Sacrifice (Revelations Book 1) (9 page)

Abby laughed. "I know. I was only teasing. Sure, I'd like that."

His hands slipped around her waist as he pressed his body against hers. She was instantly aware of his intentions. He was rock hard and pressing his hips into hers as they started to move. "What's your name?"

"Abby. You?"

"I'm Jake, nice to meet you. Are you new in town?"

She nodded. "Yeah, I'm staying with a friend."

His gaze slid to the bar for a moment. "I saw you with Nico, I didn't think the old drunk had any friends."

She smiled again but inside she wanted to jump to Nico's defense. She had an overwhelming desire to not make a scene. Jake’s arms tightened around her waist, he was grinding against her and moving his mouth dangerously close to her neck. She stiffened but kept moving. She wasn’t enjoying his hands touching her or the vice like grip his arms currently held her in. Beyond the personal space issues, she was getting tired of this idea that Nico was an old man. Hell, he was in his thirties, he wasn't dead. "He's not that old."

"Maybe not, but he is a drunk."

"You think?" She paused and glanced over to where Nico had been sitting but the bar stool was now empty. She muttered, "Maybe he's just trying to forget something."

Nico's voice came from behind her. "Who's trying to forget what?"

Abby beamed as relief flooded her when Jake’s grip on her hips lessened. "Nothing."

The young man bristled. "Nico, what's going on?"

Nico turned his attention on the oil worker. "Not much, just thought I'd cut in and steal Abby from you for a minute."

Jake’s fists clenched. Something unsaid passed between the two of them. Whatever it was, Nico won out. "Fine. Abby it was nice to meet you."

"Nice meeting you too." Abby barely got the words out before Nico had her in his arms. She gave him a playful smile. "Are you jealous?"

A tense laugh quickly died on his lips as Nico started to move her across the small dance floor. "Of course not."

She arched a brow. "Then why?"

"Okay, maybe I just don't like seeing some man you don't even know putting his hands on you."

"Afraid I'm going to eat him?"

"No, it's just..." He shook his head. "It's nothing."

"It's just what? Because cutting in on an innocent dance isn't nothing. Be straight with me, Nico."

“There wasn’t anything innocent about that dance.” He muttered. She arched a brow and he cleared his throat. "All right, fine. Yes, I was jealous. Look at you. It hasn't escaped me that you're gorgeous."

Abby blushed and shook her head.

"You are, don't shake your head no at me."

Sure she knew he physically responded to her, especially the night they spent on the couch, but he’d never said anything about it. He certainly never complimented her. A sly grin spread across her lips. She couldn’t pass up the opportunity to tease him a little bit. "I thought as a priest you weren't supposed to notice things like that."

"I haven't been a priest for a long time and even priests have eyes, we aren't dead."

"You admit you were jealous. You even said you think I’m gorgeous, and yet you still think of me as a monster?"

"What can I say, I'm a walking contradiction." His grip tightened around her waist pulling her in closer as he dipped his head down to rest his forehead against hers. All the air seemed to disappear from the room in that moment. Her head spun from the nearness of him when his raspy voice whispered in her ear. "But for now, let's just forget all that."

A flutter of nerves hit her and Abby’s voice cracked, "okay."

His scent wasn't laden with alcohol as it had been when she first met him. She'd noticed it before but chalked it up to just getting used to the smell, but being this close to him she could tell he hadn't been drinking tonight. In fact, from the crisp smell clinging to his warm skin he might not have had a drink in days. She glanced at his glass still on the counter and sure enough the liquid was still full even though she could have sworn she'd seen him drinking from it. Something had changed with him.

"You doing okay there?"

"Huh? Yeah." She rested her head against his chest. "Sorry, I was lost in thought."

"Good thoughts?"

Abby shrugged. "More like confusing thoughts."

"About me?"

She did her best to play it off, but he'd hit the nail on the head. "Well, you are the most confusing person I know."

