by Jenny McKane
HELL HATH NO FURY
Sunny With A Chance of Demons
Book Two
JENNY MCKANE
Copyright © 2018
All rights reserved.
This book or any portion thereof may not be reproduced or used in any manner whatsoever without the express written permission of the publisher except for the use of brief quotations in a book review.
All characters appearing in this work are fictitious. Any resemblance to real persons, living or dead is purely coincidental.
Table of Contents
Chapter One
Chapter Two
Chapter Three
Chapter Four
Chapter Five
Chapter Six
Chapter Seven
Chapter Eight
Chapter Nine
Chapter Ten
Chapter Eleven
Chapter Twelve
Chapter Thirteen
Chapter Fourteen
Chapter Fifteen
Chapter Sixteen
Chapter Seventeen
Chapter Eighteen
Chapter Nineteen
Chapter Twenty
Chapter Twenty-One
Chapter Twenty-Two
Chapter Twenty-Three
Chapter Twenty-Four
Chapter Twenty-Five
Chapter Twenty-Six
Chapter Twenty-Seven
Chapter Twenty-Eight
Chapter Twenty-Nine
Chapter Thirty
Chapter Thirty-One
Chapter Thirty-Two
Chapter Thirty-Three
Chapter Thirty-Four
Chapter Thirty-Five
Chapter Thirty-Six
Chapter Thirty-Seven
Chapter Thirty-Eight
Chapter One
It turned out, the Archangel Gabriel was a neat freak.
Like, obsessively neat. And it drove Sunny mad.
“You need to stop,” she mumbled as she staggered out into the small kitchen where Gabriel was rearranging the fridge. He had everything on the small table in the center of the kitchen and was wiping down a ketchup bottle with paper towels and an all-purpose cleaner. He looked at Sunny like she was the insane one.
“Why would I have to do that?”
Sunny pushed the heels of her hands into her closed eyes and fought for control. Gabriel lived in her old room ever since she agreed to train with him three weeks ago. To say that things had gotten off to a bumpy start was putting it mildly. Sunny had liked Gabriel a lot more when he was pretending to be Liam, a community college student who drove a high-profile sports car and who was always impeccably dressed. The joke had always been on her, though, because that person had never existed.
Gabriel had always been on duty, and part of that duty was to monitor what Michael and his group of Hunters were up to, namely Sunny.
Gabriel explained that he was tasked with policing fallen angels. It had initially confused Sunny, as Michael clearly wasn’t a fallen angel.
“No, but there were rumors that he was assisting one,” he’d explained.
Gabriel mean Camael, one of the oldest angels in existence. An archangel. Keeper of the flaming sword that felled entire civilizations at God’s command. A really bad candidate for going rogue, as he was also one of the most powerful archangels.
It had led Gabriel to Sunny, who he’d been watching ever since she came into contact with Gideon, the half-angel, part-demon son of Camael.
It was a long, and twisted road that led Sunny to where she presently stood, hair all a mess and eyes bleary.
“It’s 4 a.m.,” she said, her voice cracking. “You need to let me sleep. Banging around all the containers in the fridge in an effort to clean them individually is not letting me sleep.”
Gabriel rolled his eyes, a habit he said he picked up from his time in the mortal realm with her.
“Fine,” he huffed and slammed the refrigerator door closed. He stomped back to the bedroom he was staying in and slammed that door, too. “But far be it from me to help keep you from living in filth and chaos. You should care about your surroundings, Sunny. They are a reflection of your mental state!”
Sunny drew in a deep breath and returned to Gideon’s room--the one she now occupied since his disappearance five months ago. Oh, she knew where he was, relatively, but getting to him and getting him out were entirely different stories.
Attempting to fall back asleep now seemed pointless, as her thoughts were drawn to hell, as they always were.
Was Gideon in pain? What was Azrael doing to him? Did he regret making the deal for her? She sure as hell wished he’d never done it. Seumat was the queen succubus that Sunny had been tasked to take out and was proving more and more dangerous with each day. The stakes were high on Sunny’s end to get the mission completed--Michael had even issued passive-aggressive death threats should she fail.
But Sunny had held out hope that she and Gideon would manage it somehow. That she’d fulfill her objective and Gideon would get one step closer to the revenge he was after. Gideon, it seemed, hadn’t been as convinced and had made a deal with Azrael to weaken Seumat enough to be brought down. At a price--Gideon’s freedom.
Her stomach ached at the memory of watching Gideon accept his fate and follow Azrael. While he held hope that he’d escape from the demon realm eventually, he was certain it wouldn’t happen within Sunny’s mortal lifetime. Time stopped for him in the demon realm and he planned on getting his revenge against his father decades, possibly even centuries, after Sunny’s mortal death.
The very thought of it wrenched her heart. Though they’d never officially declared their feelings, Gideon’s actions (and Sunny’s reactions) said enough.
Gideon just hadn’t planned on the archangel Gabriel offering Sunny a chance at redemption and revenge.
