Rebel Angel: A Sainted Sinners Novel (2 page)

G
orgeous
. Gorgeous and deadly
, was her first thought as she studied him.

Tall and broad-shouldered, with sharply sculpted cheekbones, a strong jaw. He was pure masculinity wrapped in divine beauty, topped with a truckload of sinful heat. His dark brows rose a fraction when he saw Aurora. His emerald eyes dipped low to look her up and down, and then rose again. When their eyes met a second time, they were bright with interest.

“Angel,” Aurora whispered, her heart thumping in her chest.

He was incredible. Beautiful, actually. She supposed Kirael was, too… but there was something about this man that made her mouth go dry, her body tense.

“Destroyer,” he said, his voice a throaty rumble. “If you’re looking for specifics.”

Aurora wasn’t entirely sure what that meant, but coming from his lips it sounded as tempting and dangerous as original sin.

“Aurora, this is Ezra…” Vesper said, trailing off. “Actually, Ezra, I don’t know your last name.”

“Prieur,” he said. He pronounced it
pree-urr
. “At your service, Aurora.”

He strode closer and held out his hand. For a second, Aurora’s fingers tingled with anticipation, and she almost raised her hand to clasp his.

Horrified with herself, Aurora wrapped her arms around herself, glaring at Ezra.

A long, awkward beat lapsed in which no one spoke, Aurora glaring at Ezra. Like it was all his fault that she found him handsome. She was being silly, but…

Ezra had the alluring beauty of a colorful viper, in the hypnotic moment before the snake struck.

“Right,” he said after a second, dropping his hand. “You’re the Null, then.”

Something dark uncoiled in Aurora’s chest. She felt threatened in a completely new way, and her first irrepressible instinct was to lash out, shove them all away until she was free. Free to run… she should already be on her way to a new place, a new life.

“I can’t believe you,” Aurora said as she turned to Vesper. “You’ve signed my death warrant, you know that?”

Vesper went pale, and Kirael immediately reached out to put an arm around Vesper’s waist.

“That’s not true,” Kirael growled.

“They both agreed that they would only help you, not turn you over to anyone,” Vesper said.

“Yeah?” Aurora said, growing angry. “Help me, like angels helped my mother? Or maybe they won’t kill me, maybe they’ll just keep me from throwing my vote to the other side. Is that what you think? I like this fantasy world you live in, Vesper.”

Vesper reared back. “Aurora, this isn’t like you.”

“No, this isn’t me. You know who this is? This is the girl who found her mother dead in her living room, found her brother strung up by the neck. One seduced and possessed by a demon, one induced into religious ecstasy by one of the heavenly host. Have you ever been forced to carry your mother’s dead body out of your house, Vesper?”

Silence reigned. Vesper’s mouth opened, and she flushed.

“I didn’t think so,” Aurora said. “You might think I’m crazy or paranoid. That’s fine. I spent my whole life running from these… people… and in the end, they still got to my mom and brother. If you think that these two wouldn’t turn me over for a shot at… I don’t know, whatever they want from Heaven or Hell, you’re naive.”

With every word she spoke, she could feel Ezra’s gaze on her, heating her blood.

For the first time, she could almost understand how her mother and brother had lost themselves so completely. Two minutes around Ezra, and she was already…

Curious
.

“Guys,” Vesper said, turning to the two angels. “Maybe you should give us some time to talk.”

“I’m not leaving you,” Kirael said, staring down at her. “Not while you’re…
you know
.”

Vesper rolled her eyes and shook her head, but she blushed too. Aurora wondered what that meant, but the conversation moved along without any answers.

“You can stay in my room. Ezra, I think it’d be better if you went home.”

Ezra tensed, his big muscular body going rigid. “She’ll run.”

Vesper glanced at Aurora, then pursed her lips. “That’s a risk we’ll have to take. We’ve thrown too much at her already. Look, she’s shaking.”

Aurora looked down at her hand, watching her fingers tremble.

Both Ezra and Kirael began to grumble, but Vesper just held up a hand.

“Aurora, just… sleep on it for the night,” Vesper said.

Aurora pinched the bridge of her nose. “Sure.”

