The Fallen (Angelic Redemption) (25 page)

“Fine. I’ll help you kill Joaquin.”

Sophie looked at Lila. “I was hoping we would get
to smack her around.”

Grinning, Lila pulled Sophie from the room,
leaving Karen to sulk. They headed to the family room where the men waited.
Lila entered and made an announcement.

“We’re leaving for Texas tomorrow. Anyone wanting
to come along ought to be ready to leave at sunrise,” Lila said, walking
through the room without pausing on her way to the kitchen.

“Tomorrow?” Logan said, turning to Roman. “I
don’t think we’ll be ready by tomorrow.”

Roman stood up to follow Lila into the kitchen,
but she turned and glared at him.

“I’m leaving tomorrow with Karen and Sophie. If
you boys don’t want to come along, then so be it.”

While the men grumbled in response to her
announcement, Lila stuck her head in the refrigerator and pretended to look for
food. Once they stopped grumbling, the men turned their attentions to Sophie.

“Tomorrow is too soon,” Connor said.

Sophie knew they wanted her to be the nice one
and rein in the queen of mean in the kitchen. She somehow doubted this was
something she would ever do in her old life and it certainly wasn’t something
she would do now.

“We need to stop the Reaper, so we’re leaving
tomorrow,” Sophie said coolly. “I’ll be bummed if you guys can’t come along,
but you weren’t even in Lila’s vision. It should be fine.”

Roman stepped forward, frowning at Sophie even if
his mind was clearly on his angry wife in the kitchen.

“Visions don’t work like that. They’re not clear
instructions of what will happen. They’re more like glimpses of info to help
you find your way.”

“Whatever,” Sophie said, frowning back at him.
“We’re leaving tomorrow.”

Pulling her aside, Roman sighed. “You know she
isn’t ready.”

“Maybe, but I’m not going to let you use me to
manipulate Lila. If you want her to wait, you need to convince her.”

Roman stepped back from Sophie. “What did she
tell you?”

“That you don’t want her. That you want your dead
wife.”

Flinching, Roman scowled at Lila in the kitchen.
“Do you know how that sounds?”

Sophie didn’t want to argue with Roman. She
wished to forget how Roman suffered days earlier. She wished he and Lila were
happy together. She wished everyone would just settle down and get along. Yet Roman
was daring her to choose between him and Lila and that wasn’t a difficult
choice.

“You make Lila feel sad and weak. Maybe it would
be best if you stayed behind and let us handle the Reaper on our own?”

Roman’s blue eyes flashed to Lila who fiddled
with a bag of licorice. Roman then returned his attention to Sophie.

“I know you’re loyal to Lila and that’s good, but
dividing us into two groups is what your pack did years ago. That didn’t end
well.”

“So what that we died?” Sophie said, her voice
louder than she expected. “You always harp on that like it was a huge mistake,
but did you ever think that maybe all of it was supposed to happen?”

“Why would God want that to happen?” Roman asked,
his temper threatening to erupt in his calm blue eyes.

Sophie shrugged. “It’s just one of those
unknowable things. Like why did God give you a mate you couldn’t handle?”

Roman inhaled sharply and Sophie thought he might
finally lose his temper. Instead he only stared at her with the mellow
expression of a hunter with perpetual patience.

“Fine, I’ll do what I always do with Lila. Just try
to keep up,” Roman said, scrutinizing his wife again. “We’ll be ready
tomorrow.”

“Good. I’m sure Lila will be happy to have the
help.”

Sophie joined Lila in the kitchen, feeling pretty
confident. She stood up to both Karen and Roman. Sophie was beginning to think
she wasn’t quite the baby they all assumed her to be. Chewing on licorice, Lila
watched Sophie with a proud grin.

“You said the guys were training you. How’s that
going?”

“Really well. I’m a natural, they say.”

“You ready to take out the Reaper on your own
then?”

