Redeeming Angel (5 page)

“
You’re demented, you know
that? I
will
destroy you.”

“
Angel, I know you’re in
there. I would not be standing here if you were truly gone. Our
connection wouldn’t be just as strong if a piece of you weren’t
still alive. I know you.”

I wiped at the corner of my eye,
swiping an invisible tear. “Isn’t that just too sweet. Go suck a
lemon.”

Chase. The nicest jerk I’d ever met.
He made sure I had everything I needed to survive in my little jail
cell. There was a small bathroom off the back left side of the
cage. A metal bed was bolted to the floor with a lumpy mattress,
but at least the sheets were clean. And each time he came, he
brought me fresh clothes and food.

Today it was a chicken
salad.

“
Eat,” he demanded, staring
at the untouched plastic bowl. “You need to eat if you plan to take
over the world, Angel Eyes.”

Unfurling my legs, I flashed to my
feet, standing as close to the metal as I could without getting
fried. “Don’t call me that. I’m not your Angel anything
anymore.”

He blinked.

“
What? No plans of
salvation?” I pushed out the words, feeling the anger grow inside
me. I angled my head. “Did you finally come to your demon
senses?”

“
Actually, it’s why I’m
here.”

I slid my gaze to him, one side of my
lip tipped up. “About damn time. We can make such a great team, you
and I. Nothing will be able to stop us.”

“
That’s true,” he
agreed.

“
Then what are you waiting
for? Let me out of here.”

“
Sorry, toots. That’s not
on the agenda for what I have in mind.”

“
Grr,” I growled, hands
clenching at my sides. I pulled back my lip, letting out an eerie,
real-sounding hiss. “Why are you wasting so much time on something
you can’t change?”

“
Because you’re worth it.
You’re everything.”

I smiled. “I hate you.” Then I hurled
the plastic bowl directly at where he sat. Lettuce, shredded
cheese, and pieces of chicken, flew through the air and crashed
against the bars before clattering on the floor. Salad dressing and
some other gunk splattered on his shirt and cheek.

He crinkled his brow, face strained.
“I just took a shower. And that’s not true. You love me. You just
need to look deep enough. It’s there.”

I lifted my head, eyes blazing. “Go
away.”

He rubbed the heel of his palm over
his heart. “Never. I’ll be back. You can bet your freedom on
it.”

A dull ache pressed against my ribs. I
stamped it out. Soft, love-sick Angel was not going to make an
appearance today. “So you’re just going to leave me here to starve
to death?”

He snorted. “I’m not that cruel.
Travis and Emma will make sure you’re taken care of.”

I hated that my eyes were drawn to his
lips, unable to control the attraction between us— although wanting
to kiss him and choke him in the same moment wasn’t a foreign
feeling. “Oh goodie. Let me try to contain my excitement,” I said
dryly. “You better hope the hunter doesn’t shank me in my
sleep.”

Chase’s shoulders stiffened, the lines
around his face hardening. “She won’t touch a hair on your head,”
he promised.

“
Why? Because you trust
her?”

His eyes narrowed, turning all amber
as he stared at me. “No, because I’d kill her.”

I grinned. Finally, he was speaking my
language. “That’s more like it.”

He rolled his eyes, his tight
shoulders relaxing a fraction of an inch. “Now who’s
demented?”

I took a step back from the titanium,
not willing to risk singeing my eyebrows. Already my skin was
feverish, but oddly it wasn’t the heat that bothered me. It was the
nonstop tingles that flittered up and down my body. “Whatever. Are
you at least going to tell me what shenanigans you have
planned?”

“
Funny,” he said flatly,
pushing at a strand of hair that fell over his right eye. “On the
very slim, and I mean minuscule, so tiny it can’t be seen by the
human eye—”

“
I get it. I’m stuck here,
but do you have a plan?” I asked, interrupting.

“
If you let me finish,” he
said, drawing out the words.

I folded my arms, leaned my weight on
one foot, and waited.

He shot me a look. “On the chance you
do manage to get out of here, I think it’s better for everyone if
you don’t know.”

I frowned. “Why do I remember you
being more fun?”

With a half grin on his lips, he
started toward me. “You want some fun? Here.” He pulled a small
device from the back pocket of his pants and slipped it through the
bars. “I brought you something to pass the time.”

I stared down at the electronic
handheld video game unit. “What the hell am I supposed to do with
this? Try to beat some nerd’s highest score in Pac-Man?”

A crestfallen expression crossed his
face, and he was quick to hide it behind a sinister smirk, but not
before I caught a glimpse. “Hang on, Angel. When I come back, this
will all be a bad dream.”

“
I don’t plan on being here
when you get back,” I yelled, but it was useless. He was already
gone.

Bastard
.

The hope in his eyes made me sick.
Pacing, I kicked the stupid gaming device with my foot, watching it
skid across the hard, cold floor. I couldn’t just sit here, waiting
for him to take away what I had just gained. Power.

Why does he get all the demon
benefits?

Even if he managed to save me, I could
never forgive him for locking me away. How could I? I had no idea
if I’d been here for days or weeks. Hell, a year. Days and nights
were nothing but a blur of rage and bitterness.

Chapter 5

{Chase
}

I had a full tank of gas, a half-eaten
package of Red Vines on the passenger seat, and the classic rock
station pumping through the car speakers—all the good road trip
essentials. If only this was a vacation and not a death
sentence.

The black leather interior warmed the
car from the sun beating down above. I’d been on the road for ten
hours, only halfway to my destination. It would have been much
faster to fly, but I didn’t trust myself thirty-five thousand feet
in the air, going over five hundred miles an hour sealed in a
pressurized containment.

Disaster in the making.

