He glared up at me, his face both angry and resigned. “I cannot believe that Lucifer’s own sword chose you over me.”
I glanced down at the sword, wondering. Had it just been a coincidence that Nathaniel had given me the sword, or had the sword planted the idea in his head? It was a little creepy to think that a piece of metal was that sentient.
“Yeah, well, I seem to defy expectations everywhere,” I said. “For some reason my enemies never seem to think much of me.”
I wasn’t taking any chances. I’d seen enough horror movies to know that if you left the monster alone just when you thought it was dead, then it would pop back up and try to kill you one more time.
I swung the sword for the last time, and the head of Baraqiel ap Lucifer rolled away into the sand. A few moments later the head and body started to decompose rapidly until all that was left was a kind of tarlike goo.
I kicked a whole lot of sand over the goo so no one would step in it accidentally. Also, I wasn’t sure that Baraqiel couldn’t regenerate from the light of the sun even in this condition.
I was pretty sure I’d buried him well enough that no one would dig him up accidentally—it was winter, after all, and not many kids would be down here with their sand pails for several months. The sun was just starting to come up, which meant that I’d been out for at least three hours. Samiel had probably woken, and Beezle might be up, too. They were probably panicking.
Unfortunately, my magic was still out and my cell phone was still in my travel bag, sitting on the floor of my kitchen.
I sighed, and started to climb the dune. It was going to be a long walk home.
19
AS I’D EXPECTED, BEEZLE WAS UP AND TOTALLY freaking out when I got home. He, Samiel and Gabriel were all sitting in the dining room with their heads together, apparently devising some action plan.
“Anyone for cinnamon rolls?” I asked, leaning against the doorjamb.
They all looked up, three identical expressions of surprise on their faces. Beezle flew toward me first and put his clawed hands on my face, examining first one side and then the other.
“New bruises on the neck but nowhere else,” he announced. “Where in the four hells have you been?”
So I sat down at the dining room table and told them about Baraqiel—how he was Lucifer’s son and the wolf-killer, how he could shapeshift, and how he had tried to first frame me and then kill me. Gabriel looked graver than usual when I finished my story.
“You have killed another of Lord Lucifer’s progeny,” Gabriel said. “He will not be pleased with you.”
“Believe me, I’ve thought of that already,” I said, waving my right hand. “I try not to contemplate Lucifer’s feelings too closely. It makes me queasy.”
Samiel grabbed my hand out of the air and turned it over, looking at it. Then he looked up at me, questioning.
I stared. There was a mark there that I hadn’t noticed before. It looked almost like a henna tattoo, and it was the exact shape of the snake that adorned the hilt of Lucifer’s sword. The snake seemed to wink at me as I looked at it.
“It couldn’t be,” I said. I crossed the room to the place where I had left the sword leaning against the wall. The blade was still covered in blue-black ichor from Baraqiel’s body.
I picked up the sword and examined it. The snake had disappeared from the hilt. I looked down at my hand again.
“You’ve got to be kidding,” I said. “I think the sword branded me.”
“Perhaps that will save your life when Lord Lucifer discovers you have killed Baraqiel,” Gabriel said. “In all the years that Zerachiel and Nathaniel carried the sword it never marked either of them.”
“Did you know? About Baraqiel?” I asked Gabriel.
He shook his head. “The fallen have always known Baraqiel only as Lord Lucifer’s messenger. I do not know how he managed to hide the evidence of his paternity, but one should never question the Morningstar’s ability to deceive others. As I have told you time and again, he is a law unto himself.”
“Right,” I said, and sighed. “Well, I should call Wade and tell him I’ve solved his pack problem. And that he should come and pick up the body in the alley.”
“Speaking of alleys,” Beezle said thoughtfully. “We never did find out who put that portal in the alley where we found the second body, the one that led to Amarantha’s kingdom.”
I shrugged. “Maybe it was Baraqiel. Maybe he wanted a fast way to get in and out of the kingdom.”
