by Jen L. Grey
“Where is the Angel’s Breath in your realm?” This is probably pushing it.
“Guarded by a Dominion.” She raises an eyebrow. “The best warrior they have. You wouldn’t stand a chance. Angels are faster, stronger, and smarter than anyone on Earth. You have no chance.”
Oh, wow. Thanks. That sounds promising.
Charlie stands next to me and crosses his arms. “What are they like?”
“They are pompous and very smart.” She looks up at the ceiling. “You have to remember they are made differently than you and I. Even though I’m an angel, I was made the same as you. They understand things faster than we do and are made to endure the most horrible conditions.”
We aren’t getting anywhere and she’s not giving us much more than what was already in the book. “All right, how do we get there?”
“You’ll need a realm jumper.” She grins. “Now it’s your turn.”
“I don’t know why, but the power inside me is different.” I’ve never told Charlie this but it’s too late to make him leave. I hope it doesn’t change things between us. “I struggle to reap; my power seems to want to give life instead. I don’t know why. It just happens.”
Her eyes shine silver at the information. “Thank you.” She then disappears from sight.
What the hell are we going to do? Even if we get to the Angel Realm, I’m not sure we’re going to be able to make it out with the Angel’s Breath. Am I going to be able to beat a freaking angel?
Chapter Five
A pounding on the door startles me awake. What the hell is going on? I get up and stumble to the front door and yank it open before I comprehend what I’m doing.
A grin breaks out across Charlie’s face when he takes in my disheveled appearance. “Well, good morning sunshine.”
Oh, dear god. I don’t even have a bra on. “Bite me.” I go to slam the door, but he catches it with his hand before it shuts.
“Hey now.” He laughs. “Don’t be rude.”
“Me? Rude?” I hurry back in the room and go to my closet searching for clothes to put on. “I’m not the one who is waking everyone up at the butt crack of dawn.”
“Come on.” A huge smirk is across his face making me want to smack him. “It’s for a good reason.”
“Really now?” I turn around with a pair of jeans, a tank top, and underwear in my hands. “What is that?”
“I found someone to train us.” His eyes light up.
Wait … did he say train us? “What do you mean?”
“I found someone who is well known for training people to fight strong supernaturals.”
This is big. We need some kind of training. We are at a huge disadvantage. “Okay, sweet.” I head to the bathroom.
“Hey, Chris.” He grabs my hand.
“Huh, what?” I glance down where his hand is touching me.
“You might not want to wear jeans.” He winks at me.
Right, training. I turn back around and pick up yoga pants instead of jeans. That would work a little better. I head to the bathroom and change, throwing my hair up into a ponytail, then brushing my teeth.
I walk back out to the room and find Charlie in the kitchen.
He hands me a cup of coffee. “Here, I thought you could use some.”
“Yes, thank you.” I take a sip of the sweet nectar from the gods and grab some raisin bread, peanut butter, and a banana.
“What are you making?” He glances at the ingredients that I’ve put together.
“A slice of raisin bread with peanut butter and banana on it. Want one?” I grab a plate and begin making my meal.
He shrugs. “Sure, why not.”
Soon we are both sitting down at my table and eating our small breakfast. I glance over at him. “How did you find this guy?”
“Well, I was on the internet and was searching around and stumbled across his name.” He takes a big bite and chews for a minute. “When I found it, I did more research and he seems legit. I figured we had nothing to lose.”
At this point, he’s right. We have no clue what we’re up against and no one to help us. Anything is better than remaining stagnant. “All right, let’s try it. If it doesn’t go well today, then we try something different.”
“That I can agree on.” He nods and takes a sip of his own coffee.
“Now let’s hurry, we are supposed to be there in ten minutes.” He stands up, grabs our dishes, and puts them in the sink.
There is no time like the present to get started. I get up and head to the door. A day of training sounds about right. Another day of punishment for me to live through. But maybe, I’ll finally get those abs I’ve always wanted. That’d at least be a perk.
