Her Accidental Angel (16 page)

 
 
  “I feel well, a little sore. But I can eat some food.” Her tray held some type of mashed fruit and a mushy type of cereal.

 
 
  “Kari, look.” Amber pulled up her shirt to show a long red scar that sliced diagonally across her abdomen. “Kaliel says that by tomorrow I won’t even have a mark. But I will still be tired and need to rest for a few days.”

 
 
  Kari swallowed hard as her breakfast lurched in her stomach. That was a mortal wound. Didn’t Amber realize that?

 
 
  “You could have died.”

 
 
  “Yes. If we hadn’t come to the Overland, I would have died. All my internal organs

 
 
  —” She paused as Kari pressed a hand to her lips. “Are you all right?”

 
 
  “Too much excitement, I think.” She sat down in a chair next to the bed and took a few deep breaths. “And I just realized that my mom’s living room probably looks like a slaughter house. My blood, along with yours, Auriel’s and Rahmiel’s all over it.”

 
 
  “There’s some broken furniture, too, “Auriel said.

 
 
  “Great.”

 
 
  “Rahmiel was hurt?” Amber asked.

 
 
  “Not bad. Just some cuts on his arm. Kaliel healed them by running something over them. Immediately, too. You can’t even see them, today.”

 
 
  “Kari, I’ll help you clean up the living room,” Tressa said. “I’m a whiz with a rug doctor.”

 
 
  “Thanks, but there’s no use doing it until we get rid of the demon. It could get messed up again.”

 
 
  Tressa nodded. “Let me know. I wouldn’t mind driving up and helping out.”

 
 
  “Thanks.” Kari appreciated her kindness. It sounded like she and Mom were going to need all the help they could get.

 
 
  “Where’s Rahmiel?” Auriel asked.

 
 
  “He’s meeting with some Guardians who want to help. He’s going to teach them how to get to Ether.”

 
 
  Auriel frowned and tossed his bread onto his tray. “I’m inviting myself.” He left the room with a hard flap of wings.

 
 
  “We are going to bring my mom here, to keep her safe.” Kari told Amber and Tressa.

 
 
  “Well, I guess she’ll know about Rahmiel then,” Amber said.

 
 
  Kari nodded. “He’s going with me to meet her at the airport. He’s going to bring her here. So she’ll know he’s an Angel.”

 
 
  “You probably don’t want to mention anything about the binding. Or the sex.”

 
 
  Tressa said with a smile.

 
 
  Kari could just see trying to explain that to her mother. “Right.”

 
 
  “But you’ll have to explain a lot to your mom, if you plan to keep staying with Rahmiel at night,” Amber said.

 
 
  “Oh, I hadn’t even thought about that,” Kari wailed. “Do you think Mom will like him?”

 
 
  Tressa laughed. “What’s not to like?”

 
 
  Amber grinned. “You are not thinking like Kari’s mom, Tressa. Remember, Kari is the precious only child. Her mom is looking at earning potential in her baby’s dates.

 
 
  Not muscles and gorgeous cheekbones.”

 
 
  “But if he’s going with you to the airport he’ll have to do more than phase his wings. He’s going to need clothes,” Amber continued.

 
 
  “Right. And he has no money. And my purse is back at Tressa’s.” Kari slumped back on the couch with a sigh.

 
 
  Amber giggled. “Dating an Angel who flies you around everywhere sounds complicated.”

 
 
  Tressa got up and returned with a purse. She handed Kari several bills. “Here. I had time to pack a few things, unlike you girls.”

 
 
  Kari was touched. “Thanks, Tressa. I’ll pay you back.”

 
 
  “Didn’t I hear something about Auriel binding you?” Kari asked a moment later.

 
 
  “I’m sure I heard something about that last night.”

 
 
  Amber’s eyes got huge. “Really? But you are going to kill the demon tonight, or stop it, right?”

 
 
  “I hope so.” Kari was trying hard not to think about her part in the upcoming confrontation.

 
 
  “Well, if it’s dead or defeated, then I don’t really need to go through the whole binding thing, right? No offense, but it seems pretty intense. And I’m not sure I want to get that intense with Auriel. He’s really nice, and he’s, you know, great looking. But I don’t think he is ready for a bond woman. Or that he would want me to be the one.”

 
 
  “I don’t know about that, Amber. Rahmiel told me that Angels find humans really attractive. Something to do with scent. Oh, and that humans and Angels tend to have lots of children.”

 
 
  Amber’s eyes opened wide. “You don’t think you’re—”

 
 
  “No, I’m not pregnant. I’m on the shot. Just in case.”

 
 
  “Oh.”

 
 
  “I don’t want to have sex with Auriel,” Amber said. “I know me. I’d fall in love with him. Remember how I was with Travis?”

 
 
  Kari nodded. Amber had been crazy about Travis, and he broke her heart.

 
 
  “Auriel is much hotter than Travis. Nicer, too. I wouldn’t stand a chance,” Amber continued.

 
 
  Kari felt gloomy all of a sudden. She sighed. “I know exactly what you mean.”

 
 
* * * *

 
 
It worked. Rahmiel could hardly contain his excitement. All the Guardians could get in and out of the Ether at will now. It had been hard to explain, so he eventually just dragged each one there. Once there, they were able to return to Kaliel’s conference room, and with concentration they were able to get into the Ether. Auriel was the first to        move in and out of the Ether, which didn’t surprise Rahmiel. The boy had abilities, though he was untrained.

