Angel in Training (The Louisiangel Series, Book One) (34 page)

“Joshua’s just a friend,” I told her.

“He cares about you,” Maggie pointed out.

“And yet it was you he drove across the city
to see, to make sure you were leaving, and get you to safety in
this storm,” I returned.

Her hand hovered midair, clutching at the
kettle, and then she set it down on the side to turn to face me.
“Angel, my husband and I survived Betsy and Katrina in this house,
and I will survive many more hurricanes to come. And if it’s my
time to go, then I want to die in the same house my husband
did.”

I couldn’t help but roll my eyes. “If that
wasn’t so stupid, that would almost be sweet.”

Maggie’s blue eyes narrowed. “Now, I know you
lost your parents at a young age, but you should know not to
disrespect your elders like that.”

“This isn’t about my family, it’s about
yours,” I shot back at her as I planted my hands on my hips.
“Joshua might not be your son, but he loves you like his own
mother. There’s a storm heading to this city, and the police are
trying to prepare for it, yet he’s over here, trying to make sure
you get to safety. You might not be worried, but he is, and he has
enough to focus on without being worried if you’re dead or not. So
stop being selfish, get a few bags together, and head up north to
your family. Who, by the way, will be worried sick about you
too.”

Maggie clapped her hands together, rubbing
her palms against each other and nodded. “Very well.”

I blinked in surprise. I was not expecting
that. Shouting, anger, a stubborn streak, and a resounding no –
that was what I was sure was coming. I stood there, dumbly, as I
watched her leave the room, the drinks forgotten about, and head to
what I assumed was her bedroom.

A short time later, I was helping her carry
her suitcase out to the car. Joshua, who was busy hammering giant
sheets of plywood against the windows, almost dropped the hammer as
we emerged from the house. “You’re going?” he called over in
disbelief.

“Angel makes a good point. Rude and
disrespectful, but a good argument,” Maggie said, sending me a
pointed look. At Joshua’s questioning look, I shrugged a shoulder
and then heaved the large case into the back of Maggie’s car. “Are
you going to be long?” Maggie asked Joshua.

Joshua shook his head. “You go. I’ll finish
up here and make sure it’s secure. You get going, and drop me a
text to let me know you got to El Dorado alright.”

Maggie hurried over and wrapped her short
arms around Joshua’s waist. “You take care, you hear me?” she
ordered. With a final squeeze, she let go and hurried over to me.
“And you, you watch him.”

I nodded, slightly puzzled at what she meant
by that. “I will,” I promised, holding the door open for her.

“How the hell did you manage that?” Joshua
asked me in amazement as we watched the car disappear up the
street.

“Apparently by being rude and disrespectful,”
I muttered. At Joshua’s questioning look, I pulled a face. “I
pointed out she was being stupid and selfish.” I glanced over at
the few remaining plywood sheets and frowned. “You need a
hand?”

“They’re heavy,” Joshua told me, shaking his
head. “But the windows around back have shutters. You could make
sure they’re bolted shut?”

Instead of pointing out that I was stronger
than I looked, I bit my tongue and made my way around the back of
the house as he asked. It didn’t take long to make sure the
shutters were secure and I returned to the front, slipping into the
house to find the gas tap, quickly turning it off. By the time I
was back outside, Joshua was working on the last window.

“The gas is off,” I told him, as I joined his
side.

“Thanks,” he grunted as he hammered the nail
in. “I’m about done too.” He finished off and instead of returning
the ladder to the back of the car port, he took it into the house
and left it lying down in the hallway. On his way out, he locked
the door, rattling the handle a few times, and finally headed back
to the car.

“What now?” I asked him. “Do we need to go
secure your place?”

Joshua slowly turned his head, the all too
familiar smirk back. “You know, if you want to see my place, you
don’t need to use excuses like a hurricane.”

I reached out and slapped his arm with the
back of my hand. “Behave,” I told him, rolling my eyes. “I was just
offering to help get it ready before you left.”

