The Devil's Angel (Devil Series Book 2) (4 page)

The moon was full, hanging above him like a giant clock-pendulum. Its bright light bathed Eve as she lay upon her roof, staring at the stars. She wasn’t aware, or didn’t care, that her golden hair was spread upon dirty shingles. If ever there was a fallen angel, she was it.

Lucien gripped the tree tightly, the whites of his knuckles showing. It was painful to be so close to such a beautiful creature and not touch it. Of course, even if he could, he wouldn’t for fear his touch would destroy her.

For hours, she lay unmoving, breathing in and out quietly. The entire time, her eyes moved only to follow the moon’s retreat across the night sky. It was a slow and gradual process, and when the sun’s rays finally chased the moon away, Eve sat up and gracefully disappeared down the backside of the house.

Lucien sucked in the early morning air, letting his lungs fill to their capacity. He didn’t realize until that very moment that he’d been holding his breath the entire time.

There are moments in a person’s life they will remember forever. For most humans, these snapshots are often a graduation, a wedding, or the birth of a child. Other people capture simple moments like the joy of watching a sunrise or a first kiss. Lucien had never experienced any of these, not while human and never as a vampire—until now. This sudden emotion was foreign to him, and it bled something he didn’t understand.

He was still in this confused state when Eve opened her front door an hour later, wearing a cotton floral dress with a lime green sash around her waist. Her long hair hung down in great curls, and as she walked, they swayed carelessly across her back.

Lucien followed her every step, not deterring from the path even though he knew where she was going. The suburban houses turned into shopping centers, gas stations, grocery stores, and eventually towering skyscrapers. Eve ignored it all—it was the people she noticed.

A woman with unkempt red hair and a long overcoat passed by Eve. Eve stopped abruptly and turned around just as the red head ducked into a nearby bar. Eve followed her inside.

The small building, made from black painted cinderblocks, only had two barred windows in front, one on each side of the door. On the roof, a bright green neon sign flashed “Billy’s”. There were only a few cars in the parking lot, no doubt late night customers who were too drunk to drive home.

Lucien wandered around the side of the building and waited. Eve didn’t strike him as someone who would drink this early in the morning, but then what would she want with the red head? He tried to listen for her voice over the loud bar music, but he was only able to catch a few words that he recognized as hers.

After a while of leaning against the side of the bar like an uncommitted alcoholic, curiosity got the best of him. He peeked inside the grease-stained window. Eve was in the corner with the red head, her back slightly to the front door. If he was quick, he could sneak inside and sit at one of the bar’s few booths. Just then, one of the bar’s patrons stood and moved toward the door. This was his chance.

The male customer opened the door. Lucien waited until his back was to him before he slipped inside just before it closed. The bar was poorly lit except for the many neon beer signs crowding the walls. Only three males and four females, including Eve and her new friend, sat throughout the bar. Many of them were hunched over, looking completely wasted. The only two talking were Eve and the red head. Despite the music, he could hear Eve much better from inside.

Eve was leaning toward the woman in a private booth in the corner, comforting the red head who was crying. She held the woman’s hands in hers as the woman spoke of her failing marriage and her own desire not to live. The conversation was wearisome for Lucien, who thought it absurd that the woman might actually kill herself because her idiotic husband had cheated.

Red sniffed. “He was my life.”

“No, he was
in
your life,” Eve clarified. “Don’t let yourself believe your life is meaningless without him.”

Red nodded wearily. “How could I have been so naïve? All the signs were there.”

“You wanted to be loved,” Eve said, her tone matter-of-fact, yet Lucien sensed something more. A slight distortion in her voice that made him think of a single word:
pain
.

They chatted for a few more minutes and then, after a long hug, Eve said goodbye to the red head. Lucien hunched over, his back to her, as Eve left the bar. He waited a few minutes before he continued his pursuit. Lucien wasn’t sure what Eve had just done, but he got the distinct impression that she’d just saved the woman’s life.

The sun was high in a cloudless sky of bright blue. Lucien removed his jacket to release some of the heat pressing against his skin. The sunlight wore on him physically, but only a little—nothing a dark place couldn’t cure.

