Under Attack

“Here?” Nina scrambled up on the kitchen table, eek-a-mouse style. “As in here?” She crouched down fighter style and clenched her fists. “I’ll kill her.”

“No,” I wailed, pushing my palms against my head. “She’s in my head. I can—I can hear her in there, talking to me. Taunting me. She’s driving me crazy.”

That’s good. Tell them you’re hearing voices. That’s just another nail in the nutty-mortal-girl coffin. They’re not going to save you, Sophie. Not when they think you’re already going crazy.

Nina pointed at me and angrily stared at Alex. “See what I mean?”

“I’m not crazy!” I yelled, feeling the red flush of blood as it rushed to my cheeks. “You’re the crazy one, Ophelia !”

Alex swallowed hard, his eyes intent and holding mine. “She’s in your mind?”

I felt the tears welling in my eyes. “I’m not crazy,” I said, my voice small. “I can hear her.”

“I know,” Alex said, taking my hand in his. “I know.”

I stepped back, shaking my hand from Alex’s. “You have to tell me everything,” I snapped, “everything that fallen angels can do. I need to know what I’m up against with Ophelia.”

Alex sighed. “I already told you.”

“You told me mind reading. Now she’s in my mind.” I crossed my arms. “What else?”

“Well ... we can manipulate your thoughts.”

I stepped back, looked Alex up and down, then leaned close, examining the curve of his chest, the muscular swell of his shoulder.

“What are you doing?” he asked.

I used my index finger to poke his firm stomach. “How do I know you’re not manipulating my reality right now? For all I know you could be some eighty-year-old bald guy with gold teeth and liver spots.”

Alex grabbed my outstretched index finger and pulled me against him, my breasts pressing against his chiseled chest. We were hip bone to hip bone and I could hear—and feel—the rhythmic beat of his heart. Alex’s lips brushed the tip of my ear and I gave a slight, involuntary shiver, relishing the delicious feeling of his closeness, of his breath on my neck. All the pain and fear of Ophelia’s visit was melting away.

“Are you willing to give me the benefit of the doubt?”

I shoved away from him. “Don’t be sexy when I’m seriously trying to be mad at you.”

“Or when your roommate might seriously be in jeopardy of losing her lunch,” Nina moaned.

I steeled myself, gazing at Alex. “Anything else I should know?”

Alex sucked in a breath. “Yes. I guess so.”

I gave him the universal “Spit it out!” look.

“But it’s not about Ophelia. It’s about your father.”

Nina looked up. “Is he dead? You said you didn’t know if he was dead.”

“Is he?” I asked.

“I don’t know. It’s not about that.”

“Okay ...” I said.

Alex avoided my gaze, looked at his hands. “Have you ever considered why you are the way that you are?”

I used the heels of my hands to wipe the last of my tears. “Neurotic? I can think of a few reasons.”

Alex raised his eyes. “No, your ‘power.’”

“Power?”

“Okay, your lack of power. Both your mother and your grandmother had real powers.”

“And I can’t do anything.”

“Not true,” Nina said, finger raised. “I’ve seen you make a pizza disappear. Ba-dump cha!” She held up her palms, played to an imaginary crowd. “Thank you, thank you, I’ll be here all week ... starting in an hour.” Then she disappeared into her room.

“Not that you can’t do anything—it’s that nothing can be done to you. Magical immunity.”

I shrugged. “So? What of it?”

“Look, you get your traits from both parents, right? Red hair, green eyes.”

I nodded. “Excellent use of high school biology, thanks.”

Alex rolled his eyes.

“Okay, sure, fine, whatever—family traits. But I didn’t get mind-reading abilities. So, what’s your point?”

I didn’t think it was possible for Alex to look even more exasperated, but he did.

“My point is that your father might also be magically immune.”

I wagged my head. “No, my father was one hundred percent grade-A normal.”

“You think. You look pretty grade-A normal and yet you’re magically immune.”

“Okay, so how does knowing my father might be magically immune help us? I mean, it’s not like it’s going to show up on his medical records or on a Google search. And, what does my family tree have to do with finding the Vessel of Souls? Or getting rid of Ophelia?”

Alex looked at the floor and then up at me. “You might want to sit down for this.”

I snorted. “I’m talking to an angel about the father that left me four days after I was born, in my apartment where I saw the image of my dead grandmother in the bathroom mirror. And got beaten up by a fallen angel in a sweater set. I really don’t think there is anything I need to sit down for.”

Alex shrugged. “Suit yourself.”

I stared at him. “Well?”

“Lawson, there is only one other known person who is magically immune.”

“And that would be ... ?”

“Satan.”

I sat down with a thud on the couch. “What? Satan? Like the Satan? Are you saying that I could be related to Satan?” I sprang up, went nose to nose with Alex. “Are you saying Satan could be my father?”

“I told you you might want to sit down.”

“Oh, Lord, I need to sit down.” I flopped onto the couch, letting my head sink into the pillows.

“What’s wrong with Sophie?” Nina asked, coming out of her room.

“Her dad might be Satan,” Alex answered.

“Oh. Bummer. Are we out of O neg?”

I sat up and pointed to Nina, who was rooting around in our refrigerator, frowning at a plastic bag of blood. “And that is not the weirdest thing that happened to me today,” I said. “Geez.”

“Hey, Soph, it’s okay.” Alex was crouching down, his muscular thighs flexed, his palm on my knee.

“Totally,” Nina said, tearing open her snack. “There are worse things than being the spawn of Satan.”

“Oh yeah? Like what?”

Nina and Alex exchanged a panicked glance. “Like, uh, you could be ... help me out here, angel,” Nina murmured out of the side of her mouth.

Alex held up his palms. “Hey, you’re on your own with this one, Nina. I was going to go with the ‘there, there’ form of sympathy. Clean, neat, no promises.” Alex turned back to me, patting my knee and smiling softly. “There, there,” he said.

“At least you know who your father is,” Nina said helpfully.

“Might be. We’re not sure yet.” I looked from Nina to Alex. “Right?”

Alex remained silent and I felt my blood pressure rise. I looked at Alex, aghast. “You knew about this, didn’t you? You know that only Satan had the magical immunity thing going on and that I might have some kind of a connection.”

Alex stepped back, putting up his hands in case I decided to swing at him. “Look, I’ll admit I thought about it—a little. But frankly, it’s really hard to consider that your girlfriend might be Satan’s kid.”

I paused, feeling a tiny prick in my heart. “Girlfriend ?”

Alex immediately pinkened and my heart did a double-thump. “I mean ...”

“No, that’s okay.” I imagined Alex and me pressed up against each other, stealing kisses, holding hands— doing the things that couples did. I imagined my engagement ring and sparkly veil—and