A Mermaid s Kiss (Daughters of Arianne 1)

Unholy flame shot through Jonah's eyes. When David began to move forward, Anna put a hand on his arm, stopping him. Whatever was between these two, they were far more powerful than this young angel, and he shouldn't be between them, any more than she should. She sensed it, even as she had to quell a similarly powerful desire to go to Jonah.

"Petulance? Century after century, human bloodshed and cruel ignorance, their greed . . . It all calls to the Dark Ones," Jonah continued in that terrible voice. "We fight for Her, but is She ever going to fight for us?"

She'd seen Jonah move with extraordinary speed. But it was nothing next to how Lucifer moved. She didn't even have a chance to scream before he knocked into Jonah and the two of them were snarling, twisting in the air like eagles fighting . . .

Lightning struck. Lucifer and Jonah landed, squaring off as David pulled Anna back. Before her toes, the earth became scorched, a black stain spreading from the strike of the fiery spear from the sky. Another fork came down on either side just behind Jonah, severing two tree limbs. He didn't even register the strike as the branches fell within inches of him.

Lucifer stepped forward again, his face gone terrible and cold. Heat swept over the glade, the fires of Hell threatening, hot enough that it prickled over her skin. Her attention shot to Jonah, the grim expression of anticipation on his face.

No, this is what he wants.

"No!" She cried it out. David made a grab for her, but she flung herself at Jonah. Not at his upper body, which she knew he'd react to instinctively as an attack, but at his legs. Dropping to her knees on the burning earth, she hugged them hard to her, her hair blowing wildly around his thighs from the wind the two angels were generating.

"Jonah, please. Stop. This isn't you. Come back to me."

Jonah blinked, angled his chin, his movements slow, ponderous. Deadly. The anger died out of his gaze as he registered her touch.

Anna. Anna was in the middle of this. In danger. That wasn't acceptable.

The sky, while overcast and grumbling, lightened, and the storm flashes died, drifting away with the thunder. David felt a wave of relief, though his gaze stayed fastened to Jonah and the woman at his feet. Lucifer had not powered down one iota. His heat still surrounded them all, threatening, keeping Jonah's hackles up, his stance combative. Only now instead of an aggressive pissing contest, David noted with great interest Jonah's manner was protective. From the speculative flicker in Lucifer's gaze, he knew the Lord of the Underworld had noted it as well.

"The poison of the Dark Ones has infected you, Jonah. But you are accepting it, which means you will not heal. It will only grow."

"I am tired and wish to be left alone," Jonah said, his syllables precise, clipped, his eyes still dark and flat, though the red flames had died back. "That is all. If it is my will to return, I shall. Until then, let the Lady find whatever sacrificial lambs She can for Her precious human pets. I'm done being Her shepherd."

In the aftermath of that momentous announcement, the light of dawn broke on the horizon.

The first and second times, he'd been asleep. Now, bleeding, his body still vibrating with battle rage, it hit him like a convulsion. With a strangled cry, Jonah was knocked to his knees, pushing Anna backward, the rippling of his body trying to accommodate the mortal form. The wings disintegrated in a spray of ash that vortexed around him, taunting before dispelling, leaving him balanced on one hand, breathing hard. Anna reached for him.

"No." Jonah snapped it out almost at the same time as Lucifer. The two angels met gazes again, telling Anna that no matter what else was going on in this moment, this black-winged angel knew Jonah well enough to know he would scorn help. And Jonah's expression said he resented that familiarity. Deeply. He made it to his feet with effort and squared off with Lucifer.

"As you can see, I'm a bit encumbered by a spell. If you take me aloft, I'll tumble out of the sky."

"That's an excuse." Lucifer snorted. "We can remove the spell, if you'd only ask."

"I wouldn't be too sure of that," David murmured. "It was a strong casting. Though temporary," he added at Luc's searing look. "To protect him."

"It did an admirable job." Luc hefted his scythe, stained with Dark Ones' blood. "We were entirely unnecessary."

Anna felt a little sick at the fluid flowing down to the handguard; then Luc blinked, and it was gone, the lethal blade clean, glittering. For some reason, the sight of it that way disturbed her even more.

"I thank you for your aid," Jonah said stiffly.

