Rolling his eyes, Malachi sighed.Way ahead of you, babe. Already zapped ‘em.
"The Conjuring" is a Comedy
Settling in at the coffee shop, Malachi rested his chin on Chuck’s thigh, leaning against her leg while he stared determinedly at Nathan Bennett. The man was all nerves; his legs jittering, fingers twitching, and jaw moving side to side. Since they didn’t have a change of clothes for him, Malachi was staying in canine form for now, relaying his questions directly to Chuck.
“Start at the beginning!” Chuck commanded. Her initial shock had worn off, and her fierce determination was fully in charge. “Don’t leave a detail out, or I swear Malachi will go full demon and rip your head off. I will dance in your blood while stomping your balls.”
Malachi glanced sideways at her.I may be rubbing off on you a little too much.
Her eyes darted down to him briefly, and she smirked. “Now, Bennett. Talk.”
“Yeah, fine. The beginning.” He blew out a sharp breath and rubbed his hand over his mouth, a distant look in his eyes. “First, again, I did not kill your dad. I know this is going to be hard to hear, but it was Roger.”
Throwing herself back in the booth—surprise widening her eyes—Chuck clenched her fingers on the edge of the table until they turned white. “Roger?” she repeated. “But he was Dad’s partner. His best friend. And he died too! Why would he? How could he?” Her voice was steadily rising in pitch.
Malachi whimpered slightly and advised,let him finish. I have a feeling I know where this is going, and you need to hear it all.
Nodding reluctantly, Chuck quietly threaded the fingers of one hand into his fur and waved for Bennett to continue with the other.
“Sorry, I know that’s shocking. But I promise, it’s true. Roger and I found out what your dad was about two years ago. I thought we were all okay with it. I mean, it was shocking. Angels? Demons? The mere fact that they existed was crazy enough, but that your dad gave up a life in Heaven to be with your mother. Mind-blowing. I hope you understand how much Gavin loved Carla. She was his entire world, until you came along. Then you both became his reason to live. When she died.” He shook his head. “You evolved into the center of his universe. It made him more terrified but prouder than anything when you followed him into the force.”
Leaning back, Bennett studied her with his tired, faded denim eyes. “Kelly, you must know that you were his greatest love, but you’re also his greatest weakness. You’re considered an abomination by Heaven’s standards, but he didn’t care.”
“Abomination?” she repeated, no doubt recalling Blake’s heated words.
Technically, yes,Malachi explained with a reluctant sigh. You’re what’s known as a Nephilim. Half angel, half human. The winged freaks upstairs don’t like that because it dilutes their precious blood. So they say. I don’t knowbecause I’m not exactly a confidante of theirs, but I know they usually do try to get rid of them. I don’t think you are an abomination, though, far from it. To me, you’re Kelly Charles, perfection in a tiny ass kicking police officer uniform.
Chuck’s lips wobbled as she stared at him, then her eyes flew to Bennett’s and met his concerned gaze.
“I guess Malachi told you?” At her slight nod, he continued. “Like I said, Gavin didn’t care. He loved you and protected you. Warded you from discovery for years. Roger and I didn’t care about that part, the Nephilim thing, but Gavin swore us to secrecy. He warned us what could happen to you if anyone knew. Everything went back to normal until about a month before they died, when Roger started acting really cagey. Talking about prophets and the end of times. But he’d never do it around Gavin. I mentioned it to your dad, but he blew it off. Said being close to an angel could have that effect on people.”
Shaking his head, Bennett toyed with the handle of his coffee cup, spinning it one way then the other. Finally, he raised his gaze to hers again. “The day of the raid, Roger was even more jumpy than usual. Something just wasn’t sitting right with me. So I cornered him, and he told me another angel had visited him and explained the problem with Gavin forsaking his heritage. He urged me to talk to the angel, but I thought he was having a breakdown. I humored him. Told him why not?” Staring off into the distance, his gaze slightly unfocused, Bennett shook his head then continued. “He dropped to his knees and started praying. I was about to haul him to the psych shack when the angel herself appeared.”
Malachi sat up straighter, concern rolling over his shoulders. Anangelset Roger on Chuck’s dad? This was definitely news that chilled him to his very bones. But it didn’t make sense. Why would angels assign him toprotect her if they wanted her dead? Someone was lying. He tuned back in to Bennett.
“So there we are, a whole damn angel in my living room. Wings, robes, halo, the whole nine yards.” He paused as the server refilled their cups and offered menus. After politely declining, the story resumed. “Uh, angel, living room. She explains all this same stuff Rog was saying and so help me, I believed her.” His eyes filled with tears, and he wiped his mouth with a heavy hand. A shaky breath shuddered from him. “I’m so sorry, Kelly, but I believed what she told us. She was hypnotic, convincing, and put the literal fear of God in me. It was all laid out. The raid, the forsaken sword, and Gavin’s death. Then we were coming for you.”
A vicious snarl erupted from Malachi’s throat as he stood between Chuck and Bennett. Alarmed stares and murmurs came from the other customers as they turned to watch the commotion.
“It’s okay, Malachi,” Chuck soothed. “He’s not going to hurt me. I’ll shoot him before he gets close enough.” Her voice was deadly calm and steady. The barrel of her personal weapon was now trained on Bennett under the table.
Fucking Hell, that’s hot, Chuck! Please tell me you’ll handcuff me at some point? I’m begging you.
As a small smile toyed with her lips, she glanced at Malachi and winked. “Calm down. Not the time or place.”
Oh, yeah, sorry.He glanced back at Bennett, who had both palms flat on the table in a placating manner.Talk. Now.Malachi gave a low warning rumble in his throat.
“And I would deserve it, but I swear I don’t want to harm you.” He nodded quickly, trying to add some credulity to his words. “I know this is a lot to process, but it was overwhelming that day. We got to the raid, and I was there early as planned with the blade. Gavin and Roger burst in, andI raised that sword behind him… but I couldn’t do it. I couldn’t kill my friend. I couldn’t kill a man whose only sin was loving a good woman and raising a beautiful child. I knew that the other angel was wrong.” Bennett buried his face in his palms, shoulders shaking, sobs breaking from deep in his chest.
“Roger…” Chuck started then stopped, swallowing heavily. “Roger took the sword, didn’t he? He finished what you couldn’t.”
Nodding miserably, Bennett raised his red-rimmed eyes to hers, his face splotchy as he reached for a paper napkin to wipe his nose. “He did. Kelly, I held Gavin in my arms as he lay dying. His last words were begging me to protect you.” He straightened his shoulders. “So, I did. I killed Roger to keep him from coming after you.”
Chuck and Malachi both stared in horrified silence for several long, tense moments as they processed what they’d just heard. “No,” she insisted, shaking her head vehemently side to side as if the motion would jar the words from her mind. “No,” she repeated, her eyes brimming with tears, looking like her world was ending as she glanced around frantically, trying to find an escape from this reality.
The misery and pain emanating from her washed over Malachi like a physical blow, ruffling his fur, making him shiver. A whimper escaped his throat, and he shoved his head against her chest.
Immediately, she wrapped her arms around him and buried her face in his scruff, stifling the sobs that tried to break free. “Malachi,” she cried, pain etched into every syllable as her shoulders quaked.
