Broken (Book 1, The Watcher Chronicles, Paranormal Romance) (15 page)

“It’s a name,” Lilly looks up from the crown and meets my eyes.  “It’s the name of one of the
archangels.  I think that crown belongs to Jophiel.”

This information doesn’t help me at all.

“I’m afraid my knowledge of things in the bible is limited,” I confess.  “Who was Jophiel?  Was it an archangel responsible for anything special?”

“It’s the
archangel who guarded the Tree of Life in Eden.  I’ve read Jophiel once used a flaming sword to prevent humans from reentering the garden.  That’s about as far as my knowledge goes on the subject though.  We’ll have to ask the men the rest of the story.”

I sigh.  “I really wish I had paid more attention in
those Sunday school classes now.”

Lilly laughs.  “Don’t worry,” she reassures, “Mason will make sure you know everything you need
to.” Lilly cocks her head at me.  “In fact, he seems to think rather highly of you, which is saying quite a bit about the type of person you are.”

“What make
s you say that?” I ask.

“Just the way he talked about you when he first came to see me to ask for this meeting.  He admires your strength
…and beauty if I’m reading him right.”

I feel my cheeks flush under Lilly’s scrutiny.  Of the two of us, she’s far more beautiful than I am.  Just from being around her the short time I have, I understand why
all the Watchers feel a need to keep her out of harms way because I feel it too.  If it came to it, I knew I would lay down my life for the woman sitting beside me without even thinking twice about it.  She holds an ethereal glow which instantly makes you feel warm and loved, yet there is also an incredible strength within her too.  Lilly is someone I hope to be able to call friend one day but know I will have to earn such an honor.

“I’m not sure
what Mason thinks about me,” I say.  “He can be hard to read sometimes.”

Lilly sighs.  “Out of all the Watchers, Mason holds the most guilt over their fall from
Heaven.  I’ve tried my best to make him see he shouldn’t feel guilty over what happened back then, especially since God provided him a way to redeem himself.”

“Why can’t his
God just forgive him?”

“He has,” Lilly tells me, smiling wanly.  “But Mason can’t seem to forgive himself just yet.  My hope is that once the Tear is sealed he’ll feel as though he’s done enough to deserve forgiveness.”  Lilly looks over at me.  “I hope you can help him see what a good man he is.
”

“How am I supposed to do that?”

Lilly’s lips part into a smile like she knows something I don’t yet.  “When the time is right, you’ll know.  You’ll feel it in your heart.  Oh,” Lilly says like she just remembered something.  “I have a message for you.”

“A message?  From who?”

“God asked me to tell you that there will come a time soon when you should share your secret with Mason.  He said it was something you’ve kept hidden from everyone, even those closest to you.  Do you know what He’s talking about?”

Slowly, I nod.  “Did
He tell you what my secret was?”

“Oh, no. 
He doesn’t do that.  In fact, His message to you is probably one of the more direct ones He’s ever had me give to someone else.  He speaks obtusely most of the time and it takes me a while to figure out what He’s actually saying.”  Lilly laughs.

“Lilly!”

We turn our heads and see Malcolm standing in the same spot we phased to just a little while ago.

“I wondered how long it would take you to sweet talk
Tara into letting you into her house,” Lilly says, like the cloak and dagger method we used to have some time alone had just been a game of cat and mouse.

Malcolm shakes his head.  “Why do you insist on driving me crazy with worry?”  He walks up to us and holds
a hand out to Lilly to help her stand.

“There was
never anything to worry about,” Lilly tells him, placing a hand on Malcolm’s chest which seems to instantly sooth his ire.  She looks up at him.  “You should know by now I always get what I want.”

Malcolm tries to scowl his disapproval of Lilly’s methods but I see a hint of a smile play across his lips and this time the smile makes it to his eyes.  Malcolm leans down and kisses Lilly on the forehead
gently, and I know the action means more than just a friendly peck.  It’s then I understand why Malcolm is so over protective of Lilly: he’s in love with her.

“Next time,” he says, a
playful admonishment in his voice.  “At least pick somewhere warm to go.  You might catch a cold out here, dearest.”

“Next time,” Lilly answers back, “don’t make me go to extremes when I have an opportunity to make a new friend.”

“I will try,” Malcolm says, but I can see it will be an impossible task for him.

“Ok, let
’s get back before my husband starts to worry.” Lilly holds her hand out to me.  “Maybe Brand and Mason can figure out why Jophiel’s crown was hidden in your father’s fireplace.”

Unfortunately, when we tell Brand, Mason and Malcolm which
archangel the crown belongs to, none of them have a grand epiphany.

“It’s definitely a mystery to me,” Brand says as he and Lilly sit on the leather couch in the living room
together, holding hands.  “By all rights, that crown shouldn’t be on Earth at all.”

“That’s what Lucifer said too,” I say absently, which seems to be the wrong thing to say
in the wrong place.

Malcolm comes at me so quickly I don’t completely register the pain from him slamming me against the wall at my back until I’m pinned there by one of his
large hands squeezing my neck.

“How do you know Lucifer?” He demands.

I instantly feel Malcolm’s hold around my throat disappear as Mason hits him with an open palm from the side, sending Malcolm flying across the room until he crashes into a wooden table by a picture frame window.

“Enough, Malcolm,” Mason
thunders and even I flinch at the authority in his voice.  “I’ve tried to put up with your behavior for Lilly’s sake but you have gone too far this time.  From this point forward you are to leave Jess alone unless I say otherwise.  You are not allowed to touch her unless her life is in danger or she allows it.  Am I making myself clear or do we need to step outside to finish this conversation?”

