I glanced around Ether, trying to figure out which of the women was my potential client. Dev had chosen to be difficult during the drive from my house to his club. He’d evaded my questions about the client, saying only that he thought she was legit. Dev dealt with enough people who weren’t legit to know what he was talking about. The nightclub industry isn’t known for its upstanding business practices in the human world, and it’s probably worse in the supernatural world. Dev’s staff dealt with numerous incidents on a nightly basis.
The bartender shook my Cosmo into a cocktail glass, and I accepted it with a grateful sigh. No one stood out as I surveyed the club.
Dev came up behind me and placed a possessive hand on the small of my back. “Relax. She’ll be here.”
“I wish you had found out more about this mysterious client. I don’t like going into things blind.” Blind had nearly gotten Daniel killed just a few days before.
He settled in close to me, his lips against my ear. “Hey, it’s not like last time. You’re here. There’s a whole staff ready to watch your back, and I promise I won’t let anything nasty happen to you. Well, not anything I am not directly involved in.”
“Could you be serious for two seconds?” He hadn’t been there last time. No well-trained staff could have handled the angels.
“Look, you said you wanted a job. I found you a job.” Dev let his hands make soothing circles across my back. “You’ll have to forgive me if I didn’t have her fill out a questionnaire when she called. Next time, I’ll know better. Now let’s talk about my payment, sweetheart, because I didn’t do this out of the kindness of my heart.”
He whispered something truly filthy in my ear that made me want to forget about the client and Neil and Chad and everything that was going on and head straight up to the grotto. Since Dev had come into my life, I’d started to rely on mind-blowing sex as a distraction from everyday woes.
“She called you?” I asked, his words finally penetrating through a haze of lust. “Not the other way around? I thought you heard something through the grapevine and made a call to her.”
“No, she called me out of the blue.” He bent down and laid a proprietary kiss on my neck. “She said she needed a mediator. That was the word she used.”
“What was her name, Dev?” I asked, even though I was pretty sure I knew what her name was. She’d told me she would try again. I was just a little shocked at how fast she’d come back.
He thought about it for a moment. “I don’t remember. I should remember her name, shouldn’t I? I’m sorry, I might not be as cautious as you but I should remember her freaking name. Did I write it down somewhere?”
I turned and reached out, taking his hand. “It’s not your fault, Dev. It’s what she does. I bet she called you right before you left to come and get me.”
He shook his head in confusion. “I remember telling her I couldn’t help out until tomorrow. I had a meeting with some vendors tonight. I must have canceled. I don’t remember doing it though. Why would I do that? I need to renegotiate my liquor contracts. I wouldn’t just cancel.”
Angelic influence made vampire persuasion look like child’s play.
I looked around the club and, sure enough, there she was. She sat at a table watching Dev and me with a hopeful look on her face. Felicity Day was wearing an approximation of club clothes, but even with a short skirt and flouncy top she looked out of place—like a brilliant shaft of light on an otherwise cloudy day. I had to suspect the effect was for me and Dev alone, as everyone else completely ignored her.
Dev’s eyes followed mine. His arms drifted from around me, and he simply stared her way. “Wow, she’s beautiful. She is really beautiful.”
He couldn’t take his eyes off her, and I rolled mine. She was playing those games again, but I wasn’t buying it this time. I wasn’t sure if it was because I had recently taken Daniel’s blood or perhaps it wasn’t as strong the second time around, but I could control myself around her more easily this time. Dev seemed to be having some trouble. “You aren’t going to be very helpful, are you? Why don’t you go and do whatever it is you do. I think I have to take care of this on my own.”
I picked up my drink and stalked across the bar to Felicity’s table. “I said no.”
She gave me a sad smile. “Please sit and talk with me, Zoey.”
“I’ll talk with you.” Dev sank his lanky frame into the chair and stared at Felicity with his head in his hands. He looked like a twelve-year-old with a crush. It was odd to see Dev so open. “Can I get you anything? I own this place. I can get you anything you want. I own a lot of places.”
“Dev, it’s a glamour.” It was at least the angelic equivalent of a glamour.
Dev nodded, a spacey grin on his face. “Yes, she’s very glamorous. I’m glad you see that.” He looked up at me and there was suddenly a pathetic sympathy in his eyes.
I got a bad feeling about what he was going to say next. “Don’t say what you’re about to say. You’re going to feel stupid about it later, so just keep your mouth shut, babe. This really is a glamour.”
