by AE Jones
After a few more seconds, Marie appeared in the office. Same yellow sundress, but it looked like she’d gotten her hair done. Did they have beauty salons in heaven?
Marie twinkled at Jean Luc first and waggled flirty fingers at him. “Hello, vampire. It’s lovely to meet you finally.”
Jean Luc bowed slightly.
“Where is Talia? You didn’t break up, did you?” Marie asked, a little too enthusiastically.
Jean Luc’s mouth tipped up slightly on the corners. “No. Talia and I are still together.”
“Well, I’m glad to hear it.” Although she didn’t sound very glad. She turned her attentions to her next victim. “So you’re Misha.”
“Nice to finally meet you, Marie.”
She tittered at him. “Your accent is wonderful. If I were forty years younger and had an actual body, I would so go after you.”
Misha laughed out loud. “I like you, Marie.”
“I’m a wonderful cook. My cannoli are legendary.”
Misha moaned.
“Marie, enough. You need to come clean and cut the bull, okay?”
“About what?”
“About your grandson being part angel.”
Marie’s mouth opened in a perfect circle, and she appeared to be gasping for air, if she’d needed to breathe air, that is.
“How did you find out?”
“I was hoping you would tell me I was crazy.”
“Joe’s father was an angel. Fallen angel to be exact. Wonderful man, and he loved my daughter with all his heart. They were killed when a rogue demon attacked them.”
“That can’t be right. Dalton told me they were killed because his father worked for the FBI and he went after a mob boss.”
“That’s what I told Joe. Timothy was an FBI agent, but the mob had nothing to do with his death.”
“God, Marie. How has he not asked more about this? Shit, he could have pulled records at the Bureau.”
“Yes, and I would be surprised if he hasn’t done it by now. He would find records of the case. Obviously, the FBI couldn’t know the truth. BSR teams have been around for a long time, Kyle.”
I blinked and looked at Jean Luc and Misha.
Misha held his hands out in front of him. “Don’t look at me. We had nothing to do with it.”
“He has major issues with his dad, Marie. Blames him for his mother’s death.”
Marie’s translucent hand went to her chest. “No! That was not what was supposed to happen. I raised that boy as my own. And then the angels decide he’s going to carry this Key of Knowledge around in him? And be a target? Not acceptable. So I told them I wanted to be their angel liaison. And they said yes.”
“And now?”
“Now they think I’m helping them find the Key. They let me watch over Joe to make sure he doesn’t show signs of having the Key inside him.”
“And you have not told them about Kyle?” Jean Luc asked.
“Of course not. If I told them, they wouldn’t let me come here anymore. Plus, they don’t need to know. It’s their problem if they can’t keep track of their own Sentinels, for goodness’ sake.”
I sat down with a thud in a chair. “How the hell am I going to tell him this?”
Marie’s eyes focused on me. “You’re going to tell Joe?”
“I was planning to tell him the truth about what happened last year.”
Marie clapped her hands. “I would love to be able to talk to him again, Kyle. If you tell him the truth, I’ll be able to visit regularly like I did before.”
I rubbed the back of my neck. “Yeah, he won’t hate you once the truth is out.”
She frowned. “Once he knows why you erased his memory, he’ll forgive you.”
“I’m not worried about his reaction to the initial erase. It’s the fact that I’ve kept it from him.”
Marie floated closer to me. “Joe is a stubborn man. But he’s also a caretaker. He would have done the same for you. Make him see that, Kyle.”
“I’ll try, Marie, but I’m not a miracle worker.”
As Marie faded away, I started hollering again because I couldn’t calm my voice or my heart. “Dolly!”
She ran into the room. “What’s wrong?”
“Track down Nicholas. I need to talk to him.”
“In person?”
“Or on the phone, whichever is faster.”
“I’ll let him know. Should I attach any CNN threats to the communication?”
“Just get him on the phone, please.”
Thirty minutes later, we were still waiting for Sir Nicholas to return Dolly’s multiple phone and text messages.
Apparently angels, even watered-down ones, weren’t easily intimidated.
Chapter 40
I unlocked my door and entered my dark apartment. As the light from the hall landed on my couch, it reflected off a pair of glowing yellow eyes. I squealed and slammed my hand on the light switch. Booger was perched on the arm of my couch and blinked at me, twice.
I banged the door shut and stalked over to him. “Booger! You gave me a heart attack. What are you doing here?”
He jumped down and walked to the center of the room. A vortex of light surrounded him as he changed from cat to man. Gray striped fur gave way to skin, and then he grew to his full size in seconds, like Alice in Wonderland after she drank the potion. I had been making a number of Wonderland references lately. Did that make Booger the Cheshire Cat?
“Didn’t mean to scare you, Kyle.”
“You’re just lucky I wasn’t carrying Stanley or you would be one dead cat.”
He chuckled as he bent over in all his naked glory, opened the trunk next to the window, and pulled out some clothes.
I couldn’t tell if the heat creeping up to my scalp was rage, or…or what. “Why do you have clothes in my trunk? And how did you get into my apartment?”
