Bound by Time (13 page)

I
sobel snuggled into Damien’s warmth only half awake. Somehow they had ended up in her room. His fingers trailed over her skin sending little shivers through her. She smiled happily. “Tell me more about dark angels.”

Damien’s voice was quiet as he asked, “What do you want to know?”

“How are you different? From regular people I mean.”

A soft chuckle rumbled in his chest. “Other than we are a celestial spirit in a somewhat mortal, mostly human body? We are gifted with many strengths to aid us in our tasks. We are fast. Faster than I can properly convey. We are extremely strong. Our senses are heightened. I can see in the dark as easily as I can in the day, and our sense of hearing and smell is more akin to an animal than a human. We age, but not like normal humans. We are never afflicted with disease of any kind.” He paused. “To give you an idea, Aiden was one hundred and five years old.”

Isobel gasped and looked up at him to make sure he wasn’t joking. “He didn’t look older than his late fifties.”

Damien nodded. “You see, we age different. Even so, the body eventually gives out. We can always feel when it’s our time to be called back.” He stroked her hair, enjoying the silky softness of it as it ran through his fingers. “Our channels age gracefully too.”

“You have all these gifts it seems. What can you do with them? How can there be so many bad things in the world if there are dark angels with all of these powers?”

“We aren’t super heroes, Isobel. That isn’t our place in this world. There are rules. A dark angel’s powers are for only one purpose—keeping our channels safe. We aren’t allowed to use them for anything else.”

“So what do you do for money to survive in the world? I noticed you don’t seem to work.”

“We used to work in earlier centuries.” He smiled at her. “However, many lifetimes of many dark angels living simply while saving and investing earnings makes it so none of us have had to worry about work for a good four or five centuries. There are now five accounts around the world that any of us can access at any time. When one dies, he leaves any money gained through investments to the others in his will.”

Damien tucked a strand of hair behind her ear reveling in the feel of her body tucked next to his. “The house on this island is the most lavish expenditure I have made in a long time. It was necessary to be close to you and watch over you. When the day comes that I sell it the money will go back into the account it came out of.”

Isobel yawned and snuggled closer. “You normally live simpler and yet you bought a motorcycle.”

His laugh brought sweet warmth to her heart. “I needed a way to get around. The motorcycle was actually cheaper than a car, as is the insurance and cost of running it. I did have to do some work to it so it would run smooth and reliable. It was a more sensible investment than the luxury cars humans are so fond of.”

“You said that first evening here, when you watched that movie with me, that you like the tales made up about vampires. What did you mean?”

Damien brushed his lips against her forehead. “I meant that the real thing can be the stuff of nightmares that legend has made them.”

Isobel jerked her head up in surprise. “You mean that vampires are real?”

“Yes, however, not all vampires are evil. Like anything else there is good and bad among them. They usually handle their own problems though they have been known to call on dark angels from time to time.”

She laid her head back down in the crook of his shoulder and blinked drowsily as his arm tightened around her. She tried to come to terms with what he’d told her. Could such things really exist in the world? Considering she’d just learned that she had lived many times over the centuries and that Damien was a dark angel it seemed silly to try and deny other things could exist. Like looking at a forest and pretending not to see trees. Still, she wasn’t entirely sure if he was telling the truth though she couldn’t see a reason for him to lie.

His breath was warm on her face when his kissed her forehead. “Sleep,
meae deliciae.
I will be here when you wake.”

Isobel drifted off in a state of blissful contentment. No dreams disturbed her that night.

When she woke he was standing in the doorway in just his jeans again. She pushed her hair away from her face and smiled at him.

Damien returned it, though worry nagged at him. “Good morning, and it is morning this time.”

Isobel stretched long and languid. “Good morning.”

Her voice, soft and sexy, nearly undid his resolve to remain where he was. “I have to go back to my house to gather my things. There isn’t much; dark angels travel light. But there are a few things I need.” He chuckled and glanced down at his bare torso and feet. “Clothing definitely.”

She laughed softly. He looked good in just his jeans. “I don’t know. I rather like you without them.”

His eyes grew serious. “Will you be all right while I’m gone? I won’t be long. A quick shower, change of clothes, grab a few things and then back.”

Isobel sighed. “You don’t have to stay here you know. I’m a big girl. I mean, I have no objection to you staying, but only if you really want to.”

Damien shook his head. “Isobel, I’ve waited several years in this life for your memories to return. There is nothing more I want than to be here with you. Besides, I have no intention of leaving you alone with Xapar now that I don’t have to.”

The demon’s name made the hairs on her arms stand up. “I’m glad because I don’t want to be alone. I could come to your house though, and then we would be together and out of this house.”

“I wish it were that simple. Here, I can keep a closer watch on the window and reinforce the seals as best I can. And there, he can reach you anyway.”

She gathered the top sheet around her and climbed out of bed using the sheet to cover herself. “Go and do what you need to do then. I’m going to grab my own shower and change of clothes.”

“I will return shortly.”

