I looked over at Cain, not sure what else to do with my brain. “I’d rather he wasn’t arrested.”
Michael nodded, snapped his fingers, and then he abruptly disappeared.
I gasped to find the passage of time abruptly returning to normal, making my head spin for a few seconds. When I glanced up, Cain was no longer kneeling in the center of the street. There were also no police sirens and no traffic, and the city seemed eerily quiet for a little after midnight.
I felt like I’d just stumbled out of a bar. I didn’t feel drunk, but my mind was beyond scattered, and I felt dizzy and weak from the jet-lag of hopping back and forth between Earth and…The Den of Ed.
I was also hallucinating, because I had been the alley’s only occupant a few seconds ago, but now I saw Cain napping on a stack of newspapers a few feet away, the sleeve of his linen jacket submerged in a questionable puddle. I squinted, fearing there might be some side-effects for a human hanging out with an Archangel.
“Hey!” I snapped at the hallucination.
He sat up in a blink, eyes wide as he jerked his head back and forth, panting anxiously. He spotted me, and his jaw dropped. “Callie! We need to get out of here! The cops are coming!”
Then he grabbed a bundle of leather at his side, shambled over, scooped me up, and proceeded to use his enhanced speed to flee the scene of the crime before I had time to tell him that the cops were long gone. The super speed informed me that it was in fact, Cain, and that Michael must have done something to get the cops off Cain’s back.
“I thought you were dead!” he snarled, leaping over something in his way, but landing easily on his feet. I closed my eyes against the blurring scenery, feeling suddenly exhausted.
“I’m fine. I just fancied a stroll through a garden,” I told him.
“Don’t go dying on me, now,” he commanded.
“I’m just disoriented,” I assured him, keeping my eyes closed. After a few minutes, he finally slowed, setting me down on the ground. He checked me over as I finally risked opening my eyes. The world no longer tilted or spun crazily. Cain’s eyes were bloodshot, and his jaw was clenched so hard I feared he was about to crack a tooth.
I placed a hand on his wrist. “I’m fine, Cain. Really.”
He stiffened at my touch, shuddering noticeably. “You scared me, Callie. Almost to death.”
I nodded guiltily. “I know. We saw…”
And I told him everything, sparing him no details. Especially about the Den of Ed.
He listened with a grim, troubled look on his face. He was silent for a time, processing it all. Especially which Angel I had spoken with. Then his attention drifted to the pile of leather he had grabbed before picking me up—he had tossed it to the ground behind him as I told my story—and he smiled, climbing to his feet. He shook it out before holding it up and posing dramatically. My coat!
“Picked it up on my way out,” he said, draping it over my shoulders. “Your purse thing is in the inside pocket.”
I smiled at that. Clutch purses were a mystery to the male brain. Was it a wallet? Or was it a purse? What secrets did it hold? At least I didn’t have to worry about an Angel patrol finding it outside the Den of Ed.
I nuzzled the collar of my jacket with my cheeks, practically purring.
Cain grunted in surprise and I looked up to see him frowning down at his phone. “That’s impossible. It says we have a few hours until sunrise…”
I blinked. “How long were you beating on the street?” I asked warily.
He shrugged. “About an hour, maybe?” I heard the cops approaching and then…” he scratched at his head, turning to look at me with an uncertain frown. “You waking me up…”
And I suddenly realized what Michael had done. He had sped up the passage of time, somehow hiding us in the alley long enough for the cops to lose interest in their manhunt for the nut-job who’d been reported pounding the middle of the street with his fist.
No wonder I felt so disoriented. At least Cain had been allowed to sleep through the experience.
Cain pocketed his phone, still trying to make sense of it all. “You were taken from the party about an hour ago. I’m sure of it. It should be just past midnight…”
“I think Michael gave us some help. But before I talk any further, we need to find some coffee,” I told him. “Lots of coffee.”
He nodded stiffly, still wrapping his head around the time-shift. “Let’s go, then.”
And we went off to hunt down the elusive beast, caffeine.
