by Ivy Sinclair
My father.
Every time I thought that there couldn’t possibly be another surprise waiting for me, another larger one was revealed. I couldn’t help but study him now that he was in front of me. This was the man who saved Alice and Joanna from a horde of demons when Alice accidentally opened up herself to them through a Ouija board. He was supposed to become the leader of the Hopekee tribe. Instead, he and Alice got saddled with a kid whose destiny was to become an entity the world hadn’t seen since Lucifer was kicked out of heaven.
Having him sitting there and openly studying me back was surreal on too many levels. It made me wish that I had taken the opportunity to leave with Paige and skip all the angel bullshit back at the convent.
“I’m sure you have questions,” he finally said. “But we should start at the beginning. My name is Viho.”
“I know who you are,” I said. “I know how you met Alice. I know about the dreams involving your ancestors. I know about the attack and the fact that Alice gave me to her best friend to raise before escaping to become a nun. What I don’t know is why she thinks you’re dead.”
“It was safer for her that way,” Viho replied. “It was safer for you too.”
“I’m pretty sure that my life has been the opposite of safe since the day I saw my first ghost,” I said sarcastically. “Everyone thought they knew what was best for me, but don’t you think it would have been safer for me if I had someone there who actually understood what was happening to me? Who would have been able to tell me that I wasn’t crazy? Who could have guided me and kept me on the straight and narrow?”
“I believe that is what your mother attempted to do,” Viho said evenly. “Despite her best intentions, you still made your own path. It just goes to show that no matter how we try to intervene and change fate, it will always find a way to succeed.”
“So why now?” I crossed my arms and leaned back in my chair. “After all this time, why come out and reveal yourself now?”
“Samuel asked me to help,” Viho said.
It was frustrating to see that clearly my father was not a man of many words.
“I’m Paige,” Paige said, interjecting herself into the conversation. “I’ve heard the same story that Riley heard. I don’t think we’re in any position to turn away help, so what is it that you can do here?”
Viho smiled at her, but I noticed that it didn’t reach his eyes. “It’s nice to meet you, Paige. Samuel has told me about you and your situation.” The way he said ‘situation’ made it sound as if Paige had a terminal illness of some kind. “We will get to that. I think that Samuel would like to start the discussion in another place.”
“What place is that?” I asked, directing the question at Samuel.
“I didn’t realize until after I had brought you here that we had a problem.” Samuel looked pointedly at Paige. “You didn’t tell me that she had an active blood pact with Bruno Proctor. I thought that was done.”
I heard Paige’s sharp intake of breath. Under the table, I put my hand on her knee and squeezed. “Things have been a little bit chaotic. I didn’t realize it myself until just before you showed up on Alice’s doorstep.”
“Have you asked her what the pact is about?”
“I am sitting right here,” Paige said. It reminded me of a slightly similar conversation that we had the first time we encountered the entourage of archangels on Calamata Island. I hadn’t entirely forgotten about the blood pact, but it had fallen further down my agenda after we arrived at Slinky Pete’s.
“So why don’t you tell us about the pact then?” Samuel’s attentions swung back to her. His expression was one of hardened stone. “You put all of us at risk by being here. I wouldn’t have allowed Riley to bring you along had I known.”
“Well, I wouldn’t have gone along with you if she had stayed,” I said. I squeezed Paige’s knee again. “Tell them, babe. It’s okay.”
I watched Paige open her mouth, and it was as if she wanted to say something, but she couldn’t. She closed it with a frown, and then tried again. It was the same result.
Samuel’s eyebrow rose. “So part of the pact is that she can’t tell you what the pact is. Clever.”
I turned in my seat and pulled on Paige’s hands so that she faced me. Her fear and anxiety was palatable. All of the color was gone from her face except for two bright spots of rosiness high on her cheeks. She was scared shitless, and I couldn’t blame her.
“Paige, did Bruno Proctor tell you that you couldn’t tell me any details about the pact?” I asked the question as calmly as I could. I had no idea what the archangels were planning to do, and this was one situation I had to head off at the pass.
She bit on her lower lip and stared at me. Her eyes started to blink rapidly, but she didn’t give any other indication that she had even heard my question. I felt her pulse through the skin of her wrists, and then it was as if I could hear her heart beat. It was moving fast. Too fast. Her pupils dilated, and I realized in an instant that I was losing her.
“Paige!” Then I watched in horror as her eyes rolled back in her head, and, unconscious, she slid into my arms.
CHAPTER FOUR – PAIGE
I didn’t remember going to sleep. My last thoughts were of Riley, and as my eyes fluttered open, I groaned. I had the world’s worst headache, and for a moment I thought it might have something to do with all the whiskey we drank.
“Wake up, little one.” The voice was trying hard to sound kind, but it carried an undercurrent of something nasty. I cautiously opened my eyes and found Samuel peering into my face. “Ah, there you are. You gave us all quite a scare.”
I tried to move but realized that my arms were secured behind my back. I was in a seated position in my chair in the middle of the dance floor. Both my arms and legs were tied up. Samuel moved backward, and my next question was already answered. Riley lay unconscious on the floor behind him. The two other archangels stood over him, clearly ready to take him back down if he came to before they were ready for him.
