Iniquity (The Premonition Series Book 5) (17 page)

My lips brush the top of her ear as I murmur, “You don’t want to mix light clothes with dark—especially anythin’ white with anythin’ red ‘cuz your whites will come out pink—and then people will laugh at you.”

She leans back into me. “You sound as if you speak from experience.” She turns her cheek to brush against mine.

“Let’s just say my sisters inherited a few of my t-shirts when I was learnin’ to do my own laundry.” I release her hand and unscrew the cap from the detergent, placin’ it in her grasp. “You’d usually just want a little detergent for a small load like this, but our clothes are sort of destroyed, so...” I pour out the soap, before slidin’ open the dispenser drawer, allowin’ her to pour the contents of the cap into it.

“Do you have anythin’ else you want to put in there before we start it?” I ask. I close my eyes, breathin’ in the perfume of her hair; it clouds my brain. I open them again as Anya turns ‘round in my arms. Facin’ me once more, her silky skin causes mine to vibrate at her touch. She lifts her hand and grasps the towel ‘round my waist. With a gentle tug, she takes it from me, reachin’ behind her and stuffin’ it into the washer at her back. A smile plays upon her lips.

Standin’ in front of her without a shred of clothing, I don’t feel vulnerable—I’m powerful. I move so that we’re a hair’s breath away. Towerin’ over her, her head only reaches my chin. I’m not fooled though; she’s delicate, but she’s ferocious—a warrior. She has the cunnin’ to turn me inside out. “You forgot this,” I murmur, reachin’ for the hem of her cami. I ease it over her head; her long, hair falls through it, black silk against her flawless skin. I toss her cami behind her into the washer.

My finger traces her shoulder, before windin’ down her. She bites her bottom lip. I run my thumb over it, rescuin’ it from her cruel mouth. I want to feel it pout against mine. She traps my thumb with her mouth, sucking it in, doin’ things to it that makes my knees weak.

My other hand trails leisurely down her to her abdomen; her muscles contract. Desire is a railroad spike through me. Her shallow breathin’ is air for my soul. I catch hold of the edge of her black underwear, hookin’ my thumb through the side of it. The lace is warm liquid against my fingertips. I continue down, tuggin’ the thin scrap of material away from her.

A
snap
draws my attention upward; her midnight wings spread wide from her back. My heart thunders in my chest as her wings serrate to black arrow points. They shine with iridescent fire in tones of purple, blue, and green.

The crickets inside me remind me every second just what desire is. They’re ready to consume everythin’ in their path. I grasp her ‘round the waist. She leans against me. The impact of her skin against mine fills me with insatiable hunger. The low, passionate sound that breathes from her has the muscles low in my abdomen contractin’. My wings punch from my back, spreadin’ out, responding to hers. When she sees them, she smiles—they must be talkin’ to her—tellin’ her things that I haven’t said.

Extractin’ my thumb from between her lips, I cup her cheek. My neck bends as my mouth hovers near her ear. “What did my wings say to you,” I whisper, before brushin’ my lips to the place just beneath her earlobe.

“Something I didn’t know,” Anya murmurs.

“What?”

Her half-lidded gaze seduces me. Easing closer, her lips flirt with mine, hoverin’ just above. “You missed me.” The vibration of her silky voice drives me crazy with a rough-edged need to possess her.

I nip her bottom lip, suckin’ it into my mouth before lettin’ it go. “I—”

“Shh, your mouth never tells the truth. You should let your body speak for you.”

My heart clenches tight. “I’m not lyin’ when I say I need you.”

“I need you as well.”

“And I’m not lyin’ when I say I love you.”

“Show me.”

I
have
a gut-wrenching reaction to Evie evaporating into the night. The need to smash something is nearly overwhelming. Clenching my muscles is the only outward sign I allow. In truth, I can’t control that, no matter how much I try. It’s a physical reaction to the loss of her—the loss of butterflies between us. Tau observes me from the other end of the stone corridor. He is the epitome of control. I slip my belt from the loops of my jeans and wind the supple leather around one of my fists. The buckle I hold between my flattened fingers.

“I can’t seem to keep you two apart,” Tau says.

“I know.” I wait for him to make a move.

“Will you walk with me?” Tau gestures with his arm extended to the adjacent hallway. I assess the Power angels amassing near Tau. They make no move to attack me. “I promise you that you will be unharmed.” I straighten from my defensive posture. Powers line the corridors at measured widths, strategic in their formations. At the smallest signal from Tau, they’ll crash in on me.

Tau sees the direction of my stare. He speaks to the soldiers closest to him, dismissing them. Their reluctance to leave him is obvious, but they obey his order, departing with vicious stares in my direction. Alone in the corridor with Tau and a handful of Powers, I unwrap the leather from my hand. I thread it back around my waist. With measured steps, I walk to Evie’s father. Face to face with him, he looks me in the eyes. His are so much like Evie’s, gray with a hint of blue. “It’s this way to the reception hall. We can speak on the way.” He starts down the corridor. “Do you need anything?”

I walk beside him. “No.”

