by Elicia Hyder
“Unfortunately, that’s not possible. It should have, however, destroyed the bit of humanity you so desperately cling to. The only problem was you were wearing a blood stone.”
The hand not holding the sword went to Azrael’s heavy stone around my neck.
Cassiel said. “It safeguarded your mind. It acted like a backup.”
“You knew about this?”
“I didn’t. I only realized what was happening when Zaphkael brought me here. Sandalphon was right. There were secret meetings. I just didn’t know about them.”
“So what was the deal?” I asked Zaphkael. “What did Moloch want out of all this?”
Zaphkael tried to resist.
“Tell him,” Cassiel demanded.
“Moloch wants the throne of Nulterra. If the Morning Star were to be reborn, he’d be powerful enough to reclaim it. I promised we’d keep the Morning Star in spirit form if he’d help us take the Vitamorte.”
“But you already told me to take Iliana,” I reminded him.
His eyes narrowed. “And were you ever going to do it?”
Well…
“What was in it for you?” I asked.
“Nothing, I am but a servant to Eden—”
“Bullshit.”
“Tell him,” Cassiel said, digging her fingers deeper into Zaphkael’s temples.
“Moloch agreed to transfer the power of the Archangel to me,” Zaphkael admitted through clenched teeth.
“The Father would never allow that,” I said.
“Wouldn’t he? It would take Moloch out of this realm, peace would return to Malab, and the spirit line would be safe from the threat of Iliana.” Zaphkael narrowed his eyes. “Do you even understand why he appointed the Council? To keep his perfect hands clean and still accomplish what needs to be done.”
I swallowed. Could Zaphkael be right?
“No,” Cassiel said calmly, as if answering my silent question. “The Father appointed the Council to protect the Earth from us. To make the hard decisions of ruling against angels to protect humanity.”
“And that’s what I was doing—”
“No.” She shook her head. “You only considered options that would elevate you and ensure an angel raised as a human would never be more powerful than the Council, correct?” Her hands were still clasped around his head.
“Yes,” he hissed.
I twisted the blade at Zaphkael’s throat. “Give me one good reason why I shouldn’t end you right now.”
He smiled and laughed through the fear in his eyes. “Because deep down, you know I’m right. And you know you’ll never be what we need you to be. What Earth needs you to be.”
My knuckles were going white around the sword’s handle.
The headlights reappeared on the road.
I removed the sword and stood.
“We’re not finished,” Cassiel said.
My head jerked with surprise.
She looked at Zaphkael again. “How did you open the Nulterra Gate?”
“I didn’t. Moloch did. Someone on the inside has a key.”
“Who?” she asked.
He looked at me, his eyes boiling with hatred. “Anya.”
Fury’s sister.
Cassiel and I locked eyes. I nodded, and she released his head.
“Zaphkael, I’ll deal with you back in Eden. You’ll have to answer to the Father for what you’ve done here.”
Reuel came over and stood beside me. He spoke in Katavukai. “Barachiel, take Zaphkael back and lock him up in Cira.”
Barachiel nodded and with a thunderous crack, the two angels disappeared across the spirit line.
“What about me?” Cassiel asked, her voice small and shaky.
I shook my head. “What about you? You betrayed me after I trusted you. How am I supposed to ever forget that?”
“I didn’t know,” she pleaded.
“Were you or were you not trying to get the ability to access Echo-5 out of my head when we were together in Italy?”
Her eyes fell.
“See? Whether or not you knew Zaphkael was working with Moloch is irrelevant. I’ll never trust you again.”
Tears streamed down her face. Tears I didn’t want to see. “Sagen, keep an eye on her.”
“Yes, sir.”
Then I turned, and Reuel and I walked back to Nathan and Samael.
Samael was grimacing. “That’s a shame. I liked her much better with you.”
Sadly, I did too.
