Road to Hell (13 page)

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Noise roused me from my sleep before I could begin to worry that it had been more than just a dream. Raised voices sounded from outside my door. Cranky at being disturbed, I rolled out of bed and strode over to find out what was going on.

Brie spoke in a snarl and I hesitated with my hand on the doorknob. “Impertinent whelp! How dare you attempt to bar my way!”

“My mistress does not wish to be disturbed,” Sam replied with an edge of panic in his voice.

“Lowly scum, it is time to see if you have regained your mortality now that you are back on Earth.” Her vehemence had me pulling the door open just as she finished speaking. Her sword was in her hand, aiming for Sam’s stomach as she lunged forward. He leaped aside and the dazzling blue metal came towards me. Time seemed to slow down as I waited for Nathan to appear to save me. The blade was close enough for the point to touch my jacket when bright crimson light flared.

Blinded, I staggered backwards and a horn blared from right behind me. “Get off the road, jackass!” a guy shouted before the car motored off.

My sight returned and I discovered that I was standing on a street. Another car was coming, so I stepped up onto the sidewalk. I was pretty sure I was still in Manhattan. Spinning in a quick circle, I came to a stop facing a dark green door. It was devoid of a window and the redbrick walls beside it were blank. The building was narrow and was sandwiched in between a deli and a shoe repair store. Writing on the ground caught my eye. I glanced down to see the words ‘Good Intentions’ carved into the cement in front of the door in an archaic script. It had probably been a secondhand store, but it appeared to have gone out of business some time ago.

Turning away from the building, I put a hand on my stomach to find I wasn’t wounded. I didn’t know who had teleported me away, but they’d rescued me just in the nick of time.

Nathan appeared just as I took a step forward. I crashed into him and he caught me by the shoulders before I could rebound off him and fall down. Excitement flared at being chest to chest with him, but I pushed it down. It would be far too embarrassing to act like a giddy teenager in front of my guardian angel.

“Where were you?” I asked accusingly. “Brie came this close to slicing my guts open.” I held my thumb and finger a fraction apart to indicate just how narrow my escape from death had been this time.

Letting me go, he ran a hand through his hair and I took a step back. “I did not receive my usual warning that you were in danger,” he said. He looked even more rattled by that than I felt.

“Why not?”

“It would appear that the demons’ wards have done more than merely imprison me on this island. It has also negated my ability to sense when you are in peril.”

“So, you won’t be able to come to my rescue whenever I’m in danger now?” I’d been counting on him being there during the trials that I was apparently going to face. To think that he wouldn’t be able to appear and whisk me to safety worried me.

“Not unless you remain in my sight at all times,” he said with a wry smile.

“That’s not going to happen. A girl needs her privacy sometimes. Besides,” I said morosely, “now that everyone thinks I’m evil, why would you even want to keep saving me from certain death?”

He gave a small sigh and took my hand. A thrill went through me at the contact. “Briathos is the only one who believes that you harbor evil. Sophia and Leo are still undecided on the topic.”

“That doesn’t exactly make me feel better.” It was depressing that they doubted me, but I couldn’t really blame them. If our situation had been reversed, I’d have wondered whether they were going to sprout crimson eyes and a forked tongue as well.

He squeezed my fingers gently until I met his gaze. “They do not know you like I do. I know that you could never become evil.”

The moment drew out and the fluttering in my stomach grew worse. I tried not to let his touch affect me. I knew that only heartbreak could come from letting my feelings for him grow.

Clearing my throat, I tugged my hand loose and immediately felt a sense of loss. “How did I get here if you didn’t save me?”

“It would seem that you somehow managed to teleport yourself to safety.”

“It wasn’t me,” I said. “One second I was standing there and the next I was here.” I looked around at the unfamiliar street. “Wherever here is.”

“Briathos and Samuel would have seen it if another angel or a demon had helped you.”

Remembering that it had been a flash of scarlet rather than white light, I was pretty sure I knew what had happened. I didn’t know how, but my inner demons had saved me. It was a possibility that I didn’t want to explore just yet, so I changed the subject. “How did you find me so quickly?”

