The Daughter of Zion

by Elicia Hyder

  She glared at me, her eyes angry slits. “The children.”

  “Your children?” Iliana asked.

  The ghost nodded.

  This bitch had zero remorse.

  “Mind if I take care of this one?” Iliana asked, cracking her knuckles.

  I worried.

  She must have noticed. “I’ll be fine. I had no side effects from you destroying Father of the Year earlier.”

  “In a minute. We need some information first.” I held Althea’s spirit a few inches off the ground. “How did you get in the attic?”

  She spat at me. Ghost spit, but still.

  “You know what? Never mind.” I stepped out of Iliana’s way. “Destroy her.”

  “Gladly.”

  Before Iliana could blast her with killing power, the ghost began to vibrate. I touched Iliana’s outstretched arm. “Hang on a second.”

  The vibration increased until her whole supernatural body shook violently. Smoke began to rise from the rubble beneath her feet. Embers began to glow. Tiny flames began to lick the outsides of her feet.

  “Guess we know how she started the fire,” Iliana said, staring at flames as they rose around the woman’s legs. “Can I kill her now?”

  “Be my guest.”

  Iliana aimed both hands at her, and energy sparkled through her fingers. The bright light blasted toward Althea, and her figure exploded, extinguishing the fire at her feet.

  The sun was low in the sky when we walked outside. I pulled her into my arms and kissed the side of her head. “I’m so proud of you, Iliana.”

  She patted my back. “Thanks.”

  “You ready to head back?”

  “It’s still too bright to fly.” She looked up the road. “Doesn’t look like it’s too much farther to the top of this hill. Wanna see if we can watch the sunset over the water?”

  I smiled and offered her my hand. “Bet your ass I do.”

  Around a couple more bends in the road, we reached a clearing near the top of the hill. A boulder near the edge provided seating with a spectacular view of the ocean. We sat down and watched the sun splash the waves with yellow and gold.

  She leaned her head against my shoulder. “I’m so glad you’re back.”

  “I won’t leave you again.” I put my arm around her as the sky faded into twilight.

  It was the only time of day where angels on Earth could see the stars on the Eden side of the auranos. I searched the sky for Alice’s pink star. She’d made it with her girlfriend, Forfax, not long before I left Eden the last time.

  The star was gone, along with all the others.

  The loss of Eden tore through me again. My mother. Alice. My dog, Skittles. I took a sharp and painful breath as emotion rose in my throat.

  “You all right?” Iliana asked softly.

  “I’ll be fine.”

  “Everything changes tomorrow. Azrael will be here.”

  “You remember him, right?”

  She nodded. “I was eleven the last time we saw them, but I can’t say I know very much about him. What’s he like?”

  “He’s one of the bravest angels I know.”

  “But he isn’t an angel anymore, is he?”

  “No.”

  “Can he still fly?”

  I stared out over the water.

  She straightened and looked at me. “What?”

  “No one ever talks about Azrael flying,” I said with a pained smile.

  “They say he’s afraid of it.”

  “He’s afraid of airplanes and heights, but there’s a difference. He’s not afraid of flying.”

  “How can that be possible? It makes no sense.”

  I sighed. “Because he used to be able to fly.”

  “I don’t understand.”

  “Can you keep a secret?”

  She held out her pinky finger. I smiled and wrapped mine around hers.

  “Azrael was once one of the brightest angels in the sky. He loved to fly, but the day I was born, the Morning Star forced him to join the fallen in order to save my mother’s life.”

  “My grandmother, Nadine.”

  “That’s right.”

  “Mom told me the story. She was dying because another demon had cut you out of her.”

  “Yeah, and the Morning Star fulfilled his promise to save her by possessing Nadine’s body.”

  “That’s horrible.”

  “That wasn’t all. The Morning Star wanted to shame Azrael. To make sure he knew his place in the fallen’s regime. So wearing the face of Azrael’s wife, the Morning Star cut off Azrael’s wings.”

