Chapter 5
Boston, Massachusetts
Shane O’Grady woke with a massive hangover, trying to piece together what he remembered from the night before. His stomach rolled with nausea, but not from drinking.
Something was very wrong, but what?
He rolled over and realized it wasn’t a what that was wrong, it was a who.
Nara lay in bed next to him sleeping with a smile on her demonically beautiful face. He rolled over and pulled the pillow over his head.
Son of a bitch.
His band had played a gig at a bar in Roxbury last night, and now he was back at his seedy hotel with her. His constant state of depression had been affecting his performances lately, so their fill-in lead singer, Dave, convinced him to try coke to rev him up before the show. It had done the trick, and then some. His drumsticks flew in perfect rhythm during every set and Dave even nodded for him to slow down a bit.
Groupie girls, or “e-lays,” as the boys called them, bought them beer and shots before, during, and after the show. Shane never hooked up with these “easy lays,” who’d screw any unkempt guy who sang or played an instrument. These chicks pimped themselves out for a dinner of rock n roll and dessert of sex. But last night, the cocaine and alcohol kept him high and low simultaneously, and Shane was at the point of oblivion by two a.m. He welcomed the slow mental and physical destruction. Nothing mattered since the day Calise had walked out of his life.
But he recognized a familiar face in the bar.
Nara.
Still a demon. Still hot as shit.
Once he’d seen her, he couldn’t help himself. He threw aside the men draped all over her like sweaty t-shirts, grabbed her by the front of her shirt, and slammed her against the nearest wall. He kissed her hard. She responded in kind, and then some.
“Long time no see, my beautiful angel,” Nara had said, coming up for air.
Shane had tried to focus his eyes. “Shut up and get on my fucking bike.” She fished around in the front pocket of his jeans for his keys and pulled him outside. She kick-started his bike. He got on behind her, and they took off. That was the last thing he clearly remembered, besides snippets of them screwing.
Awake now, the morning after, she smiled at him. “I missed you, babe, and I don’t say that lightly. Let me back in and I’ll take care of you. I won’t leave you alone, and in pain, like that bitch human did.”
Shane grabbed her throat. “Never. Bring. Her. Up. Understand?”
Nara smiled.
He released her neck. All he’d ever yearned for was a permanent source of love that wouldn’t leave him. He’d believed—still believed—Calise had been that person, and damn Nara to hell if she fucked with the one good memory in his life.
“You got it. I’ll do one better. I’ll make sure you never think about her again. Here, swallow this.” She pressed a little white pill into his palm, and her head disappeared under the covers.
Shane moaned with her service and swallowed the little white pill. Anything to dull the pain. He didn’t have anything to lose anymore, because he’d already lost everything.
I guess this is why angels are forbidden to be with humans. Humans break angels.
He was falling. He could feel himself slipping away. Did it matter anyway if he was an angel or a demon? He was already in hell without Calise: might as well make it permanent.
Being an angel didn’t make Calise love him enough to stay with him, so maybe if he became a demon, Nara wouldn’t leave him.
That was something. Right?
****
Lucas forced himself to take deep breaths as he crossed the dirt road to the restaurant. Then he was barely able to stomach the lunch that Jody placed in front of him with a not so subtle wink.
“Gracias,” he murmured to her before exchanging a quick hello with the regulars.
He let his mind wander to the pleasant memory of Cali in his hammock, her eyes fluttering with sleep. As he was taking his last sip of coffee, Carmen appeared and tossed a newspaper down on his table with last night’s murder of the girl and the disappearance of her family as the headlining story. “Did you see the paper this morning? What the hell happened?”
“The demons happened. They know what I am; they killed the women and got away. They’ve left me alive for the ambassador, apparently.” He prepared for the onslaught he rightly deserved.
Carmen’s face betrayed her. Anger mingled with terror. She sat down across from Lucas slowly, without taking her eyes off him. “They’re already on their way here, then? It’s not just your life that matters here. There is more at stake than you know. Get to Playa Cabo Blanco. Ahora. Now.”
