by Rae Foxx
"Why are you looking at me like that?" she asked.
"I'm reading your aura."
It was her turn to look shocked. "I've never heard of another being able to do that," she whispered.
"It's a rare gift," I said. "You can?"
She shook her head. "No. My mother could. She's gone now."
"If she'd come to Abaddon, I would've known her. I know all the witches that make it to my realm," I said. "She is in Heaven or reborn."
A brilliant smile broke across her weathered face. "I knew she was, but it is nice to hear it confirmed."
I couldn't find an ounce of evil in her aura. "Have you never made the wrong choice in your life?" I asked. "Your aura reads like an impossibility."
"Oh, lord, child." I chuckled at her use of the word child. I was many thousands of years older than she. She ignored me and continued. "I've made plenty of bad decisions. But don't you know it's not about the act. It's about the intent. The soul is not colored by actions. It's colored by desires and motives."
I sighed and lowered myself to sit in one of her kitchen chairs. Her aura winked from sight as I let the magic slide back. "I hesitate to know what my aura looks like. I don't know anyone else that could read it, and it's impossible to see your own aura. I wish I could ask your mother," I said with a smile. "Now, tell me. What price for your help?"
"Truth," she said. "I wish to know my heritage, how my lineage got our power. The truth has been lost to time."
That was easy enough. "Is that all?"
She shook her head. "The truth of your mission."
The perfect colors of her aura told me she could be trusted. "Through a series of unbelievable events, I became pregnant."
"Why are you human?" she asked. "Even with your powers, I sense your humanity."
Oh, geez. That was so much to explain. "I don't have time. Truly I don't. May I show you?" I stood and held out my hand. If I could put the knowledge directly in her brain, she'd know everything she needed to know in an instant.
She narrowed her eyes but nodded. "Okay."
We stepped toward one another, and I cupped her face. First, I gave her everything I knew about Nephilim and their parentage, including the many Fallen that created children on Earth. Then, I gave her my reading of her aura and why I thought she was descended from a Nephilim. Her aura was the color of my brother Asmodeous's, so I had a strong suspicion she was my many times great-niece. I kept that part to myself for now.
Then, I planted the knowledge of how and why I was human and the need for Angelic Earth Cycles to replenish and bolster our power. Finally, I gave her the full knowledge of Raphael's treachery and how I became pregnant. When I finished, she knew everything about our current predicament.
"Take me there," she said. "Now. We must stop the gates of Abaddon from opening."
I grabbed her hand and moved us to the spot I'd vacated minutes before. "There's a barrier over the property," I said. "I must get inside to Ezekiel."
Mary walked toward the house until she stopped suddenly. "I think I can fix this," she said. "Take me back to my home."
She walked back and I moved us instantly back to her kitchen. She pulled her microwave cart away from the wall and pressed her hand to the faded flowery wallpaper. The wall disappeared and a doorway materialized. There wasn't even a door there, just the glamour of the wall. "Nice," I muttered.
"Thank you. Come." She walked into the hidden room, and I realized it opened up into the apartment adjacent to hers. Smart.
It was full of things that would make most humans shout about witches and the devil. Potion ingredients, spell books, even a cauldron. I knew nothing in the room made her evil or good. Only her intentions did that.
She ran her finger along the books on the wall as she read the spines. "There is one here about wards," she muttered. "I haven't used it in years. Haven't had need."
On the third shelf down, she stopped and grabbed the book. It was bound in leather and looked pretty damn old. I itched to study the volumes and see what she had, but there wasn't time.
"Here," she said. "This spell should unlock the ward. I do not have access to some of the ingredients, but I'm sure you do."
I leaned in and looked at the list. Blood of an angel. Easy enough, but that would be something hard to come by for her. Blood of the unborn. Ew, but doable considering who I had trapped in the barn.
The rest was probably not necessary for the spell. A chicken's foot, powdered wormtail, and a few other odds and ends. I'd use them, just in case, but it was the blood and the incantation that would do the trick. "Thank you," I said. Taking out my phone, which was damn close to dying, I snapped a photo and emailed it to myself so I could get to it if the phone died. "I hope the knowledge I gave you is a comfort to you."
