He shrugged Týr off. “I left her with him. I didn’t even know, and I met the fucker!” His fangs bared, his stomached roiled in dread.
“Go. I’ll alert the others and see to the human.” Týr flashed.
Dagan dematerialized—except he couldn’t.
An eerie sensation snaked around him, holding him in place, unlike anything he’d ever experienced before. Energy seeped into him. He stiffened. What the—?
His thoughts scattered as a riptide hauled him into a vortex of impossible power.
Chapter 26
Shae left Dagan and headed back to the office, empty champagne glass in her hand. She really wished he’d stayed. But innocent lives could be lost, and she didn’t want that.
Ugh. She rubbed her temples, blinking at the sudden buzz in her head. She must have drunk the champagne too fast. Several people left the office, and Shae stepped aside to let them pass. It was probably time for the speech to start.
As she walked into the room, she found two strange men inside. They flanked her uncle, who sat behind the table, staring blankly at her. And Harvey stood stony-faced near the window.
“Uncle Lem?” she said, a slight sense of unease sweeping through her as she set the glass down, but he didn’t respond.
Red tinged the eyes of the suited men beside him. Demons. What the hell was going on?
“Harvey?” she called out, fear rising, but her friend stood rigid near the window, looking like he’d been drained of every drop of blood as he glared at something behind her.
“Finally.” The sleek voice caressed her nape, and the hairs on her arms rose.
Shae spun around and winced. Her head spun. She grabbed a chair for support, blinking at the stranger silhouetted in the entrance. Tall, blond, nothing was familiar about him. And she knew most of Lem’s associates.
Sea-blue eyes met hers. Strangely, they were the only things about him that she felt a bizarre connection to. A hint of power radiated from him and slithered around her like a lasso, squeezing her chest. Another immortal.
Her own abilities swirled in response, but hands grabbed her by the upper arms and hauled her backward. Harvey stepped protectively in front of her, only then she understood the stranger was testing the strength of her capabilities, and she clamped her shields down. Dammit, what was it with her today? The dizziness creeping over her made her really slow.
“You think you can protect her, demon?” With a wave of his hand, the immortal shut the door. “The only one who can is her annoying watchdog.” He laughed, the sound like crackling ice. “Now, isn’t it nice that he got called away to an emergency? Something that’s more important than you? By the way, your champagne? It was spelled. Just a precaution to keep out unwanted immortal interference, you understand.”
Fear coasting through her like a gale-force, she mind-linked with Dagan, Where are you? I need you! Except she hit a dead zone. Silence echoed in her mind. Dear, God!
“If you touch her—”
“You try my patience, demon.” The stranger’s strident voice cut Harvey off, his eyes flaming in anger. “I’m so close to taking out your kind. Filth that doesn’t belong here and mars my city.”
“Why are you doing this?” Shae whispered, her gaze darting back to her still unmoving uncle. “What did you do to him?”
“That is the least of your concerns.” Aza walked in like he owned the place and stood beside the stranger, a triumphant expression on his narrow features.
Shae stared, her lungs flattening in fear. “You’re doing this because I didn’t want to date you?”
Aza said nothing. The blond stepped forward, his hard stare pinning her. “You shouldn’t have run or lied, Shae.”
Lied? She’d never met the man before. “Who are you?”
“You wound me, my dear. For such a clever girl, you genuinely have no clue? And I had you and you mother under my care for so many years.”
What the hell was he talking about? She’d never seen him before. But those eyes…
“You really don’t know, do you?” He exhaled, his cool expression morphing to mock disappointment. Then his eyes began to glow with such lethal intent, Shae shuddered. Harvey held her arms as if lending her his courage.
“Come here, Lem,” he commanded in a voice that didn’t leave room for resistance. As her uncle rose and shuffled over like some wooden doll, the blond smiled. A dagger appeared in his hand, and without warning, he plunged it into Lem’s chest.
“No!” she screamed. Breaking free of Harvey, she sprinted forward and reached for her uncle, but he dissipated into the air. She stood there, staring at the spot where he’d been, pain searing through every facet of her being. Dagan, she cried through their telepathic link. But just unending silence answered her.
