by Jenny McKane
“What’s the more dangerous half for you? The angel or the demon?”
Her guess? Demon. They were more prone to go off the reservation. They tended to be more violent with others and amongst themselves.
He answered without hesitation.
“Angel.”
Her head snapped over in surprise.
“Really?”
He nodded.
“There are human-demon hybrids all over the place. They’re common,” he said. “But a half-breed angel? It’s just not done. There’ve probably been three angels in the history of angels who bred with a human, and as soon as the transgression was discovered, both mother and baby were disposed of immediately.”
A sour pit began to form in Sunny’s stomach. No way.
“And a child with an angel father and a demon mother?” He gave a humorless laugh. “It simply could not happen. My mother and I were hunted for most of my life.”
Sunny could tell the rest of his story was a sad one and that, maybe, she might get more of it another time. But no more for now, and she let it all drop as they pulled into his garage, the large bay doors closing down around them with a loud, metallic bang.
Sunny let herself out and followed Gideon up the stairs into the loft, wondering where the hell she was going to sleep the rest of the night.
“I’m going to sleep a long time, so don’t try to wake me up for coffee or anything,” he said a bit grumpily. “I’ll see you sometime tomorrow afternoon.”
She followed him wordlessly through the large, empty space.
“I have classes tomorrow morning,” she said with a yawn. “No worries.”
Gideon surprised her by going into a closet in the far corner of the space and pulling out a bundle of blankets and a pillow.
“I’ll get furniture soon,” he said by way of explanation as he shoved the blankets at her. “Until then, get used to the floor.”
She would do her best. She didn’t try to stifle the huge yawn that flowed up as she created a bed on the floor with the three blankets and two pillows he’d given her. Soon, she was swaddled up and just as she fell asleep, Noodle appeared out of nowhere and kept guard near her head while she slept.
He still didn’t like demons.
Chapter 5
There was no doubt about it, Sunny hated public transportation.
It was like a hot, sweaty stinkmobile that didn’t get easier to tolerate the longer she rode it. Because she was new to Gideon’s neighborhood, she wasn’t used to the bus schedule she’d need to maneuver to get to campus on time, and because of that, she’d nearly missed the #433 bus that flew by in a puff of exhaust.
Sunny raced after it, flailing her arms like a crazy person until the bus driver saw her in the rearview mirror. As the doors pulled open with a groan, she gulped down a breath and nodded a thanks to the driver.
It was the fourth or fifth week of the semester, Sunny wasn’t exactly sure anymore, and she still had to pull out her schedule to remember where she was supposed to be on any given morning. What she did know, however, was that her tuition payment was due in two weeks. Her payment plan allowed her to spread the cost of her education out over four months, but if she happened to miss one by a day, her enrollment would be cancelled, and then she’d have forty-eight hours to cough up all the money at once or be kicked out of school.
It wasn’t a line she wanted to dance along, and she’d only saved up about a third of the payment so far. The fact that Gideon had, in effect, quit her overnight radio job on her behalf was making her life more complicated by the minute.
By hook or by crook, Sunny had been able to complete her freshman year without missing a payment, and despite her sophomore year looking a little rougher at the get-go, she was determined not to drop the ball this term, either.
Sunny bounced along in the back of the bus and prayed for an easy day. She begged the universe to keep all of its ugly creatures and evil demons on a short leash and out of her way so that she might be able to have a good week--to make a bit of a dent in her classes and to get herself caught up--and to stay that way. She knew better than to hold out hope for too much, but she was a patient girl. Surely, good things were coming her way soon.
It was a miserable little community college, even Sunny could admit that. Her real goal was the Seattle School of Art and Design, but she didn’t have the portfolio, the money, or the grades to get in. But Sunny was the eternal optimist, and while she eked out a living one minimum wage job at a time, she spent the time (during which her peers were rushing sororities and drinking underage) working crap jobs and hunting demons for incredibly impatient and unforgiving archangels.
Hell, two years ago, when she’d graduated high school, Sunny would never have believed such an underbelly existed.
But it did, and her crash course into life as a descendant of King Solomon (yeah, the biblical Solomon who built entire cities using his demon slaves) had made for a bumpy year with a few close calls, in not only life and death situations, but for missed tests and near failings.
Yeah, Sunny was having a hell of a time not failing out of junior college, too.
She sighed miserably and closed her eyes. Sleeping had been fitful and uncomfortable on the floor, but it seemed Gideon had slept like the dead. She was jealous.
At the small student union, Sunny grabbed a bagel and cream cheese and a chocolate milk before dashing for her first class--a lit class that focused on the early English Renaissance. She’d purposely not picked the Shakespeare class from the course catalog, and yet, here she was--in the middle of the longest block of reading in the entire semester—and it was all Shakespeare. His early works, at that. It was hell, and it was one of the classes that Sunny was going to struggle with.
Damn. Who was she kidding? Between Business Math I and Psych 201, she was going to have a bumpy ride this semester, and that wasn’t including her painting workshops.
