Chapter 4
Angelica paced back and forth in Ren’s office trying to stay within eyesight of the barrier and away from everyone else that had business in the huge room. She’d already bitten Storm’s head off when he’d informed her that staring at Zachary wasn’t going to make him wake up any faster.
She glanced at Syn who was still leaning against the wall and raised an eyebrow. She was starting to believe that man could turn into a statue if he tried hard enough. He hadn't moved in hours.
Maybe Storm was right, because the walls were starting to close in on her and Zachary hadn't as much as twitched. Her cell phone rang, the loud sound startling her out of her musings.
Seeing the caller ID and thinking Storm was just checking on Zachary she answered the call, “No Storm. He still hasn’t woken up.”
“Ren needs you at the local hospital,” Storm said seriously. “He ran into something rather nasty and has lost it somewhere in the building.”
“And he needs me to track it down,” Angelica finished gazing at Zachary one last time before turning away. “I’ll be there.”
She hung up and glanced at Syn, “I gotta go to the hospital.” Syn closed the distance between them so fast she almost missed it.
Syn wrapped an arm around her waist and smiled down at her before pulling her tight against him. It was about time she left her friend’s bedside.
Angelica blinked and they were suddenly standing in the front entrance of the hospital. PIT members dressed up as police officers were already escorting people and patients out of the building. It was far from the orderly fashion it could have been but if this thing was nasty like Storm said, then she couldn’t really blame them.
“Where is it?” Angelica asked one of the PIT team.
“I don’t know but Ren’s on the seventh floor trying to find it,” the man said recognizing her.
Angelica and Syn moved to the elevators and took one up to the seventh floor. When the doors opened, the first thing Angelica noticed was the smell of blood. Her eyes widened at the amount of carnage in the hall.
Ren had the entire area roped off with a few PIT members scattered around checking the bodies to see if anyone was left alive. The only other thing that was out of place was the security guard huddled in a ball in a corner behind the nurse’s station. He was rocking back and forth muttering something about the Reaper.
“What happened?” Angelica asked.
Ren sighed, “It looked like the Grim Reaper, scythe and all.”
“A death demon,” Angelica mused. “Never been up against one but I’ve heard they can be really vicious.”
“It sank into the floor and vanished.” Ren explained. “We haven’t been able to find it since.”
“It’s still here,” Syn informed them.
“I know… I can feel its evil energy crawling all over me like a damn disease,” Ren said in frustration.
Angelica took a deep breath and began to mentally feel her way across the hospital to the floors above and below. Sometimes she could follow the invisible path a powerful demon made, but this demon had been all over the place, crossing its own path too many times to make it easy.
Ren’s eyebrows shot up into his bangs when he felt her power touch him. “Interesting,” he said having never felt it before. He supposed that when they were within the sanctuary of the castle, her power was always dormant because she didn’t need it. Ren shrugged, knowing right now wasn’t the time to be testing out new powers and returned to his job.
Angelica moved away from the massacre to the emergency staircase. Syn was right behind her when she entered the tall, slim area and watched her look around for a moment. He felt the blood in his veins start to heat up when his sensitive ears heard the sounds of children crying… they were begging for someone to help them. Syn’s amethyst eyes slowly rose to the ceiling as he zeroed in on the sound.
Angelica inhaled sharply and started running up the stairs at breakneck speed. They ascended three floors and exited on the tenth. She slid to a stop and placed a hand over her mouth at the scene of carnage.
Looking down at her feet, she felt tears spring up in her eyes when she saw she was standing in a pool of blood. A small child not more than five years old lay just a few feet away, his life force slowly bleeding out. Small bodies lay strewn everywhere, some of them with expressions of terror frozen on their angelic faces.
“No,” Angelica whispered. She could handle almost anything that came with the job she did… blood, gore, and demons, but these children were innocent.
An eerie inhuman scream came from down the hall making Angelica and Syn look up. The death demon was standing in the main room of the children’s ward covered in blood. It slammed the butt of its scythe on the floor cracking the tile before coming at them.
Syn slowly moved past Angelica, stalking toward the demon as it approached at a rapid pace. It brought the scythe up to cut him down but Syn’s hand came up, grasping the weapon just as the blade was a centimeter from his skin.
