Darkness Rising: The Dark Angel Series: Book Two (16 page)

“Well, good,” I said, a little tartly. “A girl does like to keep her secrets, you know.”

“Then have no fear. I can only read what is foremost in your mind, and the Dušan book appears to be your biggest concern.”

I sipped my champagne and studied him over the rim. Was he telling the truth? For some odd reason, I suspected not—even though I wasn’t seeing any of the usual signs of deception. But maybe he wasn’t. Maybe I was just being overly suspicious thanks to everything that had happened to me over the last few months.

But if he knew about the Dušan book, then he undoubtedly knew we’d appropriated it from the Raziq. And why.

“It’s supposed to tell us what form the keys take,” I said eventually.

“Supposed?” he said. “You haven’t tried to read it yet?”

I shook my head. “Azriel suspects the book may have a locator on it.”

“Azriel being your guardian reaper?”

“Stalker,” I corrected, even though he’d saved my life that very morning. “Azriel wants what everyone else wants—my father.”

Lucian grinned and dipped a hand into the water, running his fingers lightly up my leg. “I don’t want your father. I’d much rather have the luscious, wanton female lying naked in my bath.”

My skin tingled where he touched and my hormones shifted from languid satisfaction to eager anticipation. I ignored them and said teasingly, “I vaguely recall you stating that you’ve indulged in more than your fair share of threesomes and orgies over the centuries. Are you saying that not one of those involved a male?”

“No, I am not,” he murmured, his fingers caressing higher up my thigh, making my breath grow ragged. “And I’m always more than happy to share some loving with several females and males. Now, however, the idea of a regular, one-on-one coupling has taken my fancy. Did you get this wound when you were retrieving the book?”

I nodded. The bullet wound was still raised and nasty looking, but at least the ache had eased. In a day or so, it probably wouldn’t even be noticeable. Which didn’t stop me wishing yet again that I’d gotten a higher percentage of a werewolf’s natural healing ability, because I had a bad feeling I was going to need it over the coming weeks.

“I hope our athletic escapades haven’t caused you any discomfort.”

“You would have heard me complaining if they had.”

He raised an eyebrow. “So you would have no objections if we continued said escapades in the bath?”

“Why would you want to do that when I apparently resemble a prune?”

He grinned. “Did I ever mention that I’m rather fond of prunes?”

I laughed and held his glass as he stepped into the bath and sat down at the opposite end, his long legs stretching out to either side of mine. I handed him back his champagne, and he took a sip.

“What,” he said, his eyes twinkling with devilry, “would you give me if I said I knew of a way to block whatever tracer magic the Raziq have placed on that book?”

“Ah,” I said, putting my glass down on the bath ledge. “For that, I might just be willing to be late for work.”

“How late?” he asked, the devilry vying with desire.

I shifted position and slid up his wet, warm body, my hands on either side of him. “Very, very late,” I murmured, as my lips met his.

For the longest time there was no more talking, only enjoying. When I finally straddled him, pushing him slowly—teasingly—deep into my body, we both groaned in delight. I began to move, slowly at first, then with mounting urgency, until desire burned, and all I wanted to do was reach that peak and shatter into a million pieces.

Then I did, and he did, and it was glorious. Oh, so glorious.

I rested my head against his shoulder for several minutes, breathing heavily and feeling completely—wonderfully—boneless.

Then he sighed, took my face between his palms, and kissed me gently. “You need to construct a void.”

I blinked. “What?”

“For the book,” he said patiently. “You will need to construct a magical void. It’s a zone that can be built around an object to render any outsourced magic emanating from that object useless.”

“How the hell am I supposed to do that?”

“You can’t, but Ilianna could. She is more powerful than you suspect.”

I looked at him. “You’ve only met her once, and then only for a couple of minutes.”

“Which is more than enough time to get a sense of her capabilities.” He paused. “Where is the book now?”

“Somewhere safe,” I said, frowning at his questions. For someone who professed to have no interest in the book, he sure wanted to know a lot about it.

He smiled and tucked a damp strand of hair behind my ear. “As much as I hate to say this, if you get out of this bath right now, you might still make it to work on time.”

“Only if I don’t take you home first. And I thought that was the whole point of me meeting you at the airport.”

“No, the whole point of you meeting me at the airport was me wanting to ravish you. And now I have.”
He gave me another one of those devilish grins. “Of course, I wouldn’t complain if you
did
escort me home, but I rather suspect I’d drag you upstairs and make you even later.”

“A tempting prospect, but one I suspect would piss off Tao and Ilianna.”

“And Ilianna is not a woman I would like pissed off at me,” he agreed.

I laughed, kissed him quickly, then grabbed a towel and headed off to dry and dress.

I caught a cab to work, calling Ilianna in the process to ask if she’d drop in sometime during the shift. As it turned out, I
was
late for work, but only by a few minutes. The place was packed, so I slipped upstairs to dump my spare clothes and change into my work gear, then headed back down to once again help out where I was needed. By six the crowd had eased somewhat, so I headed up to the office to catch up on the paperwork.

Azriel found me there.

“The Raziq may know of this place,” he said, his arms crossed and his expression as stony as I’d ever seen it. “It is not wise to remain here for long.”

I leaned back in my chair and rubbed my temples wearily. Staring at the computer screen trying to make sense of the accounting was not a sensible thing to do after so little sleep. And the last thing I wanted was a confrontation with Azriel. “I can’t turn my life around just because they may or may not know about this place. I won’t go home, but I refuse to abandon everything and everyone in my life.”

He didn’t say anything. Just stared at me disapprovingly.

I sighed. “Look, if it’s true that the Raziq have placed a tracer signal on the book, Lucian has told me a way of getting around it.”

