I’m here, Kelly. I’ve got you, hold on.He stood on his hind legs and leaned his head on her shoulder so she could better hang on to him.Shh, it’s going to be okay. We’ll get through this. This will not break you. It won’t, you’re too strong. Deep breath, come on. Breathe. One at a time.As her tears subsided and her shudders lessened, she leaned back and stared at him with a weak,watery smile.That’s my girl, my badass Chuck. Let’s get the rest of what we need to know, then we can go home, and you can have an entire pint of that awful ice cream you like. I’ll even watch a chick flick with you. Or two, but that’s my limit. Then we have to watch a comedy, like ‘The Conjuring.’
Laughing now, she stroked his ears. “Pistachio ice cream is not awful,” she replied gratefully. Lifting her gaze to Bennett, she narrowed her eyes. “You…”—she paused and glanced around to make sure they weren’t overheard—“ended Roger?”
A sorrowful nod before he hung his head, Bennett sighed heavily. “I did. It’s been hell not telling anyone. You deserved better, Gavin deserved better. I just didn’t know what to do. I was worried that if I didn’t hide my part, I couldn’t keep an eye on you.” He shook his head and met her gaze again, his eyebrows furrowed. “The angel came to me that night. She congratulated me on Gavin’s death. Then gave me the blade, told me to come after you. I refused.” He sat up straighter as determination firmed his lips and brightened his eyes. “I told her flat out I wouldn’t take your life, and I would stick to your side to make sure she didn’t send another freak after you.”
Ask him what the angel’s name was, and what she looked like,Malachi relayed to Chuck. As she repeated his question to Bennett, the older man scrubbed a hand over his tired eyes. Malachi watched him intently for any signs of deception. His next questions were going to be harder.
“No name was given. White female, average height, about five six, medium build, around one hundred forty pounds, shoulder-length red hair, slight wave, green eyes, white robe, giant white wings, gold halo.” Bennett closed his eyes while reciting the description like a suspect, then whirled his finger over his head in a circle.
Malachi frowned and growled low. He pushed forward and stared deep into Bennett’s eyes.All angels are blond with blue eyes, and their halos aren’tgold circles on their heads. It’s a light around their bodies. They glow, like an aura. Their wings are small, more for visual impact than flying, and the feathers are usually gray.
Just as Chuck started to repeat his words, Bennett shook his head and stared wide-eyed at Malachi. “I heard you,” he said. “In my head, I heard you.”
Good, saves time. Now we have a serious problem because whoever put a hit on Chuck and her father… was no angel. It sounds like a demon pretending to be an angel. Especially since they had a forsaken blade.
“But if it wasn’t an angel…” Chuck trailed off as her expression turned troubled, realizing what the likely person or being was.
“A demon?” Nathan asked, his voice cracking.
Nodding gravely, Malachi tucked his chin to his chest, thinking hard.I’m almost one-hundred percent certain. Impersonating an angel is not unheard of,he admitted,and they probably went with that classic halo-wing visual because that’s what most humans would expect.
“Read me in, what did I miss?” Glenda demanded as she plopped down at the table next to Nathan and flagged down a server for a glass of water, chugging it down as if she’d been in the desert for a month.
It's Still Not Real Bacon
After introducing Glenda to Nathan and explaining her role, Chuck updated her on what had been discovered. Now the witch was leaning back in the booth, staring at the ceiling in deep contemplation. She’d punctuated the re-telling with gasps and squeals, drawing more attention to their group than Malachi was comfortable with. His pointed stares and snarky comments went ignored as Glenda fluttered her hands, her bangles clanging like a wind chime in a hurricane.
“Goddess be,” Glenda finally gasped. “This is much worse than I imagined.” She whirled in a colorful flutter of scarves and grabbed a startled Malachi by the sides of his head, planting a large kiss on his nose. “Thank the Goddess you’re here protecting our girl. Never thought I’d be indebted to a demon like this, but I’m so glad you’re here, Malachi. Comments on my driving and personal fashion choices aside.” She grinned then, ruffling his ears and turning back to the table. Now her eyes narrowed, and she pointed an accusing finger at Bennett. “You.”
