Good Intentions (66 page)

“I can take care of that, too,” Rachel assured them. “It’l al burn to nothing before I resolve the matter of Princess Skankula here.” “We’re going to need a ride back to Seattle,” Onyx said. “We left our car at Alex’s place.” “Yeah, ah’m thinkin’ ah don’t wanna take anyone anywhere in mah truck with it al full ’a bul et holes an’ claw marks,” Wade mused. “Reckon we’re gonna have to steal us a car or two from th’ parkin’ lot there from what’s left, at least t’ get us back t’ the gas station.” “I can make sure your truck disappears,” Rachel said. “You might want to grab anything you want out of it before you go.” Wade sighed. “Easy come, easy go, ah guess.” Alex looked up at his friend guiltily. “Oh man,” he said, “I’m so sorry.” “I’l buy Wade a new truck,” Lorelei said. “It is the least I can do.” “Oh, we have to set the gas station attendant loose, too,” Jason reminded Wade. He was still dutifully watching Lydia. “Though how we’re going to get him to keep his mouth shut isn’t something we worked out.” “Leave that to me,” Lorelei said. By then, Alex had sat down next to her and gathered her up into his arms. “Any reason we need to stick around here, then?” Alex asked. There was a collection of shrugs and shaking heads. He picked Lorelei up, cradling her as she leaned her head against his shoulder. Rachel stepped over to kiss Alex on the cheek. “I’l catch up, lover,” she smiled softly. Then she whispered into his ear, unbothered by Lorelei’s closeness, “Might be awhile, though. I might be in a little trouble with my bosses.” “What?” Alex blinked. “Why?”

“For fall ing in love with you,” Rachel smiled quietly. “For making love with you. Angels aren’t supposed to do those things with mortals.” “I wish you had told me.” Rachel just shrugged. “It’s what I wanted. You are what I wanted.” She blinked back a happy tear. “You’re my hero.” It was Lorelei, held between them in Alex’s arms, who dared to interrupt: “Don’t delay long,” she told the angel quietly. “The three of us have a great deal to work out.” Her eyes were heavy with meaning, and though her tone was even, it had just a hint of wellcome. Rachel might have blushed in that moment, but Alex couldn’t be sure. Despite the angel’s natural radiance, it was a dark night. “You’re gonna be okay?” Rachel didn’t bother to suppress her grin. “Yeah. I’m gonna have a little chat with my ex.” * It would take a long time, but there would be a recovery. There would be chaos, then healing, and then a time to rebuild. After that, there would be chances for revenge. Ms. Black was comfortable with al of that. Right now, however, there was a chance to learn much. She sat crouched in the shadows of the treeline, listening intently to the conversation held among the night’s victors. It was too far away for a human’s ears. The raccoon that sat beside her, though, had excel ent hearing. He had answered her sorcerous summons without much resistance, eventually sitting obediently beside her. It was a simple thing to summon an animal, and equally easy to take advantage of its senses. Al Ms. Black had to do, real y, was murmur the incantation and keep her hand on the magically calmed raccoon’s head.

Ms. Black would have loved to simply leave. She could have slipped off into the night. Her magic and her native wits would have enabled her to find transportation and shelter. She would need new clothing. Her blazer and top were both covered in both champagne and blood. Healing herself of the concussion Carlisle inflicted hadn’t been easy. She’d had to do it in short, hazy, tiring stages, but each time she managed the spel , her mind was clearer and her head and face were less bloody and battered. It would have been nice to withdraw entirely from this scene, but there was too much to learn here that was too important for the future. Through the animal’s ears, she heard everything. She learned who and what Alex and his rescuers were and what they were about. She heard them decide to leave Lydia to be dealt with by Rachel and the other angels, which suited Ms. Black just fine. The raccoon also enabled her to hear the pair of vampires sneaking up on her. The raccoon caught their scent and let her discern details about them. They were both heavy, both garbed in an awful lot of fabric. Ms. Black realized how remarkable it was that they could move with any stealth at al , let alone so quietly in the woods despite those great big antebel um dresses. When they were just close enough, Ms. Black flicked her wand up in the air with only a snapped pair of words. The two vampires floated off their feet. Both of them hung in the air, unable to move as Ms. Black stood and stepped backward between them. The raccoon scampered off into the trees. “You might have had a chance against me in the city,” Ms. Black said darkly, “but not out here in the woods. My first Practice was born of the willd.” “Our mistake,” one of the heavyset undead ladies began. “We thought you were one of them.” “Real y, now,” grunted the other one, “we could al just go our separate ways. You’ve made your point. This doesn’t have to be a fuss.” Ms. Black smiled. “The one good thing about tonight is that there will be far fewer of you to deal with for a good while,” she mused. still holding the wand aloft, Ms. Black reached for the trunk of a tal cottonwood tree. Words in

