After seeing David, I took the train back to Pleasant Valley and met Marcy at our favorite Mexican restaurant for dinner. Manuel’s was a hole-in-the-wall taco joint ten minutes from my house. If there were ever a cure for heartbreak, it was the guac at this restaurant.
The last thing I wanted was to be alone with all the emotional turmoil inside me. I explained that after I’d faked sick from school, I’d gone to the D&S Tower to talk to David again, and he’d broken things off.
“You protected me through all the stuff with Thomas, and now it’s time to return the favor,” Marcy said, as she fixed her makeup in a compact mirror. “If David D-bag Star has the audacity to cross paths with you again, he’s done for. Pretty Boy won’t know what hit him.” She shut the compact with a vicious snap and traded it for her wallet in her bright-orange Coach tote. “Think of me as the chastity belt between his little burrito and your taco. See what I did there?”
“Marcy, please,” I laughed out. “We’re in public.”
“Ugh, guys are slime,” she grumbled and fished for a twenty-dollar bill. “I’m sorry I keep yapping about this, but I’m just so mad!
My sweet best friend is hurting. If you ask me, David is the last man on this planet who deserves his last name. The only astronomical thing about him was his big bubbly ass in the tabloids a while back, and we all know how that ended up. A Photoshop sham.”
“Have I ever told you how much I love you?”
“Plenty of times, although I love myself enough for the both of us.” She shrugged self-importantly but in a joking way. “It’s a curse.”
Holding back another laugh, I stepped toward the girl behind the glass dome of toppings to create my order: three beef tacos with lettuce, tomato, cheese, sour cream, salsa, and a side of Manuel’s homemade chips and guac.
“I’ll have you know,” Marcy continued, once she was done placing her order, “I’m writing David a terrible review on my fashion blog for his new men’s clothing line!” She took out her phone and viciously typed. “Aaand Send. Ha! Come on, girl, time to eat our feelings. Then we’ll kick it at your place and binge watch the rest of season three of Buffy.”
I managed a smile. Sounded like a plan to me. Together, we walked to the soda station. I put some ice into my large cup and filled it to the brim with a little of each colorful soda. I called this creation the Sugar Splurge. Marcy made a face.
“What?” I asked, sipping the drink.
“I can’t believe you’re still doing that, loser.” We walked to our usual table. “Your metabolism is so unfair. If I drank these, I’d gain like twenty pounds. Not in my ass either, might I add.”
“Girl, don’t even start. Have you looked in the mirror? You’re the ultimate hottie tamale!” Sliding into a chair across from her, I immediately dunked a salted lime chip into the guac. “As for my drink, don’t knock it till you try it. This creation is legendary.”
“You’re a sugar maniac. Haven’t you been getting migraines?”
Tylenol—glory be—was my only relief from those recent killer stress migraines.
“Marcy, my life has gone to the dogs. Sugar is the least of my problems.” I took a big slurp of my drink. “Mmm, glucose.” I offered her the cup as if it were the Holy Grail. “Take a sip. You’re welcome.”
She gulped down a single swallow and choked a little. Her hazel eyes widened.
“I know,” I said cockily. “Evolutionary.”
“No,” she wheezed, pointing somewhere over my shoulder.
“Him.”
I spun around and my stomach plunged. David Star strolled into Manuel’s dressed like a king among peasants. He wore a Gucci number (which I only knew because of Marcy’s fashionista knowledge) paired with a leather jacket, which probably could have bought me a car that didn’t stutter and groan every time I killed the ignition, and a pair of black aviator sunglasses.
David’s granite features snapped in my direction. I quickly rotated back around.
“Kill me,” I said.
“How did he find you?” Marcy asked.
“I don’t know.”
But I had an idea.
“Faith.” The hair at the back of my neck stood on end. David stopped in front of our table. The whole restaurant had become silent, except for a few people whispering and stealing photos of David. Every muscle in my body tensed, ready to launch me into flight at any moment. “We need to talk.”
Up close, everything about him was intoxicating, but I forced my pitiful self to look past his façade to see the jerk who had burned me today. “Um, no thanks.”