Beezle shook his head. “It doesn’t make sense. That location is far from anywhere useful in her kingdom.”
“I don’t think I’m up to solving any more mysteries this week,” I said. “We’ll just have to die not knowing.”
“Ignoring this problem means it will come back to bite you in the ass,” Beezle warned.
He was probably right. He usually was. But I really wasn’t up to any more investigating. The mystery of the portal would just have to be.
A couple of hours later Wade and Jude arrived to pick up the body of their pack mate. We had moved it out of the alley and into my garden shed, which looked totally suspicious but again, none of my neighbors seemed to notice. Gabriel had magically wiped the alley clean of any blood and gore.
Wade and Jude loaded the body in the back of their pickup truck. Baraqiel hadn’t had a chance to tear the body to pieces like the others, so at least they would be able to bury this one.
Wade shook his head as my entourage and his stood awkwardly behind the truck bed. “I cannot believe that we were all so deceived by James. How could we not know that was not his true form?”
“He was a spawn of Lucifer,” Jude growled, and he directed his glare at me. “They are most adept at deceit.”
“Don’t look at me,” I said. “I’m the spawn of Azazel.”
“And Madeline Black was the one who stopped Baraqiel for us, so we owe her our gratitude,” Wade said, his voice mildly reproving.
Jude shut up, but I didn’t think he’d be thanking me anytime soon. He turned without another word and climbed into the driver’s seat of the truck.
“You must not mind Jude,” Wade said. “He has a . . . history with Lucifer.”
“Whatever.” I shrugged. “I’m getting used to people not liking me.”
“Whatever Jude may feel, our pack owes you a debt of gratitude. You may call on us whenever you feel the need, Madeline Black, and we will be there to assist you.” He placed his hand over his heart and bowed his head. “You are a friend to our pack.”
“Thanks,” I said. It was nice to be welcomed by someone for a change instead of being threatened. “Back at you.”
Wade smiled. “Until we meet again. En Taro Adun!”
“Uh, Wade?” I said, and he stopped and turned back to me. “What exactly does that mean?”
“ ‘En Taro Adun’?” Wade said. “It’s from StarCraft.”
“StarCraft?” I said blankly.
“It’s my favorite computer game,” he replied.
“So, you’re like the world’s biggest dork?” Beezle asked.
“How do you think I won leadership of my pack?” Wade said. “I am the reigning StarCraft champion.”
He got in the truck as we all stared after him, wondering whether or not he was joking.
Jude glanced back before he pulled away. The snake on my palm shifted restlessly, like it recognized his stare, and then they drove down the alley and out of sight.
Azazel called a couple of hours later, demanding the whole story. It seemed that the tale of my slapping Amarantha had already carried back to his court and he was royally pissed at me. Somehow the tale-carrier had neglected a few details, so I told him everything that had happened from the time Gabriel had been taken up to and including my killing of Baraqiel. I left out Nathaniel’s assault. That was between me and Nathaniel.
Azazel was silent after my recitation. “Well, I cannot say that Lord Lucifer will be pleased to hear of Baraqiel’s death, but
it does seem that you have averted a war between Focalor’s court and my own.”
“You’re welcome,” I said. “Did you pick up Antares?”
“When we arrived, the cage was open and Antares was gone,” Azazel said.
I shook my head even though I knew Azazel could not see me. “I swear, when the apocalypse comes and all living things in the world are wiped out, Antares will be the last man standing.”
“And you should have told me of Gabriel’s disappearance,” he rebuked.
“You would have killed him, and that is not acceptable to me,” I said.
“Do not begin to start getting ideas above your station, daughter. You are still below me in rank,” Azazel said angrily. “It is my word that is final, not yours.”
I looked at the palm of my hand and the squiggling serpent there. “I’m not so sure that you still outrank me, Father. And since I have more than proven my worth by averting a demon uprising and by being the only person to ever survive the Maze, I think you should start giving me a little more respect. I’m not a child to be pushed and manipulated by you. Don’t expect me to behave that way anymore.”
