by C. L. Coffey
“Angel of Death.” I barely finished speaking before Gabriel had disappeared.
I then focused on Nyle. “I need something to cut his clothes away.” Silently, Nyle frowned in confusion, pointing at my hand. I glanced down, feeling just as confused as he looked, when I spotted my sword, still in my hands. “Oh!” With everything that had happened, I had forgotten I had been holding on to it – I hadn’t even considered it when I had flung myself at Joshua and Leon. It was a miracle I hadn’t done them any damage. I shook it off. “In which case, go get me some towels or something from the bathroom, and check on Joshua.”
“I’m fine,” Joshua assured me, stepping back into the room. He looked a little gray, but otherwise, he did look fine. “What can I do to help?”
“I don’t know,” I told him, crouching down beside Cupid. “Cupid?” I called softly.
His eyes fluttered open. “I’m fine,” he rasped.
“I know,” I lied. “But I need to look at your injury. I need to get your shirt off.” He looked like he wanted to say something, but instead he coughed up something red and frothy. That wasn’t a good sign. Moving quickly, I pushed his hands out of the way, and did my best to ignore the cries of pain as I slid my dagger carefully through the fabric of his shirt to cut away the bloody material.
I had just exposed the wound – a small round hole oozing blood – when Gabriel and Henry appeared in the room. “Move out of the way,” Henry instructed me, striding over and placing a black bag on the bed beside Cupid.
I did as requested, stepping back and joining Joshua. “Here,” Joshua murmured. I was barely paying attention as he tugged my weapon from my hands and placed it on the side. I was so focused on what Henry was doing, at first I didn’t notice as Joshua stepped up behind me, tugging me back against him, but as his arms snaked under my arms and around my waist, I found myself clutching at his forearms. “He’s going to be all right, darlin’,” Joshua murmured in my ear.
“I don’t understand how a bullet can do this much damage,” Henry was muttering as he carefully poked a pair of tweezers into the wound. “Bullets can’t kill angels.”
“What’s happening, doc?” Joshua asked.
“The bullet has pierced his lung,” Henry responded, bringing his head closer to Cupid’s torso. “Normally, this wouldn’t be an issue. A vessel should be able to eject the bullets then focus on repairing the damage. Admittedly, this level of injury would take a little more time than a graze to heal, but there should be some sign of improvement.” He spared a second to glance over his shoulder at us. “Are you sure it was just a bullet he was shot with?”
I looked at Gabriel, his face pale, who raised a shoulder. “I don’t know,” I responded. “I mean, she definitely shot him, but she implied that the bullets might hurt more. She didn’t go into details. We weren’t exactly sitting around having coffee and a catch-up!” I snapped.
“Angel,” Joshua murmured, his hands starting to rub slow circles over my sides.
I closed my eyes and inhaled a deep breath, the familiar and reassuring scent of Joshua, combined with the lingering smell of smoke filling me. “I’m sorry,” I sighed. “I don’t know what she shot him with.”
Apart from the sounds of Henry working, the room descended into an uneasy silence. Nyle, who I had forgotten had been in the room to start with, burst in, his hands laden with bandages. “I thought these would be better than towels.”
“Just in time,” Henry declared, holding the crumbled bullet up with a pair of tweezers. “Swap,” he said, offering it to Nyle.
Nyle reached out, offering the bandages while taking the bullet. I wasn’t sure what happened, but the next thing I knew, Nyle was screaming in pain dropping the bullet and the bandages.
“What happened?” I demanded, breaking free from Joshua and darting over to Nyle who was clutching his hand to his chest.
“I don’t know,” he moaned. “It burned me.”
Henry stood, grabbing at Nyle’s hand while I reached down to pick the bullet up. “Don’t touch it!” Henry ordered, but it was too late, my fingers had wrapped around it.
“Holy mother of God!” I yelled. I’d actually been shot before and that hadn’t hurt a fraction as much as this did. This felt like I’d pulled a hot tray out of the oven without an oven glove. I had no idea why, but I could completely understand why Cupid was suffering so much.
