I nod, hopeful. She’s been so anxious to talk to them.
“Okay, let me brush my teeth and I’ll come out.” She reaches her hand out to touch my face, stroking the long scruff I have growing on my face. “Thank you so much for being here. For staying. I don’t know if I could have survived the last few days without you.”
I push into her hand. “I’m here for as long as you want me, Mighty. Your struggle is my struggle now.”
She sighs and her hand falls to the side of her body, looking down at the comforter, the worry pouring out of her. She laments and runs her hand over the rays of sun shining through her window. “What if I make the wrong choice?” Her voice is so small, much like I imagine her as a child. So quiet, yet so fierce.
I turn my body, fully facing her and take hold of her hips. “There’s no wrong choice. We haven’t really talked about what you would do if you decide to take Maker’s place…”
She grimaces. “If? Declan, how can I do that?” She shakes her head. “There’s no if. I’m having a hard enough time swallowing the fact Maker is my mom, and Kai is my brother.” She shudders. “And Wood is also apparently my uncle. But, allowing myself to think about becoming the “new” Maker…I can’t.”
My shoulders slump and my hands knead her skin. “What if I told you it isn’t as bad as you think?”
Her head tilts and she gives me a level stare that says, you’re-out-of-your-damn-mind.
“Hear me out,” I caution. “What if you do take over. Let Maker die like she says she’s already doing and then change the game.”
“How?”
I lick my lips. “If you’re Maker, your word is rule. No if’s, and’s or but’s. Demons and monsters alike follow your word. They need an Alpha and you’d be the ultimate one. What if you don’t allow them out of the hole anymore? What if you use your power, your Lucifer-slash-God given power to change how this world is run.”
A sly smile pulls on the corners of her mouth. “Bring order and punish those who disobey. I never thought of that.”
“Think on it. Take your time. You could be the turning point for all evil. I’m sure it’s not going to be that simple. They’re going to act out. There will be plenty of them who will want to do their own thing. You’ll probably have to weed out those who aren’t loyal to you, too.”
Her face scrunches. “You think there are traitors?”
My mouth thin, I nod. “I’m sure there are. As a matter of fact, in all my centuries of knowing monsters, there’s no doubt in my mind. That’s something you’ll have to deal with, but you’ll have to just hit the ground running. It’ll take a long time to get things under control. You’re going to need Kai, McKenna. He’s the key to keeping who you really are intact.” I don’t like that I have to share her with him, but what am I supposed to do? She needs her brother. He might be able to help her in ways I can’t.
She looks down, playing with her hands.
“Hey.” I place my hand on her chin to look at me. “It’s going to be okay. You don’t have to make a choice right away. There are things that need to be done before you do. No matter what you choose, you have to be true to your heart. It’ll never lead you astray.”
She grins. “Says the angel.”
My mouth drops open in playful manner. “Trust me, that word doesn’t mean what you think it means.” I shake my head. “The things I’ve seen—all the things I remember—angels are assholes.”
Her eyes furrow. “So, basically we’re screwed.”
“Nah,” I say. “Heaven has a pretty good leader.” I shrug a shoulder. “Flawed like the rest of us, but He’s fair and just. When I return, I intend on setting some things straight.”
McKenna rubs my arm with her hand. “Will you tell me stories one day?” she asks hopeful. “I want to know what it’s like to be a badass angel.”
“Look within yourself.” I wink. “You’re pretty badass.”
She groans, throwing the covers off herself. Rising to her feet, she turns to me, her hands on her hips. “You’re a smooth talker, you know that?”
My hands find the skin on her legs and I smile when goose bumps rise under my touch. “Years of practice.”
She laughs and shoves me away playfully. “I don’t even want to know how many women and heavenly beings you’ve been with.” With that, she snickers to the bathroom and closes the door.
I smile to myself as I rummage through my bag to get a pair jeans and a t-shirt.
She definitely doesn’t want to know that number.
