Eve of Chaos (6 page)

Eve held a
protein shake aloft. “Want one?”

Alec eyed the
green beverage with obvious wariness. Dressed in long shorts and a white
sleeveless T-shirt with steel-toed boots, he had the bad-boy look down to a
science. His shades were hung backward and rested against his nape, tangling
with the overlong mane of dark hair that she loved to run her fingers through.

Behind him,
early morning sunlight filtered into her living room. Sydney was asleep in the
guest room after an all-night watch, and Montevista was outside getting reports
from the guards on the street. Beyond her balcony, surfers called out to each
other as they hit the waves before the workday.

“You’ve got that
look in your eyes,” Alec said, grinning. “You want me.”

She turned her
back to him. “I’ll take that as a no.”

“Yes. I want
it.” He approached. “I want whatever you’re dishing out. Enough that if you
don’t hurry up and give it to me, I just might have to take it.”

There was a dark
undertone to his voice that set off alarms. The old, prearchangel Alec would
never say such a threat to her, but the new Alec.
. .
Not only did he say things that were out of character,
she half feared he wasn’t entirely kidding when he said them.

Eve reached
behind her and proffered the glass. His fingers curled around hers, warm
compared to the chill of the shake. He kept coming until his every exhale
disturbed the loose tendrils of hair that always escaped her ponytail. Through
their connection, she sensed his pleasure in the smell of her shampoo and the
way their bodies fit so well together. The sharing of information worked in
reverse, too, so he knew damn well what he was doing to her. When he stepped
back, she missed his body heat, but she didn’t miss the darkness in him that
chilled her.

There’s
something... in me,
he’d told her
recently, and she believed him. She sometimes felt it. It was ruthless and
cold, and it took every opportunity to slither against her.

She poured
another glass from the remains in the blender. Her hands shook slightly in
response to his proximity. Desire—for sex and/or violence—was the only emotion
that affected a Mark’s nervous system. “Let’s go back to the construction site
where we first learned about Gehenna Masonry.”

There was a
pause, then he said, “Shit. I forgot about the tengu.”

“Me, too, until
last night.” In the process of hunting down the initial masked tengu, she and
Alec had ended up at a construction site for a new Gadara Enterprises
building—Olivet Place. They’d killed the two tengu they found there, but.
. .
“The building has four corners. Since they like to
pack together, I figure they’d want to regroup.”

“Why not go back
to Upland where they were created?”

Facing him, Eve
leaned back into the edge of the counter. “Because we blew it up?”

“You know what I
mean. Why Raguel’s building? Why not one of the others on Gehenna Masonry’s
list?”

“Because I was
invited to this one. Remember?”

“Right,” he
murmured. “The invitation.”

“One of many dangling
threads in my life.”

She’d stumbled
upon the building by accident in her search for the tengu, but later found an
opening- day invite in her mailbox. It had been a mock-up of the final
invitation and not yet ready for publication, but someone had addressed it to
her and mailed it. Someone had wanted her to check it out.

“I looked into
it,” he told her. “You were invited because all local interior designers and
architects were. I checked it out myself. Your name was definitely on the list.
All of your old colleagues at the Weisenberg Group were.”

“Were the other
invitations going to be shipped to home addresses?”

He leaned into
the island. The casual pose did nothing
to
hide his alertness. “Good
point. It should have been mailed to your office.”

“At the time, I
asked you what the chances were that I would be lured to a demon-infested
building at the exact same time I was marked. And you said—”

“—slim to none.”

Eve nodded. “So
what changed your mind?”

“My thoughts
went along these lines: the invitations were ordered by Raguel, the infestation
was in one of his buildings, and we eradicated the two tengu we found when we
got here.”

“So you thought
it was the work of a divine hand?”

“Could be. The
good guys benefited. Anyway, why would an Infernal deliberately set up
something that could potentially expose the mask? Makes no sense.”

“Is it possible
that Gadara set it all up?” She wouldn’t put it past him. The archangel had
been making her job as difficult as possible from the very beginning. As a
mentor and Mark pair, Alec and she were a package deal. Gadara was relishing
the novel opportunity to have Cain—and Cain’s prestige— attached to his firm.
However, his coup didn’t stop him from using Eve to assert his authority over
Alec. By moving her around like a pawn, he forced Alec to toe the line or risk
her paying the consequences.

“He’s more
direct, you know that.”

“But if you
believe the invitation was celestially motivated, someone had to know about the
tengu. Who?”

“Angel, it could
go as high as the seraphim.”

“Why not use the
established chain of command? Send the order to Gadara, he would assign it to a
handler, a handler would assign it to a trained and capable Mark. Bringing it
straight to me is ridiculous.”

“Is it? You got
the job done.”

“Flattery will
get you nowhere in this. Other times, maybe. But not this time.”

He gave her an
exasperated look. “I take it you’re thinking this is part of a plot of some
sort?”

“I don’t know.
That’s why we’re heading over there.”

His dark eyes
were amused. “You know, your brain turns me on.”

“Everything
turns you on.”

“Everything
about
you.”

“You’re feeling
punchy this morning.”

“I like being
out in the field. Especially with you. Your ability to attract disasters
definitely keeps things interesting.”

“Not funny.” Eve
drank deeply and tried to picture him at a desk job. After a minute, she gave
up.

“This shake
isn’t bad,” Alec noted, licking his lips.

“What a
compliment.” The shake was orange juice and banana with green tea protein
powder. She thought it was delicious, plus it would keep her fueled for a few
hours at least. Marks burned calories like mad. As Reed said,
Highly
efficient machines use superior fuel.
Translation: she ate like a sumo
wrestler.

