“You…you wanted us to see you tonight, didn’t you?” I ask.
The angel’s jaw tenses. “I was ordered not to approach you, but in the event of being seen…I found a loophole.”
“Why?”
“There are things you should know about your new powers, and about the other angels.”
A chill works its way down my spine and Lucas sidesteps over to me. He wraps his arm around me, but his cool skin against mine only makes me shiver more.
“Do you eat?” I ask the angel.
“Do I eat?” he echoes.
“Yeah. Do you eat? I really want a taco and Maria’s doesn’t stay open all night.”
“No,” he says, brows furrowing. “I don’t need to consume human food.”
I look him up and down. He’s a good four inches taller than me—yet still shorter than Lucas—and has dark hair and dark eyes that apparently glow blue. Maybe that’s an angel thing? He’s dressed in a t-shirt, jeans, and biker boots, making him look completely normal. I can feel the divinity coming off of him in waves, and it’s drawing me in, calling to me like an old friend.
“Come with us,” I blurt and Lucas tenses. Michael told me I can trust this guy, and while you could argue I shouldn’t trust Michael, he is my father. My real father. And he saved my life a couple of times, risked his own to save me, and pulled the wool over Heaven’s eyes in order to keep me from being murdered as an infant. “I’m used to being the only one at the table who’s eating anyway. Though people are probably going to assume I’m on a hot date with my two vampire boyfriends, and if either one of you does anything to muddle that reverse-harem image, I’m going to be pissed. Though really…aren’t we related?”
“You are my cousin in a sense,” he says and takes a step forward. Lucas pulls his lips up showing off his fangs.
“Stop it,” I whisper as he protectively steps in front of me.
“I mean her no harm,” the angel assures us. “If I did, she’d be dead already.”
“Reassuring,” I say with a smile.
The angel shrugs. “I’m Julian, and yes, I will escort you to your human restaurant. Though I don’t know what reverse harem is.”
Lucas lets out a snort of laughter. “You can explain that one,” he tells me, and I shake my head.
“Another time.” We all stand there, awkwardly looking at each other for another few seconds. I can feel Binx watching from the shadows, and I hold out my hand, telling him that he can join us. I’ll cast a cloaking spell on him and will let him sit at our table. I might have abused that witch privilege before so I can take my cat with me in pubic.
“Well, let’s go,” I say and inch forward. Lucas takes my hand and starts to walk me to the car. In a rustle of feathers, Julian disappears from view and reappears inside the Jeep, sitting in the middle seat in the back.
“Whoa.” My eyes widen. “Please tell me I can learn how to do that.”
“Perhaps,” he says. “There haven’t been many recorded cases of Nephilim. As you know, surviving a divine pregnancy is a feat, and then once born…”
“You have a tendency to kill us?” I finish.
Julian casts his eyes down. “Yes. And I feel I should be upfront with you, Callie. I started my case supporting you out of curiosity. I wanted to see what a Nephilim could do. What you’d be like.”
Lucas starts down the driveway again, looking up in the rearview mirror at Julian every few seconds.
“And if I’d turn evil,” I only half joke.
“Yes,” he says seriously. “For that is the fear and the reason we are given not to trust Nephilim. Humans are easily swayed to do what pleases them, no matter the cost to others. Their souls are easily tainted. And…and even the devil was once an angel.”
I swallow hard and twist in my seat. “And he was…was…what really happened? Is it like we thought and—holy fucking shit. Am I related to the devil?”
“All of the angels are.”
“Fuck.” I twist in my seat and run my hand over Binx’s head. I stare at the dark road in front of us for a few minutes, mind whirling yet too overwhelmed to think about anything at the same time.
My phone rings, connecting to the Bluetooth in the car and cutting off the music. It’s Kristy, and I almost forgot why she’d be calling me. Right. I sent her a photo of my ring.
Because I’m engaged.
There’s a vampire next to me, a familiar in my lap, and an angel in the backseat. Yet I look at my hand and smile.
“I’ll call her back later,” I say and end the call. “She’ll probably think we’re having sex or something.”
Lucas just nods and grips the steering wheel a little tighter. I let out a breath and reach over, resting my hand on Lucas’s thigh. He relaxes a bit at my touch, and I let my head fall back and close my eyes.
I live on the outskirts of town, and the drive in is feeling much longer than usual. I jerk forward, picking my purse up from the floor. I dig around for the little notebook I keep in there and a pen.
“What are you doing?” Lucas asks me.
“Making a list of questions. I have a million I wanted to ask Michael if I ever saw him again but now my mind is blanking. I’m going to write them down before I forget again.”
I stare at the paper, suddenly unable to remember anything I wanted to ask Michael. I put the pen against the page, thinking for a moment before I start writing.
1.) The fuck?
Okay, not a question, but it sums up how I feel.
2.) Are you an archangel?
3.) Am I immortal?
4.) Can you teach me to fly?
I scratch out that last one, thinking it’s too far-fetched even for me. Feeling a weird tug on my heart, I squint in the dark and start writing again.
5.) How did you meet my mother?
6.) What was she like?
7.) Did she know you were an angel when you met?
8.) Where was she from?
9.) What Coven did she belong to?
I stop, realizing I could quickly get that list to one hundred with questions about her alone.
10.) Do you have a house?
11.) Do you sleep?
12.) Do you live in Heaven?
Figuring a good dozen is enough to start with, I put the pen and notebook back in my purse and shove it back down to the space by my feet, allowing Binx to move back into my lap. Purring, he puts his front paws on my chest and rubs his head against me.
My familiars have a way of comforting me, and Binx and I operate on the same wavelength more times than not. The bond between a witch and her familiar is hard to describe, but I assume it a similar feeling to that of having a child.
A child who’s thousands of years old, who commands a legion of spirits, and can kill you without breaking a sweat.
“It’s busy downtown,” Lucas notes as we pull onto the main street that runs through Thorne Hill. It happens to be right above the Ley line as well, hiding it in plain sight, so to speak.
“Oh, right. The county fair is going on. It’s a big deal here. I usually go but I totally forgot about it this summer.”
“When does it end?”
I shrug. “Honestly I don’t even know what day it is today.”
“Do you want to go tomorrow if it’s still going on?” Lucas asks. He’s so fucking good to me.
“Maybe. I’ll have to see if Kristy is going. We always go together, eat way too much fair food, and have fun using our powers to win all those rigged carnival games.”
Lucas smirks. “I like when you’re a little wicked.”
I smile right back and then stop, remembering Julian’s words. The devil was once an angel. I don’t want to turn evil. I’m not evil, and I’ve never once been worried about crossing over to the dark side before. The fact that I’m half angel doesn’t change that.
Yet…it does.
We park a block away from Marie’s, and Binx gets out, sitting perfectly still along the curb so I can cast a cloaking spell over hi
m. I hold my hands out, thumbs and index fingers touching to make a triangle, and close my eyes.
“Light of the moon, dark of the night, cloak you from all, hide you from sight,” I whisper and feel a pulse of magic go through me. Binx meows and winds around my ankles as we walk. Lucas takes my hand, fingering the giant diamond I’m wearing.