by C. L. Coffey
Leon glanced at Joshua who slowly removed his arm. “Come with me,” he said, somewhat mysteriously. I followed him to a room across the way. Inside, I realized I was behind a two-way mirror, the interview room opposite already occupied. “Do you know her?” Leon asked, watching me for my response.
I took a step closer to the glass, looking at the girl seated opposite the mirror. Considering she was in an interview room in a police precinct, she was sitting there very calmly. Her hands were resting on the table in front of her – one handcuffed to a bar to one side. I followed the arm up to her face, surprised to see that underneath the pile of makeup she was wearing, that she was young. I wasn’t convinced she was older than a high school freshman.
Other than her age, and the fact she had too much makeup on, there wasn’t anything overly extraordinary about her. She had hair cut into a pixie cut – artificial blonde streaks scattered through light brown. Brown eyes hidden behind large, owl-like glasses.
There was nothing about her that seemed remotely familiar and I couldn’t even begin to think how we could have crossed paths. I slowly shook my head. “Should I?”
“Her name is Dianna McCane,” Leon prompted.
I studied her again: preppy clothing and contouring skills that were way out of my league. “Not a clue. Who is she?”
“She said she would only speak to you,” Leon added.
I gave him a blank stare before shrugging. “I still have no idea who she is. And why would she want to speak to me?”
“That’s what we’re trying to find out.”
“Did she have anything to do with what happened at the convent?” I suggested.
Joshua shook his head. “Not that we can tell. She was brought in on a completely unrelated matter. Well, as unrelated as it can get when it involves Luke Goddard.”
“How?” I asked, staring at the innocent looking girl in amazement.
“Attempted murder,” Leon replied. “Or that’s what I want the District Attorney to press for.” My mouth fell open. “She was cyber bullying a classmate for not being a Luke Goddard fan. Last night, the classmate tried to take her own life. Her parents found her in time, in front of her computer. On the screen was a message from Diana telling her…?” Leon shook his head. “It was one of several hundred.”
“And she wants to speak to me?” I asked in disbelief. “Why?”
“That’s what we want to know,” Leon shrugged. “If you’re up for it?”
“Is that even allowed?”
I watched as Joshua and Leon shared another look. “Well, she’s not asked for a lawyer,” Joshua muttered.
I held my hands up. “Is this going to get either of you into trouble?”
“Whether it does or doesn’t is not as important as a lead on Lucifer,” Leon said, firmly. He folded his arms. “She wants to speak to you, alone. If you don’t feel comfortable, I won’t force you.”
“I’ll do it,” I agreed.
“She was very clear that she would not talk if we were in there with her,” Leon added, almost apologetically.
I raised an eyebrow. “If I can handle the cherubim, I can certainly handle a human girl…” I frowned. “Have we checked that she’s not being possessed?”
Leon nodded, his smile verging on smug. “Platinum plated handcuffs.”
“I’m not going to ask,” I sighed, heading for the door. I paused and glanced over my shoulder. “Is this going to be recorded?” When Leon shook his head, I left the room, took a few paces down the corridor and opened the next door along.
The teenager looked up when I walked in, there was a brief moment of confusion before the realization hit. “You’re her,” she said, fixing me a glower.
“That depends,” I shrugged. I made my way to the chair opposite, but instead of sitting, I stood behind it, resting my forearms on the back. “If you were expecting a lawyer, then no, I’m not her, and if you were expecting Britney Spears, then that’s another no. If you were expecting a girl called Angel, then yes, I am most certainly her.”
With the way she rolled her eyes at me, she could have fit in perfectly with the cherubim. “It’s easy to see why he doesn’t like you,” she sniffed.
“Oh my!” I said with false exclamation. “How will I ever get over the fact that Lucifer doesn’t like me?”
Diana’s eyes narrowed. “Don’t you dare compare Luke Goddard to Lucifer.”
