Chapter 7
Chapter Seven
“ What?” Her voice had gone flat and cold, just like her eyes. And her teeth were getting longer and sharper. When the fangs came out, trouble was calling.
But it was time to reveal this to her. After what he’d done tonight, she deserved to know. “I was the angel there that night. I was the one you sensed.”
“ You? ” Her knuckles whitened around the sheet. “You saw what he did?—”
His muscles locked at the memory. “I saw everything.”
“And you just stood there?” Disbelief. Disgust.
His spine straightened. He’d expected this.
“You stood there,” she repeated, “and let him hurt me? He clawed me, he bit me, hell, I even thought he was going to rape me!”
Keenan spun away from her. “He didn’t.” I didn’t let him. I broke the rules. Took him when I should have taken you.
“Wait. I get it now.”
Keenan glanced over his shoulder. “I doubt it.” Wrong thing to say.
She lunged forward. The sheet dropped. “You were my guardian. My guardian angel, right? So your job was to watch me.”
No. He’d never been a guardian angel, and he shouldn’t have watched her so much. Since he couldn’t lie, he just didn’t speak.
“I thought guardian angels were supposed to keep their charges safe.”
They were. Except when he was around. Then the guardians were given other charges. No one could stop death.
He ran a hand over his face. I did.
Hadn’t he? Or had that angel been in the room with them tonight for a different reason? To finish the job?
No.
Keenan grabbed his jeans. Jerked them on. Shoved into his shoes.
“What are you doing?” she demanded.
“I have to find someone.”
“No, you’re not leaving right now.” She stood in front of him. Naked. Furious. So sexy. The bed was just steps away. He’d been so close to the paradise of her body, but now he’d lost that chance.
Thanks, Az, you asshole. The human curses and insults were coming much easier to him now.
“You were there.” It was too easy to read the disgust on her face as she grabbed his arm. “Why didn’t you stop him? Why didn’t you help me ?” Her claws bit into his skin, drawing blood.
He stared back at her and barely felt the pain. “You were supposed to die that night.”
Her eyelids flickered.
“I wasn’t supposed to help you. No one was.” Cold, hard truth.
Her body shuddered.
He had to get out of there. Get away from her. Because he wanted to pull her close. Keenan wanted to hold her and protect her. But the truth, the real truth was that he’d been the biggest threat to her all along. He was the darkness that had come to take her away.
Her worst moment—he’d been there. Watching.
All the rage and despair she felt was directed right at him.
A fist seemed to shove into his chest. “I didn’t want to hurt you.” Another painful truth.
“You said I was a damn key.” Her lower lip trembled. “A key to what?”
His lashes lowered.
“Eyes up, angel.”
His gaze snapped up.
“What kind of key am I? Why were you guarding me? Why is another angel spying on me now?”
“I don’t know why he’s here.” But he’d find out. “And you’re the key because…” Tell her. “The night you changed, I fell.”
She blinked.
He pulled away from her and in a flash, he was at the door. Angels—even the Fallen—could always move fast.
“Keenan!”
“Stay here.” He didn’t look back. “You’re weak now.” Because the sun was rising.
“Oh, don’t throw that crap at me! I can’t control the freaking sunlight!”
“Rest,” he said quietly. “I’ll be back.” That was a promise.
“No, you’re not leaving me! If you’re going after that angel, I’m coming, too.”
The wood was chipping off the old door. His gaze bored into that wood. “If he touches you, you’re dead.” Simple truth—an angel of death killed with a touch. “A vamp can’t even begin to compete with his power.” He opened the door and left her.
Elijah knew that dawn was coming. Sweat trickled down his back as he stared at the women easing out of the bar, their bodies held tightly by the men with them.
His heart raced too fast, his hands shook almost constantly, and a fist twisted his guts. Withdrawal. He knew all the fucking signs. If he didn’t get the drugs again soon, he’d rip apart. No, he’d rip apart any fool who got in his path.
He’d been so sure Sam would hook him up. So fucking sure.
He tasted ash in his mouth. No matter what he drank or ate, ash was all he got.
And the whispers were calling to him. Taunting.
He’d first heard those whispers when he was fourteen. Those mocking whispers told him that the humans could see right through his glamour, that they knew what he was.
He needed to stop the humans from seeing.
Had to stop them.
Like he’d stopped the others. So many others before...
