Gideon Read online

  Disappointment hit her like a hot spear.

  “In your case, Gideon, not that you’re thinking of such a thing, I’m not sure it would apply.”

  Gideon’s finger stopped its search, and he used three fingers to separate her legs, his thumb picking up the puckers of her white gown as they efficiently gathered the soft material that was now damp from his persistent movements against her sensitive bud.

  Persephone hung on every word of the clockmaker. “We can research this, of course, but I’m fairly sure your vampire qualities shield you from most low-level forms of contamination of the species.”

  Surely as there is Father in Heaven, this would not be considered a contamination!

  Her gasp nearly alerted their tablemates when his uncovered forefinger touched the sticky flesh of her sex and then retreated in haste, as if thinking further on it.

  Gideon slowly moved their joined hands over to his side, once again not looking in her direction but focusing on something on the other side of the room, which caused Francis to turn to check it out and then turn back. Her charge unlatched their fingers, instead pressing her palm against a stiff rod angling up from his lap to nearly past his waistline. He forced her palm up and down along the hard ridge until at last, for no apparent reason, she squeezed him and heard his muffled moan. The timbre was like the growls he’d given her when they passed in the Guardianship halls after his early turning. But the canine sound made her want him to bite her and draw blood.

  Again, Francis abruptly raised his head and sported a frown between his eyebrows as Manfred prattled on.

  “The bots cannot ever reproduce, even with their own kind,” he continued.

  “They are just used for sex then,” remarked Francis.

  Manfred shrugged, adjusting the conversation carefully. “And for pleasure/pain encounters. Nothing requiring euthanasia or surgery, but we do have some in the population below, as in the Human world who cannot feel the power of sexual attraction without causing or experiencing pain.”

  A gentle pat on the back of her hand reassured her Gideon was not one of those, and she returned him an appreciative squeeze. She began to feel light-headed as the Red-X traveled throughout her bloodstream.

  Manfred took notice. “Are you well, dear?”

  “I think all the day’s excitement has caught up to me. I may be immortal as all of you—or?”

  “Yes, dear. I’m an immortal, as well,” Manfred reassured her.

  “Well, I do get exhausted when I do not catch enough sleep.”

  Manfred stood up. “I’ve forgotten myself. Here I told you I’d release you to the company of yourselves and then kept boring you with tales I’m sure you’re having trouble following.”

  Gideon stood, placing his hands on Persephone’s shoulders, where she felt the steady beat of his pulse points radiating up her neck and tickling the small hairs below her hairline. “So if I have more questions tomorrow then, will you be available?” he asked.

  “I’ll make it my mission,” Manfred replied, bowing. He inched over to Persephone as she rose, standing closer to her than she was comfortable, but Gideon pulled her deliciously back against his hardened rod with his hands on her waist and hips. Manfred’s fingers tucked beneath her chin, and he studied her face, which blushed despite her determination otherwise. “I do hope we’ll be able to visit again tomorrow, sweet thing, after you’ve managed to catch some rest.”

  Gideon’s right hand traveled up her spine, and his fingers encircled the back of her neck under her hair.

  “Thank you.” She was tongue-tied, vaguely sensing all three males desired her, and it was a strange and exciting feeling. “And I have to find some decent clothes.”

  Manfred smiled and winked at Francis. “Clothes on a beautiful angel are useless. Don’t bother.”

  Her head was swimming. All of a sudden, the sound of ticking, booming, and tiny ringing filled the room again, sending vibrations all over her hypersensitive flesh. Once again, Gideon was there to guide her, keep her from stepping on a spilled basket of bolts, wire, and strips of copper. The bird swarm was active, but carefully avoided all of them.

  “Do they poop?” Francis asked, pointing.

  “If they are expiring or malfunctioning. And then you’d best keep your distance because it burns like battery acid.”

  Francis wrinkled his nose and rubbed his ears against both of his shoulders, one by one.

  Gideon opened the outer door, taking her hand and beginning to lead her through to the freshly washed street. The cool moist air of early morning was refreshing. She suddenly remembered a question.

