Dirty Angels
Page 1
Table of Contents
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Chapter 14
Chapter 15
Chapter 16
Chapter 17
Chapter 18
Chapter 19
Chapter 20
Chapter 21
Chapter 22
Chapter 23
Chapter 24
Chapter 25
Chapter 26
Chapter 27
Chapter 28
Chapter 29
Chapter 30
Chapter 31
Chapter 32
Chapter 33
Chapter 34
Chapter 35
Chapter 36
Chapter 37
Chapter 38
Chapter 39
Chapter 40
Chapter 41
Chapter 42
Chapter 43
Chapter 44
Chapter 45
Chapter 46
Chapter 47
Chapter 48
Chapter 49
Chapter 50
Dirty Angels
May Dawson
Contents
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Chapter 14
Chapter 15
Chapter 16
Chapter 17
Chapter 18
Chapter 19
Chapter 20
Chapter 21
Chapter 22
Chapter 23
Chapter 24
Chapter 25
Chapter 26
Chapter 27
Chapter 28
Chapter 29
Chapter 30
Chapter 31
Chapter 32
Chapter 33
Chapter 34
Chapter 35
Chapter 36
Chapter 37
Chapter 38
Chapter 39
Chapter 40
Chapter 41
Chapter 42
Chapter 43
Chapter 44
Chapter 45
Chapter 46
Chapter 47
Chapter 48
Chapter 49
Chapter 50
Chapter 51
A Note From May
About the Author
Also by May Dawson
1
Jacob carried my twin sister easily into the house. Her face, so much like my own, bumped against his shoulder as he crossed the threshold, and he leaned back slightly to make sure her head was secure. His movements became even more slow and careful.
Levi went with him, just a step behind and to his right, carrying the ventilator that kept her breathing.
Ryker rested his hand on my shoulder. "Come on. We've got furniture to move."
Together, the two of us went back out onto the porch. The hot air of the Virginia afternoon felt so thick and languid and humid I could barely draw it into my lungs.
I’d expected to fight the Company, who had my sister’s body and her soul imprisoned, to rescue her. Then Nimshi stole her away from the Company and delivered her to us. Sorry for all the trouble, sweetheart. It felt too easy. That must be why I felt unsettled, unhappy, despite getting the thing I’d wanted the most.
Oh, Nimshi. My enemy, my fated love. The man who had tortured me in the demon's case, the man who had killed to save me even though it meant all of Hell was his enemy now. The half-brother of the boys I loved, the half-demon. I didn't know what to make of him.
"Don't let this gift fool you." Ryker didn't look back when he spoke. He crossed the ramp to the trailer, which he'd backed up to the porch. The ramp had slammed the front porch with a force that seemed like it would splinter the whitewashed floorboards. But the boys, who loved the house where they had been raised so much, had been too fixed on taking care of my sister to notice. That kept me from snapping Ryker’s head off.
Ryker's feet rang out on the metal ramp as he crossed it into the trailer. He pulled up the chocks under the wheels of the hospital bed. "You going to help me, Firestarter?"
"Yeah. Of course." The ramp vibrated under my feet when I ran across.
"Make sure I don't run into anything." He nodded to me to stay at the front of the bed.
"So, same hopeless chores as when you're driving the car?" It wasn't my best glib remark, but I had to try. I was still reeling about my sister. Having her here didn't feel real. It didn't feel like the victory I had expected. "And I'm not letting the gift fool me. But I'm allowed to be happy about having my sister home."
I realized, a second after I spoke, that I had just called this house home. I glanced up at Ryker, but his face was intent as he focused on steering the bed through the front door. Given how I was coming to love the view of the pines from the deck, the warmth and banter of our breakfasts in the kitchen, the way the sun fell in golden beams across the floorboards as I woke up in the boys' rooms, it was no wonder this place already felt like home.
"It doesn't change anything." Ryker said. "Except now the Company doesn't have any power over us."
"It might change things." I pushed the foot of the empty bed, steering us into the unused formal living room. The curtained French doors to the room, which were never usually closed, would give Ash some privacy. And those doors would give me some privacy. For months, I had thought my sister was dead and buried, and then the Company had given me hope that she could be brought back to life. That hope had been a flimsy thing. I couldn't trust Dr. Parrish. But now my sister was here. Unlike the version of herself I'd seen come back from the Far, she was thin and wan, her muscles withered. But she was real. My hope was real.
And I felt like I was about to fall apart when I should have been happiest. I didn't want the boys to see me as a snotty mess.
Ryker and I pushed the bed against the wall. Jacob nestled my sister into the sheets. Levi set the ventilator down and then immediately knelt to plug in the cord. I breathed a sigh of relief once the adapter light lit up on the battery. If the ventilator died, so would my sister. My boys were pretty good at patching each other up, but this was beyond their skill set.
