Pale Wings Protecting

by Lesley Davis

  Blythe bristled. “Daryl is renowned for her ability to find lost children. She has an almost uncanny knack for it.” She caught Rafe and Ashley trade glances. “What? What was that look for?”

  “Blythe, how much do you know about this Daryl?”

  “I’d trust her with my life, like I would you, Rafe.”

  “That’s good because there might be something more going on here than meets the eye and I need to know you’re safe. You’re going to need to be clear-headed when we tell you our side of this investigation.”

  Ashley rested her head against the back of the settee to look at Rafe. “Are you sure?”

  “Yes, I think she needs to be told.”

  Blythe stared at them both, confused and angry and more than a little uncertain what exactly she was being led into. “Rafe, please tell me what you’re doing here. I don’t understand any of this.”

  “Have you gotten any kind of feeling in this investigation that there’s something not quite right about it all? Like the fact your main suspect can disappear without a trace until she reappears to take another child?”

  Blythe considered Rafe’s question for a moment. “It is very odd, but we’re working on the premise she’s connected to an adoption agency where someone works alongside her to help place the children she takes. The kidnapper, who hides in the shadows so much, needs someone who can stand alone in the light.”

  “I love that analogy. You have no idea how right you are.” Ashley seemed to come to a decision. “Do you ever think that there’s something more than man’s depravity in the cases that pass by your desk?”

  “Like what exactly?”

  “Another influence, one not of this world.”

  Blythe’s eyes widened as she let Ashley’s words sink in. “Oh Christ, are you two hazing me as some kind of bizarre ‘meet my new girlfriend’ thing?”

  Rafe laughed. “Okay, enough of the pussyfooting around. Blythe, I need you to promise me what we reveal to you now you’ll never speak of outside this room.”

  Blythe stared at her cautiously. “What exactly are you going to divulge?”

  “That when I was attacked in the alley it wasn’t a man who tried to kill me.”

  “Then who?”

  “More of a what. It was a demon,” Rafe said.

  Blythe didn’t move a muscle. “A demon,” she repeated.

  “A demon who had taken human form and was living here among us.”

  “A demon,” Blythe said again with some impatience. “And is this now when you tell me just how much brain damage you incurred in that alley because the Rafe I know—”

  “The Rafe you know nearly died in that alley. The Rafe that lived through it came out seeing the world through different eyes.” Rafe paused. “Literally. I can see demons, Blythe. Real live demons that walk the earth and we don’t know they are here.”

  The white noise in Blythe’s head did nothing to help her process what Rafe was telling her. She really thought Rafe was losing it. “You can’t honestly expect me to believe you.”

  Rafe waved a hand at Ashley to take over. “Time for your party trick, sweetheart,” she muttered. “Blythe, I’ve found out that there are more things happening on this planet than I could ever have envisioned. You always said I only ever saw life in black or white. You’re my dearest friend, Blythe. I need you to know what we’re up against.”

  Blythe didn’t get a chance to question what the hell they were talking about. Ashley stood up and Blythe instinctively turned to her. In that instance, Ashley disappeared before Blythe’s eyes and in her place was Angelina Jolie, dressed in her Tomb Raider shorts and a tight top, sultry eyes sparkling and her full lips curved into a laughing smile.

  Blythe bolted up from her seat. “Holy fuck!” Her hand scrambled for the gun she usually had on her hip. Her hand found thin air instead of her holster. For an instant, she flirted with just passing out.

  “Welcome to my shades of gray,” Rafe announced dryly.

  *

  “Who do you see before you, Blythe?” Rafe couldn’t see the transformation herself. When Ashley shifted to take another form, all Rafe saw was a golden glimmer that made up Ashley’s “glamour.” Everyone else saw the person Ashley changed into, heard their distinct voice, saw no reason to doubt who it was they were seeing. But Rafe saw right through to the woman beneath. She’d never seen anything but Ashley thanks to the injuries she’d received at the hands of a demon and the subsequent poisoning she’d suffered that had altered her life forever. Her blood’s makeup now made it impossible for her to be blind to demonic or angelic forces.

