Rogue Angel

by Stephani Hecht

  “You’re…welcome.” Tiffany looked totally dumbfounded and bent over to pick up the cat.

  Appolion choked back his laughter as he caught Bear checking her out.

  “Hey, Tif,” Bear said. “My brother Cam was right about one thing, you do have a nice butt.”

  He then darted out of the room so fast you would have thought a pack of hounds from Hell were hot on his heels. Tiffany turned bright red, but there was no mistaking the pleased look on her face.

  Chapter Ten

  The next morning, Ana woke up and didn’t realize where she was at first. Then she remembered they were at Bears house and safe, for now. Ana let out a contented sigh and snuggled deeper into Appolion’s arms. Waking up next to a mate was nice. She didn’t even mind he was snoring softly in her ear. Besides that, there was no sound coming from the house. It was too quiet, almost like the calm before the storm. Giving her head a small shake, she pushed the negative thought aside and tried to get up only to have him tighten his hold on her even more. She scooted down as she tried to slip out of his iron grip.

  “Where are you going?” he demanded sleepily.

  “I’ve gotta go to the bathroom.”

  “Huh? I’m not quite sure I heard you right.”

  “Surprise, Appolion, even angels have to pee.” He finally released her and she got out, letting out a little squeal when he slapped her bottom. She finished her business and brushed her teeth lest she scare Appolion off with her kitten breath. She sensed Bear enter the room and opened the bathroom door to watch what she knew was going to happen next.

  Bear ran across the room and dive bombed onto the bed headfirst.

  * * * *

  Appolion grunted, “Do I even want to know what the hell you are doing?”

  Bear didn’t even bother to pretend he was the slightest bit embarrassed. “Sorry about that. Cam and I always woke Ana up that way since we were little.”

  “Even though you’re adults, you and dumb ass still do it?”

  “Yup.”

  “Did it ever occur to you that you’re twice as big as Ana and Cam is three times her size?”

  “Don’t worry about Ana, she’s tougher than she looks.” Bear bounced off the bed and went back toward the door. “Besides I come bearing gifts.” He reached out into the hallway and brought back the sword.

  Appolion smiled at the brat. He left his sword behind when they were attacked at his house and he thought it lost forever. “How did you manage to get that, Panda Bear?” He got out of bed and ruffled the empath’s hair.

  “Uriel and I went to check out your place today. While we were there, I saw your sword. I knew it meant a lot to you so I snagged it.”

  Saying that the sword meant a lot to him was an understatement. It was Abdiel’s personal weapon before his brother gave it to him. It was the only time in his immortal life anyone in Appolion’s family gave him anything besides a beating.

  “Thank you,” he said in a slightly choked voice.

  “I brought your bike over, too. I figured you might need it.”

  Ana went over and gave her brother a peck on the cheek. “I’m sure you just hated the fact you had to drive his motorcycle all the way here, too.”

  Bear hugged her tight before releasing her. “It was a little fun, I gotta get me one of those. I like my truck, but dang that ride was sweet.”

  “Angels driving, now I’ve heard everything,” Appolion said dryly.

  “Most of us don’t drive,” Bear supplied. “Just a few weirdos like our family. Oh, and Tif.”

  There was a loud pounding on the front door. Bear went over to the window and looked out.

  When he loud out a loud curse, Appolion knew it couldn’t be good.

  “It’s the justice angels,” he snapped. “Whatever you do, don’t flash out of here, they have a detector.”

  “A what?” Appolion asked, slightly pissed because that was exactly what he planned on doing.

  “It’s a device that alerts them immediately if someone flashes,” Ana informed.

  Bear put a hand on Appolion’s arm. “You need to stay hidden with Ana while we handle this. Don’t try to fight your way out. I know it’s hard for you to count on others and let them do all the hero stuff, but you’re going to have to do it this time.”

  Appolion was a bit taken back by Bear’s very grown up speech. But then Ana did say he was the peacemaker in the family. Maybe he underestimated the punk. The empath ran out of the room. Appolion heard him talking with Uriel and Tiffany as the three of them headed toward the front door. Ana hurried up and got dressed in a pair of Bear’s sweats. She laughed when he gave her a questioning look.

