RiskingEternity (5 page)

He couldn’t have known, could he? It was a coincidence. It had to be. She sat down hard on one of the uncomfortable plastic chairs, still staring at the cup. What the fuck was going on? This couldn’t just be Monday strangeness. Could it?

No. She wasn’t going to ask, wasn’t going to think about it. She was just shaken up over the dead guy from the club.

Just drink it, Maggie. Don’t ask why, or what
Dominicus
knew. Don’t think about people dying or acting weird, or being followed by strange puppies. Just drink it and get to work and everything will get back to normal.

Normal lasted twenty minutes.

She finished cashing a customer’s check and glanced up at the plasma screen TV the bank kept tuned to news. The scene showed a very familiar location. Flames shot out of a brown square shop and a truck with a white tanker trailer sat in a gaping hole in the side of the building. The location scrolling across the bottom of the screen made her stomach clench.

“Marjorie,” she called to her manager, “can we turn the volume up a little? This is happening near here.”

The reporter’s voice filled the otherwise silent bank.
“It is unknown at this time why the tanker filled with flammable gas crashed into this small coffee shop. Officials are evacuating everyone in a half mile radius while fire crews fight to keep the flames from reaching the volatile cargo.”

“Will we be evacuated?” one of the other cashiers asked.

“That’s less than a block from here,” Maggie answered, numb.

Marjorie moved to the front window and peeked out. “I can see the police lights down the street. We’d better start securing the bank.”

He’d known. Somehow he’d known this would happen. He’d known and bullied her into staying away. Her mind raced. Was he some kind of terrorist? Didn’t terrorists believe they were on holy missions or some crap like that?
Dominicus
.
Of the Lord.
It couldn’t be his real name. Did he have a divine calling to rid the world of Starbucks?

Everything was suddenly very clear. She’d kissed a psycho.
And liked it.

Shit.

The screen lit up as the tanker exploded and the television screen went dead as the impact hit the bank. The thick windows shook and shards of glass sprayed the floor and the shock wave blew out the doors and knocked Maggie to the floor. Dazed, she pulled herself to her feet. The alarm was screaming and someone was yelling over it. Marjorie. It was Marjorie yelling. They had to lock up the money.

“Come one, Maggie. Don’t bother with counts. We’ll take care of those once the place is secure. Just get your cash drawer to the vault
now
. We need to lock up!”

Hands shaking, she followed her boss’s orders, thankful for them, relieved someone else was thinking for her, because her brain had stopped working the minute she’d realized
Dominicus
was involved with this horror in some way.

The vault door closed and she stared at it, wondering what she was going to do. Call the police?
Right.

Officer, I woke up yesterday and a strange man was in my house. He made me coffee and kissed me. Today he showed up and told me to skip going to Starbucks. He’s got a weird-assed Latin name and I think he’s on a mission from God to kill coffee.

“Maggie?” A hand closed over her shoulder and she jumped. “Did you hear me?” Marjorie asked
,
her face lined with anxiety and concern. It occurred to Maggie that this was the most genuine expression she’d ever seen on her manager’s face.

“I’m sorry. I’m a little, um…” She looked around the bank helplessly. Customers and employees were milling, their shoes crunching the shards of glass from shattered windows. They all wore the same vacant expression, all looked shocked and disoriented.

“I understand. Go home. There’s not much we can do here today. Management is staying, and if you are needed we’ll call you.
Plan on staying home tomorrow, but call sometime in the afternoon.”

“Right.
I’ll head home.”
Where the dangerous wacko with the gorgeous blue eyes who kisses like a wet dream can find me.

She moved on stiff legs to get her purse from the
breakroom
before she stepped through the now-empty frame of the door, glass crunching under the thin soles of her conservative pumps.

Sitting by her car was the puppy. The poor little thing had been out here when the blast hit. It trotted up to her, giving her a big doggie grin and a lick on the leg before bounding off, apparently uninjured. She wondered again if it was the same pup.

