by Lisa Olsen
“Why does Adam dislike him so much? I kinda got the impression it was more than because Azazael is after me now.” Of course Adam didn’t seem to get along with many people besides Sam. Hell, half the time I wanted to smack him in the mouth myself. But the other half…
“You saw Adam as well?” he blinked.
“Yes, he showed up in the middle of the dream, and he wasn’t at all friendly to the guy, not even for him. In fact, he did that thing with the sword appearing as if from nowhere. Can you do that too?”
“Yes, of course.”
“Can you show me how to do it?”
Sam looked vaguely disturbed by the notion and tried to redirect me. “Adam came to you in the Ether… Of course, that makes perfect sense.”
“What makes perfect sense?”
“It’s the one place it’s safe to come to you without attracting the attention of the Watchers.”
“The Watchers?” I started to feel like a parrot, but I wasn’t tracking what he was going on about just yet.
“Yes, those angels set to watch you from above, chiefly Nathanael. He said as much when last I paid him a visit. It is their notice that Adam hopes to avoid, for fear of dooming you to the same fate as his beloved Mariah.”
“His wife,” I swallowed, remembering how she’d met her end. “But wait, go back a minute. You didn’t explain why Adam hates Azazael so much.”
“He blames him in part for his fall. It was Azazael who first took up the notion to involve himself with humans, teaching them to arm themselves and choosing a human woman for his own. It was his example that led many of my brethren to take human wives, thus incurring God’s wrath.”
“That’s the part I don’t get. What’s so bad about angels falling in love with humans?” Shouldn’t God have a soft spot in his heart for love?
“It was not always or even often borne out of love, Mercy,” Sam shook his head sadly. “Most of the Fallen were more interested in debauchery than love, and the sins of the flesh corrupted them. Many angels were worshipped as deities and began to believe themselves worthy of that obeisance. For that they were cast out of heaven, and for that Azazael was made to pay the ultimate price. That is why he will stop at nothing to gain his freedom through you.”
“What makes him think he can escape through me anyway? What was that stuff about me being the vessel?” I had to admit, some of it went right over my head.
“There is a prophecy that speaks of a way for him to escape his prison and be reborn to the world through the vessel. He believes that is you.”
“But why me?”
“Here, let me read it to you.” Sam put back the first book and selected another, a much newer volume. “And in the time of the new world there shall be a creature born of Grace, and she shall be the Bringer of Life. She will walk among the Earth and the Heavens alike, sewing dissent among God’s chosen. From her issue will arise a new race of man, free from Original Sin.”
“That doesn’t sound so bad, except for the dissent part.” It was weird to think there was a prophecy written about me, if that was me after all, it was a little vague.
“There is another passage.” He flipped to a later page. “There will the fallen scapegrace conspire to be free, corrupting all with his touch. And the Bringer of Life shall be the vessel through which he will be reborn to the world. With deceit he shall conjure her love to break the chains that bind him. And man will know new suffering and despair under his hand. Let the heavens weep.”
Heavy stuff. “Okay. But as long as I head in the other direction as soon as I see him I’m safe, right? It says he needs my love to break free. I won’t give it to him, that’s all.”
“That is true, but Azazael has ever been a master of finding others to do his bidding.”
“Meaning?”
“Meaning he can take any form to steal your love.”
“You mean like a shape shifter?” I blinked, confused.
“He has certain dark magics available to him. More likely he would use the ability to possess another to reach you in this world if you will not submit to him in the Ether.”
“Then he could get me here at any time?” I remembered how strong he was… “Will my Grace work against him like it did on Weatie?” The Grace protected me when I was afraid, but it had no effect whatsoever on demons. In fact, they thought it was delicious. But Azazael wasn’t a demon.
“Your Grace would protect you to some extent if used against him, yes. But he would never seek to force you. Your love must be freely given. That is why he could easily appear as someone you love and trust in order to breach your defenses.”
“Swell.” I dropped into one of his armchairs as the magnitude of what he’d told me sank in. “So, what you’re saying is, he could appear as Ben and seduce me in my own bedroom, and I’d be giving him exactly what he wants?”
Sam hesitated, clearly uncomfortable with that thought before nodding. “Bingo.”
I wasn’t as charmed that time by the vernacular. “Super. Just great,” I replied sourly. “Well, that’s fine. I’ll never have sex ever again, end of story.” Sam’s awkward pat on my shoulder did little to ease my mind, and neither did what came next.
“Also…”
“Wait, there’s more?”
“I wasn’t going to trouble you with this last night, but under the circumstances…”
“Go ahead and spill it,” I waved him on. Things couldn’t possibly get any worse.
“I have learned that the demon lord has sent runners up into the world to retrieve you.”
I was wrong. They were definitely worse. “To retrieve me?”
Sam nodded. “Word has reached him of your Grace, and he seeks to make you a member of his court.”
“And you didn’t think this was information I should know?” I couldn’t help but raise my voice, and I stopped to count to ten on the inside before I blew my stack. Adam hadn’t mentioned any of it the night before either, and he must have known.
“I knew I could protect you from his imps, they are no match for an angel.” His chest puffed out a little.
