by C. L. Coffey
“Would you prefer I lay on top of the covers?” Joshua offered. He tried to shift further away, but didn’t get far.
“No,” I told him, firmly. “Call me selfish, but I feel better with you around,” I added.
Joshua shifted again, but this time, he shuffled closer, scooping me up in his arms. “Then rest. I’m going nowhere.”
I breathed him in, wrapping my body against his, using his chest as a pillow. Suddenly I couldn’t have cared less if the convent was full of high ranking angels who would happily throw us out of this building for this. Tonight, my charge was protecting me. His arms tightened around me, like a security blanket, and I felt myself relaxing into him, the pain I was feeling edging away as sleep crept over me.
Tomorrow.
I would deal with everything tomorrow.
CHAPTER SEVEN
A New Regime
‘Tomorrow’ came too soon. I’d fallen into a dreamless sleep quite quickly and when I awoke, although the heartache of losing Michael was an accompaniment to the regular dull throb of guilt that would always (and rightly so) pound away under my ribcage, physically, I felt better. Even my wrist had regained all motion.
I wriggled free of Joshua’s grasp, but only so I could roll over and face him. He was smiling in his sleep and the sight warmed me. Part of me wanted to stay where I was, wrapped up in Joshua’s arms, forever. But despite what Grace had said, I had a debt to settle with Asmodeus.
Fate once again seemed to have a different plan for me.
There was a knock at the door and instead of waiting for a response, Cupid walked into the room. I knew it was him as soon as the door started to open: last night was one of the only times I could remember him waiting for a response before entering. For half a moment I froze as I peered over Joshua’s shoulder at the brunet angel, then I realized that I didn’t care how inappropriate it was to have Joshua in my bed with me.
I propped myself up with my elbow, finally seeing him properly. It was early – the sun had only just started to make an appearance – but Cupid carried the tiredness of someone who had been up all night, rather than being an early riser. He also, understandably, lacked the usual boisterous cheer he usually had when he bounded into my room.
“Grace’s decision stands,” Cupid told me wearily, his eyes flicking to Joshua before returning to me. “Congratulations on the promotion,” he added, his voice void of enthusiasm.
“What was the point of that meeting?” I grunted, trying to sit upright without disturbing Joshua’s sleep. “The decision had already been made before I walked in the room and no-one seems to give a damn about the fact the two people who didn’t want the job were the two people who were lumped with it.”
Cupid shrugged. “It is what it is.” He closed his eyes and took a deep, shuddering breath before opening them again. “I need to tell the angels in the House what happened. I was hoping you would be with me when I did?” he requested.
Oh wow, I did not want to do that. But neither did Cupid. “When?” I asked, nodding my reluctant acceptance.
“Breakfast,” Cupid replied. “Let’s get this over with.” Breakfast! I hadn’t even thought about it. I should have been heading down to the kitchen already. Panic must have lined my face because Cupid quickly shook his head. “Your aunt is already preparing breakfast,” he told me. “She knows,” he added.
“Thank you,” I sighed. I hadn’t thought about having to explain all of this to Sarah either. “I’ll get Joshua up and join you downstairs shortly.”
Cupid looked at Joshua again. Finally, he glanced up at me. “See you soon.” He disappeared and I sank back onto the bed, staring up at the ceiling.
“I know you don’t want it, but it’s not the end of the world,” Joshua told me. Although the volume of his voice was low, he still made me jump.
“I thought you were asleep,” I accused, turning my head to find his blue eyes watching me.
“I thought under the circumstances it was probably best to pretend I was.”
I scowled at him. “I couldn’t give a crap who knows you slept in my bed last night,” I told him, firmly.
“I’m not suggesting otherwise, darlin’,” Joshua assured me. “I just didn’t want to add more things to your plate so early in the morning.” I relaxed back into bed, using my elbow as a pillow as I closed my eyes. I needed to get out of bed, but another minute wasn’t going to hurt. As if he knew what I was thinking, I felt Joshua wrap his arms around me, closing what little gap there was between us. “If you need me to go, I’ll go. If you want me to stay, I’m going nowhere,” he muttered into my hair. “Whatever you need from me, you’ll get it.”
