Redeeming Angel (17 page)

Dappled morning sunlight brightened
the room as Chase ran his hands up and down my arms in a way that
managed to arouse and soothe at the same time. He leaned down and
kissed the curve of my mouth. His arms came around me and wrapped
me in a long, deep kiss. “Satisfied?” he whispered.

“
Hardly.” I drew him down
again, lingering over the sinful taste of him and leaned into his
sumptuous kiss. I needed much, much more. “This might take a
while.”

“
We’ve got
forever.”

I hoped so.

{Chase
}

With one lingering glance over my
shoulder, I slipped out of her room, carefully closing the door
behind me. Angel had finally fallen back to sleep. I couldn’t help
but worry. I’d give her another day or two tops. My patience was
running thin. She was struggling, and it was my natural instinct to
want to help, ease the conflict she was feeling. I didn’t need a
shrink to tell me Angel had problems.

Who didn’t?

Hers just happened to be exceptional.
She was different now, but still the same. Profound, I know. I
couldn’t pinpoint precisely what was different. Physically she
looked the same, except of course the eyes. Anything was better
than the demon eyes. Honestly, they were quite beautiful on her,
illuminating like a tropical sunset.

Inside, she was broken. I felt
glimpses of the turmoil spinning inside her.

Tiptoeing down the hall, I passed
Chloe’s room, and once I hit the top of the stairs, I broke into
turbo. I moved quieter when I was traveling at mach ten.

My mind was thinking ahead to a few
things I needed to take care of as I rushed into my house, skidding
to a halt. Lexi was in the kitchen being a busybody, pretending to
cook. I adored my cousin, but she only experimented with food when
something was bothering her.

“
What’s wrong?” I asked,
leaning my forearms on the counter.

There was a smidge of flour on her
cheek and a whole lot more on the counter. “Are you still
recovering from that injury?”

“
What injury?” I replied,
eyes tapering.

She jabbed a wooden spoon into a bowl
and began stirring with fervor. “Whatever head injury turned you
into an abrupt goon.”

I gave her a puzzled look. “Okay. I’m
missing something. What did I do?”

She spun, whipping the spoon from the
bowl into the air, flinging cookie dough on the floor. “How could
you do that?”

I suppressed a laugh. “Again. No clue
what we’re talking about.”

“
You took off like that,
not letting us know what you planned on doing. The next thing I
know you’ve swooped Angel away. You didn’t bother to call or let me
know she was okay.”

“
I’m guessing sorry isn’t
going to cut it.”

She swung the spoon at my head.
Thankfully, my ninja reflexes kept my noggin from suffering an
egg-sized lump. “You jerk. I was worried sick. The least you could
have done was send me a text.”

“
I’m sorry, Lex. Truly. It
all happened so fast and I wasn’t thinking straight. I just wanted
to get her out of there and somewhere safe.”

Buzz. Buzz. Buzz.
The kitchen timer sounded. She popped across the
room and back in a heartbeat. “And I’m so grateful you did, but
jeesh, Chase. I was really worried. I didn’t even know if you made
it out of there alive.”

“
You can see I’m
fine.”

“
But are you
really?”

Me? There wasn’t time to think about
how I was feeling. I ran a hand through my hair and wondered when
the last time I’d showered was. The last few days had been insane.
“It doesn’t matter. All that matters right now is she’s
home.”

Lexi sighed and leaned a hip against
the lower cabinets, most of the irritation dispelling from her
face. “I figured you’d need me, even if you didn’t.”

“
I’m glad you’re here, Lex.
She could really use a friend.” Angel wasn’t the only one who was
struggling. There was something different about my youngest cousin.
She looked a little pale and her eyes were slightly puffy as if
she’d been crying. “Are you sure there’s nothing wrong?”

“
Nothing I can’t
handle.”

She was right as usual.
Leaving her to trash the kitchen, I pulled out my phone and climbed
the stairs to my room. I sent a quick text.
We need to talk.

Chapter 16

{Angel
}

I knocked on Lexi’s bedroom door and
fussed with my hair as I waited for her to answer. Nibbling on my
lip, I wondered if this wasn’t one of my more harebrained ideas.
Would getting Lexi involved with my problems only make things more
complicated? Or worse, get her hurt? That was the very last thing I
wanted to do.

But I didn’t know what other choice I
had.

“
Come in,” she yelled from
the other side.

What was that I heard in her voice?
Hurt? Tears?

I knew in my gut something had been up
with her these last few days, but I hadn’t been able to pinpoint
just what. Not to mention my focus had been elsewhere, and now I
was feeling like a pretty craptastic friend.

I turned the handle, stepping into
Lexi’s very romantic and lovely room. All of her furniture was a
soft white, and there were assorted shades of pink butterflies
dancing on the walls. Tucked in the corner was a vanity covered in
makeup and perfume bottles. It was the perfect sanctuary for
someone as tenderhearted as Lexi.

She gave me a tentative smile, turning
in the chair, her eyes too bright. Yep. Tears had definitely been
shed.

“
Hey,” I said.

Hastily she brushed at her cheeks.
“Hey, bestie. Chase let you off the leash?”

“
Hilarious. Did you get a
sense of humor while I was gone?” Truth be told, Chase was just in
the next room, probably hanging on our every word.

“
Each time I think about
you in that place I want to hurl.”

I belly flopped onto her bed, resting
my chin in my hands. “Hmm. Me too. But, I don’t want to talk about
it. Let’s talk about you and why you’re crying.”

She slumped into the back of the plush
chair, the façade she’d been trying to keep hold of faded. “Colin
and I had our first fight.”

“
Oh.” Chase and I disagreed
all the time. We had as many tiffs as we did laughs, but our bond
made things different for us. I knew how he was feeling and vice
versa. We knew there was no one else. No matter how much of a
dickwad he could be, he would never break my heart.