  “Bear has always been good at telling it like it is. You get used to it after a while.”

  “Come on, I can shield our presence from the justice angels so we can see what happens.” He pulled her hand and dragged her behind him.

  “Where did you learn how to do that?”

  “It came in handy in while I was still living in Hell. I can only keep the shield up for a few minutes though.”

  They quietly made their way down the stairs and peeked around the corner. Uriel was standing there, his arms crossed over his chest, Tif and Bear stood slightly behind him. Bear looked annoyed while Tiffany looked downright bored. She was twirling a piece of gum with her finger.

  “We know you have the fugitives in this house,” a male justice angel said. He was backed by a half dozen buddies, all of whom had Glocks pointed at the three angel warriors. “We demand you release them to us now.”

  “What do you mean fugitives as in plural,” Bear snapped. “Since when has Ana become wanted by you jerks?”

  “Since she physically attacked one of us. Plus, she’s been harboring a known rogue,” the justice angel countered. “Release them to us now or face the council’s repercussions.”

  “I know where they are.” Tiffany bounced up and down and held her hand up like a schoolgirl.

  “Really, and just where might that be?” the male asked.

  “I heard from Megan, that Heather heard from an empath, who heard from some healer, that they were at Burger King eating Hash Crowns.” She frowned slightly. “I don’t remember the healer’s name, but you know him. He’s the one that was dating that really fugly female empath that is stationed in Lansing.”

  “You’re such a dork, Tiffany,” Bear griped. “My sister would never eat at Burger King, she likes Taco Bell more.”

  “Well they don’t serve breakfast at Taco Bell.”

  “Oh, that’s true. Maybe then they were there. Well good going, big mouth, now you just told them where they are.”

  The group of justice angels looked at each other uneasily, not knowing how they should handle the situation. Obviously their justice angel training never taught them how to deal with idiots. The leader just continued to glower at them, his jaw clenched tightly together.

  “I’m just trying to figure out what Burger King it was.” She tapped a finger against her chin thoughtfully. “I think it was the one where Megan puked all over the booth, or it could have been the one where Jules got into a huge fight with that male archangel. So much drama.”

  The leader finally appeared to have enough and backhanded Tiffany, causing her to stagger back several steps. Bear tackled the leader and drove him to the ground. He had only managed to get in a couple of punches of his own before a gun was put to the side of his head. Bear stopped dead in his tracks. Another one of the justice angels hooked his arm around Tiffany’s neck and put a gun to her temple, too. Appolion grabbed for his sword, but Ana stayed his hand and shook her head. He noticed she grew pale and her eyes were huge.

  On the porch, Uriel had pulled out his own sword. “You sons of bitches. How dare you even lay a finger on my warriors?”

  The leader curled his lip. “Because we know that is your only weakness, Uriel. You’re way too overprotective of your healer and empath. Now, tell us where the fugitives are or my justice angels will shoot t
hese two little angels so full of holes no healer will be able to put them together.”

  Appolion and Ana pulled out their own guns and moved quietly so they stood on either side of the open door. She nodded she was ready. Just as he was about to go out, with both guns blazing, a voice shouted in his head.

  Hold back out of sight, I’m on my way.

  Appolion smiled in relief, he would know that voice anywhere. The justice angels were in for one nasty surprise. Cam flashed in behind the group and didn’t look happy at all.

  Cam waved his hand and the gun held to Bear’s head flew through the air. He caught it and began to spin it around. “Just what the fuck do you think you are doing?” he snarled at the leader.

  “This is a matter of business with the council. We’re only acting on orders.” The leader defended himself, but there was no mistaking the look of fear that crept up into his eyes.

  “How does that entail putting a fucking gun to my brother’s head?” He turned to the justice angel that still had Tiffany. “You better let her go now, before you guys really piss me off.”