He pointed at my bracelet. “I followed Brie’s spell and it led me to you.” That must have been how he’d found Sophia’s store, I realized. He’d seen my bracelet and recognized it as being the work of an angel. He’d used it to track down Brie and Leo.

Studying my bracelet, I saw that it had changed color again. It was a slightly darker orange now. Another faint marking had been etched into the stone. “I guess it acts like a tracking device,” I said. “I’m surprised Brie and Leo haven’t arrived by now.” Brie might hate me and want me gone, but surely Leo didn’t despise me yet.

“They do not have my talent for tracking spells.”

I still knew very little about angels and what they were capable of. Apparently, they didn’t all share the same skills.

Now that we were alone, there was a question that I wanted to ask. “Brie said that humans can’t sprout wings when angels possess them.”

“That is correct.”

“Then why did you have wings after you came to my rescue on the Brooklyn Bridge?”

He looked startled by the question and frowned. “I do not know. That has never happened to me before while I have been in a completely solid form.”

That brought up something else that had been puzzling me. “Sophia said that angels are pure spirit and that they need to possess humans to be able to interact with this world. If that’s the case, then how have you managed to save me so many times?” He’d never appeared to me as a human before. He’d been more like a ghost.

“That is difficult to explain,” he hedged.

“I’ll try to keep up.” I was a bit insulted that he thought I wouldn’t be able to comprehend his explanation.

“I have been in possession of this vessel for several thousand years.” My mouth dropped open in shock at that revelation, but at least it explained why he’d been wearing a toga. “That is a much longer period of time than we usually inhabit a human for. Because of this, my vessel has changed over time. It has become charged with power. I can hover between this world and the celestial plane. In this state, I am invisible to humans, but I am able to interact with them.”

No one else had been able to see him, but he hadn’t been quite invisible to me. I’d dimly been able to see his face and had even felt his touch when he’d sheltered me from harm.

“How many angels have this ability?”

He hesitated then looked away. “No other angels are quite like me.” It was obvious that he didn’t want to talk about why he was different, so I didn’t push him. “Are you ready to return to the store?” he asked and reached for my arm.

I grimaced and took a step back. “No thanks. I’d rather avoid Brie until she’s calmed down.” Remembering that she’d been about to dismember Sam, alarm flashed through me. “Is Sam okay?”

His lips twisted at my concern for the latest addition to our group. “The imp was intact when I left.” His expression turned almost sly. “Although I do not know how much longer he will remain so. Briathos appears to have quite the temper.”

“You really need to work on your manipulation skills,” I told him. “That was pretty lame.” With that, I started walking.

He fell into step beside me with a disgruntled sigh. We walked in silence for a couple of blocks then I saw a group of six demons up ahead. I nudged Nathan onto a side street before they could notice us. Our bracelets would supposedly keep us safe, but I preferred not to put them to the test more often than was necessary.

Two women taking their dogs out for exercise stared at Nathan as we skirted past them. It made me wonder if they saw the same breathtaking handsomeness that I did. I sent a sidelong look at him, drinking in his perfection.

My inattention to where I was going caused me to trip. His hand flashed out to catch me by the elbow before I could fall. “You should pay more attention to where you put your feet,” he chided.

Face flaming red in embarrassment, I pulled my arm out of his grip and concentrated on the buildings. Townhouses flanked us on both sides of the street. They were old, but in good condition. Painted various colors, they were just different enough from the neighboring buildings that they didn’t look identical.

“Where are we?” I asked.

“We are in the Upper West Side.”

“I take it you’ve been here before?”

He inclined his head in a nod. “Yes, but it was many decades ago, when these buildings were newly made.”

I wanted to ask what he’d been doing here back then, but I didn’t want to pry. It was probably secret angel matters that I had no business knowing anyway.

Tilting my head back to take in the beautiful old buildings, I thought of my crappy apartment in Denver. It hadn’t been much, but it had been home. I could never go back there now. It was as dead to me as my mother was. Besides, I was trapped in Manhattan with no way to leave. Like it or not, this city was my home now until I’d either fulfilled my destiny, or died trying.

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We walked in silence that was strained rather than companionable. Was it even possible to make casual conversation with an angel? Nathan might have been protecting me for almost my entire life, but he was still a stranger to me.