Lifting the sword over my back, I tried again to slide it back into its scabbard. “Stop. Stop,” Nathan said, holding up his hands. “Keep that up and you might kill yourself. Give it to me.” I gave him the sword, and he put it back in its place again. “You’re really gonna need some lessons, brother.”
I looked at the building. “Is Iliana safe?”
He pulled out his phone and showed me the screen. It was a video feed of Sloan pacing the panic room, bouncing Iliana in her arms.
It was the first time I’d dared to see either of them in months. I put my hand on his shoulder and squeezed.
“What’s the status of the ambulance?” Doc shouted, probably realizing the SUV wasn’t it.
“Enzo said it’s on the way,” Cruz answered.
“How’s he doing?” I asked.
“He’s got a collapsed lung, and he’s losing a lot of blood.”
The SUV stopped in the grass. God, I hoped it was Metatron. We all turned toward it as the doors opened up. My eyes strained. But my spirit felt exactly who it was.
The angels around me went down on one knee as the Father stepped out of the passenger’s seat.
Chapter Twenty-Four
“Father?”
I crossed the yard toward the SUV. He was taking in the landscape, the building, and the tower tree crowned with a living gargoyle. He put his hands on his hips. “What on Earth is that?”
“The ridiculous tree or the demon?”
“Both.”
“The tree is a communications tower. The demon is Moloch. He’s trapped inside the gargoyle.”
The Father laughed, loudly. “That’s hilarious.”
“Father, what are you doing here?”
“I told you I’d deal with the Council if you determined the identity of the Morning Star, and after the bang-up job you did in Malab, I figured I’d fulfill my end of the bargain sooner rather than later.”
My brain was spinning. “But I haven’t found the Morning Star.”
His head fell to the side. “Haven’t you?” He smiled and walked past me toward the building without giving me a chance to explain. “What’s happening here?” he asked as we neared Azrael and Doc.
“Az was shot in the back,” I said. “Can you help him?”
“No.” The Father looked up at me. “But you can.”
“What?”
“Your daughter is here, is she not?”
Fear rippled through me.
Perhaps, he sensed it because he put his hand on my arm. “It will be all right, Warren.”
I nodded, then turned and walked over to Nate while the Father talked to Azrael. I looked up at the top story of the building. “I need you to get Iliana and bring her out.”
“Have you lost your mind?” Nathan was almost shouting.
I jerked my head toward the Father. “Do you know who that is?”
“I’m guessing from the way the supes went all knights-of-the-round-table, he must be important.”
“That’s him. That’s the Father.”
Nathan crossed his arms, looking behind me. “God looks like Mikhail Gorbachev in overalls?”
Laughing, I glanced back over my shoulder. “Never thought about that before.”
Nathan, for once, wasn’t amused. “I don’t like this.”
“If he says it’s OK, it’s OK. Go get her.”
With a heavy sigh, he started toward the door.
I walked back to the Father. He was talking with Samael and Reuel. “How did you get here?�
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“Delta,” he answered with a smile.
The rest of us laughed.
“You’ll be pleased to know Umar Tadese is doing good work for the people of Malab. Aid began arriving almost immediately. You made the right choice trusting him,” the Father said.
“That’s good to hear. At least my douchebag radar still works on humans,” I said, shaking my head.
“Douchebag,” the Father said with a chuckle.
Realizing what I’d said, I was glad he thought it was funny.
“I heard about the souls Zaphkael and Moloch released from Nulterra. They’re destroyed now?” the Father asked.
“Yes.”
“Good.”
I pulled the blood stone out from under my shirt. “I guess this thing saved the day once again. Wonder what happens if I take it off?”
Azrael’s memory had been wiped completely when he gave it to me the first time in Eden and then crossed the spirit line without it.
“Maybe I should do it?” the Father asked.
I lowered my head, and he reached behind my neck and unclasped the chain. Nothing happened.
I exhaled. “Thank you.”
The Father smiled. “My pleasure.”
I wrapped the stone’s chain around my hand.
He looked across the yard to where Cassiel was sitting in front of Sagen. “What happened there?”
