The Soul Destroyer

by Elicia Hyder

  Smiling, Nathan clapped his hands. “Bravo, Az. Your system works.”

  “This time.” Cassiel was not impressed. “Moloch doesn’t fail. He tests and recalibrates. This was a training exercise.”

  “You’re just a ball of sunshine, aren’t you?” Nathan asked, his smile now bent with sarcasm.

  “My job is to think of the scenarios everyone else can’t. Moloch will be back.”

  “And we’ll be ready,” Enzo said.

  Cassiel nodded, but it was clear she didn’t agree. “Until Moloch figures out a workaround and defeats the system.”

  He smirked. “There’s a complicated series of steps to bypass Ahab. It doesn’t just have an on-and-off switch.”

  Cassiel stared at him a moment. I knew the look. She was sizing Enzo up. “Moloch has the most advanced consciousness in existence next to the Morning Star. Your fancy computer system isn’t smarter than he is. ”

  “What do you suggest we do?” Azrael asked, surprising no one more than me…except maybe Cassiel.

  But she was smart enough not to answer around a crew carrying loaded guns. She looked at me.

  “We’ll talk later,” I told him.

  “Just to be safe, tomorrow I’ll call in the Nerd Platoon from New Hope to come double-check the system,” Nathan said.

  “Commander”—Enzo’s tone was scolding—“human resources says you’re not allowed to call them that.”

  “Yeah, yeah.” Nathan rolled his eyes. He looked at me. “Where are you staying tonight?”

  “Somewhere close. I want to keep an eye on the activity around here,” I said.

  “There’s plenty of room at the command center,” Enzo said.

  The command center was the house I’d bought for Sloan.

  I gulped. “Thanks, but no thanks. I’ll stay with Az.” I looked at him. “Is that OK?”

  He looked surprised. “Uh…yeah. Of course.”

  I lifted an eyebrow.

  “We will stay with Az, you mean?” Cassiel looked at Azrael. “Because wherever he goes, I go.”

  Azrael scowled and looked a little…worried? Angry?

  “Great,” he grumbled.

  Yep. Angry.

  “And I need to talk to you,” she said, taking a step closer to him.

  His brow lifted, and he took a small step back. No, he was definitely worried.

  “We’ve just come from Malab. Another human spirit was controlling the body of the country’s prime minister.”

  Azrael’s shoulders relaxed. But then his head tilted. “Wait. What?”

  “The Prime Minister’s body was possessed by a human spirit.” She lowered her voice. “The soul identified himself as Haile Menelek.”

  If Azrael could have looked shocked, he would have. “I killed Haile Menelek myself and sentenced him to Nulterra. He must have been lying.”

  “People don’t lie to me, Azrael. They can’t,” she said.

  “And his spirit had your mark,” I added.

  “But that’s impossible.”

  Cassiel shrugged. “All the more reason to be worried.”

  Azrael ran a hand through his wild hair. “We’ll not figure it out standing here in the middle of the night. My brain needs sleep these days to function properly.”

  I pushed my shoulders forward again to try to ease the throbbing in my back. “Az, I need to see Doc soon.”

  “Why? What’s wrong?”

  I tugged at the front of my shredded shirt. “Between the three of us, we took about thirty rounds back in Malab a little while ago. I’ve got some brass lodged in my spine that’s killing me.”

  He smiled. “No, it isn’t.”

  “You know what I mean.”

  He walked toward his car. “I can’t wait to hear about that.”

  “We’re also traveling light. We all need some new clothes,” I said.

  “You can have something of mine.” Azrael looked over to where the rest of SF-12 was standing a few feet away from us. “NAG, go back to the command center and bring clothes for Cassiel to my house. You’re about the same size.”

  Reuel raised his hand.

  Azrael shook his head. “I don’t know what we’ll do for you, Reuel.”

  “I’ve got a couple of tents back in storage,” Nathan said, jerking his thumb toward the building.

  Reuel shoved him back. “Donkey hole.”

  Nathan blinked. “What?”

  I laughed. “It’s asshole, Reuel.”

  “Asshole,” Reuel repeated.

  “What the hell?” Nathan asked, laughing.

