A Slither of Hope

by Lisa M Basso

  She was talking about the angels. Lee had told her whatever it was he remembered about Azriel when he tried to force him into taking his own life. Come to think of it, she’d said Luke had told her what he remembered when Cam saved him, too. Which meant she knew enough. Too much.

  “It’s complicated,” I finally said when we pushed through the doors to exit Neiman Marcus—a store Lee’s mom couldn’t pay him to set foot in.

  “Got it.” I followed her as we crossed the street to Fifth and Mission where the Metreon stood: a large, multi-tiered movie theatre with an IMAX, various stores, and a food court. “There’s supposed to be a pretty big anime shop in here somewhere.”

  “Good pick.”

  We took an elevator up and found the anime store. Nothing caught my eye, but Gina darted from shelf to shelf. “It might sound lamer than hell, but with Lee, things just sort of clicked. I fought it for a long time. I mean, he’s so not my type, but he’s sweet. And I couldn’t shake that butterfly feeling when we were alone.”

  “Are you sure that’s not the baby?” I asked, tasting the bitterness of my joke as soon as I said it.

  She just shrugged. “What about you? Anyone special in your life?” She picked up a small, bulky green figurine that looked like a Japanese version of the Incredible Hulk.

  “I don’t even know. That’s complicated too.”

  “I have a confession to make.” She set down the green figurine and pulled me to the back of the store.

  “And what’s that?” I admired the extensive comic book collection over my shoulder, just to have something to look at besides Gina’s watchful eyes.

  “I was in the hallway when you and the new kid kissed—Cam, right?”

  “What?” Half the people in the store gawked at us. I turned my back to them, angling toward Gina.

  “I was far away. I just saw you for a second. But he was the one, right? The one that saved Luke? Lee wouldn’t tell me, but when we saw him again the other day—”

  “Wait, you saw who the other day?”

  “Cam. Cute, blond, you know. The hotness.”

  I could almost hear my heart drop to my feet. She’d watched our first kiss. She knew he was an angel—or at least I think she did. Despite her popular-girl persona, she was smart. Smart enough to possibly put it all together.

  I grabbed her by the shoulders and dragged her into the far corner. “You can’t tell anyone anything about this. Not Lee, not anyone.”

  Her eyes were wide and round. I’d scared her. Part of me was satisfied by this. If she was scared, at least she wouldn’t go blabbing.

  “I won’t, Lola.”

  “Okay.” I forced my fingers to unclench and drop to my sides, but it took all my willpower. “Sorry,” I added eventually.

  “I get it. I mean, I have no idea what’s going on with you, but complications with a boy that looks like him? It can’t be easy.”

  Another stupid thought slipped out before I could shut my damn trap. “It’s more than just his looks.”

  “But a face like that can’t hurt matters.”

  Chirping animated voices and chiming bells from the games in the arcade drew us both out of the store. Gina gestured toward the entrance with a half-smile. Right now a little fun didn’t sound so bad. She dug in her bag, putting more weight on my shoulder, and made change for five dollars. We gravitated toward where the loudest noises came from—a dancing game in the rear of the arcade. Both of us turned around the instant we saw it. An uncoordinated klutz and a pregnant girl dancing our hearts out? No thank you. I put a quarter in a ski-ball table and waited for the neon-colored balls to roll down.

  “If things were less complicated, you’d so be banging his brains out, right?”

  I looked at her in horror.

  “What? I’m pregnant here. Hormones are going nuts, and Lee and I agreed to take things slow. I need…something.”

  “I don’t know,” I finally said. “It’s more complicated than all that.” I still couldn’t shake the image of being curled up with Cam on the couch, or the way Kade had looked when I was waiting for him to kiss me on the roof. “It’s maybe more than just him. But, like I said, complicated.” Hugely and undesirably complicated.

  “Another guy?” She sat on the ramp of the machine beside mine as I racked up all zeros. “Is he as off-limits as Cam?”

