As we strolled into the hospital, I couldn’t help thinking about Maroon 5’s “Harder to Breathe” because I was having a difficult time staying calm. I had been kidnapped and beaten senseless by an agent of Lucifer, and yet the white coats the doctors wore scared me just as badly. The men who had taken me from my mother wore those same damned lab coats. Every time I saw one, it awakened a dormant fear inside me—fear that I’d be dragged away from someone I loved again, fear that I’d be placed into the waiting hands of another horrible person. It would never truly go away.

Michael’s shoulder bumped mine, which shook me out of my thoughts. I glanced at him. “What?”

“You’re frowning.”

“Am I supposed to be smiling right now?”

He faced forward, looking at our reflection in the elevator doors. “No, but you look like you’re about to bolt at any second.”

I watched the digital numbers change one by one as we rose up to the right floor, fiddling with the rosary in the pocket of my leather jacket. Somehow, the beads had a calming effect on me. “I’m fine.”

“Hard ass.”

A tiny smirk touched my lips. “Stop thinking about my butt. You’re an archangel.”

He grinned, but didn’t reply.

The elevator bell rang and the doors slid open, revealing the shiny linoleum floor and baby blue walls of the recovery wing. I took a deep breath and followed the archangel out, resisting the urge to readjust the fake press badge clipped on my lapel. Imitating the press was much less dangerous than imitating a police officer or federal agent. It had been Michael’s idea. I suspected he had been watching Supernatural recently. It amused me to no end, especially considering the fact that he was a dead ringer for Jared Padalecki.

We walked down the hallway towards Robert Sterling’s room with confident strides. However, I noticed something odd along the way.

“Where are the angels you asked to keep an eye out on him?”

Michael came to a stop in front of Sterling’s room, frowning. “Good question. I called them on the way here and they said everything was quiet.”

“Am I the only one getting a rotten feeling right now?”

“No, you’re not.” He glanced down one end of the hallway while I examined the other. Among the doctors and nurses, I spotted a brunette woman in pink scrubs walking towards us. Our eyes met and she stopped about ten feet away. Her face went blank. I had seen that look before, but not on a person. It was the look of a big cat right before it struck—pupils dilating, nostrils flaring, lips parting to reveal its fangs.

“Michael.”

He followed my gaze and his spine straightened like a yardstick. He pushed me behind him as the demon walked towards us in a slow, hip-swinging stride with a sly smile on her lips.

She stopped less than a foot away, staring up into Michael’s face. “My, my. Humanity looks good on you, archangel.”

“You have ten seconds to get in that elevator and leave this place,” he said, and the look in his eyes was unlike anything I’d ever seen before. Rage, pure and simple.

“And if I don’t?”

“You’ll leave in a body bag.”

“Ooh. Pretty sexy talk coming from you. Sure you can deliver on that?”

“Five seconds left.”

“Sounds tempting, but I’m on a deadline. The guard bites the big one so you idiots can continue scrambling around in the dark. I thought this would be a boring job, but since you brought your little pet along—” Her brown eyes settled on me. “—I think we’re gonna have a good ole time.”

“Time’s up. Decide.”

“Gladly.”

Her left arm swung so fast I almost didn’t see it. She drew a silver dagger from the small of her back and slashed Michael’s chest. He caught her wrist and swung his large fist at her head, but she ducked. She wrenched her arm free and dropped into a back roll. When she came up, she held a .9mm Glock.

“Gun!” Michael called out to the hospital staff just as the demon opened fire. He shoved me into the room opposite Sterling’s.

I slammed the door shut as gunshots echoed through the hall, kneeling to make myself less of a target. There was no one in the room except me, so I didn’t have a panicking person to talk down, but there was still an armed rampaging demon right outside my door and my gun wasn’t handy. Perfect.

I pressed my cheek to the door and closed my eyes, listening to the commotion and trying to ascertain what was happening. I heard frantic shouts and footsteps, and the shots weren’t heading towards the elevator and the stairs. She wasn’t trying to get away. This demon was hellbent on completing her mission, which meant she’d have to get Michael away from Sterling’s room. The best way to do that was threatening the innocent.

My phone buzzed in my pocket, scaring the shit out of me. I fumbled with the device, relieved when I noticed it was Michael.

