The Fallen (Angelic Redemption) (23 page)

Heidi unclenched her eyes and they soothed his worries.
“I love you, Joaquin. Don’t be afraid.”

A frowning Joaquin hadn’t even realized he was
afraid. He was not a gentle man and he feared once he took from Heidi, his own
needs would blind him to hers. After a lifetime of taking and never giving, he
was terrified to ruin her love.

Heidi’s gaze remained on his, reassuring him with
her confidence as he filled her. Even as she groaned from the pressure, she
smiled soothingly.

He was a man, not a monster. He was the man she viewed
him to be and not the way he always viewed himself. As her husband, he was
capable of giving. Joaquin embraced this new life as he relished their first
time together. No more brooding, he thought. No more worries about tomorrow.
Only tonight. Only Heidi.

Crying out, Heidi slapped a hand over her mouth
to silence her moans of pleasure. Joaquin knew he couldn’t last much longer,
not with her cries echoing in his head, her eyes watching him lovingly, and a
smile on her sweet face. As he finally gave in, Joaquin felt the pleasure
denied to him all of those years. The intensity of two becoming one had all
began with a desperate prayer in a filthy motel.

A night of heady passion left them both sleepy,
but content. Just before sunrise, Heidi smiled at him and declared, “You are a
good man. No matter what you’ve done before, you are good inside. I see it
every time I look at you.”

Joaquin wished he might say something as tender
as her words, yet he knew anything he said would be wrong. Instead he took her
hand and kissed it. Heidi smiled wider then with a single sigh, she fell
asleep.

The next morning, Maximo was the only one
well-rested with Heidi yawning so often at breakfast, Joaquin felt like taking
a nap. Instead of returning to the hotel to catch up on their sleep, the family
wandered around town and investigated every store and restaurant.

In one boutique, Heidi bought a yellow summer
dress along with new clothes for both her and Maximo. Now strolling down the
road with her fellas, she wore that dress, catching the notice of many of the locals.
Maximo also wore his new clothes. While the dark shorts and white shirt weren’t
as fetching as Heidi’s dress, at least they fit the boy.

Joaquin looked at his new family and smiled.
There was something altogether perfect about this moment as they held hands and
strolled down the road with not a care in the world. He wished he might take a
picture of them to remember how blessed this particular moment was in his otherwise
miserable life. With no camera, he could only take a mental snapshot and hope this
blessing never ended.

No matter his hopes, Joaquin sensed danger as they
approached the hotel. Maximo jerked to a stop next to Heidi and made one of his
pronouncements.

“Monsters.”

“The cartel?” Joaquin asked.

Shaking his head, Maximo yanked at Heidi to go
back. He suddenly stopped and sighed.

“Too late.”

Shots ricocheted off of the nearby building,
barely missing Joaquin. Pushing Heidi back behind a wall, he saw her shield
Maximo. Neither she nor the boy ran for cover though. Heidi just slipped her
hand into Joaquin’s bag and retrieved a gun.

“Take the boy and I’ll find you,” Joaquin said as
shots erupted from a second location.

“No, I can help. I was good at the prison and I
didn’t even know what I was doing.”

“Yes, she is good at killing monsters,” Maximo
said.

“Who will protect the boy then?” Joaquin asked in
English.

“If we kill the monsters, he won’t need
protecting.”

When Joaquin started to protest, Heidi gave him
the scolding frown only a wife could get away with. To his surprise, it shut
him up.

“I also killed more bad guys at the prison than
you,” she said, holding the gun up and eyeing the moving targets. “Bet I’ll
kill more today too.”

“We’ll see,” he said with a smirk as he waved
away curious locals. “You stay here. I’ll try to get behind them.”

When Joaquin started to move away, Heidi yanked
him back.

“Hello? You’re leaving without a good luck kiss? How
can you mess with a winning formula?”

