Total pages in book: 163
Estimated words: 154735 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 774(@200wpm)___ 619(@250wpm)___ 516(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 154735 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 774(@200wpm)___ 619(@250wpm)___ 516(@300wpm)
The Mini veered off course like a jumping bean, popping the curb and catching some air. Fortunately, the thing wasn’t much wider than a shopping cart, so as it hit the sidewalk, he was mostly able to course correct and keep it from ending up in the display window of a boutique. But then a municipal trash bin jumped into his path and he had to hit the brakes again. Somehow, the paper-clip-sized calipers and what was left of the donut-sized radial tires did the job.
As he bumped against his seat belt and caught his breath, he thought, Wow, just in time: He was staring into the plate glass frontage of a bagel shop, the headlights piercing inside and picking out the tables with their chairs upside down and off the floor.
“What the hell was that?” he asked no one in particular. “And I wonder how good the lox is.”
Then the back door was wrenched open.
Snapping a hold on his gun, he swung the muzzle into the seat behind him—
It was the apparition.
“Let me help him, please,” a soft voice said. “I beg of you.”
Ad lowered his weapon. The female was not of the world, but nor was she an angel. He didn’t know what the fuck she was. What he was clear on, though, was the heartbroken way she was looking at Lassiter.
“G’head,” Ad heard himself say.
She couldn’t kill him, after all. At least… she shouldn’t be able to.
And Lassiter did need help. He was crumpled in the rear, crammed in, creamed from the careening—and there was silver blood all over the black seat. Just as Ad was about to offer to get the angel out—or shit, he didn’t know what—the female extended her hands and closed her eyes. As cold night air weaved through the Mini’s interior, ushering out the bouquet of an immortal’s blood spilled, she started to hum.
No, that wasn’t her. That was… what was coming out of her.
Glowing light pooled all around Lassiter, its vibrational waves creating the sound, and Ad knew without any doubt that the energy was from the font of the Creator: Instantly, the injured angel’s body eased, a shuddering exhale released as pain clearly drained out of him.
“Who are you?” Ad whispered.
He didn’t get a reply. The female was concentrating solely on the summoning and delivery of salvation, her delicate face fierce in her endeavor—
As the theme from Star Wars lit off, Ad jumped—and wondered what the hell John Williams was doing conducting an orchestra in the middle of downtown Caldwell. Except then he realized that it was his phone.
Fumbling around in the pocket of his leather jacket, he answered without checking the screen. Then again, there was only one person who had the number.
“Where are you? I have Lassiter.”
“Well, that’s just great. We have your boy Eddie.”
Ad closed his eyes. “I’d ask how a vampire got this number—”
“You’re Eddie’s only favorite in the phone log thingy. This is Rhage, by the way.”
“Rhage, how’re you.”
“Good, fine, yup. Oh, hey, good news, Eddie’s alive.” There was a pause, and then the Brother said, in a wry way, “I mean, I don’t think he can be dead, can he? It looks like he’s having a little nap? Anywho, you have our fallen angel, we have your buddy. How about turning this into a one-for-one tradesy situation.”
Ad refocused on whatever was happening in the back seat. “Lassiter’s a little busy right now.”
“Why, because you have a TV?”
“No, I think a female with silver hair is playing auto mechanic with his proverbial engine.”
“Rahvyn?”
Ad shifted the phone away from his mouth and said to the female, “Is that your name, Rahvyn?” When he didn’t get an answer, he said into his cell, “Is that her name?”
“Where the hell are you?”
Ad turned back around so he could check the navigation map that was glowing on the dash. “Market and Fifteenth. And I’m not going anywhere, trust me.”
It had been a pretty good plan, driving off with the angel they’d come to find. Of course, the head wound had been a wrinkle, but nothing that he hadn’t intended to solve, provided Eddie handled the business with that demon.
How the hell had Devina managed to escape from the Well of Souls?
“We’re coming now,” the vampire said.
As Ad ended the call, he wondered where the demon was now. Wondered what would have happened if this female hadn’t shown up. Wondered how the night had come to all this.
When he’d bought the Mini, it had been as a joke. Now the thing was an ambulance without the bubble lights and the sirens.
Proof, he supposed, that on any given night in Caldwell, New York… any fucking thing could happen.
CHAPTER ELEVEN
Well, wasn’t this cozy.
As Lassiter opened his eyes, he recognized that he was lying down comfortably on something soft, and Eddie and Adrian were standing next to a bunch of brothers. The fact that he recognized all of the males was probably a good indicator that he hadn’t suffered any ill effects after cracking his head open like an egg on the pavement. And hey, he could remember how it had happened, too: After Devina had gone nuclear on him, he’d hit the—