Rebel Angel: A Sainted Sinners Novel (3 page)

Swinging the ladder back and forth, she managed to get a hand on the drainpipe.

“Just do it,” she whispered to herself. “Let go. Let go!”

She jumped, gripping the drainpipe with both hands and digging her feet into the wall. Clinging to it for dear life, she released the ladder just as the fire burned through one thick strand. Another fireball, then another.

Aurora started to shimmy down, feeling sweat break out all over her body. The rickety metal studs of the drainpipe groaned, beginning to pull away from the wall.

“No no no!” she cried as a handful of screws flew past her, dropping like stones.

She tried to grip the wall, her fingernails scraping and chipping as she scrambled to keep herself from falling.

No luck, though. The drainpipe ripped away from the crumbling brick wall with a metal screech, and Aurora toppled backward, arms flying.

She squeezed her eyes shut as she fell.

Down, down…

W
hen Aurora landed
in his arms, the flat of her sword hit Ezra across the chest hard enough to knock the breath from his lungs. Though she was slender enough, the weight of her dragged him down. Shocking, since he could fly with anything short of a car in tow.

“Fuck,” he cursed, dropping a few feet. He rose again with a great deal of concentration, completely baffled.

Aurora struggled in his arms, her hands coming up to smack him in the face.

“Stop that,” Ezra commanded in a soft growl. “I am trying to save you.”

Aurora’s eyes snapped open, big and startled and just the color of a summer sky. Her fiery hair was braided around her head, looking for all the world like a copper halo. Her cheeks and nose were dusted by a fine spray of freckles, softening her into an ethereal sort of beauty.

Ezra lost focus for a moment as he stared at her, startled by her beauty.

It took another drop in height to snap him out of it.

“You!” she cried, looking at him with a terrified expression. “Don’t kill me!”

She clutched at Ezra’s shoulders, her eyes going even wider as she looked up at his wings. Ten feet across, beautiful and pure white, his wings often made a strong first impression.

“Ohhhhhh,” she whispered.

Ezra’s gaze dropped to her parted lips, his arms tightening around her. They dropped again, narrowly escaping a purple ball of fire that blazed past the tip of his right wing.

Grappling with himself for a moment, Ezra put the emotional side of himself in check. They were in danger, it wasn’t exactly the time for him to discover a penchant for pretty redheads.

“Why are you so damned heavy?” he gritted out, straining to lift them higher.

“I’m a Null,” Aurora snapped. “Magic doesn’t work well on me.”

They dropped again and again, inch by inch.

“We’re going to have to touch down and fight our way out,” Ezra said.

Aurora didn’t say anything, her fingers digging into his shoulders as she leaned back to look down at the ground.

“How many attackers do you see?” he asked, focusing on a slow and stable descent.

“Twelve, maybe fifteen,” she said.

Her cheeks were flushed, her eyes bright. Ezra tore his gaze from her as his boots touched the ground. Fire flashed to his right and he ducked, dumping Aurora onto the ground.

She sprung to her feet with shocking quickness, pulling a gleaming golden sword from her back. She held it wide, her grip easy and practiced.

Ezra realized that despite Aurora’s petite frame, she was completely prepared to defend herself by whatever means necessary.

All around them, dark-robed figures approached, inexorably drawn to Aurora like magnets to metal. Their eyes glowed the same purple as the orbs they fired off, but their faces and limbs were nothing more than shadows.

As Ezra got back to his feet, he watched Aurora launch into motion. Her copper hair shone bright as another fireball flew by her head, but she smoothly sidestepped it.

Her expression was set in hard lines as she strode toward the first hooded figure, sword blurring over her head in a golden arc. The figure slowed, like he was stuck in quicksand.

Aurora dispatched him without a moment’s hesitation, her sword piercing his heart. He went up in a puff of smoke, a small scream escaping him as he vanished.

When another attacker spat a flaming purple orb at her, Aurora actually held out her hand… the orb’s trajectory bent, sending it skittering off into the bushes.

Ezra held out a hand, summoning his own sword.

Heavy steel sharpened with deadly precision, engraved on each side with the word MISERICORDIA. A souvenir of sorts from his days in Hell, when he culled the most miserable of souls. Ended their suffering by dispatching their souls, turning them into nothing more than specks of dust floating in ether.

As much as he cherished his own sword, watching Aurora with hers was much more interesting. Breathtaking, almost.

He moved to Aurora’s left and brought his sword up to take down another attacker. Ezra found himself in awe of her. As far as he knew, Nulls barely had more power than normal humans.

