Might as well make it sooner.
Besides, it wasn’t as if she appeared to be cautious of strangers. Oh no, quite the opposite, in fact. Everybody was her bloody friend, as far as he could tell. On her convoluted route to Angel’s Fall, he’d watched as she’d dropped off a couple boxes of groceries at a shelter for battered women. She’d walked around the shelter for nearly an hour, touching this person or that, holding babies and playing with kids, leaving calm, smiling people in her wake.
He’d also witnessed her giving money to three different homeless men on the street. Homeless men, he might add, with whom she seemed perfectly comfortable enjoying idle conversation. It was the do-gooder angel blood in her, he supposed with a disgusted shake of his head. How the hell was he supposed to ensure the safety of someone who petted every stray and fed every homeless person she came across with no regard for her own safety?
Once she’d arrived at Angel’s Fall, she’d sat at a table of women with whom she laughed and seemed to have a good time. At least, she had until she’d realized he was watching her. After that she’d been subdued, her captivating smile rarely making another appearance. He’d caught her sneaking a covert glance his way now and again. He wouldn’t let himself think about those pretty, innocent eyes of hers. They would only make him want. And wanting led to bitterness, bitterness to anger, and anger unleashed the beast within. Because no matter how badly he might want her, he could never have her.
Not that he’d allow himself to want her. She was a Halfling. And not just any Halfling. She was Michael’s daughter, by the love of all that was holy.
Michael’s daughter!
She had the same stubborn tilt to her chin with the same tiny indentation that her father had, though her jaw line was decidedly more feminine, softer. Her eye and hair color were the same. The patrician nose was similar, but the slash of her eyebrows and the angle of her cheeks were different from Michael’s, giving her a definite look all her own. Gentle. Alluring.
Confusion swirled in his gut. To be so attracted to her, to the Halfling, was wrong.
Michael’s daughter! kept whispering through his head from the moment he’d first spotted her. Just from the look of her, there was no doubt anymore. And yet, the tug of unwanted attraction was still there. Unsettling.
She’d nursed the same cocktail all night while her friends had ordered drink after drink after drink. She’d politely declined an offer to dance with some polished creep in dress slacks and a dress shirt, sans the tie, sleeves rolled up to his elbows. Gideon didn’t like the guy on sight. Didn’t know why, didn’t care. Quite honestly, he entertained a brief fantasy that involved his fist and that guy’s gleaming white teeth. All on Michael’s behalf, he tried to assure himself.
Liar.
But just as quickly as it occurred to him to punch the guy out, he shot it down with a frustrated growl. That same curse that interfered with his ability to touch a woman also inhibited his ability to reach out and touch that bastard too, no matter how badly that bastard needed touching.
Then again, Gideon reflected, he hadn’t fed in quite some time. Feeding was the only way he could have physical contact with a human while in this form, his palm centered over a human’s chest as he sucked the soul from their body. Granted, that poor excuse for a sensation of touch wasn’t quite the same and lasted a matter of minutes, but it was all he’d had for longer than he liked to think about.
Gideon reserved the privilege of being his food for those truly deserving of such a gruesome and painful death. Murders, pedophiles, rapists, thieves. Those who would otherwise escape punishment for their crimes. He’d never preyed on the innocent. Not even now, after having finally given up the good fight, after losing his faith, would he stoop that low. That was a line his own honor wouldn’t let him cross, no matter the personal cost.
At least, he usually limited his feedings to those humans filled with such evil they deserved an expedited trip to Hell. But that guy who’d asked Maggie to dance had continued to watch her even after she’d declined. The only thing that stopped Gideon from luring him into the alley behind the nightclub was the fact that the bastard had turned his sights elsewhere.