The Broken Angel (15 page)

At his mention, an ache sweet and sharp as a needle pierced her heart. “You’ll forget about me.”

He softly shook his head, his eyes darkening. “I can’t forget. One of the side effects of my falling from grace. Until this very moment, I thought it was a curse, but not anymore. You’ll be with me forever.” He sought her lips for a deeper kiss, and she felt lightheaded.

Her arms circled his neck and she pressed herself to him. Suddenly, she was under him, but he kept his weight off her, giving her room to breathe. His hands moved under her shirt, sweeping away her bra as they roamed all over her. His movements were frantic, but she wasn’t afraid. He was so much bigger than she was; she couldn’t see anything else but Samuel and his wings cocooning her. Yet, she didn’t feel caged.

“Do you want me?” His lips hovered over hers, his breath as ragged as hers.

“I do.” She grabbed his neck and lowered his head until she could feel the softness of his lips on hers, but she didn’t move. She let the moment linger. “I have never felt the way I feel now.”

“Me either.” Samuel wound both his hands behind her, bringing both to a sitting position, then positioned her on his lap, her legs around his waist. He kissed her eyelids, then the point of her nose, her cheeks, her earlobes, then the column of her throat, making her shiver. “I want you.”

She could only nod.

His hands came out of her shirt and went to the front and deftly opened it button by button, while skimming her skin underneath. When he lowered the garment from her shoulders, bringing down also her bra, she felt the need to seek refuge in his arms.

He put a finger under her chin and gently raised her face to his. “You don’t have to be afraid.”

His wings covered her, the black feathers trailing over her exposed skin, adding to the avalanche of sensorial stimulation overwhelming her. He resumed his journey by kissing her lower and lower, until he reached the swell of her breast, and his hands joined his lips in a series of tender caresses that grounded her to the moment. He kissed her nipples one at a time, feeding her his own desire by letting her feel he was shaking too.

She needed to touch his skin and tugged and pulled at his shirt, only to have it tangle around his wings. He laughed against her breasts and pressed his face there for a moment. Then he leaned away from her, and when she was about to complain, he yanked the collar of his shirt with one hand and tore it away.

“Better?” He circled her back with both arms and brought her back to him.

“Much better.” She moved against his skin, her hands exploring his chest first and the contour of his back next. He was huge. “I can’t believe I sparred against you so many times and never realized your size.”

“I’ve wanted for you to see
me
for a long time. I didn’t want to lie to you.”

She used her fingertips to brush his nipples, then to trace the lines of his abs, following them under the opening of his jeans, kept together by a belt she unbuckled on the first try and three buttons she opened by passing her finger underneath. His intake of breath was music to her ears. She lowered her head to his chest to kiss him at leisure, while she pushed both sides of his jeans down, to uncover a pair of blue boxers with a familiar design. She smiled at the idea her angel wore underwear with a superhero logo centered on its front. “A fan of Superman I see.”

“Hmm?” His hands were everywhere again. Caressing her skin, teasing her nipples with the lightest of pinches, only to kiss them soon after.

His feathers brushed her back and sides, and she gasped when a subtle current traveled through her at their touch. A faint glowing surrounded her as he leaned in for one long, breathless, mind-numbing kiss. She melted in his arms and he gently placed her on the mattress without breaking contact. His kiss became more and more demanding, and she felt his hands working at the belt of her pants, hurriedly tugging it free from the hoops. Then he was removing her pants by pulling at their hems. Her panties were first moved to the side for a swift touch, then lowered to her knees as he caressed her slowly.

She reemerged from the kiss because she needed to look at him.

His eyes were hooded and his lips beckoned her.

“I am yours.” She pushed his boxers to his thighs and he completed the gesture by moving them farther down, then kicked them off his legs. She shimmied her panties down and he helped her remove them altogether by yanking the flimsy fabric out of the way.

