28 BIRD’S EYE VIEW
BIRD’S EYE VIEW
S UNSHINE FLASHED INTO THE HALLWAY OUTSIDE THE demons’ apartment. Yes, the last time she’d been here, Belial had been ready to kill her, but right now, she didn’t care about any of that. Her thoughts were a whirlwind, and she could only focus on finding Raum and telling him what she’d learned.
She banged on the door with the side of her fist. Night had fallen, but it wasn’t late enough that people would be asleep. If she could have barged in, she would have, but she could feel the wards within the apartment repelling her.
The door swung open after a minute of ceaseless knocking, and Mephistopheles stood on the other side, brows shooting up when he saw her.
“Where is Raum?” she demanded before he could speak, trying to look past his shoulder into the apartment. Meph wasn’t as tall as Raum, but at roughly equal height to her, it was still difficult to see around him. “Is he here? I need to speak with him.”
“You’re the angel?” He blinked. “Well, damn. That makes a lot more sense now.”
“What makes sense?”
He waved a tattooed hand at her—a heavily tattooed hand. Black ink designs covered his fingers, the back of the hand, and his palm. From what she’d seen, his whole body was similarly covered. The only space left was on the right side of his face.
“You’re hot,” he said simply. “I can see why Raum’s all worked up about you.” It wasn’t flirtatious, but rather the way one might state the color of the sky or the current weather.
“Thank you?” She was flustered but oddly complimented, especially because she was still clad in her shapeless angel robes. “Is he here? I need to speak to him immediately.”
To her annoyance, Meph didn’t open the door further. Instead, he propped a shoulder against the frame like he was settling in for a long debate. “Why?”
“It’s an emergency.”
“What’s the emergency?”
“I have answers about his— our past that I need to share with him.”
Meph’s head tilted as if he was oblivious to her urgency. It made her want to shake him, and she might have done just that had he not been standing on the other side of the pesky wards.
“What are your intentions with my brother?”
Her mouth dropped open. He can’t be serious?
But as he continued to stare at her, red eyes unblinking, she realized that he was in fact serious.
She wasn’t prepared to answer questions about her feelings for Raum. She was hanging on by a thread that was already fraying. The past had so utterly overwhelmed her, it left no room for consideration of the future.
She’d left her cell phone at the rental suite and couldn’t call Raum herself, and while she could easily flash there, she recognized the importance of gaining Meph’s trust. All she had to do was force herself to open up.
“I care about him very much,” she managed.
Meph lifted a brow, creasing the tattoos above it.
“We have a history. We’ve known each other for a long time.”
“You’re still an angel, and he’s still a demon. How’s that gonna work?”
“I don’t—” She rubbed her face roughly. “I have no idea. I just know that I care about him too much to let him go again, and we lost too much time because of other people’s ideas about what is right and wrong, and I refuse to lose any more.”
“But you can’t go back to your job if you want him. You’d be putting him in danger. So what would you do for him? Would you give up your whole life?”
This is a damned interrogation! But she had to admit that Meph’s concerns were valid.
“I don’t know,” she said, her impatience forcing her to get straight to the point. “I honestly don’t. As I said, I only know I care about him too much to give him up.”
It was cathartic, in a way. In the heat of the moment, there wasn’t time for anything but the truth. Until now, she hadn’t been sure how to answer these questions. But now, she realized she had known all along, and she’d just been reluctant to admit it.
“You’re right,” she said suddenly, “I can’t go back.
I am in love with a demon, and I will never be the same.
If I were to return to my old life, I would be forever unfulfilled.
Not just because of my love for him, but because of who I have become, how I have changed.
I’m someone new, and it’s high time for me to let go of the past. I am Sunshine, not Shamsiel.
Shamsiel was the broken one, and I don’t want to be her anymore. ”
Her eyes widened as the truth of her own words hit her. They kept flowing out, and she surrendered to them and the changes they would bring to her life.
“Shamsiel is dead. She died in Hell, at the hands of the demons that held her there. Sunshine was reborn, and I am proud to be her. She is a survivor. She is the real warrior, because she fought her own inner battles and emerged victorious.”
Meph looked uncomfortable now. TMI much? But she was on a roll, and she wasn’t stopping now.
“I would fall and become a Grigori if that was what it took to keep Raum safe, because I will always love him and seek to protect him. And that protection defaults to those he cares about as well. So in answer to your question, what would I give up for him? I suppose the answer is everything. Even Heaven.”