Him. I needed him. To hear those words though, it was like he’d uttered a magic spell and transferred some warmth and strength to me that I didn’t realize I needed.
All too soon I extracted myself from his embrace: I’d promised Cupid I would be at breakfast. I hurried into the bathroom and into the shower. Under the warm flow of water, I gave my body the once over. For the most part, my injuries seemed to have healed, but lord, did I ache. There was a pink line on my upper arm where Valac’s sword had sliced me that hadn’t fully disappeared. Otherwise, there was little to tell that I had been fighting once the water had washed all the dried dirt and blood away.
Finished, I wrapped a towel around myself and swapped with Joshua. While he showered, I pulled the small free-standing wardrobe open and examined the contents. Half of it was full of my own clothing from before I had died – strappy tops, dresses and shorts. The other was the uniform provided by Michael – a smart gray suit with various short sleeved blouses. I pulled a suit on, frowning as I did. Yes, it was certainly more appropriate for a leader of the House, but neither of the choices were going to be right going forward.
Despite the fact that I was aware there were two Princes of Darkness in New Orleans, and that there were obviously other members of the Fallen, as well as nephilim, I had been acting like everything was the same. Only it wasn’t the same. I needed to be better prepared, and part of that involved what I was wearing. My own clothes offered no protection from anything. I’d gone out in shorts last night and I’d had various limbs end up with cuts, scrapes, and missing skin. The suits were smart but restrictive. They didn’t allow for the easy movements needed to attack or defend, and the heels that went with them were beyond ridiculous.
After addressing the House with Cupid, the next thing on my list was going to be getting something more practical to move in. Something that would offer a damn sight more protection too: I wasn’t sure there was much short of a suit of armor that would effectively protect me from a sword, but I could at least speed my reactions up if my focus wasn’t on how much my knees hurt from being flung across stone. For now, the suit would do.
Together, Joshua and I headed downstairs. The dining room was already full, and judging from the somber atmosphere, I suspected the angels already knew something was wrong, although I couldn’t tell if that was due to a lack of a connection from Michael (I didn’t feel any different), or simply because they had been summoned to a meeting.
Joshua made his way to Sarah’s side, standing near the serving hatch, while I joined Cupid at the front of the room where he was waiting for me. Raphael was standing with Paddy, watching me intently, but as far as I could tell, there were no other higher ranking angels remaining.
As soon as Cupid took a step forward, the room fell into an uneasy silence. “I…” Cupid’s voice broke. He cleared his throat and tried again. “We…” He turned to me, his eyes already watering up, and gave me a helpless look.
I sucked in a deep breath and stepped forward beside him. The only way I could say what I needed to was to just say it. “Last night, Michael was killed by one of the Fallen,” I said, bluntly.
I don’t know if I was expecting crying or shouting, but I was expecting something. Not the silence. This was worse.
After a minute which dragged on for an eternity, someone, a blonde –
I had never learned their names – spoke. “Michael can’t be dead,” he said, his attention on Cupid rather than me. “She speaks lies.”
Lies? Did the angels really think so little of me?
Within seconds the room erupted into venomous shouts of agreement. I could barely follow a conversation thread, but of the few that I did manage to catch, I was certain I was mishearing things because they were being pretty damn mean for angels.
“Enough,” Cupid bellowed. I jumped at the volume of his voice amplified in my head, and then realized why he had done it. Like he had hit the mute button, the room fell silent again; each angel staring at Cupid with their eyes wide. The only people in the room who didn’t seem to understand what was happening were Joshua and Sarah. “This house has been left in my hands, with Angel as my Second,” Cupid continued, this time verbally. “I understand that you joined this House under the assumption that Michael would be leading us. If you feel that you no longer wish to remain, you are free to leave now, without judgement. The other archangels have agreed to open up their Houses to any of you, and Raphael is prepared to take you there now.”
