by C. L. Coffey
“Aside from the fact his eyes keep doing this weird thing and changing color-”
“The eyes of the Fallen do not turn black,” Cupid interrupted.
“Tempting as it would be to have the Winchester brothers helping out, they didn’t turn black. They went blue – a transparent blue, like eyes go when a person is dead,” I explained with a shudder. The four of them exchanged looks. “If that wasn’t enough, Leon admitted it,” I shook my head. “The thing possessing Leon admitted it. He called Leon a corpse, but he still has an aura, so I think Leon’s still alive, though goodness knows how long for, so we need to do something.”
Michael was on his feet. “You do not need to do anything. You need to stay here and allow us to take care of this.”
“Okay,” I said, surprised that he had believed me so easily. “Wait,” I suddenly objected as Cupid, Raphael and Paddy also stood. “What are you going to do to him?”
“Everything that we can to save him,” Raphael reassured me. “But Michael is correct: you should remain here. This is not something you have been trained for yet.”
“You’re really not going to hurt him?” I asked Michael. As upsetting as Leon had been recently, he had either done it because he cared about Joshua, or it was someone else speaking for him. Either way I didn’t want anything bad to happen to Joshua’s partner.
“What’s the first rule, Angel?” Michael reminded me.
Human life was the most important thing. The four of them disappeared from the room. I’d rather have gone with them, but I was certain they would do everything they could to save Leon. I just had to trust them.
CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO
Front Row Seats
I left Michael’s room the traditional way, ready to head back to my room and pick out an outfit for later, but I was stopped at the bottom of the stairs by Veronica. Garret, her apparent shadow, was waiting with her, arms folded and glaring at the wall like it had personally wronged him. I suspected he was imagining my face there.
“Have you got that ID?” Veronica demanded.
“No,” I responded. Her eyes narrowed. “But I am meeting Ty later, who will have it then. Have you worked out how to get into Bee’s?”
“You need to buy us a ticket,” Garret answered for her.
“One, probably. Two, maybe,” I told him. “But there is no way in the world they will not get suspicious if I buy seventeen of them,” I pointed out, rolling my eyes. At that point I really did hope there wasn’t a Prince of Darkness in there, because if this bright mind was my backup, I was doomed.
“Suspicious is okay,” Garret said. “Let them be suspicious.” He handed over a wad of bills – an amount of which was more than enough to buy tickets for the entire convent, never mind the cherubim. I couldn’t be bothered to split it – I was sure the full amount would be returned in a matter of hours – I just thrust it in my pocket.
“I get that you’ve been living down on earth for some time now, but honestly, you don’t have a clue how this world works, do you?” I asked him, rubbing at my temples. “Fine,” I sighed. “I will try to buy seventeen tickets, but don’t hold your breath. And for the record, the last time I was there, they just gave me a wristband.” I turned on my heel and made for my bedroom, shaking my head as I did.
“Well you’d better hope they give you seventeen tickets, otherwise you’re going in there without any backup,” Garret called after me.
I didn’t respond, but his words had me feeling nervous. He was right. I was going into who knows what and I was doing it alone. I waited until I was out of sight of the two cherubs before sucking in a deep breath to try to calm myself.
Sure, I was going alone, but I was also going into a bar surrounded by a bunch of people, and the last time I checked, the Fallen hadn’t been making themselves known to the world, which meant they probably weren’t going to try anything tonight. I was just going to scope the place out.
Or at least that’s what I was telling myself; conveniently leaving out the fact Bee’s was in the center of a sigil. Had I not made that stupid oath, I would have summoned Michael back and told him what I was going to do. No… I wouldn’t have. He would have stopped me from going, but more importantly, it would have stopped him from helping Leon. This was something I had to do by myself.
On my way out to Qube I made a detour to the armory. Hopefully I wouldn’t need it, but there was nothing which could have convinced me to go in Bee’s unarmed. I eyed the bow wistfully: I was more confident with it, and certainly better with it, but it wasn’t exactly discreet. I grabbed the sword, fishing out the two sheaths. The one for my thigh wasn’t exactly subtle either. I willed the sword into its dagger size and stuck it into the smaller sheath for my ankle. Hopefully I wouldn’t need it.
