Captain Stavlinski looked out the window and froze. “Holy Sweet Mother Mary.”
“Is not impressed,” Aurelia said from her place, standing beside Mal, her hand on his shoulder. “She always hated crowds.”
“What aren’t you telling me?” Stavlinski asked.
“Oh boy.” Mary Beth shook her head.
“What is it?” he asked.
“Those are reapers.” I pointed out the window before flicking my fingers so that the blinds dropped again, to keep us from being spotted. “The angels chosen to take the souls of the dead and dying. Either to Heaven or well…you know.”
“Yeah, and you know that how?”
“They’re here for me. I’m sort of the devil’s youngest daughter and up until a tragic, and completely unforeseen, accident this afternoon I was also, technically, maybe their boss.”
“You’re what?” His face filled with stunned disbelief.
“I’m the daughter of the devil,” I repeated and pointed at Malachi, who was pulling on my shirt so that I was pressed against the bed rails. “Otherwise known as the once and future Angel of Death, as soon as I get my powers reinstated. This is Malachi, my dread demon and—”
“Your what?”
“Dread demon,” Malachi answered, his hands tight on my shirt. “Otherwise known as Commander of His Majesty’s Legions, Destroyer of Worlds, Rider of the Red Horse, Bringer of War, Guardian of the Last Bastion of Death. You can call me Mal.”
“What are you two?” Stavlinski glared at Mary Beth and then Aurelia. “Leprechauns?”
“I’m Faith’s assistant. Or I was. Now, I think technically I’m the crazy angel leading the current rebellions assistant but he’s an ass so I’m throwing in with her instead,” Aurelia said.
Mary Beth sidled away from him, pressing her back to the wall. “I’m actually the daughter of an angel, but I’m on Faith’s side since she’s dating my brother and all.”
“Engaged to him, actually,” I said.
“Really?” Mary Beth gaped at me. “So he finally asked? Thank the Alpha for small miracles at a time like this.”
“Have you set a date?” Aurelia asked. “We’ll want to make sure not to schedule any of the year-end evaluations during your honeymoon. Once we get you back into the job, that is.”
“Oh great,” Stavlinski said and ran his hands over his face. “The VA docs warned me it was possible I could experience some of the symptoms of PTSD because of the combined stress of Hannah’s condition and my upcoming return to civilian life. They warned me hallucinations were possible, but I didn’t believe them. I should have believed them.”
“Possibly,” Malachi said his voice cautious. “Although that doesn’t change the fact there’s a whole mess of reapers out there who would tear apart everyone in this hospital if they thought it would get them one step closer to Faith. So, you can have a complete mental break later, but we need to figure out how to keep everyone safe now.”
“Why do they want you now?” Stavlinski asked, his eyes trained on me. “What set them off today, specifically?”
“I may have accidentally, and totally unintentionally, triggered a small coup by the guy who thought he should have gotten promoted into my job instead of me.”
“It would have happened anyway,” Mal said. “If not the reapers, then the Angale when you married Matt. Then all the psychos would have thrown in together and tried to take power. So really, it was only a matter of time until you set this off with one of your harebrained mistakes.”
“Who are these Angale and why do they want to kill you?” Stavlinski said, his voice sharp. “Besides you being an apparently incompetent Angel of Death.”
“Hey.” I narrowed my eyes at him. “I’m not incompetent.”
“No she’s not,” Aurelia said, “and don’t make me come over there and beat that into your mortal brain because I will. I can do things to you young man that will make you beg to be back in Afghanistan.”
“So who are these other people and how did you piss them off? These Angles or whatever you call them?” he asked, ignoring Aurelia’s threat.
“The Angale is an army of angelic nephilim who sort of think that the Apocalypse is their party to plan, and when they’re not planning for that, they like to hunt demons in their spare time. Or they did until my fiancé took over and started trying to get them to try more productive alternatives.”
“Your fiancé is in charge of an army full of crazy, apocalypse-loving angels?”