"I'm calling Nash," Ryker said, already pulling his cell phone out of his pocket. "We need medical backup."
Ryker leaned against the wide windows at the far side of the room, the ones that overlooked the lawn, doing his J. Crew pose as he dialed.
Levi stood on one side of me and Jacob on the other. Jacob’s broad bicep brushed against my arm; I breathed in his spicy cologne and the sense of clarity that always washed over me when he was near. The three of us stared at Ash, whose chest rose and fell regularly.
Ash would have hated how awkward this moment was.
"Ash would be furious that they put her in that ugly hospital gown," I said. "Green was never her color."
Levi settled an arm around my shoulders, pulling me into his side, and I slipped my arm around his hard waist. He rested his chin on top of my head. "What do you need from us?"
"Nothing." I tried to smile, but I wasn't sure it was convincing. "You have been amazing. I just need some... time."
"Okay." Levi pressed a quick kiss to the top of my head, gave me a squeeze. As always, when I was near him, a little
bit of my tension ebbed away.
Levi gestured Ryker out of the room. Jacob hesitated, his bright golden eyes on me, and then turned to go. I heard the doors close behind us.
"Hey Ash," I said softly.
My voice had barely been a whisper, but it seemed too loud in the room. Her eyes were closed, her face still. I felt silly talking to her when she couldn’t hear or answer.
I glanced away. Through the windows that looked out over the long front yard, I could see clouds beginning to crowd the pines. The clouds were ringed with golden light, although they hid the sun. Soon it would be night time, and even though I knew Ash wasn’t in this room with me, I didn’t want to leave her to eat dinner or sleep upstairs. I couldn't shake the feeling that she would be lonely.
There was a quick tap on the glass. I looked up, expecting one of the boys, but it was Olivia who slipped into the room. She wound a strand of her bouncy red curls around her fingers as if she were nervous.
"My brothers are on their way," she said. "They're all first responders. They'll know enough to help us take care of Ashley."
"Ash," I said.
"Ash," she repeated.
"Why are they all first responders?"
"Being Hunters wasn't enough of an adrenaline rush?" She shook her head, as if she didn't approve. "Ryker and Levi, they've always criss-crossed the country, like their mom. Looking for trouble. My brothers, they're strictly southern boys. They stay here and they take care of any trouble that comes up."
"What kind of trouble comes up?"
"Geists and werewolves. And because Hunter business is slow around here—and they have bills to pay—they all have real jobs."
"What about you?" I was always curious about Olivia. She was still my number-one-candidate for best-friendship, even if she didn't seem to like me that much. "Do you have a job?"
She chewed on her lower lip, still tangling that curl around her fingers. Her eyes were fixed somewhere over my right shoulder. "I freelance."
I nodded. Olivia was a great hacker, and I was glad she was on our side. Even though she lost me when she slipped into technobabble. "Levi gave me the credit cards and stuff. Thanks."
"No problem." She still didn't meet my eyes.
I glanced behind me, because the way she was staring at nothing made my spine itch. I couldn't help feeling like something was behind me. Something that was about to murder me. But when I turned, there was nothing there. Just a hutch with Wendy's china—who knew Hunters needed china?—and a navy blue loveseat.
I met her eyes evenly, or tried to. She glanced down at the floor.
"Is there something wrong?" I asked her bluntly. I didn't have a lot of emotional energy left to be tactful.
"No," she said.
"No? Because the way you keep staring into space makes me feel like there's a serial-killer-ghost that only you can see." I took a step back away from the hutch, running my fingers through my long dark hair.
She smiled slightly. "No ghost. I wouldn't let you get murdered on my watch, E."
Some of my tension ebbed away. I wouldn't expect any kind of nickname from Olivia. Even if it was just an initial.
"What's wrong?" I asked again.
"Ryker's grilling," she said. "Making dinner for everyone tonight."
"That's not a problem," I said. "He's a good cook."
"I know that," she said.
She'd probably had a lot more dinners here than I had, when it came down to it. The guys said they pretty much grew up with Olivia and her brothers, who had been homeschooled, too.
"Okay," I said. She didn't want to tell me anything and I couldn't beat it out of her. It was time to give up. And yet strangely enough, the quick flash through my brain that imagined something I would never do—smacking Olivia into the wall and demanding to know her secrets—left me imagining other secrets I could unearth. I wondered if she'd ever kissed Jacob.
It didn't matter. I knew that. There was something between Jacob and me, something complex, and that wasn't just about the magic linking us. We had seen the worst of each other in the demon's case. It had been a hell of an icebreaker. What had felt like a reckless curse now felt like love.
Not that I said cheesy nonsense like that to Jacob.