He crossed his arms and leaned forward. “No, Tía. I don’t mean any disrespect, but the only reason the demons escaped me was because I was trying to protect the women. I can handle whoever comes here for a fight. You know I can. What don’t I know?”
“Demons will forever hunt our kind and this family. We have something they want, and I pray they never find us. Alejandro will help us.”
“The angel who failed me last night? We don’t need him.”
“Yes, we do. He’s been helping our family for a very long time.”
As far as Lucas knew, the two necklaces he wore around his neck from his parents were the family’s only weapons to fight demons. Lucas had only wanted to come here and disappear, until last night. Maybe he’d left one sinking ship to board another one coming into battle. “What do we have besides the necklaces?” he asked.
Carmen shook her head. “There’s no time to explain. Go to the beach at Cabo Blanco. Alejandro is there, find him. Please, trust me.”
“Fine, but one more thing,” Lucas stood. “What do you know about the girl staying at the Howler Monkey Resort? I pulled her out of the ocean during a surf lesson gone bad. She might be a seer.”
“If there is another seer here, however dilute, let’s hope she leaves before all hell breaks loose.”
“Well, you can tell her that. Here she comes.” Lucas watched Cali slide into a chair near the front of the restaurant with Ron seated across from her. Her eyes locked on his while Ron waved and called a greeting to Carmen.
“Let me handle her. You get to Playa Cabo Blanco—and hurry.” Carmen grabbed two menus and went to their table.
Lucas watched the women exchange a few words. Carmen turned and headed back to the kitchen, giving Lucas a quick nod.
She was a seer!
****
“After that ordeal with Bob, let me buy you lunch. Sound good?” Ron pointed across the road from Lucas’s hut to a place overgrown with palm trees. The charming outdoor restaurant could easily be missed if someone didn’t know about the place.
Red Christmas lights strung around palm trunks and a thin white post that said Carmen’s marked the entrance. She’d have never given the place a second thought on her own. Unless she inhaled. Then the mouthwatering aroma of wood-baked pizza, bread, garlic, and chilies would have tantalized her. “Actually, Ron, I am starving.” And dying to meet Carmen. They headed over.
“I’ll bet. Bob says you got slammed by a seven-foot wave. You’ve got the makings of a true surfer.” Ron clapped her on the shoulder.
She cringed when his hand hit one of her many bruises. “The guy that helped me—”
“Lucas?”
“He works here too?” she fished.
“Yup.” Ron walked under a small archway. He and Calise were ushered to an open table by one of the waitresses. “Thanks, Jody.”
Lucas sat at a table in the back talking seriously with a middle-aged woman. “Is that’s Lucas’s aunt?” Calise cocked her head in their direction.
“That’s right.” Ron waved. “Hola, Carmen!”
Carmen might not have been a spring chicken, but when she rose, she reminded Calise of a farmwife who could bail hay, make bread from scratch, and have energy left over to paint the barn. She made her way toward them, sturdy in her stride and stunning in her confidence. Her dark hair was tied neatly back in a low bun, and the kitchen apron looked as though she may have been filleting the fish herself.
She held her hands on her hips. “So, you must be the great surfer my nephew talked about.”
Calise stifled a laugh. “I highly doubt I’ll try my hand at surfing ever again. Had it not been for your nephew, I probably wouldn’t be alive.”
“I’ll be right back, ladies.” Ron excused himself.
Leaning in close, Carmen spoke in a hoarse voice. “Lucas says you might be seeing things around here, is that true?”
Calise cleared her throat and folded her hands in her lap. Here goes nothing. “Juan Torres sent me to find you. He’s dead. I think he was killed for exposing himself to something evil and I think Anna is a—could be a—demon.” She looked at her placemat and continued. “I’m sure you think I’m a lunatic, but—”
“Shh,” Carmen hushed her. “Keep your damn voice down and don’t talk to anyone else. Go back to your room, keep to yourself, and come back here after I’m closed.”
Thrilled, Calise couldn’t believe the woman’s words. She never said “crazy” or “nuts” or anything. “So you don’t think I’m—” Looking up, she saw Carmen walking briskly back to the kitchen. Carmen gave Lucas a quick nod. He looked in her direction briefly then made a hasty retreat behind the restaurant.