“Nephilim technically, but yeah.”
“Let me guess.” Stavlinski glared at me. “You expect them to show up to fight for the other side any minute now?”
“One of them already has.”
“Brenda?” Mary Beth asked.
“Yep.”
“Should have known. She’s been spouting crazy bullshit about bringing about the End of Days and punishing all of us since my brother had her locked up.”
Captain Stavlinski raised an eyebrow and looked between us. “Do I want to know?”
“My fiancé’s ex-girlfriend. She didn’t take the breakup well.”
“Of course not. So you took some crazy chick’s boyfriend, screwed up your job, pissed off some angels, and pretty much caused the end of the world?” Stavlinski threw his hands up in the air.
“Jeez, it wasn’t like I did it on purpose and, if we can get this under control, it won’t be the end of the world—or Pittsburgh for that matter. We simply need to, you know, figure out how to stop them.”
“You know what? Don’t bother explaining any more of it. I don’t think I want to know. What about this doctor you said stabbed your friend here and then took off? Where is he? Is he prowling around outside, looking for a way in?”
“No.” I shook my head at him. “He’s gone.”
“You’re sure?” Stavlinski asked.
“He’s dead,” Malachi said. “Faith took him apart in a way that even a full-blooded angel wouldn’t be able to come back from. There’s no worry there.”
“So will you help us?”
“You’re kidding right? I did not survive three tours of duty in the ass end of the Middle East to come home and see my sick daughter get caught up by a bunch of raging lunatic angels with their halos in a twist. Hallucination or not, they disturbed my baby girl’s nap, and I’m not in the mood to hear excuses why.
“So.” He looked at Aurelia. “How the hell do I go about killing a group of crazy angels and where do I get the equipment to do it?”
Chapter Nineteen
“You’re not killing anyone,” Mary Beth said. “Not right now. Right now, we guard the hospital until my brother gets here, and then he’ll tell us what to do. That’s what Matt’s good at, after all. Telling people what to do. So we’re going to sit here and wait for him to come up with a plan.”
“As if,” Malachi said and pushed himself up into a sitting position. He swung his legs over the side of the bed and wrapped the sheet around his waist. “You’re going to find my pants, then the amazingly pissed-off army man and I are going to go rain hellfire and damnation on a whole bunch of reapers. Now hand me my clothes so we can start killing things.”
“No, you’re not.” Aurelia stepped in front of him and jammed her finger into the middle of his chest. “There are only two of you and a bunch of them, you’re not going out there and getting your ass kicked after I helped patch you up—again. There’s a ton of them—”
“One of my legions is already inside the hospital,” Malachi said. “They’ve destroyed the reapers’ advance guard and I’m sure they’re in the hospital.”
“You can’t know that,” Aurelia said. “They could have moved on to other parts of the city. They could have been captured by the masses going cuckoo outside. Hell, they could have switched sides and joined up with them. They’re demons, insanity is their natural response to violence.”
“They didn’t,” Malachi said.
“They could have,” Aurelia snapped.
; “He’s right,” I said, even though I knew it would give Malachi more reasons to go on the attack where the reapers who were threatening us were concerned.
“That legion is made up of some of my father’s most elite troops, and my brother, Tolliver, summoned them. He’s an idiot most of the time, but he wouldn’t have gotten demons that could be turned against us. They’ll be in the hospital somewhere.”
“That doesn’t mean that you and one legion can take on an entire army of reapers, with humans following behind them. You could be outnumbered. You could be killed. Not to mention, you have a hole in your leg from where Webber stabbed you. You can’t go running willy-nilly around fighting a bunch of nag—”
Malachi grabbed Aurelia’s face with both of his hands and pulled her lips down on his. He threaded his fingers through her hair and pulled, so she was leaning against him while he deepened the kiss.
Aurelia’s knees buckled and Malachi let go of her, a satisfied smile on his face. “That,” she gasped, “is entirely irrelevant to this conversation.”