He opened his mouth to reply, when Marcy came in hot. “She said no, compadre. Now take your hoity-toity fuckboy haircut and skedaddle, before I call my father. He’s the sheriff in this town. Last time I checked, stalking is a criminal offense.”
A smirk etched its way across David’s lips. He tilted his head down to Marcy. “How rude of me.” Slipping off his sunglasses, he tucked them into the pocket of his leather jacket and reached out a hand. “You must be Faith’s garrulous best friend, Marcy. David Star.”
She shook his hand numbly. Her mouth slowly fell open.
“Wow,” was all she could muster. “You smell yummy.”
“Marcy,” I hissed and shook her tray. Startled, she blinked a few times, exiting dreamy mode. “He just insulted you, and we’re leaving.” I wrapped my tacos and stuffed them into my purse.
“Right,” Marcy said, frowning. “Right, okay.”
“Marcy.” Her head snapped back to David. He flashed another charming smile, and my arms broke out into gooseflesh. I looked anxiously between him and her. “May I have a word alone with Faith? You have to use the bathroom.”
“If you’ll excuse me, I have a urinary urgency.” She got up too fast for me to grab her, retreating to the restroom.
David turned his attention to me, and I jumped out of my chair, putting the table between us. “What the hell did you just do to her?”
“Don’t make a scene,” David said so low I had to read his lips.
“You’ve already done enough of that for the two of us!”
“Give me a chance to explain myself.”
“There’s nothing for you to explain.” I inhaled a shaky breath, energy rushing through my veins. “Just go. Stay away from me.”
He looked around at our audience, chuckling a little. Then he started to walk around the table. “I understand why you’re upset. I have answers for you, but we can’t talk in here.”
“Do not come any closer.” I whipped out my pepper spray and aimed it at him. “It’s not locked, and it’s pointing away from me.” I arched my brow. “Thanks for the tips.”
Unfazed by my weapon, David slid on his sunglasses. “I’ll be outside.”
“That’s nice. I’ll be in here, calling the police.” I increased my personal space and knocked into a couple sitting at a table. Muttering an apology, I reached into the back pocket of my jeans for my phone.
Empty. Seriously? My eyes darted to my backpack, which was closer to David.
David and I stared each other down like cowboys dueling in a wild Western film. My fingers twitched at my side.
I lunged forward. At the last second, his hand shot out and fisted my backpack first. Grinning, he shouldered the bag and sauntered toward the exit.
“Hey! Hey, I need that—you—you thief!” He ignored my protests and shoved through the glass doors into the parking lot.
Glancing around at the puzzled faces around me, I released a disgruntled curse. “Ever hear of the bystander effect, people?”
I raced after him.
“Give me back my backpack!” I demanded, feeling lame as hell as I jogged across the parking lot to David’s retreating frame. “I’m talking to you!”
He pivoted sharply. I smacked into him. My vision filled with his handsome features and all thought suspended. “I’m not who you think I am.”
“We’ve already established that,” I said a bit breathlessly and lunged for my bag again. He lifted it out of reach, and I stopped myself before I jumped for it like a child. “We’re both adults here, David. Give me the backpack.”
“What I mean is,” David said as he lowered the bag, “I’m not him.”
I had a heightened need to take a step back, so I did. “And by him, you mean . . . ”
“The creature you were referencing today in my office. Death.”
He clearly expected some sort of crazy reaction, and heck, I expected one too. When I didn’t even flinch, he ran his thumb over his bottom lip and continued.
“Your car accident with Devin wasn’t an accident. It was a planned intervention to protect you. If you want to know more, I can tell you everything right now. But if you choose to leave and go back to your friend, I won’t track you down again. This is a onetime offer.”
Deciding to throw caution to the wind, as I often found myself doing with David, I nodded. “Fine, I’m listening.”
David tossed my backpack to me like it was a feather. I caught it with a grunt. Freaking textbooks.
“We knew about your existence a few weeks ago, tracked you down, and intercepted one of Death’s encounters with you. That’s what Devin and I do. Track down gifted people, with unusual circumstances like yours, and protect them.”
Robotically, I slid my arms into the straps of my backpack.
Somehow, I was able to formulate a sentence, so I did. “What kind of circumstance is mine?”
“You died, Faith. Before you could cross over to the other side, you were brought back to life. Now your soul is marked by the Kiss of Death.”