Gabriel’s plan sounded wonderful the day she’d let him in the loft. Do a little training, venture into hell, get Gideon.
Except, it was all a lot harder than that. Sunny wasn’t convinced that she was even going to make it through the training part, let alone navigate hell and battle demons to retrieve Gideon. She’d surely bitten off a lot more than she could comfortably chew at this point and she wasn’t sure how it was all going to work out in the end.
She only knew that by hook or by crook, it would.
*****
“Gabriel training you too hard?”
Blinking herself back awake, Sunny saw that Kitty Carlisle, her boss and the owner of The Little Lamb, was standing directly over her. Sunny had fallen asleep with her back against a shelf full of merino wool yarn.
“Not exactly.”
Kitty handed Sunny another basket of yarn to set out and waited for an explanation.
“He’s annoying,” Sunny complained and Kitty just raised her eyebrow. “He cleans at all hours of the day and never sleeps. He’s nosy and pushy and does the weirdest things with cleaning supplies. What have I done?”
“Strange, and dangerous, thing to be saying about an archangel,” Kitty commented. Kitty was a mild-mannered woman pushing 70-years-old. She ran a yarn shop. She and her other elderly friends played bridge once a week and they knitted caps for newborns at the local hospital.
Kitty Carlisle was also one of the longest-serving Keepers in the entire industry. Keepers offered aid and assistance to Hunters, something Sunny had considered herself up until about five and a half months ago.
The Archangel Michael had walked out of the half-destroyed yarn store and refused to help Sunny--refused to even look at her while Gideon was being taken away after helping them kill Seumat.
But it wasn’t “Michael’s problem,” he’d said. In a fit of rage, Sunny had thrown her garnet insignia ring, worn by all descendants of Solomon, at Michael’s feet and renounced him. He’d hardly reacted, but Sunny noted the look of anger in his face. It was strange, because previously, Michael hadn’t been one to hold back his threats of violence. He’d simply walked out.
Looking back, it’d been a risky move and she still wasn’t quite certain how she hadn’t ended up as a pile of ashes, but she’d lived to tell the tale. For the most part, anyway. She couldn’t exactly call what she’d been doing living.
And that’s where Gabriel had come in. He’d practically barged into Gideon’s old loft and offered her what she so desperately needed but hadn’t admitted to, yet.
“He’s one of the oldest archangels in existence,” Kitty tutted as she turned to walk away. “You’ll have to forgive him if he’s a little odd. He’s seen some things in his time that would spin your head right around.”
Sunny didn’t doubt that. Or that Kitty had seen some crap, too.
But she was fairly certain that she was going to see things that none of them could imagine by the time it was all said and done and she was in the depths of hell, searching for Gideon and fending off demons of all sorts.
“Have you known him long? Did you know he was in the area?”
A little warning might have been nice. Hell, any information any of these people had might have been nice.
“He was around when I was a young girl,” she said as she moved back to the cash register and shuffled some papers. “But he disappeared for a while. I think he was killed off for a bit and it took a while for him to return.”
That was something she’d never considered. What happened to archangels when they died in the human realm?
“They don’t return right away?”
Kitty gave a little shake of her head.
“The way I understood it was that it depended on how weakened they were,” she said. “And that depended on how long they’d spent in the human realm.”
Sunny pushed herself to her feet and stretched. Everything hurt. She wasn’t even into the real training portion of what she and Gabriel were doing--he was merely whipping her into some sort of shape for the next two weeks before they really got started.
“Why would they spend time in the human realm at all,” she said as she rolled her shoulders forward. “Seems like they end up dying and losing power in the end. What’s the draw?”
Kitty stopped what she was doing and looked up at Sunny.
“Freedom,” she said simply.
“What does that mean?”
“It means that humans are gifted with free will. And on our plane of existence, we know right from wrong, and we’re still given the choice of our actions. In the angelic sphere and in the demonic sphere, personal choices are limited,” she said. “I think that they stay longer than they should because they are free here.”
Freedom. She’d never really given it too much thought, but it made sense. Once an angel or a demon had decided to go off the grid, they could remain in the human realm and despite having their powers diminish over time, the freedom to do as they pleased would have been a powerful incentive.
Pushing the thoughts from her mind, she checked her phone on the countertop.
Be ready to sweat today. No excuses. Meet at the stadium.
Sunny groaned; she had an afternoon of stadium stairs and pushups and sit-ups and burpees and burnouts and whatever other tortures Gabriel had in mind. He was a tyrant when it came to getting into shape and Sunny wasn’t exactly a gifted athlete. She had her work cut out for her.
Kitty had returned from the back of the shop and produced a spread of food. Feeding Sunny seemed to be Kitty’s new mission in life.
“You’re coloring is getting better, but you’re still too skinny,” she said simply, pushing a sandwich and cookies at her. “It’s going to take actual muscles and athletic prowess to accomplish what you’re after, sister.”
Glancing down, Sunny admitted she was a little skinnier than usual and not in the good way. Her clothes hung off her in weird ways and she knew for a fact that her face was more sunken than usual.
