Bonnie stepped backward so that Malini couldn’t reach the baby. “I’m not worried about Hope. Something happened while you were outside.”
“What? What’s going on?”
“Check the pantry.”
Malini charged into the kitchen, trying not to look at the sheet that covered Abigail’s body. Behind the bars of the pantry, an angel huddled on the floor. She smelled him first, citrus and ocean, and saw the white feathers of his wings twitch with his breath.
“Who are you?” Malini asked. Had God sent them an angel for protection?
The wings lowered, and the angel’s face came into view.
“Cord,” Malini said through her teeth. A blood-red rage washed through her. She did not hesitate but readied her left hand, her healing hand, unlocked the door, and reached for him. He did not attack. He did not resist. Her hand connected with the skin of his throat. Nothing happened. As a Healer, the skin contact should have burned Watcher flesh. Cord’s eyes flicked to hers. Clear blue eyes. Not purple. Not navy. His eyes did not hold the threat of evil but the promise of innocence.
“What sorcery is this? Who are you?” Malini shook him by the neck.
“I am Cord, the fallen.”
“You admit you are a Watcher.”
“I was.”
“You
were
? As in past tense?” She laughed through her nose.
“I don’t blame you for doubting me. I don’t understand it myself. I came here to kill you, and now I am this.” He held out his hands palms up.
Malini noticed the glint of gold. She grabbed his fingers and flipped his hand over. Cord’s lion’s head ring. She eyed his tailored suit with distaste. She’d seen him in this before at Harrington.
Infuriated, she yelled for Bonnie. “Bring me a dagger.”
The twin responded immediately, handing her Eden’s finest. She pressed the tip to Cord’s neck, noting the blessed blade did not react against his skin. She fisted the chain around his neck. “Come with me.” Dragging him through the kitchen, she ascended the stairs. Truth be told, he was much larger than she was, and if he had wanted to, Malini was sure he could break away. She hoped that he’d try. That would make sense. This, whatever he was doing, did not.
She led him out into the sunlight and snow. The mid-morning light hit his skin. Nothing. He tilted his head to smile at the sun, fluttering his eyelashes against the snowflakes.
“It’s a beautiful day,” he said, tears filling his eyes.
“Oh, spare me.” Malini tapped her foot. He should have changed in the sunlight. If his appearance was an illusion, the sun should have cut through it. Why wasn’t this working? There was one last test. She remembered something about Gideon when he was an angel, something she’d found surprising.
“Hold out your hand,” she commanded. He obeyed. With the dagger, she sliced across his palm.
“Ow,” he cried, but he did not pull his hand away. Blood bubbled from the wound, not black or even red but sparkling white, almost silver. The sun glinted off the blood and the angel scent grew stronger.
Malini cursed.
“I am sorry this is troubling to you. I do not understand it myself,” he murmured.
Both turned at the sound of running footsteps. Jacob, a box of diapers under one arm, held a hand to the sky, crossing the courtyard at a full out run. The snow swirled toward his palm and formed into his favorite broadsword. Before Malini could take her next breath, the blade was flush against Cord’s neck. Ghost appeared next to Jacob, and Lillian flipped down from the top of a pile of rubble to Cord’s other side.
“What’s going on, Malini?” Jacob said. “This looks like Cord but everything else about him is wrong. He smells like Gideon.”
“I was just trying to figure that out,” she said.
Lillian grabbed his wing and yanked. Cord winced but did not fight back. Feathers came off in her hand and floated to the dirt. When they landed near her toes, they did not dissolve into black tar but blew, light and fluffy, across the frozen ground. “Feathers! This is not an illusion. What does it mean?” Lillian asked.
“I don’t know.” Malini lowered her dagger, placing her fists on her hips. “Maybe this is the third gift. Do you think God changed them all?”
“Is that within the rules?” Ghost asked. “Seems like Lucifer would just change them back.”
“Maybe this is Lucifer’s work,” Lillian said. “A plant, a spy. That seems more likely.”
Jacob nodded. “I agree with Mom. Lucifer changes his right hand man into an angel and sends him to us. Once we trust him, he reports back all of our secrets.”
“That’s not what happened,” Cord said.
“Then what did happen?” Malini asked.
Cord opened his mouth but Malini raised her hand. “Wait. Let’s get those supplies to Bonnie. Hope is starving and it’s too cold and too dangerous for us to be having this conversation here.”
