His knowing smile soon slipped away. “Moorecroft was just bullshit. A sob story to get close to me.”
“No.” She shook her head. “He truly wants me dead. I did kill his friend, but I promise the bastard deserved what he had coming.”
“Like I deserve death?”
Rogziel thinks so. “Don’t you?” she threw right back. This was her job. Nothing easy, nothing pretty. Just death. Punishment. Someone had to stop the monsters out there, and she was the perfect aberration to do the job.
But this is my last assignment. I’m getting out. Going to vanish. Because she couldn’t wash the blood off her hands anymore.
She’d tried to atone for the sins of the past by killing monsters, but their blood stained as dark as anyone else’s.
Sam stepped back, dropping his hand. He exhaled on a rough sigh. “Someone sent you to die.”
Possibly. She held her ground. “You really think you can kill me?”
That wicked grin flashed again, and her breath caught. “I’m Sammael, sweetheart, I can kill anyone.” He lifted his hand and stared at his fingers. “I’m the Angel of Death. All it takes is a touch . . .” He glanced her way. “And I can rip your soul right from your body.”
Angel of Death. The room seemed to dim. Unlike most Other, she knew quite a bit about angels. Not so much Fallen, because who would want to fall from Paradise? Other than my mother. But she knew the angel lore. There were so many angels in heaven, thousands of them flying around.
There were punishment angels, messenger angels, guardians, and . . . the most powerful, the angels of death.
An Angel of Death could truly kill with a touch. Just a touch. Rogziel had sent her after Sammael, and he’d neglected to tell her that real vital bit of information.
She wet her lips. “Wh-why did you fall?” Most people might not actually believe an angel could fall, but she wasn’t like everyone else. Her mother had fallen because she’d been tempted by an incubus. Erina had been weak, and she’d paid for her crime.
And I’ve been paying, too. Paying her entire life for sins she’d never committed.
“I got a taste for the killing.” His gaze flashed back to that deceptive blue, and this time, she did feel like the words held the whisper of a lie. “So I started to kill whoever the hell I wanted.” His gaze raked her. “Want to guess who is next on my list?”
No, she didn’t want to guess at all. Seline swallowed. The odds of her survival were looking real slim. “Can you—can you at least put on clothes before you kill me?”
He blinked and frowned a bit. “A succubus cares about modesty?”
Her back teeth clenched. “I told you . . .”
“Yes, but nearly every word you say is a lie. So why should I believe anything you say?”
Her bare feet pressed into the hardwood floor. Her dripping blood—maybe his?—had already stained the floor. “Because you need me.”
He laughed like that line was hilarious. Jerk.
“You need me,” she snapped out, raising her voice to be heard over his laughter, and then she played her trump card. “If you want to find your brother.”
That stopped his laughter. “Seline . . .” Her name was a warning. “You don’t want to make me angrier than I am.”
Oh, was that possible? She hadn’t realized. She almost rolled her eyes. “If you want your brother—” Hell, what had been the guy’s name? Azik? Azra? She couldn’t remember for sure because she’d just heard Alex say it once. Better shorten it to be safe. “If you want to see Az, then you’ll back off.” She flashed him what she knew was her own wicked grin. “Or you’ll never get the vengeance you want.”
The lines around his eyes tightened, but Sam made no move to touch her. Good. She didn’t trust his touch.
Seline didn’t lower her guard. She knew better than to relax when a snake was close to striking. “I didn’t come in alone. You were right. Earlier, we were being watched.” The guys in the van were her backup.
If Sam’s eyes narrowed anymore, she figured that they’d be slits.
“We need to get out of here,” she told him. “If we don’t, then they’ll blow this house up with us inside.” She wasn’t lying then. As soon as Rogziel realized she hadn’t been successful. . .
Burn, baby, burn. Folks in the city would see the flames from this house as they lit up the night.
Sam waved his hand, and just that easy, he was dressed. Huh. Interesting trick that she’d never been able to manage.
He still didn’t touch her. Sam just stared at her with enough heat in his gaze to singe her flesh. “Take me to Az.”
She nodded, more than ready to deal. But first . . . “Promise that if I do, you’ll let me walk away.”
He grabbed her arm and they flew through the window. Flew. More glass shattered around them. Seline clamped her mouth closed, refusing to cry out. Won’t let him hear the fear. Some monsters liked fear too much—another lesson she’d learned the hard way. She plummeted straight down and choked back a scream. But her body didn’t slam into the unforgiving earth. Sam wrapped his arms around her and when they hit the ground, he cushioned her.
Seline blinked. “Why did you—”
He twisted and dragged her to her feet. Then they were running. Not toward his car, but toward the waiting darkness of the swamp.
Smart. If anyone actually was still watching, their eyes would lock on the Jag. Not on the gator-infested swamp. The insects chirped around her, but Seline refused to tense. Hate bugs. Hate snakes. The Fallen will pay for this. Once she figured out how to make him pay.
A weathered dock waited up ahead. A small motorboat was tethered close by. Sam jumped in the boat and glanced back at her.
The wooden dock trembled beneath her feet. “You didn’t give me your promise,” she reminded him stubbornly as her hands clenched into fists.
“What do you actually think a promise from me is worth?” He started the motor with a quick yank that flexed his muscles. The black water lapped at the boat.
“You don’t trust me,” she whispered. “And I can’t risk trusting you.” But she wanted to. Her life was hell, and she was on a kill mission that she didn’t want. If Sam could just get her out of this mess . . .
He’s strong enough. He can give me freedom.
Or she could take him out and earn her own freedom. Provided, of course, that Sam didn’t kill her first.