was staring at me now, her arms still wrapped around the angel, squeezing him next to her. I don’t know if she understood what he was or whatIwas for that matter, but the tears that streaked through the grime on her cheeks told me all I needed to know about what she felt for him. My chest ached with a pang, and I was thankful I had been here when he needed me.
Thankful to whom? I wasn’t ready to think about that part yet.
“Thank you, Cade. I don’t know how I can ever repay you.”
Pushing myself to my feet, I chuckled. “You already did, remember?” Brushing a fleck of ash from my jacket, I watched the angel before me. “Now we’re even.”
CADE
Three Years Earlier…
“You are one gorgeous specimen of a man.”
I smirked as Nikki tripped over my feet on the way back to her chair, throwing me a look that indicated it was my fault my feet were at the end of my legs. I steadied her with a hand on her hip, taking the chance to caress her waist, my fingers twitching with the urge to lift her top and feel her skin against mine. While it would have made more sense for her to walk around my chair rather than in front of me, I’m certain she chose to cross over my legs to offer me a good view of her ass before she sat down. She stretched her legs less than gracefully over mine, bending slightly and holding the table, careful not to spill her drink as the curves of her ass were on display for me.
Dropping into her seat, Nikki grinned over her beer before taking a long drink and finishing with an almost comicalahh. I still hadn’t responded to her and preferred to sit back and listento her talk. Besides, how does one even respond to a comment like that?
Wanting to listen to a human talk was new to me. I’d had my brother, Nuno, tell me of a similar feeling toward a woman he met in a bar, and I humored him but thought nothing further of it, putting it down to a crush on a woman who had been a great fuck.
Until Nikki.
She’d come waltzing into the bar, dressed in black and fresh from a funeral, looking to drink her sorrows away and perhaps find some company for the night. Nikki had her eyes on me as I spotted her the moment she crossed the threshold. I liked that she was fit and looked as though she’d pose a challenge to any human in a fight, regardless of their gender or build. She was taller than most women I’d met, although she still had to look up at me. I imagined picking her up and throwing her on the bed or taking her against the wall.
Elevated strength had its benefits.
While Nikki was evidently made of something tougher than most humans, the funeral had broken something in her, and it was something she wasn’t willing to face yet.
So, she was drinking, talking to a stranger about her job, while throwing in a generous amount of clumsy flirtation. Like she hadn’t done it in a while, or perhaps it was part of her charm.