Joshua was at my side, examining my fingers like Henry was Nyle’s hand. Just like a burn, they were blistering up. “You should run that under cold water,” he told me. He looked to the floor, spotting the bullet. He frowned. “How is it still hot enough to cause so much damage?”
“Don’t touch it,” I hissed at him. Joshua yanked the sleeve of his shirt down to cover his fingers, tentatively prodding at the bullet. He pursed his lips, quickly freeing his fingers and picking the bullet up. “Joshua!” I cried, ready to smack it from his hands.
“It’s cold,” he said, hurriedly. He opened his palm, holding it up.
Gabriel peered at it. “Whatever that was made from, it’s something that can hurt angels.”
Henry rose, looking at us, before settling on Gabriel. “Holy water. Get me holy water.”
Gabriel nodded, and then disappeared. “What is it?” I asked Henry.
“I don’t know,” he replied. I studied him carefully: I was sure he had withheld information in the past and I wasn’t convinced that he wasn’t doing that now. “The Fallen seem to have finally found a way to hurt us. I’ll have to take this and get it sent to a lab for analysis – see if that can give us any clues.”
“I think I need to run this under water,” I muttered, the pain suddenly making me feel dizzy. I looked to Nyle and discovered he looked like he was going to pass out from the pain. I hurried over to him, fighting against the lightheadedness. “Come on,” I urged him, tugging him into Cupid’s en suite while Joshua helped Henry bag the bullet up.
I turned the cold tap on to a gentle flow and pushed Nyle’s hand under it. “It’s not doing anything,” he mumbled, swaying on the spot. I was still fighting the dizziness myself. He was right: the water was doing nothing to ease the throbbing. The tips of my fingers felt like someone was repeatedly stamping on them.
“Here!” I heard Gabriel cry.
The next moment, Henry was in the bathroom, Gabriel and Joshua watching from the doorway. “Give me your hand,” he instructed Nyle. Nyle complied, holding it out. His fingers and palm were covered in huge blisters. Very carefully, Henry began pouring the water over Nyle’s hand. I knew that whatever was in the water had worked, because the relief that flooded Nyle was palpable. Before our eyes, the blisters started to shrink, quickly disappearing to nothing. The moment they had vanished completely, Nyle sank to his knees, breathing heavily.
I understood how he felt when Henry poured the clear liquid over my fingers. “Oh,” I moaned, feeling lightheaded – this time for a different reason. I had to clutch onto the sink to steady myself. “Will this help Cupid?” I asked.
Henry’s lips were pressed into a thin line as he stood. “I hope so,” was all he would say. I followed him back into the bedroom as he returned to Cupid’s side. Taking care, he pulled the bandages back – I hadn’t even seen him dress the wounds. The bullet hole was still oozing blood, but it looked wrong. It wasn’t the bright red blood I expected, but looked thick and almost brown, like it was going off. I’d seen something like it before – when Leon was being possessed.
Henry uttered a quick prayer, and then began to pour the water into the wound. Although he seemed to remain unconscious, there was a gasp from Cupid as the water started flushing out the stale blood, and I could see all the muscles in his torso contract. Henry didn’t stop pouring until the water ran clear. The hole didn’t close up, but he set the small jug down on the floor, picking up the bandages. Deftly, he raised Cupid as though he weighed nothing, and dressed the wound, wrapping the bandages around him to keep them in place. When he set him back down, Cupid let
out an audible sigh.
“Is he going to be okay?” I asked, hoping the answer was going to be yes, but terrified it was going to be anything other.
“I think, if he wakes up soon, he will recover,” Henry responded, though I could hear the hesitation in the words. “I don’t know what that bullet is made of, but I have never seen and never heard of anything doing that kind of injury to an angel before. I cannot say if the damage will be lasting, but I’m taking that reaction to the holy water as a good sign.”
The tension in my stomach lessened a fraction, but I knew it wasn’t going anywhere until Cupid woke up. Consequently, I wasn’t leaving his side. “Thank you,” I told Henry, earnestly. I glanced back at Nyle, still on his knees in the bathroom. “Nyle, you should go get some rest.”
