Possession (Fallen Angels #5)(36)
Author: J.R. Ward

Choking back a feeling of panic, Sissy crossed the soft carpet and stopped at the base of the bed.

Shit, she thought. All this stuff with her death? What was it going to leave her sister—

“Sissy?”

Sissy jumped in her own skin, hands flying up to her mouth.

“Sissy? Is that you?”

Her sister rolled over, the slice of light from the hall falling on her face. Her eyes were closed, but like their father, those brows were down tight—and agitation was sending her legs back and forth, as if she were running under the covers.

“Answer her,” that deep male voice said behind her.

“Sissy?”

Sissy opened her mouth. Croaked. Cleared her throat. “Yes, it’s me.”

Instantly, her sister settled down, the tension releasing, a breath exhaling as if she’d let go of a great weight.

“I knew you’d come back,” her sister mumbled as she turned to the door and rubbed her face with a floppy hand. “I knew it.”

Sissy wiped her eyes as tears came. “I’m … here. But I can’t stay.”

More with the frowning. “Why not?”

“I just can’t. But I wanted you to know … I’m okay.”

“Don’t sound okay.”

“I am.” She looked at her shaking hands, and told them to be still. “I am going to be fine. Tell Mom and Dad that, all right? I want you to tell them that I came to you, and we talked, and I want you to remember this. Promise me, Dell. You remember this.”

Her sister’s tone went into little-girl territory. “Don’t go.”

“I don’t belong here anymore, I’m so sorry.”

“Sissy—please, no—”

Without thinking, she placed her hand on her sister’s foot. “Shhhh … rest now. Shh…”

Instantly, her sister eased.

“Dell, you will remember this. You will hear this in your mind when you are worried about me, you will tell this to Mom and Dad when you see that look in their eyes. Promise me? I am … okay.”

“Only if you come back.”

Always a negotiator, her sister was. “Dell—”

“Only if I see you again.”

“Fine. I promise.”

“When?”

“I don’t know.”

“At your funeral?”

At her … oh, God. “No, not then. But I promise. Go back to sleep. And remember that I will always love you, Dell.”

Sissy all but stumbled out of her sister’s room. And in the hall she was caught once again by the man who had brought her here and had witnessed the temporary return to a life she didn’t—couldn’t—be a part of any longer.

As he led her down the stairs and out through—literally—the front door, Sissy held herself, her arms straining around her own rib cage. So hard to come here, so hard to leave. The emotions were too big to name, too heavy to bear.

Out at the street, the truck’s door magically opened for her—oh, wait, it was her savior doing the duty.

Getting up into the seat, she focused on the house as the door was shut. The people under its roof were not like her clothes or her bed or her books. They were still a part of her, even though the tether felt so weak and strained.

“Put your seat belt on.”

Sissy jumped. “Oh, right.”

“You want to eat something?”

Food … food? Was she hungry?

“McDonald’s,” he announced as he started the truck’s engine and hit the gas.

Sissy just kept an eye on that house until it wasn’t possible to see it anymore. Then she wrenched herself back around and stared through the front windshield.

The loudest thing inside the vehicle, apart from the muffled growl of the engine, was the tick-tock of the directional signal as he took lefts and rights to get them out of the neighborhood.

She supposed she should thank him.

Turning to him, she could only stare.

“Why are you looking at me like that,” he asked abruptly.

“I don’t know.”

Funny, that halo that glowed around his head wasn’t something she’d noticed before—but it made sense that as an angel he’d have one.

Guess all the depictions in church had been accurate.

“I just … can’t believe this,” she mumbled.

Covering her face with her hands, all she could do was shake her head back and forth.

“Look, I know where you’re at,” he said roughly. “I’ve been there. The only thing I can tell you, and it’s not going to help … is that just because you can’t believe it, doesn’t mean the shit’s not real.” There was a long pause. “Unfortunately.”

Chapter Sixteen

“Blah-blah, blah, blah!”

As Cait stopped screaming, she had to struggle to make her hearing work over the din of the alarm—and her adrenaline gland. Too much input in too tiny a space with too little air to breathe.

And maybe that was her brain along with the elevator.

“Police!” came a holler on the other side of the closed doors.

“Ms. Douglass? What’s happening?”

Oh, right, and the 911 call was still live in her ear.

“Ah—the police say that they’re here—but I’m not opening these doors until I know for sure.”

“Hold one moment.” Like this was a catalog call and they were verifying her credit card. “Ms. Douglass? The officer’s name should be Hoffman. Peter Hoffman. Ask the individual who they are.”

“What’s your name!” she yelled over the alarm.

“Hoffman! Pete Hoffman—badge number ten forty-one!”

She addressed the phone. “Ten forty-one? The badge?”

“That checks out, ma’am. Open the doors.”

“I’m staying on with you if I do.”

“I’m right here.”

Cait watched as her hand went forward and her fingers tripped the red switch downward. Instantly the alarm was extinguished, but the ringing continued, her ears struggling with the sudden silence.

She did hear another ding, however, like the elevator was clearing its throat and preparing for a redo. Then the doors slid to the left, stacking in on top of each other.

The navy blue uniform and the shiny badge on the other side? Best. Thing. Ever.

She nearly launched herself at the guy. Wait—actually she did. “Oh, thank God.”

“Ma’am?” The cop grabbed her arm and hoisted her up. “Let’s sit down.”