Thieves: Steal The Day Part 7

She knew how to get a girl's attention. Of course, I probably would have stopped for one million. Who am I kidding? I'd have stopped for way less, but I wasn't about to tell her that. I was wondering if I could b.u.mp her up to two point five. I winced but pulled back as Dev tried to propel me forward.

"Zoey, I don't think this is a good idea." Dev looked back, his mouth turning down in a wary grimace as he studied the angel. "If she could trick me into breaking up with you, she could trick you, too."

"I'm willing to risk it. You said it yourself. I should be safe here. If you're worried, go and get Albert. I bet her glamours don't work on him."

His hand tightened on mine. "I don't know."

He was getting to be as bad as Daniel. There was no way I could let two million dollars walk out the door without at least listening to the deal. "This is business. We have a deal, Dev. I'm the boss when it comes to business. I'll be fine. I'll stay where you can see me, but I need to go talk to moneybags."

"Fine," he said with a bite to his voice. He might not like it, but Dev was willing to let me be the boss when it came to this. In the one job we'd run together, he'd been very good, obeying orders and keeping a cool head. In exchange, I let him take the lead in other places. "I'll be at the bar. You tell her if I see her try anything, I swear I will have Albert take her apart."

He stalked away, finding a place at the bar as I walked back to the table. Felicity's face lit up when she realized I was coming back. There was a weird sense of peace that came over me the moment I got close to her, a sense that this was right, that everything would work out.

I ignored it.

"Talk." I sat down and took another sip of my drink. Maybe vodka helped with angelic communications.

"Okay, first of all, I am so sorry about the way things went with Oliver." She spoke quickly, as though she expected me to get up and leave any minute. She didn't know me as well as she thought she did since I wasn't going anywhere until we talked about those digits. "He won't be around anymore. I'm going to be the one you deal with so you should feel free to bring your vampire around. I promise he won't come to any harm."

I continued to stare because she hadn't said anything yet that required my verbal response. I knew Daniel was going to be safe because I wasn't letting her get anywhere near him again. I glanced over at the bar. Dev had a beer in his hand, and he was watching everything that Felicity did. I noticed he'd called some of his security team over.

Her eyes followed mine. "I didn't mean to upset Devinshea. It really was the last thing I wanted to do. I find this plane very frustrating sometimes."

"Welcome to Earth." I held up a hand to let the waitress know I needed another drink. She hurried off. Sleeping with the owner had its perks.

Felicity stared for a moment at Dev, and then blushed and looked down. "What is it like to sleep with someone?"

"You mean s.e.x?" I had an angel asking me about s.e.x? I might need the waitress to bring me a pitcher.

"Yes," she replied, an eager look in her eyes.

This woman had nearly gotten Daniel killed and p.i.s.sed Dev off. I wasn't about to become her s.e.x therapist. "What are we, girlfriends? Do you expect me to sit here and swap s.e.x stories with you? You've got like five minutes before I walk out of here, and I will not take another meeting with you, do you understand?"

She nodded, her eyes slipping away from mine. Her hands were threaded together, and she took a deep breath before continuing. "All right. I'm sorry for prying. You just have to understand that one of the reasons we're having problems with control is the loss of Felix. We balance each other. We watch after our charges and nudge them with our own particular talents. I embody love, you see."

"Yeah, I got that." The waitress set another drink in front of me. I lifted it up, giving my hands something to do. It wasn't a good thing to show the potential client how nervous she made me. "So what's Ollie embody? Wait, let me guess. Oliver is the embodiment of an a.s.shole."

"He is judgment. You might call it justice," she replied with just a hint of prude. "But normally he's not so difficult. Everything requires a balance. Love alone can be very destructive without sound judgment. But Felix is the most important of all. He is faith. Without Felix, Oliver and I are adrift, with nothing to anchor us."

I apparently didn't understand how Heaven worked. "So, why don't you just talk to your boss? I hear he's all powerful. Why doesn't he just reach into h.e.l.l and pull up your boy?"

Her head shook. "It doesn't work like that. If it were meant to happen that way, it would. Since it did not, I've taken it upon myself to save Felix. It is as it should be."