“I thought I was
making you One-Eyed Jacks.”

“When we get
back. I’m eager to get moving.”

“To face a
possible horde of tengu? Why?”

“Can’t you read
my mind?” she challenged, even as she shut a mental door in his face.

His gaze narrowed
with concentration, then one dark brow rose. “We have to figure out how you do
that.”

“What’s to
figure out? My acclimation has been out of whack from the beginning.” She
rinsed her glass out in the sink. He came up beside her and shoved his under
the running water. At the same moment, the thought of the Nix entered both of
their heads. As one, they pushed the thought away. One demon at a time.

“I’m serious,
angel. Our connection can save your life.”

“Not my fault.
My Novium happened way too soon. Let’s face it: the mark and I don’t mesh
well.”

The Novium was a
physical and mental transition Marks suffered through to progress from trainee
to full-fledged. Like puberty, it altered a Mark’s physical makeup, enhancing
already keen senses and instilling a devil-may-care confidence. Side effects
were edginess and lowered inhibitions. It created a fever that strengthened a
Mark’s tie to her handler while cauterizing the connection to her mentor. In
Eve’s case, it had created a triumvirate communication pathway that she was
pretty sure would drive her crazy one day.

“Don’t blame
this on the mark,” he chastised. “You’re closing me off on purpose.”

“You don’t need
to know everything.”

He caught her
around the waist when she tried to pass and tugged her close. “I
want
to
know you, inside and out.”

“So figure me
out the old-fashioned way. It’s more interesting that way.”

She’d been in
love with him since she was eighteen years old. It sucked that while he was
back in her life now, he could never stay in it permanently. Alec was a killer
by nature. He didn’t just excel at it, he loved it. Not the kind of guy a woman
settled down and had kids with. Of course, Marks were physically incapable of
bearing children, but that wasn’t the point.

Alec pressed a
kiss to the tip of her nose. “You ready to go?”

“Don’t shift!”
she said quickly. “Let’s take the bike.”

“Ha! Make you a
moving target? No way.”

“It’s less than
ten minutes away! Besides, you don’t even know if the bounty is real.”

“I’m not using
you as bait to find out.” Eve reached around and cupped his ass, giving him a
slow, firm squeeze.

“Not fair’ he
rumbled.

“Did you forget
how to ride after all that shifting around you’ve been doing?”

“Hardly.”

“I can drive,”
she purred, looking up at him from beneath heavy-lidded eyes. “You can shield
my back. No Infernal is going to mess with badass Cain of Infamy.”

“You
better not mess with me either,” he warned, his eyes
dark, “unless you’re prepared to deliver.”

“Hanging on
while I drive is a guaranteed way to cop a feel.”

“With our
clothes on,” he retorted. “Not nearly as fun.”

Despite his
protests, he shifted them into the carport next to his Heritage Softail. It was
a black and chrome beauty, boasting custom saddlebags and a well-worn seat.

“Well, look at
that.” Eve whistled. “I was half expecting it to be covered in dust.”

Alec tossed her
the keys. “Shut up and hop on, before I change my mind.”

Five minutes
later, they were roaring out of the subterranean garage. When the
Bible-thumping Evil Santa on the corner screamed
“Jezebel!”
after her,
she stuck her tongue out at him. Alec gave her a playful swat to the hip.

Told you,
she muttered.

Behave.

Taking Hamilton
to Magnolia, Eve weaved confidently among the massive sport utility vehicles, sleek
Porsches, and hybrids. A variety of music filled the air from open
windows—thumping bass, twanging guitars, and soulful ballads. For the first
time in far too long, she didn’t wonder how many of the drivers around her were
lower-ranking demons. She forcibly shut out the world and concentrated on the
joy of driving a Harley with the hottest man on the planet wrapped around her.
As far as Heaven went, this was pretty close.

They reached the
Gothic-inspired office building before she was ready. Eve considered driving on
and circling back later, but a Jeep Liberty was pulling away from the metered
curb just as they pulled up. Recogmzing the celestial hint, Eve steered the hog
into the spot and cut the engine.

“Got you here in
one piece,” she teased, pulling off her helmet.

The heated
thoughts in his mind slipped into hers, telling her bluntly that the feel of
her body so close to his was something he craved to a dangerous degree. She
slid off the bike and kept her gaze on the building, her breathing altered by
the depths of his arousal. There was nothing tender about it. It was pure
ferocious lust.

“You can run.
. .“
he warned.

But she couldn’t
hide. Her head turned, her senses perking up and searching out any possible
threats. The scent of rotting soul drifted on the balmy breeze, but not in a
quantity that would alarm her. Infernals were everywhere, working every sort of
job, living in every community. Their presence alone wasn’t concerning, only
the number, which seemed to be under control.

Unless some were
masked.

“It wears off,
remember?” Alec said, securing the helmets to the bike.

“There could be
more.”

“Doubtful, since
we killed the creators. Regardless, Hank is working on an antidote.”

Eve looked over
her shoulder at him. “Really?”

“Would I lie to
you?”

“Are you sure
you want to go there?”

He held up both
hands in a gesture of surrender, but the wicked curve of his lips ruined the
image.

Shaking her
head, she started toward the front door. The building wasn’t yet fully
operational, but the lobby area was completed and an office for the sales team
and property manager was open for business. A perky blonde in a sleek gray suit
rushed out when they entered, then laughed when Eve pulled out her Gadara
Enterprises badge. “I was ready to give you my sales pitch.”