No.
Elijah spun away from the crowd. He just needed his drugs. Once he had those, he’d be in control. He’d pick the prey he wanted—screw the voices. They couldn’t tell him who needed to die.
He needed drugs. The drugs shut up the fucking voices.
Drugs.
He just had to find the right dealer. Someone willing to trade with a demon.
Nicole didn’t stay in the motel room—she wasn’t some well-trained dog to do what she was told.
She grabbed the gun she’d taken from the feeding room and ran outside. It only took her a few seconds to get the weapon, but by the time she made it outside, Nicole discovered Keenan hadn’t left so much as a whisper of scent behind.
Damn him.
He’d seen. Everything. Her worst nightmare. Her pain and humiliation. Her terror.
He’d seen, and he hadn’t helped her.
Damn the bastard.
He’d gone—fine. He’d better stay gone. She didn’t want to see him again. Because if she did, she’d kill him herself.
He’d been there that terrible night and, moments before, he’d almost fucked her.
The rage built as the hours passed. She found a small shop. Bought some new clothes and ditched his shirt because she was tired of his scent clinging to her. Her new jeans were tight, her T-shirt hugged her body, and the boots made her feel like maybe, just maybe, she could kick some ass. Angel ass.
She walked onto the street and felt the heat of the sun on her skin. Her body was tired, her moves sluggish. She’d get cover—any place but that cheap motel room—and crash.
Her fury had given her the strength to stay out in the daylight, but her emotions were churning now, and they were draining her energy.
Betrayal. Yes, that’s what stabbed her right in the heart. She’d been so weak that long-ago night. If he’d just reached out and helped her...
“I’d still be alive,” she whispered.
“No, Nicole, you wouldn’t be. That would have been against the rules.”
She spun at the hard, male voice.
A man stood a few feet away, his dark hair loose around his shoulders. He wore dark sunglasses, glasses that cast her reflection right back at her. Broad shoulders stretched the black T-shirt he wore. His back was pressed against the brick wall on the side of the building, and a faint smile curved his lips.
“Stopping you from going into that alley, saving you—those weren’t options for our boy,” he said as his grin stretched.
Our boy.
Suddenly, the day wasn’t quite as warm. She stepped forward, just a small step, aware of the few humans strolling down the street. No help there. “Who are you?”
One black brow rose. His thumbs were hooked in the loops of his jeans. “I’m a friend of Keenan’s.”
“An angel?” She’d been raised her whole life to believe in angels. She just hadn’t expected angels to look like Keenan or like this guy.
But I believe.
It was vamps and the other monsters she hadn’t believed in. That disbelief had come back to bite her in the ass.
He laughed softly at her question, and the sound sent a shiver over her. “I’m no more an angel than Keenan is.”
But Keenan was?—
“Once an angel falls, he becomes something very, very different.” He pulled off his sunglasses. His eyes were the same bright blue as Keenan’s. His blue gaze trekked to the left, then to the right as it swept past the pedestrians. “Why don’t you come closer,” he invited, “so we can talk without worrying that the humans will overhear?”
She didn’t move. The gun was tucked in the waistband of her jeans, hidden beneath her shirt. But what would the silver bullets do against someone like him? Probably not much. “I’m fine right here.”
His eyes narrowed. “Are you?”
Nicole swallowed. “What do you want?”
He took a step toward her. She tensed.
“Where is Keenan?” he asked.
She braced her legs apart. “You’re not really his friend, are you?” Her right hand began to edge toward the gun. So what if the humans saw? She wasn’t dying on this street.
He didn’t blink. “No, I’m not.”
Great.
“He left you all alone.” His lips—sensual but cruel, just like the rest of him—pulled down. “Didn’t expect that. I thought you mattered more.”
“Why would I matter to him?” I begged for help. Help Keenan hadn’t given her. “We barely know each other.” Fury thickened her voice.
He took another slow, gliding step toward her. She was reminded of a snake slithering up on his prey. “Oh, you might not know him well,” he said, “but Keenan knows you.”
Then he was in front of her. Mere inches away. He’d moved in a blink—as fast as Keenan had at the motel.
Her hand flew for the gun.
He caught her wrist. Held tight. “I can’t let you do that.” His head came close, and his lips feathered against her ear as he spoke. To everyone else on the street, it would look like they were lovers whispering secrets and promises. “Digging those bullets out,” he told her as his breath stroked over her, “can be a real bitch.”