  The angel gulped and immediately released the small female. She ran over and stood next to Bear who put a reassuring hand on her arm and she seemed to calm down. Uriel motioned with his head and they both went to him. He positioned his body between the two young angels and the rest of the group.

  “I’ll tell ya what,” Cam smiled at the leader, flashing his fangs. “I’ll go check out the house for you. If I see any sign of my sister or Appolion, I’ll make sure to bring them to you.”

  “I’m sure you would,” the leader said. “What are you going to do if we decide to go looking for ourselves, attack us?”

  Cam let out a low demonic growl. “If I were going to attack you, I would have already done so. You’re lucky today because I’m in a good mood, but the next time any of you even looks at my brother, I’ll rip you apart and ask questions later.” Moving so quick nobody had time to react, Cam grabbed the justice angel that had held the gun to Bear’s head and wrapped his hand around the terrified angel’s throat. “I know what you look like and I’m not going to forget you threatened one of my family. When you’re lying awake at night, all scared in your footy pajamas, I want you to think about that. You’ll be listening for footsteps or the whisper of movement that will warn I’m coming for you, but it will be useless. Because I make no noise when I attack, I’m just suddenly there.”

  The justice angel flashed himself the hell out of there, leaving Cam’s hand empty. All he had to do was look at the other justice dicks with his cat eyes and they flashed away, too. After they left, only the leader was left. He tried to put on a brave face, but Appolion saw him shaking.

  Cam gave the leader his full attention. “Bummer, they all left in such a hurry. Was it something I said?”

  “This isn’t over, you abomination.” The leader flashed away, too.

  Cam smiled at the angel warriors. “That was fun.” He then went on to ask the Lehor trademark question, “You guys got any food?” He didn’t wait for an answer, but just went into the house instead.

  As soon as he saw Appolion and Ana, he stopped dead in his tracks and gave his sister a hard look. Appolion sighed and waited for what was coming next, he even braced his feet in case Cam decided to attack.

  “Crap, Appolion,” Cam drawled slowly. “You don’t waste time do you?”

  “Is there going to be a problem with that?” Appolion challenged.

  Ana moved to stand between them. “Do you guys have to do this alpha male stuff right now?”

  Appolion grabbed Ana by the wrist and moved her behind him. Only after making sure she was totally protected by his body, did he let her go.

  Cam raised one brow at his actions before giving a pleased smile. “I have no problem with it. I’ve already told you that. It’s Ramiel you’re going to have to worry about. As far as he’s concerned, there isn’t a male out there good enough for Ana.”

  The empath looked around Appolion to see his sister.

  “Holy shit in a bucket, Ana. You’re wearing real clothes and you have your hair all down instead of the usual mean schoolteacher style. Appolion, what have you done with our real sister and who is this pod angel you replaced her with?”

  Before Appolion could think of anything to say Bear’s bitching drew their attention to the front porch. The trio trekked back to the front door and looked out. The empath used the sleeve of his long sleeved black shirt and gently wiped away a trickle of blood from Tiffany’s lip.

  Appolion was amazed Bear could stop being annoyed with his healer long enough to display any tenderness toward her. But that sure as hell was what he was doing. What’s more, Tif let him.

  “Why did you have to go and get yourself hit?” Bear dabbed at her wound.

  “It’s not like I did it on purpose, you dork.” She tilted her head up so he could work better.

  “Don’t do it again.” He brushed back a lock of her hair.

  “I did it to help you and your sister, you big jerk. Gosh I hate you so much.” There was no venom in her voice.

  “Thanks for lying like that to the justice angels. I hate you, too.” The tenderness in his voice took away from the insult.

  Ana mouthed, Oh my God. Cam gave a small chuckle. Bear might act like he couldn’t stand his little healer, but it was obvious he liked her. He liked her a lot.

  Uriel glanced their way and rolled his eyes as if to say, Do you see what I have to live with everyday?

