CHAPTER 24
Empty wine bottle in hand, Eden strolled down the hallway. The recycle bins sat outside the back door. There was an old man in the neighborhood who went around monthly and collected wine bottles from everyone. He crushed them and sold the tiny bits as mulch for gardens. Eden had noted a few gardens on the drive here that glittered under the sunlight.
She pressed a hand to the door, but stopped before the latch clicked open. She’d almost forgot. The wards. She was trapped inside until Ashur got home.
He’d left her bed so quickly, she would take it as rejection if she hadn’t known what had been on his mind.
He suspected the same thing.
Setting the wine bottle on the laundry sink, she leaned over and toyed with the constant drip no amount of fussing with the handle would stop.
Ashur wasn’t your standard guy who could do odd jobs around the house, grill a burger and tinker with the car engine. Though after he’d walked the world to gain knowledge, he probably possessed those skills and more, Eden figured.
She needed to imagine him bent over the engine of her car, his jeans slipping low on his hips and a smudge of grease on his cheek. That picture fit into her idea of normal.
Okay, so normal for her was handing the driver the keys and sending him off to the shop to fix whatever was wrong with the vehicle, then signing the credit-card statement a month later.
All her life she’d never wished for more or less. Her father, while distant, had managed to keep her grounded. She didn’t need fancy balls, though she did like to attend charity events. She didn’t require bling or sports cars or a fifty-thousand-dollar platinum cell phone.
All she needed was someone with whom she could share her life. Someone normal. Someone who would not abandon her. Was that asking too much?
A bang toward the front of the house made Eden stand up and listen. Must have been the wind. It gushed across the lavender fields today, filling the house with the scent. Eden recognized the creak that followed.
The front door. He was back.
She skipped down the hallway and into the kitchen only to find it was not Ashur poking his head through the door, but a stranger—who had opened the door.
“Stop! Don’t open the door!”
Her cry only succeeded in prompting him to step inside and quickly close the door behind him.
“Sorry, ma’am.” He removed the black fedora from his head and nodded. “It wasn’t locked and no one answered after I’d knocked a few times.”
“So you just…” Eden touched the door, running her fingers over the wood and trying to determine if the ward was still activated. She couldn’t sense it even if it was, but going through the motion stilled her raging need to beat him over the head.
Remembering a stranger stood behind her, she swung about, pressing her shoulders to the door. “Who are you? Did Mr. Cantello send you for the wine bottles?”
“I’m Michael Donovan.” He offered a hand to shake, but she remained pinned to the door. Why had she decided to leave her little blade behind?
“What do you want?”
“I believe you and I have a common interest we should discuss.”
“How did you find me here? Have we spoken online?”
She pressed a hand to the door. If he opened it to leave would the wards be further damaged? Would the signal to Zaqiel grow stronger? No, the signal was not activated as long as she didn’t itch. The scarf around her neck protected the itch, but she felt it tingle now.
“My boyfriend is on his way,” she said, hoping to make him leery, or flat out leave. “He’ll be here any minute.”
“I’m not going to harm you, Miss Campbell. And I apologize for walking in like that. It was rude. Please, relax.”
“Yes, well, you can’t imagine what harm you have done merely by opening my door.”
“Is that so?” He tilted his head to study her. He was attractive and had narrow blue eyes, short dark hair and a scar at the corner of his eye. A kind face that she’d normally smile at if passing him in the street. Did she know him? “Tell me what I’ve done.”
“Even if I could explain the intricacies, you wouldn’t understand.” She crossed her arms and paced toward the table. “By opening that door, you’ve broken wards meant to keep me safe.”
“From the vampires?”
She turned swiftly, meeting his worried gaze. “Vampires? What in the world…”
He winced at her reaction. “So you don’t know about them. Sorry. Didn’t mean to toss that one out there. What else would you need protection from?”
“I still don’t know who you are, and I’m worried a crazy man is in my house.”
“I’m a halo hunter, Miss Campbell. I’ve come from your penthouse in Manhattan, and—”
“You were at my home?” She backed toward the counter where the knife rack sat. “Halo hunter?”
“I’ve been tracking you online for a few months. You buy halos, yes?”
“And what does a halo hunter do?” She didn’t want to give him any information he might already know. “Were you in my house?”
“The construction crew was repairing a window. I admit I did slip in for a bit.”
Turning and grabbing the only knife left in the wood block, she was disheartened when it turned out to be a small paring knife with only a three-inch blade.
“You don’t need that.” Donovan put up his hands in placation. “I said I’m not here to hurt you. I want to talk. We’re on the same side, I promise you.”
“Yeah?” She wielded the knife, point out, not about to drop the small piece of security. “What side is that?”
“The one opposite the vampires.”
“I don’t know how vampires play into all this. I think you’re in the wrong movie, mister.” Out of her peripheral vision she thought she saw the door open, and her eyes flew toward it. But the door remained closed.
“They’re after the halos,” her unwelcome visitor explained. “To lure the Fallen, and ultimately see them get a muse pregnant and give birth to a nephilim.”
Eden dropped the hand she held the knife in to her side. Wow. He knew everything. But vampires? Ashur hadn’t mentioned bloodsuckers were a part of the deal.
“You follow what I’m saying,” he said. “I can tell by the fact that you’re not calling the police and haven’t tried to throw that little knife at me.”
She set the paring knife on the counter. It could do little harm, and really, if she tried to attack him he could take it from her and turn the attack on her. “Fallen angels and nephilim I get. Vampires are new to me.”
“Yeah, well, they were new to me only a few months ago. Now they seem to turn up everywhere I go. I confess I took the halos from your office. It was necessary,” he said quickly as she started to protest. “The vampires are tracking them. I promise I will return them to you after…well, whatever the hell this is, is all over.”
“You stole my…” He’d been in her home, had touched her things and had taken the halos, which meant so much to her. “I think you need to leave.”
“That’s another one.” Ignoring her plea, he noted the halo stuck in the wall and approached it.
“Don’t touch it!”
The halo glowed blue. Donovan retracted from his attempt to touch. He shot a wondrous look at her. “I’ve never seen one do that before.”
The front door slammed inward, and Ashur’s imposing dark figure filled the doorway. He took one look at Michael Donovan and crossed the room and slammed him against the wall.