“Are you okay?”

“That’s a dumb question.”

“No, smart ass, I meant are you hit?”

“No. What’s the plan?”

“She’s trying to draw me out. That means she’s gonna head for you.”

“I figured.”

“Got any weapons on you?”

“Just the rosary,” I said, crawling towards the empty hospital bed and checking to see if I had anything to work with in the meantime. Nothing but a damned bedpan.

“They called security, but it’ll take at least ten minutes for the cops to get up here. Here’s what you’re going to do: lock the door and stand beside it. The second she kicks it down, hit her with everything you got. That should distract her enough for me to take her out.”

“Got it. And one more thing.”

“Yeah?”

“Don’t let her kill me or I’ll haunt the hell out of you.” I hung up and grabbed the thankfully empty bedpan, pressing my back against the wall next to the door. I closed my eyes and breathed slowly, trying my best to remain calm. Silence permeated the air. I watched the light beneath the door until a shadow fell across it. Showtime.

The door cracked in half when the demon kicked it, sending splinters flying in all directions. I swung at her face with the metal bedpan, landing a blow on her forehead. Her head snapped back. It gave me a couple of crucial seconds. I swatted at her right hand, knocking the gun across the room. She recovered with a vicious backslap that sent me careening backwards toward the hospital bed sans my trusty bedpan.

“Mm, you’ve got some bite to you, human,” she smirked, marching towards me with deadly intent. The dagger glinted in her hand as she raised it. I waited until the last second to duck. The blade bit through the thin mattress. Just as it did, I kicked at her right knee. She screamed as it dislocated her kneecap, crumpling her to the ground.

“You little bitch!” She tackled me, straddling my body as soon as it hit the floor. She slammed my head into the linoleum. I cried out as pain lanced through my skull. She tried to stab me but I grabbed her arm, stopping it mere inches from my throat. She bore down harder and the tip of the dagger crept closer. My muscles strained and my entire body broke out in cold sweat. I used every ounce of strength, but it wasn’t enough. I couldn’t hold her off any longer.

A shadow fell across the demon’s face. She glanced up for a split second. Michael stood in the doorway. He kicked her square in the temple and she smashed into the adjacent wall. The sheer force knocked her out like a light, and the dagger clattered to the floor next to her.

Michael offered me a hand. I accepted it, rubbing my neck as I stood. “Cutting it a little close there, pretty boy.”

“Sorry. My timing was off. Are you okay?” He pushed my hair back, examining my cheek where the demon had hit me. The skin ached, meaning I probably had a bruise on its way.

“I’ll live. You, on the other hand…” My eyes found the oozing cut the dagger had scored across Michael’s chest, from his hipbone to just below his right pectoral, exposed by the tear in his t-shirt. Blood had seeped into the cotton, painting the white dark red. I hadn’t seen that much since Belial stabbed me. It made my stomach clench.

“It’s shallow. I’ll be alright,” he said, brushing past me to the floored demon. He knelt and picked up the dagger, his green eyes roving over the weapon.

“This is one of the missing items from the museum. Looks like we’ve got our confirmation of the demons’ involvement.”

“Do you think she’s the one from the break in?”

“Maybe.”

“Why just maybe?”

He shook his head. “This doesn’t smell right. If she did this on her own, she wouldn’t feel compelled to kill the guard. She could just fence the stuff, take her money, and leave town. Coming back to eliminate the witness means he saw something they didn’t want him to. She’s under orders.”

The elevator bell rang. I heard several authoritative voices—the police. Michael cursed under his breath and dropped the dagger next to the unconscious woman.

“She’s in here!” He called out. The police rushed in, checking to make sure we were both okay before surrounding the demon. They cuffed her and dragged her out of the room. They took our statements and gave us contact numbers for future involvement in the case. As expected, the dagger was taken into custody as evidence for the heist.

The doctors and nurses on the wing went back to taking care of the startled patients in other rooms. They checked on Sterling, who agreed to let us see him provided that we cleaned up a bit. One of the nurses began dressing Michael’s cut but got called in to help a patient who had started coding. She seemed conflicted so I showed her my card proving that I was First Aid certified. Satisfied, she left it to me instead.