“The Kiss of Death,” I said, laughing at the ridiculousness that was my life. “Let me get this straight. You’re telling me, when an individual has an unusual situation like mine, such as the Kiss of Death, you and Devin are the ones who intervene?”
David crammed his hands into his pockets and scanned our surroundings. I watched him carefully for any nervous tics, but just like yesterday, he was a master at keeping a straight face. “That’s exactly what I’m saying.”
“And what proof do you have of this?”
“None I’m allowed to show you.”
“How convenient!”
“Listen, I know how this looks. When this conversation is over, you can decide whether or not you believe me.”
I regarded him skeptically. “Why are you doing this?”
David shifted in an uncomfortable way. “Because I care about you,” he murmured. “I don’t want to see you get hurt.”
My heart fluttered. I repressed any nagging feelings and stared coolly at him. I could have been completely wrong about him; I’d jumped to conclusions with hardly any concrete evidence. Now was my chance to hear him out and make a decision afterward.
“Tell me everything.”
“There are only a few beings left like Devin and me. We’re called the Carrions. The Sixth Phylum of Angels. We accompany dark entities when they die and make sure their deaths are permanent. By dark entities, I’m referring to demons, vampires, ghouls, evil creatures that lurk in the night. We help keep your world at a balance between good and evil, so it isn’t taken over by darkness.”
I twisted the ring on my finger around and around. “Alrighty . . . ”
“Devin is my boss, and my mentor. I consider him a father figure because I’ve known him for so long, but we’re not related. He showed me the ropes when I was a rookie. My eyes are sensitive to bright light because I’ve spent more lifetimes than you can imagine tracking down night creatures in the dark. And the reason why I could take on that angel in my office is because I’m much stronger and faster than a human.”
Jesus Christ. I tried to keep my cool after that second info dump, but my heart was pounding a mile a minute as I now mulled over a thousand racing thoughts.
“Lifetimes,” I said finally. “You’ve spent lifetimes tracking down these creatures.”
“Yes.”
“Which would make you?”
“Much older than I appear,” he conceded. “Existence-wise . . .
I’m a couple centuries old.”
I reached up and gripped the material of my flannel over my chest. “That’s—that’s not possible.”
“I’ve aged impeccably well.”
I waited for the laughter to kick in, for cameramen to jump out, for David to slip up and give me a sign he was lying. But he was unsmiling and grave. I could feel the weight of the truth behind his words.
Centuries. He’d been stuck at the same age for centuries. Cool.
I’m attracted to another immortal dinosaur.
“If this is all true,” I said, “then why would you lie to me yesterday?”
“I was warned to stay away from you.”
“By who? Death?”
His gaze pierced through his sunglasses, answering my question.
Yes. “I had a target on my back two days ago, and so did you. Angels have been dropping like flies in New York. Now we know why.”
“Malphas,” I muttered.
He nodded tightly. “I hope you didn’t get close enough for an introduction.”
I pulled up my sleeve, where the demon’s bladelike talons had ripped into me. There was almost nothing visibly left of the gruesome wound. “Too close for comfort,” I said.
“Malphas gave you that?”
“No, one of his demons did,” I said, shoving down my sleeve to wrap my arms around myself. “I was attacked, and I would have died. Death . . . he saved my life.”
David flexed his hands. I could tell he wanted to press more on the situation, but he didn’t. “Has Death explained to you that Malphas is a demigod?”
“Oh, Death doesn’t tell me anything. It’s his thing.”
“Malphas is the son of Hades and a mortal,” David enlightened. “Hence, demigod. Two thousand years ago, he was destroyed by Death himself. Evidently, he’s been resurrected. I suspect it was Hades’s doing, or maybe his followers, since Malphas has worshippers, like any deity does. He is very, very dangerous, Faith. What you saw crash through my window was an archangel, a powerful guardian from the realm of Heaven that was infected by Malphas’s venom. I recognized the guardian as one of my other mentors. I’m thinking the guardian was a decoy because those demons entered the D&S Tower as soon as I was distracted. They went after you, and they went after me too. That’s why I couldn’t help you in the alleyway.”
“You’re an angel,” I stated, on the brink of a mental breakdown.
