And his wings. They were massive, pearl colored, feathers arching over impossibly broad shoulders before folding like an accordion and resting against his back.
Did Agone have a sword? And why was she worried he didn’t? He seemed to have held his own during the brief brawl. Equally matched, neither had a cut, not even a damn bruise.
“I don’t have all night, Eden,” Agone grumbled.
Seren chuckled evilly. “Tired, demon?”
Agone’s glare could’ve cut through stone. Or Seren. “I can last all night.”
“Just until the sun comes up. Like a vampire.”
“I don’t need blood,” Agone growled. The tension radiating from him could fill a stadium.
“You sure about that?” Seren retorted with a hint of a snarl laced into the sentence.
Agone was on his feet, his eyes flipping from black to crimson, his fingers changing into two-inch claws. “I don’t need blood to beat you. Only my fists and time to enjoy the few moments it would take.” He lunged for the angel.
Call her stupid. Eden darted between the two men. Beings? Supernatural creatures? She had to get a handle on this, them, the impossible, improbable situation her ass had landed in.
“We are not doing this again. This is my home, not a place for a cage match or a landfill. In case you didn’t know, I’m not rich.” She tossed her backpack down. “I don’t have money to replace the shit you destroyed. So, no. You don’t get to do a Death Match in my home. Not again.” She started picking up the books and stopped. What was the point?
Suddenly, they both were at her side, picking shit up when she wanted to be nowhere near them. She dropped everything and backed away, let them have at it.
What would’ve taken her hours took seconds. She blinked and the coffee table and bookcase were whole, and the books were neatly shelved. In alphabetical order. No one shelved books in alphabetical order. She should be grateful. The two of them managed to work together when they wanted. Instead, she was annoyed. They wouldn’t’ve had to fix her stuff if they hadn’t interfered in her life. She wanted them gone. Out of her home and out of her life.
“You two didn’t come here to destroy and repair my shit or keep my friend in limbo.” She pointed and glared at Agone.
“Limbo?” Seren’s attention swung to Harry’s closed bedroom door. “How long has she been there?” The urgency in his voice stabbed her heart.
“Harriet is fine. A few more minutes won’t harm her,” Agone said.
Not good enough. “You promise?” She insisted.
Agone’s gaze warmed. “You have my word,” he murmured, and she believed him.
“The word of a demon can’t be trusted.” Seren delivered the sentence with all the aplomb of a jilted ex-lover strolling into a wedding just before the I do’s.
Agone’s growl started as a low rumble and built until the apartment shook. His fingers curled into her sofa, puncturing the fabric. “I trust him,” she blurted and was surprised it wasn’t a lie. Agone’s growl ended, red receded from his eyes, and a grin tweaked his mouth. Her blood hummed.
“Why do you trust a demon?” Seren frowned. “I want to know how you trust a demon you’ve known for less than an hour.”
Easy answer, though she didn’t miss his underlying question. How could she trust a demon and not trust him, an angel? “Agone could’ve killed me. At any moment. And he didn’t.”
“That’s the bar for trusting a demon? Not killing you?” Seren scoffed. “There are worse things than death a demon can inflict.”
“Rape, maiming, possession. He didn’t do any of that. In fact...” She moved closer to Agone and away from Seren. “When I was so afraid I couldn’t even stand, he calmed me and helped me to my feet. He gave me a choice when he didn’t have to.” Eden sat on the sofa, not quite at the opposite end.
Both men glared at her as if she’d grown another head when she’d just spoken the truth. “Now. One of you talk.” She crossed her legs, folded her hands in her lap and settled into the cushion, ready for the story to begin.“You said you came to an agreement. About what?”
“About you,” Seren supplied.
“Me?” Her gaze snapped between the two beings. “What agreement did you two come to about me?” And how dare they.
“If ceasing hostilities to find you is an agreement, then yes, we have an agreement,” Seren spilled grumpily. “However, that’s not what we should be discussing. Twenty years ago, a member of the Council of Seraphim,” he said with reverence, “and a demon, joined forces.”He let out a low snarl.
“That demon was Belial, one of the princes of Hell,” Agone clarified. “Together, they visited a hospital in Landstuhl, Germany.”
Eden snapped forward. “Landstuhl! I was born there, twenty years ago.”