Grace
At first I was mad that Noah could hurt me like that, but now I consider it progress. After all, he noticed the shell, and he wanted it. He wanted that connection between us. And if he pushed me away? Fine. It means I affect him. He cares. He just hasn’t realized how much yet.
Immediately, I start to second-guess. Noah wouldn’t even look at me until the moment he stole the comb. Maybe my plan isn’t really working. I don’t get to see him often, and it’ll be all but impossible to save him if he won’t even talk to me. And I need to save him from making the worst mistake of his life. He can still choose to be good and not Lucifer’s minion. I know it.
I gave up Heaven for him.
I gave up Josh.
Kicking at the gravel on the side of the road, I watch as a few pebbles scatter over the asphalt. The sun beats down from the clear Nevada sky, but I still keep my arms wrapped around myself. I feel naked in these Daisy Dukes and off-the-shoulder top; it’s so see-through I may as well not be wearing it. Undergarments would help, but I have none. It’s all part of Lucifer’s plan to shame me into submission. And I’ll let him think it’s working as long as he continues to allow me access to Noah—whatever his reasons. I’ll make Noah listen next time. Somehow.
I hear the caw of a raven and pull out my cell to check the time: 9:22 a.m. Despite my stilettos, I have to reach the closest rest stop sign in the next six minutes and then step out onto the road. Those are my instructions. Easy enough. Lucifer assured me the car would stop before hitting me. Of course, I can’t die, but I can still feel pain. Anyway, death isn’t the goal—the goal is to delay this guy from reaching Vegas on time so he can’t stop the woman he loves from getting married. It’s all very soap opera-esque.
The whole scenario makes me feel icky. I don’t like ruining this guy’s life. Still, true love isn’t always enough. I ought to know.
Lucifer’s instructed me to seduce Josh the moment I see him so that he’ll fall from Heaven. And despite my own insistence that Josh stay in Heaven and away from me, I can’t help but selfishly hope he won’t listen. But he hasn’t been on Earth since I fell. I keep reminding myself that's a good thing—he doesn’t deserve Hell. Lucifer seems pretty sure he’ll show up, though. He even set an alarm on my phone. It’ll play “Highway to Hell” when Josh makes an appearance, and when that happens, I’m to drop whatever I’m doing and go.
I stopped checking my phone after about a week. It’s been twice that. I hate myself for still wanting it to ring in spite of everything.
Right on schedule, I arrive at the rest stop sign. The sound of a motor rumbles down the highway, and I take a deep breath. This scene reminds me of my own demise. I’m sure that’s no accident on Lucifer’s part. He loves adding extra meaning to everything he can. “Layering,” he calls it.
My pointed heels nearly trip me up for real as I pretend to stumble near the thick white line of the shoulder. I see the car now, and it takes concentration not to follow my instincts and pull myself back.
But no, I play the good little Demon and fall on my hands and knees in the street, managing to skin myself in the process. Yet one more thing I’m sure Lucifer intended when he picked out my outfit.
Screeching brakes. The smell of burnt rubber. I close my eyes, waiting to be struck like the last time I was in this position. Except I fell that time because Irma Alvarez pushed me—and it was Josh who ran me over and put this chain of events into motion.
The sounds stop, and a breeze picks up the small hairs at the nape of my neck, the rest having spilled over my shoulders in front of me. I open my eyes and find the bumper an inch from my face.
“Are you okay? Oh my Lord. Oh, I can’t believe this. I’m so sorry. I’m so—are you okay? Can you stand?” The man keeps falling over his words as he helps me up. I brush off my hands and knees, where dirt and a few small rocks have worked their way inside my wounds to mix with blood.
“I’m fine,” I say. It’s the truth. These scrapes and bruises are nothing compared to what I’ve been through, and they’ll heal in a few minutes. “You were in a hurry,” I say, meeting his eyes.
He’s about twenty, younger than I expected, with light-brown hair and gray eyes. He’s nice-looking. I wonder why the girl he loves ran off with another guy but shake off the thought. I don’t know anything about him or her or what happened between them, and I don’t want to. The more I know, the more I’ll care, and it will only make me feel worse about what Lucifer’s making me do.
“Yeah. Yeah, but you—are you sure you’re okay?” He gives me a once-over. His eyes linger on the wounds on my legs then travel up to my chest and the nearly transparent fabric covering it.
I pull my hair down in front of me and twist it in my hands. It not only comforts me—it also blocks his view.
Layering.
“I have to go. If you’re sure you don’t need a ride to the hospital or anything?” He backs away a little, toward the car.
I guess it’s a nice enough response. I would’ve insisted on calling 9-1-1, but then again, I seem unharmed, and he didn’t actually hit me. “No thanks. Go ahead.” I step back toward the shoulder. Maybe if he hurries, my ruse won’t have worked, and he’ll make it. Maybe Heaven sent an Angel to pose as Elvis and delay the marriage.