After I slip on my sock and boots, I shove my knife in my back pocket and make my way back to the living room where Cole, Abigail, Wood, Candy and Kai sit. The air in the room is a strange mixture of anticipation and uneasiness. Abigail chews on her thumbnail while Cole fitfully turns pages of a magazine. Wood side-glances at Candy on the other side of the couch, while Kai pops his knuckles.
“Hey,” I say, attempting a smile. “She’s on her way. You guys okay?” I ask Cole.
He sits up straight in his recliner. “We’re all right, son. Just ready to be done with all of this.”
Abigail’s chin trembles and Cole sets his magazine down, taking hold of her hand.
“They’re going to hate us,” she whispers to herself, a tear falling from her eye.
I rush to her, seeing so much of my mom in her. She’s so caring and loyal, but also a little smothering and overbearing—everything a mom should be. “They could never hate you, Mrs. Sawyer,” I whisper, careful to keep my words from Candy’s ears. “They love you so much.”
Abigail sobs quietly into her hand, nodding, though I don’t know if my words have any impact.
McKenna’s footsteps bring our attention to the hallway, and the room becomes eerily quiet. She looks to Wood, Candy and Kai first, waving and when her eyes land on her mom, she scowls. “What’s wrong, mama?” she asks, moving to her quickly, sitting down on the floor in front of her.
Abigail laughs through her tears. “Oh, sweetheart, there’s just a lot on my mind.”
Her mouth set, McKenna wraps her arms around the top of Abigail’s legs. “I’m ready.”
Cole sighs, letting go of Abigail. “We’re so sorry you had to find out this way. We had been planning to tell you everything, but the timing was never right. We were always too scared. It just never happened.”
McKenna stays silent, but her eyes move to Candy and her nose twitches. She swipes at it.
Cole continues, “Sally is a Spirit Guide, but she’s also a powerful Principle angel. She oversees not only the Strix in the world, but keeps a close eye on mankind in general. She used to work very closely with Pursuers, helping rid the world of the evil it’s so destined to obtain. That’s how she found you.” He smiles, biting his lip. “For centuries, there was talk about a daughter and son of the devil—devils reincarnated. Normally, that meant Pursuers find you and take you out, but they later learned, after failed mission after failed mission, that you, McKenna, were also part Seraphim angel.” His eyes stare at me now, dejected. “Your father Noah, does he know of Maker’s presence?”
I blink. “Yes, sir. He knows she exists and the role she plays in the world.”
“But does he know his connection to her?”
I shake my head. I can’t imagine him knowing. If he did, he certainly played his lie off well. When he told us of our history, he thought Ava had died. There’s no way he knows. “No, sir. They’re actually on their way here, if that’s okay. I called them when we got back, but dad was out on a case and mom wanted to wait until he was done to make their way to Massachusetts. They should be here any minute.”
Cole swallows. “Of course that’s fine. We’d love to meet them. I fear he isn’t going to like what we’ve learned.”
Wood shuffles in his seat, his nostrils flared.
Mom cuts in, quick to cut the tension, “So, when Sally heard of your existence, McKenna, and your connection to Heaven, it was an immediate call-to-action. All of their best angels were sent to find you. That’s how Sally knew where the entrance to Beneath was. After two decades of searching for you, she stumbled upon it and the Godly Force made their move.”
“That’s when they brought us in,” Cole adds. “After years of trying for a baby, Sally saw our sadness. In every lifetime before this one, we’d always had two girls. I think she knew how much we wanted a child, how much we suffered because we thought we had done something wrong in our previous lives to make God angry. So, she asked God, on our behalf, if we could take you. Raise you as our own.”
“He agreed.” Abigail smiles proudly. “We’ve been on this earth for as long as man has. We’d proven ourselves to Him ten times over, and we were forever grateful. So, when Sally brought you to us, we had strict orders.”
“You were never to know of your true self until God said it so. You were to believe you were a Strix. You acquired the Sephra Linking with Candy, and we even kept up the appearance we were confused about why you had the same birthday. Though, that was never really a worry. We had Candy, oddly enough, on the same day we got McKenna from Sally—just two years later. It was just a weird coincidence.” Cole pauses, finding the next bit of information hard to reveal. “We were told to manipulate your mind and take away any memories from your lifetime before us,” Cole admits, tears in his eyes.
