Saving Her Angel (Archangels) (8 page)

Another crunch of glass sounded, and Eleanor sat up while putting her clothes back on.

Cam helped her off the table. “Stay here, where there aren’t any windows.”

“Wait. What? No, Cam, I’m coming with—”

What felt like a shock wave rocked the house, and she screamed as she stumbled into him. He pushed her beneath the large table and mumbled what sounded like Latin under his breath. “Don’t move from this spot, Elle. You’ll stay safe under my protections.”

Then he ran out of the room.

She looked around frantically at the piles of books on the floor. No more sounds came from inside the house, but the sound of hail or something striking the roof started up in a steady rhythm. She covered her ears and moved to the center of the floor beneath the large table. “God, why is this happening?”

A low, deep voice laughed inside her head, chilling her to the bone. Only once before had she heard something like that, and she had long ago convinced herself it was no more than a nightmare. The laughter continued as her heartbeat sped up and nausea roiled in her gut.

“No, no, no.” She fought the urge to cry. “Go away. Whatever the hell you are, go away and leave me alone.” The evil laughter continued, so she did the only other thing she could think of and started to pray.

Years had passed since Eleanor had considered saying a prayer for any reason, but the words tripped off her tongue seamlessly. She said every one she could think of from her youth. Endless minutes passed as she huddled beneath the table, eyes shut tight, and mumbled one prayer after another. Strong fingers gripping her forearms finally brought her out of her trance, and she gasped.

“It’s okay, sweetheart. I got you.”

She looked up into Cam’s worried gaze and fell into his embrace.

Her trembling only seemed to increase against his strong chest, but he held her until it stopped. Finally, she pulled back enough to talk. “What happened?”

“A small attack on the most vulnerable part of the house. I’m afraid every window has been shattered.”

The horror she felt must have shown on her face because he pulled her back against his chest. “It’s all right, Elle. My brothers are here now. You’re safe.”

“I think that’s a relative term.”

His smile seemed forced. “Maybe. But I swear I’m not going to let anything happen to you.” He placed a soft kiss on her lips and drew her toward the door.

“Cam.”

“What?”

“You said your brothers are here.”

“Yeah. So?”

“So…” She tried to pull away from him. “We should stop this.”

“I’m just holding you. They won’t care.”

“Are you sure? I mean…I’m human.”

He brushed another kiss across her lips and released her long enough to pull on his shirt, but then he took one of her hands in his and led her from the room. “We date humans.”

“Oh.”

“Two of my brothers are married, remember? Their wives know about us, and no, those two are no longer angels. They both chose to
fall
, allowing their wives to take the place of us—my brothers and myself. It’s something angels rarely choose to do, but it’s allowed.”

Annoyance filled her. “Are you reading my mind right now?”

“No. We only do that under the direst of circumstances.”

“So, you’ve never done that with me before?”

“I’ve certainly been tempted.” He grinned and kissed her nose. “But no. I haven’t.”

They walked into his large living room. Uri and Sel were there, and their presence alone kept her from questioning Cam further. Each one nodded at her before turning their attention to Cam.

“Mike is on his way,” Sel said. “We’ve strengthened the wards on your house, but the fact remains that they shouldn’t have even known where to find you.”

“Who?” Eleanor asked.

The men looked at her, then at Cam. He blew out a breath and motioned toward the sofa. “Have a seat.”

Annoyance filled her, and she crossed her arms over her chest, stubbornly staying in place. “No. Just give it to me straight. What the hell is going on?”

Sel chuckled and Uri smirked, but Cam looked anything but amused. “We’re not 100 percent certain, okay? Something attacked the house, and I don’t know why, but chances are good it was to get to you.”

All the blood in her body drained to her feet, and she swayed.

“Shit.” Cam grabbed her arms. “Don’t faint on me again.”

That strengthened her backbone in a heartbeat, and she shoved him away. “I’m not going to faint. I don’t think.” She looked at his brothers. “Are you two staying here?”

They nodded.

“We all are for the moment,” Sel said and motioned to the sofa. “So you may as well get comfortable.”