His wings glowed with a dark light that shimmered all around them. He kissed her mouth slowly for a few heartbeats, then gently opened her legs with his knees and wound an arm under her back to pull her closer to him. Then, while keeping his body suspended over hers by shoring his weight on his elbow, he lowered himself into her. Never removing his eyes from hers, he stroked her intimately.

She gasped and he stopped, giving her time to relax, then resumed his slow conquering. He was gentle and patient. Tears of joy fell from her eyes when they were finally fully joined. He kissed her tears away, and both his hands holding her, he moved their united bodies until he was on his knees and she was on his lap. His wings closed around them. He rocked them— at first with a hypnotic slowness that made her feel cherished. Then she felt the pressure build inside her and her breathing rhythm changed in sync with his. His movements changed quality and became stronger and faster. A moment before she reached perfection, the black light exploded in a multicolored halo, and he took her mouth and her breath away before she lost contact with reality.

Later, cocooned in his arms, dark light still pulsating from his wings, she realized she had made love to an angel and fell asleep.

****

Samuel caressed Martina’s back as she peacefully rested by his side. He kept his wings over her instead of covering her with the comforter lying tangled under their bodies. He was at peace. The future was an unknown entity to him since he had fallen, but for the first time since he had landed on Earth, he owned the present. And the present was glorious.

Martina moved and turned to her side, giving him her back. He curled around her, folding one wing and extending the other to keep shielding her from the cool air circulating in the bedroom. He made a mental note to call the handyman to fix those windows. Head propped on his elbow, he watched her sleep. His miracle. She would have accepted him as a cripple and she had trusted him with her body even after seeing his real persona. She, an abused woman, had let
him
touch her.

Something had changed inside of him when they had become one. Something he couldn’t define, but that made him happier. She moaned in her sleep and he brushed her temple. The mere idea that one day she would no longer be with him cut a deep chasm in his heart and he pushed it away, unable to process that kind of sorrow.
She’s here. Now.
He focused on that certainty and wound his arms under her chest, resting his head on her shoulder. His desire for her hadn’t been quenched, and her proximity was torture to endure, but he contented himself with caressing her soft curves and breathing her scent.

His cell phone rang as he decided to close his eyes. The sun had been out for a while and the bedroom was bathed in the luminosity of a crisp morning. He blindly reached for the nightstand behind him and his fingers found the mobile. One brief look at the screen made him swear under his breath.

“What is it, Barnes?”

“Another kid from Quintilius’s clan turned up dead.”

“Who?”

“Sandro Denari.”

This time, Samuel couldn’t help but let out an imprecation loud enough to make Martina stir. She pouted in her sleep and he smiled despite the news he had just received. “How did the cub die?”

“The report is inconclusive, but he was found inside his car, just a few blocks from his house, and there were empty vials of vampire blood on the floor. The coroner will explain how he died, but we have to come up with the why he did.”

Samuel had begun to understand the why, but he needed proof. He shifted on the bed, and rearranged Martina so he wouldn’t disturb her, then picked up a corner of the comforter and covered her with it. Wanting anything but to leave her side, he sat at the edge of the mattress. “I’m out of town. I’ll be in the office this afternoon. Meanwhile, I’ll call Quintilius.” He checked the time first, then punched the werewolf’s number. Although early in the morning, the man wouldn’t be sleeping anyway. In fact, Quintilius answered on the second ring.

“I’m deeply sorry for your loss.”

“I don’t need condolences.” Quintilius sounded tired and his voice was low. In the background a woman was crying. “Give me something, anything.”

“I think your kids were killed because of that baby, as his parents were.”

“I’ve already contacted his adoptive family, and later this morning the baby will be tested. I’ll ask the lab to expedite the results.”

“Thank you. I’ll contact you if anything comes out.”

Samuel pinched the arch of his nose. He could feel the pressure of responsibilities building up when he would have rather spent the rest of the day in bed with Martina. He leaned back to pass his fingers through her hair. Then with a sigh, he called Barnes back.

“I might have a theory I need to corroborate.”

“Okay.”

“Could you unlock the file regarding a couple of renegades who died in a car accident several months ago?”

