The Forsaken(35)

*

“You should have told me.”

Mike stood directly in front of Izzy. They were both in the common room, the white sofas looked the same and the place even smelled the same, but everything was different. Izzy watched how still Mike held himself. She highly suspected he felt like the foundation of his world had been tipped upside down.

Izzy wanted to kill Nathanael. He didn’t have the right to tell Mike. While a part of her suspected he’d had to, she still was angry with him. It should have been her. After all their years together, after all his help, he deserved to hear the truth of what they were from her, not a Seraphim who’d barged into their world less than a week ago.

Mike wasn’t one to put off a confrontation, but Izzy suspected knowing she was an angel actually made him give weight to his words. Their entire relationship, something she’d built up for years, had changed with Nathanael’s disclosure. It was exactly why Izzy had never told Mike the truth.

Izzy hated that she still felt worn out from her own ordeal, but she’d lent her voice to the healing chant. After two hours, exhaustion clearly written on her face, she’d been ushered out by Meredith. Sipping a cup of dark hot coffee, she waited for Mike’s anger to cool. He’d been a restless lion since returning with Shea’s bloodied form.

“Did you think me unworthy?”

The question caught her off guard. Izzy placed her mug on the nearby side table and stood up until they were almost nose to nose. As tall as she was, Mike was taller and his bulk made him look ferocious. “Never unworthy, Mike. Never that. Especially after what you saw. Your eyes did not deceive you. A demon claimed you sister’s life. What would you have me say? Hi, Mike, by the way—the teenager you saved from the streets and all the girls she’s brought home like stray dogs aren’t human, rather angels? Kind of like fallen angels. And all her sisters, well, they’re not really sisters, we’re all Cherub angels, and because of me, we got kicked out of heaven for good. How’s that for you?”

Mike took Izzy by the shoulders, the contact startling her. “This isn’t easy for me, Izzy, so being flippant and sarcastic isn’t working in your favor. I saw things tonight that I’m still trying to process.”

Izzy wondered then what Nathanael had done and why he had felt the need to disclose their secret.

Looking him in the eyes, she tilted her head up. “Did you see a demon?”

He looked at her for a good minute and then let go. “No…Christ, I wish I had seen that. Or better yet, I wish we had…” He ran agitated hands over his face, his emotions swirling through the air around Izzy and making her feel nauseous.

“Shh, it’s okay. I know exactly how you feel. The first time I saw a demon—”

“When was that?”

Izzy got it then; he wanted the whole truth and nothing but the truth. “Mike, if you want me to disclose everything to you, I think you should sit.” Izzy picked up her mug, took a sip and sat back down on the sofa, patting the spot next to her. Hesitation made him pause but Mike was not a coward. Izzy vowed then to tell him everything even though it was going to hurt him in ways he hadn’t anticipated.

*

Drained did not begin to define how Izzy felt. Her talk with Mike had not been smooth. Did I expect it would be? Maybe.

“You shouldn’t have told him,” said Izzy. She yearned to shout those words at Nathanael, knowing it would set them at war, but somehow she managed to gain control. A rare feat these days. She tried hard not to notice how his mere presence filled the room and failed. Izzy judged it close to 3:00 a.m., and Nathanael looked like he’d flown all the way through Hell and back.

“No choice. He had to know. Now—about us.”

Izzy smirked. The thing about Nathanael was he acted like a Seraphim, all straight to the point with no subtlety. “Not now, Nathanael, I’m tired.”

“And you didn’t listen to me. You should be resting.”

Without any warning, he scooped in, picked her up from the sofa in one smooth move and started to march from the room to her sanctuary, her bedroom. Izzy hated how much his surprised actions pleased her.

“Seriously, I do have my own legs. I can walk.”

“Knowing you, you’d walk back out into some alley to fight some other demon. I am tucking you into your bed and you are resting. After all, I do remember telling you not to leave.”

“Oh, come on, you can’t be serious. I had to leave. Shea needed my help.”

He laughed, but in no way did it meet the seriousness in his eyes. “Come, Isabella. Are you trying to lie your way out of this?”

She punched his shoulder. He didn’t even acknowledge it. “I’m trying to make you see reason.”

“Your safety is my reason. I gave you an order, you disobeyed.”

“That’s the thing with a Seraphim. You need to learn that not all is black and white.”

“In our world, it is. Your help was not needed. Meredith and your sisters are handling everything.”

“Would you have me do nothing? Pretend indifference when you brought Shea’s unconscious form home? Tell me, is that the right thing a Cherub should do?”

He cut her a warning look. Izzy didn’t want to be controlled anymore. He kicked open her bedroom door, shut it, and locked it and then marched with her squirming form to the bed. “You want me to behave like a Cherub and I never will. Why should I? Is it going to get me back into heaven? I don’t think so. And, anyway, I will never leave them.”