The fight drained out of her, especially since she had no real reason to argue against these men. They were the good guys, her protectors. She just wished she knew from what and why it was necessary.

All of them found spots to sit. The living room had one window, and the glass appeared to have already been cleared away. She couldn’t imagine the state of the rest of the house, but the brothers didn’t seem too concerned about it.

“You heard the assembly,” Sel said.

“Yes. Mike really thinks he can make a difference talking to any of them individually?” Cam asked.

His brothers shrugged.

“It’s worth a try,” Uri said. “We need all the help we can get, even if it’s only with them reporting what they see.”

“Are there angels who will simply watch evil happen and do nothing?” Eleanor blurted out.

All three men looked at her, and fear skittered down her spine. Cam said it was okay that she knew, didn’t he?

He opened his mouth but hesitated, while Uri sat back.

Sel seemed embarrassed but finally replied. “Yup. That about sums up what a Watcher is, Eleanor. Strictly speaking, that’s all they were created to do. Watch the humans and do no harm to them. Other than those two directives, they were given no other real rules or regulations.”

She breathed more easily and blinked a couple of times as she tried to wrap her brain around that one. “Wow. But doing nothing in the face of evil seems so wrong. It almost seems like giving permission.”

Uri chuckled humorlessly. “And therein lays the great debate among angels. Do something, or do nothing? It’s the one thing we can’t seem to agree on.”

“And what does God say?”

They all looked uncomfortable with that question and shared a long glance before Cam faced her again. “We haven’t heard from the Source of All Creation in a very long time. So I guess the answer would be…nothing.”

“Hmm.” What a disturbing thought. Unfortunately, her mind was already crowded with too many other bothersome events to give much credence to that one for the moment.

“There are a couple of other things we really need to talk about.”

Dread snaked down her spine, but she brushed away the chill. Whatever he had to say, she didn’t want any of them to think she couldn’t handle the truth or needed to be constantly protected. The earthquakes hadn’t been explained, and she really wanted to know more about the guy who had attacked her and then found his way to her house. Now that this house had been attacked, the danger to her seemed more real. Still, surely they had more important things to worry about that an insignificant human like her.

…

Elle straightened her spine and lifted her chin. Cam wanted to kiss her again but refrained when his brothers sent him amused looks. They had obviously caught his thought.

He was slipping. Normally he wouldn’t care too much, but the timing couldn’t be worse. She seemed to be in very real danger from some kind of demon, and he needed to keep his wits about him.

“So,” she said, “what do we need to talk about?”

He ran a hand through his hair and thought over exactly what he wanted to say, but when his gaze met hers he noticed the fear and uncertainty. An ache formed in his chest because he couldn’t save her from the ugly truth he was about to reveal.

“There’s a scent outside each of the windows that we refer to as ‘demon taint.’ The man who attacked you this morning wasn’t human. He’s what we call a mid-level demon. That makes him more dangerous than a mindless minion that would just cause chaos, which is what I suspect just broke all my windows. Fortunately, not a high-level demon. That would try to take over the world as you know it.”

Fear wafted from her like a dark perfume. Her brow wrinkled in a slight frown, and he had to clench a fist to keep from reaching out to smooth her soft skin. The uncertainty in her expression was so foreign. His perfect little secretary never got shaken up about anything.

“O-okay,” she said. She hesitated and clenched her fists in her lap. “But why in the hell would he attack me? I’m nobody.”

Instant denial rose up, but he squelched it to stay on topic. “Apparently, you’re somebody important to a demon. Unfortunately, we still don’t know which demon or why.”

A hard shiver wracked her small frame, but when he tensed to move toward her she stiffened and crossed her arms. “How can we find out?”

The determined tone eased him. “We need to know more about you, sweetheart. I really need you to explain what you told me earlier. There’s no way you’re a cold-blooded murderer.”

Everyone seemed to hold their collective breath, and she looked tense enough to shatter at the slightest touch. There was no possible way for him to keep himself from touching her. He took her hands between his and realized they were trembling.

