Ecstasy Unveiled

“There are things I cannot discuss in front of demons.”

“These demons made me what I am. I’m even married to one. So get over it.”

The paramedic rapped his knuckles on her chains. “It’s not like you have a choice.”

She scowled at him. “What’s your name?”

“Shade.”

“Well, Shade, I might not have a choice, but neither do you. Kynan is in great danger, and if you don’t release me, he could die.”

Kynan slid her a look edged with doubt. “Who is after me? A fallen angel? As you saw, I’m prepared.”

“Not a fallen angel. The demon you call Lore.”

Eidolon arched a brow. “That’s impossible.”

“I’d have thought so, too, but I wouldn’t have been summoned to Kynan if he hadn’t been in true danger.”

The entire lot of them exchanged glances, and then Kynan unclipped her chains from the stakes in the floor. “Only one way to find out.”

“Reaver?” Shade asked.

“Yup.”

They dragged her unceremoniously through the sliding ER doors into an underground parking lot, the Bracken Cuffs still circling her wrists, which meant there’d be no flashing out of there. Not that she would. She needed Kynan to understand the seriousness of his situation. But why the parking lot?

“There’s a spell shielding the hospital from entry and exit via any means other than the Harrowgate and the parking garage,” Eidolon said, obviously anticipating her question. “Since Reaver can’t use Harrowgates anymore, he has to materialize someplace unprotected.”

Kynan stood at the back of a black ambulance in the middle of the lot and shouted for Reaver.

“Who is Reaver?” she asked.

“An angel.”

An angel? Surely he meant a fallen angel…

A bright light flooded the lot, blinding in its intensity. Idess winced, shielded her eyes until it faded away. And there, standing in front of Kynan, was a beautiful male angel, his golden hair flowing in an impossibly perfect curtain around his broad shoulders. His clothes were modern, business casual… black slacks and a dark blue shirt that matched his eyes, and no way was this a fallen angel.

Idess gaped like an idiot. Since true, full angels tended to hang out in Heaven, she’d seen very few, and those had been only in passing and from a distance.

“Hey, man,” Kynan said with a smile. “Good to see you.”

Reaver shoved his hands in his pockets and gave them all a once-over, his gaze lingering for an extra second on Idess. “Wish I could say the same,” he said gruffly, though a slight tilt of his mouth gave away the fact that he wasn’t completely annoyed at having been summoned. “It’s not really cool for me to be hanging out with demons at a demon hospital.”

“Oh, sure,” Wraith drawled. “Now that you’re all angelfied, you’re too good for us, huh?”

Reaver appeared to consider that. Then he nodded. “Pretty much.”

Wraith snorted, revealing fangs. He was part vampire?

“Lemme see your wings,” he said, and when Reaver leveled a flat stare at him, Wraith rolled his eyes. “Oh, come on. I saved the world. I should at least get to see your wings.”

He’d saved the world? Surely this insolent sex demon was not the one rumored to have prevented Armageddon. Over the last few weeks, the story had spread like hellfire through the earthbound Memitim ranks, but the information she’d gleaned from her brethren had been all speculation. And the demon supposedly fighting on the side of good against the fallen angel, Byzamoth, was said to be twenty feet tall, humble, and a servant of God.

“I’ll show you mine if you show me yours,” the demon cajoled, with a waggle of brows, and this definitely could not be the unholy champion who was already a legend. “Show the savior of the human race some feathers.”

“We’ll never hear the end of that, will we?” Reaver asked, and Eidolon shook his head.

My God, it’s true.

“We get to listen to it every day.”

The blond Sem grinned. “The Vamp Council hung a portrait of me on their hero wall. How’s that for ironic?”

“Especially since they showed it to you just before they tortured you for Serena’s turning,” Shade said.

Wraith snorted again. “Fuckers.”

“We won’t keep you,” Eidolon interrupted. He gestured to Idess, who was still processing what she’d just learned. “But we need to know if what this… person told us is true.”

“What did she tell you?”

Idess raised her chin and stepped forward. “I’m Memitim, and Kynan is my assigned Primori.”

Reaver narrowed his eyes at her before nodding. “She is Memitim.” He turned to Kynan, who had his arm around Gem’s waist. “You are Primori.”

“What’s a Primori?” Kynan asked.

