CHAPTER 11
Cooper’s simmering rage boiled over at the man’s insolence. He tossed the throwing star, landing it on the table between the man’s arms.
Donovan lifted a brow, but didn’t look down at the weapon. “After the hell I’ve been through the past few weeks, that impresses me little. Got anything better?”
“Oh, I do, but you’d piss your pants and I happen to like that chair.”
The man opened his jacket to reveal the handle of a gun. “Let’s see who pisses first.”
Cooper lunged, grabbing the guy by the shirt and lifting him from the chair. The man’s blue eyes remained cool. Then Cooper noticed the hard gun barrel poking his ribs.
Anger took over. Screw humanity. Juphiel was not completely absent from this mortal costume.
“I can see we’re going to have to do this the hard way,” Cooper said. He shoved the man and he landed the chair with an “ouf!”
The change came over him swiftly. Cooper growled as mortal flesh gave way to his natural angelic state. He could only shift halfway, from hips up, since he’d Fallen. That’s all he needed. In twenty seconds he stood before the man whose smirk had dropped, as well as the gun barrel.
* * *
“Holy shit!” Donovan stumbled out of the chair and Cooper backed him toward the wall.
Cooper knew what he looked like. Not for human consumption. His eyes glowed blue, as did the sigil on his abdomen. His upper body was of liquid glass designed to emulate human ribs and gut. His glass heart glimmered between crisscrossing glass rib bones. And his jaw clacked when he opened it wide to growl.
“Impressed now?” Cooper asked in a voice edged with a bell-like scrape that, to mortals, sounded like glass cutting stone.
Donovan nodded furiously. “You’re a-an angel?”
That he knew what kind of creature he was surprised Cooper, and in that moment the irrational anger subsided. He released the man and stepped away, folding his wings in to his body. They collapsed in a manner that tucked up neatly, and took less space than their full expansion did. Neat trick. Came with the territory.
“All this time I’ve been hunting halos and I’ve never seen one of you—wow. In your real form.” The man had dropped the gun on the floor. Now he shrugged his hands through his hair, and gestured as he exclaimed, “Christ, it’s amazing!”
“Christ is amazing. Me?” Cooper stepped closer. “Not so much. Now what did you just say you were hunting?”
“Ha-halos.”
“Halos?” He smashed his fist into the wall near Donovan’s head. The Sheetrock dusted. “Who the hell are you?”
“I—I already said—”
Cooper gripped him by the front of his polo shirt. The man jumped at the cold sting of glass flesh to his feeble mortal flesh.
“I’m a halo hunter!” he pleaded. “I’ve dozens of halos I’ve collected over the years.”
“Angel halos?”
“What other kinds are there?”
“Michael Donovan?” MD. The MD he’d been trying to get more information about from Eden Campbell. Well, well.
“Could you let me go now? My girlfriend gave me this shirt. Dude, you are cold.”
Dropping the man and stepping back, Cooper released his half form and wriggled his upper body as it took on human costume. It was scare tactics. A stupid move. He shouldn’t angel up for any mortal who pissed him off. But his privacy had been violated and he had been in a fine temper.
Gotta watch his temper.
His shirt had been sacrificed for the shift. Cooper slapped a palm against his biceps and shrugged off the final shiver of the change.
“That was incredible.”
Cooper winced. He was not a performing circus act. “Michael Donovan?”
The man nodded effusively.
“So you’re the MD I’ve been reading about online?”
“Maybe. I’m careful about my posts online. Usually code them so no one can track them.”
“There was mention of an MD in Eden Campbell’s posts to Cassandra Stevens.”
“You know Eden?”
Cooper shrugged. “Not exactly.”
“You’re honest. Eden is the one who told me you’d contacted her asking about me. She had no idea who you were, but the way you worded your post made her believe you knew angels were real. And now I understand why.” He reached behind his hip and Cooper clenched a fist. “Just getting my wallet.”
Michael produced a brown leather wallet and opened it before Cooper. He took out a folded paper and handed it over. “Take a look. I can’t believe it.”
With one eye on the man who had violated his sanctum, Cooper unfolded the paper. He swallowed down an oath at sight of the image. It looked like one of those fantasy paintings artists designed on the computer. But the most shocking thing? Blue glass body, and emerald-and-azure wings. And the sigil was exact.