Greek and Hebrew came softly from her mouth. The vampires watched with alarm as the bottom of the tree’s trunk seemed to writhe and then twist. Leaves fell from above. With a rush, one of the tree’s boughs lashed out at the two of them. Al of the small er branches growing off of the bough had been twisted into long, rigid spikes. There were more than enough of the nasty things to ensure that each of the vampires was impaled through the heart. Ms. Black waited long enough to see the pair both turn to ash, leaving their fine dresses hanging on the bough. As she turned away, she found herself standing before a towering wall of fur. A furry arm encircled her shoulders. She didn’t have time to cry out before her head was twisted entirely too far around. A moment later, Ms. Black’s lifeless body slumped to the ground. The fur receded, soon changing to skin. Diana stepped over the dead sorceress and past the piles of ash and silken dresses to stand at the edge of the treeline. In the distance, Diana could see Alex and his assorted companions gathering what little they would take with them as they prepared to leave. The nude woman decided to linger until they had gone. Once they were safely off, she would make her way back into a more urban environment where she could make a couple of phone cal s and get back to her people. Regret for Diana’s earlier words crept up on her as she watched. She had been thinking pragmatical y, concerning herself with her own survival and that of the young man who would so clearly make an excel ent mate. He would come around to that eventual y. She would just have to get him alone to explain things to him. That would happen in time. She had his scent. *

Rachel had the mansion burning brightly shortly after the others left. Wade’s truck went up along with it in the driveway. As the flames roared up in earnest, Rachel carried her heavily duct-taped prisoner to a spot at the edge of the treeline surrounding the house. She heard the sirens of approaching fire engines off in the distance. As Lorelei had said, there was only so much the authorities could ignore regardless of their bribes or compromised procedures. Rachel ensured the firefighters would find surprisingly little clues to the fire’s origin. “I do not recognize the authority of any court of Heaven,” Lydia stated bitterly. “Tel it to the judge, bitch,” Rachel smirked. She looked skyward, where clouds rolled in again from the coast. The angel lifted her flaming sword, pointed it to the sky and watched as a light from the blade shot like a flare into the night above her. It wasn’t a long wait. The rest of the world saw nothing, but from over the clouds Rachel saw the appearance of a piercing white light. It seemed to hardly move at first, but that was how these things were done, at least where he was concerned. There was the first omen of approach, fol owed by a speeding trail of light—three lights, actual y, as he was bringing assistants—which finally took on the image of angels with their wings fullly spread. The squires were both women. naturally, they were also very pretty. That was loaded with meaning, of course. Everything would be loaded with meaning. She had given up caring a long time ago, but tonight it amused her that he tried so hard. “Hel o, Vincent,” Rachel said with her voice dripping with such sweetness that it couldn’t possibly be mistaken for sincerity. “Rachel,” he said severely. His mouth was open to speak again, but Rachel cut him off. “What have you been up to tonight?” she asked. Her sword faded away as Rachel clasped her hands behind her

back. She twisted left and right at the shoulders as if she were shy. The smile on her face practically outshone her halo. “You know what my duties are,” Vincent scowled. “I suppose this succubus has transgressed against your charge in some way that merits your direct and overt intervention?” “Yup!” Rachel nodded. She even hopped up a bit on her toes for emphasis. Her grin just wouldn’t go away. “And the home now ablaze?” Vincent asked dryly. “Did the house somehow attack your dear Alexander?” Rachel’s jaw dropped. She brought her hands to her cheeks in mock surprise. “Why, Vincent! I didn’t even know if you still remembered his name! Gosh, you’re so on top of things!” She pointedly looked to the two women at his side. “Is he always this on top of things?” Vincent sighed dramatical y. “I grow tired of this, Rachel. We will take the succubus to be judged. You may expect an assembly in the morning where you may state your case. Is that al ?” “Yeah,” Rachel said, looking down and kicking a rock while she stuck her lower lip out in a pout. “It’s just…wel , I figured you should probably know a couple other things, too.” Vincent gestured to his companions, who both stepped forward to take up Lydia by either arm. He sighed yet again. “Such as?” “Oh,” Rachel shrugged, “just that Baal has been slain.” The two angels taking hold of Lydia both stopped and blinked. Vincent’s scowl cracked, overcome with disbelief. “What?” he asked. “Yup. Dead. Wasted. Kicked the bucket. First he was al , ‘Rawr! I’m a duke of hell , bitches!’ and then he was like, ‘This is my turf! wellcome to Castle Cocksucker!’ and then he was al , ‘You’re al gonna die!’ and then it was, ‘Fuck, this sword hurts!’ and finally he was like, ‘Oh fuck, I’m dead!’”