It didn’t dawn on me until I was rounding the corner onto Bourbon Street, that it was Halloween. Everywhere I looked, there were ghouls, ghosts, zombies, vampires, and women dressed in outfits which seemed to be a cross between an animal and lingerie. I spared a moment to reconsider the shorts I was wearing, thinking that a fancy dress outfit would make it easier to blend in, but quickly dashed the idea when I realized I didn’t have anything to change into, and at this hour, there wouldn’t be many things left in the few stores which were still open. Besides, there was a reason I had chosen this ensemble – I could move in it.
The closer I got to Qube, the busier this end of the street seemed to be. I quickened my pace, curious, and found that the street that Bee’s was on had been cordoned off – complete with a police presence. The crowd was enormous, and somewhere from the side of it, stretching up towards Canal Street, a long line was forming. Since when had Bee’s become that popular?
I stepped closer to a group of girls around my age. Three of them were lingerie animals – a cat, a rabbit and a butterfly by the looks of things – while the fourth was Lara Croft. I tapped the butterfly on the shoulder. “What’s going on?”
The four of them turned and looked at me like I had grown a second head. “Luke Goddard is playing here tonight.”
“Who?” I asked them. I think I might have sprouted a third head, judging from their shocked expressions.
“Luke Goddard,” the butterfly repeated. “He’s only the finest thing to ever grace this planet.”
A memory flashed to the surface of something I’d read earlier in the week. “The pop star?” I looked back at the still growing line. “How many singles does he have out?”
“Are you jealous?” Lara snapped at me.
I blinked in surprise and stepped back, my hands in the air. “Not from around here,” I told them, feeling the need to use and abuse my accent. “I don’t know the local celebrities.”
“What’s that got to do with it?” she demanded. “Luke has the most followers on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram and YouTube.”
“Not to mention his single is number one in every country in the world,” the butterfly girl added. She folded her arms under her fairly exposed cleavage and glared at me.
“Well think of me as one less person as competition for marrying him,” I shrugged, trying to keep my tone pleasant.
“If you’re not with him, you’re against him,” the cat spoke up, narrowing her eyes at me. At that point, I realized two of them had curled their hands into fists.
“Okay, this conversation is getting weird,” I muttered. “I’m going to go find his YouTube channel.” This seemed to appease them slightly and I backed away, wondering what the heck had just happened.
I slipped through the crowds and headed for Qube, enjoying the quieter atmosphere. Ty was waiting for me, my side of the bar this time. A feeling of relief washed over me as I realized Ty was wearing a pair of jeans and a grey polo shirt. He frowned when he saw me. “I thought you might back out.”
“I think we might have to,” I told him. “Have you seen what’s going on over there?”
“Don’t worry about it,” Ty shrugged. He reached into his pocket and pulled out a card, handing i
t over. My attention was distracted by the fake ID in front of me. The quality was amazing. Honestly, I would have pegged it for the real deal, and that was what startled me with it: the level of detail in it. He’d even used an actual picture of me. Judging from the fact I had bright red hair in it, I guess it was one he had taken himself.
“Wow,” I said, stunned. I turned it over in my hands a few times before looking at him. “Ty, this looks legit.”
“I told you I knew a guy,” he shrugged. He glanced around, before pulling me to one side. I frowned at the action – surely it would have made sense to have moved before he handed a fake ID over. “Are you sure you want to go to Bee’s?” he asked me.
“Yes,” I replied. “Though I don’t know how we’re going to get in.”
“Getting in won’t be a problem,” he muttered, running his fingers over his jaw. “Okay,” he added, resolutely. “Let’s go.”
“Ty, is everything okay?” I asked him.
At my words, the troubled look disappeared and he smiled. “Of course. I just wasn’t sure if you were a Follower.”
“A Follower?” I repeated, following him back out on to Bourbon Street.
