Key of Solomon: Relic Defender, Book 1 Read online

  She neared the double doors and halted. Yep, the thud and thwap sounds came from behind the heavy wooden barrier. Nothing else vocalized led her to believe someone was being attacked, but that didn’t stop her from hammer gripping the knife handle.

  She turned the knob and pushed. On silent hinges, the door swung open. Sliding along the threshold and into the room, she froze when she looked at the tableau laid out before her.

  Mikos, wearing nothing more than a worn pair of cut-off jeans grappled with a slender, redheaded woman. Equal to his height if not his build, the woman’s crimson hair swung over her shoulder in a tight braid.

  Neither one indicated they’d heard or seen her arrival. Despite the distraction of Mikos’s nearly naked temptation, Lexi focused on the woman. Clad entirely in unrelieved black, the redhead matched him move for move.

  Lexi studied their movements, wondering why they seemed familiar. Then it struck her. KM or Krav Maga. He and the woman sparred using KM attacks and defenses.

  A hybrid of karate, wrestling, jiu-jitsu, boxing, and street survival tactics, KM was commonly used by Israeli Special Forces.

  People who lived on the streets as she had didn’t receive formal training on how to fight. They found out the hard way. And if lucky, only ended up with bruises and broken bones.

  If not, they ended up dead.

  Krav Maga stressed fighting under worst-case conditions and assumed a no quarter situation. Meaning, even when sparring, combatants could, and frequently did, get hurt. The goal is to inflict the most pain possible in the shortest time.

  What made the sparring between Mikos and the woman fascinating was the total lack of any kind of body protection. No pads or headgear. The strikes were hard, fast and potentially lethal. Neither the angel nor woman appeared to be landing any hits, yet, to spar without protection meant these two had to be masters.

  Or stupid.

  Mikos may be an arrogant ass but he didn’t strike her as the stupid type.

  Without any flicker of warning, the redhead spun around. Lowering into a crouch, the woman bared her teeth in a loud hiss.

  Shit! Lexi stumbled back, feeling her eyes widen. The woman had fangs. Freaking fangs. Like a vampire. Even her eyes glowed red.

  As if she were an observer instead of a participant, Lexi watched Mikos freeze, his expression shocked at the woman’s reaction. At the same time the woman hissed again, Mikos turned his head.

  His gray gaze grabbed Lexi’s and in what must be a mirror image of her own, widened.

  She flipped the butcher knife around and went into a modified crouch of her own. If the vampy woman was going to attack, Lexi didn’t intend to stand still and beg for it.

  The redhead tensed and sprang.

  “Marisol! No!”

  Mikos’s command rang out, sharp and echoing in the vast chamber. In mid-air, the woman twisted and landed about five feet from where Lexi stood. Holy crap! Nothing natural could move like that.

  “A human in your home?” While she spoke, the redhead kept her eerie red gaze on Lexi.

  The woman’s accent was thick. Made sense, coming from behind those fangs. Did she forget to mention that? The freaking fangs?

  “Mari, I’d like you to meet Alexandria Michaela Thermopolis Harrison, or Lexi as she prefers. The new Defender.”

  Lexi heard the clipped tone behind the low and smooth voice. Not fear. Concern. For Lexi? Or for Marisol?

  “The Defender?”

  Marisol’s stance, while it didn’t relax, at least shifted so Lexi didn’t get the impression the woman was a hairbreadth away from lunging again.

  The woman looked over her shoulder at Mikos. “You did not mention you found the Defender. Or that she was staying with you.”

  “You hardly gave me a chance to speak before you attacked, Mari.”

  Now that the immediate danger had appeared to pass, Mikos’s voice came out sounding less taut. Less grating. With an affectionate edge to the words.

  Her jaw clenched. Glad someone could relax. She kept a tight grip on the knife handle.

  A smile stretched the woman’s lips, her fangs no longer visible. Lexi still couldn’t wrap her mind around the whole fangs bit. Time for her to say something.

  “Excuse me, but the Defender would like to know what the hell is going on and who this is?”

  Both fixed their gazes on her. For a brief moment, she felt like squirming under their intense looks. That pissed her off. She straightened and lifted her chin.

