by Elicia Hyder
“Positive. At one time, I was responsible for keeping up with them.”
We waited for Cassiel to confirm.
“He’s telling the truth. Only seven swords exist.”
“If you were tasked with keeping up with them, then where would we find them now?” Iliana asked.
“You have two.” Torman gestured toward me. “Warren has one. Reuel has Etred’s.”
“Where did you get yours?” Jett asked me.
I returned the sword to its scabbard. “From the demon Uko.”
“Who has the others?” Iliana asked Torman.
Torman hesitated again. This time, Cassiel squeezed, and he still didn’t answer.
Iliana raised her palm and let the electricity sizzle to life again.
When she took a step toward him, Torman leaned back as far as he could. “OK. OK.” He held his hands up in surrender.
Iliana didn’t let the spark die out.
Torman’s fearful eyes fixed on it. “Three swords were in Nulterra. Etred’s, we know, made it out with Reuel, but the others would have been consumed by the pit. Those guards were running in the opposite direction of the exit when you destroyed the spirit line.”
Cassiel confirmed his statement with a nod.
“And the rest?” I asked.
“Moloch, and the angels who left with him, had four swords among them when they brought a few human souls back to Earth.”
The memory of that mission still stirred anger inside me. Cassiel and I had traveled the world trying to stop an African famine and a serial killer because of it. In it was the roots of Cassiel’s first betrayal of me—or, at least, the first betrayal I’d discovered.
She’d been spying on me for members of the Council who were plotting with the demons to harm Iliana. Cassiel had given them the access information to Echo-5, Iliana’s supernaturally secured home. She’d plucked the information from my brain under the guise of lovemaking. I should have wondered then what other secrets she’d stolen…
Iliana nudged me with her elbow.
Everyone was staring at me.
I blinked. “Sorry. Tuned out for a second.”
“He said Moloch had swords. Did you see any when you fought him in Malab?” Iliana asked.
I thought back to the day Cassiel, Reuel, and I had battled Moloch, the now-permanently deceased Archangel of Knowledge. “We didn’t see much of the palace, but I would have remembered seeing a sword. Cassiel?”
“There were plenty of guns. No swords,” she confirmed, her face sour. She still hadn’t gotten over how many times we had been shot.
“I know he had them when he left Nulterra,” Torman said.
“Moloch didn’t take them with him from Malab. When I destroyed his body, his spirit went directly across the spirit line to attack Echo-5,” I said.
“Should we go back to Malab and look for them?” Cassiel asked.
Rogan grimaced. “It’s going to be hard to travel.”
“You must find the swords,” a voice said behind us. I turned and saw Sandalphon. He’d been so quiet, I’d almost forgotten he was there. “They are the only true weapon the Morning Star has against us.”
“He has an army,” Iliana said.
“Yes, but no human army can stand against an angel, my child.” He looked at me. “Even if you succeed in destroying the Morning Star, we will all be watching over our shoulders for the rest of eternity as long as the swords exist. You must find them.”
He was right, but without the spirit line, traveling would be difficult, to say the least.
“Who had the other swords?” I asked.
“Uko, Orin, and Saraiah. Uko is dead, and Orin and Saraiah will be close to the Morning Star,” Torman answered.
“Who are they?” Iliana asked.
“Saraiah is a prophet, and Orin is a messenger,” Sandalphon said. “Torman is correct. They would be very useful servants.”
I didn’t know either of them, but I’d heard stories about Orin all over Eden. He was the messenger who’d spread the Morning Star’s propaganda throughout the angelic choirs. He’d also challenged the Archangel Gabriel during the First Angel War. Gabriel had won, but the fight had become legendary. Orin was, apparently, very good with a sword.
Jett held up three fingers. “So we need to find three swords. Orin’s, Saraiah’s, and Moloch’s.”
“Yes,” Torman said.