“It’s me.”
“Yes! What you looked like just now, shifted and all. Eden Campbell painted that.”
“I don’t understand. How?”
“She’s a muse who dreams about angels. Never thought she’d be so spot on though. Wow. Just…wow. I’ve never experienced angelophany.”
“What the heck is that?”
“It’s you. Appearing before me.”
“I didn’t appear. You broke in. Big difference.”
“Sorry. The door wasn’t locked.” Donovan raked fingers through his hair. “What does an angel want with me? You’re Fallen, right?”
“Yes. According to Miss Campbell—”
“It’s missus now. She got married last month. To a, erm…” He scratched his jaw, dismissing the thought. “Right. Back to why you wanted to find me.”
“You have halos from angels,” Cooper said to the man who wiped the sweat from his brow. He still couldn’t get over the painting. It was him, all right. Dreams? And another muse? “How do you find them?”
“It’s difficult, but they’re all over the world if someone knows what they’re looking for. Buried in the earth. Stuck in an Alaskan iceberg. Shoved in a box sitting on the front lawn of a garage sale.”
“A garage sale?” Cooper gaped. That the one thing most sacred to him could be found by such a means. He gripped Donovan by the shirt. “Do you have mine?”
“I—I don’t know. It’s not as if I can match your sigil to it. Very striking by the way.” He glanced downward where Cooper’s sigil was impressed upon his abdomen. When not glowing it assumed the color of muddy tea. “I wouldn’t know it was your halo unless you held the thing and it glowed.”
“And how do you know that?”
“I’ve seen it happen.”
The man had seen an angel holding his halo? Wait. “I thought I was the first angel you’ve seen? Angelophany, and all.”
“Oh, you are. It’s complicated. Trust me.”
“Not even going to go there with the trust.”
Cooper laid the paper on the table and studied it further. She’d even got the red glass heart right. He shoved upright and turned on Donovan.
“Where are they?” Cooper asked. “I need to see them. All of them.”
“Not with me. I sure as hell am not going to carry them around in this city full of vampires.”
“You know about the vampires, too?”
“Hard not to. If you know anything about what’s up, you should know they’re after the halos. That’s why I’m here. Well, that, and I promised Eden I’d check you out.”
“How did you know I lived here? Have you been tracking me?” Cooper reached for his lower back. He hated that the vampires had a connection to him. “Are you allied with the vampires?”
“I am as far from allied with the vampires as a man can possibly be. At least when it comes to terms of engagement with the enemy. There are many ways to an alliance—”
“Is that so?” Cooper gripped the man’s chin and jerked his head aside to expose his neck. There, behind the high collar of his black shirt, two faint marks sat right over the jugular vein. “Seems to me you’re about as allied as a mortal can be. You’ve been bitten.”
“By my girlfriend. She’s a vamp.”
“And you’re not allied with them?” He shoved the man hard and his chair toppled. “What sort of lies are you telling me? Let me take a look—”
Cooper went to place his palm against the man’s forehead, but Donovan scrambled away. “Oh, I know how that one works, buddy. I don’t want you playing around inside my head. Just let me explain.”
He knew too much. Cooper couldn’t decide if that was an advantage or just plain wrong.
“I’m listening. Make it fast. Make it the truth.”
“It’s a long story, but my girlfriend recently escaped from the control of the vampire tribe Anakim. They reside here in Paris under the command of Antonio del Gado.”
That much Cooper knew was true. “Continue.”
“Vinny—my girlfriend—is on my side now, which is not the vampires’ side.”
“I don’t believe you.”
“You don’t have to, Grigori.”
Cooper dismissed the term with a wave of hand. He did not like the old term. It implied he’d Fallen for one purpose only—to fornicate with his muse. But if the mortal did not know that he wasn’t going to provide the complete rules and regulations of his kind.
“I’ve been collecting for a dozen years,” Donovan said. “Never ran into any weird shit. Just happy to pick up another halo here and there, you know? Then six months ago I meet Vinny. She knew where a halo was hidden in Versailles, and took me to it, but she also wanted me to get her away from del Gado’s control.”
“And did you?”
“Yes, I did. And she bit me because she needed mortal blood to survive on her own. It was a sacrifice I was willing to make because, well, I love her. That was the beginning of my education in all things supernatural and paranormal. Oh, and a few months ago I talked to a Sinistari.”