Eve turned a corner. She was almost to the Deific when she passed a skinny cop with wavy, shiny black hair. He was writing out a ticket for an illegally parked car.

“Excuse me, sir?” she asked, smiling big.

The cop turned. His jaw dropped and he looked her up and down. He quickly regained his composure. “Yes?’

Eve stepped close and batted her eyes. “I seem to be lost.”

“Where are you trying to go?”

“Sunrise Café. It’s a coffee shop nearby.” She reached out and brushed his arm at an invisible piece of lint.

“Um, it’s just around the corner. That way.” He pointed past her, his face reddening.

Eve grabbed his hand suddenly. “Oh my!”

“Wh—What is it?” the cop stuttered.

“Your hand! It’s so big!” She caressed his palm, trailing her fingers up and down his skin and across a wedding band on his left index finger.

Lucien, partially hidden within a small entryway of a pharmacy shop, raised his eyebrows. Who was this woman? One minute she’s telling a girl to leave her cheating husband, and the next she’s flirting with a married man.

The cop’s mouth opened into a silly grin. “I get that a lot.”

“I bet you do! What’s your name?”

“Adam.”

Eve laughed out loud. “Adam? How funny!”

“How come?”

“Because my name’s Eve.”

He chuckled.

“Adam, how would you like to join me for a cup of coffee?”

The smile on his face disappeared, and he stepped back. With firmness, he said, “I’m sorry, but I’m married.”

Eve smiled. “She must be the luckiest person on earth.”

The cop nodded as if had never considered this before. “Yeah, maybe.”

“Have a good day, okay?” she said in a sincere voice and walked away.

The officer mumbled something back through a silly grin.

Lucien waited for Eve to disappear beyond the black door and into the Deific before he dialed Scott’s number.

“Could you have a car dropped off at the Sunrise Cafe on 5th?” he asked.

“No problem. Something happen to yours?”

“I ditched it somewhere.”

There was a short pause, then, “How’d it go last night?”

“Perfect.” Lucien hung up the phone. That one word gave Scott enough information to know that the job had been completed successfully.

A short time later, two identical black Chevy Impala’s parked in line with each other next to the sidewalk. From each vehicle stepped out two men in business suits. Lucien knew they were there for him. Scott’s favorite car was the Impala.

As he approached them, they puffed up their chests, obviously insecure of their size compared to Lucien’s. Neither of them looked him in the eyes.

“Lucien?” the first asked.

He nodded.

“Here you go.” He dropped a set of keys into Lucien’s hand then ducked inside the coffee shop with his partner.

Lucien slid into the black leather seat behind the steering wheel. He used to like Impalas when it was a powerful rear-drive V-8, but the newer models were only a V-6. In his mind, Chevy had ruined a once magnificent car. Lucien tried to make himself comfortable while waiting for Eve to reappear. He turned the radio on to a heavy metal station and sunk into the seat.

It was just after noon when the Deific’s black door opened, and she walked out. Charlie was by her side again. Instead of signaling a cab, they walked down the sidewalk, their conversation focused on something that was going on with the New York office.

Lucien waited a few minutes before following, remembering how Charlie had acted when he’d passed Lucien’s car the other day. There was something off with him, which made Lucien cautious. In his experience, “off” was never good.

A couple blocks over, Eve and Charlie walked into a crowded Italian restaurant. The hostess guided them to a table on the right. When she returned, Lucien stood waiting for her.

“Table for one?” she asked beneath thick eyelashes.

“Yes. Over there, please.” He motioned to the opposite side of the dining room away from Eve.

Thankfully, the restaurant was huge and in the middle of a lunch rush. Several black partitions partially separated different areas of the dining room.

“Follow me,” the hostess said. The hostess weaved in and out of the tables, glancing back at him several times with a seductive smile.

“This one,” Lucien said, stopping at a table that would give him a small view of Eve. He pulled out a chair and sat down. Several heads of seated customers moved in and out of his view. There were too many people for Eve to take notice of him even if she did look his way.

“Here you go,” the hostess said, handing him a menu. Her hand lingered over his briefly before she pulled away.

