Good Side of Sin (11 page)

I wasn’t scared. Okay, maybe I was just a little on edge, but that was only because I had never undergone the procedure before. I had studied about it in the LOD academy, but I hadn’t known anybody that had ever had it done to them. I was sure it had happened to other angels before or it wouldn’t need to be covered in the classes.

I felt like a crash-test dummy, and the very important test I had so kindly been volunteered for was about to fail, horribly. It was a good thing I was immortal.

My only fear? I could
feel
pain now.

I had been expecting it to happen for a while. Others in Heaven had begun to show signs of
feeling
pain, like Malcolm had on the day he had left. It was spreading like a plague, and no one seemed to know what the hell to do about it.

There was a whole lot of shrugging going on around here lately. The Lord knew I couldn’t fix it. I was doing good to trick a lust-filled demon.

I rolled my eyes in irritation when the door was quickly thrown open and Isaiah stepped into the room with us.

“Save it, Isaiah,” I said, but of course he either suddenly had problems hearing or he was ignoring my request.
Wonderful!

He glared down at me from above my chair. I didn’t look away, but the exorcist took a few steps back and quickly busied himself with something other than helping me. “That was not what I had in mind for you to do, Josselyn—”

“Then maybe you should be a little more specific with your choice of words next time, Isaiah.”

“How direct do I need to be? I told you to kiss him—”

“And I did that!”

He pointed to the spotless floor. “You attacked him! The poor guy was terrified—”

“Poor guy? Really?” I rolled my eyes as I looked away. “Good. Maybe he will leave me the hell alone and let me do my job now.”

The exorcist gasped, dropped whatever was in his hand to the counter and hurried from the room. I doubted he was planning to bring back help for me. Oh well.

Isaiah sighed heavily and pinched the bridge of his nose between his thumb and finger. I blinked a few times, stunned at what I was seeing with my own eyes, and then I sat up quickly.

“What’s wrong with you?” I demanded, but he shook his head and avoided my gaze. He looked tired, and possibly… no… “Isaiah, please talk to me.”

He turned to straighten the already perfectly level frame containing one of Picasso’s latest. “It’s nothing for you to worry about, child—”

“Damn it, it is! It’s one thing for us angels to start falling ill and feeling pain, but when it reaches all the way up to one of you, it’s something for all of us to worry about. Now, what’s going on?”

I stared at his back and was just about to get up and cross the room, when he cleared his throat and turned around. My hand rose of its own accord to cover my gaping mouth. Isaiah had always been good at hiding his emotions, but now his mask was translucent, see through, invisible to all of his flaws and physical defects.

I was speechless.

He held up his hand for me to keep my silence as if he sensed I was struggling with my words enough already. “It’s not only me. All of the Guardians have suffered in some way.” He touched an open wound on his cheek, winced, and then let his hand fall back to his side. His brow furrowed, but he didn’t speak right away. It was actually several minutes later before he continued, but I didn’t rush him. I could tell he had decided to tell me as much as he could; he was just having trouble figuring out how to do it.

I was suddenly scared out of my mind and regretted telling Troy to stay behind to watch after the dead and the demons. I needed his hand to squeeze.

Ugh! Whatever. I can do this, I told myself, and tried my hardest to believe it.

Isaiah averted his gaze from mine and smiled, but it wasn’t a happy smile. It was more like a smile that someone gives when they know all hope is lost and that’s all they can do. “I fear the minion getting through the portal into the Heavenly Realm has caused all of this chaos, and I am the one to blame.”

My eyes widened in horror. “The minion is gone! The LOD escorted him to the gates of Hell immediately after Rhyan successfully completed his mission.”

He dropped his head and pulled up a rolling chair and sat down on it, facing me. He nodded in agreement, and then glanced up to the room’s high ceiling before looking back to me. “The damage is already done. I’m sure you’ve noticed how it’s spreading.”

Like a freaking wild fire.

I linked my fingers together and just stared at my hands, dreading what would come out of his mouth next. I knew it wouldn’t be good. “You aren’t the only one to blame, Isaiah.” I swallowed hard. “Malcolm and I did what we had to do to help Rhyan get back to Heaven. Eight demons are on our side now, thanks to that angel.”

