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He dwelled on that one. Her father was obviously stronger, more powerful. But he'd allowed it. He'd respected her decision. This was a world full of peculiarities. A powerful angel who let his daughter make a decision he did not believe was wise, rather than forcing her to obedience, was just one of them. Power was handled differently here, like the varying direction of the wind, rather than a mallet that kept others hammered into their place.
He looked at the woman sleeping in his arms. She'd ignored or disobeyed him several times now, and it wasn't because of the despised metal collar around his throat that he hadn't punished her as he would a Dark One who disregarded his commands. The Dark Ones were always seeking ways to take his power away, claim it for themselves. Their lives were a struggle for dominion. Alexis's motives were different. He remembered her hurt when he implied her fate was of no concern to him.
That was no longer true, if it had ever been true. He'd been prepared to battle the vampire, prove his strength was greater, and then allow the creature the opportunity to submit or die. But the way his gaze had crawled over Alexis's flesh, and then his fist striking her, sending her hurtling back into a tree, had sealed the vampire's fate. The red rage that had covered Dante's mind tolerated only one outcome. Death to the one who dared touch her, cause her pain.
But what did that make him? Who would punish him for harming her, for planting the fear that was still making her cry out in her sleep? Disturbed by his thoughts, he pushed them away as her fingers tightened on his thigh, her face pressing into his neck.
Resuming his stroking, he stumbled through the lullaby once more.
Twenty-three
MARCELLUS settled on the roof of Alexis's town house and folded his wings, glancing at Jonah and David as they came in next to him. "Cleanup wasn't too difficult," he reported. "They'll think it was a cigarette fire that burned itself out on the trail. I scattered the ashes so the bone shards wouldn't catch a park ranger's eye. Vampire and definitely Dark One energy readings. Dante was involved, whatever happened."
David looked toward Jonah. "Alexis?"
"Is fine, as far as I know," her father answered. "She sent me the message that a vampire attacked her and Dante. Dante handled it, which explains the Dark One fire."
"It took out a hundred-foot swath, very uniform," Marcellus supplied. "He had to have doused it himself, else it would have had a more erratic pattern. Did the vampire queen not honor her promise?"
"She confirmed Jacob talked to the territory overlord shortly after we left," David explained. "So this appears to be a matter of timing only. The attacking vampire hadn't been informed Dante wasn't an unprotected loner in the territory. There should be no other aggressive moves toward him, at least not during his thirty days. Hopefully he'll be intelligent enough to accept her offer for guidance after that," he added. "If nothing else, it will spread the word among the vampires here that he can hold his own."
"That won't matter," Jonah said flatly. "He'll be back in his own world then."
"It's not his world, Jonah," David responded. "It was where he was born when his abducted mother was raped there."
Jonah's mouth tightened. "You were there, David, when Lex came back through, bruised and covered with blood. You've seen the way he looks at all of us. He's more Dark One than anything else."
"Marcellus once said the same thing about Mina." A hardness entered David's voice. "You weren't so ready to agree with him then."
Marcellus shifted uncomfortably, readjusting his wings, but Jonah held his lieutenant's gaze. "I had some evidence that Mina's fate was undecided. I haven't seen that in Dante."
"Perhaps because you don't want to see it."
Jonah's dark eyes sparked. "You don't have a child. You don't understand."
"No, I don't have a child. Which is why I'm seeing this from a different perspective." David shook his head. "Jonah, every one of us wanted to take him apart limb from limb when they came back through that portal. But you can't miss how she looks at him. She sees something no one else sees. I do understand that, quite well."
"Which may mean both of your perspectives are distorted," Marcellus ventured, hoping to defuse the sizzling tension. Sometimes he thought the two were more like father and son than they realized. "One of you sees him as evil, the other as misunderstood good. Perhaps I should go check on her and report a balanced perspective?"
"I will look in on my own daughter," Jonah said. "But thank you, Marcellus, for offering."
"It's late." David's tone was now neutral, though Marcellus noted the tension hadn't left his shoulders. "Since she indicated she was all right, wouldn't tomorrow be soon enough?"
In answer, Jonah gave him another searing look. He left the town house roof in one easy leap, which they knew would land him on the ground before the front door. When Marcellus raised a brow, David shrugged. "Where do you think Dante is sleeping, if he sleeps? And do you think Lex is wearing flannel footie pajamas?"
