“I have no reason to lie to you anymore, Anna. The faith you need to have now isn’t in the God you choose to worship, but the humans you’ve worked so hard to protect. Do you think they’ll ever change? Do you think they’ll stop giving Hell so much power?”
Anna shook her head but couldn’t speak. She wanted to get away from him, but this close to him, she could sense him for what he was. She knew he was an angel, just as she knew she was near one in the presence of her own angel and Jegudiel but there was something so different about Adriel.
He smiled at her again and leaned in closer to her so that his lips were right next to hers. “When we leave Heaven, we become more like humans, and our natures are both good and bad. That’s what you’re feeling, Anna. And I don’t need you to love me. In time, you’ll want me, and only a god will be able to stop us.”
Then Adriel kissed her and Anna froze, unable to think or move until he let go of her hand and pulled away from her, giving her that licentious smile one last time before he climbed the stairs. Anna fell back against the banister and her hand reached up to her chest and found the silver medallion of St. Casimir that had accompanied her to this dream world. Anna closed her eyes, wrapped her fingers around it and prayed.
Chapter 13
Colin called Dylan at least half a dozen times on the way to the airport to pick up Tahel. Gabriel had obviously worked some angelic magic to get her on a flight to Baton Rouge so quickly, and they still weren’t exactly sure why her angel wanted her here in the first place. Other than the whole Armageddon-may-be-breaking-out thing. Colin supposed that may be reason enough.
Colin called Dylan’s cell phone again as they neared the airport, but this time, The Angel answered. Colin didn’t know if he was more surprised that an angel was answering a cell phone or more alarmed because she’d answered the phone. Colin immediately asked her if his wife was all right, if she were still alive, if they’d been attacked by a group of extremely powerful fallen angels or even just a group of pissed off banshees. Whatever it was, he was prepared to tell Luca to turn the car around to get back to his apartment. Admittedly, he didn’t know how to kill a banshee, but he was willing to try.
“We’re fine, and nothing has changed with Anna. Dylan thought you might feel more reassured of that if you heard it from me,” The Angel explained.
“In other words, Dylan wants me to stop calling him. Ok, I’ll call Jeremy from now on.”
The Angel almost laughed, but like Colin, she was consumed with too much grief and worry to really find anything humorous right now. “Dylan told me you’re going to pick up Tahel.”
Colin assumed The Angel had already known that and was just trying to change the subject. He also wondered how much she knew about their questioning her motives in Tel Aviv when Adriel planted those doubts in their minds in the Garden of the Gods. Maybe Ahriman had already taken over his mind when they were still standing in the park discussing whether or not Heaven could be manipulating them, but Colin couldn’t seem to remember why he’d been so convinced The Angel ordered them out of Tel Aviv to keep them away from Tahel. But he did want to know why Tahel was harassed by angels her entire life, or if the woman they were going to pick up from the airport really was just sort of crazy.
With Anna stuck in this comatose state, Colin discovered he just didn’t care as much about offending The Angel or Heaven or God anymore. He knew he would never turn his back on any of them, not willingly, but as long as Anna was lost to him, he couldn’t even fathom an eternal existence. If he couldn’t save her, then he would become an Immortal indefinitely like Luca so he never had to face the afterlife without her. After all, how could Heaven possibly be Heaven without Anna?
So Colin just asked The Angel why Tahel had been harassed by angels her whole life and knowing she didn’t want to become an Immortal, why was she turned into one anyway? Colin still didn’t trust Tahel – even if her angel was Gabriel.
The Angel didn’t seem offended though, and more surprisingly, she actually answered him. “Tahel was never harassed by us, Colin. We know now she was being visited by angels, but they weren’t from Heaven.”
Colin’s phone slipped out of his fingers and he had to catch it before it fell into the no-man’s-land between the seat and center console of Luca’s car. Luca hadn’t heard The Angel’s response, but based on Colin’s reaction, he must have guessed it was shocking at the least, and perhaps another rupture to their universe that they had believed for so long was governed by immutable laws.