Joshua shook his head, pulling a face. “I’m
not leaving,” he told me, his tone informing me I had made a stupid
suggestion.

I knew he wasn’t going to before I said it.
He would stay and protect his city. But that didn’t mean I couldn’t
try. There was no sense in making my job in protecting him harder
than it had to be. “I know,” I said.

“What about you?” he asked, pulling away from
Maggie’s house with a final glance in his mirror. “You need
dropping off at the convent so you can gather your stuff together
and get out. Or would you like me to run you to your aunt’s?” he
asked.

I caught him glancing at the clock on the
dashboard, trying to be subtle. “You have to get back, don’t
you?”

“I do,” he admitted, looking conflicted. “But
you convinced Maggie to get out. The least I can do is help you
make sure your aunt is safe.”

I appreciated that but I found myself shaking
my head. “The convent is half way. Drop me off there and I will
head up to see her myself. Don’t get into trouble over me.”

Hurricane Tabitha

I knew I had made the right decision when we
arrived back at the convent – the half hour journey taking over
double the time as the roads filled up.

I hurried back into the grounds, heading
straight for the SUVs. In the distance, I could see the black
clouds lining the horizon and the wind had picked up slightly,
causing the leaves of the trees in the grounds to dance.

There was only one car left in the parking
lot, and as I drew near, I realized that Cupid and Michael were
waiting near it. “Sorry, I should have returned the keys,” I
apologized as I drew near. It took me a moment to see that Michael
was armed with a sword and Cupid was carrying two bows. “Is now
really the time for a lesson?” I asked, dubiously.

“This isn’t a lesson,” Michael informed me as
Cupid handed my quiver and gloves over. I took them off him,
staring in confusion at the two archangels.

“Tabitha should have blown herself out off
the coast of Alabama,” Cupid explained. “There’s no longer anything
natural about this storm.”

“And you think an arrow and a sword is going
to stop a hurricane?” I blurted out before I could stop myself.

Michael shook his head, his expression
solemn. “The other angels have been dispatched around the city to
put up protective barriers to protect the city as much as
possible.”

“Huh?” I stared at him, clueless.

“We can’t stop the storm, but we can lessen
the damage,” Cupid interjected.

I pulled a face. “You lost me when you said
the storm wasn’t natural,” I admitted.

“The storm is the work of the Fallen.” I must
have looked even more confused because Cupid sighed.

“Fallen angels blame humans for their fall.
There are a lot of natural disasters on this planet, but sometimes
there are un-natural disasters too. This is one of them,” he
said.

“Okay,” I muttered. “But I don’t see how I
can stop it with a bow and arrow. I can’t even get the arrow to
stay in the target during practice.”

“It’s to stop one of the Fallen,” Michael
said. “It’s a precaution,” he added at my horrified expression.
“Cupid and I will be patrolling the north and south where there is
a greater threat of flood, but we need you to take the west point
in the protection barrier. The other angels will be taking up the
points which will require greater experience and concentration
which should make things easier for you.”

“They have their wings,” Cupid added. “They
know what to do should they meet a fallen angel, but the west point
is strategically unlikely to cause a problem for you. That being
said, we didn’t want to send you unarmed.”

“My aunt,” I said, remembering why I had
returned to the convent.

“I have already spoken to her,” Michael
assured me. “She is safely en route to her family in Monroe.”

I let out a sigh of relief and nodded. “Where
do you need me to go?”

“Your GPS is already programmed,” Michael
informed me, and then he disappeared.

“What about Veronica?” I asked Cupid. “And
the other Cherubim?”

“They’re safe,” he told me, pointing towards
St Mary’s. “They’re praying.”

Despite myself, I couldn’t help but pull a
face. “I’m glad I wasn’t around when Veronica was given her
instructions.”

Cupid shared a grin. “It wasn’t pretty, but
Michael can be pretty intimidating.”

I thought back to my recent encounters with
him and nodded. “You’re telling me,” I agreed.

“You’ll be fine,” Cupid said suddenly,
pulling me into a hug. “But you’re going to want to get going. Even
with the route we programmed in, the traffic is going to be bad
westbound.”