"Goddess save us." Marcellus shuddered. "I don't have a child or a female, and I'm beginning to think an angel's mind stays clearer without either one."
"Perhaps." A smile crossed David's face, easing it. "But a smooth journey is rarely an exciting one, Marcellus."
"Yes, my life is full of boredom," he snorted. "Since I fight for . . ."
"You fight for the Goddess," David finished firmly when he stopped. "You protect her world, as all of us do."
"Just not on the front lines of the Legion any more." Marcellus gave his scar a disgusted look.
"Would you get over it? I swear, you're worse than an old woman."
"An old woman who can whip your subordinate lily-white buttocks halfway across the galaxy."
David's smile spread into a grin. "There's the captain I know. Sir."
Marcellus snorted and went to a squat, his wings holding him in that position. Though David said nothing, he did notice the strain to the effort in Marcellus's left wing. Thank the Goddess, when Mina shut down the rifts from the Dark One world, the need for large scale actions or fierce fighting had been curtailed for a while. But battle practice continued, and in competitions where Marcellus had excelled, he'd now fallen into the middle of the pack. Despite David's teasing, he knew it weighed on Marcellus's mind, as it would any of them. The angels of the Legion lived for their service to the Goddess.
David tactfully turned the topic in a different direction, looking down toward the parking lot. "I admit, I expected you to be more of Jonah's opinion on all this. Since it's Dark One blood that has kept you from fully healing."
Marcellus didn't immediately answer. Instead, he watched the cat crossing the quiet parking area. He'd returned Timeshare Cat, or T, to Lex, but while she was chaperoning Dante, she'd given his care over to Clara. The cat, despite Lex having responsibly neutered him, lived up to his name and tomcat nature. He seemed to have no problem sauntering up to Clara's town house instead of Lex's. Marcellus couldn't blame the cat.
Goddess, he was being an idiot. The girl was a child, and Lex's friend. Feeling David's regard, he switched his mind to the topic at hand. It was time to give the young angel the answer he deserved. Marcellus reflected that he'd probably withheld it for far too long.
"In centuries past, I watched angels fall in the face of greater numbers of Dark Ones. They could have retreated, perhaps, and fought another day, but they held the line so other angels could have that honor. They fought darkness despite the weakness of their bodies, and knowing the consequences of doing so. But they also knew they had the reward of serving the Goddess, and that their life energy would rejoin hers."
He met David's gaze. "Your witch fought the darkness inside of her for years, with no justification other than her own stubbornness. She stood strong, even when we reviled her. No one promised her any reward for her courage and endurance. No one championed her. Not until you. When she eventually did what she did, closing down the Dark One world, she did it believing she would lose you, the only thing she'd ever needed or valued, or that had n
eeded or valued her. I was ashamed."
David's brow creased. "Marcellus."
"She didn't lose you, though it was a near thing." He cleared his throat, lifting a hand so David would let him finish. "And I realized then there can be a spark of light in the darkest night, but we can be too blind to see it if we cling to what we've always known and believed. On better, less selfish days"--his hand went to his chest, brushed the scar--"I think this is a reminder of that. Dante may be the evil he seems to be, a lost soul who cannot be saved. Or, like your witch, he may be something different. I will not make the same mistake again."
"You know, you guys keep coming around, they're going to cite you for loitering."
Glancing left, they found Clara leaning on the low wall running the roof perimeter of the adjacent town house. She cocked her head, her bright eyes focused on Marcellus. "Nice evening to take a girl out for a flight, don't you think?"
David coughed over a chuckle as Marcellus scowled. "Your ability to see us is irritating," he informed her.
"You're not really irritated. You're mad because you almost smiled when you saw me. I know these things. I'm clairvoyant. Hence the name Clara." At their expressions, she laughed. "You guys are too easy. My mom had no clue, she just liked the name. It's a little annoying though."
"You should be asleep," Marcellus grated.
"It's three a.m. It's hard for any clairvoyant to sleep during that time. Too many otherworldly things moving about." She lifted a Tup perware bowl. "I've got some great pound cake Mom made. If I eat it all I'll be far too heavy for you to fly around. It tastes like manna from Heaven, so honestly I think that's the recipe she uses. Want to share?"