I hadn’t seen Michael without a shirt before. It sounded absurd, but I felt a bit nervous as I mopped up the blood that had dripped onto the waistband of his jeans. I never saw him work out, but his muscles had the kind of definition that suggested he lifted weights and played sports in his spare time back when he thought he was human.

“Well, this is a role reversal,” Michael said, breaking up the tense silence.

I tossed the soiled gauze aside, reaching for the Neosporin. “Don’t get used to it. I have lousy bedside manner.”

He chuckled and it sent vibrations all the way up my arm as I rubbed in the ointment. It made me shiver. I prayed that he didn’t see my reaction. “No argument there.”

“All kidding aside…you mentioned that these weapons can hurt angels. Will you be able to heal this yourself?”

His expression sobered. “I won’t know until we get home. Can’t heal myself here. Too many witnesses.”

I pushed his arm a little higher before I pressed the bandages on until the wound was covered. I then taped them down as neatly as I could. “Here’s hoping for the best. Any other aches and pains, Mr. O’Brien?”

“No, Nurse Amador, I’m fine. Thanks.”

“You’re welcome.” I started to back up but he caught my shirttail, tugging me closer. He touched the side of my face. A streak of nervousness shot through me until I felt a cool tingling sensation on my skin. He was healing the bruise. It hadn’t quite shown up on my brown skin just yet so no one would notice. I tried to focus on this thought, and not how I could still smell his cologne from this close, or how nervous I felt with him shirtless and only inches away. Calm down, woman.

I cleared my throat as his fingers fell away from my cheek. “Thank you. Let’s go talk to Sterling and get the hell out of here.”

“Amen.” He stood and pulled on his jacket, zipping it up to hide his bare chest. I felt a small amount of disappointment at the sight and then promptly ignored it.

There was a nurse checking Sterling’s vitals when we walked inside. She told us to keep it brief and make sure not to agitate him before she left.

He looked to be over six feet tall, with broad shoulders and a bit of a beer gut. He had started to go bald on top, but everywhere else the hair was brown and curly. Relief spread across his face when he saw Michael.

“Hey. Talked to the cops?” he asked with a hint of a Boston accent.

Michael nodded. “Yeah, they’re gonna leave someone on this floor for the next couple days, just to be safe. Can you tell us what you saw at the break-in?”

Sterling shook his head. “You’re not gonna believe me.”

Michael offered the guy a smile. “Try me. I’ve seen some weird stuff in my time, and so has she.”

He nodded to me. I stepped forward, not wanting to be impolite. “I’m Jordan. Nice to meet you.”

Sterling raised an eyebrow. “You’re the girl who helped catch that bitch?”

“Guess you could say that.”

“Thanks. I owe ya one.”

“No problem. So what did you see?”

“Three of ‘em. Two men and a woman. Highly trained. See, it was my birthday and so a couple of the guys stuck around to keep me company since I got stuck with a graveyard shift. We were playing cards, shootin’ the shit and whatnot, when the security feed went offline. The whole system just crashed. At first, we thought it was a blackout, but then when we went to go check, the lines were cut. They took out my buddy Jim when he went to check the electricity. Brooke and I went to check on the exhibits, and that’s when we found the other two. My superiors tell us we’re supposed to hang back and try to contain the situation without engaging, but we thought we might get a raise if we caught these guys on our own. Brooke went in with his nightstick on the guy. He…”

Sterling closed his eyes and his voice wavered. “…didn’t make it. I thought I had the girl on the ropes, so I hit her with my taser. She laughed it off like it tickled or something. Threw me against the far wall and then shot me in the shoulder. They were about to finish me off when the cops showed up. When the uniforms saw me on the ground, they opened fire. None of them were close enough to see, but I was. The bullets…they hit. I saw the blood. But it didn’t stop them. They just left.”

He glanced at Michael. “Of course, the cops said it was the shock from all that pain that distorted my vision. Made me remember things wrong. Maybe that’s true. But I still ain’t gonna forget it any time soon. Print whatever the hell you want in your article. I don’t care either way. I’ve still gotta bury my friends.”

I laid a hand on his shoulder. “I’m sorry. I’ve seen someone I care about die, and it’s not easy. Make sure you get some help, okay?”

He nodded. “You guys had better beat it. I could use some sleep.”

“Alright. Thanks for your cooperation, Mr. Sterling. Stay safe.”