Aurora clearly had a lot of training, but there was more to it…

Ezra narrowly evaded a fireball, taking down another robed figure. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw that more were pouring into the alley. A door on the right slammed open to produce Kirael, wielding his sword and wearing nothing but boxer briefs.

Ezra caught a glimpse of Vesper peeking out before the door closed. Vesper had recently proven to be easily the most powerful of the group.

He almost called out to Kirael, wondering why Vesper wouldn’t step out and level the whole group of attackers. Kirael’s expression was fierce and furious, so Ezra let the matter drop. Surely the other Fallen angel had his reasons.

Kirael unfurled his wings and dove straight into the melee. Leaving Kirael to guard the rear, Ezra pushed down the alley to fight shoulder to shoulder with Aurora. Kirael launched into the air with a roar, carrying a robed attacker high and dropping him in the alley with a sickening crunch.

Tiny screams and puffs of smoke filled the alley as they worked, and the number of enemies quickly dwindled.

Ezra watched Kirael circle and dive near the mouth of the alley, taking out three foes in a row.

“Why aren’t you flying?” Aurora called to Ezra.

“Can’t leave you here,” he said, running another one through. “Can’t fly when you’re so close.”

“I think I can handle it,” she gritted out as she executed an astounding spin maneuver, taking out two robes at once.

She came back to center, raising her sword, looking for all the world like a goddess of vengeance. For a moment, as he watched her, Ezra felt a strange tension growing inside himself.

Before he could attempt to name it, his attention was diverted.

Two final robed enemies rushed toward them. As one, Ezra and Aurora took them down, their screams dying in the sultry night air.

A gust of air rushed past Ezra’s face as Kirael wheeled around. With all the adrenaline in his veins, Ezra almost laughed at the sight of the brawny Fallen angel hovering in just his underwear, sword at ready.

“It looks like that’s the last of them,” Kirael called, descending until he touched down on the ground. “A few of them got away.”

“Put your damned wings away,” Aurora told them both. “Unless you’re trying to draw every curious set of eyes in the whole French Quarter. I don’t know about you guys, but I’ve been in mortal peril enough times today.”

Ezra vanished his wings, Kirael doing the same after a moment.

“You said some of them got away?” he asked Kirael.

“Yeah, they’re gone,” he said, flapping a hand. “Off to report back to Hell, I’d bet.”

“Or Heaven,” Aurora said.

Ezra gave her a surprised look. “I don’t know what those things were, but they’re not from Heaven.”

Aurora shrugged, but her expression said she didn’t remotely agree.

“I need to get back inside to Vesper,” Kirael said.

“Why didn’t Vesper just come outside and knock them all out?” Ezra asked. “She has the power, right?”

Kirael shifted his weight, then sighed. “She’s… with child. She would’ve knocked us out too, and then been alone and defenseless.”

“Mmm…” Aurora murmured, but didn’t jump in.

“Wow,” Ezra said, surprised. “Well… congratulations, Kirael.”

Kirael nodded, his usual brusque self. “I’m going to get her out of here. You guys should go to one of the safe houses, the one in the Garden District.”

“Where will you take Vesper?”

“Mere Marie’s, I think. Big house, strong wards. Plus, anyone who wants to do harm has to go through Mere Marie herself. I’ve been campaigning for Vesper to stay there since I found out about the pregnancy.”

Aurora snorted, sheathing her sword on her back. “Men.”

Kirael arched his brows, then shook his head and trudged toward the apartment.

Which left Ezra and Aurora staring each other down, uncertain.

“We have to get off the street,” Ezra told Aurora.

“No kidding,” she said, glancing up at the sky. “Clearly your little group of angels aren’t the only ones who know where I am. Thanks for that, by the way.”

“Kirael and I are the only ones who know,” Ezra said.

“And Vesper,” Aurora said, crossing her arms.

“Yes, and Vesper. She swore us to secrecy, though.”

“Great. Well, that’s turned out just perfectly,” Aurora said, rolling her eyes.

She turned and strode out of the alley. Ezra followed her.

“Where are you going?” he asked.

“Away from here,” she said, sliding him a glance. “From you.”

She pulled out her phone and started typing.

“I’m taking you to the safe house,” Ezra said.

Aurora looked up at him, then shook her head. “Nope. I need to disappear; I can’t do that with you on my back. Besides, I’m linked to you now. Anywhere that your group… what are you guys called?”

Ezra crossed his arms. “Vesper calls us the Sainted Sinners.”

