When Angels Fall (30 page)

She held the bowl out to Gabriel, “You have to try this.”

Valoel looked at her in shock
,
and Gabriel turned his head and smiled at him.

“What did I do wrong?” Dani asked.

“Nothing at all,” Gabriel said. “Valoel is just a little surprised that you’re willing to share.”

Valoel nodded, “Ambrosia is the food of God. It has only been given to four other humans
,
and they all hoarded it for themselves. It was their
right
to do so as it was a gift to them.”

“Then they were dicks,” Dani said, handing the bowl to Gabriel. “The first moral code parents are supposed to instill in their children is to
share
. It sets your views on charity for the rest of your life.”

“She’s unique, even for a Daughter of God,” Valoel said to Gabriel.

“I know,” Gabriel said, slipping his arm around Dani’s waist.

Valoel looked down at the arm Gabriel had put around Dani and smiled, “Not everyone in Heaven is against the pairing of the two of you. You should know that.”

“That’s nice to know,” Gabriel said, frowning. “But it doesn’t really change anything here.”

“No, it doesn’t,” Valoel said. “I just wanted you to know that, when the time comes, she will have a lot of support.”

“Thank you,” Gabriel said quickly. “Goodbye, Valoel.”

Valoel bowed to Gabriel one last time, and then vanished. Dani’s sense of inner peace vanished with him.

8.

“H
ow could you just dismiss your
brother like that?” Dani asked a little while later.

They were sitting on the bottom step of the Civil War Monument inside the graveyard. The empty bowl of Ambrosia sat on the ground between Gabriel’s feet.

Gabriel shrugged, “Habit, I guess. I’m not accustomed to being confronted with angels ve
ry often anymore. And Valoel’s
not my brother. My only brothers are the other Archangels. Valoel is just another angel; one among thousands.”

“What did he mean when he said I would have support when the time came?”

“How am supposed to know,” Gabriel said, barely managing not to snap at her. “I read souls, not minds. And Valoel has no soul
to
read.”

“Maybe he was talking about when it comes my time to die, the angels will come and take me to Heaven.”

“Maybe,” Gabriel said, watch
ing a
man hurry acr
oss the cemetery grounds toward
them.

“Shit,” Dani whispered. “That’s the Groundskeeper. He used to throw me out of here all of the time when I was a kid.”

The man huffed his way up to them, “You
know you can’t sit on the War Memorial, young lady!
”

Gabriel looked up into the man
’
s
face, “Reginald Gene Waterford.
”

The man looked closely at Gabriel. The look on the man’s face was immediately transposed into one of awe.

“She may sit here as long as she’d wish,” Gabriel said calmly. “Do you understand me, Reginald?”

“Of course,” the man said, never taking his eyes from Gabriel’s. “Of course she can.”

“Now be gone,” Gabriel said, waving the man away.

The man turned and hurried away.

“You shouldn’t do that to people,” Dani said, smiling. “It’s not fair.”

“I never said it was fair,” Gabriel said, grinning at her, “just effective.”

“I miss Valoel,” Dani said suddenly. “I was so happy when he was here.”

Gabriel laughed, “Thanks a lot. I thought
I
made you happy.”

She punched him in the arm, “You know that you do, but when he was here I felt…”

“Peaceful,” Gabriel said for her.

“Exactly,” she said and watched Gabriel laugh again. “What’s so funny?”

“Valoel is an Angel of Peace,” Gabriel said. “Every human feels a deep inner peace while in his presence.”

“More angel tricks,” Dani grumbled.

“Yes,” Gabriel agreed. “But in Valoel’s defense, he can’t help it. He is what he is.”

“If you say so,” she said and nudged the bowl on the ground with her foot. “You know what that Ambrosia managed to do, don’t you?”

Gabriel smiled at her, “Give you inner peace?”

“No,” she said and lightly punched him again. “It made me hungry again. It had a wonderful flavor, but it wasn’t much on substance.
”

“You ate a big breakfast less than five hours ago.”

“Yes,” she said. “They call this lunchtime.”

“Fine,” he said and waved his hand above the bowl, making it vanish. “Lead the way to lunch, then.”

“I know the perfect place,” she said. She told him the na
me of the restaurant and led hi
m out of the cemetery.

9.

Dani led them to one of the many
fast food places on Riverside Dr.

Gabriel shook his head, “This is why you’re so obese.”

Dani turned and glared at him, “Excuse me? Are you
really
calling me fat?”

“What?
No!
No, no, no,” Gabriel said. “Not you
personally
, but your country as a whole is the most obese in the world. It’s the wealth of food that’s available to you at a very small cost. It’s everywhere and it’s not very good for you.”

“Well, excuse me for not bringing my Coleman portable camping hotplate to make you a home cooked meal on,” she snapped and walked through the door of the burger joint.

“Where are you going?” he called after
her
when she march
ed
to the back of the restaurant.

“To pee,” she called back for the whole restaurant to hear. “Just order us some food. Better make yours a salad! We wouldn’t want
you
to get fat!”

“I can’t get…” he was saying, but the bathroom door cut off his words.

She was sitting on the toilet when she heard the bathroom door open again. She finished what she was doing and opened the cubicle door to wash her hands. She was grabbed and thrown on top of the vanity counter and against the bathroom mirror before she realized that it was a man in the bathroom with her. The stench of him left little doubt that he was a Cambion.