“Yes, Rhyan is to be commended for his efforts, and you, too, for helping him and for tending to the very important issue with the ex-Prince of Lust.” He raised an eyebrow at me and I looked anxiously back to my hands. “But—I knew of Malcolm’s ever clever idea to link Heaven and Hell so he could aid Rhyan if and when he needed it. I did nothing. In fact, I hid it from the others so they wouldn’t stop him.”

I twisted so I could let my feet drop to the floor, and then took his hands in mine. Something was clutching at my insides and threatening to tear me apart. I didn’t want to hear what was so difficult for the archangel to tell me, but I knew I had to listen, if not for my sake, then for Isaiah’s. I could tell his heart was breaking and he didn’t know what to do about it. I realized then exactly how good he had been at controlling his emotions before now.

I wanted to sob for him. I felt two single drops fall on my arm and knew I was already weeping.

“They… they aren’t blaming you for this… are they?”

He cleared his throat and swallowed before responding to my question. “I deserve the blame, child—”

I jerked my hands from his, and then curled my fingers into fists as I jumped to my feet. “And Malcolm? You said Rhyan and I were to be praised for our actions, but what of Malcolm?”

He dropped his chin. “Jossel—”

I stomped my foot and screamed at the top of my lungs. When I finished he was staring at me with sadness brimming over in his eyes.

“I postponed telling you… well, because—”

I knew it. I knew there was a reason he kept stalling and kept giving me excuses for why I couldn’t go in search of Malcolm. “Because he isn’t allowed back into Heaven,” I finished for him.

He didn’t look away as he replied. “No—no, he is not. I begged them, Josselyn. You have to know—”

“There was never a search party sent out to find him, was there?”

He shook his head and my knees buckled beneath me. He stood quickly to catch my weight and then guided me back to the chair. I felt as though I was about to throw up again. I supposed Isaiah suspected the same because he shoved my head between my knees and pushed a waste basket between my feet. I had no idea why a waste basket would be needed in Heaven since there was no trash, but at the moment I was grateful for it. Maybe Isaiah conjured it up out of thin air.

“I didn’t think you could lie,” I said after a while.

“No, I can lie; you just assumed I would not,” he said, and then chuckled. I didn’t think it was very damn funny. Clearing his throat and getting serious again when he realized I wasn’t going to join in with his laughter anytime soon, he said, “I’m sorry, Josselyn. I thought I could talk them into changing their minds by the time you graduated the academy, and then when they didn’t, I had no clue what to do. I dreaded telling you, child. I knew you had your heart set on bringing Malcolm home. The thing with Thoros started only a few days prior to your finishing, so it gave me a little more time to persuade them—”

My head shot up so my eyes could fix on his. “And?”

He shook his head. “I’m sorry.”

“Damn it!” My face fell to my palms and I wracked my brain for any useful information that might help. Nothing came to me. I swore again and Isaiah fidgeted in his seat. I froze as something occurred to me. “Wait… you said that you and Malcolm were at fault. If he isn’t allowed back into the Heavenly Realm—what… are they punishing you, too?”

He took in a deep breath, and then slapped his knee with his hand. “Well, uh… yeah—about that—”

“What about it?” I demanded.

He swallowed. “I’ve talked them into letting me try to reverse the catastrophe. They have given me until the end of the quarter to have everything as it was before or…” He stopped to take in a deep breath, and then he let it all out in a rush. I could tell he was exposing all of his fears to me now. The archangel was terrified and I was terrified for him. His bottom lip quivered as he made eye contact with me. Hot tears stung my eyes as I watched the gray stone color of his irises shimmer with unshed tears. “They will give my soul to Lucifer.”

Ignoring the waste basket, I shot to my feet and started for the door. “Like hell they will!”

“Where are you going?” he shouted, and I heard his rolling chair roll across the floor as he suddenly stood.

“I’m going to fix this.” I stopped when I got to the door, and then turned to look at him. “You coming?”

Ethan’s face slammed into the headrest of the passenger seat as the SUV screeched to an abrupt stop. The stream of profanities froze on the tip of his tongue as he took in the scene fifty feet off the road. He rubbed his cheek absentmindedly as he gaped.