  “Uh, yes, and no. He’s like Cam, but not exactly. Besides, it would be weird. We live together—I mean, I’m staying with him.” That we slept at separate times had to be emphasized otherwise I was in serious danger of setting off a popular-girl squee in the empty arcade.

  “Well, all I can say is, with Lee, he feels like the only guy in the world when we’re together. We’re not perfect, but he challenges me, and when we aren’t together, I think about him. A lot. I’ve never been with someone so sweet and thoughtful.”

  I threw my last ball and collected the four tickets I’d earned for my mediocrity then sat on my machine’s runway. “You really do like him.”

  “He’s so great. And he doesn’t care that I’m used goods.” She patted her stomach again. “I hope you find that with one of your boys. Now come on, I think I’m getting that Hulk. And behind the counter, I saw a pretty cool Doctor Who figurine I don’t think he has.”

  It was sweet that she wanted to give me advice, but what she had with Lee was worlds apart from what I had with either Cam or Kade. At this point, romance shouldn’t have been an option for me. I was a walking disaster. Kade would never be what I needed; not all the time, anyway. He was too lost in his own ways. And Cam was officially off-limits—he was protecting my dad for Hell’s sake. If I’d distracted him when he was supposed to be working and something happened to Dad, I’d never forgive myself.

  Besides, what I was, what Elyon insisted I might be turning into, meant my guard should be up all the time. No room for any more distractions.

  Chapter Thirteen

  Rayna

  After a quick snack of fried tofu, Gina and I parted ways. I walked aimlessly, lost in thought, and ended up at the Embarcadero—the long stretch of land where the bay met the city. Big mistake. The sound of waves swelling and water churning slammed into me like a black wall. I crumpled on the corner. The boards of the pier weren’t more than twenty feet from me. The sound washed over everything. I couldn’t help being frozen in fear.

  The last time I’d braved an ocean view had been purely for Lee. Then, I’d had days to prepare. I’d planned several diversion tactics, starting with a rather long walk for hot chocolate, my favorite book for diversion, and plotting out several emergency exits—which would have done me no good with the sheer number of people that attended the tree lighting.

  Blood roared in my ears. I gulped down every breath.

  It was just water. Hell wasn’t out there. Water couldn’t jump up out of the bay in a solid stream and force itself down into my lungs. It couldn’t hurt me. Not physically, anyway. I climbed to my feet and speed-walked back toward Kade’s, but in my state all the buildings looked the same. Eventually I’d find my way, run into a street I recognized, and be—

  A hand reached out and grasped my jacket. It jerked me into an alcove between buildings.

  Enclosed in arms.

  Enclosed between buildings.

  My heart pounded. I opened my mouth to scream. A large hand clamped over my mouth and nose.

  Sound. His feet made no sound. I couldn’t even hear him breathe.

  I kicked, and struggled. Nothing worked.

  Against the man’s chest, my wings vibrated so fast my entire body shuddered. My memory nudged me back to the day I met Lee on the pier, when they reacted this way to the large crowd. Pain jolted me forward, but the threatening hands held fast, closing my airway. My spine popped and ached like it could shatter at any moment.

  The salty taste of fear stuck in my throat. While thrashing, my knit cap slid off my wig and fell to the floor. I managed to slam my heel into bone. A shin, I think. My attacker’s grip didn�
�t waver.

  Stale air burned in my lungs. I tried to calm myself, to remember some of Kade’s teachings—anything would be better than flirting with unconsciousness at this point—but the fear swimming in my brain insisted I squirm free.

  “Rayna,” the voice whispered, followed by a set of syllables I’d never heard before. Syllables that didn’t even sound rooted in English.

  My wings stilled, reacting to his voice. I froze. The hand over my face loosened enough so I could open my mouth and chomp down on the hand. Bitterness invaded my mouth—the copper tang of what I had to assume was blood.

  The man’s chest rumbled against my back as he grunted and snatched his hand back. I fought back the urge to cough and inhaled a lungful of air instead. Through the chocking, I screamed for everything I was worth. The hand returned, just as big as before, but this time blood smeared across my face and invaded my nose. It was like being smothered by a bloody boa constrictor.