I glanced over my shoulder, arching an eyebrow at the mirrored glass. “Okay,” I said, drawing out the word as I turned back to her. “Moving on, they said you wanted to talk to me. So talk.”
“You owe Luke an apology,” she said, shaking her head.
I nearly choked. “I owe him an apology? That’s what you want to talk to me about?”
“No,” Diana scoffed, shooting me a withering look. “I want you to apologize for insulting Luke, and then I will talk to you.”
I had to fight the urge to laugh.
Instead, I ran my tongue over my lower lip, and then fixed her, what I hoped was a sincere smile. “You’re right: I apologize for comparing Luke Goddard to Lucifer. That was unfair of me, especially when he’s not here to defend himself.”
Diana let out a noise that sounded like ‘humpf’ and sat up, straightening her back. “Adequate. But you can apologize to him in person when he arrives.”
My eyes went wide. “Lucifer?”
“No, Luke Goddard!” she snapped. “That’s what I’m here to tell you.”
“I thought you were here because you’d been arrested for cyberbullying?” I asked, trying to distract her from the fact I thought I was close to having some form of meltdown at that admission: Luke Goddard was coming back? When? Why? I pulled the chair out and sat down, certain that my suddenly wobbly legs were about to give out on me.
Diana rolled her eyes. “Puh-lease! The bitch was insulting Luke. She deserves everything she gets.”
“Luc…” I cleared my throat. “Luke wants to meet me?”
“Yes, though who the hell knows why,” she added, sneering at me as she looked me up and down. “He could do a hell of a lot better than you.”
“Okay,” I said. “So, did he give you any message in particular for me? Or was it just that he wanted to meet me? Did he say when?”
“Soon,” she responded, again with a sneer.
I held my hands up. “Look, if it helps, I promise you I have absolutely no romantic attraction to Luke Goddard.”
“What’s wrong with him?” she snapped, like I’d offended her.
“He and I are clearly in completely different leagues,” I offered, trying to think up a reason in my head that wasn’t going to upset her further, and didn’t involve me lying. “The chance of something happening between me and him would be so low that I wouldn’t even dream of going there to start with.”
I wasn’t sure that was convincing enough, but she shrugged, and slumped forward, propping her chin up with her hand as she pursed her lips at me. “That’s an understatement,” she declared. “He didn’t say when he was coming. Just that it would be soon. And that he was looking forward to meeting you. Apparently, he owes you a thank you.”
Considering I released him from Hell, I could see why he would say that. “I thought he was working his way up the west coast? Isn’t he on his way to Oregon?” I’d had his tour dates and locations memorized for weeks.
“I guess he’s about to make an unscheduled break then,” she shrugged. She slowly started rapping the fingers of the hand which was handcuffed to the table, watching me.
“Can I ask a question?”
She shrugged again. “Sure.”
“This girl who tried to kill herself-”
“Tia,” she said, interrupting.
“Tia,” I repeated. “I know you said she didn’t like Luke Goddard, but is that a good enough reason to torment someone so much that they feel their only option is to kill themselves?”
“Attempt,” she said, scornfully. “She couldn’t even do that right,” she added in a m
utter. “Oh, don’t look so shocked. I only did what every other Follower would do.”
My eyes widened. This was… normal? “Every other Follower would do that?”
“Of course,” she nodded, like it was the only option available to her. “It’s what Luke wants. What he deserves. If you had listened to his album, you would know this,” she said, her eyes narrowing. “Or are you not a Follower?”
“I’m more like a friend of the family,” I told her. “I like to know what he’s up to – keep an eye on him – but I wouldn’t go so far as to call myself a Follower, no.”
Her eyes narrowed, like she was trying to get a read on me. “I guess that would explain why he wanted to deal with you himself.”
In that moment, my blood ran cold and I couldn’t suppress the shiver that ran down my spine. “I see.”
“I don’t think you do,” she mused. “Only a Follower would. Only a Follower is dedicated. We know what he wants and how to please him – we listen to his messages and we carry out his wishes.”