Joaquin smiled, kissing her longer than
appropriate with danger closing in on them. Letting her go, he fired at a man
running towards them. The assailant tripped, falling to the ground. Even mortally
wounded, the monster did not stay down. It clawed at the ground as if trying to
pull itself up. Heidi fired again, hitting the thing on the top of the head.

“I need more ammo.”

Joaquin retrieved a few guns and stacks of ammo
from his bag. Shoving them into his holsters and pockets, he handed Heidi the
bag.

“I’m going around back.”

Heidi smiled as if he said he was going out for
milk. Heading for an alley that would take him behind the hotel, Joaquin caught
a glimpse of Heidi kissing Maximo’s head. She then ran into the open, firing
two guns.

Sprinting around the building, Joaquin heard a
blizzard of shots. He also detected the distinctive sounds of his own guns.

Turning a corner, he found himself facing two
people who were not actually people. What he hadn’t noticed with the monster at
the front of the hotel, he could clearly see now. Their distorted faces
revealed the monsters underneath. Whatever they were, they lacked the speed to
fire first.

On the move again, Joaquin spotted a shooter on
the roof of the hotel. As he aimed his weapon, the figure fell. The number of gunshots
lessoned as fewer monsters remained to fire upon Heidi. Joaquin lowered the number
even more when he turned the corner at the farthest end of the hotel and
finished off three monsters that only had eyes for Heidi.

Stealing a look around the corner of the hotel,
Joaquin spotted Heidi pinned behind a car. His mind returned to the demon’s
threat. An urge to rescue his wife overwhelmed him as her dress - so delicate
just like his Heidi - fluttered into view. Hurrying to her aid, he was startled
as Heidi popped up from behind the car. With a smile on her sweet face, she
fired twice at the hotel. Her target fled out the back of the hotel and
directly into Joaquin’s fire. Shooting once, Joaquin stopped the thing in its
tracks.

The final monster showed no interest in
experiencing the fate of its comrades and took off running down the road. Heidi
jumped up from her spot to chase after it. Racing to catch up with his wife,
Joaquin flinched when the monster’s head exploded from a shotgun blast.

Heidi stopped and glanced back at Joaquin who
shook his head. Scanning the road, he tried to locate where the shot had
originated.

The shooter stepped out from behind a building
and waved at them.

“Nice work for newbies.”

The woman was beautiful in a strangely bland way.
Her brown hair and eyes were devoid of the shimmer Heidi possessed. Joaquin
found her unpleasant, but all women seemed lacking next to Heidi’s beauty.

“Who are you?” Joaquin asked.

“My name is Karen and I’m a hunter like you.”

Heidi frowned, moving closer to her husband.

“You’re an American,” he said.

“Yes. I was sent down here to help you guys, but
I see you’re holding your own pretty well.”

“Sent by whom?” Joaquin asked.

“God,” Karen said, shoving her weapon into a bag.
“He seemed worried about you. Demon issues, I heard.”

“These are demons,” Heidi said, waving for Maximo
to join them.

“No, but I think a demon sent them. Which one of
you went and pissed off a demon?”

Heidi wrapped her arm around Maximo who eyed the
newcomer curiously.

“Yeah, that would be him,” Heidi said, nudging
Joaquin. “Now that we’ve killed these monsters, is it over?”

“Doubtful, so we should leave before the police
show up or worse more of these things.”

Heidi eyed the dead thing in the road. “To be
honest, they were pretty lame.”

“Because they underestimated the threat. The next
group won’t. We should go.”

Joaquin studied the woman, unsure of her motives.
Glancing at Maximo, he found the boy staring at Karen unconcerned.

“We will get our belongings from the hotel,”
Joaquin said, gesturing for Heidi and Maximo to join him.

“Follow me out. I’m in the black four-door. God
told me where we can hide out until He shows us how to get into the US.”

Joaquin nodded, walking back to the hotel with
his family in tow. Once in their room, Heidi grabbed a pair of jeans and a
shirt and headed into the bathroom. Joaquin packed their belongings slowly.

“Do you think she can be trusted?” Joaquin asked.