  “The language is new for him,” Cassiel said. “He understands English perfectly well, but it’s interpreted for him in literal meanings. Your moronic insults and idioms make no real sense to us in Katavukai.”

  “I like it.” Nathan gave Reuel a thumbs-up. “I’m going to start calling people donkey holes.”

  Reuel winked at him.

  Nathan yawned. “I’m calling it a night, my friends. Think it’s safe for me to let Sloan and Illy out of the panic room?”

  I searched the sky with my gift again. “It should be fine. Everything’s calm now.”

  Nathan shook his head. “You’re so weird, man.”

  “And you’re a donkey hole. I’ll let you know tomorrow how long I’ll be in town.”

  Nathan laughed and waved to the group. “Goodnight, everyone.”

  “Make sure they get inside OK?” I asked Reuel.

  He nodded and jogged to catch up with Nathan and Justice. I watched them, and then stared at the building for a long moment, silently wishing I could go inside.

  “Warren?” Cassiel gently took my hand.

  A supernatural calm washed over me. I took a deep breath and released it slowly. “Sorry. Let’s go.”

  Chapter Twelve

  Doc, the medic for SF-12, stood over me with a scalpel. “I’m afraid this will sting…a lot.”

  I was shirtless, in the prone position across Azrael and Adrianne’s dining room table. Az, Reuel, Enzo, NAG, and Cassiel all looked on.

  “Can’t you give him morphine?” NAG asked.

  Azrael shook his head. “His body would metabolize it so quickly it’d be a waste.”

  I clenched my teeth and closed my eyes. “Just do it, Doc.”

  The blade sliced deep into my lower back, through the skin and muscle tissue. I gripped the edge of the table above my head until I nearly cracked the wood.

  Metal hit the table; he’d put the knife down, probably to pick up the six-inch tweezers he’d pulled from his bag earlier.

  “Shit,” he said.

  My eyes popped open. “What’s the matter?”

  “The incision closed.”

  I groaned and thumped my forehead on the table.

  “I need to do it again.” Doc paused. “I don’t have retractors to hold it open while I remove the bullet. Reuel, come here.”

  Reuel came closer to the table, and I looked back over my bare shoulder. His face twisted like he’d smelled a bunch of rotten eggs.

  “When I make the incision, use both hands to hold the skin back out of my way.”

  Reuel made a vomiting noise.

  “Give me a break, you big baby. Do you remember losing your arm to that train in Chicago? That was way worse than this,” I said.

  He sucked in a sharp breath and held it.

  I felt Doc’s hands on my back. “You ready?” he asked me.

  I nodded and braced against the table.

  The knife sliced through me again. I groaned loudly through gritted teeth. This time, Reuel’s cold hands grabbed the center of my back and pulled it apart.

  Enzo swore.

  NAG looked away.

  Cassiel covered her mouth.

  Scalpel down. Tweezers up.

  With my eyes pressed closed, I was silently praying he would get it out quickly.

  “What the hell is going on in here?” Adrianne asked.

  Reuel let go.

  “Shit!” Doc sh
outed.

  “Not again,” I whimpered.

  I opened my eyes as Adrianne walked into the dining room. Azrael put his arm around her shoulders. “Sweetheart, you should go back to bed.”

  “Why is Doc performing surgery on my grandmother’s table? Good lord, is that Warren?”

  I wiggled a few fingers to wave. “Hi, Adrianne.”

  “Warren was shot. Doc needs to remove a bullet from his spine,” Azrael said. “You might not want to watch this.”

  “The hell I don’t. Let me go.” She pushed him away and walked right over beside my head. She patted my shoulder. “You’re groggy I hope?”

  “Not even a little bit.”

  “Ooo, sucks for you.”

  Doc sighed. “Ready to go again?”

  “Last time, man. I can’t take much more.”

  “Last time. Reuel, ready?”

  I turned and pointed at Reuel. “Don’t. Let. Go.”

  He nodded and rubbed his hands together. All his fingers were bloody. I wished I hadn’t looked.

  Doc cut into my back a third time, making this incision even longer than the others. I said a few bad words, and Adrianne put her hand on top of mine. Oddly, it helped.