“Does anyone have any more questions?” Iliana asked, looking around our group. After a moment, when no one had spoken, the white light in her hand grew and had flickers of purple.
I’d seen a similar light before. From Sloan, when she was pregnant with Iliana. It was the power to destroy angels.
The fear in Torman’s eyes told me he knew it too. “Wait. This wasn’t part of our agreement.”
Iliana shook her head and slowly walked toward him. “We didn’t have an agreement.”
Torman’s eyes flashed to me. “Warren! Warren, please help me.”
I swallowed.
His whole body vibrated with fear. “Consider your actions carefully. If you kill me, Chimera will be crippled, and the Morning Star will know why. You’ll start this war before you’re ready and give the advantage to your enemy.”
“Wait.” Jett walked toward Iliana. “Maybe he’s right. If you kill him, it will be an act of war.”
“Who cares? Kill him,” Rogan said.
Cassiel lifted her hand. “But our only advantage at this point, Iliana excluded, would be surprise. We don’t want to give the largest army on Earth a chance to prepare if we don’t have to.”
“And you don’t want to start a war before all the swords have been found, if you can help it,” Sandalphon added.
Iliana was still for a moment, and then she turned toward me. The sparkling light reflected in her dark eyes. “What do you think?”
She wanted my opinion. I wasn’t sure anything on Earth could feel so good. Such a shame it had to be about execution.
“They’re right. At the moment, they don’t know we have him—”
“That’s not true,” Cassiel said. “Before Rogan cuffed him, he made contact with the Morning Star.”
“Damn it, Torman.” I shook my head and closed my eyes. “How do you expect me to help you when you pull shit like that?”
“Archangel, it is no different from what you would’ve done.”
True.
I looked at Cassiel. “Did he tell the Morning Star we’re all here?”
“I didn’t!” he shouted
Cassiel shook her head. “He only told the Morning Star that Nulterra was destroyed and that he had returned with you, Fury, Reuel, and Anya. He did not tell the Morning Star that Iliana is here.”
Jett touched the small of Iliana’s back. “That gives us an advantage for now. Wouldn’t you agree, Warren?”
I was staring at his hand on Iliana.
He quickly pulled it back.
“I think it’s too soon,” I agreed. “Even if we had all the swords, we’re still not ready. We’re exhausted. We’re distracted. If you kill him now, none of us will be ready for the consequences. You should let him live.”
Iliana closed her fist, quenching the killing force. “Very well.”
Torman whimpered. “Oh, thank you, thank you, thank—”
“For now,” I snapped. Horror filled his eyes. I unsheathed my sword again as I walked toward him. Then I lowered the blade until its point touched the center of his chest. “If I so much as hear a squeak from you, I’ll end you myself.”
His chin quivered. “Yes, sir.”
I looked at Rogan. “But we shouldn’t keep him here, not if Azrael is really on his way.”
“You don’t trust Azrael?” Iliana asked.
“I don’t trust the Morning Star. If he knows we have Torman, he’ll want him back. He’s too great a liability for Chimera.”
“Right.” Iliana put her hands on her hips. “But what will we do with him?”
“Can we send
him back to headquarters?” Jett asked.
She shook her head. “Not without travel paperwork.”
“Travel paperwork?” I asked her.
“If you thought international travel was strict when you were here before, just wait. You’ll all need passports and medical records,” Iliana said.
“How will we get those?” Torman asked.
“I’m not sure, but we won’t get back to the States without them.” Iliana thought for a moment. “Rogan, take him to Manila. Maybe you can find a document forger there.”
“Yes, ma’am.”
“Maybe Jett should go with them,” I suggested.
Iliana shook her head. “Jett stays with me.”
“You sure?” I shrugged my shoulders. “Can’t be too careful.”
“I’m positive,” she insisted.
“All right.” Before putting the sword away, I stared at Jett. His mismatched eyes drifted to the blade. That’s right, kid. Keep your hands off my little girl.
As if reading my mind, he took a small step back.