Ty gestured at the crowd in front of him. “A Follower. It’s what Goddard calls his fans,” he gave me a sideways look. “You have no idea who Luke Goddard is, do you?” I returned his question with an awkward shrug. A year ago, I would have. Now, I really couldn’t care less. “He was given a record deal about a month ago after his video went viral on YouTube.”
“I haven’t really been keeping up with the charts,” I admitted, frowning. I didn’t know who Luke Goddard was, but the thing possessing Leon had – he was supposed to be here tonight.
Ty led me near to the front of the line before turning back to me. “Just wait here a moment,” he requested. I did as he asked and waited for him to go talk to one of the two burly security guards at the front of the line. He turned and pointed at me, the security guard scowling at me. Finally, Ty waved me over.
I joined him, surprised at the bitchy objections I was receiving from the people standing in line as I passed. Some of these people were way younger than me, and I was staggered by the language that was leaving some of their mouths.
The guard stepped back to allow me and Ty to pass, and we headed into the much emptier section of the street, behind all the barriers which had been put in place. I moved out from behind Ty to join his side, and glanced up at Bee’s. I ended up doing a double take and coming to a stop as I stared up at the two story building.
Hanging from both sides of the balcony were two banners which fell to the floor. Each one had a full length picture of a guy, probably a couple of years younger than me, posing in a black pair of combat pants and a black wifebeater. His hair was gelled up in a style which looked like it had taken a while to get the perfect look of bed hair, and his eyes were hidden behind a large pair of sunglasses.
I hadn’t put two and two together quickly enough. I had seen him everywhere. His face had been on posters all across New Orleans. I even remembered seeing him in Paris, including on the side of a bus. “That’s him?” I asked. So far, I wasn’t taken with him – he wasn’t my type at all. I glanced over at Ty and found him staring at me, his eyebrows furrowed. “What?” I asked, hesitantly.
“I thought you wanted to get in because you wanted to see Goddard,” Ty responded.
“No, I...” I trailed off, trying to remember what cover story Veronica had used. “I wanted to make sure the DJ wasn’t cheating on a friend,” I said, hoping that was right. Ty didn’t say anything more and instead led me through the crowds to the front door. “Oh, wait, I need to buy a ticket,” I said, suddenly remembering.
Ty turned back to me, an eyebrow arched. “A ticket? Tonight?” he laughed. “The only way we’re getting in here tonight is because we’re on the guest list.”
“We are?” I asked in surprise.
“You didn’t just expect to walk into a Luke Goddard concert, did you?” he asked. He stopped suddenly, and turned back to me. “Are you sure you want to be in here tonight?” he asked me again.
“Yes,” I replied, wondering why, after going to all the trouble to get me a fake ID and in the place, that he seemed to be trying to get me to leave. I stepped past him and moved into the bar.
Bee’s was heaving. At my best guess, the place had about four hundred people in it – downstairs, anyway. The last time I had been in here I had spent most of the time upstairs, and short of a courtesy glance around Hell, I hadn’t had chance to look around. Tonight it was clear the concert would be held downstairs. The room stretched past the bar to a small stage which seemed to have been set up especially for the evening.
The female DJ had been playing an EDM track, but when the song ended, she didn’t put another on. Instead, the room darkened and the girls around me erupted into screams which had me wincing. There was a surge of girls pushing forward to the stage, and I found myself separated from Ty. I fought against them, making it to the side of the room. I barely made any effort to keep an eye out for Ty – it would be easier to snoop if I didn’t have him following me around and have to explain what I was doing.
Just as my eyes adjusted to the darkness, the stage lights flared into life and the teenager from the posters appeared on stage. I glanced over, trying to see what the fuss was about. He wasn’t a bad looking kid, I supposed, but I had apparently aged ten years in the ten months I had been dead as all I wanted to do was pull his pants up and tighten his belt. Music started playing and the room erupted into screams once more.