But I promised myself I would wait until I got home, so I could wrap myself in a fuzzy blanket with my two good friends, Ben & Jerry, and have a proper nervous collapse.
“I’m a Carrion Angel,” David said and bowed his head as if proclaiming the title was some sort of acknowledgment. “When we were notified that a dark entity had latched onto you, Devin and I tracked you down and tried to find a way to get closer to you.”
“Thomas’s party,” I said.
“And the car crash with Devin,” David said. “We needed to get closer to you and time was of the essence. When we realized what attached to you was the Angel of Death, things became a little . . . tricky. Death is virtually indestructible, unlike most of the dark entities we deal with. At first, Devin thought your situation was a mistake. A fluke in the system. Death has never latched onto a human before. And you seemed like a normal girl without any conceivable connection to the supernatural. Devin put you under my care to figure out what was so unique about you.”
“You only took an interest in me because of Death.” There was a painful lump in my throat. “The interview and the date were just a way to get information on me.”
“I’ll admit it may have started off that way, until I got to know you. You’re funny, kind, intelligent, and beautiful. In every way, my type.”
My heart drummed faster in my chest. “What about after we ate at the carnival?” I interrogated. Focusing on the details was the only way I could stay sane in this moment. “You were frozen. You weren’t breathing or anything. Death froze time, and you were affected by his power. Why were you affected?”
He blew out a frustrated breath. “It was a fleeting spell. Death is known to have a few tricks up his sleeve. In retrospect, I shouldn’t have taken you on that date, at least not without more reinforcements. I had no idea Death had communicated with you at the carnival, until you mentioned it to me yesterday. I wasn’t thinking clearly, only focused on getting you to trust me.”
When I didn’t say anything, David continued, “Death is stronger than I am. His power is unparalleled.” He didn’t seem too thrilled about admitting that last part. “I can’t interfere with his abilities because I’m a Light Angel. According to Seraph Law, Death takes precedence over Light Angels.”
For some reason, I believed him, but I put on my best poker face and pretended my opinion of him remained the same. “Who the heck made that stupid rule?”
“They’re called the Elders. The first Seraphs or angels to ever exist. Most of the rules they’ve created are outdated and unbreakable.
Whenever they try to adjust these laws, the balance between good and evil has always tipped, and never in their favor. Even a being as merciless as Death serves a purpose for humanity.”
“Merciless?”
“I’ve crossed paths with Death a few times, none of which were pleasant. Not only does he have a notorious disregard for human life, but like most Fallen Angels, he abhors anything good and holy, like the realm of Heaven.”
“Did you—did you just say Death is a Fallen angel?”
“He is the Angel of Death, so yes,” David said, and blood pulsed in my ears. “The good news is, Death isn’t the one killing Light Angels for fun.”
“But he does kill humans for fun,” I speculated.
“Don’t get me wrong, he’ll torture mortals with their own fears just for kicks and giggles. But mostly he partakes in how they’re supposed to die anyway and eats a small piece of their soul to satiate his death curse. Or so the legend says.” David rubbed his clean-shaven jaw. “I digress, I have no sympathy for him. If you ask me, nobody made him become the monster he is today. He chose it. And he continues to choose it.”
“That’s not true,” I said, and David’s eyebrow arched. Even I was surprised I’d defended Death. “What I mean is, that can’t be true.
What kind of person voluntarily becomes a monster?”
“A psychopath? As much as I disagree with Death’s methods, I’ve managed to stay out of his way. Until recently. He saw me with you at the carnival and threatened me last night.” His jaw tightened, sharpening it. “Shortly after my encounter with him, I told Devin, and he ordered me to cut ties with you, said our investigation wasn’t worth getting my head chopped off. I didn’t feel like I had a choice today, Faith, but not for my sake. I couldn’t risk you getting hurt because of me.”
He loomed closer. “If Death really wanted to hurt you, he would have already. You being in the dark and unprotected feels riskier than telling you all of this. When you left my office earlier, it hit me how wrong it was to leave you defenseless. Haven’t you always felt special, Faith? You have a unique soul, and Death wants to keep you because of it. Predators don’t spare their prey unless they want to play with it.
