18.

My lips pursed as I gazed around me, feeling the very tensed silence as we each exchanged looks.

We were all currently in our living room as Luc had called us out here for an "emergency meeting".

*I wonder what the hell does he want now.*

I thought as my gaze trailed back to him, casually noticing how he didn't sport a single tiny bruise over that celestial face of his, even though he went through one hell of a fight with Raz yesterday. Not like the latter looks any worse than him anyway.

I refused to glance again at "the latter's" annoying face, even though my weak-ass mind so wanted to and chose to focus all my attention on Luc instead, raising one brow as I crossed my arms over my chest.

"Well? Are you going to tell us why we're here or did you call us here to just sit and stare at each other like idiots?"

He cleared his throat, clasping his hands behind his back as he started pacing around the room.

"I've taken the liberty of aquiring us a temporary place to stay and work on our little issue, at least until we could fix the damage we've caused to your home," He momentarily paused, glancing between Ricky and I.

Oh they did damage it alright. Our backyard was a complete mess now, and my fucking balcony was still destroyed, not to mention that they did crack a few walls too.

"It's in San Diego, so we can be close to those little shits,"

"So, for those who need to, I suggest you go and pack right away, because we've got no time to waste," He stopped to look at Ricky, Leila and I since we were obviously the only ones without wings or the ability to freaking teleport our asses to wherever the hell we needed to.

"What? Why? We're moving...today?" Leila suddenly butted in from her seat on the couch, giving Luc a confused stare.

"Yes, why? Is that a problem? Do you wish to remain here? I thought you have already solved your family issues. Didn't you tell them that you are living with Blake in a sorority house or something like that?" He dismissively waved a hand as he gazed at her, noticing her fastly deflating reaction.

"Or are you...Oh. You are afraid. It's okay, you are not forced after all to-"

"No!" She abruptly interrupted him,

"I want to come! I'll come with you guys! I'm not letting you guys go and face those monsters all by yourselves," She promised with a kind smile as she looked between Ricky and I for a moment, hearing Luc immediately try to say,

"But they're not-"

"Oh, you know what I mean!" She rather rudely bit back at him, making him raise his palms in mock surrender.

"Very well. We will all meet outside within an hour,"

Wait what?

"An hour?!? But I'll only manage to finish packing my freaking panties in an hour!" I loudly complained, earning a few chuckles from Ricky and Leila.



**



All packed and finally ready, after three hours instead of just one like Luc had initially said, I trudged my way to the front door, dragging the largest suitcase I could find.

I was so not in the mood for this.

Pushing the door open, I shoved the heavy suitcase in front of me with a kick, noticing they were all ready and waiting for me from a while ago, judging by the irritated looks I was now receiving.

"Finally! What the hell did you pack? Half of the house?"

I stuck my tongue out at Ricky,

"Fuck off. You know I suck at this,"

"At what? Packing a bunch of stupid clothes?" Raph butted in with a laugh, making me throw him a glare.

"Okay, let's stop with this nonsense. Now that we're all here, shall we?" Lucifer quickly cut in before we could argue even further, giving Ricky an expectant look.

I then watched my brother avert his attention towards me, looking into my eyes for a moment before lastly saying,

"We'll take the cars."

*Heck yes!*

I immediately blew out a breath of relief, quick to scramble my way straight to Ricky's Escalade as if I were afraid he would change his mind and make me endure another flight in Azrael's arms.

Having him cuddle me every time we did that power exchange was already enough as it was. I didn't need another way to torture myself.

And San Diego wasn't even that far actually. Two hours tops.

So I grabbed the handle of my suitcase once again and struggled to get it up from the ground with no sucess whatsoever until my brother suddenly appeared right next to me, lifting it up like it weighted nothing and threw it into the trunk, giving me a large grin right after.

*Ha ha.*

"Well if it isn't Superman's little fucked-up brother," I retorted with a straight face, hearing Leila let out a giggle from somewhere close, right before noticing her getting in the front passenger seat.

"Come on you grumpy pants. Let's get going," He lastly said before moving to open up the backseat door for me, giving me another smile and a peck on the forehead before I climbed in.



**



"You're kidding, right?" I said out loud after looking around the loft, noticing it only had three bedrooms and only one but large bathroom.

"Well excuse me, but there were no fancy big-ass mansions available so soon and so close to our six little problems," Lucifer quickly bit back, crossing his arms over his suit-clad chest as he watched me walk around the living room area, absently gazing at the expensive-looking and futuristic furniture decorating the spacious room.

"What would you have me do? Charm and throw out some people just so that you could be comfortable enough?"

I scoffed as I turned to look at him.

"You did notice that we only have one bathroom, right?" I rose one brow.

"So? What about it?" He furrowed his with evident confusion, making me want to just slap myself in the face.

"There's six of us!"

"Well, in case you did not know, we," He paused to gesture between him, Raph and Raz,

"...do not sweat or get "stinky", hence we do not need to shower, unless we get covered in blood or some other sticky substances like that, we do not actually need to eat or drink hence we have no use for the toilet and we do not need to rest too often so..."