“She was being visited by fallen angels?” Colin asked when he got his phone back in his hand. He put her on speakerphone so Luca could hear this conversation, too.
“Yes. Just because they leave the service of Heaven, they don’t cease being angels. As a child, especially, she had no way of knowing what side they worked for.”
Luca kept glancing down at the phone as if The Angel were actually there, and he was making Colin nervous since he was still driving.
“But why? These angels were trying to convince her to…” But Colin didn’t need to finish his question. He figured out the answer on his own. If Hell couldn’t co-opt Heaven’s Immortals, it would build its own army instead.
Luca must have had the same thought because he groaned and cursed every demon and fallen angel in Hell, then asked The Angel, “Do you know if they were ever successful? Are there immortals working for Hell, aside from our own traitors?”
“Unfortunately, we don’t know. As for Tahel, Gabriel didn’t know about her visitors or her insistence she didn’t want to be immortal until it was too late. Her boyfriend prayed for her to survive, and Gabriel came to him. And Colin, I asked you and Anna to leave Tel Aviv because two other Immortals had come to Israel and one had gone to Egypt. I felt like there were enough Immortals in the area, and you and Anna could help elsewhere.”
Colin was pretty sure he was blushing. He hadn’t asked The Angel about why she made Anna and him leave Tel Aviv, only about Tahel. But as always, The Angel had known the question was on his mind. He felt guilty all over again for doubting The Angel in the first place.
“If Gabriel is sending Tahel, she must be coming for a reason,” The Angel continued, but Colin was pretty sure he could hear the smile in her voice now. She was amused by his embarrassment over her answer to his unvoiced question. “Bring her back here so I can talk to her as well.”
Colin wanted to know what kind of information The Angel expected to get from Tahel that she couldn’t get directly from Gabriel, but maybe their Heavenly communications didn’t work so well between Heaven and Earth. Luca nodded sagely and once again speculated the clouds interfered with their reception, and really, it was Heaven’s fault for creating all those clouds in the first place.
But with Tahel off of Luca’s Benedict-Arnold-List, he was determined to figure out who else might have betrayed the other immortal hunters. By the time they reached the airport and found Tahel’s concourse, Luca had named every Immortal in the world and their last known location, which he made Colin write down, because even if Andrew weren’t joined by his fellow traitors here, Luca had every intention of hunting them down himself when this battle was over. Colin wanted to help him, but he couldn’t leave Anna. He didn’t know how he would be able to hunt even demons for the next hundred years. Luca didn’t have a response for that.
“Wow, you guys make a crappy entourage,” Tahel said. Luca and Colin startled and looked up to see Tahel’s petite figure looming over them, a mischievous grin on her face. They had been so engrossed in trying to figure out who else may have betrayed Heaven and the other Immortals, they hadn’t even realized her plane had landed.
Colin folded the piece of paper he was holding and gave it to Luca who grinned sheepishly back at Tahel. “Sorry, you’ve complicated things for us by not being our backstabber.”
“I’ll keep that in mind for the next epic showdown between Heaven and Hell,” Tahel told him. “Are you two going to at least help with my bags?”
> Colin thought her fifty years of immortality hadn’t exactly improved her social skills, but he got up and followed Luca to the luggage carousel. After making sure no one was in earshot, Colin told her, “My angel is with Anna and she wants to talk to you, so we’re going to my apartment first.”
Tahel pointed to her luggage and nodded. “Good. Maybe she’ll know why Gabriel insisted I come to Baton Rouge immediately.”
“Why wouldn’t Gabriel have just told you?” Luca sighed.
Tahel shrugged and Colin lifted one of her bags from the carousel. “You couldn’t have been far,” Colin said.
“Nope,” Tahel responded as they made their way out of the airport. “I was in Houston actually.”
“Huh. That’s strange,” Luca observed.
“Why?” Tahel asked. “I mean, I think most of this country is a little strange, but why Texas in particular?”
