Angel Exalted

by C. L. Coffey

  “It is time to go to them,” he said, simply.

  I tilted my head, frowning. “I don’t understand.”

  “We have put too much focus on defensive tactics,” Grace explained. I had the sudden feeling of being in a locker room at half time. “We are protecting humans, when really we should be hunting the Fallen. We should stop them before they have the chance to act out their evil schemes. If we had known Beelzebub was in New Orleans sooner, then maybe we could have stopped Lucifer from being released. If we had known Lucifer was free sooner, then so many innocent humans would not have been led astray or corrupted by his words. We could have saved more lives that way.”

  I blinked. I had been saying, from the moment I had woken up in a hospital after inadvertently releasing Lucifer, that he was back. Only no one had listened to me. But there was no point in bringing that fact back up. Something else had caught my attention. “Releasing Lucifer from where?”

  “Hell, of course,” Grace said. Her eyes narrowed a fraction, but her face retained it’s almost professional boardroom expression.

  “Hell is a real place then?” I pushed.

  There was a very long silence, with Grace and I just staring at each other. When I got no response, I arched an eyebrow at her. Grace quickly cleared her throat. “You do not question the existence of Heaven.”

  “My concern is that, if we are killing the Fallen and they’re going to Hell, we need to make sure there is no other way to get them out of there,” I shrugged, silently noting that she didn’t confirm or deny that. “Lucifer escaped Hell because I…” I swallowed as a blinding flash of pain shot through me. Hidden under the table, my hands clutched at my thighs so tightly, I could feel my nails even through the protection offered by the biker jeans. “A loophole where an angel killing a human and an angel allowed him to be released,” I said, forcing myself to continue. “What’s to say that’s not going to happen again? What’s to say there’s not another way. Michael has defeated Lucifer for a second time. Is he going to have to do it again?”

  “Which is why we must defeat the Fallen, starting with those in New Orleans,” Zachary said, firmly. “We are certain there are more of them in this city than we realized. We need them to know that they are no longer safe here, and then, when they try to escape, we must continue to hunt them and let them know that they are no longer safe anywhere.”

  I couldn’t disagree with him. I was the only person in the room with any idea how many Fallen there were in New Orleans, and frankly, the number was terrifying. I wasn’t as strong or as skilled as the archangels in the room, but I would certainly do my best to help them.

  “And neither are the nephilim,” Zachary continued.

  “I think we have enough of the Fallen to contend with,” I objected. “And as I’ve pointed out before, they are half Fallen, half human,” I stressed.

  “Like Tyrone Hamilton?”

  My blood ran cold, and I slowly turned in my seat. Behind me, having remained silent and unnoticed until this point, was Paddy. This was the first time I’d seen her out of bed, and she looked terrible. Her usually vibrant red hair was flat and matted, clinging to the sides of her face which looked closer to gray than anything else. Clothing that I had seen her wear before now hung on her like she had lost a lot of weight. I knew she had barely been eating from the almost always untouched trays of food I would clear from her room, but I had assumed, like angels, saints only ate for enjoyment. It didn’t look like that was the case here.

  Given that she had lost the love of her life, it was understandable that she looked how she did, but really seeing her, out of her bed – I was failing as a friend to help her. She wasn’t going to get over this overnight. She was probably never going to get over what had happened. But that wasn’t my expectation or responsibility. I needed to make sure she took care of herself; that she had something to eat, even when she didn’t feel like it.

  As such, I didn’t want to fight her, but nothing was going to change if they all thought Ty was behind this. “If it wasn’t for Ty, I would be dead,” I told her softly.

  “Raphael is dead,” she shot back at me. “Tyrone may not have been the one directly responsible for murdering him, but he played a part.” She got up and marched to the table. “A child who has been brought up by the Fallen, who is half Fallen, knows nothing more than death and destruction. The world – humanity – will be much safer without that influence. Hunting the nephilim and the Fallen is the only way forward.” Although she was short, from my kneeling position on the low stool, she towered over me. “And I, for one, will not only exterminate any Fallen or nephilim I come across, but I will not show mercy to anyone who stands in front of them.”

