Good Intentions (32 page)

He frowned at it before deciding to answer. “It’s the guys,” he explained. He had promised not to pick up the phone tonight, but that was before their unexpected run-in with Lorelei just minutes ago. Lydia nodded, still chewing on the implications of the moment while Carlos answered the phone. The bitch had left Belial’s service; that much was clearly implied by her “divorce” comment. But Belial would not have deliberately cast out his most accomplished seductress and spy. Not without cause. He might have lost her, but that would have been the result of the sort of upheaval that Lydia would have heard about. But Lorelei had clearly been through quite a thrashing. No horns, no wings. No scars, either, but perhaps those had faded. She had spoken of demons being hunted in this city. Perhaps that had happened to her? Could Belial have decided she was too damaged and weakened to be worth retaining? That was as far as she had gotten in her thoughts before noticing the look of surprise and concern on Carlos’s face. “What is it?” she demanded. “You’re gonna have to find another ride home tonight,” announced a clear, amused voice from over Carlos’s shoulder. Carlos watched a young, blonde and beautiful waitress pul up a chair at the side of their table and plop down into it unceremoniously. Lydia, however, saw her for exactly what she was. “Hi,” the angel said. “I’m Rachel. Sorry about your friends. I mean, not really sorry, y’know, but still . Sounds like something I should say. You should tel ‘em to be careful around here.” She tossed the two kitchen knives down onto the table. “Bunch’a freaks in this town. Seriously. Ooh, hey, they brought the bread already!” She helped herself to the contents of the basket at the center of the table, swiping the butter knife from Lydia’s place setting while she was at it. “This place makes really good bread. You guys should try some of it.” “Who the fuck are you?” Carlos snapped, now getting quite angry. He reached out to grab the butter knife out of her hand, but in the blink of an eye she whipped it around to rap him across the knuckles with the flat of the blade. Stung by the blow, Carlos jerked his hand back. “I am so much more fucking trouble than you could possibly handle. Speaking of which,” she said, gesturing at Lydia as she held his gaze. “Repent, motherfucker. The end is near. For you, anyway.”

“What do you want?” Lydia asked through gritted teeth. Her voice dripped with venom. Rachel just smirked. She spread some honeyed butter over her rol and took a bite, savoring the flavor of it. “Holy fuck, this is good bread,” she grinned with the morsel in the side of her mouth. The angel chewed for a moment, then swal owed, and looked at Lydia as if she couldn’t get over some private joke. “I’m here to tel you I know what you’re thinkin’, and you’d better forget about it. He’s under my protection, and that means she is, too.” Lydia’s scowl sharpened. “He cannot have a guardian angel if she is—” “The fuck do you think I’m doing here in the first place, you Santorum-smel ing slob?” Lydia blinked. “What?” Rachel rolled her eyes. “Fucking Google it, bitch. Listen, it’s real simple. That guy? The succubus? And anyone around ‘em? Off-limits. Period. I even hear you’ve been so much as talking shit about ‘em, my foot’s gonna be so far up your ass, your mouth won’t have anymore room left for sucking dick.” There was a stunned silence from Lydia. Rachel glanced awkwardly at Carlos for a second before adding, “Okay, well , maybe there’d still be room for one as small as his.” “You can’t be serious,” Lydia breathed. “The balance—” “We can go right fucking now,” Rachel offered menacingly. She stared at Lydia’s eyes for a long moment. Without looking, she snatched the phone away from Carlos and dropped it in front of the succubus. “Got any friends? Cal ‘em. Let’s go.” It was at that moment, her eyes now flitting this way and that as she considered the situation, that Lydia realized that al of the other guardian angels in the restaurant—and there were a couple dozen of them, al of them formerly just