“Right,” Aurora said, looking unimpressed. “Well, anyplace associated with the Sainted Sinners is out of the question.”

“You do understand the purpose of a safe house, don’t you? It can’t be traced to us.”

Aurora’s phone gave a soft chime, and she blew out a breath.

“No deal,” she said. “I know how to take care of myself. I don’t need you for that.”

A blue sedan pulled up, windows rolled down. Aurora leaned in. “Are you my ride?”

“Yep,” the driver said. “Hop in.”

Aurora turned and gave Ezra a shrug. “I’d say it’s been nice knowing you, but…”

When she opened the back door and climbed inside, Ezra knew he couldn’t just let her drive away. So he trotted around to the other side of the car and got in beside her.

“Hey!” Aurora said. “What are you doing?”

“We’re going to the safe house. Together,” Ezra said in a firm tone.

“Really? Are you going to make me?” Aurora snapped, her eyes blazing with anger.

“Is there a problem here?” the driver asked, turning to look at them.

“No!” they both said at the same time.

Ezra and Aurora glared at each other for several long seconds.

“I’m not asking for a lot of trust. I will give you a safe place to hide for one night. Well-warded, completely secure.:

“That won’t protect me from you, will it?”

“I give you my word that I will keep you safe tonight,” he swore.

They stared each other down for several more moments, and finally Aurora shrugged.

“Fine. One night,” she said, her cheeks coloring.

Ezra wondered at that, but there was no time to ask.

“2100 St Charles Avenue,” Ezra told the driver. Turning to Aurora, he said, “And you probably need to lay low for at least a few days, until the search is over.”

Aurora turned toward her window, silent.

Ezra wanted to say more, explain that he wanted to help her, but he didn’t like the idea of the driver overhearing too much.

The rode to the address in silence. Ezra pulled out his wallet, but Aurora stopped him.

“It’s Uber. You don’t pay in cash,” she said quietly.

They thanked the driver and climbed out.

“You should’ve just let me go to the train station,” Aurora said.

“You think no one’s going to look there?” Ezra asked. “Especially if running is your pattern.”

“A successful pattern, I would like to point out.” She ran a hand over her braid, tamping down the flame red wisps that had come loose during the fight.

“If it was that successful, you wouldn’t be here right now. There’s nothing you can do tonight but take cover and wait it out.”

Aurora ignored his comment, looking around with a frown.

“This is a block of commercial buildings,” she said, giving him a skeptical look.

“Evasive maneuver. Having a driver drop us off at our safe house is a bad practice,” Ezra said.

“Oh,” she said, wrinkling her nose. If the circumstances were a little different, Ezra would find her grumpiness almost amusing.

“The house is about six blocks away. We should take the SIM cards out of our phones on the way,” he said. “Once I get you settled, I can grab some necessities. The house won’t have much more than the staples.”

“Fine,” she said.

Ezra led her away from St. Charles, north toward Central City. The neighborhood went from multi-million dollar houses to tiny creole cottages, some still abandoned and crumbling from the damage during Hurricane Katrina.

“Interesting neighborhood for a safe house,” Aurora muttered.

“It’s innocuous. Besides, we’re going to a spot right behind O.C. Haley Boulevard. It’s perfectly safe,” he said.

Aurora shot him a look. “I’m sorry, did you see me back in the alley? I’m not worried about getting
mugged
.”

They turned a corner, and came up to a three story monster of a house. The house was a hundred years if it was a day, leaning distinctly to the left, and covered in crisp lavender pain. Split into half a dozen freshly renovated apartments, the building took up two lots with barely a speck of yard to speak of.

“This is it,” he said, leading her around the back side toward the leftmost rear apartment.

“Nice color,” Aurora said.

“Mere Marie, one presumes.”

“She must be a witch. Witches love purple,” Aurora mused.

“I think she’s more of a voodoo priestess, but your generalization is probably close enough. Here we are,” he said, fishing out his wallet.

They climbed a few cement block stairs and came up to a simple metal door. No window, painted purple to match the rest of the house. To an outsider, it looked like a utility door.

Ezra knew it was several inches of concrete-reinforced steel, so to him it looked like a safe haven.

He pulled out a thin plastic card and swiped it at the door. After a moment, there was a quiet electronic beep and the door swung open with a whoosh.

He stepped back to let Aurora enter first, then followed her and secured the door behind them. There was a gentle moment of freefall as he stepped inside.

“Wow…” Aurora said as she headed further into the apartment. “A bolt-hole?”