With a sigh, she pushed through the heavy metal door and slid into her normal seat at the back of the auditorium. The professor couldn’t care less about who showed up and who didn’t. He’d handed out a syllabus the first day and that was about all the face-to-face interaction he cared for now.
Sunny settled and popped open her notebook, scrawling as fast as she could as the man delved line by line into Shakespearean juvenilia. She didn’t notice the door opening in the back, but when a body chose the seat directly next to hers, she tensed. Sunny had never heard of a demon attack outright in a community college, but it was a really strange week. She wouldn’t put anything past them.
Glancing to her left, Sunny let out a breath she didn’t realize she’d been holding.
Oh.
It was Liam. She remembered having a class with him last spring, and she’d thoroughly checked him out from time to time in their shared composition class, but they’d never really connected. This semester, however, he’d started sitting closer and closer to her, and last week, he’d began sitting in her row. He’d make small talk as they were leaving, and it always made Sunny blush for some embarrassing reason.
“Hey,” he said, as he slid into his seat. There was nobody around them, and they were at the back of the auditorium, so they weren’t disturbing anyone.
Sunny smiled at him, not trusting herself not to say something ridiculous or embarrassing. Or both.
“Missed you last Thursday,” he whispered, as he handed her a stack of photocopied pages. She took them and frowned, trying to decipher the handwriting. He explained, “I copied my notes. Not the best handwriting, but I figured you could use them.”
How sweet.
“Thanks,” she said as she put the notes in her book. “I’m sure we didn’t move far past the early sonnets though, right?”
Liam made a pained face as he agreed with her. He was handsome in a charming, boy-next-door way. He had blonde hair that was slicked back away from his forehead and bright, blue eyes. A few freckles spattered across his nose, and he had an easy smile. He was friendly.
>
And mortal.
In the boyfriend universe, Sunny imagined he would be a pretty good catch. She pushed the thought from her mind as quickly as it formed however.
“Big news around class is that next week we’re moving on to Marlowe.”
The dry delivery made her laugh, and she coughed quickly to cover it up. Last thing she needed was to piss off the teacher.
“I’m on pins and needles,” she whispered conspiratorially.
“Were you sick?”
The question hung in the air between them, and Sunny frowned, unclear what he meant.
“Why you were gone last Thursday?” he explained. “Was it because you were sick?”
Oh.
Swallowing hard because she was never a good liar, she nodded.
“Yeah, must have caught a bug going around,” she said, lamely. The truth was that Mr. Jenks had made her cover the morning DJ’s late arrival. Max Bazin was supposed to arrive at four in the morning each weekday morning to relieve her. That Thursday morning, he hadn’t come in until almost seven. By the time she got home, after working since eight the previous night, she’d been dead to the world and asleep during class.
“Feeling better?”
She nodded quickly, flustered--this was the most Liam had ever spoken to her. Why? She never tried to be unfriendly to him, but professional distance was the name of the game when it came to working for the archangels.
“I am, thanks,” she said, her eyes darting down to her text.
In her pocket, Sunny felt her phone vibrate. She shifted uncomfortably and hoped nobody could hear the obnoxious buzzing. She also hoped it wasn’t Michael calling her right now. Knowing her luck, he’d send Rub in after her to haul her out by her hair for not responding immediately.
After a short reprieve, the buzzing began again. Once again, she pushed the button to silence it and tried to pay attention.
The third time, she knew it was a call she’d have to take, so she made a lame excuse as she stepped over Liam and dashed to the hallway.
“Hello?” she answered when the ringing began again.
“Where are you?”
She’d been expecting Michael. Gideon, however, was a surprise.
“What do you mean?”
She practically heard the growl of his voice over the phone.
“I mean, where are you?”
Without meaning to, she glanced around. The same nondescript building in the same bad part of town she’d spent the last three semesters taking classes. What the hell was he going on about?
“I’m at class,” she replied, still very much confused.
“Where?”
“I’m confused, Gideon,” she said, walking away toward the window. “I told you last night before you passed out that I had class in the morning. And that’s where I am. I’m at the Burton campus on the East side. I’m done at noon, and I’ll take the bus home.”
She still didn’t understand why he was calling her. It made no sense.
“Avoid the bus,” he said abruptly. “I’ll pick you up at noon. Don’t be late. I hate waiting.”
He ended the call just like that, and she was left staring at her phone.
What on earth?
Sunny slipped back into the lecture auditorium and tried not to step on Liam’s toes as she made her way back to her seat.
“Sorry,” she offered as she sat. “Boss calling me. Weird.”
“Everything’s okay, I hope,” he said with a wink, and she nodded.
“I guess,” she said with a shrug. “Kinda weird, but then again, so is the job.”
Before Liam could ask any more questions, the instructor began highlighting passages that would be relevant on an upcoming quiz they were having. They both pulled highlighters out of their bags and marked up their textbooks. They spent the remaining forty minutes highlighting passage after passage of lines she’d never remember about subject matter she’d never relate to. She was well and truly screwed if she didn’t come up with some sort of miraculous study plan soon.
