Page 10 of Dark Angel

EMRICK

She would be the next, there was no doubt about it.

No matter how hard she tried, she couldn’t stop herself from looking up at me as I watched over the club from the balcony. And I could tell she was trying, those quick glances she cast up and then just as quickly looked away. Several times a night, every night. If she thought she was being subtle, she was mistaken. Tate had noticed her, too, and running his fingers through his spiked white-blond hair, he slumped on the couch next to my chair.

“Who is she?” I asked.

“Cara. She started a couple of weeks ago. One of Maddie’s friends, apparently.”

“Maddie?” The name didn’t ring a bell, but then again, I didn’t often bother to learn the names of employees who didn’t do my dirty work. The bar and waitstaff were of little interest to me, a necessity to keep the club running and extra cash coming in.

That, and providing easy pickings when I felt like a fuck and was too lazy to look elsewhere.

Which was often.

They knew who I was here, and I liked how they feared my power.

No one came to work at Urban not having heard something about me, I was sure. My reputation had spread across this city faster than my territory grew and helped pave the way when I wanted to take those areas over. How many of the rumored stories were true? Well, probably most of them. But stories had a way of getting twisted. My favorite tale was I had bitten off a woman’s finger when she rejected my marriage proposal. That story amused me. It was a ridiculous premise.

I’d never get married.

Smirking, I drummed my fingers on my chin.But how did they know I liked to bite?

Fear was a powerful tool in control, so I never denied nor corrected these rumors, and simply let them flourish and do the work for me. The more people who were afraid, the less likely they’d come in here and try to claim my territory from me.

Because if I had to protect what was mine I would, at any cost.

Human life meant less to me than it should because it had been shown to me they were all pawns in God’s game, destined to live and die as He said. This city had proven itself time and time again it wasn’t worth saving and even when you tried to help, the people didn’t want it. All the rich fucks down at one end, looking out from their penthouse apartments over the parklands, ignoring—or pretending to, at least—the trash down this side. Here, the people would turn to crime for the smallest offer of money—turn on their friends and family, maybe even take the life of another human. What kind of world was that to save?

When I was a Watcher like my brother, I thought I could help them.

But not anymore.

Now I’m one of the fallen, and this is where I belong.

Whenever I missed my brothers and sisters, I’d simply fuck the rage away. My chosen human may be worse for wear, but I wouldn’t kill them, as they had done nothing to me to deserve death at my hand. They’d be pleasured, even if the pleasure was mingled with pain.

They never came back, and although I always promised next time I’d be gentler, there was never a next time.

It wasn’t a promise I could keep anyway.

“Maddie’s been here for a year or so, good worker.”

“Good.” I was barely listening.

It wasn’t as though I would go around killing people without regard. I’d have to be pushed to my limit before I took that step. They had todeserveit and have proved to me they weren’t worthy of life. I was no demon to be placed in a position by God and used to rid the Earth of those ready to die. As an angel, even a fallen angel, I couldn’t be used that way.

Thankfully.

Cara.I muttered the name under my breath. It felt good wrapped around my tongue, and I suspected she would too. But her curiosity seemed to evaporate when we were alone together, and she practically shivered when I stood behind her in the kitchen.

She was afraid, and I wondered what she’d heard.

That part made me angry. I needed only the right people to fear me—the worst of the worst, those like me. But not the innocent. A bit of fear was fun, but the fear which brought tears to her eyes and had her frozen on the spot, like she thought I was going to snap her neck right there in the kitchen, boiled the rage inside me and ignited something else.

Although, there was something about her, as though behind her tremble of fear there was a hint of arousal, maybe something I could bring out of her.

Something she was afraid Iwouldbring out in her.

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