She’d lost feeling in the tips of her fingers. He wasn’t hurting her—there was just no feeling. “ Who are you? ”
His left hand rose and brushed back the hair from her cheek. “You can call me Sam.”
That told her nothing.
He eased back and gazed down at her. “He should have been with you.” There actually seemed to be some sadness in his voice. “I thought he was going to protect you.”
“Why would he?” Nicole demanded, refusing to cower. For all she knew, this jerk was a low-level demon, just bullshitting his way around and trying to screw with her head. “Keenan has no link to me.” Even though she could still feel his hands on her body. Still taste him. Bastard. “We’re not?—”
His laughter cut through her words. “Don’t bother lying to me.”
“I’m not.”
Faint lines appeared around his eyes, then his brows shot up. “You don’t know.”
She snapped her lips closed.
Once more, his fingers brushed down her cheek. “I bet he likes to touch you, doesn’t he?”
Two giggling teenage girls passed them.
“Everything’s so new when you fall. Touch—it can bring so much pleasure.” To be so bright, those eyes of his were so cold. “Or so much pain.”
“Let go of my hand,” she gritted. A cop was walking down the sidewalk. The last thing she needed was to get caught between this creep and a cop.
He didn’t let go. “The emotions hit next. Anger. Hate. Fury.” His gaze dropped to her mouth. “Lust. I bet he knows all about that, thanks to you.”
She jumped back and was surprised that she actually broke his hold. “I don’t mean anything to Keenan. So if you’re trying to get back at him by taking hits at me, think again.”
“Stop lying.”
The real fury in his voice had her heart slamming into her chest.
“He fell for you. Of course, he’s damn well linked to you.”
He fell?—
“And because of that link…” He sighed. “I’m afraid you’re gonna have to suffer.”
She really didn’t like the sound of that. I’ll pass on that, thanks.
“Don’t say I didn’t warn you,” he told her.
That was when the punch hit her—not a punch, an electric shock. Her head whipped to the right, and she saw the cop who’d been approaching—and the bastard had a taser out. The volts were hitting her, hard, jolting her body, and the cop was screaming something.
If she’d been at full strength, the shock wouldn’t have even slowed her down. She would have laughed at him. Yanked out the electrodes and laughed.
But the sun was out. She was weak. And she went down.
The motel room door was ajar. Keenan frowned as unease slipped over him. This wasn’t right. He didn’t knock. He just pushed the door open with his knuckles.
Empty.
Of course, she’d left him again. Figured. Especially after his big reveal. Not like she’d want to stick around with the man who’d been responsible for her undead transformation.
You just stood there and watched.
Story of his existence.
He turned away from the room. The place smelled of her. His gaze swept the street. The sun was up. She shouldn’t have gone out during the day.
Easy prey.
Maybe he should just walk away. The obsession he had with her—no way could that be a good thing.
He stalked back toward the motorcycle with his hands shoved deep into the pockets of his jeans. He’d bought new clothes. Even gotten some for her. Nicole’s were tucked into the saddlebags on the bike.
He kicked up the stand on the motorcycle. Where would she have gone?
I should have stayed with her.
“Lose something?” A voice drawled.
His hands tightened around the handlebars. Slowly, he glanced up and to the left.
A man stood there. He was tall and dressed all in black. His eyes were covered by a pair of sunglasses.
“Maybe it’s not something you’ve lost...” The guy sauntered forward as if he didn’t have a care in the world. “Maybe it’s someone .”
“ Sam. ”
Sammael flashed a crooked grin. “Good to see you haven’t forgotten your old friends.”
Keenan jumped off the bike. “We were never friends.” No one would be dumb enough to be Sam’s friend. Sam’s friends had a way of ending up in hell.
Sam shrugged. “My mistake. I forgot that you always thought you were better than me. Just like all the others.”
“No.” Keenan readied for an attack because he knew one would be coming. “I just think a random slaughter of the humans wasn’t the best way to go.” That slaughter was why Sammael had fallen so many centuries before. Once, he’d been the strongest, his power even greater than Az’s.
But then Sammael had made the decision to kill those not on the death list. He’d strayed…
The Fallen laughed. “Just put the pieces together, huh? They threw my ass out because I killed those not on their list—just like you, Keenan. Just like you. ”
“I’m nothing like you.” Sam hadn’t just killed one person. He’d killed dozens. “I was trying to save her, I didn’t—” Keenan stopped.