  Reuel gripped both sides of the incision and pulled. It felt like he was ripping me apart. I would have screamed had I not had an audience. The toes of my boots bent back into the table.

  For what felt like eternity, Doc pushed and pulled around my spine. “I can see it, but the bullet won’t budge. I might have to go in from the front so I can pull it out the way it went in.”

  “Hell no,” I said. “Azrael, rip that shit out.”

  “You got it.”

  As good as Doc was, he couldn’t help but treat me like a human patient. Azrael wouldn’t be so careful. He also wouldn’t be gentle, but the job would get done without anymore cutting.

  Doc moved out of the way, and Azrael bent over my back. There was more pushing and pulling and jabbing with the tweezers. “Screw this shit,” he finally said. “Adrianne, get the pliers from my toolbox in the garage.”

  “Hurry,” I said, tears of pain leaking from my eyes.

  She ran from the room, and Cassiel knelt by my head. “Hold on, Warren.”

  I stared into her blue eyes, wishing I could get lost in them. For the first time, she looked helpless and afraid. “You sure this can’t kill me?”

  “I promise.” She smiled and held my hand. “Not much longer.”

  “I think this is worse than getting shot.” I forced a smile.

  She pushed a loose strand of hair back behind my ear. “The audience probably doesn’t help.”

  Adrianne finally returned a million years later with a pair of pliers. “Here.”

  “Thank you.” He bent over me again and jammed the cold metal into my back so hard I didn’t know how my spine stayed intact.

  He braced one hand against my rib cage and pushed as he yanked the pliers.

  I screamed the F-word.

  Finally, the tension broke, and I inhaled for the first time in minutes.

  “Got it!” he shouted.

  Everyone clapped, and Reuel released the incision.

  Adrianne bent to look at me. “Are you OK?”

  “I am now.” I patted her hand. “Sorry we woke you up.”

  “I’m sorry you got shot.”

  Azrael held the bullet in front of my face. “Ta-da! Want a souvenir?”

  “No thanks. You can keep it.”

  “Yeah, put it on a necklace,” Enzo said, laughing.

  I pushed myself up carefully in case the pain returned—or, God forbid, the headache and the memory loss. “Thanks, everybody.” Reuel looked a little pale. I squeezed his arm. “You did well.”

  “Come on, Reuel.” Adrianne tugged on his shirt. “Let’s get you a snack as a reward.”

  He smiled and followed her to the kitchen.

  “Sorry I couldn’t get it,” Doc said, offering me his hand. “The ligaments and cartilage healed around it, fusing it in there.”

  I squeezed his hand and released it. “You’re not telling me anything I don’t know. I’ve felt it for the past couple of hours.” I picked up the clean black T-shirt Azrael had given me. “Thanks for trying. Can’t feel a thing now.”

  “Good.”

  “Hey, Doc, could that bullet have caused a bad headache? My head hurt so bad earlier I was forgetting things.”

  “Like most of us lowly humans,” NAG said with a laugh.

  Doc sighed and ran his fingers through his hair. “Headaches, sure. But shit, Warren, that bullet would have paralyzed most people. Who the hell knows how it might affect you.”

  I chuckled. “Yeah. Good point. Thanks again.”

  “Don’t mention it.”

  Cassiel was standing in front of me, watching me put on the shirt. “That was brutal. Are you sure you’re all right?”

  “I’m fine now. Thank you.” I pulled the T-shirt over my head and stood up, arching my spine backward. “Oh, that feels glorious.”

  Enzo and NAG walked over. Both of their eyes were mismatched. Enzo’s were blue and green. NAG’s were brown and green. “Now that the show’s over, I guess we’ll go home,” he said with a smile.

  “Thanks for everything you guys do. And NAG, thanks for getting the clothes.” She’d brought clothes for Cassiel and had visited the Big and Tall section of a 24-hour Walmart for Reuel.

  “Don’t mention it,” she replied.

  “Will you be around for a while?” Enzo asked.

  I shrugged. “I really have no idea. Iliana’s safety is my first priority, but I need to get back to Eden to find Metatron.”

  “I still haven’t met him,” he said.