  Iliana covered her mouth with her hand.

  My stomach bottomed out. “He hasn’t spoken of it since. Not even to me. All the angels know—the guardians saw it from the auranos—but nobody talks about it.”

  “And now the Morning Star has taken everything from him.”

  I nodded.

  She sighed and pulled her knees up to her chest. “I hope he comes tomorrow.”

  “Azrael?”

  “The Morning Star.”

  I looked over at her as her eyes watched the sun dip below the horizon.

  “Because I’m going to kill him.”

  Chapter Seven

  A knock on the door woke me the next morning. “Warren?” Samael called.

  The sliding-glass door opened, and Fury came in from the deck. “Morning, sleepyhead,” she said as she walked by the bed.

  I rolled onto my back and tugged the sheet up around my waist.

  “Morning, Samael.” She pulled the door all the way open and stood back to let him in.

  “Sorry to disturb you,” he said, entering the room. “You’re still sleeping?”

  I pointed at Fury. “She kept me up late.”

  “Nathan kept you up late,” she corrected.

  I groaned. “That just sounds wrong. We were planning out scenarios for today.”

  “And drinking bourbon.”

  My head throbbed. “And drinking lots of bourbon.” I piled the pillows behind me and sat up. “What’s up, Samael?”

  “I thought you’d want to know we just heard from Azrael’s pilot. They landed in Palawan just after sunrise.”

  “How are they getting here?” Fury asked.

  “A ferry, I assume.”

  “Is air travel still suspended over the island?” I asked.

  “I believe so.”

  “Thanks, Samael. We’ll get dressed and head up for breakfast in a few minutes,” I said.

  Samael nodded and backed out of our room.

  Fury walked on her knees across the mattress, then straddled my thighs. “Are you ready for this?”

  “Nope.” I leaned my head against the headboard. “What if he really doesn’t remember me at all? What if he only knows me by what other people have told him?”

  She raked her nails up and down my bare chest. “That’s possible, but if he’s coming all this way, it’s clear he’s missed you. And who knows? You and Az spent a lot of time together when he wasn’t wearing the blood stone, right? Maybe some of those memories stuck.”

  “Maybe.” My stomach growled so loud we both heard it.

  She chuckled. “Why don’t I go get us some breakfast? We can have one last peaceful meal together before shit gets crazy again.”

  “Mmm, I’d like that.” I grabbed her hips, pulling her closer up my lap. “But I’ll get breakfast. I know you’ve been waiting on me to wake up so you can take a shower.”

  With a smile, she trailed her fingertips along my jugular. “You really do know more about me than I thought you did.”

  “I’m paying close attention.”

  Fury had been an enigma since the day I’d met her. Now, after all I’d found out in Nulterra, I understood why. I’d been a job before.

  My father had tasked her with recruiting me to Claymore, while keeping my identity a secret—from me. She also had another job. A mission so covert even she didn’t know about it.

  Keeping me a
way from Sloan.

  She’d been successful too, until she found out she was a hired piece of ass to prevent me and Sloan from fulfilling a demon-borne destiny. The day I told Fury I loved her, she quit me and the company with hardly a word. I hadn’t gotten an explanation until she ditched her armored cloak of secrecy in Nulterra.

  Down in that pit, Fury had come clean about a lot of things. Some that mattered. Some that didn’t. She loved me. She had always loved me. That was the only information I needed to know.

  I slipped my hand behind her head and drew her in for a kiss. She tasted like coffee and coconut.

  When she pulled away, she bit her lower lip. “Keep that up, and we’ll go hungry today.”

  As if responding in protest, my stomach growled again.

  I laughed. “I’m getting as bad as Reuel.”

  “Nobody’s as bad as Reuel,” she said, turning to get up.

  She moved to the edge of the bed and stood. Then her eyes snagged on something outside, past our deck. I leaned forward and followed her gaze.

