They fled, and Pastor Pillow and Sister Sheets hit me with the Sleep Sermon, knocking me unconscious as I collapsed like a sack of potatoes.
Chapter 59
I opened my eyes as I felt a warm presence purring beside me. Gentle hands carefully lifted me slightly – pausing to acknowledge the sudden change in pitch of the purr before settling me back down into a more comfortable position. I blinked back crusted eyelids, my heart racing.
I felt like a wet rag.
I wiped at my eyes with my sleeves to see Eae cradling my head in his lap, brushing my hair with his thumb as he smiled down at me wonderingly. Phix was nestled up beside me, purring.
The Nephilim all knelt before us in a ring, heads down, praying softly in a soothing hum.
Rai stared at me from a few paces away, standing alone, weeping from bloodshot eyes. She gasped, lifting a hand to her mouth as I smiled at her. “I’m sorry, Rai… I never intended to give you up. Not really,” I breathed, but she seemed to have heard me.
Claire – sans clothes, of course – and Beckett stood side by side, shaking their heads absently. Beckett’s stomach was covered in blood, but he looked entirely fine. Well, his eyes were troubled, and he averted them when I looked into them. “I’m… sorry, Callie,” he breathed, shoulders shaking slightly.
I nodded but didn’t offer comment.
Claire glanced at Beckett with a tired smile. “I saw what that bastard was about to do, turning Beckett into a werewolf against his will,” she growled. “I figured I would turn him, first. Knew his gun wouldn’t bother me thanks to this,” she said, shaking out the bracelet she had gotten from Darling and Dear. “Hurt like hell, though,” she complained.
I realized she was absently fidgeting with something between her fingers. She noticed my attention and held it up for me to see a silver strip. Then she bent it to form a circle, shaking her head in disbelief.
“What is it?” I asked, eyes shifting to the giant silver statue of Angel standing before us like an uninvited party guest. I hid my shiver as Claire spoke. “Um… I think it’s your tears. Or blood. Or your holy lady juice.” Then she blushed. “Well, not that, but something from inside you,” she said urgently, pointing at the floor.
I glanced down and gasped. The floor all around me was coated in silver. Like someone had spilled molten metal on the ground to let it harden. It wasn’t especially thick, but it didn’t scrape off either as I scuffed at it with my heel.
Seeing all that silver, I gasped, hands suddenly reaching out for the Seal of Solomon. I realized it was already in my hand and lifted it, inspecting it in relief.
I blinked, scrubbing my sleeves at my eyes again.
The two interwoven triangles were now entirely whole. In fact, the ring looked as if it had only been made minutes before – stronger than it had ever been. There wasn’t even a hint of the scored line that had freed Samael.
I hissed instinctively as I noticed the shifting shadow circling my thumb in an eternal rotation.
“Easy, Callie. It’s okay. He can’t hurt you.” Eae said, looking down at me. He didn’t sound particularly appeased by this statement, but more nervous than ever. That I had managed to trap an Angel on my thumb – Fallen or not – was not good table conversation.
I nodded shakily, then relaxed my shoulders, breathing deeply for a few moments as I stared at the Nephilim still kneeling before us. Then I frowned. Were they praying for forgiveness? To Eae? Or… to me?
The woman who had bound an Angel – their old boss – on her finger.
I looked up at Eae. “What have I done?” I whispered.
“I think… you just trapped an Angel on your finger…” he whispered. He studied me for a time, cocking his head pensively. That was when I realized I still had my mind locked down for protection. Maybe it had been instinctual upon waking up and seeing him nearby. I had done it repeatedly for days, now. With great effort, I uncurled my figurative fingers from the ledge and I opened up my mind, which was hard after clamping it down for so long.
He gasped, eyes wide. “It… that whole thing… was a setup?” he breathed. “That’s not possible!”
