Touched by Hell

by Emma Shade

  “Talk to him, mi cielito,” Death said. “It’s that simple, and that hard.”

  I sighed. “Why did he have to show up and try to break through this barrier around my heart? I’m supposed to be badass and unemotional.”

  Raven grinned. “While you are a badass, you’ve never been completely coldhearted. A little awkward with the emotional stuff, yes, but you wouldn’t have friends if you hated everyone.”

  “And you wouldn’t have family, either. Because whether you want to admit it, we are family. Blood be damned,” Death said.

  “Thanks,” I said, feeling uncomfortable but humbled.

  After saying our goodbyes, I sat on the couch and used a cloth to clean my sword until it shined. Then I cleaned my bathroom and kitchen, followed by my bedroom. Honestly, I felt weird without Coren there. It had only been twelve days since I met him. How could that short amount of time change everything?

  My world remained the same. Lucifer owned my soul, and Raven and her father fought to keep me above the surface of humanity. I still battled demons each night, sending them back to Hell. Yet, my life had changed. I had new friends with Lor and his shadow comrades, and I’d allowed Coren to break through the thick walls I had built long ago.

  I plopped on the bed and stared at the ceiling until I finally fell asleep. I dreamt of fighting a demon. Only the demon looked like me with lilac eyes. We clashed swords, an equal match for each other.

  The demon version of me pushed me back until my back hit the invisible wall behind me.

  I shivered as my distorted voice came from the being. “There’s only one way to stop evil. You have to embrace yours.”

  I woke covered in sweat, my heart beating hard in my chest.

  The dream was so vivid and realistic. My arms still shook from the battle between... myself? I had no idea what to call what I had experienced. Was it a nightmare? A lucid dream?

  After using the restroom to empty my bladder, I stumbled into the kitchen to my coffeemaker before I began my evening. I put the filter in and filled it with water and coffee grounds. I started the machine, but I felt a presence in the room. They remained quiet and unmoving. I waited until the carafe filled, took out a cup, doctored it, and took a long sip. I set it back down on the counter. I spun my mug around and turned to face whoever decided greeting me so soon after waking up was a good idea.

  A man stood next to my kitchen counter. My sword met his neck in a flash of movement. “Who the fuck are you?”

  He wore a black suit with a blue tie that hugged his fit body. Salt and pepper hair rimmed his ears and deep wrinkles edged his eyes. His jawline sagged a little from age, but he still held the confidence of a much younger man. Moss-green eyes examined me curiously.

  “Would you like to put on pants?” he asked, his ears reddening.

  I didn’t care that I was wearing my panties and a T-shirt. This man was an intruder, and if he didn’t start talking, he wouldn’t have a throat left to speak with.

  “Are you deaf? Who in the holy fuck are you, and what are you doing in my apartment?”

  “I’m sorry to meet you this way, Mara. I tried to introduce myself in public over the years, but you were never alone. When I saw you were by yourself for the first time, I knew breaking into your apartment was my only chance.”

  “Tell me why I shouldn’t kill you and then call my friends for the cleanup?” I pushed my blade harder against his neck.

  He leaned forward, allowing my sword to prick his skin. A drop of crimson blood dribbled down his neck and stained his white dress shirt. “You can kill me if you’d like, but then you’d have to explain to everyone why you killed your father.”

  Shock ricocheted through my body at his words. I hadn’t believed him, despite how much I had wanted to.

  “Liar,” I said. “My father wouldn’t have left me alone with an evil mother.”

  He held his hands up. “I didn’t know your mother was pregnant when I left her. It wasn’t until later that I heard she had a child. By the time I tracked her down, she was dead and you were gone.”

  I snorted. “So it took you this long to find me? I call bullshit.”

  “Your mother hid her tracks well. Argueta isn’t even her real last name, or yours.”

  “Prove it to me,” I growled.

  He reached into his jacket and then paused when I bristled. “I’m getting the proof you’re asking for out of my pocket.”

  He held out an envelope. I refused to take my sword off his throat. “Open it for me.”