Yeah, right. Heaven doesn’t interfere, even when you beg.
“What’s your name?” he asks, one leg already in the vehicle.
“Scarlet,” I say. Why not? I’m a Demon now, and one little lie won’t hurt anyone.
He smiles. “See ya, Scarlet. Be careful out here on your own.”
Moments later he speeds off down Highway 15, leaving me in the dust.
I wait for a few minutes—for what, I’m not sure. Lucifer to appear and give me my next assignment, I suppose. But why would he when he can make me suffer by leaving me in the middle of the desert?
I’m going to need some sunglasses, water, and other supplies. I can already feel a burn starting on my shoulders and the backs of my legs. I may be a Demon, but my body still behaves like it’s alive.
The cellphone weighs heavy in my pocket. When I was alive, I would have called a friend like Em to pick me up. That feels like ages ago, even though it’s been less than a year. And I can’t call Josh, that’s for sure.
Pulling out the phone, I open the map to check my location. There’s nowhere close to walk, and Lucifer has only given me the power to disappear and reappear when summoned. Keira can disappear and reappear wherever she likes.
Well, there it is. The answer I’m avoiding.
I press the only name on speed-dial and wait for voicemail to pick up.
“Leave a message or suffer my wrath.”
“It’s me,” I say. “Lucifer left me stranded in the Nevada desert. I could use a ride and some sunscreen.” I press END and stare at the black screen for a full minute. Am I waiting for Keira’s ring or “Highway to Hell”? I’m not sure.
Damn it. Why do I even want to try to seduce Josh? I purposely asked him to stay away so he wouldn’t fall. Someone should get to stay in Heaven. Someone who actually enjoys it.
Plus, maybe—just maybe—he’ll find a way to save Noah from his “fate.” I don’t believe in fate—not anymore. Mr. Griffith said I belong in Heaven, but he threw me out for breaking the rules. So why should I believe?
Shoving the phone back in my pocket, I heave a sigh and start walking down the deserted highway toward Vegas. It’s the fastest way to civilization.
After walking a mile down the road, I’m about to take off my shoes and fling them toward the Joshua trees when I hear the roar of a motor from behind. I shove out my thumb and turn toward the oncoming car. I fling my hair back over my shoulder, leaving my legs and chest in full view. I’m desperate.
The black Vette pulls over, top down, and Keira grins at me from the driver’s seat. She lowers her Louis Vuitton sunglasses an inch and pouts her ruby lips. “You rang?”
“What took you so long?” I ask, yanking open the passenger door and climbing in.
“I was in the middle of something. I have an afterlife, you know.” She tosses me a can of sunscreen, pulls out a small gold lipstick tube, and begins lathering her lips despite the fact that they already look perfect. “That stuff stinks,” she complains, wrinkling her tiny nose at me while I spray my shoulders.
“You could’ve brought the lotion kind,” I say.
She throws the car into gear, making my seatbelt snap back up so I have to start buckling all over again. “I didn’t want you sliding around on my seats. It dulls the leather interior.”
Music blares through the stereo system as we speed down the road to who-knows-where. I don’t feel like asking. I don’t feel like talking at all. Keira obliges. She’s focused on belting out the soundtrack to Chicago, oddly enough.
Pretty soon, Vegas comes into view. I’ve never been before, but there’s no mistaking the cluster of buildings. There’s so much activity that the whole scene appears to move and change right before my eyes. Giant billboards announce attractions and hotels, featuring sexy women in ball gowns and bikinis, famous entertainers, or more sexy women in bizarre costumes and poses.
Keira turns down the volume and inhales deeply. “Vegas, baby. I can smell the debauchery.”
I shift, uncomfortable on the sweaty leather seat despite the air blasting from the dash. “Not my thing.”
Keira sneers. “There’s something for everyone in Vegas. But no worries, Gracie, I’m sure Lucifer will call for you soon enough.”
I beat my head back against the headrest and exhale loudly. “I saw him,” I say. “Noah.”
The car screeches to a halt on the shoulder, kicking up a dust cloud behind us. “When? How is he?” Keira leans across the stick shift to interrogate me. She lowers her designer sunglasses, and her dark eyes reflect concern and something else. Maybe longing.
“Good, I guess. He’s got a throne room like Lucifer’s right in my own house. Apparently no one else can see it for what it is. Lucifer offered me up as a servant, but he sent me away. He didn’t want me. He wanted you.” I try not to sound bitter.
“Me? He asked for me?” Keira’s voice grows shrill with excitement and a healthy dose of fear. We both know her feelings for Noah must remain a secret from Lucifer.
“Lucifer said no,” I tell her. Keira sinks back into her seat, looking defeated, but she straightens up quickly, as if it never happened. “How’s it going with Randy?” I ask about her current assignment, an extremely hot guy meant to make her forget about my brother. She pulls back out onto the road, cutting off another car and quickly leaving it far behind.