“Let me introduce myself,” Syn hissed and slammed the palm of his hand into the chest of the demon, reaching through its robes to grasp something inside. The demon screeched and backed away, leaving Syn holding the scythe in one hand and something black and beating in the other.
“To kill a child is not allowed.” Syn said in a dangerously calm voice, hefting the scythe with a practiced hand. “You will know the pain you give.”
Dropping the black heart and shifting the scythe to his right hand, Syn spun the weapon in front of him before cutting through the demon with a precise swing. He didn’t cut the demon completely in half, wanting to watch it suffer and knowing it would take more to kill it.
“You are not the true reaper… he shows mercy where you do not,” Syn growled and brought the scythe across the demon’s chest. “He will see you shortly and lock you in a cage where others will rip you to shreds like you have done to these children.”
Syn’s last swing of the scythe went directly into the dark hood, piercing the demon’s head. The tip of the scythe buried itself into the wall, pinning the demon there. Angelica watched as Syn continued to glare at it for a moment before it suddenly burst into bright white flames.
“Syn,” Angelica whispered when he didn’t move and slowly approached him.
Syn was breathing heavily with his hands fisted at his sides. “War is not for children,” he said trying to contain his rage and keep from leveling the hospital. “This needs to be erased from history.”
Angelica reached out to touch his arm but he moved away from her. She felt tears well in her eyes when Syn walked over to the closest child, a little boy, and very carefully picked him up. Placing the small lifeless body in a bed, he sat on the edge of it and gently pushed the hair out of the child’s face.
He put his hand over the little boy’s heart. Angelica’s jaw dropped open in awe when she saw a soft white light shine where Syn’s hand was touching the child’s chest. The wounds on the boy slowly vanished along with any trace of blood.
Angelica pressed her hands to her mouth, unable to control the tearful laughter when the child suddenly inhaled deeply then started breathing normally.
Syn leaned down to whisper something in his ear before standing up and retrieving another child from his own pool of blood. He began the process again, ending once more with whispered words next to the child’s ear.
When he started on the third child, Angelica began to see sluggishness in Syn’s movements and a darkening around his eyes. She gazed around at the children still sprawled on the floor. She picked up the child closest to her and laid the little girl on an empty bed.
Syn staggered away from the third child, finding the next bed already held a body. He stumbled toward the bed as he felt beads of sweat forming on his skin… cautioning him that he was using too much power. He ignored the warning.
The two of them began to move in sync… she would pick up the children while he moved behind her, healing and whispering to them. When Angelica had placed the last child in a bed, she turned around to look at Syn and gasped as the powerful man reached out to steady himself against one of the life support machines, stumbling and knocking it over.
She rushed toward him with a hand outstretched to help him, but Syn brushed by her and went to the next child. There were tears silently streaming down his cheeks but he paid them no mind.
When he was finished healing that child, Syn turned and started toward the next bed but fell to his knees halfway there. Drawing on his anger for strength, he pushed off the cold tile floor and gripped the bedrail to steady himself.
When Angelica saw how white his face had become, she wanted to tell him to stop… that it was killing him but she gritted her teeth together knowing it would be useless to distract him now. He was adamant about saving all of these children and she wished to God she could help him but that ability was beyond her. She wasn’t going to fuss at him for almost killing himself. How could she after what he was doing?
Rising to his feet, Syn approached the last bed and nearly fell across the child in his effort to reach him. His breathing was labored and sweat had formed rivers under his shirt. It took longer to heal the last child and he almost screamed out his frustration before the child’s heart kick-started into a steady rhythm under his palm. He didn’t relax until the first life giving breath was taken.
Angelica watched as Syn leaned down and whispered in the child’s ear but cringed when she noticed he was having trouble sitting back up. Rushing forward, she wrapped her arm around his shoulders to hold him in an upright position, leaning him against her for support. She wanted to cry seeing his eyes were no longer open and struggled to get her cell phone out of her pocket to call for help.
Before she could even dial Ren’s number, Storm was suddenly standing beside the bed. Angelica slowly closed the phone and looked up at the Time Walker,
“How did you know he needed help?” she asked.
“I just caught the special news break on tomorrow’s twelve o’clock news. Out of this tragedy came a miracle. All of the terminally ill kids in the children’s ward are suddenly cancer and disease free.” He gave her a soft smile knowing she was still worried. “He will be okay if you can get him to rest. Syn was watching the newscast with me.”