  “Manfred, do I have anything to worry about from those dark creatures tonight as I sleep?”

  The clockmaker had now lost his entire former hardened attitude. His demeanor was accommodating, almost overly so. He scratched something at the back of his neck again and then under the overalls in front over his groin area. “Not tonight, angel. You are quite safe tonight. Neither you nor Gideon should attract any unnecessary attention since neither of you are made up of spare parts. I doubt you have a nut, bolt, or screw inside either of you.”

  Gideon winced while she blushed for the second time. She had a good idea what he was thinking about.

  “And what time would you like us to come by tomorrow, Manfred?” Gideon asked.

  “Let’s say noon. That will give your angel time to recharge and rest. She’s a most unusual and delicate creature, and I’m certain you’ll want to take good care of her, am I right?”

  Chapter 12

  Francis had offered to sit in the second seat, but Persephone would have no part of it. Gideon was grateful, because it gave him the means to watch her face as they traveled at top speed under the colored lights of evening, the ungodly hour when everyone normal and human was tucked safely in their beds.

  He couldn’t wait to get home, close the door, and be alone with his Guardian.

  Every other glance he made in the rearview mirror, she was looking to the side, her face in profile nearly making him stop breathing. Her plump pink lips looked swollen and pouty, and the more he stared, the faster his heartbeat. Francis had been discussing his theory of entering the Underworld and how it would affect them, calculating the chances they could do so without bodily injury.

  Gideon was grateful his friend couldn’t read his mind since his thoughts were not proper. He was overcome with the images of filling that deep, burning sexual need Persephone carried, helping her body to awaken and take him over the edge with her.

  On one of those glances, her eyelashes fluttered over her cheeks as she closed her eyes, bent down as if in prayer. When she opened them, delicate streams of his angel’s tears traced down over her upper cheekbones, dripping onto the bodice of her white gown. He knew she was confused, perhaps utterly miserable with anticipation. At least he was hoping that’s what it was, and not some regret or Guardian common sense.

  He vowed to fix the situation, even if the whole world was on fire and falling around them.

  She rocked noiselessly forward and back like she wanted to relieve herself with her own fingers but didn’t dare. He gave her a gentle smile, promising to rock her world if she could just hold out a little longer.

  “So, there’s this transport thing that delivers people back and forth so there is no harm to a non-native.” Francis turned to him. “Why does he call it non-native? He said nothing is born there. Everything dies eventually, unless you’re immortal.”

  “Same as earth,” Gideon whispered.

  “It’s run very strangely, don’t you think?”

  “You mean the lack of structure? It’s good old-fashioned trial and error, Francis.”

  “But you would think someone would take the time to figure it out. Wouldn’t that be much more efficient?”

  “You’ve got me there.” Gideon studied her again as she adjusted her dress and wiped her tears off her cheeks with the backs of her hands. He wanted those little pink fingers touching him, squeezing
him and commanding his manhood to roar to life.

  “I get the impression there’s more to the story than we heard tonight.”

  “You are absolutely right, Francis. And that’s why our meeting tomorrow will be most important. Help us put the pieces together.”

  “Right. So, you want me to meet you back here at eleven-thirty then?”

  “Meet me over at his place tomorrow,” he answered.

  “You don’t know the way.”

  Gideon tapped the screen on his dash. “This recorded the route. It will practically drive itself over there tomorrow.”

  “Handy device. Years ago, who would have ever thought humans would come up with such amazing things?”

  “Man searches to figure things out, just like Manfred,” answered Gideon.

  “Yes, definitely.”

  They arrived at Gideon’s home, and Francis started to open the passenger door before Gideon stopped. The garage door was rolling up in sections in front of them.

  “Hold on a bit. I want to get this closed and get inside. I want you to help me with a search of the house before you leave.”

  “Smart.” Francis hung onto the inside of the door as the opening automatically closed behind them all. He scratched his shoulder and once again rubbed his ears against his collar. “Goddamned bots. I feel like I got one flying around inside me like a tick or something. Damn things make me itch.”

