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The one good thing about adrenaline is while it’s running through your blood stream; you’re pretty much numb to emotions beyond the need to take action. When the battle ends and the adrenaline dries up, the wave crashes, and right now I was drowning in the thought of losing Valerie.
Naomi was doing her best to hold it together, but she barely contained her tears and the lack of response from our angelic relative was starting to bite at my already raw nerves. I reached out, lacing my fingers through Naomi’s, gave her my best reassuring smile, and brought the back of her hand to my lips.
Strength in the face of tragedy was not my most reliable trait, but I needed to put on the brave face for her. She sniffled and buried her face in my chest. I wrapped my arm around her and gave a squeeze, knowing damn well it wasn’t enough to erase the soul-consuming fear.
I had no idea who the other demon was, but I’d bet my fortune that they knew the outcome of Naomi’s tests, which meant Lucifer would soon know we had a trinity on the way.
Movement in the entry to the waiting room caught my eye and I moved my gaze from Naomi to the man standing in the doorway. I lowered Naomi’s hand and straightened. Her gasp followed as her eyes landed on the same view.
“Michael?” I asked. I wasn’t sure, not with the haggard being leaning on the doorframe. His slight nod kicked me into action and I dropped Naomi’s grip, crossing the room and offering him a hand. He glanced at the offer and irritation raked over his face but he took a hold of my arm and allowed me to lead him to the empty seat next to mine.
The young vibrant angel I had known for all my days had finally aged... a lot. His once ebony hair was almost pure white and lines carved deep shadows in his face. Even his hands were wrinkled and gnarled. It took me a few minutes to find my voice.
“Can you... help?” I asked.
He gave my leg a pat. “I’m sorry,” he whispered and his chin dropped. “As you can see, I haven’t had the chance to rejuvenate yet.”
“What happened?” I couldn’t help it, even though on some level I already knew.
He turned his gaze to mine. “I spent most of my energy on you, leaving just enough to make sure Naomi didn’t bleed out.” His gaze moved to Naomi and he offered the slightest of smiles.
He had performed a miracle. I should have roasted in the sun, or at least dropped dead from the amount of blood loss and crushed bone, but I hadn’t because Michael swept in at the last minute and saved both of us. I just didn’t realize what it had cost him.
I licked my lips and stared at the tile patterns traversing the floor.
“Will you ever...”
“Recuperate?” Michael finished my sentence and shrugged in a way that left my blood cold. “I honestly don’t know.”
“Valerie...” I started and fidgeted, picking at the hangnail on my thumb before I cleared my throat. “Valerie was stabbed.”
“I know.”
“By a demon,” I added.
“I gathered it was something along those lines, especially since she asked for your protection,” he said. “She wanted to make sure you two survived, even if she didn’t.”
“She...” Naomi started.
Michael put his hand up, stopping her from asking the question that swarmed my mind as well. “I don’t have any more insight than that.”
An angel without insight. Now I’ve heard it all, but I wasn’t in the position to make a snide comment. Instead, I sighed and pinched the bridge of my nose.
Naomi’s grip tightened on mine and I turned, something outside the window held her gaze. When I followed her gaze to the glass, my already chilled blood froze and my chest constricted like someone tied a complex and very tight knot with my lungs.
Outside, the crazy nurse I killed stood next to Valerie’s truck, staring at us through the window with a narrowed glare. She cracked her neck and smiled, and then her lips moved reciting the unmistakable name that would bring the devil to our door.
Lucifer.
The freeze in my blood turned to the burn of adrenaline and I grabbed Michael’s arm with my free hand, moving us with a speed I didn’t think I still possessed. It wasn’t vampire speed, but it was damn fast, especially while dragging an old man and my stunned wife.
I turned toward the belly of the hospital, looking for a way to escape our intertwined fates. My heart hammered in my temple, creating a beat my feet followed. The clap of thunder announced his arrival, but I didn’t even chance a look, instead, I found a staircase leading to the floor below.
It wasn’t until I stood in the sparsely populated cafeteria that I stopped. Both Michael and Naomi huffed, their faces as red from exertion as I imagined mine and I let them rest at the table near the door. Michael collapsed in the chair next to me and Naomi took the one farthest away from the door.
Her head dropped to the table and the rise and fall of her back was enough for me to grab the nearest garbage can and slide it under her. She spit a couple of times and then nodded and I moved the can back to the wall by the door. As I approached the table, the air in the cafeteria shifted and I stopped with my gaze locked on Naomi’s.