Chapter 14
I stared down at the silver charm I had taken out of my jacket pocket, smiling absently at the memory of a kiss as we walked through the pre-dawn streets of Kansas City. While I was still wearing my ruined gown from the night before, I now had my jacket to keep me warm from the cool breeze. Thanks to Cain. It was also nice to feel like I had more protection, since the coat was essentially armor, of sorts.
Nate Temple had recently given me the silver butterfly charm, probably not considering how much it meant to me. Not just because the man I liked had given me a gift, but because I had a newfound magical affinity with Silver—capital S. I had more questions about this Silver magic than I had answers, but I’d found myself using it more than my wizard’s magic lately. Often, without consciously choosing to.
I could call up Silver claws stronger than any metal.
I’d once used it to alter my vision into a chromatic landscape that had allowed me to see things that would happen a few moments into the future.
I’d called up a swarm of living, razor-winged, Silver butterflies—and been able to control them with my mind, to some extent.
I’d bound Nameless to my thumb, using liquid Silver to encase his body from head to toe, transforming him into a chrome statue—currently located at Roland’s church.
I’d recently even had a realistic dream—more like a futuristic vision—where I was crying Silver tears. Nate had been in the dream and we had kissed. I had later visited him in St. Louis and he had given me the butterfly charm, hinting heavily that he’d had the same exact dream as me. Creepily romantic, on both our parts.
Beggars couldn’t be choosers, so I had taken what I could get.
And we had finally kissed for real—our first.
Despite the cool breeze as I walked beside Cain, the memory made my face flush and my toes curl in my boots. Now, the little butterfly felt like a kiss in my hand. Always close to me. But I could sense a hidden power inside the little charm. It wasn’t just pretty. It had magic of some strange kind. Something wild and faint, but with the potential to ignite a figurative forest fire.
Cain walked beside me in silence, oblivious to my romantic thoughts as his eyes darted about, like my own private security detail. I noticed he kept his palm close to his hip, making me curious about what kind of weapon he was packing.
A car slowed beside us with the windows down, and I caught a snippet of talk radio as it stopped at a red light. “…murder suspect was last seen fleeing into the Penn Valley Park, and is considered armed and dangerous…”
The light turned green and the car took off. I frowned, hoping it had nothing to do with Cain.
“You didn’t murder anyone while I was gone, right?” I asked him in a stern tone.
He tripped, rounding on me with a startled look. “Of course not!”
I nodded, the matter settled. But Cain was now shooting baffled looks my way as we continued on. Hadn’t he heard the car radio? And let’s be honest, it wasn’t like it was a wild leap for me to consider that Cain had killed someone. It was kind of his thing.
I wasn’t that far from the park, but I was more interested in coffee, and already had enough on my mind as it was. I’d thought about Starlight’s never-ending explosion warning, but realized that I had no way of calling him. Bears didn’t have pockets to carry cellphones. Even if they did, I didn’t have his number. And calling the bears in Alaska would also do me no good because Starlight was here in Kansas City. He
was probably still high out of his mind anyway.
And I really didn’t want to think about meeting Archangel Michael. It made my brain hurt.
I continued walking towards the coffee shop, realizing that we had kind of turned the place into a regular part of our weekly schedules—meeting up at least once a week to grab coffee and maybe a pastry together. But we had never made the morning commute together, and it felt mildly strange, like we’d had a one-night stand and were now trying to maintain some semblance of normalcy. Well, an Angelic abduction was stranger than any one-night stand. Our usual was coffee with a few extra shots of espresso, courtesy of my two favorite baristas, Emily and Ramses.
We walked by a homeless man sleeping in the doorway of an accounting firm. He was using newspapers as a make-shift blanket, and this morning’s newspaper rested on top, the headline catching my eye, King Solomon Moves to Penn Valley Park. I flinched involuntarily at the mention of King Solomon, recalling my own recently discovered heritage—that I was descended from the infamous king—the wisest, richest man in the history of ever.
A picture below the article showed a snapshot of the exquisite new fountain—a large empty throne, complete with six steps leading up to it with a different pair of animals on each step. I averted my eyes as the homeless man stirred, not wanting him to think I had been staring at him.