"Yes! Thank you! Thank you so much for making us feel more disgusting than some freaking crawling slugs and in such a descriptive way!" I clapped my hands in fake enthusiasm, giving him my best sarcastic grin.

"Good thing that your holy baby-makers are working though," I lowly retorted yet loud enough for them to hear me, also hearing Leila gasp from her seat on the couch, followed by a stifled laugh.

"Mother of hell! Can we please stop ranting about our celestial bodily functions-"

"...or lack thereof..." I interjected with a raise of my index finger.

"...and work on the task at hand instead?" He finished with an exasperated look on his face while I just stood there, keeping a straight face.

"Right," I narrowed my gaze, folding my arms over my chest.

"So how are we gonna work this out?"

I looked around, noticing Leila giving me sympatethic look as she sat close to Rick, blushing a little bit as he gave her a kiss over the side of her head.

"Right. So you're not gonna be my roomie because you want to get freaky with Ricky," I commented, setting my lips into a straight line as she gave out another small gasp, blushing a little bit more.

"Okay,"

"Well then I guess could share with Raph, if you're-"

"No."

I abruptly stopped mid-sentence, blinking a few times before my attention averted to Azrael, surprised as fuck as I stared at him in utter disbelief.

Okay...What the hell?!?

He intently pinned me with that brooding gaze of his, giving me a look that said, "I know what you did with him too". Well maybe not exactly that but I'm guessing he must've felt that kiss too, even though he didn't barge in and beat the shit out of him like he did with Luc.

Crap.

"Ugh. Whatever," I rolled my eyes in annoyance then picked a random room and went inside, hiding myself in it since I couldn't stand another moment in his presence. He was just so confusing already.

I mean what was his angle? What was he trying to prove?

He'd been ignoring me for so long and now he was suddenly caring out of the blue, acting like he owned me and shit?

Oh hell to the no!

I angrily glared at the door, raising two middle fingers up as if he could see me then turned around and jumped on the neatly made king-sized bed, nesting myself between the large and fluffy pillows.

I just sat there in silence with my arms crossed over my chest as I rested my back against the headboard, absently gazing around the generous-sized room and its stylish pieces of furniture, its ridiculously perfect tidiness already starting to make me feel depressive.

I was so missing my room already.

I blew out a sigh, hearing the door open and as soon as my gaze darted back to it my mood plummeted to the floor as I noticed him walking inside with determined strides.

Oh fuck me until the next apocalypse!

You've got to be kidding me!

I warily watched his every move, noticing him plopping his annoyingly perfect butt into a cushioned comfy chair before retrieving a small dagger from his cargo pants' pocket, proceeding to absently toy with it as he distantly gazed somewhere to the ceiling.

Well fuck you too.

Blowing out a huff, I quickly jumped out of the bed and went outside, slamming the door behind me with a loud bang.

Can't believe I'm gonna have to share a room with him!

Fuck my life.

"Thanks a lot dude," I scowled as I glowered at Lucifer who was just casually sitting on the couch in the living room area, earning myself a curious stare before I simply walked away without another word and checked which one was Ricky and Leila's room.

And once I've gotten to their door I gently knocked a few times, quickly hearing a feminine voice shouting out a "yes" in response.

"Can I come in? Are you guys decent?"

"Yeah come on in!"

Her lips broke into a rather amused smile as she watched me enter, no doubt noticing the sour look on my face.

I blew out a tired sigh, looking her in the eye as I took a seat over the bed.

"Don't even make me say it,"

"I wasn't gonna," She quickly replied with a mock defensive raise of her hands, lightly shaking her head with another smile before she resumed back to taking stuff out of her suitcase while Ricky sat in a comfy chair nearby, buttoning away on his laptop.

“I fucking hate his face. I hate him so much,” I angrily mumbled as I watched her fold her clothes and stack them up over the bed.

Yet for some reason, as soon as she heard me say it her expression momentarily changed, pausing to give me a weird look from the corner of her eye.

“Okay...”

But before I could even ask what was that all about she suddenly stopped to stare at one of her t-shirts, letting out a sigh.

"I kinda miss school you know?"

“Oh me too hun. Me too,” I admitted with a humorless smile.

Ever since this whole shitty archangel drama started we had both taken a break from school, even though her mom still thought that she had graduated college and started uni with me.

"But you know we can't. We can't risk your safety, or the other innocent humans'," I reminded her with a sympathetic look.

I couldn't help but notice that saddened look in her eyes as she lowered her gaze to the t-shirt in her hands, making me feel even more shitty as now I also felt a little guilty for ruining her life like this.

It wasn’t her fault that she befriended me and fell in love with Rick. She didn’t even know who we were. Or what we were going to be.

"But hey, at least we are living like students!" I tried to cheer her up, earning myself a smile and a nod.

"Even though I hate my roomie," I added with a sour face, making her let out a laugh.