Behind me, Cassiel snickered.
I put the sword in its scabbard and yawned. “If that’s all, I’d really like to go sleep for about a year.”
With a smile, Iliana stretched on her toes to kiss my cheek. “Get some rest. You’ve earned it.”
I hugged her. “I love you.”
“I love you too.”
I released her. As I turned to leave, Cassiel caught my eye. Nothing in me wanted to talk to her right then. I wanted a bed. And sleep. And maybe a snack.
She moved like she was going to start toward me, but I turned and walked out the door.
Chapter Five
The hair on the back of my neck stood on end.
When I opened my eyes, the bedroom was dark, lit only by the slivers of moonlight slipping in through the cracks in the curtains.
The bedside lamps flickered again. I hadn’t been dreaming. The quiet crackle of electricity echoed around the silent room.
Fury and I hadn’t talked much when I got back to our villa after questioning Torman. I’d been so tired I hadn’t even tried anything when I crawled into our bed and found her nearly naked.
I’d fallen asleep hard, melded against her back. My left arm was curled around her waist, and my right seemed to be missing completely. It had fallen asleep stretched beneath her pillow. As I carefully inched it out from under her, my fingers began to tingle.
I winced as the prickling pain spread through my hand.
The lamps flickered again, and the tingling told me I was definitely awake. I pumped my fist as I rolled onto my back. Then I propped up on my elbows.
Blinking a few times, my eyes went in and out of focus.
Then I saw it.
The silhouette of a man standing at the end of our bed.
Startled, my heels dug into the mattress, pushing me backward and knocking my skull against the headboard.
I grabbed my chest to make sure my heart was still inside it, then sat up.
Immortal or not, a soul watching me as I slept was some freaky shit. I rubbed my eyes and looked again, letting my eyes adjust to the dark.
It was a man—or what used to be a man.
A hand waved beside him. I looked down and recognized Hannah as she peeked around him. I raked both hands back through my hair and steadied my breathing.
When I finally remembered I was immortal and had superpowers, I held my finger over my lips. “Shh.”
Fury hadn’t stirred.
The digital clock on the nightstand said 1:39 a.m.
I wore only a pair of my Eden-made boxer briefs, so I gathered the sheet around my waist before swinging my legs off the side of the bed. My foot groped the floor for the pair of gym shorts I’d borrowed from Kane. I hooked them around my toes and lifted them high enough to reach. Then I shimmied into them under the covers before standing up.
I started toward the door and motioned for them to follow. I slowly and quietly twisted the lock to open it, but when I turned back to look for the ghosts, they were gone.
Well, damn.
I opened the door and found them waiting on the path outside. He was holding her hand.
Everything in me wanted to launch into a lecture about ghosts sneaking up on people when they were asleep, but Hannah’s father grabbed me and pulled me in for a hug. He was crying, happy tears because sadness wouldn’t exist for him as a spirit. His soul was pure, and his heart was good.
“Thank you,” he said over my shoulder.
I patted his ethereal back. “I’m sorry it took me so long, and I’m sorry I couldn’t bring her back alive.”
He stepped back, wiping tears of light that had dribbled down his cheeks. He cupped the back of Hannah’s head and pulled her against his side. “But you brought her back. That is all that matters to me. I’m sure you saved her from a terrible fate.”
He was right. We had saved her kidnapped soul from being completely obliterated by the lake of fire. “I kept my word. That is all.”
“That is enough.” He smiled, and the seventeen years it had been since he’d last seen me showed on the spiritual projection of his face.
When humans die, their souls resemble their bodies as they had left them. It’s not until they cross through the Eden Gate that their souls are returned to perfect youthfulness. This man looked like a shadow (pun intended) of the man I’d just met a few days before.
He would remain an aged ghost until we restored the spirit line to Eden. If we restored the spirit line to Eden.
“What’s your name?” I asked him.
“John Mark.”
“I’m Warren.”
