Horror choked me more effectively than any hand around my throat ever could. I couldn’t let anything happen to my family. The very idea of a demon hurting my nieces was unthinkable. But taking the deal meant lying to my family… forever. Keeping a secret like this could get me kicked out of the secret order. I could be stripped of my halo and barred from Heaven.
But I didn’t have a choice.
I glared at him. “Why?”
Strong fingers grasped my jaw, holding me in place. “We all have people we would do anything for, cross any line to protect. I would become my very worst if that’s what it takes to keep the ones I care about safe. Now the question is, what would you do for the ones you love?”
Anything. The answer was anything. I’d keep secrets,lie to people I loved, ruin my own life if that’s what it took to keep my family off this demon’s hit list.
“I’ll do it.”
His expression didn’t change as he dropped his hold and plucked my phone out of the pocket of my scrubs. After a few seconds, he handed it to me with the contact app still open. “When I text you, you answer. And I expect updates on Hayden’s progress.”
I glanced down at my phone. “What doesZstand for?”
“I’m sure you can figure it out.”
I quickly ran through the list of names every angel knew. Only one had azanywhere in his name.
“Beelzebub,” I breathed.
The Prince of False Idols gave me a cold smile that didn’t reach his ancient eyes. “A pleasure to meet you, little angel. I hope we never have cause to do so again after tonight.” There was a pause, and I thought he was going to leave, but then he spoke again. “And one more thing—Hayden and the rest of his family are never going to hear about what happened here. As far as they know, angels and demons don’t live among them, and it’s going to stay that way.”
He didn’t give me a chance to reply as he turned and headed for the door like he hadn’t just blackmailed me into a weird partnership with him.
“Wait,” I called before he could leave the room.
He glanced over his shoulder and raised his brows at me.
“How do you know who I am or about my family?”
“Your so-called brother isn’t the only one with anetwork of humans working for him. I know everything that happens in this city.” And then he was gone.
Only a few minutes later, my phone chimed with a new text.
Z
Don’t forget about the updates.
Me
I won’t.
It went against every patient-privacy law in existence, but so did threatening a nurse’s family to force her to heal said patient with angelic gifts no one on Earth besides my family was supposed to know I possessed.
Time ticked by until I was starting to relax back into the normal routine of the night shift. I could almost forget the deal with Beelzebub had happened.
When all was said and done, what I did for Hayden wasn’t any different than what I would do for anyone if I thought I could get away with it. It was why I’d taken the job here in the first place. I liked healing people. It made me happy, fulfilled. And the emergency room was never in short supply of injured who could use my help.
When I returned to Hayden’s room at the end of my shift, there was a guy sitting there with his head tipped back against the wall and his eyes closed. He looked so much like Hayden it was almost eerie. He was younger, probably in his early twenties, and his hair was shorter, but otherwise they could have been twins.
I tried to be quiet as I checked on Hayden the human way before curling my fingers around his and using my healing powers to assess his injuries.
He looked so peaceful with his eyes closed and lips lightly parted. It was so different from the other times I’d seen him. From the moment we’d met, Hayden had always worn a look of cool disinterest. Like everything and everyone was beneath him.
“Is he okay?” Hayden’s look-alike asked.
“He’s going to be fine,” I assured him. “I assume you’re family?”