“Don’t grieve him, he served his purpose. Let me introduce myself, my dear,” the murdering bastard said, smiling. “I’m Samael.”
“You godsdamn, asshole!” Harvey forged past Shae. Samael flung him back with a flick of his hand, and he hit the wall.
At the small, secret smirk on Samael’s face, Shae snapped out of her shocked stupor, something cold materializing in her palm. With no idea how her obsidian dagger appeared in her hand, she flung it with every ounce of agony inside her. Samael shifted at the last minute, and the blade embedded in his sternum, missing his black heart.
The demons in the room rushed forward, but Samael stopped them with a wave of his hand as if he didn’t need their help.
Harvey grabbed her by the shoulders and pulled her back.
Those familiar eyes narrowed on her. “Someone’s been brushing up on her fighting skills.” With a derisive laugh, he grabbed the obsidian dagger, yanking it out with a brief wince. “I knew I should have killed you ages ago, Harvey.” Cold anger swirling in his eyes, he flung Shae’s dagger at Aza, who grabbed it mid-air. “Finish him.”
“I’ve been waiting for this.” Aza leaped for Harvey, who jumped away.
Blood thundering in her head, Shae shoved Aza with all her strength. He lurched back a step. Snarling, he flashed, came up behind Harvey, and sliced her best friend’s throat.
Harvey’s eyes darkened in shock. He gurgled. Blood sprayed from the wound like a fountain as he fell.
“Nooo!” An agonizing sob tore free. She dropped to her knees on the hard, cold floor and held her friend, tears dripping down her face. Harvey’s body shimmered from her blood-drenched arms, and he vanished, hauled back to the Dark Realm in death.
“Everything else is on track, too,” Aza reported to Samael then strolled past Shae and returned her dagger to him with a satisfied smirk. “The asshole Guardians are back on the streets, the butler’s busy outside. My demons play a good game of chaos. The ruckus should keep them busy for most of the night.”
“Good.” Samael stepped in front of Shae. “Get off the floor, my dear.”
Two demons came forward and lifted her by her arms when she didn’t move. “Why?” she cried. “Why are you killing my family—my friend? My uncle, what did he ever do to you?”
“You still haven’t guessed? I’m disappointed, Shae. Very well…” He waved his hand over himself, and the next instant, he shrank to average height, his features morphing to the familiar ones of Uncle Lem. Two seconds later, he was the blond man again. “For years, I’ve stayed this way, using the alter ego. Revolting really, wearing a weak human skin, but necessary.”
Oh, God. The pain of betrayal corroded her insides as it all began to make sense.
She loved a phantom, an uncle who didn’t exist. She cut Samael a stare of utter loathing. “Mom didn’t leave because of me six months ago, did she? You took her. Why?”
“Because you and your mother belong to me. Only she forced my hand, refused me. It’s really bothersome having to recount everything.” With a touch of his hand on her forehead, memories spilled free.
Shae staggered against the wall, grabbing her skull as images erupted. Her dreams. She pulled out the dagger from her father’s ches
t, and in a flash, he too disappeared. “My father—” The truth cleaved her in half. “You killed him.”
“Oh no, my dear,” he said, his face void of emotions. “Not me, but he had to go.”
“Why?” She gripped the edges of the desk so her knees wouldn’t buckle, the sight of Harvey’s blood spilled on the floor rendering her helpless.
“You don’t know what he was?” Surprise colored his tone. “All these years, and they kept your heritage hidden from you?” He laughed. “Your father was a throne—a third-level angel created for war. But in this world, Gusion forgot our plans and vanished. When I found him again a decade later, he was preparing to go back to the Celestial Realm, to give up his wings and fall.” Samael’s highly polished shoes came into her line of view. “Imagine my surprise when I found out that he’d mated a mortal and spawned you. I wanted to kill you to teach him a lesson, but then I realized you were a nephilim. You had to have some of his powers. So I waited.”
Her gaze snapped to him. “A nephi—what?”