I smiled weakly, forcing myself to sit up. “They say the greatest trick the devil ever pulled was convincing the world he didn’t exist. I always was a competitive little shit. Wanted to see if I could do one better than old Lucifer. Trick the devil. Or… a devil.” I turned to glance at him over my shoulder. “In the spirit of honesty, I wasn’t sure if it would end up being you or Nameless locked away… But I didn’t know it would be on my finger,” I said, hefting the Seal of Solomon in my palm. “I thought I would trap one of you in here.”
He stared at me as if I had just admitted to plucking Angel wings in my spare time. Maybe I had. “But… the Whispers,” he said, shaking his head. “They would have seen through it.”
Phix lifted her head, acknowledging Eae with her intense purple eyes. Her purr was like a not so humble brag, now.
I smiled at her. “That was why I had to even lie to myself. I had a… friend help me deceive myself. Phix,” I explained.
Phix grinned widely. “The Whispers are now Callie’s bitches,” she said. Then she reached out with one of her paws to bat around a loose piece of silver on the ground.
I was so amused by this that I didn’t realize Claire had walked up to me and was now staring down at me, her face warring between anger, fear, and relief. “Not cool, bitch. How did you know I wouldn’t listen to you?”
I smiled proudly, a sob escaping my lips as I remembered seeing her hiding in the shadows, that surprising sense of unconditional love. “You told me,” I whispered, reaching up to grasp her hand and squeeze. “You’re my conscience. You were the one person I knew I could always trust, even though I couldn’t trust myself to remember it.”
She squeezed back, shaking her head with a faint smile. “You’re very scary, Callie.”
“I love you too, honey,” I managed, before she wrapped me up in a hug, lifting me to my feet.
“I’ll always be there for you, Callie. Especially when you use a legendary monster to wipe your mind to pretend to turn evil for a little while. I’m your Guardian Ang—” she cut off abruptly, glancing at the silver statue, “well, your spirit animal. Your personal guard bear.”
I smiled, squeezing her close as I inhaled deeply. It felt so nice to not hold up my shield any longer. The Whispers were gone, for now. I knew I hadn’t permanently blocked them, but I had scared them off enough to rethink their plan – whoever they had been.
I turned to Eae. “The Whispers… is there any way to find out who they really are? Will they change as I go to different places? Like radio stations picking up different channels?”
Eae thought about it. “We’ll have to test it out. Maybe you and I could practice. We can stand a small distance apart and try to converse. If it works, you should hear me as a Whisper.”
Claire shivered at the idea, shaking her head. She squeezed me one last time before walking back to Beckett and speaking to him in low tones. Beckett Killian, brief Templar, now shifter bear. I wondered if I could ever trust him again. He had seen what good intentions led to, if on a much grander scale, and I hoped the lesson had been driven home.
Because Olin was still out there and would need to be put down at some point.
I turned as Rai cleared her throat behind me. “I would have done it,” she said, eyes downcast. “I believed you and would have done it. Although… I like this a lot better,” she whispered.
I smiled. “I want you to do something much harder. This was just the tryout.” Her face paled and she looked up sharply in disbelief. “I want you to live. To make my dad happy for as long as you can.” She immediately began to cry in relief, hands jerking up to cover her mouth and wipe at her eyes. I let her go for a second, enjoying her sudden relief. “But to do that, you need to first come clean with him…” I warned. “Tell him everything. Hold nothing back. His ignorance puts him in danger.” I smiled. “I think
he’ll appreciate the real you a lot better,” I said, pointedly sweeping my eyes over her younger body.
Her exuberant grin was contagious, and I didn’t have time to prepare for her sudden hug. Then she held me at arms’ length, wiping my cheek with a thumb as she smiled at me, crying. “Thank you, Callie. Your mother would be proud…” Then she kissed me on the forehead and ran through the door ahead of us, laughing jubilantly.
I felt a heavy presence shove against my hip lightly and looked down to see Phix supporting me. I shook my head in wonder, placing my hand on her back and allowing her and Eae to guide me out of the church.
Eae must have already given commands to the Nephilim, because they didn’t follow, and he didn’t seem concerned about them. Judging by the look he gave them before we opened the door leading outside, I was pretty sure their new Daddy had put them in their place.