But the thing was, she just didn’t care. At least, for those first few months after Gideon left, she hadn’t cared at all. She’d hardly eaten, she rarely left the house. She had more half-eaten boxes of Chinese delivery than she cared to admit to piling up in the garage. Sunny had stopped living and had simply existed until Gabriel came along and offered her redemption.
So, while she was training and learning, she was also healing. And if it meant eating every sandwich, cookie, and milkshake Kitty was determined to feed her to fatten her up, Sunny would try. She would sweat and eat and strain and push herself to every known limit, and mostly, she’d try.
Chapter Two
The workouts still burned. The running, the boxing, the weights. It all burned still, but Sunny felt herself changing over the past four weeks. She moved differently. She walked differently. Her body felt less like something that just got her from place to place and more like a tool--something she could rely on when things got tough.
“And things will get tough,” Gabriel promised her.
Noodle complained from the backseat, stuffed into his old carrier, despite the fact that he’d gained a ton of weight over the past few months. In the trunk were Sunny’s essentials. The rest had been left behind as they’d closed down Gideon’s loft for the time being.
Sunny was headed to Gabriel’s home and wouldn’t be returning to Seattle for some time. Initially, she’d fought it. What if Gideon returned and she wasn’t there? What if something happened and nobody could find her?
But it couldn’t be helped. She needed the facilities and the people that Gabriel had access to.
The travel took a total of almost 14 hours with all of the stops and the border crossing involved. They were headed for a small town, a hamlet, called Bragg Run. It was remote, it was high-elevation, and it was beautiful, according to Gabriel.
Sunny had spent all of her life in urban and suburban settings. Her family didn’t do much camping. There was no boating, no fishing. None of that stuff. So, seeing such gorgeous vistas as they drove captured her attention.
When they crossed the border into Canada and got through Vancouver and the surrounding area, it was like visiting a national park. At least what she imagined visiting one would be like. The views were spectacular, and she lost all interest in her cell phone or tablet, instead watching the scenery as it went by.
“Have you ever been to Hell?” she asked Gabriel.
He gave a laugh as an answer.
“I take that as a no?”
He just shook his head in response.
“What the hell would an archangel be doing in the demon realm? And how the hell would we even cross over in the first place?”
“Little touchy?”
“Stupid question,” Gabriel said.
The words were harsh, but the smile on his face was still kind. She understood that she was on a steep learning curve and he had even encouraged her to ask questions as often as she needed to. Still, it didn't make her feel any better when he laughed out loud at her.
“How long have you had a place outside of Calgary?” She tried a new route. It was where they were headed, at least close enough. He had a place an hour outside of town, nestled in the mountains with plenty of space
“Fifty years or so,” he said with a shrug and she choked on the sip of sparkling water she’d just downed. He looked over and raised his brow.
“What?”
She regained her composure and shook her head.
“I just forget how old you are sometimes, Father Time,” she said. “That’s all.”
It’d taken Sunny a few good days to reconcile the fact that the Gabriel she knew now had little to do with the Liam she’d gotten to know last fall. She’d first assumed that Liam was asking her on dates--study dates, but
dates nonetheless. Of course, she had been flattered and on the crappier days with Gideon, she’d been grateful for what she assumed was romantic attention.
She couldn’t have been further from the truth, as Gabriel was simply investigating any ties to Camael she might have through Gideon. She’d originally thought Liam was cute--ruggedly handsome even. But Gabriel? She shuddered at the thought. Not a chance.
“Who lives out there with you?”
She didn’t imagine there would be much by way of entertainment or company. Gabriel spent most of his time on his own and didn’t have Hunters of his own. At least not anymore. Kitty had hinted that he’d kept a crew of his own at one time, but she thought they’d all died off. Or been slaughtered. Her memory had been hazy, and to Sunny’s great annoyance, she couldn’t recall.
“I have a small staff I keep out here at all times,” he replied. “A Dominion named Ansel who runs the entire house for me and a Virtue named Eno who keeps the place secure for me.”
Exhaling a breath, she was glad that Gabriel didn’t keep company with Cherubs like Michael did. She couldn’t handle another Rub, no matter what the prize waiting at the end. Rub was a little peckerhead and if she never had to see him again, all the better.
Truth be told, he was terrifying, and it was all she could ever do to keep her fear of him under control.
“I have a couple friends coming out to help me. Humans. Sort of,” he gave a wry smile and Sunny’s head shot up.
“What does that mean?”
Gabriel took his time answering her and just when she was sure she was going to scream in impatience, he answered.
“It means I have a friend who works for Metatron who will help with your fight training and a friend of Gideon’s who will help with learning the inner workings of the demon realm.”
The change in air pressure inside the sports car was immediate and Sunny clenched her hands.
“Friend of Gideon's,” she repeated slowly, enunciating each word. “Female. Right?”
A small smile quirked on Gabriel’s lips.
“Yes.”