We waved to him and the nurse before leaving. There was an older lady doctor in the elevator when we walked in. She studied the looks on our faces before speaking.

“Long night?”

Michael and I answered in unison: “You have no idea.”

The fight with the demon left me drained, so Michael dropped me off at the apartment to rest before getting ready to track down the fence.

Unfortunately, Michael’s theory proved true. He couldn’t heal the cut with his energy, meaning it would remain until his body naturally repaired itself. Definitely a bad sign. We’d have to find those weapons and quickly if we wanted to keep the other angels safe.

I hopped in bed with a novel and read for a while. I didn’t remember falling asleep, but apparently Frankenstein had enough dark charm to send me off for a short nap. Judging by the dim streetlight peeking in through my window, I guessed it was sometime after seven o’clock. An eerie sort of twilight had fallen across my room and the young white boy standing at the foot of my bed.

“Whoa!” I shouted. “Who the hell are you?”

The boy blinked his large brown eyes at me. “Jacob.”

I tried to breathe normally and tilted my head so I could see next to my bed. The boy had no feet. Ghost. A huge sigh escaped me. I let go of the gun and slid my hand from beneath the pillow.

“Well, congratulations for scaring the crap out of me, Jacob,” I told him, pressing a hand to my chest as if it would help my heart stop racing.

Jacob gave me an apologetic look. “Oh, um, I’m sorry. I dunno why I came in here. I just sort of…did.”

“You’re a ghost, kiddo. You didn’t find me on purpose. It’s sort of like an instinct.”

His eyes widened. “I’m…dead?”

“Yes,” I said. “I’m sorry.”

He stared at the floor for a handful of seconds before lifting his head to look at me. “Why am I still here, then?”

I opened my mouth to answer, but the front door opened and Michael stepped inside. It took him about three seconds to spot the boy by my bed. He rushed over, his brow furrowed in a frown.

“Who’s the kid?”

“This is Jacob. He’s a ghost.”

He sighed, which was odd. Did he honestly think a child would hurt me?

“Have ghosts ever followed you home before?”

I shook my head. “No. They always see me on the street.”

“Right.” Michael knelt so he could be eye-level with Jacob.

“My name is Michael. I’m an archangel.”

Jacob’s face brightened with surprise. “Really?”

Michael chuckled. “I know. I don’t look like one, but I am. You need my help if you want to pass over to the next world.”

“Hey, he was my ghost kid first.”

He looked at me then, genuinely shocked. “Jordan, you don’t have to do this any more.”

“I know that. I actually want to help him. This ability isn’t going to go away, so I might as well use it.”

Michael studied my face. Then he smiled. “Alright.”

If I didn’t know any better, I’d have thought he was proud of me. Good thing I knew better. I tossed back the covers and stood up, ignoring all the parts of my body that complained, and set about searching for my notepad. “Okay, Jacob. Why don’t you tell me the last thing you can remember?”

“Well, I was outside some sort of building. It wasn’t an office or a skyscraper. It looked sort of like a hospital.”

I nodded, having found a pencil and my worn notepad, and started scribbling what I knew so far.

“Do you remember how far you walked to get here?”

The boy shook his head. “I lost track of time. Something just told me to walk away and when I finally stopped, I was here. I’m sorry.”

“It’s okay. Your memories will start to come back after a while.”

“What happens then?”

“We’ll find out what your final wish is and you’ll cross over to the other side.” Michael jumped in this time.

Jacob still appeared anxious, not that I blamed him. “What if I’m not ready to go yet?”

I glanced at Michael and he understood the look. “It’s natural for you to be worried about crossing over, but I promise it’s a better place to be. You won’t have to worry about anything ever again, and you’ll be loved for all eternity.”

Jacob’s shoulders relaxed. “Okay.”

“Follow me.” I headed towards the kitchen. My laptop lay on the table. Its blue light occasionally glowed in the dark, beckoning me to find my answers. Michael flipped the light switch on and automatically began clearing away dishes and leftover food. Strange behavior, since his own home had been a pigsty.

After everything on the computer had been set up, I went about my normal researching route. My initial information gathering always started with a document I had compiled of local hospital morgues. I could weed out some of them, considering the fact that Jacob had gotten here on foot. The kid didn’t remember how far he had walked, but I couldn’t imagine it had been more than half an hour. Even without his core memories, he would have noticed if it took an hour or more to “find” me.