minding their own business as they watched over their individual charges—were watching the situation very closely. Some of them seemed to be concerned, but more than a few of them looked unsettlingly eager. A couple of them even grinned. To stand alone against a guardian angel was fol y. Doubly so against one who was so plainly, utterly mad. There were demon lords that could do it, for certain, but no succubus. Not even one as powerful as Lydia. But to see other guardian angels looking on with such aggression in their eyes… The balance had held for centuries. It trembled now and again, in one land or another, but was eventually reasserted. It looked as if it would tremble again here and now, and Lydia knew full well that despite such euphemisms, to be at the center of a “tremble” was the gravest of perils. “I came here tonight for dinner,” Lydia said finally. “I knew neither of her presence nor of her current state. My business here does not concern the whore or whomever she’s toying with. Now are you quite finished posturing?” Rachel held her gaze for another long breath, then nodded knowingly. “Good,” she grunted, then stood and walked away. Lydia’s nails dug into the table. She opened her mouth to speak, but suddenly Rachel was back. The angel snatched up the breadbasket and the small cup of honeyed butter. “This is way too good to waste on you cunts.” * “Ultimately, it would be impossible to hide away forever,” Lorelei explained as they rode the elevator. “We could do it for a time. We could move to some sparsely populated corner of the globe, withdraw from society. Live on my financial reserves and our love. But you would hate it, and yourself.” She held a duffel bag in one hand, and Alex’s hand in the other. He had his small backpack loaded with a bit of spare clothing and a couple of books from school,

but he had hardly even thought about that when they arrived at the hotel. “I don’t know,” Alex shrugged, looking at her with more affection than concern once again. “I’m pretty sure we could keep ourselves amused.” She smiled back at him. “Oh, you will never tire of me. But you have friends. Family. Dreams. You care about the people with whom you share this world. Though I would indulge you in endless pleasure, you need more in life than that.” He shrugged, conceding the point without ever having intended to argue it. “Thus other demons would find out about us. It was only a matter of time. And now we’l have to see how much it is worth to them to antagonize us. But I will protect you, Alex. As will Rachel. And, I think, others.” “I don’t like the idea of hiding behind others,” Alex frowned. “You will not. You have not. But I think you will not often find yourself standing alone.” She leaned in to kiss him meaningful y. The kiss lasted until the elevator got to its appointed floor, and as the doors open Lorelei backed off with a mischievous grin. “Al that is for another time, my love,” she said in a very seductive voice. Lorelei stepped backward, her eyes not leaving his as she tugged him along after her by the hand. Her gaze promised great things. When she opened the door to the honeymoon suite, Alex was floored. The “room” was bigger than the bottom floor of his mother’s townhome. The plush bed was easily big enough for much more than two people. Fresh roses sat in a crystal vase on the small dining table in one corner. A plasma television was mounted over the fireplace across from the foot of the bed. Alex was just wrapping his mind around the idea of a fireplace in a downtown hotel tower when he noticed the balcony with its view of the waterfront and El iott Bay, and of the large Japanese whirlpool tub in the corner just across from the sliding glass doors. “I had no idea this was what you meant by getting a hotel room,” Alex murmured. “I could have been more conservative,” Lorelei smiled, “but you did agree to let me indulge you this weekend.” She shut the door behind them, threw the deadbolt, and then slipped around to his front and kissed his neck.

“You indulge me just by holding my hand,” Alex told her. “No need to be so humble, master,” Lorelei breathed into his ear. She felt his heart begin to race and his flesh stiffening against her groin. “No master business tonight,” Alex said softly. “We can play with that in the morning. Tonight I just want you to be you.” * It was a tal building. There were tal er ones in Seattle, of course. The hotel wasn’t even half the height of the Columbia Tower several blocks uphil , nor was it the tal est among those closer to the water. But looking up at it from the sidewalk below, the hotel loomed more than large enough. Her borrowed waitress’s uniform was gone now. Rachel stood on the sidewalk clad in her simple, thin white dress once again. Nobody looking her way actually noticed her, whether driving by or sitting behind a window looking out at the street. They didn’t see the blonde angel looking up to the sky, letting raindrops fall gently on her face. Nor did they see the wings that grew from her back, full and white and glorious in their spread. She had felt the stirrings of their recovery while in the church as her halo began to glow with its former bril iance. That had been alarming, seeing as several of Alex’s good deeds had been accomplished while facing great danger and suffering harm. But when she had caught up to him, seeing her charge and his companion getting into her car, she had recognized the unmistakable look of love between them. Love was in the eyes of a demon.

