Free Revelation by Erica Hayes Page A

it…He closed his eyes.Flashes of a muddy field, pigs rooting in bloody snow, a pile of bloated corpses…
    He put down the heart and took another pic, bending in closer to sniff the flames. Sulfur, of course. Putrefying flesh. And the cloying odor of…yes. Rotten passion fruit and tooth decay.
    Gotcha, you god-rotting slime.
    He straightened, fierce. “Quuzaat,” he pronounced.
    “Koo-who?”
    “Qu-u-zaat,” he spelled out. “Fat demon prince, beady eyes, bad breath. The Black Death, back in the fourteenth century? His idea. Same with California dengue. Kind of a pestilence junkie, to be honest. Skanky little asshole.”
    He murmured ancient words, planting his palms one last time on Ithiel’s mangled chest. White heat rose, and the body engulfed itself in flame. In a few moments, nothing but ashes remained.
    Morgan goggled. “You can’t do that!” she demanded. “Did I look like I was finished? I have to account for that body. There’s paperwork!”
    “What’d you want me to do, leave him here where everyone can see?”
    She sighed. “Fine. Whatever. I guess it would have looked a little strange on the autopsy report. White male angel, twenty-eight to immortal, cause of death: demon slaughter. Still, would’ve been a unique examination.”
    Luniel grinned. “Hey, if you want to examine someone, I’m av—”
    “Don’t even finish that sentence.” Her lips twitched. “So that’s what you’re telling me we’re dealing with? A demon who spreads disease?”
    “Yup. I’m thinking this Manhattan virus is looking more likely, Dr. Sterling. What do you think?”
    She shook her head, her eyes gleaming with stubbornness that made him want to take her right there and fuck her into oh-so-pleasurable submission. “Doesn’t prove anything. Even if I believed in your magic spells—”
    “Not saying you do, of course,” he cut in. He enjoyed teasing her, he realized. Making her think. Watching her in action. Glorious. Dangerous.
    “Not saying I do. But even if I did, all it proves is that your pal Quuzaat’s weapon killed Ithiel,” she pointed out reasonably. “Doesn’t even mean he did it.”
    He faced her. She was closer than he’d expected, and he stumbled and caught his balance with a graceless wing flare. Smooth. “Well, with the end of the world at stake, I’m prepared to show a little faith. Are you?”
    She bit her bottom lip. “I can’t believe I’m saying this. But…yeah.”
    God fucking damn. He wanted to crush her, kiss her, lay her down and make her his own. “That’s good,” he murmured. “Because now I have to decide what to do with you.”
    “
Do
with me?” She frowned. “I’m sorry, but no one
does
anything with me in my own office.”
    A dozen naughty replies jumped to his lips, and he swallowed them all, along with images of bending her over the desk and taking her, hot and hard. “But you’ve seen everything. You know everything I know. I can’t just let you go.”
    “Really. And what would the other options be?”
    “I could kill you.” He stroked her cheek with his knuckle. So soft, that fragrant human skin. “That’d probably be best.”
    Her eyes shone wide, but she didn’t flinch. “You’d have done it already, angel,” she said, her voice barely audible. “You had your chance.”
    “I did,” he agreed. But somehow he’d pulled her closer, his hand on her shoulder. Her body heat caressed him, sweet and shivering, just a breath from touching.
    “But you didn’t do it.” Her lips drifted apart, only a few inches under his.
    He could taste her, honey and spice, and the temptation to take more prickled his feathers hot. The hellcat was teasing him, and he was far from up to resisting her. “A smart guy wouldn’t make the same mistake twice,” he managed.
    “Neither would a smart woman.” She pushed him away, with one finger on his chest and a saucy smile. “Hands off, flyboy.”
    And Lune wanted to smash his head into the wall until it