"I just try to keep you on your toes." He dipped her and she held her breath. His mouth hovered dangerously close to hers. Heat pooled at her core and her mind swam with what it would be like to kiss him. Her body spoke volumes that her mouth and brain were incapable of saying. She saw it in his eyes as they watched each other. His eyes traveled over her and her skin warmed. There was no doubt that her face was flush as her unsteady breath caught in her throat when his eyes settled on her mouth. When he pulled her back up, his hand cupped her cheek and drew her closer. She could feel his breath against her lips. His mouth was a fraction of an inch away from hers and her tongue darted out to lick her bottom lip. His body became stiff as a board, his other hand fisted in the soft fabric of her t-shirt. "Abby..."

"Yes?"

Even his whispers were ragged as if it strained him to even say her name. "I want you."

She leaned up hoping to entice him further. "Please don't stop."

He squeezed his eyes shut and mouthed something to himself before he pulled back. "I can't. I can't do this with you."

His words hit her like a wrecking ball demolishing a building. "You can't?" He'd pointed out long ago she had no real heart, but she knew it was a lie because at this moment it was breaking and you can't break something that isn't there. On top of the heartbreak, she was humiliated. In front of the entire bar he'd almost kissed her, but pulled away.

Stepping back, she collected herself. She could be the bigger person here. She could gather up what little bit of dignity she had and salvage this night. "I understand, Nico." Her voice stayed as steady as she could make it but a hint of hurt seeped into her words. "It's fine."

She turned to leave but he caught her arm and spun her back to him. His hands gripped the sides of her head as his mouth crushed hers. A warm rush of fire filled her at the invasion of his tongue. His hand tilted her head upwards as he kept his mouth locked on hers. Seconds ticked by, her arms had wrapped around his neck. The bar had grown silent and the hairs on the back of her neck prickled as she imagined every eye in the building was trained on them in the middle of the dance floor.

When he finally released her she staggered back a few steps. "What was that for?"

"I'm pretty sure I made my intentions clear, Abby."

"Well, you just said you couldn't do that with me."

He shrugged and slid his hands in his pockets. "I guess I overestimated my willpower to resist you."

She blushed and stood dumb-struck for a moment. "I guess so."

Nico’s entire demeanor shifted. His chin was high, shoulders back, and a pleased-with-himself grin brightened his face. Giving her a playful wink he turned and started back to the bar.

“Wait.” A tightness formed in her chest. What was going on here? “Is that it? You’re leaving?”

She stiffened as he smiled at her. “I’m gonna finish my water, you and Chloe are going to enjoy yourselves.” She could feel a tick working in her jaw. He was brushing her off after their first kiss. She wanted to stomp and demand an answer to why he would kiss her like that and then pretend nothing had happened. Before she could protest he stepped up to her, one arm wrapping around her waist and jerking her flush against his hard body. “You and Chloe are going to enjoy yourselves, then when we go home we can pick up where we left off. I don’t think Lobo will appreciate it if I fuck you right here on the dance floor.”

Her cheeks burned and she gave a coy laugh. “We could leave now.”

Nico shook his head. “I’m enjoying making you wait.”

Her bottom lip jutted out. “You’re awful.” His lips were on hers again, soft and teasing and oh so inviting. Abby moaned against his mouth. When he pulled back she stumbled back to find her footing. “You’re serious.”

“Yep. You’ve tortured me all these weeks, now it’s my turn to torture you.”

“I never tortured you.”

“Every moan and whimper you make in your sleep, the sway of your hips, every time you come out of the shower dripping wet and wrapped in a towel. That’s torture for me, and I intend to repay you for it, at least for an hour or two.”

She swatted at the air and spun on her heels. “Fine, have your fun. Maybe I’ll torture you when we get home in return.”

He laughed and headed to the bar. Over his shoulder he called back at her, “You wouldn’t dare.”