“A half-angel, dear girl. However, except for sensing demons, your abilities never showed. You took after your human mother. And just when I thought I was wasting my time with the both of you, it happened. Who would have guessed that all it took was a fight between you two? Mother and daughter. Then your laptop short-circuited and exploded, sending her flying across the room.”
He laughed. “That evening, one of my minions thought to have his way with Jenna, and a miracle occurred. Her powers awakened. She destroyed him within seconds, melting every muscle and bone. I realized then that she was the long-awaited psionic, a descendant of the powerful Watchers. Finally, I knew I could still have it all with her.”
His chilling smile grew. “You see, that’s why I had to separate you two, so she would do whatever I wanted. I laid out little traps, had her killing humans and Others alike, but Michael thought himself too lofty to investigate their deaths. He sent those pissy Guardians to snoop around instead.” Samael ambled to the window, reached behind him, and scratched his back. “No matter, today I shall be free.”
How could she not have known? Not guessed the truth? For so many years, she’d lived with this monster. And all the while, he’d been using her mother to kill. Her stomach churned, her hands shook, sweat beading on her brow. “And you think you can defeat the archangel?”
“I don’t have to.” He pivoted to her. “Jenna will kill him. And she can. Why do you think I let the demon, Luka, leak where she was? It was time to get this damn show on the road.” Sinister laughter echoed in the room like splintered glass. “Because Michael is responsible for what’s been done to me, and he will fix it, or he dies.”
“Samael. We had a deal,” Aza said from across the room. “I took care of Gusion. Gave you my demons when you required them. Now, give me the girl.”
His words barely registered, her throat swollen with tears as she grieved for her parents, for an uncle that didn’t exist, and for her friend. And more, at how easily Samael had played everyone from her to the archangel.
Samael sauntered closer to Aza. “You’ve waited several months for her, you can tolerate a few more minutes.”
“Your fight with the archangel isn’t mine. Give her to me, or I will send all my demons back to the Dark Realm, even the ones on the street.” Aza stalked over to Shae, then tripped, crashing into the desk. He grabbed his throat. His eyes bulged, choking sounds filling the air.
“Never threaten me, Azaul,” Samael murmured, cool boredom on his flawless face—and all the more terrifying for it.
Aza rubbed his throat, his dark eyes becoming black holes as he straightened. In a blur, he moved toward her. Shae jumped back, evading him by a hair’s breadth as he knocked into the desk, scattering papers everywhere. Someone grabbed her from behind.
Snarling, she elbowed the minion hard in the belly. A raucous growl blasted her ears. His huge fist came flying toward her face, landing with the impact of a boulder. Pain exploded from her jaw and into her head in a kaleidoscope of stars as she crashed to the ground.
“Very well, you want the girl? Go get me her mother,” Samael’s words echoed in her mind as it all went dark.
Chapter 27
Shae’s head pounded like someone had slammed a jackhammer into her skull. A moan caught in her throat, she forced her eyelids open. Darkness surrounded her, along with a biting chill. Her damp sweater stuck to her back from lying on the dew-drenched ground. And it all rushed back as if an unending nightmare.
They were no longer at the office. Blurred, indistinct shapes swarmed her vision for several seconds. The moon underscored everything in an odd, silvery-blue light.
“Welcome back, dear girl. This place is so fitting, don’t you think? Where it all started.”
At the dreaded voice, she blinked to clear her fuzzy sight. The crisp scent of apples teased her nose. With some effort, she focused, and at the sight of the sloped red-roof house to her right, her breath hitched painfully.
He’d brought her to her old home near Stone Ridge, behind which lay the apple orchard she’d always loved so much.
Shae pushed herself off the ground and sat up, shivering in the frigid air. Her jacket had vanished. Did they think she had a stash of weapons hidden in it? Queasiness churned her stomach and tracked up her throat, the sounds of clinking crowding her ears. She rubbed her bleary eyes, except something heavy weighed her arms down. Metal manacles shackled her wrists, the chain fastened around a tree trunk.
At her helpless state, another bout of nausea bubbled up her throat.
Aza crouched near her, his eyes glittering in avarice as they swept up her body to linger on her breasts.
“You freakin’ chained me?” She yanked at the restraints.
