Angel in Crisis

by C. L. Coffey

  “Have you found Eugene yet?” Cupid asked.

  “No,” I replied, with a frown. “Someone at the Farmer’s Market said they’d seen him, but I got distracted with Xavier.” I gestured to Xavier. “I’m sure he will be on his way home soon.”

  Cupid nodded and then finally disappeared, leaving me with a dead body on my bed.

  CHAPTER FOURTEEN

  Make Her Proud

  With the angels out in the gymnasium, I had a lot of rooms to choose from. Unfortunately, while mine was finally losing that smoky smell, none of the others had. Keeping things simple, I opted for the room opposite. I spent some time moving all my things out and across the hallway. If I was likely to be in this room for several months, then I was going to take everything so as not to disturb Xavier (if that was even possible) when I needed something. I hung everything in the free-standing closet, but most of my belongings were stacked in piles around the room. There would be time to tidy things away later. The only thing I made sure to secure was the list from Ty. My new room was a mirror image of my old one, so I stood on the bed, reaching up for the curtain pole, and tucked it in.

  With that safely hidden away, there was one last thing to get from my – Xavier’s – room. I searched his pockets for his wallet. I took the ID from it and left the rest on the side. With a slight hesitation, I went back into my own bedroom digging out a pad and pen, and quickly scrawled him a note. I’d had nothing when I’d awoke, so I thought it would be useful to him – even if he did end up thinking it was all crazy talk. I also left the lamp on.

  It wasn’t until I was behind the wheel of one of the convent’s SUVs and driving along Canal Street that I realized that I’d not gone via the kitchen to see if Eugene had reappeared. It was getting late now, and seeing as I hadn’t had any lunch, I made a slight detour for a couple of po’boys.

  Joshua was concentrating on his computer screen, typing away, as I approached him. The office had a handful of people in it, but other than a cursory look, they seemed too busy with their own work than to pay attention to me. I managed to get as far as Joshua’s desk and set the food in front of me before he looked up. When he saw it was me, he gave me a dazzling smile, ignored the food, and then stood up to kiss me. “What are you doing here, darlin’?”

  “I’m using food to bribe you into coming somewhere with me.”

  Joshua smirked. “You don’t need to bribe me with food.”

  “Considering where I want you to go, I don’t particularly want to bribe you with my body.”

  Joshua’s expression sobered as his eyes met mine. “What’s wrong?”

  I sighed and pulled a chair over beside his desk, before sitting. “Good news: I found a new potential earlier. One that wasn’t a result of a raging psycho archangel,” I quickly added when Joshua scowled. “Bad news: I need to tell his mother.”

  Realization filled Joshua’s eyes and he gave me a sympathetic smile. “Of course.” He leaned over and placed his hands on my thighs. “But you don’t need to bribe me to get me to come do things like that. Unpleasant as it is, I wouldn’t make you do that alone if you didn’t want to.”

  “I know,” I said, flashing him an embarrassed smile. “I was hungry myself,”

  He handed me one of the sandwiches, smiling wryly. “I’m not in the least bit surprised by that.”

  Although I finished my sandwich before he did, Joshua wasn’t far behind. I waited patiently for him to finish up what he had been doing so he could call it a day, and then waited outside for him while he clocked out. I was happy to take the SUV, but Joshua insisted on driving.

  Before we had left, Joshua had checked on where Mrs. Dunn – Xavier’s mother – lived. Xavier still lived with her, and as we pulled up, I saw that we were only half a block away from where he had died. The groceries he had dropped were still scattered across the street, as was one of his flip flops. I hadn’t even realized they weren’t both on his feet when I had placed him on the bed.

  “Are you okay to do this?” Joshua asked me, pulling me from my thoughts.

  I shrugged. “I don’t want to, but I know I need to. I have no idea what to say.”

  “No matter how many times you do this, it doesn’t become any easier.” His deep blue eyes fixed on mine. “I know I said before that I would do this with you, and I will, but I think that you should talk to Mrs. Dunn by yourself. I don’t think she needs a cop in there.” I nodded: he was right. “I will be right here,” he promised me.

