“There was no one else in the building?” I repeated, this time shouting.
The medic put his hands on his hips. “Ma’am!”
“Hey!” I yelled at the sooty back of a fireman’s head. When he turned, I felt myself gape. “Will?”
Will grinned, his teeth blaring white against his dark, soot-streaked cheeks. “Now who’s stalking who?” He took off his helmet, revealing his spiky blond hair.
“You’re a fireman, too?”
He leaned the ax he was carrying against his shoulder. “No. I just like to dress up and rush into burning buildings.” He spun the helmet in his hand. “And the hat’s pretty cool, too.”
Just then another firefighter clapped Will on the shoulder, jutted his chin toward the remains of People’s Pants. “We’re going back in, Sherman.”
“Wait,” I said to both men. “Did everyone get out?”
“There was just the four of you, right? No customers inside prior to the fire?” Will’s eyes were suddenly dead serious and focused hard on me.
I paused for a beat and then shook my head no. “It was just the four of us.”
I was refusing to go to the hospital when I spied Alex’s white SUV speeding up the street. He parked crookedly in the back alley and sprinted out toward me, enveloping me in his arms. He held me tightly against him; I could feel the erratic beat of his heart. “I was so worried,” he told me.
I wiggled out of his embrace. “I’m fine,” I said to Alex and to the paramedic. “We’re all fine.”
Alex used his thumb to wipe the soot from my cheek, then smiled that cocky half-grin. “Geez, Lawson, I knew you hated your job, but burn the place down? Arson is a crime, you know.”
“So is floral-print polyester. And I didn’t burn the place down.” I slid off the tailgate and the medic strode toward me, frowning.
“Ma’am!”
“She’s okay,” Alex said, turning to the medic. “I’m taking her home.”
The medic shrugged and began packing up his things. “Whatever, man.”
Alex held me at arm’s length as if examining me for breakages. Then he pulled me aside and squinted into the darkness. “Hey, isn’t that Will?”
I blew out a sigh and nodded without turning around. “Yeah. I’m getting my own fan club. Can we just get out of here?”
“You’re sure you’re okay?”
I touched the pads of my fingers to my cheeks. “I feel a little sunburned, but that’s it.” I left out the part about how every other sound made my heart do a double take while my breath constricted in my throat. I left out the part about wanting to curl up under my comforter and pretend this whole thing—the Vessel of Souls, Ophelia, the devil—didn’t exist. My shoulders slumped and I trudged to the car, sinking myself into the front seat.
Alex slid into the driver’s seat, and the slamming of the car door brought me back to the cool interior of his SUV.
“So tell me about these guys,” he said as the engine purred.
I took a deep breath, my lungs feeling ragged with lingering smoke. “Just a group of kids.”
“Kids?”
“I don’t know—teens, maybe early twenties. The head guy said his name was Adam. He said he had a message from Ophelia.”
Alex turned toward me as we coasted to a stop. “What was the message?”
“Gee, I don’t know. I was a little bit distracted by the fire and the giant blade hurtling toward me.”
“What else?”
“I don’t know, I don’t remember. It happened so fast.”
The muscle jerked in Alex’s jaw. “Think.”
I sighed. “Um ... he said he knew what I was, that he wanted to keep me for himself. He wanted to stab me.”
“And?”
I shrugged. “I don’t know. Uh ... they had bad hair. I should have known something was off about them. I should have known they were evil. One of them was actually looking at the poly-blend clam diggers. Like, looking to
“Anything beside their odd fashion sense stand out?”
“They were really tall. All of them. Like, really tall.”
This got Alex’s attention. “How tall?”
“Freakishly tall. Like an NBA team in to rob People’s Pants. Although we do—did—carry a large assortment of big and tall.”
“All of them were tall?”
I nodded. “And they all kind of looked alike, too. And the fire didn’t seem to bother them. And”—I sat forward in my seat, remembering—“they disappeared. They couldn’t have gone out the front of the building unless they went directly through the fire. They would have had to come out the back, but they didn’t. No one did except for us. The firemen said the place was empty.” I shrugged. “No bodies inside.” I blew out a sigh. “I don’t get it. Before, Ophelia showed up herself. Now, suddenly, she’s bringing in the B-squad to do her dirty work?”
“Maybe she had other plans.”
I forced a smile. “Well, at least we know killing me isn’t her first priority if she’s outsourcing.”
Alex’s lips were pursed, his hard eyes focused on the road.
“What?” I asked him. “What aren’t you telling me?”
“They’re called Nephilim.”
“Nephilim?” I let the word roll over my tongue. “Are they angels, too?”
Alex shook his head slowly. “No. They’re half-angel, half-human.”
“I take it they’re evil?”
Alex’s nostrils flared. “Vile.”
“Well, now they’re working for Ophelia.”
I watched Alex’s Adam’s apple bob as he swallowed. “And now they know where the Vessel is.”
“How do we stop them?”
Alex shifted to a stop and looked at me. “I don’t know if we can.”
Chapter Twenty
I sunk my key into my lock and pushed open the front door. ChaCha came vaulting toward me in a series of yips and barks. She took one whiff of my smoke-scented jeans and backed away, then snuggled back into her bed and began licking her toes.
“Behold the unconditional love of man’s best friend.”
“Can I get you something?” Alex asked, helping me out of my jacket. “A cup of tea, something to eat?”
“Stop fussing over me, Alex. I’m fine.”
He tucked a lock of hair behind my ear and I shivered at his gentle, warm touch. “Don’t take this the wrong way, but you don’t look fine.”
I glanced down at my soot-streaked blue smock, at my red plastic trainee name tag that had melted to a warbling glob. There were scratches and bruises on my forearms that I didn’t remember getting, and the knee of my jeans was torn wide open, brown-red blood staining the denim.
I smiled. “Geez, the one time I could really use my People’s Pants discount, the place burns down.”
Alex stepped back. “Why don’t you go take a shower and I’ll make us something to eat.” He went to the kitchen and pulled open the fridge, then frowned over his shoulder at me. “Okay, which do you prefer—two tablespoons of cottage cheese, half a blood bag, or a moldy lemon?”
My stomach lurched. “Your choice.”
Alex poked the mushy lemon. “Maybe I’ll order out.”
I peeled off my smoke-stained clothes and dumped the whole mess—smock and all—into the bathroom
