“Arcadia, Angels do not get curious. Especially not Archangels. And especially not Michael. He cast me into hell for my curiosity.”
I hardly call boning a bunch of cavewomen ‘curiosity’ Lucifer Morningstar, Ace said primly.
I cackled. Oh, she’s using your full name. Trouble in paradise? I lived for these moments of payback. All that snarky commentary for years. Every snide comment, every disapproving comeback, paled when she was arguing with Lucifer like an old married wife. It was perfect.
WATCH YOURSELF, ARCADIA JONES.
I laughed out loud. “Don’t be such a grump.”
Eli sighed. “I really wish you guys wouldn't do that thing where you talk in your head. It’s... disconcerting.”
It finally got too much for Lux, and he came over, pulling me off the couch and into his arms, and sat me in his chair. He perched on the arm, his body poised and ready for a fight. I laid my hand on his forearm, the muscles under my fingers tight. I gave him a little squeeze. Luc was not our enemy, had never been our enemy. Our enemy was time. And there was no beating that. There was no one to fight, except maybe Azriel the asshole.
“You never told us why Azriel is a dick.”
Luc downed his glass of scotch, and another one appeared immediately. “Azriel, Acerezeal and I used to be friends. Maybe friends is too strong a word. Comrades perhaps? I was Ace and Azriel’s squadron leader. I fell in love with her the first day I saw here. Even as an angel, she held this spark. This something that no other angel had, and it burned in a heart bigger than any I’d ever seen. That spark was passion. A completely unheard of emotion in angels. I wanted to spend time with her, so I raised her up the ranks to the same level as Azriel, the rank below mine as commander. He was not a fan, but it was hard to resist Ace’s special joie de vive, even though none of us could label the emotion. We became friends by proximity, and then confidantes. When I fell though, he changed. When Ace fell also, it pushed him into being even more...what is the phrase the humans use? Ah, by the book. I think that he thought the taint of our unholy thoughts coated him like a layer of filth that he just could not shed. That he had to be an extra asshole angel that did everything perfectly and without question, or else he would fall too. And he was terrified. Another sensation that was unfelt by angels before.”
“Before what?”
“Before I fell. Now they all know fear.”
Chapter Eleven
Lux drove me over to Brooklyn, and double parked outside a skinny little building with big plate glass windows. Ri was standing on the curb, with a huge smile on his face. Oh god, he looked handsome. The sun glinted off his olive skin, and his dark hair shone until it glinted almost blue.
“You know what, I’m pretty sure you guys must contribute a little to my heart troubles. Just look at him,” I pseudo complained to Lux. Honestly, I was a little breathless.
He just rolled his eyes. “Damn pretty boy,” he leaned over and kissed me goodbye.
Ri opened my door and helped me out, leading up onto the footpath.
“Have her home by six!” Lux yelled out the door.
“Or what?” Ri taunted back.
He gave Orion a menacing look and I couldn’t help but laugh. Lux was not the boogeyman. I preferred him in my bed rather than under it.
Ri flipped him the finger and Lux was smiling as he pulled back into traffic. We turned and walked toward the restaurant door.
“Are you ready for this? This is gonna blow your mind.”
“I’m ready!”
He pushed the door open and walked in first, guiding me in with a flourish of his arm. It was a sushi train. But…
“Is that a cake?”
“It’s a dessert train! And also tapas. Dreams can come true.”
I stared at the desserts and tapas going around the small track. They looked delicious.
“How’d you know I loved sushi trains?”
Ri helped me up onto one of the stools that ran around them. Train track and grabbed us down two plates of tapas. One had small deep fried balls of something, and the other was small pastries.
“I may have asked Clary about your fave restaurant. I was going to take you back, give you a little piece of the normalcy from your old life for a night. But when she told me you loved sushi trains, I knew this was the place.”
Ri was right. I did crave the normalcy of my old life sometimes. Not that it was very interesting, and I loved the guys and the babies and wouldn’t go back for the whole world, but sometimes it’s just nice being a normal person doing normal things. Like talking to a hot guy as the tiny plates stacked up in front of you.
