AllFreeNovel
Share Us
I didn’t care.
My family had been infiltrated by demons and my target was in Morag’s hands. I didn’t have time to be cautious right now. I’d just have to count on any innocent viewer to talk themselves out of what they’d seen. Humans were good at that. They didn’t like to believe in things their minds couldn’t comprehend. If anyone did see anything, they’d think they’d had too much to drink or that it was a trick of the light.
Which was exactly what I’d tell my superiors if they ever found out I’d regained my wings while in human form and flown down the streets of New York without approval.
The problem was, I didn’t know how much time I actually had. Morag worked with the demons—hell, he was a demon himself—but he also worked with the Irish, and that made him a double wild card. The Irish were nearly impossible to count on, even at the best of times, but combine that with demon blood and you had trouble. He could have Duca in the harbor on a boat, doing his worst. Or he could be halfway to Ireland already, Duca in his clutches. If they were still in the harbor, I’d be able to get to them and save Duca. If they’d set sail, though, they’d be very difficult to track.
Luckily, I had a resource for that.
I jerked right and went down a side street, then turned left and circled back, my eyes on the ground below me. If Antony or his minions had set a tail on me, he’d be on his feet and running through the crowds. That was the other reason I’d resorted to my wings.
Demons, for all their powers, couldn’t fly. Anyone chasing me would be doing it the old-fashioned way, and it would make him easier to spot.
The streets below me were less crowded than they had been earlier, courtesy of the hour, but there were still enough people on the sidewalks to make movement difficult. Couples leaned together and people walked quickly past them, their eyes on the ground and their arms full of packages. Shoppers who had left their buying until the last minute, I thought with a smirk. For this holiday that humanity loved so dearly and which meant almost nothing to the rest of the cosmos. I’d studied humanity for nearly half my time in Twana, but still didn’t fully understand how they’d decided that the birth of the man they called a savior warranted hosting dead trees in their houses.
And that wasn’t my problem right now.
I sharpened my eyes on the crowds, looking for anything out of place. Antony hadn’t noticed me leaving or he would have stopped me, but the moment he realized I was gone he might have sent someone after me, and I had no way of knowing whether they’d seen me take wing or not. With luck, they thought I was still in the house hiding.
With less luck, they’d seen me leave and were chasing after me.
I didn’t see any disturbances in the crowd below, though. No one running when they should have been walking, and no beings shoving their way through the crowds. No demon fire. No gangsters.
I hovered in the air for another long moment, watching, and then decided that I’d spent enough time here. I turned and raced for the next corner, and then the next, taking the maze of turns that would lead me to my hideout.
No one knew about the apartment except me. Not even my superiors. I’d learned that I would have a mission outside Antony’s and had started exploring the city as soon as I arrived, looking for a base of my own. True, I hadn’t known our mission would be infiltrated by demons—if I had, I would have warned Antony—but I had thought I might need space of my own for planning. I would definitely need a place to keep Duca until I could get him to safety.
The apartment has been the perfect answer. And now it would become my hiding space while I cobbled together a plan to save the man I’d been sent here to protect.
I took my phone out of the pocket I’d had sewn into my dress and punched the first number on my list. I’d met Effie soon after I arrived in the city and though she was human, not angelic, she’d quickly become one of my best friends.
She was also what the humans called a computer hacker. I hadn’t understood what that meant at first, but once she demonstrated her abilities to get into any network, any corner of the Internet, I’d understood. She specialized in breaking into places people thought were protected, stealing whatever she wanted, and getting out again. She was a sneak thief in digital clothing. A girl who could find secrets and expose them.
Secrets like where Morag might have hidden Duca.
“I need you,” I told her when she answered. “And I need your laptop.”
“You’ve got it,” she said, zero hesitation in her voice. “Meet at your apartment?”
“Please.”
“I’ll be there in ten. And I’m bringing tacos.”
God, I loved the girl. I’d never known whether to truly believe in soulmates—I’d never seen one myself, and I was in the business of souls—but if they existed, Effie was mine. She’d never met a challenge she couldn’t take on and was always available when I needed her. I’d never called her for something this big before, but I didn’t think she’d have any trouble with it.
And I was positive she wouldn’t tell anyone else what we were doing.
Or who I was. Because I didn’t know how I could keep it secret from her any longer.
If I was going to get through this night alive, find Morag, and save Duca, I was going to need to tell her everything. Because we were going to have to use all of her weapons, and all of mine, if we were going to succeed.
I was going to save Duca de la Roca. Not only for the Angels and our mission, but for myself. He’d touched me in a way no one had ever done before.
And I wanted more of it. I wanted more of him.