Down the street, the fire belched thick, black smoke into the air and fire crews scrambled to pour water on the flames. An ambulance roared past, away from the destroyed coffee shop, its siren joining the din of noise and chaos.

Life was so precious.

If the puppy showed up again, she could take care of it, help it find a home. She couldn’t help anyone else, but she’d make sure that little dog had a good life somewhere.

Her car was a mess. The windows were blown out of the doors but by some strange miracle the windshield and rear window were intact. She opened her car door and grabbed a thick fashion magazine from the passenger seat, her brain too jumbled to even think about the claim or deductible. Opening the magazine, she spread it over the driver’s seat, covering the shards of glass and slid in. She didn’t know how long she stared into space before her head dropped forward to hit the steering wheel and sobs racked her body.

What was she going to do? What was she supposed to do?

Chapter Five

“You fool! What were you thinking?”
Renatus’s
anger whipped a whirlwind of dust and debris over the balcony.

“I have to save her.”

Dominicus
watched as Maggie parked her car and walked to her apartment, carrying a bag. Her steps were wobbly and her face too pale. He should be down there carrying her to her apartment, holding her and drying her tears. Even from this distance, her fear reached him, tore at him with more power than the other angel’s fury ever could.

After a traumatic morning, she was returning to an empty apartment. She had no one to soothe her, to hold her.
No one to hold her as she cried.
She was as alone as he.

“Why can’t you understand, Dom? She has to die.”

“Why?” Frustration bubbled through him and he spun to confront his only liaison with Heaven. “What makes this one soul so vitally important to Hell? Why is the Most High so willing for her to be lost for eternity? She’s done nothing to deserve this.” He moved in to stand toe-to-toe with
Renatus
, so close he could feel the Heavenly
breath
washing over his face, could see the seraph’s eyes dilate. “Why are you so anxious for her to be gone?”

The light angel’s gaze dropped and he turned away. Was that guilt?

“Please,
Renatus
, tell me you aren’t pushing this because you want her gone. What could you possibly have against her?” He’d just found her, a being who eased some of the cold knot of loneliness inside of him.

He couldn’t keep her. Maggie was a human, confined to this plane, her existence finite. But still, her soul called to him, her loneliness spoke to his. He couldn’t give her up. Not yet.

Ren
turned away and braced his hands on the wooden railing. “She will lead you to
Fall
, Dom,”
Ren
whispered so low he almost missed it. “You are so close now.”

“Ah,
Ren
.
I will not Fall.”

“You don’t see how close you are. I do. You’ve kissed her, a human, despite the Most High’s order. He forbade the mating of angel and human.”

“A kiss is not a mating. You think to correct me when your own daughter was
nephil
?”
Renatus
flinched, jerking as if struck, and guilt knifed through
Dominicus
. Why did he have to go for blood every time? Why must the anger take over and strike out at the only one he had left? “I did not mean…”

“You did mean it. You want my…my pain, and you have it. Yes, I fathered a child with a human. She was called an abomination, feared by humans and ridiculed by those of the realm. Do not forget what happened to my
Michani
when the Most High decreed the
nephilim
should not be. My daughter was no more than a child when she died and I have worn her blood on my soul for seven thousand years.”

Renatus
stared into Maggie’s apartment, but
Dominicus
knew his thoughts were far away, with the golden half-angel who died too young.

“
Ren
,” he whispered and placed his hand on the other angel’s back. His eyes burned and his throat thickened painfully. Stepping in close, he brushed his lips over
Renatus’s
nape, wishing he could take back the hurt he’d caused.
Ren
shuddered and Dom dipped his head, pressing his forehead to
Ren’s
hard shoulder.

“I don’t want to hurt you.
Never.
But I can’t seem to stop.” Why did he keep lashing out?

Renatus
twisted, cupping Dom’s head, holding him when he would have backed away. Pressing kisses against his temple,
Renatus
murmured, “I seem to do the same.”

