by C. L. Coffey
“I didn’t want you to worry.” He squeezed my hands. “I knew you would.”
I sighed, suddenly feeling the rain trickle down the side of my face. “Why are you undercover in Bee’s of all places, Joshua?” I asked him.
“Trying to find out which Fallen, if any, have remained in New Orleans,” he explained, staring straight into my eyes.
I stared back. The lighting wasn’t great, and I couldn’t see the tiny grey specks which made his eyes look like a clear night sky, but I could see he was telling the truth. I sighed again and keeping hold of one of his hands, pulled him to one side to take shelter in a doorway: I might not get ill from being soaked to the bone, but Joshua could. “You’re freezing,” I muttered, realizing how icy his fingers felt.
“I know how to get warm,” Joshua murmured, stepping forward to box me in against the door. His lips found mine, kissing me with a force I hadn’t experienced before. When his hands slipped under my jacket and top, and skimmed over my back, I gasped – not from the coldness of his touch, but from the unexpectedness of it. He took advantage, groaning into me as he pressed up against my body.
It took longer than it should have to extract myself from his hold, ducking under his arms, back into the rain. I shook my head, wishing the water would wash away the tingling my body was experiencing. “We can’t do that,” I gulped.
“Oh…” Joshua frowned, his eyes searching mine from the shadows of the doorway. “Yeah, I forgot… you don’t like public displays of affection.”
“It’s nothing to do with PDA,” I told him.
Joshua stepped out, his body flush with mine once more as his hand cradled my cheek. He was eyeing my mouth hungrily. “Good,” he murmured, closing the distance.
“I took the covenant,” I blurted out. Joshua paused, glancing up at me. “We can’t do this anymore.”
“The covenant?” Joshua repeated, confused. He straightened but didn’t let go of my face. “Which covenant?”
“How many covenants are you aware of?” I asked him.
He stared at me before his eyes finally widened in acknowledgement and he took a step back. “You did?”
“I’m sorry,” I told him, wrapping my arms around myself, waiting for a couple to walk past us and out of earshot. The streets were busy and I probably should have taken Joshua up on his suggestion to talk in his car. “Where is your car?”
Joshua ran his tongue over his lower lip, then nodded his head behind him. Silently, I followed, just to his side, as he led me to… “What the heck is that?” I asked, frowning more at the fact I was saying ‘heck’. Clearly the covenant was clicking in. My eyes narrowed as I focused on the bright yellow thing in front of me. I glanced up and down the street, searching for Joshua’s electric blue Charger, and failing to find it. I looked back at the vehicle in front of me, then to Joshua, who had unlocked it an was holding the door open for me.
“A Hummer,” he said, looking at me like I was the weird one.
“What was wrong with the Charger?” I asked, trying hard not to wrinkle my nose up at it.
“I wanted a change,” he said, sounding impatient. “Babe, you’re letting the rain get in. It’s going to ruin the upholstery.”
Feeling like I was stepping into the twilight zone, I climbed up into the passenger seat, settling into the cold leather seats as Joshua slammed the door shut behind me. Moments later, he was sitting in the driver’s seat, turning to face me. “I didn’t think they even made Hummer’s anymore.”
“The covenant?” Joshua prompted me.
I ran my palms up and down my thighs, focusing on the motion. “Cupid quit,” I started, finally looking over at him.
One of Joshua’s eyebrows disappeared under his fringe. “He left? I didn’t think he had it in him.”
“He was always saying that he didn’t want to lead the House,” I shrugged. “I guess I don’t blame him, really. I don’t think he’s leaving the House. Not yet, anyway. I think his focus is on Veronica. She’s not doing too well at the moment, although all things considered, that isn’t really surprising either.” My hands rounded into fists in my lap. “If I could, I would revive Beelzebub just to kill him all over again.”
“Oh, the cherubim,” Joshua muttered. “I had forgotten about that.”
