Black Wings
Page 36

Then my stomach rumbled, and Gabriel burst out laughing.
I watched him in delight. He almost never smiled, and when he did it never really seemed like a happy smile. I had heard him laugh only once or twice, but it was magical to hear, a bright and shimmering thing that danced in the air.
His laughter trickled out but he still had a huge grin pasted on his face.
“Pizza,” I said, giving him a quick kiss and climbing out of bed. He shifted his wings so that I could move. “Someone around here must do late-night delivery. And you’re buying. I haven’t actually gotten any rent money from you yet.”
“Ah. That,” Gabriel said, sitting up and letting his wings stretch out. His wingspan was about twelve feet and I had to scurry to the foot of the bed to allow him room.
“ ‘Ah, that’ what?” I said, pushing my feet into my fuzzy slippers.
It had been hours since I’d thought about my clothes, but I looked down and realized I still wore the black skirt, purple button-down shirt and black blazer that I’d put on that morning to appear in my father’s court. The sharp-heeled, knee-high boots that I had worn were crumpled on the floor next to the bed, and they were caked with gore. I didn’t even want to think about cleaning the leather, so I picked them up and tossed them in the kitchen trash. I found the Cubs sweatshirt that I had thrown aside in haste that morning, pulled off the blazer and replaced it with the sweatshirt.
“The rent money.”
“Don’t even tell me that there is no rent money,” I said, panicked. “Because that’s going to be a problem. My income has not been too stable for the last few months.”
He finished stretching and folded his wings behind him again. The chilliness of the room didn’t seem to affect him. He padded around the bed in bare feet, black trousers and a white shirt with the sleeves rolled up and followed me into the kitchen as I began searching through the stack of takeout menus that I had clipped to the refrigerator.
“There is no rent money ...” he began.
“What?” I shouted, turning to him.
He held his hands up. “Peace. There is no rent money, because now that Azazel has acknowledged you as his daughter he is able to give you the legacy he has been saving for the last thirty-two years.”
I narrowed my eyes. “What legacy?”
“Lord Azazel is a very wealthy man. And also a prompt one. If you check your bank balance, I am sure that you will see he has given some of the legacy to you already.”
I couldn’t let that pass without investigation. I marched to my laptop, booted up and logged on to my Internet banking website. When I saw the figures for my checking and savings accounts, all the blood rushed out of my face.
“I’ve never seen that much money in one place in my whole life,” I said. “Well, maybe in news items about government spending.”
“And I am certain that it is only part of what you will receive. There are bound to be investments in various forms, scattered here and there. Lord Azazel will no doubt apprise you of these soon.” He smiled at my look of shock.
My heart did a little jig. No more worries, no more scraping to get by. Then I sobered, remembering what else had happened that day.
“I don’t think he’ll have to apprise me of anything,” I said, “seeing as I’m going to be given to Focalor.”
The smile faded from Gabriel’s face. “Yes. Of course. I had forgotten.”
“Me, too,” I said. My appetite was suddenly gone. At this rate I’d lose the extra fifteen pounds I was carrying in no time. It’s the My Daddy Was a Fallen Angel diet!
Antares. I couldn’t believe that I had ever thought I wanted a brother when I was kid. My only sibling had been a giant pain in the behind from the moment he kicked me down the front porch stairs until I snuffed his life out.
My stomach rumbled. Okay, maybe my appetite wasn’t completely gone.
“Let’s have pizza.” I thought that there was a strong possibility that this could be my last good meal on Earth. “And wings. And maybe cheesecake. I’m buying.”
19
AS WE ATE, GABRIEL AND I DISCUSSED MY LAST VISION of Evangeline, the one that I’d had while at Azazel’s court. Beezle smelled pizza and fluttered in from outside, wordlessly thrusting an extra plate at me to fill for him. Gabriel still seemed astounded by what I had learned.
“I cannot believe the Archangel would take Lucifer’s children as his own,” Gabriel said wonderingly. “How did he manage it? He could not pass them off as his own blood, even if they were infused with his grace. Mating with a mortal woman would have resulted in his expulsion from paradise.”
“He did it somehow.” I shrugged. “Anyway, the important thing here is that Evangeline has filled in a lot of holes for us.”
“Such as?” Beezle said through a mouthful of cheese and dough.
