“Who—Who are you?” I asked and wiped more blood from my mouth.
Leaning forward, he smiled slowly. With all his pointed features and unnaturally colored eyes, he reminded me of a cartoon cat. It was creepy as fuck.
“Why, I’m the Angel of Death,” he said and wiped his hand on the front of his jacket.
The Angel…of…Death.
For a second, I wondered if he was trying to be funny, but the more I stared at him, the more serious his face grew. With how he’d blazed here, moved faster than anything I had ever seen, and hit me hard enough to split the inside of my cheek without even breaking a sweat, questioning him probably wasn’t the best idea.
Demons were real. Why not angels? Although there was nothing Holy-looking to this one. No wings or halo or serene expression. No. He looked like he was ready to attend a very important business meeting, or maybe chop off some heads, whichever came first. And I was the one holding up his precious time.
This guy made Fernando look like a kitten.
My skin prickled with apprehension. “Okay then… Mr. Angel of Death—”
“Azrael,” he interrupted. “You may call me Azrael to save time.”
I grunted. “Azrael. Fine. You said you needed me for something?”
“It’s simple, really. I’d like to hire you,” he said.
Confused, I only stared at him.
“You’re in a particular situation, aren’t you? Being what you are. And you have a variety of skills…”
I didn’t like where this was going.
“I’m busy,” I said, probably a little more aggressive than I should have been to a celestial being.
“Tracking a demon?”
My eyes widened.
“Oh, yes, I know all about your obsession with saving yourself from your own corrupt blood.”
“Then you know that unless you can offer me my freedom, I’m not interested.”
He closed the space between us, and even though we were close in height, he still seemed to tower over me. Not many things scared me, but he did. I wasn’t stupid. I’d never dealt with an angel before, and I really didn’t want to find out what kind of power he held.
He peered down at me, his lips pressed into a hard line. “What I’m offering is for you to keep whatever’s remaining of your pitiful life. There’s no negotiation here. No payment. You don’t have a choice in the matter, I’m afraid.”
Slowly, I reached for the pocketknife on my belt. Azrael’s eyes dropped, catching me, and I froze.
“I wouldn’t,” he warned. I let my arm fall back to my side. His lips curled up in a satisfied smile. “Good. Now, what I need from you is simple. I need you to keep one of my reapers…occupied.”
I raised a brow. “Occupied?” What the heck did that mean?
“Keep her in the living plane,” he went on and rocked back on his heels. “I’ve got lots of plans, and I can’t have her crossing over and messing things up.”
“You want me to babysit,” I said. This was some kind of karma coming back for making Jamie look after Sophie, wasn’t it?
“Call it whatever you like, but I need you to keep her distracted for me until I tell you otherwise.”
What he wanted was to waste my time.
“Wine and dine her, if you must. I don’t care what you do, but keep her on this plane. Can you do that?”
So, wait, now this was some kind of fucked up dating service for reapers?
“You’re the Angel of Death. Can’t you just kill her?” I asked, my confusion only growing.
“It’s complicated,” was all he said.
But that wasn’t good enough for me. “I have the right to know what I’m in for here.”
His green eyes glowed eerily, his entire form stiffening. “You have no right to anything, Halfling.” He made sure to spit out the last word. “Your very existence is an abomination.”
I clenched my fists.
“Do this or I’ll ship you directly to your demon father myself,” he said. His tone was calm but his hardened gaze gave away his irritation. “Do we understand each other?”
I wanted to argue more, or at least get a little more information out of him, but before I could utter another word, he lifted his hand, middle finger and thumb touching, and flicked me in the center of the forehead.
In that instant, everything went black.
As consciousness floated back to me from a heavy, distant place, I was suddenly smacked with a sense of immediate danger. My skin tingled with awareness. I wasn’t alone.
When my eyes flew open, I heard a gasp and a small splash. I scrambled to my feet to find a woman on her ass in a puddle nearby. It took a moment for my eyes to adjust, my vision still hazy from the sleep Azrael had put me in, but when they could focus again and I saw her face, I couldn’t believe what I was seeing.
It was her. The same woman from that night at the Valentine’s house. A ghostly apparition lined in gold.
I watched her recoil and jump up onto wobbly legs. She appeared confused and a bit scared as if she hadn’t expected me to see her. And honestly, I was confused myself. I’d never seen anything like her before.
“Who are you?” I asked against my scratchy throat. Whatever that angel had done to knock me out had left my mouth dry and my lungs tight. I grabbed for my gun and pointed it as my anxiety mounted. “Tell me who you are!”
She held her hands up in surrender. “Woah there. Easy now. No need to get gun-happy.”
As if on command, my finger twitched and the gunshot boomed against the silence. To my surprise, the bullet flew right through her and bounced off the wall somewhere in the darkness. She didn’t even wince.
Oh fuck.
She was a ghost.
“Cole? Cole Masters?” she rambled on, but I barely heard her. How did she know my name? “I’m here to help you cross over.”