“Just tell me what happened, Elle. No one in this room would ever judge you without all of the facts. Please. I have to know the truth.”

Nearly panting with her speeding pulse, she yanked her hands from his grip and stood. Thinking she was about to leave, he prepared to follow, but all she did was pace around the room.

“I don’t remember most of what happened clearly.” She waved her hands around as she spoke in agitation. “Just disjointed images and emotions. I was very little. But my mom died because of me. I know I killed her.”

The others looked at him with raised brows. All three of them heard her lie clear as day.

He cleared his throat and chose his words carefully. “If you can’t remember, any one of us can read your thoughts and look back to your earliest memories. We can find the truth. It’s in there somewhere.”

The blood drained from her face, and she shook her head vigorously. “No. I don’t want anyone messing with my head. No way.”

He stood and held his hands up. “Okay, Elle. We won’t do that. You have nothing to fear from us. I swear.”

With her emotions so close to the surface, it almost seemed as if she hadn’t heard him. She shook her head again but wasn’t looking at any of them. Cam sensed she no longer really saw them, but was perhaps stuck in the memories of her past. Pain and fear filled her gaze and her aura. He closed the distance and hugged her against his chest until the rhythm of her heartbeat slowed. Everyone remained quiet until she seemed calm enough that he no longer feared she might faint.

After a few minutes her muffled voice filled the silence. “He said it was my fault. He said I killed her.”

“Who did?”

Pulling her head back from his chest, she finally met his eyes again. “The man at the compound. He told me it was my fault. That if I had just listened it wouldn’t have happened. I disobeyed, and my mom died.”

The tears he’d seen trapped in her eyes finally burst free, and he tightened his hold. He carried her to the sofa and cradled her in his lap while she cried her heart out.

…

A flood of emotions threatened to overwhelm Eleanor as she sobbed against Cam’s chest. Terror, pain, uncertainty, she relived it all as he held her and murmured soothing words. She was vaguely aware of his brothers leaving the room. Though she felt grateful for the privacy, she couldn’t tear herself away from Cam to even acknowledge them. The tears kept coming, and she just held on tight until the storm passed. Luckily, he didn’t seem to mind.

He smoothed her hair away from her face and removed her glasses to wipe her tears away, then he placed a kiss on her forehead. She finally opened her eyes to find him watching her.

“Better?” he asked.

She hiccupped. “A little.” His grin definitely helped. “I’m sorry.”

He covered her lips with one finger. “Don’t. You have absolutely no reason to apologize. How old were you when that happened?”

She sighed and closed her eyes, both to think it over and to take a break from his concerned gaze. His presence overwhelmed her, and her emotions were already all over the place. With that thought in mind, she sat up and gently pushed away from him. He let her go but kept a hand on her hip and urged her to sit beside him. She took her glasses from him and put them back on.

“I was maybe five. I know I’d already started school, but I don’t think it had been a full year yet when my mother took me out so we could move into the compound.”

“Compound?”

She sighed, the soul-deep sound cleansing. How long had it been since she’d given these memories free reign? Almost certainly too long, but there was no one she trusted more than Cam. If she could ever confess the truth of her childhood horrors to anyone, it should be to him.

“Go ahead and tell your brothers to come back in so I don’t have to say this twice.”

“I can open my mind to them if you’d rather just speak to me.”

An unexpected smile formed at his thoughtfulness. “No, that’s all right.”

As his brothers returned, she moved over to the other sofa before they could sit. They took her cue and sat with Cam instead, but he didn’t seem too happy with the arrangement. When he started to rise, she held up her hand. “No. I need to get this all out, and if you’re next to me…you’re a distraction.”

His brothers chuckled as he frowned, but he sat back down. “All right. Go ahead.”

After clearing her throat, she fell into the story. “It all started after my parents split up. We moved because Mom couldn’t afford our house all by herself. We moved to Oklahoma. I remember being afraid that a tornado would get us, but she promised we’d be okay because the place we were moving to was protected by a higher power.”

She put her face in her hands a moment as more memories surfaced. Not all of them were bad, but it was overwhelming to just remember so much of her past all at once.