  His other hand dug in beneath my ribs, expelling whatever air I still hand in my lungs. I continued to kick, but without oxygen my head swam. My struggle began to fade. No, I couldn’t let myself pass out. I tried to move my wings, which had started vibrating again, to use them to somehow put more space between my attacker and me. But I had no control of them. My head mimicked the way they pulsed: fast and fierce. My eyes started to drift closed. I fought them, concentrated on my wings, hoping it could somehow keep me afloat in a sea of burning lungs and so much fear.

  A surge of energy jolted up my spine. I didn’t know it was possible, but the vibration tripled. White flashed across the brick walls, swallowing everything it touched. An explosion rocketed out of me from my wings. The man blew back and I soared face-first into the concrete, just barely getting a hand out in front of me before colliding with it. The skin on the palm of my hand peeled back, practically dissolving.

  What the hell—?

  I flopped over onto my back, my breathing ragged. The man was on his back, out cold as far as I could tell, but I’d be damned if I was going to stick around and check. He had no wings. Human. He looked human.

  I crawled to my feet and staggered to the gated door. My legs refused to hold me upright, so I used the walls of the alley for support. With one glance back, I prayed I hadn’t killed him. Sure, I had no idea what his intentions were when he grabbed me, no doubt they weren’t good, but I didn’t think I could handle any more death on my conscience.

  ***

  Looking down on the city bathed in dusky pinks and purples did nothing to ease or comfort me. I was too busy looking for evidence that I wasn’t losing my grip on reality. Again.

  “Care to share why we had to do this now?”

  Kade lounged along the wide concrete bulkhead that made up the balcony’s rails, supporting his head with his hand. He’d had no problem influencing the security guard of the high-rise to let us in and forget we were here once I told him we needed to get to higher ground.

  “I don’t know what’s going on. Not really.” I was still shaking, inside and out. Thankfully Kade hadn’t tried to ride in, all white-knight, and comfort me. That was the last thing I needed. Especially after being caught red-handed—or red-lipped—with Cam that morning. “I have to know first before I can explain it to you.”

  “For the third time, you have to know what? If you give me something to go on, I might actually be able to help.” He turned onto his back, reclining with both hands behind his head. The drop below didn’t even seem to cross his mind.

  “You don’t look too concerned to me.” Which was exactly what I wanted. “Just look for something out of the ordinary.”

  “You do realize we both have wings, right? Don’t think things get much more out of the ordinary than that.”

  I gritted my teeth and rolled my shoulders back, continuing to search the crowded streets below. The man that attacked me didn’t have wings, but he was something… more than human. I couldn’t tell by looking at him, but his steps were feather-light, and the language he spoke was unlike anything I’d ever heard before.

  “Not sure if you know this or not, but you have blood on your face.”

  I dragged the back of my hand over my mouth, but pulled back nothing. It must have dried. “You aren’t helping if you aren’t looking.” I licked the back of my hand and scrubbed again, this time smearing the brown tint until my arm came away clean.

  He rolled off the ledge and onto the balcony, then propped himself up on his knees and looked down. I turned away, scoping out the other side of the city, but I swore I could hear a smirk on his dumb face.

  Just this morning I spotted three sets of white wings—the angel walking by the hospital, Cam, and Elyon—but now, Kade was the only one with wings in sight. “Something happened today,” I said, more to the city than to him.

  “Oh yeah? I couldn’t tell, you know, the way you bulldozed into the apartment shaking and covered in blood.”

  I opened my mouth to tell him not to be a jerk, but I’d be wasting my breath.

  “Any time you want to talk, I’m here. You know that.”

  My stomach dipped at his words, reminding me of those seconds on our roof. Oh, God, please be a jerk right now.

  “I saw an angel.”

  His boot scraped over the concrete, signaling he must have stood, but I didn’t take my eyes off the city below to check. “And…?”

  “On the street. An older guy, on my way to the hospital. One I recognized from Arizona.” My gaze drifted further down to land on my shoes. “Then I met another one, at Cam’s place.”