I lock the door and we head on down the stairs. Charlie’s car is parked in the visitor's spot, so we head over to his vehicle and get in. We pull out of the apartment complex and head toward the seedy part of town.
“Are you sure about this?” I trust him, but this seems like a risky move.
“Yeah, we don’t have a lot of options.” He glances at me. “This is our best bet. We have to try.”
The only peace of mind I have is that he’ll be here with me the whole time. “You’re right and we have each other.”
He reaches over and squeezes my arm. “Of course, we do. We are in this together.”
Who would have thought he would wind up being my partner, my trusted ally, through it all? I just hope it doesn’t come back to bite me in the ass. I don’t think I could recover.
The rest of the car ride is in silence. I’m not sure if it’s because of our impromptu declaration or what we are driving toward. Maybe it’s both, at this point, my emotions are all over the place. I’m not even sure I could put a finger on what I’m feeling. I’m getting close to feeling numb at this point, but not quite there. It would be a blessing if something could push me over that edge.
We turn down the road the witch’s studio is on. My heart races. The last thing I want to do is face that horrid witch again. As usual, all the interesting people are milling around the street. They are dressed in tattered clothes or some are barely wearing anything at all working on street corners. The shops have bars on the windows and there are bricks falling out of the walls.
“What kind of place is this?” Charlie mutters as he slows down swerving through the people as they walk out on the road.
A snort escapes me. “The ones I try to avoid at all costs.”
“You’re telling me.” He hands me a slip of paper with an address. “Can you help me navigate here?”
“Aye, Captain.” I close my eyes for a split second and lock in on the location. “It’s just a few stores down on the right. You haven’t passed it.”
He rubs his eyes. “I’m still not used to that.” He chuckles. “I was expecting you to plug it into the GPS on your phone, not your head.”
Yeah, I could understand how that’s a little discombobulating. “More reliable and will never let you down.” Maybe a joke will defuse the situation. I’m a freak. My parents reinforced that in me at the age of ten.
“Hey, I think it’s awesome.” He raises a hand in the air. “I didn’t mean anything by it. I wish I could do it.”
That’s what he thinks now. If he could do it, he’d be sitting right here in my shoes wishing he was just normal. Ugh, I need to stop this and focus on the end goal. Wallowing in self-pity won’t get me anywhere but unfocused. “Hey, we’re here.” Thank goodness, we didn’t pass the witch’s place.
The car slows down, and Charlie pulls into a spot right in front of the store. The windows have something on them, so you can’t see through them, and there is no name on the outside of it like all the other store fronts.
“Uh… are you sure this is it?” Charlie walks up beside me and glances at the store and then back at me.
“Yup.” I hand him the sheet of paper back and point to the numbers on top of the building.
“Okay… I should have known better than to doubt you.” He rubs t
he back of his neck. “Let’s do this.”
Now he hesitates? I roll my eyes. I march to the door and reach for the handle and it opens. Of course, it does. I step inside and there is nothing in the room. Granted, there is a wall put up and it’s only a small section, but there is a wobbly table standing in a corner with two chairs that have seen better days. The paint is flaking and the place smells like a garbage can. There is a desk standing haphazardly that has a bell. A sign lays on top that says, “Ring if you dare”.
I turn and glare at Charlie. “Really?”
“Oh, come on.” He walks over and rings the bell. “It’s not that bad.”
Not that bad my ass. At this point, I have a demon and council on my ass, let’s go ahead and dare someone else. The more the merrier.
The door behind us opens and a tall, bulky man walks into the room. His head is shaven, and he appears to be in his thirties. His green eyes scan us and he leans back against the wall. “Are you Charlie and Christina?”
“Yeah, we are.” Charlie turns toward him.
“Before we begin,” the bulky guy looks at Charlie then at me. “I need to know. What are you fighting against?”
