Angel Tormented (The Louisiangel Series Book 3)

by C. L. Coffey

  “You want to take on Asmodeus?” Veronica blinked at me, surprised.

  I nodded. “I have information that he’s up to no good, and lives are at risk.”

  “Lives are always at risk when it comes to the Fallen,” Garret scoffed.

  “Children,” I stated, simply, but I aimed the words at Veronica. “Children’s lives are at risk.”

  She considered what I was saying in silence. “What is your source?”

  “A nephilim,” I replied, coolly.

  Her eyes went wide and she shook her head. “There’s no way I’m trusting that source of information.”

  “Then trust me, because I do,” I said, not realizing that was the truth until I spoke it. Huh… I guess I did trust Ty.

  “I hope that trust isn’t misplaced,” she said.

  So did I.

  “I don’t know a why, or even a how,” I admitted. “But I do know a who, I do know a where and I do know a when.”

  Garret snorted. “That’s not a great deal to go on.”

  “I know,” I agreed. “That’s why I’m here asking for your help.”

  “And how does Cupid feel about you going behind his back?” Garret sneered.

  I rolled my eyes. I couldn’t help it. “If I was going behind his back, he wouldn’t know about it, would he?” I asked, unable to keep the derision from my words. “But the thing is, I’m not going behind his back.”

  “You’re not?” Veronica exclaimed in surprise. “He knows you’re here?”

  I nodded. “I told him everything I know and he agrees that we need to see if there’s any truth to what’s being said. He also agreed when I said we couldn’t do it alone, and he agreed that you guys were the only ones that were capable of helping us.”

  Veronica slumped back in her chair, pink tinting her cheeks. “He did?”

  “Yeah, right,” Garret scoffed.

  I glared at him. “I said I didn’t come here with the intention of fighting, and I didn’t, but if you’re not going to contribute anything helpful, and insist on remaining as useful as a chocolate fireguard, can you just leave me and Veronica to this conversation?”

  Garret’s eyes narrowed into thin slits. “What makes you think Veronica will listen to anything you say without me present?”

  “Oh, for goodness sake!” Veronica exclaimed impatiently. “Why don’t you go iron a t-shirt?”

  I wanted to kiss her.

  “What’s the plan?” Veronica asked. “I’m not agreeing to anything, other than to hear out what you have to say.”

  “That’s all I ask for.”

  CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE

  Trust Issues

  “Actually, no, I ask for something else from you,” I corrected myself at the last minute.

  Veronica regarded me with hesitancy. “What would that be?”

  “I need you to take a vow: that regardless of your decision, none of the cherubim will act on what I’m going to tell you unless there’s a minimum of three there at all times,” I told her. I hadn’t come with the intention of making them take a vow, but every time I thought about the Port of New Orleans, my mind would always take me back to Michael.

  “I don’t know if I can do that,” Garret responded, with a look which told me the only reason he was saying that was because that had been my response to all of their requests.

  “Are you still here?” I shot at him. “Look,” I turned my attention back to Veronica. “Michael and I went alone, and now Michael isn’t here. Michael. The Michael who, no matter what you say about him, was Heaven’s greatest warrior. The reason I need you to make that vow is because I want you to stay safe. I’m not even making you agree not to act unless it’s with us. Don’t get me wrong, I’d rather you worked with us than by yourselves, but if that’s what you’ve got to do, then that’s what you’ve got to do. I just want you to be safe doing it.”

  “Okay,” Veronica started. “But-”

  She was cut off by Garret slamming his hand down on the table. “Just like that, you’re going to agree when she never agreed to anything with us?”

  “Oh, enough already,” Veronica glowered at him. “Go and get the other cherubim.”

  I sat watching, feeling increasingly uncomfortable as the tension in the air became so thick it hung like the humidity outside. When Garret eventually did as was requested, that atmosphere eased, but only fractionally: Veronica’s expression softened, but her posture remained rigid. “I was chosen to make the day to day decisions, but if it’s something that effects all the cherubim, then we vote,” she explained.

