I just wished I could have asked him face-to-face.
"She's cute."
"Yeah?"
"Yeah." Another pause. "I'm gonna go now and hunt down an angel, okay?"
"Thanks."
"No problemo." He ended the call.
Elyssa emerged from the shower, a towel wrapped around her body. Leaning her head to the side as she dried her hair with another towel, she said, "Any luck?"
I nodded and relayed what I'd found out.
"Well, it's a start." She pressed her hands to my face and kissed me. "I'm so tired. It's always one thing after another."
"It never ends."
"I just want to forget everything. The pain, the anger. I want to let it all go." Her kisses became more insistent. "Just for one night."
I ran a hand up her neck, gripping her damp hair tight as need and desire swept me in a flood. "I just want you." My voice came out rough. "You're all I ever wanted."
She tore off my shirt. Pushed me onto the bed, and straddled me. Leaned down, her hair hanging in damp, tangled braids to both sides, violet eyes glowing with hunger. Her soft lips pressed against mine. I felt her fangs nip my lower lip. She ran kisses down my neck, groaning softly.
I gripped the towel and pulled it off, flinging it away to reveal her slender, athletic body. With a twist, I flipped us around, pinning her beneath me.
"You won't be needing these," she said, unbuckling my pants and pushing them down.
Brushing aside the raven dark hair from her face, I looked down upon her full lips, at the fangs protruding ever so slightly from beneath. I kissed her upper lip. Her bottom lip. Leaned into her neck and drew in the heady scent that drove me wild.
"You smell so…amazing," I said and pulled the sheets over us.
I woke up to the sound of someone knocking on the door. I pulled on my pants before answering.
"Oh!" Katie stood there, face blushing red, eyes wide as she stared at me. She reached a hand toward my stomach. Pulled it back, as if reconsidering. "God, I just want to touch your six-pack."
"Hello, Justin," said a calm, familiar voice.
I flinched, spotting the gray man as he stood motionless in the twilight outside. "What time is it?"
"Almost evening," Katie said. "The Templars brought us back here, although I had to convince them not to take poor—uh—whatever his name is and toss him into a cell." She jerked a thumb toward the golem. "I slept like a rock. Holy crap was I tired." Her eyes wandered up my torso. "Anyway, when I woke up, I came over here and found him sitting outside on that bench over there." She pointed out a wooden bench along a path leading through the compound. "It was kind of creepy."
"I did not intend any creepiness," the golem said.
"Weren't you bored?" Katie asked.
"I'm not familiar with being bored. Is this something I should attempt?"
"Not if you want to be bored," I said.
His head tilted. "I do not know enough about being bored to either want or not want it."
"Hang on," I said, and went back inside to grab a shirt.
"Is that Katie?" Elyssa asked, sitting up in bed.
"And the gray man."
She groaned. "Let me get dressed."
After we were properly clothed, I invited Katie and the golem inside and told her about my efforts to find Nightliss in the hopes Felicia could be saved.
Katie snapped her fingers. "Wait a minute. Now it makes more sense."
"What does?"
She pulled out an arctablet and accessed a document. "Underborn gave me access to a ton of information, like Templar crime reports, stuff like that, when I was studying for my undercover role. I found reports from all over the world where bad guys were being mean and all, and then a mystery woman showed up to save the day. But there were some weird cases where they described a blonde woman helping. Nightliss is short, has an olive complexion, and black hair, right?"
"Yeah, unless she can change her appearance, Daelissa is the only blonde angel I know of," I said, "and I can't imagine her being helpful to anyone. Back up for a minute—you're saying Nightliss has been spotted all over the world by the Templars?"
Katie gave a nod. "Mostly Templars. There were reports from normal sources too, like random people with cameras or posting to social websites. Ireland, Paris, and Johannesburg, I remember for sure."
"And you're sure Nightliss is the person in these reports?"