I didn’t need to turn to know Lucifer stood behind me, but I wondered if he was in the same condition as his brother. Michael stood and for a brief instance, I saw the fire flare in him, but it flickered and he grabbed the edge of the table to steady his feeble form.
I inhaled, and spun, facing the monster that was hell bent on destroying me. Lucifer stood before me in human form, but unlike Michael, he was still young. A bandage covered his neck and Eve’s burning form had left quite a bit of damage on the right side of the devil’s face.
His gaze narrowed as he studied me and then it transitioned to Michael.
“You fool. You gave him your grace?”
My skin flushed hot with those words. Michael’s grace? Holy shit. The old angel stepped to my side but I couldn’t look at him. I was still processing Lucifer’s words.
“Now all he needs is yours,” Michael snarled and Lucifer’s clawed hand shot out, puncturing Michael’s chest.
“He may have your grace, but I am claiming your soul.”
Michael somehow produced a smile. “My soul belongs to God,” he uttered.
Lucifer yanked, ripping the heart from Michael’s body. A scream pierced the room and the shuffle of panicked footsteps filled the cafeteria. Michael collapsed on the floor and Lucifer stared at the heart, mesmerized as the muscle’s contractions slowed until it was still.
I stared as well, unable to move, to allow my brain to grasp the death of my uncle or the words he uttered. It wasn’t until Lucifer brought the heart to his lips, that my paralysis broke and I stepped backwards, running into the table.
The beast ripped the heart in half, his eyes closing as he savored the taste and I shivered with revulsion. My gaze darted around the now empty room and back to Lucifer. He swallowed the rest of Michael’s heart and slowly licked his fingers.
“There’s nothing quite like angel blood, even without the grace,” he whispered. The burns on his face transformed before my eyes, healing and reforming to what he had been before the flaming vampire attacked him.
With blood dripping from his lips, he turned toward the cafeteria entry where an officer stood with his gun drawn. The smile that formed set me in motion. Instead of attacking, I turned, grabbed Naomi, and fled.
Naomi tripped on a chair and went down hard on her knees and I stopped to help her up. The boom of a gunshot cut off the crazy cackling laugh behind me. I pulled Naomi off the floor and kept going without looking back.
My throat pounded and burned at the same time and I stopped in the stairwell, leaning over with my hands on my thighs. A high-pitched whine filled my ears and I grabbed for the iron railing, steadying myself while I caught my breath.
“We have to get out of here,” I said, meeting Naomi’s gaze. She glanced at the ceiling and then nodded. Valerie crossed my mind too, but at this point, we didn’t have the luxury of a rescue mission. If we tried, it would put her right in the path of danger.
Another gunshot rang out and I caught my breath, blowing out a stream of air before straightening just as a scream pierced the air.
“Time to go, now,” I said and took her hand. We vaulted up the stairs and stepped into the back of the emergency room. Into a world of chaos.
We sidestepped out of the way, as a group of officers ran by and my gaze landed on the unattended truck. My hand slid into my front pocket and the metal of the spare key ring sent a jolt through my form that moved me forward.
Demon nurse was nowhere to be seen and I helped Naomi into the front seat and crossed to the driver’s side. Ignoring the red stain on the seat and the stench of blood in the small space, I threw the car in gear and peeled out, heading away as fast as possible. I expected to be followed, especially when I was driving like the truck was my Aston Martin and I was on the Audubon.
Naomi gagged and I glanced at her. “Open the window, it might help,” I said and then focused back on the road. I knew the car had markings, so we were untraceable to celestial beings. I wasn’t sure about demons or whatever else was out there.
I didn’t truly exhale until we were in the dark garage and the door had dropped the last inch and the whine of the motor above shut off. I climbed out of the vehicle and made it to the kitchen sink in time to feel the bile burn the back of my throat. The cold water I splashed on my face didn’t stop the onset of the shakes.
For a man who had dealt in death for so many years, this reaction rocked me to the core and I crossed to the table on shaking legs. Naomi was already sitting with her arms crossed on the walnut finish and her face buried in the crook of her elbow. Silent sobs shook her form and I ran my damp hand over her back, not speaking for fear of splitting into a million pieces.
My phone buzzed and I pulled it out, staring at the number.
“Fuck,” the word spit out, interrupting Naomi’s outburst. She stiffened under my hand and lifted her tear-stained face.
I pressed the button and put the phone to my ear.
