by C. L. Coffey
I moved to one side, watching the fire. It was concentrated in the corner of the convent which shared a wall with St Mary’s. Even if the fire department arrived now, that corner was lost: the flames were behind the upper windows. As I watched the reds and oranges flickering behind the glass, the window exploded. “Cupid, tell me you’re all right in there!” I demanded, automatically ducking at the bang.
“Other end of the building. Two left.”
I sighed, watching as some flaming fabric – probably a curtain – fluttered to the ground, landing in front of the side door of the church… the open door of the church.
It was three in the morning and that building was supposed to be shut. The wall the convent shared with the church was a thick brick one, but I could see the glow through the open door. The door that shouldn’t have been open…. The fire engines were getting closer, taking far too long to get here, and there was something that was telling me someone needed to go see what was in there.
“The roof!” someone yelled behind me.
I looked up and saw that the fire had spread to the church roof. I needed to move, and I needed to move now.
I sprinted across through the garden, forgetting that there was a crowd including humans, and ran straight into the church.
The smoke in here was thick – half of the pews at the front, near the alter, were already on fire. The flames were licking at the alter itself, and the glow was turning the once beautiful ceiling mural of Mary ascending into heaven into something which looked like her trying to escape a fiery hell.
I scanned the area, the smoke tickling at my throat sending me into a coughing fit. For a moment I thought I had overreacted, then I saw the girl. She didn’t look much older than sixteen, although she was dressed like she was trying to get served in one of the bars on Bourbon.
She was on the opposite side of the church to me – the fire between us – but instead of trying to get out, she was just sitting there, albeit, doubled over and coughing, like she was waiting for someone. I didn’t think – I just leaped through the flames, ignoring the fire as it seemed to grab at me. “What are you doing?” I demanded. Even as I crouched in front of her, trying to get below the smoke, she just remained where she was, coughing. “We need to get out of here,” I said, pulling her off the pew and to the floor.
She looked at me then, tears streaming down her face, although I couldn’t tell if they were due to the smoke or fear. Judging from the way she yanked herself free of my hold, it could have been insanity. “No!” she screamed. “If I leave, he won’t know how much I love him!”
“Are you kidding me?” I yelled at her, before coughing.
Above me, something cracked. I looked up and found the fire eating away at beams.
“He said that I had to prove my devotion!” she shouted getting back up onto the pew.
“Your devotion is no good to anyone when you’re dead,” I told her, pulling her back down.
“No!” she screamed again, clawing at my face. Her nails raked at my cheek and I jerked back, just as one of the far beams came crashing down behind us. The impact sent burning debris raining down around us and we both screamed as it landed on us.
“Enough of this crap,” I roared, my back felt like it was on fire, whereas the dagger against my bare leg felt like it was branding me. Against her struggling, and not really caring enough at this point if she was burned too, I picked her up and flung her over my shoulder. The smoke, fire, debris, and her struggles made it almost impossible to move, but I kept a firm grip and got us both to the far wall, following the end aisle to the main doors. I could barely see and the smoke was so thick in my throat I could hardly breathe. Knowing the door would be locked, with my free shoulder, I launched myself at it, bursting out onto the street.
The street was chaotic. The fire department had finally arrived. It looked like at least one truck was in the convent grounds with another in the street, their hoses aimed up at the church roof. I clung onto the fighting girl as three firefighters ran over, trying to extract her from me. “Give her to me,” one of them instructed me.
“Hold on to her,” I said. “She wants to be in there.”
He looked like he didn’t believe me – until I released her and she attempted to bolt back into the church. Thankfully, one of the other firefighters grabbed her as I let out an exhausted sigh, doubling over and resting my hands on my knees. No sooner did I do that, the coughing started up again. “You should get checked out by a medic, miss,” the first firefighter told me.
In a sense, he was right. My back felt like it was on fire, my lungs felt like they were lined with soot, and I was fairly certain that under the cuts and burns on my bare feet were broken bones. With what remained of the injuries I had obtained at the Port, it was nothing short of a miracle that I was still standing, and it wouldn’t take a medic to realize that either. I was trying to work out the best way to stop that from happening – and for them not to notice the weapon attached to my leg – when the girl I had rescued collapsed. The firefighters, and the paramedics who had just arrived, hurried over and I took the opportunity to slip past them and rejoin the chaos back at the gate.
I found Cupid and Joshua at the edge of the group. Cupid’s attention was on our House, while Joshua had been scanning the area for me. The relief in his eyes as soon as he saw me was obvious, but he waited for me to cross the hoses and join him before wrapping his arms around me.
I couldn’t stop the involuntary gasp of pain as his arms touched my back and he pulled away, concern replacing the relief. “What the hell have you been doing?” he demanded as his eyes raked in my appearance. “Don’t tell me you went back into that convent.”