Azazel sputtered into the phone.
“Oh, and I’m not marrying Nathaniel, either,” I said, and hung up.
Okay, so there would be some fallout from that conversation, but I’d really had enough of Azazel. Sometimes I couldn’t believe that I’d ever wanted a father when I was a child.
I turned to see Gabriel staring at me moodily. “You should not speak to Azazel thus. He is still your father.”
“And I’m still his daughter,” I retorted. “I’m not his slave.”
Slave was probably the wrong word to use. It hung awkwardly in the air between us.
“What are you going to do with Samiel?” Gabriel asked.
He glanced into the living room, where Beezle was gleefully beating the half nephilim at checkers. Beezle is a sore winner, but I had a feeling that Samiel would be kicking his little gargoyle butt on a regular basis once Ariell’s son figured out the rules.
“Like I said, he’s staying,” I said firmly.
Gabriel stared moodily at Samiel. “It is strange to find that I have a brother.”
“But kind of nice, too, isn’t it? To have family?”
“I do not know,” Gabriel said. “My family members have always wanted to kill me.”
There wasn’t a real easy segue from that. I looked down at my left hand and wiggled my three remaining fingers.
“I can try to heal you,” Gabriel said, and took my injured hand.
It was the first time he’d touched me since I’d released him from the cage in Amarantha’s forest. My breath sucked in sharply and he dropped my hand. There was a meteor shooting across the black expanse of his eyes.
“I do not know how we will resolve this, Madeline,” Gabriel said. “We cannot be.”
I shook my head at him. “You always say that. Anything can change.”
“I do not think what you want will happen just because you want it,” he said.
I thought of what happened in the Maze, how I had survived by my strength of will. “Just wait and see.”
A few days later we had fallen into a pretty regular routine. Beezle was asking for doughnuts every three seconds and trying to justify his piggy behavior by saying they were for Samiel. Samiel did seem to have an unnatural love of sweets matched only by Beezle’s.
Gabriel and I were teaching Samiel sign language. Well, Gabriel was teaching me and Samiel, I guess. Samiel was learning way faster than I was, but at least we could exchange some basic information.
I was back to work and collecting souls as usual. J.B. had gotten over his recent bout of adorableness and gone back to being a crab every time I talked to him. He had tersely informed me not to put any stock in anything he had said to me while at his mother’s castle. Amarantha, he asserted, had cast a spell on him so that he would be drawn to me. Actually, she’d cast a spell on our whole party—it just didn’t take with me for some reason. She’d figured if Nathaniel attacked me, then I would turn to J.B., and then she’d have a different kind of family tie to Lucifer.
“So you didn’t mean any of it?” I said. I wondered why it hurt so much. J.B. was just a friend.
“My mother was hedging her bets,” he said.
“That’s not an answer.”
“That’s all the answer you’re going to get,” he said, and walked away from me. This was becoming a theme with the men in my life.
It was almost comforting to have an argument with him every time we saw each other. It made it easier to forget the look of need on his face when he thought I was going to die in the Maze, and it kept me from wondering whether or not that feeling was real, false or just amplified by Amarantha’s spell.
Gabriel avoided me unless we were working with Samiel. I refused to ask him to be my bodyguard again. In fact, I refused to make any requests of him at all. I was determined to show him that things could be different between us. He didn’t seem to be buying it yet, but I could work on him. I’d learned how to wear someone down from the best teacher ever—my annoying gargoyle.
Nathaniel had sent me eight dozen roses in various colors the day after my fight with Baraqiel. I didn’t have the heart to throw out so many beautiful flowers, but I crushed all the notes into the garbage unopened. It probably goes without saying that my feelings were confused where he was concerned.
Four days after the dawn had broken over the gooey remains of Baraqiel on the beach the day was unseasonably warm and sunny. Beezle and Samiel fell asleep in a sunbeam on the sofa in the front room. Beezle seemed to have adopted our stray.