Meph seemed to have been stunned into silence, and she didn’t blame him. It was quite the tirade of words that had spilled forth, and far more information than she’d intended to give.
“You should probably say all that to Raum,” he finally said.
“Yes, I know that!” she snapped. “That’s why I asked you to get him. Now please, will you?”
Meph glanced over his shoulder. “He’s not here.”
The demon was lucky he was behind the wards, because if she could have reached him, she might have strangled him. “You knew he wasn’t here, yet you didn’t feel the need to tell me that before I shared all that?”
“I was curious.” He shrugged. “You’re not so bad. I suppose I can get behind this demon-angel relationship. It’s taboo. I like it. Who knew Raum was such a kinky freak.”
She sputtered furiously. “There is nothing—It’s not kinky —”
“He went to take his hellrat back to the animal shelter. Eva gave him a ride.”
“He … what?”
“The wrinkly gray rat he had with him.”
“Luna is a dog,” Sunshine said, affronted. “Not a rat.”
Meph grinned suddenly. “You know, Raum said it the exact same way. You guys really are meant to be.”
“Well, I’m glad to hear you approve, but I really must—”
A summons rang through her mind, and she broke off.
Raphael.
Her heart skipped a beat. Why was Raphael summoning her? There was no reason for him to—Unless … But no. Only an hour or so had passed since their meeting. There was no way he’d found results so quickly.
She blinked back to reality and suddenly remembered the other urgent matter she’d come here to discuss. She’d wanted to tell Raum, but it wouldn’t hurt to warn Meph too.
“Listen to me now.” She leaned as close to him as she could get without hitting the ward. “You and your brothers are in danger. Heaven is very close to finding you. I would advise you to leave the city now.”
“I don’t think—”
“I must go, but I need you to tell Raum that he was right—”
“Wait, you’re not going to find him? After all that?”
She shook her head. “I’ve been summoned.
But please, you must tell Raum that everything he guessed was right, and I was wrong.
Tell him the dreams are real. Tell him I’ll find him as soon as I can, but right now, I have to take care of something.
And for the love of the Spheres, be careful.
I meant what I said about leaving the city. ”
She had to find a way to sabotage Raphael’s research before he got any further. She should have accidentally lit the room on fire when she was there. She was a fool for thinking she would have time to plan.
“I have to go. Just … tell Raum. Please.”
Meph’s eyes were wide. “I will.”
“See you later!” Eva called to Raum as he climbed out of her tiny car and let Luna out behind him. Eva had offered to drop them off at the shelter on her way to see a show with her friend Skye.
“And don’t worry,” she said with a grin before he shut the door. “I’ll get to work softening up Bel so you can keep that dog.”
Luna’s tail wagged at Raum’s side as if she knew Eva was talking about her. Raum hadn’t said anything about adopting Luna, but when he’d gone downstairs to ask for a ride, Eva had taken one look at her and gotten hearts in her eyes.
Both Luna and Sunshine could get whatever they wanted with those big innocent eyes. The pair of them were a menace.
With another wave, Eva gunned it, and her little car shot off down the road. Maybe Ash was rubbing off on her. She’d been driving a little faster than she used to, especially for someone so adamant about not letting “speed demons” drive her car.
What Raum really needed was his own fucking car. He couldn’t keep expecting to find rides to the shelter all the time, and he couldn’t always fly in crow form. Today was proof of that.
If he could have, he would’ve gotten more involved at Ange Gardien. Caro struggled with finances and overcrowding, and the kennels were in need of an upgrade. He’d join in on the management level to help her out if he could.
The problem was, no matter how long they stayed in Montreal, they couldn’t put down roots. Living as fugitives meant there was always a chance they’d have to drop everything and run at a moment’s notice. Raum couldn’t make commitments that he might not be able to keep.
If they could have settled more, Meph probably would’ve pursued his art more seriously, and Ash would’ve played more gigs with Eva—he was stressed about keeping on the down-low now that his curse was broken and he was recognizable.
Bel definitely would’ve preferred to cook for someone other than his ungrateful brothers, and Mist probably would have left the city more.
The Hunter sometimes got a wild look in his eyes when he’d been cooped up inside for too long.
Raum could see him and Lily going off on an adventure—