  Cassiel was walking toward our villa, probably also on her way to breakfast. She either didn’t see us, or she was ignoring us. I suspected it was the latter.

  Fury stood. “You haven’t talked to her, have you?”

  I didn’t answer.

  “Get dressed and go get it over with.” She leaned down and kissed me one more time. “And bring me back some of that sweetened pork if they have any.”

  Steam was rolling out of the bathroom by the time I was ready to leave the villa. “Sweet pork. Is that all you want?” I called over the sound of the shower.

  “Some eggs.” I heard the shower hooks slide against the rod. “And mangoes!”

  I stuck my head into the bathroom for a peek, but all her best parts were covered as she looked around the curtain. “Pork, eggs, and mangoes. Anything else?”

  “Hurry back, and I’ll lick the mango juice off your abs,” she said.

  My whole body quivered. “Hurry? I’ll fly.”

  She laughed, and with a wink, I left the villa.

  At the top of the hill, Cassiel sat with Anya at one of the outdoor tables. Anya stood when I was close. “Is my sister coming?”

  “No. She’s in the shower,” I said.

  “Cool. I think she grabbed both packs of socks when we got back from the store yesterday.”

  “Have you heard an ETA for Azrael and his crew?” I asked.

  “Not exactly, but the fastest ferry from Dumaguete can make it here in an hour.”

  That didn’t sound right to me. “Is that where they are?”

  She shrugged. “That’s how Angel, the human hostess, said most people get here.”

  “OK. Thanks, Anya.” When she was gone, I looked down at Cassiel. “Hello.”

  She wore a white linen sundress, and her long blonde hair was twisted up in a complicated but pretty pattern on her head. She gestured toward the seat Anya had vacated. “Care to join me?”

  No.

  “Sure.” I sat down.

  “I was beginning to wonder if you were avoiding me. You said we’d talk, and I’ve hardly seen you since.” She picked up the water in front of her.

  “I’ve been pretty busy.”

  She stared at me over her glass. “I know when you’re lying.”

  “Was that a lie?”

  “It wasn’t the whole truth.”

  “What else did you learn about me, Cassiel?”

  “Excuse me?”

  “What did you learn about Azrael?”

  “What are you talking about?”

  I pulled the blood stone from under my shirt. “I’m talking about this.” Cassiel’s face flooded with guilt. I let the stone thump against my chest. “When you and I were together in Italy, when we kissed, when I was inside you—”

  “Warren, stop—”

  “You can extract information from skin-on-skin contact. Was all of it a recon job?”

  Her lips pressed in a hard line.

  “Cassiel?”

  “You know it wasn’t.”

  “I really don’t. I mean, I knew you’d gotten the access code to Echo-5 out of me, but I’d truly believed that information had been taken against your will by the Council.”

  “It was,” she insisted.

  “But you didn’t stop at searching through my memory. You went through Azrael’s as well.” I tapped the stone. “You went all the way back to the beginning.”

  She didn’t speak. Or argue.

  “What I want to know is why? What were you looking for?” I put the blood stone back under my shirt.

  “Azrael was a formidable leader in Eden for a long time. When he fell, he took a lot of valuable and dangerous information with him. I was only trying to keep Eden safe.” She couldn’t look me directly in the eye.

  I wondered if this was what she felt when she knew she was being lied to.

  “Or perhaps you were trying to better your position. And hell, I guess it worked. You are the Archangel of Knowledge now.”

  “The information I gained from Azrael’s blood stone in no way helped me become the Archangel,” she said, sounding as offended as I’d ever heard her.

  “I’m sure it didn’t hurt.”

  Her mouth snapped shut.

  “Good morning, Warren!” Angel, our Filipino hostess, was too cheerful, even for me, in the mornings. “Would you like some breakfast?”

  “I need two meals to go. Do you have the sweet pork again today?”

  “Every day.”

  “Then I’ll take an order of pork, a couple of over-easy eggs, and some fresh mango.”

  She scribbled the order down in a notebook. “What else?”