“Get my things, please, so that I don’t flash Faith.” Malachi grabbed her hand, kissing the palm. “I’m sure she’d love a glimpse of a real man, but since I’ve been her bodyguard her entire life it might be creepy for me.”
“No creepier than hearing about your naked Twister game with Bassano.” I shuddered at the thought before turning around so my back was facing him.
“You were the demon Dad had the dirty weekend with?” Mary Beth said and I heard her sharp intake of breathe. “Yuck!”
“Do you want to tell me about this?” Aurelia asked. “Or do I need to go find Bassano and have a long talk with him?”
“Uh…” I looked over and saw the confused look on Captain Stavlinski’s face.
“Not that it matters for what we’re doing here”—Malachi shrugged—“but I can switch genders and we needed something to keep Mary Beth’s dad distracted. Like most angels, he completely loses all focus when confronted with a pair of large breasts.”
“What do you mean you can switch genders?”
The room grew cold and static licked at my arms as Malachi pulled on his powers. There was a faint flash of heat and my hunky male bodyguard now had a body that would make a Sports Illustrated swimsuit model weep with jealousy—and he still hadn’t bothered putting any clothes on except for the bandage around his leg.
“Wow.” Stavlinski swallowed and ran his hands through his hair. “You are one really hot woman.”
“Thanks,” Malachi said and his form shimmered and stretched, until he appeared as himself again, wearing a pair of black pants and a tight T-shirt. “But if I’ve got to look human, then I’ve found day-to-day this is a preferable form. My feet were not made for high heels.
“Now.” Malachi stood up and crossed his arms over his chest. “We need to get an idea of what’s going on down there.”
“Crazy reapers have surrounded the hospital and they’ve brought their pet mortals along with them.” I pointed to the window and left the duh that should have been at the end of that sentence unsaid.
“So why haven’t they come into the hospital?” Stavlinski asked. “They came after you once, didn’t they? That was the explosion we heard. Why are they standing there whipping the crowd into a frenzy? Why aren’t they mounting an attack? We’re penned in, if they’re going to make a move, now would be the time to do it.”
“They don’t have the strength to take on my legion. Which is why you and I are heading downstairs, Captain Stavlinski,” Malachi said.
“Phil,” Stavlinski said. “All things considered, I think you should probably call me Phil.”
“Right.” Malachi nodded. “Phil and I are going downstairs to check on my troops and get them organized.”
“I’ll go with you.” Looking past the ring of people surrounding the hospital, I could see that the streets were deserted, cars abandoned in the middle of the street.
“No. You smell like them now.” Malachi pointed out the window. “You smell like Matt and you’re mortal. I’m not sure they’ll be able to control themselves, if they even bothered to try. Besides, I need the three of you up here.”
“I can help. I’m the devil’s daughter.”
“I’m ordering you to stay here,” Malachi said in a tone that didn’t allow for arguments. “I want you to call the other floors and see if they need anything. We’ll go to the top of the hospital and work our way down so you do the same. Find out what they’re short on, and Phil and I will get it and leave it outside the fire doors. Do you understand me?”
“Yes.”
“Keep the other floors calm,” Malachi said. “Keep the kids safe. Find the rest of our family and find out what’s taking them so long. Make sure Tolliver knows that Lisa is safe.”
“Tolliver?” Phil asked. “Who’s he?”
“My brother. Well, my half brother. His mom is Lilith, the Archdemoness of Lust.”
“Satan named his son Tolliver?” Phil asked.
“Joshua was taken,” Malachi said. “Besides, you know how celebrities are when it comes to baby names. They can’t go with anything regular. They’ve got to be super special. So instead of nice normal names like Mary, Margaret, and John we got Tolliver, Hope, and Faith.”
“What about Charity?” Phil asked.
“She died when I was in high school,” I said. “Mom left the gate open and she got hit by a car.”
“I’m sorry?” Phil asked, his eyes wide as he stared at me, shock evident in his face.
