Redeeming Angel (28 page)

Too bad Chase wasn’t going to take him
seriously.

“
Why is he here?” Chase
snapped. All eyes moved to Colin who shifted uncomfortably in his
seat.

I bristled, but kept my mouth
shut.

Lexi’s chin pinched. “He refuses to
leave.” The two of them were sitting cozily on the loveseat, Lexi’s
legs crossed on top of Colin’s. By the look of it, they had made
up.

Chase arched a brow.

I grabbed his forearm before he could
stand. “You’re not going to escort him out. If Lexi really didn’t
want him here, do you think he would be here?” I whispered in his
ear.

“
I want to help,” Colin
said, scooting forward in his chair.

I exhaled. Here we go. Colin had no
clue what can of worms he’d just opened. He was earnest in his
offer, but I knew Chase. He wasn’t about to put a human’s life in
danger, especially someone he knew Lexi cared deeply
for.

“
Just how exactly do you
plan to help?” Chase barked. “
They don’t
care who is calling. Hell doesn’t take collect calls.” His back
muscles tensed.

Sometimes it was difficult to not be
amused by Chase’s sarcasm.

“
For once in your life, do
you think you could not be a dick?” Lexi spat, jumping to Colin’s
defense. “His intentions are good, which is more than I can say for
you.”

He thrust his fingers through his
hair, looking ready to pounce. “He’ll only be in the
way.”

“
Look, I’m not here to
start anything or get in the way,” Colin replied.

The whole room erupted into unruly
chatter, everyone talking over each other, throwing out a variety
of ideas, all of which sucked. I sat silent with my hands on my
bouncing knees. Nervous energy trickled through me. Something was
wrong. More wrong than usual. I didn’t know what it was, but
something was coming. I felt it crawl up my spine, the marks on my
hip tingling erratically.

Chase’s name began to form on my
lips.

Out of nowhere, Lexi shot across the
room in a blur of speed and sparkle. She sat down on the coffee
table, taking a firm hold of my hand. “What’s that on your finger?”
she squealed.

The room had gone quiet. “Umm, a
ring,” I replied, feeling color stain my cheeks.

“
I can see that. Did
you
—
? Are you
guys
—?
” Lexi
tongue-tied didn’t happen often.

“
I think this is the first
time I’ve ever seen you at a loss for words,” Chase
said.

“
Don’t ruin this moment,”
she said, wiping under her eyes, which were brimming with emotion.
“Oh. My. God. You’re engaged?”

I nodded. “That was pretty much my
reaction.”

Voomphf.
I found myself engulfed in a hug that almost
knocked me on my ass.

“
Why didn’t you tell me?
Why didn’t either one of you tell me? How long?” And off she
rattled, question after question.

“
I was going to.
After…”
I kill Alastair
, I finished in my head.

“
I want to know everything.
Every single detail.” She turned my hand from side to side,
studying my rock. “It’s beautiful. I can’t believe you picked this
without me,” she said, turning to Chase.

“
Believe it or not, I do
have taste.”

“
I guess you would have to.
You fell in love with my best friend.”

Congratulations came from
all sides of the room. The guys did the guy
thing
—
back pats,
handshaking, and one shoulder hugs.

“
We have so much to do, so
much to plan,” Lexi proclaimed.

“
Ugh. Stop. You’re giving
me a migraine,” I grumbled.

Chase laughed, amused.

“
I was thinking about
eloping,” I muttered. “No fuss.”

“
No flipping way,” Lexi
protested. “You can’t take this away from me. If you don’t want to
plan your wedding, then let me. I will do everything. All you have
to do is show up on the day.”

I pressed two fingers to my temple.
“Do we really need to talk about this now?”

“
I’m with Angel. The mushy
stuff is over. Can we get back to killing demons?” Emma
asked.

Lexi held a finger in the air, hushing
Emma. “When’s the wedding? Can I be your maid of honor? OMG. We
have so much to do…Chapel, venue, food, invitations, guest list,
dress…” She ticked off each item on her fingers, and when she ran
out of fingers, she started over again.

I blacked out after dress.

“
Reality check, princess.
There won’t be a wedding if we don’t destroy Alastair,” Emma
interrupted in her usually boorish self.

Lexi pouted, eyes a mixture of the sea
and the sun. “You take the fun out of f-u-n.”

Things were getting pretty lively in
the Winters’ home tonight, and when you were dealing with a group
eighty-nine percent supernatural, stuff was bound to get broken.
Hopefully, it wouldn’t be anything valuable or that couldn’t be
replaced.

Much to Lexi’s disappointment, the
conversation steered back to killing, Emma’s favorite topic. “We
still haven’t found a way to destroy them,” Emma said. “Before we
start baiting demons, we should probably figure out how to
terminate them. For good.”

There were a lot of head nods. I tried
to sound brave and confident as I shouted over the group. “It has
to be me. I have to kill Alastair.”

As expected, I got a bunch of crazy
looks, but at least the volume in the room had gone down a few
notches. Hayden with his boy-next-door good looks eyed me
thoughtfully. “Angel, no one here expects you to singlehandedly
take on the big bad wolf alone.”

“
No,” Chase said, his head
down, staring at the floor. “She’s right. Angel is the only one who
can defeat Alastair. Or any demon for that matter.”

“
I’m confused,” Travis
said. “Thirty minutes ago you completely shut down the idea of her
drawing them out, and now you’re endorsing the idea of Angel
killing Alastair. What gives, man?”

“
It’s…”

“
If you say complicated
I’ll hit you,” Travis interjected.

“
And then I will,” Craig
added.

No one was going to hit anyone if I
could help it. “I’m a slayer,” I blurted out.

Silence followed. And
stretched.