Her logic was hard to follow, but I pressed on anyway. "So why don't you and your angel friends just charge the h.e.l.l plane with swords ablaze and rescue him?"

She smiled, obviously amused at the image. "That's what you would do in my position, isn't it?"

"d.a.m.n straight."

"You would have been an archangel," she concluded. "I am not. I do not fight in that manner. Besides, we've been forbidden to enter the h.e.l.l plane. It's one of our highest laws. I'm not supposed to even try to influence actions on the h.e.l.l plane, but Halfer didn't play by the rules so I shall not either. I won't go there myself. I must find a different way. I must find a paladin. I found you, Zoey Donovan. You are my knight."

"Thief is a better cla.s.sification for me, lady." I wasn't a knight in s.h.i.+ning armor. I didn't tend to throw my own needs out for the greater good. I watched my own back and took care of my people. For the most part, the rest of the world could hang.

Her blonde hair s.h.i.+mmered in the low light as she shook her head. "You don't give yourself enough credit, but I have faith in you. You are a paladin. You'll always make the right choice in the end. You're clever, and when the time comes, you'll use your talents for good."

"How about I use my talents for two million dollars? We are talking about dollars, right? Not some strange Heaven currency, because that does not work here." I didn't care what part of my nature she was attempting to call to. I was concerned about the part of my nature that was excited about doing the job I wanted to do and getting paid a s.h.i.+tload of money for something I would have done for free. "Where the h.e.l.l does an angel get two million?"

"I merely requested it from one of my charges. He is a very nice man in Seattle," Felicity explained. "He has more money than he could ever spend and doesn't mind helping out good causes. I also got him to throw in a laptop and something called software. It will be delivered to your house tomorrow."

"I'm going to need that in cash." If she was talking about who I thought she was, I did not want a million lawyers jumping on my a.s.s when I cashed that check.

Felicity smiled brightly, lighting up the room. "I'm so excited. It's going to be so good to work together."

"We're not working together." The last thing I needed was to babysit the physical embodiment of love. "I'll give you progress reports, but otherwise you stay on the sidelines."

"Absolutely," she agreed.

"Now, how about handing over that Revelation thing?" The quicker I learned how to use it the better. We would be going to the party in a few weeks, but there was no reason I couldn't start working with my ace in the hole.

"About that," she started, and I knew I wasn't going to like what she said next. "I don't actually have that, but I know where it is."

"How about using those powers of persuasion and getting it? Don't tell me it's on the h.e.l.l plane." I planned on spending as little time there as possible, and planning two robberies there was just beyond my talents.

"Not at all. It's in Arkansas."

I rolled my eyes. "Close enough. I take it the current owner doesn't wish to part with it?"

"She's proven very stubborn." Felicity held her hand out and suddenly there was a thumb drive in her palm. "I think you'll find this has all the information you need. My charge taught me how to use a computer."

"Great." I took the drive and shoved it in my pocket. My two million was looking harder all the time, and I hadn't thought it looked that easy in the first place.

She watched as I took a drink. I have to admit I'm not a delicate sipper of a good c.o.c.ktail. I tend to down them pretty fast. The waitress was already on her way back with another one. "What is that like? It looks pretty. I have never tried alcohol before."

Apparently the Heaven plane didn't boast a hopping nightlife. I slid the fresh gla.s.s across the table. I was a little chattier now that I knew I'd have two million at my disposal. "Give it a try."

She shook her head. "Oh, no, I couldn't possibly."

She looked back at the bar, and then seemed to come to some decision. She took a long swallow and came up choking. Perhaps I should have started her on something easier because the bartender knew how I liked my Cosmos and that was heavy on the vodka.

"You should probably take it slower."

"That was strong." She sputtered a little, clearing her throat. "I drank it the way you did."

"Yes, but you didn't start sneaking into your father's liquor cabinet at the age of seventeen." I thought of one really nice night when Danny and I tried making margaritas and ended up giving it up for tequila shots. I still can't make a margarita. My dad had been p.i.s.sed, and Danny had tried to take all the blame.

"You're thinking of your husband." Felicity leaned forward, her hand almost touching mine.

"Get out of my head." I didn't like anyone poking around in my brain.

