Redeeming Angel (7 page)

While Travis was busy discussing my
eating habits with Chase, I figured this was an excellent
opportunity I shouldn’t waste. “Hey, Legolas. If I throw a stick,
will you leave?”

Silence.

There was nothing more grating than
someone not participating when you were trying to provoke them. And
provoke her I wanted. Emma was quick-tempered, and I needed that
hot head of hers to make a mistake—one that would get me out of
here. “Cat got your tongue?”

Her emerald eyes turned to slits. “No.
I’m just visualizing duct taping your mouth.”

I gave her credit. She was creative.
“Shockingly, you aren’t the first person to say that to me, but
what a good idea. Why don’t you open this cage?”

“
Why don’t you go fly a
kite? Oh wait. You can’t.”

I grabbed the bars with both hands,
closing the distance between us, intending to get in her face and
forgetting the bars were not my friends. I hissed as the metal
seared my fingers. The air permeated with the fowl scent of melting
flesh. I growled in frustration. Control was not one of my stronger
character traits it seemed.

Emma laughed.

It sounded like acid to my ears. “When
I get out of here, your little sister and mom are chop suey,” I
said between clenched teeth.

Emma shook her strawberry blonde
ponytail. I wanted to yank it through the bars and play tug of war.
“Ah. That never gets old,” she said with too much enjoyment for my
liking.

“
You wouldn’t be so full of
yourself and righteous if I wasn’t locked up like an animal. I
would love to see your bravado face-to-face, hunter,” I
spat.

She pressed her face to the titanium.
“Those demon eyes don’t scare me. Threaten my family again and this
little hideout is going to be nothing compared to what I will do to
you. Is that clear she-devil?”

“
You’re not going to harm
Angel,” Chase’s voice snarled through the speakerphone. “Not one
hair on her head. Do you understand me?”

My lips twitched. “If I’m still here,”
I muttered, knowing damn well he could hear me.

Emma shot me with a legion of dirty
looks. “Jeesh. We know you love her, but Earth’s—”

“
You don’t know shit,”
Chase cut in. “If you did, then you would know the lengths I’m
willing to take to protect her, including taking you
out.”

“
Oh, I know you’re
absolutely insane and extremely dangerous. I just didn’t know you
where stupid as shit too!” Emma ranted like the lunatic she
was.

Travis frowned at the phone, his
fingers squeezing. A small crack splintered across the screen.
“Chase,” he warned, his sea-green eyes being overrun by glowing
amber.

Very little, if anything at all,
intimidated Chase Winters. “And if that means killing those who get
in my way, I won’t hesitate,” he roared.

I had to admit I kind of enjoyed
listening to them go at each other. The angst of it all invigorated
the darkness spreading inside me.

Emma and Travis shared a look, right
before Travis exhaled roughly. “Honestly man, I think you’re what’s
keeping her alive—your connection. Without it, I think she would be
worse.” Travis’s eyes wandered toward me. “Way worse,” he added
woefully.

I glared, knowing what he said was
probably true, and I sharpened my listening skills.

“
I know, dammit,” Chase
swore. “I need another day. Two at the most.” I could hear the
urgency in his voice, along with heavy doses of frustration—seemed
to be a theme. That’s what the occasional shooting pangs in my
chest were—his extreme frustration.

Travis stared down at me, expression
pinched. “She might only have a few more days before we lose her
for good. She needs you, Chase. You’re the only one who can get
through to her. If Angel is in there, I haven’t gotten a
glimpse.”

I smirked, leaning a shoulder against
the back wall.

A tormented sigh came through the
other end of the phone. “You have no idea how much I hate being
away from her while she is suffering. It’s tearing me
up.”

“
Suffering?” I choked. How
could they be so dimwitted? I was alive for the first time. I had
power. I had purpose.

Shortly after that, the conversation
ended and I knew it wasn’t long before I was left alone again. Just
me. The voices. My thoughts. And the mice. “He’s not telling you
something,” I blurted.

“
What did you say?” Emma
asked, eyes narrowing.

“
Chase. He has a
secret.”

“
How would you
know?”

I gave the hunter the stink
eye.

“
Right. Dumb question. Of
course
you
of all
people would know. So what is it?”

“
You really aren’t the
brightest bulb in the shed. The bond doesn’t work that way. I can
tell he is hiding something, but I’m just as clueless as you are.
If he wanted me to know, he’d share.”

“
Can’t you…I don’t
know…make him tell you? Use your bond?”

“
I
could…
if
my
abilities weren’t being snuffed by this prison.”

She eyed me for a moment. Girl to
girl, we both knew what I was doing, taking an opportunity to gain
my freedom, including using every situation to my
advantage.

Travis ruined it. “Nice try, Angel. If
Chase isn’t telling us something, then he has his
reasons.”

“
So trusting. Do you really
believe he is going to be so forthcoming?”

Silence.

“
Let’s cut the bull. We all
know he would let the world burn if that was what it took to save
his precious Angel,” I prattled.

Travis’s mouth opened and I saw him
form words, but I couldn’t hear what he was saying. My palm sprung
out, flattening on the cold wall. Black dots circled behind my
eyes, and I knew what was about to happen next. I was going to hit
the floor. I heard a gasp as I went down, and I wasn’t sure if it
was Emma’s or mine.

Thump
. My head hit the side of the bedframe, and that was it—lights
out.

Chapter 7

{Chase
}

I strolled into the small square
bathroom with only one thought on my mind. Shower. Checking out the
bathroom, there were neatly folded towels and travel-sized soaps,
shampoos, toothbrush, and toothpaste. A good thing, as I realized
my dumbass forgot to bring anything, except the change of clothes I
kept in my car for emergencies, and this definitely was what I
called an emergency.