“Spoilers,” Syn said trying to straighten up and hold his own. It took him several tries but he finally forced his eyes open.
“Keep them closed,” Storm said raising his arm to shield his own eyes from the blinding light. When the light vanished, he cautiously peeked around his arm to make sure Syn had his eyes fully closed. “Well, that answers the question of why you’re not supposed to stare at the sun. I bet money I’ll see spots for a week.” He blinked slowly, seeing the spots even with his eyes closed.
“Can you teleport us back to the castle?” Angelica asked not understanding why Storm hadn't already done so.
“Not without his permission,” Storm answered honestly.
Angelica frowned at that odd reason. Since Syn’s dark hair had fallen down like a curtain around his face, she shifted her hold on him and leaned down to look up into his face praying he would keep his eyes closed while she did so.
“Let Storm take us back to the castle. I promise to take a nap if you will?” she bit her bottom lip hoping he was still awake enough to answer her.
“Can I sleep beside my mate?” Syn gave her a tired smile.
“Well, if we can’t find her, then I’ll let you sleep in my bed as long as you promise to sleep.” Angelica returned his smile even though he couldn’t see it.
“Teleport us to her bed,” Syn instructed and sighed when the soft mattress dipped down under him. He started to open his eyes when he didn’t feel Angelica beside him.
“If you blind me, I won't be able to see long enough to take your shoes off,” Angelica smiled as she removed both of their shoes and pulled the cover back on the side he wasn’t laying on. “Now move over so I can get you under the cover.”
Syn hid his smirk and did as he was told. He could feel her standing there staring down at him in indecision. “You promised I would not be taking a nap alone,” he reminded her.
Angelica bit her bottom lip wondering how safe this was. She decided it didn’t matter if it was safe or not because she’d promised… she climbed in, being careful to stay on her side of the bed. Just for sanity’s sake, she rolled over to face away from him. As soon as she was settled Angelica felt his arm go around her.
Syn pulled her back against him and sighed, “Thank you.”
Angelica didn’t try to pull away from him. After the horror of seeing all of those children slaughtered, maybe she needed the comfort of being held, too. She was curious about one thing though.
“What was it you whispered in their ear as you healed them,” she asked softly.
“It was a gift,” Syn smiled thoughtfully as he snuggled closer, “you would call it a demon repellant.”
Angelica’s eyes widened and she didn’t know if she wanted to laugh or cry. Not only had Syn brought the children back to life but he had also ensured they would never have to go through something like that again. She wrapped her arm around the one draped across her and gave it a gentle hug before sleep finally claimed both of them.
*****
Damon lay contentedly on the bed with Alicia spooned against him. He snuggled her under his chin with a soft smile on his face when she began to show signs of waking up. She was in for a surprise when those beautiful amethyst eyes of hers did open. She’d fallen asleep in his arms on the way home and he’d brought her to Love Bites without waking her… a feat of which he was very proud.
Looking around the room, he felt another swelling of pride in his chest. He’d hired so many contractors that the finishing touches to Love Bites had taken only twenty-four hours to complete. As soon as the contractors left, Syn had gone through the whole club, placing every ward and protection spell he knew.
Now, Damon could almost guarantee this was the safest place in the world and knowing that had put him in a great mood.
Alicia yawned and stretched slightly, expecting to have sore muscles from all the fighting practice she’d been doing for the last couple days. Well, that and the fact that Damon was insatiable. It still confused her to wake up without the normal stiffness even a shifter should have, but she wasn’t about to complain.
Hearing the soft echo of music and smelling fresh paint she opened her eyes wondering why she was at Night Light. Had she fallen asleep and Damon brought her back here to her own bedroom? Opening her eyes… what greeted her definitely wasn’t Night Light.
Alicia sat up and looked around the room with wide eyes. Nope, definitely not Night Light. No one in her family had this much taste and style.
“Welcome home,” Damon whispered in her ear, having followed her into a sitting position when she shot up in bed like a rocket. He smirked wondering if she had even noticed she was naked and the cover was now pooling in her lap.
“I know this place,” Alicia whispered trying to take it all in. “This is the room at Love Bites that had all the private areas sectioned off with those beautiful blood red sheers.”