I reached into the back of my jeans, pulled out my special iron and Holy Water bullets, and reloaded the barrel.
“That’s not going to work on me,” she said as I aimed again. “If you let me explain—”
I shot again, but this time, the bullet hit its mark, burying itself in her right shoulder. She reeled back, curses flying from her lips. With horror and shock on her face, she held the wound and stood there, unsure what had even happened.
A woman’s scream tore through the silence, making both of us turn to the building next to us.
Absolute fear took over her expression, and in an instant, she bolted down the alley, toward the sidewalk.
A bit dumbstruck, I watched her go. That’s when the Angel of Death’s threatening words hit me again like a blow to the back of the head.
“Do this or I’ll ship you directly to your demon father myself…”
Was this woman the one he’d been talking about? The reaper? The one I had to give the run around to? She appeared harmless, though. Even my bullets had affected her. How was an all-powerful being not able to take out a skinny, seemingly clumsy nobody? It didn’t make sense. Why bring me into this?
The sounds of commotion rang from inside, tables falling over, things being thrown. I glanced over my shoulder, wondering if it’d be smarter for me to get out of here and leave this mess alone, but then I remembered how easily Azrael had knocked me out and thought better of it. I definitely didn’t want to be on an angel’s radar. I let out an aggravated sigh and rushed after her.
As I came around to the front of a store, I peered through the tall windows and saw movement inside despite the darkness. I spotted the ghostly woman I’d followed first. She was hovering near another woman who was completely normal in appearance and wearing a yellow apron. A worker, maybe, or the shop’s owner. But whoever she was, the look of sheer terror on her face was unquestionable. It was for good reason, too, because a man almost six feet in height was lumbering for them, hands outstretched and mouth slack.
Icy-cold dread snaked up my spine.
Shaved head, darker skin tone, and glasses… This was the
poor sap I’d been looking for. The one Xaver was possessing. A monster in a nerd’s skin.
Muscles stiff, he lurched toward them, snarling.
“Jade! It’s not him!” The woman with the apron shrieked. “It’s not Laurence! I don’t know what it is, but it isn’t him!”
The demon’s head swiveled the transparent woman’s way, his gaze finding her. Seeing her.
Like I could.
“This doesn’t involve you, reaper,” the demon growled. “Leave us.”
Reaper. That confirmed it. This woman—Jade—had to be the one I was meant to keep busy. And she just so happened to have stumbled across the very demon I was trying to trap.
I wrenched at the door only to find it locked.
Fuck.
This was about to get messy.
I kicked at it with all my strength and it shattered, sending shards of glass everywhere. Another scream pierced the air as I pushed myself inside and locked eyes with Xaver. I held out my gun again.
“Xaver,” I barked at him.
He hissed back, mocking me, and swiped at the air.
I fired, but in a blur of speed, he leaped onto the counter.
Shit.
Missed.
Bullets rang out but Xaver leaped around the room so fast I could barely keep up. My head was still fuzzy from Azrael’s sleep, and since demons moved faster than the average supernatural, Xaver was taking advantage of that skill. He hopped from the counter to the display case to the floor to one of the small customer tables… like the freaking Energizer Bunny. None of my bullets were landing.
Annoyance whipped through me.
As Jade ushered the other woman behind a table, the demon grabbed her wounded shoulder. She yelled before he tossed her across the room. She slid across the tile.
Aiming, I pulled the trigger rapidly. Only empty clicks replied.
I cursed. Out of bullets.
The storeowner’s screams filled the shop as the creature leaned forward and reached for her. She kicked and swiped at him. Frantically, I searched my pockets for my next magazine, but then remembered all my backups were in my bag in the alley.
Jade leaped to her feet and ran at the demon, quickly slapping a bare hand against the exposed skin on his upper arm. Whiteness erupted from the contact, drowning the small space with blinding light. I reeled back, my own skin sizzling from the strange power as if I’d just run through the Valentines’ burning house again.
In the blankness, Xaver bellowed, and as quick as the light appeared, it extinguished, disappearing completely.
I blinked rapidly, my vision having a hard time adjusting. After giving my eyes a good rub, I spotted the possessed tall, lanky figure running for the broken front door.
I hurried after him and leaned out. “Fuck. Shit. Fuck.” Anger whirling through me, I punched the nearby wall with all my strength, puncturing the plaster.
I shook out my wrist, ignoring the blood now painting my knuckles.
“Is he gone?” the shop’s owner asked as she crawled out from her hiding place. Her voice shook from lingering fear and most of the color had drained from her cheeks.
“Yes. He’s gone.” When I trudged further inside, I assessed the damage the demon had left behind. Every table and chair had been turned over, glass littered the floor everywhere, some from the busted door, some from the broken display case, and some from the dropped teacups and porcelain plates. From the pale-yellow walls and the different cakes and desserts for sale, it appeared Xaver had crashed through a bakery, and from the looks of it, left a hefty amount of damage here.