Cooper rubbed his jaw. The man’s acrid scent indicated he was either fearful or lying. “Why? How? The demon revealed itself to you?”
“He wanted to kill me because he thought I was going to harm his girlfriend—Eden Campbell. Which I had no intention of doing. But you know demons.”
“Yes, I do.” He paced the kitchen floor, wondering at the turn of events. If there was another Sinistari stalking the lands his luck just got worse. “So Miss Campbell is married to the demon now?”
“The Sinistari won a mortal soul and he’s human now. Their wedding was nice,” the man said with a nervous smile.
Cooper swiped a hand over his face. Everyone but him was aware of the vampires’ involvement in whatever this was. But seriously? Vampires were the key to him getting his halo?
“Why do you want a halo?” Donovan asked. “To use it as a weapon or to claim your mortal soul?”
Cooper flinched at Donovan’s knowledge. By all of Above! “That’s not something I’m willing to share with the man who just broke into my home. I want to see the halos you have. Where are they?”
“In a safety-deposit box in an undisclosed country on this planet. Which is where they’ll stay until I’ve done what I’ve come to do.”
“And what, exactly, is that?”
“Ensure the vamps don’t get their hands on any more halos. They’re using them to lure in the Fallen, or haven’t you noticed?”
“I’ve fought with a couple vamps lately. None had halos in their pockets. I assume most Fallen could care less for a mortal soul, and I don’t believe the lure of using a halo as a weapon should be strong enough. But they did have a little injector gun that put something inside me.”
“They injected something into you?”
“Someone I know thinks it’s a tracking device.”
“Clever. It makes sense. If they can’t lure you with a halo—and your thoughts on the use of a halo as a lure are feasible—then they would like to keep track of you. So you obviously haven’t found your muse yet?”
Cooper sighed heavily.
“So you don’t know what’s up? They want you and your muse,” Donovan insisted. “The vamps want to keep tabs on you. Take the muse into custody as soon as you’ve fuc—er, you know…attempted her. Then they’ll take the baby and, well, after that I don’t want to know.”
“I think I do.”
And bloody Beneath, it made perfect, but horrendous sense. For the first time he put two and two together and came up with something far worse than any mortal could imagine.
It made Cooper’s cold blood turn to ice.
“The nephilim are the original blood drinkers,” Cooper said, summoning the knowledge from when he’d once walked the earth in biblical times. “They may have well been the ones who created the vampire race. But I assume since nephilim have not walked the earth for millennia, those vampires they created are growing weak. A nephilim would prove a boon to a vampire.”
Donovan whistled. “Whew!”
“It’s got to be the reason,” Cooper said.
“I’d lay bets it is. I’d hate to see one of those things walking down the street.”
“Nasty sons of muses,” Cooper hissed. “They’re giants who feed on blood and meat. Anything walking will do, whether it be four-legged or two-legged. So you’re sitting here in my home, waiting for me to come home, and if I can believe you, had no idea what I am. What did you think I could do for you by coming here?”
“Nothing. Like I said, I was just checking you out for Eden. But now, things have changed. We need to work together,” Donovan said. “If the vamps happen to lead you astray—”
“That’s not going to happen.”
“I’m just saying. I know you don’t have control of all your senses when in the presence of a muse. You say it’s not going to happen, but a compulsion is a powerful thing.”
“Save your theories, buddy. I know myself.”
“I’ve sent my girlfriend to check out their lair.”
“Your girlfriend? What is she? A slayer with a death wish?”
Both men looked to Pyx, who had entered without notice and asked the question. She swept a thick chunk of wet hair over her shoulder and leaned over the table toward Donovan.
Donovan glanced to Cooper, who remained poker-faced. So the whole world felt they could waltz on into his home without knocking? He’d never felt less in control than right now, and it was not a good feeling.
Pyx looked Donovan right in the eye. “Er…” he stated uncertainly. “My girlfriend is a vampire.”
Pyx sneered.
“Stranger things have happened.” The halo hunter made a show of glancing from Cooper to Pyx. “Like a demon and an angel getting together.”
“He’s not mine,” Pyx said quickly.
“Nor is she mine,” Cooper added gruffly. “But how did you know she’s demon?”