Reaching the end of the street, we came to a house that looked like it was faced with white marble rather than the usual brick or stone. It was breathtakingly beautiful, but Nathan glared at it. “Such waste,” he said in a low voice. “Humans have always been materialistic beings. Instead of using their wealth to better mankind, they use it to boost their vanity and ego.”

“I guess angels don’t have to worry about making a living or any of the other mundane things we humans do.”

He cut a look at me, checking to see whether I was being sarcastic or not. For once, I was being serious. He nodded wistfully. “In heaven, there is no strife or misery. There is only peace and tranquility.”

“There wasn’t always, though,” I pointed out. “I read in one of Sophia’s books that Lucifer decided he was better than God and tried to elevate himself above him.”

His lips thinned at the reminder. “Lucifer was proud and vain.”

“Sounds very human to me,” I mused, much to his discomfort. “I thought angels were perfect. How did he become so twisted?”

“We are not perfect,” he corrected me. “We have the same free will as you do, but most of us are content with our existence. Some chose to rebel and they were punished for it.”

“I read that a third of all the angels in heaven were cast out with Lucifer,” I said. Reaching the end of the street, a fence barred our way. In the distance, I could see what I assumed was the Hudson River. We turned left, following the fence. “How many angels fell, exactly?”

“Is it necessary for you to know the exact number?”

My question exasperated him, but I had a reason for asking. “Whoever has taken over in hell intends to unleash every demon that’s down there. I need to know how many hell spawn we’ll be facing if he manages to break them free.”

“Hell is not actually beneath us,” he said instead of answering my question. “It is merely in another dimension that is very close to ours.”

“Nice diversion,” I said with mock admiration. “Now answer the question. How many demons are there? Hundreds of thousands?” Sam had already said that tens of thousands had gathered near a town that was close to a hellgate.

He turned his head away so I could only see his profile. “Far more than that,” he replied almost too quietly for me to hear him. “Millions of my brethren fell and were banished to the underworld.”

“Millions?” I said in a tone that was several octaves higher than usual. I was almost unable to fathom there could be so many potential enemies to deal with. “Okay, that’s bad, but there are twice as many angels to fight them if they do break out, right?”

He turned to face me again and his expression was bleak. “I am afraid that my kin will not be able to come to the aid of mankind.”

“What do you mean?”

“The gates of heaven are locked and angels can no longer leave. Anyone who was already on Earth when this happened cannot return home.”

I almost stumbled in surprise, but managed to catch my balance this time. “When did this happen?”

“I believe it was shortly after you triggered the wards that alerted the demons that you are in Manhattan.”

“Are Sophia, Brie and Leo aware of this?”

“Yes. They are understandably upset that we will not have the backup we had counted on to fight this war.”

No doubt Brie blamed me for this occurrence. Something Leo had said came back to me. “Where do you go when you aren’t watching over me? Do you spend the rest of your time in heaven?”

He looked startled for a moment before he controlled his face again. “No. It has been some time since I have been to heaven.”

“How long has it been?” I persisted.

“Since before your birth.”

He looked sad and guilt spread its insidious tendrils through me. I hadn’t asked to become Fate’s puppet, but I’d been lumped with the gig anyway. The angels were locked away in heaven and demons were banging on the gates of hell. Nathan wasn’t just stuck on Earth, he was also trapped in Manhattan. He could no longer go home and had instead been caught up in my battle. I wasn’t sure why he hadn’t been to heaven for seventeen years, but it had to have something to do with me. He hadn’t answered my question about where he went when he wasn’t saving me, but it was obviously a painful subject.

“I’m sorry,” I said. I almost expected him to tell me it wasn’t my fault, but he merely nodded.

Reduced to silence again, we walked past stately apartment buildings that overlooked the river. There were far fewer pedestrians here, but a steady stream of cars passed us.

Waiting for a break in traffic, we crossed the street and entered a parklike area that gave us a view of the Hudson River. We followed the path to a tall, domed monument with columns that were made of light colored stone. A sign told me it was a memorial for soldiers and sailors, which brought Sam to mind. He’d been a sailor before he’d been taken to hell. He might have done terrible things during his time as a pirate, but I couldn’t help but feel bad for him.