“She’s like us,” Maximo said. “She kills the
monsters.”

Heidi emerged wearing her new attire. “Maybe she
can tell us what God’s purpose is for us?”

Frowning, Joaquin was unsure if he wanted a
purpose beyond enjoying his new family. No matter his misgivings, Heidi and
Maximo appeared excited to learn God’s plan. They cuddled on the bed,
whispering while Joaquin created reasons to stall their exit from the hotel.

Realizing his family wasn’t any safer here than
with Karen, he grabbed their bags and followed Heidi and Maximo to the car.

As the two cars drove away from the hotel, Heidi studied
the bloody mess left behind from the firefight.

“It’s sad that these people don’t have police to
protect them. No one’s even coming to see if they’re okay.”

“They do have police.”

“Then why haven’t they come to see if anyone’s
hurt?”

“People know the police can be worse than the bad
guys, so they don’t call them.”

Heidi seemed bothered by this answer. “People
need good in their lives. They need to feel safe.”

“Maybe this woman can help us to do good?”
Joaquin offered, wanting Heidi to smile again just to calm his nerves.

“That would be a blessing,” Heidi said, motioning
for Maximo to sit in the front between her and Joaquin.

Turning on the radio, she caressed the boy’s head
as the two cars sped out of town and into the unforgiving wilderness of the
surrounding lands.

Sophie studied the hole-ridden target then hooked
a new one to the tree. After an hour of working with different weapons, she
felt confident about her place among these other hunters. The brothers had
taken turns instructing Sophie, along with regaling her with old stories from
her former life.

“You were the mellow one of the bunch,” Logan said, reloading his weapon. “That’s not saying much with your pack though.”

“Yeah, compared to Lila, Ivy, and Anya, Logan’s mellow,” Connor teased. “Gracie was sweet and Nina was Zen, but they were always
the first to jump off a building or start shooting. Yeah, compared to them, you
were super mellow.”

“Why did Ivy leave?” Sophie asked.

“Short answer is guilt,” Connor said. “Long
answer is that she only stayed for Roman. Once he took off looking for Lila,
she had no reason to stay with us.”

“She didn’t believe him about Lila either?”

“How could she? How could any of us believe Lila
was alive? Ivy saw the hellhounds destroy you. When we went looking for you,
those hellhounds almost killed us too. The only reason they didn’t was that
Roman was… Well he was Roman at his best. He was unstoppable until he found
Lila’s ring. Once he really knew she was gone, he changed.”

Connor paused, eyeing Logan. “Roman hunted at
first with this incredible zeal. Like he thought vengeance for Lila’s death
would make the pain easier. He eventually just withdrew from us and hunting.
Ethan was a mess too, but not like Roman who seemed broken. When he started
talking about having dreams about Lila being alive and hunting in Tennessee, we didn’t believe him. To be honest, he seemed kinda nuts.”

“That’s when Roman left?” Sophie said.

A frowning Logan nodded. “And Ivy left a week
later. We hoped she went looking for Roman, but I guess she just needed to find
her own way. She was lost without her pack. While she found some connection
with Roman and Ethan because they were the mates of her friends, it was never
enough. Ivy needed something we couldn’t give her.”

“It’s good to know she’s alive though,” Connor
said. “All these years, I knew Roman was alive. With Ivy on her own though, I
wasn’t sure.”

Logan sighed, glancing back at the house. “A pack
is like a mate, I guess. When you belong to one, it’s addictive. I know that
without Roman, our pack felt wrong somehow. It’s good to have him back. Lila
too, of course.”

Aiming at the target, Sophie fired. “Lila and
Roman make an odd pair. He’s so calm and she’s so not calm.”

“Yeah, Roman’s freaky calm,” Logan said. “He
spent ninety percent of their marriage chasing after Lila who never saw a
problem that couldn’t be solved by killing it. Their relationship worked, I
guess. Worked a hell of a lot better than Ethan chasing after Anya who always
seemed to hate him.”