“Yes, but why?”

“My friend Marcus adopted a were-bat whose parents died in that car accident. I want to be sure they weren’t killed instead.”

Samuel gave Barnes Marcus’s information, then hung up and strolled to the bathroom to splash fresh water on his face. When he came back to the bedroom, he found Martina awake.

“Hey.” She smiled.

“Hey.” He sat on the bed, aware of the big indentation he created on it with his weight.

Martina was looking at him from under the comforter, only her face out of it. “Job problems?”

He caressed the stubble on his chin and jaw. “I’m sorry I woke you.”

“No problem. I do have a case I should be attending to later today.”

“I had hoped we could stay longer.” He lowered himself on his elbows, his head tilted toward her.

“It would’ve been nice.” She scooted toward him, keeping the blanket around her.

He took her lips for a sweet peck, then hooked his hand around her neck to bring her closer and deepen the kiss. “You taste so good.”

She moaned when he sat and unwrapped her, touching her body as he went. Satisfied by hearing her little squeals of delight when his fingers traced her up and down, he reclined on the comforter and lowered her on him. He brushed her naked skin with his feathers and was rewarded by her eyes growing unfocused and her mouth slightly opening. His wings soon glowed, showing how much he wanted her, and he guided her small body over his until they matched where it counted. Her eyes widened and her breath became irregular when his hands pressed her down on him, but she didn’t stop him. She let him play with her body.

“I want to watch you.” He helped her up so that she rode him, his hands still on her hips. “You are breathtaking.” He raised himself on one elbow to leave a kiss on the hollow of her breasts, then rested his head on the pillow to admire her.

She lowered her eyes under his stare. “Samuel…”

He caressed her hips, then let his hands wander upward to stroke the side of her breasts, and brush the points of her nipples. He continued his exploration of her body downward, where they lay united, and when she started shivering, he rocked her from beneath. Soon, she moved with him and he let her control the rhythm. His wings stretched to the side and opened, every feather pulsating with energy. She grabbed his hands and brought them back to her hips, as if she needed an anchor. Samuel felt her pleasure building in synch with his own and whispered to her words of encouragement. Her tempo increased and his senses went into overdrive. His wings glowed and sparkles danced at their ends. They both reached completion at the same time, and she collapsed on him afterward. Unable to utter a word, Samuel laid a small kiss on her head and brushed her shivering arms, then hugged her and covered both of them with his wings.

Several minutes later, she raised her head and gave him a kiss on his lips. “Tell me you are not a figment of my imagination.”

He laughed. “I can do better than that.” He reached for her breast and teased her nipple, making her squirm against him. “Proof enough?”

She gave him a mischievous smile. “Not sure yet.”

He threw her to the side and was about to show her undeniable proof of his existence, when his cell phone went off.

“Answer the call.” She nudged his nose with hers. “It could be important.”

“You’re the only important thing right now.” His hand shot down, but she stopped him by taking it in hers and bringing it to her mouth.

She kissed his fingers one by one. “I have a court audience I can’t miss at two o’clock. Take the call. We’ll have tonight and the whole weekend for us.”

Reluctantly, he let her go. As she left the bed, she grabbed his mobile on the nightstand and tossed it to him. The phone had stopped ringing. He checked the call, and when he saw it had come from Barnes, immediately rang him back.

“I pulled the files you requested. They’re on your desk.”

“Thanks. See you later.”

Samuel joined Martina under the shower, single-mindedly focused on making her forget about her responsibilities for at least another hour. He could always speed up on the highway and send the tickets to Barnes afterward.

Despite his intention to make Barnes pay for having disrupted his time with Martina, Samuel didn’t break any speed limit on his way back to Rome. Instead, he drove leisurely, stretching his time with her as long as he could.

They had been talking about their jobs when Martina mentioned the phone calls he had exchanged earlier in the morning. “What was all that about? Was a baby kidnapped?”

He nodded.

