by Lisa Hughey
Shasa lowered her hands into the water until she was mostly submersed. It wasn’t just the caress of the liquid against her skin but the gentle sway of her body to the rhythm of the ripples that caused something to break free within her.
“How are you doing?” His voice rumbled through her.
She knew he could sense the wonder and the awe that filled her. If she could just hold on to that feeling, everything would be better. And he had given this to her.
Shasa threw her arms around his neck and pressed her lips to his.
Zach broke away roughly. Disappointment crashed through her but she managed to stop from crying out. Before she could fill the awkward silence, he said, “I am summoned.”
“Summoned?”
“The Council is calling me.” Zach helped her to her feet and she marveled that she was standing in water, her ankles and calves submersed.
“I’d have preferred to keep you out of their sight, but I should have known that bringing a human into this realm would be remarked upon.” He cursed softly. “They want you too.”
Fifteen
Shasa walked toward some sort of conference room with Zach trying not to stare at the spacious regal hallways with gorgeous marble walls and granite floors, soaring ceilings and Corinthian columns decorated with gold leaf on the acanthus leaves and flowers. Giant mahogany doors, carved in relief with the figures raised from the wood, depicted angels with wings and various weapons. Shasa picked out Zach’s likeness right away. An angel rose from a cresting wave, hands stretched toward the sky and his wings spread.
“How come I’ve never seen your wings?”
“They are mainly for show because humans expect angels to have wings,” Zach replied.
Oh.
They walked into the large conference room dominated by a huge oval mahogany table. Overly large chairs upholstered in varying colors of velvet interspersed with smaller but equally ornate chairs and crowded around the table. The room was already full.
All conversation stopped as they walked in.
The room was packed with very large beings. Mostly men, broad-shouldered, thick chests, bulging biceps, sculpted features some almost beautiful yet still masculine…and every single one of them had their mouth hanging open.
“Why is the Realm suddenly lousy with humans?” A large bald man stood at one end of the table, his eyebrows formed a sharp frown and his mouth was downturned. He huffed and shook his head as if Shasa were some species of undesirable bug in his Universe.
As one the inhabitants put their fists to their foreheads and bowed. But they continued to wear similar expressions of shock.
“Well looky here, the Rebel Alliance is fraternizing with the Evil Empire.” One of the shorter blond angels quipped.
Michael shot the jokester a grateful look as the astounded stares turned to chuckles. “This is Shasa Jefferson. She is responsible for helping us locate Uri.”
“Yeah, that’s all good and everything but let’s move on to the more unusual point. She’s with Zach.” A gorgeous black man, with a streamlined body, sleek muscles, and eyes a most surprising shade of blue, smirked.
“Shut up, Sam,” Zach growled.
Shasa could feel the menace rolling off Zach in waves. Without thinking she placed her palm over his forearm as if to hold him back.
He shifted his attention to her and the hard lines of his face softened.
“Holy shit. It’s a miracle.” Another large being was laughing. “Someone take a picture. Quick!”
Zach’s muscles tightened beneath his fingers. “You too, Gabe.” She wasn’t sure why Zach’s response was such a surprise, but based on their reactions it seemed that Zach wasn’t just grumpy with her.
Michael deflected the attention back to him before any more Archangels could respond. “Let’s get to the problems at hand.”
Everyone took their seats. Shasa stayed near to Zach.
“First up, Uri.”
An ethereal blonde woman in the corner spoke softly, “How is he?” She wore a long white sheath. She was elegantly beautiful but with an air of sadness that seemed to weigh heavily upon her.
Zach shook his head. “Not good, Nora.”
“He doesn’t remember anything.” A dark Archangel, with arresting features and an air of calm, sat in a blue chair and drummed his long fingers on the dark wood. “I’ve examined him. He’s lost weight and seems very subdued. Not…Uri-like at all.”
Nora had her hands clasped in front of her and her fingers were white with tension. “So he…doesn’t remember anything?”