All her newfound confidence fizzled and Sophie
could only stare horrified at a grinning Lila. Back in the restaurant when Lila
said something similar, Sophie figured the statement was meant to scare her
into acting like a hunter. Yet, it was obvious Lila was serious.

“Are you mental? I could train for a year and not
be ready for this guy. Why can’t Roman kill him?”

Lila glared at the family room where the men were
whispering in a heated discussion.

“Roman wasn’t even in my vision about the Reaper.
It was always going to be you. I didn’t want to believe it either, but I can’t
beat this guy in my present condition and the clock is ticking.”

“I can’t beat this guy in any condition.”

“God says you can. So are you going to believe
that whiny little voice in your head over God?”

Sophie crossed her arms tightly and sighed dramatically.
“I get to die again, huh?”

“Appears that way, but who knows?” Lila said,
grinning widely while enjoying Sophie’s reaction. “Hey, maybe you have some
secret talent that’ll take down a big dog hunter? It wouldn’t be the strangest
thing to happen in the last week.”

Sighing again, Sophie wanted to bawl at the
thought of the battle resting on her shoulders. Lila eyed her confidently
though.

“I’m feeling good about this. How about you?”
Lila said, bumping her playfully. “You feeling good? You look psyched. I know
I’m psyched. Man, I wish we could go right now.”

Sophie smiled grudgingly. “Good times.”

“You know it. We came back from the dead. Two
days ago, I killed a demon. In a few days, you’re going to kill a rogue hunter.
I guess that makes us superstars. You feel like a superstar?”

“Oh, yeah, I’m feeling it.”

Lila threw her arm around Sophie’s neck and
pulled her closer.

“Just remember you’re like me. A Tootsie Pop. No
matter how chewy your center is, when trouble comes you always focus on your
hard shell. It’ll help you take down a murderer like Joaquin. He’ll be
powerless when retribution comes.”

Sophie nodded, not even a little bit confident
about their chances of success. Lila returned to the family room where she
ignored Roman. She made plans with Gus to supply the group with enough weapons
to fight the Reaper and any villains he might have at his disposal.

Sophie studied the hunters as they put aside
their obvious discomfort with each other and the situation. These hunters were
her family, as all hunters were, bound by a common cause. If God thought she
could stop the traitor who murdered her kind, Sophie was willing to run into
battle, towards danger and death, to get it done.

The two cars traveled deep into nothingness. With
each passing mile, Joaquin’s unease grew. When Karen turned her car down what
could barely be categorized as a road, Joaquin studied Heidi and Maximo, neither
of them showing concern at their location. Karen finally stopped near a river
at the base of a canyon. Letting his car idle, Joaquin surveyed their
surroundings.

“Why here?” he asked when Heidi frowned at him.

“I don’t know. She seems to know more than us.”

Joaquin sighed, scanning the hills for shooters.

“She is like us,” Maximo said. “She kills
monsters.”

Heidi placed her hand on Joaquin’s bare forearm,
causing him to shiver.

“We can ditch her, if you want. I won’t be mad.”

Joaquin sighed, turning off the car and
scrutinizing Karen. The woman seemed innocent enough, but Joaquin still felt
the urge to turn the car around. Heidi and Maximo were his to protect and he
didn’t like the idea of their safety dependent on this stranger.

Joaquin wasn’t sure how to get them out of Mexico though and the demon’s threat still hung over his every thought. Sighing again, he
decided to push aside his natural paranoia.

“If she is one of us, then it might be good to
know exactly what that means.”

Waiting for them next to her car, Karen pushed
her sunglasses back on her head and surveyed the canyon. Approaching her
warily, Joaquin walked ahead of Heidi and Maximo who were whispering about
candy. Their innocence did not rub off on Joaquin as he approached Karen.

“What are we doing out here?”

“God told me to bring you here before we made our
move across the border.”

“Why the US?”

“We have a better network there. It’ll be safer
until we can figure out what to do about the demon.”