And put them on notice.
I took a deep breath of the damp night air, staring out at the crescent moon hanging in the distance through the low-hanging clouds.
A reflection made me glance up at a building across the street, and I froze, breath catching. Two armored… knights with spear and sword stood facing me from the rooftop. When I say armored, I mean full-on jousting armor with helmets, shoulder pauldrons, and everything.
One was gold.
One was silver.
They dipped their heads respectfully at me. Not knowing what else to do, I dipped my head right back.
Eae sniffed at the air suddenly, body tensing. I looked up at him to see if he had noticed our guests. But he wasn’t looking at that. He was questing about with his nose, tracking something.
“What is it?” I asked warily.
He smiled absently. “I do not know. Something… beautiful…” he said, sounding annoyed that he couldn’t define it. “But it’s gone now.” He glanced at me suspiciously.
I shrugged, waiting until he looked away before discreetly glancing at the opposite rooftop again. But my beautiful knights were gone.
“I could use a little beautiful after tonight…” I told Eae, leading my two handlers down the steps. A black taxi pulled up to the curb as we reached the bottom, and Roland climbed out. He tossed a bag out of the car, freeing his hands as he saw us.
“Callie…” he said, not looking at me. As if checking to see if I was in immediate danger.
“Vampire,” Eae said flatly.
“You’re trespassing. This is my church,” Roland replied, ignoring Phix entirely – which judging by her suddenly lashing tail, she didn’t find acceptable.
“Relax, Roland. We’re all friends. And technically, it’s my church.”
He continued to stare at Eae for a moment longer before turning to me, not appreciating my technicality. He gasped as he noticed my face. “What happened to you?” he practically shouted.
“It’s my lady juice,” I said, shrugging, hoping to get a rise out of him.
He grimaced at that, but shook his head. “No, you look older—”
I lifted my head to the sky and screamed as loud as possible, ignoring Phix’s sudden coughing fit as she battled an Egyptian hairball.
Chapter 60
Not knowing where else to go, Eae had agreed to meet us back at Abundant Angel Catholic Church – to the training floor beneath – in a few hours. We needed somewhere safe, secluded, and private to catch Roland up, and I knew Arthur could sneak us in. Even though Roland was a vampire, now, he had an amulet that let him step foot on hallowed ground.
Eae had wanted to give his new Nephilim some commands before he left them unattended.
I had asked after the Nephilim – especially Alyksandre and Kevin – but Eae had only smiled, not sharing my concern about their absence during the fight. Apparently, he’d sought them out after our talk at the warehouse and found them in prayer – troubled over Nameless’ plan, but not knowing what they could do since they couldn’t directly stand up against their boss. Eae had answered their prayers by… adopting them and sending them to terrorize the rest of the Templars during my knock-out brawl at the church. Leaving him free to bear witness to my confrontation with Nameless.
Before he met back up with us, he wanted to speak with Alyksandre and Kevin, and give them very strict orders for the Nephilim from the church. Sorting the factual wheat from the chaff.
Olin and the Templars had left town, unsurprisingly.
Eae now sat before us beneath Abundant Angel, sipping green tea as we caught Roland up on the night’s events. My old mentor studied Eae off and on, looking amazed to meet a real Angel. The feeling had left me quite a while ago, but I didn’t rain on his parade. Once finished, he began speaking about his trip to Italy.
But I was too tired to pay attention for long, and actually dozed off at one point.
I dreamed of my silver tears, recalling another dream I’d had with Nate. Because I’d worn a bandage over my eyes and had also had silver tears. Had it been a premonition of some kind? A warning? What did it mean?
And Samael being free…
I had expected that to be practically world-ending, but Eae – although definitely concerned about it – let me know that it would be quite some time before the Fallen Archangel was capable enough to do anything more than terrorize the neighborhood dogs, let alone find a body strong enough to contain him.
And he had been free before. Many demons were free, apparently, and since Eae was the Demon Thwarter, I kind of took his word for it. He seemed to be very familiar with it all and promised me that we had time.
