Last Rite (22 page)

“Okay,” I say. “But try to hurry.” I step out of the car and stumble numbly up the walk. As the sun goes down over Grandpa’s neighborhood, everything is deceptively calm. When I reach the door, I hear Matt pull away. I watch him disappear behind the trees, then I stand at the door for a long time before knocking, trying to work out my explanation.

But before I even lift my hand to knock, the door swings open and Grandpa is standing there. He reaches for my shoulder and pulls me quickly inside.

I stand with my arms wrapped tightly around him, afraid to let go, and I can’t stop the tears. “Grandpa,” I sob into his shoulder. He’s so warm—and his heat starts to thaw the chill in my heart.

He strokes my hair as I take in the familiar scent of sweet pipe smoke clinging to his shirt. “I got ya, Frannie.” His sandpaper voice rumbles in his chest.

“Grandpa,” I say again as the tears slow. As happy as I am to see him, my voice only sounds tired. I feel myself leaning harder into him as exhaustion takes me.

“I been waitin’ for ya,” he says, continuing to hold me, then he breaks his embrace and leads me into the warm and familiar living room. “Luc was here lookin’ for ya. Almost shot him,” he says as we settle into the couch. He loops an arm behind my shoulders and squeezes. “Probably shoulda.”

I feel myself start to shake and lay my head on Grandpa’s shoulder. “Luc was here?” I look down at my fidgeting hands. I was so mad when I left. I just wanted to get away from both Luc and Gabe. But my heart struggles to keep a rhythm as I remember the look on Luc’s face when he said he wanted to leave, just the two of us. “What did he want?”

“You. He thought ya might end up here.” He shifts and looks at me. “What’re ya runnin’ from, Frannie?”

“Not from.” I pull a deep breath. “To. Is everything okay at home?”

His brow creases. “Far as I know.”

All of a sudden I’m confused. Matt was so sure. “So Maggie’s okay?”

“Luc asked the same thing.” The crease in his brow deepens. “What’s goin’ on, Frannie?”

I exhale a tense sigh. “There are a lot of things going on right now. I can’t tell you everything. It would be dangerous for you.”

“Don’t ya dare be worryin’ about me.” He tries to keep his voice light, but I can hear the concern behind the words. “I can take care of myself.”

I shift under his arm and look up at him. “I know, but…” I hesitate, not sure how much to tell him. He already knows so much, but at the same time, so little. “I didn’t really leave for college.”

“I figured. But ya went somewhere with Luc.”

“And Gabe,” I say.

His eyes harden. “The angel.”

I nod.

He looks me square in the eye. “Seems to me like this angel and Luc done nothing but put ya in danger and steer ya wrong.”

I shake my head. “No, Grandpa. All the screwups have been mine.” I think about Taylor and Matt again and feel sick, despite the fact that my stomach couldn’t be more empty.

He must hear it growl, because he stands from the couch. “I’ll get ya something to put in that stomach.”

“’Kay,” I say, trying to remember the last time I ate anything.

I sink deeper into the couch, and a few minutes later, Grandpa is back with a ham sandwich and a glass of milk.

“Thanks,” I say, taking the plate and glass from his hands.

He sits next to me, watching, as I scarf down the sandwich and chug the milk, too starving to be self-conscious.

“Ya want another one?” he says, taking the plate from my hand when I’m done.

The feel of food in my stomach isn’t exactly comfortable, seeing as I’ve gone so long without it, so even though I’m still a little hungry I decided to quit while I’m ahead. “No, Grandpa. But thanks.”

He lays my dishes on the coffee table and hooks his arm over my shoulder. “You’re stayin’ here with me.”

I tuck tighter into his side. “Ma—” I catch myself. “My friend might be coming back for me tonight. I really shouldn’t stay here. If Luc was here—”

“The others’ll come lookin’ for ya too,” he finishes for me.

I nod.

Grandpa’s gaze becomes uncharacteristically intense, and I can almost feel heat radiating off his body. “What would happen if they found ya?”

I shrug to cover my shiver from the chill that fingers up my spine. “I don’t know,” I answer honestly.

“Do ya think whatever it is would be worse than spendin’ the rest of your life lookin’ over your shoulder?”

I shiver again, remembering how drawn I was to King Lucifer—how much I lusted for His power. “Yeah.”

