Dark Admirer (11 page)

“It is not my lack of beauty that disturbs me, it is the markings themselves.”

“So, you’re at last humiliated? I knew I would somehow bring you to your knees. You’re so vain Anael, that I knew you could not bear to have your sins catalogued for all to see. And really, as lovely as it is to rehash old times, I’m not here to discuss your punishment. Rather, I thought we might talk about your mission, and something else.”

“Richard Stokes will get what he wants.”

“Oh, I know that. You’ve only one more soul to find love for and then you will no longer have any reason to come to Earth.”

“And you cannot imagine the euphoria I feel whenever I think on that little fact.”

“You cannot bear it, can you? You cannot stand to see the humans take their pleasure. You cannot stand to gift them with something that was never meant to be yours.”

Anael lowered his lashes and reached for his bottle. Yes, he could not bear to watch the mortals having sex, indulging in all the pleasures of the flesh that he had gifted them with. But what he hated more was the intimacy of it, the beauty of two bodies in love experiencing passion. He could not bear the beauty of sharing one’s life, one’s fears and dreams with another.

He had experienced sex, but he had never experienced the emotions, the connectedness of being with his lover. Was it because he was soulless that he had never felt such things? Was it because he was not human and never felt what they felt? How could it be that he could bestow so much passion to a mortal, but never feel it himself? Certainly he desired it—craved it—but it had never been near as satisfying to him as it had appeared to be to the humans.

Despite what he had told Richard Stokes, his mission in this incarnation was to provide the mortals who summoned him with not only earthly pleasures, but love as well. Knowing that Richard was going to be on the receiving end of his gifts made his blood boil. Richard shouldn’t be entitled to anything but a cuff upside the head. He especially should not be gifted with love.

Sometimes he wished he was just the Angel of Lust. He could handle that. Lust came easy to him. Love on the other hand was something that was forever out of his reach.

“I want to talk about Eve Parker.”

Anael stiffened at the mention of the woman’s name. An image of her curled up on the floor, reading to him assailed him and he felt the flow of blood in his veins speed up.

He remembered cradling her in his arms, covering her with his wings. He remembered the smell of her skin pressed up against him and the feel of her heart beating against his palm. He remembered the first tentative flicker of need, then the consuming hunger, a hunger to be inside her, to know her, and not just carnally. He wanted to share something with her, but what that was, he didn’t know. He only knew that while he had wanted to strip her and plunge into her, he’d wanted something more, something deeper than two bodies fucking.

“You took a wrong turn when you descended.”

Shrugging, Anael tipped the bottle to his lips and chugged back the remainder of the cold beer, trying not to think of how Eve Parker had felt in his arms, or how his cock was hard in his jeans. He tried to chase away the memory of her lying on the floor; his hand hovering over her as he allowed himself to absorb her energy, to take it deep inside himself so that he could draw on it, could feel her inside him despite the fact that she was so far away from him.

“The woman is not your concern, do you understand?”

“I don’t need any damn lectures on my duties,” Anael growled, slamming the bottle onto the table. “I’ll make certain Richard Stokes gets the woman of his dreams, and then I’m leaving this world behind, never to return.”

“And Eve Parker?”

“What about her?”

“You’ll leave her alone.”

“Why?” he asked, narrowing his eyes. “You got something else planned for her?” Suddenly, his gaze shifted to Samael who was sitting quiet and sullen beside Sariel. “You’re not here for her, are you?” he asked, his voice suddenly breaking up. “Christ, Samael, you’re not taking her. No,” he choked, thinking of Eve and her spirit and the way she exuded life. “No, not now. Christ, no. He can’t have her.”

“Her future is none of your concern.”

“Like hell it isn’t. I didn’t fall onto her doorstep for no reason.”

“You listen to me,” Sariel hissed as he all but lunged across the table. “You will leave the woman alone if you know what is good for you.”

“And what are you gonna do to me, Sariel?” he demanded as he stood and fished through his pockets for some money. “What can you possibly do to me that is worse than your original punishment?”

“Ah yes, the Abyss for seventy generations. Did you enjoy it?”

“Wouldn’t you like to know,” he growled as he leaned down and stared into Sariel’s blue eyes. “You get off on that sort of shit, Sariel? You wanna know what the Incubus and Succubus did to me in that dark pit? Is that how you get off and still keep your wings white?”

“You came out of the abyss with a lot more sins tattooed to your face than when you entered it.”

“Why don’t you look closely, Sariel,” he hissed, grabbing his brother by the throat and forcing him to look at the angelic script that covered two thirds of his face. “Read them and see what they did to me—what you sanctioned them to do. You like reading that shit? You hard now, Sariel, or are you still sexless just trying to find a way to get off?”

“Fuck you.”

“Yeah, you already did that.” Anael shoved Sariel backwards. “Now, if you’ll excuse me,
brothers
, I’ve got a loser mortal to find love for.”

