His Wings (The Ethereal Book 2) Read online

  I stood, but as I stood, there was a little blare of music that made me sit back down.

  It wasn’t really a blare of music, but to me, right then, everything would be a blare. In reality, it was part of a carefully chosen song meant to draw everyone’s attention and get us to sit or stand to the sides.

  The attention of everyone present turned toward the doors as Sam and Grace were introduced. Nearly every eye was on them, but for Mike, Gabe, and I, scanning the crowd for signs of possession.

  The city had been quiet for months. We expected to receive word from Heaven that we had to move, and Grace knew that, but we were also expecting an attack on the wedding. Just because it was quiet, didn’t mean all the demons were gone. They may have wanted to lull us into submission before attacking.

  Which Grace also knew, as we told her everything.

  Across the floor, I found green, almond-shaped eyes focused on me. They were coloured contact lenses, good ones at that, but they still seemed to cut me to my core. I felt weak in the knees as I lowered my hands to brace myself on the stool. Sera’s eyes seemed to sparkle as she turned away, head and body moving toward the bride and groom as she smiled and clapped with everyone else.

  What in Hell sparkles?

  Eyes were eyes for humans, but we were finding that the different demons had different reactions to types of light. Knowing that made things so much easier when you also knew that the creatures who feasted on the physical burned under UV lights, kind of like vampires.

  It wasn’t easy to pull one over on Mike, but when he fell, he fell hard. He still hadn’t gotten over the last time he had tangled with a human. That had been so long ago that I couldn’t recall how many centuries it had been.

  I knew I had to deal with Sera before he realized what was going on. Either banish the demon or kill it outright, then prop his date back up and return her to him relatively unharmed.

  Say what you will about our fighting, at the end of the day I still wished Mike all the happiness he could find in this world.

  “Ralph,” Toby hissed.

  The warning itself was unspoken, but I knew what he meant. There was a guilty pang as I forced myself to relax.

  “Right, the wedding,” I said, dragging my eyes off Sera.

  Grace was dressed in white. She had tried to argue for an off-white due to tradition and all that. She had wanted to wear the white but argued against it because of their wedding being somewhat traditional otherwise. The dress was from a designer whose name I didn’t recognize. Her hair had grown longer over the past couple of years and had been pinned up.

  I’m not certain we told Grace that her dress cost more than a second-hand car.

  She still wasn’t comfortable with expensive gifts being bought for her, but she had come around a little bit. She lived with us two days a week and had agreed to move in with Sam after marriage. They were thinking of buying a condo or little house for themselves, or at least she was. The home we occupied was warded against demons, that took time to set up and space to trap them in.

  We didn’t just live in a large estate because we could. Sometimes the stronger demons, the knights and the like, they needed space when we tried to exorcise them.

  Sam was dressed in a dark grey three-piece suit with barely noticeable pinstriping down the fabric. His tie was purple, to go along with the wedding colours chosen, along with his pocket square.

  Their colour had also been chosen because it was all the fad with weddings, and neither of the participants could come up with a better colour. Purple did make for some beautiful wedding pictures, though.

  Among the crowd, there were a few jealous mutterings, but from the sound of it, it was just women who had shared Sam’s bed and thought he had settled for trash. No matter who had married Sam, they would be muttering the same things. We weren’t concerned about them. They talked a big game but in the end were either too cowardly to do anything about it, or realized that he had made a choice to make him happy and that they couldn’t fill that void.

  Sam and Grace headed to their table near the garden doors as everyone returned to whatever they had been doing before.

  Dinner for everyone else was buffet style mixed with drinking. Dinner for Sam and Grace would be a nice meal, that imitated what was in the buffet, served to them. The groomsmen and bridespeople could eat at the head table, or wander about. That part wasn’t overly crucial because somehow they always ended up wandering off in weddings. What really mattered was Sam and Grace at the front.

  That gave enough flexibility for the rest of us to do our work.

  Any food left over from dinner would be taken to a homeless shelter that already knew that something was coming to them. Sam had asked for money instead of gifts, that too would go to the homeless shelter. We didn’t need anything, and some people hadn’t listened and brought gifts anyhow.

  The donation was the part I was looking forward to.

  I slipped off the stool and left Toby at the bar. He was sucking at the bottom of his glass with a straw, making a great deal of noise as he waited for the bartender to come by and refill his drink.

  Getting across the floor was tricky, I had to stop and make conversation with several people. Once on the other side, I had to glance around for Mike. He was at the buffet table, picking at the food as he talked to someone. He was probably having as much difficulty navigating the ballroom as I had.

  I slipped up to Sera as she pulled the shawl from her shoulders and began shaking it out like something had gotten caught in the fabric and irritated her. Her back was to me and the rest of the floor as she did so. As she flicked the scarf, the skin of her back moved.

  For a moment, I thought I saw wings.

  Not the ones tattooed on her skin, but real, actual wings, threatening to burst from her back and into the real world.

  And then it was gone, and I was staring at the Enochian written up the side of her spine, at the detail in the feathers inked into her skin. The Enochian declared that the wings belonged to an angel of Heaven and were true to form and fit. It was a little like a guarantee, written about the wings. That was not something that any wings needed because they were always attached to a Heavenly Host. On the astral plane, it was impossible to present fake wings.