Rachel had seen it there, and understood why her recovery had enjoyed such a sudden leap ahead. She reaped as much of a personal reward from that momentous development as had Alex. She couldn’t blame the demon, either. In mere days she became more attached to him than any mortal or angel she had ever known. Rachel had fol owed them as they left his home. She hadn’t heard their conversations, of course. Didn’t know every dynamic of their relationship. She knew its larger implications, though, and she had already begun silently cheering them both on. But it was in the restaurant, with Lorelei facing the sins of her past and seeking redemption, that Rachel knew her own recovery was essentially complete. What had happened was unprecedented. Rachel hadn’t fol owed Lorelei into the restroom, hadn’t eavesdropped…but she knew. She could feel it happen. Through Alex and their bond, perhaps, or more likely just through proximity. Al the other guardian angels in the restaurant had visibly perked up when it happened. One of hell ’s most accomplished destroyers had fall en in love with a virtuous man. fall en in love, and repented. Rachel’s wings spread out, beat twice, and then carried her into the air. She soared around the hotel tower. She rose and dipped and spun and looped. The angel laughed in gratitude and joy. She rose into the air, taking her time and indulging in a broad, sweeping path before finally landing silently on the balcony of the honeymoon suite. She knew where they were. She could see them now—or more precisely, she could see Alex in her mind whenever she concentrated, regardless of Lorelei’s presence. Rachel looked in on them through the glass balcony door, unhindered by the dim light. They lay on the bed, making love in one another’s arms. Rachel watched, smiling softly as Lorelei crawled on top of Alex like a predatory cat toying with her prey. Her hostility toward the succubus had died hours ago. On that first night, Rachel had gambled on the chance that someone like Alex might be a good influence on her, but she never expected anything this profound. Now she simply couldn’t see in Lorelei what she had seen the day before. For that matter, Rachel saw changes in herself. Lorelei had been right about her, and how she felt for her mortal charge. Jealousy simply didn’t count for much in Rachel’s emotional makeup, and what she saw between demon

and mortal was far too important to disrupt for any reason. Rachel would die before al owing anything to come between this love, including herself. But she wouldn’t have to come between them in order to claim her happiness. She thought, momentarily, about slipping inside with them. They would have her. She knew that. Lorelei would probably be thril ed, and Rachel could tel that Alex’s heart swel ed whenever she was near. She heard it in his voice. Saw it in his eyes. felt it in his kiss. But there would be time for that. And after tonight, she was going to have to endure another long conversation with the angels and archangels who watched over this city. Oh, what fun that would be. Rachel leapt up over the ledge above her to sit on the top of the building. She looked out across the Bay, unbothered by either the rain or the cold. She felt quite comfortable. Her lips spread into a quiet smile. Eventual y, she began to hum, and then finally she softly gave the familiar tune words. “Amazing Grace, how sweet the sound “That saved a wretch like me. “I once was lost, but now am found, “Was blind, but now I see…” Chapter 13

The Life of the Party

“It’s sinful.” “Yes, well , I’m sure my services to Christ and His holy Church will make that al better,” John scowled. He finished bundling up his few clothes for easier carrying. It would have been nice to have a bag for them, but he would have to make do with a little rope. He wanted to leave behind as much as he possibly could, even the sacks. They might be of more use than he was. “Do you think that will matter?” Henry pressed. The older man sat on the bench at John’s table, hunched over a mug of cheap ale—al John had to offer—as he watched his young neighbor pack. “Fight the heathens. Reclaim the Holy Land. hell , walk back home wearing Christ’s own shoes. You’l still be a man who abandoned his lawfully wedded wife to another!” “I am not abandoning her!” John snapped. He hurled the pack of clothing at the door to his small, one-room house and looked at Henry with pain and anger in his eyes. “She’l be looked after! She has you, doesn’t she? She has willliam and his family.” “Wil iam is exactly who I’m talking about, and you know it, John. You’re a cuckolded man, and you know that, too, and you do nothing about it.” “Cuck—Do you think it’s that simple?! What would you have me do, Henry? Beat her? Beat will iam? Murder him? I suppose I could expose them, to the ruin of his family and Katherine’s good name. Do you think that would that change her feelings for me? Would I find happiness in her public humiliation?” “She’s your wife.” “Because our parents arranged it! Not because we love each other. Do you think that was on their minds when they matched us?” “You love her,” Henry frowned. “That’s why you encouraged your father to pursue this match. You just have to be a little firm with her! You’re the man of this house! Act like it!”