Killing by Captivation: A Gods & Monsters Prequel (Gods & Monsters Trilogy Book 0) Read online

  Though he knew exactly what the young woman before him was talking about, he glanced back, as though he too needed to look at his own wings in order to see them. “They are,” he agreed, nodding his head once and looking back up at her.

  She was quite pretty, he realized. Actually, that was a lie. She was more than pretty, and that had to do with the slight naivety that sparkled so clearly in her eyes. Paul could already tell that she was a trusting person, and maybe her curiosity had gotten her into trouble before. The fact that she could see his wings – this had to be the sign his Creator had told him about. When you find her, you’ll know. This was her. It had to be. She was the key to his happiness, the key to turning him into what he so desperately wanted to be. And yet, a small piece of him wished that out of all the women on this planet, it not be her.

  “That’s impossible,” she said in a breath, her voice barely a whisper at all.

  Her eyes were the most attractive thing about her, Paul realized. They were so easy to read, like a book. The words were so clear, the color so vivid. It was easy to get lost in her thoughts, and if he didn’t sort himself out soon, his only opportunity, the very reason he was created in the first place, would slip through his fingers.

  “No, it’s possible,” he corrected her in his normal soft-spoken voice. He managed to attract her attention away from his wings and onto his face, her eyes locked in his. “What’s not possible is the fact that someone like you can see them.” He wasn’t trying to be insulting, but humans couldn’t see his wings. It was as simple as that. And yet…

  Did this mean that God had created her specifically for Paul’s master? Or was she a creation of Satan’s? But if that was true, He wouldn’t need her to corrupt humanity. How was it possible that she could see his wings? Maybe some things just were, and there was no need for any explanation after that.

  Mandy tilted her head slowly to the side, scrutinizing his face. He hadn’t shaved today, she realized. Subtle whiskers occupied the lower half of his face, giving him an edge. It added to the edge he currently possessed due to those wings of his. She had the urge to touch them again, but if it was true what he said, what Sarah said, then she would look like some kind of freak. And Paul would no doubt think her as so. Who asked to touch someone’s wings? That was just weird.

  “Then what are you?” she asked again, and Paul instantly recognized a subtle demanding glint hidden in those orbs of hers.

  The question almost caused him to smile. If only she knew, then she wouldn’t be standing in front of him anymore. That was only if she didn’t believe him. Would she? Paul had this feeling that she would, but he wasn’t sure if her logic would allow her to be terrified. He wasn’t exactly the poster boy for inspiring fear, as it were. His pale blue eyes sculpted her face, still debating whether or not to reveal to her just what he was. He wanted to see what her eyes would tell him if he spoke his name. He was captivated by her… A dangerous thing, something he needed to break away from, and yet he couldn’t lose sight of her. Irony in its finest.

  Suddenly, the corner of Paul’s lips twitched up into what might have been a smile if his eyes weren’t darkening. He was going to tell her, and Mandy would soon know just how… Would she even believe him? It didn’t matter. She still wanted to know.

  He opened his mouth and Mandy couldn’t help but stare at his lips. Would he taste like poison, she wondered? Toxic? He couldn’t be good; he looked too good to be on good’s side. Which meant he could only be bad. Which meant if she didn’t disentangle from his eyes she might slip under the spell his eyes were holding her under. And yet she wanted nothing more than to play with his fire…

  “Mandy,” Sarah called, interrupting anything that might or might not have happened. “We’re getting a line. Do you think you could help me out?”

  She wanted to say no, but she knew she couldn’t.

  And he was so close to telling her. So close to figuring out just what he was, what he could possibly be.

  Maybe next time, if she ever saw him again.

  And a small part of her wanted to very badly.

  By the time she got off of work, Mandy nearly forgot about the mysterious man with penetrating pale blue eyes and black wings. She hadn’t noticed him leave, but when she realized he had, she felt a slight bout of disappointment touch her stomach. The walk back to her home wasn’t long, and another fifteen minutes saw her locking the door, changing into pajamas, and sleeping, knowing that she was going to have to wake up early in order to open the store the next morning.

