I gave the tether a quick mental jerk.
Nothing.
'Malachi. What are you doing?'He wouldn't be able to ignore my mindspeak.
Still no response.
Well, I would look into the matter when I returned from Earth.
Right now, the only thing I desired was to see Anna, to hear her tinkling laugh, to feel her soft, creamy lips on mine.
"Where will you be, my Lord?" Samael narrowed his golden eyes as he watched my face.
"Nowhere important. I'll return shortly."
He nodded, then gave a lackluster wave. "Toodles, boss."
I really need to get him in line. He's too indulgent and insolentHe would be better suited to Heaven than Hell.
I shook my head to clear the strange thought. Samael belonged with me. He and Malachi had taken my side and fought violently for our army during the Angel Wars. The boredom was getting to us all.
I had to admit, when Cain and Michael had crashed into my fortress, the battle had pumped me up, gotten my attention.
And it forced me to save Cain, and let him and his Nephilim go.
Another reason to visit Earth. I hadn't seen Cain in several years, and though he thought he'd been freed from my hold, he was sorely mistaken. I didn't convert him into a full Chosen out of the goodness of my heart. I'd saved him for my own purposes.
I just haven't needed him yet, that's all.It had nothing to do with fatherhood or the love of one's child.
Nothing at all.
Letting out a long sigh, I blinked to the spot on Earth which held the faint glow that always meant my human, Anna, was nearby.
I manifested on a narrow, uneven sidewalk close to the looming orphanage Anna had lived as a child. I took a moment to stare at the worn lettering engraved in the stone above the orphanage entrance.
Holy Sisters of Charity.
Why would Anna be here, and not at college?
Maybe she'd graduated, though, since I was terrible at keeping up with time in general. Living eternally had a way of skewering my perception and priorities, I supposed.
"Can't believe I have to go in there again," I muttered under my breath. I passed a red newspaper vending machine and paused.
The date on the paper told me over two years had passed since I'd healed Anna.
So why do I sense her at the place she'd been so desperate to escape?
A foreboding doom settled into bones, and even though my wings were invisible, it felt like something from above pushed downward on the wings.
I wrapped myself in shadows and blinked inside, following my intuition and the faint vibration that had always led me to my doom…to my Anna.
I found myself in a hallway of gray stone lined with framed pictures of old pious priests and scowling sisters.
To the left came a droning of student voices reciting morning prayers.
Ugh. What am I doing here again?I ground my teeth together. Oh, how God must be laughing.
With a resigned sigh, I peeked through the small window of the door.