  Leave it to a human to go into such detail for a bit of artwork.

  As I stared, I walked up to her, unable to pull my gaze from those feathers. They looked vaguely familiar, as if I knew this angel.

  Sera turned, which caused me to stare straight at her chest because of where on her back I had been looking. I moved my gaze up, met her eyes, and realized what that sparkling was. She was wearing coloured contact lenses. To my eye, they sparkled, hiding a brown under the lenses.

  “You must be Ralph,” she said in a smooth, soft voice.

  Her lips turned up just slightly as she adjusted the shawl once more. She glanced past me and over the room before refocusing on me once more.

  “And you must be Sera,” I murmured, holding my hand out to her.

  She took my hand, and I brought it forward as I bent down, kissing the back of her knuckles. My lips didn’t tingle at the touch, but it did something strange. I struggled with how to describe it. Like when one passes one’s hand over a static electricity ball. Not quite the jolt of electricity, but not nothing. There was that prickling that was oh so soft, yet made me want more at the same time.

  I stood there, holding her hand in mine for a long moment, wondering what that feeling was before I straightened and smiled awkwardly.

  That’s what one did when one was a dickbag, as Grace called it.

  Rich men who spent far too long looking at a woman, or being ‘eccentric’ in what might seem a manipulatory manner. If Grace had witnessed my motion, she would have demanded that I apologize immediately even though I hadn’t done it to be crude.

  I was just confused, then curious… and then a little aroused.

  I slipped a hand into my pocket and tried to adjust the fabric of my pant
s without being too obvious.

  “I apologize. Your scent seems strangely familiar, and I cannot for the life of me place it. Where did you purchase it?”

  “I’m not wearing scent.”

  That statement left me struggling for another excuse, or even something to say in response. Women always wore scents, especially women who were that attractive. I don’t know what it was with beautiful women wearing perfume, but it was something that had gone hand in hand for forever and a day. I could always use that excuse.

  In the extended silence that followed, I let out the only sound that would come out.

  “Oh,” I said with a startled inflection. “That would explain that, then. A lovely smell, I knew it, I simply assumed it was scent crafted by a corporation. I apologize.”

  Sera giggled, just a little, then covered her mouth with her hand. Her nails were not done up either, no jewellry on her. Just the dress and shawl, which hid the wings. Either she was a very clever trap, to get me into a compromising position, or…

  Well, I didn’t know the or, I had never encountered this before.

  “Wedding’s a bit,” Sera paused as she looked around us, “well, a bit dull unless you’re in the wedding itself. You bored?”

  “Of schmoozing with morons? Yes. They’re here as a fashion statement, not to wish the couple well.”

  But we had an opportunity to check many of the local businessmen for demons, even deeply embedded ones, and we had decided to take it. The warding of the estate would have prevented the possessed from entering the estate. A few stronger demons would have made it through, but so far we hadn’t spotted any of them. It did put a damper on the wedding itself, but we would have a small, family celebration once the couple returned from their honeymoon.

  “Do you know someplace we could go?” Sera asked.

  Definitely not possessed.

  A possessed person would have been drawn to me, flirted with me, but they would not have asked me to go someplace else. They would have simply been there, eventually giving in to everything I did to them, but not offering to do more.

  That didn’t mean that I wouldn’t take advantage of the opportunity. Even if she was Mike’s date, she was probably interested in something more than a pat on the hand before going home. Mike couldn’t give that to her. He was too uptight to do more than hug her unless she was possessed.

  “Yes,” I said, motioning and then leading her before I realized what I was doing.

  We left the reception and headed straight to the garden. I spotted someone coming and ducked behind a topiary as Sera strolled along. I heard her greet them. Then they chatted for a bit about the weather and the wedding. The one who approached headed inside and Sera sighed loudly.

  I slunk out from behind the topiary and slipped a hand up the small of her back. She gave a little giggle again, not asking where I had ducked to or why, and we moved as one through the tea area. Michael had sectioned off the garden, into little areas that only the family knew about. The area we walked through, he called the tea area.

  It was the space where we had tea on Sundays because there was just enough space to set up tables and such. Beyond there, I took her hand, entwining our fingers as we walked. With a glance over my shoulder, I pulled her into one of the little ‘closets’ built into our garden.

  Mike used those closets to sit and meditate. No one was supposed to be in there or to do anything. They were only for his meditation. He was very insistent about the topic.

  The area was smaller than an alcove and filled with all sorts of things that I couldn’t possibly name. Larger than a closet, though. We simply called them closets for lack of another word.

  Mike claimed that the flowers knew when anyone else was in the closet, but I’m pretty certain they wouldn’t notice anything.

  Once in the closet, I pulled her toward me, wrapping an arm around her as she smiled up at me, revealing her white, straight teeth.

  Wrong era, idiot.

  It took me a moment to recall that in the present, white, straight teeth didn’t mean anything. I struggled with that because clean teeth had once been quite a thing. I had enjoyed the look of them.