"Quite the opposite," she said in her whimsical accent. "But I appreciate the truth either way."
"Don't be disheartened," I said. "The offspring of the Fallen and the offspring of the Archangels are genetically the same. God didn't change our basic DNA or our magic. Only Lucifer changed, and he got more power somehow. I'm still not sure how that worked."
She inclined her head. "Thank you for your attempt."
With a wave, I disappeared and went back to the barn. Michael and Gabriel appeared just as I did. "Where's Luc?" I asked.
They looked around. "He's supposed to be with you."
I shook my head and studied my men. They looked tired but unhurt. "Uriel?"
"He got away," Gabe said. "Joel is tracking him now, but we need to go help. We just wanted to check in, make sure you were okay. Did you get either of your targets?"
I pointed to Genevra on the wall. They looked up but then looked at me blankly. "What?" Michael asked.
"Oh, sorry." My magic must've concealed her from everyone but me. I prodded it and she came into view, slumped against the magical restraints. "I'm working on Ezekiel, though. Let me pop to the house and try to find Luc."
He wasn't there. I returned to Gabriel and Michael to find Michael gone.
"Where'd he go?" I asked.
"To help Joel. I waited to see if you found Lucifer."
Fear filled my gut. "No, he wasn't there."
Gabe closed his eyes for a moment. "I can't sense him."
Damn it. He wouldn't have left on his own. "I have to find him. Let Michael and Joel track Uriel. Here." I pulled out my phone, which beeped when it went down to one percent and forwarded him the picture. "Can you gather those ingredients?" Pointing to Genevra, I continued. "This one is pregnant so the unborn blood will be easy and more powerful being an angelic baby."
Gabe nodded. "I'll leave the ingredients here, then go to Michael. Check in when you can."
He pulled me into his arms and pressed a kiss to my lips. "Be careful, my love," he whispered. "You're the heart of us, you know."
"I love you," I said, then he disappeared.
Now to find Luc.
12
The only way I knew to find Luc was to blanket the Earth realm in magic again. It worried me to do it so soon after I already had, but without Luc in his normal body, I couldn't sense him.
Sitting on a clean bit of hay, I let my magic spread out again, sending the same call for demons to return to Abaddon. I sensed a few still in the Earth realm, probably some that had escaped Abaddon just since we returned the first wave. Damn, they were slipping out fast, even with all the ones we'd tasked with hiding the holes and cracks in the walls.
Lucifer's energy pulsed halfway across the United States, in Georgia. I sighed and hid Genevra again. Luc hadn't ported himself hundreds of miles away on his own. Someone had taken him, and if they'd been here, my magic had done its job, because Genevra was still there, untouched. Whoever took Luc hadn't known she was on the wall. That was encouraging, at least.
Appearing in the yard outside a small house as the sun slipped behind the trees, I sighed and walked forward. At least this one didn't have a damn ward over it.
Luc was inside, but s
omething was wrong with him. Even though I couldn't sense his magic because of the spell on him, I could tell he was nearly passed out. What the hell?
I knocked on the door and jumped back when someone appeared to my right.
A low-level angel lunged at me, but I ducked and whirled, grabbing his arm and twisting it behind him. He jerked out of my grasp and disappeared. Not at all deterred, I ran into the house. I hadn't even begun to fight.
The Throne followed me, but once I was inside, he stopped trying to fight me. Closing the door, he leaned against it and I got a good look at him. He was tall and lanky, with long, greasy hair.
Within seconds, I knew why he'd stopped trying to fight. The house was under a draining spell. It began siphoning my powers immediately. I threw a layer of protection over me, which slowed the process considerably. Now the spell was only able to take a trickle, not a flood. Ignoring the Throne, I walked through the house, looking for Lucifer. I found him on the sofa, unrestrained, but so weak he was nearly passed out. His head lolled back, and his jaw was slack, though his eyes fluttered open and shut.
Turning to the weak angel, I glared. "Stop the spell now."
