Immortal (Fallen Angels #6)(35)
Author: J.R. Ward

As she ended the connection, she prayed that the woman had something open in the morning. Afternoon, at the latest.

Because she didn’t know how she was going to go on from here.

Like some pathetic loser, she let herself fall to the ground and just sat there, surrounded by the evidence of how fucked her immortal life was. She was too spent to get in touch with her anger and her hatred, too betrayed to marshal some kind of revenge, too heartbroken to even think about Jim.

Devina ducked her head and wondered if maybe this was the Creator’s punishment. She wouldn’t put it past Him to engineer this torture.

He said He had brought her into being to offer balance to His world and its various humans and creatures. He had always reassured her that she served an important purpose. But she knew better than to believe He was impartial. The truth was … He preferred the good.

Always had.

And that did not typically bother her. In fact, she liked being the fly in the ointment—most of the time.

Not at the moment, however. Not in this moment when she was more alone than she had ever been.

Chapter Seventeen

“Sooooo, I guess I’m going to head upstairs and take a shower before bed.”

As Sissy spoke casually, Jim was impressed with the subterfuge: Like she had no agenda and all the time in the world, she crumpled up the wrapper of the hamburger she’d eaten, put it into the closest bag and crammed an empty red French fry carton in there with it. Then she stretched her arms overhead and gave a yawn.

But Jim knew better—especially as she shot him a glance that could have melted paint off a car door. Fortunately, Adrian was all about his Filet-o’-whatever. Or had he started in on his Big Macs?

Like Jim cared.

“Night, Ad.” As Sissy went over to the guy, the other angel glanced up and offered his cheek. “Sleep well.”

“You, too, Sis.”

The kiss she planted on the bastard lasted about a nanosecond and was on an entirely innocent part of Adrian Vogel’s body—and Jim still had to call off his inner dogs so he didn’t rip his wingman’s throat open.

Possessive much? he thought to himself.

Sissy bent over and picked up her trash, and to keep himself from going full-tilt ogle, he made work out of unwrapping his next Quarter Pounder.

“Wait,” he said to her. Then he looked at Ad. “You got your phone?”

The angel eased onto one butt cheek and took the thing out of his pocket. “Yeah. You lose yours over in Ash Land?”

“No. Ah … would you mind taking a picture?”

“You want a mug shot? I thought you already had a driver’s license with a shitty close-up on it.”

“No, of me and—” Jim coughed into his fist to cut himself off.

What the fuck was he saying here?

“Of the damage to the room,” he finished.

“Like you’re going to make an insurance claim or something?”

“Just so that we don’t screw over the owner.”

Ad eyed the destruction. “No offense, but I think that’s already happened.”

Except the angel started to oblige, putting up his iPhone and clicking away as he kept eating. And after a moment, Sissy floated a wave and took off.

God, he could hear every one of her footfalls as she went up and walked around overhead. He pictured her going down the hall to her room, walking into her bathroom, brushing her teeth—maybe taking a shower. He saw her …

Well, shit, he saw her naked. Really, very, totally naked.

Back to the burger. Which now tasted like cardboard and not because it was from the golden arches.

He glanced over at Ad as the angel finished up with the photos. And imagined where things might be if the guy hadn’t helped him get back from Purgatory.

“So … thank you,” Jim muttered.

Ad tucked his phone away, and shoved another load of fries into his piehole. “You haven’t seen how awful these are. Plus I’m thinking I’ve got grease on the viewer thing.”

“You know what I’m talking about.”

There was a long pause. “You don’t have to say that.”

“I do.”

“Well, whatever. I had no intention of letting Devina take another one of you. Already lost Eddie—kinda done with the whole immortal-except-not-really bullshit.” The other angel looked over. “Besides, you’d have done the same for me.”

“Glad you know that. And it is the truth.”

“Yeah, I figure if you’d be willing to go to Purgatory for that tight-ass Nigel, you’d have my back, too.”

They ate in silence for a while. Then Jim had to ask, “How’re we gonna know if the Creator’s going to do anything?”

Ad laughed. “In my experience—and I’ve got some when it comes to pissing the big guy off—it happens quick.”

“So you’re saying I should save part of this”—he held up his burger—“for Dog.”

“I think that would be a good call.”

Jim nodded at the drapes they’d pulled across the broken windows. “My protection spell’s only going to go so far. We still need to do a better job keeping out the elements.”

“It’s called Home Depot, buddy. I’ll go there tomorrow. Get some plywood and a hammer and nails. I used to be in construction, remember.”

Jim thought back to when he’d met the guy … and Eddie. Man, the pair of them had been grafted at the hip, a real salt-and-pepper, PB&J-type combo. Death was so damned cruel, he thought.

“Do you know where Eddie is?” he asked.

“Yeah, upstairs in the attic.”

“No, I mean … where he ended up.”

“You thinking about being a hero again?” Ad shook his head. “I’m pretty sure that trying our luck with one portal is more than enough.”

“I could go to the Creator, you know.”

“You think I haven’t already?”

He thought of how hard it must be on the guy. “I’m sorry. About—”

“Hey, let’s change the subject, okay?”

“Yeah. Okay.” Jim finished his dinner and took a long draw on his Coke. “So we’ve got to find the next soul. That is mission critical. You got any ideas?”

“They always just seem to come to you.” Ad shrugged and stayed focused on his second serving of fries. Or was it his third? “I almost think it’s better that way than to put us through some kind of wild-goose chase.”