Angel Eclipsed (The Louisiangel Series Book 2) (22 page)

“Oh, damn, did you see that?” Leon asked, examining his reflection in the window. He pouted. “Well, I’m sorry, my little mopsy: the lights are on, but Leon’s not home.”

The air seemed to vanish from my lungs. “Who are you?” I demanded, glancing over Leon’s shoulder to where Joshua was still busy on the phone.

“Relax,” Leon said, giving me a smile I was sure he thought was reassuring, but I thought was creepy. “I’m not after Joshua. I need him alive, just like my orders are to keep you alive. However, should you decide to tell Joshua, not only will I kill him, I’ll kill this,” he frowned. “What is it you angels call these walking corpses?”

My mouth went dry. “Corpses?” I repeated, hoping that Leon wasn’t really dead.

“I said relax,” Leon said, before suddenly snapping his fingers. “Vessels. This
vessel
is not dead yet, but you tell Joshua and he will be. Clear? I know you care about him. This corpse was pretty set on you two staying apart.”

“Why are you here?” I asked. I had no idea what to do right now. I wasn’t armed, but even if I was, I didn’t want to hurt Leon – assuming whoever was using him was actually telling the truth and he was still alive. I narrowed my eyes, willing the auras to appear.

“Making sure everything is ready for tonight, of course,” he responded, seemingly unaware of what I was trying to do. He waved in the general direction of Canal Street. “There are lines already forming.”

Suddenly the auras were there, including something emanating from Leon. I’d never seen his aura before, and even though I was going to take the dark gray with eerie green smudges as a positive sign that Leon was still in there, I wasn’t entirely comfortable that the color was normal for Leon. “Hang on in there, Leon,” I said, hoping that he could hear me.

“I forgot that you were once human,” Leon said, rolling his eyes at me. “Well, whatever helps you sleep at night.” He gave me a quick salute. “I’ll be seeing you.”

I watched him leave, making sure he didn’t come back. I couldn’t tell Joshua: that was just going to result in him trying to save Leon, and ultimately risk getting hurt. No, I needed to get Joshua somewhere safe, and I needed to see Michael. That was where I had gone wrong last time, and I wasn’t about to repeat the mistake.

“Angel?” Joshua said, his hand coming to rest on my shoulder. I let out a squeal and leaped away from him. “Whoa!” he exclaimed, holding his hands up. “What’s the matter with you?”

“I was a million miles away,” I told him, trying my best not to look as worried (understatement) as I felt.

“Was that Leon I saw?” Joshua said, glancing behind me. “I told him that I wasn’t going to stop seeing you on my own time, so if he was giving you a hard time-”

“It’s fine,” I said, shortly.

Joshua stared at me, frowning. “Okay,” he said, drawing out the word. “Well, that was Maggie. She’s invited you to dinner tonight.”

I could have kissed that woman. “I can’t,” I said, only just able to keep the relief from my voice. “I have to see Michael,” I said.

“I thought you weren’t busy until later?”

“I was. It’s just, when Michael calls…” I trailed off, feeling uncomfortable about lying to him. “But you should go spend the evening with Maggie, especially if she’s cooked. I know you’ve been busy so it will be good for you to have a home cooked meal and spend the whole night relaxing and not worrying.” I babbled.

“Are you sure everything is all right?” Joshua asked, studying me.

“I can think of a dozen different things I would rather be doing right now instead of going to see Michael,” I admitted truthfully. “I should probably go.
You
should probably go. Don’t let Maggie make all that food by herself,” I added, wondering if there was any possible way that I could escort him to Maggie’s without looking like I was a crawfish short of a boil. “Text me when you get there.”

“Angel, I meant what I said: I told Leon that I was going to continue to see you outside of work and I won’t let that affect the job,” he said, still looking a little bewildered at my sudden mood change. I didn’t blame him.

“It’s nothing you should worry about,” I promised him. “I just need to see Michael. Do you really think I would pass up the opportunity to eat?”

I don’t know if he truly believed me, but we parted ways, with him promising to send me a text message as soon as he had arrived at Maggie’s.

* * *

I went straight up to Michael’s room as soon as I got back, knocking loudly on the door. He wasn’t alone: Cupid, Raphael and Paddy were there too, the four of them seated on the brown couches.

The four were a ridiculously attractive group, but as soon as their eyes fell on me, the serious expressions on their faces assured me that they were also deadly. Michael’s eyes darkened. “Angel?”