He grinned, looking triumphant. "Like you can stop me." Chuckling, he walked forward. "By now, your powers are a fraction of what they should be, and you're no more powerful than I am. Some great and powerful leader you are," he snarled. "One simple spell has you cowering in fear. "
I arched one eyebrow and looked around the room. "Who is cowering? Am I cowering?" Looking down at myself, I made a comical show of turning in a circle. "Nope. No cowering here."
My powers were diminished, sure, and wearing by the minute, but they were leaving me far slower than this putz realized.
I split the flow of my energy, leaving half of it to keep me protected. I used part of the other half to lift the tall man into the air. "My power is fine," I said in a low, even voice. "And I can't help but wonder if killing you will stop the spell and release my husband."
"No," he whispered. "He promised me if I got you here, you'd both be weak. He told me to keep you here."
This wasn't someone on the list we already had. This asshole was someone new. I didn't waste the energy to read his aura. It could safely be assumed he was vile.
Snaking a thread of power up his arm so he could feel it, I let it wrap around his neck several times like a constrictor. "Do you want to release the spell? Or should I test my killing you theory?" I asked.
He gulped. "I can't. If you don't kill me, he will."
My coil of magic tightened around his neck. "He's not here. I am." I cocked my head at him. "Last chance." Squeezing harder, I smiled as he gasped.
"Okay," he whispered through the tightness in his throat. "I'll break the spell."
I released his throat but kept the rest of him tightly bound in my power. "Do it."
"It's not an incantation. It's a spell in the necklace around my neck."
Striding forward, I grabbed the gold chain around his neck and pulled a large purple gem out from under his shirt. Closing my fist around it, I fought the surge of power from it, trying to suck my magic away. With a yank, the chain broke, and the stone rested in my hand.
"Now what?" I asked.
"Crush it," he said.
I considered his words. He could've been leading me into a trap. Crushing it could make it explode or something, but I didn't see how I had much choice. More and more of my magic slipped away every second, and Lucifer didn't look good. He'd slipped into full unconsciousness.
Dropping the stone onto the hardwood floor, I stomped it with my hiking boot. A real stone never would've crumbled without considerably more pressure, but this one did. My magic slammed into me, and Lucifer opened his eyes with a gasping breath.
Jumping to his feet, he surged forward, and I was shocked to realize he was full of power.
But it felt all wrong. "Luc," I whispered as he lashed out at the bound angel.
The man's head separated from his body as Lucifer roared his anger. I watched the wretch's soul separate from his ruined body and sighed as I wrapped it in my power to hold until we could deal with it. We'd never get any information from him now. "Why'd you do that?"
Luc grunted and held out his arms, fully flexed. He cried out again, a low, guttural sound. As fast as he'd filled with power, it disappeared. "It wasn't my power," he said when it was gone. "Whoever's power he stole in that gem is returning to them now. I just borrowed it for a second."
"Why'd you kill him?" I asked. "Now we can't question him."
"Because Raphael and Mark, the one I killed, underestimated what a human could endure. They warned me I'd pass out as soon as we entered the house. I nearly did, too, and my eyes closed. But I didn't go out. They thought I did and spoke freely. This schmuck was being blackmailed. He killed an angel not too long ago and Raphael found out. He wasn't really on Raphael's team, so to speak."
"Then why'd you kill him?" I asked.
Luc brushed my question off. "Would've happened anyway. He killed his friend in cold blood. Any of the angel courts would have condemned him."
I rolled my eyes. "You should've left it to them."
"Sorry," he said. "Once Raphael left, this asshole kicked me around, slapped me a bit. Then told me what a piece of shit I was over and over. My temper got the best of me."
I grabbed his hand and pulled him close. "You were so worried about me getting hurt. I should've taken you with me. If you had your powers, there would be no match for you, but you don't."
He grunted and hugged me back. "Don't remind me."
I pulled Mark's soul close and took us back to the barn. Gabriel and Michael waited there with Joel and bound Uriel. "Ah, I see you were successful." I narrowed my eyes on Uriel, then used my power to stick him to the wall beside Genevra. "Joel, would you be a dear and put this soul with the one you're holding for me?"
Joel's eyebrows drew together. "I don't want to know, but yeah. I will." I felt his magic tug the sphere holding Marks' soul toward him. "Ugh," Joel muttered, then disappeared.