  “No one is saying they will protect a nephilim, Paddy,” Gabriel told her. “Angel just wants to make sure that we are doing this for the right reasons, not the wrong ones.”

  “Is there a wrong reason?” Paddy demanded, turning on Gabriel.

  Unfazed, Gabriel nodded. “Revenge.”

  “If anyone thinks I’m not going to seek out the nephilim that killed Raphael and make him pay, they are very sorely mistaken.”

  “Although I don’t condone the act of retribution, in some instances it is needed for the healing process,” Savannah said, brushing her hair over her shoulder.

  I narrowed my eyes at her. “What happened to ‘innocent until proven guilty’?” I asked.

  Savannah shrugged. “We are not human, and we’re not governed by human laws.”

  I cocked my head. “So, you’re saying we’re above humans?”

  “No!” Savannah explained in a splutter as her face went bright red. She shot a look at Grace and Metatron. “That is not what I’m saying at all.”

  “It kinda sounds like it,” I muttered under my breath.

  “It sounds like you are sympathizing with the Fallen,” Paddy shot at me.

  I pulled my feet out from under me to stand. Having Paddy towering over me was disturbing. “I am absolutely not sympathizing with the Fallen,” I said, firmly. “I have no objection to defeating them. What I do object to is turning the nephilim into foxes so we can hunt them down like vermin. A fox may cause problems for a farmer, but it’s not inherently bad.”

  “A fox acts as is in its nature,” Paddy argued back. “If it were possible to build a fence around each human, I would suggest that, but it’s not possible, and unless you put that fox down, you will never protect your chickens.”

  “Stopping a fox from attacking a chicken coup is one thing, but it’s a completely different thing to chase it halfway around the country for little more than pleasure!” I cried, stamping my foot. “We should, at the very least, be capturing these nephilim and hearing them out. If we can then establish that they have done something that warrants an execution, it should be done in a way that isn’t tortuous. We’re angels.”

  “Nobody has said anything about torturing nephilim,” Grace said. Her tone told me to back off, so I did, but I couldn’t help but keep my attention on Paddy. Okay, so Paddy hadn’t come and outright said that she would torture Ty but saying she would make him pay was almost the same thing. “The objectives have changed. We are actively seeking out the Fallen and the nephilim, and they will be defeated before they cause any more suffering to the humans.” Grace’s words were final.

  Taking that as a sign of being dismissed, I walked out of the room, trying to calm my breathing. I pulled out my phone, ready to send a text message to Darell, but found him outside of Erlina’s room. He frowned as I approached. “I sense bad news,” he said.

  I nodded. “Darell, I need you to make sure absolutely no one enters either this room or mine,” I told him, keeping my voice as low as possible, just in case any archangel was lurking. Using my head I nodded towards my bedroom door. “No one but me. Ty is not safe here.”

  “It’s done,” he agreed.

  I rubbed at the back of my neck, trying to relieve some of the tension that had been caught up there, but the attempt w
as futile. “I need time to come up with a plan,” I added. “It’s not safe for Ty to stay here, but I need to find somewhere out there that’s safe too. Give me some time, and then I may need some help getting him out of here.”

  “As soon as you’re ready, you have my team’s full support,” Darell assured me. “I will come up with an extraction plan for when you are ready.”

  “Thank you,” I said. I sucked in a deep breath, held it, then blew it out. I felt a fraction better, but not much.

  I stepped into my room and found Ty sitting on my bed, reading one of the few books I owned. “Is that a sandwich or a thing for stress relief?” I gave him a clueless look and he pointed at my hand.

  I looked down, surprised to find a somewhat squished sandwich in my hand. “Oh!” I exclaimed. “I had forgotten about that! I’m sorry,” I added, handing him the sorry looking sandwich.