The other angels al looked at her flailing demonstration as if she was insane, but Rachel was used to that. The sight of Vincent’s face as his mind tried to grasp the news was priceless. “How…?” “Alex did it,” Rachel said. “In hell . With my sword. Really knew how to use it, too. Ladies, you know what it’s like to be with a guy who can really handle his…hrm,” she frowned, looking back from the other two angels to Vincent, “no, I imagine you probably don’t.” Vincent’s eyes were wide. “How did this happen?” “It was Colonel Mustard in the bil iard room with the fucking candlestick! Come on, I just told you! Baal and Skanktastic here tried to kidnap Lorelei and drag her back to hell , and so Alex went after him and shanked his monkey ass!” “You’re sure?” “My blade. Not like I wasn’t part of it,” Rachel smiled. She paused for effect before she said, “Happened right after I kil ed your old buddy Harrow.” The glorious angel’s face went white. His mouth fell open. “Here, catch,” Rachel said. She tossed Vincent one of Harrow’s large, bone-white teeth. It bounced up against Vincent’s chest and then fell to the ground. “Aw, you didn’t catch. I brought that al the way from hell for you.” Her smile never abated, nor did her good cheer. The two women assisting Vincent were suitably stunned, while Lydia just looked on with a hateful glare. “Harrow is dead…by your hand?” “Yep! well . To be fair, I got an assist from a couple of very brave mortals. Cute, too.” Rachel looked sideways to the other two angels. “And I’m pretty sure one of ‘em’s single, ladies. I’m not saying I know for sure, but from the looks of things,” she went on, holding up her two hands roughly ten to twelve inches apart, “I’l bet Drew’s got a cock this—” “Is there anything else?” Vincent snapped to cut her off. When she looked back at him, Rachel could see that his face

had gone from white to shockingly red. “Uuuuh, just that the whole balance of power between good and evil in the city got a fan-fucking-tastic shift tonight. A whole fuck-ton of very evil supernaturals died here,” Rachel answered. “You know. Vampires and sorcerers. Ones that lived in ‘your’ city. Oh, and we left Baal’s little corner of hell kinda fucked. And, y’know, we captured her, too,” the angel added, giving Lydia a side-swiping kick in the butt as she was led past. She tossed the succubus a wink. “Oh. And I had sex with Alex,” Rachel added. Again, Vincent was utterly shocked. So, for that matter, were his assistants, and even Lydia. Vincent tried to say something. “Fucked me like he’d just gotten out of prison,” Rachel said gravely. Vincent stammered. “Can’t believe I can even walk straight.” Vincent held up a finger to jab at her. “Ate me out so good I—“ “Enough!” “Ssssoooo,” Rachel said, once again folding her hands behind her back and twisting left to right, “what have you accomplished tonight, Vincent? Anything at al ?” * Of necessity, the cars congregated on the street between Alex’s home and Drew’s. At so late an hour, everyone was quite worn out, but farewel s were reluctant. No one wanted to be the first to leave. “Wow. well , um,” Alex said, coming back out of his apartment building to meet the others, “Mom’s not home, but I guess she’s okay.” He stared awkwardly at his cel phone. Drew walked beside him with a highly amused grin on his face. “You guess?” Wade asked. He, Jason and Taylor sat on the hood of the car that Wade had appropriated from the

mansion for the ride back. Onyx and Molly stood between the vehicles. “She got a hot date,” Drew answered before Alex could say anything. “Stayin’ over at ‘uncle Eddie’s’ tonight.” Alex looked at him through narrowed eyes as Wade and Jason both snickered. “I really hate it when you stand so close to the phone.” Drew just chuckled as he walked past. He paused to give Taylor a hug, then waved and headed over to his end of the street. “We al good, then?” Jason asked. “Yeah,” Wade nodded, “think we’re al good.” “Goin’ home, Jase?” Alex asked. “No way. I’m already gonna catch hell from my parents again as it is. I might as well go over to Britney’s. Or Brittany’s. Y’know, I can’t really remember,” he confessed with a cocky grin. Alex just smiled. “You totally saved my life twice now, y’know. You could’ve died. I’d be dead without you.” “Yeah,” Jason shrugged. “Is this what leveling feels like?” “No. That’s when you go see Britney or Brittany or whoever.” “Right. well , I’m gonna go do that, then.” “Okay. ‘gratz in advance,” Alex grinned. He waved as Jason went to his car. Taylor hopped off the hood to go lean into the window of the Towncar that had brought the others back. The succubus rested in the front passenger seat with the window rolled down. Taylor whispered something to her before kissing her softly on the lips, then stood to hug Alex.