“They knew,” Jericho hissed. “But how would they?”
“Someone must have told them.” My suspicions were on Lucifer—the instigator of so much would certainly want to place some kind of scouts near Otis.
“Do you think they killed him?” Jericho’s voice hitched with his anger and worry.
“Wouldn’t Raphael know?”
Jericho nodded. “Yes, he probably would. So why are my brothers here?”
“My guess?” I looked back at Jericho. “They’re waiting for me.”
“Or me,” he growled.
The three earth angels emerged from the flames darting across the street and jumping from car to car. As though they couldn’t be touched, they slowly sauntered toward us, gray wings expanded and naked chests glistening from their sweat.
Jericho spoke without looking at me. “You go get Otis. I’ll take care of them.”
“No.” I didn’t even think about my response. “We do this together.”
“Arabella—”
“Don’t waste your breath, angel,” I teased.
“I love you,” he said.
“You too.” I disappeared as the words left my mouth and reappeared a foot behind Griffin, the largest of the three. An offensive attack was the only chance we had, and when I got my arm wrapped around his neck, I knew it was the best tactic.
It also sent the other two brothers into a frenzy. Aldrich threw me and Griffin to the side with his telekinesis, but I held on tight. Griffin fell on top of me and the air whooshed out of my body as though it was the last I had in me.
“You dirty demon,” he choked out.
“Keep calling me names. It turns me on,” I said with a chuckle. He swung his hands backward but kept missing me. He kicked and twisted, so I wrapped my legs around his waist and held on like a tick. Pulling my hand back with the other, to get good pressure on his neck, I waited for him to pass out. Griffin continued to curse at me as his breathing slowed, and when he finally closed his eyes, I held on a few seconds longer to make sure he wasn’t faking.
Pushing the giant angel to the side, I stood and pulled down my shirt to minimize exposure. Never in a million years did I think I’d be experiencing the end of the word in nothing but my panties and Jericho’s tee, but sometimes you just have to roll with it.
Jericho shouted from somewhere in the distance, and I ran toward the sound. The air was so hot, it almost made me miss Hell. In fact, I had a very brief vision of what my life might be like now that the surface was in ruins. It meant days in the heat. A total wardrobe change. And a life without the sun.
Nope. I didn’t want that.
An angel flew over my head.
Not by choice, but because he’d been tossed. And from the hints of white I saw as he whipped by, I knew it was Jericho.
“Demon!” Aldrich yelled out to me and I made the mistake of turning to face him. Just then, Elijah caught me by surprise and sliced me down the arm with his finger as he sprinted past.
With a hiss, I spun. “Is that all you’ve got?”
“Oh, you just wait. I’ve got lots of plans for you, whore.”
“Do not talk to her like that!” Jericho rushed Elijah from the side and picked him up off the ground a few feet before tossing them both against a burning car. The two brothers fought ferociously. Like it would only end in death, the determination on their faces scared me for the first time.
“Aw, he saved you for me,” Aldrich purred.
“Why are you fighting against me? Aren’t you a demon supporter?” My arm stung and I had a hard time feeling anything but the pain. Elijah must have cut me more than I initially thought.
“Sure, I support the demons. Just not you.”
“Why?”
Aldrich smiled, even though I knew he wasn’t happy. “Because look what you’ve done to my baby brother! He’s almost earth bound!”
“What?”
“His wings, you bitch. You’ve ruined him.” Aldrich stalked closer. “He was the only one of us that had a chance of becoming immortal. He was good. He was holy. And you took that all away from him!” Aldrich flung out his arm and tossed me backward to the ground. “You are the reason he’s fighting against us.”
“You’re wrong,” I choked out as his power wrapped around my neck. “He’s fighting against you because you’ve destroyed this world. Look around. You did this, not me.”
Aldrich squeezed tighter. “Demons are allowed to walk the surface and profit from humans. But angels can’t. We’re not allowed to use our power for gain. We’re not allowed to own homes or businesses or whatever it is you fucking do.”
“Sounds like a you problem to me,” I whispered. Spots danced across my vision. If I didn’t get air soon, I might end up like Griffin.