Heidi came up behind Joaquin and took his hand.
“Can’t we just kill it like those other monsters?”

“No,” Karen said, strolling deeper into the
canyon with a basket in hand. “Demons don’t really move in our world. Those
monsters from the hotel were human bodies inhabited by evil souls.”

Joaquin said nothing, instead watching Maximo who
wandered towards a large dead tree. Heidi was watching him too and her gaze
caught Joaquin’s and held it. In that moment, he knew his wife was also
hesitant about Karen.

“Maximo come,” Heidi said, heading back to the
car. “Let’s get some sunscreen.”

Joaquin waited until the two were out of earshot
before he approached Karen with his questions. Yet instead of interrogating
Karen about her motives, Joaquin was only focused on the demon.

“This demon doesn’t exist here, so can it hurt
them?”

Karen glanced at Heidi, considering the question.
“Demons fear angels, not hunters, and coming into our world leaves them open to
angel problems. I doubt this demon will do the work itself. It’ll just send
more dark souls to hunt you. In Mexico, they have free rein. In the US, they’ll have to be more careful.”

Grinning, Karen lifted the basket in her hand. “I
think the boy would like a picnic. He’s a cutie, but this must all be scary for
him.”

Instead of fear, Maximo was ecstatic about the
food Karen spread out on a table cloth on the rocky ground. Maximo plopped down
and smiled at Heidi.

“Families have picnics, yes?”

Smiling, Heidi nodded. Leaning against Joaquin,
she kissed him. Yet her closeness seemed less about affection and more about
secrecy.

“Do you trust her?” she asked, gazing up at him.

Joaquin scrutinized Karen who was speaking to
Maximo in broken Spanish. Nodding, he could find no reason to doubt her, even
if he still felt unsafe in this canyon.

“I think we should go to the US,” he said, pushing hair away from Heidi’s eyes and caressing her freckled cheeks. “Maybe
we can stop running for a while?”

Heidi smiled, kissing him again. “We’ll go where
God leads us.”

As Heidi joined Maximo on the ground, Joaquin
kept watch over the nearby ridges. Karen soon noticed his concern.

“We’re safe here.”

“The low ground leaves us open to sniper fire.”

“Yeah, but it’s so isolated, we’d hear a car
approaching. Trust me that no one’s going to walk here in this heat.”

Joaquin wanted to believe Karen and the idea that
his family was safe. Giving into his desire to enjoy the quiet with Heidi and
Maximo, he tried to relax, even nibbling on a sandwich.

“Tell us about this network you say you have in
the US.”

Karen shifted in her spot, clearly excited to
share with the newbies. “Hunters like us can work in packs and do a lot more
damage that way.”

“Damage to things like the ones at the hotel?”

“Yes. We call them villains. They might not seem
like much to worry over. Like hunters though, they come in varying degrees of
ability. Those at the hotel were small fry.”

“How do you plan to get us into the US? We might still have trouble with the cartel. Crossing the border could be difficult.”

“I’m still trying to figure that out,” Karen
said, biting into a strawberry. “I thought we were just looking at villains and
a demon, but humans complicate the situation.”

“How so?”

“Hunters don’t kill humans. Not even evil ones.”

Joaquin scowled, glancing at Heidi who showed no
concern over this news. His wife’s mind was on their son who shoved a second
sandwich into his little mouth and even smaller stomach. The boy collapsed on
the ground, stuffed and tired. While Heidi rubbed the boy’s tummy, Karen stood
up and stretched.

“I’m going up to that ridge to get a better
look,” she said, turning to go.

“Why?” Joaquin asked, suspicious again.

“In my vision, I was standing on that ridge and
looking out at the surrounding land. I think maybe I was supposed to see
something, like what our next move should be? I’m going up there, so the Lord
can show me. Would you like to come along?”

Joaquin studied the woman, trying to sense her
plan. Maybe she was telling the truth? Or maybe she planned to leave them there
to die?