Lost In Time: A Fallen Novel (28 page)

“What the hell is going on?” Evelyn asked from behind him.

Marcus sighed he was tired and his injuries from the plane crash hurt like hell. He couldn’t remember the last time he had felt so torn up, both on the inside and out. His mind reeled for a moment and then pinpointed it. The day he had fallen was the last time he had felt like this mentally and physically.

Shaking his head, he turned and froze, so shocked he wasn’t even sure he was breathing.

“Marcus,” Jessica breathed. She seemed just as shocked as he did. So many things ran through his mind he couldn’t pinpoint any one thought.

Evelyn saved him. “Marcus please explain to me why you brought a Reaper into my home?” she asked, angrier than he had ever seen her before. “I do NOT treat Reapers.”

Celeste snorted from where she lay. “Bitch, nobody asked you to.”

“Celeste,” Marcus warned. He turned, Celeste was pulling herself to a sitting position. She was pale and covered in blood, but otherwise looked like she was going to survive and Marcus sighed with relief. At lease he didn’t need to worry about her any longer. “I brought you here to be cared for, and the least you could do is be polite.”

One shapely eyebrow shot up to her hairline, and she sighed like she was just too tired to argue. Leaning around him, she addressed Evelyn. “Sorry, thanks for trying.”

As apologies went, it totally sucked, but considering it was coming from Celeste, it was the best she was capable of.

He turned back to Evelyn. “I do not accept your apology,” she said and turned to Marcus. “I hope this will not affect our relationship, Marcus, because it is one I value, but get her off my property.”

“You haven’t changed at all have you?” Jessica asked, looking unsurprised.

Marcus looked at her trying to see the woman he had loved so much so long ago and saw nothing. What he saw now was lacking in what he wanted, what he needed, no spark no light. Not anything like Celeste. He turned as Celeste eased herself off the gurney. She held onto his arm. “Thanks.”

To Jessica she said, “You know Fallen, idiots and fools the lot of them. Why else would they have Fallen?”

She was joking, he saw it in her eyes, but when he turned to Jessica he realized Jessica believed every word.

“You disgust me,” Jessica spat out.

“Who are you?” Celeste asked obviously ready to come to Marcus’ defense.

“His…” She motioned to Marcus with such repulsion it was palatable. “…wife.”

“Shut the fuck up,” Celeste shouted from beside him. Marcus turned to Celeste, ready to explain, but she was swinging a fist at his temple at the moment and her furious eyes were the last thing he saw before he was knocked out.

Again.

“I’m leaving,” Celeste said to the women, before Marcus’s body had even hit the floor. “How exactly did he bring me here?”

“There’s an SUV out front,” Evelyn said, obviously more than ready to see the back of her.

Celeste took several steps and then stopped. This had to be Jessica, the one person Marcus wanted above all others. She looked at her blond hair curled around an angelic face, but her eyes shown with anger and revulsion.

“You’re Jessica aren’t you?” she wasn’t going to pass this opportunity up for anything in the world. So, he had been married to her? The lying bastard.

The woman sniffed and flipped her perfect blond hair over her shoulder. “So he’s told you about me?” she asked with a little too much arrogance in her voice, as if she knew she had been torturing Marcus for the last five hundred years and found pleasure in it. Celeste had the strongest urge to punch her in her perfect nose.

“A little,” Celeste said, emotionless, as she bent down and started searching Marcus for the keys. She sighed and stood. If she knew him, he probably left them in the damn ignition. “The marriage thing was a bit of a surprise.”

“I couldn’t tell.” Jessica’s voice was waspish, which put Celeste on the defensive; that was a bad thing for everyone. She felt her skin heat and knew she was turning a shade of orange. If they hadn’t known she was a Demon before they were getting their proof now.

She ignored the surprised looks of the woman at her physical change. “Since you haven’t seen him in what?” Celeste tapped her finger against her chin as if in thought. “Oh, that’s right, five hundred years. I’ll let your sarcastic bitchy attitude pass. But for your information, you have no idea who this man is, so why don’t you take all your notions and ideas about him and shove them up your tight condescending ass. That is, if you can remove whatever it is you already have up there.”

She pushed past the two women and headed for the door. The first thing she was going to do was find Garrett and kick his ass. A little less explosive wouldn’t have been too much to ask for regardless of the fact she was immortal. Being impaled by bits of plane still hurt like hell. Christian could expect her wrath as well because he was probably somewhere still laughing his butt off at her expense.

At least Victor had showed up to heal her, but he was getting really close to being on her list as well. What the hell had he been waiting for?

