Ryan leaned into the window. “You know what I think? I think the cops were dirty and that the cops and those dead officials are part of some sort of crime ring and Nina got mixed up in it somehow. There’s no way you could have killed twenty-three people at the same time in two different states, so I think they lied about what happened. You with me so far?”
Jared grinned, amused with Ryan’s story. “I’m with you. You’re full of crap, but I’m with you.”
“I think everyone who’s dead is a threat to you somehow because they know too much about whatever it is that you do. The question is how much is too much? And how much more can Claire tell me before you take me out?”
Jared laughed out loud. “You should ease up on the cop shows, Ryan. Now, if you don’t mind, my fiancée and I have wedding shopping to do.”
“Wait,” Ryan said, “you’re not married yet?” He looked to me, genuine surprise on his face.
“We’ve been busy,” I said, embarrassed.
Jared’s jaw tensed. “The date has been set. June first. We’ll be sure to send you an invitation; that is if I haven’t taken you out yet.”
The wheels spun against the wet snow, but the Escalade didn’t move. “Damn,” Jared said.
He pushed open the door, forcing Ryan to jerk back, and disappeared behind the vehicle. The snow drift kept me from getting out on my side, so I climbed over the console, and Ryan helped me to the ground.
“What are you doing?” I asked Jared.
“Digging the truck out. It’ll be just a minute, sweetheart,” he assured me.
“Do you want help?” Ryan asked.
“No,” Jared said quickly.
I turned to Ryan, crossing my arms. “You don’t really think Jared is responsible for your partner’s death, do you?”
“If he is, Kit’s not the first cop he’s killed. There is a single connection tying every single one of those deaths together. Maybe you could talk your boy into keeping his gun in his holster until I figure it out. Or maybe you could just tell me.”
“I don’t know anything,” I said, feigning offense.
“I saw what Jared is capable of the night I was stabbed. I’ve experienced firsthand what Claire can do. They aren’t normal. I know Graham and the other cops were dirty, but Anderson was a good man. He didn’t deserve to die. Quit treating me as if I can’t keep a secret and just tell me.”
I looked past Ryan to see Jared stand up, look around, and then lean against the Escalade, freeing it from the ruts without effort.
“Okay, baby. We’re out. Let’s go.”
Ryan walked to the Escalade, evaluating the slide marks the tires had made. He craned his neck at Jared. “I’m going to figure this out. It would save us all a lot of time and energy if you’d just tell me.”
“Let’s go, Nina,” Jared said.
I nodded, climbing into the cab.
“Maybe I could help you. Have you thought about that?” Ryan said.
Jared took off, leaving him in the snow-buried street.
I pulled my coat tighter around me and stuffed my hands under my arms. “It wouldn’t hurt to have a connection in the police department.”
“Not Ryan,” Jared said.
“You sure talk a lot of smack to Claire about thinking with your emotions. You’re not being objective at all!”
Jared ignored me, instead, pulling over when he noticed a woman trying to dig the snow out from under her buried tires.
A short drive around town turned into a three hour-long aid mission to free stranded motorists from the ice and snow. I would pretend to help, and Jared would pull or push cars and trucks out of snow drifts, ditches, and the side of the road.
It felt good to use Jared’s abilities to help others, even if it was something small.
When we returned to the house, Claire’s Lotus was in the drive, along with a police cruiser.
“I don’t believe it,” Jared said, helping me from the passenger side. He carried me through the snow to the side entrance and then stomped through the house until he found them.
They sat in the kitchen at the breakfast table, laughing. Claire seemed genuinely happy for once, and I smiled at the sight.
“How long have you two been here?” Jared demanded.
Claire’s smile faded. “Don’t worry. I waited for you. I told Ryan you’d tell him what you thought he needed to know.”
“No questions asked,” Ryan promised.
Jared’s hand balled into fists at his side, and the tendons in his neck were strained. It took every ounce of willpower he had not to charge.