The hiss of the shower drenched my
face, beating down on my body. I thought about Kira and Angel. My
mind spun, trying to come up with ways to get Kira to give me
privileged information. I hadn’t been bluffing when I said I wasn’t
giving up. Of course, time wasn’t on my side. Not only because
Angel was falling deeper and deeper into the darkness, but one of
the demons who’d been at the bar probably was already squealing
like a bitch. I figured I had less than twenty-four hours before
Alastair and his goons showed up to take me out.

Let them come.

My heart did a funny thing
in my chest. Speeding up just as the demon inside came clawing to
the surface. I dipped my head back under the stream, hands placed
on the tiled wall. Something was building in my chest, a rising
darkness I managed to keep at bay, but there was no denying
him
now.

Panic squeezed me, my hands curling
into fists.

Shit.

My demon pretty much took advantage of
my tiredness and all the crap being drudged up. There was nothing I
could do to stop it. Had I known my defenses would weaken coming
here? Yes. Was it probably one of the craziest things I’d ever
done? No doubt. Was I going to give up? Hell no.

I could only hope
he
didn’t shred the room
to pieces.

Fifteen minutes had gone by since I’d
been in the shower. I turned the faucets, shutting off the water,
thinking losing my cool naked in the shower was not a good idea. My
hands trembled a little, but I managed to make it out of the shower
and tug on a pair of sweats without tearing the sink off the
wall.

Who was I kidding?

This place was going to look like a
cyclone came through if I wasn’t able to get a grip. Just as I
entered the bedroom to grab a bottle of water, there was a knock on
the door.

Son of a bitch.

Now was not the time for room
service.

I put a fist to the wall and yelled,
“Go away.”

Another knock sounded, louder and
harder. The door shook under impact. Whoever was on the other side
had a death wish. I growled, eyes going all glow-in-the-dark, and
threw open the door. “Did you not hear what—?”

“
Oh, I heard you. The whole
motel heard you, but I figured you’d want to see me.” She pushed
the door wide open and strutted her high-heeled mighty self into
the center of my room.

I had to say as meatsuits went, this
one was top of the line. “I thought you weren’t going to help me?”
I snapped.

Her brows knitted. “Ah, that. Didn’t
anyone tell you demons are liars?”

I frowned. “I also thought
demons didn’t have hearts. What’s your deal? Why are you here?” I
was hanging on by a thread. Her timing couldn’t have been any
worse, but I needed to find a way to rein
him
in. This was the whole reason I’d
come here—to find a demon with intel.

Making herself right at home, she sat
on the edge of the neatly made bed. “Because just as you’re not
like most halflings, I’m not like most demons.”

Swinging the door shut, I turned with
a frown. “Meaning what?”

She crossed her long legs, the denim
shirt she wore hiking up her thighs. “Are you to going to at least
offer me a refreshment?”

“
Sorry. The minibar’s been
ransacked.”

“
Pity. You look like you
could use something to calm the beast. Are you feeling okay, or is
the Nevada heat getting to you?”

My scowl only darkened. “How about we
cut the crap and you tell me what I want to know and save us both
the trouble of dealing with my not-so-friendly side?”

Her lips thinned. “Well, for starters,
I’ve been banished to this realm for over a century.”

My mouth dropped. “You’re stuck here?
I thought demons weren’t capable of living on Earth for that amount
of time. Maybe a year at most, if they were lucky enough to inhabit
a host and find an ample supply of life to steal.”

“
All true. I told you I was
different.”

I leaned my back against the wall.
“What else?” I didn’t like surprises, and Kira was becoming a
mystery to me.

She gave me a meaningful look. “If I
told you all my secrets, I’d have to kill you.”

I opened the door. “Then we’re done
here.” I was seventy percent positive she wanted something from me
as well. We were using each other. So I hoped, otherwise I was
making a huge mistake.

“
I’ve already said more
than I should,” she huffed.

I thought back to last night,
recalling our conversation. It was hard to draw up the memories
when my demon was knocking at the door, but there was one question
that stuck with me. “What did you mean when you implied we have
something in common?”

She sighed, tapping her foot in the
air. “Our bloodlines have crossed.”

Swinging the door shut for a second
time, I crossed my arms as the wheels in my head started turning,
and the conclusion I came to dropped my heart. “You’re talking
about Travis and Lexi, aren’t you?”

She got a far-off look in her
red-rimmed eyes, and her lips turned down in what I didn’t think
demons could show. Emotion. Sadness if I was correct. “How is
Devin?”

Holy shit.

This was…the demon who had seduced Dev
not once but twice. She was Travis and Lexi’s…I refused to say
mother, because she had never come to being anything close to
resembling a mom. Egg donor?

What did I say to the demon who
birthed my two cousins? Nice to meet you, Auntie?

I didn’t think so.

My first instinct was to go for the
throat.

I choked on my own breath. “What do
you want?”

“
A chance,” she
responded.

I shook my head. “No. Hell no. I’m not
letting you anywhere near them.” My fingers dug into my
palms.

A smug smile curved on her bold cherry
lips. “I think we both know you’ll give me what I want. What other
choice do you have?”

I dropped my shoulder, slumping
against the wall. Dread blossomed. This was not what I pictured
when I made the decision to dance with demons. I hated being
cornered, but like she’d said, what choice did I have? I knew I
would have to make tough decisions in order to save Angel; I just
hadn’t realized how much it would reflect back onto my
family.