  Ty pulled a face but accepted it. “I’m hungry enough to eat anything,” he said, pointedly.

  I apologized again, then went back to the other side of the room, sitting down on the floor in front of my door to act as a human door stop. With my elbows propped up on my knees, I sank my head into my hands and let out a long sigh. For the umpteenth time since dying, I had to question why anyone would think I would be suitable to be an angel.

  “Woks uk ogre air, myshta wolg?” Ty called. His mouth was full of food and I didn’t quite think I had understood him.

  “Say again?”

  Ty rolled his eyes, finished chewing, and swallowed. “What’s up over there, Mr. Wolf?” he waved his sandwich at me. “You’re huffing and puffing and trying to blow the convent down.”

  “I’m just tired,” I told him. It wasn’t a complete lie. I was. I was still feeling the injuries from the escape from the cemetery. They really should have gone by now. I picked my head up and dropped my hands, staring at the scarring on my wrist. It wouldn’t surprise me if this was behind it all. I let out another long sigh and stood. “I am going to talk to Michael. You stay here.”

  “It really wasn’t my intention to go exploring the convent,” Ty informed me, dryly.

  I left him there and made my way to my office. I wasn’t sure where Michael was. I wasn’t sure if I really wanted to speak to him. It was more that, if Zachary had taken it upon himself to track my every movement, I didn’t want to spend any more time in my bedroom than I normally did. It was all very well and good requesting that Darell and his men keep the angels out, but there was nothing they could do if the angels decided to just appear in the room.

  My office was dark. It was late in the afternoon and the room only caught the morning sunlight. I switched on a table lamp and sank into one of the couches. What was I going to do with Ty? I didn’t trust any of the angels to help me: it was evident that they all had the same feelings about him. I didn’t know any other nephilim, and much as I was all for seeing if they had any humanity in them, I didn’t trust any of them to help me. Likewise, I certainly wasn’t going to approach any of the Fallen. Given that the Fallen had tried to kill Ty themselves, it was clear that they didn’t trust Ty anymore. That alone was enough for me to know Ty was on our side.

  I drummed my fingers on the arm of the couch, searching my brain for an answer. Joshua had offered to help, but there was absolutely no way I was about to draw him in to this. The same went for Leon, who would also probably help if I asked him. The only other people I knew outside of the convent were… Mama Laveau…

  My fingers stopped as I sat upright. Mama Laveau clearly didn’t have a side when it came to the Fallen. As far as she was concerned, they were all family.

  Would the same apply to a nephilim?

  There was still a flaw in that plan: I was being watched too closely by Zachary. Going back to her house would no doubt cause suspicion. If I could get her to meet me on neutral ground – somewhere that Zachary wouldn’t think twice about… only… I had no way of contacting her. My fingers started tapping out a rhythm again. I had also taken a vow so as not to tell anyone who or where she was.

  My head hurt.

  I glanced up at the old clock on the wall. It was getting close to dinner time. I would have to get to the kitchen soon to help out with the evening meal. It was fish pie tonight and… Henry.

  I have no idea how my brain made the leap from a fish pie to a medical examiner, but all of a sudden, I had my answer. Henry was a doctor who worked in the city morgue. He was also an Angel of Death. More importantly, experience told me that he had similar feelings to Mama Laveau when it came to the Fallen and the nephilim.

  The question was, would Henry know who Mama Laveau was – who she really was? If I could get Ty to the morgue, and then get Mama Laveau there, hopefully one of them would have an answer. The plan had the added bonus that the morgue was a reasonable location for someone who’s charge was a homicide detective, might end up visiting, and therefore shouldn’t draw any unnecessary attention to where I was.

  I glanced at the clock again. If it was almost dinner, it meant that everyone would be in the dining room at the same time, and if everyone was distracted with food, Darell would be able to extract Ty and get him to the morgue. I would join Ty there afterwards. With a sense of purpose, and my fingers crossed for success, I hurried out of the room.

  And ran smack into Paddy.

  Literally.