“I’m not telling him anything,” Jared growled. “Leave before I do something we’ll all regret.”
He turned his back to Claire, and she jumped up to stop him.
“Wait,” I said, landing the palms of my hands on Jared’s chest. “Sit. Calm down. We’ll just talk,” I said, nodding to Claire and Ryan. “Let’s just sit down and hear them out, and if you still feel the same way, we’ll go.”
Jared took a deep breath and then nodded, taking a seat across from Claire. I sat beside him, placing my hand on his knee.
Claire mimicked his sigh, turning to Ryan. “Anything Jared tells you is privileged information, Ryan. Nina has lied to you, to her best friends, and to her family. Are you sure you want to know?”
Ryan glanced at me.
I leaned forward. “It’s not fun knowledge to have. In this case, ignorance is bliss. I recommend you walk away, but it’s your decision.”
Ryan met Claire’s eyes. “I’m sure.”
“Okay,” Claire said. “First thing’s first.” She grabbed his shirt and ripped it open, popping off the buttons.
“Hey!” Ryan said, holding up his hands.
“Standard procedure,” she said, pulling up his white undershirt, baring his chest. She ran her fingers down each side and then around his back.
“Come on. You think I’m wearing a wire?” Ryan said, looking at each of us.
“I killed your partner,” Claire said, expressionless.
“What?” Ryan said. His eyebrows turned in, and he shifted nervously in his chair.
“Just get right to the point, Claire,” Jared said, shaking his head in disapproval.
“Why would you kill Kit? He was a good man. He was a good cop . . . .”
“He set you up. He asked you to meet him so men working for someone named Donovan could kidnap you and ultimately use you as bait.”
Ryan shook his head. “No, Kit wouldn’t do that.”
“Then he was forced. He has kids. They probably threatened to kill them if he didn’t cooperate.”
Ryan’s shoulders fell. “So you were protecting me.”
“That’s my job,” Claire said.
Ryan’s once confused expression metamorphosed into suspicion. “W-What do you mean it’s your job?”
“Here we go,” I said, covering my mouth with my hands. I remembered the moment Jared had told me the truth about what he was, and I knew Ryan wouldn’t believe her.
Claire was stoic. “I’m your guardian angel. My father was an angel; my mother is human. When my father fell in love with my mother and decided to stay with her, he was cursed by Heaven so he would continue to protect his taleh, his human.”
“My dad,” I added.
Claire continued, “The curse is carried throughout the bloodline for a few generations, so Jared, Bex, and I also have taleh. We have trained our entire lives to be able to protect you, and we have superhuman speed and strength. Nina is Jared’s. You’re mine. I killed Anderson to protect you. I killed everyone else to protect Nina so Jared could stay with her while she healed. I’ve watched you throughout your entire military career, and, yes, I pulled you out of the desert.”
“I thought you said you were going to let me tell him,” Jared said, displeased.
“I don’t have all day,” Claire answered.
Ryan was silent.
“You forgot the most important part,” I said.
Claire rolled her eyes. “Oh yeah, and because of the curse, I can’t die unless you do.”
The room was silent. I squeezed Jared’s knee, thankful he hadn’t dropped the truth on me the way Claire had just done with Ryan. We all waited for him to breakdown, yell, or try to leave. He just sat in his chair, letting it soak in.
I took my hands from my mouth and slid them across the table. “Are you okay?” I asked, touching his hand.
“Yeah,” he blinked. “Just trying to get it all straight in my head.”
“If you tell anyone, I’ll end your life,” Jared said in a low, frightening voice.
“Not likely, since you’d also be killing your sister,” Ryan said.
“He was paying attention,” Jared said.
One side of Ryan’s mouth turned up. “So you would literally take a bullet for me.”
“No,” Claire said, with zero emotion.
“No?” Ryan said, surprised at her answer.
Claire rolled her eyes, annoyed that she had to answer. “If I have time to stand in the way of a bullet, you have time to move.”
“True,” Ryan said, nodding.