  “My apologies, Lexi.” Mikos gestured at the redhead. “This is Marisol Asheni. A friend and occasional sparring partner.” He paused, bent his head at the woman, and then continued, “Who usually gives me more warning before she attacks.”

  Amusement lit the gray depths, not the silver she associated with anger or battle, but a soft glow that softened the lines on his face. So, not just friends, then. Something more? A past relationship? A past love?

  At the flip-flop of her stomach, Lexi frowned inwardly. Why should the thought of them as lovers bother her?

  Snap out of it, Lexi. You don’t care. Just do the training, find Devyn and go back to your life. Just because Mikos’s happy face quickened her pulse, didn’t mean a damn thing.

  Marisol bent in a half bow. “My apologies as well. I would not have attacked had Mikos told me he’d found you.”

  “What are you? A vampire?” Lexi blurted out the questions. She couldn’t help herself.

  Mikos frowned slightly. The vampy woman tossed her head, the braid swinging across the other shoulder. Her laugh echoed in the cavernous room, peals of laughter skipping on the air.

  “No, not a vampire.” Marisol cocked her head. “You do know there are no such things as vampires, right?”

  Lexi scowled. “Uh huh, sure, and there are no such things as angels or demons.”

  “Ah, sarcasm,” Marisol quipped. “I’m very aware of that mortal trait.”

  “I’m happy for you. Now, who, er, what are you?”

  “Lexi.” Mikos’s voice came from her side, a warning in his voice. A warning for what? Of what?

  Marisol flashed her eyes to Mikos, who gave an imperceptible nod. She faced Lexi. “A fallen angel. Now.”

  “A fallen angel? What does that mean?” She wrinkled her nose. “Doesn’t this mean you are really a demon?”

  Marisol shrugged. Her gaze flicked back to Mikos.

  “I will tell you the tale later,” he replied to Lexi, his tone leaving no opportunity for questions. “Mari, if you don’t mind…”

  The fallen angel nodded then locked gazes with Lexi. Something passed between them. An acknowledgement? A warning? She wasn’t sure. One thing she was sure of. She and Marisol were going to be great friends. Or terrible enemies.

  Chapter Thirteen

  “History is the version of past events that people have decided to agree upon.”

  Napoleon Bonaparte

  Snuggled deep into a cozy armchair and covered by a soft wool throw, Lexi flipped through the oversize book. Wood crackled in the fireplace casting the room in amber light. She was supposed to be reading but instead, she focused on the pictures. Mikos said a Watcher, or Grigori, had written the book containing the history of the defenders. Her heritage.

  She absently fingered the Nativitas. The smooth metal and ruby stone felt warm under her touch. Since it had done its job, Mikos said it was just plain metal and stone now. Sometimes, though, she thought it still seemed to have something left in it. Something powerful.

  At the thought of Mikos, she sighed. According to the angel, time flew by on swift wings and in less than a week, she had to find the Key and wrest a large vase containing seventy-two spirits, uh, demons from Beliel to stop him from opening it with the Key. Supposing she could find the Key.

  According to legend, God had given Solomon a book, the Key, in order to not only summon demons but to make them do whatever he wanted. In particular, to build his Temple. Once they’d done that, he decided he no longer needed them so l
ocked them, again with the Key, into a large bronze jar.

  This is where her ancestress, Sophronia, showed up. The same woman who took the Vessel and hid it in a location she didn’t bother sharing with anyone, but her progeny. Except the bad guy had found that. This left the location of the Key with Lexi.

  Who had no freaking idea where the thing was.

  “Hey, girl, whatcha got there?”

  Lexi started at the honey and cream tone. The book slipped from her fingers and slid across her lap heading for the floor. She lunged and grabbed the weighty tome before it hit the floor.

  “Oops, sorry!” Kat giggled. “I didn’t mean to surprise you.”

  “It’s cool.” Lexi grinned. Kat’s eyes sparkled with laughter. “Can’t think of anyone I’d rather be surprised by.”

  Kat glided over to the ottoman in front of Lexi’s chair and perched on the edge. Her ghostly figure seemed more substantial today. As if she had better control of how solid she became. “So, what are you studying so intently?”

  “My family’s history.”

  Kat arched an eyebrow. “Oh? Is it good?”