Riley’s father, Viho, still sat in the same place at the table on the other side of the bar. He had a slightly forlorn look on his face that pissed me off.
“I thought you were going to help us,” I said slowly. “If this is how angels help a girl out, I am going to have to take a pass next time.”
Samuel dragged a chair across the floor and positioned it so that he sat just a few inches away from me. Our knees almost touched. As if to remind me of his position versus mine, I saw his wings unfurl from his back and spread out to their full length. Even though I had every intention of appearing bored and annoyed by their treatment of me, there was a part of me that shriveled at the sight. Where Riley’s wings had been midnight black, Samuel’s were a blinding white. I was far from experienced in such matters, but there was something alarming about being confronted by an archangel. There was no doubt about it.
“Paige, I have been patient with Riley because he obviously cares about you a great deal. There must be something quite special about you given Benjamin shared a similar affection for you. But, honestly, your presence, in general, is troubling for obvious reasons.”
“You realize that when Riley wakes up, you’re going to be in world of trouble, right?” I wasn’t going to play Samuel’s game if I could help it. “The only person in this room that has any kind of chance of keeping him calm and reasonable is me. Surely you know that. You want something from him. I get it. But you won’t get it from him by threatening me. That is going to produce the exact opposite effect for you.”
“He has feelings for you now, but he is meant for a far different path.” Samuel leaned back in his seat and appeared almost bored. “He is immortal now. He will forget you in time. He will come to see that you were a pleasant enough distraction, but what you represented put all of our species in danger. Eva cannot be released from the ether. It can’t happen. No matter what has happened within our political structure, on that point, I agree with my other brothers.”
“Look, I am getting stronger every day. I had the relic in my hand, and that was what I needed to turn Eva away. Bruno took it away from me. If I can get it back, or if you know another way that doesn’t involve me getting killed, I’m all ears. I don’t want anything to do with Eva. I’m on your side. Let’s keep that bitch in the ether where she belongs.” Riley’s propensity for cursing was rubbing off on me.
Samuel pursed his lips. He leaned forward and put his forearms on his knees. “I like you, Paige. You have spirit. I can see what drew Riley to you. You are a survivor. I admire that. But you have to realize that you are a threat not only to everyone here but to Riley too. If you care about him the way that you say that you do, why would you put him in danger?”
“I am trying to take care of that situation,” I started.
“By making another blood pact with Proctor? That is nothing but further evidence that you make poor decisions. And you are asking us to trust you to make the right one when it comes to closing the door to Eva’s prison once and for all?”
“Why would I willingly let her possess me?” I asked. While we talked, I was carefully testing the knots of the rope that held my hands together. The knots were simple ones, and I almost chuckled. The archangels didn’t realize who they were messing with if they thought these bindings could hold me. And that didn’t even take into consideration what I might be able to do with my magic.
I thought about reaching for it, but I had to assume that if I did the angels would be able to sense it. I wasn’t sure how much they knew about my abilities on that front, and I wasn’t about to give over my advantage if they were underestimating me. For the moment, I just had to keep Samuel talking.
“Eva can be most persuasive,” Samuel said. “I never got to know her myself. But my older brothers knew her well. The stories about her were legendary. She was beautiful and fair, and everyone looked up to her. But after the death of her Protector, everything changed.”
“I know,” I said with a roll of my eyes. I wanted to flaunt a fake yawn. “She went crazy. That’s why God banished her the ether right after all of you, her family, tore her apart. Nice job on that by the way. Gives a person the warm and fuzzies, really.”
“It was quite interesting to me how flippant you are in the presence of one who is superior to you,” Samuel said thoughtfully. “I told Riley how fascinated I am by mortals and their behavior. You are a fine specimen of your species, Paige. It saddens me that I have to be the one to remove you from the world.”
I sucked in a breath. I was ready to call on my magic. I wasn’t about to go down without a fight.
“Wait.” Viho seemed to materialize out of thin air next to Samuel. He gave a nod to the archangel, but his attention was focused on me. It was uncanny to see how Riley had the same eyes. There was no mistaking that this was his father. “We need to know what the blood pact was in case it has any relevance to our mission.”
For a second, I thought the guy was going to speak on my behalf to save me. Guess not. “You are so not invited to our wedding,” I said to him with narrowed eyes.
Viho’s eyes widened. “What wedding?”
“Not that it’s really any of your business considering you ditched your son when he was just a baby, but he asked me to marry him, and I said yes.” I was babbling now, but I had to keep them away from asking me anything else about the blood pact. If they somehow were able to force me to speak it out loud, then I voided the pact. I would lose my soul and Riley’s in one fell swoop. I couldn’t have that.
“Angels don’t marry,” Samuel scoffed.
“Seems like a foregone conclusion considering I already bear his brand,” I said with a smirk.
The archangel gasped. Viho looked pained. He stepped forward and reached out his hand. I had half a mind to bite it, but I knew what they wanted to see. I tossed my head to the side as he pushed the fabric of my shirt away from my collarbone. I knew what they would see there.
