"You're welcome for convincing Gabe not to knock down the rest of your walls to get to this one."
Their voices warbled, until he set her down. A charge of fire tore through her, and Deidre's eyes flew open. She gasped.
"Coffee. Now." The man with silver eyes barked at Daniela.
The woman in brown glared at him but stalked towards the kitchen. He sat down across from Deidre, and she would've tried to run again, if her body worked right. Solid and menacing, the man across from her was staring at her as if trying to determine if she was edible.
"This is hell, isn't it?" she whispered.
"Not even close," he said, amused.
"Am I dead?"
"Yes and no. It's a really good story. Once upon a time - "
"The leader of the Council does not discuss these things!" Daniela said sternly. She emerged from the kitchen with a tray laden with coffee and its accoutrements, a slice of pie and water. "Discretion, Rhyn."
"I'm not dead?" Deidre said. "Or I am?"
"No, you're not dead," Daniela answered with a sharp look at Rhyn. "Gabriel brought you here through the shadow world."
"Which is located near my apartment building," Deidre said, needing the brandy again already.
"What'd you do to piss him off?" Rhyn asked. "He's a raving lunatic out there right now."
"Piss him off?" Deidre repeated. "He killed my boyfriend! Chopped his head off right in front of me!" Her throat was too tight to say more.
"Good man. I would've done the same."
Deidre had the sense of being late to a conversation. She wasn't able to catch up, though, not with the absolute weirdness of it all. Alcohol buffered her from her all-out panic, enough so that she was able to sip coffee without dropping the mug. At the strong flavor, she glanced at Daniela, who winked. The coffee was half-filled with brandy.
"Gabriel is Death," Rhyn said.
Deidre looked up. "You said he was alive."
"Death, not dead. Soul collector, grim reaper, death-dealer, assassin, Keeper of Souls. Death," he said. "That's why he wears the trench coat all year round. The underworld doesn't have direct sunlight."
"I'll play along." She held her face in her hands. "He wants to kill me, because he's Death and that's what Death does."
"Oh, no." The man's chuckle was terrifying.
Daniela slapped him on the back of the head.
"Goddammit, woman, I heard you the first time!" he snarled at the nun. With an annoyed shake of his head, he addressed Deidre again. "He'll have to tell you that story. Anyway, now, by Immortal law, you're his mate, so he legally has to protect you instead of get revenge. That's why his name is on your back, by the way. You have a list of enemies longer than mine, and he's obligated to protect you."