“So the question is,” I said, “what will you do with the information now that you have it?”
Ryan paused in thought and then fastened the few buttons left on his shirt. “Find Donovan.”
“Welcome to our club,” Bex said, plopping into the chair beside me. “I just talked to Kim. They’re on the move.”
“Kim. Our Kim?” Ryan asked, his eyes darting to me.
“Yes. She’s sort of the opposite of a demon magnet.”
Ryan left that one alone, turning to Claire. “It sounds like you left a lot out.”
She stood, pulling Ryan with her. “Yes. This is going to be like on-the-job training. Can you handle it?”
“So far,” he said.
“That’s the hardest part,” I said, turning to Bex. “Where are they now?”
Bex traded glances with Jared before he spoke. “We have to move. They have an entourage, so it will take all three of us.”
“Okay,” Jared said, nodding as he was lost in thought. “Where is Kim?”
Bex twitched. “Outside.”
Jared nodded. “Kim stays with Nina.”
“Jared!” I protested.
Claire pulled on her coat. “Did you hear Bex, Nina? The three of us are going. We don’t need Kim.”
“Ryan,” Jared said. “I’ll need you to stay with Nina. The only things you can’t handle will be protecting what we’re going after.”
Ryan nodded. “I won’t let her out of my sight.”
“You have your gun?” Claire asked.
Ryan patted his side in confirmation.
I threw my arms around Jared and squeezed, shutting my eyes tight. “Don’t stay away long.”
“In and out, baby. In and out.” He smiled.
“And don’t come back full of bullet holes this time!” I called after him.
The door shut, and the sound of the Escalade’s engine faded as everyone I loved most in the world traveled farther and farther away.
“Bullet holes?” Ryan asked.
“Come on,” I said, pulling him into down the hall. “Let’s find more comfortable chairs. This is going to take a while.”
16. If I Told You Everything
The rain beat against the window of the classroom, prompting Professor Sawyer to speak louder than her small voice could accommodate. Words squeaked from her throat as she struggled to lecture through the snickers and murmurs of the students.
Her words blurred together as I stared at the blank page of my laptop monitor. The nightmares were absent the night before, but only because sleep never came. The Ryels didn’t return home until just before the sun rose, and even if I could have ignored the worry long enough for my eyes to close for a moment, Ryan’s incessant questions kept me awake.
“So what if she gets shot in the head?”
“If I die and then Claire dies, does she go to Heaven?”
“What if I don’t die but I’m a vegetable?”
“Can she get knocked out?”
“So her dad was an angel? Can he see me right now?”
“Can Gabe hear my thoughts? Because that would be no bueno.”
His curiosity was insatiable. I finally lost my temper and yelled at him to shut up, but he only smiled and sat quietly long enough to think of more questions. For the first time, I was glad that Ryan was no longer enrolled at Brown.
I twirled the diamond ring around my finger, trying to block out images of what Bex and Claire had described earlier that morning. Their clash with Isaac and Donovan was short-lived, but had the Ryels been human, it would have been lethal. The vision of Isaac was so vivid and frightening in my mind, and the thought of coming face-to-face with him terrified me. He and Donovan had been commissioned to protect the Naissance de Demoniac, and because they were faced with all three of Gabe Ryel’s children, they decided retreat was the prudent option—but not before sinking four bullets into Bex’s chest.
The kitchen was a bloody mess by sunrise, and although Bex’s eyes were wide with excitement, seeing Claire pluck the remnants of bullets from his flesh left me, well, unsettled.
“Oh, to hell with this! Class dismissed,” the professor said in defeat.
I blinked, seeing the other students pack up without pause and leave the classroom. Once the doorway cleared, Kim stood with a smirk on her face.
“Why didn’t you come back to the house with the others?” I asked.
She shrugged. “Two papers due today. I still go to class, you know.”
“So how did it go?” I asked, following her down the hall. My feet scampered along her wide strides.
