That Old Black Magic - By Michelle Rowen Page 0,70
men in my life. Some of them were mixed up with Malleus business. They always got me in deep trouble. You, I’m thinking, aren’t much different, even if you’re all knight in shining armor right now. I just want to know what changed. It couldn’t have just been me that prompted this crazy decision. You don’t even know me.”
His hands tightened on the steering wheel as he pulled onto the road. “You want to know what changed?”
“Yeah. Lay it on me.”
“Darrak’s gone and it’s my fault. But only now I realize it was the wrong thing to do.”
Leena gasped out loud. “He’s gone?”
“One-way nosedive into the Void.” Ben never in a million years would have guessed he’d feel guilty about that, but he did.
“Holy shit.” Leena pressed back in her seat and raised a hand to her mouth. “How’s Eden taking it?”
“Badly.” He blinked hard. “I was stupid to come between them, but I honestly had no idea how much she loved him. It was a mistake. I see that now, but there’s nothing I can do about it. I can just fix other things that need fixing.”
She went quiet for a moment before nodding firmly. “Fine. So now what’s the plan?”
“The plan is to get you to a motel as soon as possible.”
She raised an eyebrow. “That sounds interesting.”
That she was able to make him blush surprised even him. “So you’ll be safe.”
“That’s usually the reason dangerous men want to take me to motels.”
A nervous laugh threatened to burst free from his throat. “Trust me, I’m not some romantic hero who’s planning on ravishing you.”
“Mm-hmm. Okay.”
He tried to focus on the road. “The last thing I need in my life right now is a shapeshifter. This supernatural crap is all new to me, and I’m not liking it a bit. If I survive this I want to get my life back to normal as much as I can. Get it?”
“Got it.”
He amused her, she wasn’t exactly hiding this fact. “Once I know you’re safe I have to come back and take care of some other business.”
This shifted her expression from amusement to concern. “Are you stupid or something? They’ll kill you!”
“There’s an angel in a cell near yours. I need to rescue him, too.”
Her eyes widened. “An angel? How do you know that?”
Ben came to a stop at a light and eyed their surroundings cautiously. “He had wings. They were plucked daily. Didn’t you notice anything?”
“No, I . . . I mean I heard them talking to another prisoner near me. I think the guy’s name was Daniel, but I didn’t hear anything else that might help.”
Daniel. The name sounded familiar, but he couldn’t put his finger on why.
“Why would they want his feathers?” he mused.
Leena casually propped her left leg up on the dashboard. “An angel’s feathers aren’t really feathers. That’s just what they look like in the human world. They’re more like, uh, celestial Wheaties, if you get my meaning. An angel gets his power from his wings.”
Ben frowned. “How do you know that?”
“I’m a veritable encyclopedia of supernatural facts, handsome. Can’t help it. I retain everything I’ve ever seen or heard.” She tapped her temple. “Werepanthers are known to have photogenic memories.”
Werepanther. Terrific.
He rubbed a hand over his forehead. His head had started to throb. “Why would they pluck his feathers?”
“It would keep an angel weak and unable to fight back, which might be why they’ve succeeded in locking him up. Also, if their feathers are ingested by a mortal, it gives them a whole lot of power.”
Ben was silent for a moment. “They eat the feathers?”
“So the rumor goes.”
“It’s happened before?”
She nodded. “Legend has it that Hitler had an angel trapped so he could grind the wings up into his breakfast every day. Thought it would make him invincible.”
That was a disturbing image. “Didn’t work though, did it?”
“No, but I’m thinking he didn’t have enough time to make it work. Anyone so determined to trap an angel and suck up some of that celestial energy is up to something big. Something epic. The only question is who and what?”
Ben thought he knew who, although he wasn’t sure what Oliver Gale could possibly want that would require a huge influx of celestial energy.
Hitler wanted to rule the world.
So what exactly was the leader of the Malleus after?
EIGHTEEN
The moment Eden slid the bracelet over her wrist, the floor dropped out beneath her feet. Alternating darkness and light flooded her vision, and she clung to Andy’s furry neck