The grin faded from Sam’s face. “You broke the rules, same as me.” A muscle jerked in his jaw. “Did they give you a chance to explain or did they just toss you out, too?” Sam stalked closer. “Do you still think you can feel your wings? Do you try to fly, only to remember they fucking burned them off you? ”
Yes. Sometimes, he could feel them stretching in the air behind him. A lie. An illusion. “Why are you here?” Keenan wished he could see Sam’s eyes, but all he could see was his own image in those dark glasses.
“Maybe I just wanted the chance to talk to another of my kind. It’s not every day that an angel falls.”
No. Some angels didn’t even survive the fall. Their bodies just weren’t ready for the onslaught of pain.
“So you were trying to save ‘her,’ huh?” Sam’s head cocked. “Would that ‘her’ be that sexy little piece with that sweet Southern drawl?”
Keenan lunged forward and grabbed Sam by the front of his shirt. “ Where is she ?”
Sam didn’t flinch. “She’s really why you fell? You traded your wings, all your power—just for a human’s life?”
“Where is Nicole?”
“Of course, she’s not really human anymore, is she?” His brows rose. “Was that part of your plan? Because her turning into a vamp must have really pissed off the guys upstairs.”
Keenan shoved him away. Sam slammed into the front of an SUV parked in the motel’s lot. The metal screamed and dented beneath the Fallen’s weight.
Keenan shook his head in disgust. “You don’t know anything. You’re just trying to mess with my head.” Everyone knew about Sam. The angel who’d been meant to fall. They’d all known it was coming long before he told the powers upstairs to screw off. He’d always had a darkness inside. Not fully good, too many whispers of evil had lurked within Sam.
Sam wasn’t the only angel like that. When you had so much power, the darkness could easily get into your blood.
Keenan understood that pull so much better now.
He turned away from Sam.
“Does she know that you were the angel sent to take her soul?”
Keenan kept walking. He’d get on the motorcycle and hunt for Nicole. He’d find her.
“No answer. That means you can’t answer because you can’t tell a lie.”
And Sam was in front of him. Just like that, as fast as a blink. “You didn’t have to fall,” Sam said, “in order to get a piece of ass.”
Keenan went for his throat. But he touched nothing. Sam had already moved. Already shot five feet away.
“Got to be faster than that,” Sam taunted.
Keenan launched forward.
Sam’s fist slammed into his chest, a hit right above his heart, and this time, Keenan stumbled back.
“You’ve got to be faster,” Sam repeated, voice rumbling. “And stronger. ” Then it was Sam’s turn to spin away. “When you’re ready for some real power, come find me.”
What?
Sam glanced back over his shoulder. “They never let souls escape. You should know that. You do know that. I’m betting that’s why you hightailed it after your piece of ass once you regained your sanity.”
Sanity.
Keenan’s fingers began to smoke as the fire of his fury burned through him.
“Ah, got the firepower now, do you? That’s a good step. But you’ll need more than fire to keep your vamp alive.” Sam gave a little salute. “When you want to play, find me.”
“You fucking asshole, where is she?”
“Now is that any way for an angel to talk?”
His back teeth clenched. “I’m not an angel anymore.”
The sunglasses tossed back his stark reflection. “No. You’re not.” Sam pointed at Keenan. “But you’ve still got the power of an angel in there. Just waiting to come out. And you’re gonna be wanting that magic and power back.”
One touch to kill . His breath heaved out. No, he didn’t want that back. “You didn’t see Nicole.”
Sam’s shoulders rolled. “I’ll give you a free one this time. Because, well, you don’t have much time. Or rather, she doesn’t.”
Humans were close by. Keenan could almost feel their eyes. It was all he could do to pull the rage back and control the fire that wanted to shoot from him.
“The last time I saw your lady, she was on the ground. Jerking. Her eyes were rolling back into her head.”
“What did you do to her?” He’d rip Sammael apart and send the Fallen back to hell for keeps this time.
“Not me.” Sam shook his head. “The good guys have her, and since your girl ain’t exactly good herself, I don’t expect her to survive until sunset.”
What?
But Sam was gone. Vanished. Only his scent remained. Not the light, flowery scent of an angel.