Not that what I was doing was exactly
smart, but there was little choice in the matter. The kind of
information I needed came only from a certain breed. Demons. And
the best place to seek out a great deal of demons was the City of
Sin, obviously. I was never a fan of the hot, dry heat of Nevada,
but demons gravitated to it like flies on shit. What better place
to conduct sordid dealings than right here in Las Vegas? Demons fit
right in, and it didn’t matter what kind of suit they wore. There
were a hundred different kinds of weird walking around. They loved
the chaos of the nightlife. The sex, the lies, the gambling, the
splash of lights…

Demons thrived in Vegas, surrounded by
willing participants ready to trade just about anything, even their
souls. And oh, how Hell’s hierarchy loved the taste of human souls.
My soul, however, was the cream of the crop.

Half-breeds like me avoided this
place. The overwhelming presence of so many demons did strange
things to us, in a not good way. Many Divisa considered coming here
a death sentence, but because I was linked to Angel, it didn’t
matter. Either way our time was ticking. If the demons uncovered my
weakness, I was as good as dead. If I didn’t save Angel, she was as
good as dead. Options were limited.

Surprisingly, there were demons who
didn’t want to make corpses out of us at first glance—a rare
commodity, but they existed, and I was banking on one of them
helping me.

First, I had to find one without
having my head decapitated or my heart carved out.

I rolled down the strip at about noon,
and although I should have been calculating a plan, the only thing
I could think about was catching a few hours of Zs. After being
cramped in the same position for twenty-plus hours, I wanted to
stretch out. There was a motel not far, just outside the city
limits, where questions weren’t asked, exactly what I needed. It
wasn’t the Bates Motel, but damn was it close.

I swung the car into a
near-empty parking lot. Overhead a neon sign glowed
ACANCY
in a dim red.
The
V
had burned
out. Classy. I was too tired to even muster a chuckle. “This should
be fun.” My muscles were tight as I unfolded my body from the
car.

I wanted to stay off the map. This
place couldn’t get any more secluded. As I walked the distance
across the road toward the lobby, not a single car drove by. No
shocker. It was the kind of place people avoided, unless they were
looking to get high or hang themselves.

The building was a
ranch-style, one floor with the lobby at the far end of the
L
shape. A little bell
dinged as I pushed open the door and entered. The air smelled of
cigarette smoke and apple spice freshener, doing nothing to mask
the pungent stench. If anything, it magnified the
cheapness.

An older woman drooped behind the
counter, everything about her sagged. Her eyes. Her skin. Her tits.
The source of the clogged air and clover-spice stank hung from the
side of her lips. “Hey, handsome,” she greeted, eyes roaming over
my physique. “Need a room?” She made it sound like an
invitation.

Gag me.

I approached the counter. “Yeah. Got
any available?”

“
For you, sugar, I think we
can make room. You looking for a few hours or
overnight?”

“
Possibly a night or two.”
This was going to be a short visit. I was optimistic—about
myself
and
my
ability to kick major demon ass.

“
You can stay as long as
you like.”

Normally, I creep people out, but this
lady with her sea-green eye shadow was starting to give me the
heebie-jeebies. “I’ll let you know.”

“
How about you pay for the
night and we’ll see where things go?” She turned around, plucking a
single key from the rack.

“
Sounds good to me.” I dug
into my back pocket and pulled out my wallet. “Cash
okay?”

Her eyes lit up. “You’re speaking my
language, honey.”

I was pretty sure she and I would
never speak the same language.

“
That’ll be eighty-nine for
the night.”

I handed over a crisp hundred dollar
bill. “Keep the change.”

After safely tucking the money in
between her airbag-sized boobs, she dangled the key from her
lengthy nails, leaning forward on the counter. “You just let Sasha
know if you require any service.” Then she winked, part of her
false eyelash getting stuck on her lid.

I thought I’d just been propositioned
for sex or something. The need to shower was overwhelming. Nodding,
I took the key to the room, and because I didn’t want any
unexpected visitors showing up in my bed, my silver eyes flashed
gold and I said, “Make sure I’m not disturbed.”

Sasha only nodded, her eyes glossy
under the flickering florescent lights. I backed out of the room,
glancing at the number on the tag dangling from the key ring. Room
eleven.

The space could have been worse. There
was a double bed in the center, sheets turned down. Across from the
bed was a console with a TV that looked like it still needed to be
adjusted by an antenna. A nightstand sat on the left side of the
bed. Dropping the key next to the alarm clock, I crawled into the
bed, fully clothed. My face planted on the fresh linen pillow. It
was a welcome scent. Fishing out my phone from my pocket, I set the
alarm for midnight.

Then I dozed.

~*~*~*~

Buzz. Buzz. Buzz.
My hand shot out across the bed, landing on my
discarded phone. If the noise didn’t stop now, I was going to Hulk
smash it. My eyes snapped open, lighting up the dark room. I
clutched the device in my fist, swiping across the screen angrily
until the constant buzz ceased.

I turned on my side, spying the
clock.

Midnight.

Nothing good ever happened after
midnight. That was Devin’s motto. And he was right. Back in Spring
Valley it was my favorite time of day. Then again, I’d been on my
turf. At home I took care of business. I protected my family. Now I
was outnumbered, out powered, but never outwitted.

It was go time.

Less than a half hour later, I was
stashing my car behind a rundown convenient store on the strip. A
circus of colors buzzed with live energy in the city that never
sleeps. This place had a vibe about it—an ill effect on me, and on
them, and an even nastier one on my demon. It wormed its way inside
me, snaking around my humanity and threatening to smother it.
Something in the air amplified the darker side of me, and I knew it
was only a matter of time before I would no longer be in
control.