Feeling oddly restless, like I was waiting for something to happen, I decided to step outside for a breath of fresh air and went out to the front porch. It felt like sixty degrees outside, and I pulled off my sweater and sat in my shirtsleeves in the sunshine. I closed my eyes for a moment, enjoying the warmth.
When I opened them again, Lucifer stood in front of me, looking terribly ordinary. He’d hidden his wings underneath a long black overcoat, and underneath he wore blue jeans and a black sweater a lot like mine. His hands were tucked into his pockets and his expression seemed deliberately neutral.
“I’ve been expecting you,” I said, and when I said it I knew it was true. I’d felt him coming all day.
“Sometimes I see Evangeline in your face,” he said. “Just now, when you turned your face to the sun. She used to look at me like that, like I was her sun.”
I didn’t really know what to say to that, so I just watched him sit down on the porch next to me and stretch his legs out in front of him.
“You seem to be making a habit of killing my children,” Lucifer said.
“But I’m preserving your grandchildren against all odds, so that should count for something.”
“I’m not sure the Grigori would agree with you. They were most disturbed to hear of the existence of another of Ramuell’s spawn.”
I didn’t want Lucifer to dwell too long on this subject, especially since I wasn’t ready to have to fight for Samiel yet. I’d hoped to have time to devise a strategy before they took him away.
“Anyway,” I said. “How was I to know Baraqiel was one of your children? It’s not as though you advertised the fact.”
“Would knowledge of his paternity have stopped you from acting?” Lucifer asked shrewdly.
“Well, no,” I admitted. “He was trying to kill me at the time.”
We sat in silence for a while, then Lucifer spoke again.
“Your hand. I do not know if your father told you. Your fingers will grow back, in time.”
I looked at the cauterized stumps. “Cool. I’m like a starfish now.”
“I have been very impressed with your actions, Madeline. When I asked you to be my ambassador, I did not expect such an outcome. You have averted a great crisis with Focalor as well as revealed Amarantha’s hidden intentions of making a child of my bloodline. They will b
oth pay dearly for crossing me.”
“Did you ever really want to renegotiate a treaty with Amarantha?” I asked curiously. “Because it did occur to me that if that was what you wanted, you might have sent a more skilled negotiator.”
Lucifer smiled enigmatically. “Perhaps subtlety is not always wanted. And perhaps I wanted to see how you would handle yourself.”
“So it was a test?” I asked in disbelief. “I almost died in that Maze, you know.”
He had the gall to chuck me under the chin. “No, you did not. Your will is stronger than even you know. I need an heir for my kingdom, you know. An heir that has demonstrated the kind of strength of will that you showed in the Maze.”
“Oh, no,” I said, alarmed. “Don’t even think about it. Why not make one of your sons heir? You seem to have them popping out of the woodwork all over the place. And really, what benefit would it be for an immortal who has survived eons to make a mortal half human your heir?”
“One never knows what might happen. And my heir must be a creature of immense power so that the courts will continue to respect my rule.”
“So you’re basically trying to collect me and put me in your trophy case to show to the other fallen?” I asked. “And you think I’m a ‘creature of immense power’? Aren’t you supposed to be all-knowing and all-seeing?”
“You’re thinking of the other guy,” he said.
He leaned in close to me, and I could see the light of the sun sparkling in his eyes.
“In my kingdom, my word is law. When my heir becomes ruler, that individual would be able to make her own laws.”
I understood exactly what he was saying. If I ruled Lucifer’s kingdom, I could free Gabriel. I looked at him sourly.
“I don’t know if you’ve checked lately, but my name isn’t Eve.”
He opened the palm of my right hand and touched the place where his sword had marked me with his symbol. He winked at me, and an apple appeared there. I closed my hand around the shiny red fruit as he stood from the stair and stretched like a cat.
“Don’t think you’ll maneuver me into place,” I warned. “I know how to play chess, too, you know.”
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