  “I see Angelina Jolie,” Blythe blurted.

  Rafe’s mouth dropped open. “Dressed how?”

  “Shorts and a sleeveless tee.” Blythe shot her a look that asked why that mattered in the scheme of things.

  Rafe leveled a disgruntled look at Ashley. “I don’t believe it. You can conjure up Lara Croft and I can’t see it at all? How fucking unfair is that?”

  “It’s for the best, Rafe; otherwise you and I would never be alone in the bedroom.” Ashley rested a hand on her hip.

  Blythe had let out a startled gasp. Rafe guessed Ashley’s voice sounded exactly as it should for the body she was manifesting. This is so not fair! I want to see Angelina too!

  “Please change back,” Blythe said, staggering back into her seat with a thump.

  The golden glimmer faded so Rafe knew Blythe could see Ashley again.

  “What are you?” Blythe asked shakily.

  Rafe was pleased to see no fear coloring Blythe’s eyes, just an understandable uncertainty, and a growing curiosity. She knew Blythe would be too much of an investigator to let this opportunity slip by in terror.

  “She’s pretty unique.” Rafe spoke before Ashley could answer and received a loving smile from her.

  “I’m human, but with a twist.”

  “And this twist gives you some sort of magical powers?”

  “Kind of,” Ashley admitted.

  “Should I be afraid of you?”

  “No.” Ashley moved to kneel before Blythe and took her shaking hands in her own. “I’m one of the good guys, I promise. You needed to see for yourself that not everything is as it seems, and I’m afraid that’s the situation in this investigation of yours.”

  “Demons are connected to stealing these babies?” Blythe let out an abrupt laugh. “I can’t believe I’m even hearing this, let alone considering it.”

  “Blythe, I now see demons on a daily basis. My orderly black-and-white vision of the world got smashed to smithereens along with some of my skull in that alley. This is why we’re here. You need Ashley to find the demon that’s here. You’ll never see it, you won’t be able to detect it, but Ashley will, and she can put a stop to whatever its role is in these snatchings.”

  “Why would a demon want to steal children and pass them off to someone else?”

  Ashley shrugged. “That’s what we hope to find out.”

  “And what am I supposed to do with this information? What do I tell Daryl?”

  Rafe just shook her head. “For now, this has to be between us. With you aware of why Ashley is here, we can at least keep you informed of what we find and trade information without drawing the DDU into it.” Rafe smiled wryly at her. “After all, the D stands for Deviant and not Demon in the DDU.”

  “I don’t think your partner needs to know anything about this,” Ashley said.

  “I don’t like keeping something like this from her. It’s her case, after all.”

  “For now, let’s keep her out of it. Let’s see what turns up first before we start spreading the news of a demon infestation running amok in Connecticut.” Rafe stood and drew Ashley up with her. She directed her attention back to Blythe. “Okay, Agent Kent, you’ve had the show, now it’s time for the tell. Allow us to present to you a crash course in Demonology 101.”

  *

  Blythe was torn between utter disbelief and the inescapable acceptance of all
that Rafe and Ashley had shared with her that night. Part of her had wanted to say enough and just walk away from the entire conversation. The other half found it fantastical, mystical, and downright terrifying. Blythe had never placed much faith in religion and spiritual beliefs. To find out in one evening that both heaven and hell existed and that hell was spewing out demons that were out to steal babies was more than she could cope with. Distracted, Blythe’s attention was only half on the road. Something shadowy shot across the lane in front of her. She startled at the loud bang as something slammed down on the hood of her car. Blythe wrestled with the steering wheel, swerving to avoid hitting whatever it was in her path. She barely managed to keep the vehicle under control enough to stop from side swiping a line of parked cars. She heard a thud as her side mirror collided with another and was thankful not to hear the sound of breaking glass. She slammed on her brakes and sat hunched over the steering wheel trying to catch her breath.