  His eyes never left mine as me as he opened said envelope and took out three pieces of paper. He held the first up for me to see.

  I inspected the picture. My mother was young and smiling, her happiness so at odds from what I remembered. Next to her was a younger version of the man in front of me, his arm around my mother.

  Shrugging, I said, “That doesn’t mean you were a couple. You could’ve been friends for all I know.”

  With a sigh, he held up a white sheet of paper. When I only stared at it, he smirked. “My name is Marlin Foster, and this is a DNA test showing I’m your father.”

  Narrowing my eyes, I snarled, “How in the hell did you get my DNA?”

  “I finally caught up with Jennifer, which is your real mother’s name, by the way. However, she had already died and you were already gone. So I grabbed some hair from your brush and had it tested.”

  “Your creep factor just shot up to a million, old man.” While he was moving to show me each paper, he’d yet to fight the blade at his throat. Point for him.

  “I’m sorry. I know this must be insane to you, but it’s my job to hunt people down.” He held up the last piece of paper.

  Three names greeted me on an old birth certificate. Mara Foster as the child, the mother as Jennifer Carter and the father listed as Marlin Foster.

  My gaze swung back up to his. “They could all be fake. People can forge documents.”

  He nodded. “I thought you might say that. I would think the same thing, especially in our line of work.”

  My brows lowered in confusion. “Our line of work?”

  “You hunt demons, my dear. I hunt angels.”

  The blood drained from my face. Rage propelled through my body like fire. Could the man who had just claimed he was my father be hunting Coren, and that was how he’d found me?

  I sank the blade a little more into his skin and another drop of blood pooled against his shirt color. “Get out before I kill you. I won’t warn you again.”

  CHAPTER 28

  Some of the most poisonous people come disguised as family.

  Once the man set the papers on my coffee table, he left, as requested. Of course, he left with more blood staining his white shirt, too.

  After I locked my three deadbolts, I searched for my cell phone. I needed to do some research on my supposed father and figure out how to warn Coren. He hadn’t returned, and I bet I’d have to hunt him down to find him.

  Marlin Foster was a ghost. No pictures, no newspaper clippings, no record of arrests, or hospital admissions. Next, I searched myself to see what would come up. The only thing that did was an old picture from high school cheerleading, so I searched my supposed name Mara Foster out of curiosity. I sat back on the chair with my heart in my throat. Mara Foster had vanished from the hospital, along with her mother. There was a grainy, out-of-focus picture of my mother on the front page of the Townsy paper. The articles stopped. No search, no police involvement. Nothing.

  If I was indeed Mara Foster, then why hadn’t there been a search or any other article about a newborn vanishing? Somebody went to great lengths to hide me, which I assumed was my mother. Then why the drug addiction if she wanted me hidden? I scoured over the paperwork again. There had to be some sort of clue I had missed.

  I picked up the picture. They looked happy enough in the photo, but I spotted the man in the background. He was underexposed, but I knew him without a doubt. Nobody had the same body shape, the same wicked
smile. Had my father known Lucifer?

  “Hey, girl.”

  I grabbed my sword but relaxed when I spotted Raven seated across from me.

  She frowned. “Are you okay?”

  I slid the papers over to her. “This man said he’s my father after he had broken in to my apartment earlier.”

  Raven’s brow crinkled as she read everything. She read them a second time. “You don’t believe him?”

  Shrugging, I slowly placed the picture in front of her. “This is my mom.” I pointed to her and pointed to the man next. “This is Marlin Foster. The man who claims he’s my father.”

  “They were both good looking and look happy in the photo. This doesn’t prove anything.”

  She started to slide it back, but I stopped the photograph with my finger. “Look closer.”

  Raven did as I asked. Her face morphed from confusion to disbelief. Her eyes snapped up to mine. “What in the hell is Lucifer doing there?”

  “I’d like to know that, too. Did this Marlin Foster know him? Did my mother?” I let out a frustrated breath. “There’s more.”