Something in Grandpa’s eyes flash. “Are ya sure, ’cause it doesn’t seem to me they’re tryin’ to kill ya…” I catch something in his voice that isn’t exactly relief. It’s bigger.

“I’m pretty sure He wants me alive.” The shudder is stronger this time as I realize I’ve shifted Grandpa’s “they” into the “He” that I can’t get out of my mind now that I’ve thought of Him. The pendant lying against my chest starts to tingle, then burn. I bring my hand up and lay it over my chest as my heart beats in rhythm with the pulsing of the metal on my skin.

“Well, as long as you’re here, I’ll keep you safe.”

“I can’t stay, Grandpa. It wouldn’t be safe for
you
.”

I’m surprised by the chuckle that I feel more than hear. I look up into his face.

“Nothin’s gonna touch ya here,” he says, a smile still on his lips. He pulls himself from the couch and holds his hand out to me. “Why don’t ya get some rest? We can talk about what’s gonna happen tomorrow, tomorrow.”

I glance at the clock and it’s barely nine. “It’s pretty early…”

He chuckles again as I take his hand and let him pull me out of the couch. “Not for an old man like me.”

“’Kay, Grandpa.” I turn for the short corridor that leads to the guest bedroom and he follows me up the hall. “Thanks for letting me stay here. Please don’t say anything to Mom or Dad. It’s safer for them if they don’t know where I am.”

“My lips are sealed,” he says, and just for an instant, I’d swear something in his face changes. The glint that’s always in Grandpa’s eyes turns to more of a burn. But the next instant it’s gone, and I’m sure it was just my being paranoid.

I glance in the bedroom door at the bed. Matt will be back any minute, but in the meantime, a shower and a nap doesn’t sound like such a bad idea. I think about telling Grandpa that Matt is coming for me but then decide telling him about Matt on top of everything else might be too much. “Someone might be coming for me,” I finally say.

“You mean other than Luc and that
angel
?” His voice sharpens to a point on the last word and his eyes flare again.

How does he know about my beautiful angel?

“Um…”

“Luc said Gabriel was looking for you,” he says, and my insides unclench.

“Yeah … I’m sure he is.” My throat clicks as I swallow. “I was actually thinking of someone else. And when he comes, I’ll have to go.”

“Everybody wants a piece of you,” he says, as he pulls me into a hug. And what I smell on his shirt isn’t pipe smoke.

It’s rotten eggs.

I push away and look into Grandpa’s face, terrified of what I’m suddenly sure I’ll see. But his blue eyes, though concerned, are soft. He leans in and kisses my forehead. “Night, Frannie.”

And all I smell is the hint of sweet pipe smoke that always lingers around him. No brimstone.

I’m totally losing it.

“Night, Grandpa,” I say, trying to keep the shake out of my voice. I slip through the door into the guest bedroom, flicking on the light.

Grandpa catches my eye just before the door closes. “You belong with me.” The gravel tone of his voice starts to smooth into something softer and more musical. “I will always keep you safe.”

GABE

The first time, I didn’t think anything of the tickle running up my spine. The second time, however, it pulls me from my thoughts. I try to fade out, and I still can, but it takes a Herculean effort to keep my increasingly corporeal body invisible, so I give up.

As I stand and descend the two steps from the porch to the walk, a movement at the corner of my eye makes me spin. I look up to see the family room curtains sway from where Grace dropped them. I had hoped she’d stay with Faith and Maggie upstairs, but she’s been sitting in the chair near the window off and on for most of the day, watching me.

Faith
.

I can’t stop thinking about what happened—what she said. She fell from Heaven because she loved me. How was I so blind as to not know that?

Because I didn’t understand human love then.

But I do now. Now I know the power of it. I understand the lengths a person would go to in the name of love—the sacrifices they’d make.

I’d willingly give up my wings for you
.

I’d said those words to Frannie before we left Haden, and, God help me, they’re still true.

I pinch my forehead against the headache brewing there and walk around back, my guard up. Marchosias is gone for the moment, but that doesn’t mean he won’t be back. As I round the corner into the backyard, the door opens and Grace slides through onto the back porch, closing it quickly behind her. The darkness has made her braver.

“Hi,” she says without looking up.