“What experience does she have?” the blonde spoke up again, once more refusing to look in my direction. “She’s not even an archangel. I have more experience than she does.”
“Are you saying you wish to be Second, Nyle?” Cupid asked him.
“No,” Nyle disagreed. “I just don’t think she should be. She’s been here less than four months and in that time, the cherubim have left and now Michael is dead. I fancy our chances better if she wasn’t here at all.”
I sucked in a breath, trying to keep the pain at that comment from my face, but certain I was failing at that attempt.
“The cherubim did not leave because of Angel,” Cupid told him, retaining the calm I was failing to find.
“And Michael?” Nyle pressed on.
“Michael was caught in a trap,” I said before Cupid could respond. “I did everything to get him out of there, and trust me; I share your belief that it should have been me and not him.”
“That’s not what I meant,” Nyle said, mortified, finally looking at me. “I would never wish anyone dead.”
“You would just rather it was Michael here instead of me?” I suggested. When he nodded, I shrugged. “Same thing, isn’t it?” The color fell from Nyle’s cheeks. “Here’s the thing,” I said, folding my arms. “I will be the first to admit that as far as candidates go for angels, I wouldn’t rank me highly. Candidates for leading this House? I’m surprised I ended up on the list to start with. But I did, and for some reason, this is what was decided, so how about we get through these next couple of weeks and then revisit this conversation. I don’t know how good I’m going to be, but I’ll try: I don’t want to let you down, and I don’t want to let Michael down.”
“It has been a long time since we’ve experienced the tragedies like we have in this House,” Cupid said, stepping forward. “But we’ll get through it, like we have before. We just need to stick together and help each other. Agreed?” There was a collective affirmative response. “Good. And the first thing that we can do is stop assuming that the chores will magically get done. You may not think that Angel is capable of leading this House, but in the last three weeks, none of us, and I include myself in that; have stepped up to help keep this House running like she has. We have all watched her cook and clean, neglecting her own duties, while we continued with ours and complained about the dinner menu. We are angels. That is not how we behave, and that is not how we will behave going forward.”
Nyle was straight on his feet. “Angel, I apologize. Cupid is right: we have become complacent.” He looked around at his fellow angels, before turning back to me. “We will ensure that we help out, and I, for one, would like to volunteer to help you in the kitchen.”
My mouth fell open as three other angels stood up and offered to join Nyle and myself. I didn’t think there could be any more shocks, and then Sarah cleared her throat. “One last thing,” Cupid added, nodding at Sarah. “This is Angel’s aunt, Sarah. She will be joining us temporarily until the media has lost interest in Angel. She has graciously agreed to run the kitchen while she is here, and for a period after.”
There was a polite round of applause but nothing could hide the heavy atmosphere which hung over everyone’s heads. The angels slowly began resetting the room for breakfast. I wasn’t hungry, my appetite MIA, and wanting to get out of the convent at the earliest convenience (now), started towards Joshua. I was thwarted in my plans by Raphael stepping in front of me. “We need to talk,” he told me.
“Now?” I asked.
“Now,” he confirmed. I nodded, indicating to Joshua that I would be back and followed Raphael out of the dining room. He led me to the gymnasium before he finally spoke. “I need to know what happened,” he said. “I’m sorry if it’s fresh and painful, but you need to tell me everything.”
“It was one of the Fallen,” I muttered.
“No,” said Raphael, sharply, making me jump. He held his hands up and shook his head. “Forgive me: I didn’t mean to sound harsh, but I need to know everything. Where were you? Why were you there?”
I wrapped my arms around myself and paced back and forth a few times, before finally leaning against the wall. “I was led to believe Asmodeus was up to something at the Port of New Orleans,” I started again, staring down at my feet. I couldn’t bring myself to mention Ty’s name. I still needed to process that, and now was not the time for that. “I went to have a look around and Michael joined me,” I told him.