  Oblivious to all byplay Bear continued to look over Tif for injuries. “You should have Appolion heal you, sweetie.” Tiffany’s huge brown eyes got even bigger at Bear’s slip of the tongue. Bear pulled back from her like he’d been burned, then turned, went into the house and up to his room. Tif stood there for a few moments, her hand touching the spot where he wiped off the blood, before she slowly went inside, too.

  Chapter Eleven

  “I called you a couple of days ago. What took so long?” Uriel asked Cam.

  Appolion, Uriel and Ana were in the kitchen watching Cam eat. If what you called what he was doing, eating. He was shoveling the food in his mouth as fast as he could. Ana remembered what Appolion said about food being able to used as a weapon and her heart lurched. Unable to stand watching him anymore, she grabbed his plate and cut everything into bite-sized pieces, the way she saw Gabi do with Abdiel countless times. It seemed to work because when she gave it back to him, he slowed down a bit.

  “I had a few matters I needed to clear up before I could come,” Cam replied vaguely.

  “Do I even want to know what that might have been?” Ana crossed her arms and tried to look stern, which was difficult to do since she was wearing Bear’s Grateful Dead t-shirt.

  “It was nothing bad, honest. It was official business.” He took off his sunglasses and rubbed his weird cat eyes. “We’ve got a whole bunch of angels taking Benadryl.”

  “You mean as in a-choo Benadryl?” Ana wasn’t sure she heard him right. “Why would angels be taking a human medicine, especially when they don’t have allergies?”

  “I guess it affects them like ecstasy effects humans. All their senses get amplified and they get high. Raphael had a more technical explanation, but after a while of listening to him all I hear is, blah, blah, blah.” He used his hand to mimic someone speaking.

  “Stoner angels,” Appolion shook his head. “Now I’ve heard everything.”

  “What’s the council doing about this?” Ana asked.

  Cam scoffed, “As usual, nothing. They’re just sitting there with their heads up their asses. As far as they are concerned, this is an angel warrior problem and beneath them. They refused to even hold an emergency meeting about it when Michael requested it.”

  Ana knew she shouldn’t have been surprised, but a small part of her still hoped the council was capable of doing the right thing. “The leaders are probably getting a payoff from somebody to look the other way,” she said bitterly.

  “I’m
sure they are.” Cam shrugged and pushed the empty plate away. “But proving it’s another thing. Now, Uriel, about your call.” He pointed up toward Bear’s room. “Is it about what I think it is?”

  “Yeah, Bear’s gifts have been popping,” Uriel replied. “As soon as I noticed it I called you, just like I promised I would.”

  “How’s he taking it?”

  “Not too bad. I think even though he denied it, he knew it was coming.”

  Cam sighed. “If you don’t mind, I’d like to stay a couple of days to help see him through this.”

  “Sure, why not?” Uriel gave him a sarcastic look. “I’ve got almost your whole family here already. What’s one more?”

  Ana felt a wave of evil hit her so strongly she let out a loud gasp. The presence was like a slick, black oil that seemed to seep into her every pore. She tried to breathe, but every gasp she took in only filled her lungs up with nothingness. She dropped to her knees and her vision clouded up. Cam cursed and ran to her side while Appolion caught her before she fell all the way to the ground. Cam put his hands on her temples and the evil instantly dissipated. “It just killed again,” she croaked.

  “I’ve been tracking a demon that is targeting humans,” Appolion explained. “So far it has killed three women around Flint. Every time I get close to it, I lose its trail. The demon seems to be one step ahead of me.”

  “It must be one bad mother fucker in order to affect Ana this bad.” Cam still massaged her temples.

  “You have no idea.”

  Uriel whistled up the stairs and said, “Well what are we waiting for? Let’s go get it.”

  Appolion shook his head. “This is my hunt, you guys don’t need to get involved.”

  “Too bad, so sad,” Uriel snapped back good naturally. “You’re part of my team until Michael says otherwise and my team always sticks together.”

  Appolion looked down at Ana, apparently a total loss for words. She shrugged her shoulders and smiled up at him. Although, she wanted to give him more words of assurance, her head was still too foggy. Her brother stepped up to the plate for the chore instead.