Angel Tormented (The Louisiangel Series Book 3) (29 page)

The street was chaotic. The fire
department had finally arrived. It looked like at least one truck was in the
convent grounds with another in the street, their hoses aimed up at the church
roof. I clung onto the fighting girl as three firefighters ran over, trying to
extract her from me. “Give her to me,” one of them instructed me.

“Hold on to her,” I said. “She wants to be
in there.”

He looked like he didn’t believe me –
until I released her and she attempted to bolt back into the church.
Thankfully, one of the other firefighters grabbed her as I let out an exhausted
sigh, doubling over and resting my hands on my knees. No sooner did I do that,
the coughing started up again. “You should get checked out by a medic, miss,”
the first firefighter told me.

In a sense, he was right. My back felt
like it was on fire, my lungs felt like they were lined with soot, and I was
fairly certain that under the cuts and burns on my bare feet were broken bones.
With what remained of the injuries I had obtained at the Port, it was nothing
short of a miracle that I was still standing, and it wouldn’t take a medic to
realize that either. I was trying to work out the best way to stop that from
happening – and for them not to notice the weapon attached to my leg – when the
girl I had rescued collapsed. The firefighters, and the paramedics who had just
arrived, hurried over and I took the opportunity to slip past them and rejoin
the chaos back at the gate.

I found Cupid and Joshua at the edge of
the group. Cupid’s attention was on our House, while Joshua had been scanning
the area for me. The relief in his eyes as soon as he saw me was obvious, but
he waited for me to cross the hoses and join him before wrapping his arms
around me.

I couldn’t stop the involuntary gasp of
pain as his arms touched my back and he pulled away, concern replacing the
relief. “What the hell have you been doing?” he demanded as his eyes raked in
my appearance. “Don’t tell me you went back into that convent.”

I shuffled a few steps backwards, off the
sidewalk and into the water which was flowing steadily to the gutter. My
fingers went to the dagger, still hot to the touch in the sheath, and I pulled
it out, crouching down to drop it in the water. It hissed and fizzled, but when
I pulled it out it was cool. I examined my leg – the sheath had done a
reasonable job of protecting my skin, but there was still a red oblong imprint
which was warm to the touch. I shifted the sheath further to the side and returned
the dagger to it. I allowed a moment to feel the reprieve in the throbbing in
my feet and my thigh before responding to Joshua. “No,” I told him. “But I did
go into St. Mary’s.”

“Why the hell would you go into a burning
building?” Joshua asked in disbelief.

“I thought there was someone in there and
I was right.” I released a long sigh. “Can we discuss this later? I’m exhausted
and I’m sure I’m only going to have to repeat myself again?”

Joshua didn’t seem thrilled with the
suggestion, but nodded. He stepped to the edge of the curb, keeping his own
bare feet out of the water, but gently pulled me to him. I didn’t fight him, resting
my head against his chest. “You are either the craziest or bravest person I
know,” he muttered.

I was too tired to respond, my eyelids
feeling heavy and my throat still felt restricted and strangely hot. It was
then that Cupid spotted us, frowning. He joined us, his eyes flicking between
me and Joshua. “I thought Joshua had gone home,” he said, slowly.

“Did everyone get out?” I asked instead of
acknowledging his statement – it was obvious that the last thing Joshua had
done was gone home, and given that we were both still wearing what we had slept
in, it was also pretty obvious what we’d been doing. I also didn’t bother to
step away.

“Yes,” Cupid said. “When the fire
department clears up, we will go inside and see what damage has been done.”

“You won’t be returning in there tonight,”
Joshua informed him, matter-of-factly.

Cupid frowned. “More than half of the
building is fine. It will probably be smoky, but we can work with that.”

“Maybe so, but they’re going to want to
investigate the cause of the fire, and they’re going to need to check the
building is structurally stable to return to,” Joshua shrugged. “I’ve seen how
they work in the past. You’re better off finding somewhere to put you guys up
for a couple of days.”

“You seem to know a lot about the fire,”
Cupid said.

