by Sam Cheever
He must have read my thoughts in my eyes. Reaching a gentle hand to my face, he touched my cheek, infusing me with a warm, peaceful energy. I leaned into that hand and willed myself not to cry.
He turned away from me, staring into the fire. “Many on the celestial side will see what I’ve done as treason. They’ll condemn and curse me. I can live with that.” His voice broke on the last word. But he turned to me and a strange light shone in his beautiful blue eyes. “However, I couldn’t live if you lost faith in me, daughter.”
“Tell me, Father. What hast thou done...and why?”
He shook his head. “I cannot, Astra.”
I lost my temper...in a galactic way. “Frunk me to Hades and back again! Why won’t you tell me what you’ve gotten yourself into so I can help? This affects me too you know!”
He just shook his head and stood there. A single tear ran down his cheek.
Angel’s tears, shed for only the most catastrophic of events.
Shit!
“Where is mother?”
He glanced my way. “She has returned to her coven.”
I felt my eyes widening. “Her...her coven?”
He nodded. “Yes. She is being carefully watched. We...we decided it was best if she returned to her normal activities.”
“What coven? What are you telling me, Father?”
His pretty blue eyes widened slightly. “You do not know?”
I could feel the blood rushing to my face as anger and frustration built to the breaking point. It was all I could do to keep from stomping my foot. “Know what?”
“Your mother is the Supreme High Witch of the Angel City coven. She has been thus for decades.”
All the blood that had gathered in my face plunked to my feet along with my stomach. Suddenly everything made sense. That was the special ingredient in fairy pudding. It was what everyone had been keeping from me. Why everyone thought I should sit the current mess out.
“Holy shit!” I said on an expelled breath. I turned to walk out of my father’s house. On some level I could hear him calling my name but my mind was in another place.
I climbed into the Viper and coded the coven headquarters into the directional system. I was so distraught I almost forgot to refresh masking. It wouldn’t do to have Prince Dialle find me until after I’d had the next ugly conversation.
It was possible I’d never be able to face him again. Without worrying that he would kill me.
CHAPTER SEVENTEEN
Heavenly Intervention
The angel o’ God did flap his wings and make our lady quake,
But if he thought he’d cowed our girl, he’d made a big mistake.
The viper entered the long, tree lined tunnel leading to coven headquarters. I took a deep breath and wiped sweaty palms on my knees. It was one thing to deal with James Phelps, ex-Seraphim and truly nice guy, but quite another dealing with Danika Phelps, ex-royal devil, arch Wiccan high priestess and main contributor of my, shall we say, less socially acceptable genes.
I shook my head in self-derision. I’d kicked the asses of some of the most disgusting and terrifying critters the dark world could ever think to puke at me, but my mother terrified me much more than any of those critters ever could.
As I traveled more deeply into the dense wood, the light was steadily sucked from the day, leaving me in a softening dusk as I took the last curve in my approach to the coven’s headquarters.
I was readying myself and the Viper for landing when we suddenly jerked to a stop and, with a groan of the Viper’s internal guts, jerked nose up and took off at about three hundred miles per hour toward the tree line above us. Just before we hit the first huge overarching branch, the Viper plummeted into a stomach dropping back flip and continued at the same terrifying speed, upside down, back the way we’d come.
I struggled to hold onto my seat, praying the chest strap would hold and clasping the bottom of the seat with my ankles as best I could. I clung there for a few minutes, my hair hanging in my face and praying, until suddenly the Viper stopped and flipped upright, then continued onward at a much more sedate pace.
I realized as I looked out the window that we were above the tree line and heading for an open area in the distance.
After checking to make sure I hadn’t peed myself, I pushed hair off my face and started punching buttons on the directional panel.
Nothing.
The Viper shuddered and groaned beneath me as if in disgust at the indignity of being vehicle-napped and then settled in to quietly ignore my commands, both verbal and instrumental. Sitting back in my seat I decided there was no point panicking—yet—and instead worked on gathering my scattered wits back about me so I could face whatever was coming next.
The Viper reduced both speed and altitude until I was looking at the clearing where I’d zinged the pee pee of the really disgusting fire demon just a few days previously.
There was no demon in that clearing. But a lone figure stood there, waiting for me to land. I recognized him immediately and let myself relax.
Unless the world was truly ending, Enoch, one of His favorite Cherubim and my father’s best friend, wasn’t going to eat me when I stepped out to greet him.
However, his method of inviting me to have a word sucked big time.
I exited the Viper when it settled into hover and strode toward Enoch. As I approached I took note of the slightly worried aspect to his dark eyes.
Despite how human literature had always portrayed angels, not all angels are light skinned and golden haired. Most are, I’ll admit but some, like Enoch, are olive skinned and black haired.
Such pretty black hair too. It shone every bit as much as my father’s did, with purple lights instead of golden ones. The thick mane fell smoothly to his shoulders, where it curled just the tiniest bit over his shoulders. It never moved. And unlike mine at that moment, it never looked like it had been flipped upside down and then jerked right side up again.
I reached up and self-consciously pushed a few strands that had been sticking up on my head like dork horns back into place.