“Misha gave me a key.”
“How in the hell does Misha have a key to my apartment? And why would he give it to you? He doesn’t like you.”
“I think you’re exaggerating the animosity.”
“Why in the world did Misha give you a key?”
“Because he’s worried about you. Ever since the twin demons from hell tried to grab you, he’s had me watching the neighborhood.”
“Of all the overprotective, overreacting, overbearing—”
“Be glad he did.”
I blew out a deep breath. “You need to explain what exactly is going on, but first put on some pants.”
Matthew shook his head repeatedly. “You are almost puritanical in your attitudes about the human body, Kyle.”
“Keep it up, and I’ll go get Stanley.”
He pulled on his clothes quickly. “Here’s the deal. I saw the demon from the museum skulking around your apartment.”
“What! Are you sure?”
“He looked like the drawing you showed me, so yeah.”
“Why didn’t you call us?”
“I was going to, but he did that disappearing thing, and I lost him. But not before he met with another demon.”
“Did you hear what they said?”
“Only a couple of words. The other demon gave him a package.”
“What did the other demon look like?”
“Male. Smelled like a Shamat to me. Dark hair. Ritzy vibe. Suit and ridiculously shiny shoes. I could barely stop my cat side from spitting up on them.”
Oh, crap.
And like that, Trina’s words came crashing back to me. I was standing too close to see the picture in front of me. I could blame it on the revelation-palooza coming at me like fastballs. My demon side, Dalton and Nicholas’s angelic beginnings. But I should have caught it myself.
When I interrogated Eli, I’d told him the demons from the realm needed help when they first came here. How else would they acclimate? Yet Sylvia hadn’t helped the demon from the museum, and now Nate said others had crossed over too. Someone else on earth had to be helping them.
Aleksei had wormed his way into most of our conversations with Irina. Could he have alerted the twins we were after them? Hell, he could have told the one twin where the other was located so he could break him out of the demon compound.
And here Aleksei had dropped down several notches on my pompous-ass meter. But if he was the one responsible for these crossover demons and their plan to invade earth, he had just been transferred to my evil-scary-bastard meter.
“Earth to Kyle! Hey! Are you okay?”
“Yeah.”
“I think you should go get Stanley and pack a bag so you can stay somewhere else for a while.”
I nodded. “I’m supposed to be heading to the hotel for my shift on stakeout.”
“You won’t be alone, will you?”
“No. I’ll be with Misha.”
God. How was I going to tell him about Aleksei?
* * *
I paced the hotel room waiting for Misha. What words could make this better? Aleksei’s betrayal might actually destroy him. Was Aleksei’s disdain for humans enough to motivate him to bring thousands of demons to earth?
Distraction. I needed a distraction. I studied the room. Everything about it was faded, from the blue comforter to the threadbare striped curtains. And the air in the room was stale, like day-old popcorn. I had just relieved Jason and Talia and hadn’t said anything to them about Aleksei. I owed it to Misha to tell him first. My phone rang, and I growled at the name on the screen. Really? He decided to call me now?
“About damn time you returned my call, Nicholas.”
“What can I do for you, Kyle?”
“You can tell me why you keep lying to me.”
“You’re going to have to be more specific with your accusations.”
“You can’t tell me you didn’t know Dalton is part angel.”
“You asked me if I knew what you were, and I told you. You never asked me about Joe.”
“You conniving angel bastard!”
“As much as I enjoy your colorful, but inaccurate, descriptors of me, we’ve had this conversation before. It’s not my place to tell him what he is.”
“Why the hell not?”
“What do you want me to say to him, Kyle? That his father was an angel? That he wasn’t killed by a mafia don, instead, he was killed by a demon? How does it help him fit into this world? How does he move forward and not become obsessed with crushing evil? Sometimes knowledge is not power. Sometimes it’s paralyzing. He no longer has the Key in him. Let him live out his life as a norm.”
“Maybe he isn’t supposed to get married with the white picket fence, two point two kids, and a dog. Maybe he’s supposed to stop evil in the world. Isn’t that why you came to earth a millennia ago? Because you were punished when you tried to stop something evil from happening? Maybe you’ve been here so long that you’ve forgotten what it means to take a risk and do the right thing.”
I sucked in a deep breath. “I’m the one who erased Dalton’s memory of being the Key. You aren’t the only one who has to deal with the fallout.”
“What the hell did you just say?”
I jerked at the voice behind me and whirled around, my phone slipping from my fingers.
Dalton stood in the doorway.
Chapter 41
Oh God, oh God, oh God. My heart ricocheted. How did he keep sneaking up on me? Were angels extra-stealthy? Anger radiated from him like a tidal wave. His fists closed around the fast food bags he carried.
I took a step toward him. “Let me explain.”
“When did you erase me memory?”
“I…”
“When!”
“Last summer.”
He dropped the bags on the coffee table. “Last summer? That can’t be right. I was involved in the serial killer case last summer.”
“Yes. But what you don’t remember is that we worked on the serial killer case with you. The killer was a vampire by the name of Hampton. He was beheaded, and his sire Sebastian took up where he left off. They were killing people in search of the Key.”