I lifted my head long enough to arch an
eyebrow at Cupid. “Are you kidding me?”

“I’ve worked a few arson/homicide cases,”
Joshua said. “I’m willing to bet a lot of money that this fire was caused by
arson.”

Cupid glanced back at the convent. The
firefighters were battling with the fire, but it looked like they were starting
to get a handle on it. “I do not gamble,” he said, sounding eerily like
Michael. “I also suspect you are right.”

It took nearly an hour for the fire
department to get the blaze under control. They’d been surprised everyone was
accounted for, but once we assured them of that, and how no one needed medical
attention, the paramedics had all disappeared. We’d also been told that we
would be unable to return to the convent for a while. Cupid had vanished then
reappeared a short time later to say we were relocating to the St. Louis
Cathedral where Father Roberts was expecting us.

With the sun starting to creep over the
horizon, a group of attractive guys and me, all in our night clothes, made the
short walk to the cathedral. We must have looked an interesting sight, but the
car keys were in a building we weren’t allowed in, and as Cupid rightly pointed
out, he couldn’t just zip us all there when there was such a big crowd at the
convent.

Father Roberts had opened the door and
welcomed us in, providing the angels with clothing and food. While the angels
settled down in the ornate nave, Cupid, Joshua and I followed Father Roberts to
a set of private rooms in one of the towers. The last thing I expected was for
the cathedral to have a shower, but I was exceptionally happy that it did.
While I showered, someone had set up a cot and I gratefully collapsed into it.

When I awoke, it wasn’t by my own choice.
The room was already dark again, so I must have slept the day away, and short
of Lilah-associated pain that had become a constant part of my life, the only
thing that remained with me was an ache. It was Cupid who had awoken me,
psychically requesting my presence in a room along the way. While I had been
sleeping, someone had left some clothes in my room.

I found Cupid in a small office, along
with Joshua and Leon. “How are you feeling, darlin’?” Joshua asked me.

“Better,” I assured him.

“The girl you pulled out of the church
died this morning,” Leon announced.

I settled heavily into a chair. “Crap,” I
sighed, rubbing my hands over my face.

“She took her own life,” Leon said,
shaking his head gently. “You saved her life.”

“You pulled a girl out of the church?”
Cupid asked in surprise.

I nodded, realizing I had never explained
what I had been doing in St. Mary’s, and as quickly as I could, told the
audience of three everything I could remember. When I had finished, I turned my
focus on Leon, frowning. His notebook had never made an appearance. “You’re not
investigating this?”

Leon shook his head. “The fire is being
investigated by the arson team, but I know the girl, Emma Long, confessed to
starting it.”

“She started a fire in the convent? Why?”
Cupid asked, looking surprised. “How do you know?”

“Liam, the lead investigator is a poker
buddy and he ran through his discoveries so far,” Leon sighed, folding his
arms. “When I heard it was him investigating, I figured I would try to find out
what he’d discovered for you. Emma confessed to starting the fire, but her
reasons, well, this is where it gets strange, or at least, Liam’s calling it
strange. The doctors were waiting for a psych consult after the confession.
Emma said that she was doing it to prove her devotion to the love of her life.
She said he’d asked others to take the things which would cause him harm along
with that which was his, and for her to let those who would stand against him
be purified by fire.”

“So why was she in the church?” Joshua
asked. “Did she mention that part?”

“He asked her to,” I answered, beating
Leon to it as I recalled the things she had said to me.

Leon nodded in agreement. “She said death
equaled the ultimate devotion.”

“Devotion to who?” Cupid frowned.

“Lucifer?” Joshua offered.

This time, Leon shook his head. “No, some
popstar.”

Cupid released a heavy sigh. “Well how did
she… they get in?”

“They probably just walked right through
the front door,” I muttered, dryly. The angels never locked anything other than
their SUVs, and that was only because the vehicles did it automatically after a
time. Leon shot me a puzzled look. I shrugged. “Angels are trusting creatures.”

