by Zoe Forward
“Flynn did not tell you about that, did he?”
Zadkiel compressed his lips against smiling. “You know better than to buy something off the black market and use it.”
“I’ll get him back for this,” he muttered. Louder, he said, “I thought you left. You did your thing. That means you poof out, and I don’t see you until you need help again, or you decide to help me. Although, I’m not sure you needed any help to begin with.” He righted himself and whispered, “Thanks for putting me back together and fixing my outfit. I like this jacket.” Roman resumed his kneel next to the angel and smoothed out his jacket.
“Tonight wasn’t about the demon. You guys would’ve gotten to that. This was about you. Turns out I haven’t done my thing yet.”
“What do you mean?” Roman didn’t know where the angel was going with this.
“Like I said before, I made a call. Informed my boss you weren’t grounded enough in this world to continue to do what needed to be done. For the past few years, you lost a lot of yourself. Too much. You started to drift. Nova became a reason to exist and a way to rebuild your soul. Seems He liked that.”
“Your god wants me to be with Nova?”
“You need to grab ahold of this gift and don’t let go. Don’t fight what was given to you.” Zadkiel’s gaze didn’t deviate from its stare at the pulpit.
“Okay, I didn’t fight it the first time. I was ordered to hunt her down and kill her. One of us had to die, and she organized it to be her. Now she has to stay away from me or risk being exposed to those that pull my strings.”
The angel chuckled. “Why do you think He chose her? There are others of your kind in the world who could’ve been your match.” When Roman said nothing, the angel sighed. “She can wield powerful elemental magic on top of being lycan.” The angel’s eyebrows rose as if Roman should get it.
“Wait. So, now it was all some sort of elaborate test? That doesn’t resolve the issue that she has to be dead in the eyes of those who hold my leash.”
“Are you dense? She can will herself invisible. If she doesn’t want anyone to see her, then no one will. Maybe she doesn’t remember she can do that, but if she asks the annoying mage for some training, then she can relearn it. The girl is also a decent fighter. It’s handy to have someone with those kind of skills on your team. She can help you and hold her own if you can get over yourself to let her fight. Face it, she’s perfect for you.” He clapped a hand on his shoulder. “Love’s a bitch. Believe me, I know.”
“Thanks,” he whispered.
“You and I aren’t that different, Roman.” He lowered his voice. “We’re both tethered to a master that sends us on difficult tasks at whim. There’s purpose to our missions, but it can be tedious to always be at the mercy of another’s orders.”
He nodded gravely. “Who is your God? Is he Zeus or someone different? I can’t quite align how he fits into everything.”
“Is it a he? Or it is a she? It’s more an it, but historically called He. God, Allah, Zeus, Odin, Ahura Mazda, Marduk… They’re all members of the same species. Their power lies in the belief of their supporters. Honestly, I’m too tired for a philosophical debate.”
“That helps me understand why I can call upon other gods, especially the Greek ones. That they’re all valid in their own right. I do have a question for you before you go. Not sure you can answer or if you need to leave now that you did your thing.”
“About what?”
“What do you know about Antonio’s Alliance group?”
He cast a glance upward. “They’re legit in idea, but they…” He pursed his lips. “They’ve got funding and enough non-human recruits, but they lack experience and balls.”
“I was skeptical Antonio would risk getting his pearly hands as bloody as is sometimes necessary to destroy most evil creatures, especially the demons and nastier of the witches.” He shook his head and chuckled. “He’s jealous that I know you.”
“That’s cute. I’ve never been a huge fan of vampires.” Zadkiel examined his hands. “Not saying he’s evil. It’s the blood drinking that gets to me.”
“I’m not sure if I should ask them for help with a little problem I have. Many of the dangerous items that I’ve lifted off supernaturals over the past few decades, the items that can’t be destroyed, are housed beneath London. I thought them safe, but I discovered one is missing recently. It’s a bad one that I really don’t want to have to track down again, although looks like we have no choice. It means none of the items are safe there.”
“Move them.”
“Any suggestions as to where? You think this Alliance offers a safe place?”
Zadkiel shook his head. “There are too many variables at the Alliance. They lack solid vetting of its members. High risk you’ll be chasing paranormal idiots who try to use one of the magical items. Bad scenario. Build your own safe place. Tell no one but your family.”
“That was my gut instinct. I’ll go with it.” He cocked his head and stared long and hard at the angel. “You doing okay? You seem off.”
The angel sighed and smiled softly. “No one but you ever asks. Humans are either in the middle of their own personal crisis and need me to guide them out, or they want something from me. Other angels really couldn’t care less about each other.”
“You didn’t answer.”
“It’s been a tough few weeks,” he said cryptically.
“If you need help with something, let me know. No scores on who owes who. Friends.” He held out his hand.
The angel shook it. “That means a lot, Roman. I appreciate it. Someday, I might take you up on the offer. Go take control of your life.” He rose and sauntered up the aisle. As he reached the back of the church, he disappeared.
