by Diem, J. C.
“What can I say?” he replied with a shrug. “I’m a low maintenance kind of guy.”
A slow smile built until I was grinning at him. His dimple made an appearance when he smiled in return and it became impossible to resist him. We leaned towards each other and I put my hands on his thighs for balance. Heat swept through me even before our mouths met. Our kiss quickly went from chaste to scorching. I lost all sense of time and place as we did our best to devour each other.
The moment was finally shattered when something thumped into the window. Several girls screamed and I pulled away from Zach. He looked just as dazed as I was as we turned to see what the fuss was about. Blood and fur was smeared across the window right at my eye height, which told me this wasn’t a coincidence.
Movement drew my attention to a scraggly tree right outside the café. The unholy raven was perched on a withered limb. It ruffled its feathers again just to make sure I’d seen it. It’s single milky orb glared at me then it uttered a croak that sounded far too much like laughter. Launching itself into the air, I saw its shadow circle the area before it flew off. No one even noticed that there was something very wrong with it.
“Eww, it’s a dead squirrel,” a girl moaned as she leaned over the counter to peer at the sidewalk outside. “It’s head is missing! Oh my God, I think I’m going to barf!”
I’d seen far worse things than a headless squirrel, but it had been a clear threat. The raven had somehow managed to find me even here, where I thought I was safe. I wasn’t invisible to it as I was to demons. I’d have to be very careful not to lead it back to our base. It had already managed to infiltrate Sophia’s store through me once. I couldn’t let it happen again.
“Wow,” Zach said morosely, “that was a real mood killer.”
“What? You don’t find headless squirrels romantic?”
He smirked and shook his head. “I’ve missed your snarky sense of humor more than I can express.”
Taking his hand, I looked down when he entwined our fingers. “At the risk of ruining everything, I think we should take things slow.”
He took a deep breath and I dared to look up at him. He didn’t look happy, but he nodded reluctantly. “You’ve been through some things that would have broken lesser people. I don’t blame you for not wanting to rush into anything.”
Relieved, I squeezed his hand. “Thanks for understanding. I love being with you and kissing you is unbelievably hot.” His grin returned at that admission. “I’m so glad that you didn’t abandon me after the cops blamed me for my mother’s murder, but I need a friend just as badly as I need a boyfriend right now.”
“I can be both,” he said and leaned forward. Instead of kissing me, he drew me into a hug. I rested my head on his shoulder and couldn’t quite mute the voice that compared him to Nathan. No matter how much lust Zach ignited within me, he’d never be able to make me feel quite as safe and cherished as my guardian did.
We spent an hour in the coffee shop, holding hands and talking. He snuck periodic peeks at his watch and I did the same. Mine had started working again once I’d left the portal. It didn’t even need to be adjusted. It had magically been keeping the correct time while we’d been in another dimension.
“I have to go,” he said at last with a wistful sigh.
“Me, too,” I said with as much reluctance as he felt. “When will I see you again?” We said the words at the same time then laughed.
“How about Thursday?” Zach suggested. “I won’t be able to make it here until three thirty.”
“That should be fine.”
We stood and he reached into his pocket. “I have something for you.”
“Not another present,” I protested.
“Not this time. It’s just something that will make it easier for us to keep in touch.” He pulled a cell phone out and handed it to me. “My number is already keyed in. I’ve put enough credit on it to last you for a few weeks, as long as you don’t go crazy calling everyone you know. I paid in cash and used a false name to hide my tracks. No one should be able to trace it to you.”
He was the only person I knew in the city who actually owned a cell phone, so that wasn’t going to be a danger. Sophia had a phone in her store so her clients could book appointments, but she rarely used it for anything else. “You’re not just a pretty face,” I said and slipped it into my pocket. “You actually have a fairly decent brain inside that gorgeous skull.”
“You think I’m gorgeous?” he said in evident delight.
“Yeah, but don’t let it go to your head,” I teased. “I’m really just after you for your money.”
“I know that isn’t true,” he said and hooked his arm through mine. We worked our way through the crowd to the door and stepped out into the chill. Brushing his lips over mine, he winked then shoved his hands in his pockets and melted into the crowd.
₪₪₪
Chapter Thirty-Nine
Sam appeared beside me a few moments later. Putting his hands beneath his chin, he stared after Zach and batted his eyelashes. “He is so dreamy,” he sighed.
“Shut up,” I laughed and elbowed him in the side. My laughter died when I saw the body of the squirrel lying on the ground. No one had cleaned it up yet. Pedestrians skirted around it with looks of disgust.
“I saw the raven coming, but I was too far away to warn you,” Sam said as we hurried past the headless corpse.
“That bird really creeps me out,” I said with a shudder. “It’s just taunting me now, showing me that it can strike at any time.”
“Perhaps it is feeling vindictive for the loss of its eye.”
“He started it,” I said in self-defense then realized how childish I sounded. “Ugh. I sound like a whiny ten year old kid.”
His amusement changed to alarm when a man and a woman appeared from out of nowhere and took me by the arms. I had time to register that they were both beautiful and that they looked familiar. Then I was blinded by a flash of white light.