A sense of uneasiness settled over Isobel as he left. She hadn’t had a chance yet to take everything to the downstairs bathroom. She was already upstairs; might as well take it up here and then move everything when she was done. Isobel took a quick, hot shower then pulled on a pair of white shorts and a snug green top that matched her eyes. It was the same outfit she’d worn on her birthday. Isobel considered some makeup but discarded the idea. She didn’t really need it and there was no way she was standing in front of the mirror to put it on.

Isobel glanced toward the bedroom door. It was open again.

“Damien?” Maybe he was back already and waiting for her on the landing. Terror pooled in her limbs as black webs of shadows crawled across the walls.

Isobel closed her eyes.
Please be gone
, she chanted in her mind. When Isobel opened her eyes the shadows were luminescent colors. The light on the landing glowed beautifully and a strange sense of peace fell over her. Somewhere in the back of her mind a small part of her warned the feeling of peace wasn’t real.

Without making the conscious decision, Isobel walked toward the light. When she stepped onto the landing the window shined, its colors lit by an otherworldly light. It drew her like a moth to a flame. Inside her mind a small voice screamed that the flame would burn her. Still, Isobel was pulled forward unable to resist.

Damien came in the front door and dropped the leather duffle bag on the tiled floor of the foyer. Something wasn’t right. “Isobel?” He walked toward the stairs. The glowing light of the window filled the upper level. Xapar. Damn him! He was getting too strong if he could do this.

Damien called her name again as he rushed up the stairs. Isobel stood in front of the window, her arm outstretched and her fingers almost brushing the glass. The window pulsed with evil black and red light, and dark energy flooded the landing though he knew she saw and felt something different.

Isobel saw him out of the corner of her eye and turned her face, eager to share the wonder with him. Immense black wings rose up and spread out from his back, the tips reaching across the twenty-five foot width of the landing. White light flowed around him like a halo. “Don’t touch it!” Damien commanded as he moved faster than she could comprehend. The radiance of the window vanished. Malevolent light and energy crashed over Isobel taking her breath away. His arm wrapped around her waist, and he pulled her around with iron strength. Damien’s wings curved forward like a protective shield as the darkness raged around them.

Damien held her in front of him with both arms as it came up against his power. In full force with his wings out, Xapar’s energy had little chance of reaching Isobel. He crouched defensively over her and curved his wings forward at the tips until the long black feathers nearly touched the floor. Xapar was strong, but not strong enough, not yet.

Damien closed his eyes to the menacing energy.
“Adiuva me, quaeso, in meo certamine necessariamque da mihi fortitudinem.”
The bright, white light flared around him, intensifying and radiating off his wings in waves. The threatening force receded back into the window. Folding one wing back he reached around and touched the colored glass. Pain seared through his fingers as he whispered the words to strengthen Eusebia’s seal. When the repair was done as best as possible, Damien extended his wing again leaving his power flowing at full strength. He curved his arm back around Isobel and sank to his knees easing her down with him.

She trembled in his arms, the pure white light nearly blinding in its brilliance. “What happened? I was in my room, and then I was standing in front of the window. I don’t remember anything.”

Damien brushed a hand over her hair and closed his eyes. Close, too close. The demon would do anything to break free. “Don’t ever touch the window.
Ever.
” His voice was rough with emotion, but he couldn’t help it. “Xapar’s power strengthens, and he used it to lure you closer. If you so much as brush a fingertip across the surface of the window, Xapar will have your mind completely, and he will drive you to do things you could never imagine. He’s already able to get into your mind too much as it is.” There were other reasons too, but she wasn’t ready to hear them. Damien hoped she never would be.

“Why?” Isobel stared at the long, dark feathers filling the room behind him. Somehow, she’d known they were much more than tattoos. “Why me?”

“Because you are the key to banishing Xapar. You always have been.” He kissed the top of her head and drew in the scent of her shampoo, thankful he had returned in time. “Only you have the power to banish him back to the underworld where he belongs. And only through your death at his hand can he truly be free of the seal again.”

Isobel swallowed hard, unable to slow the racing of her heart. “How can I die by his hand if he is trapped in the window?”

“All you have to do is die because of him. If he gets into your head enough, he can drive you to the point of suicide. He would be the cause of your death; it would be at his hand.” Damien stood pulling her up with him. “Let’s get back downstairs.” He left his wings out until they reached the ground floor.

Isobel turned once they stood in the foyer. Hesitantly, she reached out and gently ran her fingers over the black feathers. Her heart slowed at the feel of them. “The tattoo is more than just a symbol.” Though it wasn’t a question, he nodded. “They’re beautiful,” she whispered. This was the memory that had tried to surface the night before. Him, with his wings unfolded.

Before her eyes his wings folded behind him and contracted as they sank into the skin of his back, becoming detailed tattoos once more. His cupped his hand around her cheek. “Are you all right?”

“Yes.” It wasn’t a lie. All of the fear she’d felt only moments before had leached away.