Dark Angel

by Kim Richardson

  “But you’re not telling me something.” Jenna leaned forward, her face twitching with irritation. Her French braid fell forward and she tossed it back, her movements sharp with impatience. Good. At least I was getting some emotion out of her.

  “Something happened to her.” The angel’s hazel eyes widened. “Didn’t it? What? What happened to Layla? Tell me.”

  Damn. Were angels telepaths too? Could she read my mind?

  My lips parted, but I was unable to utter anything. Part of me felt like if I blabbed, I was wrapping a noose around Layla’s neck, but the other part, the smarter one, told me this could be her only shot.

  My breath came and went. I met Jenna’s eyes and said, “Can you promise you won’t hurt her?”

  Jenna leaned back in her chair and crossed her arms. “I can’t promise you that. I don’t know what’s happened. At the very least you can tell me what’s gotten you all worked up. Tell me.”

  I narrowed my eyes. I didn’t like her tone. And I didn’t like anyone giving me orders.

  “Damn it, Rowyn,” cursed Jenna, looking angry for the first time since I met her. “If you want the Legion’s help, you have to help me here. You have to tell me something.”

  Impressed, I raised a brow. “I thought you angels couldn’t curse.”

  The angel rolled her eyes while Lance’s shoulders bounced in laughter. “You obviously don’t know much about angels,” she said, sounding even more ticked.

  I smiled. Oh. This was so much fun. “Fine,” I exhaled before the angel had a hissy fit in my kitchen. I rubbed my eyes with my left hand. “Remember the gift of power I told you about?”

  Jenna nodded. “The one that the archdemon Lucian offered you? The one that supposedly would change you into a demon?”

  “The very same.”

  Jenna frowned. “You told me he took it back.”

  “He did.” I sipped the last of my coffee and settled the mug on the counter. “And now he’s given it to Layla.”

  Silence. I waited for the full effect of what I’d just told them to hit. I could see it now in Jenna’s eyes, the true meaning of what I’d just said simmering in them.

  “She has the archdemon’s power in her,” commented Lance, as he thought about it. “She’s his subject now. His subordinate. She’ll do what he commands.”

  Jenna was quiet, too quiet. I didn’t like that.

  I released some tension from my fingers when I realized I had a death grip on the edge of the counter. “With the other Unmarked dead, Layla and I were the only two who could take Lucian’s gift and survive. This isn’t her fault. He did this to her. She didn’t want it.”

  “Why didn’t you tell the Legion?” asked Lance, his tone full of mistrust. “I read your report. There’s no mention of Layla infused with the archdemon’s gift.”

  “Because it hadn’t happened yet when I got my number .” I looked at the dog, annoyance tightening my shoulders. “Now, it’s happened. So, I’m telling you now.”

  “When did it happen?” questioned Jenna. “Were you there?”

  I shook my head. “No. It must have happened an hour after I saw her at the witch pub.”

  “And after that, she fried her vampire boyfriend’s ass with her new power,” said Tyrius. “I don’t think she was digging the pointy teeth.”

  “I was hoping the Legion would protect us from Lucian. It’s too late for that,” I said and let out a frustrated sigh. “But it’s still very new in her system. She hasn’t fully turned, not yet,” I lied, knowing full well that I’d seen her black eyes with my own eyes. I felt Tyrius’s stare on me, but I kept going. “We can still remove it. There’s still time. But I need the Legion’s help for that.”

  Jenna was watching me intensely, still as robot. “What do you think this archdemon power can do to Layla?”

  “Other than make her a demon,” I answered. “I’m not sure.”

  “Take a guess.”

  “She just told you she wasn’t sure,” snapped Tyrius, his back arched and fur bristling. “Stop badgering her. I thought you guys were here to help.”

  Jenna’s eyes moved to the cat. “We are.”

  Tyrius made a face. “I haven’t seen anything yet that would suggest that. Maybe you are just spies. And what do spies do best? They lie.”

  “I just need all the facts.” Jenna uncrossed her arms as though she was trying not to appear on the defensive. It didn’t work. “I need to know what the archdemon’s planning. Having a trained pet to administer pain to others isn’t going to qualify as something on the Legion’s radar as a level one priority.”