“How would he know?” Azriel’s voice held an edge that sounded a hell of a lot like contempt. “He is neither a priest nor a magic user, and he was stripped of any Aedh powers a long time ago.”

“He wasn’t stripped of
all
of them.” The annoyance surging through me hadn’t yet reached my voice—but I suspected it wouldn’t take that long. “And what does it matter whether he should or should not know? If it works, we’ll be able to read the book without the Raziq dropping in on us.”

“If it
works,” he said.

“If it
doesn’t,
what have we lost?” I snapped my chair forward and leaned my forearms on the desk. “What the hell is your problem?”

He paused. “I have no—”

“Bullshit, Azriel,” I interrupted. “Every time I mention Lucian’s name you get all huffy and hostile.”

He shrugged. “I do not trust him.”

“But
why
? He’s done nothing to prove he’s untrustworthy.”

“And he’s done nothing to prove he
is.”

“Meaning you’ll trust him if this idea of his works?”

“No.”

I snorted softly. “Then you’re just being unreasonable.”

He didn’t say anything. No surprise there. This reaper could make a clam seem chatty.

Footsteps clattered up the stairs, and I knew by the sound it was Ilianna. She might be fleet of foot, but she had a heavier step than most.

“Whoa,” she said, stopping abruptly in the doorway and glancing between Azriel and myself. “Tension, much?”

I grimaced. “It’s just a disagreement about trustworthiness. Nothing major.”

Ilianna’s gaze centered on Azriel. “So who don’t you trust?”

“Lucian,” he said, calmly.

“Why?”

“Good luck getting a real answer for
that
one,” I muttered, at the same time that Azriel said, “Because he is one of the fallen, and they should never be trusted.”

“Is this experience talking, or merely word of mouth?” Ilianna asked.

“Lucian is
fallen.”
He said it like that one word explained it all.

“One mistake does not mean the man is pure evil,” Ilianna said reasonably, though it didn’t look like it was having much impact on Azriel. “Are you sure there’s no deeper reason?”

He lifted an eyebrow. “I do not understand the question.”

Ilianna snorted. “Sure you don’t.” She glanced at me. “You wanted to see me?”

“Would you happen to know how to create a magical void around an object?”

She blinked. “In theory, yes, although I’ve never actually created one. Why?”

“Because—according to Lucian—that’s the only way we can stop the locating spell the Raziq have more than likely placed on the book.”

She grunted, frowning a little. “It may take a day or so. I’ll have to brush up on the technique before I attempt it.”

“Do it. We need to find and destroy these damn keys so my life can return to normal.”

I glared at Azriel as I said it, but he returned it passively. And that was even more frustrating. Damn it, I wanted him to react, wanted him to … what? He was a reaper, for Christ’s sake. I had to stop applying human sensibilities to him.

“It does mean I’ll have to go back home,” Ilianna said. If she still sensed the tension riding between me and Azriel, she didn’t mention it. “Mirri doesn’t have the texts or the equipment I’ll need.”

I frowned. “I don’t like the thought of you going there alone …”

“I will accompany her,” Azriel said abruptly. At my surprised look, he added, “If Ilianna were captured, you would drop everything to rescue her, would you not?”

“Yes.”

“Then it is beneficial for my quest that she not get captured.”

“So glad my safety came into consideration,” Ilianna murmured with a wry grin at me. “Oh, and I’ve found Adeline Greenfield for you. She said to pop in after you’ve finished work. She’ll be home all night.”

“Good.” I accepted the piece of paper she handed me and glanced briefly at the address. Toorak, not far from where Mom had lived. The protection-spell business was obviously booming. I tucked it into my jean pocket and added, “Where are you staying tonight? With Mirri?”

Ilianna nodded. “Although I miss the peace and quiet of our place. Her damn apartment always sounds like it’s in the middle of a battlefield.”

I snorted softly. Mirri lived in one of the old East Melbourne mansion blocks close to her work, and her apartment was on a middle floor, meaning it got noise from above and below. And the families living in the neighboring apartments had no qualms when it came to airing their grievances at the top of their lungs.

“Once we get the void in place around the book, it should be safer at home.”

“Well, I’d better get my ass into gear then, as I really don’t want to be at Mirri’s too long.”

If only, I thought with amusement, because Mirri didn’t have the latest and greatest in security as we did. Mirri might not have lived in Melbourne for as long as Ilianna, but she was infinitely more secure about being here.

“So where are you going to be staying?” Ilianna added.

“I’m not sure yet.” I flicked a glance at Azriel, and couldn’t help adding, “Maybe with Lucian.”

He didn’t react. Not that I could see, anyway. But that chill in the air got suddenly stronger, and a shiver ran down my spine.

Ilianna clicked her tongue. “You, Risa Jones, are positively evil.” She glanced at Azriel. “I’m heading home now. Are you coming?”

“Yes,” he answered. “I shall wait downstairs for you.”

He winked out of existence and, as far as I could tell, actually did leave the room.

“Ris, be careful,” Ilianna said, her gaze coming back to me.

“Is that a general be careful, or a there’s-shit-headed-your-way be careful?”

“General.” She paused, frowning. “I have no sense that Lucian is evil or that he ever intends you harm, but I don’t think you can entirely disregard Azriel’s misgivings. He may have reasons other than what he’s saying, but he’s a warrior—and, like any good warrior, he relies on instinct.”

“Lucian
isn’t
evil, and he’s shown absolutely
no
interest in the damn keys or my father.” And for that alone I would trust him. “He’s just an Aedh who’s been bound to earth and is doing his best to survive.”

She nodded. “I know, and I agree, but I’ve been wrong before and I’d hate for this to be one of those times. So just be careful.”