“I know. Your friends have told me about you.”
“Well, don’t believe everything you hear.” I smiled. “Where will you go now?”
He shrugged. “We will stay here until we can no longer. Your friend, Samael, tells me this is not all there is.”
I shook my head. “Not even close.”
“He says your home is a land of wonders.”
My eyes narrowed. This ghost was incredibly astute. Typically, they’re disjointed from reality. The only exception I’d ever seen on Earth was Flint, but he’d been able to see angels his whole life, so that wasn’t much of a surprise.
John Mark was different.
“Will we get to go there?” he asked.
“I’m going to do everything in my power to make that happen.”
He looked down at his daughter. “And I know you are a man of your word.”
The door to the villa creaked open behind me. “Warren?” Fury peeked her head through the crack in the doorway. “Who are you talking to?”
I flashed a sleepy smile back at her. “Hannah and her dad.”
Fury’s eyes doubled, suddenly awake. “They’re here now?” She wouldn’t be able to see them. Fury could only see angels, not human souls.
“Yeah. I’ll be back inside in a second.” I turned back to Hannah and John Mark. The door closed, and I heard the light switch flip on inside.
I knelt down in front of Hannah. “Are you happy?”
Her head bounced up and down, and she smiled up at her dad. I ran my fingers through her shiny black hair. “I hope this isn’t the last time we’ll see each other.”
She put her tiny arms around my neck. “I will miss you, angel man.”
I chuckled, and when she pulled back, I pinched the tip of her nose. “I’ll miss you too, kiddo.” I stood and shook her father’s hand.
“Hopefully the next time we see each other, we will be in paradise,” he said.
“Paradise, indeed.”
“Goodbye.”
“Take care of yourself,” I said out of habit as they walked down the path.
Nothing on this Earth could harm them now. Nothing except for me, anyway. I wasn’t even sure the sword could kill them if the Morning Star wanted to.
And I was sure he probably wanted to.
When they were gone, I walked back in
side and found Fury sitting on the edge of the bed. All the lights in the room were on.
I cracked a smile as I locked the door behind me. “Scared of ghosts?”
Her face was pale. She pointed at the door. “That was some creepy shit, Warren Parrish.”
I stood in front of her and pushed her long black hair back off her bare shoulders. She wore a tiny pink tank top and black boy shorts. They likely belonged to my daughter, but I refused to dwell on that.
“Would it make you feel any better if I told you I almost screamed and woke you up when I saw them standing in our room?”
She pointed to the floor. “They were standing in our room?”
I nodded.
“Like watching us sleep?”
I laughed softly. “They’re gone now, and I doubt they’ll be coming back.”
“But how did they get in—”
“Shh.” I slid my basketball shorts down off my hips and let them fall to the floor. Then I pressed the base of her throat and gently pushed her back onto the mattress.
“Want me to distract you from it?” I hooked my fingers in the waistband of her panties.
She shimmied out of them. “You’d better because there’s no way in hell I’m going back to sleep.”
I slid my hand up between her thighs. “The legendary Fury is afraid of ghosts.”
She pointed at me. “And if you tell anyone, I’ll kill you.”
I stretched my arm across the sheets, my fingers finding a whole lot of nothing. The light of the sunrise burned my eyes when I pried them open. It was rare that anyone beat me out of bed, but Fury was sipping coffee on our deck.
I rolled over and pushed myself up. Then I stood and tugged on my shorts. I padded barefoot across the bedroom to the doorway.
Fury sniffed and dried her eyes on the back of her hand.
I knelt down behind her and ran my hand down her bare arm. “You’re up early,” I said softly. “And I thought I’d worn you out last night.”
“You did, but I woke up around dawn and couldn’t go back to sleep. Must be the crystal water still in my system.”
Crystal water didn’t explain the tears.
“Can I help?” I pressed my lips against her shoulder.
Staring straight ahead, she nodded. “You already are.”