I peered at Joshua before leaning over to knock the Hummer’s interior light on. “Are you smiling?”
Joshua shook his head. “Why would I be smiling?”
Why would he be smiling? The dim street lighting and my lack of sleep was causing me to see things that weren’t there. I swear I needed a break. One far away on a tropical island with plenty of sun and cocktails… or mocktails, seeing as though alcohol was now out of the question.
I sucked in a breath and puffed out my cheeks. “Zach-ass is now in charge and he declared I could only be there, and remain your guardian if I took the covenant. I don’t know where this puts us, and I know there’s only so much I can ask of you, but…”
“But?”
I gnawed at the inside of my cheek, trying to order my thoughts. I hadn’t told anyone – even Joshua this – but even though Lucifer had been defeated, I still felt uneasy. “I don’t think we’re done yet,” I explained. “You’re still my charge, and that tells me that you still need protecting from something. At this point, I have no idea what’s left to protect you from, but if you still need a guardian, keeping you alive is more important to me, and Heaven I guess, than anything else.”
“I’m fairly certain Heaven just wants you to take the covenant because they want ultimate control,” Joshua said, rolling his eyes at me. “Some of those angels have rods stuck so far up their own asses that they may as well be pencil toppers.”
I gaped at him, not expecting the distain in his voice, much less his choice of words. “Either way, I think I’d rather follow their rules and keep you in my life than not at all.”
Joshua tilted his head, his inky blue eyes watching me intently. Tilting his head the other way, he leant back, resting against the car door as he draped his arm over the steering wheel. “You could just leave.”
“And what?” I scoffed. “Run off with you?”
“Why not?” he shrugged.
I pulled a face. “I would still be bound by the covenant. Where would that leave you?”
“With a fallen angel,” he responded. “What’s so bad about that? You would still retain your strength and immortality. You just wouldn’t be bound by those archaic rules which were created to stop the angels having any fun anyway.”
“Yeah, great idea,” I said, sarcasm dripping everywhere. “Become one of the Fallen. Then, not only would I have to protect you from whatever it is that makes you still need a guardian angel, but I’d also have to protect you from all the angels who should have been protecting you too.”
“You make it sound like that would be a hard thing,” Joshua laughed. “Do you have any idea how many Fallen are in New Orleans alone?”
“Thirty-eight and, and one hundred and forty-seven nephilim,” I replied, dryly.
Joshua’s laughter evaporated. He leant forward, frowning. “That’s very specific.”
“Of course it is. I have a list, remember?”
“A… list…?”
“The list Ty gave me.” I quickly waved my arm in the air, dismissing the statement. “But that’s not the point, Joshua. I have barely survived when fighting the Fallen, up until this point. The only reason I have is because I’ve had a number of archangels fighting alongside me. Archangels who are much better at fighting than I am. The last thing I am capable of doing is going up against them too.”
“They’re protecting me?”
“Of course they are, you doofus.” It was my turn to roll my eyes at him. “Which is why you shouldn’t be going undercover trying to hunt out the Fallen. You even promised Cupid that you wouldn’t, so why are you being so reckless?”
Joshua ran his tongue over his lower lip, dropping the arm from the steering wheel. “You
’re right,” he agreed, slowly. “I think there is something still to come. That’s why I’ve been in Bee’s: it was a Fallen hotspot, and I think it still is. But if you let me have a look at that list, I could just hunt out those remaining in the city directly.”
“Like that’s going to happen!” I laughed. “I’m supposed to be protecting you. There isn’t a scenario on this planet where I’m going to hand over a list of all the Fallen and nephilim in this city and let you go wandering off to find them by yourself…” I trailed off as bells began chiming in my head. It had been a while since I had heard them, and they brought a scowl to my face. “Really?”
“Return to the convent,” Zachary’s irritated voice echoed in my head.
“Everything okay?” Joshua asked.
I shook my head. “Just the Zach-ass reminding me he’s in charge. I need to get back to the convent.”