  “That seems fair,” I nodded in understanding as the room started to fill with other bodies. Although there was a lot of noise created by Garret and the other fifteen cherubs taking their places on the mismatched seats around the table, none of them said a word. It seemed unnatural: all these teenagers and not one of them speaking? Okay, so they weren’t actually teenagers, but they normally managed to act so much like a stereotypical teenager that seeing them like this creeped me out. The more I thought about it, the more the cherubim creeped me out in general. If they ever fell, they would be positively terrifying.

  “You all remember Angel, right?” Veronica announced suddenly.

  “As if we could forget her,” someone at the other end of the table – I didn’t catch who – retorted. Their tone indicated that was anything but a compliment.

  “Chill, Dion,” Veronica told him, her voice dangerously calm. “Angel is here asking for our help stopping Asmodeus.”

  “But there’s a catch,” Garret’s annoying voice rang out.

  Veronica’s impatient look matched mine. “Garret, unless you have something useful to add to this conversation, shut up. It seems that Asmodeus is up to something which could put children’s lives at risk.”

  “So what’s the catch?” Dion asked. “Much as I don’t want to return to that House, I’m not about to let children suffer from my selfishness.”

  “I need you to all take a vow to say that you will not attempt to help, either with us, or by yourselves, unless you go there with at least two other people. That’s it,” I shrugged. “I want you to remain safe, and if that means an extra person available to go get help, then that’s what I’m going to make you agree to. Michael and I didn’t have that luxury.”

  “That seems reasonable,” Noelle agreed. “I mean, it’s not like she’s saying we have to work with them.” She said them like we were a virus.

  “So we put it to a vote,” Veronica said. “Majority wins. All those in agreement with the request, raise your hands.” I looked down the table. Predictably, Garret didn’t raise his hand. Neither did Dion. Everyone else did. “It’s decided,” she said.

  “I don’t think it’s a good idea,” Garret snapped at her.

  “Why?” I asked, loudly.

  “Why what?” he grunted at me.

  “Why don’t you think it’s a good idea?” I repeated.

  Garret’s eyes narrowed. “I wasn’t talking to you.”

  “It’s a good question though,” Veronica told him. “Why don’t you think it’s a good idea?”

  “How do we know she’s not going to lead us into a trap?” he asked, staring pointedly at me. “I can tell she doesn’t like me.”

  “I don’t,” I agreed. “You’re a grade-A douchebag, and if I didn’t have to see your face again, I wouldn’t miss it,” I told him, truthfully. “The thing is, I don’t hold any ill feelings to the rest of the cherubim and I certainly don’t want to see any of you get hurt. Hence why I want you to go in bigger groups.”

  “Bigger groups to take us out quicker,” Garret said, still glowering at me.

  “Why?” I asked him. “What reason would I have to wipe out seventeen cherubs? Just because we’re no longer in the same House doesn’t mean I want to kill you. If I really wanted to not see you anymore, I’d just keep away.”

  “You keep coming here,” he snapped.

  “You keep kidnapping me and dragging me here,�
�� I snapped back. “I’m here today to ask for your help. I might not be a conventional angel, but I’m still an angel. I earned my wings.”

  “So did Lilah,” Garret shrugged. “It didn’t stop her helping Beelzebub to kill potentials, and it hasn’t stopped you from killing Michael.”

  And there it was. The reason he didn’t like me.

  Veronica gasped. “Garret!”

  I ignored her. “Lucifer was an angel,” I pointed out. “But you don’t see me expecting all of you to start falling en masse.”

  “Lucifer was one of thousands. You are one of two,” Garret said. “The odds don’t exactly stack up in your favor.”

  “I’m not Lilah,” I said, firmly.

  “You still managed to release Lucifer,” he countered.

  Whispers started up around the table and the snippets I heard were siding with Garret.

  “That was not intentional,” I said, trying to remain unruffled. “I thought Lilah was going to kill my charge.”

  “Still,” Garret folded his arms. “What’s to say this isn’t a misguided effort to protect your charge again? Only we’re the fallout, not Lilah.”