“Don’t be.” Malachi closed his eyes before stretching his hands out. Two large swords appeared, one in each hand, their black metal blades glowing with a dull red sheen.
“She was the world’s worst Pomeranian. No matter what we tried the damn thing wouldn’t do her business outside and she was always trying to chew on my cowl. Bloody beast was an absolute nuisance. Do you know how many dog bones I had to use to lure her out of the yard and into the street that day?”
“I don’t want to know,” Phil answered and took the sword Malachi offered him. “Not that this isn’t nice, but you should know that I have no idea how to use one of these things, not much of a call for it now days.”
“You ever swung a baseball bat?” Malachi asked and flipped his sword back behind his head where it disappeared in the space between where his wings would meet. “Same principal. Anyone comes at you pretend they’re a very large fastball and lop off their head.”
“I don’t think this is a good idea.” I grabbed for Malachi.
“Yeah, that makes two of us,” Malachi said and instead of taking my hand, pulled me into his arms for a quick hug. “Then again, I’ve said that about most of your father’s schemes and we’ve all managed to survive this long. What’s one more harebrained idea?”
“That’s the worst logic I ever heard.” I wrapped my arms around his neck and squeezed.
“Yeah, well logic was never something I was good at.” Malachi shook his head. “Now, keep everyone calm, make sure they’re supplied on the other floors, and then find the rest of our family.”
“Be safe,” I whispered when he let me go.
“No worries.” Malachi started toward the door. “If you get a free moment, can you do me a favor? Tell Matt this is the suckiest engagement party I’ve ever been to. Who chooses End of Days as a party theme? I thought your mother was bad.”
He grabbed Aurelia around the waist and planted his lips against hers again. Instead of pulling back she wrapped her arms around him and dug her fingers in his hair, pressing herself up against him so that they were touching from lips to knees.
Malachi pulled back from her and I could see that his face was flushed. “Don’t die. Once this is all handled, we’ve got some things to sort out between us.” He grabbed Phil’s arm and then gave me a quick nod before the two men popped out of sight.
“Do I want to know what’s going on between you and my bodyguard? Or what might be going on in the future?” I asked.
> “No more than I want to know about you and my twin brother,” Mary Beth said.
“I have no idea,” Aurelia said, “but, it appears that even old demons can figure out when they made the wrong choice and come to their senses. Although it did take the Apocalypse so I’m not holding my breath that he’s gotten any less stubborn in the past millennia.”
“What do we do now?” Mary Beth asked.
“What Malachi said to do,” I answered. “There are two phones at the nurses’ station. I’ll take floors ten through six and you take five through ground. Once we’ve got a list we page Mal. He’ll find Tolliver and between the two of them they’ll get everyone supplied. Aurelia, go pretend to be a nurse and keep everyone else calm.”
“Are you sure they can do it?” Mary Beth asked.
“The Archdemon of Gluttony and the human manifestation of War, a.k.a. my bodyguard?” I looked over at her and shrugged. “Not a doubt in my mind.”
Chapter Twenty
My cell phone rang before I could sit down, and I pulled it out of my jeans pocket. Who was calling me now? I was not in the mood to refinance my credit cards to a new, super-low, rate today. Besides, how had they even gotten through? We didn’t have any service last time I checked.
I answered the phone and pressed it to my ear, not bothering to look at the caller ID. “Hello?”
“Faith?” Tolliver’s voice crackled and I rolled my eyes. Of course he’d make sure that our cell phones could somehow connect with each other, although, it had probably been J’s idea now that I thought about it. “Faith?”
“Tolliver? Where are you? Have you found Malachi?”
“What do you mean have I found Malachi?” my brother asked. “I thought he was with you?”
“No! He’s got me, your midwife, and my assistant locked in the PICU while he and one of my patient’s fathers went looking for the legion of demons you’re supposed to be leading to our rescue.”
“I got separated from the legion,” Tolliver said and the phone crackled.
“What?”
03 Before The Devil Knows You're Dead-Speak Of The Devil Page 17