She shrugs. “Boring, but nothing I can’t handle.”
We remain silent as she pulls into the valet at the newest and most expensive casino there is. Lavish waterfalls and fountains dance in time to the music that seems to come from all around us as we walk between and beneath the spouts of water toward the enormous glass doors.
I can’t help but think that Keira looks like she belongs here as she struts confidently through the entrance and up to the front of the VIP line. Me? I feel just as lost as ever, trailing behind. I wonder if somehow that man was able to make it on time to stop the wedding. Maybe the girl didn’t want to see him. Maybe it was a good thing I delayed him.
But it can’t be good if Lucifer wanted it to happen. The more I let myself dwell on what I do for Lucifer, the worse I feel, and yet I can’t seem to stop myself no matter how hard I try.
Keira grins at the man behind the counter, who she’s obviously just glamoured, and hands me a golden keycard. “It’s the penthouse suite,” she says with a wink, and leads me off toward the giant elevators encircling a fenced-off atrium, where a large white tiger rests on top of a flat rock, chewing on a hunk of meat.
“Nice kitty,” Keira says with a whistle as we enter one of the glass lifts.
“Isn’t it dangerous to keep it in the middle of a crowded hotel?” I ask, unable to tear my eyes away from the rapidly shrinking form below.
“Probably. But they have state-of-the-art security. And insurance.” Keira pushes the button repeatedly, as though we aren’t traveling fast enough for her taste.
“I feel bad for him,” I say as the doors open to a sweeping hallway flanked by floor-to-ceiling windows. I’m glad I’m not afraid of heights; there’s only a nearly invisible glass wall between myself and the view. We’re thirty-eight stories up.
“He’s probably better off than if he were in the wild,” Keira says, tapping her keycard against the double doors. “Give a little, get a little. That’s how the world works.”
She leads the way inside, and I gasp at the enormity of it. The same full window-wall view reveals the sunset over a million twinkling lights. There’s a long balcony, a sunken living room, a full bar, and giant triple-size Jacuzzi sitting on a dais near the window.
“There are two bedrooms,” Keira says, tossing her keycard on the coffee table and kicking off her shoes.
“Aren’t you supposed to be on an assignment?” I ask, coming to my senses.
Keira shrugs off her dress and heads toward the Jacuzzi, completely nude, which no longer fazes me. “He’s asleep. There’s a time difference, and he’s dead-to-the-world drunk. Can’t do anything now, so we might as well enjoy ourselves. Do me a favor and pour me a drink, would you?”
I grimace but dig around the bar while she fills the tub and turns on the jets. I set a bottle of champagne down on the edge along with a glass and snag a second bottle on my way toward the bedroom on the left.
“I guess you’re right. Lucifer thinks I’m stuck out in the desert, and he’s busy right now. I might as well relax a little. I could use a good night’s sleep.” Maybe it’ll get my mind off the man I kept from his true love.
“So that’s it? You’re drinking now?” Keira’s taunt stops me in my tracks, but I hang onto the bottle.
“So what if I am? Who’s it going to hurt?” Talk about hypocritical.
Keira sighs heavily. “Lucifer always wins. I just thought it might take more than two weeks to get to you.”
Just when I thought Keira couldn’t piss me off anymore… I spin to face her. “You’re one to talk. Just because I want to relax a little doesn’t mean Lucifer’s won. I haven’t done anything seriously wrong yet, and I don’t intend to. But if stopping some guy from breaking up a wedding gives me more time to get through to my brother, then that’s what I’m going to do.” My grip tightens around the neck of the bottle, and I realize I’m shaking.
“Hmmph.” Keira leans back into the bubbles and rests one foot on the edge of the tub.
“Hmmph? That all you got?”
She shrugs, popping the cork from her bottle with one hand. I jump at the sudden noise. “Want more, Gracie? Okay. Aren’t you supposed to be asking, ‘what if the guy you delayed is supposed to stop the wedding, marry the girl, and father the next Mother Theresa?’ Or, how about, ‘what’s going to happen when Lucifer tells me to do something I know is wrong, and I can’t reason it away?’”
The fight drains from my body, and I nearly collapse on the thick carpet. My voice comes out weak when I answer. “If it’s meant to be, it’s going to happen either way.” But it’s exactly the opposite of what I believe.
“Whatever helps you sleep at night.” Keira toasts the air before guzzling a glass.
I turn and head back toward the bedroom. I haven’t been sleeping well, and I’m hoping the alcohol will help with that. But Keira’s words dig a ditch in my hopes and my excuses.
“Any word from Josh?” Keira calls as I pull the crystal knob. “Maybe he can talk some sense into you.”
And she’s done it—crushed whatever was left of my bravado. In lieu of an answer, I press against the top of the cork with my thumb and send it exploding toward the skylight before slipping away into the silent darkness of my room.