Brimstone. The scent of hell.
She woke up in a cage. Nicole opened her eyes, jumped up, and found herself trapped in a ten-by-twelve-foot jail cell.
Just freaking perfect.
She ran forward and grabbed the bars. “Hello!”
The place seemed deserted. It looked like some kind of holding cell, and she was the only one being held.
Not good.
“ Hey! ” Nicole shouted. A cop had to be around someplace. “You can’t do this! You can’t just tase a woman on the street and lock her up!”
Metal groaned as a door opened. She sucked in a breath and stopped talking. A cop was coming toward her. Not the one who’d tased her. A woman this time. She looked to be in her early thirties. The cop had black hair and glaring brown eyes.
“You’re not just any woman, Ms. St. James,” she said, Texas drawling beneath her words. “You’re a wanted felon. A criminal who nearly killed a police officer.”
Nicole’s fingers tightened around the bars. “That was…” She exhaled. “I didn’t mean to hurt him.”
The door clanged shut behind the cop. “Of course. You were just hungry, right?”
Nicole stepped away from the bars.
“Hungry, and Officer Greg Hatten looked like the perfect snack.”
“You know what I am.”
A slow nod. The woman—her ID read Jennifer Connelly—pulled out her service weapon. “I know what you are, and I know how to kill you.”
She couldn’t break through the bars, not while the sun was still up. The lethargy coursing through her body told Nicole that the sun was most definitely up. “Then why am I still alive? If you want me dead?—”
A black brow rose. “You already are dead.”
People just had to always throw that up to her. “I didn’t ask for this. I didn’t want to be a vamp, and I didn’t mean to hurt that cop.”
“Save the sob story.”
Nicole blinked.
“Let me guess,” the cop continued with a smirk. “If you had it to do all over again, you’d go back to being human, right?”
Not exactly. Being human meant being dead.
But Jennifer Connelly didn’t give her a chance to answer. Connelly said, “Whatever. Here’s the deal. I’m gonna open your cage. You’re gonna try to get out.”
Yes, that was a good plan. Because staying trapped in there wasn’t an option.
Connelly lifted her gun. “You’re gonna come at me, and I’m gonna shoot you.”
Nicole’s breath whispered out. Not such a good plan.
“And because I’m such a fine shot, you’re gonna bleed to death, right here, where I can watch.” Connelly’s weapon was aimed at Nicole’s heart. “You see, I don’t much care for vamps. The dead should be in the ground, not on the streets, feeding.”
“You don’t think someone else is going to notice when you shoot me? They’ll wonder what the hell happened in here!”
“You attacked a cop.” Connelly gave a careless shrug of her shoulders. “No one here will give a shit what happens to you.” She approached the bars. Her eyes narrowed on Nicole. “I thought you’d be out a little longer.”
“And I thought cops were supposed to help people.” This sucked. Seriously sucked. Her fangs were burning, pushing out thanks to the adrenaline rush that pumped through her. Her claws were growing and if that cop came closer, she’d give Connelly a scratch the cop wouldn’t soon forget.
“We do help people.” The cop glanced over her shoulder. Probably to make sure no one else was seeing or hearing any of this. “ I kill monsters.”
“I’m not a monster! Six months ago, I was as human as you! I’m not?—”
“Vampires lie. They trick. Deceive. One promised my sister she’d live forever.”
Oh, crap. This wasn’t going to end well.
“You know what he did?”
Nicole could guess.
“He ripped her throat open, and I had to find what was left of her body.” Connelly opened the cage—the cell—and came inside. The gun barrel never wavered. “I know about you, ” the cop said. “You play innocent now, but you attacked that sheriff just over the county line.”
That punch to the sheriff’s jaw had come back to bite her. “I didn’t kill him.” Pointing that out seemed rather useless.
“Probably because you didn’t get the chance.” Connelly’s gaze hardened. “Tom called me and gave me a heads-up that you might be in the area. He was there when they found my sister’s body. He knew I’d understand just how to deal with someone like you.”
She could not win with this cop. “Listen, I?—”
“But what about Jeff Quint?”
A fist squeezed her heart.
“Sam Bentley?”
Dammit. “I didn’t want to kill them.” They haunted her now. She’d never forget their faces. Never.