“Oh…” Charlie pops his fingers, “Well…”
“It’s for self-defense.” I can’t let him keep blubbering like an idiot. “We’re being picked on.” That’s kind of the truth.
“Self-defense?” The guy pushes off the wall and heads over to me. He stares into my eyes. “You aren’t telling me the whole truth. You have one more chance or I’m walking out the door.”
Crap. Fine. Maybe there is something more to him than what meets the eye. “I need to go to the Angel Realm and fight Angels.”
A smile breaks across his face and an eyebrow raises. “All right, I’m in. We better get you all going right now.”
“Wait … it’s that easy?” Charlie comes over and steps in between the guy and me.
Oh, now he wants to protect me. He’s a little late on that front.
"You will learn that honesty will get you everywhere with me." He raises an eyebrow at Charlie. "It will be best if you both remember that." He turns and opens the door he had come through.
When I follow behind him, I stumble. This room is nothing like the room outside. Granted, it smells like sweat and there is a faint hint of a metallic twang in the air, probably from blood, but the room has a huge, flat boxing ring in the center with a wall to the right dedicated to housing an array of weapons. There are swords of varying sizes, axes, and some I have no clue what they're called. On the other side, there are free weights with a wall full of mirrors. This room appears to be kept clean.
"Oh, wow." Charlie turns around. "This is nothing like out front."
"That's the point." The man stands in front of the boxing ring. "I don't want any trouble and that," he points to where we just left, "prevents it." His eyes land on me. "Now, my name is Lenny, and if you're serious about taking down Angels, you're going to have to listen to me and trust me. You got that?"
This is going to be fun. I have a feeling I'm going to be going home hobbling. "Yeah."
"Wait." Charlie reaches out and touches my arm. "Aren't you at least going to take it easy on her the first couple of days?"
"First off," Lenny walks over and grabs some boxing gloves, "your girlfriend is going to be fine. And secondly, I have a feeling that's the one they are going to be targeting, so no, I'm going to be harder on her. Sorry, but you can ice her down each night and pamper her with kisses."
Did he just call me his girlfriend? Can I just melt into the ground now? He's concerned about getting Beth back and needs me to help. Sure, I think we're friends now, but Lenny is misconstruing the concern. "I'm not his girlfriend."
"Yeah, she's not." He drops his hand like he's been burned.
"Oh, dear god. You guys look older than high schoolers." Lenny raises an eyebrow. "You are, right? I mean, I can't train anyone under eighteen."
Charlie huffs and crosses his arms. "Of course, we are. I'm twenty-two. Why would you ask if we were in high school?"
That is a good question. What are we missing? But right now, it doesn’t matter. "As riveting as this conversation is, can we get on with the training?"
"Now that," Lenny nods to me, "is something I can agree with. First off, you both are going to run twenty laps around this building."
No. I hate running, but I guess that's the reason it makes sense. I nod and take off wanting to get this out of the way. This is horrendous.
Charlie catches up behind me, but I refuse to let him pass me. We run the laps and right when I think I'm going to pass out, we finish our twentieth lap.
"Good," Lenny walks over and hands both of us a set of gloves. "Now, put these on. We are going to have a boxing match."
Now this will be interesting. I put on the gloves, slipping my thumb in the hole made for it and the rest in the finger slot. I take a step back and look in the mirror. My black hair is in a ponytail, sweat is pooling at my hairline, and my blue eyes are bright, contrasting with the circles underneath my eyes. That's my common state here lately, but I try to use some concealer to hide it. But with Charlie's wake up call, I didn't have a chance so it's full force today.
"Hey," Charlie takes a step towards me. "I'll take it easy on you." His hair is a little messy and eyes are filled with concern.
That jackass thinks I can't take him. I'll show him a thing or two. "Don't bother. I've got this." Yeah, he has an athletic build and he's easy on the eyes, but I bet I can kick his ass.