“The eyes,” Donovan said. “That wild riot of color. Never seen it on a human before. Very specifically Sinistari. Although…” He thought about it, looking Pyx over. “The last guy I met with eyes like that was really…”
“You spend too much time gazing into people’s eyes,” Cooper interrupted, because the man knew too much and he had no intention of letting Pyx learn all of that right now, “you’ll soon enough fall under a vampire’s persuasion.”
“Already happened,” Donovan said with a smile. He itched his neck where the bite marks had left a raised red welt. “My girl does it once in a while. She gets a kick out of it.”
“I don’t trust this guy.” Pyx gripped Donovan’s arm and wrenched it around behind his back. “The vampires sent you, didn’t they?”
“No! And why would they if they’ve a tracking device on him?”
“That’s a guess,” Pyx provided. She took out Joe and shoved the tip under Donovan’s chin. “You lying or telling the truth?”
“The truth! I want to destroy the vampires as much as you do.”
“I said nothing about destroying vampires,” Cooper hissed.
“But it would be a fun time,” Pyx commented. She released Donovan and sat on the kitchen chair, slumping and putting up a boot on another chair. Noticing the painting, she leaned in to study it. “Who made this?”
“There’s a muse who dreams angels,” Cooper said. “She’s the reason he’s here. She’s not putting those pictures out for the whole world to see?” he asked Donovan.
“Eden was showing them at a gallery in New York until someone bought all of them. And that someone was Antonio del Gado. He’s gathering information on the angels any way he can. You’d better be careful.”
“There’s not a vampire alive who can tempt me with anything,” Cooper said.
“Not even your halo?”
Cooper met Pyx’s querying gaze. He averted his eyes away from the question she had no right to ask.
“Awkward,” Donovan finally said. “So I should go now. Don’t want to interrupt anything like a date between the two of you.”
“It’s not—” Cooper and Pyx both spoke at the same time and both stopped when the halo hunter cast them a smirk.
“Yeah, right.” Donovan eased around Pyx. “I’ll check in with you after my girl gives me a report.”
He thumbed the throwing star stuck in the table, then nodded to Pyx, and offered a hand to shake to Cooper.
Cooper stared at it, then shook, and held firmly. “We’re not finished yet. In fact, we’ve only begun. Where you staying?”
“The Regina. You can find me there, or call my cell.” He handed him a business card. “You cooperate with me, and I promise you can look through my collection of halos. Deal?”
“Cooperate?”
“Help me take down the vamps.”
“I’ll consider it.”
Donovan prowled down the hallway, and Cooper left him to close the door on his own. He eyed Pyx who didn’t seem too curious over the man.
“Halo hunter?” she asked.
“Yes. I won’t even ask how you know.”
“Did you walk the world at all after you were summoned, Fallen one?”
He shook his head and went into the bedroom, calling, “I’ll get you a towel. You’re soaked bone-deep.”
When he returned from the bathroom she stood in the bedroom, admiring the stained-glass pocket doors. Rain glimmered on her pale flesh like moon drops. He bet it tasted like sweet summer.
She tapped the window where violet glass segued into a curve of green that represented a leaf. “The windows in this apartment are crazy gorgeous.”
“So we’re not going to discuss the halo hunter?”
“We will.”
He approached her and spread out the towel, pressing it to her shoulders. “You like? I enhanced them a bit.”
“How?”
He took her hand and led her to the outer bay window that curved and looked across the right bank. He’d not touched these windows yet, because he wasn’t sure if the building’s owner would notice the changes from the street and protest.
But who could protest beauty?
Skating the fingertips of his left hand over the glass, Cooper drew wide arcs and dancing lines. In the wake of his touch bloomed gorgeous color. It seeped into the glass and where he wanted the colors to change, lead stripping cracked into the glass and formed.
“How do you—” Pyx asked, but stopped. With a sigh, she nodded. “Beautiful.”
“It’s my skill,” he said.
“That’s right, you said you taught mortals this craft.”
“Just the one.” He rapped his chest. “Only one soul inside this angel’s heart.”
“Right.” She touched the window emblazoned with violet lilies and emerald stalks of grass in the Art Nouveau style Cooper appreciated. A warrior who could dance and create beauty and rip out hearts without blinking an eye. “You make me want you, Cooper.”
