Chapter Two
Richard had never packed so quickly in his life. Usually, he had one suitcase for his notes and research, and another for clothes. Now it was all fair game. Notebooks and papers were shoved in between his undershirts and pants with no care for how they would come out on the other side.
His time hunting cults was over. This was the end of the road for him. This was his retirement.
Not because of what he had learned about Veil. That wasn’t to say he wasn’t upset she hadn’t ever told him the true story about her relationship with Asmodeus. He was upset, but wasn’t mad, not really. He was hurt. It was a childish reaction, he knew, but it didn’t stop him from having it.
She had been his guiding light for so long, his friend and companion. She had entered his life as his savior and had been the only one who knew his truth. Not even his wife and daughter knew what he really did on these so-called “conferences” he claimed his university sent him on. Only Veil.
He thought they both trusted each other with all parts of their lives.
But she had left out one crucial detail.
Why? Hadn’t she trusted him? Did she think he was going to judge her? It wasn’t her fault. And if she used to love Asmodeus, who was Richard to look down his nose at that?
Zipping up his suitcase, he sighed, lowering his head. He was so tired. One, he was getting older. Two, the past few days had wrung him out. He wasn’t designed for this kind of thing. He wasn’t made for the front lines. That creature that had attacked them on the bridge was enough to send Richard packing, even before all the rest had happened.
Archangels and archdemons.
Azrael in his human form was frightening enough. But the sight of Asmodeus…those terrible black wings with their vicious claws. The way his eyes glowed. It was too much. He was in over his head. These creatures would mean his death; he knew it.
And now his family was in danger.
He loved Veil. He had loved her romantically a long time ago, and now he loved her like family. He’d text her later to sort things out, once he wasn’t so wounded over the whole thing. Part of him had suspected the truth of the nature between her and “Alistair Solomon,” but he had stowed it away under the belief that she would have told him if that had been the case. Apparently not.
Like all childish emotions, he knew it would pass. He’d get on the plane, go home to his family, make sure they were safe, and then call Veil to sort it all out. They’d be friends, and he’d help her from afar just like he used to.
She had other friends now, anyway.
He couldn’t help but feel a pang over how she laughed with Conrad and even Gabe. Coupled now with his immature hurt was an equally infantile jealousy. For so long, Veil had been his secret. She had no one else she talked to regularly. It had made him feel special.
I really am a child. I guess I never really left that basement where Mom, Dad, and Sis died. I’m sure my therapist is going to have a field day with this one. He let out a sad laugh as he zipped up his second suitcase and headed out. Lingering in the center room, he looked over their shared suite. Veil’s door was open, and her things were strewn around. The girl always left things such a terrible mess.
Girl. She’s a hundred and nine.
He laughed once and sighed.
This isn’t goodbye. I’ll call her tomorrow. He debated leaving her a note, but he needed to get on a plane and go home. If he knew anything about how crisis worked, it often came down to the wire. A few seconds could spell the difference between life and death.
Not like I know what good I’m going to do once I get there. Shoving those thoughts to the back of his head, he left the hotel suite and headed down to the lobby. It didn’t matter that he was useless in a fight. It didn’t matter that going to be with his family wasn’t going to amount to anything. That was where he had to be.
He set foot onto the sidewalk and pulled up short as a man stepped in front of him. The man was wearing a black suit and a green tie, and he smiled down at Richard. “Mr. Blanchard?”
Richard eyed the man narrowly, reluctant to answer at first. “Yes?”
The man gestured to a pin on his lapel. It was a circle, with the letters “ASMODAY” spelled around the edge in the position of a seven-pointed star. These were Asmodeus’s people. Richard drew back from the man a half a step. The stranger raised his hands in a show of harmlessness. “Please, Mr. Blanchard, I mean you no harm. My name is Thomas Redding. I was sent to take you to your family. They’re safe. They’re in our care now.”
“What?” Richard tried not to shout but couldn’t help it. Several people on the street turned to look at him as he did. He coughed and tried to bite down the sudden rush of panic. “You’ve taken my family? Where? What have you done with them?”