“What are you doing tomorrow?”
I paused, grateful for a reason not to leave the car. “I’m off to Tulane University Hospital to visit Ty.”
Joshua tilted his head. “He’s in the hospital?”
I nodded. “He lost his hand. He’s probably going to need to be there for a while, and then there’s physiotherapy…”
“Interesting,” Joshua muttered.
The bells began ringing again. I glanced at the door but didn’t move. “Are we okay?” I asked Joshua.
“Everything is perfect, babes.”
I couldn’t stop myself from pulling a face. “I don’t really know what goes into undercover work, but whatever persona you’re working right now, it’s weird. Can you please tell Leon enough with this? It’s not safe for you to be in Bee’s alone.” I leaned over and placed a kiss on his cheek. “Please?” I said, before exiting the vehicle.
CHAPTER FOUR
Visiting Hours
Zachary had wanted me to come back to make an announcement about the change in leadership. Having me by his side would present a united image. (That one amused me somewhat: why did we need to do that? Did he think the angels thought badly of him?) The change wasn’t a surprise to the angels. They too had felt it when Cupid had stepped down.
More than anything the announcement was to let them know why Cupid had given up his position, and although the angels were sad, none of them were shocked. Afterwards, I heard many of them say that they knew leadership was never what Cupid wanted. More disappointingly (for me, at any rate) was the fact that everyone else seemed excited that Zachary was there.
When we had finished up with the announcement, Zachary had requested a meeting in his new office. He was taking Michael’s bedroom and he was using the adjoining office too. For this, I was glad: it meant I wouldn’t have to share the office off the library with him. His meeting had consisted of him spending an hour ranting on about the rules of the covenant. Then another hour ranting on about the rules of the House (somewhat similar to the rules of the covenant). Then he went off on a tangent for yet another hour about how he intended on making this House the “shining example of excellence the other Houses would aspire to be”.
By the time he had finished that, it was the small hours of the morning and I had climbed into my bed, exhausted.
When I awoke the following morning, I was feeling just as exhausted, but I had far too much to do than to stay in bed. I had promised the angels we would be celebrating Raphael’s life through celebrating Christmas. It was already the 23rd and there were still no decorations up. I had ordered some which had arrived the day before, but the key thing, the Christmas tree, was still missing. This close to Christmas, there were few places still selling decent ones, but I had heard there was one place which still had a reasonable selection left. It was also close to the hospital Ty was recovering in.
I hadn’t seen Ty since Cupid had whisked him away after we had defeated his father, Beelzebub. I had tried to text him a few times, but the messages had always remained unfinished and unsent. How did you text someone whose father had cut off his own son’s hand, and then been killed by archangels in front of him? Even starting with an apology seemed inadequate.
Some things were just better done in person. After I bought a tree, I was going to go to the hospital and visit Ty.
Daylight still had yet to make an appearance when I walked downstairs, ready to get started on breakfast and preparing the lunch and evening meals. I wasn’t a great chef, and thankfully I had my aunt, Sarah, to help out, but there was something about the action which felt reassuring. It was like a snippet of normalcy while everything else went crazy around us.
“Morning,” I half called, half yawned as I stepped into the kitchen. I wasn’t surprised to see Sarah there, already mixing pancake batter (today’s breakfast option), although I was surprised to see Eugene there. “You should be in bed,” I blurted out.
“I’m bored,” Eugene shrugged, not even pausing in slicing peppers for the tacos on the menu that evening. “People say that they will come play board games with me and then don’t.”
“Oh, shoot!” I exclaimed, the guilt hitting me as I realized he was talking about me. “I am so sorry, Eugene!”
“It’s alright: I heard Zachary was here. I’m sure you were kept busy.”
“Who is Zachary?” Sarah asked us. I grabbed a pouring jug from the side and hurried over to help her transfer the batter from her enormous bowl to the jug.
“He’s a virtue,” Eugene explained, saving me from trying to find polite words to describe him. “He has an excellent reputation for cleaning reputations.”
