Buzz. Buzz.
“You’ve got to be fucking kidding me,” I growled, against her swollen lips.
“Ignore it.” She gasped breathlessly.
Buzz. Buzz.
I tried to ignore it, but nothing is a bigger buzz kill than a vibrating phone in your pocket, and for me, it usually meant business.
“Give me a second,” I said as I rolled off her.
My shoes came into contact with the carpet and I pulled my phone from my pocket. It was Dex. I’d never received a call from Dex before, and he was my head of security, so I had to answer.
“Yes?” I answered, panting slightly.
“Sir, angels are attacking. There aren’t many of them. What do you want us to do?”
Beside me, Violet sat up and I exhaled. It was safe to say that this was over. I ran my hands through my hair. It was damp with sweat.
“If you can, capture them. I’ll be there soon.”
I slid the phone back into my pocket. Violet heard the conversation, so there was no need for me to inform her. I glanced at her. Her knees were pulled up to her chest, hiding her body from me.
“What are you going to do?” Violet asked, her voice riddled with guilt.
I couldn’t look at her, not when I knew what I say next was going to break her heart.
“What I have to.”
She grabbed at my forearm, but I refused to look at her. “You can’t kill them, they’re there for me. They’re just doing their job.”
“We’re enemies, V. I’m just doing my job.”
Violet let go of my arm, and despite my restraint, I managed to look at her. She was hurt; I could tell by the way lines carved their way through her forehead. I began buttoning my shirt as she spoke.
“You’re right. We are enemies.” Her voice held a strange tone, like she’d realized something. “Somehow, I’ve forgotten that.”
Thankfully, she had no recollection of being compelled by Eva and hopefully her next step was leaving Earth. I didn’t want her to leave, if she did, there was no telling if I’d ever see her again and that sucked. I stood up and tucked my shirt into my pants. This is it, I thought. The last moment you’re going to spend with Violet. Make it count.
“I’m sorry,” I said, turning to her.
She wore a brave face now. Her eyebrows angled in a way that made her look pissed off. Her plump lips squeezed in an angry pout. I tried to fight off a smile as memories from the time we trained together filled my mind. She meant business.
“If I could change things, I would’ve been more professional when I was training you. I would have tried harder not to fall in love with you. You don’t deserve this.”
Violet’s fierce blue eyes and compact room disappeared. Not a second later, I was encompassed by the familiar surroundings of my own chambers. It felt different, more empty than usual. A quiet whimper signalled that Eva was still passed out on my bed. Hopefully, I’d be able to dispatch the angels before she woke up. When she woke up, I’d have a hell of a lot of sucking up to do.
I teleported to my club downstairs. Music blared, but there were no humans here to enjoy it. Smashed glasses and bottles of alcohol littered the floor. Before me, my guards had three male angels down on their knees. Their faces were bloodied up and swollen. Dex stood behind them, looking smug. His black hair curled around his ears and he placed his hands on his narrow hips. I signalled for the music to be cut off. When it was, the room was eerily silent. Only the sounds of the busy city could be heard in the distance.
“Only three of them?”
Dex nodded. Rage built up in my stomach. I was interrupted and pulled away from Violet for three fucking angels? He could tell by the look on my face that I wasn’t impressed. He dropped his head slightly, like a dog does when it’s in trouble.
“You called me to deal with only three angels?”
“Yes, sir. I thought—”
“Tell me,” I said, interrupting him. “How many angels have you taken down at once?”
“Seven, sir.”
“Seven? Impressive.” Glass crunched under my feet as I approached him. “How many angels kneel before you?”
“Three, sir.”
“Three.” I ran my hands over my face. I couldn’t kill Dex. He’s usually the most competent demon I have. It’s quite hard finding a demon that knows how to follow orders or has some semblance of common sense. “Do you know what that means?” I hated being condescending, but these morons deserved it. Dex shook his head. “Do the fucking math!” I snapped, losing my patience.
“It means I should have killed them myself,” he said quickly.
“Yes, you should have.” I glanced down at the angels who had their hands tied behind their backs. Not one of them made eye contact. I checked their stars. Two. Three. Two. I couldn’t help but laugh. The headquarters sent three inexperienced angels to a building filled with demons, and for what? For me?
I knelt down to their level and spoke to the first angel in line. “Why did you come here?”
Warm liquid hit my face as he spat on me. Instinctively, I rubbed my face and glanced at my hand. He spat his blood on me. Tonight was not a good night to fuck with me. I grabbed the angel by the collar of his uniform and yanked him to his feet. I spun him around and pressed his back against my chest. I pulled on his oily, red hair and yanked his neck back, exposing his throat. “Make them watch!” I snapped.
My guards forced the angels’ heads in my direction. Dex brought me a blade and I tore it across the first angel’s neck. Blood poured out and he twitched in my grasp. I let him go and he fell into a crumpled heap on the floor. I kicked him away. “Next.”
Dex yanked the second angel to his feet and dragged him over. I pressed his back against me and positioned the blade against his throat.
“You,” I said, flicking my head to the third angel. “What did you come here for?”