“Please, have no fear. They’re safe. I promise you. Mr. Solomon wants nothing but to protect you and yours. You’re very dear to Selina, and he extends to you the same safety that he would do for her. You are our family as well. Here.” He pulled out his phone and pressed a few buttons before handing it to him.
Richard took the cellphone and saw the number emblazoned on the screen. It was familiar, and it took him half a beat to realize it belonged to Chris. He pressed it eagerly to his ear.
“Hello? Mr. Redding?” She sounded nervous and unsure. But alive. Alive!
“Chris! Oh, God, sweetie, are you okay? Is Chelsea with you?” He was talking a million miles an hour, he knew, but he couldn’t find the strength to calm down.
“Richie! I’m fine. We’re fine. We’re safe.”
“Where are you? Are you home? What happened? What have they told you? What’s going on?”
Chris laughed at his rapid-fire questions. Her laugh set him at ease more than anything else possibly could have. The sound of it calmed him down enough for him to take a shuddering breath. “Sorry. I’m sorry. I’m so sorry.”
“It’s okay. Some men came to the door. They explained to me everything, about you, about what you’ve been doing all these years. All the lives you helped save.”
All the lives he helped save.
If his heart had been pounding, now it threatened to stop altogether. There was only love in her voice. No judgement, no anger, no fury over being betrayed and lied to. Only…that wasn’t how it felt to him. “I’m so sorry I never told you. I didn’t…I didn’t know how. I didn’t want you to be afraid, or for any of this to happen…” I’m sorry I never told you about this half of my life. I just couldn’t reconcile the two parts of my life in my head. I didn’t want to be that person with a messy history around you.
The proverbial lightbulb went off.
Suddenly, he wasn’t upset with Veil anymore.
Suddenly, he understood.
It hadn’t been about trust. It had been about wanting to pretend.
“It’s okay. It’s going to be okay. We’re both here. We’re heading to a jet. Mr. Redding’s men are taking us to somewhere just outside Boston. They said it’ll be safer there with you and the rest of his ‘people,’ whatever that means. He says there are others there who can protect all three of us. Some man named Mr. Solomon sent them. Do you know him?”
Richard looked up at Thomas, who was standing there waiting patiently, his hands clasped behind his back. “I know of him. We’ve never really met.”
Chris’s voice dropped, hushing, clearly trying to keep Chelsea from hearing. It was late, and their daughter was probably sound asleep. That girl could sleep like a brick through anything and everything. “Are we safe? They’ve told us some strange things. Monsters, honey. Are there really monsters out there?”
He paused a long time before answering. “Yes.”
Chris was silent an equally long time. “Wow. Well. That changes a lot of things.”
Now it was his turn to laugh. She was astonishing—able to take anything in stride and just go along with it. She was also an avid reader, and she adored her fantasies and outlandish stories. He had no doubt she’d handle meeting a demon or an angel a lot better than he did.
“I told Chelly that we were coming to see you. That you had some famous and rich friends who were going to show us around. She’s excited. Mr. Redding’s men are doing a fantastic job of playing along. You know how she is with her questions. She takes after you.”
Richard smiled, his heart beaming. He knew he shouldn’t trust Asmodeus’s people. He knew they likely meant trouble. But he also had no choice. They had his family.
And where they were, he would be at their side. One way or another.
Even if this was a trap.
“I’ll see you soon. I love you. I’m going to meet you at the airfield where you’ll be landing.” He didn’t know if that was the plan, but he was going to insist on it.
“Okay, sweetheart. Be safe, please.”
Something about those words felt both tragic and sad. “You too, hon. You too.”
“Love you.”
“Love you too.”
He prayed to whoever was listening to keep his family safe. He prayed to whoever was listening that this wasn’t the trap he felt around him like the jaws of a shark.
Even with the events of recent days…he had the distinct sensation that his prayers would fall on deaf ears.
***
“I’ll ask a third time. And it’ll be the last time. Do you hate Asmodeus?”
“I don’t know.”
The archangel shook his head at her haggard confession. “I figured.”
“Go no further, Michael!” Asmodeus managed to yell through the clear pain he was in. He might not be able to free himself, but he could still holler like a champ. “Do not touch her, or I will rend you limb from limb, and feed you to Bael’s wurms myself! Do not dare touch her!”