The moment he gets his hands on you, I worry he’ll torture you like a lab rat and kill you. The point is, he’s unpredictable. I don’t know what the hell is running through that psychopath’s mind. You must believe I’m on your side. I would never try to hurt you like he would.
I want you safe.”
As I listened to his side of the story, I saw how authentic and exposed he’d made himself. I wanted to believe him, but I had to be absolutely sure he wasn’t lying.
“Give me your hand.”
“My hand?”
I stuck out my hand between us. “You can’t provide any physical evidence of who you are, and Death would never touch me.” Not after what happened at the warehouse.
David edged closer. My body went static with fear. There wasn’t even a heartbeat of hesitation before his long fingers gently gripped mine.
Nothing.
“Well, that was anticlimactic,” I said, staring down at our inter-twined hands. As if something would be triggered, I clutched his hand extra hard one last time and squeezed my eyes shut.
When I looked up at him, his mouth curved into an amused smile. “Satisfied?”
My face burned under his intense stare. “I have questions.”
He released my hand and crossed his muscular arms over his chest. “Go.”
“Why do you have the same ringtone as Death?”
“You’re kidding,” he said with a snicker. “You might not know this, but AC/DC is a popular band.”
“Weak answer.” My eyes narrowed. “Do you have wings?”
“All angels have wings.”
“Even Fallen?”
“Yes.”
Holy crud. My mind harked back to how Death had swooped down in the alleyway to save me. I hadn’t seen his wings, but he’d flown. How had I missed that fact?
“Can I see yours?” I asked.
David rolled back his shoulders. “Wings can be considered an intimate part of angel’s body. With you, it’d be the equivalent of showing you my dick.”
Heat crawled up my neck. “Never mind.” It was time to change the subject. “What else can you do? Can you read my mind?” I sure hope not.
“No,” he said. “I can only control you slightly, like that trick I did earlier to Marcy. I tried to test the malleability of your mind during our interview, and it proved to be very difficult. ”
“But if you really tried?”
“I should be able to influence you, yes.”
“Try it right now.”
Sighing, he lifted his sunglasses up. I watched the pupils of his eyes stutter. “Tell me a secret, Faith.”
“I have two boxes of packaged cupcakes and my grandpa’s old machete stored under my floorboards in case of a zombie apocalypse.
First day of sophomore year, I wore this really pretty jumpsuit my aunt gave me as a gift. I drank way too much coffee that morning and had to go number two in the worst way. I rushed to the bathroom and into the stall. I almost made it. Bye, bye pretty jumpsuit.”
David burst out laughing.
I snapped out of it, blinking fast. “How the hell did you do that?”
He wiped at his eyes under his sunglasses, crying from laughing so hard. “That time I got lucky. You told me two secrets instead of one. Coffee went right through you, huh?”
Mortified, I covered my face with both hands.
“What are your intentions now?” I asked, urgently trying to direct the conversation back to the point. “With me.”
David pushed his jacket back to rest his hands on either side of his belt. “I want you to trust me, so I can protect you. There’s a spare bedroom at my penthouse in the city and you could lay low there for a while. That way, you would be out of harm’s way, while Devin and I find a way to thwart Death. Whatever connection Death has to you, it needs to be severed first and foremost. I have a feeling Malphas will back off then.”
The day I was supposed to die, Death had seen something special in my soul. I couldn’t explain why, or how, but I’d known all along he’d created an invisible bridge between us to come back to me. I hadn’t seen the last of Death. He’d left his mark on my soul. There wasn’t anything I could do about it on my own.
I looked down at my hands and curled my fingers into my palms.
There was something inside of me, building, peaking at that very moment, and the migraine from earlier shoved through the Tylenol and hit me at full force.
“I meant what I said, about caring about you,” David said, and there was a warm fluttering in my chest that seemed to reduce the headache. “Can you promise to keep this conversation between us?”
“Your secret is safe with me,” I said, withdrawing back. “I have to get back to Marcy, and I need time to think about all of this. It’s a lot to take in.”
David nodded once in acceptance. “Take whatever time you need. Just know it may be of the essence. You know my number.”
Without saying good-bye, we both turned our backs on each other and retreated. I entered Manuel’s more confused and uncertain of the world than ever before.
