after that.
A moment later I was outside Xavier and Molly’s room at the Easy Stay Inn. The window was open a crack so I slid in like a trail of smoke and hovered below the ceiling fan. All was silent apart from the sound of their regular breathing and the wind chasing some dead leaves around in the parking lot outside. Molly was sound asleep in her bed, the previous drama of the evening erased from her face. Her resilience never ceased to amaze me. Xavier was much less comfortable in his sleep. He kept changing position and even sat up once to thump the pillows. Before lying down again he rested on his elbows to check the time on the digital clock. It read 5:10 A.M. Xavier cast a look around the room, his turquoise eyes bright in the darkness. When he finally did drift off to sleep his face stayed troubled, as though he were fighting battles in his dreams.
I wished I could reach out to comfort him even though I knew I was the primary cause of his distress. I had turned his life upside down and now his safety was being threatened. So far Jake had not disturbed them and for a fraction of a second I entertained the hope that he might have been bluffing just to rattle me. But I’d seen the look in his eyes and I knew better.
The room turned suddenly cold and Molly pulled the covers up over her head. I could hear the sound of wolflike breathing. I saw it then: A shadow slid into the room with us. It crept across Molly’s sleeping form under the duvet and danced across Xavier’s features.
Sensing the presence, Xavier’s eyes snapped open, and he swung himself out of bed. His whole body was poised for a fight. I saw a vein throbbing in his neck and could almost hear his heart racing.
“Who are you?” he said through gritted teeth as a figure began to take shape before him. I recognized the curly hair and baby face even before he had fully appeared. It was Diego, dressed formally in a black suit and tie as though he were going to a funeral.
“Just an acquaintance,” Diego replied in a lazy voice. “Jake said you were pretty — he wasn’t lying.”
“What do you want?”
“You’re not very polite for someone I could kill with my little finger,” Diego said in his slimy, slightly effeminate voice.
“You do know there’s an archangel and a seraphim next door, right?” Xavier retorted. “Think maybe they can take you down?”
Diego gave an empty chuckle. “They were right about you, just like a lion cub. Killing you would be too easy.”
“So do it then,” Xavier hissed and I felt my stomach plummet to my feet.
Diego cocked his head to one side. “Oh, that’s not why I’m here. I’ve come to deliver a message.”
“Yeah?” Xavier said without a hint of fear. “Then go ahead and deliver it.”
“Our sources inform us that you and your angel squad are trying to pull off a rescue mission,” Diego said, a smirk in his voice. “I’m here to tell you not to waste your time. You might as well call off the chase. The angel you’re searching for is dead.”
There was a long silence. Xavier’s heart, which had been racing just minutes before, seemed to slow down and thud like a pound of concrete in his chest. But when he opened his mouth to speak, he didn’t betray a hint of emotion.
“I don’t believe you,” he said in a level voice.
“Had a feeling you might say that,” Diego replied, his smiling face framed by dark curls. He reached behind him and produced a rough burlap sack. “So I brought along some evidence.”
From the sack he withdrew something feathered and folded. When he shook it loose I saw it was a section of broken, blood-stained wings.
“Hellhounds,” said Diego, nodding his head in commiseration. “At least it was quick.”
“Don’t listen to him!” I cried, but my words were lost in the void that separated us. The desire to be with him filled me so strongly that I thought I would explode through the confines of my spectral form.
At that moment the door burst open and my brother and sister appeared. For the first time, a look of true fear flashed across Diego’s face. I guessed he hadn’t counted on running into them.
“Did you think we wouldn’t pick up your scent?” Gabriel asked, his voice drenched with anger. His eyes fell on Xavier’s face and then the mangled, bloody wings that Diego’s had dropped on the ground. Ivy saw them too and an expression of disgust settled on her face.
“You really are the lowest of the low,” she said.
“I try my best,” Diego said, chuckling.
“Tell me it isn’t true,” Xavier said, his voice choked.
“Nothing but cheap tricks,” Gabriel replied, kicking the wings aside, as though they were a theater prop.
Xavier let out a low moan of relief and pressed his back against the wall. I knew how he felt. When I thought Jake had run him down with the motorcycle, the grief had been crippling and the relief made me giddy.
“What are you doing here?” Gabriel demanded.
Diego stuck his bottom lip out in a mock pout. “Just trying to have a little fun. Humans are so gullible — dumb beasts.”
“Not as dumb as you,” Ivy said, while Gabriel moved to position himself on Diego’s right-hand side, pinning him between the wall and the doorway. “Looks like you’ve got yourself trapped.”
“A bit like that little angel of yours,” Diego snarled, though I could tell by the way he curled his fingers that he was nervous. “She’s trapped in the pit burning as we speak and there’s nothing you can do about it.”
“We’ll see about that,” Gabriel said.
“We know you’re trying to find a portal.” Diego’s attempts to stall or distract them were poorly disguised. “You’ll never find it and if you do, good luck getting it open.”
“Do not underestimate the power of Heaven,” Ivy said.
“Oh, I think Heaven has forsaken Bethany by now. Have you considered that our daddy may be stronger than yours?”
Ivy looked up and a hot blue fire seemed to blaze in her usually cool gray eyes. She raised her chin to match her opponent. She opened her mouth and a language flowed out that sounded high and sweet like a hundred children singing or wind chimes in the summer breeze. The air around her started to shimmer, like heat rising off the pavement. Then, without speaking, she thrust her hand out toward him. To my shock, her hand disappeared straight into his chest, as though he were made of nothing but clay. Diego seemed just as surprised as I was and grunted loudly. Something began to glow in his chest and I realized that Ivy was literally gripping his heart. The light shone brighter, making his skin papery and transparent. I could see the outline of his rib cage and Ivy’s hand, encasing his heart in a scalding prison of light. Diego seemed to be completely paralyzed, but he managed to open his mouth and let out a strangled scream. Through the screen his chest had become, I saw the heart begin to swell and pulse in Ivy’s hand, as if it were going to rupture. Then with a
Ivy drew a deep, shuddering breath and then brushed her hands together as though she had touched something contaminated.
“Demons,” she muttered.
The noise of the explosion woke Molly, who sat upright, scrambling to smooth down her curls.
“Huh … what … what’s going on?” she mumbled, her voice slurry. I was amazed that she’d managed to sleep through the drama.
“Nothing,” Gabriel said quickly. “Go back to sleep. We just came in to check on you.”
“Oh.” Molly stared at him wistfully for a moment before remembering the events of the previous night. Then her face darkened and she turned her back, wriggling down under the covers.
Gabriel sighed and shrugged at Ivy while Xavier picked up the car keys on the bedside table.
“Uh … thanks for taking care of that,” he said. “If it’s all right I’m gonna go for a drive. I need to clear my head.”
I followed him, eager for us to spend some time alone, even if he didn’t know I was there.
“Hey, baby.” He patted the hood of the Chevy out in the parking lot and gave a sad smile. “Things are getting
