Avenging Angel (The Fallen #4)(28)
Author: Cynthia Eden

And Riley didn’t give her the chance.

“I’m not unarmed.” His hand had disappeared under the mattress, and, in a blink, he yanked out a gun. Only he didn’t aim it at Tanner.

At me.

“Dumbass move,” Tanner snapped as he spun back to face the vampire. “Bullets won’t kill her.”

“Brimstone bullets will.” Now the vampire’s smile was just sad. Tired. “I’ve done my research. I heard about the shit that went down in this city, just a few months back.”

When Azrael had battled Brandt. Because Brandt had been a hybrid—the product of a rare mating between a shifter and an angel—it had taken a lot to kill him.

Bullets made of brimstone, bullets formed from a hellhound’s claws, could kill any angel, no matter how old or strong. Brandt had learned that lesson. He’d tried to use those bullets against others of his kind, but in the end, he’d been the one to die.

She stared at the barrel of the gun. “I’m sorry.”

“Fuck this—” Tanner began.

“I was the one who took your wife,” she said, cutting through Tanner’s words and taking a step toward the vampire. He deserved to hear the truth. “That night, so long ago, it was me.”

The gun barrel shook. His hand tightened. “You bitch.”

“Once I took her, Victoria didn’t hurt anymore.”

“My Victoria—”

“But I had to leave you behind.” The words were hollow. No, she was hollow. Why hadn’t she rebelled then? Tried to save this man, before he’d become a monster?

What he was . . . all the things he’d done . . . could she have stopped this?

“They fed on me, for hours—”

This part hurt to confess. “I was gone by then.” The memory of his screams had chased her as she flew away. No wonder the vampire had looked familiar to her. But there’d been so many deaths over the years. So many souls. Sometimes, their memories dimmed in her mind.

He leapt from the bed and fired the gun.

Tanner took the bullet. Marna never even had a chance to scream. Tanner jumped in front of her, and the bullet thudded into his chest.

He barely staggered. One step, then he lunged forward and ripped the gun from Riley’s hand before the vamp could fire again.

“Now you’ll kill me,” Riley whispered, and he sounded so grateful. “Now.”

No. “Tanner!”

His claws were at the vamp’s throat. Blood soaked Tanner’s shirt. The bullet had sunk in near his shoulder.

“I knew . . .” Riley wasn’t fighting. “If I shot at her, you’d kill me.”

Tanner’s claws shoved into his own shoulder, and he yanked out the bullet from his flesh. “Nine caliber.” He tossed it aside. “Brimstone, my ass.”

Why did everyone get to lie but her?

Tanner shook his head and glared at the vamp. “You think you’re the first suicide junkie I’ve gotten? Death by cop isn’t in the cards for you. Why don’t you just try fighting for life instead of clawing your way to hell so fast?”

The knife that Riley had dropped lay just steps away from Marna’s feet. She bent and picked it up.

“I can’t fight!” Riley’s teeth flashed. “I’m not strong enough! The Born is in my head every single—” He stopped and his head snapped to the right.

His eyes locked on Marna.

And on the blood that dripped down her arm. She’d sliced into the flesh just below her elbow, and she lifted her arm, offering it to the vampire. “Maybe my blood will be strong enough to help you.”

Didn’t she owe him that much?

He’d been a good man, once. He would have been a good father. Had he even known that his Victoria was pregnant?

Everything had been ripped away from him.

While I watched.

He surged to his feet.

Tanner blocked him. “Hell, no, you aren’t—”

“Tanner, make sure he doesn’t take too much.” She didn’t even know if this would work. Angel blood was supposed to contain power, she knew that. But would it be enough power to help him break free of his Born? As far as she knew, no one had ever used angel’s blood to sever a link like that.

I have to try.

Tanner’s hands had locked around the vamp’s shoulders as he held Riley back. “Are you sure about this?” he asked Marna.

Atonement. She had to do her part. “Yes.” But she needed the shifter to help her because she didn’t trust the vamp to stop once he started drinking. She only trusted—

Tanner.

When had that happened? Maybe the “when” didn’t matter. Marna pulled in a deep breath. “Just stop him when I say so.”

Jaw clenching, Tanner nodded. “But let me just say,” he muttered as he jerked the vamp closer, “I really don’t like this shit.”

Riley stared at her blood with wide eyes. “Wh-why?”

“Because you are more than a killer.” And I’m more than just a lost angel.

Time to start showing it. She lifted her arm to his mouth.

Tanner shoved the vamp to his knees and kept the guy’s hands locked behind his back. “Don’t even think of hurting her,” her shifter ordered.

Riley nodded. His head lowered to her arm, and Marna closed her eyes. She didn’t want to see this. She could feel his mouth on her skin, tasting her blood, and goose bumps rose on her flesh.

The other angels she knew would never have allowed themselves to be used this way. They would have found it degrading. Shameful.

She’d never been like the others. She found this to be . . .

Atonement. The word slipped through her mind again.

The edge of his teeth pressed into her skin, and her eyelids flew open as she gasped at the sting.

“Easy,” Tanner shouted.

Her gaze flew to Tanner. His own fangs were out. His eyes glowing. There was a fury on his face, a dark and savage rage. One that she’d never seen there before.

He stared down at Riley like he’d take joy in killing the vamp. But, before, he’d wanted to spare him.

Tanner’s gaze met hers. “Enough. ”

But Riley was still drinking. Marna tried to slide her arm back.

Riley followed.

He didn’t get very far. Tanner ripped him away from her and sent the vampire hurtling into the wall. “I said enough.”

Her breath heaved out. Tanner caught her arm. Stared down at the wound. A muscle jerked in his jaw. “Never again.” A lethal promise from him. But for all of his rage, his touch on her flesh was incredibly gentle. His body surrounded hers. “Whatever the hell this was about, whatever debt you think you owed him, consider it paid in full.”