I swung my body over the edge of the
mattress. “You want to talk about it?”

She shrugged. “I thought he was
different. I was wrong. He said it was all too much for him to
handle. Demons. Hunters. End of the world. And the sucky part is I
can’t blame him.”

“
I’m sorry, Lexi. But if he
couldn’t deal with our world, then he wasn’t worth your time.” Holy
buckets. This was my world now, too. I wasn’t an outsider who knew
their secret. I was part of the secret.

Her lip quivered and I
thought,
here comes the
waterworks
, but I watched, impressed, as
she reigned in those tough, painful emotions. “I refuse to shed
another tear for that jackass.”

That’s my girl. “Do you want me to
have Chase—?”

“
No! Absolutely not. I
don’t want him dead.”

“
Right. Too
messy.”

Her pouty lips gave a slight twitch.
“God, I really missed the crud out of you.”

And I knew just what she needed to
take her mind off what’s-his-name. “Think you can find the energy
for some sh-shopping?” I tripped over the words. “I really need
some new clothes.” Inside I was cringing, but this was the only way
I could think to get away from prying ears and her mind off
Colin.

She slipped on her sunglasses. “You
had me at shopping.”

Lexi’s idea of boyfriend therapy was
going on a spending splurge. We each had our own agendas, but I
really wished my friend had another hobby.

The mall.

It was the antichrist.

During our car ride, we spent the
whole time guy bashing. She needed it, and I didn’t mind. Mentally
bashing Chase had been a hobby of mine when I first moved to Spring
Valley. I’d grown quite good at it.

She’d quickly moved from self-pity to
hating Colin’s guts.

One thing remained constant, no matter
how Lexi was feeling, her ability to dress to impress was on point.
It was sickening really. Lexi didn’t have a bad day. For me, every
day was a bad hair day or an I-have-nothing-to-wear day. The fact
that Lexi wore stilettos shopping made me question whether she was
human at all, even half, and she looked amazing doing it. She could
probably run a double marathon in those things without breaking a
sweat.

Definitely not an ounce of
human.

As we rode up the escalator, Lexi
reapplied her lip gloss. “How did you not see that guy totally
checking out your ass?”

“
What?” I said, looking
over my shoulder. A group of three guys snickered on the opposite
side of the escalator.

“
How can you be so
oblivious?” she asked, shoving her tube of gloss back into her
handbag.

My fingers trailed along the railing.
“It’s a gift. Guess my charm of irresistibility hasn’t worn
off.”

“
Seriously, why do you get
all the cool abilities?”

I wouldn’t call being the key that
almost destroyed Earth cool. But hey, what did I know? “If we could
trade, I’d give you all my guy magnet mojo.”

Her phone jingled. When she looked at
the screen with a frown and ignored the call, I realized who it
was.

“
Is that the douchebag?” I
asked, as we stepped off the escalator and straight into the
nearest store.

“
Yep.”

“
Aren’t you going to
answer?” I prodded when her phone continued to vibrate and light
up.

“
Nope. I’m so over him.” I
didn’t know who she was trying to convince more, me or
herself.

“
Uh-huh.” No way in hell I
believed that. “Maybe you should tell him that,” I muttered when
her phone started buzzing again.

Her heels clacked on the floor as she
made a beeline to inspect a pair of red wedges. “Oh, he’ll figure
it out. Anyway, I’m done ranting about my absent love life. What is
it you want to tell me that you don’t want Chase to know
about?”

I tripped. “Umm,” I fumbled, uncertain
how to approach the subject. I gingerly began to rummage through a
bin filled with brightly-colored tube socks I had no intention of
buying.

“
You don’t honestly believe
I bought the whole ‘I need new clothes’ excuse. Spit it out, girl.
You can tell me anything.”

That’s what I was counting on. “I need
your help.”

“
Okay.” She looked at me
from head to toe. “Yellow is not your color, especially now with
your kickass eyes. It washes out your skin tone.” Her eyes squinted
at my feet. “First, let’s find you a pair of really great shoes,
something to emphasize those legs—”

“
Lexi, I don’t want a
makeover. And BTW, I love these shoes.” A semi-attractive guy
walked by us, smiling appreciatively as he eyed me up. I groaned
inwardly.

“
And it shows,” she mumbled
under her breath.

I peered down at my Converses. They
were comfy. That was all I cared about. “I heard that. You forget
I’ve have sensitive hearing now.”

Sitting on a nearby bench, her fingers
twiddled with the straps on her shoes. “So does this have anything
to do with what happened to you?” She slipped off her heel,
replacing it with the red wedge.

I let out an automatic sigh and
pretended to be really interested in a pair of pumps with four-inch
heels. I don’t know why I was so nervous to tell her. “I guess in a
way it does. I need you to teach me to control the
darkness.”

She gulped, glancing up. “I
thought…”

“
It was gone?” I finished,
sitting down beside her. “Most of it is. At least for now, but I
still feel it every now and then. It sneaks up on me when I’m the
most vulnerable.”

Her voice tightened. “And you don’t
want Chase to know?”

I shook my head. “Not yet. He is so
consumed with revenge and ending Alastair. I don’t want to burden
him. He would only worry more, and when it comes to dealing with
demons, distractions can be deadly.”

Pulling the shoe out of the box, she
slipped it on her right foot. “Why are you so sure the darkness is
still inside you?”

My shoulder lifted in a one-sided
shrug. “There’s this feeling in me…” Along with the voice, but I
omitted that part. “It’s familiar and foreign at the same time.
Okay, I know that sounds like crazy talk, but I don’t know how to
explain it.”

“
You nailed it. That’s
pretty much how I feel twenty-four seven. It’s like all the things
that make you human feel as if they’re fading away.”