The angels look at Alder and Flint with a distasteful sneer. “Demons.”
“Legion,” Alder says smoothly, his hands dipped into his pockets, givin’ him an air of bored confidence.
“You have no rights here,” the angel says to Alder, her speckled wings flarin’ slightly before tuckin’ back in. “We traced a Balance Breaker here, and he was very interested in this female. She needs to be questioned, and that’s our jurisdiction. We can take it from here.”
Alder cocks his head, his watercolor tattoos lookin’ dark and vibrant in the club’s dim lightin’. “I find it odd that you’d be more concerned about her than the Balance Breaker you’re supposed to be hunting. You know, the one that just gave you the slip.”
The angel’s lips purse. “We have this whole place warded, so he can’t shift away,” she tells him arrogantly. “I wouldn’t expect the dregs of Hell to understand, but he was interested in her for a reason,” the angel comments, gesturin’ to me, “...and we need to know what that is.”
“You’re forgetting one little thing, angel dove,” Flint cuts in, all cool tone and false jovial grin. “Free will. If she doesn’t want to go with ya, then she doesn’t have to.”
The three angels tense, and I feel the agitation between the group hike up even more. I’m stuck between three angels and two demons, with a cotton mind that has no idea what the hell is goin’ on.
After a long pause, one of the winged men looks at me. “You have to choose. Who would you rather help you tonight? Demon scum or us?”
Sweat is tricklin’ down the back of my neck, and my head has added a complementary ache to the dizziness.
I look between the five of them as they all stare at me expectantly, and I feel a bit like a fly caught between two webs. But you know what they say. Better the devil you know.
“Alder and Flint can help me get home,” I announce, slightly slurred, and I’ve got no clue if I just made the right decision or not, but at least I got to make one, instead of whatever the hell just happened with that Morax guy.
The angels grit their teeth, anger flashin’ in their eyes. For a moment, I worry that they aren’t gonna honor all this talk of free will, but then they send vicious glares to Alder and Flint. “We’ll be reporting this.”
“Of course you will,” Alder says dryly.
None too happy, the angels turn and walk away, no one in the club any wiser to the fact that representatives of Heaven and Hell just had a verbal showdown right in front of the bar.
“You okay?” Alder asks, his attention immediately fallin’ on me.
“I—”
That’s all I get out before I feel my knees try to give out again, but this time, Flint is there to catch me.
“Whooo, girl, you had a little too much to drink. Let’s get ya home,” he says with a laugh, but I can tell he’s sayin’ it for the crowd’s sake, and not because he actually thinks I’m drunk. There’s an underlyin’ worry in his slate-gray eyes as he looks at me, him and Alder sharin’ a loaded look.
With me securely in his arms, Flint follows behind Alder as we make our way toward the exit, and this time, there’s no terror or panic crawlin’ under my skin as we go. All I feel is relief as I rest my poundin’ head against Flint’s smooth chest, and he carries me bridal style through the partin’ crowd.
He may look like marble, but he’s got hot-blooded flesh I can feel beneath my cheek and the press of my palm. I can’t help but melt against him.
“Glad you’re here,” I manage to say, and it’s the truth. The thought that I was almost led away to Lord knows where by that Morax guy...I burrow closer to Flint and feel his arms tighten around me.
“We are too,” he says quietly, lookin’ down at me with an indiscernible expression on his chiseled face.
“We were almost too fucking late,” I hear Alder growl, and I try to look over at him, but my head is just so heavy. “We knew something like this could happen.”
I make a soft scared noise in my throat, and Flint rubs his fingers over my back in comfort. “It’s alright, darlin’. We won’t let anything like that happen to you again.”
Once the warm outside air hits my lips, I take in a shaky breath. Neither of them say another word until I’m tucked in the front seat, sittin’ on Flint’s lap, while Alder gets behind the wheel of the SUV and starts to drive.
I close my eyes, tryin’ to calm down the vicious headache that’s still lingerin’, and I nearly moan when Flint starts to gently comb his fingers through the strands of my hair. It feels so good, I don’t ever want him to stop.
“That demon did somethin’ to me,” I mumble wearily, my words thankfully less slurred and a bit clearer.
“We know, darlin’,” Flint coos, and even though I can tell he’s tryin’ to stay calm for my sake, his next words to Alder betray his worries. “Can you help her?”
“I don’t know what type of demon that was, but I’ll figure it out,” Alder replies, his tone matter-of-fact.
I sure hope he does, because my head is poundin’.
“Don’t take me home like this. My mama will kill me if she thinks I got blackout drunk. She thinks I’m stayin’ with AnnaMae tonight,” I manage to tell them. I open up one eye and squint over at Alder. “But don’t you dare think for one second that you can drag me off to Hell or somethin’,” I warn. “I don’t know squat about bein’ a demon, but I will find a way to ensure that it’s the last thing you regret before I make you sorrier than a squirrel on a Slip ‘n Slide.”
I hear Flint snort above me. “Vicious little thing, ain’t ya?”