"Now that your muscles are warmed up, let's get them working out." Lenny points to the ring and then he walks off. Soon he's coming back with two large bags that stand up on their own. "You both are eager to get at each other, but we aren't ready for that. We are going to attack the bags first."
Over the next few hours we are hitting and kicking the bags in various ways as hard as we can. When we begin slacking, Lenny is behind us yelling at us to do it harder. Do we think the angels are going to tire out so easily? When I stumble instead of kick, he makes me run ten laps and then kick at it again. Right when I feel like I can't take anymore, he holds up a hand. "Fine, let's go somewhere and get a bite to eat."
Oh, thank god. "Yes, that sounds like a great idea." My stomach ends that sentence with a large growl.
Charlie busts out laughing. "I would say I second that, but your tummy beat me to it."
I turn around and stick my tongue out at him.
"Well, let's go." He heads toward a side door. "It's just down the road a few buildings."
Great, we're going to eat in this god forsaken area, but at least it's close by. I don't have the energy in me to complain. "As long as the food's edible, I'm good."
"I'll second that." Charlie shuffles behind.
At least he's having trouble walking, too, and it's not just me.
Shit, I can't go like this. "Don't we need to clean up a little before we go?"
Lenny shakes his head. "Nope. Where we are going, you'll fit right in."
This is the best news I've heard all day. I haven't the faintest clue what time it is, but the stomach pains are now coming on strong. "Then move. I'm starving."
When we walk out the door, darkness surrounds us. Uh... how long have we been in there? We got there around nine this morning. "What time is it?"
"Have we been training all day?" Charlie pulls out his phone and checks the time. "Holy shit. It's eight."
"Stop whining." Lenny speeds up. "Do you think the angels are going to say ‘Oh, it's been four hours, now let's take a break’? They don't need to eat every four hours. They can go days. You need to get used to it."
What a freaking prick. It was the first day of training. "It was day one."
He spins around and gets in my personal space. He hovers over me. "Do you want me to be easy on you, or teach you how to survive?"
I hate to admit it, but he does have a point.
"We expect you to do both." Charlie tone is angry. "How are
we going to survive if we're too worn out?"
Lenny cuts his eyes over at Charlie then back at me. "He has good intentions, but if you listen too much to him, he's going to get you hurt." His eyes take on a glow and he lowers his tone so only I can hear. "You're made for something big and you better be prepared. You're made for this." He then pulls back and heads back to the front heading to the restaurant.
Unease prickles my senses. Why would he say something like that? Don't I have enough on my plate without worrying about being made for something big? I can't worry about this now, but something has to give at some point. I'm almost at my breaking point.
"Are you okay?" Charlie comes over and scans my face.
"I'll be better once I eat." I don't know what else to say. I can't give him more. A least, not here and not right now. "Come on, he's getting too far ahead." I speed up, needing distance and some time to myself.
When we catch up to him, he turns and opens a door. "Here we are."
As I step into the room, the music blaring from a jukebox fills my ears. It's playing some kind of nineties music and there is a huge high-top bar right in the middle of the room. There are five large men sitting at bar, talking to the bartender.
The rest of the room has about twenty high-top tables that can sit four. There are a group of eight girls sitting at two of the tables side by side out for the night. It's still early so the place isn't packed yet. However, there are all kinds of supernaturals in the room. So many different kinds, I can't really tell. Shit, did he take us to some kind of hideaway bar my parents would tell me about as a kid where the other kind of supernaturals went in secret, keeping it from the council? From what I remember, it wasn't a big deal unless they caused a lot of noise. Then the council agents had to get involved. Of course, any respectable reaper wouldn't be caught in a place like this. But here I am. Then again, I've already broken out of the dungeon and had a warrant out for my arrest. So, they should just assume I'd wind up here, too.
When Charlie walks through the door, it slams shut.
The bartender looks up and stands straight. "Lenny, what are you doing here?"