Michael’s sword mercifully left where it was poised an inch from her throat, and she let out the breath she had been holding that had started to burn in her lungs. The archangel turned back to look at the archdemon pinned to the wall, skewered and bleeding from the metal feathers still embedded in him. “I didn’t, did I?”
“You attacked her!”
He raised a pointer finger. “No, I almost attacked her. But I didn’t. I could’ve taken her head off. But I didn’t.” The metal helm turned back to look down at her and she shrank back against the steps. “Not like it would have done much good. Or so I hear.”
Veil blinked. “You can’t kill me?”
“No. Nothing can.” Michael laughed once. “You thought I could kill you? No wonder you’re shaking.”
She glared at him now. “Oh, stuff it, tin can. I wasn’t exactly looking forward to getting stabbed. How was I supposed to know you can’t hurt me?”
“Oh, I can hurt you. That much is true. But that’s about it.”
Asmodeus thrashed against the metal shards that kept him against the wall. “Coward! Face me!”
Michael was still looking down at her, even if he was talking to the archdemon. His voice, tinny and hollow, carried easily enough. He didn’t need to shout. “Wouldn’t be a long fight, now, would it, brother? Not in your current state. You’ve been out of that frozen hole for only a few hours. I’ve beaten you on your best day. This is your worst. Do you really think you could win?”
“It matters not. You shall not harm her! I will not let you, I—”
Michael paused to turn back to look at Asmodeus. “Oh, cool your tits, will you?”
“Wait. What did you just say?” She couldn’t help but voice the thought out loud.
Michael looked back at her, and now she was staring up at him in abject confusion. Had he just said—had he just told Asmodeus to—
The archdemon in question looked just as confused, looking at Michael with wide, glowing green eyes. The unexpected phrase had stopped his shouting mid-word.
“I’m not going to hurt her, you big baby.” The armor that the archangel wore seemed to fold back on itself, compacting into an impossible space before it disappeared entirely. His wings did the same, with little more than the quiet slide of metal on metal. As the armor folded away, she watched as he took a human form.
The man who stood in front of her was not what she was expecting. Oh, he was painfully handsome. The kind of guy who would stop you in your tracks at the corner store. Probably make you drop your coffee. He was broad-shouldered and muscular. He had a perfect jawline and short blond hair. He looked like the Platonic ideal of a football player from the fifties with an updated wardrobe. Straight off the cover of some trashy romance novel.
What she hadn’t expected was the lopsided and goofy smile on his face. His eyes were hazel and shone with a…there was a silliness there. His smile bloomed into a broad grin, and it lit up his face with a kind of friendly joy she wasn’t sure what to do with.
He looked like a handsome puppy.
He reached down to help her up. “Nice to finally meet you, kiddo.”
She stared at his hand blankly. The adrenaline was still rampaging through her. She still didn’t understand what was happening. “What the actual fuck?”
Michael shrugged one shoulder. “Eh. Yeah. Sorry about that. I wanted to make sure I knew what I’m getting myself into.” He smiled down at her. “Which, by the sounds of it, is going to be a laugh riot. And by that, I mean it’s not.”
“What you’re getting yourself into?” she repeated dumbly.
“Well, this situation is bad enough without all the drama you’re going to bring into it. I wanted to know exactly what kind of Lake Woe-is-me I was wading into. Do you blame me? Asmodeus isn’t fun to deal with on a good day, let alone when he’s moping about not getting laid for three quarters of a century.”
“You’re gonna have to back it up and try again,” Veil muttered. To say the conversation had taken an unexpected turn was putting it lightly. She sat there, dumbfounded, staring up with nothing but confusion. She was exhausted. She needed a nap. Maybe she had hit her head, and this was all just a hallucination.
“Look. Kiddo.” Michael sighed and, leaning down, grabbed her hand and yanked her up to her feet. She yelped and froze, and he clapped his other hand on her shoulder. “I’ll spell it out. You. And he. Have a problem. A problem that needs sorting out. A problem you’re going to wind up having to sort out right in the middle of a bunch of innocent people being brutally murdered by some cult that nobody can find and who keeps abducting my brothers and sisters. I wanted to know what kind of high school level bullshit I was going to have to deal with while I squished some heads.”