  “What in the hell was that?” She shivered as the weight of her words settled on her. Rafe and her demons. “Damn her!” She scoured the sidewalk and the road ahead for any sign of what had run into her path. The road was empty as before. She got out of the car to investigate. There was nothing on the front of her vehicle, no clue left behind to show that she had almost hit something. The street was curiously silent. All she could hear was her own ragged breath. With one last nervous look around, Blythe got back in her car and this time drove with more care and attention.

  The lights shining from the windows of the home she shared with Daryl almost brought tears to Blythe’s eyes. She pulled the car to a halt on the driveway, and for a moment, she just stayed behind the wheel. Blythe could feel a headache building behind her eyes. The night’s revelations still thundered through her brain. She’d learned more than she ever could have imagined about a world she still couldn’t comprehend really existed. She’d listened to Rafe and Ashley talk about the existence of demons, explaining their theories about why there was one attached to Blythe’s case. Like this case wasn’t hard enough without this added complication. No wonder I lost concentration on the road. The smell of the food sitting in a bag on the front seat stirred her into motion. She got out of the car and headed indoors, barely sparing a look at the dent gracing the side mirror. She figured she’d gotten off lightly. She shook off her disquiet at the door.

  “Hi, honey, I’m home!” she called out more cheerfully than she felt. Her chest constricted with a pathetic relief as Daryl appeared out of the kitchen at the sound of her voice. Blythe hurried forward, not caring how it would appear, and pushed her way into Daryl’s arms. She felt Daryl’s surprise, but her strong arms wrapped around Blythe and held her close.

  “Hey, what’s wrong?” Daryl rubbed a hand over Blythe’s back soothingly.

  “I…it was just upsetting seeing Rafe and her injuries up close.” Blythe hated lying to her, but she knew she couldn’t tell Daryl the truth. How could she explain that things she’d thought were confined to matters of faith and superstition were in fact real and running rampant in every state? She’d driven home looking at everything in a new and infinitely more frightening light. And that didn’t begin to factor in the ramifications of it being a part of their investigation.

  “Was she okay?” Daryl steered Blythe into the living room and eased her down on the settee. She took the bag of food from Blythe’s unresisting hand and put it aside. Blythe loved how well she fit into Daryl’s body. Even though they were nearly the same height, she felt small in Daryl’s arms and protected. For a moment, Blythe tried to go back to the world she’d known. Before Rafe had tilted it off its axis and sent her spinning into free fall.

  “She’s okay, but I just realized how close she came to dying, and it was a sobering experience.” Rafe had told Blythe all she had gone through at the hands of the demon and the murderous poison that she’d had coursing through her veins as another consequence. The fact that Rafe could talk so calmly about it only served to amaze Blythe more.

  “Did you meet her girlfriend?”

  Boy, did I. “Yes, she’s quite a character.”

  “But Rafe’s happy?”

  Blythe thought about how Rafe had been. She’d faced death and stared a demon in the eyes. She’d had her brain scrambled in the attack and then touched by an angelic hand. She’d met a woman with shape-shifting abilities, whose father had been a fallen angel. Yet Rafe, surrounded by demonic influences and angelic assistance, had been the happiest Blythe had ever seen her all thanks to Ashley Scott.

  “She’s so in love. It was a pleasure to witness.” Blythe pulled back in Daryl’s arms at the sudden sound of a stomach growling noisily. “That sounds like someone needs to eat.”

  Daryl grinned sheepishly. “Sorry. I didn’t have time for a snack by the time I was done outside and then I found some things inside that I thought I could work on.”

  Blythe reluctantly slipped free of Daryl’s arms and pulled the bag close. She started laying out the trays of food. “Well, aren’t you all domesticated? Let me grab some cutlery and we can eat. I’m hungry too.” She went to gather the forks they needed and snagged a bottle of wine off the counter for them to open. When she returned, Daryl opened the lids and took a proffered fork gratefully. Blythe sat beside her, unconsciously wanting to keep her close. She hated the feeling of being afraid of the world. Being beside Daryl made her feel safe.