  “I think it’s your imagination, Francis.”

  Francis turned in his seat, addressing Persephone. “You okay, kid? Feeling any better?”

  “Yes, thank you, Francis.”

  “Don’t let him keep you up too late, or early in this case, I guess. Something tells me tomorrow is going to be a really big day.”

  Gideon watched as she ascended the stairway. At the landing on the top, she turned and wiggled her fingers in a child’s shy wave. It emboldened him so he raced through all the downstairs rooms, checking windows and stopping to sense heat registers and strange drafts or noises.

  “You picking up anything?” he asked Francis.

  “Not a thing.” Francis glanced upstairs. “She alone upstairs?”

  For just a second, Gideon was seized with fear. He traced to the top of the stairs and landed nearly on top of Francis, who had done the same.

  “Persephone?” Gideon ran into the bedroom and heard the water running. “Shower,” he said and pointed with his thumb over his shoulder.

  “Shall I check?” Francis grinned.

  Gideon growled, his hands fisting at his sides.

  “Okay, I’ll check the closets,” Francis said, casually walking over to one dark walnut floor-to-ceiling solid sliding door. Gideon took the other door on the opposite wall.

  A screech nearly deafened him as he watched a part human, part deep-red-winged creature tumble onto the carpeted floor with Francis and attempt to bite him in the neck with fangs the size of a saber-toothed cat. Something familiar about the expression on the creature’s face distracted him until he heard Persephone scream. He left Francis to fend for himself and ran to Persephone’s aid.

  She was fast and agile, tracing herself out of the glass box of his shower and into the door to the bedroom before the other creature could restrain her. Her shivering, wet, and naked body huddled in the doorway equidistant between the two battling dark monsters. Francis had the same gift of being able to trace but used his skill to pull the death-bringer up by his arms and impale him on the iron spear atop the frame on Gideon’s canopy bed. The stake had gone through the creature’s heart and in seconds he stopped wiggling and began draining blackish-red ooze over Gideon’s mattress, dripping down to the carpeting below.

  Gideon pulled the still-struggling creature from the marble floor of the bathroom by his arms and swung him up, bashing him against the glass partition of the shower. Shards of glass were everywhere. Dazed, but still trying to get a foothold again, the figure was slipping on his own blood until Gideon gripped a large section of the plate glass and shoved it first in the belly of the beast, before using it to sever the head.

  Turning his head, he angled down and discovered the transformed face of one of the red vampire queen’s brothers.

  “Fuck me,” he swore. He grabbed a fluffy white towel and began wiping his hands of the blood and gore then remembered Persephone was still huddled in the doorway, cold, wet and covered in blood spatter. She looked to be nearly in shock.

  Francis pulled off Gideon’s coverlet and quickly wrapped the Guardian and hugged her close until Gideon growled again and inserted himself between them.

  “These are the Red Queen’s brothers. But holy cow, they’re morphed. Deformed. I barely recognized them,” Gideon said.

  “How many brothers does she have?” asked Francis.

  “Dozens. She also has slaves, an entourage.” Gideon caught his breath and finally relaxed.

  “You can’t stay here, Gideon.” Francis was not smiling and drilled him with a death stare. Lowering his voice to a whisper, he added just for Gideon’s ears, “What happened to her protection?”

  Gideon nodded. “I was wondering the same thing,” he whispered back.

  “All the more reason to get out of Dodge.”

  “I know it.”

  Persephone, trembling, attempted to speak. “Perhaps I should go home.”

  Gideon was filled with panic. “No, angel! Please stay!”

  “She’s right, Gideon. It isn’t safe. If I hadn’t been here, you’d have had a hard time subduing them both.”

  “I’ll work on being more in control the next time and call upon all my skills,” she said, bravely inhaling and exhaling several times to calm herself.

  “This isn’t your job.”

  “I’m your protector,” she insisted.

