Chapter 7 Quinn
Chapter 7: Quinn
I sigh and plop back down on the couch, resting my head on the back of the couch. I hadn’t meant to upset her entirely. It was just too easy to get under that golden skin of hers. And I hadn’t meant to shoot her either; she’d been a means to an end to get my point across with the Council.
“Trouble in paradise?” I roll my eyes at the sound of Raphael’s voice and crane my neck to look over at him. He’s perched on top of the nightstand, his blood-red wings closed behind him.
“Shouldn’t you be tormenting Lucy?”
Raphael shakes his head. “Nah, not right now. He’s got a stick up his ass, as usual.”
“And so you thought it would be a great idea to pester me.”
He bobs his head and looks around. “Nice little place you’ve got here.”
“It’s not mine,” I tell him.
Raphael grins. “Oh, I know. The whole Veil is talking about it.”
I groan and scrub a hand across my face. “Great, so everyone knows I’ve been sentenced to Guardian work?”
“Yep. On both ends. Lucy’s upset, but there’s not much he can do about it.” He stands and stretches out his wings. “So, who’s the girl?”
“Like you don’t know,” I say and sit upright on the couch. “You’re the one that told me to go after her.”
He waves a hand. “Details. Any mortal would’ve been great as a hostage, but since my brother has a favorite plaything in the Heavenly Realm, I figured targeting her would be easier.”
I scoff. “Ha! So you admit it.”
He lifts his shoulders in a half shrug.
“Admit what?”
I startle at the sound of Eva’s voice. I hadn’t heard her come out. Her face is flushed, and her eyes are puffy and red-rimmed. I’d made her cry after all. Something in my chest tightens, and I immediately look away.
“Were you talking to yourself?”
“Obviously not. He couldn’t hold a conversation even if he tried,” Raphael says and turns around, taking a bow.
Eva let’s out a sharp gasp and backs up a couple steps when Raphael makes his presence known. He can appear a bit intimating to mortals, just as any Fallen or Demon can. “Y-Your…” She trails off.
“A Demon,” I clarify for her.
Eva looks at me with a glare. “I can see that, stupid.”
“Ooh, she’s feisty. I like that!” Raphael laughs and walks over to throw an arm over her shoulder. She shifts on her feet awkwardly to compensate for his weight. “Keep him on his toes. He needs it,” he whispers into her ear, but it’s loud enough for me to hear.
I scowl at him and rise from the couch. “Go bother someone else, Raphe. We’re busy.”
He looks between the two of us and grins. “Yes, I can see that. The chemistry is burning between you two.”
She opens her mouth and snaps it shut but shrugs off Raphael’s arm. “Who exactly are you?”
“Raphael. Demon Raphael,” he says with a flourish. I roll my eyes at his dramatic performance. “At your service.” He snatches one of her hands and plants a wet kiss on the back. My jaw tics. Something simmers in my gut, on the verge of boiling.
“This lousy Demon was just leaving.” I march over, grab one of his wings, and pull him away from Eva.
“Ow, ow ! Watch where you’re pulling that!” he snaps. Then he turns his face back toward Eva and extends an arm in her direction. “Help me. And then we can—”
“She doesn’t want your offspring, you lecher.”
“Hey now! I’ll have you know that my body parts function just fine, thank you very much!” he shouts, and I tug him further back.
When I dare a glance at Eva, her face is drained of color, and she looks ready to be sick.
“Go on. We need some privacy away from your ass.”
Raphael sighs loudly but disappears in a plume of dark smoke.
“Sorry about that.” I rub the back of my neck, feeling a bit uneasy now that it’s just us two once more. “Raphael can be a bit…much.” When I look over at her, she looks about as awkward as I feel.
“It’s f-fine.” She turns and moves toward the door. “We should get going.”
My body perks up. “Where are we headed?”
“My parents’ for Thanksgiving dinner.”
My shoulders droop. “Thanksgiving…dinner? That’s your big plan?” I groan. “Somebody just kill me now.”
“Would love to, except I don’t think it works on donkeys.”
“Funny,” I tell her as I follow behind her and out into the blustery day.
“Stop tapping. You’re making me nervous.”
My fingers cease tapping against my thigh for a split second, long enough for me to peer over at her, before resuming. Eva’s gripping the steering wheel tight, to the point her knuckles turn an off-white against her olive skin.
“As if you’ve got anything to be nervous about.” I roll my eyes at her and turn my head to look back out the window. We’ve been in the car for what feels like hours, and I can’t wait to stretch my wings. They’re cramped in this little blue BMW.
I let out a forlorn sigh. What I wouldn’t give for a fast car like Parker’s.
“Of course I’m nervous,” Eva says and lets out a breath. I give her a bored look she doesn’t notice. “Not only do I have to pretend as if I didn’t die and come back, now I’ve got to deal with trying to pretend you don’t exist.” She groans and slumps against the steering wheel once she coaxes the car to a stop at an intersection.