“Nothing. He thinks he’s human. And yet, there’s nothing wrong with him,” Michael replied, then nodded toward the dark angel. “Rafe tried to heal him but it’s his mind that’s broken, not his corporeal form.”
Shasa shuddered at the thought of losing her memories. Losing her sense of self. Of course, the mind was a twisted and sometimes terrible place. After all, she was terrified of water but had happy dreams about the ocean.
“You understand this is a huge problem,” Zach spoke quietly and everyone listened. He sat in a chair with purple velvet upholstery. Shasa was amazed at his instinctive authority.
All the angels nodded somberly.
“Where is he now?” the blonde woman asked.
“We had to leave him on Earth,” Michael answered. “Rafe and I agreed that coming to the Realm when he believes himself to be human was a bad idea.”
“Not to be Debbie Downer or anything but is someone watching him?” Sam, the striking dark-skinned, blue-eyed angel asked. “We can’t afford for the Grigori to make him disappear again.”
“We have one of his undersecretaries with him at the moment.” Michael said somberly, “We warded the house too.”
Everyone was silent, absorbing the significance. Because warding the house was great but if he left the dwelling then he wasn’t necessarily safe.
“Any idea where he was?” Gabe squinted at the ceiling as if searching for the answers in the mural painted on the ceiling. Shasa could practically see his brain moving a million miles a second searching for connections.
“We believe he was imprisoned beneath a ley line vortex,” Zach explained. “We still don’t know how, and we have no idea how he actually escaped. We think we rescued him.”
“Is it possible they let him escape?” Gabe asked.
“We considered the possibility that the Grigori have somehow wiped his brain and sent him as a spy,” Michael said. “That’s the other reason we left him on Earth.”
A proud look floated over Gabe’s face and he patted his large hand over his heart. “I taught you well.” He wiped a pretend tear from his eye.
Zach rolled his eyes. “Forget the conspiracy theories, Gabriel. He doesn’t remember and he’s not a spy.”
Another round of drop jaws greeted Zach’s proclamation.
“Thank the Cosmos you found him.” That was Nora again. Shasa thought there was something more than worry for an Archangel beneath the surface of her relief. But she could be wrong. “I have a request, but I’d like to get the Archangels approval.”
Shasa wasn’t sure what was going on, but the mood in the room had clearly shifted. Surprise and pain hung over the inhabitants. No one was looking at Nora. Except Zach. He kept his gaze steady on the clearly distraught angel.
Gabe had tilted his head and was studying Shasa.
She should have been intimidated by this group of otherworldly beings but she wasn’t.
Michael nodded his head. “Proceed.”
“I would like to request permission to descend to Earth to guard Uriel until he regains his memory.”
Shasa watched Nora clench her fists then deliberately loosen her hands until they hung at her sides. “His unique skills require that he be protected at all times while he is incapacitated.”
“We cannot let him fall back into the Grigori’s hands.” The bald man deliberately moved his fierce gaze from Archangel to Archangel. “We need him to get his mem
ory back. Uri is the only one….”
The only one what? she wondered.
Everyone nodded gravely, the mood like a particularly difficult funeral. Michael glanced around the room. “All in favor?”
“Aye.” The entire room concurred at once.
Nora’s tight shoulders dropped as they approved her request without any argument.
“Speaking of the Grigori.” Michael shifted the conversation again. “Zach, what do you think?”
“They’re there. The energy of the vortex masks their angel energy but I do believe we are close to finding them.”
“Jed, are you any further in translating The Book of Angelus?”
“Luci and I are working on it.” The slighter blond Archangel who had referenced Star Wars had a goofy smile on his face.
“That human is still here?” Victor sniffed and narrowed his gaze at Jed.
Zach bulked his shoulders as if getting ready to attack. “Yeah, Vic, she’s still here.”
Jed seemed really happy about it.
“What is the Realm coming to when even the grump champions a human?” Victor was clearly talking about Zach.