We talked about normal things, things you would talk about with a man on a date. It was a balm.
“How’s the club?”
Ri stuck a third marinated mushroom into his mouth. Two quick chews and then he swallowed them almost whole. I resisted giving him a speech about good mastication. It could go nowhere good.
“The club is great. After the incident with you, I thoroughly vet every person who comes into the VIP area. Everyone goes on the waiting list. Somehow it’s made the whole thing even more exclusive and popular. Go figure.”
“And S&M night?”
He gave me a lustful look. “Still as popular as ever. I look forward to showing you myself. As it is, I spend that night doing my paperwork. Alone. Naked but alone.”
“Why naked?”
He grimaced. “All the lust flowing around makes my skin tight and other things hard. It’s just more comfortable if I’m not chafing against my clothes.”
Respect filled my chest. I leaned over and put my head on his shoulder. “I love you, Ri. Soon I’m going to make love with you until neither of us can walk for a week.”
He kissed me gently, but with tongue. That was Orion though. He didn’t believe in pecks on the cheek. It was always maximum effort and his kisses always left me breathless.
I rubbed my belly. I probably shouldn’t have had that third crab puff.
“Okay?”
“Yep, just full,” I gave him a reassuring smile.
He pulled off two dessert plates. One had a mini key lime pie and the other was a type of brownie. “Too full for dessert?”
I gave him an affronted look! “Never!”
“I think the babies look like you.” He pulled out the print out that Doctor Hamilton had given me of both the babies faces. He kept it in his wallet. The photo caught Hope mid yawn.
“They are smooshed into my amniotic fluid. They don’t look like anyone yet. Unless you think I look like a smooshed potato?” I laughed. It felt good to laugh.
“The most beautiful smooshed face in the whole world,” he kissed my temple.
A sharp pain bolted across my stomach and I grabbed at it. Ouch.
“Hey, what was that?”
My heart thudded. “I don’t know.”
Ace?
Silence. Panic trickled in.
Ace?
More silence and another shooting pain.
Something was wrong.
I didn’t say anything but Ri was throwing down cash in the table and getting me to my feet. “I’m taking you home to see Eli.”
Another sharp pain, and the world dimmed at the edges. “Something is wrong, Ri. Take me to the hospital.
Oz’s health tracker started to flash on my wrist and both mine and Ri’s phones started going off as he pushed his way out of the restaurant.
The phones continued to buzz until Ri answered. “There's something wrong with Cady. Yeah, I’m taking her to the hospital. No, Val has the Jag. Yes. Yes. Ok.” He hung up the phone.
“I need you to stand here,” he said, and halted me right next to the door. Another sharp pain made me nearly double over.
“Fuck. Just hold on, okay?” He walked over to a guy just getting out of his car. He was so far away, I could only just pick up their conversation.
“Hey, I’m gonna borrow your car, okay? I’ll leave it for you at Mount Sinai.” The guy sm
iled shyly, his jaw slightly unhinged and he just nodded as he handed over his keys.
“Will you be there?” The guy cooed, and Ri stroked his cheek.
“Maybe. Thanks, man.” So that was Lust at work. It was scary how easily it worked and open to suggestion the guy was.
Ri hustled back over, and led me to the guy’s car. I frantically willed my mind and body to stay as calm as possible, but inside I was freaking the fuck out. Silent tears streamed down my cheeks as Ri helped me into the car.
“It’s going to be alright, Beautiful Girl. This is probably just those phantom contraction things. We’ll be at the hospital in five minutes and everyone will be okay.”
His voice was calm, but I could see the panic in his eyes. I nodded, and he shut the door, half jumping the hood of the car to get to the driver’s side quicker.
It was too soon.
It all happened in a blur. Ri carried me into the emergency room and I was rushed through. Before I knew it, there were six doctors, four medical students and a barrage of nurses standing around my bed. The rest of my seven hadn’t arrived yet, though I had no doubt they’d be there and not even the Devil would stop them. Not that he would.