“Holy shit! It’s Boggs!” Cross shouted, and then grabbed the walkie-talkie in the console before throwing wide the passenger door and running to an upside down vehicle.

He heard her rattle off a bunch of numbers of what he could only guess was police code for: There has been a wreck! The wicked Marshal of the West could be dead! Get your asses here now and help me find the ruby slippers!

Ethan knew it wasn’t any of his business, but Carlos and the driver had jumped out of the rig just as fast as Cross had. Aaaand he was curious. Curiosity isn’t illegal, he thought, and crawled over the passenger seat to get out of the vehicle.

He had only planned to lean against the Suburban and observe the situation, but Cross kneeled down to look in through the shattered window, and then quickly stood and shook her head before speaking in the hand-held again. She had changed clothes back at Granny’s house. Her tight red dress and heels had been replaced with a black tank top, a pair of black BDU bottoms and finished off with shiny-toed combat boots, and her long, brunette hair had been thrown into a pony tail. She still had on the designer shades, and Ethan briefly wondered if they were police issue.

It was amazing how the same woman could look so hot with two totally different appearances.

Ethan began walking to the group of narcs, so he could get a good look at the dead bodies. His smile faded and his feet stopped moving as the image of the two dead guys from the night before flashed through his mind. Any desire to see what was in that car was quickly squashed.

He had prayed it had all been some sort of hallucination from being out in the hot sun too much lately, but Cross finding him slapped a huge sign of ‘You’re not crazy. There are really monsters out there.’ right in his face.

Two other vehicles came to a stop behind him. There was a series of door slamming, and then the pounding sound of boots beating the Earth as the rest of the guys from Granny’s house ran past him.

“Well, where the hell did they go?” Ethan heard one of the guys ask Cross.

More with the shaking of heads.

“And you called the hospitals to make sure the Marshals hadn’t been brought in?”

“Yes, they have an emergency room full of the flu that’s going around and a few minor injuries, but they all know Boggs. Everyone within a hundred miles knows who that dreadful man is! He’s not there! Cabrejos called the county sheriff’s office to see if any accidents had been called in from this area. Nothing. They’re just gone, like…” Her voice trailed off and then she turned to look at Ethan. “They are gone, just like the other men that have been in contact with Ethan,” she finished in a quiet voice.

Ethan’s eyes didn’t stray from her intense and inquiring gaze. There was no way this had anything to do with him, he thought, but all the clues were certainly pointing a big-ass finger in his direction.

“You think some alien spaceship just beamed them up?” the guy that had previously spoken said, and Ethan realized it was the guy that had pointed the chicken-leg at the Marshal back at Granny’s house. “I’m not buying it, Cross! And neither will anybody else.”

She shook her head and looked at Chicken-Leg Guy. “Maybe not aliens, but I’d bet a month’s salary that, whatever it is—or they are—it’s not human, Galloway. You weren’t there to see the way those guys just picked up Donahue and Blake and disappeared like… like—”

“Like what?” Galloway shouted in her face and her body went rigid with anger.

“I don’t know!” she screamed back at him, and then took a step back and calmed down a little. “Maybe they were witches or some form of—of demon or something,” she suggested, ending her rant.

Another of the agents busted up with laughter, but Galloway only stared at her, shaking his head in denial.

“What’s sad is that I actually think you believe that.” He didn’t wait for her to comment. Galloway brought his walkie-talkie up to his mouth and pressed the call button. “Galloway to dispatch: I need a wrecker approximately two and a quarter miles north-east on Cow Camp Road. We have a one vehicle accident…” He stared at Cross’ pleading eyes, and then continued, “There are no casualties.”

The dispatcher’s voice came back through the speaker system on the device. “I’ll send a wrecker right out, Agent Galloway.”

“Roger that,” he replied, and then gave Cross another hard stare before turning to the vehicle to help the others look for clues.

Cross didn’t hide her relief as she let the breath whoosh past her lips. She looked up to Ethan and smiled.

“You really think this,” Ethan pointed toward the mass of crumpled metal, “has anything to do with me?”

Dark eyebrows shot up over the top rim of her shades. “You honestly think it doesn’t? I figured if anyone would believe me, it would be you. You were there!” Her voice grew in volume. “You saw what happened last night—”