said before Macbeth could retaliate. “Hopefully I’ll have more information by then so I can plan my attack. My main objective is to keep Ella safe, and the only way to do that is to land on this demonic problem as hard and as fast as I can so that it goes away forever.”
Macbeth crinkled his snack bag. “Yeah, but...what is it that you can do, Nate? I mean, this is a demon we’re talking about here—a demon who wants to knock off the Nephilim for reasons known only to it. Other than melting its face and bartering for human souls, we don’t know what it can do, but I’d be willing to bet it can do lots of other demony tricks. Not to be rude, but you said yourself that you can’t fly and you don’t have your locating powers, so...”
“This demon isn’t up to his full speed yet either.” Discomfort at having his weaknesses pointed out made him want to squirm, but he kept his gaze steady. “This thing doesn’t want me to look his way and locate him. Not yet. That means I have to do it now, while he’s still weak.”
“How do you know that?”
Nate paused and wondered if they’d think he was nuts if he told them he’d seen it in his dreams.
“Well, well.” Kyle’s grin flashed like lightning, a brilliant white in a darkly tanned face. “Look who’s getting his mojo back. Has your inner compass hit the reset button, Nate?”
“Maybe.” And maybe it was something more, something that had been lurking under that compass he’d quietly tried to manipulate his whole life, Nate thought as he logged off. Whatever was happening to him, it was strong enough for him to know he’d be an idiot to ignore whatever message it was trying to get through to him. Now more than ever, he had to accept his family’s curse was actually a gift that needed to be used.
“Ella?” The sound of water had suddenly ceased, and the quiet in the hotel room was almost deafening. With no more obligations hanging over his head, he made a beeline for the bathroom door, offering a perfunctory knock before turning the handle. “Why didn’t you wake me? I could’ve scrubbed your...”
As sounds of movement from the bathroom next door fully filtered through, his heart came to a standstill when he found the room empty.
* * *
The hotel’s lobby overflowed with guests enjoying the complimentary breakfast. After snagging a couple of apples to tuck into the duffle bag now doubling as her purse, Ella made a beeline to the tiny general store off to the side of the much quieter front desk-reception area. Jacob had made sure her bug-out kit had all the basic necessities, from changes of clothing to duct tape. But there was one thing not even Jacob had thought to pack.
Condoms.
Funnily enough, this was probably the only thing duct tape couldn’t fix in a pinch.
What they really needed was a damn toolkit to put the bed back together, though she suspected the poor fold-out had given up its life for the sake of their pleasure. And what pleasure it was, she thought, trying not to smirk as she perused the limited selection of prophylactics. Once they got over the hurdles of his not-completely-human genetic soup, a demon who wore faces of the dead, and the angel-wing scars—both his and hers—it had been clear sailing. It was as though now that the absolute worst of their secrets was out in the open—and neither one had run away in hysterical horror—there was nothing left but acceptance and peace.
Acceptance, yes, but as she paid for her purchase she couldn’t help but smile. Peace wasn’t quite the right word when it came to Nate, her knight in battle-scarred armor. Though she’d learned the hard way that safety was more or less an illusion that happened in between the times when fate unleashed hell on an unsuspecting victim, there was no doubt Nate made her feel safe. He exuded an aura of a hyper-protective attack dog mingled with a badass looking for a fight, plus a hearty dose of Latin lover thrown in for good measure. Was it any wonder she suffered a staggering case of the vapors every time she thought of him? Or was touched by him. Or kissed him. Or was filled with him...
The box of condoms disappeared into her bag, but she didn’t expect it to stay there for long. As soon as she got back