When my vision cleared, I found myself in a small, circular room. An elevator was to my right and a stairwell was right in front of me. The stairs were blocked by a stainless steel gate. It looked like it was used for emergencies only. Black tiles covered the floor. Old black and white photos of what looked like construction work and workers adorned the elevator and weirdly shaped structural columns. Windows gave a three hundred and sixty degree view, but all I could see was the rapidly darkening sky.
“Do you know who we are?” the achingly beautiful woman asked. She wore a sleek gray suit that enhanced her steely gray eyes. Her blond hair was caught up in a severe bun. I switched my gaze to her companion to find him staring at me like I was a bug. He was almost as handsome as Nathan, with light brown hair and matching eyes.
“No,” I replied, “but I know what you are.”
“And we know what you are,” the male said with a curl of his upper lip that rivaled Brie’s sneers. “You were created for one purpose; to fight the forces of evil and to save humanity from extinction.”
“Yet we catch you wasting time drinking coffee with some mortal boy of absolutely no significance whatsoever,” the woman grated.
“What do you mean you caught me? Are you spying on me?” I pulled my arms out of their grasp and stepped away from them.
“We check in with you from time to time to make sure that you are staying on track,” the male angel said tersely. “We have better things to do with our time than to monitor you continuously.”
“What are your names?”
They exchanged a look then shrugged as if it didn’t matter. “I am Hagith and this is Orifiel,” the female said.
“Hag and Orifice,” I said facetiously. “That should be easy enough to remember.”
Quivering in anger, Hagith stepped towards me. “Who are you to disrespect us? We are celestial beings while you are nothing but…” Orifiel grabbed her by the arm before she could finish her insult.
“I’ll tell you who I am,” I replied. M
y words were so cold that they almost dripped with ice. “I’m the scourge of hell, chosen by Fate herself to do what you ‘celestial beings’ apparently can’t. I’m risking my life to save this planet. If I want to take some time out every now and then to have coffee with my boyfriend, then I’d like to see you try to stop me.”
Our eyes locked and neither of us were willing to back down.
“I do not think that Violet is aware of what is at stake if she were to fail,” Orifice said. His eyes gleamed when he moved towards me. Putting his hand on my shoulder, he turned me to face the window. “See for yourself,” he invited and pointed down at the view that was rapidly being obscured by falling snow.
Through the gloom, I saw the city of Manhattan spread out below. I realized we must be standing at the top of the Empire State Building. Skyscrapers speared upwards, dwarfing the smaller structures that crouched beside them. Even they looked small from this vantage point. We were so high up that cars looked like toys and people were as small as ants.
Hag put her hand on my other shoulder and the view changed. The lightly falling snow darkened in color, becoming gray and changing texture until it turned to ash. Orange light blossomed far below as buildings caught on fire. Cars exploded in bright fireballs, forcing me to squint at the brightness. Tiny figures ran ablaze through the streets, trailing fire behind them.
I watched on in horror as the entire city went up in flames. The image sped up until it was like watching a movie in fast forward. Skyscrapers tumbled like building blocks that had been knocked over by a cranky child. When the flames finally died out, utter devastation was left behind. Charred bones made of concrete and metal was all that remained of the once grand buildings. Manhattan had died right in front of me.
“This is the future that the entire world will face if you fail,” Hagith said in cold satisfaction. “This is why we will be keeping our eye on you.”
“It was you who bumped into Zach and me when we were kissing,” I realized and looked at Orifiel. I’d only caught a brief glimpse of his face, but I was sure it had been him.
“You were acting like a woman of ill repute in public. You were lucky that I did not take more drastic measures to break you apart,” he glowered.
Yanking myself out of their grip again, I put what I hoped would be a safe distance between us. I was pretty sure he’d just come close to calling me a prostitute. “Is that a threat?”
A cruel smile appeared on Hag’s flawless face. “Consider it to be incentive to focus on your given task. If Orifiel and I feel you are straying from your duty, we will take steps to ensure that you remember your mission.”
My mouth curved into a smile that was every bit as joyless as hers was. “Wow. You two really don’t know me at all. If you did, you’d know that I don’t react well to threats.”
“It is not a threat,” Orifice refuted. “It is fact. Perform the task that was set for you, or face the consequences.” With that, they both disappeared.
“What a couple of douchebags,” I said to the now empty room. I’d always thought angels were supposed to be warm and loving. Nathan certainly fit that description and Leo and Sophia were great, but Hagith and Orifiel were the complete opposite to them. Somehow, I knew that they’d get along with Brie just fine.
₪₪₪
Chapter Forty
Now that I was alone, I walked over to the windows again. A stainless steel railing was bolted to the wall every few yards. It acted as a grip for anyone who wanted to stand on the step below it to gain a better view. Stepping up higher, I grasped the railing and looked straight down. The snow was falling faster, making it difficult to see anything. What I could see of the view was still breathtaking.
Hearing the elevator come to life, I stared out through the window until it arrived and disgorged several tourists. An employee wearing a maroon uniform stared at me in surprise. She was dragged away by the group of tourists before she could ask me what I was doing up here all alone.
