Her eyes squeezed shut. If Keenan killed her, he’d rise. Okay, she figured that meant he’d get a free ride back up to the clouds.
But what happened to her? After what she’d done over the last few months, there’d be no comfy cloud ride waiting on her.
I don’t want to die.
“I can’t go back to the Quarter,” she told him as she felt her nails bite into her palms. “I can’t go back to my place.” The cops might be watching.
“You don’t have a place there anymore.”
That had her eyes opening.
The vehicle slowed. “Someone else lives in your apartment. He took it over about a month ago.”
Right. Of course. She cleared her throat. “Then where are we going?” He’d been adamant that they travel back to New Orleans, but New Orleans was not the place she wanted to see again. Too much pain waited in the city.
“I’ve got a place just outside of town.”
Keenan had a place? How did he even have money?
He glanced toward her and his lips kicked up a bit. He must have read the thoughts on her face. “You keep forgetting, sweet … I know just about every secret the humans and the Other have. I know where all the bodies are buried.”
Yes, she bet he did.
“And I had some Other who owed me. The house was payment.”
“Payment for what, exactly?”
“You don’t want to know.”
Probably not.
Her heart squeezed as they drove past the city she’d loved so much. They rode in a different car now, a nondescript Ford. They’d switched vehicles just outside of Texas, the better to keep the vampire-killing cops off their backs.
Soon the streets thinned. Oak trees and moss swept past her.
Then …
“Here we are,” Keenan said quietly as he pulled to a stop.
She gazed out the window and saw an old antebellum. The place had been fixed up, but it wasn’t one of the too-fancy, too-rich houses she’d seen before. This house was half-hidden by the trees, yet standing strong against the swamp.
Waiting.
“Will we be safe here?” Nicole asked as she climbed out of the car.
He didn’t answer.
She guessed that was a no. The sun beat down on her as she walked toward the house, and she felt its pull on her strength.
Keenan opened the doors and the smell of the house hit her. Not the closed-in, old smell that some places could get when they were left alone too long. Instead, the scent was light, soft, welcoming.
The furniture was sparse, but after six months of cheap motels, who was she to complain? The place looked like the Ritz to her.
“You should sleep.” Keenan’s deep voice rumbled from behind her. He locked the door. “Go get some rest. Get your strength back.”
Her hand curved around the banister. Her palm was sweating. “What did the angel mean about trading one soul for another?” She hadn’t asked her questions during the car ride. Hell, for most of that ride, she’d just been numb with fear. Ten days left to live.
She’d been on a countdown before, and she’d never wanted to be on one again.
Ten days.
A deep furrow appeared between Keenan’s brows. “You heard that part?”
“I heard every part.” Including the part where he asked you to kill me.
He shook his head. “You shouldn’t have. Most folks can’t ever see or hear angels, all they can do is just catch their scents every now and then.”
Flowers.
Goose bumps rose on her arms. Six months ago, she’d caught that sweet scent a few times in her classroom and in her home. The scent—she realized now it had been Keenan. Watching.
But they’d get to that soon enough. First … “You didn’t answer me, Keenan.” She’d noticed he was very good at avoiding answers to her questions.
The furrow smoothed away. “Instead of you dying that night, the vampire died.”
“You went against orders.” Now she could think past the rage and pain that had consumed her at the motel.
He gave a slight inclination of his head.
Nicole swiped her tongue over her lower lip. “The vamp was supposed to walk away, but he was the one who bit the dust.” Help me. She hadn’t realized it but … he had.
In the only way he could.
Keenan stared back at her.
“Thank you,” she told him softly.
Now he blinked. “Nicole …”
“This whole thing—it’s a little much for me, okay?” She let go of the banister and faced him. “I mean, you’re an angel. I’ve heard stories about angels all my life, but—” Her laugh sounded broken even to her ears, “I never thought I’d actually meet one.”