My head turned, very slowly, to face Eugene. “Zachary? Zachary has an excellent reputation for cleaning reputations? Zachary?”
Eugene nodded. Judging from his expression, I was the only one who thought he was a Zach-ass. “Oh yes. I’m glad he’s here.” I had suspected it last night, but it was certainly disappointing to see that from Eugene’s point of view too.
“Why would you need an angel who is good at cleaning reputations?” Sarah asked.
I turned to her, finding her fixing me with a pointed look, to which I let out an exasperated groan. “While I appreciate that we may have destroyed half of New Orleans in the process, we did defeat Lucifer, Asmodeus, Beelzebub, and a half dozen other fallen angels, so cut me some slack,” I said with a bit more force than I had intended. “And these weren’t exactly populated areas either.”
“He won’t be here for Angel specifically,” Eugene agreed. “It’s not just reputations, so much as he can turn bad news into better news. I would imagine that the humans of New Orleans are quite upset with what has happened. Zachary and Savannah are a great team. They’ll have the city back to normal real quick.”
With breakfast out of the way (and I had filled up on my fair share of pancakes), I collected an SUV and left the convent. The recent downpours had cooled off the city somewhat, but thanks to the lingering humidity, it was by no means as cold as it should have been for a December. The population of New Orleans probably didn’t care much for the cooler spell that had set in, even if it was Christmas, but I still felt relief instead of cold.
New Orleans had recently been suffering from an extended heat wave; one that had baffled meteorologist for months, seeing that as soon as you left the city borders, the appropriate weather the rest of the state was experiencing was there. The reality was that the weather had been manipulated by Beelzebub, and now he was gone, so too had the heat wave.
I found a space to park, not far from one of the places selling Christmas trees and hurried down. There weren’t many left. Given how close it was to Christmas, I was expecting this, but at the same time, I was a little disappointed. I had wanted to give the angels a special Christmas, with everything that had happened.
I wandered up and down the remaining trees, trying to find some good ones, drastically cutting down the amount I had intended to spend on buying to one. Even then, it was much bigger than I wanted, but it was the only one that didn’t look like it was going to die before Christmas dinner.
> I paid for the tree, and then had to pretend that I was far too weak to lift the tree onto the roof rack. That was a frustrating experience, because I could have done it by myself in a fraction of the time it took for four men to lift it up there, but if one man alone couldn’t have done it, there was no way I was going to be able to perform the task without drawing attention that I didn’t want or need.
With the tree safely on the roof, I set off to my next destination. I had timed my visit to the hospital with visiting hours, so it was pretty busy by the time I had managed to find a space to park. Inside, the nurses were equally as busy, so when I did find Ty’s room, I’d already lost half the visiting hours allowed. Assuming Ty didn’t kick me out as soon as he saw me…
I knocked on the door to his small, private room, and stepped in. He didn’t look at me at first. He was sat in his bed, his gaze on something outside the window, though I was certain he wasn’t really looking at anything in particular. “Hi, Ty,” I greeted him, softly.
His head turned slowly, and he fixed me with a cold look. “Took you long enough.”
“I’m sorry,” I apologized, taking a couple of steps towards the bed. “I wasn’t sure you would want to see me.”
“I don’t.”
I lingered in the middle of the room, feeling awkward, but I wasn’t ready to quit yet. “I should have been to see you sooner.”
“I still wouldn’t have wanted to see you then, either,” Ty shrugged.
“What do you plan on doing now?” I asked him.
“What? You mean, something like, do I plan on leaving here and extracting my revenge by sneaking into the convent and burning it down to the ground while you all sleep?” he retorted, icily.
“Someone already beat you to that,” I shrugged.
“Not successfully,” he muttered under his breath.
I took a deep breath and a couple more steps towards him. “Honestly, I wouldn’t blame you if that was the route you went down, but I’m choosing to believe that is not the sort of person you are.”