Darting into the elevator, I nodded a greeting at the elderly conductor. “Going down?” he joked and I dutifully smiled. We were at the top of the building and down was the only direction we could possibly go. Elevators were my least favorite places to be. Small spaces always made me panic and this was one of the smallest elevators that I’d ever seen.
My eyes latched onto the panel. They widened when I saw I was on the 102 nd floor. I gulped when the door closed and we began to descend. To my relief, we only travelled to the 86 th floor before we coasted to a stop. “Are you alright?” the conductor asked. “You look a little green.”
“I’ll be fine,” I lied. “I just get a bit claustrophobic sometimes.”
“A fear of confined spaces is more common than you’d think,” he said in commiseration and opened the door.
Emerging from the tiny space, I took in the glossy black floor and gray walls with black faux marble panels. An area where people could line up to wait their turn to see the view was sectioned off by velvet ropes, but lining up wasn’t necessary today. With the snow now coming down in earnest, visibility was poor. Most tourists were wisely staying away.
I headed to the right and passed a beautiful photo of the Empire State Building and a pink sunset or sunrise on the wall. A silver sign saying ‘Observation Deck’ had been erected above it. I took a small flight of stairs two at a time and entered a wide room with a two tone striped floor and a wall of windows. Most of the tourists who had decided to visit the attraction on such an awful day were huddled inside. Only a few were outside braving the elements.
Spying a door that led outside, I rudely pushed my way through a trio of giggling girls who were blocking my path. They were too busy taking photos of themselves on their cell phones to pay any attention to anyone else. Only a few short weeks ago, I’d been exactly the same as them. They made disgruntled noises when I shoved them aside, but I ignored their anger and burst outside. Taking a deep breath, my panic began to subside once I was out in the open.
Snow was falling thick and fast. I pulled my hood up to shield my face as I walked down a ramp to the observation deck. The ground was paved with bricks that were already turning slick beneath my boots.
A high fence had been erected around the entire perimeter, presumably to prevent suicide attempts. It would take a very determined jumper to scale the bars and navigate over the sharpened metal points that curved downward.
Telescopes were stationed on every side as I made my way around the deck. I couldn’t see very far, but some of the more recognizable buildings jumped out at me through the gloom. As the snow intensified, the few tourists headed inside until I was standing in the open alone. I should have been shivering, but the cold didn’t really bother me. Maybe the demons’ souls were changing me even more than I’d realized.
I sensed it when Nathan arrived. I felt him at my back even before his hands closed over my shoulders. “Are you alright?”
His concern touched me more deeply than I cared to admit. “I’m fine.”
“Sam said you were taken by two angels,” he said and turned me around to face him. Snow coated his dark hair, making him even more achingly handsome. “What did they want?”
I couldn’t admit the truth, that they’d warned me to stay away from my secret boyfriend. “They warned me that they were keeping their eye on me and that they weren’t happy with my lack of progress.” It was close enough to what they’d said that it wasn’t really a lie.
“Did they tell you their names?”
“Hagith and Orifiel, but I’ve nicknamed them Hag and Orifice.”
He smiled against his will, shaking his head reproachfully at the same time. “I am sure they did not take their new names very well.”
“Nope,” I shrugged uncaringly. “Do you know them?” I knew he did because I’d seen them together. They were the angels I’d seen talking to him when I’d stopped for lunch after the raven had tried to scalp me.
“I have had dealings with them,” he said with a slight grima
ce. “You will not want to hear this, but you should try to treat them with respect. They have little patience for what they see as impertinence.”
“They’re not the boss of me,” I said heatedly. “It isn’t their job to tell me what to do.” Or who I could see, for that matter.
“They are trapped here, just as we are,” he reminded me. “They are aware of what is at stake now that the gates of heaven are locked. I am sure they just want to make sure that nothing goes wrong with your mission.”
I sighed and my shoulders sagged in defeat. “You’re probably right. They showed me what the world will look like if the demons win and it isn’t pretty.”
“Then we will just have to make sure that they do not win.” His confidence in me was nice, but we both knew it wouldn’t be that easy. The Demon Princes wanted me dead, but the Hellmaster still wanted me alive, even after he’d seen the evidence that I could kill his kind. He could easily have annihilated me with lightning, but had merely sent me a warning instead.
I had no idea what the master of hell wanted from me, which frightened me even more than the possibility that my life could come to an end at any moment. After seeing what the prince of the eighth realm had done to Heather, I now knew that there were worse things than mere death when dealing with demonkind.
I was sarcastic and snarky, but I was still an innocent in many ways. Heather’s virtue had been forcibly stolen from her. I dreaded facing the same fate and silently vowed that I would never let that happen to me. The only way I’d ever lose my virtue would be if I chose to give it away.
Nathan folded me into his arms. I sank against him, wishing that I could gift him with my body when I was finally ready to take that step. But God himself had forbidden us from ever being able to act on our feelings for each other. Whatever the Hellmaster had planned for me would pale in comparison to the wrath that God would bring down on us if we disobeyed his direct order.