Next to her, Liam seemed nonplussed with the whole thing. He jotted notes down when the instructor told them to and seemed entirely unaffected by either the looming paper or quiz on the horizon.
When the class was finished, Liam led the way out and held the door open for her.
“Maybe we could get together and study for next week’s quiz,” he said nonchalantly, as Sunny thanked him for holding the door.
Wait. What?
The blush crept up her cheeks, and she mentally kicked herself for allowing her imagination to run wild again. He wasn’t asking her out. He wanted to study.
“That would be nice,” Sunny blurted out. Nice? Dinner and a movie would be nice. Studying would be helpful.
“You free Sunday afternoon? I know a great place with free Wi-fi and a killer cup of coffee,” Liam said, as he pulled the phone in Sunny’s hand from her grip. Before she could protest, he was dialing numbers and calling his own phone.
“Got it,” he said with a triumphant grin. “I’ll text you this week and we can get together this weekend. You’re not missing Thursday, are you?”
She shook her head quickly.
“Not if I can help it,” she said.
Just as they were going to part ways, Liam shot her a killer grin.
“Don’t let your boss work you to death,” he said with a friendly smile. “No job is worth that kind of aggravation.”
If only Liam knew how true his words were.
Chapter 6
Just after noon, Liam found Sunny after her last class of the day. She was headed down to the parking lot to meet Gideon when he crossed her path.
“Did you have a good day?” he asked her.
When did he get so chatty? she wondered. Was she blushing again?
“I think so.” She smiled. “I was taking so many notes I could hardly tell. What about you?”
He gave a short laugh. It had a nice sound.
“I guess as good as anybody could do at a community college,” he chuckled. It was true. How good can anything be going to a community college?
They continued with the small talk as they walked down the large staircase that led outside to the bottom level. Sunny had no idea if Gideon knew where to pick her up, or why he had insisted in the first place.
“Where are you off to for the rest of the day?” Liam asked.
Sunny gripped the straps of her backpack tighter, not one to want to lie.
“Work,” she said quickly.
It wasn't exactly a lie, but it wasn't exactly the full truth. The truth was, she wasn't sure where she was going once Gideon picked her up. He sounded strange when he had called her and interrupted her class. Sunny like to consider herself good at reading people, but she was pretty terrible at reading demons.
“What about yourself?” If anything, she knew to always turn the conversation around on the other person. People, it seemed, loved to talk about themselves endlessly.
“Same,” he said, his eyes scanning the parking lot. “My boss is a bit of a bear as well.”
Suddenly, Sunny wanted to know more about Liam. She wanted to know about his boss. Why he was taking classes at the worst campus of the community college system in the city? How did he manage to keep getting the same classes as her when he looked a couple years older (and much, much wealthier) than her? But asking questions was a risky game, and working for the archangels and hunting for rogue demons for a living (albeit a crappy one) had taught her to keep her mouth shut and her curiosity to a minimum.
“Unlucky,” she said instead, casting him a smile and hoping that his boss wasn’t a tenth of an ass that her own was. If so, he was royally screwed, just like her.
“Eh,” he shrugged, his large hand gripping the strap of his own backpack. He had a swirling tattoo on the back of his hand that remained mostly out of sight due to the jacket he wore. It also looked to Sunny like he kept the thing pulled down extra low. She snuck another furtive glance at it be
fore looking away.
Was he some sort of gang member? He looked way too rich and way too preppy to be in a gang. Who was this guy, and why hadn’t she seen what a mystery he was before? Last year, he’d merely been eye candy to ogle while she tried not to fall asleep during their writing seminar.
What had changed so drastically?
Her thoughts were cut short by the sound of a loud, angry engine revving across the parking lot. Sunny looked up and caught the unmistakable silver glint of one of Gideon’s trucks that she saw in the garage the night before. He was here. And driving like a maniac toward her, apparently.
“Nice truck,” Liam said, as he whistled under his breath appreciatively.
“Yeah.” Sunny nodded reluctantly. “Owner’s a bit of a d-bag, though.”
On cue, the truck roared to a stop inches from them. So aggressive and obnoxious that they were both forced to take a step back. Gideon, ever the imperious, unfriendly ass, didn’t bother to look at or acknowledge either of them.
“Friend of yours?” he asked, casting Sunny a glance.
“De facto boss for a few weeks,” she said miserably. “I’ll see you Thursday, then? Have a good couple days.”
She dashed around the truck and climbed up. Gideon sped off before she was able to fully shut the door and get her seatbelt on.
“Where’s the fire?” she snapped, a little put out by the wrestling match he’d created with her door and seatbelt with his sudden need for speed.
“Who was that?” he asked instead.
“Who?”
Gideon snorted at her, looking more annoyed than ever. “Prince Charming back there. Who was he?”
“Classmate,” she bit back. “Why?”
Gideon never said; he simply raced through the rest of the winding, poorly laid out campus before getting on the highway and heading north, according to the truck’s console.
“Mind telling me what all this is about?” She finally drummed up the nerve to ask when they’d settled into about a half hours’ worth of silence. “I told you where I was going last night before you passed out.”