  We kissed. I kept it chaste—almost—my lips pressed together. I wanted to see where she led things. A demon wouldn’t lead, they would only follow the guiding hand that caressed them.

  She was the bold one, tongue darting out and dominating my mouth. From there, I knew for certain and could have taken control back. Yet I couldn’t help but allow her to lead. I wanted to see where it would go. I wanted to be with a bold woman for once, instead of constantly leading.

  Her hands slipped under my suit jacket and over my shoulders, pushing it off of me as I moved under her touch, with her motions. Little sparks followed her fingertips, making me writhe under her touch. The kiss continued as she reached for the buttons on my vest, pushing it off as well. Each layer of clothing she removed sent a heat from me that was stoked and stroked with the caress of her fingertips.

  My pants were undone when she slipped the shawl off and tried to raise it up, to use it as a blindfold.

  That was when I finally stopped her.

  If it had been any other night, I could let her tie me up, even see where it went. Maybe end up tied to the bushes, naked and vulnerable for Mike to find the next morning. But that night, we couldn’t do that, we couldn’t take that risk.

  I pulled the shawl gently from her and turned, dropping it to the ground.

  “Oh, I thought you’d be into that,” she said.

  “I am, but not on the first time around, during my brother’s wedding, when there are people with cameras about,” I said.

  Especially not in Michael’s garden.

  She raised her hands as if in surrender, then smiled just slightly at me.

  “Another time, maybe?” she asked.

  I gaped at her, looking around the little area we were in. Just because we couldn’t tie me up and role play, didn’t mean that we couldn’t do anything else.

  “Oh, come now, Ralph,” she said, reaching out to trail down my chest with one finger. “I know a man who needs a good spanking when I see one.”

  “Children are spanked.”

  “Not in this day and age.”

  “Right, fine then, brats are spanked,” I countered. “I’m also quite turned on by normal sex.”

  Sera shrugged and pulled away slightly. She looked me up and down, her lips quirking up in another smile as she locked eyes with me.

  “Some days that would do it for me too,” she said. “Tonight, though, tonight I’m feeling a vibe. Like sex just wouldn’t cut it.”

  “But—”

  “No buts,” she said with a shake of her finger. “Maybe later we can discuss the terms of your submission.”

  “What do you mean, discuss?” I asked.

  “I’ve seen the work you do, or did.”

  She meant the pornography, of course. I had done regular stuff as well as some kinkier things, but the latter ones were just for me. When you’re given the option of acting out your sexual fantasies, be paid to do them, and have absolutely no shame, it gets quite difficult to say no.

  “Hey, now, that was in the past,” I said. “I didn’t even use my real name. How did you find that?”

  She gave a little shrug. “I have a bit of a fetish and stumbled upon some of the videos. So, I’ll tell you what. You find another man to join us, and we’ll have nearly normal sex. If you don’t find a man, then you will just have to call me tomorrow, and we’ll discuss the terms of your punishment, how about that?”

  We were both silent, watching one another and waiting for the other to give in. Sera was merely waiting. I was hoping she would relent. I was an attractive male. Few women could resist me.

  Sera was apparently not in the rather large population of women who couldn’t resist us.

  “You’re an evil woman,” I said.

  “And you?” she said.

  Sera closed the distance between us and g
rasped me firmly, causing me to jump in place. She smiled as she drew in a long breath, her hand moving over my hardened flesh as I bit my lip to stop from protesting. Or moaning, I wasn’t certain which sound would be worse at that point.

  “You’re hard as a rock,” she said, pulling away just as suddenly as she had laid hands on me. “Don’t be protesting now. Man up. And I don’t mean that in a masculine way.”

  “Find a man, you mean,” I muttered.

  “What about Mike?” she asked as she moved around me to pick up her shawl.

  If he ever caught wind of her making that suggestion, I’d hear about it for a century.

  “We’re brothers,” I protested.

  “No, you aren’t,” she responded.

  I turned and watched as she resettled the shawl on her shoulders. Sera looked me up and down, and then gave her head a little shake as if she were disappointed in me.

  “None of you are related, you don’t share any features. I don’t buy the different mothers excuse, and I don’t think you’re adopted siblings given the way you keep staring at him. You’re not brothers, are you?”

  No human had been so bold as to say that out loud. Not after we claimed to be adopted brothers.

  “More like brothers in arms,” I said.

  “Which means you aren’t related,” she said.

  “No, we are not blood-related, nor do we see each other as siblings,” I said. “More like comrades, but you need to trust your comrades, and you can’t trust them if they’d… it wouldn’t work.”

  “I was just suggesting him,” Sera said. “I really think that would be a sight to behold.”

  “Mike doesn’t do that. Only women, only on his terms.”

  “Oh,” Sera sucked in an appreciative breath. “No wonder you’ve got such a hard-on for control. I would too if that man was withholding from me. If you don’t want to give him a try, just find another.”

  “Where am I going to find a man to be a third in a threesome where… wait, what position would he hold?”

  Sera reached around and grabbed my ass, causing me to jump again. As she rose up on her tiptoes before me, she smiled knowingly. I stared up at her, wondering how I would feel about that kind of a threesome. I had been in one as the middle before, but that had been between two men, not a man and a woman.