  Her eyebrow rose as she awaited what I had to say. I hesitated for a few minutes because I knew what I was about to tell her would change everything.

  “Spit it out,” she said, her toes tapping in impatience.

  “So, we all know I hunt demons. That’s nothing new. Well, this guy, my alleged father, does the complete opposite.”

  Staring at me, she blinked a few times. “The complete opposite? What does that even...” Her eyes widened as the meaning sank in. “You can’t be serious.”

  “Completely serious. Have you never heard of an angel hunter?”

  “We’ve never met anyone brave enough to confront an angel, let alone kill one. Well, until you.” She winced. “But if he’s really hunting angels, then he can’t kill them. There’s no way. He’d have to trick them somehow.”

  “But I killed one. Why can’t he do the same?”

  “Trust me, he can’t.” She smiled, but a moment later Raven inhaled sharply. “Coren.”

  I nodded sadly. “We have to find him before that Marlin dude does.”

  Her blonde hair bobbed as she nodded. “Agreed, but how?

  “I have no freaking clue.”

  *****

  Finding an angel was tricky business, especially when they didn’t want to be found.

  As Raven and I searched for Coren, I felt eyes on us. Always watching, always barely beyond sight. Time would tell if it was Coren, my father, or one of Satan’s spies.

  “Do you feel somebody...?” Raven hesitated, unsure of how to explain.

  I nodded and whispered, “Yes.”

  She gave me a grim look as we turned the corner near the donut shop by the church. I glanced up at Our Lady of Angels Cathedral, thinking about the pastor and the blessing I’d received. A loud chiming sound from the steeple echoed down the street.

  I stopped so suddenly Raven bumped into me. The ringing sound was sporadic and too soon for the hourly ding.

  “What?”

  I shook my head, unable to explain. Instead, I turned on the balls of my feet and started across the street. My boots clunked against the concrete steps leading up to the door of the place, Raven hot on my heels.

  Once I reached for the door, she grasped my arm. “What do you think you’re doing?”

  “I have to go in. I have a hunch.”

  “You’re going to risk Lucifer’s wrath based on a hunch? Remember what happened the last time he couldn’t track you? He threatened all of us.”

  “Look,” I said and yanked my hand out of her grip, “you can come with me or you can stay here. Either way, I’m going inside.”

  She let out a breathy sigh. “Fine. I’ll be right behind you.”

  My eyebrows hit my hairline at her response. “You can come in?”

  “Mara, I’m an angel of death. I can go anywhere I damn well please.”

  “True,” I replied, pulling open the doors to a quiet empty church.

  We rose up the small set of stairs and came to an abrupt halt. A lone figure kneeled on one knee at the front of the space.

  Neither Raven nor I wanted to interrupt him. We watched him in silence, but my eyes swung to the stained glass of the angel who looked an awful lot like the man near the altar. Coren, who I first assumed was a demon, was praying inside a holy space. Apparently, fallen angels were able to enter houses of worship and divine places. That was unsettling. This fallen angel wouldn’t hurt me, Raven, nor any of my friends. He wouldn’t kill unless he had to—that much I knew.

  Last time I saw Coren, he was bleeding in an alley and I had left him there. Despite what I had originally thought about him, this man had protected me at every opportunity. He’d hid my volunteering at SafetyNet. He let me fight my own battles without interfering. Okay, not interfering too much.

  His strong back was curved to allow his head and hands to rest on the one bent knee. There were no words said, no hushed whispers. Only silence. The scene was beautiful and serene.

  “Mara.” Coren hadn’t moved, but he spoke my name similar to a prayer.

  “Thanks for the hint on your location.” I looked around the church again. “But why here of all places?”

  “Honestly?” He rose and looked at me. “I knew you’d be safe.”

  “Well, yeah, but you know as well as I do that Lucifer will be pissed when he can’t track me again. Safe is a biased word right now.”

  Raven snorted. “And if this holy place does the same for me, then I’m in a heap of shit.”

  “You’ll be fine.” Coren waved a dismissive hand in her direction. “My concern is you, Mara. Hell is in chaos, Heaven is in an uproar, and the only one who will suffer is you.”