  I left him in the car and walked up the stairs of the Dunn house to rap on the door. “Did you forget your keys-?” Mrs. Dunn stopped when she saw it was me. “Oh, I’m sorry; I thought it was my son coming back.” She stuck her head out of the door and peered up the street, frowning. “He should be back by now,” she muttered more to herself than to me. She straightened. “How can I help you?”

  “I was hoping I could come in and talk to you for a moment?” I asked. “It’s about Xavier.”

  “You know my Xavier?” she asked. She looked surprised, but she stepped back to allow me to come in. “I hope that boy is not in any trouble.”

  “Far from it,” I said, following her into the living room. My eyes fell on the enormous, intricately carved wooden cross which hung on center of the opposite wall. “He’s about to do something that’s going to help a lot of people.”

  A look of panic filled Mrs. Dunn’s face. “Where is Xavier?”

  “Here,” I said, gently. “Why don’t you take a seat?” I took her hand and she allowed me to lead her to an armchair. “I’m sorry to have to tell you, but Xavier died a short time ago.”

  “No!” Mrs. Dunn exclaimed. “You said he wasn’t in any trouble!”

  “He’s not,” I tried to assure her. I was expecting tears, not anger, and all of a sudden, any vague idea of what I needed to say left me. “It was an accident.”

  “You killed him?” she cried, outraged. She flew to her feet and shoved me away.

  “No,” I said, trying to regain my balance. I held my hands up, palms out. This was not going well. “You don’t understand. I’m an angel.”

  “You’re crazy,” she snapped. “Now get out of my house before I call the cops.” She shook her head. “In fact, you stay right there.”

  My eyes shot upwards. “I kinda need your help right now,” I mumbled under my breath. When I got no response, I dropped my gaze to Mrs. Dunn. She was marching to a phone on the other side of the room, her eyes locked on me as she did so. “What would Michael do?” Mrs. Dunn was reaching for the phone and neither were giving me any answers. “What would I do?” I asked, this time loud enough for Mrs. Dunn to pause.

  “I beg your pardon?”

  I closed my eyes and concentrated. When there was a gasp and a thud, I opened my eyes, knowing I’d done what I’d set out to. I found Mrs. Dunn staring at me with her mouth hanging open in amazement. The phone lay on the floor beside her.

  “You’re…” she trailed off, grasping her throat as the sobs suddenly spilled out.

  I knew my wings, glowing behind me, disappeared the moment I darted over to Mrs. Dunn to catch her before she hit the floor. “Xavier,” she gasped.

  I hurried over and helped her up, almost carrying her over to her couch, which she collapsed into, sobbing. I perched next to her, wrapping my arms around her when she buried her face into my lap. “I know it won’t help much, but his death was an accident. He tripped and fell, and knocked his head,” I explained softly. I didn’t want to go into too much detail, but I thought she deserved some form of explanation. “I knew Xavier was special the moment I saw him, so I offered him a choice. He turned down Heaven so he could become an angel.”

  Although the tears were still streaming down her face, she sat up and blinked at me. “He’s an angel?”

  I nodded. “He’s got to earn his wings, but I don’t doubt he will accomplish that feat. He wants to make you proud.”

  “He already did,” she informed me. Her expression was broken, but her wor
ds were strong.

  I stayed there for a while longer. I did ask her not to tell anyone about the visit, though I wasn’t sure if she would keep that promise. I had explained that she wouldn’t be able to see Xavier again, and although I promised that I would pass on a message to him, she was going to have to give some form of explanation about his absence to their friends and family. Before I left, she’d disappeared into her bedroom, returning with something in her hand. “Make sure Xavier gets this,” she’d instructed me. It was a simple gold wedding ring – his father’s.

  By the time I climbed back into Joshua’s car, I was exhausted. Now I understood why he insisted he drove, because all I wanted to do was curl up in the corner and sleep. And maybe cry. That had been horrific and I don’t think I was cut out to do it again. For the first time ever, Joshua let me sit in silence all the way home and that included a detour to the gas station so he could fill the car up. I barely noticed, instead I was lost in my own thoughts, contemplating how I would have reacted, and how Sarah must have reacted. I knew Michael had been to see her.

