Demon Night

could have held air.
    And he altered it, singing the same notes but transforming them somehow, so that she didn’t want to cringe away from it and give up, but reach out and hold it to her.
    She began crying when it faded, and when she found the courage to look, the carved doors were open. Michael strode through them into the yawning darkness, his wings as black as the stone. Ethan wiped her cheeks and she wiped his, and then the screaming started again.
    Michael returned, his steps heavy, his sword stained with blood. “All of them,” he said. “He let all but one go.”
    Ethan abruptly stood, hauled her up against him. His crossbow appeared in his free hand. He squinted, and when Charlie turned, she had only a glimpse of a brilliant, blindingly beautiful form before Ethan covered her eyes. “Don’t look, Miss Charlie.”
    Michael’s footsteps did not halt, even when an unfamiliar voice spoke, similar in resonance to the Doyen’s. “You should have foreseen this, Michael. I taught you to think as Lucifer does.”
    “If I think as he does, Belial, then all will be lost.” The Doyen’s response held a dry note of humor. “Demons may even begin speaking in English.”
    “They ought to know of the prophecy. The nephilim’s release—”
    “Predestination precludes free will,” Michael said, his tone sharp. “You may take your prophecy, and let it determine your way; I choose another path—and I will not have it chosen for me.”
    Charlie felt Michael’s hand against hers, and then the nauseating spin of teleportation. Ethan held her as her feet touched solid ground again, as she shuddered and heaved.
    “Will this location do?”
    “It’s as good as any,” Ethan said, and Charlie lifted her head. Cool clean air washed her face, the familiar rush of city traffic hummed in her ears. Her old apartment—the balcony. The stench of Hell clung to them, so she breathed in through her mouth as deep as she could.
    Michael looked out over the railing before facing them again. His gaze narrowed on Charlie. “Thank you for your assistance. And I am sorry for the pain it caused you.”
    “It was kind of a trade-off,” she said thickly. She couldn’t hold on to the song he’d created, but she would always remember its effect, the profound experience of it. That was almost enough.
    Michael smiled, and he lifted his gaze. “I shall speak with you soon, Ethan.”
    Ethan nodded shortly. “We’ll have words.”
    As soon as Michael disappeared, Ethan began stripping her stinking clothes away, tossing them into a pile in the corner of the balcony. Charlie helped him with slow, trembling fingers.
    He met her eyes, but couldn’t seem to hold the smile that kicked up at the corners of his mouth. She touched the wan curve with her fingertips.
    “I’ve got this for you,” he said, slipping a clean shirt around her shoulders, then backing away to unbutton his own. “Too big, but it’ll do until we get home. I can’t figure why he brought us here, but it ain’t no—”
    “It was probably me.”
    His gaze skipped quickly over her face, as if searching for any indication of the emotions hidden behind it. “How’s that?”
    She swallowed, forcing the muscles in her throat to work. “I need something.”
    His mouth softened. “You know you only have to ask, Miss Charlie.”
    That was the problem. She couldn’t ask—she needed it too much, and knew herself too well. And so she simply continued, trying to explain, praying it would come out right. “When Michael showed up earlier, I was thinking of asking you to bring me back here. I still have a week or two left before my rental notice runs out.”
    She saw his hands curl into fists at his thighs, and she closed her eyes. “Charlie,” he said, and his voice was rough. “What are you saying? If you feel like you’re leeching off Savi and Colin by staying at the lake—”
    “That’s not it. But your assignment’s over, you don’t need to protect me now, and there’s no reason to be there.”
    “You can stay at the lake until I find us another place. Something similar, as I know how you’ve taken to that house.”
    She had, but this was going in a direction she didn’t want it to, and this wasn’t about where she slept. She looked up at him, felt her stomach clench. His face was a bleak mask.
    She blinked back the burning behind her eyes. “Why do you want to do that?”
    Please say you love me, you need me.
    “You need me, Charlie. And I’ll