Sleeping Redemption (Feathers of Darkness Duet #1)

Chapter 2

Chapter Two

T he small cafe buzzed around me; people coming and going as they retrieved their morning coffee orders. It was all a blur as I remained stuck inside my mind, sitting at a small table next to a display of books for patrons to read while they stayed to consume their caffeine.

I had only been in Brixton for a few weeks, a small city several hours away from Syracuse, tucked into the Adirondack Mountains. Despite getting settled into a temporary apartment and having had nearly a year to prepare for this moment, I still struggled to find the balls to go through with this meeting.

When I first moved here, I knew it was home to one of several hundred portals to Hell across the globe. Kinley hadn’t been at any of the others, which is what brought me to this otherwise unassuming city. It had enough inhabitants that suspicious things could happen to people and there would be minimal questions raised or alarms alerting the attention of the human authorities.

As I had expected, the crime rate was above average, and the body count was astounding. It had all the markings of everything I had come to learn about Kinley’s current state of mind.

My hand cradled my mug, and I tapped my finger against the side of it to ease my anxiety. It was now just shy of nine a.m., the time she had agreed to meet. What if she knew what I had become? Would she try to send me away?

My fingers pushed a loose strand of hair back into place as my hand ran over the dark blonde of my locks pulled back into a small bun. My gray-blue eyes continued to search for any sign of her arrival.

After another influx of guests filed into the coffee shop, and that was when I saw the nearly white blonde of her hair. God, I loved her hair, I always had. My dick instantaneously reacted to the memory of what it was like to lie naked next to her with my hands buried in those silky strands.

She stepped into full view as she skirted around the line of people waiting for their orders. The sight of her took my breath away, and I didn’t care if I ever got it back again.

Kinley never did compromise on her looks, and while so much of her had changed, it seemed that piece hadn’t. With a pair of jeans hugging her hips and a black button-up blouse, she had chosen to dress casually for our meeting. Her blonde hair was loosely twined into a braid, and her sapphire hues stood out amongst her thin-framed features.

Our eyes met and she smiled. The curve of her mouth had my heart secretly hoping she was the same woman I used to know. Yet, my brain knew better than to cave to such naive thoughts.

I stood when she arrived at my table. I was prepared to grab her face and fiercely kiss her after centuries of being torn apart. Just as I nearly gave in, she extended her hand toward me.

“You must be Alex.”

Heart. Fucking. Shattered.

C’mon, Kinley, you have to remember me. Look just a little harder, angel.

Clearing my throat, I reached out to take her hand gently to shake it. “Uh, yeah. That’s me.” The lie ate away at my conscience.

“I’m Kinley Ward. It’s nice to meet you.” She withdrew her hand and dug into a tote hanging from her shoulder, pulling out a tablet before taking a seat across from me.

My eyes stared at her, and I didn’t give a fuck if she thought it was rude or awkward. My soul practically begged for her to remember me, to remember us . There had to be a part of her that did.

Kinley tapped a few things on the tablet in her hands, but I just stood there, staring at her. It probably felt like my eyes were boring a hole in her head because she glanced up to notice me still standing there, just staring at her.

“You are ready to get started, right?” she asks me, a hint of annoyance in her voice, before turning her attention back to the screen in front of her.

Quickly, I plunked down into my seat. “Of course, sorry. I am just a little surprised.”

Not looking up from her tablet, she spoke. “Because beautiful women can’t be tech geniuses, or because I’m not immediately flirting with you to secure your business?”

I gave a light chuckle; she never minded calling people out. I missed that about her.

“No, just how much you look like someone I used to know. It’s uncanny.”

I wiped my palms over my gray dress slacks, mentally telling myself to pull my shit together. I gestured at her. “Please, continue.”

Her eyes suspiciously looked me over. I had hoped that wearing my white dress shirt and matching gray vest would have prompted some level of recognition of an era gone by.

Baby, please. There has to be a part of you that hasn’t been lost. I see you, why won’t you see me? Just look a little harder…

I knew it had been a couple hundred years, and a lot had changed for us both, but I had to continue holding onto a sliver of hope. Under orders from up above, I was supposed to be cloaking my true appearance and maintaining a healthy distance from Kinley. While my ability to hide my familiarity from her was currently in use, it was a half-assed mask that she should have been able to see through like the dark film on a pair of sunglasses.

Guardian Angel 101: Be present but not present.

That seemed to leave a lot of wiggle room, didn’t it? The powers that be never made anything clear as day.

Setting her device down, Kinley’s eyes occasionally glanced down at her notes. “I did a preliminary assessment of your company’s online footprint. It’s remarkably pitiful.”

I would have hoped so. I had only tossed together the fake corporation in hopes that she would recognize me and we could forgo these games.

“That is why I reached out to you. I heard you’re the best in Brixton.” I shot her a charming smile, laying it on thick. She used to tell me that my smile alone could convince her to take on the world.

Knowingly, she gave a smile with a shrug of her shoulder. “I am, and my rates are priced appropriately. For a base package, which includes top-tier security, personalized software, and white-glove customer service by the CEO – me – you’re looking at fifty minimum.”

I nearly choked on the coffee I had begun to sip. “Fifty grand?” My brow lifted in complete shock that she got anyone to pay those prices. Not unless she was using her manipulation tactics.

Her hand reached across the table, fingertips lightly stroking the back of my hand. Lowering her voice the way you whisper to a lover, she said, “Now it’s seventy-five for scoffing at my first proposal.” She smirked as her finger traced a few circles along my skin.