With the events of the night before playing in my head, for the most part in what felt like High-Definition quality, I recounted everything I could remember; somehow managing to continue when my throat went dry and tears began leaking from my eyes, despite how many times I tried to brush them away with the back of my hand. Raphael waited patiently, motionless as he listened to everything I was telling him. “… And then he was gone and Cupid appeared in front of me,” I finally finished, my voice hoarse.
Raphael took a step to me, gently grabbing my arms. “Angel, this is very important, and I need you to think very carefully about the answer,” he said, urgently.
I nodded. “Okay.”
“When that train hit Michael, was he still in the trap?” he asked.
It took a moment to process the question, and then I felt my stomach lurch. “What?” I whispered.
Raphael’s grip tightened. “Think, Angel. I need you to remember. Was Michael in that trap?”
Remember? I didn’t want to remember that detail. I shook my head as the door to the gym opened and Joshua stepped in. “I don’t know,” I said.
Although he didn’t acknowledge him, Raphael seemed aware he was there, and moved slightly so he was creating a barrier between me and Joshua. “You do know,” he told me, his hazel eyes darkening. “You just need to think.”
“Hey, you’re hurting her!” Joshua cried. He was at our side before I could tell him I was fine, shoving Raphael’s shoulder.
“Joshua-” I started, but before I could finish, Raphael had released one hand from me to swing at Joshua. It wasn’t with as much strength I knew Raphael possessed, but it was enough to send Joshua flying. I didn’t think. I brought my free arm back and shoved Raphael. The force was enough that Raphael finally released me.
Raphael blinked a few times as he stumbled several steps back, his hands up in front of him. “Forgive me, Angel!” he cried.
In the time it took for Raphael to back off, Joshua was standing between us. “I don’t give a damn if you’re an archangel or not, the next time you lay a hand on Angel, I will send you straight back into the heavens,” he growled.
Raphael bowed his head. “It would not be anything less than I deserved,” Raphael agreed. As though remembering why he was apologizing in the first place, his head snapped back up. “Angel, I apologize for my behavior, but it is important you remember: was Michael in that trap when the train hit?”<
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“I don’t remember,” I said, the words feeling thick in my throat. “He was hit by a train, Raphael. He didn’t stay in it for long,” I pointed out as my body shuddered involuntarily.
We stood in silence, all watching each other: Joshua never took his attention away from the archangel, while Raphael was studying my face intently. Finally, Raphael nodded. “Thank you, Angel.”
He started towards the door, but I stopped him. “Why?” I called after him. “Why is it so important to know if he was in that trap? He was hit by a train.”
Raphael turned back to me, expressionless – I always thought Michael had the best poker face but Raphael would certainly give him a run for his money. “I shall be leaving the convent for a time. I can’t be here right now.” Instead of heading for the door, this time, he just vanished.
Joshua whirled around, frowning. “Are you okay?”
“I’m…” I returned the frown. “No,” I said, admitting the truth instead of the lie I was going to tell. “No, I’m not okay.”
Joshua stepped forward and wrapped his arms around me, enveloping me in a much needed embrace. “You want to get out of here?”
“Hell, yes!” I exclaimed in a sigh. “I just wish I could get out of here as quickly as Raphael did.”
And maybe not come back too.
CHAPTER EIGHT
Prime Suspect
Joshua’s car was parked outside with the SUVs and we took that, heading south. We didn’t manage to get further than Canal Street before Joshua’s phone rang, the ringtone blasting through his hands-free startling me. We both looked at the name on the display before Joshua gave me a sheepish look. “I’m sorry, I’ve a shift starting in an hour,” he admitted. “I was going to call in sick.”
I still had that urge to keep him locked away and wrapped in bubble-wrap, but I shook my head with a sigh. “You can’t not do your job,” I responded, begrudgingly.
Joshua gave me a grateful smile and answered the call. “Hi Leon.”