“The Key. I was the Sentinel for the key?”
“Yes. You were the only one who could open the receptacle last year. We had no idea what it meant at first, until Sebastian kidnapped you.”
“Jesus Christ! Are you kidding me?” He glared at me for a moment, his turquoise eyes phosphorescent in his fury. “Of course you’re not kidding. Why the hell did you make me forget? You didn’t think you could trust me? Are you going to erase my memory again after this case too?”
“No, I’m not going to erase your memories again. Last year, Sebastian tortured you so badly that you’d gone insane. I changed your memory to save you.”
“So you say.”
His words were like a slap across the face. “I’m not lying.”
He threw his arms out and paced rapidly. “You’ve been lying to me all along. Acting so damn jumpy, I couldn’t figure out what was going on. I’m surprised you haven’t been laughing it up behind my back.”
“There is nothing funny about this,” I said. “I understand how upset you—”
“How can you possibly understand? I don’t know what part of my past is real and what isn’t. You took the truth away from me. And now we’re fighting demons who want the damn Key, and it’s been in me this entire time?”
I shook my head. “It’s not in you anymore.”
“Where the hell did it go?”
I hesitated, and Dalton scowled at me. “Don’t you dare lie to me again, McKinley. Where is it?”
“When I erased your memory, I absorbed the Key.”
A sharp laugh erupted from him. “Perfect. Just perfect.”
“I was going to tell you when the case was done,” I blurted, wanting to erase the words as soon I said them. He’d never believe me.
“How convenient.”
I opened my mouth, and he held up a hand to silence me. “Don’t. I can’t listen to this anymore. I told Misha I would take his shift, but I can’t be here. Get him on the phone. I need to get out of here so I can breathe.”
He marched away from me, then turned and pointed. “Don’t think we’re done talking about this. You will tell me everything that happened. All the memories you stole from me.”
He yanked open the door and immediately flew backward, slamming into the wall. I cried out as he landed on the floor, unconscious.
I pulled Stanley from my holster, but the gun shot across the room into the waiting hands of the demon from the museum. He was still in his human form, his eyes glowing white in the low-lit room.
The twins followed in behind him, and the door closed without any of them touching it. “Finally, we found you. You’re a tough woman to get alone.”
“What do you want?”
“You. The brothers told me you were causing trouble for them.” He gestured to his right. “Zachariah wanted to kill you, but you’re too important to our cause. I was not happy to hear he had sent you to the realm.”
“I wasn’t happy either.”
He chuckled, low and creepy, in the back of his throat. “You have no idea how special you are.”
My stomach flip-flopped. Did he know I was the Key? I moved away from Dalton to keep him out of the line of fire. “Why don’t you enlighten me?”
“You are the first. Proof that we are meant to come to earth. Before you, there were no half-realm demons. A grand experiment, if you will. We tried for decades before you were born. We need a carrot to dangle in front of the realm demon population. If they can mate with humans, our numbers would grow exponentially.”
“Why does that matter?”
“Because we’re dying out. And when we finally break out of the realm, we will need more demons. We’ll make the other demon clans pay for what they did to us.”
“You’re a portal guard! You are part of the demon clans on earth.”
“No. The portal guards have been abandoned as well. Our parents and grandparents volunteered to protect earth. And what
did we get in return? Nothing. We’re treated as poorly as those imprisoned in the realm. I have pleaded with the council for centuries to make changes, and it fell on deaf ears. Now it’s time to make change for ourselves.”
“You’re the portal guard leader?”
He nodded and handed Stanley to Zachariah.
“You figured out I was half demon at the museum. That’s why you didn’t kill me.”
“I almost snapped your neck, but thank goodness I realized what you were in time.”
“Yes. Thank goodness.”
He flattened his lips in a grim line. “You are a disrespectful one.”
“In order for me to be disrespectful to someone, I would have to have a reason to respect them in the first place.”
He stalked closer, growling, and I braced for some sort of punishment.
“Saul, don’t mar her face,” Zachariah said.
He took a shuddering breath. “You’re right. She needs to stand on the stage tonight and look pretty for the potential recruits. Let’s leave before her other teammates arrive. Bring him along too.”
“Why?” I asked. “Leave him here. He’ll just slow us down.”
Saul narrowed his eyes. “He comes with us. Something tells me he’ll be a useful tool for keeping you in line.”
* * *
Dalton moaned and twitched. He was lying on a flattened stack of cardboard boxes that I’d rolled him onto after the twins dumped him on the concrete floor. I crawled closer.
“You okay?”
“Yeah.” He sat up slowly. “Where are we?”
“Some sort of abandoned factory. We’re locked in an old storage room.”
“Why are we here?”
“I think this is where the demons are going to have their next recruitment meeting. I’m going to be their main attraction tonight. The poster child for demon-human fertility.”
“We need to get out of here.”
“Not possible. I’ve checked this entire space. There’s one door, and other than the cardboard you’re lying on, the room is empty. No weapons anywhere.”
He reached under his jacket.
