The Devil's Angel (Devil Series Book 2) (14 page)

He moved to the next pile. The glossy photos were of women’s bodies—no head, no legs and no arms, only the torso. In some of the pictures, he noticed the same outfit, but he couldn’t be sure if it was the same woman wearing them.

The final pile were pictures of meticulously cut out female hands. They were small with long, slender fingers and the color of milk. He stared at them for several minutes, captivated, until he realized he was as familiar with these hands as he was his own. Even in a photo, he could still feel their familiar warmth. But the warmth quickly turned his insides into a sick heat when he realized whose hands he was looking at.

He stumbled back. Something soft fell to the top of his head and then to the floor. Another photo. He slowly looked up. Taped to the ceiling were hundreds of cut out pictures of one woman’s head.

Eve
.

When Lucien was ten-years-old, he found a stray dog in the forest. The poor animal was skin and bones and had cockleburs tangled into its raggedy, golden fur. Lucien brought the dog home where he fed and bathed it, and discovered a deep cut on its right shoulder that was full of dirt and maggots. For several weeks, Lucien nursed the dog back to health, spending every spare moment with him. His efforts paid off, and soon the dog resembled a normal healthy one that had quickly become his new best friend.

Every day Lucien would go into the woods in order to spend time with the dog. Together they would race through the cooling shade of the forest, looking for the kind of adventures that would only satisfy a ten-year-old boy and his dog. Their journeys often involved dragons, knights, monsters, giant fish, haunted forests and other creatures his mind could invent. This was the happiest he’d ever been, and the dog had made it so.

For a long time, he kept the dog secret, but eventually, Aiden took notice of his constant cheerful mood and followed him to find the cause. Always quick to remove any joy from his life, Aiden told their father of the mutt and the frequent visits into the woods.

One day, when Lucien returned with his dog from an adventure that had led them to the tops of a snowy mountain where they had “killed” a wild snow monster, he found his father waiting for him. His father stood tall with broad shoulders and a torso like a tree. His beefy hands were balled up, and his angry expression seemed to explode from his long red hair and thick beard, making Lucien wish he’d never been born.

His father yelled at Aiden to hold the dog while he dragged Lucien up the many stone circular steps leading up a narrow passage to the north tower of their home. He tossed Lucien into a dreary room that had long ago been abandoned as any suitable living quarters due to of a leak in the roof directly above it.

Once Lucien was inside, his father slammed the door and locked it behind him. All this was done without saying one word despite Lucien’s pleadings for an explanation.

He raced to the window and, on his tiptoes, peered out to the front of the house. Aiden was on his knees in front of the dog holding the animal’s small head as it squirmed and wiggled, desperate to free itself from Aiden’s tight grip.

Lucien cried out when his brother smashed the dog’s head into the ground, smearing it into the dirt. He ran to the door and tried desperately to open it, but to no avail. He ran back to the window, frantic to stop Aiden from the unnecessary torture of his dog. He shouted and begged for him to stop.

Aiden looked up. Steel blue eyes stared at Lucien through narrow slits. His thin smile disappeared, and in its place grew a poisonous scowl as silent and deadly as a cobra, silencing Lucien. He’d seen that look before, and it terrified him.

A moment later, his father appeared holding a knotted tree branch as if it was an extension of an already monstrous arm. He motioned Aiden away with a mere nod of his head. With one downward swoop of his hand, the stick hit the dog’s head with fatal accuracy. Lucien turned away, stifling a cry with a fist in his mouth.

When his father’s heavy footsteps moved away, he turned back to the window, bile churning in his small stomach. Lucien didn’t recognize the heap of golden hair, standing out like an island in a sea of blood. The bile in his stomach exploded from his mouth, preventing him from yelling at Aiden who was now dragging the dead dog away, probably to be experimented upon.

Lucien had never felt that same urgency and helplessness again until now. He had to get to Eve before it was too late.

He left the condo and made it to his car in record time. While he drove, he called Charlie.

“What do you want?” Charlie asked without saying hello.

“Is Eve okay?”

“She’s fine. I’m in front of her house now. Why?”

“Are you sure?”