“But why?” I blurted out.
“Because Luke understands us. He knows what it’s like to be in a family that doesn’t care for him,” she gave me a pointed look. “In return for devotion to him, he will offer us freedom.”
“That makes no sense,” I laughed. “If his devotion is given by committing crimes, you’re going to get the exact opposite of freedom when you’re thrown into a juvenile detention center. Having a difference of opinion with someone is not a good enough reason to hurt them like that, and if Luke was a halfway decent person, he would be encouraging you to acknowledge and accept that.”
“My love for Luke Goddard, like his love for me, transcends all else,” she declared. “There is nothing you can do that will get in the way of that, nothing that you can say that will stop me from showing the world. We Followers are loyal and many. Juvie won’t stop that devotion – if I even end up there. Luke has Followers in influential places.”
“Okay,” I said. Honestly, the girl was beginning to terrify me. I pushed back the chair and stood. “Well, this has been educational,” I told her. I started towards the door when she muttered something I didn’t quite catch. “What was that?”
“Luke said one other thing.”
“What?” I demanded.
“Fire then steel: they make a much more lasting impression than roses, and that’s his gift to you.” She gave me a smile which sent another shiver running down my spine.
“What does that mean?”
“I think I want my lawyer now.” When she sat back in her chair, continuing to give me that smile, something in me snapped: I needed to get out of that room before I did something I could never come back from.
Seconds after the door closed behind me, the door to the observation room opened and Joshua strode out. I darted over to him, seeking out the warmth and security of his embrace. “Are you all right?” he asked, wrapping his arms around me.
“No,” I mumbled into his shoulder. “I don’t think I am.”
“Do you want to get out of here?” he offered.
I relaxed into his arms and took a few deep breaths, his scent somehow calming me. Only when I was sure that I wasn’t going to have a meltdown did I step back and nod. “There is nothing I would love more than to run away and hide in a part of the world that Lucifer would never dream of going. But I can’t.” I glanced over and found Leon watching me in concern, and gave him a reassuring smile. “I’m fine, honestly. It was just horrifying to hear someone that young speak in such a way. She looks so innocent.”
“Would it help if I told you I’d seen younger admit to worse?” Leon asked.
“I don’t doubt that,” I said, raking my hands through my hair. “But I’d rather pretend that wasn’t the case and she was an isolated incident.” When Leon looked away, I couldn’t help but sigh. “She’s not even the first Follower to do this, is she?”
Leon slowly shook his head. “I’ve seen enough to know that we have a problem. His fans – his Followers – are doing so many awful things in his name, but there’s nothing that can legitimately put him as the cause of it all. He’s been very careful in how he has worded things, probably so that in situations like this, he can claim they interpreted his messages differently to what he was really saying.”
Leon gave me a sympathetic smile and then ducked into the interview room to talk to Diana. I closed my eyes and rubbed at my temples. “I have no idea what to do,” I admitted. “Beelzebub, Lucifer, Followers, weapons that can hurt us, cherubim still not back in the House, us…”
“Okay, one thing at a time. You’re not God and you’re not expected to solve all these things at once,” Joshua informed me. He put his hands on my shoulders and started massaging them. “And since when is ‘us’ a problem? I thought we discussed this last night, darlin’?”
“We did,” I said, slowly.
“What changed between then and now?” he asked. His expression was serious, but somehow he didn’t seem to be annoyed at having this conversation, which was strange, because I was. Relationships were hard enough without throwing angelic barriers into the equation. “Veronica said that you were likely to go crazy.”
“Crazy in love?” he offered, his lips twitching in amusement.
I couldn’t bring myself to smile at his efforts. “No, it sounded more like you would lose your mind.”
“How about we don’t take relationship advice from the centuries old pubescent who still hasn’t managed to have her first kiss,” he suggested.
“Ever think there might be a good reason as to why she’s not had that kiss?” I countered.