  “Darlin’?”

  I blinked, and discovered we were already parked up at the convent. “Oh. Sorry.” I got out of the car, but was surprised to find Joshua was following me. I cocked my head, questioningly.

  “You must be insane if you think I’m letting you be by yourself tonight,” he informed me.

  The thought of being by myself sucked. I nodded and then gave him a tired, grateful smile. We walked into the convent up to my bedroom. I paused at the door, quickly explaining to Joshua that I’d had to switch rooms. I looked over at the room Xavier was now occupying and sighed. “I’ll join you in a minute,” I told Joshua.

  He didn’t question me. Instead, he gave me a quick kiss and then ducked into my new bedroom. I turned and walked into Xavier’s. In a way, it was a good job the other angels were camping out in the gym. There was now a space for him to have as his own. Well, it still felt more like mine. I guess it would for a while as we couldn’t really redecorate around him. I shook the thoughts from my head. They weren’t exactly important.

  “Hey Xavier,” I said, softly, approaching the bed. “I know you might not be able to hear me, and I promise I’ll tell you this again when you wake up, whenever that will be, but I wanted you to know I spoke to your mama. She knows what happened to you, and what you’re going to do, and you were right: she’s proud of you.”

  I didn’t expect an answer, but when his unconscious form let out a small sigh, something told me some part of him had heard me. “I’ll keep checking on you,” I told him. “I promised your mama I’d look after you.” From my pocket, I pulled out the wedding ring she had given me. I opened Xavier’s hand and placed it in it, then curled his fingers around it. Wondering for the umpteenth time if I had done the right thing, I left Xavier and went to my own room.

  I lingered in the shower for longer than I needed to. When I finally left the bathroom, I was surprised to find Joshua had turned my laptop on and had queued up a DVD. I’d brought the laptop from my aunts not long after I had awoken in the convent, but as there had been no Wi-Fi, it hadn’t been used much. Mostly it was used for the occasional DVD marathon with Cupid. I’d almost forgotten about it. While I got in the bed, fluffing the pillows up, Joshua hit play. “What on earth is this?” I asked as the title credits loaded.

  Joshua shot me a look of incredulity over his shoulder. “I hope you’re joking right now.”

  I couldn’t help but return his stare with a scathing one of my own. “I think you’d be hard pressed to find any girl out there who doesn’t recognize Love Actually. What I don’t understand is why the biggest Scrooge I know is wanting to watch it with absolutely no prompting?” Joshua hit play and then returned to the bed. I squished my back up against the wall to give him as much room as possible on the single bed. “I should probably consider getting a bigger bed when we remodel the rooms.”

  “This is plenty big enough,” Joshua disagreed, pulling me closer to him. I didn’t object, curling up into the nook of his shoulder. “I saw the film in the gas station, and decided that parting with three whole dollars and subjecting myself to a Christmas RomCom when it’s not Christmas would be worth it if it would help cheer you up after the day you’ve had.”

  I sighed, feeling a lot of the tension melt away as I sank into Joshua’s side. “I love you,” I told him.

  Joshua reached for my hand, moving it and holding it in place over his heart. “Yours.”

  * * *

  I don’t remember falling asleep. I know I didn’t make it to the end of the film, and I could tell quite near the beginning that would be the case. When I awoke, the room was dimly illuminated by the laptop’s screen saver, photographs from my college days cycling across the screen at one minute intervals. Although there was a sense of nostalgia, I didn’t miss being at college. Not anymore, anyway. I snuggled back into Joshua’s embrace ready to fall back asleep, but like a switch had been flicked, all of a sudden I was very aware that the two of us weren’t alone in the room.

  For half a second, I thought it was Cupid. Then there was a flash of metal.

  The move was instinctive – I shoved Joshua, hard. As he fell to the floor with an oomph, I used him to flatten myself against the wall.