Luca grinned again but shook his head at her. “Not the state. But there were four of us in the U.S. alone over the past six months. When I joined Colin and Anna about two months ago, I was working in St. Paul. I was told to go there, as usual, but it wasn’t overly active. Just a normal level of activity for a city in this country. What about Houston? Nothing weird has happened there that I know of.”
Tahel’s eyebrows knitted together as she thought about this. “No. And I’ve been there over two months. I figured something would either erupt soon or Gabriel would ask me to go somewhere else, because it’s been kind of boring actually.”
Colin stopped walking as he looked between Tahel and Luca. “We were told to come to Baton Rouge over five months ago. The Angel already suspected we were on some kind of Hit List for Hell, and we were told to pretend like we didn’t even know each other until she came back to tell us it was safe. I had no idea why she was asking us to do it at the time, but I agreed because I didn’t think it would drag on for months. I think they’ve been sending Immortals here because they knew something was up, and it must have been bigger than just Anna and me having been uncovered as Immortals.”
Luca set Tahel’s bag down and sighed again. “It’s a good thing Zadkiel has already promised not to desert Anna. At least she can’t disappear on us when we demand Heaven come clean with us about what it’s been up to.”
Tahel glanced up at Colin then fixed her gaze on the doors leading out of the airport. “Gabriel told me what happened to your wife. I don’t really understand how that’s possible, but there’s got to be a way to free her from whatever this fallen angel has done.”
Colin didn’t want to talk to Tahel about Anna, but an angel had sent her. He had to trust there was a reason, even if he didn’t want to trust her, and he motioned toward the doors. He’d talk if they actually made progress to Luca’s car. He was anxious to get back to his wife.
“They’ve figured out how to get in our heads. That’s how Anna was abducted. Adriel somehow took over her mind and cut us off from each other, and forced her to run away from the group she was hunting with. Then they started infiltrating our dreams trying to take over our minds completely. Our dead friends were able to help us for a while, but Adriel must have figured out a way to kick Jas out and take over.”
Tahel glanced up at him again and Colin could tell this news unnerved her. But who wouldn’t be freaked out by the idea of fallen angels or demons being able to take over a person’s brain?
“That’s not all,” Luca added. “A few weeks ago, when we were at the Garden of the Gods, two different demons got inside my head and Colin’s. Forced us to start questioning what we were doing and made us both decide to quit hunting. The only reason we’re sane and rational again is that Anna killed Samael who must have been in charge of the group over there. Colin was with Anna, so we think Ahriman was killed but whoever took over my head just fled when his boss died.”
“Jas thinks Adriel is planning some sort of coup though. So it’s possible that demon was just called away by Adriel after Samael’s death, because Adriel has something else planned altogether,” Colin added.
Tahel dropped her bag on the ground by Luca’s car and stared up at both of her fellow hunters. “Well, thanks. You’ve officially scared the shit out of me now.”
Colin shrugged and put her larger suitcase in Luca’s trunk. “These fallen angels are trying to trigger Armageddon, Tahel. You weren’t scared before?”
“Not nearly as much as I am by knowing they can take over my mind,” she muttered. She threw her lighter bag on top and Luca opened the car door for her. Colin watched them, waiting to see if she made some smartass comment about not needing his chivalry, but she just thanked him and got in. Colin shook his head at Luca who just winked at him.
“Don’t tell me you’ve slept with her,” Colin hissed.
Luca rolled his eyes and patted Colin on the shoulder. “Course not. She’s one of us. It’s just my natural charisma. No woman can resist it.”
Colin wanted to tell Luca what he thought of his natural charisma, but he’d already climbed in the driver’s seat and honked the horn at him. “Hurry up, my old friend! We’ve got an angel waiting on us!” Luca yelled through his window.
Colin sat in the backseat on the drive back to his apartment and mostly tuned out the conversation in the front between Tahel and Luca. Over the past five months, he’d been in this situation far too many times: the quietness of his own mind was deafening. He closed his eyes and leaned his head back and tried to think of how he could possibly find Adriel, and that was when he heard her. Not Anna, but The Angel. She was speaking to him, but she had never spoken to him this way before. Colin’s eyes shot open again and he looked beside him in the seat, but she wasn’t with him.