Her face was alight with wonder… most of the red sheers still hung from the ceiling, draping down over the floor and billowing softly in the air conditioning but the room was completely closed in now. A wall had been built with a beautiful set of double doors done with a black lacquer and gold crackle finish. Black and gold brocade furniture was placed artfully in the room, accented with red throw pillows.
Looking down at the floor, she saw the carpet was mostly black as well, with rivers of red flowing through it like long and winding paths. Along one wall an enormous entertainment center had been set up with the latest in stereo equipment, along with huge fiber optic lamps that lit up the room with soft hues that slowly changed color.
“Do you like the bed?” Damon asked seductively.
Alicia’s gaze lowered to the bed where they had been laying. It sat low to the floor, was emperor sized and, to her amazement, it was round. She let her gaze flow upwards to the round headboard that spanned halfway around the bed and was upholstered with black silk. More red sheers were tied off around the bed, curtaining it off if they wanted an extra measure of privacy.
She didn’t have to ask why the thick mattress was on the floor… the fact that they’d broken the bed at the penthouse said it all.
“Would you like to take a look at the rest of your gift?” Damon asked waving an arm toward the other wall.
Alicia looked in the direction he indicated and saw the opposite wall was nothing but a large mirror. Sliding out of bed, she walked over to it and saw a place where she could slide part of the wall to the side.
When she opened it, her heart nearly stopped seeing a huge walk-in closet with wall–to-wall clothing, shoes, and accessories. Judging from the amount of clothes hanging inside… he must have ordered everything the city had in her size. The question now was when had he found the time to do it?
Swinging around, Alicia’s smile nearly blinded him before she ran across the room and jumped on the bed, practically tackling him in the process.
“Thank you, thank you, thank you!” Alicia giggled, playfully kicking her feet against the mattress.
Damon lay on his back and gazed at the naked goddess above him. He had absolutely no intention of leaving this bed all day… maybe even all week if he could get Alicia to agree to it.
Alicia’s cell phone decided that was the perfect moment to play ‘Girls Just Want to Have Fun’… making Damon cringe. His expression turned sour when Alicia quickly scrambled off him to grab it but at least it made that annoying ring tone stop playing.
“Jewel, you are never going to believe where I’m at!” Alicia announced when she answered and did a little happy dance but she stopped when she heard Damon start laughing behind her. “Oh? Everyone’s meeting at Night Light? Okay, we’ll be…” she followed the phone as it left her hand. “THERE.” She ended with a quick shout as Damon flipped the phone closed.
“After enduring the torture of watching you prance around this room naked for the last couple minutes, we are not going anywhere until…”
Damon’s eyebrows disappeared under his bangs when Alicia grabbed him by the shoulders and used them to literally climb up his body to reach his lips. He wrapped his hands securely around her thighs and turned back to the bed.
Alicia was dropped on the bed, her blonde hair fanning out around her head on the black and red sheets. Her eyes widened when she saw the lust-filled look of possession in his gaze before he leaned down claimed her lips in a heated kiss.
It would be a few more hours before Alicia fulfilled her promise to meet Jewel at Night Light but Alicia didn’t mind. She’d wanted to make love to Damon in this room ever since the moment she’d stepped into it the night she’d been looking for a lover. Feeling Damon invade her body and soul here and now was the best gift he could have given her and she loved him for it.
*****
“What the hell is this?” Kat demanded from behind the bar at Night Light.
“What?” Micah asked innocently.
Kat bent over behind the bar and lifted a box on top of it. Reaching in, she took out a purple bottle of Heat and set it on the bar with a good thump.
“This!” she exclaimed. “How in the hell did you get my Heat?”
Quinn smirked at his brother, “I’d run if I were you.”
Micah started walking away, “I need to test those lights to make sure they’re operating properly.”
“He always said he was going to get some,” Steven said with a grin.
Kat glared at Micah as he stepped through the doorway leading up to the DJ booth. “I thought I was a case shy the other day but with all the excitement I had forgotten about it. He could have asked.”
“Would you have said yes?” Quinn asked curiously.
“No,” Kat growled then glared at her mate, “A bottle maybe, but not the whole case. He could stay drunk for months on this much.”
“I guess that’s reason enough for sneaking it over here,” Nick smiled like he’d helped plan the caper and grabbed the bottle Kat had removed from the box. “Who wants some?”