The night wound down with Nico keeping a close eye on Abby but giving her freedom to have fun with Chloe on the dance floor and learning to hone her dart skills. Abby kept a close eye on him as well, offering him up small smiles whenever he caught her looking at him.

Chloe nudged Abby to regain her attention. "Will those kisses lead to anything more?"

He had definitely promised more, but as he’d once told her nothing ever went smoothly so she tried her best not to dwell on it. "Sometimes a kiss is just a kiss, maybe he just had too much to drink tonight." It was a lie. He hadn’t had an actual drink the whole night, but deep in the pit of her stomach her nerves clenching. Nothing in these past weeks had been good, nothing had gone her way, so getting her hopes up about a kiss wasn't high on her list of things to torture herself with. She knew this could go south quickly. All it would take would be one wrong word, one sideways glance, one act of fate and this warm feeling she had would be gone.

"Don't be a pessimist, Abby." Chloe handed her another dart. "I think this will all work out for the best."

"Oh you do, do you?" Abby tossed the dart at the bulls-eye and turned to her new friend. "Is that merely optimism or are you using some magick to draw your conclusion?"

"Just optimism. I don’t need magick to see the way he looks at you."

"How does he look at me?" She glanced over her shoulder to catch his gaze lingering on her again and smiled.

Chloe leaned in and whispered. "Like his world begins and ends with you."

“His world does sort of begin and end with me. You know, the whole key to the apocalypse thing. Maybe he’s just keen to keep a close eye on me in case he needs to stake me and open up the Gates of Hell.”

“Nope, that’s not it. Lucas looks at me the same way Nico looks at you. He’s looked at you like that for a while now. He’s captivated by you.”

"Of course Lucas looks at you like that. You’re like a living, breathing goddess. I’m a vampire. We’re quite different. You are magick, I’m death." Abby arched a brow. "Or does Lucas not know that you are a Striga, that you use magick?"

Chloe grinned. "Oh he knows, in fact he is one of the hands of God, so he's pretty well versed in all things church related."

"Wait.” Abby scratched her temple, there was that phrase again. "What do you mean he's one of the hands of God?"

Nico's voice interrupted them. "Heavenly Virtues, they’re tools of the Almighty. But enough about Chloe's love life, it's time to head home. We don't want to get caught out when the sun comes up."

Abby glanced around the bar, most of the denizens were filtering out of the tavern. She nodded and gave Chloe a quick hug. "Thanks for everything tonight."

Chloe giggled. "We just hit the tip of the iceberg, wait until you see what I've got in store for you tomorrow night."

Nico snaked an arm around Abby's waist to draw her towards the door. "Not tomorrow night, kid. We have to work. There's a demon swarm about ten miles out. We're going to go cull their herd a little."

"Fine." Chloe huffed and waved them off.

Nico kept his hand on Abby's hip as the last of the patrons left. From what Abby could tell, Lobo and Chloe were all that remained in the bar. She gave them a quick wave good bye. They were almost at the door when someone bumped into them. The splash of liquid and a high-pitched squeak made Abby cringe.

Nico pulled Abby back to his side. Her eyes widened. The woman she'd ran into earlier stood in front of them brushing droplets of water from her blouse. The words I'm sorry came to mind but Nico beat her to the punch. "We're sorry, are you okay?"

"I'm fine, really." When the woman looked up recognition flashed in her eyes. "Father? Father Lynch?"

Nico paused, squinting in the low light of the bar. "Yes, do I know you?" Abby watched as his face cleared of confusion, as if clarity had hit him upside his head. "Sister Rosalie, what are you doing here?"

Her smile faltered a bit. "Actually it's just Rosalie now."

"You left the sisterhood?"

She nodded.

"When, why?"

"Shortly after your, um, dismissal. I couldn't stay there after witnessing their hypocrisy."

"You left because of me?" Abby could feel the weight of this woman’s actions on Nico's soul, he would tear himself up over this newest revelation.