Joshua fixed me a stare, somehow retaining the patience he had been demonstrating. “This comes down to two simple questions. Firstly, do I want to be with you? Now, just so I know you’re hearing this and understanding what I am saying, the answer is yes. There’s no prerequisites, and there’s no conditions on that. I love you, and I want to be with you. You can call me a soppy romantic, but I do think love is the strongest force in the world, and it can overcome a ton of obstacles, including, but not limited to, over-bearing mothers-in-law, unplanned pregnancy, fallen angels hell-bent on turning the world into their wicked playground, humans falling in love with angels, and a post-apocalyptic alien invasion.”
My mouth fell open. “Ali-”
Before I could finish the word, Joshua had gently pinched my mouth closed. “The second question is: do you want to be with me?” He released my lips, then used his hand to gesture at me. “Now it’s your turn.”
“Yes,” I said firmly.
“You know that question was rhetorical, right?” he smirked. “Who wouldn’t want to be with this?” he added, pointing at his face. “I mean, have you seen me? Because I have.”
“Oh wow,” I muttered, rolling my eyes, though I couldn’t keep from grinning. “I am sorry to have brought this up again. I just wanted to make sure you were aware of the consequences.”
“Noted, processed and filed in the ‘junk box’,” Joshua shrugged. “But, darlin’, we can’t keep having this conversation: it’s going to get old, very quickly.”
“Agreed.” Enough was enough: Joshua had been perfectly clear on his feelings, and frankly, I owed him a little more respect than that. I don’t know if it was what I said, or if my expression said something, but all of a sudden, Joshua’s bedroom eyes were back, and before I could stop him (who am I kidding, I wasn’t going to stop him), his hands were tangled up in my hair and he was kissing me with so much passion that when he finally pulled away, not only did I need a moment to catch my breath, but I was also glad he was holding me up as my knees had gone wobbly. “I love you,” I told him in a breathy whisper.
From the side came the sound of someone clearing their throat. I looked over at Leon, feeling my face heat up so it was probably the color of my hair. “You might want to consider finishing that conversation up at home, or at least not in a corridor in a police precinct.”
I expect
ed to find Joshua looking sheepish, but instead he was smirking. “That’s not a bad idea.”
“Joshua!” Leon exclaimed in exasperation.
Joshua held his hands up. “You can’t yell at me for trying.”
“Fine,” Leon conceded. “And you can’t complain when I point out you’re still on the clock.”
My face still felt like it was on fire, but I nodded. “That’s true. Unless you have another reason for me to be here, I should probably head back to the convent and update Cupid.”
CHAPTER THIRTEEN
Second Chances
I knocked on the door before entering Cupid’s room. He was in bed, resting against the fluffed up pillows, looking thoroughly miserable. He turned to look at me as I walked in, perking up. “Company!” he exclaimed, clapping his hands like an excited seal. As quickly as he started, he stopped, grunting in pain, clutching at his side.
I hurried over, frowning. “Should that still be hurting?” I asked him. “Do I need to call Henry back to look at it?”
“Even if you did, there’s not much he would be able to do that he hasn’t already,” Cupid winced. “There’s nothing to see.”
“Yes, because an invisible internal injury makes it all that much better,” I told him, dryly. “I’ve watched enough episodes of Grey’s Anatomy to know that’s definitely not a good thing.”
“It’s healing,” he tried to assure me. “I mean, it feels better than it did yesterday.” He shrugged, then winced. “It’s not like you’ve not been injured and not felt it the day after.”
“Nothing has kept me in my bed like this,” I pointed out. I picked the large armchair up from the corner of the room (it felt like someone had filled its wooden legs with helium) and carried it over to Cupid’s bedside. “How bad is it? Really?” I asked as I sat down on the chair, curling my legs up underneath me.
The corners of Cupid’s mouth turned down. “It has been a while since I’ve been injured in battle, and even then I’ve never been this badly injured.”
It was fair to say that I was the only one in this convent who had her ass handed to her on such a regular basis.