“Hello.”

“Am I … bothering you?”

I walk slowly up the steps and slide into the wicker loveseat, motioning for her to join me. “Not at all.”

“Because Dad said we should leave you alone.”

I can’t help but smile. “I could use some company.”

She sits at the other end of the loveseat, a few feet from me, still looking at her feet. “Is Frannie an angel?”

If I didn’t know about Grace’s ability to see auras—a being’s true essence—I’d think the question strange. “No.”

“I didn’t think so, but there’s something different about her.” Her eyes lift briefly to mine, then fall just as fast. “Something … not really angel … but Divine.”

I think about that for a second, because she’s describing exactly what I feel in Frannie—something celestial but not angelic. “What do you see when you look at an angel?”

She chews her lip for a minute before answering. “Anyone who’s not human looks…” she trails off and shrugs. “There’s not really a word. Shiny?” She shakes her head. “No. That’s not right. It’s more than shiny.” She hesitates, searching, then her eyes light up and she looks into mine. “Luminescent. That’s it. And sort of metallic. Angels are bright, like platinum, and demons are darker, like tarnished bronze.” She nods her head, satisfied.

“And Frannie?”

Her lashes lower and she shifts in her seat. “She’s … different but still luminescent. I can’t really describe it.” She shrugs. “It’s like there’s parts of both. Does platinum tarnish?”

I smile. “Not that I’m aware of.”

She shrugs again. “That’s the only way I can describe it.”

“Grace, this is really important. Never approach a demon. If they sense your ability…” I trail off, not wanting to frighten her.

“It’s okay,” she says, chewing her lip again and watching her hands, folded in her lap. She peeks at me out of the corner of her eye. “I can make them go away.”

My heart skips. “How?”

She looks at me then. “I pray. Ephesians six eleven seems to work the best.”

I appraise her for a moment. Can she actually repel demons? That would be a useful tool.

“How old were you? The first time you saw an angel?”

Her eyes find mine again. “Six.”

“Young,” I say. “Were you frightened?”

“A little,” she confesses. “It was in the hospital after Matt fell out of the tree. The nurse who came to the waiting room with the doctor to tell us they hadn’t been able to save him was an angel. Because she was there, I believed Matt had gone to Heaven, and that made me feel a little better.”

At Matt’s name, I feel that tickle up my spine again.

She really looks at me for the first time. “Do angels eat? I could get you something.”

“No, thank you. I’m fine.”

“I made some lemonade…” she says.

I smile the most reassuring smile I can find. “Lemonade sounds great, Grace. Thanks.”

There’s a shy smile on her face as she pushes to her feet. I stand and turn to watch her head into the house.

Which is why I don’t see the blast until it’s knocked me flat on my back.

Too late, I throw up a field.

The smell of brimstone mingles with seared flesh as he stands over me, gloating. “Guardian angel protocol rule one. Never let down your guard, even for lemonade.” Matt’s eyes flash red heat.

I push to a sit and wince as pain slices through me. “Where is she?”

“Safe.… From you, anyway.”

Hauling myself off the ground is harder than I anticipate, and I stagger and nearly fall again. “Where is she?” I repeat.

“Grandpa has her.” He smirks, his face a toxic mixture of rage and amusement. “Though I don’t think he’s quite himself.”

I muster everything I can find and launch into him. I’m sure the last thing he expects is a physical attack, and he falls under my weight before he can launch another blast of Hellfire. My hand is in his face as I pin his arm back.

He chuckles under his breath, taking me off guard. “Must be hard, carrying around all that guilt.”

The mix of emotions that assaults me as I look down at him is hard to describe. I don’t have the framework to put a name to all of them. But guilt is definitely in there. I’ll always feel guilty about what happened to him. But looking into his hard eyes, full of hatred, it’s clear that sentimentality will only get me killed. “Is there a point you’re trying to make?”

“Why didn’t you tell me I was special too? It’s not just Frannie.”

“You needed to find out for yourself when you were ready.”

“Thankfully, others had more faith in me,” he says. I feel his infernal energy pulse under me as if it has a life of its own. “I can feel it eating at you … all your doubt. Do you still belong? Will you ever be able to go back? Will you ever get into my sister’s pants?” He turns his head to look at me and tsks. “Nasty angel.”