Malachi used a paw to try to scrape the kiss from his nose, gagging at the smear of bright purple lipstick staining his skin. He glared at Chuck as she worked to stifle her laughter and focused on Bennett instead.
“Yeah. Me.” Bennett sighed and ran a hand through his short sandy hair. “Look, I don’t know what the best thing to do here would be. So Chuck, however you want to handle it, I’ll go with it. If you want me to take the fall for Gavin’s death, I will. If you want me to admit it was Roger and I killed him, I will. You’ve deserved the truth, and I deserve to be punished.” He hung his head as he folded his fingers together on the tabletop, patiently awaiting her verdict.
For agonizing moments that seemed like hours, the tension and silence stretched between them. The air was fraught with unease like a palpable miasma. Finally, Chuck shook herself as if waking up and reached slowly across the table. She gently laid her shaking fingers over Bennett’s hands and squeezed. “Nathan, no. It wasn’t truly Roger, and I know you were trying to do what you thought best in an impossible situation. We need to figure out who is truly behind this, because,”—she swallowed heavily—“I don’t want you to lose Blake.”
Malachi growled,fuck that! He stabbed you! He tried to kill you. He deserves to be locked up. No offense, Nathan, I’m sure you’re a great guy and all. But Blake tried to KILL Chuck.
“He’s right,” Bennett offered quietly. “Blake tried to hurt you, and that’s also my fault. I should have stood up more, been there for him when I noticed he seemed different. He started coming around two weeks ago, acting like he wanted to rekindle our relationship. Prior to that, Blake hadn’t spoken to me in almost a year. Blamed me for things not ending well with his mother, especially when she died six months ago in a car accident. Which is true to an extent. I was more married to the job than her, but I was so glad to see him, I overlooked the signs.” He shook his head andhunched his shoulders forward as if the weight of the universe was pressing him down to the laminate surface of the table. If he could become part of the wobbly furniture coated with layers of despair and grime, he probably would have.
Dammit,Malachi huffed and flopped to the floor. At Chuck’s inquiring glance, he rolled his eyes.It’s hard to be mad at the guy when he’s so damn agreeable.He covered his eyes with his paws.Gross, you’re rubbing off on me and making me… barf… nice.
Glenda released a booming laugh at his words and offered him a treat. “Good boy, Malachi.”
Staring at him in fascination, Bennett opened his mouth and closed it, then opened it again. “Okay, I know it’s off topic, but… you’re a human. Or human-like, but you like dog treats?”
Peering incredulously at Bennett from beneath his fuzzy eyebrows, Malachi snorted.Dude… It’s bacon.
“It’s notrealbacon,” Chuck muttered under her breath. Before Malachi could voice his retort, she carried on louder, “Look, I know this is a mess, and there’s a lot of blame to sort through for years, but I think the most important thing is we figure out who this is and stop them before they kill me.”
Barking loudly, Malachi shouted,NOBODY is killing you. They’ll have to kill me first. And that ain’t happening, sweetheart.Hackles on his neck standing up, Malachi ignored the terrified shouts as other customers jumped from their seats at his outburst.
“Ma’am, I’m sorry, but you’ll have to take the dog outside if you can’t…” their server started to say but was quickly quieted when both Bennett and Chuck flashed their badges and snapped, “K-9,” in unison.
The server scurried away as Chuck turned to Malachi. “Calm down, Mal. I only meant that figuratively. Of course no one is going to kill me. Neither you nor I will allow that to happen. I know that.”
I don’t like it anyway. Don’t say things like that. I can’t lose you, Kelly, not now.He put a paw on her leg and leaned into her.I don’t care how undemonly that is or how weak it makes me look. Kelly, I’m never leaving you. I… I…
“It’s okay, Malachi,” Chuck reassured him. “I don’t think it makes you weak at all. If anything, it makes you stronger to go against your nature like this.”