“To have a child taken away from you must be agony.” Her expression darkened and she looked outside at the passing stretch of Umbria; field after field of wild flowers that in the summer would become rows of sunflowers or tobacco, and the occasional medieval hamlet perched on a ridge overlooking the highway.

“I can’t even imagine what it must feel like.”

Martina brought both hands to her stomach in a defensive gesture. She then looked at him, a question on her mouth and hesitation in her eyes.

“What do you want to know?”

She lowered her eyes. “I was wondering about the whole thing about having kids, and… you.”

Several semi-trucks decided he was driving too slow and started passing him, forcing him to focus on the road. “Yes?”

“Can you? What I mean to ask is, have you ever had kids?”

He looked back at her. “No, I can’t have children. I’m barren.” He never talked about it, but his friends having kids had reopened an ancient wound he carried around hidden deep in his heart. Of all the creator’s progeny, he had always felt less because of his inability to propagate his own species.

“Oh… I’m barren myself. Giulio wanted a big family, and when it became clear I couldn’t give him kids, he changed and turned against me.” She rested her head on the backrest of her seat.

“You know it isn’t your fault.” He reached for her chin and caressed it.

“I know, but when I was young, I dreamed of one day having children. I even named them.” She smiled, but it was a sad smile and it hurt him.

He lowered his hand and laid it on her leg. “I was never a kid.”

“What do you mean?” She covered his hand with hers and squeezed it.

“I sprang to life exactly the way you see me.” Sometimes, he walked to the park across his apartment in Rome and watched mothers and kids play.

“Wow. That’s…” She stared at him, eyes wide, and puzzled expression on her face. “I don’t even know what to say.” She shook her head, then opened her arms, hands up. “Somehow, I keep forgetting you’re not human and that there’s a whole world I don’t know anything about. And I have so many questions-”

One eye on the road, he turned slightly toward her. “Go ahead.”

She brought a finger to her lips and made an
mmm
sound. “Your friends—?”

“They aren’t human.”

“I assume from what you told me that they aren’t angels, right?”

“Marcus and Alexander are immortals. Ancient gods turned them two thousand years ago.”

She raised one hand. “Wait a moment. Were they alive in Roman times?”

“Yes. They were both centurions in the imperial army.” He passed a few trucks on the slow lane.

“And Ophelia?”

Samuel noticed how Martina turned toward the window. “Ophelia is a werewolf.”

She wrung her hands in her lap and kept her body angled away from him. “Oh—”

He waited for her to add anything to that, but she let the silence prolong until it became awkward. “What is it?”

“She is very beautiful, isn’t she?”

Samuel merged into the slow lane. “Yes, she is. She’s also good, and caring.”

Martina’s shoulders hunched, and her body shrank farther away from him.

He heard her intake of breath and reached for her leg. “But most of all, Ophelia is a loyal friend.”

She moved ever so slightly toward him. “Nothing more?”

“Please, look at me.” He applied some pressure to his hold. “I’d rather talk to you than to the back of your head.” He drove to the emergency lane and stopped the car.

She dropped her head. “I’m sorry. I’m so embarrassed. I know better than to ask those kind of questions, but I couldn’t stop myself.”

“Come here.” He took her by her waist and pulled her away from her seat and onto his lap, then lowered his forehead to hers. “I haven’t felt any attraction to anyone in over a thousand years, but I saw you and I did everything in my power to get to know you.”

She leaned away, a small smile on her mouth. “Did you really?”

He nodded. “Sparring together was my idea, not Alexander’s. And I asked him to call me when you were at the gym.”

“Every time I came to exercise, I hoped you were there.” She closed the gap she had created and kissed the point of his nose. “Samuel…” When she looked at him, her eyes were wide and her chest raised and fell against his. “I’ve never felt anything like this before.”

The tense moment was gone, replaced by an undercurrent that left both of them breathless. “My Martina…” He took possession of her lips as his hands caressed her back and pressed her closer to him at the same time. He kissed her with abandon, letting his senses govern his actions, uncaring of the cars whizzing by mere centimeters from them. His hands found their way under her top. He was unhooking her bra when a truck’s horn made them jump.