Narrowing my eyes on her, I watched her moves carefully. A warm tingle spread from her touch onto my skin, and it wasn’t just my imagination or longing for her. She was trying to use her angelic powers of persuasion on me. This is a joke, right?

The charm she tried to bespell me with was a wasted effort on a non-human. Angels couldn’t use persuasion on other angels, or demons for that matter. I knew I had undergone some changes since my return to Earth, ones which I couldn’t even begin to explain, but I hadn’t realized that I wasn’t even recognizable as an angel, specifically one sent to watch over her.

“Fifty and you let me take you out to dinner,” I countered, making it clear that she wasn’t going to be successful in her efforts to take advantage of me.

Kinley’s brows furrowed as she realized her charm hadn’t worked its magic. She tried once more, the prickle of energy spreading up my arm but still falling flat on my body’s natural defenses.

I grinned. “Still offering fifty grand and dinner, but you better make up your mind quickly. This offer won’t last long.” Another lie. The offer would always be on the table for her.

Obviously troubled by her failed efforts, she quickly withdrew her hand. I could almost see the wheels spinning in her mind after I presented her with a challenge.

Agreeing, she named her sole condition. “Fine, but I choose the restaurant.”

The first bit of light shone in my slate blue eyes for the first time in a very long time. “Deal. Tonight at seven.”

Her teeth briefly bit into her lower lip before she smiled at me. “In a rush to spend your money?”

With a shake of my head, I responded, full of confidence. “I’ve been waiting a long time to find the right woman for the job, angel.”

It was hard to explain, but the amount of giddiness inside of me was akin to having your crush accept your invitation to a dance. We were incredibly beyond the first, second, or three-hundredth date, but it didn’t seem to matter when she wasn’t really seeing me. I was determined to make her remember me, to pull her out of the darkness that clouded her vision.

From what I had heard amongst the few others who were privy to my return, losing me had pushed her over the edge. I hoped the stories of her cruel games were exaggerated; I couldn’t imagine my soulmate taking part in such callous disregard for human life. Sure, deserving souls should get punishments fitting for their crimes, but from the rumors, she had been non-prejudicially abusing humankind and discarding the bodies like broken and unwanted toys.

Leaning over, I smirked. “Just make sure you leave room for dessert.”

She mirrored me, leaning in. “I was just about to tell you the same thing.”

Before I could reach out to touch her face, she settled back into her seat. Tonight, I intended to pull out all the stops to remind her of herself, the true Kinley.

She needed to see that I came back for her, and everything could be righted after that asshole Nicodemus attacked me on that snowy mountainside. My mind drifted back to the snowbanks of the St. Cassius Mountain centuries ago.

I tackled Kinley into the large pile of snow, both of us sinking into it more than expected, prompting another fit of laughter from each of us.

“Atlassian! My hair is going to be soaked before we make it to the peak!” She scolded me despite the smile on her face that reflected how much she enjoyed my playfulness.

Pulling us both back onto our feet, I grinned and brushed as much of the snow off of her as I could. My hand rested on her cheek that bore a light pink hue from the bitter cold of the wind. I drew her face near my own as I lightly kissed those delicious lips of hers.

“It’s not your hair I’m concerned about soaking, Kinley,” I said with a wink.

Her hand smacked my chest before she grabbed the front of my dark green jacket and pulled me closer to her. “Keep it up, Atlas, and Lucifer will have my wings for being late to the meeting with this demon, Nicodemus.” She lovingly kissed me, making everything in the world feel perfect.

I blinked as I chased the memory back into the depths of my mind. Sitting back and looking at her, she had lost that lively aura about her. She had always been a fighter and strong-willed, but the woman before me was so far gone she couldn’t see past her own twisted corruption.

Her arctic-hued eyes continued evaluating me, unclear what to make of my immunity to her power to bend my will to hers. All the while, she kept explaining a basic plan for my nonexistent company. Everything from online security to platforms to integration of a point-of-sale system.

The sound of her voice, no matter the words she spoke, was enough to put a piece of my heart back in place. I caught myself imagining all the dirty words I wished she would whisper to me when she commanded my attention, and I had nearly forgotten the fake name I had given her until she repeated it several times.

“Alex? Hello?” She sighed, running out of patience after realizing that I had dazed out.

Sitting up in my seat, I nudged my empty coffee cup away from me. “Sorry, I just realized that there’s a lot more to this than I thought.”

Kinley packed up her tablet. “That’s why you have me.” She pulled a pen from her purse and scribbled on a piece of paper. “Here’s my address. Don’t be late tonight.”

After she shoved the paper across the table, I gently grabbed onto her hand before she was able to withdraw it. “Kinley.” My heart stammered away inside my chest as our gazes locked.

“Yes?” Her eyes were full of loneliness and even deeper emptiness as she stared straight through me. Eyes were supposed to be windows to the soul, and hers was MIA.

Just fucking tell her, you idiot! Make her see you.

I squeezed her hand tightly. I didn’t want to let her go. “I… I appreciate you being willing to help me out.”

Her resistance to my touch made her tug away from me, and it wasn't until she used her unholy strength that I let her slip from my grasp.

“It’s what I do.” Kinley forced a smile. “See you at seven sharp.”

She stood from her seat, leaving me at the table. However, before she left through the door of the cafe, she took one quick look back at me. One that told me I had at least made some sort of impression on her, for better or for worse.