  “No. Not when it comes to these guys. This is my baggage, my past coming to interfere. You couldn’t have known. But now I’ll be looking for them everywhere.”

  “And next time I’ll be prepared, too.”

  Gideon rifled through his closet to find some sweat pants and an oversized fleece long-sleeved shirt. He also took the time to complete searching the corners and dark portions of the other closets in the bedroom, finding nothing. He handed the clothes to her.

  “I have nothing for your feet that would fit you, but you can wear these pants and top for now until we get you something decent.”

  She wiped away the blood on her body and then quickly got dressed while Gideon stood between her and Francis to block his view of her nakedness. After she stood before both of them with Gideon’s sweatshirt sleeves dragging nearly to her knees, she wrinkled her nose, closed her eyes and produced a pair of boots, in pink.

  Francis hit his forehead with his palm. “I can’t do that!”

  “I think you can do a lot of things you haven’t tried yet, Francis. We’ll work on it someday, you and I.”

  Gideon felt another growl coming on again.

  “Deal. Now you need to get out of here. I’ll summon some help and we’ll do cleanup and disposal,” Francis said, looking over the bloody mess at the foot of Gideon’s bed.

  “Where will you put them?” he asked.

  “Best you don’t know. Not sure I’m connected to your Red Queen’s thoughts at all, and that should stay that way, Gideon. You take your Guardian some place safe and stay there until I message her.” He nodded to Persephone. “Right?”

  “Yes, I believe we shared some messages this evening at Manfred’s,” she said without an ounce of emotion.

  Francis blushed as Gideon held back another growl.

  Persephone placed her hands on Gideon’s chest. “We can’t go anyplace too complicated, because we have that meeting at noon. I hate to say it, but some place noisy with some background noise would be best. I think that’s why Manfred uses his shop to hide in.”

  “I’ve got just the place.” The look of relief in her eyes was worth everything right then. It also gave him hope. “You sure you have everything under control?” he sai
d to Francis.

  “Already put out the AGB, All Guardian Bulletin.”

  He drew Persephone in his arms, careful to avoid any of the red ooze on the carpeting. “Hold on to me. Not sure about my tracing ability, but I know I can fly.”

  “As I can,” she said, stepping to him and allowing him to envelop her in his arms. With a farewell nod to Francis, he unfurled his powerful dark wings, held her tight and heard one last minute sneeze from his Guardian friend before they were off into the early morning mist. As they soared, he found it no problem to tuck her heated little body close to him, her legs wrapped around his waist and hips, her head gently resting beneath his chin, arms about his neck. He maneuvered, dipping in large spirals both right and left before he realized her own white gossamer wings had wrapped around his back like a warm blanket protecting them both. He thought about Francis’s comment and wondered if SB’s protection extended through her plumage and hoped it was something they could count on.

  The hills were beginning to give in to shades of green from the light grey. An orange-rose glow illuminated the eastern hills and began pouring golden sunlight over the dark bare vines of the nearby vineyards. The Waterwheel Inn was in his sights as he checked the ground below for an unhelpful observer and determined it was safe to land. She adjusted her wings in place slightly slower than he did, like she wanted to continue their warm embrace. She pressed her body against him again and squeezed his wing sacs with her palms.

  As she palmed over his chest and upper arms, another long-sleeved white shirt appeared beneath her fingers. She smoothed down the cotton fabric and adjusted the buttons and collar. “There. Love how this looks.”

  “My clothes overwhelm you, my dear,” he whispered.

  “I want to keep them. They smell like you, Gideon.” She raised herself on tiptoes and kissed him full on the lips, melting in to him.

  He resisted the urge to deepen the kiss, drew his arm around her waist, and led her up the stone steps to the lobby area. The night manager handed them a key as if he’d been expecting them. Persephone looked over her shoulder as they walked through the glass doors to the garden terrace leading to the rooms. The sound of water all around them from the numerous pools and gushing fountains was soothing. A lumbering water wheel churned next to one of the buildings that housed a large bubbling hot tub surrounded by stubby white candles.