hands over Abby, ready to wake her up. Fuck, here goes nothing.
Chapter 2
“I can’t believe that worked.”
I watch Abby go up the stairs and then I turn, giving Easton an annoyed look. “You should know better than to doubt my powers.”
“I wouldn’t say I doubt them, but I am surprised that went a lot smoother than I expected.”
“Thanks for the vote of confidence.” I look back at the floor where Abby’s body laid only minutes ago. There’s a streak of blood that we couldn’t get while she was lying down, and I need to quickly clean that up. Easton gets the broom and starts sweeping up the small pieces of the broken jar, and I feverishly clean up the rest of the visible blood. Then I sneak upstairs and tiptoe into Abby’s room. The shower is on, and while I haven’t been in Abby’s bathroom before, I’m sure the shower has a glass door and I can’t sneak by unnoticed.
Dammit. I could really go for Ruth’s invisibility spell right now. The next best thing I can do is a cloaking spell, which won’t prevent Abby from seeing me if she was staring right at me, but it will keep her from looking.
Using magic to unlock the bathroom door, I peer in. Thank the fucking stars. I was right about the bathroom being super fancy, and there are his and her closets right inside the entrance to the bathroom. Abby’s laundry basket is inside her closet, and her clothes are on top. I grab them and dash out of the bathroom, silently shutting the door behind me.
I’m back downstairs in a flash, and Easton is holding another grocery bag, ready for me to put the bloody clothes in.
“Thank you again,” I tell him as he adds that bag to another. He’s taking everything blood-covered from the house to dispose of elsewhere.
“You’re welcome. I figured I still owe you from that time I kind of tried to kill you.”
“You never actually followed through,” I say with a half-smile. “And I think this makes us even.”
I rub my temples as exhaustion crashes down on me. So much for a relaxing day. The universe has it out for me, I swear.
“You have some explaining to do,” he tells me. “Where is Roger’s body and how the hell did you heal your sister?”
“I don’t really know where Roger is, but I’m guessing he’s in Hell.”
“Assuming Heaven and Hell are real, then yeah, I’d guess he’d go to Hell too.”
“They are real, and I don’t just mean his soul. I think his body is there too.” My mind is racing, and I don’t see a good way to get out of this without telling Easton the truth. Part of it, at least. He just helped me clean up a crime scene, after all.
“I have to tell you something about me, something that even after all you’ve seen, will still be hard to believe.”
“Okay,” he says slowly.
“Let’s sit down,” I say because I’m feeling a little sick again and need the room to stop spinning. We go into the kitchen and sit at the island. I grab a saltine cracker and take a small bite. “Do you remember the man who walked me down the aisle at my wedding?” I ask, not sure if Michael allowed anyone to keep the memory of him.
“Yeah,” Easton answers, tipping his head as he thinks. “I can’t recall what he looks like, though, which is weird.”
“Not really, he probably did that on purpose.”
“Why would he do that?”
“Because of who he is.” I take another bite of the cracker. “He’s my father. My real father. I’m not a Martin, and I’m not…I’m not fully human.”
Easton leans back in the barstool and looks at me, waiting for me to go on. I like being the center of attention from time to time, but this is awkward. Might as well spit it out and get it over with. “I’m a Nephilim, and that man walking me down the aisle was an angel. So was the other guy who was with him.”
“You’re not joking, are you?”
“No. I didn’t know until recently.”
Easton plows his hand through his hair and looks me up and down. “Fuck.”
“I know.” I shake my head. “One of my family members healed Abby and took care of Roger’s body. You can’t tell anyone, okay? I don’t want to magically bind you into keeping the secret, so promise me.”
Easton’s head slowly bobs up and down. “I promise.”