"Why are you looking at me like that?" she asked.
"I'm reading your aura."
It was her turn to look shocked. "I've never heard of another being able to do that," she whispered.
"It's a rare gift," I said. "You can?"
She shook her head. "No. My mother could. She's gone now."
"If she'd come to Abaddon, I would've known her. I know all the witches that make it to my realm," I said. "She is in Heaven or reborn."
A brilliant smile broke across her weathered face. "I knew she was, but it is nice to hear it confirmed."
I couldn't find an ounce of evil in her aura. "Have you never made the wrong choice in your life?" I asked. "Your aura reads like an impossibility."
"Oh, lord, child." I chuckled at her use of the word child. I was many thousands of years older than she. She ignored me and continued. "I've made plenty of bad decisions. But don't you know it's not about the act. It's about the intent. The soul is not colored by actions. It's colored by desires and motives."
I sighed and lowered myself to sit in one of her kitchen chairs. Her aura winked from sight as I let the magic slide back. "I hesitate to know what my aura looks like. I don't know anyone else that could read it, and it's impossible to see your own aura. I wish I could ask your mother," I said with a smile. "Now, tell me. What price for your help?"
"Truth," she said. "I wish to know my heritage, how my lineage got our power. The truth has been lost to time."
That was easy enough. "Is that all?"
She shook her head. "The truth of your mission."
The perfect colors of her aura told me she could be trusted. "Through a series of unbelievable events, I became pregnant."
"Why are you human?" she asked. "Even with your powers, I sense your humanity."
Oh, geez. That was so much to explain. "I don't have time. Truly I don't. May I show you?" I stood and held out my hand. If I could put the knowledge directly in her brain, she'd know everything she needed to know in an instant.
She narrowed her eyes but nodded. "Okay."
We stepped toward one another, and I cupped her face. First, I gave her everything I knew about Nephilim and their parentage, including the many Fallen that created children on Earth. Then, I gave her my reading of her aura and why I thought she was descended from a Nephilim. Her aura was the color of my brother Asmodeous's, so I had a strong suspicion she was my many time’s over great-niece. I kept that part to myself for now.
Then, I planted the knowledge of how and why I was human and the need for Angelic Earth Cycles to replenish and bolster our power. Finally, I gave her the full knowledge of Raphael's treachery and how I became pregnant. When I finished, she knew everything about our current predicament.
"Take me there," she said. "Now. We must stop the gates of Abaddon from opening."
I grabbed her hand and moved us to the spot I'd vacated minutes before. "There's a barrier over the property," I said. "I must get inside to Ezekiel."
Mary walked toward the house until she stopped suddenly. "I think I can fix this," she said. "Take me back to my home."
She walked back and I moved us instantly back to her kitchen. She pulled her microwave cart away from the wall and pressed her hand to the faded flowery wallpaper. The wall disappeared and a doorway materialized. There wasn't even a door there, just the glamour of the wall. "Nice," I muttered.
"Thank you. Come." She walked into the hidden room, and I realized it opened up into the apartment adjacent to hers. Smart.
It was full of things that would make most humans shout about witches and the devil. Potion ingredients, spell books, even a cauldron. I knew nothing in the room made her evil or good. Only her intentions did that.
She ran her finger along the books on the wall as she read the spines. "There is one here about wards," she muttered. "I haven't used it in years. Haven't had need."
On the third shelf down, she stopped and grabbed the book. It was bound in leather and looked pretty damn old. I itched to study the volumes and see what she had, but there wasn't time.
"Here," she said. "This spell should unlock the ward. I do not have access to some of the ingredients, but I'm sure you do."
I leaned in and looked at the list. Blood of an angel. Easy enough, but that would be something hard to come by for her. Blood of the unborn. Ew, but doable considering who I had trapped in the barn.
The rest was probably not necessary for the spell. A chicken's foot, powdered worm tail, and a few other odds and ends. I'd use them, just in case, but it was the blood and the incantation that would do the trick. "Thank you," I said. Taking out my phone, which was damn close to dying, I snapped a photo and emailed it to myself so I could get to it if the phone died. "I hope the knowledge I gave you is a comfort to you."