She shook her head, clearly troubled.
“Don’t do that, Kim. You’re the impervious one.”
“Taking Shax or Donovan and Isaac head on isn’t working. We need to think of another way to get the Demoniac. They know when we’re coming. We can’t distract them because they want nothing else more than that book.”
I frowned, wary of Kim’s uncharacteristic concern. “I still say we don’t need it. Your family had the book all this time. You have to know what it said. Didn’t you open it?”
“No,” she said firmly. “I was never allowed to open it.”
“What about your uncle? Your father? Between them and Father Francis, can’t we just get enough information for Jared to work with?”
Kim lowered her chin. “I guess you didn’t catch the part about how we weren’t allowed to open the book.”
“You said it yourself!” The words were louder than I’d meant for them to be. I looked around and then lowered my voice. “We can’t take it when they know we’re coming.”
Kim nodded, but her somber expression melted away as an idea lit her eyes. “There is one thing they would want more than the book.”
I shook my head. “No. No way, Jared would never go for it.”
“We need them to come to us. We need bait.”
“Think about it. He’s not going to risk my life to save me, Kim. And I kind of hate you for even mentioning it.”
“Hey, guys!” Beth yelped in her southern drawl. “Ew. That’s a horrible face,” she said, mirroring my expression.
Kim pulled a cigarette seemingly from nowhere and popped it between her lips. “We were just discussing how we would use Nina as bait to lure demons,” she said flatly.
Beth’s face morphed into revulsion. “What class are you guys taking?”
The corners of my mouth turned up, and I wrapped one arm around Beth’s tiny waist. “Come on. I don’t want to lose our table at the Ratty.”
The three of us carried our trays to the corner spot, and I couldn’t help but smile when I saw that Ryan’s chair had been filled. His friends surrounded him with wide grins on their faces. They all talked and laughed, making the dead silence upon our approach that much more noticeable.
“Look who’s back in to
wn, babe!” Chad said, standing to greet Beth.
Beth’s tray slapped against the table when she dropped it to throw her arms around Ryan.
“Hi, Bethy,” Ryan said, giving her a squeeze.
“Yay!” Her pageant-smile stretched to its limit, showing every one of her teeth.
To the others, lunch with Ryan was a celebration, but as the questions about his last days at war, how he got hurt, and why he’d waited so long to tell them came, I grew nervous. So did Ryan.
He stood. “Well! I have to go home and get the old uniform on.”
“I bet you look great in it.” Lisa smiled. “I love men in uniform.”
Kim rolled her eyes. “I’m out too. Let’s go, Nina.”
“Where are we going?” I asked, looking up at her.
“Yeah. Where’re you going?” Ryan said.
Kim tugged on my arm until I stood. “To class, Detective,” Kim said. “That okay?”
Ryan glanced at me and then shrugged. “Just asking.”
Kim gestured for me to follow, and we walked to the parking lot. She glanced up once but didn’t stop to explain why. Her long legs and quick strides had me struggling to keep up, and I was panting by the time we reached the Sentra.
The light sprinkles still falling from the grey clouds gently disturbed a large puddle near Kim’s car. She barreled through it, splashing my jeans with dirty water.
“What’s your hurry?” I asked, annoyed.
“I’m taking you to Quincy. We can talk to my father to see what he knows, and if he knows what I think he does—nothing—we present my idea to Jared.”
“But I have class!” I protested.
“Jared doesn’t show it around you, Nigh, but he’s desperate. He knows something is coming. They’re planning something, and we’ve got nothing. We have no idea how to protect you when we don’t know what we’re protecting you from.”
“Demons,” Ryan said. “Isn’t that all we need to know?”
“No,” Kim said. “And you’re not invited.”
“Well, that’s too bad because I’m coming,” he said. He opened the car door behind the passenger side and slammed it behind him.
Kim looked to me.
“Jared will follow us,” I warned.
“So?” Kim said. “He’ll want to know what my dad has to say, if he says anything.”
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