"One to go," I said. "Did you happen to get all those ingredients?"
Gabe nodded and pointed to a plastic shopping bag on the floor. "I put Sandalphon on it," he said. I poked through the ingredients and looked up. "No blood of the unborn?"
Gabe grimaced. "I didn't want to do it."
I rolled my eyes at his squeamishness and focused on Genevra. Using my power like a needle, I poked into her stomach and the tiny bundle of cells in her uterus. It was just old enough to have blood pumping through its little body. I didn't need much, just a few drops, which I carried down to my waiting hands. Unscrewing the tiny vial that held the angel blood, I added the blood of the unborn to it. "Whose blood?" I asked.
"Mine," Gabe said. "I was going to make Sandalphon but figured mine would be more powerful." Probably a good call.
"Let's go," I said. "Who is going with me and who is staying here?" We didn't all need to go. Once I got past the ward it would be easy.
"I'll stay with Luc," Gabe said.
Michael grinned at me and wiggled his eyebrows. "Let's go kick some ass," he said.
I moved us to the same spot I'd sat on the stump and mused several hours before. The angel Ezekiel was still inside, and the ward was as strong as ever. Using the stump as a table, I assembled the ingredients, mumbled the Latin words over the small stone bowl Gabriel had provided to do the spell in and watched it ignite.
Holding the bowl up, I used my power to drift the smoke rising from the bowl toward the ward. Where it hit, the ward fizzled. I fanned the smoke up and down, spreading it enough to create a hole both Michael and I could walk through.
As I moved toward the doorway made of smoke, I hoped Mary had been right about the spell and that I wasn't about to be vaporized by the powerful ward.
Holding my breath, I stepped through the smoke, then laughed in delight when I opened my eyes and discovered it had worked. The woman deserved a medal. Michael stepped through t
he smoke and joined me. "Now we just have to hope we can blink out of here and aren't stuck in here," he said.
The front door of the house opened, and an angel stepped out. He was handsome and looked like he could step into a boy band lineup at a moment's notice. "Stop there," he said. "I'll use my powers if you don't!"
The shakiness in his voice negated the threat of his words. The kid was scared out of his mind.
"Do you want to die before you've begun to live?" I asked.
Ezekiel shook his head. "No, I want to live," he said in a squeaky voice.
Hoping he won't be an idiot, I gestured to the yard. "Then come on. We just have questions for you. If you answer them, we won't hurt you."
He stepped off the porch slowly and moved toward us. This felt too easy, once we got past the protection spell.
"How'd you get the ward up?" I asked.
"Raphael gave me a rock," he said. "I don't know what it is." Ezekiel held out the rock and dropped it into Michael’s hand. He handed it to me, but I didn’t take the time to look at it then. I grabbed Ezekiel and Michael and took us back to the barn. Hopefully, he'd be as free with his tongue as he was with giving the Relic to us.
Lucifer was the first Angel created
13
It didn't take long to get all our prisoners lined up and ready to talk. We wrapped them in power, then let them sit together in the middle of the dried blood in the barn. We listened outside the barn as they told each other to stay calm. Uriel took on a position of leadership, cautioning Ezekiel and Genevra to keep quiet. He seemed confident that Raphael had their backs.
"Let them sit and stew while I mess with this," I whispered.
The rock Ezekiel had handed over wasn't a rock. It was a gem. One of the biggest rubies I'd ever seen, but uncut and unpolished. It looked like it had just fallen out of a cave, laced with stone and it was dull. If I hadn't seen one before, I might not have realized it was a ruby at all.
Trickling magic into the stone, I explored its abilities. As soon as I did, a ward slammed down around us. The stone was full of magic, old magic. Unused, sleepy magic. It was somewhat excited, probably from being used recently, but there was still a fount of magic stored inside that hadn't activated itself yet. It slept in the recesses of the gem, unaware that after all those years, it was in a position to be freed from its red prison. I tickled it with my power, urging it to wake and give me it's purpose. If I could make the magic like me, it would tell me its secrets. That would be the easiest way to get to the bottom of it.
