Angelic Sight (3 page)

Levi looked excited for a second before he shoved that excitement

behind a mask of indifference. “Is it in the budget?”

Jade nodded. “We can splurge a little bit. Since we open the  facility on Monday, we’ll have another paycheck within the week. So  it’ll be okay.” Plus he could rearrange his shopping list a bit. He  didn’t need to get some of the stuff on the list. He could substitute  with some off-brand stuff for the rest. He could apportion a hundred  bucks to make Levi happy.

“Okay. That sounds like fun.” Levi all but skipped over to the  shopping carts to grab one. “First groceries then one of the big box  stores to get decorations?”

“Yep. We’ll swing by the auto place on the way home and grab  some parts I need for when Dex comes over. It will be great.” Jade  fished his PDA out of his pocket and pulled up the list. He motioned  to the vegetable section. “Lead the way, angel.”

* * * *

Erik felt like a king. Ever since Axis had let him take control he’d felt like he’d finally been able to assume a more aggressive role in their relationship. Marius wasn’t someone who let control go easily, so the only one he’d ever been able to top was Levi before the Elites had come into their lives. Maybe since Axis had shown by example that Erik was just as much of a man as any of them, the others would let him take what he needed when he needed it. It wasn’t that he

minded bottoming. He didn’t. It was just that sometimes he felt that  his men looked at him as some kind of helpless damsel, and he  wasn’t. He was just as much of a man as any of them.

He couldn’t wait to get his full powers. Then he could finally stop  being a burden and start being an active participant in this group of  theirs. He could run patrols with them and help them with their duties  or whatever.

“Hey, Erik, you want to come work out with me?” Keer asked as  he grabbed his iPod off the island.

Erik nodded. “Yep. Will you show me how to do the angel fire  thing after?” The Elites shared a mutual look of “oh shit.” Erik glared.  “Oh, come on! You really think it’s better for me to do it on accident  again? I’d rather know how to control it.”

“I don’t doubt your enthusiasm to learn, Erik,” Axis said, going  over to the fridge and grabbing a water out of it. “I doubt our  insurance will cover arson is all.”

Erik rolled his eyes. “You’re seriously going to make me wait until after we start classes at the facility on Monday? Seriously? I’m

part owner and I can’t teach any of the classes. I’m a glorified  receptionist.”

He knew he was probably being a little dramatic, but it was  infuriating always being relegated to the position of junior knownothing. In his old life he’d always been everyone’s go-to guy, the  guy with all the answers or at least the means to get the answers.  Working as team leader at the Coca-Cola plant had given him the  confidence he hadn’t had growing up as a poor kid who lived with his  mother living in the center of a neighborhood that divided two gang  territories. Ever since he’d become nephilim, he’d felt robbed of his  manhood.

“This is really important to you?” Axis asked, the teasing note

gone from his voice.

Erik nodded. “Yes.”

Axis nodded. “All right. After you finish your workout, we’ll go into the backyard and see what you’ve got. All of us will help.” The last seemed to be directed at the other Elites, who nodded their assent

almost instantly, even Marius.

“Really?” Erik asked, daring to hope.

“Absolutely, man. You have to learn how to use it, and you’re  right, you should know how. It’s part of our duty to teach you.” Axis  motioned toward Keer. “Go on and get your sweat on. We’ll be in the  living room watching a movie when you guys are done.”

Erik grinned.
 
Finally
. He’d been after Marius for months to teach  him something, anything. But it had been really hard given all the  running they’d been doing.

Keer draped his arm around Erik’s shoulder and guided him to  their workout room. “You are going to be a kick-ass warrior, Erik.”

He looked up at his lover and grinned. “Yeah?”

Keer winked. “Oh yeah. You already have the attitude for it.  When I first got my wings, I had the same frame of mind. I wanted to  know everything. Nephilim get wings when they master their full  power, but I guarantee when you get yours you are going to be a force

to be reckoned with.” Keer didn’t give compliments lightly, so it

meant a lot that he said that.

“Thanks. Spot me?” Erik asked.

“Always.”

He pushed open the door to the workout room. It originally had  only a treadmill and a set of free weights, but Keer was a workout  fiend. Their meager room had been transformed into something out of  a fitness guru’s wet dream.

A full set of free weights were on their own rack on one of the  mirrored walls. There were workout bungees and balls in the closet  along with a minifridge stocked with water. There was also an  elliptical machine, two treadmills, and a bicycle machine in the back  of the room. The leg press machine and butterfly press also had other  functions as well that Erik had never used. The nephilim considered  the place considerably well stocked.

Keer hit the gym twice a day, after breakfast and before bed. He  was pretty religious about it. The only time Erik had seen him skip  was if they had a vigorous lovemaking session instead and he was too  exhausted to move. The other Elites worked out, too, with the

exception of Marius, who claimed to be allergic to exercise. But none  of them were quite as dedicated to the task as Keer was.

Erik followed the Elite over to the mats by the mirror and went  through their preworkout stretches and the crunches that Keer insisted  made his stomach look like it was cut from marble. Erik had light  definition on his stomach but not the deep cuts Keer did. He was  convinced Keer used some kind of angel magic to make them look  like that. It just wasn’t possible to get that cut without some form of  celestial help.

By crunch one hundred Erik’s stomach was protesting the  movement. By crunch two hundred he was pretty sure he was never  going to be able to sit up again.

“You need to drink more water, Erik,” Keer said, making a perfect  crunch before switching to his side and starting side crunches. “Your  muscles need hydrating.”

“Okay.”
 