Zach had stiffened beside Shasa. Was there some tie between Zach and Luci? An unexpected jealousy rose within her.
“Let’s concentrate on our enemies,” Michael said evenly.
Jed continued, a faraway look in his unfocused gaze, “The language is very vague. For now we’d be wise to concentrate on the tsunami worry.”
“So you have no idea?” Victor said snidely.
“All I can tell you right now is they seem to be mirroring the plagues of Egypt.” Jed thumbed through some papers. “But the most immediate danger is to western North America.”
Michael dipped his chin at Zach. “We need you and your Dowser on the ground.” There was a wealth of unspoken messages in the look he directed at them. What did that mean?
“Shasa needs to return to Earth,” Zach concurred.
“With you,” Michael demanded.
Zach pressed his mouth together. “Fine.”
She tried not to let Zach’s reluctance hurt her but she couldn’t deny the ache that spread through her chest.
“Everyone be on the lookout for any sign of the Grigori or Remiel,” Victor said.
“What of the Nephilim?” Gabe asked. “They are also involved in this plot to harm humans. We should be looking for them, for their leaders. They are more likely to crack than any Fallen we capture anyway.”
Torture. He was talking about torture. Shasa swallowed and a sick feeling settled low in her belly.
Jed had stiffened. Victor smirked.
Everyone in the conference room fell silent. Zach’s gaze slid to Jed, the librarian.
There were undercurrents here that Shasa couldn’t begin to fathom. Zach looked reluctant but resolved as if he didn’t have any choice. “The Nephilim are not all bad,” he finally said.
For the third time in the meeting the entire room had gone completely silent.
“Wait, what?” Gabe leaned back in his chair, his face gobsmacked. “Are you defending the human abominations?”
“They’re not abominations.” Jed jumped to his feet, his fists clenched as if he was one word away from lunging at Gabe.
“Has the world gone mad?” Victor cried.
Gabe slouched in his seat, his head ping-ponging back and forth between Jed and Zach. A look of supreme amusement quirked his mouth and brightened his eyes.
Zach said evenly, “I’m just saying that perhaps more investigation is needed before we assume that all hybrids are evil.”
Shasa jerked at his side.
“Apparently, Zach has had a brain transplant, Vic.” Gabriel smirked again. But there was a calculating speculation in his words.
“This is a discussion for a later time.” Michael shut down the conversation abruptly. “Everyone needs to continue with their existing assignments. We must stop the Grigori’s next attack.”
“I will take my leave for Earth,” Nora said softly.
“Dismissed.” Michael flicked a hand at the assembled group. “Zach, stay here. I need a word. I’ll be right back.”
The rest of the Archangels disappeared between one breath and the next. All except for Sam who stood between Shasa and Zach.
“Sam.” Zach acknowledged the Archangel.
The Archangel Samael studied Shasa with piercing eyes. “What?” she finally asked.
“She is the one?”
Zach didn’t say a word, his face stony.
Zach continued to stay silent, but Sam pressed Zach. “When did you first meet?”
When Zach refused to answer, Shasa finally said, “A few hours ago.” Of course, she had no idea how long she’d been unconscious. “Yesterday?”
“No. Not this time.” Sam took note of the tension in her body, and then asked Zach again, “When?”
“Jamaica, 1692.”
“So you haven’t….” he trailed off, not in embarrassment but in contemplation.
Zach shook his head brusquely.
“Dude, no wonder you’ve been so grumpy.”
Shasa was completely lost.
Until Zach flushed and rolled his eyes. “I’m still grumpy. Don’t push it.” But there seemed to be no real animosity behind his threat.
“Uh, yeah. Sadly you need to stay grumpy.”
Shasa was beginning to understand the conversation going on in front of her. And if she were correct, that meant Zach was the Zach. She remembered he’d sidestepped the question when she’d asked if he was reincarnated. But that meant…“How long do Archangels live?”
“Never mind,” Zach said gruffly.
