Shattering Halos (25 page)

Chapter 24 — Christmas

Gaia

My parents had asked me to come home more than once during the first semester in Shades Run. I just didn’t know how to balance the need to be myself with the wish to keep them from worrying.

The workload at school had been my constant excuse for not travelling. I’d even been hesitant about Thanksgiving. Instead of insisting, Mom brought the feast to Shades Run. It made me feel guilty and happy at the same time.

Nothing had changed in Spring Hills since I left. I spotted Mom, Dad, and Luna in the driveway long before Marina took off from the main road.

Nobody blamed Marina when she declined the invitation to come inside for eggnog. Like me, she hadn’t seen her family in months.

“Thanks for everything, Marina,” I said with a sincerity that didn’t register with my parents. In response, she regaled me with one of her Sicilian grandma hugs.

Luna had changed over the last few months. Where the heck did the eyeliner come from?

She’d already been taller than our mother when I left Spring Hills, but now she rivaled me. My spindly sister still had a lot in common with Mom, though—with the exception of her hair, which had grown excessively since I last saw her. All of a sudden, the thick, brown rush almost reached her waist.

“Are you eating well at the dorm? You’re skinny, Gaia. Is the dining hall food edible?” My mom prodded.

“Yep, better than in the high school cafeteria. At least I don’t have to eat mushy lasagna.”

I gave her a big smooch. Crushing on angels while waiting for the world to fall apart wasn’t conducive to an appetite. Trying to avoid follow-up questions, I flashed her a big grin.

Mom had outdone herself. Unlike past years, Christmas decorations dominated every surface. She’d even decked out the front yard in Christmas lights.

“It’s so Christmasy here, Mom,” I chirped. “Nice!”

Over cups of steaming eggnog, my dad spoke warmly of the things we’d done the year before.

“They reopened the ice rink last week. What do you guys say we go have some fun?”

“Edwin, let’s wait ‘til the Second Day of Christmas, shall we? We’ve got some preparations left for Christmas day, still,” Mom said.

Nodding, Dad stared sadly into his mug. Luna and I both stifled a giggle at how obvious he was about favoring ice-skating to Christmas dinner preparations.

The sun had barely risen the next morning when Luna burst into my room. She’d morphed into a five-year-old on a sugar high overnight.

“Gaia, wake up! It’s totally like now or never!”

I groaned into my pillow. “Because the presents will disappear?” I twisted toward her and tried to roll my eyes, but they didn’t open enough to pull it off.

“They totally might! Chop-chop!”

Totally…

The base of the Christmas tree overflowed with even more presents than usual.

Mom followed us down in her festive reindeer nightgown, while Dad, not much of an early riser when he had the day off, sank into the couch over a cup of coffee.

Like every year, his eyelids seemed too heavy for him. He rewarded us with the half-asleep grin of a hibernating bear whenever Luna plopped a gift into his lap.

Yes, I still enjoyed a good Christmas morning. It made me laugh to watch Luna mine through the heap of presents. Was it me, or was the fun shorter lived the older she got?

“Edwin, honey,” my mom whispered, making me laugh.

Same procedure as last year, anybody?

“We’re done, sweetie. You can lay back down now.”

Dad immediately got up and took the stairs two steps at a time. He swung around from the flight of the stairs. “Umm, merry Christmas, girls…” He flashed us a sheepish grin.

“Uh-huh, you too, Dad.” I laughed.

While Mom heated up a second round of hot cocoa in the kitchen, Luna and I attended to the explosion of gift wrap. Giant, black trash bags really were the only way to go.

“Hey, whose is this one?”

From beneath a pile of tangled ribbons, she pulled out a small box wrapped in intricate, gold paper. “It doesn’t have a tag. Hold on.”

Her pink nightgown flowed behind her as she dove in behind the tree. She sat up with a tiny, shimmering label in her hand.

“Ta-dah!”

Before I could object, she read the tag out loud.

“For my sunshine. I love you more. Gabriel.”

A stunned silence stretched between us while we took in the words. She bored her green glare into me and lowered her voice into an intimate wheeze.

“‘Sunshine?’ Omigod, who’s Gabriel? You have a flipping boyfriend, don’t you! What’s he look like? Is he like freaking drop dead gorgeous? Why didn’t you tell me?”