“Joshua’s partner, Leon, is being possessed by one of the Fallen,” I said, getting to the point.

“How can you be certain?” Michael asked, carefully.

“Aside from the fact his eyes keep doing this weird thing and changing color-”

“The eyes of the Fallen do not turn black,” Cupid interrupted.

“Tempting as it would be to have the Winchester brothers helping out, they didn’t turn black. They went blue – a transparent blue, like eyes go when a person is dead,” I explained with a shudder. The four of them exchanged looks. “If that wasn’t enough, Leon admitted it,” I shook my head. “The thing possessing Leon admitted it. He called Leon a corpse, but he still has an aura, so I think Leon’s still alive, though goodness knows how long for, so we need to do something.”

Michael was on his feet. “You do not need to do anything. You need to stay here and allow us to take care of this.”

“Okay,” I said, surprised that he had believed me so easily. “Wait,” I suddenly objected as Cupid, Raphael and Paddy also stood. “What are you going to do to him?”

“Everything that we can to save him,” Raphael reassured me. “But Michael is correct: you should remain here. This is not something you have been trained for yet.”

“You’re really not going to hurt him?” I asked Michael. As upsetting as Leon had been recently, he had either done it because he cared about Joshua, or it was someone else speaking for him. Either way I didn’t want anything bad to happen to Joshua’s partner.

“What’s the first rule, Angel?” Michael reminded me.

Human life was the most important thing. The four of them disappeared from the room. I’d rather have gone with them, but I was certain they would do everything they could to save Leon. I just had to trust them.

Front Row Seats

I left Michael’s room the traditional way, ready to head back to my room and pick out an outfit for later, but I was stopped at the bottom of the stairs by Veronica. Garret, her apparent shadow, was waiting with her, arms folded and glaring at the wall like it had personally wronged him. I suspected he was imagining my face there.

“Have you got that ID?” Veronica demanded.

“No,” I responded. Her eyes narrowed. “But I am meeting Ty later, who will have it then. Have you worked out how to get into Bee’s?”

“You need to buy us a ticket,” Garret answered for her.

“One, probably. Two, maybe,” I told him. “But there is no way in the world they will not get suspicious if I buy seventeen of them,” I pointed out, rolling my eyes. At that point I really did hope there wasn’t a Prince of Darkness in there, because if this bright mind was my backup, I was doomed.

“Suspicious is okay,” Garret said. “Let them be suspicious.” He handed over a wad of bills – an amount of which was more than enough to buy tickets for the entire convent, never mind the cherubim. I couldn’t be bothered to split it – I was sure the full amount would be returned in a matter of hours – I just thrust it in my pocket.

“I get that you’ve been living down on earth for some time now, but honestly, you don’t have a clue how this world works, do you?” I asked him, rubbing at my temples. “Fine,” I sighed. “I will try to buy seventeen tickets, but don’t hold your breath. And for the record, the last time I was there, they just gave me a wristband.” I turned on my heel and made for my bedroom, shaking my head as I did.

“Well you’d better hope they give you seventeen tickets, otherwise you’re going in there without any backup,” Garret called after me.

I didn’t respond, but his words had me feeling nervous. He was right. I was going into who knows what and I was doing it alone. I waited until I was out of sight of the two cherubs before sucking in a deep breath to try to calm myself.

Sure, I was going alone, but I was also going into a bar surrounded by a bunch of people, and the last time I checked, the Fallen hadn’t been making themselves known to the world, which meant they probably weren’t going to try anything tonight. I was just going to scope the place out.

Or at least that’s what I was telling myself; conveniently leaving out the fact Bee’s was in the center of a sigil. Had I not made that stupid oath, I would have summoned Michael back and told him what I was going to do. No… I wouldn’t have. He would have stopped me from going, but more importantly, it would have stopped him from helping Leon. This was something I had to do by myself.

On my way out to Qube I made a detour to the armory. Hopefully I wouldn’t need it, but there was nothing which could have convinced me to go in Bee’s unarmed. I eyed the bow wistfully: I was more confident with it, and certainly better with it, but it wasn’t exactly discreet. I grabbed the sword, fishing out the two sheaths. The one for my thigh wasn’t exactly subtle either. I willed the sword into its dagger size and stuck it into the smaller sheath for my ankle. Hopefully I wouldn’t need it.