Cain had dismissed the homeless man as a threat, knowing I could handle a mere human.
I saw the coffee shop ahead and smiled. Coffee would soon be in my belly.
We waited at a crosswalk even though no one else was on the streets. Kansas City was full of terrible drivers and I knew it was better not to tempt fate. Also, I wasn’t in a rush.
In the last fifteen minutes, I’d decided to change my life.
To focus more on living in the moment, relaxing, and fully taking the happy parts of this thing called life deep into my soul. Because my night had proven that things could always get worse.
And my talk with Dorian had shaken me.
Not even considering that Archangel Michael had pretty much said the same thing—that I was a wild, unpredictable, tainted soul held together by broken chains. Oh, and I was pathetic.
I needed to find my special purpose like Steve Martin in The Jerk. I needed to find my favorite lamp. But first, I needed to relieve the stressors in my life.
Step one, not risk getting run over by a commuter after my life-altering epiphany.
Step two, coffee.
Step three…
Feeling suddenly anxious, I decided to take my new life journey only two steps at a time.
A bus drove past, the driver not even pretending to hide the fact that he was checking his phone as he drove, proving the wisdom of my choice to honor the Patron Saint of Pedestrians.
“Doesn’t he know how dangerous it is to text and drive? Idiot could have killed someone,” Cain cursed, shaking his fist at the bus driver—who obviously didn’t notice.
The side of the bus was plastered with another image of the fountain in Penn Valley Park. Kansas City was known as the City of Fountains, so it wasn’t surprising to hear about a new one, but it was surprising to see it so heavily advertised. It wasn’t like anyone in the city cared.
Tourists might care, but the locals couldn’t care less.
The bus disappeared around a corner, the green walking man appeared on the crosswalk sign, and life rolled on. I led the still cursing Cain across the street, spotting the coffee shop ahead.
A few minutes later, I strolled inside the coffee shop, waving as I saw Ramses and Emily behind the counter. Ramses arched a brow at my torn, stained dress, and then grinned like a lecher upon seeing Cain stroll in behind me in his rumpled linen suit. I scowled, shaking my head, but I wasn’t about to defend my virtue from across the lobby of an open coffee shop. Cain strolled past me, pointing at a table near the window as he pressed on to the counter to pick up our drinks. “Morning, robots,” I called out to Emily and Ramses.
“Greetings, human scum,” Emily replied, smiling at my comment even though she didn’t look up from the espresso machine. “We put extra tar in yours.”
“Thank God.”
I made my way over to the chair and sat down with a sigh. Two businessmen were speaking about the fountain in a desultory fashion, something to lube up the old brain muscle before they kick-started their mental faculties to get down to real business. I saw today’s newspaper before them, cringed at the image of the fountain, and turned to look out the window at the street. Cain strolled up behind me a few minutes later, setting a cup down before me. For the first time, I noticed his cuffs were blood-stained.
“Your friends gave me quite the silent ovation,” he said, rolling his eyes.
I glanced over my shoulder to make sure he hadn’t murdered them. “Can’t blame them. I mean, look at us,” I said, indicating our tattered evening attire. “Must have been a helluva romp.”
He waved a hand dismissively, sitting down. “I don’t see you like that. You’re beautiful and all, toots, but after last night…” he trailed off, noting how close the two businessmen sat to us. “Well, you’re like a sister to me.”
I didn’t say the obvious—that sibling love from Cain might not be that reassuring—but the pain in his eyes let me know he had already considered the dubiousness of the statement and was trying to be serious.
The businessmen behind us were commenting on the apparent manhunt at Penn Valley Park. I frowned absently, turning my chair slightly to face Cain.
“Did you get anywhere with those women at the party?” I asked.
“They never had a chance,” he replied, rolling his eyes. “Before this morning, I was bored. Now, I’m wondering if I should have stayed bored.”
“You’ve been bored? Why?”
“Dorian has been too busy to hang out and I’m dying inside.”