“Both of us?” McKenna asks, her chin trembling, gazing at Candy whose expression is stoic and a little terrified all at once.
My jaw twitches and I will my feet to stay planted. All I want to do is comfort McKenna. I have to remind myself this a family matter.
Cole chews on the inside of his lip, a tear falling down his cheek. “Yes.”
“Why influence Candy’s memories, then?” McKenna asks, pulling away from her mom, sitting cross-legged. “I can understand taking mine away, but Candy wouldn’t know any different.”
“Well, when we did finally get pregnant,” Abigail says happily,” we knew her memories from her previous lives would eventually come back in full swing the moment she found out she was a Strix. Only her memories wouldn’t be of you, they would be of her and Elaine, her biological sister.” She shakes her head, her mouth trembling. “So, when Candy was born, we were to help her believe she had previous lives with you. We were to live out our lives as a normal Strix family and no one would be the wiser. We were never to raise a red flag within the community, especially with The Leaders. They only knew what God wanted them to know. And that was as little as possible to keep up the charade. As soon as they found out about McKenna, they’d be on the hunt for her.”
“Why? Wouldn’t they automatically know McKenna wasn’t your other daughter, Elaine?” I ask.
Cole sighs. “It wasn’t likely. For every cycle of life, Candy and Elaine looked different, with different names, and different qualities. We could claim McKenna was Elaine and they’d never know. But to them, McKenna is an abomination. The lovechild of an angel and a demon. If they knew the truth, they wouldn’t allow her to live on this earth, let alone allow her to be a Strix.”
“Dammit,” I stammer. “What happened to Elaine?”
Abigail looks down at her lap and Cole looks away, my eyes scrutinizing him too harshly. I feel the weight of his guilt all the way on the other side of the room.
“We…we searched for her in our previous life. We thought she had died. We no longer felt her soul. She was rather feisty and went out on her own quite a bit. She’d be gone for long periods of time without giving a word of her whereabouts. That’s simply how she was, rebellious to a fault. After months without any indication she was okay, we finally called upon her. We had Sally search for her, but it was to no avail. We no longer felt connected to her, so we mourned her and hoped to see her again in our next life. But, that never came,” Cole says, finally looking back at his girls, ashamed.
“Dammit, dad,” Candy utters under her breath.
I decide to steer the conversation away from Cole and Abigail. “How did it not get out?” I ask. “The demons had to have known about McKenna.”
“Maker was very adamant about keeping her secrets under wraps,” Kai offers. “No one knew.”
“Do you know what happened to my birth dad?” McKenna asks. “He has to be out there. He’s an angel.”
Cole shakes his head. “Maker told you he was dead. Now, that may be true, but from what I understand about him, he’s still alive. It’s not easy to kill a heavenly soldier.”
I pull a chair out from behind the table in the kitchen and quickly bring it into the living room, the chair scraping across the aged floor. “Do you know who he is?”
“We heard a name,” Abigail offers quickly. “We don’t know if it’s him, but Maker talked about an Anxo quite a bit. The last Maker heard, he was in Ireland somewhere.”
“You think Anxo could be my dad?”
“Well,” Cole says. “Anxo means angel in Gaelic, so if I were a betting man, I’d say so.”
McKenna groans, rubbing her temples with her fingers. “Ugh, information overload.”
“Does that name sound familiar?” Cole asks me.
My feet bounce anxiously on the floor. “I recall an Anxo. I just can’t put a face to the name, unfortunately.” My eyes move to McKenna. “I’m sorry, Mighty.”
She removes her fingers from her head. “It’s all right.”
I turn to Candy and I think she’s stunned silent. “You…you okay?” I ask, jutting my chin to her.
She swallows and blinks a few times. “Yeah, just a lot to take in.” I’m sure now that she knows about Elaine, she’s desperate to remember her. I would be if it were Wood.