To Kill An Angel (17 page)

“I can make it. I’m okay,” I assured him, reaching up to lay my hand over his.  “Thank you for what you said to Savannah.”

Bo shrugged. 

“Why thank me?  It was the truth.”

“I guess I just didn’t realize that you saw me that way.”

“You’re perfect and that’s exactly how I see you.  You’re warm and compassionate, you’re strong and capable.  Everything about you makes me want to be a better person.”

Even as my cheeks flushed with what little blood was left circulating in my body, I felt my heart swell to the point of bursting at his words.

“I can think of a thousand reasons I don’t deserve you and that just makes me love you that much more.”

“It’s no more than I love you,” I said quietly, mesmerized by Bo, by his touch and his eyes, by the sweet magic of the moment.  I was captivated by the sheer pleasure of his words, especially knowing that, in all likelihood, he’d be gone from my life one day.

“Ridley, I’m going to find a way to work all this out.  I won’t leave you to spend eternity alone.  Time can come and go, but I’ll never leave your side.”

I wanted so desperately to believe him, but I just didn’t see a way for that to happen.  Rather than letting facts ruin the moment, though, I simply nodded in agreement.

“There’s nothing I want more.”

His eyes scanned my face, as if he was taking in every fading detail and committing it to memory.

“I love you, Ridley Heller.”

He said it with such conviction, such sincerity, I couldn’t help but smile as my heart fluttered around in my chest.  There were no words that I needed to hear more than those.

“I love you, too, Jonathan Bowman, Boaz, Bjorn, whoever you are that stole my heart.  Whenever it is that I finally die and leave this world, I’ll die loving you.”

Bo dipped his head and brushed his lips over mine in the most loving, heartfelt kiss we’d ever shared.  It was tender and sad and it said all the things that we both knew deep down, but refused to speak aloud.  It said that forever might not come for us.  It said that our days were likely numbered and that our ending might not be so happy.  It said that we have now—right now—and that’s it.  We have no promises for tomorrow, only right now and we had to seize the day, the hour, the moment.

When he leaned back and our eyes met again, volumes were spoken, though neither of us said a word.  Instead, through our silence, we were agreeing to leave it unsaid until later. 

Without a sound, Bo reached down and took my hand.  He led me back to Sebastian’s, back to our room, back to our hiding place.

The house was dark and quiet when we returned.  I could only assume that Cade was sleeping since he was, in fact, mostly human and that Annika was either resting or hunting.  Either way, I didn’t care as long as she wasn’t around.

Bo led me straight back to the room that I was beginning to think of as “ours” and shut the door behind us.  When he turned to me, the look on his face clearly indicated his intentions.  Excitement skittered along my nerves and within seconds I could smell the passion warming his blood.

My mouth watered and I felt the subtle shifting in my gums that I was starting to associate with my teeth becoming fang-like.  Desire slithered through me like a sensuous snake, intertwining with the need for blood in a way that was making it hard to separate one urge from the other.

The shrill chirp of my cell phone barely penetrated the haze that was overtaking me.  Bo had no such problem, though.  It broke his focus instantly. 

When I made no move to dig the little square out of my pocket, Bo slid his fingers into the snug slit of my jeans and worked it out.  I could’ve cared less about the phone.  Heat seemed to shoot out from his fingertips and set my core on fire.

“Savannah,” Bo announced softly, holding the phone out to me.

I wanted to turn and throw it through the window, but there were no windows in “our” room.  Instead, I sighed and begrudgingly took the phone from him.

“Hello?”

“Omigod, Ridley!  They took Devon.  They took Devon!”

The sensual fog lifted immediately, my mind honing in on Savannah with sharp clarity.

“Who?  Who took him Savannah?  What are you talking about?”

She began to sob.

“I think it was my mother.”

CHAPTER TWELVE

I had no idea what to say to that.  I could tell by Savannah’s voice that her heart was breaking.

“I couldn’t see her this time, but I heard a woman whisper and it sounded like her.  And I could smell roses,” she cried miserably.

“Savannah, was she alone?  Did you hear anything else?”

I knew I could count on her picking up on any extraneous sounds.  Since she’d lost her sight, Savannah’s hearing was probably nearly as sharp as a vampire’s.

“I think there might’ve been someone with her,” she sniffled.  “I could see a tall, dark shape, but nothing clear.  It sort of looked like the silhouette of a man, but there was something around him, almost like there was something coming out from him, from his back.”

I thought of Sebastian flexing his dark angel’s wings that night in the hidden room, the one just above my head, and I wondered if that was what Savannah was somehow seeing.

“Did you hear him say anything?”

“I heard the woman whispering to someone, asking if he was sure ‘he’ was the one, I guess referring to Devon.”

“Okay, wait.  Back up and tell me exactly what happened.”

