03 Before The Devil Knows You're Dead-Speak Of The Devil by Patricia Eimer Read Free Book Online Page A

eyes wide as she threw her hand up to point at the windshield.
    “What?” I jerked my head around to look at the road, spotting the red light I was in the process of running and stomped hard on the brakes.
    The tires squealed, car horns from other drivers blared, and then there was the sickening crunch of Tolliver’s brand-new SUV making contact milliseconds before whatever I’d hit crumpled in the middle of the street.

Chapter Five
    “Oh shit, I hit something.” I threw the car in park and scrambled to grab the door handle.
    “Faith,” Mom said as I managed to remember how to get the door open. I moved to get out of the car and the seatbelt pulled me back. I was going to have to take that off.
    “What?” I managed to unlock the seat belt with trembling fingers and wiggled free.
    “You can’t go out there. What if it’s a ploy by someone to carjack you? To kidnap you, rape you, and then murder you, all in an attempt to steal your brother’s car?”
    “Mom.” I stepped out of the car and didn’t bother to look at her. The car wasn’t cool enough for someone to go to those extremes. Besides, I had just hit something. Someone. With an SUV that was meant to withstand a missile strike. If I was lucky, then I was going to have to figure out a way to do a major healing—not to mention having Malachi make them forget the whole thing. That was if I hadn’t killed someone. Oh shit. I could have killed someone.
    “At least take Malachi with you,” she wailed, her hands up to her trembling pink lips and her eyes surrounded by raccoon-like circles from her ruined mascara.
    Meanwhile, Malachi stepped out of the passenger side, all business, and met me at the front of the SUV. How could he be so cool about something like this?
    I had just had a major accident. We’d hit something. I came around the side of the car and stared. Oh shit—not something. It was definitely someone. There was a guy lying in the middle of the crosswalk groaning, and from the angle of his leg there were definitely a few injuries. But at least he was still alive.
    I pulled my phone from my pocket to dial 911 and felt Malachi’s hand on my arm. “We have to get an ambulance for him.”
    “Don’t,” Mal said, his voice sharp, and the air around me dropped in temperature by at least twenty degrees. I looked up and saw a reality bubble moving outward to engulf us.
    Cars immediately passed into the other lane and swerved to avoid us, not realizing why they were doing it. To them we could look like anything—a monstrous pothole, a double-parked delivery van, an overturned chocolate milk tanker. “911 is a bad idea.”
    “He’s—” I stopped.
    The guy in front of me started to glow and my stomach plummeted into my shoes. Sunshine with a hint of myrrh. Crap, crap, and double crap. I hadn’t hit any old pedestrian—I’d managed to nail a member of the Heavenly Host.
    “Malachi, you demonic douche bag, is that you?” the man in front of me asked. The angel was surrounded by a golden light that flickered and sparked in random bursts and he was gasping for breath. This was so not good.
    I knelt beside him and tried to think. Stay calm and assess the situation. I was a nurse. I was a professional. I dealt with emergency situations all the time. I was not going to lose my head. I had just hit a member of the Heavenly Host. Downsides? There was no way to keep my dad out of this. Upsides? I was pretty sure you couldn’t actually kill an angel.
    “Valentin, you old soul sucker. You here for a pick up?” Malachi crouched next to the angel and I started to prod at his leg, trying to figure out just how badly it was broken. The dread demon ignored me but the angel flung his hand out and grabbed my wrist, tugging me back up toward his chest.
    “Just finished one with old Mikey boy, spot check for his performance evaluation. I lobbed him a softball,” the angel coughed.
    “Rough case?” Malachi asked.
    “Nah.” The other angel tried to sit