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The angel laughed. “You honestly think I am so young?”
“Well, you look—”
The girl grew in height, her features maturing to an age closer to Paige’s, though her hair remained pink and in pig tails. Her dress lost its frills, morphing to silk, flowing around her ankles on a soft breeze. “I am ageless.”
Paige took a step towards Balnore. “I already told Raphael I don’t want his help.”
“Yeah, well, if I were you, I wouldn’t want his help either.”
Paige frowned. “Who are you?”
“Name’s Roxxie.” The angel took a single fluid step towards Paige. “I’m not here to hurt you. I merely wish to help.”
Paige drew closer to the comfort of the demon. “I kinda doubt that.”
“You have wounds.”
“And we’re fine.”
“I can help.”
“We’re fine.”
“I won’t hurt you.”
“We’re fine.”
Roxxie let out a long sigh and took a step back. “Do I scare you?”
“You’re an angel,” Paige said. “I’m the rogue demon talker. Yeah, you scare the living shit out of me. Okay?”
A cell phone rang, the tone echoing in the gathering silence. Paige heard Brian’s voice, but couldn’t really make out what he was saying.
Paige didn’t know what to do. “Please, if you want to help, leave.”
“I can’t. Well, I can. Eh—” Roxxie rolled her large black eyes. “Okay. So I can, but I don’t want to. Heaven is so boring.” She drew out the word. “I need excitement, something different, and right now? You’re the excitement.”
Paige’s expression grew wide. “Seriously? Roxxie, I don’t need this right now.”
Roxxie sent her a smile of angelic innocence.
“You need to—”
“Who are you talking to?” Brian asked as he approached.
Paige frowned at him. “Chief.” She pointed at the angel. “You can’t see her?”
Brian raised an eyebrow and shook his head. “I need to apologize. What I said earlier was in haste.”
She couldn’t blame him. Not really. All she had to do was look at the carnage to see why he’d reacted the way he had. “I understand.”
He released an embarrassed breath through his closed lips. “How’s Dexx?”
“They told me. I didn’t understand any of it. They’re taking him to Baton Rouge.”
He winced. “I need your help.”
She couldn’t say she was interested. Her only friend was being carted off to Baton Rouge. She’d lost her only lead on the key. Her demon shield was gone, who knew where. She was out of her element and good no one. “Why? What happened?”
Brian’s jaw clenched. “That symbol Sven carved on your chest?”
Paige nodded.
“It’s on all the victims. And…” He let out a long breath, his head tipping to the side. “Mike escaped.”
Paige frowned. “Without Malika.”
Brian massaged his forehead. “Yeah. I need help, Paige. I can’t let you leave yet.”
Roxxie leaned to the side, her hands clasped behind her back. “I think you might need me after all. What do you think?”
Roxxie raised her hand. “I know where Mike is.”
Paige stared at the angel and sighed. If ever an angel was born she could deal with, Roxxie was it. She acted normal, didn’t look down on her. “Okay. Are you going to make me talk to thin air, or can you reveal yourself to everyone?”
“You might want to prepare him.” Roxxie shrugged deeply, a cherub-like smile on her otherwise pixie face.
Paige met Brian’s gaze.
He raised his eyebrows and lowered his chin, his hands open at his waist.
“Angel.”
He pulled the corners of his lips down, then nodded.
“Okay, Roxxie. I think he’s ready.”
Paige didn’t see anything different.
Brian took in a sharp breath. He released the air out of his lungs, his fingers flexed. “Chief Brian White.”
Roxxie beamed at him. “It’s a pleasure to meet you. You may call me Roxxie.”
Brian cleared his throat. “Murdering demons and guardian angels.”
“Don’t think all angels are guardians.” Roxxie scuffed her toe. “We’re not.”
Balnore narrowed his eyes, rising to his feet. “I don’t believe we’ve met.”
Roxxie beamed a smile at him. “We haven’t, but I’ve heard all about you. You’re quite a rebel, you know.”
“I hope you haven’t heard too much.”
“Well, no. It’s not like we have a Fallen news station or anything.”
“Demon?” Brian asked.
Things were getting way too complicated. Paige held up her hand. “He’s a demon. We can trust him. Roxxie, you said you knew where Jones is.”
“I do.”
“We need to catch him before he kills again.” Brian ran his thumb along his eyebrow. “I don’t know how he escaped.”
Roxxie tipped her head. “He’s an angel. He was sent here to protect Malika, and to make sure the key didn’t fall into the hands of the demons. You can’t jail an angel. At least not in any confines you have.”
Paige took in a breath, held it, and tried again. “An angel?” Suddenly, too many things made sense. Gabriel had bound Lucius between the planes and killed Sven two hundred years ago. Sven had been reborn in New York a hundred years ago. The key fragment had been passed down from one Moore witch to the next until it got to Malika. Mike was her protector in the same way Balnore was Paige’s.
Gabriel had helped Rachel take Leah. Raphael was Paige’s guardian, though, somehow Balnore had beaten him out. Paige had been needed to pull Lucius from the in-between. Sven needed Lucius’ soul to morph with the other guardian souls in the key.
Sven was merely a pawn in this whole game. He probably wasn’t even supposed to be on the board. Mike Jones was the true master mind behind all of this. He’d gotten Malika involved. He’d gotten Paige involved.
She snorted. The mystery was solved. Now all she had to do was to keep the key from being powered up, from being used. How could she do that, though, if her shield had run off?
Mike Jones was an angel. He needed the key. To follow Sven would be to go in the wrong direction. Mike’s first priority would be to retrieve that key, to get it out of demon hands. He knew Lucius was no longer harbored inside of Paige’s body—and now it made sense why he’d known. An angel would.
But would he necessarily hide behind demons?
To get away from her? Maybe.
Damn it. She needed her shield. “Bal, do you have any idea where Lucius is?”
His expression folded in consternation. “Why would I know? Am I his babysitter?”
She released a frustrated breath. “Roxxie, where’s Mike Jones, and has he retrieved the key?”
“The key?” The angel glanced at the ceiling. “I do not know. But he is at the junkyard on the other side of town.”
Paige closed her eyes, her wounded arm shaking. She banished the pain to the back of her mind, but that was going to stop being enough soon. “Reality check. How likely is it that he’s housed with demons?”
“He does know how to play them.” Roxxie jerked back, staring at her bleeding arm. “Raphael will have my wings.” She rushed to Paige’s side, wrapping her lithe fingers around Paige’s arm.
Paige batted her away.
Warmth flowed over her, taking the fight right out of her. The tight pain in her arm, her hip and her side disappeared.
Roxxie stepped back with a huge grin. “What are we waiting for? Let’s go.”
Paige stared at her as she inspected where her wounds had been. “What did you do?”
“I…” Roxxie tipped her head to the side, the tip of her tongue sticking out. “I healed you. That seemed like the right thing to do. Was I wrong? Were you meant to suffer?”
“No, um. Thank you.” Paige released a frustrated sigh. “Chief, if there are demons, I can’t help. Lucius is gone. I have no other protections. We’re down the demon hunter. It’s just you and Balnore. Not good odds.”
Brian threw his hands in the air, his fingers splayed. “That’s not good enough, Paige. He’s a known murderer.”
“He’s an angel, sir.”
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