Dev wasn’t listening to anything but the magic Felicity was working. “I love her, Zoey. I know this is going to hurt you, but we have to break up. I’ve enjoyed the time we’ve spent together, but I’ve found real love now. We’re going to get married. I hope you can be happy for us. I really want us to stay friends.”
It took everything I had not to burst into laughter. He looked so sweet and earnest that I really wished I could pull my phone out to capture and replay the moment over and over again. Instead, I just nodded. “Yeah sure, Dev. I completely support your new relationship with a woman you barely talked to on the phone. Maybe I can be a bridesmaid.”
“That would be great.” He sent a swoony look back at his beloved.
Felicity had the grace to look embarrassed. “I forgot about that. I’m really sorry. I’m afraid it just comes naturally.” The light around her dimmed visibly. “That should take care of it.”
Dev shook his head as if to clear it. He looked around. “Did I just break up with you?”
I grinned. “Yes, I’m very sad about it. I’m devastated.”
“What the hell was that?” Dev’s face hardened.
“That was an intense angelic glamour. It’s a little more powerful than the stuff you can do.” Dev had a plentitude of magical power, but his control was crap. Sometimes the things he tried went haywire.
Dev’s eyes found the angel, suspicion plain there. “I was ready to do whatever she wanted. I would have left you and gone wherever she wanted me to go. I would have left you here and anything could have gotten to you. You wouldn’t have been protected. I made promises, and I would have just tossed them away to follow her around.”
“It’s all right, Dev. I knew what was going on. I didn’t take you seriously.”
“I’m really sorry.” Felicity bit her bottom lip, her eyes apologetic. “I did use my influence to get you to bring Zoey to me because this is important and time is running out. But I am sincerely sorry that you were caught in it this time. It wasn’t my intention. I can only blame the imbalance.”
“I don’t care. You can get the hell out of my club,” Dev said, nearly snarling. “This is a neutral place and that means no magic. No weapons and no manipulative magic.”
Felicity proved that angels could flush and she turned to me, tears in those seemingly innocent eyes. “Please, Zoey. I really need to talk to you.”
I shrugged. I didn’t like the way she manipulated people either. Dev took the rules of his club very seriously. The only weapons allowed in the club were safely tucked away in his office and in the armory he kept locked away in case of trouble. “You heard the man. You aren’t welcome here.”
“I’ll have a bouncer show you the door.” Dev stood, his hand coming out to grip my own as he pulled me with him.
We began to walk away. I hoped she would get the hint and haul her ass back to Heaven. Throbbing dance music beat through the air around us, but I could plainly hear Felicity over the chaos.
“Zoey, I can pay you two million dollars.”
She knew how to get a girl’s attention. Of course, I probably would have stopped for one million. Who am I kidding? I’d have stopped for way less, but I wasn’t about to tell her that. I was wondering if I could bump her up to two point five. I winced but pulled back as Dev tried to propel me forward.
“Zoey, I don’t think this is a good idea.” Dev looked back, his mouth turning down in a wary grimace as he studied the angel. “If she could trick me into breaking up with you, she could trick you, too.”
“I’m willing to risk it. You said it yourself. I should be safe here. If you’re worried, go and get Albert. I bet her glamours don’t work on him.”
His hand tightened on mine. “I don’t know.”
He was getting to be as bad as Daniel. There was no way I could let two million dollars walk out the door without at least listening to the deal. “This is business. We have a deal, Dev. I’m the boss when it comes to business. I’ll be fine. I’ll stay where you can see me, but I need to go talk to moneybags.”
“Fine,” he said with a bite to his voice. He might not like it, but Dev was willing to let me be the boss when it came to this. In the one job we’d run together, he’d been very good, obeying orders and keeping a cool head. In exchange, I let him take the lead in other places. “I’ll be at the bar. You tell her if I see her try anything, I swear I will have Albert take her apart.”
He stalked away, finding a place at the bar as I walked back to the table. Felicity’s face lit up when she realized I was coming back. There was a weird sense of peace that came over me the moment I got close to her, a sense that this was right, that everything would work out.
I ignored it.
“Talk.” I sat down and took another sip of my drink. Maybe vodka helped with angelic communications.
“Okay, first of all, I am so sorry about the way things went with Oliver.” She spoke quickly, as though she expected me to get up and leave any minute. She didn’t know me as well as she thought she did since I wasn’t going anywhere until we talked about those digits. “He won’t be around anymore. I’m going to be the one you deal with so you should feel free to bring your vampire around. I promise he won’t come to any harm.”