It didn’t dawn on me until I was rounding the corner onto Bourbon Street, that it was Halloween. Everywhere I looked, there were ghouls, ghosts, zombies, vampires, and women dressed in outfits which seemed to be a cross between an animal and lingerie. I spared a moment to reconsider the shorts I was wearing, thinking that a fancy dress outfit would make it easier to blend in, but quickly dashed the idea when I realized I didn’t have anything to change into, and at this hour, there wouldn’t be many things left in the few stores which were still open. Besides, there was a reason I had chosen this ensemble – I could move in it.

The closer I got to Qube, the busier this end of the street seemed to be. I quickened my pace, curious, and found that the street that Bee’s was on had been cordoned off – complete with a police presence. The crowd was enormous, and somewhere from the side of it, stretching up towards Canal Street, a long line was forming. Since when had Bee’s become that popular?

I stepped closer to a group of girls around my age. Three of them were lingerie animals – a cat, a rabbit and a butterfly by the looks of things – while the fourth was Lara Croft. I tapped the butterfly on the shoulder. “What’s going on?”

The four of them turned and looked at me like I had grown a second head. “Luke Goddard is playing here tonight.”

“Who?” I asked them. I think I might have sprouted a third head, judging from their shocked expressions.

“Luke Goddard,” the butterfly repeated. “He’s only the finest thing to ever grace this planet.”

A memory flashed to the surface of something I’d read earlier in the week. “The pop star?” I looked back at the still growing line. “How many singles does he have out?”

“Are you jealous?” Lara snapped at me.

I blinked in surprise and stepped back, my hands in the air. “Not from around here,” I told them, feeling the need to use and abuse my accent. “I don’t know the local celebrities.”

“What’s that got to do with it?” she demanded. “Luke has the most followers on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram and YouTube.”

“Not to mention his single is number one in every country in the world,” the butterfly girl added. She folded her arms under her fairly exposed cleavage and glared at me.

“Well think of me as one less person as competition for marrying him,” I shrugged, trying to keep my tone pleasant.

“If you’re not with him, you’re against him,” the cat spoke up, narrowing her eyes at me. At that point, I realized two of them had curled their hands into fists.

“Okay, this conversation is getting weird,” I muttered. “I’m going to go find his YouTube channel.” This seemed to appease them slightly and I backed away, wondering what the heck had just happened.

I slipped through the crowds and headed for Qube, enjoying the quieter atmosphere. Ty was waiting for me, my side of the bar this time. A feeling of relief washed over me as I realized Ty was wearing a pair of jeans and a grey polo shirt. He frowned when he saw me. “I thought you might back out.”

“I think we might have to,” I told him. “Have you seen what’s going on over there?”

“Don’t worry about it,” Ty shrugged. He reached into his pocket and pulled out a card, handing it over. My attention was distracted by the fake ID in front of me. The quality was amazing. Honestly, I would have pegged it for the real deal, and that was what startled me with it: the level of detail in it. He’d even used an actual picture of me. Judging from the fact I had bright red hair in it, I guess it was one he had taken himself.

“Wow,” I said, stunned. I turned it over in my hands a few times before looking at him. “Ty, this looks legit.”

“I told you I knew a guy,” he shrugged. He glanced around, before pulling me to one side. I frowned at the action – surely it would have made sense to have moved
before
he handed a fake ID over. “Are you sure you want to go to Bee’s?” he asked me.

“Yes,” I replied. “Though I don’t know how we’re going to get in.”

“Getting in won’t be a problem,” he muttered, running his fingers over his jaw. “Okay,” he added, resolutely. “Let’s go.”

“Ty, is everything okay?” I asked him.

At my words, the troubled look disappeared and he smiled. “Of course. I just wasn’t sure if you were a Follower.”

“A Follower?” I repeated, following him back out on to Bourbon Street.

Ty gestured at the crowd in front of him. “A Follower. It’s what Goddard calls his fans,” he gave me a sideways look. “You have no idea who Luke Goddard is, do you?” I returned his question with an awkward shrug. A year ago, I would have. Now, I really couldn’t care less. “He was given a record deal about a month ago after his video went viral on YouTube.”

“I haven’t really been keeping up with the charts,” I admitted, frowning. I didn’t know who Luke Goddard was, but the thing possessing Leon had – he was supposed to be here tonight.

Ty led me near to the front of the line before turning back to me. “Just wait here a moment,” he requested. I did as he asked and waited for him to go talk to one of the two burly security guards at the front of the line. He turned and pointed at me, the security guard scowling at me. Finally, Ty waved me over.

I joined him, surprised at the bitchy objections I was receiving from the people standing in line as I passed. Some of these people were way younger than me, and I was staggered by the language that was leaving some of their mouths.