  “Not a level one priority?” growled Tyrius. “And who decides? Who’s the idiot that decides whose lives are worth a level one priority? You?” He glanced at Lance when Jenna didn’t answer. “You?” The dog raised a brow but kept his mouth shut.

  “The oracles do that.” Jenna’s posture shifted with irritation. “With level one situations being the most important and level three being the least. I’m sorry. But your case registered as a level three.”

  “No shit,” muttered the cat. “It’s why just the two of you showed up and not the halo cavalry.”

  Jenna ignored him, her attention on me again. “I don’t make the rules. I only follow them.”

  Tyrius rolled his eyes. “Now, that I believe.”

  “I need more to go on,” sighed the angel and pressed her hands on her thighs. “Can you give me something?”

  “Like what?”

  Jenna’s expression was intense, her eyes a little wide. “What do you think Lucian wants? Why you? Why Layla? I know you’re keeping something from me. You have an idea of what he wants. Don’t you?”

  I rubbed my temples as I felt a giant migraine rising. “I dunno.”

  Jenna looked at her partner, and again I saw that familiar non-vocalization of a conversation between the two of them. That was just rude.

  I felt a stab of guilt and anger—anger the winning emotion. “You’re not going to hurt her. Right? You’re going to be the kind and sweet little angels we all know you to be and you’re going to help her. Save her. Make her all better… right?”

  “Sweet angels, my ass,” commented Tyrius.

  Jenna let out a breath that she really didn’t need. “Look, Rowyn—”

  I threw my hands in the air. “See? This is exactly why I didn’t want to tell you anything. You’re going to go after her. Aren’t you? Haven’t you been listening to anything I’ve said?”

  “Yes. But if she poses a threat to the Legion—”

  “You touch her and I’ll kill you,” I seethed, wishing I’d put on my weapons belt. My blood seemed to burn under my skin. “I swear it on the souls.”

  I felt a prick of claws on my arm. “A word of caution,” soothed Tyrius, his eyes on me. “We don’t want more glowing bastards on our asses. Remember how much fun it was when there was a bounty on your head? Yeah. It was a goddamn circus.”

  This was a mistake. A huge mistake. I should never have gone to see the angel-born. I should have never involved the Legion.

  “Rowyn, just listen.” Jenna stood up very slowly. “I don’t know what you’ve heard or what you’ve been through, but I’m not about to go murdering your sister. I don’t like to kill. I hate it. It’s why I’m so good at my job. I save lives. I save souls. I might kill a demon from time to time, but not that often. Trust me, I’d much rather save your sister than leave her to the demise of this archdemon maniac. But,” she said carefully, “if she’s posing a threat to the Legion or to the mortal world, I have an obligation to warn them. I don’t know what this gift is. And archdemons don’t normally form alliances with mortals. The fact that he has singled you and her out for a purpose… well… it sends a message. It’s why the Legion sent me, to see if I can shed some more light on what he’s planning to do. If Layla is a threat, we have to stop her.”

  My stomach was in knots, but the fury was gone. “She’s not a monster. She’s just a woman. A young woman who
needs our help. Your help.”

  “I’ll do what I can,” said Jenna. “But I can’t promise that—”

  A knock came from my front door.

  I spun, heart pounding. Lance leapt to his feet just as Jenna moved her hand to her waist.

  Tyrius jumped off the counter and landed next to me. “You expecting anyone?” he asked, alarm shining in his eyes.

  Before I could answer, my front door swung open, and Gareth strode into my apartment, his long black coat billowing behind him as he paced quickly across the room, tracking in mud from the priest’s garden.

  “Rowyn,” he breathed in relief, his eyes wide with worry. “I’ve been trying to call you all day.” His voice was loud with apprehension. “Why haven’t you answered your phone?”

  Damn. “I turned it off so I could sleep for a bit,” I said tightly, not liking the underlying anger in his tone. “The bit turned out to be a little longer than I thought. Don’t look at me like that. You did the exact same thing to me. Remember?”