  The last thing she thought of before her eyelashes met their match was the face of the man she had met that day. It was almost as though he was a beautiful nightmare.

  It was too soon to be four o’clock in the morning, but alarms never lied no matter how badly one wanted them to. After a moment, Mandy forced her body to sit up and threw her legs over her bed. She was immediately hit with a sudden iciness and she all but dashed to her bathroom in order to take a hot shower.

  The hot water hit her like a ton of bricks and within mere seconds, she was up and alert. After her shower, she put on her usual black slacks and a nice collared shirt. There was no way in hell that she was going to wear her apron until it was necessary, so she quickly stuffed it into her sack. Mandy dried her hair as best as she could with the aid of her towel before throwing the damp locks into a messy ponytail, promising she would fix it once she was at the café. After another mental check, she was out the door and heading to her work.

  The reason Mandy applied for her job at the Coffee Bean was because it was so close to the townhouse her mother had left her after she had died. And Los Angeles had always been one of the towns that never slept, so by the time Mandy left in the morning, people would already be up and dawn would just be breaking. On a good day, if there weren’t too many tourists, the walk would be a good fifteen minutes. She didn’t like driving unless she absolutely had to; gas was expensive nowadays.

  As she walked, she debated whether or not to listen to her iPod. Different articles in Cosmo warned her against such things – one wouldn’t be aware if an attacker approached – and Mandy ultimately decided to listen to their advice. Maybe if she lived in a safer neighborhood, but this was downtown Los Angeles.

  Her decision proved to be a good idea because five minutes into her walk, she could swear that someone was following her. When she stopped, the person stopped. She even crossed the street, in order to take the long way to work, just to get this person off her back, when they ended up following her. Luckily, she was next to a crowded donut store, and decided to take the moment to confront them. They couldn’t hurt her with so many witnesses.

  However, upon turning around, her eyes met a familiar pair of pale blue irises. Her heart leapt in her throat. “You’re following me.” It wasn’t a question, but a statement, and her eyes burned through his own, questioning him.

  “I am,” he agreed, nodding his head once.

  “Why?” she asked, her voice a whisper.

  His answer was simple and yet impossible to decipher.

  “Because I need you.”

  Four

  A war was brewing; Paul could feel it. His feeling was confirmed the night he left the café and headed back to his apartment he had bought a few blocks from the Coffee Bean. The war should have started centuries ago but something was always preventing it, whether it was his Creator or God Himself. But now, both sides seemed to be ready. God knew about Satan’s plans to corrupt humanity and did not seem to want that to happen. Since Paul had found her - finally, the key - he knew that war would be breaking out in a manner of days at the latest. He needed her as quickly as possible, to get her away from this place where she was with him, safe.

  Angels and fallen angels – demons – hated each other. There had been a rivalry between the two of them since their existence began just as there seemed to be a rivalry between God and Satan. Angels might have been good, but they also played dirty, and they were tricky little devils. If Paul
didn’t get to the girl – what was her name? Amanda? – quickly, he was almost certain an angel would swoop her up, and then all would be lost.

  Paul did not possess any sort of foresight, but he seemed to be able to locate her presence merely by thinking of her. It didn’t surprise him that she would be the woman opening the store this morning, which made the moment that more opportune. It would be now or never. So he began following her once he had caught sight of her. He didn’t try to hide his presence, and it didn’t surprise him that she caught on quickly to the fact that someone was following her. However, it did surprise him that she was able to confront him, though it shouldn’t have. If she was supposed to be married off to Satan Himself, she would need to be strong.

  The moonlight, however little of it there was, cascaded an interesting glow around her, and he couldn’t help but be caught aback by how she looked at that moment, disheveled or not. His focus snapped back and he cleared his throat, hoping to get himself back on track. It was harder to do than he expected, with the mission being more distracting than he could ever anticipate.

