Demon Angel

liked; he had time to lift his hands to hold her against him, met her kiss with open lips, and a laugh. She smiled against his mouth. Pulled back.
    No ice in him now, but she was not done. "I have to do it alone," she said. His eyes searched hers; slowly, he nodded.
    Relief filled her. She would do this regardless, but it was easier with his acceptance. She turned away, ignoring the looks from the others. Sir Pup trotted at her heels as she stalked toward the garage.
    Time to be her father's daughter.
----

CHAPTER 37
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    The day wore on, but she didn't return. By the time the sun began to slide toward the horizon, Hugh felt scooped out, hollow. Preston and Taylor had arrived not long after Lilith had left; he had not needed to contact them. Four, taken that morning.
    "Are the detectives still waiting in the living room?"
    Colin nodded, checking the tube leading to Hugh's arm. He'd fed sometime in the last twenty minutes—already his color was renewed.
    The last bag was almost empty; perhaps it was best she hadn't returned yet. She wouldn't want to see this, know the long process of the blood draw and transfusion. For all her wicked humor, the power in her when she'd decided to act instead of wait—instead of serving—he would still be her weakness.
    He closed his eyes, recalled how she had looked when she'd pulled on the clothes she'd worn for hundreds of years—but had outshone them, as if they were only an accessory to the rest of her. A costume, put on for a play.
    What had she done? He sighed, rubbed his forehead. And why had she to do it alone?
    He looked up as he heard the click of Sir Pup's claws.
    Then Lilith stood in front of him, her eyes dark, glistening. "I love you."
    She had not said it without lies before. He'd always read the truth, but it was nothing to hearing it when it needed no translation.
    And it filled him, left him unable to reply.
    "I can leave the room," Colin said.
    Her gaze sharpened on the vampire's flushed cheeks. "Did you drink from him?"
    He shook his head. "Eleven o'clock news."
    A ghost of a smile on her lips. She turned as Michael came into room. Can you take him to Caelum — can your will override his anchor that much? We don't want him near when Lucifer realizes the truth about the blood .
    "Yes." The Doyen inhaled, and Lilith's eyes flashed with annoyance.
    "Don't."
    Apparently, she didn't want them to have knowledge of where she'd been, who she'd been with. Hugh slipped the small tube from beneath his skin, stood. Michael immediately healed the puncture, erasing physical evidence of the transfusion.
    She glanced at him, then back to Michael. I need to speak with you about the symbols, the ritual , she signed. "But I need a couple of minutes with Hugh first. Alone."
    Hugh frowned when he read the hesitation on Michael's face; the Doyen did not trust her. "Get out," he said, his voice harsh.
    The Guardian's jaw hardened, but he disappeared. Colin left, and Sir Pup whimpered softly. Lilith smiled. "You, too, but sing for a while."
    She closed the door behind the hellhound, and Hugh grinned when he began howling. With the point of the dagger, she quickly scratched out three marks on the wood beside the door, stabbed her thumb and placed a drop of blood over each.
    Sudden silence.
    Hugh saw the surprise in her eyes; she hadn't known it would work.
    Surprise—but also uncertainty. "It's Lucifer's trick," she said quietly, and walked toward him. Her gaze flicked to the transfusion equipment. "Are you well?"
    "Aside from a nigh uncontrollable urge to paint my self-portrait, yes." Better than he'd ever been; if these were to be the last hours of his life, they would be perfect hours, so long as she loved him, so long as she did not serve.
    Her smile did not last. "I can't tell you what I've done," she said. "If you know, and they take your blood, they will know it, too. Once the nosferatu have drunk the blood, it is too late for them, but I can't have them warn Lucifer."
    He slid his hand into her hair, laid his forehead against hers. Fear coiled in his gut. "Did you bargain?"
    She did not answer, but said, "What I told you before, it wasn't truth. There was much left unspoken."
    "I know." He felt her startle and smiled. "Not immediately, but upon reflection." And there had been nothing but time to think of it as he'd waited for her to return. To realize what his pain had not allowed him when she'd been saying it.
    She drew back to look at him, her fingers