Chapter 36
As they flew through the air, Liam’s wings flapped lazily. He had to admit, he did love flying, but he missed being human. He didn’t like not existing—not being seen or heard by anyone except fellow angels. His little taste of being alive again made him want the change to be permanent, and if there was another assignment coming up after this mess, he was already looking forward to it simply because he would be human again.
As they arrived in their apartment, something was niggling at his brain. Something was off, but he couldn’t place it.
They landed on the deck and peered through the window at Evangeline sitting on the couch, staring at her hands. Maybe they’d get some answers now.
Liam was the first through the glass. “What’s going on, Evangeline? Have you heard?”
She looked at him, her blue eyes sparkling from tears. “Yes. I’ve been told of Sara’s passing.”
“And what does that mean for us?” Liam asked, his anger growing. “You said this would be easy. That because we were so new to this love shit that it would all be handed to us. What the fuck, Evangeline?”
She looked back down at her hands.
“As far as I’m concerned, this couldn’t have been any more difficult! How the hell were we supposed to reunite a woman with a man she didn’t love?” Liam yelled.
“I . . . I don’t know, Liam.”
He watched the tears fall into her hands. They were actual crystals. So those in the Inner Circle cried crystals. Liam figured he’d cried twice in his adult life. The first was when Annie died, leaving him the empty husk of a douchebag he was today. The second was when he died—frightened and in unbearable pain. If he were to break into sobs, would he cry crystals? And if he did, who the fuck cared? They had failed at their first “easy” mission. Who knew what was in store for them.
Evangeline looked down at her hands again, and Adela paced the floor, looking like her old self: contained and emotionless. He remembered the significant moments with her the past few days—Adela wanting to learn the coffeemaker, and how sexy she had looked making her bed that first morning. The shift in her as he held her close when they pretended to be significant others in front of Jeff and Missy—she could have fought his grip a lot harder, but she didn’t. The heat in her eyes when he came home from the disastrous one-night stand with Grace. Their talk about their deaths and their lives. It was as if she had opened up, maybe even started to live a little bit, but then she had been given back her angel wings and she had closed up again.
Her angel wings were her protection from the real feelings of the world around her. Looking at her now, he saw the three-hundred-year-old witch he knew from before, not the actual human he had grown to like over a few short days.
Things were not as they seemed.
The thought struck him so hard, he became dizzy. He had to sit down on the couch next to Evangeline, which he didn’t want to do as he was so angry with her he wanted to pluck out the feathers in her wings one by one.
Things were not as they seemed.
Before Evangeline had opened her mouth, a thought niggled at his brain, almost as if it were a worm trying to crawl up his spine and lodge itself into the “ah-ha!” part of the gray matter.
What had it been?
After a moment, he whispered, “Holy shit.”
“Liam, you shouldn’t—”
“What is it, Liam?” Adela asked as she kneeled in front of him. As he stared into her dark eyes, he knew he was right. Things weren’t as they seemed.
“Adela, you and I are idiots,” he proclaimed, grabbing her hands. How he longed to feel the real Adela, not the angel kind. The real flesh-and-bone Adela he had been with the past few days.
“Why do you say that?” she asked.
“It wasn’t Sara,” he said. “It’s Missy. He’s supposed to be with Missy.”
Adela stared at him a moment. “How can you be sure?”
“Because it was supposed to be easy. That’s what Evangeline kept telling us. We were so focused on Sara, we didn’t see what—or who, in this case—was right in front of us: Missy.”
Adela’s eyes grew wide. “You think so?”
Liam stood, bringing Adela to her feet. “Think about it. She’s been around this whole time from the beginning and she obviously cares for him. That’s got to be it, Adela.”
Liam could see her thinking about it, and then a small smile crossed her face. “I think you’re right,” she said. “We need to get them together.”
It was going to be difficult because soon Jeff would be receiving news about Sara, and Liam was certain the darkness would consume him if Missy wasn’t there to help him.
He turned to Evangeline. “I want to go see Missy, and I want to do it as an angel. I want her to see me in all my holy glory so she understands the seriousness of this situation.”
Evangeline gasped and put her hand to her throat. “That’s never been done before. Those among the living don’t see Angels of Death.”
“Well, there’s a first time for everything. Make it happen.”
Evangeline looked as if she was about to argue, but then she just nodded her head. “I’ll see what I can do.” She stepped through the sliding glass door and disappeared.