I continued to stare because she hadn’t said anything yet that required my verbal response. I knew Daniel was going to be safe because I wasn’t letting her get anywhere near him again. I glanced over at the bar. Dev had a beer in his hand, and he was watching everything that Felicity did. I noticed he’d called some of his security team over.
Her eyes followed mine. “I didn’t mean to upset Devinshea. It really was the last thing I wanted to do. I find this plane very frustrating sometimes.”
“Welcome to Earth.” I held up a hand to let the waitress know I needed another drink. She hurried off. Sleeping with the owner had its perks.
Felicity stared for a moment at Dev, and then blushed and looked down. “What is it like to sleep with someone?”
“You mean sex?” I had an angel asking me about sex? I might need the waitress to bring me a pitcher.
“Yes,” she replied, an eager look in her eyes.
This woman had nearly gotten Daniel killed and pissed Dev off. I wasn’t about to become her sex therapist. “What are we, girlfriends? Do you expect me to sit here and swap sex stories with you? You’ve got like five minutes before I walk out of here, and I will not take another meeting with you, do you understand?”
She nodded, her eyes slipping away from mine. Her hands were threaded together, and she took a deep breath before continuing. “All right. I’m sorry for prying. You just have to understand that one of the reasons we’re having problems with control is the loss of Felix. We balance each other. We watch after our charges and nudge them with our own particular talents. I embody love, you see.”
“Yeah, I got that.” The waitress set another drink in front of me. I lifted it up, giving my hands something to do. It wasn’t a good thing to show the potential client how nervous she made me. “So what’s Ollie embody? Wait, let me guess. Oliver is the embodiment of an asshole.”
“He is judgment. You might call it justice,” she replied with just a hint of prude. “But normally he’s not so difficult. Everything requires a balance. Love alone can be very destructive without sound judgment. But Felix is the most important of all. He is faith. Without Felix, Oliver and I are adrift, with nothing to anchor us.”
I apparently didn’t understand how Heaven worked. “So, why don’t you just talk to your boss? I hear he’s all powerful. Why doesn’t he just reach into Hell and pull up your boy?”
Her head shook. “It doesn’t work like that. If it were meant to happen that way, it would. Since it did not, I’ve taken it upon myself to save Felix. It is as it should be.”
Her logic was hard to follow, but I pressed on anyway. “So why don’t you and your angel friends just charge the Hell plane with swords ablaze and rescue him?”
She smiled, obviously amused at the image. “That’s what you would do in my position, isn’t it?”
“Damn straight.”
“You would have been an archangel,” she concluded. “I am not. I do not fight in that manner. Besides, we’ve been forbidden to enter the Hell plane. It’s one of our highest laws. I’m not supposed to even try to influence actions on the Hell plane, but Halfer didn’t play by the rules so I shall not either. I won’t go there myself. I must find a different way. I must find a paladin. I found you, Zoey Donovan. You are my knight.”
“Thief is a better classification for me, lady.” I wasn’t a knight in shining armor. I didn’t tend to throw my own needs out for the greater good. I watched my own back and took care of my people. For the most part, the rest of the world could hang.
Her blonde hair shimmered in the low light as she shook her head. “You don’t give yourself enough credit, but I have faith in you. You are a paladin. You’ll always make the right choice in the end. You’re clever, and when the time comes, you’ll use your talents for good.”
“How about I use my talents for two million dollars? We are talking about dollars, right? Not some strange Heaven currency, because that does not work here.” I didn’t care what part of my nature she was attempting to call to. I was concerned about the part of my nature that was excited about doing the job I wanted to do and getting paid a shitload of money for something I would have done for free. “Where the hell does an angel get two million?”
“I merely requested it from one of my charges. He is a very nice man in Seattle,” Felicity explained. “He has more money than he could ever spend and doesn’t mind helping out good causes. I also got him to throw in a laptop and something called software. It will be delivered to your house tomorrow.”
“I’m going to need that in cash.” If she was talking about who I thought she was, I did not want a million lawyers jumping on my ass when I cashed that check.
Felicity smiled brightly, lighting up the room. “I’m so excited. It’s going to be so good to work together.”
“We’re not working together.” The last thing I needed was to babysit the physical embodiment of love. “I’ll give you progress reports, but otherwise you stay on the sidelines.”