  “May I speak with you?” he asked, hoping his voice didn’t sound as urgent as he felt. He needed her off of the streets, away from people. Anyone could be an angel, just waiting to pounce on her.

  “I have to work,” she told him, reaching up and pointing over her shoulder to where her café was waiting for her. At least it was close.

  “It’s actually very important,” he told her, adding a slight emphasis on his words in hopes that she would take him seriously. “I promise –“ Here, he lifted his hands up as though he was surrendering something – “that I will not harm you.”

  Mandy narrowed her eyes at him, shifting her weight. From the corner of her eyes, she noticed that the donut shop was becoming more and more crowded which calmed her albeit slightly. “I don’t know you,” she told him, returning her focus back on the man before her. “Do you really expect me to take your word that you won’t hurt me?”

  “Yes,” he said, nodding his head once. “Yes, I do.”

  Mandy knew she should say no. Cosmo would surely tell her to say no, no matter how darkly beautiful the man was. Something gave her pause, and she had a feeling that her resistance to her logic had to do with the fact that his eyes were so… What was the word? Captivating? Mesmerizing? And something inside of her, something she didn’t know and couldn’t name, told her it was okay, that he really didn’t intend to do any harm to her.

  Finally, she tilted her head down, relenting. “Fine,” she said, but quickly raised her hand up, pointing her long index finger at him in a warning. “But I know karate and I have no problem kicking a man in his balls.”

  Though Paul was faster and stronger than the woman in front of him, he couldn’t keep the wince off of his face if he tried. Just the thought of someone inflicting such pain on his nether regions made his body tense in defense of such an attack. “I can assure you that that will not be necessary,” he told her with a strained smile.

  Mandy wasn’t exactly swayed but she nodded once more, and the two headed over to the café together in silence. Once they were in the building, Mandy locked the front door once more so people wouldn’t start coming in, and started to flip on the lights.

  “Will you start taking the chairs off the tables?” she asked Paul as she walked around the counter and started turning on the machines. If he needed to talk to her, he could help her out as well, couldn’t he? That seemed to be a fair trade.

  After a moment, she glanced back at him and found Paul doing exactly as she had asked him to without complaint. A tiny smile touched her lips and she looked away. There was a small slithering of regret for having doubted him, but her guard was still up. If she needed to, she could scream bloody murder, and she really did know karate.

  “I’m a demon.” The words were out of his mouth before Mandy had any chance to prepare herself for resuming the conversation they had started just the day before. She tilted her head and looked at him with obvious doubt, but when her eyes came in contact with those wings, she swallowed the disbelieving retort and looked away, unsure of what to believe anymore. “A fallen angel.”

  “I know what a demon is,” she told him in a low voice, deciding she needed a cup of coffee if this was the direction the conversation she was going to have to have.

  “Right, then you must know that demons are not human and we are not angels,” Paul told her. He finished the task Mandy had asked him to do and proceeded to walk towards the counter. However, he knew to keep a safe distance in order to keep from indirectly intimidating her. “But I can become human if I do a task my master has asked me to do.” He paused, waiting for her to say something, but she said nothing, and so he continued. “There is a war going on between angels and fallen angels, a war that is supposed to start in a manner of days if we are lucky. Obviously, it was brewing for a long while before, but now, like a volcano, it will soon start to come to pass, and the results could be deadly.”

  “What side are you on?” Mandy asked, finally speaking. She was bent over but picked up her head in order to look at him, genuinely interested in his answer.

  Paul smiled at this. The corners of his lips quirked up into what Mandy was beginning to realize was his normal smile. She idly wondered what he would look like if his entire face lit up from one smile. It was highly doubtful that he smiled a lot, she realized. “Well that depends,” he told her, reaching out to place his hands on the surface of the desk to get a better look at her.

  “On what?” she asked him, meeting his eyes.