“Yeah?” Vesper asked, looking surprised and pleased. “I can make breakfast in the morning, we can talk. When you’re not so upset, I think you’ll understand things better.”

Aurora bit her tongue to hold in the retort that rose in her mind. She was furious with Vesper, but she also knew that Vesper didn’t comprehend the danger she’d put Aurora in.

“Fine,” Aurora said. “But I don’t want to see any of you tonight. And I want
him
gone.”

Aurora pointed to Ezra, whose expression darkened. He looked as if he might speak, but then he merely crossed his arms and looked annoyed.

Vesper’s smile faltered, but she nodded. “Done.”

Ezra scowled as Kirael ushered him toward the door. When he was gone, Vesper rounded on Aurora.

“I know you’re scared, but we’re only here to help. Ezra especially.”

Aurora huffed a laugh. “Right. He’s not here to… oh, I don’t know, trap me and turn me over to Lucifer? Or the Heavenly host, maybe?”

“No, he’s here because… because I’m… pregnant,” Vesper sighed.

Aurora stared at her. “Sorry?”

Vesper fiddled with the hem of her tank top.

“I only just found out. Until now, we planned for Kirael and I to be the only ones who knew, but… Kirael won’t let me fight anymore. And I don’t want him to leave me,” Vesper admitted, dropping her gaze. “I’m still freaked out. This is all so new.”

Aurora closed her eyes for a moment. Again, she was certain that Vesper believed everything she said. Vesper did think she was helping. Opening her eyes again, she tried to gentle her tone.

“So that’s why you brought…
him
.”

“You two are more alike than you know.”

“In what possible way am I anything like…
him
?” Vesper asked.

“Well… your powers are similar, in a way. You can cancel out the powers of other creatures, right?”

“Sometimes,” Aurora said, trying to be patient.

“Well, I’m sure that’s part of the reason you’re always under threat. It scares people, thinking that you can take away the essence of what makes them unique and powerful.”

“I’m sure it does, but I don’t really see your point here.”

“Well, Ezra suffers from the same thing, I think. It’s hard to tell because he’s so rigid, he plays his cards so close to his chest. But he’s a Destroyer. In the same way that Heaven creates souls, pulls together a scattering of dust in the universe and makes something new… Ezra does the exact opposite. He culls them, makes them cease to exist.”

The fine hairs on the back of Aurora’s neck rose. “He can do that?”

“Apparently. Kirael told me that he thinks it’s an impossible burden for Ezra, carrying all of that around. He’s got a heavy weight on his shoulders, just like you do.”

“He doesn’t seem to mind.”

“Wouldn’t you detach from your life, if that was the sole function of your whole life? Created to Destroy. It might be ironic, except I can never tell if I’m using that word right.”

“So you’re telling me that, because Ezra’s got this insanely frightening… ability, I should trust him
more
?”

“Ezra is a good man, just like Kirael. He’s here because you need protection, nothing more.”

“Right,” Aurora said, unwilling to argue. “Okay. Well… goodnight.”

More like
goodbye
, but Vesper couldn’t know that. Aurora headed for her bedroom once more.

“Aurora,” Vesper said.

Aurora glanced back.

“I hope you know that I only have good intentions,” Vesper said.

Aurora sighed. “I know. I just wish that was enough to keep me safe.”

Vesper looked crestfallen as Aurora closed her bedroom door, shutting Vesper out. She turned the door’s flimsy lock, though she hardly needed it.

No matter what promises Vesper made, no matter who might be attempting to protect her or capture her, there was only one thing to be done now.

Aurora was leaving the apartment tonight, Hell or high water.

She sat on her bed for a few minutes, taking deep breaths and gathering her thoughts. She ran through the short list of absolute necessities: clothes, cash, the stack of fake ID cards in her safe.

The Vincent sword. A graceful piece of steel and gold, it was the only thing she brought to New Orleans from Maine. Besides a few family photos, of course.

When she was sure the apartment was still and quiet, she knelt on the floor and pulled the safe from under her bed. She emptied the contents and dumped them into her backpack, making sure to stuff a little cash and an ID in her jeans pocket.

After digging the sword out and laying it out beside her backpack, she took a breath and took stock.