Dom closed his eyes tight, savoring the rare bit of contact
Ren
gave him, letting it soothe his soul and comfort him. Heaven help him, it was so hard existing alone.

Taking
Ren
in his arms, Dom brushed his mouth over his. He tasted of tears, and guilt sliced through
Dominicus
again. He held back, mindful of the distance
Renatus
always kept between them, not wanting to damage their relationship any more. He couldn’t let himself chase
Renatus
away. Without his friend he was lost.

He gasped in surprise when
Renatus
reached up, fisting both hands in his hair and holding him. Tongues tangled as
Renatus
kissed him in a rough, frantic clashing of teeth and lips.

Dom jerked his head back, pulling free to stare into
Ren’s
eyes. He needed to know he wasn’t the only one who needed this, that this wasn’t out of pity or some misguided expression of forgiveness for his earlier stupidity.
Ren
froze, his guarded expression revealing nothing, but he couldn’t hide the flash of fire in his eyes.

Dominicus
leaned forward, giving
Ren
time to pull away, to avoid him, but the other seraph held
himself
still, so rigid it felt as if he would shatter. Dom let his tongue glide over
Ren’s
full lower lip, taking a careful taste, the first one
Ren
had ever allowed. Dom could taste the emotions,
Renatus’s
fear and anxiety. Want and aversion mingled and he wondered if he could make the bitter flavor of distaste fade. He stepped in, letting his hips push forward. Their erections brushed, nestled together through their clothing.

Dominicus
groaned. His hand wrapped around
Ren’s
hip, pulling him closer. Angling his hips, he pressed against
Renatus
. The friction sent a curl of desire through him. His shoulders tensed and he thrust again.
Ren’s
buttocks flexed under his fingers and
Dominicus
nearly sobbed in relief.

How he needed this, the tenderness, the love. He needed the acceptance of his only friend. His lips caressed
Ren’s
again in a tentative plea.

Ren
choked and pulled back, his expression horrified. “No. No, this cannot happen.”

“
Ren
…”

“Do not say it. This cannot happen, not between two males. Not between seraphim.”
Renatus
shoved at
Dominicus
, pushing him away.
Rejecting him.

“Please,
Ren
…”

It was too late,
Renatus
had disappeared, and once more
Dominicus
was left alone.

* * * * *

Maggie dropped the bag of dog food on the floor, reached into the cabinet and pulled out the yellow cup. She needed her coffee more than her next breath. God, everything was so fucked up. Thank God, the pot was still warm.

She dumped in a generous splash of hazelnut creamer, lifted the cup to her lips and took a sip. Her brow wrinkled as something pricked at her. Wasn’t this the cup she dropped yesterday when
Dominicus
snuck up on her? She could have sworn it was but apparently she was wrong.

“Are you all right?”

Maggie jumped and spun with a shriek. The cup dropped to the floor and shattered, splattering coffee everywhere. This was not her freaking day.

Oh God, the delectable psycho was back.

“How the fuck did you get in my apartment?”

“I just came in,” he said with a shrug.

Right, without knocking.
No way did he just walk in the door, either. She’d double and triple checked those locks when she got home. She’d been too shaken not to.

She wasn’t shaken now. She was pissed. Two days ago her life had been normal. She went to work and came home. She partied with her friends some nights. Now she had puppies and explosions and a sexy crazy man. She was sick of it. Gorgeous or not, he needed to go away now.

“You can just go back out.” She pulled open a drawer and fumbled for a knife.

“Out?”

“Out!”
Her fingers closed over a handle and she swung her arm out, pointing the weapon at him. “You know, out!
Out of my apartment, out of my life.
Out!”

“Is something wrong, Maggie?” His voice was cautious, as if he were finally getting a clue she wasn’t feeling all that friendly toward him.

“Something wrong?
Like maybe my favorite coffee shop being blown to smithereens right after you told me not to go there?
Like that kind of wrong?”