“I didn’t do anything to you, sweetie.”
“I’m not so sweet.”
“You like to think you’re tough.”
He stroked the hair from her cheek and tucked it behind her ear. One kiss meant no turning back. Because he’d stepped over the need to linger at her mouth. Now he wanted all of her.
Cooper crossed his arms over his chest, but didn’t step away from her.
“You are tough,” he said. “But you were made that way. Forged of metal and costumed in silken human flesh. But in there? Your mind? You’re a newling learning the world, trying new things, making mistakes and winning emotion and compassion and even trust.”
“So are you.”
“Exactly. Here on earth we’re just people, Pyx, trying to make our way.”
“We’re more than that. Why is it so easy for you to overlook differences, to think of yourself as one of them?”
“Because I want to be one of them.” He leaned against the windowsill, and put up a leg on the bench. He sighed. “I told you, I don’t want my halo for the weapon. I want to claim my mortal soul. I want to become like them.”
“You think the halo hunter has your halo?”
“It’s a possibility.” He scanned the street outside. “I should have followed him.”
“He’ll be back. And you know where to find him. You just wanted to be alone with me.”
“I did. Ah, Pyx, mortals fascinate me. Not a one the same as the next.” Cooper tilted his head back against the window frame. “I know it won’t matter to you, but you need to know why I fell.”
“It won’t matter.” Pyx nodded. “But go ahead.”
“I admire the human race,” he said. “I have always wanted to be one of them. I put myself no higher or lower than the common man, yet in angelic vestments I am deemed higher.”
“Not anymore. You’ve fallen from His grace.”
“True.” He flicked a look out the window, but didn’t cast his eyes so high as Above. He wasn’t privileged to look that high now. “Wanting a human soul is a selfish act.”
“No more selfish than falling to have sex with human women.”
“That wasn’t why I fell.”
“It’s your story. It works for you.”
“It’s not a story. It is what I desire. But lately I’ve been thinking how selfish it really was. Who am I to deserve the soul He gifted only to them? What right do I have to take one for myself?”
She approached and leaned against him. It was interesting to watch Pyx as she became less hard and more interested in actual emotions and the feelings of others. “You’re not trying to take anything that wasn’t already there. The soul has always been in your halo, hasn’t it?”
“Yes. I would ransom immortality for a human soul,” he said wistfully. “Only problem is, there’s a demon on my ass with blood in her eyes.”
“I bet it’s a sexy ass.” She kissed the corner of his mouth. The taste was bittersweet, lingering not long enough to savor. “I won’t kill you tonight, Cooper. Promise.”
He had to give her credit for at least trying to be compassionate. And what the hell? He was considering her offer. Because he did desire her. And if his days on earth were numbered, then he had no intention of living them unsatisfied.
On the other hand…
“You know how angels work? Sexually?”
“You have to wear this human costume, because in angel form you are sexless. Same with demons.”
“Yes, but you know the muse is the only woman who can give me the ultimate pleasure?”
“You can take none from me?”
“I get delicious pleasure in making you happy, and it is enough to satisfy. But no orgasm, I’m afraid, with any but my muse. Unless, of course, I found my halo and ultimately, my soul.”
She worried her lip, considering what he’d said. “So you don’t want to do this?”
Cooper chuckled. “Oh, I want to do it. I just wanted you to be clear on a few things first. You are so fine.”
A curl of his fingers brought her into his embrace without Pyx taking a step. He wanted to feel her against his skin, but it still wasn’t right.
She didn’t want this. She hadn’t sunk into his arms like she had earlier. She was nervous. This closeness was merely a ruse. A means to ingratiating herself to him—to soften him for the kill.
“Leave, Pyx,” he whispered.
“But—”
“You want this for the wrong reasons. Unless and until you change your mind, this won’t happen.”
“Oh. So until I come over to your team, you mean, and let you call the shots. I see. Typical male.”
“You have no idea what the typical male is like.”
“Nor do you realize what you’re allowing to walk away from you.” She turned and strode out of his apartment.
And a painful ache opened in Cooper’s chest. She was right. He was making the mistake, not her. But he didn’t know how to do this from her point of view. He was the man. He needed to be in control.
The door slammed, and Cooper winced.
Had he just lost what he’d never had in the first place?