  His smile deepened, but only slightly. “On what your definition of good and bad is,” he told her. His smile was enigmatic, and Mandy was unsure whether or not she wanted to figure out its hidden meaning.

  The young woman rolled her eyes as the strong scent of coffee filled the small café. “That is such an excuse,” she told him, standing up and stretching. Mandy did another mental checklist to make sure everything was in its proper place, machines were turned on, and tables were clean and ready. When she was satisfied, she glanced at the wall clock. Fifteen minutes, and she would have to open. Fifteen minutes, and Sarah should be here.

  Paul laughed at her words, and Mandy quickly looked over at him. It was as though his laugh was like some kind of melody, a spell that she felt the beginnings of start to take a hold of her. But Sarah was right; he looked nothing short of beautiful.

  “Maybe,” he agreed, keeping his eyes on her.

  “What does this have to do with me?” Mandy asked, logging into the register. She had completely forgotten she was going to fix her hair, it would seem.

  “Everything,” he said, his voice suddenly low, husky almost. And his eyes seemed to brighten and dull at the same time, revealing just how serious the situation was. “It is not very often that a human can see wings.” The black wings ruffled slightly, feathers falling on the floor. “It means you are able to decipher between humans and angels and demons, something we fallen angels would not prefer.”

  “Meaning what?” Mandy asked, still not completely understanding what he was saying, what this all meant.

  “Meaning that you are in grave danger,” he whispered, though his words were heard by Mandy. And they were as clear as crystal.

  Five

  Without warning, Mandy tilted her head back and started laughing. It was like out of a movie; some mysterious yet very attractive man with wings protruding from his back was here to warn her of this supposed grave danger she was in, and he was most likely going to offer her some kind of protection. They would end up falling in love or something but neither of them would admit it, something would happen to one of them, and then they would live happily ever after. Or something like that. Mandy hadn’t seen a romantic comedy in a while, so she wasn’t sure if she got the plot structure quite right, but oh well. Hers would have to suffice.

  “You don’t believe me?” Paul asked, slightly offended by her blunt response to his warning. His pale blue eyes fl
ashed, but it only lasted a second, and then it disappeared.

  Mandy opened her eyes and looked at him, rolling her eyes as she crossed her arms over her chest. “Come on,” she said as though it was the most obvious thing in the world. “You must think I’m stupid to actually fall for that. You’re a fallen angel with real black wings and you need me for some reason or another, and some war is about to break out and because I can see your wings, I’m in grave danger. Don’t you think that’s a bit hard to swallow under the circumstances?” She pushed her brow up, imploring him to agree with her. Oddly enough, she had yet to actually feel threatened by Paul, but she knew that no matter what, Sarah would be in soon enough, and if worse came to worse, they could always call the cops. Which would definitely be disappointing because Paul was definitely attractive.

  The fallen angel looked at the young woman in front of him, his eyes calculating, his mind thinking. “Would you like me to prove that all I say to you is real?” he finally asked, and his voice, for whatever reason, gave Mandy the chills.

  “And how could you possibly do that?” Mandy asked, and though she wanted nothing more than to continue on disbelieving, there was an edge of curiosity laced into her tone, an edge Paul’s sharp ears picked up on.

  The corners of his lips quirked up and he placed his hands loosely together, as though he was praying. “Are you watching closely?” he asked, and then slowly, he started to rub his hands together.

  Though Mandy wanted to continue to scoff and roll her eyes, she couldn’t help but fix her eyes on Paul’s ministrations. She took a step closer so her eyes could focus more clearly on Paul’s hands. For a moment, it looked as though nothing was going to happen, as though this was all some trick. But then, she saw it: smoke. There was smoke streaming from his fingertips. It was dull at first, but as Paul continued to rub his hands together, the smoke’s color deepened. Mandy blinked, but the smoke was still there. It wasn’t some kind of illusion; it was real, in front of her.