Malcolm picks himself up off the floor.  “No,” he says, rubbing the arm
Mason just slammed, “you made yourself plenty clear.  But how does she know Lucifer?  We weren’t told about that part.”

“No,” Mason admits, “I
purposely left that information out.  I didn’t want to cause Lilly any undo worry.”

“It’s not like I thought he simply disappeared,” Lilly says.  “I know he’s still around.”  Lilly looks at me.  “But how do you know him, if you don’t mind me asking?”

“It wasn’t by choice,” I assure her, rubbing my neck to take away some of the sting from Malcolm’s attack.  “He came to see me the same night I met Mason for the first time.  And he’s seen me carrying the crown.”

“What does he want with you?” Brand questions, his face a picture of worry and I know it’s not worry
over where my loyalties lie but for my safety.

“I think,” I start to say realizing the rest of my sentence sounds ludicrous inside my
own head before I say it out loud, “he wants to be my friend.”

“Friend?” Malcolm scoffs.  “He hasn’t had a friend since the war and even th
en he was so egotistical only Michael could bear to be around him.”

“Did he say why he want
s to be friends?” Brand asks.

“Just that he felt
a strange yearning to be with me.”

“Does he want to have sex with you?” Malcolm asks
bluntly.

“Malcolm!” Lilly and Mason say at the same time
with totally different inflections.  Lilly’s is admonishing while Mason’s voice holds a note of warning.

“What?” Malcolm asks.  “It’s an honest question.  You know how Lucifer can be.”

“I did ask him about the sex thing,” I admit, feeling my face grow hot with everyone staring at me.  “He said his yearnings weren’t sexual in nature.  Even the friend thing he wasn’t completely sure about.  He just said he feels some sort of connection with me.”

“Maybe we c
an use his feelings for you to our advantage,” Mason says.  “He might unintentionally let his guard down around you and tell you things he shouldn’t.  If anything, Lucifer is vain and likes for people to think he’s the smartest person in the room.”

“Just be careful if you intend to play that sort of game
with him,” Brand tells me.  “And don’t be fooled if he tries to play on your sympathies.  He’ll use whatever knowledge he has about you to gain your trust.  Don’t let him.  He only cares about himself and his own agenda.”

“
And we still don’t know what that is yet, right?” I ask.

“No,” Mason admits.  “But
we can count on one thing: whatever it is won’t be pleasant for anyone.”

“Should I try to
lead my conversations with him to get the information we want?” I ask.

“No,” Malcolm answers.  “He likes to feel in control of things.  Simply follow wherever he leads, eventually he’ll end up telling you what you want to know without you having to
do anything but listen.  Just be patient and let him feel like you’re someone he can let his guard down with.”

“How do I do that?” I ask, not sure how you gain the trust of the devil.

“Be yourself,” Lilly advises.  “You’re someone he naturally wants to confide in from what you’ve said so far.  If you try to act the way you think he wants you to, he’ll know and leave his guard up when he’s around you.  It may be difficult, but try to relax when you’re with him.  I don’t think he has any intention of harming you.  If he did, he would have done it by now.  You’re a mystery to him and he revels in the fact that he knows everything.  Be his enigma.  That in itself is probably part of the reason he feels attracted to you.  You may be the only thing on Earth or in Heaven that he doesn’t understand.”

“So,” Brand says, “what about the crown?  There must be a reason why it
sent out that homing beacon so you could find it when you did, but what triggered it to activate?”

“It had to be when Jess killed th
e changeling,” Mason says.  “Like I told you before, I felt a disturbance when it happened.  It seems logical the crown was meant to activate when Jess showed the first sign of her powers.”

“Why do I have powers?” I ask.  “
All of Allan’s test proved that I’m an ordinary human.  There’s nothing special about me.”

“You are special,” Lilly tells me.  “We just haven’t figured out
why yet.  But rest assured, we will.”

“How can you be so confident about that?” I ask.

“Because it’s your destiny.”

“
God tell you that too?” I say jokingly.

Lilly smiles.  “Yes, in
His own obtusely, round about way, He did.”

“I don’t suppose
He would just flat out tell you what’s going on?” I ask hopefully.

“Uh, no.” Lilly tells me
with a smile and shake of her head.  “Unfortunately, He doesn’t help like that.  Sometimes He forces you to find the answers for yourself in order to reveal another piece of the puzzle.”

“Sounds incredibly annoying,” I say, which receives smiles all around, even
from Malcolm.

“Annoying is a good word,” Mason say
s, his eyes twinkling at me in amusement.

I feel my heart tighten in my chest from the way he’s looking at me and instantly find myself wondering how I can make him look at me like that more often.

I glance in Lilly’s direction and see her eyes travel from Mason to me.  A knowing smile spreads her lips and I quickly look away.

“Mom!” I hear Caylin
yell in agitation as she chases a boy of about ten or eleven into the living room.

Brand catches the brown haired boy around the waist as he attempts to run by him.  The boy laughs as Brand pulls him onto his lap.

“Will won’t give me back my book,” Caylin complains, slightly out of breath as she stands in front of her parents.

“Will,” Lilly says, a motherly warning in her voice, “that was a Christmas gift to your sister, not you.  Give it back to her.”

“But I just wanted to read it.  It’s not really a book anyway.  It’s a comic.”

Caylin
quickly pulls the book out of her brother’s arms while her father has him trapped.  “It’s a first edition copy of Calvin and Hobbes you dork.  It’s a collectors item not something to play with.”

“Is that what Joshua gave you?” I ask coming to take a closer look.  If there was one thing Faison and I could agree on it was reading Calvin and Hobbes before we went to sleep as children.  Calvin’s imagination was fodder for a lot of dreams in my youth.

Caylin holds it out to me and I see that it’s not only a first edition it’s a signed copy.