“What do I do when I get there?” I asked
him.

“You’ll know,” he told me, and then he
disappeared.

“Does the GPS include an instruction manual
for when I get there then?” I called into the empty parking
lot.

The GPS had indicated that the planned route,
which took me just past the airport, should have taken me forty
minutes. I was supposed to take the streets that ran parallel to
Airline, but I took a small detour because of a wreck, ended up on
Airline, and then couldn’t get off. By the time I had reached my
destination, it was dark, already raining, and taken a hell of a
lot longer than the forty minutes it should have.

The final leg of the journey had me pulling
off down a gravel track to the middle of nowhere with the only
light coming from my headlights. The radio had told me I was only a
couple of hours from the storm hitting the city, which somehow,
‘miraculously’, had been downgraded to a category four in strength,
even though there were no variables in the weather to indicate how
that could have happened.

I killed the engine and got out of the car,
taking my bow with me, looking around. There was nothing in sight.
It had crossed my mind that this was a complete waste of time and
there were probably a dozen more constructive ways that I could be
helping, but I was determined to follow orders.

As soon as I decided that, I knew that I
needed to face the city. I moved around to the back of the SUV and
sat down in the wet grass, my arm inches away from the tow on the
back of the truck. I crossed my legs beneath me, settled my bow on
the ground in front of me, placed my hands on the ground beside me,
and closed my eyes.

At some point I had lost all concept of time.
I could no longer feel the rain splattering against my face, or the
water that had long since soaked my clothes through.

* * *

The gray suddenly disappeared to become the
inside of Joshua’s car. I stared out of the window, blinking like I
was coming out of a deep sleep. My first thought was that I had
managed to transport myself across the city, but as I turned and
saw Joshua, slumped over the deflated airbag from his steering
wheel, I knew something wasn’t right.

“Joshua!” I cried, shaking his shoulder. His
eyes remained closed, his body rocking as I shook him. I swore and
climbed out of the car.

The non-descript street was deserted and
somehow his car had wrapped itself around a lamp post. I didn’t
pause to consider how it had happened, instead charging around to
the driver’s side.

The door didn’t open as I pulled on it – the
impact had crumpled the metal in place. In a panic, I tore back
around to the passenger seat and leaned over, pulling Joshua free
from the seat belt and out the other side.

I dragged him away from the car and laid him
on the ground, just registering that I no longer seemed to have any
supernatural strength. “Joshua!” I cried again, shaking his
shoulder. My hands moved over to his throat and desperately, my
fingers felt for a pulse. There was one. Equally as important, his
chest was rising and falling with steady breaths.

I nearly burst into tears from the relief. I
quickly checked him over. There was no sign of any outward injury,
short of a bloody gash to his forehead, but judging from how far
the lamp post had gone into the car, there was a serious risk of
something internal going on.

I patted his pockets down, but I couldn’t
feel his phone. Figuring it must be in the car, I ducked back in,
locating it on the back seat. I climbed out of the car and tapped
the home button. Nothing. And no amount of shaking or prodding was
doing anything. It was dead.

I glanced back at Joshua and decided to try
one of the houses we were in front of. They might all have been
abandoned – surely someone would have come at the sound that the
wreck would have made – but one of them would have a phone.

I darted over to the first door, and when no
one answered my hammerings, shoved it with all my might with my
shoulder and went falling through the doorway.

I caught my balance, ready to assess my
surroundings, and was completely confused when I realized I was on
the street, Joshua and the wrecked car feet from me.

I glanced behind me, back through the door
but the inside was hidden in shadows. Clearly I had lost my sense
of front to back, so I stepped through into the shadows. Only I was
back on the street, staring down at Joshua again.

I turned again. Behind me, the doorway was
still encased in shadows. “It’s a dream,” I told myself in relief.
“Joshua isn’t hurt.”

That being said, when I heard Joshua moan, it
didn’t stop me from running straight back over to him. “Angel?” he
groaned.