His long blond hair stuck to the blood on his face and his green eyes were wide with fear. He didn’t say anything, so I tried a different approach. “Whoever tells me the purpose of destroying my club and scaring away my customers, I’ll let live.”
The blond’s deep voice rang first. “We’re here for Violet.” His voice was high and desperate. I felt a smile spread over my lips.
“Well, isn’t that a waste of not-so-good talent. Violet isn’t here. She’s at home tucked in bed. I know that, because I took her there myself.”
A few of my demons chuckled. The angel I was holding struggled against me, but he didn’t have enough energy to break free. I ripped the blade across his throat and threw him to the floor. I stepped over the dead bodies and knelt at eye level with the blond.
“You’re free to go.” He slumped into himself in relief. I grabbed a fist of his blond hair and forced him to look me dead in the eye. “You tell your boss that if they send anyone to my club again, I’ll kill every single angel that sets foot in my city. Do you understand?”
The blond nodded quickly.
“Good. Go.”
Dex cut the angel’s ties and he fled from the club. I stood up. “This place is a god damn mess. Clean it. I want it ready to re-open by tomorrow night.”
I teleported back to my room. Eva was still sleeping peacefully on my bed. I showered and made myself comfortable on my desk chair. When I closed my eyes, all I could see was Violet and suddenly I missed her.
Parting
Violet
Dragging myself to headquarters at six a.m. was torture. I didn’t get any sleep last night after Lucas left. And the guilt of sending fellow angels to their inevitable death bothered me. I should’ve never taken Cole up on his back-up deal. It was my fault, really. I had all the means necessary to kill Lucas, but I didn’t. Instead, I tried to fuck him. If my superiors knew I tried to bed a demon, I’d be banished from the Never Dark realm—A fallen angel—a cat four demon, forced to live amongst the demons until I die.
***
“I sent three angels down there. Two of them are dead,??
? Cole groaned, slamming his hands down on the desk and then falling into his chair. “The third one came back so shaken up we had to send him back to the realm to be fixed.”
“Are you sure they’re dead?” I asked carefully.
“I found two god damn heads mounted on stakes right outside our fucking door. Of course I’m sure!”
Behind me, Janet closed the door and stood beside me. She pulled her new red hair around her shoulders and it irked me, making me want to change my hair color.
“You sent three angels to a demon headquarters?” I asked, ignoring Janet’s puppy dog stare as she watched me in awe.
Cole narrowed his brows at me. “Do you have a hearing problem?”
Sternly, I folded my arms across my chest. If I wasn’t so eager for his permission to get off this demon-ridden planet I’d knock his condescending tone back into his greasy mouth.
“Yes, I sent three angels. I thought that was all you would’ve needed,” he continued.
I ran my hand over my face and exhaled. This guy was possibly the biggest moron I’d ever met. “That place is packed to the roof with demons—what were you thinking?”
“But you went in alone…” Janet muttered in a confused tone.
I turned toward her. “Shouldn’t you be tending the reception desk?”
She fixated her puppy dog eyes toward Cole.
“She can stay,” he said and I rolled my eyes.
“I went in alone because I had been close to Luc—Death before he became a demon… romantically. I was using that to my advantage.”
“And what happened?”
“It’s in the report I gave you,” I replied, not wanting to disclose what I’d written in my report in front of Janet.
“Well, I’m not in a reading mood today,” Cole responded, taking my folder off his desk and tucking it under his arm. I fought off a disgusted grimace as my report touched a small sweat patch on his shirt. “So, what happened?”
Immediately, my hands became moist with sweat and my throat dry. Cole and Janet watched in anticipation—well, Janet watched in anticipation—Cole seemed bored.
“He was one step ahead of me.” I cleared my throat. “He always has been and always will be. I need to spend time tackling issues I can handle, not chasing after ex-lovers in hopes of freeing them. Besides, there are angels more capable than me, maybe they’ll stand a better chance at taking him down.”
“But it’s so romantic,” Janet cooed, twirling her hair around her index finger. “And I bet this guy is, like, a total babe.”
I watched her with a blank expression on my face as I pondered what exactly went through that chemically abused skull of hers. Today, her choice of makeup consisted of sunflower-yellow lipstick and bright golden eye shadow that framed her nice green eyes. She was definitely creative… and brave. I, for one, would never leave the house with such ridiculous colors on my face.
“What’s your plan now?” Cole asked, saving me from replying to Janet’s stupid remark.
“I want to leave Earth and go back to the Never Dark for a new assignment.”
“Why on earth would you want to leave Earth?” Cole and Janet said in unison.
Janet’s full, yellow lips curled into a smirk and she batted her golden eyelids at him. My stomach turned.
“Um,” I stuttered, fighting back the bile that crept up my throat. “I don’t think I’m needed here right now. I need to clear my head and the only way I can do that is in a Lucas-Death free environment.”
Cole ran his chubby index finger along his bottom lip as he surveyed me. “Well, isn’t this funny. You need my permission to leave, don’t you?”
“Yes.” He raised an eyebrow at me. “Sir.”
He smirked and shifted in his chair, placing his folder on the table. “What will you do for me?”