She shoved him away from her. More like she shoved herself away from him. The guy was immovable. “Who the Hell are you?”
He laughed and paced back from her, still facing her, and extended his arms out to his sides as he walked. The grin he flashed her could have stopped traffic. She was certain it had more than once. “I’m the archangel Michael, baby! But you can call me Mike. Actually, you can call me anyt—”
A clawed talon stopped his cocky speech. Asmodeus. He had freed himself and had snuck up behind the archangel. The claws of his left wing gripped around the other man’s face as the archdemon whirled him around. “You will not touch her!”
Michael shoved and managed to break himself free from the archdemon. Asmodeus was bleeding badly from the wounds dealt by the metal feathers. Freeing himself had done a great deal more damage in the process. The archangel wiped his face, swiping away the blood that Asmodeus had drawn.
“Calm down, you idiot. I’m not going to hurt her. I came to help.” He gestured back at her. “Did I do anything? No. I helped her up. You gonna be a little pissy-pants because I helped her up?” Michael shook his head as he looked at his brother who was bleeding, injured, and furious. “You’re going to make this absolutely miserable, aren’t you?”
“What has happened to you?” Asmodeus narrowed his glowing green eyes at the other creature. “You’ve become…strange.”
“You’ve been locked away, brother. The humans have changed a great deal since you’ve been gone. I spent most of that time down here. Socializing. Heaven got—” he paused and said through a long sigh, “boring. You get it. I decided to go for a walk.”
“Why did you attack me?” Asmodeus’s form changed, and he melted back into the shape of Alistair. He moved to a pew and leaned on it heavily, looking drawn and exhausted. He was spent before Michael had hurt him, and now he looked as though he were on the verge of passing out.
“I wanted to talk to her without you trying to break my fingers off.” Michael shrugged. “I figured you wouldn’t let me get within five feet without puffing up your feathers like the ugly-ass peacock you are. Turns out I was right.”
Alistair glared. It was a look of such perfect hatred that it made her laugh. It brought their attention back to her, and she started walking down the aisle toward the two of them. “Guys? I…this is great and all. It’s nice to meet you, Mike, I guess. Although you really need to work on your introductions. But I need sleep. Badly.”
“I agree.” Alistair let out a pained sound as he pushed himself back up to standing. “We should go.”
Michael clapped his hands. “Great! Where’re we staying?”
“No.” Veil and Alistair had spoken in unison.
“What? Your little mortal friend took his bags and left. That means you have two beds and a sofa. Dibs on the extra bed. Al can sleep on the sofa.” Michael’s grin hadn’t faded. “Unless you want to cuddle with me, kiddo.”
“No!” She wanted to yank her hair out. “And how do you know Richard is gone?” Richard couldn’t have skipped out on her right now. Couldn’t have. She figured he was angry, but…to just leave without talking to her?
“I’ve been spying on you.”
She glared at him viciously. “Then you can fuck off.”
“No. I’m not letting him,” he pointed at Alistair, “run off with you.” He pointed back at her. “He’s a lying sack of shit,” he pointed back at Alistair, “and the cult wants you really bad for some God-forsaken reason.” He pointed back at her. “So, for now, this guy,” he pointed back at himself, “isn’t letting either of you out of his sight. We’re all going to be buddies.”
Alistair ran his palms over his face. He looked as though he were on the verge of asking her to stuff him back in the spirit realm. “This is ludicrous.”
“I agree. But, hey. I get the chance to finally meet my niece!” Michael slung an arm around her shoulder and yanked her into him for a hug, drawing a startled yelp out of her. Alistair glowered at him, his jaw twitching, but said nothing. “Or are you my sister-in-law?” The archangel hummed thoughtfully. “Which is it? Both? Sister-niece?”
“Fuck off!” Veil shoved him hard, sending him staggering into a pew. She knew it was because he let her push him, but she didn’t care. Archangel be damned. “Listen to me, ass-clown—”
Michael was laughing, grabbing his sides, grinning like an idiot. “Oh, this is going to be a lot of fun.”