Enoch was dressed in full Cherubim regalia and literally glowed with celestial power.
As had always been my right and inclination, I walked directly up to him and pecked him on a warm, olive-toned cheek.
“Blessings to you in His name, Astra.”
I smiled, happy to see an old friend, despite the less than peaceful way he’d called me to him. “Enoch, how they hangin’?”
He laughed. “Your father would soil his gowns if he heard you speak to me this way.”
I laughed too. It had always been a private joke between us, my irreverence and his pretended shock. “But you won’t tell him will you, Enoch? Because I know your deepest, darkest secrets.”
That had also been a private joke between us. Cherubim are the holders of knowledge in the celestial hierarchy. They’re rumored to know all of His secrets as well as the extent of the divine essence of the Big House. Since I’d been a small child I’d taunted Enoch with knowing his secrets, though I really knew nothing that would get him into serious trouble. I’d caught him staring at Myra with something more than brotherly love once. But that wasn’t really enough to get him dumped from the order.
Though he’d made it clear he’d rather I didn’t tell my father about it.
He’d always laughed and chucked me under the chin when I’d made my childhood threat, telling me that he’d remain silent if I would. But as I grinned playfully up at Enoch, he frowned. A worried look filled his dark gaze before he caught it and smoothed his features into an insincere smile. “Some secrets bring more pain and devastation than others, Astra. Take care with them.”
My grin faded from my face. “Okay, what’s up? I’ve never seen you looking so worried.”
He clasped his hands in front of his body as if in prayer, it was a common affectation among the angel elite and I suspected they used it as much to remind you of their status as anything.
I n
eeded no reminder of Enoch’s status.
“It is with a heavy heart that I come to you, Astra. I fear I have bad news.” He stopped and peered at me through narrowed eyes as if to gage my reaction.
“Go on.” I wasn’t nearly as calm as I made myself appear. I thought I had a pretty good idea what was coming.
He sighed. “I have been tasked with monitoring your father’s activities. The council suspects that he is working at cross purposes to the divine goal.”
I forced my face to remain impassive and shrugged. “That’s ridiculous.”
He nodded. “I would agree with you, Astra,” long, significant pause, “if I didn’t know that he is working with your mother on something that he won’t share with me.”
I found I couldn’t keep my gaze on his angelic countenance any longer. I turned away and stared off into the tree line with a heavy heart. But I forced my posture to remain relaxed. “They can barely stand each other. You’ve gotten bad information from someone, Enoch.”
Silence was his only response. I could feel his assessing gaze and knew it had been a mistake to turn away but I just couldn’t meet his eyes with my own doubts so clearly outlined in mine.
Finally he said, “Astra, I know it is difficult to accept but it appears that your father has fallen beyond what is acceptable. Your mother has been known to stain his soul before, she is fully capable of continuing the practice.”
Anger like hot lead hit my stomach and I whipped around with fire in my eyes as well as my belly. “That’s just pure shit, Enoch! You of all creatures should understand how strong my father is! He’s not some empty headed zombie to be used by my mother and thrown away. If he’s involved in one of her schemes he has a damned good reason for it.”
His eyes widened slightly with sudden understanding. “So you do know something?”
I frowned. “I don’t know anything except that my father would never go against the divine goal. He’s never done anything to hurt the celestial army and he wouldn’t do anything now. Where’s your faith in him, Enoch?”
He cocked his silky dark head and peered at me through angry chocolate eyes. His strong jaw clenched just the tiniest bit as if he were holding back a strong emotion of some kind. I figured he was torn between his duty and his friendship and the spark of anger in his beautiful gaze was probably the result of being put into a very frustrating spot. “I love your father, Astra but I cannot allow my love for him to blind me to his wrongdoing.” He stopped, took a deep breath and continued as if it was paining him greatly to say what needed to be said.
“Astra, we have been aware for a while now that someone is working from within to interfere with the divine goal. At first we thought it was one of the hopefuls...”
The hopefuls were those who waited between Heaven and Hell for their placement to be decided. Some humans’ lives are easily judged and they are either dropped unceremoniously into the fires of Hell or ushered directly through the beautiful gates to the Big House. However, some, in fact most, require a period of evaluation before they can be judged. These souls often work for the celestial army, performing unimportant but necessary tasks to bide their time and prove their worthiness.
I knew that some of the hopefuls had been evil in their human lives but not evil enough to get thrown directly into Hell. They were sometimes allowed to work for many centuries as Hopefuls, in an effort to cleanse their souls enough to allow them entrance through the gates.
Unfortunately, however, the occasional Hopeful was actually a plant for the other side and they’d been known to create serious problems for the good guys before they were discovered and fast tracked into the fires of Hades.
As the Big Guy said, every system has its bugs.
“But we’ve recently discovered that it could only be one of the angels. In fact,” Enoch said, watching me closely, “we believe there are several dark angels at work here. Of which your father is believed to be the leader.”
My eyes widened but I was momentarily shocked into silence.
Enoch, unfortunately taking my silence for acceptance, continued, “I must stop him, Astra. And I need your help.”