“It’s a long story.”
The Father grinned. “They usually are.” Then he leaned to the side to look around me. “Ah, there’s your little one.”
My heart clambered into my throat, nearly doubling me over. Reuel put a hand on my shoulder as I turned around slowly.
There they were.
Sloan.
My baby girl.
Iliana’s eyes connected with mine, and she smiled and clapped her hands. “Appa!”
Everything in me turned to mush. My knees wobbled, but Reuel grabbed the back of my collar to hold me upright.
Sloan was holding her, and Nathan was standing behind both of them. “Come on over!” he called. “We’re all going to pay for this visit either way.”
My feet wouldn’t move, frozen with fear to the ground. How the hell would my heart ever recover from this?
Reuel shoved me forward. I stumbled a few steps, then thanked him over my shoulder.
When I reached them, what felt like a million years later, Iliana reached for me. “Appa.”
I swallowed.
Sloan smiled up at me. “Go ahead, Appa. Take her.”
When I lifted her tiny body, I feared my heart might explode. I pulled her to my chest, letting her sit on my forearm. She put both her hands on the sides of my face, then rested her forehead against mine.
Tears flowed and dripped off my chin. “I love you so much, Iliana.”
She giggled and patted my cheeks.
I pulled back to study her face, to memorize every detail. She had my eyes, dark as night with a faint halo of gold around the pupils. Puffy pink cheeks and a heart-shaped mouth. The little bit of black hair on her head was standing on end. She wore footed pink donut-print pajamas.
“I hate to break up the family reunion, but if we don’t act fast, we’ll be short a grandfather here,” Doc said on the ground with Azrael.
The Father stepped up beside me. “Hello again, Sloan. May I?” he asked both of us.
Sloan nodded, and I handed him the baby. He took her and bounced her in his arms. “Hello, sweet Iliana.”
She giggled and grabbed his nose.
Sloan followed the Father and Iliana over to Azrael. I dried my face on my sleeve, and Nathan walked over beside me.
We couldn’t see what was happening on the ground, but there was a bright light and then we heard Azrael gasp.
Iliana squealed with delight.
“You’re going to introduce me to God, right?” Nathan asked.
I smiled. “I’d never dream of leaving you out.”
He jerked his chin toward them on the ground. “What consequences is this going to have for her?”
“I don’t know.” I looked up at the sky. Once again, it was empty. “Hopefully, we’ll all be safer for it in the long run.”
Sloan and the Father moved to the side, and Doc helped Azrael sit up. His face was ghostly pale and still covered with blood, but he was alive.
“You all right, old man?” I asked.
He rubbed the spot where the hole had been on his chest. “I don’t like being shot anymore.”
Nathan laughed. “Did you ever?”
“Well…” Azrael gave a noncommittal shrug.
“Weirdo,” Nathan said.
The Father groaned as he stood, still carefully balancing my surprisingly heavy toddler on his arm. He carried her back over to us. “You know, I think she looks like you, Warren.”
“Nah.” I smiled over at Sloan. “She’s beautiful, just like her mom.”
Nathan shook his head. “I should’ve let that angel chop your head off when I had the chance.”
I put my hand on his shoulder. “Father, you know Nathan.”
Nathan reached to shake the Father’s hand. “It’s a pleasure to meet you, Your Honor.”
“Your Honor?” Sloan asked with a smirk. “This isn’t Night Court.”
“Your Highness?” Nathan was clearly panicking.
“Just call me Father John.” He shook Nathan’s outstretched hand. “Oh, I have something for you.” He reached into his pocket and pulled out a pack of Skittles.
Nathan laughed as he took it. “Look, Warren.”
“Thank you, Father John.” Nathan pointed the red candy packet at him. “You know, I have a lot of questions for you.”
The Father chuckled. “Most people do.”
“Appa,” Iliana said, clapping her hands toward me.
I smiled at her. “Yes?”
“Dynos, Appa.” My baby looked me square in the eyes.