The guard stepped back to allow me and Ty to pass, and we headed into the much emptier section of the street, behind all the barriers which had been put in place. I moved out from behind Ty to join his side, and glanced up at Bee’s. I ended up doing a double take and coming to a stop as I stared up at the two story building.

Hanging from both sides of the balcony were two banners which fell to the floor. Each one had a full length picture of a guy, probably a couple of years younger than me, posing in a black pair of combat pants and a black wifebeater. His hair was gelled up in a style which looked like it had taken a while to get the perfect look of bed hair, and his eyes were hidden behind a large pair of sunglasses.

I hadn’t put two and two together quickly enough. I
had
seen him everywhere. His face had been on posters all across New Orleans. I even remembered seeing him in Paris, including on the side of a bus. “That’s him?” I asked. So far, I wasn’t taken with him – he wasn’t my type at all. I glanced over at Ty and found him staring at me, his eyebrows furrowed. “What?” I asked, hesitantly.

“I thought you wanted to get in because you wanted to see Goddard,” Ty responded.

“No, I...” I trailed off, trying to remember what cover story Veronica had used. “I wanted to make sure the DJ wasn’t cheating on a friend,” I said, hoping that was right. Ty didn’t say anything more and instead led me through the crowds to the front door. “Oh, wait, I need to buy a ticket,” I said, suddenly remembering.

Ty turned back to me, an eyebrow arched. “A ticket? Tonight?” he laughed. “The only way we’re getting in here tonight is because we’re on the guest list.”

“We are?” I asked in surprise.

“You didn’t just expect to walk into a Luke Goddard concert, did you?” he asked. He stopped suddenly, and turned back to me. “Are you sure you want to be in here tonight?” he asked me again.

“Yes,” I replied, wondering why, after going to all the trouble to get me a fake ID and in the place, that he seemed to be trying to get me to leave. I stepped past him and moved into the bar.

Bee’s was heaving. At my best guess, the place had about four hundred people in it – downstairs, anyway. The last time I had been in here I had spent most of the time upstairs, and short of a courtesy glance around Hell, I hadn’t had chance to look around. Tonight it was clear the concert would be held downstairs. The room stretched past the bar to a small stage which seemed to have been set up especially for the evening.

The female DJ had been playing an EDM track, but when the song ended, she didn’t put another on. Instead, the room darkened and the girls around me erupted into screams which had me wincing. There was a surge of girls pushing forward to the stage, and I found myself separated from Ty. I fought against them, making it to the side of the room. I barely made any effort to keep an eye out for Ty – it would be easier to snoop if I didn’t have him following me around and have to explain what I was doing.

Just as my eyes adjusted to the darkness, the stage lights flared into life and the teenager from the posters appeared on stage. I glanced over, trying to see what the fuss was about. He wasn’t a bad looking kid, I supposed, but I had apparently aged ten years in the ten months I had been dead as all I wanted to do was pull his pants up and tighten his belt. Music started playing and the room erupted into screams once more.

I turned my attention to the wrought iron staircase to Heaven, figuring that if everyone’s attention was on the stage, I could head up there and look around. I took two steps towards them and a hand wrapped around my arm, stopping me. I glanced back, ready to apologize to Ty for losing him, but found Joshua there, giving me an unimpressed look. “What on earth are you doing here?” I asked in bewilderment. “You should be at Maggie’s.”

“I could ask you the same thing,” he hissed at me.

I folded my arms and gave him a pointed look. “I asked first.”

“My job,” he retorted. “What about you?”

“
My
job,” I returned. I sucked in a deep breath, ready to chew him a new one, when I had an epiphany. He was a detective and he was doing his job: trying to keep him away from here was trying to alter that fact. I wouldn’t like it if he had tried the same thing on me, so it was understandable he didn’t like I had tried it on him. I wasn’t a damsel in distress, and neither was he. Sure I wasn’t exactly a fully trained guardian angel, but he wasn’t a fully trained detective either. We were both learning, we were both doing our best, and we were both going to make mistakes. If we were to stand a chance at Joshua accomplishing whatever it was he needed to, then we needed to work together.

I took a deep breath and closed the gap between us so that no one could hear what I was saying. “I admit that had Maggie not called, I was going to come up with some way of keeping you away from here tonight,” I confessed. “Those murdered Potentials put Bee’s in the center of a sigil. A dark sigil. Me and some of the other angels think that something is going to happen here. Tonight.”