Just then, Dane, Ethan, Grace, and Cheveyo crossed the courtyard and joined the group. “It’s done,” Cheveyo said. “RV is disposed of.”
“Shit!” Dane said when he noticed Cord. He jumped behind Lillian. Cord’s body flew through the air and slammed into the side of the church, a shower of feathers releasing on impact. His body flopped to the rubble like a beanbag animal.
Ethan put an arm around Dane. “I took care of it.”
“Nice, Ethan,” Ghost said. “Blast first and ask questions later.”
“Didn’t you notice we were all standing right here and nobody was fighting?” Lillian asked.
“What? What’s going on?”
Malini waved a hand in the air. “You know what? Who the hell cares? It’s Cord. I’m not shedding one tear at seeing his head smash into a wall. Let’s get him back into the cage. When he wakes up, we’ll see if we can use him.”
“Can the cage hold him?” Lillian asked. “Watchers can travel through shadows.”
“I’m not entirely sure he’s a Watcher anymore, but to be safe, let’s douse the bars with holy water,” Malini said.
Ethan gawked at Dane then turned toward Malini. “What did I miss?”
The Milk Carton
L
ucifer, otherwise known as Milton Blake, leaned back in his executive chair and looked out over the city that had become his new home with a smile. The last curse had been wildly successful. Over two hundred thousand souls had signed the contract of allegiance and paid a huge sum to have their house protected from demons. In exchange, Harrington Enterprises had supplied a box of useless crap. Milton Blake’s face smiled from the back of every item.
With an annoying buzz, Lucifer’s phone vibrated on his desk. His private number; the call must be important. “Speak,” he barked upon answering.
“Mr. Blake? This is Ted Jameson in public relations. We’ve g-got a situation.”
“What kind of situation?” Lucifer growled.
“The Harrington Demon Eradication System kits ar-aren’t working. Twenty registered users were, um, eaten last night. The call centers are flooded with reports.”
Lucifer stiffened. Cord was assigned to enforce his edict that Watchers avoid humans with HDES trinkets. Cord was responsible for keeping the Watchers in line.
Crack!
Lucifer’s phone screen shattered in his tightening grip. He forced his hand to loosen. “Have a plan on my desk in an hour. We need a spin on this to explain the defective kits and avoid the blame. Find out the habits of the twenty who died. There has to be a scapegoat. The same hand lotion. Church attendance. Something.”
Mr. Jameson responded with a high-pitched wheeze.
“Are you still there, Jameson?” Lucifer yelled.
“Yes, Mr. Blake. One hour.”
Lucifer ended the call and slammed the unfortunate piece of technology down on his desk. He’d have Cord’s head for this and the heads of the Watchers responsible. As much as he’d miss the numbers, he would not tolerate dissension in the ranks.
“You called, My Lord?” Auriel entered the room and took her place in front of his desk. In his anger, Lucifer had sent out a metaphysical ping to his first and second in command. Auriel had responded as expected, but she was alone.
“Where is Cord?”
“He hasn’t come in today,” Auriel said smugly.
“No? Did you send a car to his penthouse? Bastard probably slept late and couldn’t risk the sun.”
“I did. The man said his home is vacant.” Auriel frowned. “Do you think he’s been captured? Or slain?”
Lucifer snorted. “Cord? Impossible. I will call him to me through shadow.”
Concentrating, Lucifer focused on the imprint of Cord’s being, the black stuff he’d become the day he’d followed him from Heaven. Lucifer had an intimate knowledge of each and every fallen angel. He owned their very cells and could demand their presence at any time. He searched the cosmos for the being called Cord, but Lucifer could not find the Watcher. Perhaps he was slain, and there was only one person who could do it.
Growling, he continued his search, this time focusing on the Healer. He’d called Malini’s soul to him before; it should be a simple thing now that Paris was destroyed and with it the presumed entrance to Eden. He sifted through souls until his head throbbed. Nothing. Was it possible that they were wrong about Eden? No. There was something else. Dane’s soul was similarly blocked.
“I sense a change. The tide has shifted,” Lucifer murmured.
“My Lord?”
“I cannot find Cord. Perhaps he is dead or captured.” He kept his other revelation to himself. It would not do to have his second in command know he could not track the Soulkeepers. “The Great Oppressor has cheated me again. You will have to take over his duties.”
