Wounded Angel (The Earth Angels) - By Stacy Gail Page 0,44
put on a leash by some crazy bastard who wanted to find the Lost Dutchman’s mine, only to be killed when she wouldn’t comply. My uncle was supposedly locked up somewhere in Fiji and used as some kind of stud to make lots of little treasure-finders. My own mother lived in constant fear of being hunted down and used like an animal, so she never admitted to having any sort of talent. Unfortunately she was more gifted than most. No matter how many times she mutilated herself by chopping off her own wings, they’d spontaneously reappear like a lizard growing a new tail. She had the gift of apportation, the ability to teleport missing objects out of thin air. Whenever she’d accidentally do it, she’d be suicidal. Eventually it happened one too many times and like her father before her, she killed herself before anyone else could get the chance.”
Ella struggled beneath him. What she wouldn’t give to slam her hands over her ears and hide from this flight from reality. “You must think I really am nuts if you expect me to believe any of this.”
“I’m telling you this because I believe this thing used you to target me. I don’t know why it didn’t come at me straight-on, and I sure as hell don’t get what it meant when it said it can’t see me the way it can see everyone else. The one thing I do know—that shape-shifting atrocity that first looked like the woman you called Lana before it morphed into Charles Rainier is actually a demon who’s hunting descendants of the Nephilim all across the continent. I’ve been expecting an attack, but I never dreamed it would come through you. I owe it to you to get you out of this, but you’ve got to help me by listening to me.”
“Damn it, let me—”
“According to my mother, I’m the least-talented person my bloodline has ever produced,” he went on, ignoring her struggles. “Apportation, treasure-finding...I’m nothing like that. In fact, I’m what you’d call a dud. All I ever did was feel where things were generally located if I concentrated on them hard enough. That was all. But I was so arrogant, I believed what little gift I did have should be put to good use, so I became a cop. Then my locating gift left me around the time I found what should have remained hidden. Once that happened, it should have been the end of all this goddamn Nephilim crap I’ve had to put up with. But because life sucks, things haven’t worked out that way. This demon doesn’t give a shit that I don’t have wings or a single drop of power anymore. It’s after me, and it’ll use any weapon at its disposal to get me, including you. That’s why I won’t let you out of my sight. I’d love to, believe me, but I can’t. I refuse to be responsible for any more deaths.”
By degrees his words sank in, seeping through the cushioning walls of denial in which she tried to wrap herself. As much as she wanted to cling to the idea this was all in her head, that was hard to do when she could feel his massive weight bearing her down into the mattress.
I won’t let you out of my sight. I’d love to, believe me, but I can’t.
Now there was a dose of realism she couldn’t ignore. If there was one thing that could bring on the clarity, it was rejection. Nevertheless, letting go of a world she’d always known without putting up a fight just wasn’t her style.
“You do know how irrational all of that sounds, right?” Even to her own ears, she sounded weak. “Angels and demons and...oh, man. Wings.”
“You’ve seen my back. I don’t have any wings.” And it sounded like he hated himself for it. Another shot of reality her brain couldn’t possibly have conjured up on its own. “Unlike the other descendants, I’ve never known what it’s like to fly.”
“Whoa, wait. There are more of you?”
She felt him nod. “It’s funny, but of all the things my mother took from me, her maiming me is the one thing I regret most of all. I don’t care that it no doubt killed the bulk of my locating ability. Without ever having flown, I still miss doing it with every part of my soul.”
“This is just...I don’t know. Such a bagful of crazy.” Then she shook her head. “So much so that I almost