“Absolutely,” she agreed.
“Now, how about handing over that Revelation thing?” The quicker I learned how to use it the better. We would be going to the party in a few weeks, but there was no reason I couldn’t start working with my ace in the hole.
“About that,” she started, and I knew I wasn’t going to like what she said next. “I don’t actually have that, but I know where it is.”
“How about using those powers of persuasion and getting it? Don’t tell me it’s on the Hell plane.” I planned on spending as little time there as possible, and planning two robberies there was just beyond my talents.
“Not at all. It’s in Arkansas.”
I rolled my eyes. “Close enough. I take it the current owner doesn’t wish to part with it?”
“She’s proven very stubborn.” Felicity held her hand out and suddenly there was a thumb drive in her palm. “I think you’ll find this has all the information you need. My charge taught me how to use a computer.”
“Great.” I took the drive and shoved it in my pocket. My two million was looking harder all the time, and I hadn’t thought it looked that easy in the first place.
She watched as I took a drink. I have to admit I’m not a delicate sipper of a good cocktail. I tend to down them pretty fast. The waitress was already on her way back with another one. “What is that like? It looks pretty. I have never tried alcohol before.”
Apparently the Heaven plane didn’t boast a hopping nightlife. I slid the fresh glass across the table. I was a little chattier now that I knew I’d have two million at my disposal. “Give it a try.”
She shook her head. “Oh, no, I couldn’t possibly.”
She looked back at the bar, and then seemed to come to some decision. She took a long swallow and came up choking. Perhaps I should have started her on something easier because the bartender knew how I liked my Cosmos and that was heavy on the vodka.
“You should probably take it slower.”
“That was strong.” She sputtered a little, clearing her throat. “I drank it the way you did.”
“Yes, but you didn’t start sneaking into your father’s liquor cabinet at the age of seventeen.” I thought of one really nice night when Danny and I tried making margaritas and ended up giving it up for tequila shots. I still can’t make a margarita. My dad had been pissed, and Danny had tried to take all the blame.
“You’re thinking of your husband.” Felicity leaned forward, her hand almost touching mine.
“Get out of my head.” I didn’t like anyone poking around in my brain.
She shrugged. “I can’t help it. When you love someone the way you love your Daniel, I can’t help but feel it. It telegraphs very loudly.”
“It isn’t really love, you see,” I started to explain. “I’m a companion, and he’s a vampire.”
“And what do you think a companion is, dear?”
I stilled because if I answered that question, I opened a whole new can of worms. Felicity claimed she could tell me what I was. Did I really want to know? Against my better judgment, I heard myself speak. “A companion is something like a slave.”
Felicity chuckled a little, but her face softened and I could practically feel the warmth of affection pouring off her. “I’m sorry, dear, I didn’t realize that the knowledge was gone from this plane. A companion isn’t a slave—far from it. A companion is just as powerful as a vampire.”
I rolled my eyes. “Yes, my superpower is—wait for it—tasting good. That’s a hell of a superpower. Someone call the Justice League and get me an application.”
“They really don’t tell you anything, do they? A companion is balance against the vampire. It’s why they’re attracted to each other. A vampire needs a companion and a companion needs a vampire. They balance each other. It is the way of this world. You realize you saved your husband the night he died? He is as he is because of your blood.”
“I don’t understand anything,” I admitted. An odd sense of vulnerability stole over me.
She gave me a reassuring pat. “Okay, I’ll try to make you understand. I probably should start at the beginning. Long before there were humans on the Earth plane, angels and demons used it as a battlefield. As happens on occasion, not all demons are entirely bad as not all angels can maintain their perfect goodness. Some fell from both sides. Some male and some female. Do you understand where I’m going?”
“Yes, some of the demons hooked up with some of the angels and started making babies.” I summed up the story as old as time.
Felicity nodded. “Exactly. They could no longer live on their planes and chose to populate the Earth plane. Later, my father created humans and the bloodlines became mixed. It’s rare, but sometimes the demon blood shows up in the population, almost always in the male, and a vampire is born. The same is true of the angelic blood in the female. This is what you call a companion.”
It was my turn to sputter. “You’re telling me I’m descended from an angel?”
Neil was going to get a kick out of that one, but I finally understood why I could use the Revelation and Daniel could not. I suppose it also made sense that faeries were closer to angels, while a werewolf took after the demonic side.