  Telling Garret I didn’t like him had been severely understating how I really felt about him. I don’t think there was anyone who infuriated me as much as this guy, and there was certainly no one who evoked such a need for violence than him – and that included all of the Fallen I’d encountered. “I don’t know,” I said, finally. “I guess you have no way of knowing that I’m not here to cause harm – intentional or otherwise. You’re just going to have to trust me, like I’m trusting you.”

  “I don’t,” he said, simply.

  “Garret,” Veronica said in a low voice.

  I stood. “You know what, Veronica? I don’t even care. I appreciate that you work on the majority’s agreement, and I also appreciate that the majority of you trust me,” I shot Dion a pointed look. “But I’d prefer it if we worked on everyone’s agreement, so if that means you don’t take the vow, so be it.”

  “We will take the vow,” Veronica said, hurriedly. “Like Dion said, we’re not going to risk the lives of children because of two stubborn individuals, even if he is one of them.”

  “It doesn’t matter,” I assured her. “Because I’m not going to risk their lives either. I’m going to tell you anyway.”

  “You are?” Veronica asked, surprised.

  “Yes, I will, but you’re all going to have to come to the convent to hear everything, because I don’t want to explain everything again.”

  “We’re not welcome there,” Garret snapped.

  “Actually, I’ve cleared it with Cupid. He’s expecting you this evening,” I informed him.

  Garret’s eyes turned to thin slits. “You told him about us.”

  “Of for God’s sake will you just chill the hell out!” I finally yelled at him. “You left and we accepted that. He didn’t ask where you were and I didn’t tell him. You’re not returning to the House, it’s an invitation for dinner. The thing is, Cupid’s big enough to admit that we need your help.” I turned to Veronica. “Now, if someone could get me the hell out of here, I’d appreciate it.” I folded my arms and stared expectantly at her.

  She nodded and took me back to the convent. “I’m sorry about Garret,” she muttered when we were alone in the gardens.

  “I really don’t care anymore,” I told her, wearily. “Dinner is at seven.”

  I left her there and walked back into the convent, heading straight for the kitchen. Eugene was in there, helping my aunt marinade the chicken. I don’t think I’ve ever seen anyone look so happy to be plunging their hands into a bowl of raw chicken and sticky sauce. He looked up with a grin on his face. “I got some good peppers.”

  “Eugene is picking this up very well,” Sarah said, rewarding Eugene’s delighted smile with a proud one of her own.

  “Good,” I beamed. “I guess you’ll be happy to make things a little more challenging?”

  Eugene’s head bobbed enthusiastically, but Sarah looked wary. “How much more challenging?”

  “Cupid told you about another two angels who might be joining us tonight?” I asked, suspecting that was the first thing Cupid had done when I’d left the office.

  Sarah nodded. “With Joshua and Leon, rounding it up to four additional appetites to suppress.”

  “Make it nineteen additional appetites,” I offered, sheepishly. “At seven.”

  Eugene’s mouth fell open in horror. “But that’s only a few of hours away” he squeaked. “We don’t have time – we don’t have enough chicken for fifty.”

  “But we have enough ingredients to make more sauce and we took delivery of shrimp this morning,” Sarah assured him, calmly. “What did I tell you?”

  “A good chef never panics,” Eugene recited back to her. “But we’ve never made food for this many before.” Sarah held her hand up and tutted at him. Eugene swallowed. “A good chef never panics,” he repeated again.

  “Good,” she said. “Now, let’s put this bowl in the refrigerator and get those shrimp out. We’re going to need to shell them and get them marinating.”

  “That would be my cue to leave,” I muttered. Much as I loved shrimp – and crawfish – shelling them was something I did not enjoy. The thought of the odd leg sticking to my fingers already had me cringing. I hurried from the room.

  “Angel,” Sarah called after me. She stepped out of the kitchen, and making sure Eugene’s attention was in the fridge, shut the door behind her.

  “Sorry for the lack of notice,” I told her.