“God save me from the male ego…” My eyes closed in an impotent appeal. “Alright, well, let’s hear it all now. Who is this demon lord, and what exactly does he expect me to do in his court?”
“I should think he will want the same as all his ilk,” he shrugged.
“Which is…” It was like pulling teeth to get the information out of him sometimes.
“To feed from you, of course.”
“Of course…” Adam’s words came back to me from the night I’d been attacked on the church steps. I’d all but forgotten his warning that Cephas’ boss might want a taste of me, since nothing had come out of the woodwork in the weeks that followed. “You mentioned something about him sending runners after me. What does that mean?”
“Raum will need to find you first. You were not attacked near the vicinity of your home, is that correct?”
“Yeah, that’s right,” I nodded. The church wasn’t too far from work though, it would only be a matter of time before they caught up with me. “What can I do to avoid them?” For all I knew there was an army of imps out there, each armed with my picture and a bloodhound. Did demons need search dogs? Or could they sniff out my Grace themselves?
“Their province lies in the darkness. You should be safe enough in the daylight hours, but you should not go out alone at night to begin with.”
Easier said than done. “I work in a bar. How am I supposed to avoid going out at night?” Sam had no easy answer for me, and I frowned in the face of his unhelpful lack of knowledge. “But you’ll be looking out for me, right? Or am I on my own?”
“I will watch over you as best I can, as I have been these many months.”
“Yeah, from afar.” My frown stayed fixed in place. “I don’t see why you can’t be around me openly anymore.”
“Adam has said…”
“You know, Adam doesn’t get to call all of the shots. If he’
s gonna run out on me, then he doesn’t get to say what happens in my life.” I swallowed back a lump of emotion as his last goodbye came rushing back, and it was a few moments before I could speak again. “If I’m in this much danger, from both Azazael and the demon guy, I’m gonna need all the help I can get. I mean, who do you think you’re fooling?” Sam looked dubious and I pressed him with my trump card. “Unless you don’t want to be friends anymore…”
“No, that wasn’t my intention… We are BFF’s, are we not?” His face twisted in pain at the notion that I didn’t think so too, and I felt bad for even bringing it up.
“Yeah, we’re friends, and we always will be.” I covered his hand with mine, giving it a squeeze. The connection between us was strong. Not just because he’d given me part of his Grace and saved my life, or because we genuinely liked each other, but because we needed each other. He needed me as a bridge to the current century and I needed him as a bridge to the unknown. “So, what do you say? No more hide and seek?”
Sam’s answering smile was radiant. “No more hide and seek,” he agreed. “Does that mean I can come and visit you sometime?”
“Yes, of course you can. Just call first, to make sure I’m there and I don’t already have company.” Even though Ben knew all about Sam and what he was, I didn’t think it would be the best idea ever to bring the two of them together yet, given Ben’s prejudice against him.
“I remember, no popping in unannounced,” Sam nodded. “Oh, I got a new movie. Will you watch it with me? It’s a timeless Disney classic.” He parroted off the description from the DVD box, and I realized he wanted me to watch Mary Poppins with him.
“Sure, I love that movie,” I smiled, losing some of my worry.
“You’ve seen it before?” He blinked, and I had to laugh.
“Everyone has seen it before. But I’m up for seeing it again, it’s a good one. Too bad we don’t have any popcorn.”
“Why, are you hungry?”
“You don’t have to be hungry to eat popcorn.” In the face of his confusion, I let it go, relaxing in one of the two easy chairs in his living room while he fired up the DVD player. It had been a long time since I’d seen it, but soon I was singing along with the children and the penguins, the whole shebang. Even Sam got into it, toes tapping as he hummed along, catching on to the words pretty quickly. It was better than watching it with a kid for the first time, and I realized how much I’d missed his company those past few weeks. I’d missed the easy joy that shone from his face over the simplest of things.
“If you liked this one, I have a whole slew of musicals to show you,” I grinned, happy to find someone to share one of my favorite pastimes with. Matty had never been big on musicals and Daphne watched them with me every now and again, but she never got into them as much as I did.
“I would like that very much. Shall we go now?”
I hated to crush the look on his face. “I was thinking about some time soon, but not quite that soon. I’ve actually been here a lot longer than I first planned. I’m going to meet up with Daphne for lunch. I’d invite you but…”
“I don’t eat,” he nodded.
“I still think you’re making a big mistake on that score.” I rose to my feet to get going. “Maybe you can try some popcorn when you come over to hang out at my place.”
“It’s a date,” he smiled, and I couldn’t help but wonder if he was trying out a modern phrase or if he did really mean a date.
“So, I’ll see you tonight then, when all the big bads come out to get me?”
“I’ll be there with bells on,” he promised, and I gave him a quick hug.
“It’s good to see you again, Sam.”
*
Daphne’s text said she’d be available to meet for lunch at our usual spot. I decided it was late enough to risk a phone call with my brother and not get my head bitten off for waking him up. At least, I thought so… When his voice came on the line, he sounded like he’d been dead asleep.
“H’lo…?”
“Hey, Matt, did I wake you?”