Nyle looked up from under the floppy golden hair that was covering his face. “I should stay.”
“You should rest,” I insisted. “You earned it.” I could tell he wanted to stay, but he did as he was told and shuffled out of the room.
“You should also rest,” Joshua pointed out.
“You should go help Leon out,” I retorted.
“How about you all rest, so I can rest?”
I whirled around at the sound of Cupid’s weak voice, and found him with one eye cracked open, watching us all. In two steps I had flung myself at him, taking care not to touch his bandages. “Cupid!” I exclaimed, giving him an awkward and lopsided hug. “You’re okay!”
“He will be if you don’t crush him,” Henry corrected me, gently pulling me back so he could examine him. “You will be,” he repeated, stepping away, satisfied with what he found. “I shall leave you now. You look like you need to discuss things, and I need to get that bullet to the lab.” He gathered up his things, before fixing Cupid a smile. “Just to be clear, you are to remain on bedrest for the next few days, do you understand?”
“I’m not going anywhere anytime soon,” Cupid promised him, weakly. “Thank you, Henry.”
“I should also be going,” Gabriel added, when Henry left. He walked over to the bed and clamped a hand on Cupid’s shoulder. “I am glad you are still here, brother.” Gabriel then turned to me, mimicking his actions with Cupid. “Forgive me, but there is something I must see to. If you need me, I will be back, otherwise, I think we should postpone your training tomorrow morning and meet on Friday.”
“No, we should go ahead with it,” I insisted.
Gabriel gave me a wry smile. “I admire the enthusiasm, but you have a House to look after.”
Finally, it was just the three of us left. “Gabe is right,” Cupid spoke up. “You need to speak to the angels.”
“I have no intention of leaving you,” I informed him, folding my arms.
“Well, I’m going to sleep,” Cupid yawned. “You’re all more than welcome to stay and admire my physique, but you won’t be getting much conversation out of me… Unless you can get Stephen Amell to be my nurse?”
His words put a smile on my face. Now that he showed signs of recovering, I finally looked at him, and I was a little surprised by what I saw. I had always seen him as scrawny. Sure, he had powerful arms, and I’d seen the muscles when he’d drawn his bow. Surprised wasn’t the right word. I was impressed. He had a really toned body, even if the stark white bandages which covered it made for an alarming sight. “If you can relegate me to second place, I know you’re going to be fine.” He grinned at me. “If you need anything, just…” I tapped the side of my head.
I was certain he had fallen asleep before Joshua and I had left the room. “You should get some rest too,” Joshua told me in a low voice as we walked down the corridor.
“I will,” I promised him. “But Gabriel is right: I need to let the other angels know what is happening first.” I stopped and looked at him, for some reason suddenly feeling shy. “Do you need to help Leon?”
“I’m not going anywhere, darlin’,” he said, pulling me to him. “I’ll make a call while you go speak to the angels, and then I’ll meet you in your room. How’s that?”
“Perfect,” I muttered. I didn’t want to leave the comfort of his arms, but I pulled myself away. We went downstairs, and while he went outside to make a call, I made my way to the dining room. As I suspected, all the angels, excluding Nyle, were in there. They were all seated in a nervous silence, clearly clued in that something had happened, like family waiting for a doctor to come give them news. When one of them – Nico – saw me, he stood. “How is Cupid?”
“Recovering,” I told them. The tension in the room broke like a thunderclap as the angels exploded into relieved chatter, mostly amongst themselves, but a few were shouting out questions. I held my hands up, waiting for the room to quieten. “Some of you have questions?”
“What happened?” Rueben asked.
“We found another of the Fallen who had been masquerading as a detective,” I quickly explained. “She was defeated, but she shot Cupid. We’re not sure what with, but they weren’t normal bullets.”
“Who was it?”
I didn’t catch who had asked the question, but I answered it anyway, addressing the room. “Jezebeth.”
“She’s the only one who ever came close to matching Cupid’s archery skills,” I heard someone mutter.
“Cupid is going to be okay, but he is going to need to rest for a few days,” I added.
“What do you need from us?” That was Eugene.
