Immortal (Fallen Angels #6)(60)
Author: J.R. Ward

He had to smile at her. He couldn’t stop himself.

“You’re blushing,” she murmured.

“Am I?” He shook his head. “Didn’t know I could.”

“Now stop deflecting.”

“Sissy, I—”

The scream that filtered down from above was like a bomb going off, and Jim sprang into action, beating feet around Sissy and racing for the front of the house. When there was no smell of smoke, and no other sounds, he flew up the stairs, wondering what in the hell was going on.

“Adrian!” he barked. “Ad!”

Shoving open the door to the angel’s bedroom, he found no one around, so he hit the attic stairs, tearing up them two at a time.

As he rounded the top of the staircase, he skidded to a halt. Adrian was sprawled on the floorboards, back against a trunk, peepers showing so much white, he looked like he had egg slices for eyeballs. And across from him, Eddie was sitting up, the wrapping off his head, the rest of his body still pulling a mummy.

The two angels looked at him—and both did a double take. Which, considering the Lucy-I’m-home stunt Eddie had just pulled, was really saying something.

“Oh, hey, Eddie,” Jim said. And then he remembered he was naked.

As he re-cupped himself, Sissy came up the stairs behind him. “Oh, my God,” she whispered.

Eddie’s mouth fell open as he saw Sissy. And then he turned back to Adrian and demanded, “What the fuck has been going on since I’ve been gone?”

Chapter Thirty-one

Eddie Blackhawk was not the kind of angel to get his feathers ruffled very easily. But come on. He’d been stuck in the prison of his dead body, his soul effectively trapped and conscious in a cell with no key—when—surprise!—the Creator decided to grant a rare reprieve. After which he’d gone through something like electric shock therapy to rise to the surface of life once again. Only to find that his best friend had been in a car accident and Jim Heron was evidently getting really fucking naked … with the girl from Devina’s bathtub.

That’ll teach him to die. Yup. Not pulling that shit again, because look what happened.

And not one of the three of them was talking.

“Will somebody here please give me a clue,” he demanded. “I mean, how long have I been gone? Where are we in the war? And, Jim, what the hell were you thinking! You can’t go to Purgatory! I never would have let you—”

Abruptly, he realized he hadn’t been properly introduced to the lady. He lifted one of his sheet-wrapped paws to the female. “Hi, I’m Eddie, by the way.”

“Ah … nice to meet you,” she said. Then indicated her chest. “I’m Sissy. Sissy Barten. I was—”

“Oh, I know. And I’m so sorry you got mixed up with this stuff.”

“Me, too.” Except then she glanced over at Jim. “It hasn’t been all bad, though—”

“What the fuck is this!” Ad exploded. “I don’t dream about you people, okay? Like, ever. Never seen Jim. No Sissy. And no frickin’ Eddie. So can I just wake up—”

“Not a dream—”

“—is reality.”

“—totally real.”

As Ad got three answers, all of which backed each other up, he seemed to lose his train of thought. Then he cursed and choked out, “This is really cruel. This is … torture.”

Eddie took a deep breath and looked at his oldest, dearest friend. Maybe it was good that there was some chaos to deal with—otherwise, he’d probably be getting really emotional, too. “It is me, Ad. I’m back. I’m right here.”

The other angel put his head in his hands again and started to shake all over—and it was impossible not to go to him. Using his arms, Eddie dragged his bound body across the rough floor and all but fell on the guy. Shifting Adrian into his lap, he ducked his own head as his best friend began to weep.

They each said things, things that Eddie wouldn’t be able to remember later. But the words didn’t matter. They both had the sense that the gears that had been skipping were once again locked in, that life had by some miracle resumed its normal course, that the mountain that had been too high, and the valley that had been too deep, and the river that had been too wide … had all been climbed and crossed and swum.

He was vaguely aware of Jim and Sissy ducking out like they wanted to be discreet, and he appreciated that. It wasn’t because he was embarrassed to show emotion—more that he knew that Ad would have hated to have any witnesses to this.

Sometimes in life, all you had was your pride—and you were so far down the hole, you couldn’t even safeguard that without a little help.

Besides, Eddie was right there with the guy. It had been agony to be separated, and blind, and mute, immobilized in that body—hell, all he’d been able to do to help was rejuvenate the house, sending energy out to reverse the entropy that had so viciously attacked the place.

But he was back—and he had to know where they stood.

Like Ad read his mind, the guy shoved himself away and wiped his face on the T-shirt he was wearing. “You’ve never lied to me.”

“No, I haven’t.”

“Are you real? And know that even in my dreams—you wouldn’t lie to me.”

“I am.” Eddie reached up and found a loose tail end of the wrappings. With big loops over his head, he started to unravel what was around his neck and chest. “As far as I know, I am back.”

Adrian took a deep breath and sighed it out. “I’m not ready to believe you yet, but, man, that is so the right answer.”

Eddie froze in mid-circle. “Matthias. Oh, my God, you took—”

“Whatever. It doesn’t matter.”

“It’s the eye. The bad leg. But Matthias went to Devina—so how did you—”

“He came back. Do-over. The bitch kept the flag, but Jim got another shot at the guy. We won.”

“Are we ahead?”

“One behind—unless…” Ad glanced over to the head of the stairs. “Unless Jim has good news or something—that isn’t tied to his love life.”

“Is he … are they—”

“Yeah.”

“Oh.” Eddie cleared his throat. “Oh, okay.”

Ad glanced over and smiled a little. “You always were a straight arrow.”

“To be fair, the last time I saw her, she was hanging dead upside down over a bathtub.”