“No, been up for hours,” he yawned, and I could picture him all bleary eyed. “What’s up?”
“I thought maybe we should talk.”
“‘Bout what?”
“It’s not the sort of thing to talk about over the phone,” I hedged.
“Oh, come on, Merce, what’s with the need for all this cloak and dagger bullshit? Tell me what’s up so I can get back to bed.”
Not exactly the reaction I’d been hoping for. “I thought you might be wondering why I left the party so early, especially after Sam showed up, that’s all.”
“Sam,” he replied blankly. “I thought the cop’s name was Ben?”
Why did I bother? “It is, I’m talking about Sam, the angel. Remember the whole angel thing? Nevermind, Matty…”
“Wait, I thought you were done with that angel stuff?” He sounded more awake, and I wondered if he was trying to figure out how to make a bit of money off the situation. Wanting to nip that in the bud, I decided to be a little more blunt.
“Yeah well, they aren’t done with me. Apparently, there’s a dangerous fallen angel who’s trying to be reborn into this world through me, and he can use magic to appear like anyone he wants. So, be careful out there. He might decide to use you to come after me.”
“For reals, a shapeshifter?” There was definitely a note of excitement to his voice and I started to regret calling him at all.
“Yes, a dangerous one. So, if you see anything out of the ordinary, try and be safe, okay? This isn’t a good guy to mess around with, he’s not like the others.”
“Yeah, sure. I’ll be on the lookout then.”
“Good, that’s all I wanted to tell you.”
“You sound kinda freaked out though.”
“Wouldn’t you be if someone wanted to trick you into sleeping with them to escape being imprisoned for thousands of years?”
“There are worse ways to go, Merce,” he laughed. I swear, sometimes my brother acted like he was still twelve. “Just keep your knees together and you’ll be fine.” A woman’s laughter came through the phone, high and grating.
“Is there someone else there with you?”
“Yeah, why?”
“Remember this is just between us, right? No one else can know anything about it.” I wasn’t sure he was listening though, because I heard him talking to her in the background. “Matt!”
“Right, yeah, of course,” he replied all too quickly and I was pretty sure he hadn’t heard a word I’d said. My only saving grace was if he ever did say anything about my… situation, no one would ever believe him.
“I’ll let you get back to it then.”
“Later, Merce.”
I’d done my part in trying to warn Matty about the dangers headed my way. More than likely it wouldn’t affect him in the slightest, but I felt better about giving him the heads up. After the way that phone call went, I wasn’t sure if I should bother Daphne with my troubles. Maybe I was making a mountain out of a molehill? With both Sam and Ben looking out for me in the real world and Adam protecting me in the Ether, what could go wrong?
Oh, how I wish I’d never tempted fate with that question…
Chapter Four
Daphne took the worry out of having to decide whether or not to fill her in by demanding I tell her all the juicy details from the moment I stepped into her apartment. I have to admit it felt good to have someone to talk to who wouldn’t try and pressure me into going to live with him, judge me for letting Adam get to me when I had Ben in my back pocket or push me to find a way to make a little bit of money off of my ordeal.
Her apartment was even smaller than mine, more of a studio, with a curtain closing off the bedroom. The apartment was decorated in flea market and second hand store cast offs, in a jumble of different styles. The result of Daphne’s tendency to impulse buy. That meant when I took a seat on the loveseat that served as a couch, I fought for space with a soft, leo
pard print throw blanket and a Hello Kitty pillow.
“What happened to you guys? The party barely started and you slipped off together. Wanted a little bit of romantic alone time?” Daphne’s eyes were bright and ready for gossip, and I did my best to return her smile.
“No, Sam showing up was a bit of a buzzkill.”
“Oh, right, I almost forgot about that. Did you tell Ben about it all?”
“Yep,” I sighed, hugging the pillow to my middle.
“How did he take it?” She sat beside me, leaning forward expectantly.
“Pretty well I guess, all things considered.” I waved my hand back and forth. “He didn’t believe me until I proved it to him though.” I launched into a description of my trick with the knife and I noticed a wistful look come over her face. Though I’d healed her minor aches and pains plenty of times, I could tell she wished she’d gotten to see something a bit more dramatic like healing a cut before her eyes. Well, she could be wistful all she wanted, I wasn’t about to cut into my arm to satisfy her curiosity.
“See, I told you, you had nothing to worry about! You should have told him a long time ago. Don’t you feel better getting it off your chest? Maybe you’ll finally let him in all the way without having to keep so many secrets from him.” Her observation that I hadn’t completely let myself fall for Ben caught me by surprise, and she pressed on as she noticed it. “You know you’ve been holding back with him, Mercy, admit it. Normally you’re the type to jump first without making sure there’s water beneath you.”
It was true, I did tend to jump into relationships before I had all the facts. Not that I’m a slut or anything. I meant in the sense that I had a history of risking my heart (not my body) without thinking about the consequences. “That’s not what’s been holding me back with Ben,” I admitted aloud.
“Then what… oh, Mercy, I recognize that look,” she sighed as realization dawned on her. “Not the stuff with Adam again? I thought you finally had him out of your system?”