  The combination of Joshua’s cry, his landing causing the person to trip, and me moving backward resulted in a blade slashing the forearm I’d raised to protect myself before becoming impaled through the mattress inches from my chest. The pain the cut caused was like nothing I’d ever experienced before. I couldn’t stop the scream of agony as what felt like boiling oil was poured into my wound: I was half convinced that my hand had been chopped off.

  It was only the other sounds in the room – Joshua’s war cries and the shadow of our attacker falling to the floor with a screech – that made me move. I freed myself from the sheets and flung myself at the person as the room burst into light. I didn’t let the dazzling brightness stop me as I yanked the assailant away from Joshua and brought my uninjured fist back to punch the person as hard as I could. They sailed across the room, slamming heavily against the wall, narrowly missing Cupid who was standing in front of it.

  There was a horrific scream – I later realized that had come from me – as I hurled myself at the attacker. “He’s human!” I heard Cupid yell, but I didn’t register what he was saying until later. In that moment, all I saw and heard was my own anger.

  I didn’t get to him.

  Cupid stepped out in front of me, his arms grabbing me as I was mid-flight, and he dragged me back. It wasn’t until Joshua stepped in front of me that I stopped fighting Cupid's restraint and the room seemed to flood back into color.

  As I relaxed and tried to catch my breath, the blinding agony radiating from my arm was back in the forefront of my thoughts. I crumbled to my knees, clamping my hand around the cut, until I discovered that it made the palm of my hand burn. This pain I did recognize – the feeling of someone repeatedly stomping on my hand. A cry escaped from the back of my throat and I slumped over. “Don’t touch me,” I managed to rasp out as I saw Cupid duck down to me. “It’s the same as what the bullets did.”

  That was all I managed before the dizziness, pain, and nausea consumed me and everything went black.

  CHAPTER FIFTEEN

  Broken Sanctuary

  The next time I woke up, it was to the feeling of relief. My head was pounding and I let out a moan as I struggled to bring things into focus. “Is she okay?” I could hear Joshua asking.

  “I’m fine,” I managed to say, though it felt like my mouth had been stuffed with cotton wool. I tried to push Cupid away, but he firmly held me down by my shoulders.

  “Just lie there for a moment,” he instructed me.

  “What about the attacker?” I asked. I was still on the floor and I couldn't see much with Cupid's body in the way.

  “Unconscious and handcuffed.” Joshua stepped into view, peering down at me in concern.

&n
bsp; While Cupid was seeing to my forearm, I raised my other hand to my head, pressing down on my forehead with a wince. When I found my hand wet, I pulled it away and stared at it in confusion. “Holy water,” Cupid explained. With a grunt, I pulled my arm free and tried to sit. Cupid’s hands were back on my shoulder. “I told you to lie there.”

  “I just want to sit up.” I glowered at him until he sighed and released me. Joshua kneeled down beside me and helped me into a sitting position. It took a lot more effort out of me than I was expecting. While I leaned back against the bed trying to catch my breath, Cupid took up my forearm and continued tending to it. There was a diagonal slice about six inches long stretching down and across my artery. There was something wrong with the wound – like there had been with Cupid’s. The blood was brown. It smelled wrong, and instead of bleeding freely it was oozing. My whole circulatory system had changed when I’d become an angel, and I didn’t know how it worked, but I could tell this wasn’t right.

  “I should call Henry.” I looked up and found Joshua’s gaze fixed firmly on me.

  “Henry doesn’t know any more than we do,” I said, gasping as Cupid started pouring the holy water back over the cut. The feeling was verging on blissful as the gloopy blood was washed out of the wound. “It’s the middle of the night.”

  “Leon is on his way.”

  I frowned. “You didn’t need to disturb him too.”

  Joshua’s eyes narrowed as he looked at me like I was insane. “Someone broke into your home to kill you while you slept. A kid, no less.”

  At that, I leaned to the side to peer around Cupid at my attacker. Finally looking at him for the first time, my mouth fell open. If Diana was in high school, this one was definitely the same age- if not younger. He looked no older than sixteen at best, slumped unconscious against the wall. “Is he okay?” I asked, mortified. “I thought he was one of the Fallen.”