Free The Angel Side by Heaven Liegh Eldeen Page B

head from my lap to hers.
    “I don’t know. Heal him, Amy. You got to heal him.” I sobbed.
    “ Shh .” Amy held her ear to my dad’s chest, when out of the blue René stepped over us , barking orders .
    “ We need to get him out of here. Etta, go get the wheelbarrow and tarp from the shed . Amy, go back to the party. Tell everyone I had a fellow addict in need , and Etta has to drive me to meet them as a sobriety precaution. We’ll meet you at our house when it’s over.”
    Dumbfounded , Amy and I sat there staring at each other, mouths agape.
    “Hop to.” René demanded, snapping her fingers.
    I clumsily took off for the shed. I ran back to the bottom of the porch with the wheelbarrow and tarp as instructed. I watched amazed as René deadlifted my dad and threw him over her shoulder as if she were a seasoned m arine on the battlefield.
    “Don’t just stand there gawking, move the tarp.” René grunted as she made her way down the stairs.
    Leaning over the wheelbarrow, René dropped my dad inside, tossing the tarp over him. Clenching the handles, René took off in a sprint towards home. I found it surprising ly difficult to keep up with her in her beige stilettos, though I had been wearing a pair of hand-me-down combat boots.
    “Get the door. Hurry.” with a surge of strength, René pulled the wheelbarrow up the stairs of our house effortlessly.
    S linging the door open, I walked ahead making sure the floor to the living room had been clear of any obstructions. René positioned the wheelbarrow next to couch, tilting it until my dad finally rolled onto the dull pink floral cushions.
    “Get some warm water and some rags out of the kitchen.” René commanded, removing her bright yellow blazer.
    As I came back into the living room with every rag I had been able to find and a pitcher of hot water from the faucet , the realization that René must have known about my dad dawned on me.
    The my stery had been how? After my dad became a High Knight Templar two years ago, he planned every exit and arrival to a T. Any celestial being that might possibly stop by our home in Quantico had been given instruction to go straight to the attic as quietly as possible. When Ra and Gabriel came into the picture, we always took every precaution needed to ensure René never found out about the strange coming s and goings in the house. I had even gone as far as drugging her right before our house had been sacked by Vetis three months ago. Had we missed something ? Did we accidently let the truth slip out during conversation? Or had she overheard us? How long has she known? If we had, René never let on she knew.
    “How did you find out?” I ask ed as René ripped the towels from my hands. Dipping a rag in the warm water, René shot me a contemplative glance.
    “Since it all started , really. But I thought with vodka and your pills, it would go away , and it did for a while. Then we moved here , and it all came crashing back.” René sighed as she wiped blood from my dad’s forehead.
    “You know Alastor and Ra weren’t the only Demons here. Your mother was nice enough to keep bugging me to sober up and take care of you as I had promised. I would try to ignore her with another bottle , but she always found a way to get my attention. She’d move your picture around, write ‘ René tta’ with a slash between Ren and Etta on the bathroom mirror with my favorite lipstick, reminding me that she named you after me. But I would just drink more . Every time I looked at you, it was as if I were looking at your mom and seeing her write her little reminders of what a failure I was . You have to understand I never meant to hurt you , but I wanted it to stop , and you seemed to be the source of it all. I assumed if I could get rid of you, you’d take it with you. ” René wrung out the rag in the pitcher as she released a heavy sigh.
    I had known in North Carolina Alastor had messed with René and fueled her alcoholis m , but I never