“So you can’t teleport. The chains will keep you docile. It’s why you’ll remain shackled until we complete the mating,” he murmured, his tone an icky caress. Now you are mine, Shae, his words trickled into her mind.
He was the one sending those insidious whispers to torment her. Shae heaved.
Aza smirked, rose to his feet, and faced Samael. “I brought you the other female, now I shall leave with Shae.”
“You will wait until I decide you can go, Azaul.”
“Never forget, I’m a Fallen, too,” Aza retorted. “I could just take her from you.”
Aza clearly had no idea about the truth of this rogue.
Samael laughed, the ominous sounds chafing her bruised psyche. He unbuttoned his jacket and flung it away. At the sudden rip in the night, Shae blinked. Samael groaned. Rustling filled the air, and in a flash of light, wings burst free from his back. Six feet of iridescent white wings gleamed in the moonlight—so beautiful, they put the stars to shame. And they belonged to this psychotic asshole.
“I am no Fallen.” He cut Aza the smallest of smiles, all the more menacing for it. “Yes, I kept this truth from you. Losing my wings was not part of my plan. It’s why I needed Jenna to corral Michael here. He’d come for her, thinking the evil Fallens had a powerful psionic in their grips. But then he would already be keeping tabs on you”—he glared at Aza—“after your idiotic stunt to restrain Shae by shooting her.”
“She belongs to me. It was a mere retrieval and not intended to kill her, but who could have expected that asshole to protect her?”
“You’re a fool.” Samael’s wings fluttered in annoyance. “They are Guardians. It’s what they do. I didn’t plan for eons to let you fuck up all my hard work. Do you honestly think I don’t know why you put money into my mayoral campaign? You want a psychic, except Jenna is mine, as is Shae. She may be of no value to me, only a cog to be used to get her mother to play nice, but she’s still mine. And you dared to put a mating mark on my property.”
“I’m no one’s damn property,” Shae pushed through gritted her teeth, wrenching at her restraints.
Sea-blue eyes flickered to her briefly. “But you are, my dear, very much so.”
Aza snarled, a sword appearing in his
hand, braced for attack. Shit! Shae hastily scrambled backward on her ass to get out of the way. Power sizzled in Samael’s hands. His wings flapped, casting a halo of light around him. “I could kill you before you blinked. Bear that in mind, Azaul. And don’t even think of recalling these demons.”
Scowling, Aza lowered his sword.
Swallowing hard, Shae leaned against the tree trunk. Hordes of demons, like jittering dark roaches, stood off to the side and polluted the overgrown lawn of her home.
“Now, where were we?” Samael strolled to her. “Ah, yes… It’s time for a new regime of power in this world. Call Michael.”
She glared at him. “No.”
Samael shook his head. “You’re a tough one. Why didn’t I notice it before? Let’s see how rebellious you are then, shall we?” His focus shifted to the house. “Jenna.”
Mom? Her gaze snapped to the front door.
“Surprised, are you?” Amusement tinged his voice. “I simply got her here with a command in her mind. You see, I never took her cell. It wasn’t like she could use it in the Dark Realm. When I called her, she answered. And made her way to the nearest watery spot.”
The lake?
He gave the shortest of laughs. “It’s so easy to conceal any mystical happenings, even at the Guardians’ abode.”
Her mother stepped out of their old home, the vacant look back in her eyes. Like a zombie, she shuffled toward Samael.
“Mom—no!” Shae pushed to her feet, desperately trying to mind-link with Dagan again. And still, nothing.
Samael drew her to him and fastened his mouth over hers in a lascivious kiss. Her mother stood there like a limp doll. And Shae knew. He’d used her sexually, too.
With a flick of his hand, her mother fell to the ground. She grabbed her head and screamed, a thin, keening sound, the cry piercing Shae in the heart.
“Stop, stop it!” she yelled, straining against her shackles, the energy inside her whipping viciously, looking for an outlet, but she couldn’t set it free with the cursed chains blocking her abilities. Blood seeped from her nose. She coughed out, “Don’t hurt her—please don’t, I’ll call Michael.”
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