My mouth opened in shock and I leaned toward him angrily. “You’ve already decided his guilt, without any evidence at all! What kind of friend are you?”
Enoch’s olive-toned skin deepened in anger. “I’m the kind of friend who wants to stop him before he does something he can’t live with!”
“Bullshit!”
His wings erupted from his back and started pounding the air in angry strokes, pulling dust and debris from the grass and flinging it in stinging gusts against my face. His aura deepened to purple and the heat of his rage throbbed around him in dense waves. I didn’t care. The damnable angel had turned his back on my father at the slightest sign of impropriety, without giving him the most basic trust that he knew what he was doing and would do what was right.
I turned away from him and stalked toward the Viper. The huge wings beat with more agitation and, though he stood several feet away from me, I felt his hot, angry breath on my back.
“Do not walk away from me!”
A chill, sharp and icy with dread, ran down my spine but I didn’t stop. In fact I picked up my pace until I was almost running. Suddenly he was in front of me again, his face almost unrecognizable in its anger. He’d grown in stature until he was close to ten feet tall. With his wings fully expanded he was easily twenty feet across.
A very effective wall with which to stop my escape.
I briefly considered trying to shift again but decided my shifting skills weren’t fine-tuned enough to pinpoint my landing inside the Viper. Frunk, they weren’t good enough to land me in the wide open clearing without the danger of my landing inside a tree or under the ground. With my luck I’d end up as part of the Viper, blinking from the surface of the metal like an oversized bidjie bug.
So instead I crossed my arms and stood my ground, glaring at the very large, extremely pissed off angel who was exhibiting very un-angel-like behavior.
He took several steps forward and lowered his anger-darkened face to me. When he spoke his words came out with such force that they boomed across the clearing and I found myself blinking as each one hit me.
“Do. You. Know. Where. King. Dialle. The. First. Is?”
I worked very hard at keeping my face unreadable. Given the fact that I was scared out of my knickers and even the soles of my feet were sweaty, I wasn’t sure how well I succeeded. “That would be a negative.”
He roared in anger. I watched with a clinical detachment I was rather proud of. I’d never seen one of the celestial army come unglued. It was fascinating to say the least.
But when those dark features pointed back toward me I had to fight an urge to step away. He hovered over me, obviously trying to intimidate me with his size and anger.
Then, like the sun coming out from behind the clouds, he seemed to realize how far he’d fallen from accepted behavior and took a deep breath. Closing his eyes he stepped away from me and assumed prayer stance. I watched, fascinated as he shrank back to a normal, human-like size and refolded his wings behind his back. When he spoke again his voice no longer boomed off the surrounding trees. “I am called to enlist your help in monitoring your father. The order comes not from me but from Him.”
That was just too much. “You want me to spy on my father!” In my shock and disgust my voice had reached an unfortunate pitch that all too closely resembled screeching. I cleared my throat before continuing. “Go to Hell!”
“He’s one of the dark angels, Astra.”
“That’s a lie!” I walked around him and headed for the Viper. He didn’t try to stop me.
His voice came to me in my head as I instructed the Viper to seal and climb.
Your mission has been proclaimed by Him, Astra. You cannot deny it.
My only thought at that moment was to get the Hades out of there. “Just watch me.” I murmured as the Viper cleared the treetops and shot away from
the clearing at deadly speed.
I didn’t look back but out of the corner of my eye I saw the burst of light that told me Enoch had returned to the Big House. Most likely to report my lack of enthusiasm for my latest assignment.
Suddenly feeling like I wanted to find a dark corner and assume the fetal position, I decided it was getting much harder to tell the good guys from the bad ones. Some days they looked way too much alike.
~SC~
Feeling like everyone in the world was pissed off and looking for me, I wasn’t sure where to go. Home and the office were out for obvious reasons. I wasn’t ready to face my father yet and visiting my mother was proving to be extremely painful.
I thought about Raoul but it had just occurred to me that he’d probably known about my mother all along and hadn’t bothered to tell me. We would need to have a discussion about that in the near future.
I considered calling Myra but was reluctant to face her for the same reason I wanted to avoid my father.
Sighing resignedly, I realized my choice was already made for me.
~SC~
Emo lived in an apartment building just up the street from the office. I’d spent many hours in that apartment as a friend and even as a boss. But as I hit the button in the flash for Emo’s floor, I felt like I was entering the building for the first time and I wasn’t sure what my role was supposed to be.
Boss? I thought he still worked for me.
Friend? Well yeah but somehow...more.
He opened the door before I could knock and stood looking at me, his face a study in mixed feelings.
“Hey,” I said.
“Hey, boss.”
We stood there for a few beats and then, in desperation I said, “Can I come in?”
He seemed reluctant to let me through the door but finally he stepped back and I pushed past him into the room. The apartment was small, consisting of one large room that held both a food service and living area and a second room off to the side that I knew contained a bed and a place to store his clothes. The personal hygiene room was off the tiny bedroom. I would have loved to go in and wash my face but I somehow couldn’t bring myself to walk past his bed.
