“Never send a human to do a nephilim’s work.” Vincent’s expression changed, turned sadistic. “This time, there’ll be no coming back.”

With a shove that had me seeing stars, he pushed me to the ground.

I grabbed my throat, coughing and choking, and looked up at him. “Why?”

“Because you will be chopped into little pieces,” he said, looking at me like I was an imbecile. “There’s really no coming back from that.”

“No, why do you want this war?” I asked between coughs. “What does it have to do with you?”

“Nothing. It has to do with humans and their arrogance and angels and their supremacy. We’re the bastards of two worlds. Outcasts. Unable to enter heaven because of our ancestry. Discriminated against by humans because we’re different.”

“What does that have to do with the war? Why would you want demons to rule the earth?”

“We don’t necessarily. We just think they deserve a fighting chance. Because of you, humans have an unfair advantage. By eliminating you, we’re evening out the odds. Leveling the playing field, if you will.”

I scooted back, trying to get out from under him, so I was a little surprised when I heard a thud and he went flying back to slam into a tree, the impact so hard, his body broke under the pressure.

I gasped and looked up into the smiling face of an angel. Literally.

Jared was standing over me, positioned so that from my vantage, he looked upside down. He grinned. “You get into more trouble when I’m not around,” he said.

With a cry of delight and relief, I scrambled to my feet and flung myself into his arms. He wrapped them tight, buried his face in my hair. Which must look horrid. He felt like heaven with central heating, warm and safe.

“Where are your shoes?”

I pulled back to look at his face. His perfect, beautiful face with the rich brown eyes and a full sexy mouth. He had a bluish tint under his eyes that blended into reds and purples. He was still recovering.

One corner of his mouth tilted up teasingly. “No, really. Your feet are blue.”

Vincent interrupted. “We thought you might show up.” A pained smile slid across his face as he tried to stand upright. “In fact, we were counting on it.” He lifted a hand and before I knew what was happening, I was back in the snow. So fast, I barely registered the movement. So hard, the breath was knocked from my lungs.

Then the sound registered. A splintering blast of gunfire that ricocheted off the trees as the bullet tore through the forest.

With a growl, Jared turned on Vincent. Blood dripped down his arm from his shoulder. The bullet had grazed him. But he was smiling right back.

“Thank you,” he said. Standing again, he looked past Vincent into the trees. “I was wondering where he might be.” Then he fired off a rock he’d been holding. It shot out like a cannonball and hit something with a sharp thud, the sound quickly followed by a groan.

I looked around, wide eyed, but saw nothing. No one. Did he just hit the gunman?

“That was for shooting me the first time.”

Vincent looked back slack jawed, then caught himself. “Get him!” he yelled, his voice full of anger, his face twisted with rage, and the descendants started forward en masse.

Jared couldn’t fight them. He had no weapon, and there were simply too many. He picked me up and pulled me to him.

“You’re back,” I said, my voice hoarse.

“I’m so sorry, Lorelei.”

“No, please.” He had risked his life for my own, had given up everything for me. “There’s nothing to be sorry for.”

The descendants were getting closer. We had mere seconds before the first strike.

“So, when I tried to kill you and your friends and your family? I’m still forgiven?”

I threw my arms around him. If he was the last thing I saw on this Earth, I’d die happy. That I knew for certain.

“I’ll take that as a yes.”

I laughed. Despite the circumstances, which mostly consisted of our impending doom, Jared had me laughing. I heard sirens in the distance. They must have found Delores. They must have realized I was gone. My grandparents would be worried and they’d have no idea where to look. My heart broke for what they would go through when they found our bodies.

“Do you trust me?” Jared asked.

He’d asked me that before. Once when I had a grand piano about to crush me. I leaned back and looked up at him. The descendant with the axe was barely three feet away. He readied it, taking his time to aim, to get it just right.

“Of course.”

“Then jump.”

I looked over the side of the canyon, disbelief in my eyes. I stepped out of his arms and away from the edge. “I—I don’t think—”

“Lorelei,” he said, the grin sliding back into place like a favorite pair of jeans. He lifted my chin and placed the most understanding smile on me. “Jump.”

Just as an axe arced toward us, I ran through the snow, closed my eyes, and jumped over the canyon wall.

FUZZY BOTTOMS

I wasn’t the first. Two people had jumped off that same cliff before, both of them alleged suicides. I hardly had time to think, to gather my thoughts before the ground came barreling toward me. A split second before I hit, I heard two words, like a whisper of wind through the trees.

“Be still.”

And I stopped in one breathtaking jerk.

My eyes flew open and I looked at the ground below me. The one that was just sitting there, being all groundlike. I gasped and craned my neck to see a pair of feet planted before me. They were followed by two long legs. Then hands, strong and scuffed with fresh blood. Forearms, the muscles that corded around them flexed and ready. A lean stomach with an open wound on one side, blood spreading across a white T-shirt. Wide shoulders and the most amused smile I’d ever seen.