“You and Bo had just left and Devon was standing outside my window.  He was getting ready to come inside when I saw his head jerk around.  I guess he either heard or smelled them or something.  Anyway, he backed up and turned around and then everything happened so fast, he was just there one minute and gone the next.”

“Is that when you heard the voices?”

“Yeah.  When Devon turned around, I saw the shape kind of come over Devon, like the darkness sort of swallowed him up, and then the woman asked if he was the one.  No one ever answered her, though.  The darkness just sort of melted away and they were gone.  But I could smell her, Ridley.  She smelled like roses.  She smelled like Mom.”

I could only imagine how devastating it would be to find out that your mother and your boyfriend were both vampires and that your mother was playing for the wrong team.  But to have her kidnap the love of your life?  Not a good day by anyone’s standards.

  “Savannah, maybe—”

“How could she do that to me, Ridley?  How could my own mother take the boy I love like that?  Just take him away from me after everything that’s happened?  After everything I’ve been through?”

“Just remember that she’s not the person you remember.  She’s probably under the influence of some very powerful, very evil blood.”

“But I’m her daughter.  How could she?”

I had no answers for Savannah.  I simply sat quietly as she sobbed into the phone, heartbreak and betrayal gushing through the connection and filling the room in which I stood, several miles away.  It was that sympathy for her that prompted my promise, a promise I had no way of keeping but one that I made nonetheless.

“We’ll get him back, Savannah.  I promise.  We’ll get Devon back for you.”

“Thank you, Ridley.”

She didn’t ask how, likely because she knew that my assurances were completely unfounded.  But it gave her hope, as I’d meant for it to, and that was enough for the moment.  Hope would stave off despair.  Savannah had experienced far too much of that in recent days and I refused to let her suffer even more.

“I’ll call you later, okay?  As soon as we can figure out what’s going on.”

“But how will you do that?  I mean, do you have any idea where they might have taken him?”

“No, but I think I know of a way that I might be able to find out.”

I looked at Bo and his expression told me that he knew what I was thinking and he didn’t like it one bit.

“Call me as soon as you find out anything.  Anything, Ridley, okay?  Promise me.”

“I promise,” I said, injecting the word with as much optimism and conviction as I could manage.  All things considered, it wasn’t much.  “We’ll talk soon.”

After we hung up, Bo and I said nothing during what ended up being a protracted silence.  It hung heavily between us, like an empty black hole surrounded by his disapproval and my desperation.

 Finally, I offered my point of view.

“You know as well as I do that this might have something to do with Sebastian’s plan to kill you.  And Savannah’s been through enough.  She needs our help.  So does Devon.”

“You think I don’t know that?” he snapped.

“You know if there was another way, I’d choose it.  But there’s not.  You know there’s not.  This is the only way.”

Bo’s lips thinned, his chiseled mouth straightening into a grim, tight line.  He knew I was right.  Still, he didn’t like it.

 “You stay here.  I’ll go wake Cade.”

Bo turned and strode angrily across the room.  If there had ever been a doubt about Cade’s ability, it was likely put to rest in both our minds when Bo opened the door to find Cade standing patiently on the other side, thick arms crossed casually over his wide chest.

“You need me,” Cade stated, his deep voice scratchy. 

He didn’t phrase it as a question because he had no doubts.  It wasn’t really him rubbing in his ability and his usefulness.  It was Cade simply stating a fact, stating a conclusion that he’d come to in his own precognitive way.

Bo said nothing, simply turned sharply away from the door to come and stand at my side.

“Ridley thinks you might be able to help her—”

“Find Devon,” Cade interrupted.  “I know.  And I can.”

Bo and I glanced at one another.  Cade’s round-about reiteration of his integral role in Bo’s destiny only seemed to further aggravate Bo.  Unfortunately, Bo’s comfort had to take a backseat in this case.

“How does it work exactly?”

“For me, the visions just come unexpectedly.  But for you, I’m not sure.  Try focusing on what it is that you want to know.  I think that might help.”

 “Okay,” I agreed automatically, already wondering if I could manage to concentrate that fully, that completely while drinking delicious human blood.

“Where would you like to do this?” Cade asked in a very considerate way.

“It doesn’t—” I began, but Bo interrupted abruptly.

“Not here.  Anywhere but in here,” he ground out.

“How about—”

“And not your room either,” Bo said, not even letting Cade finish his suggestion. 

“The living room then.  Is that platonic enough for you?”

Cade’s eyes sparkled with a devilish light, but Bo didn’t appreciate his teasing.  He nearly growled in his displeasure.

“Can you heal like we can?  Because I’d be happy to test your resilience.” 

Cade merely smiled.  Amazingly, even in the face of Bo’s blatant threat, it was an unconcerned smile, almost amused.

“Shall we?” Cade asked, looking at me and tipping his head toward the door.