  “Well, it’s fascinating, I’ll admit to that.”

  “Fascinating in a good way or fascinating in a skeletons in the closet way?”

  Lexi shrugged. “I don’t know. If there are any, I haven’t found them yet.”

  “So, what’s the deal then?”

  “You don’t know?”

  “No.” Kat shook her head. Blonde curls bounced about her heart-shaped face. “Just that defenders existed and that you are one. And that defenders work in the background to protect the human race from demons and other things that go bump in the night. No particulars beyond that.”

  Lexi nodded. “Yeah, that’s about it.” She flipped the book shut with a dull thud. “What it doesn’t tell me is where defenders come from. Sure, I get their purpose but not how they came to be.”

  An understatement. It seemed the story of their beginnings was the source of much debate and a few legends. So many different tales, including one that said the first defender was made at the time of Adam and Eve’s banishment from the Garden of Eden. If so, how were they able to keep this secret for so long?

  Kat tilted her head. “Does that make a difference?”

  “Make a difference?” Lexi’s brows drew together. “Make a different to what specifically?”

  “Whether or not you believe and whether or not you intend to help Mikos find the Key?”

  Lexi transferred her gaze from her friend to the fireplace. Sap exploded within the wood, letting out several crackling pops. Sparks spit and flashed into flames that danced merrily. Her friend had asked a good question.

  Did she believe? Not just in her destiny but that she has the key to saving the world. Jesus, did that seem as cockamamie as it sounded?

  A part of her had always figured the world, life in general, had much more depth than humans knew. She hadn’t necessarily believed in ghosts or spirits, yet she couldn’t deny a lot of strange things had happened to her as a child. Nothing physical; until recently she hadn’t seen things. More of a sense of being watched.

  Fingers snapped in front of her face. “Hellloooo, Lex, you still here?”

  Lexi felt her eyes cross. She grabbed at the clicking fingers before she thought about Kat’s warning. “Cut it out.”

  Kat let out a sharp squeal and disappeared. A few paces away she reappeared, her foot tapping. “Damn it, Lexi, I told you not to touch me.”

  “Oh, sorry,” Lexi apologized. “But you know how much I hate when you do that.”

  She sighed and shifted deeper under the throw. Three freaking days in Mikos’s home with nothing to show for it. Worse, she was now two days past Beliel’s deadline. The demon was probably seriously pissed since he couldn’t enter Mikos’s home.

  Or maybe he’d taken her acquiescence to the training that she’d refused his offer. A coward’s approach, maybe, but being locked inside Mikos’s wards let her delay her decision. A decision she hadn’t actually made.

  Kat sat down again. She met Lexi’s eyes. “What’s wrong?”

  “You mean besides I’m talking to my dead best friend, Mikos is an angel, I’m being hounded by a demon and I’m supposed to find a book before said demon finds it or he’ll destroy the world? What else could be wrong?”

  The bright emerald gaze dimmed a bit. Kat’s hand reached out as if she wanted to offer comfort. Her fingers hovered over Lexi’s wrist but didn’t descend. Kat looked at her hand, and pulled her mouth into a thin line. In the next second, she glanced up and offered Lexi a weak smile. “Yeah, besides that.”

  “Mikos thinks the memory of the Key’s location is buried in my psyche. He thinks all I need to do is concentrate and poof, I’ll know where to find it. Big plan. Not working.”

  And she still hadn’t done anything to find Devyn. That bothered her so much she’d decided to do something about it.

  Today.

  But she wasn’t about to tell Kat that. She had a feeling her friend wouldn’t understand and would try to stop her.

  Later, Lexi still slumped in the wing chair with no idea how she was going to leave the house. She’d been sitting in the same place since Kat left. After giving her a pep talk that was all pep and little substance, not that she blamed her friend, Kat claimed she had somewhere else to be.

  There had to be a way she could leave. While she hadn’t seen Mikos that morning, she suspected he was around.

  “Or he has some kind of early warning alarm that would let him know I left,” she muttered.

  Without warning, a small gray figure popped into view in front of her. “Hi ya, doll!”

  An involuntary squeak escaped her. Lexi meet alarm.

  “Damn it, Rocky,” she snarled. “Stop popping in and out like a freaking jumping bean.”