She shrugged. "I can't help it. When you love someone the way you love your Daniel, I can't help but feel it. It telegraphs very loudly."

"It isn't really love, you see," I started to explain. "I'm a companion, and he's a vampire."

"And what do you think a companion is, dear?"

I stilled because if I answered that question, I opened a whole new can of worms. Felicity claimed she could tell me what I was. Did I really want to know? Against my better judgment, I heard myself speak. "A companion is something like a slave."

Felicity chuckled a little, but her face softened and I could practically feel the warmth of affection pouring off her. "I'm sorry, dear, I didn't realize that the knowledge was gone from this plane. A companion isn't a slave-far from it. A companion is just as powerful as a vampire."

I rolled my eyes. "Yes, my superpower is-wait for it-tasting good. That's a h.e.l.l of a superpower. Someone call the Justice League and get me an application."

"They really don't tell you anything, do they? A companion is balance against the vampire. It's why they're attracted to each other. A vampire needs a companion and a companion needs a vampire. They balance each other. It is the way of this world. You realize you saved your husband the night he died? He is as he is because of your blood."

"I don't understand anything," I admitted. An odd sense of vulnerability stole over me.

She gave me a rea.s.suring pat. "Okay, I'll try to make you understand. I probably should start at the beginning. Long before there were humans on the Earth plane, angels and demons used it as a battlefield. As happens on occasion, not all demons are entirely bad as not all angels can maintain their perfect goodness. Some fell from both sides. Some male and some female. Do you understand where I'm going?"

"Yes, some of the demons hooked up with some of the angels and started making babies." I summed up the story as old as time.

Felicity nodded. "Exactly. They could no longer live on their planes and chose to populate the Earth plane. Later, my father created humans and the bloodlines became mixed. It's rare, but sometimes the demon blood shows up in the population, almost always in the male, and a vampire is born. The same is true of the angelic blood in the female. This is what you call a companion."

It was my turn to sputter. "You're telling me I'm descended from an angel?"

Neil was going to get a kick out of that one, but I finally understood why I could use the Revelation and Daniel could not. I suppose it also made sense that faeries were closer to angels, while a werewolf took after the demonic side.

"Yes, you are. It's the balance to the demon. It's why they're attracted to you. They want the balance. Vampires, for the most part, don't wish to be destructive. But the companion's true role was lost over time, and they became very rare indeed. Now, apparently the vampire's possessive nature has taken over and they subjugate their companions, never understanding what that companion can do for them."

"What can I do for him?" As far as I knew, I was just around to feed Daniel.

"You've already done most of the work. A vampire is very impressionable when he turns. The Council chooses to use this to fas.h.i.+on an army. You mentioned the word slave, but it better refers to the way the Council treats vampires. New vampires are forced into blood oaths that make them pliable and eager to serve those who are stronger. They lose much of their own free will."

"Daniel went through the same training." He rarely spoke of it, but when he did, it was with a deep bitterness. Those three years he spent in the Council's care were the worst of his life. I'd learned from Marcus that Daniel had proven difficult to train.

"Daniel was different. The day he rose he took his companion's blood into his body. There is no blood oath strong enough to break the promise you made to him that night. They could feed him ancient blood every day, but it couldn't change who Daniel is. He learned to conform but never to fit in. It's caused him much anxiety because he didn't understand. Your blood was his misery and his salvation. I believe it will be the salvation of all this plane's unique creatures."

A little s.h.i.+ver raced across my skin. "What do you mean?"

Felicity became very serious. "I mean the Council has become corrupt. They seek dominion over the supernatural world. They believe they can use Daniel to force their will on the other creatures. They don't understand the bond between you and Daniel. As you balance your husband, so I believe he will prove to balance the Council's threat. We watch him in Heaven, too." She gave me a moment to soak that in before she leaned over. "I know you worry that your love for Daniel is tainted because of your unique biology. You view this in the wrong fas.h.i.+on. You have fears because you don't understand your own nature, but you won't be afraid forever, Zoey. Rejecting your husband's love is like saying you wouldn't accept love from a man because men are attracted to women. It's foolish."

"You don't understand." That phrase was becoming my mantra.