  Kade shifted on his feet. “You went to his place?”

  I dropped my hands and lifted my head. “Yes, and I met his superior, an angel named Elyon.”

  “What? No. You’ve got the name wrong.” I slid my gaze to him as he cut the distance between us in two. “It was Eiael or Araton, something like that.”

  “I know what I heard. Cam called him Elyon. From the way he acted, he’s definitely Cam’s superior.”

  In the flash of a second, Kade’s hand clamped onto my arm and his face was inches from mine. “Tell. Me. Everything.”

  “He walked in on Cam and I,” I rambled without thinking, his switch in attitude throwing me off guard.

  Kade’s eyes narrowed, the barely contained anger in them darkening his pupils. “Doing what?”

  I swallowed and looked away.

  “Are you kidding me? What the hell is wrong with you? Haven’t we been over this before? You keep this up with him and he’s as good as dead.”

  I shucked his grip and stood as tall as I could against his almost six-foot frame. “I don’t remember asking for your permission for anything, but you aren’t listening to what I’m saying!”

  “That you compromised an angel? Oh, I think I got that part.”

  “Did you? Or are you just disappointed it was him and not you?”

  Kade faltered, pulling back a fraction of an inch. Remembering myself, I blinked away the anger boiling my brain into careless mush.

  “I’m sorry.”

  Kade shook his head.

  I reached forward for his hand. “Kade, I’m sorry. That was—”

  He slapped my hand away. “What did Elyon do?”

  “Kade…”

  “What did he do?”

  I battled a wave of emotions to answer him. “At first he acted like he didn’t see… anything.” I thought the best way to spare Kade—and myself—further humiliation was to leave out the unnecessary details. “And he had a lot to say to me, but didn’t speak to Cam at all. When I left the room I heard him dig into Cam. He agreed to keep… what he did see a secret.”

  I transported myself back to Cam’s glorious living room, recalled what struck me as off about Elyon. “When he was talking to me, he kept touching the sword in his belt.”

  Kade shoved both hands through his hair then slapped his palms down on the railing. “So you’re telling me not only is Elyon on Earth for the first time in years, but he also has The Sword
of Honor with him?”

  The Sword of Honor? That didn’t sound so bad to me. Then again it hadn’t looked harmless from where I stood.

  He didn’t wait for a reply. “We have to get you out of here. For good this time.”

  “Don’t you even want to hear what he had to say?”

  “No, Rayna, I don’t, and neither should you. Elyon is the king of lies, right behind Lucifer.”

  “What are you talking about, he’s an angel, right?”

  “No, well, yeah, but he’s a Seraphim, levels above most angels. Elyon isn’t just Camael’s superior, he’s the angel that brought the seventh plague to Egypt.”

  “And that’s supposed to mean what to me? Human, remember?” I peeked back at my wings reflecting the light of the setting sun over my shoulder. The bay-chilled breeze cut through my feathers, sending a chill up the back of my neck. “Well, mostly human. Point being, I haven’t been around long enough—”

  “It means he’s dangerous. He cast a violent rain of hail over all of Egypt. That takes a whole hell of a lot of power.”

  I wanted to wave my hands in the air and say “Ooo hail, someone save us” as sarcastically as I could, but fought the urge when that almost imperceptible line formed between his brows. The one that only showed up when he was well and truly steamed.

  “It wasn’t just a hail storm either,” Kade went on after spying the look on my face. “Imagine ice the size of lawn chairs and fire raining down, killing everything in sight.”

  I shook my head, dismissing his warning. “That won’t happen here, and my dad is in a hospital bed, fighting for his life. I’m not leaving.”

  “You really don’t understand how serious this game just got.”

  “I think I get it.” After all, I blasted someone—something—with a jolt of energy that came from my wings.

  He stepped up and gripped my chin, dragging his thumb across my lips. The rough callous scraped against the dried blood I’d rubbed off my raw skin. “Did he do this to you?”

  “No, it was… can we just get out of here? I need some air.” I shirked his grip a second time, spinning to grip the edge of the balcony’s railing.