Samuel laughed and hugged her to him. “You drive me crazy.”

The digital clock on the dashboard changed numbers and Martina gasped. “We must hurry or I’ll be late.”

He let her reach her seat and compose herself, then gave her one last peck on her lips and merged back into traffic, driving fast to make up for the delay. A few minutes later, the traffic in front of them slowed because of the highway toll lines, and he was thankful for those stolen moments with her.

One hand on the steering wheel and the other on hers, he gave her a long look before minding the road again. “Any more questions?”

“I have so many…” She seemed to think about it for a moment. “What about Ravenna?”

“She is an immortal too, changed during the Renaissance.”

Martina made a sound that was a mix between a laugh and a snort. “I can barely wrap my head around all of this.” She waved her free hand in the air. “And what about their kids? Will be they immortal too?”

“Yes, Alexander’s and Ravenna’s kids will be immortal because both their parents are. If one of the parents is human, then the kids are human.”

“Why?”

He shrugged. “The gods’ quirk. Who knows why they did the things they did. They’re all gone now and have left their creations to their own devices.”

She frowned. “So the ancient gods weren’t a myth, but they aren’t around anymore.”

Samuel stopped at the toll booth and lowered the window to pay the highway fare. Once on the road, he took the fast lane and pushed on the accelerator, then resumed their conversation. “They left Earth and now reside on their astral planes.”

“Wow. Just, wow.” She paused, shook her head, then laughed. “This is not a dream.”

“No, it isn’t.” Samuel’s hand slid down her thigh, making her shiver.

She stopped his hand, but smiled. “Don’t start something we can’t finish or I won’t be able to focus on my job until I see you again.”

He sighed out loud. “Okay. Okay, I promise I’ll behave.” He brought her hand to his mouth and kissed it. “Ask me something else, anything else.” He gave her a once over that made her blush. “You know, since I can’t have a cold shower.”

She laughed. “Another question…” She drummed her fingers against the glass. “Is Marcus’s wife an immortal too?”

“No, Diana is a vampire.”

“Thousands of years old herself?”

“She’s actually not even two years old. She was turned against her consent and Marcus kept her alive when she was a vampire infant, a vampling.”

“And they have a kid. Can vampires have kids? According to literature, they can’t.”

He nodded. “Vampires can’t have kids. They make vamplings by turning humans, but they are not allowed to change minors. There are rules in place to keep the paranormal world in check.”

“So is the kid Marcus’s?”

“They adopted Daniel. He’s a were-bat—” He saw her confusion and immediately amended, “An infant shifter. Daniel changes into a bat once a month.”

She stared at him, incredulity on her face.

He squeezed her hand. “Maybe you’ve had enough for today.”

“You might be right. I feel dizzy and I’m sitting.”

“It’s a lot to process.”

“And we haven’t even talked about what you really do for a living.”

To his disappointment, they were fast approaching Corso Francia and Martina’s office. “I didn’t lie to you about that. I do work in law enforcement. I’m a liaison between species.” He spent the last few minutes of the ride making her laugh with anecdotes from his hearing sessions and the colorful paranormals he had to deal with every Monday. Too soon, he left her at her office and drove to Castel Sant’ Angelo, only thinking of the moment they would be reunited.

As promised by Barnes, the report he had requested was on his desk. He opened the window, grabbed the yellow folder and sat on the windowsill, his wings free to stretch out in the sky, his feathers ruffled by the breeze. In the past, such happenings usually caused him grief, being reminders of what he had lost. This time, he gave himself liberty to enjoy the moment and realized how pleasant the feeling was. Talking about his past with Martina had exorcised his demons and he now felt free to savor life.

