3 Straight by the Rules (33 page)

At this, I couldn’t bear to let him go.  Not yet.  “Stay a little longer,” I said.  “Please.”  I started walking backwards, drawing him with me towards my bedroom.

He came willingly at first, but halfway down the hall, he hesitated.  “This will only make things harder.”

“Nothing could make things harder than they already are,” I said.  I kissed him again, entwining my fingers in his hair.  “Give me this before you go.  Please.”

With a sigh that could have either been pleasure or despair, he picked me up and carried me into the bedroom.

After William left, I buried my face in the pillow and cried.  Every time I thought I’d let go of my last tear, there were thousands more ready to be released.

An otherworld shimmer caught my attention, and I jerked my head up.  “William?”

“Sorry, no,” Patrick said.  He sat on the edge of my bed.

I laid my head back down and immediately commenced crying.  “I don’t want to go on,” I said.  “I
can’t
go on!  Not without him.”

Patrick touched my shoulder.  “Get a hold of yourself.”

“I can’t!”

“Yes, you can!”  His voice held a familiar, steely tone.  “Is this the Lilith Straight who beat Helen?  The one who can step into Heaven without dying?  The one whom both Heaven and Hell are talking about?”

“I don’t care!”

“Well, you should.  Now quit feeling sorry for yourself, and sit up!”

Reluctantly, I did.  I had to admit it was good to see Patrick again.  I hugged him, tightly, but he pulled away and brushed his lapel.  “Don’t wrinkle my Dior.”

I smiled through my tears.  Some things never changed.

“I have three things for you,” he said.  “First, there’s this.”  He picked up a massive tome that had been lying on the floor.  When he set it on the bed, the mattress springs creaked.

“What is it?”

“A copy of your contract.  I thought you might put it to good use.”

I touched the dusty cover.  “Unless I can lug it to the top of a very tall building and drop it on Helen’s head, I don’t think it will do me any good.”

Patrick sighed and rubbed the bridge of his nose.  “Isn’t your father a
lawyer
?”

“Yes, but…”

“Perhaps he can find more loopholes in your contract.  The thing may not be as ironclad as Helen thinks.”

My dad wasn’t a contract lawyer, but his best friend was.  “Thank you,” I said.

Patrick nodded.  I’d missed his fussy, little smile, and it made me smile, too.  “What else do you have?” I asked.

He handed me the familiar leather-bound journal that Helen had stolen from me.  My mother’s diary.  “Thank you!”  I hugged it to my chest.  “How did you get it?”

“When I quit my job as Helen’s assistant, I kept my keys.  Delilah let me know when Helen was away from her office, and I took it back.  I doubt Helen will even notice that it’s gone.”  His expression darkened.  “Be warned, though.  When you read it, you’ll discover some dark things about your mother.  Things you might wish you didn’t know.”

He was probably right.  Still, at least I had it back.  “And the third thing?”

Patrick sat up straighter and adjusted his tie.  Color crept into his cheeks as he handed me a handsome, leather binder.  “My resume, cover letter, and letters of recommendation.”

I glanced at the binder, confused.  “For what?”

“I’m applying for the job as your personal assistant.”

“I didn’t realize I was hiring.”  I flipped through the binder.  Having a personal assistant did have its appeal.  “Of course, you’re hired.”

He still looked disconcerted.  “Before you agree, I must confess a few things.”

Oh, great.  The last time he’d confessed, I found out he’d tried to kill me.  “What did you do
this
time?”

He stood and began pacing.  “I went to Purgatory in order to find your father, and I did.”

My heart clenched.  “Who is he?”

Patrick smiled.  “Carrie chose wisely.  He’s a saint.”

“A saint?  Like in a good man?  Or like a real saint?”

“A real saint.  Although, he’s still living, and he still doesn’t know he’s a saint.  But once he dies, he will.”

Ha!  Take that Harmony, I thought.  You’re not the only one with a saint for a father.  “So what’s the catch?”

He shifted uncomfortably.  “Do you remember the burst of red you saw when you put the transparency of my life on top of your blueprint?”

I nodded.  Patrick’s life and mine had intersected at three crucial points, but he had only explained two of the events.  I never found out what our first connection was.  “Go on,” I said.

“I was at the hospital on the morning you were born.”  He tugged at the collar of his shirt.  “Your mother delivered two babies that day.”

I stared at him, stunned.  I had a twin?

“Helen demanded only one of you.  She wanted the other one killed.”  He held up his hands to fend off my outrage.  “I kept one of you, and brought the other directly to Heaven.  Your sister never really died, but she never lived on Earth, either.”

My mind reeled.  I had a sister.  She lived in Heaven.  Did that make her an angel?  Then I realized of course it did.  In fact, not just an angel, but a guardian angel.  “It’s Harmony, isn’t it?”