I shuffled a few steps backwards, off the sidewalk and into the water which was flowing steadily to the gutter. My fingers went to the dagger, still hot to the touch in the sheath, and I pulled it out, crouching down to drop it in the water. It hissed and fizzled, but when I pulled it out it was cool. I examined my leg – the sheath had done a reasonable job of protecting my skin, but there was still a red oblong imprint which was warm to the touch. I shifted the sheath further to the side and returned the dagger to it. I allowed a moment to feel the reprieve in the throbbing in my feet and my thigh before responding to Joshua. “No,” I told him. “But I did go into St. Mary’s.”
“Why the hell would you go into a burning building?” Joshua asked in disbelief.
“I thought there was someone in there and I was right.” I released a long sigh. “Can we discuss this later? I’m exhausted and I’m sure I’m only going to have to repeat myself again?”
Joshua didn’t seem thrilled with the suggestion, but nodded. He stepped to the edge of the curb, keeping his own bare feet out of the water, but gently pulled me to him. I didn’t fight him, resting my head against his chest. “You are either the craziest or bravest person I know,” he muttered.
I was too tired to respond, my eyelids feeling heavy and my throat still felt restricted and strangely hot. It was then that Cupid spotted us, frowning. He joined us, his eyes flicking between me and Joshua. “I thought Joshua had gone home,” he said, slowly.
“Did everyone get out?” I asked instead of acknowledging his statement – it was obvious that the last thing Joshua had done was gone home, and given that we were both still wearing what we had slept in, it was also pretty obvious what we’d been doing. I also didn’t bother to step away.
“Yes,” Cupid said. “When the fire department clears up, we will go inside and see what damage has been done.”
“You won’t be returning in there tonight,” Joshua informed him, matter-of-factly.
Cupid frowned. “More than half of the building is fine. It will probably be smoky, but we can work with that.”
“Maybe so, but they’re going to want to investigate the cause of the fire, and they’re going to need to check the building is structurally stable to return to,” Joshua shrugged. “I’ve seen how they work in the past. You’re better
off finding somewhere to put you guys up for a couple of days.”
“You seem to know a lot about the fire,” Cupid said.
I lifted my head long enough to arch an eyebrow at Cupid. “Are you kidding me?”
“I’ve worked a few arson/homicide cases,” Joshua said. “I’m willing to bet a lot of money that this fire was caused by arson.”
Cupid glanced back at the convent. The firefighters were battling with the fire, but it looked like they were starting to get a handle on it. “I do not gamble,” he said, sounding eerily like Michael. “I also suspect you are right.”
EPILOGUE
It took nearly an hour for the fire department to get the blaze under control. They’d been surprised everyone was accounted for, but once we assured them of that, and how no one needed medical attention, the paramedics had all disappeared. We’d also been told that we would be unable to return to the convent for a while. Cupid had vanished then reappeared a short time later to say we were relocating to the St. Louis Cathedral where Father Roberts was expecting us.
With the sun starting to creep over the horizon, a group of attractive guys and me, all in our night clothes, made the short walk to the cathedral. We must have looked an interesting sight, but the car keys were in a building we weren’t allowed in, and as Cupid rightly pointed out, he couldn’t just zip us all there when there was such a big crowd at the convent.
Father Roberts had opened the door and welcomed us in, providing the angels with clothing and food. While the angels settled down in the ornate nave, Cupid, Joshua and I followed Father Roberts to a set of private rooms in one of the towers. The last thing I expected was for the cathedral to have a shower, but I was exceptionally happy that it did. While I showered, someone had set up a cot and I gratefully collapsed into it.
When I awoke, it wasn’t by my own choice. The room was already dark again, so I must have slept the day away, and short of Lilah-associated pain that had become a constant part of my life, the only thing that remained with me was an ache. It was Cupid who had awoken me, psychically requesting my presence in a room along the way. While I had been sleeping, someone had left some clothes in my room.
I found Cupid in a small office, along with Joshua and Leon. “How are you feeling, darlin’?” Joshua asked me.
“Better,” I assured him.
“The girl you pulled out of the church died this morning,” Leon announced.
I settled heavily into a chair. “Crap,” I sighed, rubbing my hands over my face.
“She took her own life,” Leon said, shaking his head gently. “You saved her life.”
“You pulled a girl out of the church?” Cupid asked in surprise.
I nodded, realizing I had never explained what I had been doing in St. Mary’s, and as quickly as I could, told the audience of three everything I could remember. When I had finished, I turned my focus on Leon, frowning. His notebook had never made an appearance. “You’re not investigating this?”
Leon shook his head. “The fire is being investigated by the arson team, but I know the girl, Emma Long, confessed to starting it.”
“She started a fire in the convent? Why?” Cupid asked, looking surprised. “How do you know?”
“Liam, the lead investigator is a poker buddy and he ran through his discoveries so far,” Leon sighed, folding his arms. “When I heard it was him investigating, I figured I would try to find out what he’d discovered for you. Emma confessed to starting the fire, but her reasons, well, this is where it gets strange, or at least, Liam’s calling it strange. The doctors were waiting for a psych consult after the confession. Emma said that she was doing it to prove her devotion to the love of her life. She said he’d asked others to take the things which would cause him harm along with that which was his, and for her to let those who would stand against him be purified by fire.”
