Revenant(23)

“Why won’t they respond to my summons?”

She gave him a flat look. “Do you really think they keep me in the loop? I haven’t seen any of them since I got my halo back.” She watched the werewolf prop the broom against the side of the cabin and head toward the barn and main house. “You should talk to Reaver.”

“So he can tell me again that we need to work together to stop the newest threat to Heaven and Mankind? Fuck that. I don’t give a shit about either.”

“Is that why you’ve been ignoring his summons? Because you don’t give a shit?”

“Pretty much.”

“You need to talk to him. Stop being childish.”

“Childish? We never had a chance to be childish.”

She jammed her fists on her hips. “Well, you’re making up for it now.”

Maybe she had a point. He and Reaver had rolled around in the dirt during a knock-down, drag-out brawl. And he’d been ignoring his brother like a kid with his fingers in his ears doing the “nah-nah-nah, I can’t hear you” thing.

Jesus. Next they’d be fighting over whose baseball team was better and who Mom liked best.

Except the latter wasn’t an argument. Their mother had chosen Reaver to be sent to Heaven to be raised.

So maybe it was time for a good old-fashioned family reunion  , if only to see what had made Reaver her favorite.





Blaspheme could still taste Revenant on her lips. The bastard tasted like spiced rum, and she loved that stuff. Why couldn’t he taste like onions or garlic? And it would be awesome if he reeked, too. But no, he had to smell as good as he tasted, earthy and natural, like sex in the woods. He’d make a fantastic air freshener for some guy’s man cave.

She tried not to think about him as she dodged patients and bustling staff in the emergency department, but the kiss lingered on her lips and in her mind. She shouldn’t have let him near her, should have gotten away from him before he could grab her, shove her against the wall, and kiss her until her panties were damp.

Son of a bitch.

She needed to get laid.

How long had it been? She had to think back a couple of years, but she stopped herself before she went too far. He’d been a surgeon, a complete asshole, and they’d both been using each other. They’d used each other right up until the point when he’d gotten himself killed by Aegis slayers.

Yeah, she needed to just let that one go. Actually, she should let all thoughts of sex go, because right now she didn’t have the time anyway. The responsibility of running a clinic was enough stress as it was. But now her mother’s life was in danger, and not just from her injuries, but from angels as well. To top it all off, Blas’s own trouble with her deteriorating False Angel enchantment meant her own life and career were at risk. Her life was a mess, and she definitely didn’t need to throw sex into the mix.

She dropped off Gethel’s blood sample at the lab with orders to expedite the tests. She even flirted a little with the lab tech, partly to ensure that her request was honored, and partly to maintain her False Angel reputation. False Angels were the biggest flirts on the planet, and it was becoming harder and harder to act like a False Angel now that she no longer felt like one.

She used to daydream about what it would feel like to no longer need to seduce people for fun, to no longer trick humans into thinking she was a Heavenly angel sent to guide them on a life path. But now that her daydreams were becoming reality and the gifts she’d relied on, like the X-ray vision, were failing, she was a little frightened. She’d never known anything but what her fake False Angel instincts made her feel, and suddenly, she was swimming in unknown, and possibly dangerous, waters.

Speaking of dangerous waters, she gave Eidolon a quick call to see if he was available for a meeting.

“My office in five,” he told her.

The Seminus demon was sitting at his desk when she got there, his short dark hair slightly flattened in the familiar shape of a surgical cap. He waved her inside, and she closed the door behind her.

“Blaspheme,” he said, leaning back in his chair to peg her with shrewd black eyes. “How’s your mom doing?”

He knew damned well how she was. Eidolon didn’t miss anything that went on in his hospital or his clinic, but she humored him.

“She’s doing as well as can be expected, thank you.”

“Any word on the identity of her attacker?”

“Not so far.” It wasn’t as if she could go to the police, and while demons did have a justice system – which Eidolon used to be part of – it was limited in scope. Plus, as the dam of a vyrm, her mother was sort of an outlaw, so she couldn’t seek help through normal channels such as a species Council or the Judicia.