“I’m tired of your voice,” Aldrich groaned.
The pressure on my neck released, but from the look in his eyes, I knew he was about to deal a deadly blow. He lifted both arms, said something in a foreign language, and then…
A bright white light blasted him into the air, and before he landed on the ground, another angel with pure white wings carried him away. Across the street, I saw a different one do the same with Elijah. And then with Griffin. Jericho ran to my side and helped me off the ground. His face was covered in blood and bruises. He favored his left leg. And a chunk of his right wing was stripped bare of all feathers.
“Are you okay?” I asked him.
“Yeah, but we need to go. That was the only assistance we’re going to get.”
“Assistance?”
“From Raphael. Now come on. Can you run?”
I nodded and we took off toward the antique store. Jumping over debris and dodging flames, we ran as fast as we could through the destruction that was once called New York City. It took us longer than it should since every storefront and apartment building was burning or collapsing around us. But when we reached Otis’ store, we both sucked in a surprised breath.
“How?” I whispered. The store, in the middle of the devastation, stood untouched. As though a magical bubble protected his property, Otis’ livelihood had somehow managed survive.
“Divine intervention,” Jericho partially joked.
“No shit.”
He chuckled and grabbed my hand. Pulling me to the door, he hesitated only a moment before opening it. “Hmm, it’s not even hot.”
“That’s weird,” I mused as he yanked me inside. Once the front door closed, I was reminded about the scent of old things and the reason for my first visit here. This was where it all changed. Where I betrayed my kind. And where I met the angel I would end up falling in love with.
“I’m in the back if you need anything,” Otis called out.
“Does he even realize what’s going on outside?” I asked with a chuckle.
“Who knows.”
We made our way to the back of the store where Otis sat next to his broken clock. He looked up at us and grinned. “Ah, it must be time then.”
“You knew?” Jericho asked.
Otis laughed and slipped off his working glasses. “I’ve always known I had a purpose.”
“Which is why I couldn’t collect your soul,” I added.
“And why they told me to keep her away.”
Otis nodded. “It’s all a part of the plan.”
He said it so calmly, I wondered just how much he knew about the plan. “Otis,” I asked quietly, “do you know what’s going on outside?”
“The end of the world!” He threw up his hands and then immediately slammed them back down to his side. Letting out a series of coughs, I didn’t miss the way he held on to his ribs.
Neither did Jericho. “Otis, what happened?” The angel rushed around the counter and forced Otis to remove his hand from his side. It came away covered in blood. “Oh, no.”
“Who did this to you?” I asked, immediately searching my surroundings to look for something that could soak up the blood.
“The gray ones,” he coughed out.
“Son of a bitch!” The brothers. I hated them more each time we met. “I’m sorry, Jericho. But if we get out of this mess alive, I’m going to kill your brothers.”
“Get in line,” Jericho muttered. “Otis, I can’t stop the bleeding. Why?”
It was then I noticed the light coming out of Jericho’s palm. He didn’t need a rag, he had his healing magic.
“They cursed it,” he said. “It’s okay. It’s only my liver. I’ve still got time.”
“Otis, that’s a lot of blood,” I said.
“I’m fine.” He looked down at Jericho. “Really, I’m fine.”
Jericho and I exchanged a look. We might be able to make it out of here alive, but there was a good chance Otis wouldn’t. Surprised at the sudden pang of sadness etching into my skin, I shook my head and got down to business.
“Can you reset time?” I asked bluntly.
The old man smiled at me. “I thought you’d never ask.” He coughed again, and Jericho dropped to his knees to hold onto the wound. That is, until Otis beat him away with his hand. “Go. Go over to her,” he commanded.
Jericho complied and once we both stood next to each other across the counter, Otis lifted a black cloth off a small table clock. Not much bigger than a teapot, I thought the man might be pulling our legs. Which wouldn’t be cool…especially not now. “That’s it?” I asked in surprise.
“Sometimes the most powerful things are not the prettiest,” Otis said as though he’d dealt with numerous magical antiques before.
