Chapter Seventeen
Isabel stared up at the bathroom ceiling in the room Moira had given her, thinking. Oz had gone to sleep, leaving her alone, and it was still hours until Gavin would wake up; but Isabel could already feel the hunger beginning to stir deep down in her body, the need mingled with desire that drove her feedings.
She pushed the prodding need out of her mind and tried to think. So much had happened in a week that Isabel wasn’t entirely sure that all of it was even real.
Isabel absently scrubbed at her limbs, shifting in the warm, scented water of the bathtub. Obviously, Moira’s story at least confirmed that the vampire council wanted to go public, and that they were pulling in succubi as some part of the plan to that end. The angels seemed to be – predictably – the “good guys,” but Isabel thought that the common perception of angels was less than fully accurate. She shivered, remembering the rapt, intent look on Oz’s face as Gavin had taken her, the comments that the two men had exchanged about how easily they could make her do whatever they wanted for their attentions.
But how do I know there aren’t good reasons for the vampire council to want what it wants? Away from the direct influence of the two men, Isabel was able to question their motivation. Obviously, Gavin wasn’t merely interested in keeping her from being tortured and manipulated into supporting and promoting the vampire agenda of going public; he had hinted more than once that he wanted her personally.
Isabel heard movement, and turned her head to see Oz walk into the bathroom. “Gavin will be up soon,” Oz told her.
“How long have I been in this bathtub?” Isabel sat up and shivered as the water sluiced down her body, caressing her nipples on its way down. Everything had become even more sensitive, and she thought – somewhat grimly – that she could probably, under the right circumstances, get off even from literal torture, if the person doing it to her was a man. Don’t even think like that. You’re going to be fine.
“Gavin’s an early riser,” Oz said. “As long as he avoids the windows, he’ll be able to leave the room. It’s sunrise and midday that the vampires really need to stay out of; sunset isn’t as potent.”
“Everything is so complicated,” Isabel said, knowing that she was whining and not caring.
“We’re moving on to Paris, tomorrow,” Oz told her. “I’ve made arrangements. Gavin will have to stay behind. He’ll meet with us after he convinces the council that I’m dead.” Oz looked her over slowly, and Isabel could sense the stirrings of desire from the angel.
“Is it really that painful?” Isabel pressed her lips together, cringing at the thought of Oz losing his wings. “You know …”
“Having my wings ripped off? You bet your perfect little ass it’s painful,” Oz said. “It’s the most acutely painful thing an angel can go through.”
“That ... that sounds horrific,” Isabel said. She rose to her feet, and smiled to herself at Oz’s lustful gaze on her body.
“Come here,” Oz said firmly. Isabel stepped quickly out of the bath tub and nearly slipped, but caught herself instinctively, before closing the distance between herself and Oz. Oz pulled her onto his lap, reaching for a towel and wrapping it around her. “Even if you weren’t mine, I would have had a hard time letting anyone else have you,” Oz told her.
“Why is that?” Oz grinned, pressing a delicate kiss to the spot where her neck and shoulder met as his hands moved over her body, drying her and caressing her all at once.
“I chose you for a reason that night, and it had nothing to do with making a succubus,” Oz said. “Even before you were supernaturally endowed, you were amazing.” His hands cupped her breasts and Isabel moaned softly. “You wanted to give yourself up, to be loved – or at least lusted after – with hunger as deep as someone’s soul.”
“I don’t know about all that,” Isabel said, feeling defensive in spite of the current of heat running through her spine, distracting her from human thoughts.
“You don’t remember, do you?” Oz playfully nipped her shoulder – it didn’t have the dangerous feeling of Gavin’s sharp teeth, but it sent a thrill through her nonetheless. “I told you that you could only come when I said, and you …” Oz chuckled. “Your reaction to that was to try and make me come faster, so I wouldn’t be able to deny you.” Oz turned her around and kissed her hungrily on the lips, his hands holding her body tightly to his. “It was only a matter of time before someone chose you for this.”
“It was?” Isabel could feel the hardening ridge of Oz’s cock through his jeans.
“With the war going on, with vampires following angels to turn their conquests ... another angel would have found you, laid you, and another vampire would have completed the process. You’re too good a catch to have gone unnoticed for much longer.”
“Did you know it was going to happen?” Oz shook his head.
“Gavin kept himself pretty well concealed,” Oz told her. “I didn’t even smell him that night when you left. I saw him in the club, of course, but I thought he’d gone after another angel, another girl.” He rocked his hips against hers, and Isabel bit her bottom lip, breathing in sharply at the jolt of lust the feeling of his cock gave her, even through the tough fabric of his jeans.
“So …” Isabel shook her head, trying to clear it. “You just ... chose me?”