The hardest part of my cases was locating pictures. Jacob was a child so he wouldn’t have any ID even if we found his body. The best course of action to take would be to call the hospitals and ask if anyone with Jacob’s description was in their morgues. Hopefully, something would turn up.

“What happens now?” Jacob asked.

I brandished my cell phone. “The fun part of my job—phone calls.”

Michael sat a mug of fresh instant coffee in front of me with a sympathetic smile. “Happy hunting.”

“Thanks.” I took a deep sip of the delicious beverage and dove in.

An hour later, I set the phone down and stretched my back with a miserable sigh. All those numbers and I still hit a dead end. At the very least I knew one thing—Jacob had not ‘woken up’ outside of a hospital. The morgues were still open, and none of them had a kid with his name or description. Most of them told me to call back the next day to double check. I’d most likely end up doing that just to be thorough, but the chances of finding anything were slim.

“Alright, so if you didn’t ‘wake up’ outside of a hospital, where the heck were you?” I muttered to myself, peering at my laptop as if an idea would spring from the screen. Jacob stood to my right, chewing his bottom lip.

“I wish I could tell you something more helpful,” the boy offered. “I’m sorry.”

“It’s alright. You have to walk up some blind alleys before you find where you’re going. I’ve got an idea—why don’t you go in my room and watch some TV? Maybe something on the local channels will jog your memory. Michael, would you turn it on for him?”

“Sure.” He followed the boy back to my bedroom. I drummed my fingertips on the tabletop, trying to figure out another angle to look at this case. The newspaper stands were closed by now, but I could still check the obituaries online. They wouldn’t be up to date just yet, but most of the names present would be recent. I connected to the local website and searched again. I found a couple of Jacobs, but they weren’t children. Well, no one ever said this job was easy.

“Hey.” I tilted my head back to find Michael smiling down at me. “Any luck?”

“Nope. Shame, though. Cute kid.”

“Yeah,” he said with a regretful smile.

I straightened up and closed the laptop, sliding in my seat so I could look at him. “Why did you seem so agitated when you came in? Is there something you’re not telling me?”

The smile disappeared, replaced with a neutral expression, and he didn’t answer. Not a good sign.

I pressed on. “Is there something you’re not supposed to tell me?”

Michael ran a hand through his hair, brows furrowing. “Not exactly. I’m just…worried. Jacob isn’t dangerous, but I don’t like that he came into your apartment instead of finding you on the street like the other ghosts. It bothers me.”

“Why? You know Gabriel blessed this apartment. If he were a threat, he wouldn’t be able to get in, remember?”

He plopped down in the chair next to mine. “I know. I guess this whole thing with Belial made me paranoid. And it doesn’t help that there’s a rumor of another major player in town.”

“Agreed,” I admitted. “But as long as I’m in here, we can relax a little.”

He smiled. I cocked my head to the side. “What?”

“I think that’s the first time you’ve said ‘we’.”

My eyes widened a bit. How the hell did he notice stuff like that? He just kept catching me off-guard.

“Lighten up, Jordan. You don’t have to be dark and tormented all the time.”

I squirmed in my seat, avoiding eye contact. “I’m not very good at being anything other than grumpy.”

He rose from his seat. “That’s what I’m here for. Maybe some of my traits will rub off on you.”

“…I’m going to ignore the sexual connotations of that sentence just so my brain won’t explode.”

“How deep in the gutter does your mind have to be to think that sounded perverted?”

“…I refuse to answer that question.”

“Just help me clean up the kitchen, will you?”

“I don’t know. Will anything ‘rub off on me’? …don’t you dare throw that dishrag at me.”

Afterwards, we went to my room to check on Jacob. To my surprise, he was floating cross-legged over the bed, turning those large eyes on us as we entered. Most young ghosts couldn’t figure out how to do that.

“Did anything come back to you?” I asked. He shook his head.

“Well, Michael and I need to go somewhere so why don’t you stick around until we come back?”

“Okay.”

I swiped my leather jacket from the closet and shut the bedroom door behind us. “Alright. Let’s go hunt us some demons.”