"Is that all you came in here to tell me?" I asked. "Your brothers are coming for dinner and Ryker threw on the brats?"
"They're not coming for dinner," she said stiffly. "They're coming to make sure Ash is okay while we figure everything out."
"Figure out everything like, if we're going to pull the plug on my sister?"
"It's not that simple," she said.
"Yeah, no kidding." I thought Olivia understood me, and something in me gave a little. I really could use a friend. I tried to make my lips curl up into a smile, even though it felt impossible to smile while I hovered over my sister. "Do you think you could help me? Get her new clothes? I don't want to leave her but she would be so annoyed by this shoddy General Hospital outfit."
She finally glanced at my sister, and the strip of paper-thin blue gown that showed above the quilt. Ash had looked so cold in the back of that truck to me. The sheets and gown were so flimsy. I had said as much to Levi, and he'd headed off to his room, coming back with the quilt his mother had sewn bundled in his arms.
"Sure," she said. She headed for the door, and then stopped, her long rusty curls flicking over her shoulder. "Yale will be able to tell for sure. But I think maybe there's more than medicine keeping her alive. Maybe magic, too."
I stared after her as she turned and fled for the door.
To me, it was impossible to give up on my sister without trying to revive her. Her soul was in the Far, her body was here, and all we had to do was reunite the two. The Hunters all thought this was far too dangerous. Demons liked to hitch rides on human souls, and demons in our world were a nightmare. They thought it was better to let Ash go.
But I knew that if it was one of my boys lost in the Far, or me, these brothers would do anything to save the one they loved. If I weren't the Lilith and they weren't my angels, there would have been no chance of saving my sister. I would have had to grieve her. But I had a chance to fight for her, and I wasn't giving up.
No matter who that meant I had to fight.
There was a ruckus in the hallway. I followed Olivia out into the warmly-lit honey-floored foyer. Three big guys were tramping in, all tall with hair in various shades of blond. Ryker, Levi and Jacob greeted them with boyish hugs, the kind where boys lean in and touch one shoulder and pound each other's backs. Their voices were a low grumble of good to see you, man and how've you been. Despite myself, my heart leapt a little. My boys were just so damn cute.
Levi glanced over one of the big blond backs and his eyes met mine. He slid away from them and threw an arm around me. I leaned into his lean side as he squeezed my shoulders. "Guys. This is Ellis."
He said it as if they already knew all about me.
I tried to smile back in response to the chorus of greetings. The oldest of Olivia's brothers had three days' beard growth across his big jaw and he wore a state trooper uniform; Levi pointed to him and said, "This is Nash."
"Nice to meet you." I nodded back to him.
"And Yale." Levi pointed out a tall guy with a mop of blond curls, and then a short, muscular guy with reddish-blond hair, built like a fire plug with a blue EMS jacket on and a bag slung over his shoulder. "And this is Zane."
"Want me to take a look before dinner?" Zane asked.
"I'll come with you," Ryker said quickly.
"I don't need supervision," Zane said, raising a hand, but Ryker reached behind him to open the French door.
Levi pressed a kiss to the top of my head. His expression was bemused, but he never made a big deal out of Ryker being Ryker. "You okay?"
I squeezed him in a hug instead of answering, breathing in his scent of fresh sawdust, and slid out from underneath his arm. I followed Zane and Ryker into Ash's room.
Zane seemed far more confident
with my sister's fragile body than I was. He checked her IV and the ventilator, and then lifted her slender hand and timed her pulse.
Ryker stood beside me, his hands in his pockets, so close that our shoulders almost brushed. I glanced up at his handsome, impassive face. His eyes were fixed forward, watching Zane intently. I glanced away again.
"How do we take care of her?" Ryker asked gruffly.
"I'll teach you," Zane promised.
Yale came in then, shaking his blond curls back from his forehead as he leaned over Ash and then away. Zane and Yale glanced at each other, something unsaid between them.
"So what's the deal?" I asked.
"I think there's a spell preserving her." Yale's voice was deeper than I had expected, husky and rough. "Olivia wasn't wrong."
Strung together, those were three of my least favorite words on the planet.
"We'll figure out how to break the spell," Ryker said. "We always do."
"It doesn't matter," I said. "Mr. Joseph doesn't have her anymore. She's free in the Far."
"That's not good enough," Ryker said. To Yale and Zane, he asked, "What's the spell doing, anyway? If she still needs a machine to keep her heart beating."
I knew it was true, but it still sounded harsh. I glanced away out the windows, but they reflected the five of us since night had fallen. My sister in her hospital bed, the boys around her, and me, standing back, with my arms crossed over my chest, my face wan and tired.
I stepped up the edge of the hospital bed, closer to my sister than the boys were.