“Colin,” she said his name again. Colin began to worry he’d lost his mind already. “I don’t want you to stop me. I know you will try. But if I can help her, then I’m going to her.”
Colin gasped and Tahel gave him a strange look.
“Sorry,” he muttered.
She returned to her conversation with Luca and Colin tried to find The Angel with the same kind of connection he’d always shared with Anna, but he couldn’t feel her presence. He had no idea if she could hear him or not. Probably, considering she always seemed to be able to, so he argued with her, even though he knew it was pointless to argue with an angel. “You can’t. She can’t defend you like this. You’ll be completely vulnerable, and Adriel will kill you this time.”
The Angel was quiet for so long that Colin worried she’d already attempted to find Anna. He started to panic, but then he heard her voice again. “I know, Colin. But I can’t let her die, either. Not like this. I made a promise to you both, and if you can’t get her back, then everything you’ve done for me has been in vain, and you would have been better off letting her go in 1647.”
“I will find Adriel. Give me a chance at least. If you sacrifice yourself for her, she’ll never get over it, whether she’s trapped in that Hell or freed from it.”
“I told you once there was nothing wrong with loving one person more than others. I meant that for myself, too, Colin. I have never loved two people more than I have loved you and Anna. And I’ve never been so terrified. We have no idea what’s happening to her, and I’ve known Adriel for thousands of years. I can’t abandon her to him. I know I promised you I wouldn’t leave her body, and I am so sorry, but you will be here soon. Dylan and Jeremy haven’t left her side. I’m going to try to find her. I love you, Colin.”
“No!” But Colin knew he was talking to himself now. “Zadkiel? Zadkiel, please!”
Colin leaned forward and grabbed Luca’s arm. “Drive faster. You’ve got to get me back to my apartment, now!”
Luca glanced at him then turned his attention back to the road, but he listened and sped up.
“What’s going on, Colin?” he asked.
“The Angel just left to try to find Anna. And if she succeeds, she’s going to die.”
Chapter 14
Anna wanted somewhere to hide from him, but ther
e was no place to hide in this building. The entire first floor was one large room, with a single chair and a bed that had only been added when she’d become trapped here. There were empty rooms upstairs, or at least they used to be empty, but since that’s where Adriel kept going, she wasn’t going anywhere near the staircase, let alone the second floor. Instead, she sat back down on the bed and pulled her coat tightly around her again, even though she was sweating by now.
Her fingers kept rubbing the St. Casimir medallion, the only thing with her in Adriel’s world from her real life and her life with Colin. She closed her eyes and prayed again, even though she was positive Heaven couldn’t hear her from Adriel’s prison. And like every time she closed her eyes, she thought of him.
She always loved those rare lazy moments that they were able to lay in bed all morning, and when the damp cold crept into London and the snow began to fall, those lazy mornings would become more frequent because Anna spent more time inside their flat. Many mornings, Colin would have to leave her to go to work, but occasionally, he was able to stay home with her and he’d read to her because while Anna loved to read, too, she preferred to listen to his voice.
This morning, he’d brought home a couple of copies of some of John Donne’s poetry, and Anna giggled as Colin read, thinking how scandalized her mother would be if she knew what they were reading. Anna thought some of it was beautiful, though. But then Colin put aside the poetry addressing lovers and their escapades, and pulled out a small bound book. Anna tried to read the embossing on the cover, but it was worn off.
“What is this?” she asked.
“Also Donne. But this one is especially for you, my love,” Colin told her.
He opened the small book and began to read Devotions Upon Emergent Occasions to her. When he got to one particular “Meditation,” Colin held Anna’s hand and kissed her fingers before reading to her, “No man is an island, entire of itself; every man is a piece of the continent, a part of the main. If a clod be washed away by the sea, Europe is the less, as well as if a promontory were, as well as if a manor of thy friend's or of thine own were: any man's death diminishes me, because I am involved in mankind, and therefore never send to know for whom the bells tolls; it tolls for thee.”
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