My gaze went right to Jade to get a good look at her. Unlike in the basement, she appeared a bit more solid now. Although still see-through, her form wasn’t as fuzzy around the edges, and her voice was no longer muffled. I could hear her loud and clear.
All my first take-aways from her had been right—dark hair, dark eyes, athletic build, a natural beauty—the didn’t-have-to-try kind—and from the plain tank top and jeans combo she wore, it seemed she didn’t care to, either. Low maintenance that way, which was hard to find in a woman nowadays. There was a weird-looking tattoo on her chest, something I’d never seen before, but what really surprised me was the way she was studying me. It was a strange combination of bitterness for shooting her—which was warranted—distrust and… surprise, maybe? As if I hadn’t been exactly what she’d expected.
I’d say that went both ways. She definitely hadn’t been the person I’d expected either.
“What was that?” I meant the light she’d emitted that had managed to scare a full-blooded Hell demon to run for the hills, of course. I didn’t know anything about reapers or the afterlife in general, but that didn’t seem like a power one would have. Demon vanquishing abilities? Maybe that angel, Azrael, had a reason to be wary with this one.
Jade held up her hand and wiggled her fingers. “Oh, the old emitting lights from my fingers thing?” A forced, nervous laugh spilled past her lips. “I have no idea.”
I stared at her in disbelief. Did she honestly want me to believe what had just happened had been completely on accident?
She went on. “What was that thing? Laurence—”
“That wasn’t Laurence,” I cut her off. “Not entirely, at least.”
The shop owner moved to Jade’s side. She rubbed her arms, her gaze flicking to the door every second, not trusting that Xaver was actually gone. It was clear these two were friends, and that Jade held a fierce protectiveness over her. She had run into the store blindly and took on Xaver just to save her. Bravery or stupidity?
But then, I had run in right after her, so what did that say about me?
I wasn’t going to answer that.
“So, you saw the weird creature face underneath Laurence’s, too?” Jade asked me.
The question took me off guard. Weird face underneath…?
She glanced at her friend, who shook her head in confusion.
“You know, fangs? Thick brow? Glowing red eyes?” Jade continued.
We both stared at her.
“Just me… Huh.”
I thought over her words. Fangs, thick brow, red eyes.
No way.
“You saw the demon within,” I said in a rush as the realization hit. She’d seen Xaver’s true face underneath the possessed’s skin. She’d seen his true form. But how?
Her expression mirrored my own. “Excuse me?”
She had to be fucking with me. But the dumbfounded look on her face didn’t waver.
“Not familiar with them, are you?”
She shook my head. “Never seen one in my life.” Then she added quickly, “Ugly bastards.”
I smirked. She had that right.
“Laurence is a demon?” the shop owner whispered beside her. The worry in her voice made me think this Laurence guy was important to her. A brother or boyfriend, maybe?
“No, he’s just possessed,” I answered.
“Just possessed.” Jade shook her head and blew out a breath. “Wait a minute. It isn’t the solstice. Demons shouldn’t be crossing over. That doesn’t make sense.”
“So, you do know about demons,” I said.
“Just the basics.”
Not only was Xaver topside without the solstice, but he’d been after this petite, harmless baker, and what I didn’t understand was why? The only reason full-blooded demons crossed into the living world at all was to possess people and spread their seed. Impregnate unsuspecting women so they could grow their Halfling legions. It’d been the only reason I’d been conceived and then orphaned when my mother didn’t survive my birth.
Then it hit me.
Xaver was after this woman for that very reason. If he hadn’t managed to do it already, he had his sights set on her to mother his next child.
“Your friend here is still in a lot of danger,” I said, the urgency of the situation gripping me. “If I’m right about why I think Xaver was here, then we need to get her somewhere safe. And fast.”
&nbs
p; “What would he want with Kay?” Jade glanced at her friend, whose eyes widened in rising panic.
“I don’t have time to explain right now. We need to go. And I need my backpack. Xaver’s going to be back, and I’m all out of bullets.” I moved toward the door and nodded for them to follow. They did without question.
As I walked toward the darkened alley between the buildings, I realized that I may have found a way to stay out of hot water with the Angel of Death and trap the demon I needed to break this Halfling curse.
The answer lay with this reaper.
Jade.
Harper A. Brooks lives in a small town on the New Jersey shore. Even though classic authors have always filled her bookshelves, she finds her writing muse drawn to the dark, magical, and romantic. But when she isn’t creating entire worlds with sexy shifters or legendary love stories, you can find her either with a good cup of coffee in hand or at home snuggling with her furry, four-legged son, Sammy.
She writes urban fantasy and paranormal romance.
Follow her on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram.
Or visit her website at
www.harperabrooks.com
TRY THESE OTHER BOOKS BY
HARPER A. BROOKS
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The Hunt
The Curse
THE REDEMPTION SERIES
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Halfling for Hire Page 5