“I will find you,” Lucifer’s voice growled on the line.
“I’ll be ready when you do.” I clicked the off button and put the phone down, shocked at how calm and cold I sounded. My hand continued the slow caress over Naomi’s back as I stared out the windows at the beginning signs of spring.
“Who was that?”
I pressed my lips together and flipped the phone over showing her the display with Valerie’s number as the last call received. I couldn’t speak yet; I was still dealing with an internal storm that threatened to become a hurricane.
Naomi leaned into me, laying her head on my shoulder. I wrapped my arm around her and set the phone back on the table. Every muscle in my form pounded with the same dull ache that overtook my head. Too much had happened in such a short time and I was still numb.
“I need to call Ted,” I said, avoiding most of the swirl inside me. I began to stand, but Naomi increased her hold on me.
“Don’t shut down,” she said and my gaze moved from the back yard to her deep brown eyes.
I couldn’t help the laugh that bubbled up and I peeled her off me, pulling away because with the laughter came a violent anger and I didn’t want it aimed at her. The tidal wave swept through me and I clenched my fists trying to contain the fury and the need to destroy.
Instead of addressing her comment, I stormed away, heading down into the basement. By the time I hit the tunnel, I was in a sprint, trying to run from the emotions wrestling for dominance. The trap door to the garage nearly peeled away from the hinges when I slammed it open and I climbed into the garage, with my chest heaving.
I let out a roar and picked up the closest thing, a socket wrench, and whipped it across the garage. The clang of metal on concrete just fueled my rage. A crow bar was next, but this time I turned, swinging it like I was hitting a grand slam. When the curved edge struck the side of my Ford 150, the satisfying give of metal reverberated up the shaft and into my arms. I didn’t stop there. Twenty-five hundred years of fury blew and I beat the truck over and over and over, ignoring the shatter of glass and creak of metal until my arms were too tired to swing anymore.
I stumbled back into the wall, letting the crow bar fall to the floor before I sank to the ground. I folded my arms on my knees and rested my head against them before the sobs overtook me. The rips coming from my chest echoed in the garage, sounding more like an animal than a human.
I don’t know how long I sat there sobbing, time just seemed to fold in on itself and it wasn’t until her hand touched the back of my head that I became aware of more than just myself. The soft caress of her fingers through my hair silenced me, but they didn’t stop the tears and I didn’t look up. Shards of glass and metal sprinkled the floor within my vision and I chose to focus on the prisms of light each piece represented through the sheen of my tears.
Her soft coo repeated in time with her fingers and when I raised my head and met her gaze, her bloodshot eyes told me I wasn’t the only one experiencing this profound sadness. In silence, I pulled her into my arms and just held her, looking beyond her at the annihilated vehicle.
When I finally let her go, she turned and looked at my destruction.
“At least it wasn’t the Aston-Martin,” she said, and I felt the smile surface.
“Luckily, it wasn’t the closest vehicle to the opening,” I said, my voice raw from my outburst.
“Feel better now?” Naomi asked and wiped my cheeks.
I took a deep breath and exhaled, before climbing to my feet and helping her up. I didn’t quite know how to answer that question, because, while the fury was gone, a fire still burned in the middle of my chest.
“I’m not going to destroy anything else.” I crossed to the closet and pulled out the broom, taking my time cleaning up the mess I made. Naomi took a seat on one of the stools lining my workbench and her eyes tracked my movement.
“Imagine if I still had my vampire strength?” I said as I scooped up the first of many debris-filled dustpans and dumped it into the garbage bin.
Her quick laugh echoed and I met her gaze.
“No, I can’t imagine,” Naomi said, her eyes still glistening with a sheen of tears. “You ready to talk?”
What was it with women and talking? I stopped mid-sweep and stared at her, weighing my reaction. “There really isn’t anything to discuss,” I said.
Her eyebrows curved and her gaze dropped to the remaining pieces of the car. It was her I-beg-to-differ look and I ignored it, returning to my task of cleaning up the mess I created.
She huffed and jumped off the chair, heading for the exit.
“Naomi,” I said a little too sharply and she spun.
“What?”
“I’m trying,” I started, and leaned my forehead on the broomstick, pushing the flood waters back down into the well of my soul. “I just need to figure out what the hell is going on inside me before I’ll be able to articulate it, okay?”
Her silence brought my gaze from the floor to her face. She gave me a strained smile and nodded before leaving me to finish what I started.