Company of Angels 02 - The Demoness of Waking Dreams

went back, to check up and to watch over their loved ones.
    Why Brandon had been forbidden from visiting was a mystery to him. But he had obeyed nonetheless. Now, with Luciana standing beside him, he felt vaguely guilty for disobeying, even though he had no control over where she chose to take him.
    Besides, he told himself, it’s only a dream.
    Tammy still lived in the house Brandon had bought for them, a few years after joining the Detroit P.D. Standing across the street from the house, he saw Tammy come out and speak to two little boys playing in the yard. Brandon smiled, happy that she was happy.
    “Let’s go,” he said to Luciana. “I don’t want to stick around in case she sees me.”
    “It’s just a dream,” said the demoness scornfully.
    “Still,” he said. “She might remember.”
    “Wait. I think you’ll find this interesting.”
    He saw a man drive up.
    Get out of the car and kiss her.
    Something bittersweet twisted inside Brandon as he watched them.
    “Who is that?” Luciana asked.
    “My wife, Tammy,” he said.
    “The man, I meant,” she said flatly.
    “My best friend and partner, Jude,” he ground out.
    “Did you know?” Luciana asked. “That they were together?”
    “I had no idea. I was told to leave it alone. And so I did.”
    Her eyes sparkled in the light, and what he saw in them was pure, green evil. “There you go. Learn your own lesson in forgiveness. I dare you.”

Chapter Nineteen
     
    B randon awoke, sweating and sick with the knowledge that more than a wall separated him and Luciana. Not just wood and drywall, after all. But the fundamental core of what they were.
    Angel and demon.
    She’s pure evil. I would never have done such a thing to her. Would I?
    His heart pounded as he lay in the bed.
    What did she really do, except reveal the truth? he argued with himself.
    He shot out of bed, threw on his clothes and tore into the hallway.
    The noise of it woke Arielle, who was sleeping in a room across the hall.
    She opened her door and stood there in her nightgown, white and ethereal.
    “What’s wrong, Brandon?”
    He needed to drive, to get far away from this insane asylum full of immortals. His palms tingled for a steering wheel. His foot yearned for the press of a gas pedal. He needed speed to rid him of the desire to crawl out of his own skin. Before that desire drove him crazy.
    And Arielle knew it.
    “Just a minute,” she said, going into her room. When she returned, she handed him a car key and said, “Outside. In the driveway.”
    Veering along the Pacific Coast Highway, he drove until he reached Zuma Beach, Malibu. Where he stood on the sand, looking out over the still-dark ocean. Listened to the sound of the waves. Asked for guidance. And what—who—he found there was Michael. High on a cliff above the beach, the Archangel waited, his massive wings extended out behind him.
    He launched off the cliff and circled down, toward Brandon, landing on the sand.
    “I take it the current situation has exceeded your capacity to text,” said Michael.
    “Seriously, I need help. But not from you.”
    “You’re stuck with me,” said Michael. “So talk.”
    “What am I doing here?” Brandon asked. He did not whine. He never whined. But the frustration had become so intense, it threatened to explode out of him if he did not give it voice.
    “What do you mean?” Michael asked quietly.
    “I should not be involved in this assignment anymore.”
    “You can leave. You have that choice.”
    “I don’t trust Arielle. But that’s not the whole problem. I had a dream last night. Not the same dream. And I saw something I had never seen before.”
    “What was it?”
    “It had to do with Tammy. And her husband.”
    Michael let out a sigh, compassion on his face. “There are circumstances beyond your comprehension. There are reasons for things that even we Archangels do not understand. But I warn you, Brandon. You must forget about this entirely. Leave it to divine justice to handle. Don’t throw away everything you’ve worked toward for your entire existence. This, like everything else, is merely a test. You have a choice. The best option is to leave it alone.”
    “I’m worried about Tammy,” he gritted out.
    “Are you worried about Tammy, or are you angry with her? Brandon, let it go,” Michael warned. “You have your instructions. You have been a good Guardian all these years.”
    “So I think I deserve to know. How long have Tammy and Jude been