Nathan shook his head. “I swear that kid speaks your language.”
A chill rippled my spine. “She does.”
Excited, Sloan touched my arm. “Really? What did she say?”
“She said danger.” I immediately began scanning the grounds.
A crackle somewhere above us caught my ear. The Father heard it too. He curled a protective arm around Iliana.
Kaboom!
A lightning bolt shot straight through me, lighting every nerve ending I had on fire. It blew everyone else backward. Except Sloan, who was still touching my arm. Her hand clamped down as her muscles tensed with the electric current.
There was a scream somewhere in the distance, but inside the bolt, nothing except for electricity crackling all around us. I pulled Sloan’s rigid body against my chest. I couldn’t see anything beyond the wall of white light.
The bolt vanished as quickly as it had come. Sloan and I collapsed to the scorched ground in its wake. Only the Father and Iliana were anywhere near us; everyone else had been knocked back at least twenty feet. Nathan had collided with the building and was lying dazed at the bottom of it.
I grabbed Sloan’s jaw and rolled her head over to see her face. “Sloan? Can you hear me?”
Her eyes opened, and she blinked a few times. “I’m…I’m OK. The baby?”
“She’s fine.” I looked again to be sure. That time, Iliana opened and closed her fist at me. “I think she just waved.”
Sloan tried to laugh, but she was too stunned. “My…my shoe.”
Looking down at her feet, I saw her right shoe was missing and her sock had melted to her foot. I touched it. “That hurt?”
She shook her head.
It didn’t appear to be burned.
Nathan had pulled himself off the ground and was running toward us. As soon as he reached Sloan, I moved out of his way and stood.
“What the hell happened?” I asked, searching the clear sky again.
“I saw it! I saw the whole thing!” Ionis announced, waving his arm in the air as he hurried toward me. He pointed
toward the top of the building. “There was another demon up there.”
“On the roof?”
“Yeah. That’s where the lightning came from.”
“Elek.” With the excitement of the Father’s arrival, I’d forgotten he was still MIA.
“Samael and Reuel went after him.”
“Was anyone else hit?” I asked.
“No. Just you and Sloan.”
I looked around. Cassiel and Sagen were brushing themselves off. The members of SF-12 looked stunned but otherwise OK. Azrael was walking toward us. He looked like he’d been bowled through the dirt—maybe he had been—but the color was returning to his cheeks.
The Father was standing closer, still bouncing Iliana on his arm. I walked over, and Iliana lunged for me. I smiled, my heart flooding with joy. Even after almost being blown to smithereens by an electrical surge, that was easily the most powerful feeling in the world.
I took her, hooking my arm behind her thighs. I jerked my head toward Sloan and looked to the Father for an explanation. “Those volts should have killed her. What did you do?”
“Not I.” The Father smiled and tickled Iliana’s cheek. “I believe we’re right to assume we can expect great things from this little one. She is remarkable.” His voice was full of wonder.
“What did she do?”
“She defended her family, of course.”
It was clear the Father wasn’t going into details, so I looked at Ionis, who was standing behind him. He raked both hands through his white hair. “I don’t know, man. She did one of those mad crazy-baby screams and something happened.” He wiggled his fingers.
The Father grinned. “Maybe it was magic.”
Azrael rolled his eyes.
There was a loud clap of thunder that made us all flinch. It was PTSD at its best, even rattling the Author of Creations. We all looked up to see Samael and Reuel returning from the spirit line with Elek restrained between them.
I carried Iliana over to Sloan and Nathan. “Take her for a minute?”
Nathan got up and took the baby. Then I walked back to the Father, drawing my sword as I crossed the grass. “Mind if I kill him?” I asked, pointing the blade at Elek.
“Where did you get that?” The Father’s old eyes were wide.
“Uko had it. Any idea what it is?” I carefully turned it sideways.
He ran his finger along the blade. The metal seemed to shriek. He withdrew his hand. “It’s nothing I’ve ever seen.”