“
A slayer?” Emma broke the
dead air. “There hasn’t been a slayer in centuries.”

Chase’s eyes narrowed. “How do you
know?”

“
Because I attended hunter
boot camp, remember?”

“
What do you know?” Chase
asked, inching to the edge of the couch.

The entire room was waiting on pins
and needles. Emma flipped closed her pocketknife. “Only what I’ve
read, which was very little. Most hunters believe slayers are a
myth. They’ve been extinct for so long, most everyone has forgotten
about them.”

Suddenly, I felt like I was on
display. “The why and how aren’t important. What is imperative is
whether or not my flames will really destroy the soul of a
demon.”

“
So we don’t know if she
can really obliterate them?” Craig sneered.

Jerk
.

“
There haven’t been any
volunteers since I found out, which was only a few days ago.”
Cynicism laced my voice.

“
What else have you two
been hiding?” Lexi pouted.

“
How did you find out?”
Hayden asked.

Chase, Travis, and I all squirmed in
our seats.

“
Kira?” Lexi squawked. “Why
would you believe anything that comes out of her mouth?”

“
What choice do we have?”
Chase countered. “This is our only option, because everything else
we’ve done thus far hasn’t worked.”

“
This plan keeps getting
screwier. I’m tried of being a sitting duck, and I’m ready for some
action,” Emma said, flipping her knife open.

It seemed to be the consensus all
around. Everyone was tired of being at Hell’s mercy.

You ask and you shall receive. Emma’s
little call for action was answered.

Pop. Pop. Pop.

One by one the pins and screws holding
the front door to the frame hit the hardwood floor. For several
heartbeats, everyone in the room stood, staring at the door,
immobilized by disbelief.

WTF.

With nothing securing the large wooden
door, it crashed to the floor with a loud boom that shook the lower
part of the house. Colin paled beside Lexi.

Hell had come knocking.

Chapter 27

{Angel
}

“
They’re coming,” I said,
fumbling with my ring. The cool metal against my skin gave me
strength and courage. It wasn’t the ring itself, but what it
represented and the guy who had given it to me.

“
No,” Chase said, his
expression troubled. “They’re already here.”

It should have been no surprise, but I
hadn’t expected things to kick off so quickly. I wasn’t ready. Not
yet. I needed more time to practice, to hone my skills, but my time
was up.

Emma and Travis hauled ass into the
kitchen, throwing open drawers and cabinets, pulling out the secret
stash of weapons. Travis tossed Hayden and Craig each a blade
dipped in rubies. Lexi bent down, reaching into her boot for her
own weapons.

In under a minute, everyone in the
room—even Colin—was armed and loaded. Emma had her bow strapped
onto her back and wicked-looking blades in each hand. Her red hair
was tied into a ponytail. “How about we put this slayer theory to
the test?”

Adrenaline started firing inside me,
flowing through my veins. I nodded. “Why not?”

All plans previously made were pretty
much thrown out the window. This wasn’t like any other demon fight,
I told myself. This was bigger. The stakes were larger. My hands
were shaking, fear soaked my skin, and my heart beat wildly in my
chest. Yep. Just like my other encounters with demons.

With unsteady hands, I pulled out my
phone and sent a text to my mom, advising her to seek a safe place
and to stay there until she heard from me.

Be safe,
Angel
, she texted back.
I love you.

One by one we crept over the fallen
door, prepared to meet the horror that waited for us on the other
side. The chill in the air was more pronounced than usual for this
time of year. Chase’s shoulder brushed up against mine, sharing his
warmth and his steadiness. Night was in full swing, the moon a
circle glowing brightly and illuminating the fields.

Travis tweaked the end of my nose, a
gesture of affection. If things didn’t go down the way we hoped,
then this was it. I gave him a weak smile. “Even in Hell, I’ll
still kick your butt in CoD.”

He laughed. “Go get ’em,
firestarter.”

It was weird having them
depend on
me
for
once. I’d always looked to Chase, Travis, and Lexi to keep me safe.
They’d been stronger and faster. Here was to hoping I didn’t crack
under pressure.

Chase and I held hands for a moment,
offering silent assurances, but the moment wasn’t long enough. “You
good?”

I wanted to say no. How could I be
good? His warm hand felt strong and sturdy in mine. “Yeah.
You?”

He blinked, his eyes flashing amber.
“Just peachy, Angel Eyes.”

Let the good times
roll.

As a group, we spread out but kept our
ranks close. We passed the property line, each of us on alert.
Chase’s expression was menacing. Craig, Hayden, and Travis bantered
as we walked, easing a bit of the tension. Lexi stayed close to
Colin, afraid to leave him alone in the house, but probably more
afraid to have him in the middle of a war. The demons, in their
true form, came out of the darkness, a sea of glowing scarlet
eyes.

“
Guard your loins boys.
Trouble has arrived,” Emma said. “Better get those flames hot and
ready, Angel.”

I rolled my eyes.

My body went into some sort of
protective mode as I cleared my mind in preparation for a fight. I
was definitely borrowing some of Chase’s confidence through our
bond. He gave my hand one last squeeze, and I blew him a raspberry
as we turned our focus to the parade of creatures coming right at
us.

The ground thundered and trembled from
the immeasurable pounding of feet as demons, hellhounds, and
whatever else raced across the fields. Weeks of training prompted
me into action. I only hoped it was enough, and I didn’t end up in
tiny little pieces scattered all over the place.

I lunged forward, bracing the blade in
my hand.

Emma fired her bow, the arrow slicing
through the air, sprouting four ruby points at the tip, and
straight into a demon’s throat. Hayden and Travis tag-teamed two
demons, circling around the creatures and binding them with a rope
made of properties I didn’t yet understand. The demons howled, and
the skin touched by the red threads bubbled and oozed black
goo.