Tirade (Heven and Hell #3)(21)
Author: Cambria Hebert

“What are you doing with him?” Gemma turned to me.

“He’s going to help us get Sam out of hell.”

Gemma shook her head. “Riley can’t help you.”

“Oh?” I asked, lifting my eyebrows. “So you can swim to the bottom of that sludge and get me a Lucent Marble?” Gemma’s mouth opened, then closed, her lips settling into a frown.

“He isn’t human?” Cole scowled.

Riley laughed again.

Gemma ignored Cole and Riley to stare at me levelly. “You shouldn’t trust him.”

“Why?” I asked.

“Because he’s a killer.”

Chapter Six

Heven

Gemma’s declaration left me feeling cold. I glanced at Riley, and like always, he didn’t seem the least bit offended Gemma had called him a killer. Did that mean it wasn’t true? Or maybe his lack of emotion was a sign it was.

“Would someone please tell me what the hell is the deal with this guy?” Cole spat.

“He’s a hellhound like Sam,” I responded.

Cole made a face like his stomach hurt. “What is it with you and hellhounds?”

“Sam and Riley used to be roommates.”

This bit of news seemed to surprise Gemma. Maybe she didn’t know Riley as well as she declared. Cole made a rude noise, but I ignored him and turned back to Gemma. “How do you know Riley?”

“Don’t you mean how do I know he’s a killer?”

I nodded.

“I’m the one who trained him. I taught him everything he knows.”

Riley laughed. “Don’t flatter yourself.”

“You trained Riley?”

“It was a long time ago,” Gemma said softly, looking over at Cole.

Riley’s white teeth flashed as he made a sound kind of like a laugh. “You and a human, huh?”

I kicked his foot, but he didn’t take his eyes off Gemma. Couldn’t he see he was causing trouble?

“I never thought I would see that,” Riley mused.

Obviously he liked causing trouble.

Cole turned toward him. “What?”

“Gemma. Getting involved, making attachments.”

“Shut up!” I spat and stepped in front of him, blocking him from my brother’s view. Cole was standing there with clenched fists. “You need to explain,” I told Gemma.

“You want me to explain?” She seemed surprised.

“Of course.”

Gemma dared a look at Cole. He actually smiled. “You’re not getting out of here that easy.”

Gemma gave Cole a half smile and his aura, which had been crazy up until now, smoothed out and returned almost to normal. The deep magenta color that was unique to him bloomed out a little farther than usual and seemed to reach toward Gemma.

I looked over my shoulder at Riley, who was still lounging in the grass. I had a hard time picturing him as a killer. I mean, wouldn’t I be afraid of a killer? Sure, at times he made me uneasy, but I’d never really been afraid… I glanced at Logan. Well, I guess that wasn’t true because I had just been afraid of Riley when he went after Sam’s little brother.

I looked back down at Riley, keeping my eyes on him when I spoke, gaging his reaction. “So, Gemma, why don’t you tell us exactly how you know Riley?”

He looked up and his eyes flashed. Silver was a much colder color than gold.

“I’ll start with why I fell from heaven.”

I spun around in surprise and we all stood there, staring at Gemma… waiting for the information we’ve all wondered about but never dared to ask. She didn’t seem nervous, just sad. Inside, I was screaming. I could hear the ticking of a clock inside my head, reminding me that Sam only had so much time, that I only had so much time.

I wanted to snap at her to hurry up, but I knew it wouldn’t help so I forced myself to take a step back and sit down near Riley. I motioned to Logan and he came and lowered himself next to me. So far, he seemed pretty neutral about Gemma’s declaration. Maybe he was waiting to hear the evidence like me.

“Heaven is… It’s indescribable.” Gemma began softly. “There is no other place like it. Light and peace and love fill everything. There are no feelings of anger or sadness. It truly is what everyone imagines it to be. I was an angel and my job was to occasionally come down from heaven to spread God’s word. It was during one of those trips that I met Callum.”

Beside Gemma, Cole stiffened, but she didn’t notice because she was lost in the past.

“He was unlike anything I had ever seen. In heaven, everything is perfect, beautiful, symmetrical. Callum wasn’t any of those things. He was flawed, striking and nothing about him was linear. Nothing was black or white; Callum existed in the gray area. I think that’s why I was so taken with him. He was everything I thought was wrong with the world. But there wasn’t one thing wrong with him.”

“How did you meet?” I asked.

“I met him during one of my many trips here to Earth. We spoke only briefly, but those minutes stayed with me. I thought of him often, and then the next time I was here, I sought him out.” She lowered her eyes as if that was something to be ashamed of. “I knew I shouldn’t, but I did anyway. After that, we would meet in secret.”

“Why in secret? Weren’t you allowed to see him?” I asked.

“My contact with humans was to be on an as-needed basis only. As an angel, I was bound to God. My love was supposed to be only for him. It’s considered sinful to love anyone but God.”

“Doesn’t God want you to love everyone?” Logan asked softly.

Gemma smiled at him. “Yes. Yes, he does. But you see, angels are held to a different standard. By nature we are caring and giving, but we are to only love God. That’s why we are angels, his most loyal and devoted servants.”

“So you fell in love with Callum? And you were punished?” I asked.

“Yes, I did love Callum. And he loved me.” She glanced at Cole, who was stone-faced, so she continued. “I got into some trouble one time when I came down to Earth. I see now that it was because I was distracted, too involved with my own feelings to see what was going on around me. I was captured by some rogue fallen angels. Angels who should’ve been in hell, but were on Earth. Callum was there; he saw what happened. As a human, he was powerless against my kind. I begged him to go, to leave. And he did.”

“He left you there?” Cole said, disgusted.

“Yes,” Gemma said sadly. “He went and made a deal. A deal with Beelzebub. He sacrificed his humanity and the humanity of his family bloodline to become a hellhound so he would have enough strength to help me.”