 
 
  Three Guardians—two who had worked under Rahmiel and had since retired, and one current Guardian—had chosen to help. It was good to work with his old friends, though seeing them aged, while the ice had kept him a young man, was a little odd.

 
 
  “Thank you for choosing to fight Kaphawn. It is likely you will get no official recognition for your service, though you should, because this is why the Angeli created the Guardian Force. Have any of you fought a demon before? I know Joriel and Hadriel have, because we fought together long ago. Have any others fought a demon?”

 
 
  Auriel waved his hand with a smirk.

 
 
  “Yes, Auriel I know about you.”

 
 
  One of the retired Guardians spoke. “We haven’t seen any demon activity since we moved to the Overland. Current Guardians have never seen one.”

 
 
  The active Guardian nodded. “Demons only frequent the Earth, and we no longer traverse the Earth.“

 
 
  Rahmiel nodded. “Demons cause a certain dissonance. You feel it in your ears, but also in your chest. A strange pressure. It makes you feel sluggish, but you can overcome it and move normally. So don’t panic and think something is happening to your heart.

 
 
  It just means the demon is present. Handy when you’re dealing with a demon that is invisible or uses camouflage.”

 
 
  He dismissed the men until the appointed time and then stood in the empty room for a moment. He missed being a Guardian. He missed fighting alongside men who were closer than brothers. He missed planning strategy, planning to win.

 
 
  “You advanced the ability of the Guardian Force to fight and win immeasurably.

 
 
  The ability to go to Ether is on par with learning to phase,“ Tehmuel said when they were alone. Angels had learned to phase in past ages, but they had not always had that ability.

 
 
  “I hope it proves valuable tonight.”

 
 
  “I hope I can keep Kari safe.”

 
 
* * * *

 
 
Kari stared in horror at her living room. The coffee table was in splinters, one of the lamps next to the couch was shattered, and there were crushed pottery shards everywhere. But worst of all was the large splotch of dried blood on the carpet in front of the couch and the blood splatters all around the room.

 
 
  A wave of nausea welled up, and Kari was glad she’d had a light lunch. She closed her eyes and a memory of motion—sick, dizzying motion as Kaphawn flung her around the room, nearly bashing her into the walls, gored on his hand. The blood on the walls was hers. The large pool of blood in front of the couch was Amber’s.

 
 
  “Kari?” Rahmiel stood at her side.

 
 
  “Amber almost died,” she stated, as she shuddered at the amount of the dried blood on her carpet.

 
 
  “Yes, she was mortally wounded. But she is all right now. She will be well in a few days.”

 
 
  “I was well in just a few hours or so. And I didn’t even see a Healer.”

 
 
  “Yes, but the nature of your wounds wasn’t mortal. He planned to kill you by draining your life force. Amber—well, he was going for Auriel, and sliced her by accident. She’s lucky, though. I’ve seen him slice through the spine. Even our healers can’t repair injuries like that.”

 
 
  Kari looked at the room again. “I don’t even know how to begin cleaning this. Mom is going to freak.”

 
 
  Rahmiel had phased out his wings and was wearing slacks and a knit shirt, courtesy of Tressa. He still looked inhumanly good, Kari thought.

 
 
  “Let’s go,” she said. “Mom’s flight is on time.” She was wearing a new outfit, also courtesy of Tressa.

 
 
  Auriel suddenly phased into the living room. He was holding Tressa’s cat.

 
 
  “The Council wants your book. The one that has the summoning ritual in it. Old Samuel wants to look at it. He thinks that it is impossible for any translation to have existed since the demon’s last time on Earth. At that time there were no summoning rituals for the famine demon, he moved on his own. Samuel thinks there is something strange about the whole ritual.”

 
 
  Kari picked the book up off the coffee table and flipped through it to the ritual.

 
 
  “Here it is. Hope it helps.” She gave Fluffy a scratch under the chin. “Hope you like Angel land, cat.”

 
 
  “Tressa was worried the cat wouldn’t have enough to eat before she could return to her home.” Auriel tucked the book into a pouch slung over his chest and disappeared.

 
 
  They took her mother’s SUV and Rahmiel was fascinated with driving.

 
 
  “I want to learn how to do this. How fast does it go? Can I try?”

 
 
  “Not right now. It’s not as easy as it looks. And not in my mother’s car. I’m already in enough trouble with Mom without adding a fender bender to her car.”

 
 
  She then had to explain fender benders, police and licenses, all of which Rahmiel dismissed.

 
 
  He was equally fascinated with the airport, and she had to hurry him along to her mother’s waiting area. Mom came past security looking tanned and relaxed in a gauze turquoise pant suit. Her hair was a new golden blonde color, and she had several carry on bags on her arm.

 
 
  She dropped them when she saw Kari. “Kari? Oh my God! Kari, what happened?

 
 
  Why didn’t you call? What happened? Is it cancer?” Tears filled her mother’s eyes, and Kari felt like crap.

 
 
  “No, Mom, I’m all right. Healthy even. But I have something important to tell you.”

 
 
  “Honey, how could you lose that much weight in two weeks? Have you been hiding your weight loss? Are you anorexic?” People were beginning to turn and look.

 
 
  “Mom, this is my friend, Rahmiel.” Kari hauled Rahmiel forward, noticing he had a deer in the headlights expression on his face, which would be funny in different circumstances. “Rahmiel, this is my mom, Mary Ellen.”