  The elf barely glanced at the two angels in my apartment. His face was tight with concern, and I could see multicolored dust spilling from the insides of his coat.

  “What’s going on?” Tension pulled me tightly again.

  The elf’s hat cast dark shadows over his eyes, adding another layer of mystery to his entrance. He opened his mouth to say something, but then shut it, like he couldn’t bring himself to say whatever had made him come all this way to tell me in person.

  “What?” I demanded. The fact that he was silent made me angrier.

  This time, the elf glanced briefly at the angels, and I realized he was contemplating whether to tell me in front of them.

  “Just say it.” I was losing my patience.

  Gareth glanced at the two angels and then back to me. “Did you ever hear of the Divine Overseers?”

  I shook my head. “Sounds like a lame rock band name. Why? Should I have?” Again he looked at the two angels, and this time I saw a reaction from Jenna. She looked frightened. What the hell?

  “I’ve heard of them,” said Tyrius, raising his voice. “They’re a group of angels here on Earth. If my memory serves me well, I believe they are guarding something.”

  I looked at my kitty. “You never cease to amaze me, my friend.”

  The cat grinned. “Babe, I live to amaze you.”

  I lost my smile at the dark gleam and intensity in Gareth’s eyes. “So, what about these Divine Overseers.”

  Gareth’s eyes flicked to the angels and he said, “They’re dead.”

  Oh. Crap.

  A small growl emitted from Lance’s throat, and Jenna frowned, her expression dark with emotion.

  I felt cold and hot all at once, the tension in the room pulling me rigid. I knew what he was going to say. I could see it, feel it, read it in his eyes and on his face.

  My throat tightened and I managed to utter, “Layla.”

  With the gift, all she had to do was touch them and their souls died… which left them vulnerable and crazy. Easy to kill.

  Layla had killed the angels.

  Lucian’s plan had already begun.

  “She killed all the angels,” said Gareth. “I counted twenty angel bodies.”

  And their souls , I thought.

  There was dead silence.

  “Where are the angel bodies?” asked Jenna. The anger in her voice seemed to strangle her for a moment.

  Gareth took off his hat and rubbed the top of his head. “In the back of my truck. I haven’t had time to dispose of them yet.” His eyes met mine. “I needed to make sure Rowyn was all right.”

  I exhaled, my fingers shaking from fear and anger. “You sure it’s her?”

  “I saw the security footage from a building across the street.” His jaw tightened. “You see her entering the building where the Divine Overseers were.” He exhaled. “Father Thomas called me when he couldn’t reach you. He was already in the city when it happened. He asked me to assist him.”

  I was shaking. “These angels… these Divine Overseers. What were they protecting?” Nauseated, my heart pounded as I stood where I was and searched Gareth’s face, fearing what he was about to tell me.

  Jaw clenched, Gareth shook his head. “I don’t know. Father Thomas doesn’t know either,” he answered. The lines in his face deepened, and the trepidation in his eyes made me feel worse.

  What the hell did you take, Layla? What were these angels protecting?

  “I know what they were protecting,” said Jenna, making me start, and my eyes darted to her. Worry flashed in her hazel eyes.

  She looked at me and said, “They were protecting the Holy Grail.”

  17

  I stood there with my mouth hanging open, probably with a stupid look on my face, as I wrapped my mind around what Jenna had just said.

  The Holy Grail.

  There was a short silence, and then—

  “The Holy freaking Grail?” shrilled Tyrius, ripping the words right out of my mouth. “Are you shitting me? It’s real?”

  “Very.” Jenna was staring at Gareth, questions burning in the backs of her eyes. But I got there first.

  “The Holy Grail?” I asked, looking from Lance to Jenna. “I thought it was just a myth the humans invented. Like the Easter Bunny.”

  “Hey, man, the Easter Bunny is real,” said Tyrius. “The dude owes me money.”

  Jenna looked at me, her features tight. “The Holy Grail exists. It’s a holy instrument.”

  “Can it play Ave Maria?” laughed Tyrius, and I shot him a look to shut up. The cat shrugged but the smile on his face never ceased.