“Right.” The cop’s voice easily called bullshit. “You just got thirsty, and you had to rip out their throats.” Her voice thickened with fury. “ Just like that bastard did to my sister. He tore her open from one ear to the other.”
Nicole kept her hands loose at her sides. “I don’t want to hurt you.” She understood the other woman’s pain and fury.
“Really? Too bad. I can’t wait to hurt you.”
Crap. “The cop who tased me—he knows I’m in here.” He had to know. “He could come and check at any moment!”
“No one’s checking on you. No one gives a damn if you live or die. As far as they’re concerned, you’re a cop killer.”
Connelly was just steps away. Kill or be killed .
Nicole lunged forward. Connelly didn’t have time to shoot. Nicole caught her wrist, twisted it, and heard the snap of bones. When the cop cried out, Nicole plowed back with her elbow and drove it right into the cop’s nose. Cartilage crunched, and blood spurted as the woman went down.
Nicole kicked the gun out of the way. Her breath heaved out as she stared at the unconscious woman. “Lucky for you, I’m not a cop killer.” Though that blood was tempting. Good thing Connor had taught her a few tricks out of the bedroom. Maybe she did owe that SOB a bit after all. Her jaw tightened as she studied at the cop. “And lucky for me...” Nicole knelt next to the other woman. “I think we’re about the same size.”
That meant the uniform might be a perfect fit.
So for the big question…how did a vamp go about exiting a police station? Well, if she was really lucky, she just walked right past the cops, her head down, and her body covered in a cop’s uniform.
“I’m afraid you’ll have to get cozy in here for a while,” Nicole told the unconscious woman as she assessed her once more. Right size. Right hair color.
She yanked off the cop’s shoes. Too small, but they’d have to do.
Two minutes later, “Officer Jennifer Connelly” walked out of the holding area. Her steps were sure, her head was down, and her heart thundered in her chest.
Behind her, the prisoner sat hunched near the back wall of the cell. Her dark hair covered her face.
As she marched down the long corridor out of holding, Nicole felt the sweat slide down her back. She tossed her hand up to a few cops when she passed the bullpen, deliberately waving in such a way that her hand blocked her face.
Then she could see the exit door just steps away. The place was packed with people up front, and it was easy to blend with the crowd. Easy to slip past and walk right out.
She kept her pace nice and easy when she headed down the stone steps outside of the station. Nicole wanted to break and run, yet she couldn’t take the chance of eyes being on her. At the same time, she couldn’t move too slowly. If someone found Jennifer Connelly in her cell, the alarm would sound.
A motorcycle’s engine roared, and she glanced up. Her breath shuddered out when she saw Keenan pulling up to the curb. Escape . Nicole pivoted on her heel and headed toward him.
His head whipped to the right, and his eyes locked on her. Immediately . Kinda creepy the way he could zero in on her.
“Nicole?”
She shook her head. Then jumped on the back of the motorcycle.
“I was coming to save you,” he told her, his voice a bit hesitant.
She laughed, had to, as she wrapped her arms around him. “This time, I saved myself.” Barely. “Now haul ass, angel, before the cops realize I’m not back in that cell.” The sun beat down on her, and she just wanted to slump over and sleep.
Soon.
He revved the engine. “Yes, ma’am.”
Then he hauled ass and got her the hell away from that station—and the cops who wanted her dead. She figured getting her to safety was the least the angel owed her then.
It looked like she couldn’t count on the good guys for help anymore.
I was coming to save you.
Sweet.
What would he do when he realized that she was too far gone, that she’d never be saved? Officer Connelly had been right. Nicole had killed. More than once. She’d liked the wild rush of power that came from taking so much blood.
They were right to try and put her down. Unfortunately for them, she wasn’t in the mood to die.
Nicole closed her eyes and held on to her angel. And they rode away as if hell really was chasing at their heels.
Sam stepped deeper into the shadows near the police station. Rather impressive. Nicole St. James had managed to save herself. No fallen angel needed.
His lips curved.
If she hadn’t saved herself, Keenan would have rushed inside to find a dead vamp. What would the Fallen have done then? Would his rage have broken through?
Now that would have been a sight to behold.
But a time for rage would come, soon enough.
Because Keenan could run with his little vampire, but he wouldn’t be able to hide her. Not for long. You couldn’t hide from fate, and Nicole’s fate had been decided long ago.
Death.
Even a fallen angel wouldn’t be able to save her.