It’s Victoria Bloom’s twenty-fifth birthday. But is she out celebrating? Oh, no. She’s in a stuffy old attic with the Three Stooges—a.k.a. her so-called spirit guides. There’s a demon who wants her dead, the same one that killed her mother two decades ago. No worries, say the Stooges. All she has to do is summon an angel. What could go wrong?
Well, plenty when you summon the wrong angel. The next thing Tory knows, she’s got one very bad-ass, pissed-off and sexy Archangel on her hands.
Michael, mighty warrior, leader of an elite team of demon killers, is shaking in his heavenly combat boots. Not because he finds all humans distasteful. But because he’d rather face Lucifer himself than the woman his soul has just recognized as his mate. Binding himself to a mortal, one who will eventually die, is the one path he’s sworn never to follow.
It’s too late now; his fate is sealed. With one touch, she becomes as necessary to him as the air he breathes. He will move heaven and earth to protect her—but against a demon as powerful as Asmodeus, heaven and earth may not be enough…
Warning: This book contains one bad-ass Archangel with a fiery, um, sword, a witch who blows things up, one nasty demon who is trying to kill them both, and ghosts who make interfering their mission. Steamy sex is had, even with the voyeur ghosts
—though Tory is still blushing.
I knew I was going to love this book when I read the first few paragraphs. Demons and Angels. Both dark and formidable.
Asmodeus studied the pitiful being for a moment, then a grin slowly spread across his face. Dead he could do. In fact, he would relish every moment of the act: skin tearing beneath his nails, blood oozing forth and the fragrant cries of pain tickling his ears. But he was getting ahead of himself. First there was payment. And then he had to decide if he would kill the human after reaping his soul or just maim him, leaving him alive to do Asmodeus’s future bidding. Oh, so much pain, so little time.
You've never met this side of the angel Michael.
Slowly, the light dimmed and she was stunned to find herself unscathed. But still Tory hid her eyes behind her hand. Who knew what the hell stood on the other side. And since her father was, if the bastard still lived, a demon-worshiping warlock, hell was entirely possible.
“You foolish human. I was in the midst of an important meeting. Send me back. Now.”
Her hand fell from her face, her gaze latching onto the figure in the middle of the pentagram. Holy shit. It had worked. And he was huge. Close to seven feet tall with long black hair cascading around broad shoulders and rippling biceps. His arms were folded across his massive chest, fists clenched in obvious agitation, causing the veins to bulge prominently.
Tory lifted her eyes to his face and the stark beauty she found there left her dumbfounded. He had a strong face, high cheekbones and a pronounced jaw presently ticking in anger. Ice-blue eyes framed by thick black lashes and full lush lips frowned down at her.
“Well?” he asked, arching one raven-hued brow.
“Please, Zadkiel, I am in desperate need of your help.”
“Lord, save me from idiots. I am not Zadkiel, you nitwit.”
“Oh shit,” Ari muttered.
“What do you mean, oh shit?” Tory demanded. “What have you three gotten me into now?”
“Michael,” came the whispered reply, and Tory knew she was in some serious trouble.
“Just what I need. A feeble-minded human. Can this day get any worse?” the angel mumbled, jerking her attention back to him.
“I am not feeble-minded,” she cried indignantly, fear quickly forgotten. “And it would serve you right if Fate bit you on the ass.”
Michael snorted. “Those three bitches know better than to mess with me. Now I have more important things, woman, than to share insults with you.”
Oh the anguish! Oh the agony!
Michael's torment over Gabriel's loss sealed it for me.
“Hunting demons is a dangerous business. You can hardly be blamed for Ari’s death.”
“It is not her death putting a wedge between Gabriel and me. It’s what I said later, the callous words I spoke for which he has never forgiven me. And I cannot blame him.”
“What did you say?” Tory probed gently, but Michael only shook his head.
“I do not want you to hate me too,” he whispered.
“That will never happen,” she stated, her voice filled with absolute conviction.
She didn’t think there was anything he could say to change how she felt about him. Not that she wanted to examine too closely what her feelings were. Tory wasn’t ready to admit them even to herself.
Unable or unwilling to meet her gaze, Michael stared down at their joined hands and Tory thought he wasn’t going to respond. Then he spoke, so softly Tory had to strain to make out the words.
“I told him he was better off without the human to distract him. There were plenty of females with which he could scratch an itch. He didn’t need Ariadne.”
“Ouch,” Tory murmured, wondering how Gabriel had taken such a pronouncement. Probably not very favorably.
“How the hell was I to know?” Michael cried. With a growl, he attempted to pull away from her, to put some distance between them, but Tory feared if she released the tight grip on his hand she would lose whatever was growing between them.
“How were you to know what?” Tory demanded.
“How the hell was I to know my mate would complete me in ways I’d never even suspected I needed?”
Yeah, I know. I quoted the hell out of this one. But it was just so *oomph* So good!
There's everything in this story. Angels. Demons. Spirits. Vampires. Fae. And a lot more. Some just mentioned but it just makes the world in which this tale takes place all the more incredible. I would live there.
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