“I said goodnight to her twenty minutes ago. She was going to bed. What’s going on?”

Lucien wondered how much to say. He couldn’t very well tell Charlie that he was sent to a criminal’s house on a murdering spree. “Another vampire is coming for Eve.”

“How would you know?” Charlie asked.

“Does it matter? Get help.”

He disconnected the call and pressed on the gas. Eve was safe. For now. He debated on whether or not to abandon the vehicle and use his vampire speed to get there, but he worried he might need his car to get Eve out of town. He could carry her, but traveling at his speed over a long distance had the potential of making her seriously ill.

Lucien didn’t let up on the gas until he parked a block away from Eve’s home. From a distance, he saw Charlie talking to someone inside the Deific’s black SUV. Good. He’d called for backup.

Inside the home, Eve breathed quiet and regularly. She was asleep—also a good sign.

Lucien moved swiftly to the rear of the house. He leapt up to the second floor and slid quietly in through the window that Eve frequently escaped from to get to the roof.

He held completely still in the dark room as he listened, smelled, and looked for signs of an intruder—there was none. Despite no visible threats, he didn’t let himself relax but kept his muscles tight and alert. Bill was still out there and would come for her. It was only a matter of time. He’d seen the determined look in his eyes—it was the look of a wolf smelling a wounded fawn.

Lucien’s gaze drifted to where Eve slept. Her golden hair spread out like waves of summer wheat on her pillow, and her skin glowed in the moonlight. She lay on top of the covers in a tank top and sweats, undisturbed by the cool air blowing in from the open window.

He tried to ignore the warming sensation as he sat on the floor next to her bed, facing away. He could feel her hot breath on the back of his neck, tickling his skin. A violent yet pleasant chill pulsed through his body, igniting every part of him. He didn’t dare turn around for fear of giving in to something he had closed the door to long ago, but he couldn’t bring himself to leave, either.

As the chill subsided, it left behind a gentle, wondrous hum that calmed every part of him, including the shadows in his mind. He didn’t push it away as usual. Instead, he let himself enjoy the peaceful feeling that seemed to erase years of pain and suffering. His chest lightened, and air flowed more freely into his lungs. He felt—did he dare let himself admit it?
Hope
. Hope for the future, hope for himself, but most of all, he felt hope for the both of them. He closed his eyes, wishing for the possibility.

Suddenly a soft touch caressed the back of his head as Eve’s slender fingers moved through his short stubble hair. Never in his life had he been touched with such tenderness. It communicated volumes, but he wasn’t prepared to hear the unspoken words. Her hand continued to stroke his head until it fell to his shoulder where it remained the rest of the night. Eve had fallen back asleep.

A few hours later, as the morning sun poured into her room, Eve still slept. She was usually awake by now, but he didn’t mind. In fact, he would be content if she slept all morning with her hand resting on his shoulder.

The front door opened below, disrupting the perfect moment. Footsteps shuffled loudly across the wood floors as a man whistled.
Charlie.

Lucien darted away from Eve and positioned himself in a chair in the corner of the room.

Charlie came up the stairs. “Hey, sleepy head. Time to get up!”

Eve stirred and stretched her arms.

“Mmm, that was the best sleep I’ve had in years,” she murmured, still groggy.

“That’s what happens when good ol’ Charlie’s around. I’m like a big, comfy, protective teddy bear.”

She lowered her arms. Her eyes opened wide, and she stared at Charlie, lips turned down, confused.

“What are you doing here?” she asked.

“I’ve been out front all night, remember?”

Eve sat up and looked around the room. She smiled when she spotted Lucien in the corner. “Lucien.”

Charlie whirled around and swallowed hard. “I thought you had more important things to do last night. What are you doing here?”

Lucien reached into his pocket and pulled out a folded up piece of paper. “Have your men go to this address. You’ll find drugs and bodies.”

“Who’d you kill while you were high?” Charlie asked.

“In the back bedroom you’ll find pictures of Eve.”

Eve slid out of bed and stood. “Pictures of me? But who took them?”

“A vampire who calls himself Bill, but I’m pretty sure that’s not his real name.”