“Elimination prints will need to be taken
from everyone who resides in the convent, but we might be able to lift
something from the front door, if that’s what you suspect. I can’t stress
enough how much of a bad idea it is not to lock anything, especially your front
doors on a night time,” Leon said, shooting Cupid a disapproving look.

“We’ve never needed to lock things up
before,” Cupid said, simply: that was just how it was.

“Because you’ve never been hit by a car
doesn’t mean you shouldn’t look both ways before crossing the street,” Leon
retorted. “Just because you’re staying in a convent doesn’t mean there aren’t
people who wouldn’t hesitate to break in and steal everything.”

My eyes widened as a feeling of dread
began to uncurl in my stomach. “Cupid, you need to get us to the armory,” I
said, cutting off the discussion. “Now.” Minutes later, the four of us were
standing in the corner of a charred room, water still dripping around us on
what was once furniture.

“They took our weapons,” Cupid gasped.

Although the cherubim had taken their
weapons, but there had still been a considerable amount left. Whoever had
helped Emma hadn’t been able to take them all, and it was easy to see what
remained of the swords and bows scattered in the debris. Although everything
else had burned around them, the bows had retained their shape and, like the
swords, were covered in soot. My gaze flew to the chimney breast seeking out
the crossed swords out of habit. The action sent memories of Michael flooding
through me. I shook my head to clear them, and them my mouth fell open in
horror as I realized what I was seeing.

There was only one sword hanging from the
wall. With everything in the room caked in a thick layer of soot, it was hard
to tell who it belonged to. I carefully made my way over and rubbed at the
metal. The soot came away, revealing the metal below was almost white.
“Michael’s sword is gone,” I said, turning back to the others.

Cupid was watching me, slowly shaking his
head. “That’s Michael’s sword.”

I glanced back up at the sword, realizing
that it
was
Michael’s sword – Lucifer’s had hung on the other side. It
was Lucifer’s which was missing. “Oh shit,” I muttered, the blood in my veins
turning to ice. Slowly, I turned to Leon. “That popstar. It was Luke Goddard,
wasn’t it?” The question was rhetorical. I knew Leon was going to nod his head
before he did. The worst part was, it confirmed something I had suspected for a
while but at the same time, hadn’t found any evidence to prove. “Luke Goddard
is Lucifer,” I said, my eyes on Michael’s sword.

“Lucifer?” Cupid questioned, doubtfully.
“You think Lucifer did this?”

“You think Lucifer is Luke Goddard?”
Joshua repeated. “The kid from
that
concert?” When I nodded, Joshua gave
me a look which I was sure was mirroring mine: hopelessness. “How are we going
to defeat the most popular kid on the planet?”

Hell if I knew.

“I don’t know,” I admitted. “But right
now, that’s not our priority,” I said, despite the shocked expressions. “We
can’t begin to start thinking about an offensive until we’ve worked out our
defense. They came into our home.”

“They are humans, Angel,” Cupid pointed
out. “We can’t attack humans, even if they’re attacking us.”

“No,” I agreed. “But other humans can.”

Cupid looked appalled by my suggestion.
“We cannot advocate humans attacking other humans either.”

“Whoa!” I said, holding my hands up, palms
out. “That’s absolutely not what I’m suggesting. We need someone who can stand guard
and make sure that we’re protected, using non-lethal force. But we also have to
acknowledge that Emma was prepared to burn alive to show her devotion, and the
next time they come, they could have more nefarious intentions.”

Cupid’s lips thinned as he nodded. He
released a heavy sigh. “What do you have in mind?”

I looked to Joshua, who nodded. “Darell Ford.
He already knows what we are, and he works for a security firm.”

Cupid nodded. “Okay,” he conceded, though
he looked so bewildered, I wasn’t sure he knew what he was agreeing to.

My eyes went back to Michael’s sword. We
were descending further and further into darkness and I wasn’t sure if we could
cope without him, but I would happily continue on, doing my best to fight the
darkness all by myself if I could have Michael back.

Even though I didn’t deserve one, I
started praying for a miracle.