“No? Would you like a change of clothes?” He indicates my bare chest and dirt-streaked jeans.

“I’m capable of clothing myself.”

“Still,” Tau replies. He gestures to a Power behind us, calling him over, ordering clothes and food for me to be brought to the reception hall.

We turn a corner. Phaedrus is just ahead of us, waiting. His caramel-colored, owl-shaped wings are resting behind him in a nonthreatening posture. He joins us, walking beside Tau, matching his steps. I don’t acknowledge the Virtue angel. I’m aware that Evie believes Phaedrus betrayed us by siding with the Seraphim. I know Phaedrus was only attempting to keep her safe from Brennus by letting me die. I cannot fault him for it. It was a sound decision at the time. He couldn’t have known that I was not permanently lost to the Gancanagh. Even if he had known, I still cannot fault him. He has done me a service for which I can never repay him. He performed the ceremony that bound my life to Evie’s.
I’m in his debt,
I think, as I touch the mark of Evie’s wings on my chest

Tau notices my hand on my heart. “I may have miscalculated your role in this mission, Reed. There are circumstances at play here that suggests you were chosen for this.” His words surprise me, but I don’t show it.

“Circumstances?” I ask. I drop my hand from my heart.

“The extra sensory gift you possess—your ability to influence humans—it’s a mystery to me. I’d like to know how you’ve used it.”

“I’m not inclined to explain,” I reply. Phaedrus is quiet, but his presence speaks volumes. He’s here to help facilitate something between Tau and me.

“Your ability to influence humans eliminates free will. Without it, humans cannot be judged for their actions. They’d more than likely go unpunished for any wrongdoing, if you were to order them to sin.”

“I don’t use my influence in that way.”

“Never? You know the rules we have with humans? We’re not to interfere in their lives.”

“I know.”

“Ever break the rules?”

I shrug, noncommittal, but my mind searches for instances.
I have used my talent a few times recently with Russell,
I think, but I don’t say it aloud.
A thought pushes its way to the periphery of my mind. I glimpse a girl on a stone floor…I lose the thought. It evaporates and I can’t seem to call it back. We climb stairs leading up to the main level.

Tau reads my silence as reluctance to answer his question. He presses on. “You attract Evie to you.”

“It’s a mutual attraction,” I reply.

“And you’ll do anything to stay together.”

“That surprises you?”

“You’re a Power. You’re designed to follow my orders, but you would’ve killed me had Xavier and Cole not stopped you.” There’s respect and admiration in his demeanor.

“I wouldn’t have hesitated. I’ve promised to protect Evie with my life. You were threatening her life.” We reach the next floor.

“She wanted to end the fight between you and Xavier.”

“And killing her was your best solution?” I cannot hide the anger in my tone, however much I wish I could.

“I didn’t use a killing tone when I blew the boatswain. It was meant to subdue her, nothing more, and thereby get your attention and that of Xavier. I did not anticipate the damage it would do to her. It was not supposed to be that way, but it did demonstrate something to me. Now I see that she’s ready to die rather than lose either of you. I also understand that you’re both here for a purpose. I cannot allow either of you to cease to be now without fulfilling your destinies.”

“So you had me thrown in a cell here and separated from my
aspire
.”

“No. I’ve just recovered from getting my throat cut, and then I was gathering information before I freed you. Evie just got to you first.”

Traversing a short hallway, we enter a reception area of the Chateau. Its floor is ancient marble. The ceiling is painted with scenes of angels at war. Gilded mirrors and furniture serve as elegant accouterments to our negotiations. “You believe you know my destiny?” I ask.

“Evie chose her champion. It’s you.” He stops at a sitting area in the middle of the room.

I face him, standing in front of a chair, but neither of us takes a seat. “You know this, how?”

“The ring on your finger,” he indicates it with a flick of his hand. “I thought at first that it was a random act of misguidedness on her part. It belonged to Jim, her uncle. She loved Jim more than anyone—her surrogate father. The ring was divinely made, given to him in a covert way to protect him from magic and evil. He was human; it was necessary. When I learned that she gave it to you, I believed she was attempting to transfer her love for Jim onto you.”

“What made you change your mind about that?”

“Phaedrus,” Tau says, indicating the Virtue angel standing nearby, silently watching our exchange. His black eyes are missing nothing. “He convinced me otherwise. He explained some of the pieces of information to me that I’ve been missing. You work alone—a Prostat Power. You’ve occasionally made strategic partnerships over the millennia—bands of hunter-killers. Anytime you come across evil, you don’t hesitate to annihilate it, or at the very least, send it running back to Sheol. You prefer to work alone. Why is that?”

“Killing is personal.” A Power angel appears with clothes in his outstretched arms. I ignore him. Tau indicates that he can leave the clothes on the table near us. After the Power does so, Tau waves him away with a small gesture.

“Yes, every angel has his or her own style. You prefer to make death quick; you don’t linger over prey—most times, they never see it coming. One doesn’t usually find that type of killing in a group of Power angels. Groups of Powers tend to be more vicious. They want to judge—berate—exact vengeance.”

“Avenge God.”

