Читать книгу Darkest Knight - Karen Duvall - Страница 10

three

“AYDIN!” I RAN OUT OF THE BARN AND GAZED up at the dense clouds that had dumped buckets of snow. I didn’t see him, but I sensed him up there. Invisible, and he was flying far away from me.

I clutched the gargoyle heart to my chest and whispered, “Shojin, you didn’t die for nothing. We’ll get him back. I promise.”

“I see he didn’t lose his ability to vanish like a thief in the night.”

I spun around to see Rafe standing behind me.

“How long have you been here?” I asked, blinking hard as I tried to figure out what was wrong with this picture. He looked so…different.

“Long enough to hear him roar and see him vanish,” Rafe said, sounding annoyed. “As I suspected he would.”

I squinted at him. “Rafe, what have you done to yourself?”

He placed both hands on his chest. “Me? Oh, you mean the clothes.”

I nodded and stared, openmouthed. “The clothes, the hair, the skin, and the fact you cut about a foot off your height.”

He turned his back to me and I gasped.

“Oh, my God! What happened to your wings?”

“Relax.” He faced me again. “This is a disguise. We can take human form whenever we wish. It’s often necessary when we interact with mortals.”

His hair was no longer white but a wheat-blond that looked as natural as the stubble on his tan cheeks and chin. What a change. His skin was normally porcelain-smooth, and he was usually taller than a pro basketball player. I had to give him credit for his choice of clothes. Acid-washed denim from top to bottom, but his jacket looked thickly lined with fleece, his gloves leather and his muffler cable-knit. Even his boots were stylin’. He looked like he’d walked straight out of GQ Magazine.

“Wow,” was all I could say.

He scowled, looking uncomfortable, and glanced down at himself. “Did I miss something?”

I shook my head. “Not a thing.”

He smiled. “Good.” Squinting up at the sky, he said, “Now that it’s gone, we can leave.”

Though Aydin’s rejection of the heart was a setback, I wasn’t angry, just disappointed. He needed time to grieve for his old friend and I could be patient. After everything Aydin had done for me he deserved at least that much.

“Rafe, Aydin is a he, not an it. And by the way, I still have the gargoyle heart so we can’t travel through the veil. I already tried and it wouldn’t open for me.”

“Of course not. I made an attempt to warn you about that, but you cut me off, remember?” Lips pressed firmly together, he added, “This is why I acquired a motor vehicle for our transportation.”

Like any good Boy Scout, Rafe had come prepared. This kept getting better and better. “Tell me you’re kidding.”

He scowled again. “Why would I kid you? Don’t you think I can drive?”

“Um. No?”

Shaking his head, he stalked past me and rounded the corner of the barn. I followed. Parked out back in a foot of snow was a shiny black Cadillac Escalade.

Pointing at the tires, I said, “You put the chains on yourself?”

He sighed. “Just get in. Thanks to the trophy you just acquired, we have a long drive ahead.”

Ah, yes. I was finally going to meet my sister knights and my grandmother for the first time. A Hatchet knight herself, she lived with my grandfather—an angel who chose to become mortal—in the very state I’d fled from a month ago. Colorado, here we come.

“Are we there yet?” I sounded like a petulant child, but I didn’t care. We’d traveled over two thousand miles and as nice as this SUV was, I wanted out.

Rafe glanced at his watch. “That’s the second time you’ve asked me in the last fifteen minutes. My answer is still the same. Two hours to go.”

“Correction. That should be one hour and forty-five minutes.”

“Traveling with me hasn’t been that bad, has it?”

I slumped down in the seat and uncrossed, then recrossed, my ankles on the dashboard. “I’m bored and I’m tired and my back hurts.” I wished we’d park in one spot long enough for Aydin to find me. I glanced out the window and peered up at the overcast sky. He had to be up there somewhere.

Rafe followed the direction of my gaze. “Still on the lookout for your winged devil, eh?”

“Don’t call him that.” I understood angels and gargoyles didn’t get along, but for crap sake, this was Aydin. One of the good guys. “He’s on our side, remember?”

Rafe grunted.

I stared at his resolute profile. He looked mortal, but he didn’t behave like one. He’d hardly eaten anything in over thirty hours and he never slept. Not once. The only time we stopped was to gas up and for me to eat and use the bathroom. I wanted a shower in the worst way.

Feeling grungy, I gave myself a sniff. “Do I stink?”

He scowled. “No, you don’t stink.” He shook his head. “You smell fine. You smell like…you.”

I didn’t know if that was good or bad. He had no odor whatsoever and if anyone would know it would be me. “How do you stay so clean without taking a bath?”

“I’m an angel.”

“Duh. I know that.” I rolled my eyes. “But you’re mortal at the moment. You’ve got mortal parts, right?” I looked pointedly down at his crotch.

He dropped a hand from the steering wheel to his lap as if to hide his manly bits. “Of course I do.”

Leaning toward him, I looked closely at his face. “I don’t believe it. You’re blushing.”

“Look, there’s a truck stop. Hungry? Need to use the facilities?”

“Sure,” I said, settling back in my seat again. “I could eat and take a pee. Don’t you have to pee?”

“No.”

I jutted my chin toward the hand that covered his package. “Then what good is that?”

“It’s plenty good, I assure you.” He turned the wheel a bit too sharply and I slid across the seat. I nearly landed on top of him.

I moved over to hug the door on my side.

“Sorry about that,” Rafe said, and a shadow of a grin touched his lips. He wasn’t sorry at all. He’d done that on purpose. “Don’t pout. It’s unbecoming for a knight.”

“I’m not pouting.” Crossing my arms firmly against my chest, I sat up straight and looked longingly at the coffee shop ahead. Hungrier than I thought, I wondered if it was morning or afternoon. I’d completely lost track of time. “Waffles. No, make that French toast. Two eggs over easy and order me extra bacon.” He parked the Escalade and I hopped out to make a beeline for the restrooms. “Thanks, Rafe. You’re an angel.”

I gave myself a whore’s bath in the restroom sink, using generous amounts of hand soap in the process. The hand dryer was an awkward way to dry off, but I was used to it. I’d done this countless times on the road during my thieving days so I was no stranger to prancing around a public bathroom in the buff. Luckily no one came in while I indulged in my trucker’s toilette.

Moderately refreshed, I got dressed and strode inside the restaurant to find Rafe. He sat in a booth looking worse than dejected. He looked lost.

“Hey,” I said softly, sensing something was wrong. I slid onto the bench seat across from him. “You okay?”

He blinked at me. “I just received a message.”

I cocked my head. “Yeah? Who from?”

He swallowed, his Adam’s apple making a deep bob in his human throat. “The Arelim. It’s bad news.”

My heart sank into my stomach. Rafe had a telepathic link with his angelic brothers, who were never chatty without good reason. An angel with bad news always meant trouble. I waited for him to tell me what it was.

“Your sister knights,” he said slowly, his human eyes shining brighter than they should. He closed them and his hands curled into fists on the table. “Almost all of them are dead.”