“Nope!” She turned and left them standing there. “Screw this. Screw all of this.” Veil turned and left them standing there. Where’s that stupid imp? Oh, right. Michael hadn’t taken kindly to Maleon trying to protect her when the archangel showed up. Great. Going up to the pile of rubble where Maleon landed, she dug through the bits of chairs and tables until she found him. She picked him up, and he groaned.
“Five more minutes,” the imp whimpered.
Too angry to laugh, she tucked him under her arm and stormed out of the church. She passed Conrad and Gabe, who were standing by the door, gaping in confusion at what had just transpired. She didn’t understand it either. But she did know the two creatures behind her were giving her a migraine.
She walked outside, right into the third creature that was threatening to give her a worse headache than the one she already had. Azrael. She looked at him narrowly. “Are all of you always so infuriating?”
He clasped his hands behind his back. “Yes, generally.” He paused then added, “Unfortunately.” As she stomped past him, he turned to follow beside her. “I tried to convince Michael to wait, for what it’s worth.”
“I appreciate the attempt. Richard?”
“I couldn’t convince him to stay. Some of Alistair’s men stayed on his tail to protect him. He said he was going to the hotel to get his things. That he had to go home to his family immediately.”
She winced. She’d call him as soon as she got to the hotel and one of her spare phones. He had all her numbers programmed into his, just in case. “Are you going to sleep on the floor too?”
“No? Why would I sleep on a floor?”
“Because those two assholes—” She pointed back toward the church, where Alistair and Michael were making their way out of the building. Michael first, Alistair trailing and looking both miserable and like a dangerous dark cloud of doom at the same time. “Are both claiming they won’t leave me alone.”
Azrael sighed. “I’m…so very sorry. They’re just concerned that the cult might try to take you again.”
“You agree with them?”
“I see the sense in it. Both seems a bit much, but Michael insists Asmodeus is not to be trusted, and I don’t think Asmodeus will leave your side unless—”
“Great!” She cut him off, not wanting to hear the rest of the regurgitated excuse. She fished into her coat pocket and pulled out her car keys. “That’s just great.”
“Veil!” Conrad raced to catch up with her, running a wide circle around the three angels. “Tomorrow. Breakfast?”
“Yeah.” She sighed. All she wanted right now was some goddamn sleep. “Wait. No. Late lunch. I might not wake up until past noon.” It was almost four in the morning, if the clock outside the Copley Square T stop was correct. Fifty-fifty shot.
“Eh, you Americans have restaurants that serve breakfast at any hour. I’ll just want some bacon, is all.”
“Actual bacon?” She managed to find the means to smile. “Or that fake English bacon you people have?”
“Don’t care. Either. Both. Bacon.” He took a step back and looked over at Michael and Alistair. “If you need help, if you need…I don’t even know what the Hell I’m sayin’.”
She laughed. She smiled at him and put her hand on his arm. He was trying. And that honestly mattered more right now than anything else. “I appreciate it, Connie. A lot. I’ll call you if I need you guys.”
She squeaked as Conrad grabbed her and yanked her into a tight hug. “You’ll be fine, Blue. Don’t let them get to you,” he muttered to her. “That’s my job.”
She laughed and whapped him in the chest as he let her go. “Yeah, yeah. Go on, Darby.” But she really couldn’t help the smile on her face. Damn it all. They were friends now. She waved goodbye to Gabe as she turned to walk toward where her car was parked. The two priests went the other direction to get a cab.
Coping with loneliness was like learning to cope with cold weather. It was better to stay in it and not know what she was missing. The instant she went inside, the instant the chill faded to warmth, it made the idea of returning to the outdoors that much worse.
Gabe and Conrad were her friends. For now. Even if the world were filled with daisies and rainbows, even if everything went as perfectly as it ever could and all the cults and dangers to humanity just up and vanished, they’d grow old and die.
She wouldn’t.
They’d leave her in time.
A hand settled on her shoulder. Azrael. He seemed to read the expression on her face easily enough. If anybody could, it’d be him. “It is better to have loved and lost. Isn’t that what they say?”
She huffed a single laugh and looked up at him with a faint smile. “Says the guy who doesn’t ever get involved.”