Leaving the monument behind, I paused to stare at the river without really taking it in. Something was bothering me and I couldn’t keep it inside anymore. “Where were you the night my mother was murdered?” I asked.

Nathan took a deep breath, as if he’d been waiting for this question. “I was in France, speaking to some colleagues.”

“Didn’t you know that demons were trying to kidnap me?”

“No. I am only called to you when I sense that you are in mortal danger.”

“So, you weren’t there that night? You weren’t the invisible person my mother saw when she was dying?” His gaze dropped to the ground and he refused to answer me. My stomach fell to my feet when I realized the truth. “You
were
there! Why didn’t you try to save her?”

“I became aware of your peril only after your mother had already been stabbed.”

“You could have taken her to a hospital,” I said in anguish. “You could have done
something
!”

He looked regretful as he shook his head. “I was not charged with keeping your mother safe. There was nothing I could have done to save her. It was simply her time.”

“You could have done something,” I repeated stubbornly as tears welled. I wiped them away with my sleeve and turned my back on him. “Go away. I can’t even look at you right now.”

His clothing rustled as he reached for me. I hunched my shoulders and moved out of his reach. “I cannot leave you alone. It is too dangerous,” he said to my back.

“Bring Sam to me then. I’d rather be with him than the rest of you guys.”

He sucked in an astonished breath. “You would prefer the company of a filthy imp than an angel?”

“Just go,” I said tiredly.

Hearing nothing, I glanced over my shoulder to see he was gone. Collapsing onto a bench, I put my face in my hands and allowed my grief to pour out. I sobbed so hard that I didn’t even hear Sam arrive. He hesitantly sat beside me and his hand came to rest on my shoulder. I still didn’t know if I could really trust him or not, but I threw my arms around him anyway. “He let her die,” I sobbed. “He could have saved her, but he didn’t and now I’m all alone!”

“There, there,” Sam said and gingerly patted me on the back. He was so endearingly awkward that I almost laughed despite my abject misery. “You are not alone. You have Sophia, the angels and me.”

Pulling away, I sniffed, wishing I had a tissue. Sam reached into the pocket of his new jeans and handed me one. Sophia had most likely given them to him. “Angels suck,” I said and blew my nose.

“If you say so,” he said agreeably.

“They’re supposed to be the good guys, but they just sit on their hands and do nothing when they could be helping people.”

Sam was silent while he searched for something to say. “God works in mysterious ways?” It came out as more of a question than a statement.

My lips quivered, then I was laughing almost as hard as I’d been crying a few moments ago. “Thanks, Sam. I needed that.” He looked mystified, but smiled happily. It did nothing to soften his ugliness, but I was getting used to his misshapen face.

“It is not our fault,” a hesitant voice said from behind me.

I turned to see Leo standing a few feet away. Clearly, Nathan didn’t trust Sam enough to leave him alone with me. At least he’d had enough sense to send Leo rather than Brie. I doubted that she possessed the ability to comfort someone who was in distress. “What isn’t your fault?” I asked. It was hard to be mad at him when he looked so young and miserable. I wished he and Brie hadn’t taken possession of such vulnerable looking vessels.

“We are prohibited from interfering with the natural course of human lives,” he explained. Rounding the bench, he sat beside me.

“Then why has Nathan been following me around my entire life and saving me from death?”

He shrugged his thin shoulders. “I assume it is because it is your destiny to save the human race.”

“Do you think Fate gave him the job of being my nanny?”

He sniggered at my terminology. “I do not know. I suppose it is possible.”

Sam’s shoulders jerked and his head came up. He turned to stare out of the corner of his eye at a couple who were walking past us. “We should head back to the others. It is not safe here.” He was wearing the hat Sophia had bought for him and drew the bill down to cover his face.

Seeing the man and woman’s faces flicker, I realized they were demons. I wasn’t ready to face Brie or Nathan, but I couldn’t stay away from them forever. Seeing my resignation, Leo took my hand and reached behind me to grab Sam as well. I closed my eyes a second before the white light could blind me.