“And what do you know about my feelings for Marcus?” Jessica barked, raising Celeste’s hackles even higher.

Celeste told her feet to move forward, told herself this woman didn’t matter to her. But her body had something else in mind altogether, and she turned and moved so fast Jessica gasped as Celeste pressed her nose into the other woman’s face.

“Five hundred years, he has loved you. Five hundred years he has fought evil and the sins of the world just so he could be worthy of you,” Celeste growled, trying to not let the tears threatening spill down her cheeks. She felt her small quills stab through the skin of her palms, which meant, at the moment she was a whole lot more Demon than Reaper. The quills could kill a mortal, and the Demon venom in them could cause an Other sever pain for days. She fisted her hands, stabbing herself instead of slapping the stupid out of the Guardian in front of her. She was immune to her own venom.

“All for what?” Celeste spat, forcing herself to step back. “For you to turn your back on him once again. You make me sick.”

For the love of all the gods, she just wanted to go home. She turned back to the door. She wanted to get away from this mortal plane of pain and love and a man that made her feel things she had never shouldn’t feel.

“You are not a full Reaper,” Evelyn said, following her.

“Nope.” Celeste didn’t even turn around, but kept walking.

“What’s your other half?”

“That would be—” she paused for effect, but still didn’t stop walking. “None of your damn business considering you despise the Reaper side of me. I could care less of your other interests in me.”

A black SUV stood in front of the Clinic, and she threw open the door. Yep, keys in the ignition. She climbed behind the wheel and took a deep breath. She had been taught to drive seventy years ago, but had never really needed to drive anywhere. This was going to be interesting. Plus, she had absolutely no idea where she was going. She needed Marcus, and that frustrated her so much she couldn’t hold back the scream of rage, she shook the steering wheel as she did it.

“I’m going to kill him when this is done. Cut him into bits and feed him to Cerberus one piece at a time,” she stormed. Climbing from behind the seat, she slammed the door. It made a strange crunching noise she ignored as she pushed through the women.

“Are the two of you attached at the hip or something?” she asked as she pushed past them.

“Of course not. I volunteer here nights to help out Evelyn,” Jessica snapped.

Celeste decided it was time to ignore the sainted Jessica because just hearing her voice made her want to kill her, or, at the very least, crack her stupid skull for hurting Marcus like she had.

Marcus was pulling himself to his feet when she made it back into the exam room. He growled at her and grabbed her by the throat pushing her up against the wall.

“Marcus?” Evelyn screeched, stepping forward she put her hands on his forearm.

Celeste glared at him. “This is awful familiar,” she said, and he dropped her.

“Are you done?” Celeste asked, not even blinking. Her eyes glowed violet.

“That would depend on whether or not you plan on listening to me or just knocking the hell out of me,” he snapped.

She actually laughed, but there was no humor in the sound. “I think I’ll go with the latter. It’s more fun for us both.” Celeste narrowed her eyes. “Besides, you know what, Fallen? You have absolutely nothing to say I want to hear right now, so pick your sorry ass up off the floor and let’s get this shit over with.”

“Why?” Marcus practically screamed and threw his hands in the air. “Why now?” he asked the ceiling.

Celeste looked up at the ceiling before turning a quizzical eye back to Marcus. “How hard did I hit you?”

He glared, pointing a finger at her. “You need to be quiet for five minutes or you’ll be the one on the floor.”

Celeste crossed her arms over her chest and laughed. “Bring it on Fallen. Bigger men then you have tried and failed.”

Marcus closed his eyes, and Celeste was betting he was counting trying to regain control of his temper. When he opened them he turned from her to look at Jessica.

“Tell her the truth,” he snapped.

“And what truth would that be?” Jessica asked with such nastiness it made Celeste gnash her teeth together.

“That we are no longer married.” Marcus’s voice was so menacing it would have left even Celeste slightly scared. It should have scared Celeste, but it did nothing but turn her on which only pissed her off.

The beautiful blonde leaned around Marcus glaring at Celeste. “Our farce of a marriage was considered voided after he betrayed me and sentenced me to a life of servitude to the Angels instead of leaving me at peace in death.”

So that is what had happened. He cared enough about her to ask for her to become a Guardian, and she was ungrateful for that? Loved her enough to never want to be parted from her?

“Was she this stupid when you were married to her?” Celeste asked Marcus.

Marcus snorted, Jessica sucked in a breath. “You cross bred bitch.”

Well that was just going too far. Pushing Marcus out of the way she stepped forward and was warmed when Victor and Christian appeared on either side of her.