Reaver shrugged as if it was no big deal. Probably because he was a full angel and not a low-ranking, bottom-of-the-barrel pre-Ascension Memitim like she was.

“Primori are humans and, occasionally, demons, who have a destiny to fulfill. They might change the course of history or cause, by their actions, changes in law, etcetera. Once their destiny is realized, they either die or go back to being regular people. But until then, they have guardians assigned to keep anything from interfering with an untimely death.”

“So what you’re saying is that she’s a good guy?” Kynan asked.

“Yes. An angel-wannabe, of sorts.” Reaver shot Kynan a miffed look. “What have you gotten yourself into now?”

Idess resisted the childish urge to say, “I told you so,” to all of them. Instead, she stepped forward. “He’s in danger. But not from a fallen angel.”

Reaver’s head swiveled around to Idess, his eyes flashing. “Then who? No one but an angel—”

“Lore,” Gem said abruptly. “Idess claims it’s Lore.”

Reaver turned back to Kynan. “The one who resurrected you?”

“I could have done without the reminder, but yeah.”

Reaver’s expression grew contemplative. “It’s possible. He gave you life with mystical powers that shouldn’t exist. It’s the order of the universe that he can take that life away.” Reaver’s eyes locked on Idess’s so intently the air whooshed from her lungs. “You know Kynan is a Sentinel, and that the amulet he wears is the most important object in the universe, but do you understand that he is just as important?” Of course she did—sort of—but when she opened her mouth to say so, the angel cut her off. “If you fail to keep him safe, Memitim, you will fail human-kind, and you will never Ascend.”

“Dude.” Wraith looked at her. “No pressure, right?”

Eidolon swore softly. “I’ll talk to Lore.”

“Kynan must be protected at all costs,” Reaver said. “Talking isn’t enough.” Reaver’s face turned to stone, but his eyes burned with celestial fire as he narrowed his gaze on the doctor. “You must kill him.”

* * *

Lore used the Harrowgate to get to his North Carolina home, which was really nothing but a one-bedroom shack in the middle of the woods. He had money—lots of it—but he didn’t see the point in buying a big, fancy house when this one did him just fine and had for a hundred years.

He walked past his ancient pickup and new Hummer, neither of which saw much drive time, but he liked the reminders of his humanity. He sensed his twin sister’s presence before he entered through the back door and saw her lounging on his couch in her usual leather pants and black, short-sleeved hoodie, tipping back shots of his homemade moonshine. Before Detharu had enslaved him, the illegal alcohol had provided his primary income for over half a century. Prohibition had been a great thing for Lore.

As he stepped into the living room, Sin slammed her glass down on the coffee table, sloshing liquid all over the oak top. “What the hell happened to you?”

“Got into a little scuffle.”

Coal-black eyes narrowed into fierce slits as she shot to her feet and fingered his scrub top. “You went to that… that hospital, didn’t you?” She spat out the word “hospital” as though she’d bitten into something bitter and vile.

He tugged off his jacket and shirt and dropped them on the floor, eager to shed the foreign-feeling garment. “Can’t get anything by you.”

“Did you see… them?”

“Yes.”

Her expression tightened. “You didn’t say anything about me, did you?”

“I promised I wouldn’t.” He headed toward the bath-room, but Sin didn’t take the hint and Velcroed herself to his heels. At the door, he spun around, and she nearly collided with him. “Do you mind?”

“They can’t know about me.”

“I don’t think it would be a big deal—”

“Really? A sister who shouldn’t exist? Who is an aberration? A freak?” She jammed her fists on her hips. The muscles in her biceps twitched, making the dermoire on her right arm writhe, and making the scars intertwined with the marks ripple. “Come on. Even humans kill their own kind when someone ‘isn’t right.’ You think demons won’t? We’ve seen it happen.”

Yeah, they’d seen it happen. In fact, there were species of demons that dedicated themselves entirely to the destruction of human-demon hybrids and mixed-breed demons. Seminus demons were one of a handful of breeds that bred with other species, mainly using the females as incubators, but the offspring were always male, and always purebred no matter what the mother’s species.

Unless the mother was human.

But as funky as Lore’s breeding had gone with a Sem father and human mother, it couldn’t compare to what had happened with Sin. As far as he knew, there had never been a female Seminus, and yet, they’d shared a womb, a birthday, and arm markings.