Ron reappeared and spread the napkin in his lap. “I think the fish tacos sound great. What are you getting?”
“I have no idea.”
****
Lucas saddled Gotzone and rushed to Cabo Blanco in utter confusion. If Calise was a seer, he wanted to know everything about her. But that would have to wait.
He hadn’t been to Cabo Blanco. Or had he? Somewhere a memory clicked in place. He’d been there with his parents as a kid. He dismounted, paid the entrance fee, and began the nearly five-kilometer hike to Playa Cabo Blanco.
Did his parents know Alejandro? And why would an angel protect them?
The Sueco trail passed small rivers and rose up to a steep point before dropping down to the beach. Lucas collapsed in the sand from exhaustion. When he opened his eyes and sat up, the angel, Alejandro, was coming out of the water toward him.
“Ah, Lucas. Good to see you again. It seems su tía has finally sent you to see me, no?”
He sighed. Who is this guy?
“Don’t you remember me from when you were here with your father? Come, let’s walk.” Alejandro serene voice was hypnotizing.
Lucas sensed resistance was useless. He brushed himself off, took off his shirt, and followed, casting his mind back to any memory of this park.
“You met Gustaf here with your father,” Alejandro said. “Gustaf was an angel, as was his wife, Susann. They established this park in the ’60s. I have protected what is hidden in this location for a long time.”
Lucas remembered running back and forth in the surf. His dad had said, “This is a special place Lucas, a place where Gustaf will keep everything safe.” He stopped walking. “What’s hidden here?”
“There are artifacts, or ‘charms.’ Your family passed them down from generation to generation. More powerful even than that which you wear around your neck. Your father knew every accessible footpath and tree from growing up in Mal Pais. He and Gustaf hid most of your family’s belongings here—I protect them. No demon can enter this reserve while I am present. It is consecrated ground. I make sure its location remains as hidden from the demons as possible.”
A pod of humpback whales emerged in the distance. Aliens of the deep, Lucas imagined he could hear the song that each male sang the world over. Spouts of water blew in the air before the backs crested and disappeared. Something about their appearance calmed him.
“Why are you here protecting them and why hasn’t Carmen ever told me about this?”
Alejandro laid a hand on Lucas's shoulder. “Things are in motion now that cannot be stopped, and I need your help. Carmen and I know the demons who hunt what your family possesses are closing in on us, and there isn’t much time left. This location is no longer secure. They will come here to hunt you—a rare, undiluted seer, and no doubt sniff out my consecrated ground. Our best bet is to leave this place as a decoy, remove the artifacts, and relocate them somewhere else.”
He was back in the middle of his old life. For what? What good had it done his parents? What was the point? “What could I possibly do to help with any of this?”
“Your task will be the most important of all. Meet me at the park’s entrance tomorrow morning before sunrise.”
The angel retreated into the ocean and disappeared in the crashing surf.
****
With Lucas gone, Alejandro checked the perimeters of his consecrated land thinking, as always of his lost love—his perfect angelic other half. As humans had soul mates, angels had a paired essence. They had been separated for over two thousand years because of his honor and duty to the Father in keeping his promise to protect Lucas's family and their artifacts…
He clung to his last memory of her, wrapping her words around him like a cloak.
“Please do not leave me to protect the human.” she said, in the angelic language. “I cannot survive without you.”
“I will not refuse Father’s request. I am honored to be chosen. You and I have eternity, so what is a few thousand years? Nothing but a short separation.”
“Let me go with you! Every angel is allowed one earthly life. I will live mine now, while you too walk the earth,” she said.
“My service must be in solitude. And I fear for you if we cannot walk the earth together. Evil abounds and demons outnumber us. What if…?”
“You need not worry. I would never fall and risk losing you forever.”
Her words were too bold. “Wait for me. This line of seers and their artifacts cannot exist forever. We are paired essences. Nothing can separate us.” His essence shimmered leaving heaven’s plane of existence. Angels never questioned duty…even for love.
She wrapped her spirit around and within him one last time. He disappeared.