What’s next?
she wondered.

Glancing down, she realized that she still wore her apron. Untying it and folding it, she laid it on her bedside table. Just underneath, she found the diary of sorts she kept, an accounting of the things she’d discovered about those who’d hurt her family. It was small and light, so into the bag it went.

Aurora changed into a dark t-shirt, clean socks, and her red Converse sneakers. She stuffed a few hundred dollars in her left shoe before she tied it, making sure the bills wouldn’t get torn.

This way, if she was separated from her backpack, she wouldn’t go hungry.

She pulled on another t-shirt and a black hoodie, despite the warmth of the night. She only had so much space in her backpack, it was important to be practical.

The first time she had to run, in upstate New York, she’d been caught totally by surprise. Just having a drink at a paranormal bar, watching the other Kith come and go. Then a high-level demon came in, spotted her right away, and lunged for her before she could even put down her pint glass.

She was only staying in a crummy hotel, so she didn’t have a whole life to give up. But she lost everything that she wasn’t carrying on her, leaving her with less than five hundred bucks, a handful of photos, and the sword.

After that, she’d invested in a rock climbing backpack that strapped tight across her torso. She took it with her every time she left the house, even just to go get something from the grocery store.

Now she stuffed the backpack with all the items she’d pulled together, wincing when her spare pair of sneakers wouldn’t fit.

“Sacrifices must be made,” she muttered, putting them back in the closet.

Even now, as she was frantically preparing to leave, she was careful to keep everything neat and organized. This was the first real apartment she’d dared to live in, the first furniture she’d purchased since Maine.

Aurora ran her fingertips across her soft comforter. She’d picked this out at a store, happy beyond words just to have something beautiful and soft and special.

Blowing out a breath, she snatched her hand away. There was no time to get sentimental over a stupid bedspread.

She picked up her sword, slipped on the special leather scabbard that nestled just below her right shoulder. It allowed her to wear her sword on her back, drawing it quickly if need be.

Shouldering her backpack, she fit it over her sword, then fastened the buckles across her ribs.

A glance in the mirror shocked her; she looked like freaking Lara Croft from Tomb Raider, but in jeans. She touched her braid, her mouth curling down into a frown. She’d finally grown her hair out again, and here it was getting in her way.

Grabbing a couple of hair bands and some bobby pins from her dresser, she wound the braid around her head and secured it. At least that would keep it out of her eyes for the time being, until she could decide whether to chop it all off again or not.

Taking one last look around her cozy bedroom, Aurora tried to banish the sadness that lodged in her chest, threatening to bring tears to her eyes. She moved toward the window, knowing she couldn’t leave through the front door or balcony.

Then she stopped, glancing at her dresser. On impulse, she grabbed a Polaroid snapshot that she’d stuck in the mirror frame. Her and Vesper, arms thrown around each others’ shoulders, grinning like idiots. Vesper’s coworker Vargus snapped the photo after helping them move their furniture in, after a few celebratory beers.

Before she could overthink it, Aurora shoved the photo in her back pocket.

Time to go, she told herself. You know what to do. Don’t look back.

She headed to the window that faced the alley, quietly opening it all the way. She dug her emergency fire ladder out from under her dresser, then lowered it from the second-story window with painstaking slowness.

Finally she climbed out the window, easier said than done with her sword and backpack in tow. She glanced down, swallowing when she saw that the ladder stopped a good seven feet above the street.

She’d just have to jump, hope for the best.

Not giving herself any more time to hesitate, she started climbing down. A rustle below caught her attention and she paused, looking down. The alley was in shadow, making it impossible for her to see much from this height.

Still, after a moment she started to descend again.

A bright bloom of light exploded to her right, hot purple fire bursting against the brick wall. She froze, then another hit just to her left.

“Crap,” she said, scurrying back up a rung.

Another, and another. She couldn’t glance down, but it was clear that someone was lobbing magical fireballs at her from the ground. A fireball hit the ladder just above her hands, and the rope ladder began to burn.

There was no way to climb back up, she’d just have to go down… right into the hands of her attacker. Looking around wildly, she spotted a drain pipe to her left. She looked up at the ladder, knowing the fire was spreading too fast.