“I chose you,” Oz said. “And I’d choose you again in a heartbeat.” He smiled against her lips.
“So would I.” Isabel started and looked over her shoulder at the direction of the voice. Gavin stood in the bathroom door, watching her and Oz intently. He had dressed in a new suit, and looked as gorgeous as ever. Isabel felt the hunger within her growing; she gritted her teeth, almost annoyed at the predictable surge of need, the images that flickered through her head of the two men taking her at once. “Don’t feed her just yet, Oz,” Gavin said. “You’ll need her abilities.”
“You just want to feed on her,” Oz said dismissively.
“I need my strength,” Gavin said, shrugging. “It’s not easy ripping the wings off an angel.”
“You’re strong enough,” Oz told the vampire.
“Do you have to rip them?” Isabel shuddered at the thought. Both Gavin and Oz nodded.
“If they’re cut, it might open up questions,” Gavin said.
“Not to mention he’d need to bleed himself a dozen times to hack them off with any blade,” Oz added. “Ripping them off makes more sense, as painful as it’s bound to be.”
“But they’ll grow back,” Isabel said, making it almost a question. Both men nodded again.
“After about a week,” Oz told her. “It takes that long for them to grow back.” He made a face, rising to his feet and carefully putting Isabel down. The towel fell away from her body and Isabel caught the brief gleam of interest in Gavin’s eyes. “In the meantime, my ability to heal others will be pretty severely diminished.”
“So don’t let anyone get hurt around you,” Isabel said.
“You’ve got the tickets booked?” Oz nodded.
“They weren’t able to freeze my alternate accounts,” Oz told the vampire. “Isabel and I will be in Paris by tomorrow night.”
“I’ll meet you there by the end of the week,” Gavin said. “I’ve given Sophia the codes.” Isabel once more felt like she was profoundly out of her depth, but decided that – all things considered – it could be worse. Definitely worth seeing if I can talk to Moira more before we go.
“Okay then,” Oz said. “Isabel, you’ll probably want to stay out of the room until Gavin comes out with my wings.” Isabel’s stomach twisted inside of her, and she felt her eyes stinging with tears.
Isabel followed the two men out of the bathroom. “Go into the living room, Isabel,” Gavin told her sharply. Isabel’s feet took her in that direction, and cold chills worked through her, negating any hunger she might have felt moments before. She heard the two men walking in the direction of Gavin’s room, and closed her eyes.
Moira sat on the couch, looking troubled but resolute. “Nothing you can do about it except take care of him when Gavin finishes,” Moira told her. “If it makes you feel any better, you and Oz will be absolutely safe in Paris.” Moira smiled slightly. “And there are plenty of men to feed on.”
“I only want to feed on him,” Isabel said.
“For now,” Moira said. The blonde shrugged. “But where you’re going – the safe space in Paris – is full of incubi and succubi, banded together to avoid the vampires. When you’re with your own kind, you might find your loyalties ... tested.”
“Spurring each other to bad decisions?” Isabel remembered what Portia had said about succubi on their own becoming self-destructive.
“The best kind of bad decisions,” Moira said.
From the other end of the house, Isabel heard a sharp, cutting scream. She sank down onto the couch, shivering at the pain she could hear in Oz’s voice. “God … that sounds …”
“Oz will need you, for sure,” Moira said. “Probably for the rest of the night.” In spite of her anxiety and pity for Oz, Isabel could feel the hunger rising up in her again; she knew that however much Oz needed her, and for however long, she would keep feeding from him, and keep supplying him with the pleasure he needed to recover. “You’ll get over it,” Moira said blandly.
“I hope not,” Isabel said. “I hope I never get over not wanting people to be tortured.”
“You should spend more time with Gavin, once he’s free,” Moira told her. “You need balance, you need to learn how to be your full self.” Another scream reached Isabel’s ears from the other end of the house, and she closed her eyes.
A few moments later, she heard movement and looked up to see Gavin walk into the living room, two golden, feathered wings in his hands. “Go to Oz right now,” he said. “We’ll talk more once you’re done treating him.” Gavin closed his eyes, and Isabel saw the compassion in his face, so strange after the ruthlessness she had seen in him before. “Don’t let him dismiss you until he’s fully recovered.”
Isabel walked past him, headed to where Oz lay in Gavin’s light-tight room, and thought to herself that it would get interesting indeed when she, Oz, and Gavin were all together; both men were able to command her immediate, unquestioning obedience, and Isabel knew that there was no way the two men agreed on everything – or even, necessarily, on the most important things. She put the image of Oz’s wings out of her mind, and knew that whatever else happened, she was committed to both the angel and the vampire, and that no matter what forces existed arrayed against them, she was fully born, fully transformed into her new state. She was going to take an active role in making sure the right people won the war.
END OF BOOK 1