I rolled my eyes. “I’m sure you’ll find a reason to continue living. Try focusing on the positive,” I suggested. “I need to make some phone calls about last night. People are probably concerned about me.”
Cain made an awkward sound. The look on his face told me he needed to hit me with some truths I wouldn’t like to hear. “That’s a little complicated…” he began, fidgeting slightly with his cup. “You see, no one actually saw what happened. Well, they noticed the gaping hole in the window, but no one actually saw you jump. They just freaked out, thinking you had thrown your magic around, knocked a bunch of people down, and then blown out a window before running out the door.”
I blinked at him, remembering how time had slowed while everyone was busy staring at Le Bone, waiting for him to speak. “Then how did you know?”
“I caught a glimpse of you right as you jumped. And I recognized them,” he said meaningfully, implying the Angels. “It wasn’t hard to put two-and-two together…” He took a sip of his coffee. “I was the first to look down at the street, and I recognized the runes. And the still-rippling concrete…”
I gave him a crooked, thankful smile. “Thank you.”
He smiled back faintly, shrugging off the compliment. “I asked around, but no one saw you leave the room, and by the time they looked out the window, there were no runes or bodies on the street, just debris.”
I tapped my cup with my fingernails, frowning. “They think I snapped, blew some shit up, and then ran away? So, I’m a crazy person…”
Cain sipped his coffee loudly, refusing to comment.
I scowled at him, letting out a breath. “Wow,” I finally said, leaning back in my seat. “So, what do I tell everyone? Sorry for crashing the party? I had some bad lobster bisque? And what about you punching the street like a crazy person? I’m sure plenty of people saw that!”
Cain’s cheeks flushed. “Well, you see, there’s a story to that. A long story…” he quickly averted his eyes under my sudden glare. “I…acquired a potion—the how doesn’t really matter, per se—that could throw up a flawless, but temporary, veil. All anyone saw was a stalled truck blo
cking the center of the street…”
I grunted doubtfully, not knowing which question to ask first. I was mighty curious to hear how he had gotten the potion, but also how the potion had made him look like a truck, of all things. By the way he was acting—still blushing and not meeting my eyes—I began to wonder just who he had gotten the potion from. And why he was embarrassed about the acquisition.
“Why are you blush—
He shook his head and immediately cut me off. “Nope. I’m not going to talk about her—” he coughed outrageously in a poor attempt to cover up his slip, causing the businessmen to turn and look back at us to make sure Cain wasn’t choking to death. They looked more annoyed than concerned, though.
I grinned at Cain’s discomfort, waving off their concern absently as I leveled Cain with a predatory smirk. “Oh, I think I really want to hear about her…”
His cheeks were almost purple as he took another long drink. “All that matters is that no one saw me losing my shit in the middle of the street, and no one saw the…saw Michael take you. Haven was already shouting to arrest Le Bone when I grabbed your coat and ran to the elevator. He didn’t want to wait to get Le Bone in chains in case he was behind the chaos somehow. Everyone else was too busy whispering about…how you went postal,” he admitted with a wince.
I slumped in my chair, both disappointed that he hadn’t spilled the beans and that my already scary reputation had taken a turn for the worse.
“Damn. Those are going to be some awkward phone calls…” I finally said.
I took another sip of my drink, wondering which two steps I wanted to tackle next. The phone calls would wait. I wanted to think about my story, first. I knew I couldn’t delay too long, but the sun wasn’t even up yet. I had time.
Cain cleared his throat pointedly. “I think you should call Roland first. Maybe don’t delay…”
I frowned. “Why do you say that?” I asked, not liking the uncomfortable look on his face.
Cain thought about it, frowning himself. “The minute he saw you were gone…” he trailed off, shaking his head. “Something inside of him snapped, Callie. It was a subtle thing. Like a frozen pond’s first crack in the spring. It was like he was standing in an empty room, staring at nothing. If Haven hadn’t snapped him out of it to help with Le Bone…” He watched me, gauging my reaction. “I’ve seen that look before, Callie. It usually prefaces a massacre. Trust me. You need to call him before you call anyone else.”
Feathers and Fire Series Box Set 2 Page 36