Dark Wings Descending (26 page)

An angry voice shouted from inside. “I’m coming, I’m coming! Quit your banging!”

Rafe looked over her shoulder at Ashley. “He has his dead mother here with him?”

The door opened fractionally and a red-rimmed eye appeared in the crack. “What do you want? I ain’t buying anything.” The voice was scratchy and gruff. Ashley recognized it as belonging to Marion Thorpe, her father’s last mistress.

Rafe held up her badge. “Detective Douglas, ma’am. I’m looking for Lucas Thorpe.”

“What’s he done now?” Marion looked suspiciously at Rafe, then opened the door a touch wider.

“Is he here?”

“No.”

“Do you know when he’s expected to return?”

The door opened even wider. “No, I don’t because the little bastard never tells me anything. He just leaves me alone for hours at a time and expects me to cope.” She stepped out onto the porch and looked Rafe up and down. “Looks like someone beat the shit out of you.” She looked behind Rafe and shock was clear on her face. “Oh my God,” she gasped. “Ashley?”

Whatever hope Ashley had of this being unconnected to her had vanished the second Marion opened the door reeking of whiskey and cigarettes. She’d aged but was still recognizable as the woman who didn’t want Ashley as any part of her family.

“Marion,” Ashley acknowledged her. “I was told you and Lucas were dead.”

Marion laughed harshly. “I might as well been. I swear that bastard son of mine aimed for that other car on purpose and slammed his truck into it. How we got out alive I’ll never know. Lucas dragged me out of there before the whole mess just blew up before us. I read reports that everyone died in the crash and there wasn’t much left of the bodies to be identified. But I’m still breathing, girl. Bet that just about has ruined your day, hasn’t it?” She smiled unpleasantly and revealed smoke-stained teeth. “Now what the fuck brings you to my doorstep?”

Ashley clenched her teeth to stop from responding in the same tone as Marion.
Still as charming as ever, I see
. “Where’s Lucas?”

“Well, he’s not here. And what do you care? Are you police too?”

“I’m a private investigator.”

“Same difference,” Marion spat. She glared at Rafe again. “You going to put that gun away or are you going to shoot me with it?”

The corner of Rafe’s mouth twitched as she obviously considered her options. She holstered the weapon but left her coat open.

“May we come in?” Rafe brushed past Marion and stepped inside the house.

“Like I could stop you anyway.” She limped back to her chair, sat down with a thump, and reached for another cigarette.

Rafe was checking out the various doors that led from the living area. “I need to check the other rooms to make sure they’re empty.” She gave Marion a look. She was waved away.

“Go ahead. Knock yourself out. Just don’t steal anything.”

Ashley didn’t know where to look. She desperately wanted to trail after Rafe and get out of the sight of Marion, who was staring holes through her with those penetrating hate-filled eyes of hers.

“You’ve still got your father’s eyes,” Marion said.

“They’re not something I could grow out of.”

“When I saw you, I thought you’d come after him. But then you’d know more about where he is than I would, wouldn’t you? He always kept you close. Any time he spent with us he was only half there. You were always on his mind.”

“You had him more than I did growing up, Marion. He left me on my own. I was a child.”

“I had a child too!”

“And you made it very clear you didn’t want another one in the way.”

“He needed to be a proper father to his son. He couldn’t do that with another kid in the way.”

“I was his firstborn.”

“Your mother was gone. He was
mine
.” Forcefully stubbing out her half-smoked cigarette, Marion immediately shook out another from her packet. “So where is the bastard? Did he find some other woman to fuck around with once he’d left my bed?”

Ashley frowned. “You think Dad
left
you?”

“He just up and went and never came back. Broke my Lucas’s heart, and what was I supposed to tell him? That his daddy’s a cheating demon who can’t keep it in his pants?”

“Didn’t Dad tell you what was going to happen to him?” Ashley couldn’t believe Marion didn’t know the truth.
No wonder she’s so bitter.

“He left me for someone else. That much I gathered.”

“Surely he explained that he could be captured and banished?” She was surprised when Marion shook her head.

“Banished? Banished where?”

“Dad was banished years ago to hell for daring to come to earth and take on human form.”

Marion took a long drag from her cigarette. “So he didn’t leave me for some slut?”

“No, he’s in hell for all eternity because he fell from grace.”

“I’ll give him hell when I catch up with him! Bastard left me with his damn kid to raise all on my own.”

Rafe called Ashley’s name from another room. “I think you might want to come see this.”

Ashley hastily located which room Rafe was in and saw immediately what she had found. Hanging on the wall of what was undoubtedly Lucas Thorpe’s bedroom was a painting. A woman adorned with huge white wings lay naked on the ground. Beneath her raged hell in vibrant reds and blacks, demons grabbing for her feet. Her one arm was stretched out above her as she reached toward the heavens. A beam of light lit up her blond hair like a halo as she pleaded for entry.

“Dad painted it,” Ashley said. “I knew I recognized the damn pose.” She clenched her fists to stop herself from punching something. “Mom hated it and I remember her making Dad put it away. It hung in the hallway of our home, and I was always frightened by it. I was only tiny, and when it was hidden away I forgot all about it.”

“Looks like Lucas had inspiration for his own works of art.” Rafe reached over the bed to remove the painting from the wall. “It needs to come with us. This is evidence.”

Rafe carried the painting back into the living room and confronted Marion. “We have reason to believe your son is behind four murders that have occurred in the city.”

Marion snorted with laughter. “You have got to be joking. That boy can’t do anything without being pushed into it first. He’s spineless.”

“Marion, did Lucas ever display any powers?” Ashley caught Marion’s flash of fear and how she glanced at Rafe nervously. “It’s okay. Detective Douglas knows all about demons and their powers. You can speak in front of her.”