“We believe you’ve experienced a placental abruption. This is very serious for both you and the babies. This needs to be treated immediately, as the babies are not getting enough oxygen. I’ve booked a theater, and as soon as you are prepped, we will undergo an emergency c section. The nurse will get you the appropriate forms to sign. We’ve contacted your specialists, and they will be on standby.” I just nodded along. The words weren’t connecting in my brain, but I would agree to anything that would give the babies a fighting chance.
“Will I be awake?”
“If you wish. You aren’t hemorrhaging large quantities, so the anesthetist will be along asap to give you a spinal block and epidural. However, we may put you under general anesthesia at any point if we judge it necessary.”
I nodded again. I wished Eli was here to tell me if we were doing the right thing. My intuition was saying yes, but what did I know?
Ace? I need you. Please be okay. I’d called her repeatedly, but no answer. A dark ball of dread in my gut formed at the thought she was gone forever, but I couldn’t dwell on it. I would deliver the babies and then I would mourn my best friend.
The anesthetist left just as the Lux, Sam and Eli arrived. Eli looked determined, and Sam looked terrified. Lux looked… broken. He came over and put his head on my chest. I ran my fingers over the smooth stubble of his skull. I couldn’t give him reassurances. I didn’t have them in me.
An orderly in scrubs came to wheel me down to the operating room and there was no more time.
“Wait, wait. I need to say goodbye to the others.” I reached for my guys. “We have to wait. Oz and Tolli and Valery. I need to see them first.”
“I’m sorry, ma’am. You are booked down in theater.” The guy looked apologetic, if kind of confused. The look of confusion increased when each of the guys came up and kissed me. A tear dropped down onto my cheek when Sam pressed his forehead to mine. “I will see you when you come out. We will hold our babies together.”
The orderly cleared his throat and everyone moved back.
Lux reached out and touched my cheek. “You will come back to me.”
I could only nod. A nurse, who looked a little like Clary - god I needed Clary right now - met us at the lift.
“Hi, I’m Rose. I’ll be taking you down. Can I have your name and date of birth?”
I must of murmured the right thing, because I was down in theater before I knew it. The rest was a blur. I couldn’t feel anything below my rib cage, except the arrhythmic thumping of my heart and lungs that couldn’t draw enough air.
A bunch of specialists stood around me, all looking the same in their gowns and masks. Everything faded in and out, as the babies stopped moving.
“You have to hurry.”
“It’s okay, Arcadia.” I recognized Doctor Hamilton’s voice behind the mask and I calmed. “I’m making the incision now, and your babies will be in this world before you know it. Your only job is to stay calm.”
I felt no pain. Pressure, tugging, but no pain. Then I heard the most beautiful sound in the world. A cry. A tiny mewl. And another. It was perfect. “Baby number one is perfect, Arcadia. Ten fingers. Ten toes.”
More pressure, more tugging, and then silence. I was beginning to dread the silence. The nurses rushed around, one of the blue robed doctors taking Hope to another bed, working on her. Then another tiny cry. “That's two for two. Congratulations Mama. But your job isn’t over yet,” Doctor Hamilton said reassuringly.
Goodbye, Arcadia. The voice wasn't even a sound. It was a vibration I heard in my soul.
Ace? What do you mean goodbye? Ace?
I couldn't leave without saying goodbye. Silence, and I could hear her struggle. This is the best thing I have ever done. I love you.
I struggled but I couldn’t move, though moving would have been useless. I couldn’t grab hold of her. I couldn’t take her hand and make her stay. I turned to yell at the person beside me to make her stay.
Rather obscurely, it was a man wearing a poncho that stood beside me. “Where's the faith?”
He was cute. Maybe a little older, but he wore his age well. Like George Clooney or Brad Pitt. But with more grey hair. A silver fox.
I was definitely dying. This was the weirdest death hallucination ever. “Shouldn’t you be wearing scrubs?”
The man looked down at his poncho. It was blue and yellow in a repeating zig zag pattern. “This is freshly laundered. I got it from Tijuana.”
“It’s nice.”