  Rocky, aka the Rock, aka shapeshifter, aka pain-in-the-ass, came to rest on the chair’s arm. He put his hands on his hips and smiled, a cocky twist to his lips and unrepentant expression in his silver eyes.

  “Sorry,” he apologized, sounding anything but.

  The little prick.

  “Where have you been?”

  Rocky flopped down, exhaling a weary sigh. “On an errand for Michael. I’m tired.” He cocked his head. “Got anything to eat?”

  Lexi patted the blanket and snorted. “Sorry, I don’t seem to have any stones to share.”

  The grating sound emanating from Rocky surprised her. What the hell was that? She peered at the little figure. Was he laughing?

  “That’s good, doll. Stones,” he snickered. “You slay me.”

  “I might.”

  Another grating sound.

  “By the way,” she continued. “What’s with the doll comment? You a Cagney wannabe? Or a throwback from the twenties?”

  “You don’t think I sound authentic?”

  Lexi wrinkled her nose. “Yeah, actually, you do. Not bad at all.”

  A broad grin stretched practically ear to ear. He jumped to his feet. “So, what’s up? The Phoenix got you whipped into shape?”

  Lexi scowled. “First, no one is whipping me into shape. Second, you keep calling Mikos the Phoenix. What is that? Some kind of affectionate nickname?”

  A pained expression crossed the craggy face. “Uh, no, well, I mean sort of.”

  The words came to a stumbling halt. His feet scuffed the nap of the armrest. He exhibited all the classic signs of wishing he was someplace else.

  Lexi tapped her foot and tilted her head. Showing her annoyance while seated in a plush chair and covered by a cozy throw should have been easy.

  Somehow, she feared the effect was lost.

  “Well?” she finally said when Rocky continued to twitch.

  He sighed, then met her gaze. “The Phoenix is Mikos’s angel name. Sure, like a nickname.”

  “I didn’t realize angels had nicknames.”

  “Some do. The powerful ones.”

  Hmm. So Mikos was a powerf
ul angel. An unsurprising revelation. “So, how powerful is he?”

  “He’s one of the top. In fact, if he had stayed, he might have been only second to Michael.”

  “Michael?” Not the first time she’d heard that name. “As in Archangel Michael?”

  “Yeah, him.”

  A thought occurred to her. “What did you mean when you said if Mikos had stayed? Stayed where?”

  “Well, you see—” he began.

  “Rocky.” Threaded with a silken vein of warning, the voice cut into Rocky’s explanation. She knew that voice.

  Mikos stood in the doorway, his icy gaze on the shapeshifter. He wore a charcoal duster over dark jeans and a black T-shirt. Inky hair looked tousled, as if he’d recently been in high wind. A folded newspaper peeked out from under his right arm.

  His austere appearance reminded her of Neo in The Matrix. Yum. Solid strength and power fairly screamed from Mikos’s pores. Lexi looked away before she met his eyes.

  She so didn’t want a repeat of the effect he seemed to have on her. Bad enough she couldn’t seem to stop her libido. She didn’t need his encouragement.

  Rocky bent his head. “Sorry, boss,” he mumbled.

  “When you have eaten, I expect a report.”

  “Sure, sure, no problem.” Without looking at Lexi or Mikos, Rocky blinked from view.

  Well. Talk about someone being peeved about secrets. “What’s with the gloomy-gus appearance?” Lexi said, gesturing to Mikos’s attire. She met his eyes now that she had a hold on her emotions.

  Right. Sure she did. Anybody want to sell her the Golden Gate Bridge?

  Mikos turned and faced her. “Go change and meet me in the training room.”

  Arrogant jerk. He didn’t wait for a response, just spun around and strode back out the door. Obviously he expected her to listen. Lexi grimaced.

  Pushing aside the throw, she stood. Okay, fine. She’d do as he said. Not because he ordered her, but because she was tired of sitting on her ass. Physical exertion sounded like a good idea.

  Thirty-minutes and fifteen seconds later, physical exertion sounded less like a good idea and more like torture. Lexi bent over, both hands on her thighs. Her chest heaved. Sweat, not the, er, delicate feminine kind, trickled down her temples and pooled in the valley of her breasts.