Whatever.
Maybe Somerstown had one of those tree sanctuaries or this was outside the city limits. Or maybe, just maybe, it didn’tfucking matter because the only thing that was important right now was getting out of here.
Seymour slammed the heel of his boot against the glass with all of his strength.
It didn’t break.
Fuck.
He looked for something—anything—to smash into the window. He went to pick up a chair but found it was somehow attached to the floor. He snarled in frustration, glancing up at the books.
Some of them seemed pretty big.
Big enough to break glass.
Out of ideas and growing more desperate, he grabbed a thick hardcover.
“Wait! Please!” Sariel was suddenly right there, gently taking hold of Seymour’s wrist. “Please do not hurt my books.”
The book was a zodiac one, naturally.
Seymour stared at Sariel’s hand, and his pulse pounded in his head until his eyes burned. He knew this feeling crawling up his spine and stealing his breath away, though it was one he didn’t experience often:
Fear.
Monsters were real, and the city was full of them. He’d been attacked by a werewolf, sassed by a giant dog, nearly ran over some magical men, and now he’d been kidnapped by an angel, a demon, and two supposedly dead but very much alive serial killers.
Seymour swallowed hard, his voice hoarse as he managed to croak, “I just wanna go home.”
Sariel frowned. “I know. I am sorry.” He carefully removed the book from Seymour’s hand to return it to the shelf. “If you cooperate, Mr. Heiss can be quite merciful.”
“Ha! Sure. You work for him, right?” Seymour remembered what Sariel had said at the cemetery. “Is he your boyfriend?”
“No.” Sariel made a face. “He is my master.”
Seymour stared at the collar around Sariel’s neck. “Like, yourowner?”
“Yes.” Sariel shrugged, and his wings and halo faded in a glittery golden shimmer. The collar, however, remained visible.
“Are you…” Seymour laughed nervously. “Are you really an angel? Like an honest to God fuckin’ angel?”
Sariel tilted his head. “I am an angel, yes.”
“But are you from Heaven?”
“No. I am from a realm called the Celestial. It is a dimension of stars and light, but also one of darkness.”
Seymour arched his brow. “But it’s not Heaven? There’s no God?”
“I have never met Him.” Sariel shrugged. “I left the light and… I was taken.”
“By Mr. Heiss?”
“Yes.”
“And you can’t go back?”
“No.” Sariel shook his head.