"Good. For it will be a cold day in Hell before I aid you again. How long will she be safe with you, hmm?" Luc glanced at Anna, took a second, slower look. She saw him notice how the breeze flattened the bodice of the dress against her unbound breasts, how her thighs were outlined.

Jonah shifted in front of her, breaking the contact. "She's not your concern. In any way."

"Will she be your concern, when she is dead?" Luc was merciless, his tone impassive. "You must come with us."

"He can't." Anna moved out from behind Jonah, though her voice quavered a bit as those dark, coal-fired eyes turned to her. "He's going to a healer. He must go to him. Mina said so, in order for him to be . . . well again."

Luc blinked. "The Dark Spawn is sending you to a human healer. And you're going?"

"I am not going back with you. That is all I will say."

"For now," Anna put in placatingly, though Jonah gave her a black look.

Luc's gaze shifted between them. For a moment, Anna thought David had bitten back a surprised chuckle, but then he coughed and she couldn't be sure.

"Jonah." Lucifer's voice changed, and though it was still stern, unyielding, she heard a note in it that suggested she and David were not the only ones personally concerned about Jonah. "We can help you."

She turned to see something vital shift in Jonah's expression. When he shook his head, for the first time, he broke contact with Lucifer's gaze. "I can't be with you now, Luc. I have no desire to return to it."

From the raw sound of the words, Anna thought something was tearing inside of him, leaving holes only fit to be filled with the battle rage he'd just demonstrated, as if he could bear no other emotion. Uneasily, it made her recall his description of Dark Ones, the way they tore rifts in the universe and charged through, seemingly propelled by fury alone.

A shudder went through him. Pressing a distracted kiss to her hand, he turned and left the three of them. As she watched him walk toward the copse of trees by the creek, she felt the passion and anger that had driven him evaporating, his desire to fight back replaced by something far worse.

While every part of her yearned to go to him, she made herself turn around and face both angels. Face Lucifer. Summoning her courage, she met his gaze and managed it for about a blink before she had to shift her own to the line of his shoulder.

"My lord . . . I wish . . . Is there anything you know that can help me?"

He cocked his head, studying her for a long, unbearable moment. It was all she could do not to retreat. "If I did," he said at last, "perhaps I would know the way to unlock this shield he's erected against us all. My Lady says give him some time, but She is patience. I am simply fire."

When he glanced at Jonah, kept his gaze there in reflective silence, she tried again. "Perhaps . . . could Ronin somehow be . . . Did his death change something for Jonah?"

That brought both angels' attention back to her. She saw the answer in David's face, but it was Lucifer who spoke. "Yes. We began to notice differences in his manner when he lost Ronin."

"He doesn't seem to like talking about him."

"No, he wouldn't." Lucifer's countenance was terrifyingly impassive, but Anna paid close attention regardless, sensing he would not be speaking unless he felt his words had significance to her. And the flicker in David's eyes told her she was on the right track. "Jonah has had many sons, though none came from his loins. He has lost many of those sons. Ronin was his lieutenant for over two hundred years."

Anna swallowed. To have someone he loved as a son for so long, and then lose him . . . "How old is Jonah?"

"Over a thousand, at least," David said quietly, and Anna tried to mask her shock.

"Time can sit heavily on an angel's shoulders," Lucifer continued. "Ronin alone could tease Jonah, mock him. At times he goaded Jonah's patience, for Ronin went his own way, never growing out of his impetuousness."

Lucifer blinked, once, a brief respite from the intensity of his gaze. "Yes, Ronin is important to what has happened. David is, too. He'd started to love David the same way, just when he lost Ronin. I suspect Jonah feels he can bear to lose no more sons."

David's head whipped around, his startled eyes finding Luc. Luc glanced at him. "You should not be hurt by what he said to you before. He was right. You can't ease his heart by pretending to be Ronin. Look beyond what he said to what he meant. He cherishes your seriousness, David. And not just because he believes it will keep you alive longer."

As Lucifer shifted his attention back to Anna, he bit off an impatient sigh. "I understand my Lady's words. The answer is almost always simple. But the journey is not. For it to be his own truth, he must find it." His lips twitched. "While I find it ironic as well as frustrating that he is walking to his destination as a human, it is a reminder of that. This witch may have more of my Lady's wisdom than expected."