"There is much on this plane I don't understand, but this I have experience in." She sat back and glanced at the bar. She watched Dev for a long moment. I wondered what he looked like to an angel. "You should go to your lover. He'll need you tonight."

I was a little surprised. I'd gotten the impression she wouldn't approve of my relations.h.i.+p with Dev. "No lectures on fidelity?"

"I've lectured you enough for one night. Heaven is not the place you think. It is you humans who make it a harsh place for only the most worthy. My boss, as you put it, has an entirely different version of worthy than you could imagine." She stood up. "I wish you luck, Zoey. I know you will succeed."

I felt compelled to speak. She'd answered my questions, but I refused the only one she'd asked of me. "It depends, you know, on why you're sleeping with a person."

"I wonder because I know nothing of the physical. I only have experience with the spiritual. I always wondered. You think you don't love Devinshea, yet still you enjoy mating with him."

"I care about Dev," I pointed out, not wanting to admit anything even to myself. "I really do. I enjoy sleeping with him because it feels good. He's a very skilled lover. There's nothing that can take your mind off your troubles like a man who plays your body like a fine instrument, and Dev is good at that. It's good to feel close to someone."

"And what is it like with your Daniel?"

I blinked back the tears that sprang up. I took a deep breath before I answered her as honestly as I could. "I don't know what Heaven's like, but I would bet it feels like that."

Felicity smiled and took my hand briefly. "It's all right to be scared a while longer, Zoey. Things will play out as they are meant to. You'll find your balance, all three of you. Your path is set. Now go and take care of your lover. As I said, he needs you tonight more than he'll admit. My earlier actions have brought back bad memories for Devinshea."

I glanced over at Dev, who frowned as the bartender pa.s.sed him another beer. When I looked back, Felicity was gone.

Dev walked through the crowd when he realized I was alone again. "What did she say? You look sad. I could have her thrown out if she hadn't vanished into thin air."

I shook my head. "I'm just thinking. The good news is we have a job."

"Tell me about it later," he demanded, taking my hand. "Let's go upstairs."

I let him drag me along, thinking about Felicity's words, when a young woman ran from the dance floor and threw herself at my feet. She was maybe twenty and Hispanic. Her dark hair was tangled, and she had a cut on her face. Her eyes were wide with desperation.

"Please, help me," she said, trying to take my hand.

Chapter Nine.

I looked down at the woman at my feet and back up at Dev, who shrugged. I had no idea why she'd come to me, especially when there were big strong men all around, and she obviously needed defending. "Is someone coming after you?"

"In my club?" Dev looked through the crowd, his eyes seeking a threat. He found his predators as two big werewolves made their way across the floor. They had their target in their sights.

"My name is Angelina Hernandez, and they are trying to take me from my master," Angelina said quickly, her voice shaking. "I beg of you, mistress, don't let them. They will kill me, and I have no wish to leave Justin."

"Justin, as in the Vampire Justin?" I had only recently met Justin and already he was a pain in my a.s.s. And since when did people start calling me mistress?

She nodded, huddling closer to me. "Yes, ma'am. I called him, but he's not here yet. Please help me. You owe me protection. I was told I would be protected."

"I told you those new vamps were trouble," Dev muttered as the big bad wolves were upon us. I was grateful to see that several members of the security team were already behind us. Dev held out his hand and one of the bouncers pressed a s.h.i.+ny semi into it. Dev checked the clip as he looked up at the wolves. He obviously knew the two men, but they didn't seem friendly. "h.e.l.lo, Mitch.e.l.l. Do we have a problem here?"

"Not at all, Quinn," the older of the two wolves spat. He was roughly fifty but powerfully built. He was just the tiniest bit past his prime, silver showing at his temples. "I'll just take my b.i.t.c.h and be out of your way."

"I don't think the girl wants to go with you." Dev understated the situation.

The girl in question cowered behind me. She was obviously a wolf, making her faster and stronger than little old me. I wondered if maybe my reputation had finally exceeded my ability. It had always been a goal of mine to be considered a tough chick, but this might be pus.h.i.+ng it. I didn't even have a gun, and she acted like I was solid protection against two werewolves.