  “Did they say why they were here?” Daryl asked between mouthfuls of rice.

  Blythe hesitated for just a fraction of a second but remembered what Rafe had instructed her. Keep it as close to the truth as possible, then you can never be caught out in a lie you can’t remember. “Ashley’s here for an investigation, and Rafe had traveled down with her just for the hell of it.” She managed not to cringe at saying hell so calmly.

  Life really is never going to be the same again.

  “Where’s Ashley’s investigation?”

  “In the local hospitals, believe it or not. Seems someone is stealing from them, and she’s been brought in to see if she can work out who it is and where they are selling the items.” Blythe stuffed her mouth full of food. She figured if she wasn’t able to speak it might stop her from feeling so bad telling a half-truth to someone she cared about.

  “The same hospitals we’re looking into?” At Blythe’s nod, Daryl marveled, “Small world.”

  “Isn’t it?” Blythe said and reached for the wine, pouring herself a very large glass.

  Chapter Seventeen

  The streets were quiet as Daryl jogged. Ever vigilant, she kept a watchful eye on everything around her as she ran. The morning was warm, and she was enjoying the early morning sunlight on her face. There was a faint sheen of sweat covering her skin as she completed her regular course. For some reason, this morning she had decided to add another route to her circuit. Something was tugging her in another direction, and she had long learned not to ignore it so she continued running. Cranston Heights was block after block of impressive homes and affluence. Daryl never begrudged anyone their good fortune, but so many of the homes were so blatantly ostentatious it set Daryl’s teeth on edge. She usually dealt with those who were much less fortunate and much less moneyed.

  She jogged steadily, letting her feet pound the pavement and enjoying the ache in her muscles as she tested her endurance. Coming toward her on the other side of the road, she spied a woman pushing a stroller off a driveway. They were both heading toward a busy street, and Daryl slowed so she could cross it safely. She felt her steps falter, and her vision narrowed and focused without warning. The familiar weight pressed down on her shoulders, and she almost bowed under the pressure. Her sight zeroed in on the face of the baby seated in the stroller, happily swinging a wooly monkey back and forth in tiny hands. Camille Weeks, Daryl realized, as certain as only she could be. The pressure lifted and Daryl whipped out her phone. She held it up in such a way that it looked like she was reading a text and not focusing on the woman and child on the opposite side of
the road. She made sure to take close-ups as they crossed over in a lull of traffic. As they got nearer, Daryl looked up at the mother. She waved her phone at them. “I swear I get more text messages when I’m out running than I ever do in my office.”

  The woman laughed at her. “You can’t get a minute to yourself.” She tapped on the stroller. “I know that feeling.”

  Daryl smiled down at the baby.” She’s a beauty. What’s her name?”

  “Stasia.”

  Daryl’s mind whirled. Stasia, the name means shall be reborn. How appropriate.

  “Well, Stasia, you have a marvelous day while I try and outrun all these folk who couldn’t find their own elbows unless I told them to roll their sleeves up.” She bid good-bye to the laughing mother and picked up her pace to get across the road before the morning traffic halted her progress. She typed a text swiftly on the move, with Stasia’s name, the street she was on and what house they had just come from. She then attached all the photos she had taken. She sent it off to Trace. Within seconds, she had a reply.

  You’re up early. Nice kid. Anyone we know?

  Daryl texted back. I believe its Camille Weeks. She continued running, her mind whirling with the fact she had found another of the missing babies. She knew her running a different route that day had not been her choice after all.

  How do you know? Trace asked in the text that arrived next.

  Daryl read the words but didn’t honestly know how to answer. I always know my kids. I don’t know how or why, but I recognize each and every one. She thought back over some of her more upsetting cases. Dead or alive. She ignored Trace’s query and typed back a question instead.

  Have you identified the mother yet? She crossed over another road and began heading back in the direction of home.

  Some of us have only just wheeled into work, Angel Hair. I’ll get back to you once everything has been inputted. What are you doing out at this hour?