“I do,” Kane noted and took the bottle out of Nick’s hand. “I’ve never felt the full effect of this stuff.”
Envy smirked, “That stuff will really get you if you’re not careful.”
“That warning should be directed at Michael,” Kane said. “If you’re not careful, he gets intoxicated and tries to attack your dog in the middle of the night swearing up and down it’s an overgrown dust bunny.”
“I don’t remember that,” Michael insisted although he did remember waking up on the floor.
“You wouldn’t,” Kane smirked.
Tabatha frowned, “Where is Scrappy anyway?”
“At Michael’s,” Kane answered. “He’s also taken a very good liking to Syn and vice versa.”
“That reminds me,” Envy said. “Is Syn coming to the Halloween party?”
The three vampires gave her incredulous looks.
“Syn going to a Halloween party,” Michael mused thoughtfully then shook his head. “That’s like asking the Boogey Man if he wants to quit his day job.”
Kane looked contemplative, “I don’t know… if Angelica comes he might.”
“Oh boy,” Damon said sarcastically. “A whole night of ‘Dad’ acting like a human dressed up as a snobby vampire.”
“At least he’d be himself… dressed as… himself.” Kane said slowly and frowned. “Yeah, you’re right. Let’s not invite him.”
“What about the wolf clan?” Kat asked. “Don’t they want to participate?”
Quinn shook his head, “Not really, Micah said they’re not into celebrating stuff like that. Titus said they do like Christmas time though.”
“Who doesn’t?” Tabatha asked. “But what do you get a werewolf for Christmas?”
“Chew toys,” Micah called over the speaker system.
The statement was followed by numerous tools being thrown at him from the scaffolds above and multiple growls from the floor.
“Don’t feel bad,” Jewel called out to them. “I’ll make a point to give Micah some catnip all wrapped up in a bow made of yarn.”
“Kitty weed,” Tabatha and Envy shouted simultaneously.
Kane looked down at Tabatha and arched an eyebrow at her, “Kitty weed?”
“The shifter’s form of pot,” Kat explained with a playful wink.
“Better than being an alcoholic,” Warren stated and toasted the air before turning up the shot of Heat Nick had handed him.
“My point exactly,” Envy closed the box containing what was left of the Heat and pushed it toward Kat. “No drunk kitties at the party.”
“Damn it!” Nick growled. “I really need some embarrassing pictures to finish my scrapbook.”
“I got that covered,” Kat informed him making Quinn groan.
“So,” Jewel said. “Who has their costumes picked out?”
“I have Nick’s all picked out,” Dean announced from behind Warren and Quinn. “The only problem is… we need a vampire to put him under their thrall.”
“WHAT?” Nick shouted. “WHY DO I NEED TO BE PUT UNDER A THRALL?”
“So we can dress you in drag,” Warren informed him with a smirk.
“Ooh, ooh, pick me, pick me.” Michael called out waving his arm wildly in the air. “I have been dying to enthrall him,” he wiggled his eyebrows at Nick.
“No freakin’ way are you dressing me up like a girl,” Nick growled.
“Oh come on,” Kriss begged and wrapped himself around Nick with arms around his neck and a leg around his hips. “You’d make such a beautiful specimen.”
“Nyaa,” Nick exclaimed and scrambled away from the blonde Fallen.
“Damn, I was almost there, too.” Kriss said in a frustrated voice before turning around and wrapping himself around Tabatha in the same fashion. “Don’t move.”
Everyone burst into laughter when Kriss moaned loudly and tilted his head back pretending ecstasy.
Kane was suddenly plastered to Tabatha’s back with an arm around her shoulders like a steal band.
“Get off,” Kane growled.
Kriss smiled dreamily, “I’m trying to.”
“I’d back away, Dear,” Dean said. “He doesn’t look very happy.”
Tabatha looked up at Kane seeing the very real anger in his eyes and gently nipped him on the chin. “Play nice.”
Kane didn’t take his eyes off of Kriss, “He’s still breathing isn’t he?”
Tabatha made a face and turned around, slashing her lips across Kane’s in a hot as hell kiss. After only a few seconds, she pulled back looking up at him, “Better?”
“Yeah,” Kane agreed. “But why did you stop?” This earned him another quick kiss.
“Hey everybody,” Micah called from the DJ booth. “Check this out!”