I put down my slice of pizza to tick off points on my fingers. “Number one, I am definitely from Evangeline’s bloodline. You said yourself, Beezle, that Lucifer’s power was that of collecting souls. That’s what I do. That’s what every Agent does.”
Beezle’s eyes widened. “And the Morningstar’s power was disguised when Michael infused the children with his grace. How could I have been so stupid?”
“I do not believe that anyone could have predicted this. We have long suspected that Evangeline and the children were lost or killed, and that Agents were created by the light for the purpose of replacing Lord Lucifer,” Gabriel said.
“Agents probably were created for that reason,” I said. “But we weren’t created out of thin air. We came from Lucifer’s line. Anyway, point number two. There was one survivor of Evangeline’s scorched-earth policy, and that being is probably the one controlling Ramuell’s puppet strings.”
“That’s an awfully big leap,” Beezle said. “How do you come to that conclusion?”
“Because I seem to be targeted specifically. Because Evangeline heard an angel speaking of her death and the deaths of her children as a way to destroy Lucifer. Because if Ramuell’s puppet master wanted to kill Lucifer, what better way than to destroy the last direct descendant of Evangeline?”
“And how do you know you’re her last direct descendant?” Beezle asked.
“She’s spending an awful lot of time sending me visions,” I said. “You think she’d bother if I was just some yahoo? Obviously she thinks I need this information now. Evangeline wanted me to see her escaped captor, so that I will recognize Ramuell’s master when I see her.”
“Or perhaps she just wanted you to know that one of her captors survived so that you can turn over that angel to Lord Lucifer’s justice,” Gabriel pointed out. “It could have nothing to do with Ramuell at all. But I agree that it is likely you are her last direct descendant. It is doubtless the only reason that she was able to awaken these memories in your blood.”
I lifted my eyebrows at Beezle, as if to say, “See?”
“Whether she wanted me to see the face of her captor so that I could tell Lucifer about it or capture Ramuell, it doesn’t matter. The point is that she’s leading me toward this angel for some reason and I should probably find out what that reason is.”
“But if it is not related to Ramuell, we cannot afford to waste valuable time on what is, essentially, a matter of old justice,” Gabriel said.
“Do you really think that Lucifer would view the fate of his lover and her children as ‘old justice’?” I said.
Gabriel looked uncomfortable. “Of course not. But it is essential that we capture Ramuell and his puppet master. That is the task that Lord Azazel has left to us. And besides, how would Evangeline’s captor know that you were her last descendant?”
“Because she saw Michael take Evangeline and the children. She witnessed the whole thing from a mountain-top. That means that she alone besides the involved parties knew the fate of Evangeline and the children. I’m telling you,” I said, “that I think that my visions are related to our problem with Ramuell.”
“And you believe this angel bided her time for thousands of years, waiting for an opportunity to kill Evangeline’s descendants? Why not kill the children when they began acting in their father’s stead as soul collectors?” Gabriel asked, his tone doubtful.
I threw my hands up in frustration. “I can’t fill in all the blanks here. I just know what Evangeline has showed me, and what I feel in my gut. Evangeline could have sent these visions to me anytime in the last thirty-two years. I have to believe that she is sending them to me now to help me capture Ramuell and whoever is controlling him. Evangeline loved Lucifer. She sacrificed her life with him to protect him and his children.
“And besides, I don’t care how much money he’s given me—I am not at Azazel’s beck and call. If I want to trace the angel instead of following Ramuell’s path directly, then that’s my business.”
Beezle threw his hands up in the air. “Here we go again.”
“No, I’m serious,” I said. “After what I did to Ramuell today, I don’t think that Azazel could make me do anything I didn’t want to do.”
“What makes you think you will be able to summon that ability—or any ability—again at will?” Gabriel said reasonably.
“Oh, sure, now I get a lecture about my magical deficiencies,” I said, crossing my arms and glaring at him.
“You do not know how to control your power or your abilities. You admitted as much yourself. And in any case, it is not simply your own life that you risk when you defy Azazel.”
The reminder that Gabriel’s fate was tied to my own was sobering. And he was right. I shouldn’t put myself or him in a position where we could be punished by Azazel simply because I made a threat and was unable to follow through when my magic went haywire at the wrong moment.
“So we’re back to the same issue I brought up earlier. I need to understand how to control my powers. Before the next big, bad whatever tries to kill me.”