I turned my attention to the wrought iron staircase to Heaven, figuring that if everyone’s attention was on the stage, I could head up there and look around. I took two steps towards them and a hand wrapped around my arm, stopping me. I glanced back, ready to apologize to Ty for losing him, but found Joshua there, giving me an unimpressed look. “What on earth are you doing here?” I asked in bewilderment. “You should be at Maggie’s.”
“I could ask you the same thing,” he hissed at me.
I folded my arms and gave him a pointed look. “I asked first.”
“My job,” he retorted. “What about you?”
“My job,” I returned. I sucked in a deep breath, ready to chew him a new one, when I had an epiphany. He was a detective and he was doing his job: trying to keep him away from here was trying to alter that fact. I wouldn’t like it if he had tried the same thing on me, so it was understandable he didn’t like I had tried it on him. I wasn’t a damsel in distress, and neither was he. Sure I wasn’t exactly a fully trained guardian angel, but he wasn’t a fully trained detective either. We were both learning, we were both doing our best, and we were both going to make mistakes. If we were to stand a chance at Joshua accomplishing whatever it was he needed to, then we needed to work together.
I took a deep breath and closed the gap between us so that no one could hear what I was saying. “I admit that had Maggie not called, I was going to come up with some way of keeping you away from here tonight,” I confessed. “Those murdered Potentials put Bee’s in the center of a sigil. A dark sigil. Me and some of the other angels think that something is going to happen here. Tonight.”
“Are these people in danger?” Joshua asked.
I considered it and slowly shook my head. “I don’t think so. I think they’re just an audience, although probably not to the show they were expecting. Paddy encountered something similar before and it’s likely the Princes of Darkness are using this to gain power. The reason I wanted to keep you away wasn’t because I thought it would be dangerous. It’s because of Leon. Leon is being possessed by one of the Fallen,” I told him, watching as Joshua’s eyes grew wide. “Michael and Raphael have gone to find him.”
“Wait,” Joshua said, cutting me off. “Leon is being possessed? Like with Lilah?”
“I don’t know who is possessing him, or why,” I said. “When I saw him earlier, whatever is possessing him confessed that he was in control of
Leon’s body. I think it was recent though. He said that Leon was the one who had decided that you and I shouldn’t be spending time together.” I frowned. “Was it Leon who sent you here?”
Joshua slowly shook his head. “My lieutenant. He offered overtime.”
I raked my hand through my hair. “Leon, or whatever is inside of Leon, said that you needed to be here. That’s why I was relieved when Maggie called. I didn’t want you to be here if something happened.”
“You think that ‘something’ is a Prince of Darkness,” Joshua repeated slowly. His expression told me he didn’t quite believe me. “A Prince of Darkness?” he said again.
I nodded. “Lucifer had six generals. Leviathan, Beelzebub, Asmodeus-”
“Asmodeus?” Joshua repeated, startled.
“Yes,” I frowned. “He-”
“As in, my lieutenant? Phillip Asmodeus?” Joshua asked again.
I blinked, ready to tell him that wasn’t possible, but then things started to fall into place. “That note you received, telling you Maggie was back at her house, when the hurricane hit… that was written by him, wasn’t it?”
Joshua frowned. “It could have been his writing.”
“He’s been the one sending you out to places where you’ve been in danger – like with Karl?” Joshua nodded, his face going ashen.
“And he had access to all the case files,” he added. Joshua and I had been investigating a serial killer targeting Potentials – Lilah and her Fallen accomplices – and the victim’s files had been missing key information that would have otherwise linked the cases together.
“How did I not see it?” I muttered, more to myself. Okay, so I couldn’t tell if a person was being possessed by one of the Fallen by looking at them, but he hadn’t even bothered to change his name. “We need to go find Michael,” I said, realizing this was something that I couldn’t take care of by myself.
Joshua, though still looking stricken, gave a resolute nod. I looked up, ready to weave through the cacophony of screaming girls, when I finally noticed the crowd. Around me, every single person was standing silently, swaying slightly to the music, staring at the stage. “Joshua?” I queried, but he had noticed it too. The crowd was too still and too quiet – like they were in a trance.