Demon Angel

inaction?"
    He grinned. "I would love to give in to temptation this time, but we don't have protection."
    "Sir Pup—"
    "Condoms." His hand found hers through the comforter and tightened when she looked at him, stunned. "Assuming that we live through the next year, I'm too old for children and far too— as you once put it so eloquently—fucked up."
    She was, too. Bile rose in her throat; her body still too vulnerable, though in entirely different ways.
    "I believe they call it 'having issues,'" he continued. His voice was rough, but his lips quirked into a smile.
    His attempt at humor renewed hers. "Baggage," she said, grinning. "Though I'm certain such a thing didn't exist when I was born. Everyone was perfectly adjusted." Now she had two thousand years' worth, and the heaviest was her bargain with Lucifer. Her smile faded, and she sat up.
    A moment later, she had him flat against the bed, and she straddled his hips. His gray T-shirt was wanned by his body heat; curling her fingers into the soft, worn cotton, she tugged and said, "Let's do this quickly. No drawing it out." When he nodded his agreement, she placed her hand on his chest as if to hold him down—but it was more for her support than fear he would try to escape.
    He ran his palms up the length of her thighs, let them rest at the top. Holding her down, in turn. "There have been two more murdered."
    "Your missing student? Who else?"
    "Sue Fletcher."
    Lilith hardened herself against the grief in his voice and delivered the next blow. "I have to fulfill my bargain in… what is today?"
    "Monday morning."
    "Four days. Michael made a wager with Lucifer; if you are not dead by the fifth day, Caelum's Gates will be opened to those Below. My father stipulated that the Doyen may not speak of it to the other Guardians; I don't know that they'll be able to help." But there was no reason Lilith could not speak of it; she was bound by her bargain to kill Hugh, but Michael's wager only included her in a peripheral sense. It depended upon the result of her actions, but she was not a participant in the wager itself.
    "And if you don't kill me?"
    "The nosferatu come for me on the fourth day. They will kill me if the bargain is incomplete; my soul will be frozen in Punishment, and Hell's Gates closed for five hundred years."
    His hands tightened. "Colin and Selah are missing. Beelzebub—Smith?" At her nod, he continued, "—attacked us at Colin's house after you left. Selah managed to transport me out, but I don't know that they are alive."
    She had to look away for a moment, her breathing ragged. Swallowing, she focused again and said, "Lucifer planned to transform me back into human even before Michael offered his wager. The nosferatu intend to take Caelum for their own and will act as Lucifer's assassins in payment."
    "A nosferatu at Colin's could have killed me, but he did not pierce the jugular; I don't think it a mistake." His thumbs smoothed over her inner thighs, not to arouse, but to soothe. "We are both halflings who have been returned to our human forms."
    "They will use Savitri against you; they know you broke when she was shot."
    Hugh was shaking his head. "Michael took her to Caelum."
    "But how—?" She sucked in a deep breath when she saw his face, the regret lurking in the lines around his mouth. "You have more. Quickly."
    "Beelzebub tried to bargain Savi's life for mine and wanted me to submit to the ritual. They set fire to Colin's house. I have no weapons; my swords and your gun were lost during the attack. Taylor and Preston know you are a demon; they have pictures of you saving a boy on the bridge. Smith has taken over each investigation associated with the rituals, and he has witnesses who saw me in the park with Javier's and Sue's bodies, which have been stolen from the morgue, along with Ian's. You are listed as missing, presumed dead; I'm the primary suspect and all of the weapons and books at your apartment were confiscated."
    She collapsed against his chest when he finished, and his arms came up, his palms warm and strong as he gently began to massage her lower back. "Please tell me there's good news," she said into his neck.
    "I was fired." His solemn announcement surprised a burst of laughter from her. "Though it was not put so harshly as that. The university has kindly given me as much time off as I need during the investigation, but they don't think I will be needed in the fall or beyond that term."
    "That cannot be legal," Lilith