Then she considered Sam’s words. He needed to stay grumpy. So was Zach saying he hadn’t had sex in over three hundred years?
“Talk about blue balls.” Sam grinned. But it wasn’t funny.
Based on his interest in Zach’s love life, she finally figured out what his area of interest was.
“You’re Cupid,” Shasa blurted out, then wanted to disappeared into the ether with embarrassment.
At that Zach started laughing. The sound burst from his throat in a rough bark. “A dirty-minded, foul-mouthed Cupid maybe.” As if he couldn’t contain himself, his laugh grew until he was bent over, his hands on his knees as he convulsed with amusement.
The sight was everything Shasa imagined when she’d set the goal to make him laugh more.
Sam stared at Zach, watching him as he wheezed with unbridled glee.
Then Samael, the Archangel of Love, turned to her, an odd expression in his unusual blue eyes, and said, “And you’re a miracle worker.”
He headed for the large doors shaking his head. “Fuck me. Never thought I’d see this day.”
Sixteen
Zach was still bent over, his stomach cramping with laughter. The look on Sam’s face had been priceless. He was about to give the foul-mouthed Archangel a new nickname.
He had one palm flat against the massive conference table, the other pressed to his knee as he continued to gasp with mirth.
Moisture leaked from his eyes. When he finally stopped laughing, he used the hand on the table to push to standing. His stomach ached, his ribs ached, and his face was stiff and tight. He rubbed away the tears of laughter with the heel of his left hand. Then shook his head to shake out the endorphins that had flooded him.
“Thank you for that.”
Shasa was wide-eyed with wonder and her expression struck him with the might of a bolt of lightning. That innocence, that sheer sweetness should never be put in danger. He clapped his other hand over her shoulder. “I haven’t laughed that hard in centuries.”
He pulled her to him, wrapped his arms around her waist and held tightly. Her cap of curls was pressed against his jaw and she tentatively circled his ribcage with her arms and held on. Her body was a warm, familiar weight against his. An electrical current sizzled through him at their contact. Around her arousal was never far from the surface, but Z
ach ignored forbidden in favor of the sense of peace she gave him.
She muted the angry buzz that swirled in his head constantly. When he was with her he wanted to be better. A better angel. A better being.
Zach squeezed tighter. Sam was gone and it was just the two of them. This chaste embrace was not forbidden. He savored the feel of her body against his. Her breasts, perfect handfuls, rubbed his pectorals. Zach nuzzled the shell of her ear with his nose and breathed in her scent, lavender and pinon, still so strong even though she’d been in the pool for hours and hours. All hint of smoke was gone, cleansed fresh by the healing water of the Realm pool.
As he stood in the rejuvenating clasp of her arms, Zach realized he didn’t need the restorative energy of the pool. Shasa was his healing source. She was the energy that purified his soul and kept him compassionate, kept him from just chucking it all and going biblical on the Earth and its inhabitants.
It was his sacred duty to keep her safe. To protect her from harm. He’d rather be trapped in the fiery pit of banishment than let anything happen to her again.
“I want you to stay here,” he said fiercely. He wanted her far away from the coming devastation. Far away from the reach of the fucking Grigori. He wouldn’t let anyone take her, hurt her, again.
“Here?” Her voice echoed when she spoke against his breastbone. There was a hesitation in her voice as she pushed away from him. “As in this Realm?”
Her gaze was confused.
“I want you safe.” He clenched his fists. Remembered his pain, his anguish when she’d perished. “I don’t want you hurt again.”
“What do you mean again?”
Zach’s heart stopped. Shit. He hadn’t meant to say that. But with a relief he realized he had a cover. “Hurt as you were earlier.”
“Oh, right.” She shook her head as if to rattle away the cobwebs, then huffed out a small laugh. “Of course. What else could it be? You just seemed so…intense. I’m fine.”
“Then it’s settled. I will go. We’ll get you a room here. And you can stay safe.”
Michael flung open the thick massive doors. “Absolutely not.” Michael’s voice boomed.