  “That makes two of us.”

  “Take care of yourself, Warren. Hope the back is OK,” he said.

  I twisted at the waist. “Just like new.”

  As Enzo and NAG walked to the door. Cassiel followed them. I heard her thanking NAG again for her clothes.

  When they were across the room, Azrael looked at me with a clenched jaw. “Why did you bring her here?” he whispered angrily.

  “I told you, the Council is watching me.”

  “Why?”

  I took a step closer to him and lowered my voice as much as I could. “They’ve ruled that I must bring Iliana to Eden by her first birthday.”

  His head drew back in alarm. “They plan to make her a seraph?”

  “They plan to try.”

  “You know what that means, right?” he asked.

  I nodded. “They also want me and the other Angels of Death to destroy any human body harboring an angel under the age of two.”

  “Fury’s baby.” His mouth widened with shock, and he turned away from me. “I wouldn’t have been surprised if they had ordered the destruction of the Morning Star, but all babies?”

  “All of them.”

  He stared through me for a moment, gripping his forehead. He looked at Adrianne and Reuel in the kitchen, then at Cassiel, Enzo, and NAG at the front door. “What’s your plan?” he finally asked.

  “I need to find Metatron. If he can identify the Morning Star, I might have a chance to save Iliana and spare Fury’s kid.”

  “What about Sandalphon? He’s generally easier to—”

  “Sandalphon’s locked himself in Cira.”

  “Why?”

  I shrugged my shoulders. “Nobody knows.”

  Azrael steepled his fingers and pressed them down the center of his face. His eyes bounced nervously back and forth. Finally, he shook his head. “We must get Fury somewhere safe.”

  “Where? She’s still in the hospital right now.”

  “You don’t think an angel can walk out of a hospital with a baby?”

  True.

  “Don’t worry about Fury. I’ll take care of her.”

  “Where will you take her?”

  He shook his head. “The less you know, the better.”

  I looked across the room. Cassiel
was talking quietly with Enzo at the door. My eyes narrowed as I watched her touch his arm.

  Azrael jabbed his finger into my chest. “You need to work on a backup plan. I’m not sure Metatron can recognize the Morning Star. And even if it’s possible, he’s not the easiest angel to work with. He’s powerful, and he knows it.”

  I grinned. “Sounds like somebody else I know.”

  “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

  “Of course you don’t.”

  “Did you speak with the Father?”

  “The Father won’t leave Malab, but He says he’ll help persuade the Council against making Iliana a seraph if I can find the Morning Star.”

  “Which brings you back to the problem.”

  “Yep.”

  “What are you two talking about over there?” Cassiel’s voice made both of us turn. She was closing the front door behind Enzo and NAG.

  “I could ask the same question about you and Enzo,” I said

  “Enzo was assuring me he had the security situation under control here.” She broke eye contact with me.

  I crossed my arms. Now who’s lying?

  “What are you talking about?” she asked again.

  “Sleeping arrangements,” Azrael lied.

  She lifted a skeptical eyebrow.

  I huffed. “I was filling Azrael in on the Council’s ruling.”

  “See? Was it so hard to be honest with me?”

  Azrael looked around the room. “But we do need to talk about sleeping arrangements.”

  “Right,” Adrianne said, walking in from the kitchen. “Where is everyone sleeping?”

  “I meant to tell you guys, congratulations on the house. This place looks great,” I said.

  Since I’d been gone, Azrael and Adrianne had bought a house together closer to Wolf Gap. It was an older home, a ’70s-style ranch, but the inside had recently been renovated.

  Adrianne put her arms around Azrael’s waist. “Thank you. We like it.” She kissed his cheek.

  “And speaking of congratulations…” Cassiel walked over and extended her hand to Adrianne. “We haven’t officially met. I’m Cassiel. Congratulations on the baby.”

  Before Adrianne could shake Cassiel’s hand, Azrael tightened his arm around her and moved Adrianne back a few steps. “Thank you, Cassiel,” he answered for her.

  Adrianne elbowed him. “I’m still a grown woman, Az. It’s nice to meet you, Cassiel. Any friend of Warren’s is a friend of ours.”