Heaven and Hellsbane by Paige Cuccaro Page B

wrapped my arms around his neck. “Yes. Yes I am. Those angels ever do this for you?”
    I held my smile, remembering a time when I’d been taken high above the earth, safe in Eli’s arms. “Never. Not like this,” I said, finding an element of truth in the technicality.
    “Thought not,” he said. “Wait ’til we get upstairs. I’ll show you something else they won’t do.”
    “Pay taxes?”
    “Ooo, baby, you know me so well.”
    Dan made me laugh, made me think about the future. He made me remember what it was to be human. I wanted it to be enough.
    §
    I awoke next to Dan, my instincts jolting through me in the dark bedroom. His arm lay draped over my waist, warm and heavy. His big body nestled against my back, flesh to flesh. The steady sounds of his breathing rumbled deep in his chest, vibrating through my back, his exhales warming over my shoulder. I took a steadying breath, trying to be still in his arms, trying to calm my panicked heart.
    Dan’s musky cologne hung in the air, his skin scenting the pillows under my head. I breathed him in, snuggling closer. Whatever sixth sense had woken me was quickly fading, and sleep tugged at my eyelids.
    “Emma Jane, ya daft bird,” an Irish-accented voice said in the darkness. “Don’t ya be goin’ back to sleep on me. Eli needs you.”
    My eyes snapped open, and I jackknifed upright. Sheet to my naked chest, my gaze went to the silhouetted figure at the foot of my bed. “Liam?”
    “Aye,” he said. “Get dressed. Time’s a’wastin’.”
    “How’d you get in here? You can’t use your powers to cross a private threshold.” I’d found that out the hard way. The threshold of a home protects the owner from supernatural invasion, like an invisible fortress against angelic and demonic power. Nothing can enter without the owner’s permission.
    “The door was unlocked,” he said.
    “Oh.”
    “What’s going on?” Dan’s groggy voice seemed to boom in contrast to Liam’s and my whispers. He rolled over and clicked on the bedside lamp.
    Liam straightened, squinting against the harsh light, his longish, red hair frizzed straight out from his head at odd places. “We found them, the bastards who killed me magister and the others. Caught them in the act, we did. But there were two of the dirty traitors this time.”
    “Is everyone all right? Did you stop them? Do you have them somewhere?” I scooted out of bed, dragging the sheet with me.
    “Hey,” Dan said and I felt the sheet tug. I looked back to see him holding the last corner over his groin.
    I looked at Liam. “Turn around.”
    The small man sighed and propped his hands on his hips. “You remember I’m fond of the fellas, do ya not?”
    “Turn,” I said, and he did. “Answer my question.”
    “They had the poor magister bloke cornered by the time we got there. The demon prick had already sliced his illorum into pieces. ’Twas nothin’ to be done for him so we threw our swords in with the magister.”
    “We?” I asked, shoving on my underwear and bra. I dug a T-shirt from the drawer and grabbed my jeans off the handlebar of my exercise bike.
    “Aye. Me, Amon, and…Eli.”
    The way he said Eli’s name made the hairs on the back of my neck stand on end. I stiffened, staring at him. “What happened?”
    Liam turned. “I took on the illorum traitor and Amon chased after the yellow-bellied demon. The prick tucked tail and ran when he saw it’d be a fair fight. I can’t tell you more about him than the color of his hair and that he was too fast for poor Amon.”
    “What about Eli?” I asked, my throat closing.
    “Fought like a true warrior of God, he did. Held back the half-human prick the demon brought. But there was somethin’ different about the git. He was stronger, faster.” Liam shook his head. “It’s not good, lassie. Eli’s feelin’ some true pain. Bad. That’s why I came ta fetch ya. He asked for ya.”
    “Wait.” Dan sat straight in bed, his muscled chest and