He reached up and tucked a strand of her hair behind her ear. It was such a familiar, tender gesture that it made something bloom in her heart unexpectedly. “I did once.” His shining blue eyes shone with love. Not like Asmodeus—not a hungry, passionate thing—but the expression of a parent.
They both made her. But for very different reasons. By normal human social standards, it was exceedingly weird. But she wasn’t human. She sometimes had a hard time remembering that. Sometimes she wished she could forget it all.
Watching him curiously, she had to ask. “Do you regret the one time you got involved?”
“Never.”
The moment was broken as Michael and Alistair crossed the courtyard to where she had stormed off and been intercepted by the archangel of death. Azrael sighed. “You don’t need another one of us hanging about making you uncomfortable. I will go.”
“You should stay, and these other two should leave.”
“What, Ronald McDo-Nothing here?” Michael jabbed a thumb in Azrael’s direction. “He wouldn’t help you if they tried to take you. Nope.”
Azrael looked at her with sadness in his eyes. “I will see you tomorrow.”
Before she could say goodbye, he vanished. She shoved her hands into her pockets and, with her head down, just walked away from the other two. She wanted nothing to do with the creatures she knew were following her. She had her own personal archangel and archdemon now, one on each side, and she wanted them both to burst into flames and go away. Maleon squirmed a little and snored loudly under her arm.
Footsteps next to her, a little too eager to be Alistair, made her cringe. “Are we walking?” Michael. “I thought you were tired.”
She held up her car keys, the ring hooked over her pointer finger. “Car’s over here.”
“Oh! Can I drive?”
She shot him a glare. “Hell, no.”
He grinned with that silly, almost goofy expression, as he followed alongside her. “I know how to drive! C’mon, let me drive. I love driving.”
“I repeat—no.”
“Leave her alone, Michael.” Alistair. Walking behind her with all the presence of a looming shadow.
“Y’know, I wasn’t going to point this out earlier, but you’re the excess baggage, you realize.” Michael spun around, now walking backward to taunt the archdemon face-to-face. “She only needs one bodyguard. It isn’t going to be you, since they might be your cult, for all we know. But I’m here, so you don’t need to be. Why don’t you fly off somewhere to go sulk in private? Go rub one out, and maybe your mood’ll get better.”
“Do you really think, by any stretch of any imagination, that I would ever leave you alone with her?”
“No, I just like pointing out that you’re the horny third wheel.” Michael laughed and turned to face forward and caught sight of her car. “Ooh…c’mon, kiddo! Now you really have to let me drive.”
She already had her key in the door as he turned and saw her vehicle. She opened the door and paused to glare at the archangel who was now nearly drooling over the old and pristine Pontiac muscle car. The streetlamps caught the vibrant blue paint. “Never going to happen, Mikey.”
Getting in, she gently put Maleon on the seat next to her and then promptly slammed the door. She heard, muffled over the roar of the V8 engine, Michael exclaim, “Aren’t you going to let us in?”
No. No she really wasn’t.
She grinned as she peeled away, screeching her tires on the tarmac, leaving the two of them standing on the side of the road.
***
Her smug amusement at having ditched the two arch-idiots lasted right until the moment she tapped her magnetic fob against the door of the hotel. Pushing it open, she already heard them arguing.
They’d beaten her here. They can fly, you moron. She groaned.
“I am not sleeping on the sofa.”
“Then talk her into sharing the bed, Casanova.” At the dark growl Michael got in response, he kept goading. “What, don’t think you can? Is your game off since you spent seventy years in a freezer?”
She walked in. If she didn’t, she was going to have to break up a fistfight between two creatures who could very well trash most of the hotel in the process. She threw her coat and her keys on the table and put Maleon’s still unconscious form on top of her coat. “Both of you, shut up.”
“For once, I said nothing,” Alistair was glowering at Michael, towering over the shorter archangel. Michael was about six feet even in his human form, but broad-shouldered enough that it didn’t make much of a difference visually.
“I know. I’m telling you both to shut up before you do.” She dropped her bag on the table. “I’m going to bed. Goodnight.” She walked into her half of the suite and slammed the door. She threw the lock, loudly, for good measure.
Muffled, through the door, she heard Michael snicker. “Ouch.”