“Avenge,” he agrees. “And Zephyr? Does he avenge?”

“He’s more like me. We do our jobs—stalk and kill. We’re efficient. We work together when it’s warranted.”

“And you have a bond.” It’s a statement. I neither agree nor disagree. I don’t know how he’ll use the information, so answering would be unwise. In this instance, Tau understands me better than I’d like. “Zephyr is your closest ally. He probably saved your life more than once, and you, his. You’ve both grown close. I daresay it’s a bond of brotherhood.”

Again I don’t answer.

“It’s rare, a bond like that,” Tau continues. “We’re not made for such emotions—angels. But it’s different when one is around Evie, isn’t it? She changes us. We can’t help but feel everything.”

“Do you find a bond of brotherhood a weakness?”

“It could be,” he replies. “All emotional attachments are costly in their own way. It can sometimes blind one to the truth.”

“You speak as if you have some experience.”

“I’ve experienced it, only my bond of brotherhood is with Xavier. We grew close while taking care of Evie.”

“Has that relationship blinded you?”

“Perhaps. You didn’t kill Evie when you discovered her in your territory. By your very admission, you kill swiftly and decisively.”

“I kill fallen angels. She’s not one of them.”

“You kill a myriad of evil.”

“She’s not evil.”

“How many Power angels would’ve hesitated to find that out?”

I shrug. I know it’s not many. “You’re making a point. I’m just not clear what it is.”

Phaedrus retracts his wings and sits down. He looks expectantly at Tau. Tau gets the message. He retracts his blood-colored wings and sits as well in a high-backed chair. He offers me a seat with a gesture of his hand. I retract my wings, sinking into a similar chair. Tau continues, “I know Evie’s history with Xavier. I know she’s aware that he’s our most resourceful fighter; he’s extremely well-suited to be her champion.”

I want to kill him where he sits. “You’re saying that because he wasn’t here, she chose me in his absence?”

Tau holds up his palm. “No. I’m not saying that, but it could be true. What I’m suggesting is that she chose you before all this began.”

“You mean before she ever came here to this mission—she chose me as champion prior to this lifetime?” I clarify.

“It’s a theory.”

“Why would she do that? We didn’t know one another.”

“There could be several reasons for her to do so. The simplest one I can think of is she didn’t want to allow for the chance that she’d lose Xavier.”

It’s a logical theory, but that possibility has my stomach clenching again as if he has struck a blow there. “What makes you think this?”

“The attraction between you both is divinely made. You have to find out why she chose you as her champion.”

Champion
, I think.
Is that all I’m meant to be to her?
“You want to know ‘why me’?”

“It could be that she chose you for your skill set. You nearly killed me. That’s no easy feat.” Tau rubs his neck where I’d slashed it. “But if there were another reason…” He stares at me as he contemplates the question, and then he asks, “Did you know her before this lifetime? Had you ever had the occasion to meet her? She would’ve looked different. She may not have been female.”

“It’s possible.”

“I’d say it’s probable.”

“I’m her
aspire
. I only need to know where her enemy is so that I may eliminate the threat to her life.”

“You met her enemy—in Crestwood. We believe we know the evil that attacked you. His name is Emil. He didn’t kill Evie then, not because he couldn’t, but because he needs something from her.”

“What does he need?”

“We don’t know. What we do know is he couldn’t kill you. The magic wouldn’t touch you. We believe it’s because of the ring you wear.”

“Can this ring protect Evie if I give it to her?” I try to tug the ring from my finger. It won’t move; it’s as if it is bonded to my flesh and bone.

“We attempted to cut it from you while you were unconscious. The Power who touched it ascended. Do you know why?”

“Heaven wants my help.”

“Yes. You’re not just Evie’s champion; you’re Heaven’s champion as well.”

“What do you know about the target?” I ask, leaning forward to hear every word he utters.

“He’s Evie’s inescapable and he’s more powerful than we ever imagined.”

“Do you know why he’s here?”

“It’s unclear, but I believe he’s here to confront Evie. The boatswain was given to us to protect—the key to Sheol. I didn’t anticipate that Evie had been preprogramed to use it. She’s meant to go there; for what purpose, I can only speculate.”

The thought of Evie in Sheol is a knife in my heart. “Heaven has been playing chess while you’ve been playing checkers, Tau.”

“Isn’t that always the way? We only ever get to know a piece of the puzzle—we’re left to discover how it fits. That way, no one can be forced to divulge the plan to Sheol.”

“What do you expect from me?”

“Evie needs to find a way to remember her past. We’d like you to convince her to try.”

“I want the boatswain.”

“I cannot give it to you. I am sworn to deliver it to an angel.”

“Who?”

“He’s Cherubim and goes by the name of Atwater.”

“Do you know him?”

“No. I have been searching for him for a long time. Xavier has just located him. He arrived unannounced at our mountain enclave, looking for Evie.”

“Has he spoken of the boatswain? Does he know about it?”

“He has requested an audience with me. I suspect that it is to obtain the whistle.”

“Will you meet him?”

“I leave within the hour. We are to meet this evening.”