“Thank you, Arcadia. Someone said they saw the face of Jesus in it. I don’t see the resemblance myself. The holy chicken nugget though, that was uncanny.”
I nearly swallowed my tongue. “Are you Jesus?”
The man laughed. “God no. Or would it be Me no? I can never get the terminology right. I am the Father. God. Big G. The name you scream during climax.” He laughed and I just blinked. This was the weirdest coma dream ever.
That was when I noticed no one else in the room was moving. Everyone was frozen in a moment.
“Oh fuck. I'm dead. You're here to take me to heaven. The guys. The guys are going to be so crushed. And the babies.” Tears streamed down my cheeks.
“Hey, hold up. I don’t personally collect the dead. I have angels for that. They are much more-”
“Biblical looking?”
God shrugged. That was weird. I had to stop referring to him as the G word. I was beginning to freak out, like my heart could beat out of my chest. “As you say. Call me whatever you like. It doesn't matter to me as much as everyone on earth seems to believe.”
“Okay. The Big Guy. How’s that sound?”
“Just fine, Arcadia. No, I'm not here for you. I am here for my child. Acerezeal.” He snapped his fingers and a tearing sensation ripped through my chest. I screamed.
“Sorry about that. It's like ripping off a Band-Aid. It's better without forewarning.” He snapped his fingers again, and Ace stood there before me. Solid, in her angelic body. Wings and all.
She was beautiful.
“Father?” She looked around the room, confused. “I ceased to be. I felt my consciousness stop. How?” She touched her naked body, wrapping her wings around herself and stroking the feathers. “My body. My wings. I’m me.” Her eyes shot to mine, and then she leaned forward and wrapped me in a hug that crushed my bones.
“But why? Are all the sins redeemed?”
The Big Guy shook his head. “No, though Lucifer’s Redeemer did a far better job than I anticipated. No, there is still one to be redeemed.” He cupped Ace’s cheek in his hand, and she leaned into the embrace, her body shuddering. “But Lucifer proved his point in a way that neither of us could have seen. She didn’t just redeem those who had succumbed to the deadly sins. She redeemed one of my fallen. A fallen who willingly gave her li
fe for two innocents. Despite the wishes of her beloved. That deserved a reward. You have earned back your body, Acerezeal, my favored child. Willful, but you have always held more love, more life, in your heart then the rest of my angels.”
Ace fell to her knees and cried. Wracking sobs made her wings drag on the floor, their shade that of clouds in a summer storm. So beautiful.
“Thank you.” She reached up and wrapped her fingers in mine. “And you.” She pulled herself to her feet, and sucked in a deep breath. “Does this mean I am no longer fallen? Am I welcome back in heaven?”
The Big Guy laughed. It was the most beautiful sound I had ever heard, even more beautiful than the Archangel Michael’s, and again the tears were streaming down my cheeks.
“Would you want to come back?”
Ace shook her head. “No.”
I wanted to slap her, but I couldn’t raise my hands. Was she insane? How could she say no?
The Big Guy just shrugged. “I didn’t think so. Besides, you are fine where you are. You temper Lucifer’s more impulsive side.”
“Ace is the responsible one? Eesh.” Ace threw me a dirty look, and it was exactly how I imagined it. She was exactly how I imagined her, right down to the long raven hair and the pale, milky skin that was way too exposed right now. “You should find some scrubs before someone sees you.” I still wasn’t convinced that this wasn’t just a death hallucination.
God checked his non-existent watch. “I should be going. Time waits for no man.” He threw me a smile. “But then, I am no man.”
“Wait!” Ace reached out and touched The Big Guy’s arm. “What about Arcadia? You can heal her right?”
The smile slid from his face, and I mourned its loss. “Unfortunately, I will not. She stepped outside of my plan as soon as Lucifer placed your soul in hers. Arcadia’s fate rests solely on the shoulders of destiny now. Goodbye Arcadia, I wish you the best of luck.”
He was gone, and the world started moving again. Pain gripped my chest, and I couldn't suck in any air. The monitors were blaring and doctors were yelling.
The Redeemable Part Three Page 8