Perhaps I could bond Samael to my finger like I had with Nameless. Thinking of that ring of smoke around my finger, though, was horrifying. The tip of my thumb was constantly cold to the touch, even when the rest of my fingers were warm, which was unnerving. Maybe it was his halo.
But he wasn’t answering my calls, even though I was his landlord, now.
Eae had reassured me that the shadow ring held absolutely no power over me, but that he wanted to do a longer study of the statue we had left behind in the center of Roland’s church. It would probably need to be moved at one point, and Eae was adamant that I be there when they tried.
Just in case.
I woke to Roland shaking me with a smile on his face. “We have company,” he said with a grin. I sat up, wiping my face. I had been drooling and my hair was matted with both silver and probably spittle. I wiped my chin, staring down at my hand nervously, but let out a relieved breath. No silver drool. That would have been creepy.
A heavy thump made me snap my head up to see a large beefy man standing a safe distance away from me, grinning like an idiot.
“Meatball!” I shouted, grinning from ear-to-ear. Then my smile faltered. “Wait, am I in trouble for being down here?” I asked warily.
He rolled his eyes. “Get over here, Girlie Penflower,” he muttered, holding out his arms. I ran over to him, throwing my arms around him – well, trying to. He was a big, hairy Italian Shepherd, and he was the one in charge of running the other Shepherds in Rome.
“I love the smell of marinara after a nap,” I said, squeezing him tightly.
He grumbled unhappily, but I could tell he was still smiling.
He finally held me back and I realized Arthur was standing a few paces away, smiling. Then it hit me. “You’re here to train Arthur?” He nodded. “Kick ass!” I hooted.
He growled at my language, but the sound cut off into a gasp as his eyes widened.
“Good lord, woman! Why do you look so old?”
I stepped back and punched him in the diaphragm, nodding satisfactorily as I knocked his breath away, leaving him wheezing in surprise at the sudden attack. Roland roared with laughter and Phix jumped to her feet arching her back with a hiss at the sudden commotion.
Arthur’s eyes widened, apparently not having noticed the Sphinx until that moment.
I calmly turned and walked back into the sleeping area, deciding I was going to take a very long nap. And let the bravest of them dare to try waking me b
efore I was good and ready.
But I heard the familiar padding of feet behind me and knew that they would have to get through Phix first.
Chapter 61
It had been a week since the christening of Roland’s Church. I had begrudgingly let him choose the new name.
I sat on a bench in a seedy part of town, enjoying the light rain. Almost like déjà vu.
“What are we doing here again?” Nate asked in a curious voice. “Strange place for a date.”
I frowned. “This isn’t a date, Nate. I’m… broken inside. Not really dating material.”
He snorted. “We’re all broken inside, Callie,” he said, dismissing my concern. “I’ve found the secret is to find the person with the glue.”
I smiled at his strange solution, turning to look at him. “Excuse me?”
He nodded, soaked hair swinging at the motion. Neither of us had brought an umbrella, and it had turned into almost a contest of wills – who would break first and suggest heading inside. And it sure as hell wasn’t going to be me who broke first.
“You see,” he explained, “we’re all broken wretches inside, trying to glue our own pieces back together, to become what we always thought we were supposed to be. But we have the wrong glue,” he said, turning to wink at me. He turned back to the night, smiling to himself. “The reason so many people fail is because they don’t understand that somewhere out there in the world is another broken wretch with the right glue. She just doesn’t know it because her glue didn’t work for her, just like his glue didn’t work for him.” He let that sink in for a moment, grinning at nothing in particular as he continued to stare ahead. “The glue you have inside you is to help put someone else back together, not yourself. Chances are, that person probably has the glue you need.” He laughed suddenly – a bold, challenging sound thrown at the world in general like a glove marking a duel. “Everyone is holding the wrong glue.” Then he began laughing, wiping water out of his eyes.
Angel's Roar: Feathers and Fire Book 4 Page 28