Chapter Thirty
“What’d you and the angel talk about?” Flynn shouted from the rear of the plane as Roman settled into the cockpit.
“Let’s get home, and we’ll talk about it.”
Nova’s gut twisted into all kinds of tangles as she sat next to him in the copilot seat, but didn’t buckle in. The tense line of Roman’s jaw as he focused out the windshield and shoulder blades tenting the back of his shirt where he leaned forward ever so slightly suggested…maybe he didn’t want her up here?
Her heart ached for him. He’d lost weight, and the rough beard on his jaw gave him and unsettled appearance. She hurt for him being so alone and lost before he found her and then again after she died. He needed someone who appreciated him for who he was. No, he had that in his family. He needed someone to show him how to feel happiness.
His demons might have eaten him alive, but he was trying to find a way to break free of them and keep himself whole. She could see it so plainly and how much he needed her to help him get free. She wanted to stick around and hold his hand when he wasn’t seeing clearly. He needed her to protect him, like today.
But she worried about the damage she could do to him by remaining at his side. Like right now.
A few fast blinks helped keep the tears from falling. She wanted to hug him and never let go. She didn’t want to see him so lost and broken.
She said, “We have to talk about it. I didn’t have a choice. I had to force you to let me be the one who died.”
Roman took her hand and kissed the top of her knuckles. “Stop crying. Please. I missed you. A lot. I did some things I’m not proud of after you died.” He dropped his head. “You have no idea what it was like to watch them murder you. I lost my way.”
“I have an idea. I just witnessed you almost die. I have plenty of idea what you felt. Roman, whatever is here is real. We get a second chance. A real chance. I think we need to take it even though there are issues. Before, everything happened so fast.”
“I can’t watch you do that again. Electing to die to keep me alive…” He swung his head back and forth. “I won’t survive.”
He shook his head.
She yelled out of the cockpit, “Flynn, do you have the curse pushing you to kill me?”
“No.”
“I had to die.” She tightened her grip on Roman’s lower jaw to force eye contact. “My death was about more than whatever fledgling feelings we had brewing. I did it to save you. To keep you in this world. That angel saving you, liking you, means I made the right choice.”
Death might equal freedom from the curse. Would the angel or an angel bring each of them back after they died? That seemed farfetched. Too much of a gamble. His gut said that wasn’t the right answer to get free of the curse.
She sucked in an uneven breath. “I should go. We should go our separate ways before you take off. I won’t risk hurting you…being the reason you die. We might’ve had something, but it’s not like you bonded with me or anything. You’ll get over it. Right?”
He recoiled. “What?”
She slumped in on herself. “It’s okay if it’s over between us. For us to move on. It has to be.”
“Over? It’s not fucking okay. Zadkiel brought you back by begging his god to do so for a reason. For me…us. I am bonded with you!”
Momentarily stunned, she stared up at him. “Really? God brought me back?”
“I’m still working through you not being dead in my head. I’m trying to figure out how to handle you alive and us together and all of it in a way to keep you safe.”
She wiped her bleary eyes. “I wish I could stay with you. But my head tells me I need to keep away. I don’t want to be the reason the curse gets angry and you die. If Gerard or your king find out I’m not dead and order you to actually come after me again… I can’t watch you bleed out. You should let me go my own way. Maybe we can work independently to find out more about your brother and communicate through Evie?”
“No.” Roman looked her way. He swallowed hard. His tone evened out. “I’ll go after you. I’ll disobey orders for the rest of my life to go after you.”
“Oh.” Warmth spread through her. “Did the angel say us together was okay?”
“Ultimately, he isn’t a part of this decision, but he did. Do you want to be with me? Cursed and fighting inhuman creatures aside, if my life was regular and calm, would you choose us?”
“Yes.”
“We’re going to work things out.” Louder, he yelled back, “Flynn, call Mom and ask her if we can have a do-over of family night. Actually, a breakfast. A true family sit-down. Food, talking, the whole thing. With you there.”
“Sure,” Flynn yelled back.
Something more was going on, and she hated not knowing what. “Does this have to do with what you talked to the angel about?”
He waited to hear from Flynn.
Flynn said, “Mom’s good. She’s still in Greece. Seemed surprised, but she’ll wait there.”
She released a shaky breath. “What’s this about?”
“We’re all going to back to Greece. You too. Try to get some sleep since you did just get resurrected. We’ll be there soon.”
She came out of her doze as the plane landed in Greece.
“Gerard’s on the line. Wants to talk about the demon thing. He doesn’t know we already did the job,” Flynn announced as the plane taxied toward the private hangar he kept here. His mom liked her island, so they met here a few times a year.
“You better have us muted.” Roman unbuckled. To her he whispered, “Stay here. Don’t make a peep.”
She watched from the cockpit.
A man she assumed to be Gerard said, “We have to talk about this demon. He’s destroying—”
“Already done,” Roman said. “It’s gone.”
“You did it?”
Roman blinked. He remained silent a few seconds. “An archangel phoned me. Said he wanted to deal with it now. All three of us worked together.”