I cringed. It was Cole Nark, that sentence could mean anything.
“I may not be human, but sexual harassment laws still apply in this workplace,” I replied, unable to keep the disgusted tone from my voice.
He scoffed. “Relax, that’s not what I meant.”
“Then for the sake of keeping my breakfast down, please elaborate.”
Cole scowled at me, his eyes almost disappearing under the fat around his eyes. “Will you put in a good word for me? When you get there?”
An incredulous smile spread across my face. “You want to be an angel?” I couldn’t stop the giggle that fell from my lips as I ended my question and I wanted to kill myself for it.
“What’s so funny?”
I tightened my ponytail and pursed my lips against an outburst of laughter that was threatening to come out. “Nothing.” I didn’t sound convincing. “I just had no idea you wanted to fight demons.”
Cole jumped from his chair and paced his office. I tried to imagine his plump physique doing half the shit that we do and I almost fell to the floor in a fit of laughter. Picturing him in a tight catsuit was the only thing gross enough to stop me from doing so.
“Nobody else seems to be bloody doing anything,” he boomed. “I figured if I become an angel, I could actually get something done.”
“If only it was a simple as that,” I scoffed.
“Isn’t it?” Janet butted in.
“Absolutely not.” I turned my attention back to Cole, remembering that I needed to get his permission to leave. “With all due respect, sir, being an angel isn’t as simple as dying, becoming an angel, and then kicking ass. There is a long process you need to go through and months—sometimes years—of training before you even get the chance to set foot on Earth.”
“I know the process,” Cole spat, shoving his chair into his desk.
It startled Janet and she took a slight step behind me. I’ve fought creatures from the Underworld, so it’d take a lot more than an angry human and a loud noise to frighten me.
“What’s up with him?” I whispered to Janet while Cole wrestled with his filing cabinet.
“His brother was killed last night, a werewolf by the looks of it.”
“A werewolf?”
“Yes Ashton, a fucking werewolf. While you’re prancing around in a nightclub, chasing after demonic ex-boyfriends, people are getting slaughtered by the demons you’ve neglected to kill.”
I bit my tongue, determined to come off as the bigger person. “I’m sorry to hear—”
He raised his hand to silence me. “Spare me the pity party.” Cole managed to pull open his filing cabinet and retrieved a sheet of paper. From where I was standing, I couldn’t see what it was for. He leaned over his desk and plucked a long, black pen from a cup that read ‘I hate Mondays… and Tuesdays and Wednesdays and Fridays.’ He scribbled his signature three times over designated sections of the page.
“Here’s your permission.” He slid the paper toward me, along the smooth wood of the desk. “Give me your gun and get the hell out of my office.”
With a quick nod, I took my gun from the holster at the back of my catsuit and placed it on his desk. I grabbed the sheet of paper and left his office as quickly as I could. Normally, I’m one for challenging Cole, but today he deserved a break. Poor guy lost his brother. Janet followed me from his office, closing the door with a quiet click behind me. Despite hearing that Cole lost his brother, I was happier now I had the documents needed to leave Earth. The next step was to book the next available appointment for the teleportation room and get the hell out of here. We only had one Veltra angel at this headquarters, and with the amount of angels that arrive and leave every day, he was usually quite busy.
“I can’t believe you’re leaving and I’m stuck here. Fml, right?” Janet pouted as she dropped into the chair behind the reception desk. I stared at her quizzically. Fml was apparently meant to mean something. “What?”
“Fml?”
I stared at her blankly.
“Fuck my life?”
My jaw clenched and I wished I’d never asked. I knew it had to be an abbreviation for something ridiculous. “Right. Any
way, I need to see Tom as soon as possible. When is the next available slot?”
Tom was the name of our resident Veltra angel. Janet tapped annoyingly away at the keyboard and I waited, glancing around the room. I noticed that they’d put a new painting on the wall. If I recall the art classes I took in high school correctly, the piece was titled The Last Judgement by Michelangelo. A replica, of course—the original was painted on the altar wall inside the Sistine Chapel. It was kind of creepy having a miniature version of it hanging in here.
“Tom is due to teleport someone here within the next hour. There’s no one scheduled to leave, but you don’t have much time once he arrives. He’s set to return immediately to bring another.”
“Pencil me in. I’ll wait for him in the teleportation chamber.”
As she glanced down at her white keyboard to type my name in, I turned on my heel and left. Janet struck me as the kind of person that says goodbye with hugs and no doubt kisses, too. I tucked the permission paper under my arm and squeezed it tightly to my side. I’d hate to lose it. I headed past Cole’s office and down the long, corridor toward the teleportation room. The HQ wasn’t overly large, but it was intricate. There were so many doors I had to get through and security guards that I had to show my form to before I even made it to the reception of the teleportation chambers.
“Name?” Gladys the receptionist asked, peering over the small gold glasses that perched on the bridge of her nose.
I fought hard not to turn my nose up at the foul stench of perfume. Perfume was a guess. It seemed the only logical explanation for the strange smell. There weren’t any cats here, so the chances of it being cat urine were slim to none. I swallowed hard, taking a bitter taste down with it.