Chapter Six

Eve couldn’t concentrate on anything, most especially the conversation flowing around her. Tuesday night was her book club night. Tonight they were discussing an erotic novel by Anais Nin. Normally, chatting about the steamier side of romance was totally her thing, but tonight she was restless, unfocused.

She couldn’t stop thinking about the man she’d found in the alley. Couldn’t shake the feeling that she was being watched. It had been two days since she’d awakened to find herself in her bookstore, the stranger nowhere in sight. And yet, she’d felt his presence. It was never really far from her. And being watched? She was certain it was him, but every time she glanced over her shoulder, or checked the window, there was no-one there.

But the food tray she put out every day at the back door of the store was always emptied, and an origami set of wings were always placed atop the empty plate.

He was still around, but why? And why was he watching her?

After two days of little sleep and a running imagination, Eve wasn’t certain what she believed anymore. She hadn’t found the symbol in the book she used for research. In fact, there wasn’t a lot written about angels. And was he
really
an angel, or was he just some stranger with weird tattoos? Had discovering the feather and finding the man just been a coincidence? Were the two even connected?

Rubbing her eyes, Eve drew her legs up to her chest and rested her head against the soft micro-suede couch. Her head hurt. She really needed to stop analyzing every little thing about the guy. It was obviously going to drive her insane.

“So, Eve,” Gemma said, coyly, drawing Eve’s thoughts away from her problems. “We’ve all come clean about our little fetishes and fantasies. Now it’s your turn.”

Eve smiled weakly at Gem. She was
so
not into this book discussion thing tonight, but Gemma certainly was. As were the three other regulars of the club.

Chrissy, Jamie and Lynn were fast becoming Eve’s friends, too. She really did owe Gemma for introducing her friends to Eve. Her social circle was expanding, but it wouldn’t if she didn’t start paying attention to the topic at hand. And the topic at hand tonight was just a little too close to home—fantasies. Hell, she’d been dreaming of the same one for the past two nights.

“Aw, c’mon, Eve,” Jamie said with a laugh as she sipped her wine and munched on a water cracker. “You’re a shy one, for sure, but you’re amongst friends. Tell us what you want. What you crave. I mean, I just came clean and told you that I’m harbouring a major fantasy about the twenty-one year old hunk who lives next to me. Hell, he still lives with his mom and dad, and here’s me looking over the picket fence, watching him shovel the drive thinking I’d like to play Mrs. Robinson.”

Eve laughed, knowing her face was growing pink. “Imagine it, him taking you to his room to do you on his twin bed.”

Every body laughed at that visual, including Jamie. “And don’t forget the Toronto Maple Leaf posters on the wall,” Jamie chuckled, “and the picture of him on his dresser, at age ten at Disney. God, Josh would throw a clot if knew about my secret fantasy.”

“Well, your husband is not going to find out,” Gemma warned. “Just make sure you don’t call out
Taylor
when your have next orgasm!”

“Oh, God, I’d die.”

“Hey, it’s healthy to have a secret fantasy here and there. James and I do a little role playing from time to time. It keeps things spiced up. Never underestimate the powers of a little game of French Maid and the Monsieur who wants to spank her.”

Eve glanced at the woman making that shocking confession. The elegant and sophisticated Chrissy. With her model looks and her self confident airs, Eve could well believe that Chrissy’s sex life was out of this world. After all, she was on husband number three and James, incidentally, was the junior executive, and her husband’s protégé at his law firm. Eve wondered what George would think if he were to discover Chrissy and James playing a little game of master and servant.

“Ok, c’mon,” Lynn cajoled her. “Buck up. Fortify yourself with that glass of wine and spill yer guts!”’

“Pirates truly do get you hot and bothered, don’t they,” Eve teased Lynn.

“When they look like Johnny Depp in black eyeliner, they sure do!”

Eve smiled as she ran her fingertip around the rim of her wine glass. She knew what her secret fantasy was, and it was nothing like what these other women wanted. She didn’t know if she could say it, she could hardly admit it to herself.

“Okay,” Eve said taking a deep breath. “But this doesn’t go beyond this room, and no one is to think I’m weird, okay?”

“Oh, this is gonna be good,” Lynn said, inching forward in her chair. “I’m sure it’s going to be way more scandalous than my pirate fetish.”

“Anything is more edgy than your pirates,” Chrissy scoffed. “Pirates are
so
last year.”

“What about Vampires?” Gemma asked.

“Vamps never go out of style,” Chrissy said with a sultry smile.

“Ok, okay, enough. It’s Eve’s turn. C’mon, Eve, shock us.”

Eve smiled at Jamie and took Lynn’s advice. She drank her wine down in one gulp and waited for the slow heat of the zinfandel to warm her blood and give her courage.

“Ok, here it is—” A movement from the window caught the corner of her eye and stopped her words. She was certain she saw a large black shadow flicker over the huge plate of glass, but when she looked deeper, there was nothing there but blackness, the glow of the moon in the sky and a handful of stars.