  CHAPTER EIGHT

  Extraction Plan

  I managed to keep myself upright, but only because I stumbled back against the door I had just, thankfully, closed behind me. “Paddy!” I exclaimed.

  She stood in front of me, dressed all in black, but also like she was ready for an impending battle. My eyes dropped to the sword by her side and I prayed that it wasn’t a battle with me. “You know where he is, don’t you?”

  “Who?” I asked, knowing the answer before she said it.

  “The nephilim.”

  “Cupid took him to the hospital,” I shrugged. “Joshua told me someone tried to kill him while he was there, so he ran away.”

  Paddy’s hands moved to her hips and she glowered at me. I fought to keep my gaze meeting hers, even though it felt like she was simultaneously trying to stab me at the same time as read my thoughts. Before I could blink, her hand shot out and wrapped around my neck. I grabbed at her fingers, trying to pry them off me while gasping for breath. For someone so petite, she was deceptively strong.

  “Where is he?” she hissed at me.

  I shook my head. “Let me go,” I spluttered.

  “Paddy!” I glanced over Paddy’s shoulder spotting Michael as he charged down the corridor to us. “Let her go!” he demanded.

  Paddy shot him a filthy look, but (and not without a final squeeze), let me go. I fell backwards. As Michael’s hand shot out to catch me, Paddy narrowed her eyes at me. “I think you know where he is, and I’ll promise you this right now: when I get my hands on him, I am killing him.”

  I was grateful for Michael’s hand because my legs had turned to jelly. I watched as Paddy stormed down the corridor before collapsing against Michael.

  “Are you all right?” he asked me.

  I didn’t answer him straight away, allowing myself a moment to get my thoughts in order, and then pulled away from him, nodding. “Nothing a little ice cream won’t fix,” I told him, trying to keep my expression bright.

  “She wants to know where that nephilim is, correct?”

  I nodded.

  “And you have the answer.”

  “Do you really agree with it all?” I asked instead of answering. “Hunting nephilim?”

  Michael cocked his head, looking down at me. “Yes.”

  I was disappointed. I don’t know why, really, considering he had been saying the same thing from the beginning. Maybe I had been hoping that his time away – his new body, what had happened with Lucifer, how Ty had helped out – that all of that would have somehow changed his opinion, if only a little. But then, if he had, I probably would also have been upset.

  Michael
saw things in black and white. There was absolutely no shade of anything in between. When other things about him were no longer making him seem like Michael, it was almost reassuring to know there were still some parts of him that hadn’t changed, even if I didn’t really agree with them. “I need to go help with dinner,” I told him.

  Michael watched me, then nodded. “Just be careful, Angel.”

  I gave him a smile and then walked away.

  The aroma in the kitchen was mouthwatering. Sarah had already been in and put the pies in the oven, and I could tell just from the smell that not only would they be delicious, but they would also be ready soon. Eugene was already in there, preparing the serve yourself salad bar. All that was really left for me to do was to put the garden peas in the hot water Eugene had started boiling for me. Already prepared, I poured them in the water and stepped back.

  There wasn’t a single cell in me that thought for one moment that Paddy would let things go. That encounter had cemented the fact I needed to get Ty out, and I needed to get him out tonight. I also suspected that she would have her eyes on me, which meant that going back to my room to speak to Ty and Darell would be too risky. Thankfully, I had brought the house back into the current millennium and hooked all the angels, including myself, with cell phones.

  While closely monitoring the garden peas, I pulled my phone out and sent a text message to Darell: It needs to be tonight. During dinner – everyone will be in the dining room. I need you to get Ty out and to the Morgue.

  Alive, I assume?

  The response put a small smile on my face, but it quickly disappeared. Darell wasn’t joking. Yes.

  We are due a shift change in an hour. We will do it then.

  I sucked in a deep breath of steam filled air. It had the faintest taste of pea to it. I gave the pan a brief, distracted stir, then moved onto Ty. You need to leave here. I don’t think it’s safe anymore.