  “That’s not what I wanted to say,” she said. “I just didn’t want to say anything in front of Eugene.”

  I arched an eyebrow. “Why does that make me nervous?”

  Sarah laughed. “It won’t make you nervous, but it will send Eugene into a panic: have you forgotten what’s on Sunday?”

  For a moment, I thought Cupid had said something about Asmodeus, but her amused expression told me this was something else altogether. “Yes,” I admitted.

  “It’s Barbara’s birthday,” she reminded me.

  Barbara was her late husband’s mother. Unlike a lot of things you hear about the mother-in-law, Sarah and Barbara had always gotten on and their friendship had remained. Every year, we would travel to Monroe and spend some time with them. Normally we went the day before thanksgiving and returned on the Sunday because of school. “Oh crap, we should be in Monroe now,” I realized with a pang of dismay. “I can’t go.”

  “Don’t worry,” Sarah tried to reassure me. “I spoke to Barbara a few weeks ago and said that you would be unlikely to come this time because of work commitments, so she’s not expecting you. I pushed it back because I wasn’t sure if I would be able to leave without those annoying reporters, but things have been quiet and I spoke to my neighbor earlier who assured me they’ve gone. I’ll get Eugene through this meal, but Cupid has agreed to take me home after dinner has been served – I know you’ve got things to discuss, and I know you need the whole convent present. If I go this evening, I can pack and leave early tomorrow morning.”

  “You don’t mind me not going?” I asked.

  “Of course I’d love your company, and I know Barbara would always love to see you, but we both knew that the time would come when you wouldn’t be able to make it. I’m going to stay for the week anyway,” she said. “I just want you to promise me that you’re going to be careful with whatever it is you have planned.”

  I threw my arms around her. “I think you need to wait until just before you leave before you tell Eugene. I think he’s going to freak out.” I pulled back. “A chef never panics?”

  She smiled knowingly. “I need to get back in there, and get him to help me come up with some menus for the rest of the week,” she said, winking at me as she returned to the kitchen.

  I started to head to my bedroom when I realized I needed to tell Cupid that the dinner guests had increased in number. He wasn’t in the office li
ke I expected. I was about to call out for him, psychically, but I spotted him outside.

  He was busy with his bow, burying arrows into the half dozen targets at the other end of the garden, the thwump of the arrow hitting its mark echoing back at a rhythmic speed. There was a large amount of them in the targets, but given the speed in which Cupid could load his bow, aim, and fire, I didn’t know if he’d been out there for ten minutes or an hour. “I haven’t seen you do that for a while,” I told him as I joined him.

  Cupid didn’t acknowledge me until the arrow which was nocked in his bow was planted firmly in the ball hanging from one of the trees. When he’d first started teaching me archery we had used the traditional target – a circular face with a bulls-eye mounted on foam. When I’d started to get more confident and all of the arrows I had shot hit the mark, he’d upgraded to a giant dartboard, calling out the numbers until I was hitting them too. Recently they had been replaced entirely with foam balls, hanging all over the garden. Some were set up on pulleys, but a lot were just hanging there, utilizing the wind to make them more difficult. These, I found much more challenging. Cupid, however, could hit any of them – he could probably do it with his eyes closed too.

  “I needed to get outside,” Cupid said, lowering his bow.

  “No one expects you to sit in that office all day,” I told him.

  “Michael did,” Cupid shrugged. “I spent most of my day doing what Pascal does.”

  “But you’re not Michael.” I stepped in front of him. “And no one expected Michael to sit in his office all day either.”

  “I guess,” Cupid said, although he didn’t sound convinced.

  I gave him an apologetic smile. “I’m sorry: I should be spending more time helping, instead of leaving it all to you.”

  “Are you joking?” Cupid asked, eyes wide in surprise. “You have been helping the angels organize and complete their chores, and you have a charge. On top of that, you’ve made progress in defeating Asmodeus.”

  I pulled a face. “I don’t know about defeating him. Certainly in confirming that he’s up to no good and we might be able to work out what it is and stop it, but defeating him – we’re not there. Yet,” I added.