With a smile on his face, he stretched his neck, then opened the folder and perused its contents. Only two pages came out of it. Not surprising in an accident with no evidence of foul play. He perused the pages and went back and forth between notes, but nothing jumped out. The parents of Marcus’s baby had been driving on The Sun Highway toward Naples, probably coming from Rome. The accident had happened at the first light of dawn and the car had been totaled on impact with the road beneath the bridge from which the vehicle had fallen. The absence of skid marks on the asphalt explained that the driver had probably not been awake when the car left the road. They were new parents and likely tired after being awake for who knows how long. Their heads had been crushed when the ceiling had collapsed. It all made sense.

Samuel jumped off the windowsill and paced back and forth in his office. He prepared a teapot and let his favorite jasmine tea brew until it smelled the way he liked, a hint of perfume but not too flowery. Cup in hand, he sat on his reinforced swivel chair and lazily wheeled it between the desk and the wall behind for several counts, before picking up one of the two pages of the report. His eyes went to the names written at the foot of the witnesses’ statement, and one of the two names sounded familiar. Duilio Carta. He had heard this name before, but couldn’t remember when or where.

One of the wheels of his chair got stuck and he spilled a few drops of tea on the document he was holding. At the same time, someone knocked at his door. He dabbed the paper with a napkin, minimizing the damage, but a big splotch of ink had blossomed where the signatures were. “Come in.”

Barnes’s head appeared from behind the door. “Got news regarding the vampire who attacked you last night.”

Samuel motioned for him to enter without taking his eyes from the paper. Then he finally realized what was missing from the document. Hadn’t he been staring at the water stain he would have never seen it. He turned to Barnes, raising the paper for him to see. “Why aren’t there any species mentioned on this form?”

“What?” A frown on his brow, he walked to the desk and took the document from Samuel’s hand. He looked at the bottom of the page. “It’s clearly a mistake. Even if the witnesses were humans, it should’ve been clearly stated.” He handed the page back to Samuel. “I’ll call the precinct that redacted these papers and I’ll let you know.”

“What kind of news do you have?” Samuel put the paper between two napkins and stored the dry one back in the folder.

Barnes hovered before the desk without sitting. “Well, not the best news I guess. I had to release the vampire.”

Samuel raised both hands over his head, pushing his chair back. “But why?”

“He accused you of attacking him first without provocation.” Barnes walked around a chair and finally sat.

“That’s unbelievable.” Samuel sneered.

“I know, but since there weren’t witnesses to the scene, it’s his word against yours.” Barnes crossed and uncrossed his legs.

Samuel noticed his boss’s uneasiness. “Is there more I should know?” He also realized the vampire hadn’t mentioned Martina’s presence.

“Mr. Carta belongs to Claudius’s nest—”

Samuel stilled in his chair, both hands pressed on the surface of the desk. “What did you say his name was?”

Barnes raised an eyebrow. “Carta, and he’s under Claudius’s command.”

“What’s his first name?”

“Duilio. But what’s important is that he’s working for Claudius and you have to be careful.”

Samuel peeled the two napkins from the paper he had left to dry on the desk, and raised it. “You don’t need to contact the precinct to ask for the witness’s species.” He had heard the two policemen read the vampire’s name the night before, but he would have never made the connection without Barnes’s help. “Duilio Carta signed this paper attesting he saw the two were-bats’ car jumping off the bridge. And he’s been following me since the werewolf, involved in yet another case including an infant, came to pay me a visit.” He paused, exhilarated that the case was getting clearer and more complicated at the same time. “And, as you said, on top of everything else, Claudius is somehow behind all of this.”

****

Martina had looked at her cell phone at least ten times in the past two minutes. Samuel had asked her how long she thought she had at the court, and when she had answered she would be back at her office by five thirty in the afternoon, he had answered, “I’ll give you a call soon after.”

At the court hearing, she had finished with a few minutes to spare and hopped on the first bus back to her office. A series of fortuitous coincidences—the stuff of legend, things that happened in Rome once in a lifetime—had cleared the road of red lights. The bus, also unusually empty for that time of the day, had reached her stop in record time. As a result, she had been sitting on her chair, looking outside the window for the last thirty minutes. She called Samuel again but didn’t leave a message.