I gave him a grateful smile. “Carry on as normal. I’ll be picking up anything pressing, but go easy on me,” I requested. “Oh, and Cupid has promised that he will stay in bed.” When several angels laughed, I sighed. “Yeah, I thought that too. If you see him trying to do anything, you send him straight back to bed.”
“He’s not going to like that,” Eugene pointed out.
“Then you ignore him and if he becomes a problem, you get me,” I instructed them. “On that note, I’m going to bed, myself.” I left them in better spirits, and made my way to my room, the exhaustion flooding though me.
CHAPTER TEN
Promises
The exhaustion remained while I tugged my clothes off. I had wrapped a towel around myself while I emptied my pockets, and it wasn’t until my fingers wrapped around a wad of paper that I remembered the list Ty had given me. I opened it, pursing my lips as my eyes flew over the sheets of paper. Sure enough, about a page into the list was the name Jezebeth. Well, huh. What were the chances…? There was a very good possibility that the list Ty had provided was a legitimate one.
At the same time as that pleased me, it worried me. This list was dangerous, especially in the wrong hands. I had no idea who was behind the killing of the nephilim, and while I wanted to trust everyone, I couldn’t.
After tonight, I knew carrying it around with me wasn’t an option. My clothing ran a very real possibility of being damaged. Even more likely, with bullets that now burned, I ran a very real chance of being injured. If something happened to me with that on my person, then no name on this list was safe.
I scanned my room, wondering where I could safely stash the list before Joshua returned. There weren’t many places to check, and if someone did learn about the list, then it wouldn’t take much to turn the room over. My gaze fell on my curtain pole. The ends had a decorative fleur de lis on each side. They couldn’t be fixed in place if the curtains were to get on them.
My muscles protested as I climbed on my bed and reached over, grabbing the nearest fleur de lis. Sure enough, it popped off in my hands, revealing a hollow pole. Without giving it a second thought, I stuck the papers in and fixed the end back on. I would have a look around the convent and see if there was a better hiding place at a later date. Now, I needed to shower and rest.
By the time Joshua joined me, I had just stepped out of the bathroom, having showered, wearing a fresh t-shirt and shorts. “And that’s why I love you,” I declared as I spotted the large pizza box in his hands.
“I can certainly see why I love you,” Joshua returned wi
th a stare which had me blushing.
“Are you saying you only want me for my body?” I asked as I hurried over and took the box to investigate the contents: half Hawaiian (Joshua was a freak who liked fruit on his pizza), and half chicken supreme. I was already devouring a slice as I carried the box over to the bed.
“Says the girl who clearly only wants me for my food delivering skills,” he laughed, joining me on the bed and helping himself to a slice.
It didn’t take the two of us long to polish off the pizza. With everything that had happened, I had somehow managed to forget that we had plans to meet and eat. Now that I had eaten, I realized how much better I felt for it. Joshua set the empty box on the side and disappeared into the bathroom for a shower. When he emerged a while later, I was lying on the far side of the bed, staring up at the ceiling.
The bed dipped as he climbed in next to me, and then a twenty-dollar bill was being waved in front of my nose. I batted it out of the way, frowning when I saw that Joshua was only in his underwear. “Do I want to ask where that came from?”
“Stop deflecting,” he chided. He propped himself on his elbow and stared down at me. “What’s going on in that head of yours?”
“Plenty,” I informed him. “I actually have a lot to share with you, which is why I was waiting for you to finish up in the bathroom.”
Joshua’s eyebrow disappeared up under his damp hair. “Do tell.”
“Well, for starters, we need a better plan of attack for when it comes to hunting out the Fallen in your precinct,” I started. “Leon was on the right tracks doing it somewhere other than the precinct, because if that gun had gone off in his office…”
“There would have been no covering up that one,” Joshua agreed.
“That’s part of the problem: there shouldn’t be a cover up.” I frowned. “You’re both cops. Good ones. Good cops shouldn’t be covering up anything. You should both be able to tell the truth, otherwise, how do you stop yourselves from becoming the people you’re hunting out?”