“One of your buddies?” Charlie asked.

“They’re going to keep coming," Lucien said. "We need to leave the city, Eve.”

She shook her head slowly. “And go where? Seattle’s my home. I’d rather fight them here.”

“I hate saying this, but Valium’s right,” Charlie said. “You need to leave, at least until we figure out who is behind all of this.”

She folded her arms defiantly. “I’m not leaving.”

Charlie crossed the room to her. “This has become too dangerous. I can’t handle another attempt on your life.”

“I appreciate your concern, but I can’t go.”

Charlie turned to Lucien. “Can you talk some sense in to her?”

“She’s made up her mind.” Lucien didn’t agree with her, but he could tell she was serious, and he wasn’t about to make her do something she didn’t want to do.

“Real helpful. You’d think if you cared about her, you’d try a lot harder to save her.”

Of all the stupid comments Charlie had said in the last few minutes, this was the one that made him angry. Lucien crossed the room to Charlie, fists clenched tight.

Eve hurried between them. “There is nothing either of you can say to me to make me leave.”

Charlie tried again. “Why not go back to New York? To the Academy?”

“Charlie, I’m not leaving!”

Charlie slumped his shoulders. “Fine. Then I’ll have two men be your personal body guards from now on.”

“I’ll watch her,” Lucien said.

Charlie looked at Eve and then to Lucien. “Whatever. I have to go home and change.”

“Charlie, wait!” Eve chased after him down the stairs and stopped him at the front door.

Lucien didn’t watch; instead, he walked around her room searching for other possible entrances into the home. He had to start thinking how he was going to protect her if something went wrong.

From down below, Eve’s voice drifted up.

“Thank you for staying last night. I really appreciate it.”

“No problem.” Charlie’s voice was flat and distant.

“Maybe next time you’ll let me win?”

“You want me to cheat at Scrabble?”

“No. I just don’t want you to try so hard. Maybe use only half your brain instead of the whole thing?”

Charlie laughed. “That’s like asking a lion to only kill half his prey. I’ll see you later today. Be careful, Eve.”

The front door closed.

Lucien was in Eve’s closet when she found him. He pushed up on a square moveable section of drywall that led to the attic.

“What are you doing?” she asked.

“I need to seal this up. Do you have anything you need in the attic?”

She shook her head. “Where were you last night?”

Lucien wasn’t ready to answer these questions. “I had something to do.”

He crossed the room to the windows and closed them tight. One of the locks was broken.

“You didn’t say goodbye. You just left.”

“I called Charlie.”

“But you didn’t call me.”

He stopped fidgeting with the lock. “I figured if you needed me, you would call.”

“But what if
you
need me?”

He didn’t answer.

She lowered herself into the bed. “Lucien, what if something had happened to you last night? Who would’ve helped you?”

“Nothing will happen to me. I have an amazing knack for getting myself out of trouble.”

He thought back to the time he had magically escaped from two vampires who had strung him from the ceiling in a storage unit. To this day, he still had no idea how he’d gotten out of that one. He’d asked Eve once on one of their midnight ice cream runs, thinking maybe the Deific had something to do with it, but she had only shrugged and changed the subject. He doubted it was Eve or anyone connected to her who had helped him anyway. The two vampires who had trapped him were very careful to make sure they weren’t followed—something vampires were good at doing. There was no way Eve could’ve known where he was.

Lucien continued, “Besides, I’m a bodyguard for a powerful witch now. What could go wrong?”

“Weren’t you my bodyguard before?”

“I was only your driver, but from now on, you and I are inseparable.”

“Does that mean you’ll come with me into the Deific?”

He shuddered openly. “If I must.”

“What do you have against the Deific? We do a lot of good there.”

“I don’t doubt that. My problem isn’t with the Deific. My problem is with me
inside
the Deific. I don’t belong.”

“You belong as much as I do.”

Since the truth would’ve been too difficult to explain, he decided to make it up—partially. “Fine, I’ll be honest. Charlie bothers me. I couldn’t stand an hour in the same building with him.”

Eve grinned. “Nice try, but I don’t believe you.”

“No, really, I can’t stand Charlie.”