It was skull engulfed in fire.
Viho stepped away quickly, and I saw him cock his head toward the corner in a quick gesture. Samuel looked slightly spooked. They moved into the corner, and while they were distracted, I tried to ascertain if Riley was okay.
There was a small pool of blood on the floor next to his face, and I could see that he had taken a beating. Of course, Riley wouldn’t have gone down without a fight. I wasn’t sure what he had tried to do on my behalf, but the archangels had been able to overpower him. That wasn’t good. Riley might be stronger than them, but he was inexperienced and uncertain. That was something that we were going to have to remedy sooner rather than later.
Samuel and Viho’s voices had gotten slightly louder. They were arguing about something. I caught only a few words here and there but none of them made sense. I kept working on the bindings. I had to get loose. Too soon, I found the two men standing in front of me once again.
“You are bound to him,” Viho said flatly. It really wasn’t a question.
“I am,” I said jutting my chin out. “That’s why I’m telling you that if you hurt me, he’s not going to be just a little bit upset. He’s going to annihilate you. Is that what you want? A pissed off dark angel on your hands?”
“No, we do not,” Samuel said. He wasn’t happy with the situation, but I had instilled just enough doubt that he wasn’t ready to pull the trigger on trying to kill me. At least, not yet. “We are back at square one. We will deal with the bond once we’ve dealt with the pact.”
Shit. We were back to the pact.
“No, we’re back to the part where you tell me how to one-up Eva without the relic,” I said. “There’s another way. So you must know what it is.”
“Is that what he promised you?” Samuel asked. “The answer to the riddle of how to keep Eva in the ether without the relic?”
“I’m a survivor. You said so yourself. I’m not going to lose. I haven’t lost yet. I’ve already seen Eva once, and here I am still alive and kicking and totally me.” I wasn’t going to go into the fact that the only reason I didn’t accept Eva that time was because Riley interrupted the ceremony and brought me back to my senses. “I know more now than I did then. I’m stronger now than I was then. I can do it.”
“It is important that you tell me what you bargained for,” Samuel said. “Was it the answer to the riddle of how to ward off Eva without using the relic?”
I looked away without answering. I was quickly being backed into a corner that was just as bad as the one where the archangel killed me. Losing my physical body was one thing, but losing my soul was another. That was my afterlife. I wondered if Bruno would be able to follow through on his threat to take Riley’s soul too now that Riley was an angel. I figured it probably nullified that threat, which made me feel slightly better. If anyone went down, it should just be me.
I felt the binding around my wrists release. I quickly brought my arms back to my front and rubbed at my wrists to get the blood pumping again. I saw Viho standing next to me with a knife in his hands. He was the one who had released me. He took my left hand, the one with the bandage, and ripped the bandage away. I hissed.
I wanted to pull my hand away, but there was something about his careful inspection of my wound that stopped me. I knew he was dangerous, but I wasn’t sensing any menace toward me in particular any longer. He was curious about me now, and I wondered if that shift had occurred because he knew what I meant to his son.
Then he knelt down as he put my hand back on my leg. His eyes were slightly hypnotic. “Paige, I realize that you are scared. You have every right to be afraid, but you don’t need to be afraid of me. You are part of my family now that you are bound to my son. I take my responsibility to my kin very seriously. But that is why I need your help to understand how to help both you and my son. I’m asking you to trust me.”
“T
rust is something that is earned.” I was never so happy to hear Riley’s voice. I saw the archangels tense and both of them extended their wings. Riley rolled onto his back and then sprang to his feet.
Shit was about to hit the fan. Although there was a part of me that would gladly go with him into the fray of the fight, there was something in Viho’s expression that kept me calm. I wanted to believe him because I wanted to belong to a family again. It all started with Riley. The idea that I could have even more of that kind of belonging to something bigger than me made my whole body ache.
“I can only tell you what I am allowed to tell you,” I said carefully.
“Did he make it so that you couldn’t tell anyone what he promised you?” Viho asked.
“No,” I said tersely. “He only said Riley. He did promise me the answer to the riddle of how to take down Eva without the relic.”
Viho smiled gently. Then he curled my fingers into a fist. He looked at Samuel. “Do you want to tell her or do you want me to?”
I knew that Riley was ready to pounce.
“How about you tell me, and I’ll decide if it’s the right answer or not?” Riley said. He already had his fists up, but his wings weren’t present yet. I was surprised. Either he was perfectly in control of his emotions, or he was starting to figure out how the angel thing worked.
Samuel exhaled a deep breath. He ignored Riley and gave Viho a small nod. “As always, you are the voice of wisdom. I defer to you in this matter since you are obviously better equipped to speak on it.”
“What does he mean?” I asked.
“I made it a bit of a hobby, finding out what there was to know about blood pacts,” Viho said. “Demons use them for all sorts of nefarious purposes, as I’m sure you know and have experienced.”
“This is my third one in a week,” I said with a half laugh. It really wasn’t that funny.