“How you doin’?” the blonde haired Cambion asked her, and punched her in the mouth.

“You can’t take me from here,” Dani panted in pain. “You’ll never get
past
Gabriel.”

“No need,” the Cambion said, still smiling. “Orders have changed. Now whoever finds you is supposed to
kill
you. I guess that honor goes to me.”

The Cambion had his hands around her throat before she could scream for Gabriel. Then a pair of hands wrapped around the Cambions face;
a pair of
female
hands. The Cambion took one last breath, and dropped to the ground.

“Who are you?” Dani managed to gasp, just as the bathroom door banged open again.

Gabriel stood in the doorway, “What the hell?” he asked, looking at the dead Cambion on the floor.

Dani’s savior; a small wisp of a girl, maybe all of fourteen years old, dropped to her knees in front of Gabriel.

Gabriel laid his hand on the top of the girl’s head and Dani panicked, “No!”

Gabriel looked at Dani, but left his hand on the girl’s head, “I don’t smite everyone I touch, Dani.”

Gabriel dropped his hands to the girl’s shoulders and lifted her to her feet, “Candice Marie Burton. How did you know to be here now?”

“A man with wings told me,” the girl whispered. “I think he was an angel.”

“I’m sure he was,” Gabriel said and raised her chin to look into her eyes. “His name was Raguel. I’ll be sure to thank him when I see him,” he said and turned to Dani.

“Wait!” the girl said, and Gabriel turned back to face her. “The angel gave me a message for you.”

“Did he?” Gabriel said.

“Yes,” the girl said. “I’m supposed to tell you that your brother changed the game. He now wants the girl dead; at
all
costs.”

“Thank you, Candice,” Gabriel said and snatched the dead Cambion from the floor. “Stay with Dani,” he said and turned to Dani. “
Don’t move
. Stay right there,” he ordered, and vanished with the body.

“The angel said I’m a Nephilim,” Candice said
to Dani
. “Is that bad? I don’t feel
bad
.
”

“No, it’s not bad at all,” Dani said, sliding from the c
ounter that the Cambion had thro
w
n
her on.

A sharp pain shot through
her back
when her feet hit the floor. Dani
reached over her
shoulder and found a large piece of th
e mirror she’d crashed into
sticking out of her back.
Fabulous!

She pulled the long piece of jagged glass from her shoulder. She immediately knew she’d made a mistake when she felt blood gush down her back. She was willing to bet that the glass had severed an artery, and she’d pulled out the only thing that had been keeping her from bleeding to death. She sank to the floor.

“Are you okay?” Candice asked worriedly.

“I’m fine,” she said, trying to smile at the girl. “I just need Gabriel.”

“Is he the Archangel the other man told me about?”

“Yeah, that’s him,” Dani said, dropping her head when it became too heavy to hold up anymore.

Candice started to cry, “You’re losing an awful lot of blood.”

“I’m fine, sweetie,” Dani said, still unable to lift her head. “Gabriel will…he’ll fix…”

The last thing Dani saw before slipping into the blackness was her blood pooling around her on the dirty bathroom floor.

10.

When Gabriel returned to Dani, he found her unconscious. The bathroom floor was
covered
in her blood. Candice was on her knees, crying beside Dani.
Damn it!
He had told her
not
to move! Not only had she moved, but she’d torn the la
rge piece of glass from her back
!

Gabriel dropped to his knees before Dani’s body and pulled her to him.

“She needs Gabriel!” Candice cried. “She said he could help her.”

“I
am
Gabriel,” he said to the girl. “And I’m going to help her right now. Don’t worry, little girl.”

He cupped his hand over the large slice in Dani’s back and healed the wound. But she had lost
a
lot
of blood; something Gabriel could not recreate. She would be weak for a very long time if she didn’t get a transfusion. And he could not risk her safety by taking her to a hospital. Then Candice moved and a thought occurred to him.

“Can I borrow a little of your blood to give to Dani?” Gabriel asked the girl. He couldn’t create blood, but he
could
transport it from Candice into Dani.

“My blood?” Candice asked and started chewing her lower lip in fear. “Will it hurt? Will I die?”

“You won’t feel a thing,” Gabriel said, and gave the girl a small smile. “And you’ll be just fine.”

“Okay, I guess,” Candice said and started rolling up her sleeve.

Gabriel stilled her hand, “There’s no need for that. I won’t be sticking you with a needle.”

He laid one of his hands on Candice’s chest and the other on Dani’s, and allowed the blood to flow between them. He closely monitored the amount of blood he was taking from Candice. He didn’t want to harm her by taking too much. When he felt it was enough he dropped his hand from Candice’s chest.

“That’s it?” Candice asked.

“That’s it,” Gabriel confirmed. “She’ll be okay now.”

“You were right,” Candice said. “I didn’t feel anything.”

“Thank you very much, Candice,” Gabriel said. “I can’t thank you enough for what you’ve done here today.”

He had just picked Dani up when he heard screaming from out in the restaurant.

“It’s demons; a virtual
shitload
of dem
ons. More than last night. They’re
on the roof, too
. There’s no way out of here without taking Dani through them,
” Michael said from behind him. “Just tell me what you want me to do.”

“Get Candice out of here and get her home,” Gabriel said.

“Anything else?” Michael said, scooping Candice into his arms.

“Pray that what I’m about to do doesn’t kill Dani,” he said, and looked down at Dani’s face. “Please don’t die.”