“An angel? Like one of God’s angels?”
“We’ve worked together before, remember?” Roman asked. “He’s kind of scary even if he is an angel. But the demon was third level. Dangerous. It’s gone.”
“Angels are real?”
Why did everyone always ask this? “Yes. Why is it so hard to believe when we have demons and witches and ghosts? Why can’t you believe angels who work for God exist?”
“I’m just shocked they wanted to work with you.”
“Why? Because we’re monsters? We’re not human? All we’ve done for decades is protect your people. So, why is it so inconceivable an archangel would want to work with us?”
“Of course. That’s…” Gerard cleared his throat. “Good job. I have other news. I had a team do a full sweep of the renovated factory you invaded in Belgium. Sure looked like a secret detention facility. We didn’t find much that wasn’t burned, but we did find something. I’m not sure if it’s important.”
Nova wanted to see.
Roman shot her a warning glare.
Gerard said, “This was tucked into an air vent in one of the cells. It’s a miracle it survived. Most of the contents are unreadable from fire damage, but here’s an image of the cover.”
…
Roman’s lungs seized and refused to work as he stared at the image. Impossible.
A little red notebook with a single symbol on it came on screen. It had two stylized letters: G S.
An uncontrollable shudder swept through him.
Galen Sigge.
Roman caught Flynn’s gaze. Neither said anything.
“You know what that means?” Gerard asked.
A hard thudding resonated inside his head from his escalating heartrate.
“Nope. No clue,” Flynn said. “Ring any bells to you, Roman?”
Roman shook his head. “Must be random. Meaningless.”
“Okay. Too bad. Looks like it’s our only lead. We’ll see if we can get prints off it, but it’s unlikely.”
Roman said, “We’re going to take those two days off you offered. We might look for Ky. Or we might sit on a beach. After that, we’ll check in.” Roman closed the laptop.
He leaned forward and held his head in his hands. “This is so much worse than we thought.”
“What did they find?” Nova asked.
“That…those letters…can’t be…right? It’s some sort of diabolical coincidence,” Flynn whispered. “He’s dead.”
“What are you talking about?” Nova raised her voice.
“Gerard’s team found a notebook with the initials of Galen Sigge on the cover. Aka Mad Sigge.” Roman released his head.
Flynn shook his head back and forth in a slow sweep. “We destroyed the Swedish warlock in 1979. He was straight up out of his mind.”
“Not crazy in the sense of insanity,” Roman said to Nova. “More zealous. He worked with countless Nazis in the forties to perfect his techniques. We obviously weren’t careful enough to destroy all his notes. We only destroyed the source.” He rubbed his eyes. “We messed up. This is our fault.”
“We have to tell Gerard.” Flynn’s eyebrows folded inward.
“Can we trust him?”
“I don’t know anymore. Him throwing the notebook our way came off disingenuous somehow.”
“He’s been on our side since the beginning, but there’s a problem in the reliquary. A big one. Items are missing.”
“I didn’t notice anything gone when we were there the day Nova… We were distracted last time we were there.”
“The Viking Curmsun disc wasn’t there. I saw a few smaller items that were also gone, but I didn’t do a full inventory. Ky wouldn’t h
ave touched that disc or taken it with him. Someone got through the protections on the box to take it.”
“That disc was…” Flynn puffed out his cheeks and blew out air. “Shit. It took us and both Ky and Shane to get it last time off the crazed human. Why didn’t you tell me it’s gone?”
“I was preoccupied. Didn’t know what to make of it. I’m still not sure. There are few people allowed into that space. Gerard has no reason to touch it and knows not to. Why anyone would want to handle any of those objects is beyond me, but the fact it’s been removed means none of them are safe. We have to find somewhere else for them.”
“Where?”
“I asked Zadkiel. He said we should build our own facility. This is what we have to talk to Mom about. We need to move fast and get those items out of there. If we don’t, we’ll be spending the next twenty years going after them again. I’m thinking we can do a spell to make it seem like the items are still there when they’re not.”
“Or we do holograms.” Flynn shook his heads. “That’s stupid. Too easy to realize it’s fake, but then again we only need to deceive for a short period of time. At least long enough to get the items to safety. A spell sounds better.”
“It’ll be a temporary fix to buy us time to move them. Once they’re all gone, we can tell Gerard we moved them. There’s nothing about the curse that says we have to leave them in London. We are bound to protect the innocent, and this is the only way.”
“There are too many pieces that don’t fit. Nova, the disc, Ky’s mission, Shane’s lighter…”
Flynn said, “We need Ky back to figure this out. He’s good at solving puzzles. I’ll bet he hid the notebook for us to find.”
“Maybe.”
Nova asked, “What does the notebook and this Sigge person have to do with me?”
“It answers the question why you couldn’t allow yourself to remember.” Roman let out a long sigh. He held out his hand to take hers in his. “They’re using Sigge’s brainwashing techniques to program super soldiers. He specialized in using hypnosis to train soldiers. He used trigger words that become embedded into the subconscious to get soldiers to follow a command.”