“Listen up, Jessica,” Celeste started as the woman finally took a step back. “That man behind me loved you so much he didn’t want to be parted from you and begged the very Angels that had turned their backs on him for your soul and made you what you are today. You should be kissing his feet. And I’d rather be a cross bred bitch any given day than an ungrateful stick up the ass bitch.”

“You have no idea what you’re even talking about,” she snapped. “He is a Fallen.” She said it with such contempt and disgust that it startled Celeste.

“So?” she barked.

“They expelled him from the Elysian Fields because he was unworthy,” she said, standing tall, her shoulders back, as if she had just imparted the most important information in the world.

Celeste was done talking with her. She turned and smiled to her brothers who gave her identical looks and then they Flashed out. She looked at Marcus, his green eyes filled with pain, and she hoped it wasn’t because he realized that Jessica was never going to love him back, the way he loved her.

“Your vow was for that?” she thumbed over her shoulder. “I’m ready to go, you unworthy Fallen piece of shit.”

Marcus snorted. “Well then, let’s get going, you half bred bitch.”

He motioned for her to go ahead of him and she started back toward the car. “You know, I kind of like that “Half Breed Bitch.” I might get a t-shirt with that on it. What do you think?”

“I’ll pay for it.” Marcus laughed.

Celeste turned to him, narrowing her eyes. “I’ll hold you to that Fallen.”

“Gods, its Marcus.” He leaned down so his nose touched hers. “Marcus.”

“Of course it is,” she whispered back and then turned and headed toward the front door. Evelyn caught up with them there.

“I apologize for the way I treated you. It was a surprise to have Marcus bring you here. That doesn’t explain my actions, but I am sorry.”

People didn’t often apologize to Celeste. So when it happened, she always took a moment to asses why they were apologizing and what it would mean in the future for them both before accepting or rejecting it. It was the father in her. Nothing for nothing.

“Thank you,” Celeste said for Marcus’s sake. He obviously had a relationship with this woman and as much as that rattled her cage, she wasn’t about to ruin that for him.

“Evelyn, you know the Guardians in Boston?” Evelyn nodded at Marcus’s statement. “They are in danger.”

“What are you talking about?” Jessica snapped.

“Can’t she just go away?” Celeste asked to nobody in general.

“What type of danger?” Evelyn asked.

“A Reaper, one of the first, has escaped. It is searching for a way to get back into the Infernos. There is a Touched here in the city. I don’t know who it is, but their Guardian would know. Whoever it is needs to get their guard out of the city as soon as possible.”

Celeste had been watching Jessica as Marcus explained what they were doing here, imagining ways to maim and kill her. But when Marcus mentioned a Touched, the woman perked up.

“Fuck me sideways,” Celeste muttered.

Marcus turned to her. “Excuse me?”

She didn’t answer him and pushed past him to Jessica. “Who is your charge Jessica?”

“None of your damn business, you bitch!” Celeste held up her hand, stopping her.

“Yes, we have established exactly what you think of me, but that isn’t the question. Who is your charge?” Celeste practically bellowed the words. “Because if she is the Touched, she is in a great deal of trouble. Did you just return from New Orleans?”

Celeste had a sinking feeling in the pit of her stomach and turned to Marcus. “If Calliope can trace me, and he is close, he will know now.”

“What have you done?” Jessica snapped and then disappeared.

“Thank the Gods she is gone,” Celeste said with honesty.

“I know who her charge is,” Evelyn said quietly.

Marcus and Celeste both turned to the woman. “Marcus, if I give you the information, promise me it is because she is in mortal danger.”

“Evelyn, I swear to you I wouldn’t do any of this if it wasn’t life or death.” Evelyn looked from him to Celeste and then back.

She sighed and headed down the hall with Marcus and Celeste following. They followed her into an office, and Evelyn unlocked a hidden safe and pulled out some files.

She wrote something down on a piece of paper and handed it to Marcus. “If anyone finds out I have passed this information on to you, I will be murdered.”

“I swear I will protect you,” Marcus said with a hand on his chest. Evelyn smiled, and Marcus leaned down and kissed her on the cheek. “Thank you, Evelyn.”

Celeste made a face behind him. He kissed the woman. Right in front of her, and she didn’t know exactly who she wanted to kill at the moment Marcus or Evelyn? But her heart was leaning toward Marcus, the big bastard.

They walked side by side as they left the building. Evelyn stopped him at the entrance. “I’ll be right there,” Marcus said to Celeste’s back. Celeste lifted a hand and he had to be glad she hadn’t given him the one finger salute. With how angry she currently was, he could have gotten much worse.

“Marcus, are you sure you know what you are doing?” Evelyn asked, concern creasing fine lines in her beautiful face.