“So why was she in the church?” Joshua asked. “Did she mention that part?”
“He asked her to,” I answered, beating Leon to it as I recalled the things she had said to me.
Leon nodded in agreement. “She said death equaled the ultimate devotion.”
“Devotion to who?” Cupid frowned.
“Lucifer?” Joshua offered.
This time, Leon shook his head. “No, some popstar.”
Cupid released a heavy sigh. “Well how did she… they get in?”
“They probably just walked right through the front door,” I muttered, dryly. The angels never locked anything other than their SUVs, and that was only because the vehicles did it automatically after a time. Leon shot me a puzzled look. I shrugged. “Angels are trusting creatures.”
“Elimination prints will need to be taken from everyone who resides in the convent, but we might be able to lift something from the front door, if that’s what you suspect. I can’t stress enough how much of a bad idea it is not to lock anything, especially your front doors on a night time,” Leon said, shooting Cupid a disapproving look.
“We’ve never needed to lock things up before,” Cupid said, simply: that was just how it was.
“Because you’ve never been hit by a car doesn’t mean you shouldn’t look both ways before crossing the street,” Leon retorted. “Just because you’re staying in a convent doesn’t mean there aren’t people who wouldn’t hesitate to break in and steal everything.”
My eyes widened as a feeling of dread began to uncurl in my stomach. “Cupid, you need to get us to the armory,” I said, cutting off the discussion. “Now.” Minutes later, the four of us were standing in the corner of a charred room, water still dripping around us on what was once furniture.
“They took our weapons,” Cupid gasped.
Although the cherubim had taken their weapons, but there had still been a considerable amount left. Whoever had helped Emma hadn’t been able to take them all, and it was easy to see what remained of the swords and bows scattered in the debris. Although everything else had burned around them, the bows had retained their shape and, like the swords, were covered in soot. My gaze flew to the chimney breast seeking out the crossed swords out of habit. The action sent memories of Michael flooding through me. I shook my head to clear them, and them my mouth fell open in horror as I realized what I was seeing.
There was only one sword hanging from the wall. With everything in the room caked in a thick layer of soot, it was hard to tell who it belonged to. I carefully made my way over and rubbed at the metal. The soot came away, revealing the metal below was almost white. “Michael’s sword is gone,” I said, turning back to the others.
Cupid was watching me, slowly shaking his head. “That’s Michael’s sword.”
I glanced back up at the sword, realizing that it was Michael’s sword – Lucifer’s had hung on the other side. It was Lucifer’s which was missing. “Oh shit,” I muttered, the blood in my veins turning to ice. Slowly, I turned to Leon. “That popstar. It was Luke Goddard, wasn’t it?” The question was rhetorical. I knew Leon was going to nod his head before he did. The worst part was, it confirmed something I had suspected for a while but at the same time, hadn’t found any evidence to prove. “Luke Goddard is Lucifer,” I said, my eyes on Michael’s sword.
“Lucifer?” Cupid questioned, doubtfully. “You think Lucifer did this?”
“You think Lucifer is Luke Goddard?” Joshua repeated. “The kid from that concert?” When I nodded, Joshua gave me a look which I was sure was mirroring mine: hopelessness. “How are we going to defeat the most popular kid on the planet?”
Hell if I knew.
“I don’t know,” I admitted. “But right now, that’s not our priority,” I said, despite the shocked expressions. “We can’t begin to start thinking about an offensive until we’ve worked out our defense. They came into our home.”
“They are humans, Angel,” Cupid pointed out. “We can’t attack humans, even if they’re attacking us.”
“No,” I agreed. “But other humans can.”
Cupid looked appalled by my suggestion. “
We cannot advocate humans attacking other humans either.”
“Whoa!” I said, holding my hands up, palms out. “That’s absolutely not what I’m suggesting. We need someone who can stand guard and make sure that we’re protected, using non-lethal force. But we also have to acknowledge that Emma was prepared to burn alive to show her devotion, and the next time they come, they could have more nefarious intentions.”
Cupid’s lips thinned as he nodded. He released a heavy sigh. “What do you have in mind?”
I looked to Joshua, who nodded. “Darell Ford. He already knows what we are, and he works for a security firm.”
Cupid nodded. “Okay,” he conceded, though he looked so bewildered, I wasn’t sure he knew what he was agreeing to.
My eyes went back to Michael’s sword. We were descending further and further into darkness and I wasn’t sure if we could cope without him, but I would happily continue on, doing my best to fight the darkness all by myself if I could have Michael back.
Even though I didn’t deserve one, I started praying for a miracle.
As an indie author, I rely heavily on word of mouth, so if you do enjoy the book, it would mean the world to me if you left a review wherever you purchase books. It really helps out a lot.
In the meantime, here’s a sneak-peak of book four.
Angel
In Crisis
Book Four
of the
Louisiangel Series
C. L. Coffey
Coming 2017
Chapter One