Speechless, I fumbled with the paper until I managed to unwrap the present. The lid sprang off in my lap, revealing a delicate gold ring. The setting was an ornate pattern of wings spread open. Covered in a sheer dusting of diamonds, even in their microscopic size, every feather stood out ready to shudder into flight.

A glimmering aquamarine rested at the center, forming a peaceful, heart-shaped core. When the sunrise shot a beam at it from the window, Gabriel’s gaze met me the way I remembered it from Johnny O’s. Feverish, too bright, but oh, so beautiful.

“His eyes. That’s how they are,” I blurted, unthinking.

“You’re kidding.”

Luna sent me another look, and we both snuck a surreptitious glance in Mom’s direction. Sure enough. I had time to exhale once, then to inhale for courage.

She strode in from the kitchen equipped with her infamous sixth sense. With the air of somebody used to real answers, she exclaimed, “Beautiful ring, Gaia. Who’s it from?”

I’d envisioned this conversation with Gabriel next to me.

When Mom confronted me about him thirteen months ago, we hadn’t been dating. I’d been honest with her then, and I was going to tell her the truth this time too.

I wish you were here, baby.

“From Gabriel,” I sighed, “my boyfriend.”

I kept examining the ring so I didn’t have to look at her. “You’ve seen him before, Mom. Gabriel dropped me off at the house last fall.”

“Is this the handsome boy with the expensive car? The very same one I asked you not to date?”

“Yes, Mom, the one and only.” I groaned, steeling myself for the fight. She took a loud sip of hot chocolate.

“How old is he?”

Well, Mother, a minimum of two thousand and a maximum of billions and billions of years.

“Gabriel just turned twenty-one.”

She didn’t reply at first. Then, she said, “Did you know my parents didn’t approve of Edwin when we first started dating?”

“What? Why not?”

“Because I was fifteen when he asked me out on a date. Your father was a couple of years older.”

“Omigod!” Luna burst out excitedly.

“Yes, and don’t get any ideas, Luna. Gaia, I’ve been meaning to apologize to you. After you left for Shades Run, I realized that we can’t protect you forever. You’re equipped to live your life, we know that. Obviously, I don’t think a relationship with the hottest guy out there flies in the long run, but everybody should be entitled to make their own mistakes.”

“Flies!” Don’t laugh. Do not laugh.

“Woo-hoo! Mom’s apologizing!” My sister sing-sang next to me. The Indian burn I gave her backfired into a squeal of pain.

“Ouch, Mom! Gaia
pinched
me!”

“I Indian-burned you to be accurate.”

“Whatever, you suck!”

Engrossed in her musings, Mom ignored us. “To almost lose a child is indescribable. I know that Dad and I overprotected you after the accident. Now it’s time for us to trust you—to watch you grow into the wonderful, headstrong young woman you are.”

Flabbergasted, I realized that Mom was letting me off the hook. Her chin vibrated, betraying her.

I squeezed her tight, and a tut-tutting Luna instantly scurried over to pet Mom’s arm.

“Remember Gaia, we want to be part of your life and be there for you through everything, good and bad. If Gabriel wants to come over for dinner, we’d be delighted to meet him.”

“Seriously? Dad wouldn’t, for sure.”

“Oh, don’t worry about him. I didn’t share my concerns with your father last year, so he’s blissfully ignorant of Gabriel’s existence.”

“No, but really; he’s never been okay with me having a boyfriend.”

“He might just surprise you, young lady, because he doesn’t see you as a little girl anymore. When you left for Shades Run, Lucio and you seemed to be dating, and Dad had no complaints.”

I thought back.

The sudden realization of how right she was opened yet another welcome chapter in my life.

Chapter 25 — Lilith

Cassiel

With the exception of Lilith, nothing blew me away. Yes, Yofiel, the Angel of Beauty, was so mind-blowing even Celestial Ones wept when they caught a glimpse of her. But Lilith was different. Combined with her dizzying curves and angelic beauty, she was raw animal attraction, evil, and a constant wave of seduction flooding your senses.

See, Lilith didn’t turn anything off. Ever. With her waist-long cascade of shining, peacock-green hair and a mouth that promised Heaven on Earth, in Hell, anywhere you liked, she had me in that dainty, little palm of hers.

Lilith was hands down the hottest chick I’d ever met in my existence. It made me guffaw to think of how Adam lost her. Quite the dimwit that boy. Created from the same dirt as him, she’d been destined to be his equal. When Adam blew it by telling her she should be under him in all senses of the word, she left him in the dust. Man, did he miss out. Believe me, I had firsthand knowledge of her extremely creative alternatives to “under.”