My muscles need a break
. He didn’t say that, though. He  didn’t want Keer to think he was in bad shape.

Keer frowned as he watched Erik struggle to get onto his side.  “Stop. Take a break. Drink some water. You can’t dive into working  out like that, Erik. It’s about building your tolerance and doing what  your body can handle. You keep trying to keep up with me and you’re  going to hurt yourself. If you do a little every day, you’ll build up to  this.”

“I can do it,” Erik said, taking his first painful side crunch.

Keer stopped his motion and rolled to his feet. “Come on,  stubborn. Let’s get some water and finish after.”

Gratefully, Erik reached up and let Keer pull him to his feet. They  went over to the closet, and he waited patiently for Keer to pull out  two water bottles. The coolness of the bottle felt good in Erik’s hands,  and he twisted off the cap before guzzling half the bottle in one long  drink.

Keer’s violet eyes widened. “Easy. Don’t drink too much too fast.  Who taught you to work out?”

“Um, my high school gym teacher,” Erik said. He didn’t understand what the big deal was. He didn’t mind getting helpful suggestions, but jeez, Keer was correcting him left and right.

“Well, that person was an idiot. Let me tell you a few helpful hints to make sure that you can keep working out and get the results you want,” Keer began. Erik looked at him expectantly. “I was the guardian of an Olympic athlete once upon a time. He always said that the key to beginning any workout routine is to start simple. The problem with diving into a hardcore workout is that your body shuts down. You’re going to be too sore to work out tomorrow, and you’ll waste a day or three in bed getting over one day of working out. But if you do only what your body can handle and gradually build your

tolerance, you’ll be in great shape in no time. I couldn’t do the

workout I do when I first started.”

“So moral of the lesson is do what I can handle and up the reps

later?” Erik asked.

Keer nodded. “You got it. It’s the same way with your powers.  When you start to learn them you’re going to want to do everything at once, but it takes energy the same way working out does. You’ve gotta know your limits, babe.”

“All right. I can handle that. Thank, Keer.” He bumped Keer’s hips with his own.

Keer kissed his cheek. He really did tower over everyone, Erik included. “Cool. Now take it easy while I finish my reps and we’ll start on the treadmills for the cardio bit. Okay?”

“Sounds good. I’ll take pleasure in watching your sexy ass sweat,”  Erik said with a grin.

The Elite put an extra sashay in his hips for Erik’s amusement.  Erik couldn’t help but laugh. Keer was such a goofball.

* * * *

Brax calculated the probability that the cops were going to be called on his cell phone. The odds of someone getting annoyed and calling someone was too high to contemplate given the factors that they were dealing with. Erik’s whole body had developed a soft glow as the commander talked him through the meditative techniques that all of them had learned in school growing up. Axis was a good teacher, kind and patient. He’d walked Brax through his first shift from his humanlike form to his Pegasus body. However, Brax was unconvinced it was a good idea to teach a nephilim to create angel fire without first giving them mastery on shielding. It just seemed to be asking for trouble.

The other Elites were boxing the two of them in, making sure no spare power escaped and hit their house or one of their neighbors’ properties.

“All right, Erik, the power is inside you. It feels warm when you touch it, but it shouldn’t burn. There is a well of it. Reach into the

well and concentrate on holding it in your hands,” Axis said, his voice  a low murmur of encouragement.

“I think I feel it,” Erik said, sweat creasing his brow. Whether it  was from the two-hour workout or the fact that his angelic powers  were incredibly draining on his human body since it wasn’t used to  manifesting it, Brax wasn’t sure. Either way, Brax was pretty sure  Erik was going to be bone tired after they got done.

“Good. Then focus on putting it in your hands, and hold it like  you’d hold any other solid object. We’ll work on getting it into a  shape if you can manage this bit,” Axis said, sounding satisfied. That  made one of them.

Brax shot a prayer up to the Creator. He really really didn’t want to get burned by a nephilim’s angel fire under any circumstance. He comforted himself with the knowledge that if that happened he could at least count on nursing from his lovers. And he was going to milk it, too. He would moan and groan for weeks if he got even so much as singed.

His lips twitched at the thought. Well, he could mentally threaten them with that, even if it didn’t actually happen.

Erik’s hands erupted in blue-white flames, and they crept to his arm to the bend of his elbow. Brax checked his aura. It was stable. He

wasn’t losing control of it yet.

“Good job, Erik. Focus on keeping it in your hands, though. Push  it back down until you can cup it in your hands,” Axis murmured,  stepping back before he got burnt. Erik was doing really well for his  first time using angel fire. Brax had burnt his own flight feathers to  cinders the first time he’d used it. It had been insanely embarrassing  considering one’s own angel fire wasn’t supposed to burn oneself.

Brax wondered when Jade and Levi were getting back. They hadn’t been gone long enough to be worrisome but still…He opened his phone and shot Levi a text.
 
How you doing, cutey
?

The reply was almost instant.  
 
Fine. Jade and I got prezzies for everyone. Miss us
?

You know it
. Levi always made him feel like he was special. Brax wasn’t as insanely good-looking as Keer, or as reliable as Jade, or a leader like Axis. He wasn’t a badass like Marius, either. He was just a little technophile with an awkward love of all things geeky.

Cool. We’ll be back home in about fifteen. We’re at the hardware

store
.

“If it isn’t too much to ask, Brax, will you put up your damn  phone?” Axis’s voice didn’t even register in Brax’s mind. He checked  his e-mail. He got a new message from Alexandra. She wanted to  come down for a visit. He’d have to clear it with—