  “But what about you? Lucifer knows you’re a fallen angel,” I said as I took a step in his direction.

  Coren lifted a shoulder. “There are plenty of fallen angels in Hell, and I quickly rose through the ranks with nobody the wiser on my true mission.”

  “Wait.” Raven looked at me, and then at Coren. “What true mission?”

  “Like I tried to explain to Mara before she left with Lor, I fell for one specific person. I was tasked with infiltrating Hell and attempting to keep Mara from completely losing her soul. When Lucifer put a time limit, I figured something was off. There are things in motion that I can’t stop unless I have help.”

  My eyebrows elevated. “You mean my father?”

  Both pairs of eyes focused on me. I wanted to shift uncomfortably, but I remained as still as possible.

  “You met your father?” Coren blinked in what must have been shock. “Does he know what you do for a living?”

  I winced. “Yes, he does. He hunts angels.”

  “Impossible,” Raven muttered. “He’s a fool.”

  His eyes narrowed. “What makes you think he truly hunts angels?”

  “He told me. I guess he could be lying.”

  Raven scoffed and shook her head. “I bet he’s lying. My question is why he showed up after all these years. If I ever see him in person, I’ll be sure to torture it out of him.”

  “He can’t be the real deal.” Coren smirked. “You of all people know what happens when an angel is killed, Mara.”

  “What happens?” Raven asked, her gaze traveling between Coren and me.

  A shiver ran over me. If Coren hadn’t been there to shield me, I wouldn’t have survived the blast. “They go kaboom.”

  CHAPTER 29

  Do no harm but take no shit.

  Lor stared at me with his bright scarlet eyes. “You can’t be serious.”

  My lips thinned in annoyance. “Look, I wouldn’t ask if it wasn’t serious.”

  “So you want me to spy on your father without any details?”

  “I just met the guy. Forgive me for not having his fucking address.”

  Lor’s lips twitched at my sarcasm. “I’ll see what I can do, and I’ll fill the rest my gang in as well. They a
sk about you all the time. They want a rematch at the Garden of the Gods when this is all over, you know.”

  “Of course they do.” I laughed with a shake of my head. “If I make it out with my soul intact, I’ll take them up on it.”

  “You’ll keep it,” he said, his fingers brushing my cheek in a friendly gesture. “I’ll make sure of it.”

  “I know you’ll do your best, Lor. Thank you.”

  With that, he smiled and began to fade away, and the last thing to disappear were his eyes. Once he was gone, I sagged against the wall and let out a long, exhausted breath. My gaze moved to the calendar on the fridge. The cute gray kitten in a basket hadn’t lifted my spirits. I’d faced stronger demons, Lucifer threatened my friends, and I had an emotional upheaval over Coren.

  On the plus side, Coren located a Wiccan to help cleanse my apartment and protect it from negative energy. They were due to arrive any minute. Lor assured me it wouldn’t keep him or the rest of his gang out, but he felt the woman might help with demons entering my space uninvited as the âme damnée had.

  I thought the whole thing was hocus pocus, but I was willing to give this person a chance to keep my apartment clean of evil. After all, Coren would know what kept demons away. When the knock sounded at my door, I hesitated. I slung open the door to see a petite, redheaded woman in a jade dress that matched her eyes. Her sandaled feet were manicured with pink toenails and she examined me from head to toe.

  “I’m Everly Miles. Are you Mara?” she asked, her voice soft yet firm.

  “Yes, nice to meet you.” I held out my hand in greeting.

  She recoiled. I clenched my teeth at her rudeness. If Coren hadn’t vouched for her, I’d slam the door in her face. Taking my hand back slowly, I sneered, but I meant to smile politely. I wasn’t good at being courteous. I stepped back and invited her in with a wave of my hand.

  She looked around the small space as she entered, but she stopped and stared at my balcony in confusion. “Have you had any recent demon visitations?”

  I snorted. Was this bitch serious? She glared at me so I guessed she was.