  The two angels were looking at each other again, sharing important information through their expressions. I wanted a piece of that. I wanted to know why Lucian had my sister steal it. If the Holy Grail did exist, I wanted to know exactly what it was.

  My gaze fell on the elf, and I could tell he was thinking the exact same thing.

  “Why were the Divine Overseers protecting it?” I asked no angel in particular. I wasn’t sure either of them were going to tell me. This kind of thing was way above my pay grade, and if I had to guess by the increasing tension coming from the two angels—a level one priority. Still, if they did, I knew it was going to be detrimental.

  “What does it do, exactly?” I tried again.

  It took a while before I got an answer, and for a moment, I thought I was going to have to pound Jenna in the head to force some information out of her. Her body was technically just a meat suit, so what did it matter if I poked a few holes in it? Okay, so she might leak. So what? But then she looked at Lance and gave him a small nod.

  “It’s said to hold great power,” articulated the dog, the cadence of his voice making him sound like a professor. “But no one outside God himself knows exactly all of its power… or the secrets to the Holy Grail’s power. It can heal, just as it can easily destroy.”

  “God?” sneered Tyrius as he padded forward and got right up into Lance’s face. “The big almighty? The creator of all things? As is, God , God?”

  “Yes,” huffed the dog, clearly annoyed.

  “I hate to break it to you, mongrel,” sneered Tyrius, true to form, as he picked a nail and spat out a piece. “He’s not real. God’s a myth.”

  “Of course God’s not a myth. He’s real,” countered Lance, anger making his voice rise. “What do you know of it? You’re a demon. A bottom feeder.” Oh. No. He. Didn’t.

  I tensed, but Tyrius merely smiled at the dog, his teeth gleaming in my kitchen light like he was trying to show which toothpaste brand he was using. “Have you met him?” asked the cat.

  Lance narrowed his eyes. “No, but that doesn’t change—”

  “A-ha!” exclaimed Tyrius, pointing a clawed finger at the dog. “If you’ve never met him, how do you know he’s real?”

  A flash of anger pulled the dog’s lips back, revealing his much larger teeth. “Because he’s real .”

  “That’s all you got?
Because he’s real ,” Tyrius mimicked. “How stupid is that? All this living up there in that penthouse you call Horizon, all that lack of gravity has clearly affected your brain. Made you stupid.”

  Lance’s snarl was pulled all the way back. “Your existence is merely stench and filth, and it merits nothing but wrath and damnation.”

  This was getting ugly. I knew Tyrius well enough to know that he was thoroughly enjoying getting a rise out of Lance. If I didn’t stop him, he’d push the angel’s buttons until, well, he did something stupid, like hit him first. Then Tyrius would use that opportunity to start the fight he’d been dying to start since he met the dog and call it self-defense. God that cat was irritating sometimes.

  “Tyrius,” I growled as I moved to stand next to the cat, angling my body as to protect him in case the dog decided to have a baal for dinner. “Let the angel speak. We don’t have time for this. I don’t want to be here all day. Got it?”

  “Yes, ma’am,” answered the cat, looking pleased with himself. He looked at Lance and gave him a wink.

  Souls help us.

  I turned my attention back to the angels. “Eternal life, right,” I said, trying to ease the tension and get the information rolling so I could find Layla and prove to the angels she was worth saving. “You drink from the cup and it heals you,” I added, remembering something I’d read online years ago. Or was that from a movie? Damn. I was mixing fiction with real life again.

  Lance turned his eyes on me. “Healing is one of its powers. But it goes beyond that.”

  I crossed my arms over my chest. “Okay. Spill it. What else?”

  Again the angels exchanged looks, and that just sent my anger meter through the roof.

  “Look,” I said, not caring how loud my voice was. “You said you’re here to investigate my claim. Well, I need to know what the hell the Holy Grail is so that I can find Layla and figure out what Lucian is up to. I know he’s up to something, and now we know it has something to do with this Holy Grail.” My breath was fast. “It’s obviously not eternal life… so what else? Why was it kept here and not in Horizon?”