“Yes, you are. It’s the balance to the demon. It’s why they’re attracted to you. They want the balance. Vampires, for the most part, don’t wish to be destructive. But the companion’s true role was lost over time, and they became very rare indeed. Now, apparently the vampire’s possessive nature has taken over and they subjugate their companions, never understanding what that companion can do for them.”
“What can I do for him?” As far as I knew, I was just around to feed Daniel.
“You’ve already done most of the work. A vampire is very impressionable when he turns. The Council chooses to use this to fashion an army. You mentioned the word slave, but it better refers to the way the Council treats vampires. New vampires are forced into blood oaths that make them pliable and eager to serve those who are stronger. They lose much of their own free will.”
“Daniel went through the same training.” He rarely spoke of it, but when he did, it was with a deep bitterness. Those three years he spent in the Council’s care were the worst of his life. I’d learned from Marcus that Daniel had proven difficult to train.
“Daniel was different. The day he rose he took his companion’s blood into his body. There is no blood oath strong enough to break the promise you made to him that night. They could feed him ancient blood every day, but it couldn’t change who Daniel is. He learned to conform but never to fit in. It’s caused him much anxiety because he didn’t understand. Your blood was his misery and his salvation. I believe it will be the salvation of all this plane’s unique creatures.”
A little shiver raced across my skin. “What do you mean?”
Felicity became very serious. “I mean the Council has become corrupt. They seek dominion over the supernatural world. They believe they can use Daniel to force their will on the other creatures. They don’t understand the bond between you and Daniel. As you balance your husband, so I believe he will prove to balance the Council’s threat. We watch him in Heaven, too.” She gave me a moment to soak that in before she leaned over. “I know you worry that your love for Daniel is tainted because of your unique biology. You view this in the wrong fashion. You have fears because you don’t understand your own nature, but you won’t be afraid forever, Zoey. Rejecting your husband’s love is like saying you wouldn’t accept love from a man because men are attracted to women. It’s foolish.”
“You don’t understand.” That phrase was becoming my mantra.
“There is much on this plane I don’t understand, but this I have experience in.” She sat back and glanced at the bar. She watched Dev for a long moment. I wondered what he looked like to an angel. “You should go to your lover. He’ll need you tonight.”
I was a little surprised. I’d gotten the impression she wouldn’t approve of my relationship with Dev. “No lectures on fidelity?”
“I’ve lectured you enough for one night. Heaven is not the place you think. It is you humans who make it a harsh place for only the most worthy. My boss, as you put it, has an entirely different version of worthy than you could imagine.” She stood up. “I wish you luck, Zoey. I know you will succeed.”
I felt compelled to speak. She’d answered my questions, but I refused the only one she’d asked of me. “It depends, you know, on why you’re sleeping with a person.”
“I wonder because I know nothing of the physical. I only have experience with the spiritual. I always wondered. You think you don’t love Devinshea, yet still you enjoy mating with him.”
“I care about Dev,” I pointed out, not wanting to admit anything even to myself. “I really do. I enjoy sleeping with him because it feels good. He’s a very skilled lover. There’s nothing that can take your mind off your troubles like a man who plays your body like a fine instrument, and Dev is good at that. It’s good to feel close to someone.”
“And what is it like with your Daniel?”
I blinked back the tears that sprang up. I took a deep breath before I answered her as honestly as I could. “I don’t know what Heaven’s like, but I would bet it feels like that.”
Felicity smiled and took my hand briefly. “It’s all right to be scared a while longer, Zoey. Things will play out as they are meant to. You’ll find your balance, all three of you. Your path is set. Now go and take care of your lover. As I said, he needs you tonight more than he’ll admit. My earlier actions have brought back bad memories for Devinshea.”
I glanced over at Dev, who frowned as the bartender passed him another beer. When I looked back, Felicity was gone.
Dev walked through the crowd when he realized I was alone again. “What did she say? You look sad. I could have her thrown out if she hadn’t vanished into thin air.”
I shook my head. “I’m just thinking. The good news is we have a job.”
“Tell me about it later,” he demanded, taking my hand. “Let’s go upstairs.”
I let him drag me along, thinking about Felicity’s words, when a young woman ran from the dance floor and threw herself at my feet. She was maybe twenty and Hispanic. Her dark hair was tangled, and she had a cut on her face. Her eyes were wide with desperation.
“Please, help me,” she said, trying to take my hand.