A Mermaid s Kiss (Daughters of Arianne 1)

"What are you--"

"I'm going to try and get his heart back before the battle starts," Anna said. "When the call comes for your battle, you all do what you must do. But I can try this now."

David put his other hand on Mina's broad and muscular shoulder, ignoring her warning growl. "Anna. Jonah gave his heart to save you."

"Yes, he did. Because he knew you all would stop him. Lucifer can likely kill him." Her voice trembled as she glanced at the still form of the dark-winged angel. She could feel the energy pulsing off him like a solid wall, even at this distance. "Will kill him. Jonah knew that. But there's a bigger battle at stake. We both know it. He was willing to let the Dark Ones have him because he thinks he's no good to you all anymore. He thinks his soul is already lost. I can give that back to him."

She picked up Mina's discarded cloak to use as a saddle to protect her from the cut of the scales.

"How?"

"I don't know." She gave a half laugh that she realized came out sounding a little wild, because concern flickered over David's face. "I just know it has to be me, if anyone can do it. Mina knew it from the first."

"No." He repeated it. "Look at it out there. You're both mad. You won't get halfway across that field before their arrows cut you down."

Anna stopped, taking her foot from Mina's knee, and turned to face him. David should be dead. She remembered again, even more vividly now, how savagely he'd fought to keep her from the twenty or so Dark Ones that seized her out of the air. She'd underestimated him as a dangerous force and a fighter, probably because she'd seen him in the company of Lucifer and Jonah. But David had held on to her with one arm, fought with the other. What he lacked in experience had been compensated for with unflagging courage, determination and levelheadedness, where most would have lost their minds to terror. He would have been killed before relinquishing her, so she suspected a fortunate blow had knocked him senseless and dropped him into the sea. The Dark Ones had been more concerned about spiriting her away than making sure an angel was dead.

While there'd simply been too many, she knew he felt just as responsible for Jonah being on that rock as she did. For that reason she took the time now, despite the screaming impatience in her head to get to Jonah.

"David, I don't know if I can change anything, or gain you a valuable moment of distraction"--though her mind shied away from the thought she might give Lucifer and that horrible blade the opportune moment to cut Jonah down--"but Mina saw in her vision that I was the only one who could lead him back to himself. I thought that meant getting him to the shaman."

Her voice wavered. "To be honest, I was so relieved, getting him there, because I couldn't imagine what someone like me could do for someone as powerful as Jonah. But my heart tells me my task isn't done yet. And I love him so much . . ."

Despite herself, her eyes filled with tears, though she kept her back straight and voice firm, so he wouldn't think sentiment was driving her to foolishness. "If he doesn't leave this field alive, I won't be able to bear a world where he was struck down like this."

David held her gaze a long moment, and she saw a shimmer in the brown depths. Agreement. But he still didn't release her arm. She set her jaw, her control fraying.

"Jonah isn't evil. For a thousand years, he's protected us all," she snarled. "Now, damn it all, it's time to protect him. Fight for him."

The shrieking across the canyon swelled. Anna's gaze snapped in that direction, and David turned. The enemy shifted and the angels adjusted. Her heart nearly stopped beating, thinking her chance lost as the battle began. But apparently something else had happened, for the Dark Ones remained where they were.

"Christ, they're just posturing to wear on our nerves. Or Luc's temper."

With relief, she felt David's restraining hand leave her arm. Bending, he offered her a hand for a leg up as he cast her a wry glance. "I can tell you've been around Jonah. You sounded just like him there, for a second."

As she settled on the cloak, unsure how to respond to that, he turned his attention to Mina, whose great, serpentine blue eye blinked at him with her usual irascibleness. She showed him her teeth.

"A giant, temperamental predator," he observed. "Why am I not surprised? You couldn't shapeshift into a puppy? Something cuddly?"

Mina blew a stream of fire out of her nostrils. Anticipating her, he was already moving back, a graceful though shallow leap aided by his wings. The angels above him called out in alarm, which he quickly quelled with a waved hand.

"Good luck," he said. "Tell me your approach so I can communicate it to Luc."

"Mina and my own magic can protect me enough to get me there"--she hoped--"and then I'll send her back here. At that point, it's up to me and Jonah. You'll stay safe and well." She directed that to the transformed seawitch. "No stupid heroics."

Mina's brow lowered. "Pot calling kettle . . ." she hissed, the words almost a rumble.

"I mean it. Promise--"

A sudden cacophony of shouts, and Anna spun to see the Dark Ones surging to the cliff edge. Jonah had hefted his sword, bringing it up so the flashing fire in the sky turned it molten gold.

"No, it's too late. That's a signal--"

"Go." Anna urged Mina. The dragon-witch launched herself.

David cursed, but didn't have his angels intercept, despite the apprehension that filled him, watching them wing across the open space toward that terrifying army, the horrible nightmare of who was leading them.

As the dragon flew up through the sky, headed for the column of rock holding a damned angel, he sent a message to Lucifer, telling their temporary commander what the mermaid was doing. Then he sought the magic that was most readily accessible to him. David prayed.

ANNA sung as she'd never sung before, weaving protection around them, feeling Mina's magic joining hers, propelling them through the air on her powerful wings, the shielding moving with them as a blue mist.

Arrows shot by Dark Ones speared through the air, seeking a weak point to stop the dragon's approach, but bounced off the shield. Jonah did not move, his gaze merely turning to them. The sword was still upright in his hand, but Anna was relieved to see he'd not made a move to launch himself or the army. Their surge had apparently been just another antic to keep the angels on edge. Or something else. Why were they waiting?

As they got closer, she realized he didn't wear the battle skirt which bore the red color of the Goddess's seraphim, but sleek black breeches made of some type of slippery hide, supple and formfitting such that she had a sudden sick feeling it was something's skin. If he'd grumbled over a little snugness in the seat of his jeans, she couldn't imagine what Jonah in his normal state of mind would have been saying now.

The solid dark eyes which had been at first so unsettling and then so much more expressive than she'd expected were now twin chasms of hellfire, crimson and gold, flickering like living flame. His upper body was bare, so that she could see the angry red but sealed wound where he'd taken out his own heart. The same black and crimson rain had painted him, giving him the fearsome mien of a barbaric warrior. The ends of his wet hair, tight and sleek on his skull as those pants were on his body, were dripping the stained water onto his broad shoulders, creating a mottled pattern.

He'd always been breathtaking, and he still was, in a horrible, fascinating way that called to her loins even as her heart beat faster, the rabbit recognizing the trap even as she was drawn closer to it. She saw nothing in his face that acknowledged or recognized her.

Anna knew beings could become what she never expected them to be, a betrayer or an unexpected friend, but no matter what came next, what she'd known of him had been true. So she clung fiercely to that.

And in truth, this form was not far from his other self. Jonah was not the soft and fuzzy angel of human lore, the sweet cherub flitting over the clouds, the feminine power come to lay a brow on the laboring woman's head. He was the warrior angel, the bringer of justice. The line between that and bringer of death and chaos had a