Auriel hissed.
“Do you have a problem with that Auriel?”
“No, My Lord, it is a pleasure to serve you.” Auriel smoothed her gray suit. “However, running the education system and the pharmaceutical division leaves me little time for managing Watchers.”
“If he remains missing, we will replace him,” Lucifer murmured.
“Yes, My Lord.”
He stood and paced around the table to her, eyes shifting back and forth across the room. “Have you heard if the Great Oppressor has given the third gift?”
“If the gift has been given, none of us know of it.”
Lucifer paced, paced, paced until even Auriel seemed dizzy with the motion. “This is wrong. This is not how it is supposed to be. The Great Oppressor has done something to Cord for a reason.” He narrowed his eyes. “God is the cause of this mess with the kits.”
“Would you like me to look for Cord?” Auriel asked, sounding bored.
“No. We have a public relations nightmare on our hands with this Harrington security thing. I want you to kill the Watchers who did this, then spread the word that any Watcher caught eating a human with an HDES kit will have to answer to me.”
Auriel pouted. “I’ll have to wait until sunset, unless you want half the world to see me in a snakeskin onesy. Besides, I have a meeting at two. I can only be in one place at a time.”
Lucifer slammed his hand on the desk, causing Auriel to jump back in fear. The wood splintered beneath his palm.
“I know what you can and cannot do. I too can only be in one place at a time. Do it as quickly as possible. Call some of the Watchers in from the field to help. Do
something
, Auriel.”
She nodded and backed toward the door.
Lucifer walked around the desk and picked up his phone. Time to call Senator Bakewell. He had to get ahead of this thing.
Saying Goodbye
W
hile the others changed into the best clothes they’d brought, and prepared in their own way to say goodbye, Jacob crept into the kitchen and pulled up a stool next to Abigail’s body. His only audience was Cord, who was still passed out behind the bars of the pantry. Jacob guessed he’d be out for a while. Half his head was bashed in, although the bleeding had stopped and the bones showed signs of healing.
Reaching under the sheet, he felt for Abigail’s hand. Ice cold and stiff. He let go. With a heavy heart, he peeled back the sheet from her face. Dead. Gray. His eyes focused on the cross she still wore, the one he and Malini had given to her on her wedding day. She never took it off when she was alive, and now she never would. He returned the sheet to its place and then rested his hands on his thighs. She wasn’t in there anymore. This was an empty shell.
“Abigail,” he whispered, “wherever you are, I want to say something to you.” Jacob clasped his hands together. “I am completely pissed at you and Gideon for getting yourselves killed. I mean, what the hell? All you had to do was ask me to get whatever you needed. Why did you go out there alone? What were you thinking? That’s what pisses me off the most. You never explained. You just left. And now we have two less Helpers and two more bodies to bury. You suck, Dr. Silva.” Fat, wet, drops fell like rain between his elbows. Tears. Arms shaking, he didn’t bother wiping them away.
“You suck for leaving us,” Jacob said again. “But I forgive you. Because even though I know you were invincible and could stop a train with that look of yours, I know there must have been a reason you allowed that Watcher to hurt you. You would have never left your baby if you had a choice.
“I’ve been thinking that maybe you wanted us to have Hope. She must have meant everything to you. You and Gideon died protecting her. That must’ve been the reason. Somehow, you ended up in that position and gave your lives for the greater good. That’s the only way this makes sense. Just like last summer, when you died on Lucifer’s altar. You didn’t have to do that either.”
Jacob sat up and wiped under his eyes. Now for the hard part. The thing he wanted to say the most but would hurt the most. “Thank you for being there for me. I was just an angry little runt when you took me under your wing. And yeah, we hurt each other and stuff a few times. I think I still have bruises on my neck from when you thought I left the gate open. But I always knew I could count on you. You saved me. More than once.
“I’m not sure how to make it up to you now that you’re gone except to live the life you wanted me to live, being the best Soulkeeper I can be. Oh, and taking care of Hope. We all will. Don’t you worry.”
He sat up and straightened his shirt. “And I guess this isn’t really goodbye, is it? It’s more like see you later. Some days I think it might be sooner than later the way this battle is going. Enjoy Heaven, Abigail. You’ve earned it.”