  “I want you to surprise me.” The truth was, I didn’t want to have to make a decision about food, and pork—unless it was bacon—wasn’t high on my list of favorite breakfast foods. Besides, thanks to this conversation, my stomach was no longer growling. “Bring me whatever is the best breakfast on the menu.”

  “For you?”

  “Yes. And two cups of coffee, please.”

  “All of it to go?”

  Across the table, Cassiel looked away.

  “Yes, to go. Thank you.”

  “Coming right up!”

  I refocused on Cassiel. “Where were we?”

  “You were accusing me of espionage,” she said, staring off the cliff.

  I sat forward, leaning my elbows on the table and propping my hands beneath my chin. “Why were you looking for Azrael’s memory of the spirit line’s creation?”

  She was silent.

  “I need an answer.”

  Crossing her arms, she let out an exaggerated sigh. “Because I knew if the Council failed to bring Iliana to Eden, the spirit line was in serious danger.”

  “So you didn’t trust me to protect her?”

  “Are you serious?” She leaned toward me and gripped the side of the table. “You just got back from being gone seventeen years!”

  Good point.

  I was tempted to present the irony that it was Cassiel’s decision that ultimately brought the spirit line down, and that Iliana had nothing to do with it. But I didn’t. I took a deep, calming breath instead.

  “Cassiel, I will be forever grateful to you for saving Fury’s life and for your help in getting us out of Nulterra—”

  “But?” she snapped.

  “I’ll never trust you again. You’re such a stickler for truth and honesty, but you used me and kept me in the dark about it. That’s not love. It’s exploitation. And I’m not sure you would’ve ever told me had I not found out for myself.”

  Her gaze drifted away again. “I was only doing what any leader of Eden would do.”

  “You could have asked me.” I glared at her until she finally met my eyes. “I would have told you. I would have given you the blood stone had you asked me for it.”

  “Are you finished?” Her words had the bite of a viper.

  I gave a slight nod, and she stood from
the table so quickly that her chair toppled backward. She didn’t stop to pick it up before stalking across the yard.

  “Whoa.” Iliana walked up behind me. “What was all that about?”

  My eyes followed Cassiel, but my heart stayed squarely in my chest. “Iliana, don’t ever forget, you’ll always be different from the angels.”

  I stretched my hand across the table, focusing on the chair lying on its back. I use my power to pull it upright. “Would you like to sit?”

  “I’d love to.” Iliana sat down. “Too bad you pissed off Cassiel. I need to talk to her.”

  “About what?”

  “See if she has any genius ideas for us all getting back home. Rogan hasn’t found anyone who can forge the documents we need to get us into the US. But don’t worry. I’ll figure out a way to get us off this island.” She waved to someone behind me.

  I looked over my shoulder and saw Jett. He was walking up the hill with Reuel. “So you talked to Rogan then?” I asked, turning back around.

  “Yeah. He called us this morning.”

  “Rogan called you and your parents?”

  “No, me and Jett.”

  My brow scrunched together. “You and Jett are very close.”

  “He came all the way from Eden to protect me. Of course we are.”

  “Is that all? A guardian-and-charge relationship?”

  A thin smile spread across her face. “We’re not dating if that’s what you’re getting at.”

  “I’m not.”

  I totally was.

  She smirked. “OK.”

  “But if you were, I’d have to remind you, he’s too old for you.”

  Her head snapped back. “He’s almost a year younger than me.”

  “Correction. He’s a bazillion years older than either of us.”

  She sat back, rolling her eyes.

  “Did I just get my first teenage eyeroll?”

  “Keep asking dumb questions and you’ll get more of them.” She laughed and straightened in her chair.

  “Where’s your mom?” I asked.

  Iliana looked at the time on her phone. “Probably asleep. She can’t wake up early two days in a row.”

  I grinned. “Sounds about right.”

  “Did you hear Azrael is on his way?”

  “Yeah, Samael came and told me and Fury this morning.”