Jericho bent forward to take a closer look. “What do we have to do?”
“I don’t know.”
“What do you mean, you don’t know?” I snapped.
“I mean, that when this was given to me, I was told to save it for a rainy day. Other than that,” he shrugged, “your guess is as good as mine.”
Glaring down at Jericho, I gave him a look that told him to deal with it. He stood and rubbed his hand over the unpolished gold of the clock. “Was it Raphael?”
“Excuse me?”
“The man who gave this to you. Was it the angel Raphael?”
Otis winked. “Maybe.”
“Okay, seriously. We need to reset time before it’s too late.” Turning back to Otis, I asked, “Do you have any idea?”
“Well, the angel told me only love could make it work.”
“Love? Like true love in fucking fairy tales?”
“Arabella,” Jericho warned.
“What? That’s such bullshit!”
“Is it?” Otis asked, eyes darting back and forth between the two of us. “Why do you think it was you two who showed up in my shop a few weeks ago? You couldn’t kill each other then. What’s happened since?”
Otis was an old man looking for a good story. So I ignored him. “Jericho, put your hand on the clock.”
“What?”
“Just do it!” He complied a moment before I also touched the gold metal. “Feel anything?”
“Nope.”
“Concentrate.”
“You concentrate,” he said with a smirk.
I closed my eyes and thought about…well, I tried to think about what I should think about to make an old clock reset time. “Nothing.”
We looked at Otis. “Try touching each other. Send your bond to the clock.”
It took all I had not to punch Otis in the face.
“Arabella, don’t,” Jericho said as though knowing exactly what I was thinking.
I kissed him on the lips quick. “I won’t.”
“That’s it!” Otis shouted. “Do that again!”
“Do what?” Jericho asked for us.
“I don’t know, but when you kissed, the clock hands started to move.”
“Don’t they always move?”
Otis rolled his eyes and gave me a sour glare. “Of course they do, but not backward.”
“Oh.” Facing Jericho again, I teased, “Maybe we should think about that time in my apartment?”
“In the kitchen,” he grinned.
“Or in the bed…” My hand warmed as the clock started to do something.
Jericho stepped closer to me, and slid his hand along my bare thigh. “I can’t stop thinking about that. And when I thought I’d lost you forever…”
“Shh,” I cut him off. “Only happy thoughts.” I stood on my toes and kissed him. “Only happy thoughts will get us out of this mess.”
Jericho let his fingers brush closer to my sex and chuckled when I drew in a breath. “I can’t imagine a life without you in it, Arabella.”
Sucking on his neck, I closed my eyes and ignored the burning sensation in my palm as the clock did its thing. “I know,” I whispered. “It’s crazy, isn’t it?”
“Super crazy,” he said as he pulled my hips against his erection.
“I like crazy.”
“Me, too.”
“It’s working!” Otis yelled. “It’s working!”
Something was happening underneath our palms and also between us. Even in the midst of pure devastation, our love would find a way to make it all better. It sounded horribly corny and ridiculous, but for some reason, the connection between me and this angel would end up saving the world.
“Keep going—”
Otis’ voice was cut off when the clock exploded into a ball of blue and white flames. The fire licked around us, enclosing me and Jericho in a bubble and igniting my skin like a thousand fireflies. The power rushing through me and into Jericho and back into me again, had me selfishly wanting more. The warm wave of magic felt wonderful—like a massage mixed with the satisfaction of great sex and a successful soul collection. Everything felt good. Everything felt wonderful.
And when I looked into Jericho’s eyes, I knew he felt it too.
Our hair levitated in slow motion. The light darted between our hands. As I kissed him again, the power surged through both of us with a fiery rush. My lips parted in pleasure and Jericho squeezed my hand harder. The flames blocked us from seeing anything beyond the bubble, so it was impossible to know what was happening outside. Yet, something…something felt right. Like this resetting-of-time-thing was actually working.
So, when another explosion ripped us apart, and I flew through the air and into a glass shelf filled with old watches, I hoped my gut had been correct and we’d helped put the world back together again.