He nodded.

My mind whirled as I tried to make sense of it all.  “What made you choose her and not me?”

He smiled.  “When I saw the two of you in the hospital nursery, one was red-faced and squalling.  The other was quiet and alert.”

I lowered my head.  “You punished me for crying in my crib?”

“No!  I took the crying baby to Heaven.  She already appeared overwhelmed by the world, and I didn’t think she could endure being the succubus.  I left you because you seemed so calm and assured.  I felt you could handle whatever Helen threw at you.”  He touched my shoulder.  “I think I was right.”

Harmony got Heaven, and I got Hell.  “So you punished me for being good.”

“Don’t think of it that way,” he said.  “Harmony has lived a very sheltered life.  She’s never fallen in love or had a child.  She’s never lived among humans.  She’s jealous of you.”

Jealous?  No wonder she’d been trying so hard to impress me.

“Now, about my job application,” he said.  “Will you still hire me?”

I now realized it would take an army to defeat Helen.  I’d won the last battle, but if I wanted to win the war, I would need plenty of people on my side.  I couldn’t do it alone.  “Patrick Clerk, I would love to hire you as my personal assistant.”

I’d never seen Patrick grin until then.  “Excellent!”  He rubbed his hands together.  “I have a feeling Helen is going to be unpleasantly surprised at the turn of events.”

It was the exact same feeling I’d been having.

The next morning, I woke up to the smell of pancakes.  Walking into the kitchen, I found Jasmine dressed in an overly large t-shirt, humming as she stood over a griddle.

I hunted around for the coffee bean grinder and the sack of beans, wondering why the hell I didn’t buy pre-ground coffee like a normal person.  It would have made my life so much easier.  I should really get to the store and buy…

I looked at my sister.  “You’re humming.”

Jas’s smile increased, as did her humming.

“Oh.  My.  God!  You’re
humming
!”  After Patrick had left the previous night, I heard Tommy and Jasmine come into the flat.  In order to give them some privacy, I’d put in my earbuds and went to sleep with my iPod playing.  “What happened?  Did Tommy spend the night?  Did you two…?”

Before I could pester her with more questions, Tommy walked into the kitchen wearing nothing but a pair of sweatpants and a smile.  The Lilith tattoo on his chest had been scribbled over in henna.  A sloppily-written henna tattoo above it read: Jasmine.

He hugged my stepsister around the waist and nuzzled her neck.  “I was going to make
you
breakfast,” he said.

Smiling, she turned to face him.  “You’ll need to get up earlier next time.”

“You’re so sweet,” he said and kissed her.

“No,
you’re
so sweet,” she said and kissed him back.

“You’re going to burn your pancakes,” I said.

They ignored me.  They were so adorable together that it was tempting to hate them.  But, of course, I couldn’t.

Wanting to make good on my promise of a spa day, I went to find Delilah.  She sat at her desk looking at a framed photograph of two smiling women.

I looked over her shoulder.  “Who’s in the picture?”

She wiped her damp eyes.  “My mother and my auntie.”

I could see a family resemblance.  Both women were dressed as if for church, and both wore hats.  “You must miss them very much.”

“I’ve been missing them for years,” Delilah said.  “My mother passed when I was twenty, and a year later, God took my aunt.”

“They’re dead?” I asked, surprised.

She nodded.  “I used to comfort myself by thinking I’d see them again someday.  But now, I never will.  They’re both in Heaven, and I’m stuck here.”  She shook her head sadly.  “When I passed, I felt so guilty about what I’d done on Earth, that I didn’t let myself go into Heaven.  I sure wish I’d done things differently.”

“I’m really sorry, Delilah, but don’t worry.  I’m going to find you a way into Heaven.”  I patted her arm.  “I have connections.”

Her eyes widened.  “Really?”

“Really.”

As I left Delilah’s office, I envisioned all of those fragile, little souls in the graveyard behind Doris’s house.  If they could make it into Heaven, then so could Delilah.

I would have kept walking, but my succubus stopped me.  I frowned as I looked at the door before me.  “We’re not home yet, are we?”

She insisted we were.

“But…”  My eyes widened.  The door was nearly identical to other ones in Hell, but hanging on it was a sign reading Authorized Personnel Only.  Mounted above it was a red light bulb in a metal cage.  “What the hell?” I asked.

Trembling, I opened the ominous door.  Instead of the dark stairway reaching into Hell’s bowels or even the hill in back of Doris’s house, I looked into my own living room.

If William was right, Helen used those signs to keep people from the hazardous parts of Hell.  The hazardous parts that could hurt
her
, that was.  I smiled.

So Helen found me dangerous.  Well, good for me.

THE END