“You won’t have to worry about me. You’re the only one that can see me.”
She narrows her eyes at me. The sunlight brings out a subtle fleck of green in her otherwise brown-eyed gaze. I swallow hard and lean back in my seat. “Why’s that?”
“Angels live by a code of sorts. ‘Don’t reveal ourselves to a mortal’ and all that,” I tell her with a wave of my hand.
“Then why did you and that Raphe guy? Will Ivy get in trouble for doing that?” Her brows are pinching together, and a frown is stretching across her mouth. “Aren’t they Angels too?”
“I don’t know about this Ivy,” I scoff, “but Raphael isn’t an Angel. He’s a Demon, as I clearly mentioned.”
“But his wings…” She trails off, then jumps a little when a blaring horn sounds from behind us. She lets her foot off the brake, and then we’re driving through the intersection.
In slow motion, I watch the scene unfold. My body stiffens, bracing for impact. There’s an oncoming car that is going too fast, and Eva won’t brake in time. I launch across the dash without a second thought and phase through the windshield.
My body rolls across the hood and onto the ground. I turn, my wings outstretched as I hold up my arms, and the speeding car hits me instead of the BMW. The car wraps halfway around me before coming fully to a halt. The metal grinds, and sparks fly.
There’s the sound of squealing tires and shouts of alarm. I back away, hardly breaking a sweat, but an unexpected feeling grapples at my chest. I touch my chest, gripping the fabric of my shirt.
“Quinn!”
I glance over my shoulder to Eva. She wrestles with the seatbelt that locked up on her when she jerked the car to a stop to narrowly avoid said car wreck. Then she’s scrambling out of the car and hurrying over to me.
When I fully turn to look down at her, there are tears in her eyes, and her chest is rising and falling fast. “Are y-you okay?”
I arch an eyebrow down at her. “Stop crying,” I command. She reaches up to swipe at her eyes while I peer over her head to the other person in the car. There’s a shimmering light, and the ethereal silhouette of the Angel wanes before disappearing completely.
“I c-can’t help it. I saw the car coming, and then you went through the glass—”
I reach out just as she collapses forward and brace her body against mine. She sniffles against my shirt against my shirt. But I’m not paying attention to whatever she’s trying to say, surveying the area as people nearby close in.
“You need to get up,” I tell her in the most calming way. “Otherwise, I’m going to drop your ass.”
Eva straightens, her face pinched in a scowl. But it’s the look in her eyes that has me glancing away. I can’t even begin to think if she were crying about her almost accident or if she were worried about me.
“Lady, are you all right?” a man says as he rushes over. Eva nods, and then he’s running over to the other car to check on the driver. They wouldn’t have seen what I did.
“The driver…” she says in a low whisper. My gaze follows her, and hardens at the sight. I may have come out unscathed since I’m immortal, but can’t say the same for the human. “Is he…?” I turn away from the horrific sight.
Ash in my mouth. Tires squealing and the engine roaring up in flames. Smoke stings my nostrils. Metal caves in.
I shake my head to clear the unbidden thoughts and look down at Eva. She’s trembling from head to toe, and her hands are covering her mouth to stop the sobs from escaping. A heavy sigh escapes me, and I reach out to rest a hand on her shoulder. “All mortals die,” I remind her. “And it was his time.”
“You didn’t have to be the one that did it,” she snaps and jerks shoulder free.
I release my hold on her shoulder and lower my arm back to my side. “I don’t know what you mean.”
The glare she gives me causes an unexpected ache in my chest. I take a step back and roll my shoulders. “Stop lying.”
“I’m not,” I tell her with the utmost bored and blank look I can muster down at her. “The Soul Collector took him.”
“The what?”
“I’ll explain later.” I nudge her away from the smoking car behind me and back toward her BMW. “We should leave before the cops show up.”
“Leave? I can’t just leave!” she sputters. “This is a crime scene.”
“Trust me, this’ll turn into an investigation.” I survey her from head to toe. “And I don’t think orange would suit you.”
Her face flushes red, and her eyes are narrowed. “You’re unbelievable.” She skirts around me to stomp toward her car.
I phase through the side and take a seat. Her hands are on the wheel, and she’s got this faraway look in her eyes.
“Well?” Eva turns to look over at me. More tears are cresting down her cheeks. I let out a breath and reach over to grip the wheel. “Maybe I should drive.”
The blank look disappears, and the scowl is back on her pretty little face.
She almost looks like an Angel when she cries. I shake the unbidden though from my mind and scoot toward the console and closer to her.
Eva shrinks away from me and releases her hold on the steering wheel. “What are you—”
“Trust me,” I say in a low voice. The ring of hazel green is back in her brown eyes.
“Why should I trust you?” Her voice is raspy. But she hasn’t moved to grab control of the wheel.
A muscle in my jaw flexes. She does have a point. Why should she trust someone like me?
“Because like it or not, I’m your Guardian Angel.”
To be continued . . .
Falling For Grace full story will release in June 2025