“
Powers
. All we ever heard from your father was how smart you were. How talented you were. How you could be anyone you wanted to be.”

“You know I can alter my appearance.”

“Why didn’t you today so I wouldn’t have to see
you
?”

Ashley reeled back under the venom spat at her. “Because I have nothing to hide where you’re concerned. And my dad, for some reason, loved you, so I granted you the courtesy of that knowledge and came as myself.”

“You say this cop knows what you can do?”

“Yes, she’s aware.”

“You’re some kind of disgusting shape-shifter. Christ, your father was just so proud of that fact. My boy tried so hard to live up to that, but he didn’t stand a chance. He couldn’t match up to Daddy’s Little Angel. So what does he get from me being impregnated by a demon? Something he could do easily enough on his own. He’s not handsome. In fact, he’s just as plain as they come. You wouldn’t pay him the time of day. He might as well be invisible. Stick him in a room and he just blends into the background.”

Ashley’s jaw dropped. “You’re talking literally? He’s a
chameleon
?”

“Just slips right into the shadows. What fucking use is that for a boy? So I dragged him straight out of school right into a job. Might as well get some use out of him, I thought. I got him a trade he could be proud of. Got him a good one too. There’s always work in a slaughterhouse.”

Ashley felt the floor tilt beneath her feet. A moan rumbled in her chest and nausea rose to her throat.

“He’s a butcher?” Rafe asked, flipping open her phone and dialing.

“He’s that and more. He’s a master at the trade. It’s about the only thing he ever did right.”

“Where is he now?” Rafe asked while simultaneously speaking to Alona.

“Probably out skulking around. His new boss has been nasty with him about the amount of time off he’s had to take.” She lifted up her skirt to reveal her knee; the stitches and bruises spoke of a recent operation. “I need him here to look after me. I can’t look after myself so soon after coming out of the hospital, can I? I have to keep having surgeries because of that fucking accident he caused. Makes me dependent on him.”

“So he’s been off work while you’ve been convalescing. How long has that been?” Rafe still had Alona on the other end of her phone.

“About six weeks, I guess. I’ve been in so much pain one day has blended into the next.” She picked up her glass of whiskey and drank from it. “At first his company was okay with it, but when he started missing his shifts because I was so dependent, his boss started to get nasty.”

Ashley looked pointedly at the half-empty wine and liquor bottles littering the coffee table.

“Don’t you judge me, girl. My son tried to do that and I told him straight: you’ve got the blood of a demon running through you and you’re still pathetic. It’s no wonder his father left him and never came back. He had his daughter to be with. Lucas was worthless.”

Ashley only half heard what Rafe was talking to Alona about. She dimly heard work sheets mentioned. She was too flabbergasted by Marion’s vitriol. She wondered how it could be that she had been kept separate from this other family of her father’s and yet still be the center of attention in it.

“He’s on the list,” Rafe told her and Ashley forced herself to nod back and acknowledge her. She had a terrible feeling that was clawing at her guts and threatening to engulf her.

“Ashley? What’s wrong? What have I missed here?”

“The blond hair? The wings? Lucas isn’t killing these women to send them on as angels. He’s killing them to get rid of
me
.”

Rafe slammed her fist into the steering wheel to vent her anger. She grunted at the pain, then immediately did it again.

“Shit!” She’d just let Ashley go into a store to get provisions on her own. Rafe had argued that Ashley wasn’t safe alone now that they knew that she was the target. Ashley had informed her that demons didn’t hunt during the day, so she figured she was pretty safe getting sandwiches and doughnuts without Rafe glued to her side. Her tone had brooked no argument, so now Rafe was left sitting in the car feeling impotent. She drew back her fist to punch again. Her hand was stopped midair. Startled, she looked up to find Eli in the passenger seat of her car, his hand holding hers still.

“Tell me you didn’t know who this killer was, Eli,” she said.

“I didn’t, but that doesn’t mean someone higher up was also unaware.”

“Damn it, Eli, four women are dead and Ashley thinks it’s because of some damned sibling rivalry that stupid lush of a stepmother cooked up.”

“One word can shape a person’s entire perception of themselves. Being told you’re not as good as another can wear a soul down.”

“Even one that’s demon marked?”

Eli nodded. “Ashley’s father was an unusual angel. When he fell to earth he fathered two children. One who was all his goodness and light, the other who apparently inherited the evil.”

“He’s going to go after her, isn’t he? I think he’s been substituting these women for Ashley because the last time he saw her he was just a child. He wouldn’t know what she looks like now, so any blonde would be a target for him. Or maybe he was hoping to call her out with the killings because he knew she’d be brought in as an investigator?” Rafe’s head swam with the terrible possibilities that all led to the same conclusion: Lucas Thorpe wanted Ashley dead. “Why now? What’s triggered his killing spree?”

“Maybe being forced to hear his shortcomings daily from his bitter mother. Since the accident, they have been in closer contact. He’s her primary caretaker now. And Marion has never been one to curb her tongue about her thoughts on someone else’s inadequacies. Perhaps he decided to seek out and destroy all he could never be.”

“How is Ashley supposed to live with that knowledge?” She looked toward the store where she’d sent Ashley to retrieve food for the evening.

“You’re here to help her.”

Rafe fixed him with a stare. “You saved me, didn’t you? That night in the alley? You came and banished Armitage and stopped him from killing me. Why? What makes you think I was worth saving?”

“Because you’re her One, the one she turns to, the one she seeks comfort from, the one who makes her life worth living. The
One
she loves.”

“We’ve barely even met,” Rafe said weakly.

“But you know
her
. You know that your own life is nothing without her in it. You love her.”

Rafe nodded.