He tightened his lips into a thin smile, trying hard not to show his annoyance. This is why he didn’t go out in public. His mask naturally lured people to him, but if they only knew what lay beyond his seemingly perfect exterior, they would avoid him at all costs.

After the hostess left, Lucien used his sensitive hearing to zero in on Eve’s conversation, blocking out all others.

“Are you ever going to order something other than Alfredo?” Charlie asked.

She laughed. “Why should I? I like the Alfredo. It’s a creamy, flavorful dish spread over thick homemade Italian noodles.”

“They should put that in the menu.”

“It is. See?”

He glanced down at the menu.

“You should try it, Charlie. You’ll become hooked.”

“I prefer the steer to the noodle. My teeth need something to tear into. Why don’t you try something different?”

The waitress approached their table almost at the same time Lucien’s waiter arrived at his.

“Welcome to Antonio’s. Our specials are—”

“I’ll have the Alfredo,” Lucien said.

“Very good, sir. And to drink?”

“Water’s fine.”

The older waiter nodded and walked away. Lucien returned to Eve’s conversation.

“Oh, and I’ll also have a side of sautéed mushrooms,” she told her waitress. “There. Are you satisfied? I ordered something different.”

“How very brave.”

Eve sipped from her glass and lowered it. "I heard from Sarah today. She got engaged, can you believe it?"

“Good for her! I’m not surprised though. When I spoke to her on the phone a few days ago, I had a vision of a young man proposing to her.”

Lucien cocked his head to the side. A vision? What did he mean by that?

"I can’t wait!” Eve said. “I’ve never been to a wedding.”

The waitress brought to their table a tall glass of milk for Eve and a soda for Charlie. Lucien thought it strange that she’d ordered milk. Nobody did that. Of course, nobody did a lot of things he’d seen her do recently.

“Michael called from Ireland,” Charlie said.

Lucien visibly jerked at the name of his birthplace.

“What’s he doing in Ireland?” Eve asked.

“He said something big is going down, but he couldn’t really talk. He’s supposed to email me more info later today. I called the Dublin office, but they don’t have a clue what he could be talking about.”

“Are you worried?”

“Yes. Michael doesn’t call unless it’s important.”

Eve looked out the window. Charlie looked at her. They sat in silence for a long moment.

“Are you happy here?” Charlie asked her suddenly.

“I’m not unhappy.”

“Were you happier in New York?”

“I miss the children at the Academy.”

"Do you want to go back?"

“No. This is where I need to be. It’s just taking longer than I thought. Why do you ask?”

“You’ve seemed distant lately.”

“Sorry. It’s been frustrating. I didn’t realize this would be so hard.” She twisted a white linen napkin around her hand.

Lucien adjusted his position to better see her hands. She had the most beautiful, long and slender fingers he’d ever seen. Again he had the feeling he’d seen her before, but he’d met thousands of people in his incredibly long lifetime. They moved in and out of his life like a fleeting breeze, blowing neither hot or cold. He remembered none of them.

“When someone chooses to withdraw themselves from the world,” Charlie said, “you can’t force them back into it.”

He rested his hand upon hers, as if to deliberately stop her from fidgeting. This bothered Lucien.

Eve glanced down at the white linen. “It’s not paper. I can’t tear it up.”

Charlie smiled at her. “I’m not worried about the napkin, I’m worried about you.”

“Don’t be. Everything will work out.” She moved her hand away from his and took a drink.

“But what if it doesn’t? What are you going to do with your life?”

“I never stress about my future. When you live forever, you don’t really have a future, now do you?”

The waitress brought their food and set it on the table. At the same time, Lucien’s waiter arrived with his pasta.

“Can I get you anything else?” he asked.

Lucien shook his head and thanked the waiter before he walked away.

What had Eve meant when she said she would live forever? She wasn’t a vampire. Maybe it was an inside joke he didn’t understand? He stirred the pasta and pushed it to the sides of his plate to make it look like he’d eaten some and then returned his focus back to Eve.

“How long has Michael been with the Deific?” Eve asked, then took a bite of pasta.