Page 81 of Indecent

Daniel watched the indecision flicker across Ramiel’s face. Did he give up the ruse already and lose his human allies in order to continue this battle, or did he retreat now with the paladins and go on to fight another day?

Growling in frustration, he disappeared with a flash of light that burned both Daniel’s skin and corneas. It was like standing next to an exploding firework. Around him, the others hissed and exclaimed in pain, and when his vision finally cleared, Ramiel and the paladins were all gone.

“Son of a bitch,” Isaac growled. “We almost had them!” He viciously kicked a table over.

Shadrach broke away from the rest of the demons to draw him into his arms, and Isaac melted against him.

Hands grabbed Daniel, turning him to face Chaol, who fussed over the gash on his arm. “Are you okay? This is from a holy blade. Shit, it’s still bleeding.” He used the shirt still tucked into his back pocket to tie around the wound like a bandage. It felt a little overkill, but Daniel let him do it.

“I’m fine,” Daniel said. “It’s shallow. I’ve had worse as a human.”

“You died as a human,” Chaol deadpanned. “Of course you had worse back then. Doesn’t mean I want you to have anything like that now.”

“To be fair, a gunshot to the throat wouldn’t kill me now,” Daniel teased.

“And thank God for that,” Nicolas said as he reached for Ashmedai. “Or… Lucifer, I guess. Although that feels pretty sacrilegious.”

“We’ve all done plenty of sacrilegious things at this point,” Julian pointed out. His hands were on his knees. Sweat dripped from his chin. “Christ on a cracker, can we go a day without a battle like this? I’m sore.”

“Everybody okay?” Nathan called out. “Xyra?”

She was leaning against the wall by the door, her midnight blue hair in chaotic tangles and her body still trembling from the aftereffects of Ramiel’s magic. She shot them a thumbs-up. “I’m okay. Thanks for coming, guys. Fantastic timing.”

Shadrach faced her, putting his hands on his hips. “We said no parties! What the hell were you doing here?”

Xyra grimaced. “Disobeying. We just needed to blow off some steam. Trust me, I regret it.”

Shadrach sighed, exchanging a look with Talon, who shrugged and said, “Bet they don’t disobey again.”

“The ones who are still alive, that is,” Shadrach added.

Talon pointed at Menadel. “Can you join us at the Rink? We need to talk.”

Menadel clasped her hands in front of her and inclined her head. “Of course.”

Chapter 23

Chaol

The Rink was more crowded than ever. Ira immediately flung himself into Wolf’s arms, and Lexi did the same with Xyra, helping her over to sit in one of the metal folding chairs around the meeting area. The others all collapsed, either in chairs or to the floor, flopping down wherever was convenient. Sheathed swords were discarded. Luke sprawled out like a starfish in the middle of the floor with a groan, and Malachi followed him down, leaning over him with a fond look. Talon followed Alex to a chair and hovered beside him as he sat. Isaac paced, turning sharply back and forth until Shadrach snagged his wrist and pulled him into an embrace that slowly melted the angry tension from his body. Storm sat on the sofa and pulled Nathan into his lap. Valac was wrapped around Julian, tendrils of shadow skating up and down Julian’s arms and legs as though searching for injury, and Nicolas leaned heavily on Ashmedai, whose clawed fingers stroked the pulse point on his neck.

Chaol grabbed Daniel’s hand and turned to look at Nathan. “You guys have medical supplies, right?” The horror he’d felt when he saw Daniel’s black blood was unmatched. The wound had been made by a holy blade. One of the only things in the world that could kill him. It didn’t matter that it was a shallow wound on his arm; it was still far too close for comfort. He intended to take care of it properly—even if he didn’t really know what he was doing. He’d watched television before. How hard could it be?

Nathan pointed wordlessly at a closed door across the room, and Chaol tugged Daniel toward it.

Daniel chuckled. “I’m really fine, Chaol. It’s not deep.”

“Don’t care.”

Beyond the closed door was a windowless room with six clean white cots, three on either side of the room. A metal cabinet sat in the far left corner of the room. Each cot had a rolling metal tray beside it. The laminate wood floor looked shiny and new, and the walls were painted a unremarkable cream.

It was also blessedly empty, since everyone was crowding around the Sentinels out in the main room to hear what had happened. Chaol pushed Daniel down to sit on the nearest cot and went to the storage cabinet, rummaging around until he found some gauze and alcohol wipes.

“Baby, it’s barely bleeding,” Daniel protested again, and Chaol pursed his mouth to hide his smile at the term of endearment. Daniel had called him that a few times now, and it never failed to melt him. He was the only one who’d ever called Chaol that.

“I told you, I don’t care,” he said, coming closer and wheeling a metal tray over so he could set the supplies on it.

Daniel studied him, eyes narrowing. “What is it? Your face did something weird. Is it the cut? I’m telling you, it barely hurts now.”