When God ordered Lilith back to Adam, she turned a deaf ear. Instead, she went divine and got the Archangel Samael hooked on her. With no notice, the Heavens banished the two of them. Since then, Samael had made quite the name for himself in the Netherworld. It didn’t bother Lilith.

Always with an agenda of her own, she couldn’t be tied down to one Fallen angel or son of Adam. Not even the über-lord, Sataniel, owned her. Samael, the accuser, destroyer, and seducer manifest, couldn’t care less. It shuffled them into the disgraceful category of
good
matches in Hell.

From a Heavenly standpoint, Lilith was all sins, but they
really
didn’t like her obsession with kids. The cuter they were, the better. She was a fan of kidnapping, and depending on the mood, killing them. It was her little revenge on the Creator for threatening her own children when she dropped her boring, human hubby. Woman scorned, anyone? Oh well, we all had our hang-ups.

With a smirk, I crossed my arms. I enjoyed the sight of her sashaying toward me, movements liquid and tantalizing. Lilith smiled shrewdly before letting me crush her to me in a deep kiss.

“Well, hello there, Cassiel. I haven’t had the pleasure in a while…” Her words flowed out in a musical purr as she let the underlying meaning simmer.

“Is it you and me, now?” I asked, already scorching with unfiltered hunger. Lilith didn’t even flinch. Quite the break since what I exuded would’ve made a daughter of Eve yelp in pain. With our enlaced fingers held up in front of us, she nodded, a slow smile spreading across her features.

“Yes, Ramiel entrusted me with you.”

“So, what’s going on? What are you guys up to?”

“I’m not giving you any details, Cassiel. All I need is for you to pass on the Celestial news. Chop chop.”

I was feeling reckless. Lilith’s temper was sexy as hell and her only weak trait. “Oh my, how nice for Samael and Ramiel. Lilith
listens
.”

Demons had kicked the bucket for lesser insults. Sure enough, she began to cloud over from the insinuation. Within minutes, she emanated the thick, green fog that literally corroded you into obscurity if you got close enough.

The image of insincere flattery, I instantly backtracked falsely. “Oh, wow, I’m sorry. Nobody’s got
you
whipped, of course.”

“Cassiel, knock it off.” The hiss seethed through her teeth and rose a chuckle from me. I pondered the Boss’ lack of creativity when he first drafted the females. People, Fallen Ones, humans-turned-demons, no matter the race, every one of them was so predictable in her aimless caprice.

Lilith worked to control her anger. I looked away, giving her space for the sake of the mission. “Fly with me,” she demanded.

The black smoke from the Timanfaya disappeared below as we penetrated the second tier of cumulus above the Canary Islands. Her assault was expected, and the aftertaste of her mouthwatering.

Nothing was too much for Lilith, so I pulled out all stops in my drive to possess every inch of her. Don’t get me wrong. With Lilith it was never one-sided, and I sure as hellfire didn’t mind that she downright devoured me.

Slick and smooth as hot glass, she coiled herself around me. When she growled, I seized her by an arm and twisted it onto her back as I conquered a mouthful of a breast. Time for another stab at her pride.

“Are you going to be a loyal, little girl and keep their dirty secrets, Lilith love?”

She detested the cool laughter I burst into for effect. As long as her green fumes ranked at a minimum, mating with an enraged Lilith was an excellent byproduct of this mission. Squirming viciously against me, she had me moaning from the scrumptious love bites that were well worth the scarring-to-come.

“I listen to nobody, and you know it!”

Alight with ferocity, she wrapped herself tighter around me. She pressed the air out of my lungs. I snarled as she detonated in her signature explosion of hostile desire.

Too turned on to think, I forced out a “Really,” and when I speared her, we shot into the clouds in what mortals referred to as “colliding lightning bolts.” That Lilith. So entertaining.

Horizontal on top of the puffs, we were still entangled when she decided to talk. She was back to purring at me now. Chicks.

“What a blast, Cassiel—like good old times. We should get together more often.”

“Any time. Hey, so Ramiel doesn’t really believe he can use Gabriel to generate a million new demons for him, does he?”

She giggled like a human.

“Nope, he’s pretty sure he can get himself seven million if we act fast.”