Page 78 of Good Vampires Go to Heaven

Regina withdrew her fangs and arched her hips up as she surrendered to her own powerful climax. When she was done, she just stared up at him. For once, no snarky remark at the ready. She appeared both stunned and a little frightened at the same time.

He felt the same way.

He wanted to ask her what all that fanging combined with spectacular sex was about. Did it happen every time a vangel had sex? If so, wow! That had to be the best kept secret. Instead of questioning her on the subject, though, all he could come out with was, “Thank you.”

“My pleasure,” she said, running her hands over the numerous welts across his back.

As he dressed then for his shift, he realized that only forty-two minutes had gone by since they’d started this madness. With three minutes to spare.

So much had happened.

It was not nearly enough.

For his sins, he couldn’t wait until the next time.

Did he have regrets?

Not a single one.

Yet.

Chapter 16

In the midst of battle, a man’s mind turns to . . . sex? . . .

The next day, the Lucies returned. A whole horde of them in demonoid form. Thirty at least. She didn’t know if that qualified as a horde or not. Scary beasts, to be sure. But Zeb, Regina, and their forty-some vangels were ready for them.

Zeb assured them that these weren’t high-level Lucipires, ones who would have had many, many centuries of experience and therefore unimaginable strength. These were only hordlings and imps, with a few huge mungs thrown in. That didn’t mean they weren’t frightening in appearance and dangerous. Still, things could have been worse. Jasper, and his commanders, probably hadn’t expected any vangels to have remained at Gloom.

The whole battle took only a half hour before the Lucies began to retreat again, but the vangels couldn’t allow that. Not again. Zeb led a contingent to follow those escapees, while Regina and the remaining vangels took care of the few demon vampires left. Slime city!

Zeb was almost fanatical in his fighting, swinging his sword right and left, never pausing before he moved forward. Regina guessed that he was trying to chalk up points in favor of his becoming a vangel, or staying a vangel after their indiscretion. Or maybe she was underestimating him. Maybe he was just that powerful of a warrior. After all, he’d been doing it for almost two thousand years.

That number boggled Regina’s mind. Hard to imagine what it would be like to be a vangel for that long. Even harder to imagine the horror of being a demon vampire for so long. She couldn’t help but admire Zeb for rising out of that mire of evil and filth, wanting to be a better person. Or leastways a vangel. He must have felt like he was sinking in quicksand for centuries, unable to move anywhere but down. Michael had thrown him a rope.

Zeb wasn’t the only one who’d been yearning for change. In truth, if Regina had ever wished to be part of the vangel fighting forces, her wish had more than come true. She’d tossed more knives and shot more bullets and destroyed more Lucies in the past twenty-four hours than she had her entire vangel life. The stink of Lucipire was firmly lodged in her nostrils, the sight of red eyes, super big fangs, scaly skin, claws, and tails was imprinted on her brain.

They’d tidied up the scene at Gloom, now renamed Glory, the volcanic cave in Greece, after wiping out the thirty Lucies who’d returned to the scene. A few more vangels had been injured and one was lost to Horror in the process. The sooner all the vangels got to that arctic castle the better, not just to destroy Jasper once and for all, but to save the vangels who’d been taken in not just the Gloom/Glory endeavor, but the other missions as well. Regina figured it must be close to fifty by now.

By noon, they were preparing to shut the cave down. Regina had no idea if any vangels would ever return here. When they turned the lights out, going out the door, the lights might not ever be turned on again.

Zeb told her that he didn’t care one way or the other, which was amazing, considering how much work he’d put into it. “This place holds too many bad memories for me.”

Regina had to wonder if he included their lovemaking in the bad memories category. She had to be realistic. He must have regrets about what they’d done. After all, he had the most to lose.

And, yet, she’d noticed him watching her at various times during the day, even during brief breaks in the fighting. And there didn’t seem to be regret in those stares, more like confusion, trying to figure her out. He was remembering.

Just like she was. What had come over her? What was continuing to plague her about the man? She caught herself checking him out, too. But she knew exactly what intrigued her. The man had hidden talents! And she might have initiated the action last night, but he’d enjoyed himself, too. She was sure of it! Men couldn’t fake that.

While they waited for Vikar to call and tell them where to go next, they were watching CNN, along with a dozen vangels, including Inga and Dagmar, who kept giggling every time Zeb looked their way. Smitten, they were, Dagmar confided to Regina. An old-fashioned word, to be sure.

Regina understood. She was a little smitten herself. Ha, ha, ha! Who was she kidding? She was neck-deep in lust overload.

But she digressed.

The news on the TV was dire for the entire world. Religious leaders were claiming the End of Times was coming, and she could see why they might think that. While half the world was rushing to churches and synagogues and mosques, the other half was reveling in the depravity. Evil and pandemonium reigned. And government leaders and police officials were running around like chickens with their heads cut off. “The sky is falling, the sky is falling,” was practically their refrain. And yet no one had any answers, except for piecemeal putting out of fires, figuratively speaking. In other words, defensive actions.

What they saw on the TV screen was horrifying. Bombings. Sanctioned rape by terrorist groups, including all the nuns in a French convent, even the elderly ones. Multiple fires in the vicinity of the Twin Towers. Beheadings in the Middle East with production line precision. Cannibalism forced on political prisoners. Acid thrown on innocent people in a mall. Crucifixions. Tongues sliced in half, eyeballs plucked out. The atrocities went on and on.